Sermon - Advent 1 - 2019- Wonderful
- Our society is known for labeling, or stigmatizing other people.
- I was offended when I realized that I was lumped into the group of millennials,
mainly because of majority of their misguided ideas.
- Then I came across the stigma that, once again, labels people wrongly.
- Baby Boomers are being called “OK Boomer”.
- It’s a phrase to put them down, just because they’re a baby boomer.
Q- Now, what happens when you find a good labeling?
- A good name changes our attitudes, & even how we interact with other people.
- Our first outlook for Advent is Hope.
- Jesus is given a name that draws people to Him, inspires people, & causes
people to adjust their lives because they want to be more like Him.
- Last week I began with reading Isaiah 9:6, & we talked about the child is born, the
Son is given, & the government will be on His shoulders.
- Let’s read now the name that comes next.
Isaiah 9:6
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
- Jesus will be called wonderful.
Q- Doesn’t the name, by itself, just draw you to Him?
- You want to know what exactly makes Him so wonderful, & it gives you hope,
because you hope the name is true.
Prayer
- The name wonderful calls in thoughts of greatness, peace, joy, comfort, & etc..
- This name of wonderful however, means so much more than what we perceive it to
be.
- This is a name that is meant to show the sheer wonder of our God.
- In the book of Judges, Samson’s dad asks the angel of the LORD what His
name is.
- This was God! He was in a form, revealing Himself to man. Listen to God’s reply.
Judges 13:18
18 And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?
- The Word secret is what is translated Wonderful in Isaiah.
- His name is wonderful, His name is secret, His name is beyond what we could ever
comprehend.
- Whenever we hear a secret, we want to figure out what the secret is.
- We often imagine up ideas as to what the secret could be.
- Isaiah prophesied, one will be born unlike anything, or one we have ever known.
Q- Could you imagine meeting a man who turned water to wine, healed countless
people both near & from far, walked on water, calmed the sea, fed 5,000 plus with a
boy’s lunch, & had wisdom by far smarter than anyone else?
- Those things were but a fraction of Who God is.
Q- What about the fact that He called from the empty void of space everything into
being.
- When we start grasping the idea, that His name means wonderful. Then we are
accepting the call to fear God, or be in awe of God.
- It’s a call to stare into the vast, unsearchable, universe, focusing on the trillions of
miles it stretches, & realizing There’s still so much more we haven’t seen yet.
Proverbs 9:10
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
- Each year we celebrate the birth of Our Savior, Jesus Christ.
- Each year people question our sanity questioning why we believe in such a man.
- When we first are saved, questions like these bother us, but as we get older,
wiser in our faith, questions/statements against us don’t bring much of rise out
of Us.
- That’s Because we can look passed the things that are ugly, or unpleasant,
& see something wonderful!
Q- Is that not the full picture of hope?
- In the moment Jesus was born, Hope was complete.
- No longer is there searching for a better future, because the moment you make
Jesus Lord, He gives you His future.
- In Psalm 102, the psalmist, an exile from Jerusalem, & in poor health, teaches
us how he looks forward to what’s wonderful.
Psalm 102:19-21
19 For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth;
20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;
21 To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;
- He looked forward to what God was going to do. The exile removed, & his home
restored.
- These were things unthinkable, at this moment, but he knew his Wonderful God
Could do it!
- I know we could easily turn this & say, yes but this was a Jew, & they were
closer, & chosen by God. Of course he could call out to God.
- I think this is another stigma that the world has placed on God, & salvation.
- There was nothing special about the Israelites that earned God’s love,
besides one thing, Faith.
- Faith was instilled in them through Abraham who blindly heeded God’s
call to go to a place he knew not.
- In the end of Abraham’s life, he had learned if you trust in God,
wonderful things are awaiting you.
- The same call goes to us.
2 Timothy 1:9
9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
- It’s a call of faith. It’s a call to walk towards God’s purpose & grace (the wonderful) &
be complete.
- There’s another phrase though. It’s one that completely takes away how
wonderful Christ is.
Q- Do you know what it is?
- It’s when we say, well wouldn’t that have been wonderful.
- You say that when you missed the wonderful.
- There’s no hope when you say that, only despair.
- Let me close with words of hope, & let’s reflect on the wonderful hope that was born
these 2000 plus years ago.
> Whose side is God on? (storiesforpreaching.com)
During the US civil war Abraham Lincoln met with a group of ministers for a prayer breakfast. Lincoln was not a church-goer but was a man of deep, if at times unorthodox, faith. At one point one of the ministers said, “Mr President, let us pray that God is on our side”. Lincoln’s response showed far greater insight, “No, gentlemen, let us pray that we are on God’s side.”
Lincoln reminded those ministers that religion is not a tool by which we get God to do what we want but an invitation to open ourselves to being and doing what God wants.
- Lincoln also gave us the picture of, wouldn’t it be wonderful to win the war. No,
wouldn’t it be wonderful to hear the words, well done, My good & faithful son.
- We can hold a lot of things as wonderful, but Christ is greater than any of them.
Q- This morning I want to ask if you see what’s wonderful?
