November 30, 2022 – Advent Text: Isaiah 9:6
Dear Friends in Christ,
In today’s world because of the loud voices, we hear about everything “Christian” going away. Nobody follows God’s Word anymore; I mean look around you. Because of this people tend to buy into the myth. Here is just a small example. Have you noticed the names dads and moms continue to give their children. Look at a top ten list or top 50 list and Biblical names are all over especially with boys. Just in the top ten for boys you find Noah, Elijah, Levi, and Asher. These aren’t even New Testament names, they are from the Old Testament. God continues to work and the Christian influence is going nowhere.
I love my name and pray you do too. Joseph and Mary didn’t need to get out the latest name book. They got something a little more immediate and dramatic – an angel. They both heard, “You shall call His name Jesus.” With the assigning of the name Jesus the angel was saying, “This Child Is . . .” Jesus means “The Lord Saves.” That has a life-changing meaning for us. Let’s begin these mid-week Advent sermons with . . .
“THIS CHILD IS . . . WONDERFUL COUNSELOR”
Our theme verse is Isaiah 9:6, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be on His shoulder, and His name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Tonight, we look at “wonderful” and “counselor.”
We will start with the 2nd one first – Counselor. What do you think of when you hear that term? Someone who can provide guidance. Someone who might provide comfort. Before we see a counselor we like to know they will lead us down the right path or to the right answers for our lives. We want to trust them. We look to their experience.
Jesus does all of this and more. We can trust Him and His Word. He comforts us in tough times. He guides with His eternal light. He has perfect knowledge and absolute truth. There is no hourly charge. His rate is always the same – grace, mercy, forgiveness – and it all comes from his Hand.
All right you wonderful people, how about wonderful? How will you decipher this? Remember being starry-eyed when getting to know your spouse? “Dad, mom he’s wonderful!” “Pa, ma, isn’t she just wonderful!” It was used as an adjective. For Jesus, it is a name. It is the content of who He is. He is wonderful because of all His goodness and his self-sacrifice on the cross. It is about who He is and what He came to do. It takes us directly to His desire to give Himself for the sins of the world – wonderful!
Now, what does this all mean for us? How does Wonderful and Counselor apply to us? Think of it this way. Jesus is His name but as we see in Scripture Jesus has so many other titles. If I asked every one of you here tonight for a title of Jesus, you could each name a different one. We would have to bring in more people to even get close to all his names in Scripture.
It is the same for you. You have a name. But think of everything you have been called in life? Prayerfully mostly positive. Jesus is “The Lord saves” let’s start there.
So, what are we being saved from? Sin. Jesus addresses our deepest need. We must acknowledge who we are. John helps to identify us in His Gospel, “Jesus needed no one to bear witness about man, for He himself knew what was in man.” (John 2:25). We can’t hide anything from God. He knows what is in you and I. “We have sinned against God in thought, word, and deed.”
Jesus doesn’t drag us into a courtroom to face the judgment we deserve. Rather, in the courtroom He declares us “Not Guilty.” He can declare that because He took our guilt and nailed it to a cross. This Counselor intervened for us and it is wonderful.
Most counselors want us to find solutions to our problems within ourselves. They want to point to man. “Read a book, keep a diary, speak with your parents about how they screwed you up.” What? Jesus operates outside that realm. He knows our problem is solved by who He is and what He has done for us. He insists that our problem of sin, death, and the devil can only be taken away by Him. He takes our sin. He takes our death. He faces the devil and conquers.
Too good to be true? Go to Bethlehem this Christmas and see the child born of a virgin. His name is Jesus – the One who saves. Listen to the angels sing “Glory to God and peace on earth” because of His birth. In the manger is “Wonderful.” The shepherds come to behold their “Counselor.” What is in a name? Everything. The names tell us who this child is and all that He has done.
Amen.