“I am done building things for myself.” I was walking to Philz Coffee in Noe Valley when these words seemed to spontaneously come out of my mouth. While it surprised me to be both saying and hearing this, I had been processing this idea for a couple of months. Our Sabbatical gave Shauna and me the space to take inventory of our lives. We had been leading here for 15 years. What did God have in store for us in the next season of life and leadership? What would he say to us about our future?

As far as we can understand, the what is going to be pretty similar to the kinds of things we’ve been doing. The new discernment we’ve had is that the what isn’t changing; but we both want to see some changes when it comes to how we do what we do. We aren’t backing away from our calling at all. We’re more committed than we’ve ever been. And we aren’t shrinking our ambition for the mission we’re on, but we care very much about where we’re aiming our ambition.

What is your ambition aiming at right now?

Another way I could ask you this question is, “Whose name are you living for?” Everything in us and around us compels us to live for our own name. Look out for yourself. Advocate for yourself. Take care of yourself or no one else will. If you want to get the ideal job in the future, you better make a name for yourself now. This mantra has invaded the heart of every human who has ever lived. Right after Jesus predicts his own death and resurrection, he receives this request from James and John, two of his closest disciples:

Mark 10:37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

To live for our own name is the default. But we’re not after default mode here at Epic; we’re wanting to orient our entire lives around Jesus. I’m calling this message “The Name of Your Aim”. As you listen, just keep rolling this question around in your mind and heart – whose name am I really living for? I want to show you what naturally happens in the heart of humans and then offer the supernatural way Jesus invites us to shift what we want to live for most.

Genesis 11:1-9 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel – because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

It's really important to understand what they did that was right and what they did that was wrong. There isn’t anything inherently wrong with what they did; it’s why they did it and what they were seeking to achieve by doing it. For starters, they wanted to write their own story.

Are you trying to author the story of your life?

Think about how this story mirrors the Genesis 3 story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God wanted to write a beautiful story for Adam and Eve. He gave them significant callings. He surrounded them with beauty. He gave them an abundance of resources. On top of all this, He gave them His very presence. But they wanted to include things in their story that God had left out of the original script for them. They chose to author their own story and were banished from the garden, much like God ends up scattering this group of people.

Are you building what you’re building only for your name?

We’re all building something – a relationship, a family, a following, a resume’, a social media profile, a company, this church. These people are creative. They’re smart. They’re obviously gifted and skilled. They have a big vision and they also know how to execute well. They feared the loss of security and protection, so they opt for the thing so many of us are convinced we too must do: SELF-PROTECTION. They could have opted to do this instead:

Psalm 20:1 May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.

They chose to trust in themselves, rather than go this route:

Psalm 20:7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Whose name do you put the most trust in?

They build this tower up to the heavens. Why? Commentators suggest that they were trying to go beyond God or to at least rival God. This is the same temptation Satan offered to Eve.

Genesis 3:4-5 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

You will be like God. And the major thing I want to point out is that they were doing all of this to make a name for themselves. God tears down their plans to keep this from happening.

God will often tear down what we build for ourselves.

This is why I continue to go back to remind myself and all of you of the Scripture Epic Church was founded on.

Psalm 127:1 Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.

We want to give ourselves to building what God is building, for His glory…not our own. If we are going to orient our entire lives around Jesus, we have to let him teach us about what name to aim at with our lives. Jesus knows the inclinations of our hearts. This is why he offers what we’ve come to call The Lord’s Prayer – a model for not only what to aim our prayers at, but where we want to aim our entire lives.

Matthew 6:9-10 “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

The first words of this prayer from Jesus – Our Father. From the very beginning of this prayer, Jesus is teaching us that we’ve already been given a name…meaning we don’t have to go make one for ourselves. We have been called sons and daughters of God. Don’t rush past this.

If you don’t receive the name God has given you, you will spend your whole life trying to make a name for yourself.

Like all of us, my four children live in a world where they are tempted to go and make a name for themselves. You know where they’re never tempted to do this? When they come into our home and they’re with their parents. They never feel like we need to see their resume or their accomplishments. In our family, they receive their name rather than try to achieve their name. May God free us to do the same.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done. Hallowed means to hold in reverence; regarded and treated as holy. One of a kind. Totally different than anything or anyone else.

Thankfully Jesus is going to teach us to pray for provision, forgiveness, and deliverance…but before all that, we’re aligning our desires with God’s desires. His name. His kingdom. His will.

“The purpose of prayer is to glorify God’s name, and to ask for help to accomplish His will on earth.” -Warren Wiersbe

I know we all want to know our specific purpose in life, especially when it comes to the kind of work we should pursue. I’m going to be teaching on this September 28th in a message I’m naming “Hearing Your Calling”. But let me tell you this.

It is better to live for the name of Jesus and guess at what you’re supposed to do with your life than to know exactly what you’re supposed to do with your life and live only for yourself.

Psalm 23:3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

God does want to help guide us into the work and vocation He designed for us, but not for the sake of our name.

Recognize when the world is enticing you to make a name for yourself. Become aware of when and how this is happening. Then, reject it by acknowledging that it leads to less than the life you were made for and meant for. And then have a habit of following the Jesus prayer: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be YOUR name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

What do you have that could be used to extend the name of Jesus in our world?

Your prayers.

Your parenting.

Your gifts.

Your relationships.

Your influence.

Your wealth. When you give towards the mission of Epic and other causes that are extending the name of Jesus in this city and in this world.

So, whose name will be the aim of your life? You can spend your entire life trying to make a name for yourself. And that might work, for a little while. I don’t want to depress you, but our names will be forgotten in this world. But we have a Father in heaven who will remember our names forever. When the disciples were excited about what they had just accomplished, Jesus gave them this line:

Luke 10:20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

Responses:

-Receive the name your heavenly Father wants to give you. End the striving that comes when you’re trying to make a name for yourself.

-Confess that you’ve lived for your own name. We all have, by the way.

-Personally: How will you give yourself to aim for the name of Jesus?

-As a Church: How will we give ourselves to aim for the name of Jesus?