Sermon by Pastor Brent Kompelien
November 27, 2022
INTRO
We are staring a new series for Advent this morning entitled “For To Us A Child Is Born.”
We use this word “Advent” at Christmas because this word means “arrival” or “coming” and it describes the reality that Christmas is about celebrating the arrival of our King, Jesus.
And our series title comes from Isaiah 9, which we read earlier this morning during our candle lighting. Isaiah 9 is a passage that is all about the arrival of the anointed King, the Messiah, the one who will bring God’s rule and reign to earth and establish God’s kingdom forever.
We’ve been studying the Gospel of John over the last few months, and this passage from Isaiah 9 begins with a familiar theme: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”
APPLY — Friends, we are living in a time of deep darkness. There are very obvious examples of the darkness of this world. Just read the news this last week and you’ll see that darkness and evil are all around us. And yet, darkness can also be come close to home, or in our own hearts. If you’ve felt discouraged, disillusioned, or dismayed over the last days, or over the last few years, there is hope! There is light!
Remember John 1? “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world…the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
You see, Isaiah foretold of the coming of the anointed King who would bring light to the whole world, and that the greatness of his Kingdom would endure forever! But what is so shocking about this promise is that the Kingdom comes through a little child.
ILLUST — Picture this: The gospel of Matthew opens with a story about two kings. One of them is the false king of Israel who violently coerces people to get his way, while the other is the real king born in humble circumstances and who comes to bring peace.
You see, first there was Herod the Great. (SLIDE 2) Herod came from a wealthy and power-hungry family that converted to Judaism as a political move. Herod gained the trust of the Roman Senate and was named King over the province of Judea and the city of Jerusalem in 40 B.C.
With the help of the Romans, Herod spent three years crushing his rivals and seizing control of the region around Jerusalem. But the Jewish people didn’t like Herod at all. They resented that fact that he wasn’t really Jewish and that he colluded with the Roman Empire. So Herod tried to curry their favor through food assistance and building projects, including the massive new Temple in Jerusalem that took over 40 years to finish.
But Herod loved power and he inflicted heavy taxes on the Jewish people. The hatred for Herod grew and grew. He became paranoid and violent, thinking someone was always lurking in the shadows to assassinate him.
Right around 4 BC when Jesus was born, Herod began suffering from an intestinal illness that compounded his paranoia. He became cruel and would burst out in fits of rage. He grew so paranoid that he even had his own wife and two sons executed!
Herod built fortresses for himself because he worried about rivals or the threat that the Romans would turn on him. One such fortress was called the Herodium (SLIDE 3). This fortress was perched on top of a mountain and it had huge fortified walls and was equipped with enough supplies to last Herod weeks or months.
I’ve had the privilege of visiting the Herodium excavations. What many people don’t know is that just off in the distance from the Herodium was a sleepy little village called Bethlehem. (SLIDE 4)
In this tiny town there was another king. This king was from Nazareth in Galilee, a humble backcountry village of shepherds and craftsmen. His mother was a young woman of ordinary means. She was engaged to a poor carpenter who’s family line traces back to King David. They came to Bethlehem for the census, but they could only find room in a stable with the cows and sheep. This king was born on straw and dirt, and laid in a food trough as a make-shift bassinet.
You see, an angel had appeared to Joseph in a dream, telling him that this child was conceived from the Holy Spirit and that his name would be “Yeshua” which means “the Lord saves” because he will save his people from their sins.
And from this little farming village, I imagine Joseph stepping outside the next morning after this baby boy was born, looking to the east toward the sunrise, seeing off in the distance the Herodium, a massive fortress with a paranoid king sitting inside who would go to whatever length to protect his interests and destroy his rivals.
But there inside the stable was a different kind of King. He was a King who needed no wealth, no fortress, and no recognition from Rome. Yes, the government would be on his shoulders, but his kingdom was not of this world. He came to do something greater, something eternal. (SLIDE 5)
You see friends, both Isaiah and Matthew confront us with a question: What kind of King do we need? What kind of King can pierce the darkness of this world? What kind of King is worthy of our full devotion? What kind of King could possibly rule over an everlasting Kingdom?
Isaiah tells us. He tells us what this king will be called. It is only this child who could possibly be our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.
Here’s the central question we are going to ask over the next four weeks: What kind of a King do we need? What kind of King can shine light into this dark world? We will be looking at these four names, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace, in order to ponder the uniqueness and glory of King Jesus.
PROP — Today, we are going to look at the first one: Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor.
This word (SLIDE 6a) “wonderful” means “surpassing, extraordinary, or beyond understanding.” The word (SLIDE 6b) “counselor” means “advisor, prophet, or sage.” This describes one of the central characteristics of the ideal King. In other words, the King that we need has surpassing understanding. (SLIDE 6c) Or you could say that the King that we need has perfect wisdom.
In the Bible, it is God alone who has perfect wisdom, and the most frequent way that the Scriptures portray God’s perfect wisdom is in his purposes and plans for history, including your life and my life.
In order to consider that Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor, we are going to turn to Psalm 33 where the Psalmist writes about God’s perfect purposes and plan from the grandness of creation all the way down to the tiniest details of everyday life.
Turn with me to Psalm 33. (SLIDE 6d) We are going to read this Psalm and see how the writer moves from big concepts about God as the Creator down to his specific loving care for individual people. READ Psalm 33.
ORG SENT — This Psalm starts with a call to praise in verse 1-3. The writer says, “God is worthy of our worship! Want to know why?” See the rest of the Psalm! We are going to see the writer move from big to small, from general to specific.
MAIN 1 — God rules over all creation (vv. 4-11). (SLIDE 7a)
These verses begin by proclaiming the trustworthiness and the power of God’s word.
Verse 4 — “The word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.” This describes the reliability of God’s words. (SLIDE 7b) He is always right, always true, always faithful.
Verse 6 — “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.” This describes the power of God’s words. (SLIDE 7c) He simply spoke and the billions of stars in the universe came into being.
KEY: There is a sense of purpose and design and wisdom behind these verses. This is a God who is worthy of worship, because he has the power to make things out of nothing, but also the wisdom and perfect plan to fashion every planet and every star in its place.
If you remember, the gospel of John begins in a similar way. John writes “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” In other words, Jesus is the very expression of God’s reliability, his trustworthiness, and his power and his wisdom.
What is the implication of this? The Psalmist already tells us. The implication is that this kind of God has a perfect plan (SLIDE 7d), a plan that endures forever, purposes that flow from his own trustworthiness and power. READ vv. 10-11.
APPLY — This matters right now for the darkness in our world. If you’re wondering if the plans of nations will win in the end, think again! No earthly power can prevail against God! It is God who directs the path of history, it is his purposes for creation that endure throughout generations! His wisdom is perfect, and he has the power to achieve it.
The writer moves into a little more specifics about God’s plans.
MAIN 2 — God rules over all people (vv. 12-17). (SLIDE 8a)
I want you to notice how the Psalmist emphasizes God’s perfect awareness of humanity (SLIDE 8b). READ vv. 13-15.
He sees you, he formed you, and he considers everything you do. That’s an alarming thought if you’re not walking in alignment with God’s purposes and plan!
This is why the Psalmist takes a moment here to give a warning (SLIDE 8c). Think about Herod again when you hear these verses: READ vv. 16-17.
These things were the classic indicators of superiority in the ancient world. The King with the biggest army, the strongest warriors, and the best horses always won the day.
But the Psalmist turns everything upside down on purpose to ask this question: Where is your hope? (SLIDE 8d) Who are you relying on? What do you think will make you happy or satisfy your deepest needs? In other words: If you’re going to make your own plans, good luck! If you’re going to rely on your own wisdom, you’re in trouble!
Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
APPLY — I want you to think about your own life. Think about a time when you thought you knew the best plan, but God had a better plan. Or think about a time when you couldn’t see the best path. Or when you didn’t have the wisdom to know what to do. What happened?
You see friends, God’s plan is always perfect, but it may not look to us like the best thing at first.
ILLUST — I’m going to tell a story about the Vikings, but don’t get too excited. They still have plenty of time to disappoint us this season. I recently heard a story about the Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins. There were 8 quarterbacks in his draft year and he really didn’t want to get drafted last. He knew he wasn’t the top prospect, but getting picked 4th or 5th would be nice. Well, he got picked 8th and he called his dad who is a pastor in Florida, and his dad reminded him that King David was picked last. And you know which number brother he was? 8th! It was that moment when Kirk realized that God’s plan is always best, and that’s why he wears the number 8, to remind himself everyday that he is walking in God’s purposes and not his own.
Now, he’s still a professional athlete, and many of us are dealing with much more dire and difficult circumstances than being the last quarterback picked in the NFL draft!
APPLY — I know that some of you are struggling right now. God’s plan may not be clear, his purposes for your suffering or difficulty may not be obvious. I want to encourage you: God sees your pain and difficulty and what he desires most from you is trust.
MAIN 3 — God’s special care for us (vv. 18-19). (SLIDE 9a)
READ vv. 18-19.
This Psalm started by describing God’s grand purposes for creation, but now it gets down to the granular details of your life and mine.
God cares about you. (SLIDE 9b) He knows your struggles and his presence is with you.
When we talk about Jesus being the Wonderful Counselor, this means that he is not a King who is aloof and distant, he is not unaware of your pain, he is not uncaring about your struggles. And in fact, (SLIDE 9b) he has a perfect plan and the perfect wisdom to help you through your difficult circumstances.
APPLY — Did you know that God can give you wisdom? Solomon asked for wisdom, and God gave it to him. It is what we call a “communicable” attribute; something of God’s nature/character that can be given to us or developed in us.
I just want to take a moment and clarify some things about God’s wisdom and about knowing his plan. Whatever you are facing, we can put our hope and trust in these realities: (SLIDE 10)
God has perfect wisdom.
God’s wisdom is seen in his purpose and plan.
God’s plan can be known. It is revealed to us. We see evidence of it in creation, and we see more clearly and perfectly God’s plan revealed in Scripture.
His plan is often revealed in phases or stages. We don’t know everything at once. But we see his faithfulness over time.
This is where faith/trust come in. We trust in him, we listen, we adjust to come into alignment with God’s plan.
ILLUST — I want to confess that this is something I personally feel convicted about this week.
You know that we presented the initial concepts of a Master Plan last Sunday. Our team has worked hard along the way to prayerfully listen to God’s leading. I am definitely so proud of the Vision Team’s hard work.
But for some reason I didn’t feel peace about it afterwards. I felt like there are things that need to be refined or edited, or I realized there are some implications to our plans that we haven’t considered yet. In my sinful flesh, I felt like I should have known those things beforehand. I felt like we should have made a perfect plan.
But here’s evidence that God is in control…the Lord said to me very clearly: Brent, you are about to preach next week on Isaiah 9 and guess what: There’s only one Wonderful Counselor, and its not you! There’s only one person with a perfect plan, and that’s Jesus! The King I need is Jesus, because he has perfect wisdom!
You see, it really hit me this week: We are imperfect people leading imperfect people, and our commitment is simple: To listen to the Lord and follow him. When we do that together, it is actually a blessing to receive feedback, to take moments of reflection and discernment, and to prayerfully consider together if we need to refine or adjust our plans.
This is so important. Here’s why: The Spirit of God is moving among us. The Lord is going to establish our steps. This is a wonderful thing!
Proverbs 16:9 says, “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”
When you live in God’s perfect wisdom, you realize that no person is infallible, no plans are perfect, everyone can approach things with grace, and we can express our faith by trusting together in the only one who is the Wonderful Counselor!
This is where the Psalm ends, with an application for how we respond to God’s perfect wisdom and his perfect plan.
MAIN 4 — Our Response (vv. 20-22). (SLIDE 11a)
When we follow the Wonderful Counselor, these last verses give us four characteristics for how we honor the Lord in every circumstance: READ vv. 20-22.
Wait (SLIDE 11b) — Not passive waiting. Jesus is never late. This is an anticipation of how God will act because we know he will!
Rejoice (SLIDE 11c) — Our hearts find joy in Jesus, not in material things, not in our strength, and not in the success or failure of our plans.
Trust (SLIDE 11d) — We place our trust in Jesus. He alone is trustworthy because he is the Word made Flesh, the one who created everything, the one with the reliability and the power to be trustworthy in everything.
Hope (SLIDE 11e) — We know his unfailing love is with us, and so we know the future is secure because Jesus has defeated sin and death and is making a new creation for his glory.
When we have a King with perfect wisdom, we find great freedom in waiting on his perfect timing, rejoicing when he acts, trusting when we don’t know the answer, and hoping in his perfect plan. Praise Jesus that he is the only Wonderful Counselor!