WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:12.380 Tonight, I want to invite you to turn back a couple of pages, just flick back to the second reading from Isaiah 9 which Ethan read for us this evening. 00:00:12.380 --> 00:00:15.000 ! It's just underneath the old town of Bethlehem. 00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:19.760 We're going to think about that passage just for a few moments this evening. 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:30.539 Giving and receiving gifts can be quite a reveal in time, can't it? 00:00:30.780 --> 00:00:40.140 If the giver knows you really well, what they choose to give to you can tell you a lot about what they think of you. 00:00:41.100 --> 00:00:44.480 Maybe you have to try and swallow your pride a bit with some gifts. 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:50.159 And you kind of think, well, what exactly are you trying to say with this gift? 00:00:51.199 --> 00:00:57.839 If you get the book on dieting, you might think, well, what exactly are you trying to say about my wonderful figure? 00:00:58.559 --> 00:01:04.199 Or you get loads of deodorant one year, well, what exactly are you trying to say about my wonderful aroma? 00:01:04.780 --> 00:01:06.379 What exactly are you trying to say? 00:01:07.879 --> 00:01:11.400 And the gift that God gives us at Christmas is like that. 00:01:11.400 --> 00:01:16.240 By sending Jesus to us, God is saying something. 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:22.660 Saying something about us, about who we are, and about what we need. 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:29.219 So Isaiah, Isaiah wrote about 700 or so years before Jesus arrived. 00:01:29.820 --> 00:01:31.680 Before the gift of Jesus was given. 00:01:31.880 --> 00:01:37.380 And God revealed to Isaiah all the way back then what this gift was going to do. 00:01:37.379 --> 00:01:40.879 And he gives four names for the gift, doesn't he? 00:01:40.899 --> 00:01:45.539 If you look at verse 6 of Isaiah 9, he calls him those four things. 00:01:46.039 --> 00:01:51.299 Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. 00:01:52.299 --> 00:01:57.259 What I want to do with you really briefly this evening is to ask God that question. 00:01:57.260 --> 00:02:06.740 By giving him to us, by giving this gift to us, what exactly are you trying to say about us? 00:02:07.880 --> 00:02:09.219 Why do we need him? 00:02:10.580 --> 00:02:15.400 I think there are three parts to the answer that Isaiah gives us. 00:02:15.400 --> 00:02:21.900 The first reason is that the gift of Jesus shows us that we are in darkness. 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:24.620 We're in darkness. 00:02:24.840 --> 00:02:28.400 It's what Isaiah says pretty straightforwardly, isn't it, in verse 2. 00:02:28.740 --> 00:02:32.680 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:36.560 But then look at the first name that this gift has. 00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:42.719 To us, the Son is given and he will be called, first of all, Wonderful Counselor. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:45.319 Wonderful Counselor. 00:02:45.400 --> 00:02:47.140 So what is a counselor? 00:02:48.300 --> 00:02:56.240 Well, they are someone, aren't they, who gets alongside you and gives you insight sometimes. 00:02:57.180 --> 00:03:05.580 A person who is able to come along and to help you to see things properly in a way that you've not been able to do on your own. 00:03:06.659 --> 00:03:15.060 So Jesus is given to us because we are in darkness and we need someone to counsel us. 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:20.800 We need someone to shed light into our situation. 00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:23.680 Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor. 00:03:23.740 --> 00:03:27.060 He's able to do that better than anybody else can. 00:03:27.060 --> 00:03:30.300 So what exactly are you trying to say, God? 00:03:30.300 --> 00:03:46.100 The gift he sends tells us that on our own, even with Google, we are no closer to really seeing and really knowing what we need to know as human beings. 00:03:46.099 --> 00:03:53.240 We're no closer without him to knowing ourselves and knowing the God who made us. 00:03:54.840 --> 00:04:00.079 Even with all of our advantage and our knowledge, we are spiritually blind. 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:04.360 We are in the dark to ourselves and to him. 00:04:05.020 --> 00:04:09.939 And the fact that we don't see that is a big clue, actually, isn't it? 00:04:09.939 --> 00:04:16.000 It's in being blind that we're unable to see what we can't see. 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:18.920 So we need a counselor. 00:04:20.300 --> 00:04:26.439 You need the Wonderful Counselor to shed light on the reality of who God is. 00:04:27.899 --> 00:04:33.699 And that he is there and he made all things and he made you and I for himself through a relationship. 00:04:33.699 --> 00:04:39.979 So the gift of Jesus shows that we're in darkness and he comes to shed light. 00:04:40.680 --> 00:04:45.740 But secondly, the gift also says something to us, that we are powerless. 00:04:46.980 --> 00:04:47.899 We're powerless. 00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:49.399 And he's the Wonderful Counselor. 00:04:49.480 --> 00:04:50.779 But look at his second title. 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:57.599 It tells us that not only do we lack the light that Jesus brings, but we lack power. 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:02.659 Because he is called Mighty God. 00:05:03.699 --> 00:05:05.500 Mighty God. 00:05:06.279 --> 00:05:14.060 The original word in the Hebrew that Isaiah writes in and speaks in has undertones of a hero. 00:05:15.060 --> 00:05:15.779 Heroism. 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:16.899 A rescue. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:23.379 Jesus is the heroic God of mighty power. 00:05:24.180 --> 00:05:30.360 And so he is given not just to show us the way like a torch shows us the way in the darkness. 00:05:30.360 --> 00:05:35.259 But he is given to be the way of rescue. 00:05:35.500 --> 00:05:36.720 A powerful rescue. 00:05:37.860 --> 00:05:45.600 Isaiah has this lovely picture of his power like a king with the government on his shoulders. 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:46.920 Great, isn't it? 00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:52.259 You see dads or mums in the park with kids on their shoulders, don't you? 00:05:52.259 --> 00:05:58.600 And he is like that with the government of all things on his shoulders. 00:05:58.780 --> 00:06:04.600 With shoulders strong enough to bear the weight of all the world's ills. 00:06:05.879 --> 00:06:10.860 Mighty to carry you on his shoulders. 00:06:10.860 --> 00:06:14.100 And so we are powerless. 00:06:14.100 --> 00:06:15.879 And we often display that, don't we? 00:06:15.939 --> 00:06:17.860 We display our weakness. 00:06:18.340 --> 00:06:27.860 Just thinking personally, I know many times I fail often to rule with power and to master my own behaviour. 00:06:27.860 --> 00:06:30.660 In holiness and goodness. 00:06:31.379 --> 00:06:33.180 In a way that God intends me to. 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:38.759 Even knowing the right thing, I fail to keep up my own standards. 00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:40.720 Let alone God's and his worlds. 00:06:41.280 --> 00:06:42.199 I'm powerless. 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:49.340 And so I need one who is powerful enough to do the things that I'm too weak to do for myself. 00:06:49.339 --> 00:06:54.839 And to rescue me from my failures in God's eyes. 00:06:55.679 --> 00:06:57.819 So what exactly are you trying to say, God? 00:06:58.739 --> 00:07:00.439 Sending Jesus to us. 00:07:01.819 --> 00:07:04.459 He is saying, you are blind to me. 00:07:05.219 --> 00:07:06.899 And you are weak. 00:07:07.319 --> 00:07:14.120 You are unable to do what I require as a holy God, as my creatures in my world. 00:07:15.779 --> 00:07:16.959 Darkness powers. 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:21.759 And then lastly, the gift of Jesus shows us that we're homeless. 00:07:22.799 --> 00:07:24.759 He shows us that we're homeless. 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:31.079 His next titles tell us that we don't just lack the light and the power of God, 00:07:31.379 --> 00:07:39.839 but we lack the love and peace we are supposed to have with God too. 00:07:41.079 --> 00:07:42.139 And what else is he? 00:07:42.139 --> 00:07:43.439 Wonderful counsellor. 00:07:44.139 --> 00:07:45.019 Mighty God. 00:07:46.359 --> 00:07:46.939 Everlasting. 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:47.839 Father. 00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:50.379 And Prince of Peace. 00:07:51.799 --> 00:07:56.039 Now if you know anything about the Bible, you'll know that the Bible teaches us that 00:07:56.039 --> 00:07:59.039 God is one God in three persons. 00:07:59.219 --> 00:08:00.500 Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 00:08:00.939 --> 00:08:04.899 But I don't think Isaiah is talking particularly about that here. 00:08:06.019 --> 00:08:10.399 And just quite simply, he wants us to think about the job of a father. 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:11.399 Father, what a father does. 00:08:11.399 --> 00:08:17.019 And a father is simply someone who creates family. 00:08:17.019 --> 00:08:24.659 Who brings others into a family of love and peace. 00:08:25.319 --> 00:08:26.699 Into a loving home. 00:08:26.699 --> 00:08:27.699 And that's the image here. 00:08:27.699 --> 00:08:28.319 And that's the image here. 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:34.700 Jesus is the wise and mighty God who gives orphans a home. 00:08:34.700 --> 00:08:40.759 The gift tells us then that without Jesus we are blind to God. 00:08:41.540 --> 00:08:44.040 We are powerless to live for him. 00:08:44.039 --> 00:08:48.120 And as orphans we are outside of his family. 00:08:48.120 --> 00:08:54.360 And if he comes to bring peace, then that also tells us that we're at war with him. 00:08:54.360 --> 00:09:00.720 I don't know if that is a description that you recognise in yourself this evening. 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:03.259 Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. 00:09:03.340 --> 00:09:08.600 But God sends Jesus and says to us, actually this is exactly what we are without him. 00:09:08.700 --> 00:09:09.360 Without the gift. 00:09:10.940 --> 00:09:14.840 A famous atheist was once interviewed on national TV. 00:09:15.620 --> 00:09:19.120 And the interviewer wanted to know what atheism was all about. 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:20.560 And he said, are you an atheist? 00:09:20.800 --> 00:09:22.700 Because you don't believe in God. 00:09:22.700 --> 00:09:26.160 And he said, well that is part of it. 00:09:26.220 --> 00:09:27.440 I don't believe in God. 00:09:28.379 --> 00:09:31.220 But actually my atheism is more than that. 00:09:31.920 --> 00:09:33.420 I hate God. 00:09:35.560 --> 00:09:37.580 There's no real logic to that, is there? 00:09:38.420 --> 00:09:41.560 He hates the one he says doesn't exist. 00:09:43.620 --> 00:09:47.960 And it was a moment, wasn't it, where he lost his guard, kind of intellectually. 00:09:47.960 --> 00:09:55.100 And he revealed actually what is in every heart, truly in every human heart, naturally. 00:09:56.460 --> 00:10:03.820 That knowing he is there, we live as people in a world that has very little interest in him at all. 00:10:04.280 --> 00:10:06.280 A very little vision of him. 00:10:06.279 --> 00:10:13.480 And little desire or power to live for him in the way that he wants us to. 00:10:14.679 --> 00:10:18.259 And we live in a world that is perfectly happy to shun him. 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:23.919 And never imagine that we won't be loved by him and welcomed by him into his family. 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:33.639 But to believe like that, and to think that, is like me turning up to some random stranger's house on Christmas Day, isn't it? 00:10:33.699 --> 00:10:36.319 I've got no relationship with him up until that point. 00:10:37.439 --> 00:10:44.839 And I welcome myself in and I sit at someone else's table and I start tucking into somebody else's little roast turkey. 00:10:44.840 --> 00:10:48.800 And they'd say, well, come on, here, you. 00:10:50.120 --> 00:10:51.300 I don't know you. 00:10:51.420 --> 00:10:52.680 You're not in this family. 00:10:53.019 --> 00:10:54.139 I don't recognise you. 00:10:54.340 --> 00:10:54.940 Get out. 00:10:56.220 --> 00:10:58.180 And that would be the right thing to do, wouldn't it? 00:10:59.060 --> 00:11:03.139 It would just be a massive assumption on my heart. 00:11:03.139 --> 00:11:10.799 If I think that I can be like that with God, then, that is a massive assumption. 00:11:12.220 --> 00:11:16.620 And the gifts that he sends me tells me something very different. 00:11:18.100 --> 00:11:22.519 That we're blind and we're powerless and we're homeless. 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:24.299 We are outside of his family. 00:11:24.299 --> 00:11:37.399 And that can only change with the giving and accepting of the wonderful counsellor and the mighty God and the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. 00:11:38.279 --> 00:11:41.699 Jesus himself into our lives as our Lord. 00:11:43.139 --> 00:11:44.899 Jesus is very clear. 00:11:46.139 --> 00:11:50.319 He says that no one comes to the Father except through me. 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:56.379 So if you think about it, it's not a very flattering gift, is it? 00:11:57.660 --> 00:12:00.920 At first, it doesn't make us feel good about ourselves. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:03.840 Christmas sentimentality. 00:12:03.960 --> 00:12:08.180 When you actually look at what Jesus has come to do, go straight out the window. 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:15.900 One year after a carol service like this, someone gave me a book called Why Johnny Can't Preach. 00:12:15.899 --> 00:12:21.179 Why Ministers are Giving Such Bad Carol Service Servants. 00:12:21.740 --> 00:12:23.519 And it was definitely needed. 00:12:23.679 --> 00:12:26.579 But I'm thinking, what exactly are you trying to say with this gift? 00:12:28.019 --> 00:12:30.379 And Jesus is like that, isn't he? 00:12:31.860 --> 00:12:37.600 The incarnation, before we see it as the greatest gift to mankind, 00:12:37.959 --> 00:12:42.980 we've got to realise, actually, it has the greatest insult to mankind. 00:12:42.980 --> 00:12:47.940 It's the kind of gift where we've got to swallow our pride. 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:54.940 But he's saying we've got no right to be loved by a God that we've rejected. 00:12:56.379 --> 00:13:02.039 And we've got to admit that we need the Lord Jesus to be all of these things. 00:13:03.500 --> 00:13:04.759 All of the time. 00:13:05.480 --> 00:13:06.620 For all of us. 00:13:06.620 --> 00:13:11.480 To admit to him, I have been blind to you, God. 00:13:12.779 --> 00:13:15.539 And I've been weak in living for you. 00:13:15.639 --> 00:13:16.419 I've failed. 00:13:17.720 --> 00:13:20.960 And I've not lived as one of the people of your family. 00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:24.860 I've lived most of my life wishing I could be anywhere else, 00:13:24.940 --> 00:13:26.799 apart from your house and your family. 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:34.419 But amazingly, God doesn't sit in heaven disapprovingly in our behaviour. 00:13:35.379 --> 00:13:39.039 But in his kindness, he gives the gift of Jesus 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:43.679 in a way that helps me to receive him. 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:49.919 Because who is this wise, powerful hero? 00:13:50.979 --> 00:13:54.759 Who is this awesome light that we need? 00:13:54.859 --> 00:13:59.679 Well, the shock that Isaiah gives us is in verse 6, if you look there. 00:14:00.479 --> 00:14:05.299 For to us, a child is born. 00:14:05.299 --> 00:14:07.919 To us, a son is given. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.740 Even if and when God is insulting us by telling us what we need, 00:14:15.339 --> 00:14:19.000 he does that in a very gentle way, doesn't he? 00:14:20.479 --> 00:14:24.240 He sends a gift that is kind and meek. 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:28.059 In a God who is a humble child. 00:14:29.339 --> 00:14:31.459 Making himself poor for us. 00:14:31.460 --> 00:14:39.879 And we then are humbled as we see how far that humility in God goes. 00:14:40.420 --> 00:14:44.100 As he gives his light and power and welcome 00:14:44.100 --> 00:14:48.720 through his own walk into the darkness 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:54.220 and powerlessness and rejection of the cross. 00:14:56.220 --> 00:15:01.360 There, the Son of God is treated as an orphan, isn't he? 00:15:02.100 --> 00:15:06.700 As an outsider that we might be welcomed. 00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:10.860 He comes to swap places with us. 00:15:11.920 --> 00:15:16.160 And he shoulders the government of our lives 00:15:16.160 --> 00:15:20.460 by shouldering a wooden cross up a hill. 00:15:21.460 --> 00:15:23.540 He takes the blame we deserve. 00:15:23.539 --> 00:15:29.339 So, God, what exactly are you trying to say with this gift? 00:15:31.179 --> 00:15:34.860 God is saying, isn't he, you don't realise how much trouble you're in. 00:15:36.419 --> 00:15:40.679 Without Jesus, you don't realise how blind you are to yourself 00:15:40.679 --> 00:15:46.859 and how powerless you are and how foreign you are to me as a holy God. 00:15:46.860 --> 00:15:54.000 But at the same time, he is saying, you don't realise how much I love you 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:57.759 and how much I desire to bring you home. 00:15:59.399 --> 00:16:02.919 He's like the father that is in that story that Jesus tells, 00:16:03.019 --> 00:16:05.399 the famous story of the prodigal son, 00:16:05.500 --> 00:16:09.480 who has no shame in running towards his lost boy 00:16:09.480 --> 00:16:14.840 to welcome the one who spurned him and mistreated him. 00:16:14.980 --> 00:16:16.980 That is what God is like, Jesus says. 00:16:16.980 --> 00:16:21.620 So, can I say it as we finish? 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:26.180 Please don't pack this gift away with all the Christmas decorations 00:16:26.180 --> 00:16:27.879 in a week or two. 00:16:27.980 --> 00:16:31.220 Don't just shove it in the attic for another year. 00:16:32.700 --> 00:16:36.580 And please, please do not make the catastrophic assumption 00:16:36.580 --> 00:16:40.500 that you are already welcoming God's family 00:16:40.500 --> 00:16:44.180 without ever needing to trust in Jesus 00:16:44.180 --> 00:16:46.680 and live for him as your Lord and Saviour. 00:16:46.980 --> 00:16:50.639 Jesus is very clear that that is impossible 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:53.519 and that can never happen without him. 00:16:55.139 --> 00:16:59.779 But Jesus' gift is here before you tonight. 00:17:01.379 --> 00:17:03.940 And God wants you to receive him. 00:17:05.799 --> 00:17:09.519 So as we close, maybe it would help you to imagine 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:14.740 that he is yours to have tonight, personally. 00:17:14.740 --> 00:17:21.779 Just imagine the word us here in this passage 00:17:21.779 --> 00:17:22.980 as the word me. 00:17:24.279 --> 00:17:25.940 So make it personal. 00:17:27.500 --> 00:17:29.500 So instead of to us a child is given, 00:17:30.259 --> 00:17:33.940 imagine that as to me a child is given. 00:17:33.940 --> 00:17:34.940 Follow it through. 00:17:34.940 --> 00:17:35.980 Follow it through. 00:17:35.980 --> 00:17:35.980 00:17:35.980 --> 00:17:35.980 00:17:35.980 --> 00:17:35.980 00:17:35.980 --> 00:17:35.980 00:17:35.980 --> 00:17:41.820 And I will call him my wonderful counsellor. 00:17:42.600 --> 00:17:44.480 My mighty God. 00:17:44.980 --> 00:17:46.940 My everlasting Father. 00:17:47.900 --> 00:17:49.200 My Prince of Peace. 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:56.759 Jesus is all of these things all of the time for me. 00:17:57.960 --> 00:18:00.400 In my darkness and in my weakness 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:04.440 to bring me home to my God 00:18:04.440 --> 00:18:06.819 and to give me peace. 00:18:07.259 --> 00:18:09.339 Let's go out to pray. 00:18:09.339 --> 00:18:09.339 00:18:09.339 --> 00:18:10.059 Let's go out to pray. 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:10.059 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:11.059 Wow.