Christmas Eve 2020 • Isaiah 9:6-7

Show Notes

Thursday, December 24th • Beau Bradberry

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this." — Isaiah 9:6-7

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Beau Bradberry

Senior Pastor

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You've been dumb before, Charlie Brown, but this time you really did it.

What a treat!

I guess you were right, Linus.

I shouldn't have picked this little tree.

Everything I do turns into a disaster.

I guess I really don't know what Christmas is all about.

Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?

Sure, Charlie Brown.

I can tell you what Christmas is all about.

Lights, please.

And there were in the same country shepherds, abiding in the field, keeping watch over

their flock by night.

And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about

them.

And they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not.

For behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you.

You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.

That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

That's it.

That's what Christmas is all about.

And that's what we're here to celebrate tonight.

We're here to see and dive in in a greater depth and understand more about who Jesus is.

And so I thank each and every one of you for joining us here.

If you're joining us at home, thank you so much for jumping in online.

And on behalf of my family and all of us as Willow Ridge Church and our leadership, we just want to wish you and your family a very, very Merry Christmas.

You know, the older I get, the more I like to look back and remember how things were.

It's the characteristic of my grandfather that I used to kind of pick at and laugh at when he'd say, you know, back when I was your age.

But now as I'm getting older, I like to look back, and especially at Christmas time.

Earlier today, I was thinking through one of our Christmas traditions that we did as a family is every year on Christmas Eve,

we would all pack up and we would all head over to my Aunt Sharon and Uncle Alton's house.

And we would gather in their house that was too small to have all of us who were there, but none of us knew that it was too small.

And it just felt right and it was good.

And I always would come in and I would sit in the living room.

And as people would enter in, they would have their presence with them and they would set them by the tree.

And then they would move to areas of the house to say hey to everybody.

And then I would do what every good kid would do.

I would go look and see if I had any gifts that they just brought, right?

And I would get all the gifts.

Kids, y'all listen to this.

This helps at family gatherings.

I would get all of the lists, all the gifts that had my name on it.

And I'd move them all together toward the front.

So then when someone would say, hey, let's help pass out gifts, I could run right to where all of my packages were, right?

And I would get mine and go sit down and begin to tear through and open up and to experience the gifts that I've received.

What's going to be remarkable, what I'm going to draw us to, what we're going to look at tonight is found in Isaiah chapter 9.

And it was written 740 years before Jesus was born.

And what I find is so remarkable on this, in this passage of Scripture, it's going to talk about the coming Messiah and Jesus and who he is.

But just as, as I was a little kid, my name was etched onto the package so that I would know that gift was for me.

740 years ago, Isaiah addressed this to each and every person to know and to understand who this gift was for.

And so I want to read this passage to you.

It's one verse, Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6.

And as I read this, this week, as I was studying at home, the two-letter word that is repeated twice there in this passage.

And this verse jumped out to me, and that word was us.

That as you and I read that, and the excitement and the anticipation as a child looks for the package that is written, that is given, that is sent for them.

That you and I, as we read this passage of Scripture, that God, through the hand of Isaiah, penned this and wrote this and put on it, that for us, a child is born.

And so that from the very beginning, what we see is God's purpose and God's plan to send a king, a savior, a redeemer.

And the reason why we celebrate, the reason why we have hope, the reason why in a few moments we're going to take part in the Lord's Supper together, is because he sent this gift to redeem creation.

He sent this gift to call back those of his own.

And then he gives us some explanation of what this looks like.

You know, as Isaiah wrote this 740 years before it would happen, to be able to see and to understand and have the hints of prophecy of what God would point him to.

And the first thing that Isaiah writes, we begin to understand about this gift, is that he is a wonderful counselor.

And we'll describe the very character and nature of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

He says not that just he's a counselor, but that very specifically, he is a wonderful counselor.

And it means that it is who he is, and that he is so wonderful, that he is so great, that this word wonderful means this, that it boggles the mind.

That the greatness of Jesus Christ is so massive, that the greatness of Jesus Christ is so big, that you and I, we cannot begin to wrap our mind around the vastness of his greatness.

So in the very beginning, for you and I, there is absolutely nothing, there is absolutely no one like Jesus.

But it's not just that he's wonderful, that he's a wonderful counselor.

And when you hear that word counselor, I don't know about you, but what comes to my mind is a counselor.

Maybe some of you have been to a counselor before and sat down and had them work through some problems with you.

And when we hear that word, that's what we think.

But that's not the word that Isaiah uses.

That's not the meaning.

You see, this word for counselor, what it means is a wise king.

That within his wonderfulness, who he is, is a king, but he's not an angry king.

He's not a greedy king.

He's a wise king.

Paul writes in Colossians to talk about the wisdom and the knowledge of God.

And he says that in him are all the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Just earlier, I had a family who was here, and the mom had sent me a text message this past week.

Her son had a question about Jesus, and she sent me the question, and she sent it to me.

And we were talking tonight, and she said, do you have an answer for that?

And I said, yeah, absolutely.

I've got the best answer I could come up with.

And I looked at him and said, I don't know, right?

I don't know.

You have asked a question that I cannot find an answer to.

I don't know.

But that's not God.

That's not who he is.

Because in him are all the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Every single nugget of knowledge is found in him.

Isaiah also says that not only is he the wonderful counselor, but that he is the mighty God.

What I find in Christmastime, what we oftentimes celebrate and what we look at is the human nature of Christ, right?

The fact that God stepped out of heaven and took on flesh.

And so from the pictures that we see to the nativity scenes that are in our house,

the picture and the celebration of God is found in human form.

But then not only that, but in the vulnerable nature of a baby.

From the songs that we sing, communicate this.

As we look out and see the small children, that God did not step out of heaven onto earth as an established adult who would go and who would rule,

but that he came in the most vulnerable nature as that as a child.

And so as Isaiah points to this, as he said a child is born, to us a son is given.

In that, who he is, is mighty God.

And so I want you to begin to understand.

And first of all, what we celebrate is the fact that even in the form of the baby, he was all powerful.

And even in the form of flesh, he is fully divine.

It is truly the miracle of Christmas.

It's truly the miracle that we celebrate, that in and through all of this, that at no point in time did he lose his divinity,

that at no point in time did he lose his power, that this is who he is.

And so he's a wonderful counselor, he is mighty God, but he is also everlasting father.

And that in this would be the embodiment of his love.

Everlasting father literally means father forever.

I want to tell you, like for me, the best part of celebrating Christmas in the roles that I get to play is the fact that I'm a dad.

I love being a dad.

I live to be a dad.

I love my kids.

I love what God has blessed us with.

But even in that, when I begin to wrap my mind around father forever and what this means,

I begin to even see that my own limited understanding, my own limited application of what it means to be a father pales in comparison for who he is.

And so what does it mean that Jesus is everlasting father?

First and foremost, it means this, that his love will never fail us.

His love will never fail.

Now let's have some confession moments.

As parents in the room, here's something that we've done as much as we love our kids, as much as we sacrifice for our kids.

Guess what?

At some point in time in their life, we have failed them, and at some point in time in our future, we will fail them.

There will come a point in time where our selfishness will come above what needs to be done for them, and we will disappoint.

We will fail, and we will let them down.

Why?

Because we're not perfect.

But that in God and his very nature exhibits and displays and gives a love that never fails.

But also, not only will his love never fail, but his love will never leave.

And that's what it means to be an everlasting father.

That when Jesus comes, that when he came in his presence, his love came with him, and he displayed that, and he modeled that, and he taught that.

But then, even in his death, even in his resurrection, even in his ascension, his love never left.

That even though his body is no longer with us, his spirit is still there.

And so, he's the everlasting father.

And then finally, what Isaiah points us to, a reminder of the hope that we have, is that Jesus is the prince of peace.

He's not just the bringer of peace, he's not the giver of peace, he's not the facilitator of peace, but Jesus is specifically the prince of peace.

Which means, if you're a prince, guess what you have?

You have a kingdom.

And Jesus' kingdom is not marked by anything else in Scripture other than peace.

But in order for this peace to happen, guess what has to take place?

A battle and a war.

In order for peace to reign, there must be, there must be sacrifice that takes place.

And so, on this night where we celebrate that our Savior was born, that he stepped out into heaven,

what we need to understand is that God took on flesh in the form of a baby, and he stepped into the battle.

And that through his life, his calling for us, of what he will give, of what he will display, of what he will do for us, is peace.

That he will call you and I, in our lives, the different talents and gifts that he gives us.

He will call all of us into this calling of our lives to be ministers of reconciliation.

Meaning that's the only part of you and of I to say that we've embodied this, that we've embraced this,

and that we work not only for peace between us, and peace between others.

And so it's the calling that marks us.

But where the hope is truly found, is that through the gospel, peace is brought.

And peace is brought in such a way that the world has never experienced it that way before,

will never experience it that way again, and can only experience it found in the relationship with Jesus Christ.

That the gospel brings peace between us and God.

Peace is what everybody wants.

But when we look on TV, when we look at the news, what do we see time and time again?

Conflict, war, strife, death.

And that in that man fights for their version of peace, for what they want.

But God says, no, no, no, no.

I bring peace.

And peace is found in my son and my son alone.

And it is only found in the prince of peace, that peace can happen for this world.

And so it's the truth that Linus proclaimed.

What's the point of all of this?

What's the meaning of all of this?

Why does all of this matter?

Because God sent the prince of peace.

And it happened not through a declaration.

It happened not through a treaty that was worked out.

It wasn't even worked out on a battlefield.

But instead, it was worked out on the cross.

That in order for there to be peace between sinful man, all of us, and a holy God,

that a perfect sacrifice must be made.

And so in the narrative of the story of Christmas, we can't help but see the shadow of the cross of Calvary that hangs over.

Because the baby will grow up to be a man and live a perfect life and die a perfect death and be resurrected.

So that in that, you and I can have life and have life eternal.

And so that is where the peace begins.

That's the battle that takes place.

That Jesus does it on our behalf.

You know, I don't know what Christmas gift you're hoping for.

I don't know what got put on Santa's list.

I don't know what gift your hope and your significant other picked up on the hints that you've been giving them for the last six to eight months, right?

That they'll get it right this time.

But I can tell you this.

Every gift that will open.

Every gift that someone will give us.

We'll lose interest.

It'll fade.

It'll break.

We'll even outgrow it.

But the one gift that stands the test of time.

The one gift that solves the struggle and the strife of humanity for all of eternity is found in Christ.

In Christ alone.

You know, there's a lot of people in here tonight.

Most of you, I recognize your face.

Some of you, I didn't know and I got to meet for the first time tonight and are very blessed that you're here.

And I don't care if this is your first time here or you've been here a thousand times.

I don't care if you've been at another church, another area, if you've never stepped foot in church before.

If you hear nothing else tonight, regardless of where you've been, I want you to understand this.

There's a gift for you.

And his name is Jesus.

And of the problem of sin that we all struggle with.

He's the solution and he's the answer.

And it's found through him and him alone where we find hope and purpose and peace.

And so tonight, could it be the night that you lay down all of your sin, all of your struggle and take on hope and life and freedom and purpose that's found in him and in him alone.

Would you pray with me?

God, as we prayed earlier tonight, or we pray that your will would be done.

Or draw the hearts of the hearts of the rebel or break the pride of us so that we may experience life eternal with you.

Jesus, thank you for the sacrifice that you made on our behalf.

Thank you for the hope that we have and in you and in you alone.

Jesus, and for these reasons, we celebrate you.

We remember you in taking the Lord's Supper this evening.

And it's in your name we pray.

Amen.

Hopefully you're able to get one of these cups as you came in.

And if you will, please, just peel off the top layer.

You'll find this little wafer that's there.

This wafer represents the body of Christ.

The body of Christ that from a young child, from a baby to a man, lived a perfect life.

That stood in a mock trial where allegations were brought against him.

Of things that he never said.

But he stood there fully innocent and was willing to be marked as guilty to pay the price for us.

Jesus, as this night approached, was in the upper room with his disciples.

Celebrating the Passover meal.

And scripture tells us when they were done eating, he took the bread and he broke it.

And everyone in the room had a small piece like this.

And he said to them, this is my body.

Do this in remembrance of me.

And after he had done that.

Because it wasn't just about the body, but it was about the blood.

The blood that would be spilled.

The blood that covers us as believers.

That makes us clean.

That makes us new.

That covers all of our past sins.

All of our present sins.

And all of our future sins.

So we're no longer marked by the failings of our will.

But that we're marked by the blood of Christ.

So scripture says he took the cup.

And he held it before the disciples.

And he said, also do this as you remember me.

Would you pray with me?

Lord, thank you.

Lord, we were taught at a young age.

When we receive a gift, show gratitude.

Be thankful.

Lord, tonight we celebrate you because you gave us a gift that we can never repay.

You gave us a gift that we could never earn.

You gave us a gift we didn't deserve.

Your son.

So Lord, tonight as we gather in this place.

Tonight as we think about the excitement of what is waiting for us tomorrow.

When packages are open, when gifts are exchanged, when surprises are brought.

Or tonight for just a moment.

Could we eliminate all of that from our mind?

And could we just focus on the gift of Jesus?

Jesus, thank you for your love for us.

You did not come because we loved you.

You came because you loved us.

And you gave us hope and peace and meaning.

And life.

And you took what was broken and you fixed it.

And you restored it for all of eternity.

So that now, man who was an enemy of God, is now called a child of God.

So now we're gathered in here.

We're worshiping our eternal father.

We're worshiping our eternal father.

Who is mighty God.

Who is wonderful counselor.

And who is our prince of peace.

Lord, if there's anyone here who did not know you when they came in.

If there's anyone here who was not covered by the blood of Jesus.

Lord, I pray through your will.

Lord, I pray through your spirit.

I pray through your power.

That tonight, they would experience the greatest gift of eternity.

Jesus Christ.

Lord, we love you.

We praise you.

It's in your name we pray.

Amen.

Lord, would you stand as we worship.

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