Christmas Eve 2023
Well welcome to our second last service for 2023… introduce myself…
- Add to the thank you’s…
- Baptists identifying marks is the priesthood of all believers…
- Wimber, everyone gets to play…
- Thank the staff team… most who aren’t here right now as they are doing their thing!
And what a year it has been.
- 12 months of church…
- 11 people got baptised
- 10 amazing staff members
- 9 new Life Groups
- 8 walls Anja hasn’t painted… yet…
- 7 types of milk requested for coffee
- 6 babies born
- 5 marriages
- 4 people who actually confirm they are available on the roster…
- Only 3 times I considered getting a job at Bunnings…
- 2 church campuses… Manly and Haberfield
- 1 Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!
I felt people started preparing for Christmas earlier this year.
- And I am not just talking about Westfield that seemed to start Christmas around August…
- In general, people put their trees up and decorated their homes early this year
- Victoria started playing Mariah Carey’s Christmas album in late October…
- And I think it speaks to our desire for good news and to have hope in the midst of gloom.
- We need Christmas!
- And more than that we need the Christ of Christmas – Jesus, the light of the world!
We are doing a mini-series in the lead up to Christmas on Isaiah 9…
- The promise of a saviour to come into the world… for unto us a child is born!
- And the nature of his kingdom and reign!
- The promise, written by the Prophet Isaiah 700 years before the birth of Christ
- One in Matthew 4 that Jesus uses to refer to himself.
- So he was fully aware of this relating to himself!
That a great light would come for those walking in darkness.
- That (Isaiah 9:2) on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
- And then the promises that for those in the darkness, joy and liberation from oppression is coming!
- And how will this be achieved…
- Verse 6 For unto us a child is born!
So as we celebrate Christmas this year, in what may feel like an echo of Isaiah’s time of gloom and darkness…
- I think of wars raging, families struggling with bills, relational stresses!
- I want us to think about how gloom can be replaced with hope as we come to know the light of the world.
- As we come under the governance of this child, Jesus Christ, born on Christmas day!
- Let’s remind ourselves of those key verses and promises…
Vs 6 For to 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 Counsellor, Mighty God,Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
So 700 years before the birth of Jesus, God makes a birth announcement.
- It is a remarkable promise of hope in the midst of darkness.
- And it portends good things to come to us from God.
- And the titles given to this child are truly astounding. This is what this baby will do!
- He will be Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace
I love that. Of course when we announce the birth of a child we normally keep it to the name and that mum is doing well.
- Imagine we had put out Hope’s birth announcement followed by
- “excellent public speaker, creative genius, future CEO of a doggy daycare centre.”
- Haha – at best we could have put; cute, blinks, poops and drools…
Well this baby is different!
- In moving us from gloom and darkness, to light and hope this child will come to do remarkable things.
- Salvation history is to narrow down into this one child who will reign on David’s throne!
- So let’s have a look at his names!
- And I want to pose the question…
- Not just the usual, isn’t this amazing that Jesus fulfils these…
- But, does Jesus fulfil these roles in your life as your saviour?
Firstly, this child will be Wonderful Counsellor
That is, he will be wonderful in counsel… he will lead you on straight paths.
- His ways will be higher than our ways.
- He will teach with authority.
- He will be the way, the truth and the life!
- Right – when he talks, you should listen… and put it into action…
You know this year, the world feels more divided, more accusatory, more confusing than ever before.
- Oh to have a wonderful counsellors whose wisdom could guide the way!
- That we could have a saviour whose governance is as wise as it is true!
- Of course Jesus is our supernatural source of extraordinary wisdom.
- Amazing news for those who need guidance.
Last year I gave a sermon from the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus exhortation in Matthew 7 to build your house on the solid rock.
- He says that those who do not put his words into actions are like those who build on sand and when the storms come, they get washed away!
- But those who put his wisdom, his counsel, his teaching into action will have a well built, lasting, strong home!
- The constant is that we will face storms… hello anyone?
- You will go through stuff in this life… but this child will get your foundations solid!
- You see Jesus knows what is wise, he knows how to run the world, he knows how to run your life.
- So trust this saviour.
- For unto us a child is born and he will be wonderful counsellor.
I was thinking about the upcoming holidays and the reset we get to do at the end of each year as we start a new…
- I kept getting this phrase “Get your house in order…”
- Specifically as it comes to managing your time…
- Someone once said to me rather crudely, show me your diary and your bank statement and I’ll tell you how much you love Jesus…
- Now, here is the thing, you build your house around your priorities… could be kids sport, could be building a business, getting your education, maybe your social life…
- All good things…
- But you will not build on a solid foundation if Jesus, and church and putting his teaching into practice is a secondary concern!
Right? You can’t just visit Wonderful Counsellor when it suits, or when the storm starts raging…
- I am just giving it to you straight…
- If Jesus is to be your saviour and guide for life… it takes devotion and prioritising…
- So get your house in order and reset next year around what really matters!
- But it may take some action… some change… so resetting!
Secondly, this child to come will grow to be Mighty God.
The promise here is that Jesus will be divinely strong and powerful.
- Amazing news for those, whom like me are weak!
- Of course the implication here is that this child will be more than a strong leader or a powerful conqueror.
- This child will be God, or as it says in John 1, the Word become flesh, dwelling amongst us!
- The one who split the red sea and freed the captives from Egypt
- Now resides in this child. He is the miracle maker!
Isaiah has already prophesied this in chapter 7:14
- “Therefore the Lord will give you a sign, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel.”
- Of course Immanuel can be translated as God with us.
- Mighty God will become present to us in a child, conceived by a virgin!
- And every miracle, every act of compassion, every sign done by Jesus in the Gospels is a testament to Mighty God, with us.
- And I wonder for you this Christmas, how Mighty God might be present with you?
- That for us who are weak, Mighty God might move in our lives!
- For unto us a child is born and he will be Mighty God.
So again, as I think about these names, yes I am interested in how Jesus fulfils these names in the gospels… he does miracles and signs…
- But I am also interested in how this applies to our lives.
- What does it mean to not just follow Jesus, but experience the power of Jesus, mighty God with us!
- He promises after all to never leave us or forsake us!
- The Apostle Paul talking about his continued reign says “for the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power…”
- Right?
- We don’t just follow Jesus as an interesting teacher or a compassionate do gooder…
- He is the one who brings a kingdom of power into the world and into our lives…
- So we pray… we seek his power…
So this Christmas, whatever you are facing, you are facing it with Jesus, Mighty God in your corner!
- Go to him in prayer and seek his presence and healing power in your life!
- Christmas is an opportunity not just to get cutesy about the nativity…
- It is an opportunity to remember and seek God’s powerful intervention in your life.
- Welcome the child born to us, but also welcome the powerful King present to us.
Thirdly, this child to come will grow to be Everlasting Father.
Now maybe this name is most confusing to us? How could a child be called Everlasting Father
- And yet in Jesus we meet one who cares for his children.
- Amazing news for those who are alone or feel abandoned this Christmas.
- If you trust in this child, who will grow to be a saviour, he will become to you an Everlasting Father.
A couple of years ago, my son Luca started gaining a bit of his independence. And he would ask me “am I strong Dad?”
- So there was a lot of wrestling and challenging me going on.
- But I remember one time, he was showing me what a great Jedi he is with his light saber, when he accidently hit himself in the face.
- And of course the chin begins to wobble and the tears began to well in his eyes and he opened his arms needing a hug.
- So of course I scooped him up and comforted him and gave him the biggest hug ever.
- And when the tears began to fade… he just whispered into my ear “I love you Dad.”
And I wonder for you this Christmas, no matter how strong you think you were, have you had a wobble this year? I know I have.
- And it is so common in this fast paced and individualised society we live in to have a wobble from time to time… or all the time…
- But having a foundation of unconditional love and a saviour who sees us and cares for us…
- How amazing that for us, who need someone to care for us, that Jesus might be the Everlasting Father who looks after our souls!
- So trust this saviour
- For unto us a child is born and he will be Everlasting Father.
Finally, this child to come will grow to be the Prince of Peace.
And perhaps this is the best news of Christmas in 2023. That the saviour of the world, is the Prince of Peace in troubled times and troubled lives!
- Amazing news for those of us who lack peace with each other and with God.
- Jesus will bring deep well-being and right restored relationships to us!
This year, as we finish 2023… somewhat in gloom and darkness, oh for the Prince of Peace to reign in my life and the world!
- Of course the greatest peace he will bring is between God and ourselves.
- The creator has sent his son into the world to reconcile all things unto himself.
- The Apostle Paul in Ephesians puts it this way….
Ephesians 2 Verse 13; But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our Peace.
- Of course there can be no peace without forgiveness…
- And what the child born in the Manger will do 30 years later on the cross is to find a way for peace between us and God, through forgiving our sins!
- For he himself is our peace!
Sometimes when we think of Jesus being the Prince of Peace we go to global wars or long standing tensions…
- And I do really believe that because Jesus has introduced grace, we have the circuit breaker for the biggest and most intractable division in the world…
- Sometimes it is hard to think of where this plays out…
- But there have been examples like Bishop Desmond Tutu’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the fall of Apartheid in South Africa…
But I think it is good to bring this one closer to home this Christmas…
- And to think about where the Prince of Peace might be on the move in your life.
- The Hebrew word for peace is shalom and it signifies not just the absence of war, but the presence of wholeness and life.
- And the Prince of Peace is easy to admire…
- But he is harder to follow and allow in, to put you back together again…
- It usually takes devotion and commitment to allowing him to reign and change in your life.
I don’t know what Christmas is looking like for you this year. Between no one seemingly having any money, a barrage of bad news around the globe and whatever you have been through.
- But I want to commend to you Jesus Christ
- Wonderful counsellor, everlasting Father, Mighty God, the Prince of Peace.
- And Isaiah was of course right.
- God did deliver on this promise. Jesus was born seven hundred years later and fulfilled every promise announced.
- God came among us in the person of Jesus. He took on flesh in order to give us wisdom, protection, fatherly care, and peace as we enter into relationship with him.
- For unto us a child is born…
- May you trust in this saviour. Amen.