25 Names of Jesus- Wonder

WARM UP

Pastor Chris Paavola:

Well, hello to everybody who has four wheel drive. I actually didn’t expect to see this many of you guys here this. So you are the faithful, you guys indeed are here no matter what Mother Nature throws at us. So thank you guys for being here, and we are grateful for our online technology that lets us be with you guys wherever you’re watching from. So stay safe wherever you are. Maybe you tried to get here and couldn’t, or maybe you just looked out the window and you’re like, Nope, nope, not happening. But either way, we’re glad to be with you guys as well. Thank you for joining us this morning. It’s actually kind of fitting right? Like White Christmas, right? We are officially in the Christmas season. Santa Claus went down the parade at Macy’s. It’s officially Christmas is here, and we have entered into the Christmas season.

WELCOME

And so, it’s also fitting that we would start a new series. This is actually a season that’s traditionally called Advent, which is meaning the season of preparation for Christmas when we remember Christ’s birth and we prepare for his arrival. Yeah. So this season of Advent is this time, these next 30 days, these next 25 days or so to help us reflect on and prepare ourselves for Christmas. And so we’re going to be doing this series called The 25 Names in Jesus. And I’m excited about this because there are a lot of names and titles ascribed to Jesus and they all add a nuance, a depth and a meaning to the Christmas celebration. I mean, it is actually kind of fun to think about that nobody who came to the manger that first Christmas just walked in and be like, Hey guys, what’s going on in here?

Nobody said that. Everybody came because they heard his names and they heard his titles. And I kind of like that. And that’s what we’re going to be doing together today. And in this series it’s just reflecting on the different names of Jesus because when you learn somebody’s names, it changes how you relate to them. It gives you an appreciation for who they are, but also how you interact with them. And we all have different names and titles.

NICKNAMES

So, me growing up, my nickname was Topher, that was it. So Christopher without Chris, right? So Topher and over Thanksgiving went down to my folks in Memphis. It was a whirlwind trip and there and back, but it was like instantly I was transported into being Uncle Topher again. That’s all I was called for two, three days, just Uncle Topher, that’s who I am. I’ve also had other nicknames growing up.

So Topher, there was a kid who couldn’t say tofu. They said Tito Fur. And so I became Tito Fur and then T for short. And then in hockey I was called PAVs or Preacher. That was two of my nicknames that I got. I’ve been called Provolone when I used to be called cp. Sometimes people still call me cp. And then I became a pastor. Now I’m PC because PCP is bad. Don’t do that. But anyway, cp. And then when you have big lips like I do, and you can talk like Donald Duck, you get called Ducky. So I was also called Ducky growing up, but those are all of my nicknames. If you’re watching online, why don’t you guys go ahead and type in what are some of the nicknames that you’ve been called? Turn to the person next to you. Find someone around you.

Tell them what your nickname was. Go real quick. Go each other’s nicknames. Tell somebody else who doesn’t know. Introduce yourself. We made a Facebook post on our Facebook page saying, Hey, what are some nicknames that you had as we get ready for this series, 25 names of Jesus. And we heard some, just some funny ones. You said yours was Nifer?  Yeah, Jennifer without Jen, Nifer. Nier. So now you’re Nifer to all of us, everybody. This is Nifer, meet Nifer. Then also Dini. There was somebody who was called Soup, somebody called Worm, somebody called the Great Pumpkin, somebody called Special K. I like that one. And then there’s a lady whose name is Connie, and she said that her nickname was Convict. And that again, all of a sudden if somebody’s nickname is Convict, I’m going to make sure I don’t upset you. Because when you learn someone’s names, it changes the way you interact with them.

ISSAIAH 9:6

It just does. And that’s true with Jesus as well. There’s a certain interaction and some of these names, especially if you’ve grown up in the church, you’ve heard these before. But I think today, even if you haven’t grown up in the church, especially if you haven’t grown up in the church, but even if you have the name we’re going to focus on today, I think it changes the way we interact with him. And I’ve been around Christians long enough that I think it’s going to change the way most, if not all of us interact with him. If we really examine this name for what it is, it comes to us from a prophet named Isaiah. This is about 700 years before the birth of Jesus. So 2,700 years ago, and there’s a Babylonian army. The shadow of that empire is growing closer and encroaching on Israel, and the people are afraid, and Isaiah doesn’t promise them that it’s not going to happen, that they’re not going to get conquered, but he does promise them that the people in darkness will see a great light.

And on those living in great darkness, a light will dawn and there’s going to be a day of celebration over this army. So when Warriors celebrate a plunder like V-Day, like winning the winning locker room on a World Series or something like that, you are going to celebrate Israel after this time of darkness. Why? And that’s where we get to these famous words from Isaiah chapter nine, verse six. It says, “For unto us, a child is born.”

6 For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

                                                                                                                                             Isaiah 9:6

That’s the answer, the answer to this darkness, this army, this empire, and this time of trial, there’s a baby unto us. “To us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called.” And these are the names you’ve seen on Christmas cards. If you’ve ever Handel’s Messiah, “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” And all of these names are awesome, all of them we need to look at independently.

And we will actually. So as you came in today, you should have gotten one of these booklets that we put together called The 25 Names of Jesus. It’s just an advent devotional. You do one a day. This is written by people from St. Mark here. Just I wanted to give lay leaders just a chance to kind of shed some insights onto these different titles. And so we gave people a name and a title to give their own reflection on and what is the significance of this to them? And then you can read it each day. And there’s the first six days actually our wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of Peace. And if you are watching online, you can go to the hub, so st mark.net/hub or just right [email protected]. And at the very top is the word hub. Click on that and you’ll see a picture of this right here and the 25 names of Jesus booklet.

You can click on that and there’s a PDF right there online for you as well. So you can access that if you aren’t able to pick up a book today, and you can use that to stay on track for when you get back next week and you can grab one of these. But anyway, today is what we’re going to be focusing on is that phrase wonderful. And then also counselor, there’s a little bit of theological debate. This is just, it is kind of inconsequential, but whether it’s four names or seven names here, because they’re not adjective, noun, adjective, noun, adjective, noun. When you read it in the Hebrew, it’s actually noun, noun, noun, noun, noun, noun. And it’s just kind of this nuance of the language that’s kind of quirky. So is it six, four names or is it He’s wonderful, he’s counselor, he’s almighty.

He’s God, he’s everlasting. He’s father. He’s prince of peace. So is it seven names or four doesn’t, again, it doesn’t really, it’s not very consequential, but it’s very interesting that they each kind of stand-alone independently. But we’re going to look at the phrase or the two words together and take them. I think there’s something interesting if we look at wonderful counselor together, starting with this word, wonderful.

WONDERFUL

We use this word wonderful. We’re like, oh, that’s wonderful. You did a wonderful job on your piano recital and this is the most wonderful time of year. We use the word wonderful synonymous with good. Oh, it’s good, it’s good. And you guys, that is a watered down. That is a watered down version of what this word wonderful really means. And we do this all the time, and it’s not a right or wrong thing, it’s just the way we talk. We exaggerate for emphasis all the time. We reach for the top shelf word all the time. Someone sends us a funny meme and we look at it and we’re like, that’s hilarious, hilarious. Really? You sniffed and smirked. You did not nearly go insane from laughter, which is what the word hilarious means. You just said hilarious because it was just you were exaggerating for effect.

Or if you see a thumbnail and it says Genius hack for toothpaste, and here’s how to get more toothpaste out of the tube. Genius. Really, it’s Einstein and then toothpaste hack. Really genius. No, it’s just clever. It’s not e equals mc squared theory, gravity. Isaac Newton toothpaste guy. No. If we say this chicken sandwich is amazing, okay, if it’s amazing, then what’s the word for the person who cures cancer? We need other words, otherwise we don’t have words when they’re appropriately used. And that’s just kind of my rant, but that’s how we talk. And we can’t read this section. We talk because at the Bible scripture, they’re very selective with their words, very judicious, very intentional and precise. When the Bible says wonderful, it means wonderful. And you can kind of see even in English, the etymology of it. It’s wonderful. It’s full of wonder.

The word is actually closer to miracle, miraculous. The word is on a literal level, inexplicable. It defies understanding. It’s full of wonder, a miracle. And when scripture uses this word, it doesn’t say like the sunset is wonderful or The stars in the sky are wonderful, those are great, they’re beautiful, but they’re not wonderful. They are God’s natural order doing what God set it up to do. The changing of the seasons is supposed to be beautiful, but it’s not wonderful on a literal narrow sense. Wonderful is things that defy logic that supersede the natural order, the miracles. So waters parting, that is a wonder bread falling from heaven. That’s a wonder The son stopping. That’s a wonder. And the story of Jesus, when they use word wonderful, they mean it. When the angel tells Mary, you’re going to be the mother of God’s son, she is filled with wonder.

She wonders to herself because it is inexplicable. How can this be? Since I am a virgin, Joseph wonders why he is entrusted with the care of God’s son. The shepherds wonder why God chose them. The magi are filled with wonder because it’s inexplicable. Why would the king of the Jews not be born in a palace in the capital city? And wonder fall those Jesus all through his ministry, he performs wonders that are inexplicable. He heals the blind, the lame, the leper. And people are filled with wonder. Sometimes his teachings astound them and fill them with wonder. Sometimes he does actions that make people wonder. It is inexplicable, it doesn’t make sense. And sometimes his counsel leaves them full of wonder.

So that’s the first word. Wonderful. And then we get to the next word, counselor.

COUNSELOR

Now this word we do know. We know what a counselor, counselor, we understand what a counselor is. It’s somebody. And I thank God that I’ve had many counselors and therapists in my life. I thank God that the stigma around that is going away. I think it’s good. It’s good to sit down with somebody who has what objectivity about a circumstance. They’re not in the weeds and tied up in all the emotions and consequences. They can speak independently about your situation and give you good counsel. That’s good. They have maybe a wisdom or an insight that you don’t understand that can help detangle things and lay things out because you’re so twisted up in the situation and they can straighten it out and help you think clearly about it in a linear sort of way.

Maybe they even have wisdom of how you can approach this situation or a new technique. That’s what a counselor does on just a one-to-one level that makes sense. That’s what God is. He’s a counselor. I mean if he’s God, he’s outside of our situation objectivity. He looks at time as if it’s just a thing laying on a table. He’s the beginning and the end and he sees the bigger picture that we can’t see in the moment. He has a wisdom that’s beyond us. So he gives us tools and techniques to navigate our situation. This makes a lot of sense, but this is then where we get into two tensions. Two, I mean that tensions with this word, wonderful counselor. And the first one is, what if you don’t need counsel?

And all my life and all my years of counseling, people never has a couple come up to me and said, pastor Chris, can you sit down with us and counsel us? Things are just going so well. Nobody comes to me when their marriage is good. They come to me when they’re struggling, right? Why else would you go get counsel? We’re good. And if God is a counselor, what if you don’t think you need help? What if you think you got life figured out? I got the intellect. I know what I’m doing. I’ve got friends in high places. I haven’t met a problem that my money can’t solve. I’ve got an insurance plan and a retirement plan and a couple cars and four wheel drive. If it snows, it’s speaking to you. Of course. Sorry.

You’re good. And so why would you want to come to God if you don’t need counsel? This is what Jesus talks about when he says the deceitfulness of wealth and how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of. It’s because money has a way of anesthetizing us to our true desperation of how needy we really are, how much trouble we really have. Money has a way of clouding that. And just in general, if we’ve got a lot of resources and connections and power, and if we’ve got intellect to figure things out, then why would we ever want to come to God? And I mean this, my friends, those who find a wonderful counselor at Christmas are only the ones who are willing to admit they need help.

Time and time again, you hear stories of people’s conversions later in life, time and time again. People talk to me about when just the light came on and they’re like, I believe it’s because their prayer started out in some way, shape, or form. And it sounded like this. Help. I’ve come to the end of myself, I can’t do this. I’ve tried, Lord, I’m desperate. Help time and a time again. Every time we have an adult baptism here at St. Mark, this story, they may not be word for word, but they sure rhyme and they all have this word and this plea and this cry help. They recognized their need and they looked for a wonderful counselor to help them. And if you’re unwilling to admit that you need help or unable to see that you need help, you’ll never come to a counselor. This is why when the angel tells Mary she’s going to give birth to God’s son and she has this wow kind of wonder moment, she responds with a song.

She bursts into this song and it talks about how the Lord has sent the rich away empathy. He has scattered the proud and their thoughts and he has unseated the rulers from their throne because people who think that they’ve got it figured out, who have all the answers are going to come away empty.

KNEELING IN BETHLEHEM

I love when you go to the actual city of Bethlehem today, most likely Jesus wasn’t born in a barn. It was more likely a cave. So I know the nativity set on your mantle is a barn. That’s fine, that’s fine. But most likely it was a cave because it’s a very rocky region. And the church and the nativity in Bethlehem is built right on top of this cave that is the traditional site, whether we know it is or not. But it’s the traditional site of where Jesus was born. And so the cave if kind of got this facade constructed over the cave entrance, and you can go there today and you can see it there in the picture and they’ve got a little star with a hole in the ground that you can reach through and touch the rock underneath right where he was born.

And I love this because the proud, the people who are standing tall can come in and admire the star. But the only people who will experience and touch where he was born are those who are willing to get down on their knees and be humbled. And to reach through the hole and touch them. And that even there at the actual site in Bethlehem, the proud can see and admire it. They walk away empty, but only the humble are able to touch his birth. I love it. I love it.

Now there’s one other tension. So that’s the tension with the word counsel. There’s one other tension though, is when you put the words wonderful and counselor together, because sometimes his counsel is wonderful, meaning sometimes when he counsels you, you will be filled with wonder. It’s inexplicable. It doesn’t make sense. Sometimes when he counsels you, you’ll walk away confused because he’s the wonderful counselor. Sometimes it makes sense and other times you just have to trust him that the wonderful counselor whose wisdom is too great for you, his understanding beyond you, his ways mysterious and beyond searching out. Sometimes his counsel won’t make sense, but you have to trust him anyway.

THE DOCTOR IS IN

Now, I told you today that the names of Jesus and because sometimes names change the way we interact with someone and changes our understanding of someone. That’s how we started, right? And the name wonderful counselor I think changes the way all of us interact with him. I’ve hung around Christians long enough, I’ve heard the way we pray and I’ve noticed that when we have problems, when we have things that are beyond our capabilities where we need help, we approach God in prayer far more often in the other names of God here in Isaiah nine, but not wonderful counselor, let me demonstrate, God, I have a problem. And so I come to him as a prince of peace asking you because of this problem in the midst of this problem, give me peace.

That’s good. But that’s only one of the four titles. Sometimes I think when we have a problem, we approach him like the everlasting Father, God, I have a problem, but I know someday I’m going to go to your house Heavenly Father, where there is no more crying, no more pain, no more sorrow. And so keep me until that day when I am with you forever. And that’s good. You should pray like that. But that’s only one of the four names. Sometimes when we pray we go to as mighty God. God I have a problem and I need you to show your power and fix it. Intervene with your supernatural power and change this situation by your power. I’m struggling, Lord. So do something miraculous put. But when you come to him as a counselor, it sounds A little different.

God, I have a problem. What should I do? How do you want me to proceed? What do I say right now? How do I manage this situation? I’m twisted up, I’m confused. I need some objectivity, counsel me. Give me some of that wonderful counsel, Lord, that’s approaching God like a counselor. It’s joining your voice with someone in the Bible named Hannah who said, why is this happening to me, Lord? Or David. Should I go to battle counsel me? Or the disciples. Where should we go, Lord, where are we going? Would you show us counsel, give guidance, give direction, navigate my steps? Wonderful counselor. And so here’s what we’re going to do to end our time together. And by the way, there is a verse in Isaiah. So we’ve been camped out here in Isaiah nine verse six, A few chapters later in Isaiah 30, verse 21 is one of my favorite verses from the book of Isaiah because it speaks to God as a wonderful counselor. It says, whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way walk in it.

Sometimes we hear God’s audible voice that’s shown in scripture. I never have. But I do believe God has directed me and counseled me by prompting my heart like two other people in the Christmas story, a man named Simeon and a woman named Anna, both moved and prompted by the Holy Spirit in a certain direction. And that’s what I want for you in this moment today. I think most times we do a really good job, for the most part at listening to a sermon in church. You listen pretty good. You’re good listeners. You listen to a sermon, you nod along and you have intent to go out there and live it. But sometimes life happens. So I’ll preach on loving your neighbor and you’re like, yeah, I’m going to love my neighbor. And then you go live next to your neighbors and you’re like maybe next week, right?

So what I want to give us an opportunity to do this morning is to actually help you pray to God as a wonderful counselor. And I’ve heard the way we pray. I’ve heard Christians before, I don’t hear us praying this way very often because it requires us to stop and to listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit like we hear or we see here in Isaiah 30 and like we see in the Christmas story. And so I want to give space for the Holy Spirit to speak to you. So right now, lock in your minds a situation where you’re confused. Where are you beyond your limits? What problem are you going through right now? And I’m looking at this room and I see some incredible stories. I know it’s like right there. Some of you might have to dig a little bit deeper, but what’s the problem you’re going through? What’s the place where you’re confused, where you don’t have an answer? Let’s pray.

PRAYER

Wonderful. Counselor,

Help. We are beyond our abilities, our limited understanding, and we need you to guide us and direct us very specifically, Lord, there are people in the room and people watching online who have a situation that is confusing them, where they need guidance, they need direction. They’re all twisted up. Do as you promise in your word, order our steps. Would you speak now by your Holy Spirit and prompt our hearts?

What do you want us to do? What should I say, Lord, what shouldn’t I say? What’s my next step?

Lord, we acknowledge that sometimes your counsel is too wonderful. It’s inexplicable, it doesn’t make sense. And if you’re leading us to do something that’s hard, God or beyond our understanding, help us to trust you. And God used this confusion, this problem, this situation to help me appreciate all the more your birth as our wonderful counselor. When we don’t know what to say, we can always say the words your son taught us to pray. And all of his wisdom as we say together:

Our Father,

 Who art in heaven,

Hollowed be thy name,

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven,

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us,

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil,

For thine is the kingdom,

 And the power,

 And the glory,

 Forever and ever. Amen.