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“UNTO US – A SAVIOR!”
A SERMON MESSAGE BY PASTOR DAVE RING
TO BE DELIVERED AT LOS ALAMOS
FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 23, 2007
THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT

SCRIPTURE TEXT:  For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.  (Isaiah 9:6)

PRAYER:  (Let us pray.)  As we move ever closer, O God, to the celebration of Your coming into our world, open us more fully to the meaning of that great event – the greatest of all events ever to happen in this world.  Open us, O God, to receive a Savior!  Amen.

MESSAGE:  At dinner one evening young Tommy, age six, repeatedly misbehaved.  His father, after warning gently several times, finally said, “Tommy, if you don’t behave, you’ll be sent to your room for the night.”  Tommy didn’t listen.  He continued to act up.  Finally his father ordered him from the dining room.  “Tommy, go to your room, put on your pajamas, and get into bed.  And there will be no more food for you tonight, young man!”

Later, lying in bed, Tommy’s thoughts of his behavior began to bother him.  He was hungry.  He couldn’t remember ever having felt more alone or rejected.  He began to cry.  Then he heard a noise on the stairs.  Footsteps came closer to his room.  The door opened and his father came in.  Closing the door, he walked over to Tommy’s bed and climbed in, saying, “Son, I love you.  I can’t overlook your misbehavior, but I can spend the night with you.”

More than 600 years before God came to dwell among humans, an old, wise man named Isaiah pondered what God’s coming to earth might mean for a rebellious, undisciplined, lonely world of men and women.  With a foresight only God could provide, Isaiah placed in a single sentence all the necessary words to describe, in truth and in fullness, the meaning of Christmas – though that great event was yet six centuries in the future.  We here today, 26 centuries removed from the time of Isaiah and 20 centuries after the fulfillment of his prophecy, can more fully realize a true Christmas by taking Isaiah’s words to heart and pondering their importance – for us.

“For unto us a child is born…”  Isaiah’s words tell us that Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God, enters actual history as a member of the human race.  He’s for real!  His mother Mary experiences real, normal pains of childbirth.  Shepherds come and view a flesh and blood, crying newborn in the manger.  He breathes!  He cries!  He lives!  Jesus comes into our world as a real human being – a person.  His historical existence is impossible to deny, even by the severest critics of Christianity.  A child is born; a new life begins on earth.  This is not a ghost, not a visiting spirit, not an angelic being, not a superman.  A baby.  A very special baby, yes.  But a real, human baby.  “For unto us a child is born…”

“…unto us a Son is given…”  Jesus has been called by many titles, some in praise, others in derision, since His coming to earth.  But the scriptures record only two that He willingly accepted.  Affirming His human nature, Jesus often referred to Himself as the “son of man.”  He understood Himself as a representative offspring of the entire human race, standing before God as advocate for all men and women.

Simon Peter acclaimed Jesus as the Son of God, and Jesus accepted this designation as well.  A real human being – the son of man.  And also the Son of God, representing His divine Father on earth.  Angelic choirs sang God’s praise as the true Son of God entered the human race.  He is a man – yes.  But not just a man.  He is also Almighty God, come down to earth to examine His creation.  Jesus the Christ, with divine power to destroy the earth, or to save it.  A helpless, crying baby, who holds the fate of the universe in the palm of His tiny hand.  Praise be to God for such a miracle!  “…unto us a Son is given…”

“…and the government shall be upon His shoulder…”  When King Herod heard that a new King had been born, he quickly ordered the murder of every male child in the town of Bethlehem.  Herod could tolerate no threat of competition to his iron rule.  Throughout His earthly life those in authority – in the temple, in the business world, in government – all these felt Jesus a threat to their power.  Men of worldly power could sense, instinctively, the aura of authority which surrounded Jesus.  Eventually they murdered Him to erase that threat.

But Herod and those like him need not have feared.  “My Kingdom is not of this world,” replied Jesus when questioned by one temporal ruler, Pilate.  The eternal Kingdom which Jesus governs is much more solid and enduring than the changing, transitory governments which men can cobble together for a few brief years.  Pilate and Caesar alike are all but forgotten.  A thousand nations and a hundred thousand rulers have risen and fallen since the time of Jesus’ birth, but the eternal Kingdom of God continues to enroll citizens with every day that dawns.  Eventually, we have God’s promise that “every knee shall bow and every tongue acknowledge” that Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  “…and the government shall be upon His shoulder…”

“…and His Name shall be called Wonderful…”  The wise men stood in silent awe at the cradle of Christ.  At age 12, He confounded the great theologians of His day.  The rulers of both church and state were amazed at His power and teachings.  Physicians were unable to account for His miraculous healings.  And so it remained for the common folk who followed Him to try to give proper description.  They didn’t even try to “explain” Jesus; they simply regarded Him as – Wonderful.  Wonderful in His conception and birth, Wonderful in His suffering and death.  And, most of all, Wonderful in His resurrection and ascension.  “…and His Name shall be called Wonderful…”

His Name shall also be called “Counselor.”  Counselor is the title accorded to one who gives good advice.  It especially denotes an advocate – one who pleads for the guilty, who appears in the courtroom to aid a client.

Jesus was born into a world in chaos, a land where sin and evil had been given free rein to cloud and pervert human minds for thousands of years.  People groped about in spiritual darkness, unable to find the right way, powerless to shun evil or do good.  Jesus, while on earth, gave good counsel.  He taught men and women how to love instead of hating.  His teachings are unparalleled; His role as a great Counselor is accepted even by those who would grant Jesus no other title of respect.

And our Lord’s counsel took the form of more than words alone.  Jesus’ greatest counsel comes to us by way of living example.  He not only showed the way, He is the way.  He not only pleads humanity’s case before God, representing us as any good counselor should, He takes our place and accepts the guilt of our sin upon Himself.  “…and His Name shall be called…Counselor…”

Moreover, His Name shall also be called “the Mighty God.”  Others may be wonderful, others may give good counsel, but the unique message of Christmas is this:  In Bethlehem’s stable, you find God.

An earthly existence begun in a stable, lived largely in obscurity, cut off by a criminal sentence of death at the early age of just 33 years.  Certainly, Jesus possessed few of the marks of greatness normally accepted among and between men.  Yet He has had greater influence on more human lives than any other who ever lived.  It makes little sense – until you look with the eye of faith and see God in that manger.  “…and His Name shall be called…the Mighty God…”

Yet another title given to Jesus by Isaiah is “the Everlasting Father.”  This accolade takes some pondering.  A newborn babe in a manger called a father?  A young man who died without every marrying a father?  True, in his earthly years Jesus remained childless.  But He arose from the grave to become, once again, the Father of eternity.  “He who has seen me has seen the Father,” says Jesus.

And where are His children?  Here this morning, in this church – and all over the world.  The children of God, and of His Son Jesus Christ, are those who would do His will in their lives.  “…and His Name shall be called…the Everlasting Father…”

The final, crowning touch contained in Isaiah’s marvelous description of Jesus is this challenging title:  the “Prince of Peace.”  For a day or two each year around December 25th the guns of war are traditionally silenced in most parts of our world by Christmas truces.  No matter who is fighting whom – and always, it seems, fighting is occurring somewhere in our world – this year it’s Iraq – Christmas brings a moment of peace.  Powerful business leaders who wage fierce economic battles against their competitors the year round drink toasts to one another’s health and prosperity at Christmas.  Family members who steadfastly refuse to even speak to one another the rest of the year will sit down at tables together for Christmas dinner.

The Babe in the manger brings peace to the entire earth.  Sadly though, just as many who acclaim the Babe fail to acknowledge His growth into manhood, so too the peace that He brings is allowed only brief birth, but not maturity, in our world.

The Prince of Peace comes to end the rebellion of man against God.  When this rebellion, the source of all human unrest, is quieted in every heart by the coming of Jesus – then and only then will true, lasting peace reign throughout the earth forevermore.  “…and His Name shall be called…the Prince of Peace.”

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