The Wrong Label On the Sugar Jar

The Wrong Label On the Sugar Jar

by Tommy Tyson

Transcribed from the original recording; may contain errors.

I’m reading this morning a couple of verses from the second chapter of Genesis, beginning with verse 19. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them. And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found an helpmeet for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. And He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man. Let us pray.

We love You, Lord. We love this day that You’ve made. We love the beauty we’ve just overcome with all of this grandeur. But more than anything in the natural order, we love to see the light of Your countenance in the faces of one another. Lord, we love to see the glory of the world to come, breaking out in the hearts and lives of Your children.

We love to be led by the Holy Spirit, to be led into all truth. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. Amen. The Word of God is such a fascinating book. If you will take it seriously, and as Morton Kelsey suggests, not try to take it so literally. The letter killeth, the Spirit maketh alive. I’m not suggesting that you can’t take the Bible literally, but please don’t take it literally unless you take it seriously.

There’s a difference. And the Bible talks in pictures. And see the pictures as you read the Word of God. And one of the most dramatic stories that I know of in the Bible is told in the story I read this morning.

Where God gave Adam this tremendous challenge. And He said, “Adam, I have not named any of these beasts, any of the things that I’ve made yet, I’ve not named them. I’m going to let you put the label on them.” What if you’d been Adam?

How in the world did Adam know to call a bear a bear? How did he know to call an eagle an eagle? Where did Adam get this kind of knowledge and why did he do it? Did Adam see the bear’s nature within the bear? And did God give Adam discernment through the gift of the Spirit? And Adam said, “I perceive inside this animal a bear nature, so I’ll call him a bear.” Or did God give Adam a creative ability?

And Adam was a co-creator with God. And as this animal came by, Adam in union with God said, “God, I have an idea of a bear, and I’m going to put the bear’s nature within him by labeling him.”

For whatever Adam called it, that’s what it was. Well, now, the new creation is this way. Jesus one day stood with a group of men. There was one man in the midst whose father’s name was Jonah. And Jesus Christ, as this animal passed Him, a man animal, as this man stood in His presence, Jesus labeled him with a new name. Now, He said, “Son of Jonah, the world has been calling you Simon. Simon.

That means a reed. I’m going to recreate you. I’m giving you a new name. I’m going to call you Peter.” Which means rock. Now, how did Jesus know to call Simon Peter a rock? Did Jesus see down beyond the reedish nature, that fickle nature, that blows with every little wind, did Jesus Christ see down beyond it and see inside Peter a rock? Or in union with God, did Jesus Christ have the idea of a rock and say, “This is the kind of man I’m going to make you, I’m going to call you Peter”? Peter.

Well, perhaps some of both, was it? I suppose. But you see, this is what prayer is all about. This is the prayer of confession. And you name it, you can have it. We say that, you know. You name it, and I’ll feed it. You name it, I’ll take it. You name it, you can have it. This is prayer. This naming capacity.

And the Holy Spirit is still operating in man to give us wisdom to rightly label. For as we rightly label, we can actually possess. Jesus said, do you want to have victory over your sins? Then learn to call them for what they are. Stop calling them your wife’s excuses.

Or your wife’s failures. Or your parents’ failures. Oh, I would have done so and so. But my teacher… You know. Now, as long as you confessing your teacher’s faults, you’re not labeling your sins. Let’s face it. I flunked geometry this year just because I didn’t study. Now, if you ever get to the point where you’re willing to say, it’s because I didn’t study, you’ve got the problem licked.

But as long as it’s your teacher’s fault, you’ve missed out on it altogether. God has made no provision for excuses. The Word of God doesn’t say, if you’re faithful to confess your excuses. He says, if you’re faithful and just to confess your sins, He’s faithful and just to confess your sins, to forgive your sins, and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. So this naming capacity is the ruling power. If you would have victory over your sins, then learn to confess them for what they are in the light of the revelation of God’s grace. And as you put your finger on it with the right name, it goes. It’s under your control, as long as you call it for what it is.

And this is so simple, and yet it’s so powerful. And we don’t need a lot of psychological gobbledygook as a substitute for sin. Really, we can bring it right out and do away with it. This is not some hocus-pocus that we have to pretend doesn’t exist.

If you have a selfish spirit, call it by name. God, this is pure selfishness. And I want dominion over it, and I’m labeling it for what it is. Bring it out. You’ve got it. God, this is pure fear. Or this is pride. Let me just show you how it works. One day, we were in the home, and some guests were in. And our son, 11 years old, who is so much like his mother, very strong-willed.

You see? He came in from school. Now, these were important guests in the home. I want the children to make an impression. But this little boy comes in, and he doesn’t bow his head and rake and scrape. He just throws his books over and says hi and goes on out. Well, this is no way for an insecure preacher’s son to act.

So I called him back in. I reprimanded him in front of the guest. And I said, “Son, now let’s try it over.” So he backed off, and he went around and shook hands, and then went on out to play. And a little while afterwards, the Lord began to really talk with me about this. And He just let me know that He was ashamed of me. Ashamed of the way that I’d acted. Because He said, “The problem was not misbehavior on the part of your son. The problem was your pride and your insecurity. And you were trying to use your son to satisfy something within you.”

And when the Lord let me label it for what it was, it was amazing the power that He gave me to set the boy free. And through that, I am learning to let this boy be what he is. Without apology. Anytime you have to go around apologizing for anybody, you better check something within your own heart.

Find out what it is. This is the naming capacity. If you’re going to have dominion in this world order, then for God’s sake, get honest. And start putting labels on it for what it is. The right label. Now this is the first label of… first level of confession, is to start being honest about the revelation of God in our own heart. And what we find… Come on out with it. Before the Lord.

Now the church has made a great deal to do about confession of sins. Maybe not enough. Maybe we haven’t learned it enough. But I’m going to let that stand for what it is and go into some other aspects of confession. Because I’m finding in our walk in the Spirit, we not only need to learn to be honest in confessing our sins, our failures, our darkness. We need maybe even more to learn to confess our redeemed natures.

Our new names. There’s a wonderful, popular gospel hymn. I don’t particularly like the song, but I like the truth involved. There’s a new name written down in glory and it’s mine. And when Ted Lomax stood and said, “Do you know your name?” He didn’t know I was going to say this. This was a confirmation, Ted, that the Lord wanted me to talk this way this morning. Do you know your name?

Do you know who you are? Who are you? And how do you know? Whose idea are you going to take about who you are? Are you going to take your wife’s idea when she didn’t get that Easter suit?

Are you going to take your preacher’s idea when he’s tired? And the budget isn’t raised? Whose idea are you going to take? Are you going to take your own idea? Who are you going to let name you? Well, I’m choosing God as my creator. I’m choosing Jesus Christ as my life, my redeemer, my labeler. And so I’m going to the Word of God. And so I told you last night that I underscore those words that describe Jesus’ nature. I also underscore those terms that describe who I am. I need to know who I am. And the Word of God says that I am an heir of God, a joint heir with Jesus Christ. How’s that for a starter?

Who are you? I’m a child of God. Who are you? I’m an heir of God. Who are you? I’m accepted in the beloved. Who are you? I am more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ. Who are you? I am an overcomer. Who are you? I am a priest and king unto the Most High God. Who are you? I am a member of the church of the firstborn. Who are you? I am a called out one to be conformed to His image. Who are you? I am an heir of the promises of God. My name is Israel. Hallelujah. Don’t you see what a difference this makes in your prayer life? So you learn to confess who you are in your heart before the throne of God. You don’t have to go around and tell the world who you are. They could care less and don’t need to know.

But you need to know. So when you come to the throne of God in your heart. And you knock on the door to the throne room. And the doorkeeper says, “Who comes?” And you begin, “Lord, this is unworthy one.”

You heard the story, didn’t you, about the boys that had been out all night. Just on a big drunk. And they stumble into church on Sunday morning. And they were having early service. And after they got in, they didn’t quite know whether they were in the right place or not. And then the church folks began to pray.

We have done those things we ought not to have done. And we left undone those things we ought to have done. And one boy whispered to the other and said, “This is our place.” Now, I know there’s a time when we must be honest about all of the needs, you see. But we need to get beyond repentance.

We need to get beyond just confession of sin. We need to have a confidence in our heart concerning our new nature. James says, “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth liberally and upbraideth not. But let him ask in faith, believing.” For he says, “A double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways.” And I’m not saying he said that God would give him anything. And here again, Jesus Christ puts a great deal of emphasis on faith. “Whatsoever you ask, believing in My name, it shall be given unto you.” And you really cannot have the confidence in your heart that will be a basis for faith if you don’t know who you are in the light of redemptive grace. We are not thieves coming to the throne of God trying to steal something in the night. Neither are we beggars coming to the throne of God asking for a crumbly handout.

Let’s never hold the grace of God in such a despicable relationship. We are children who’ve been bought by His own blood. Who have been birthed by His own Spirit. We are manifestations of the choice of God in making us His children.

So we come to the throne of God with boldness. Who comes here? Oh, this is a child of God. What do you want? I want my inheritance. Daddy, I want the car. I was in the study not long ago. I was very busy. Along in the middle of the afternoon. The phone rang. And really, I didn’t want to answer it, but no one else was there. And so I picked up the phone right in the midst of all this work. And I just heard a voice on the other end say, “Daddy, this is me.”

And I knew that was Tom, our 15-year-old boy, saying, “Band practice is over. I need a ride home.” So I stopped everything I was doing, jumped in the car, and ran into town and picked him up. “Daddy, this is me.” But if it had been someone else, I would have said, “Son, I’ll call you back.”

But this boy had a prior claim because of his relationship to me. And God has a lot of things to do. But God is never so busy that He doesn’t have time for any of His children. You can call God’s busy this morning trying to settle things in Vietnam. God’s busy this morning trying to feed starving babies in India. God’s busy this morning trying to let new nations be born in Africa. But you’re not taken away from them when you approach the throne of grace. For God has time for every one of His children. Who’s coming? So we learn to confess who it is that’s coming to the throne of God in our hearts. Lord, this is one of Your children. This is a redeemed child of God. This is a Spirit-filled child. This is a hungry child. Lord, this is me. But there’s another type of confession we make too. And I dealt with that last night. And I’ll pass over it this morning in this respect. We learn to confess after we’ve learned to confess. And as we learn to confess who we are before the throne of God. We learn to confess who Jesus is before the throne of the world.

Let your confession of Jesus Christ be before men. Confess Jesus before men. And this just doesn’t mean that you go around saying to everybody, Jesus is my Savior. Jesus is my Lord. No, we confess Jesus Christ as the complement to the need of every man. Mr. Gandhi once said… I have it here so I’ll make sure to get it right. I don’t want to misquote him. Mr. Gandhi once said, “Not even God would appear to a hungry man except in the form of bread.”

And Jesus Christ is the complement to the need of every man. To the hungry He’s bread. To the poor He’s wealth. To the naked He’s clothing. To the lost He’s Savior. To the sick He’s health. To the ignorant He’s wisdom. To the desolate He’s comforter. To the friendless He’s friend. Jesus Christ is the complement to the need of every man. Would you learn to confess Him before the throne of man? And whenever you find a person in need, and if you don’t know any in need, you sure have a very limited circle of friendship. But whenever you see a person in need, instead of just running to tell him, you know, who you think Jesus is in terms of your theology, stay with a person until you discover what their need is. And then begin to relate Jesus to that need. And it’s amazing the miracles that happen. A story that just keeps bobbing up is one that happened to me long about last year, I guess it was. Last summer. I was going up to Durham, in North Carolina, to visit Duke Hospital. And I got into town. I realized I needed some gas. I stopped at a service station. And while one fellow was filling up the tank, I went into the station.

And I saw the fellow inside with his bent over. A look of pain on his face. And I said, “Brother, looks to me like you’re in bad shape this morning.” He said, “Yes, moving some of this material here this morning, I’ve pulled my back. I’m in great pain. And I’m waiting for my partner to come. I have an appointment with the doctor.” And I said, “I have a friend who’s interested in things like this. And if you don’t mind, I’d like to talk with him about it.” He looked at me as if he thought I was crazy. Then he said, “Go ahead if you want to.” And so I just came up and I put one hand on the front and one on the back. And I talked with Jesus about it. And just asked Jesus to heal the man. Then I signed my credit card. Went on to the hospital. That afternoon as I came back by my brother’s, who’s a preacher there in Durham, he saw me coming up the walk. And he began to grin. And I said, “What’s wrong with you?” And he said, “Well, I see you’re up to your old tricks.”

And I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “Well, a fellow from a service station called me this morning and asked me if I had a brother named Tommy.” And I said, “Yes.” “Well,” he said, “he stopped by here and got some gas and signed a credit card. And he said, ‘I thought perhaps he might be related to you. And if you see him, would you give him a message for me?’” And he said, “Yes, I will.” He said, “Would you tell him it works?”

Now, over and over again, I’m finding miracles happen. Not when I try to go around proving to somebody that I’m a miracle worker. I find miracles happening as a result of being honest about who Jesus is. And when you begin to relate Jesus as the health to a sick person, a miracle happens. When you begin to relate Him as food to a hungry person, a miracle happens. Or clothing to the naked, a miracle happens. And that’s what this thing is all about. Now, there’s one other aspect of confession that I’d like to get to, and that’s this. We learn to confess God’s name for every man. Do you know that you’re in the creating business with God?

And do you know that you can call me what you please? And unless I am clothed with the full armor of God, your label affects me. A friend of mine went into a hospital in Albion, Michigan, Bernie. And he saw a fellow there working in the hallway. And as he came up to him, this fellow tried to talk, and he was sort of stuttering like an animal. And my friend, who was highly in the Spirit that morning, looked at the fellow, and he said he saw something as if it were the figure of a monkey in this precious boy. And so, in the name of Jesus, he cast out the monkey spirit. He didn’t tell the boy what was happening. He just cast this thing out that he saw, set the boy free, and the boy began to talk very naturally. And in praying about it, my friend was given this understanding. He said, “This little boy, while he was small, ran around with people who called him that little monkey. ‘You little monkey.’ And he was open to accept their labels.”

What are you calling one another? Do you see a reed or a rock? Yes, there are reeds. But there’s a rock for every reed. And God wants us to get in business with Him. I don’t think that God wants us to go around denying the reality of reeds. He just wants us to see beyond the reed and begin to reach and get the rock.

So when I see a person whose name is on an unregenerate level, if they’ve been a devil, they can be a saint, can’t they? So I’m choosing in my intercessory prayer to label them with a redemptive name. To label them with a redemptive name. And call them by a creative name of power.

And if I don’t see this name in them, I go directly to the Lord and select a name. Some people, really, I’ve worked with, they seem just as if they aren’t kingdom material. A lot of people, I’ve seen that I could not find anything in them to get a grip with. I couldn’t find anything within them that would respond to me.

And I’ve left in desolation. And so the Lord has taught me a new way to pray. And that is, instead of looking for Him in them, to look for them in Him. So if I come to a person and I don’t find anything that I can work with, I’ll leave the person just soaking and I go to the Lord. “All right, Jesus, You have a new name for this person. They are in relationship with You on the level of logos, the word, if not on the level of the flesh, manifestation. So let me get the word for them, the logos. Let me get the divine idea.” And I’ll stay before God until I get a redemptive idea concerning this person. And then release it in terms of intercessory prayer. God is marching before you, Adam, every creature, and saying, “Name it. And what you name it, it will become for you.” Let us pray.

Lord, this is frightening at times because it’s such a great responsibility. It’s awesome because it’s such high privilege. We didn’t know You loved us this much that You would let us name Your creation. And Lord, we know that people have been hurt because they’ve put arsenic label on sugar jars and sugar labels on arsenic jars.

Lord, help us to see the power of the new name that belongs to us and every man. Thank You, Lord. Amen.