An Authority That Frees

Father, we give you thanks and praise that you know us perfectly,

and knowing us perfectly, still you sent Jesus to die upon the cross.

We give you thanks and praise that Jesus knows us perfectly.

In fact, he knows us better than ourselves,

since he bore every one of our sins in his person when he died upon the cross.

So we thank you, Father, that knowing us so perfectly, still you loved us.

That we are your precious possession.

And Father, you know how often we struggle with things

without even realizing what we're really struggling about.

But you know, you know, and you desire, Father, to have us be so gripped by the gospel,

have the Holy Spirit so powerful in our lives, and have your word so real to us,

and know Jesus so closely,

that you would help us in the midst of our various troubles and stresses and anxieties,

our delights and our tasks.

So we ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would do a quiet but wonderful work in our midst this morning,

as we think upon your word,

that we might be disciples of Jesus who are gripped by the gospel,

learning to live day by day for your glory.

And this we ask in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Amen.

So my wife would tell you, she's a good wife,

she doesn't normally go around saying things like this,

but she would tell you that it continues to surprise her how clueless I can be.

Even after many years of marriage, there are times she just goes,

like, what were you thinking?

Like, how could you do that?

And there's still times like that.

When I was in my mid-30s,

I was having some real problems in my life,

and some things in my life were sort of breaking down.

And so at the age of 36, I think I was, maybe I was 37,

I went into some counseling for the first time in my life.

And after I'd been in counseling for a bit of a while,

one day the counselor said to me,

George, has it ever struck you that you're a very anxious person?

And I was gobsmacked.

That's an old Irish expression for just being completely and utterly like this,

the deer in the headlights.

It had never dawned on me that I struggled with anxiety.

36, it never sort of struck me that I had lots of stress in my life

and I struggled with anxiety.

At 36, I've talked to lots of people

who don't recognize stress in their lives

and don't recognize their anxiety,

so I understand now that it's not exactly just a George cluelessness

that, in fact, many of us don't recognize

when we're actually feeling a great deal of anxiety.

The text that we're going to look at today

actually has a profound comfort for those of us

who knowingly or unknowingly are living with stress and anxiety.

So we're going to look at it.

It's from Isaiah chapter 9, verses 1 to 7.

Isaiah 9:1–7

Really, we're going to look primarily at verse 6,

but it's worth it to look through all of the text

to try to get just a bit of a sense

about how this text is this profound comfort

for those of us who struggle with anxiety.

So here's where it is.

Actually, just before we look at the text,

there's this wonderful thing.

Many of you know that I love this phrase from Winston Churchill.

Winston Churchill was using it about Russia.

I think he said it in 1939,

just after the Second World War had begun,

and he referred to Russia in this term.

And I don't know how true it is of Russia,

but I know that there's lots of things in life

that this is a very, very helpful expression.

And Christmas is the beginning of the answer

to a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

And we're going to see that as we start to look at the text,

that there's, you know, just like in our own lives,

a lot of times in our own lives,

to ourselves we're often a riddle.

How did I put it?

How did he put it?

A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

And the text has a riddle wrapped in a,

how do I put it,

wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

And it's part of the thing which makes the text

so interesting once you start to look at it.

And here's how the text,

but now just in terms of the literary flow of the text, right?

Because Isaiah is a book.

And so in the book,

it's all part of,

this text is all part of the same literary unit

as the part we looked at last week

in Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14.

Isaiah 7:14

And then in that text,

some of you might remember,

it's the great text where there's this prophecy

that a virgin shall give birth to a child

and they'll name this child Emmanuel,

God with us.

And I didn't mention this last week,

but it literally means God with us.

If you look at the Hebrew,

the word Emmanuel,

the last little bit,

El,

is the word that only refers to God.

It's not the generic word for God.

It's one of the two Old Testament words,

especially in Isaiah,

that refers to the God of Israel.

And it's so literally,

it's saying that this,

a virgin will give birth to a child

and this child is actually God with us.

And so this text that we're looking at today

is part of the same literary unit.

It does all sorts of things

in this whole literary unit.

But the part just before this

is God talking to Israel

or the prophet talking to Israel

about how,

it's talking about Israel

going through a very,

very,

very dark time.

A very,

very heavy

and dark

time.

And,

you know,

sometimes we don't like the image of dark,

but it's a good image.

Last night,

my wife had gone to bed

just a few minutes before me

and she very appropriately

turned the lights out.

So I come into the room

and I'm turning the lights off

as I go

and I come into the room

and it's dark

and it's Christmas on Wednesday

in case you didn't know.

And so we have a whole pile

of Christmas presents

in our bedroom

unwrapped yet,

but still piles

of Christmas presents.

So I come in

from the bright light

into the darkness

and I go to go to the bathroom

and of course I trip

over a pile of Christmas presents

that aren't usually there

but have been placed there

and I can't see them.

And that's a very

powerful image,

isn't it?

That when we're very,

very confused about things

and we can't understand things

that it's a good word

to understand

that we're in a time

of darkness.

And so just before this

they're describing

a time of darkness

in the life of Israel

and now the prophet

begins to this final

sort of bit

for the literary unit

in the book of Isaiah

and here's how it goes.

But there will be no gloom

for her

who was in anguish.

In the former time

he,

that's referring to God,

brought into contempt

the land of Zebulun

and the land of Naphtali.

But in the latter time

he has made glorious

the way of the sea,

the land beyond the Jordan,

Galilee of the nations.

The people who walked

in darkness

have seen a great light.

Those who dwelt

in a land of deep darkness

on them

has light shone.

Now just sort of

pause about here.

Remember I said

that there's a whole range

like the people,

the Jewish people

who are reading this

at the time,

they wouldn't have understood

a lot of what was going on.

One of the reasons

probably that Isaiah

was recognized

as a prophet

by the ancient Jews

is that so many

of his more immediate prophecies

actually came to pass.

But for those

who are reading this

a little bit later

and then maybe

for those of us,

those Jewish people

who are reading this

in the,

in the,

in the about 50 years,

30 or 40 years

after he died,

this would have been

a very,

very puzzling

part of the text.

Because as we talked

about a little bit

last week,

one of Isaiah's

astonishing prophecies

in the year 735

or 734 BC

was that the

Assyrian nation

was going to invade

and destroy Syria

and,

and the Assyrian nation

was going to invade

the northern part

of the Jewish kingdom

because the,

there were two

Jewish kingdoms,

Israel and Judah.

And the,

the Assyrians

were going to come in

and they were going

to completely

and utterly

annihilate the nation.

And that prophecy

came true.

In fact,

by the year 670,

670 BC,

there had been,

because Assyria

was a very,

very,

very cruel empire.

And part of its cruelty

was that they would

take large parts

of the population

and they would have them

go on forced marches

great distances

and relocate them

very,

very far away

from their homeland.

And they would take

another part

of their conquered people

and put them

on a forced march

into where,

like it was a bit of a,

you know,

they'd take some

from here to go there

and they'd take some

from here to go there

and they'd move them

all around.

It was a way

to break up

people's ancient

connections

with tribes

and kings

and with the land

to create a type

of a,

of a disconnected

humanity

that was very easy

for them to oppress.

And so,

what happened

is that by the year

670 BC,

Isaiah's prophecy

came to fulfillment

that the ten and a half

tribes that made up

the northern kingdom

of Israel,

they've been completely

and utterly lost

from history.

Every single,

as I shared last week,

every single Jewish

person you know

is descended

from one of the

two and a half tribes

that were in the south

in Judah

because the northern

Jewish people

completely and utterly

disappear from history.

And so,

Isaiah in chapter 7

makes this prophecy

that the northern kingdom

is going to be

completely and utterly

destroyed.

And in fact,

what happens is

when Assyria comes,

as often happens,

I mean,

generally speaking,

Israel's enemies

have either come

from the south,

usually Egypt,

or they've come

from the north.

And today,

it would be Lebanon

and Syria

or Jordan.

But Israel's enemies

came in the land

of Zebulun

and Naphtali first.

So,

it's a bit of a puzzle

because on one hand,

the people reading this,

especially after 670,

would say,

that's so odd.

Isaiah's talking

as if,

and here's another

thing about it.

One of the things,

if you look at the verb

tenses all the way

through this part

that we're going to read,

it's very,

very interesting,

but often it's

in the past tense.

And it's a very

particular literary device

used by,

in Jewish

prophetic literature,

that the future

is so certain,

we're going to talk

about it as if

it's in the past tense.

That's how certain

the future is.

It's so future,

so guaranteed by God,

I'm going to talk about it

as if it's already happened.

And so,

for Jewish people,

they would have looked at it

and say,

a moment,

like those before 670

would have just thought,

wouldn't have known,

they would have had

one meaning,

but after 670,

they would have said,

there's no Jewish people

left there.

Like,

how is,

like there's a riddle

here.

By the way,

just as an aside,

I don't talk about it

very much,

but God isn't finished

with the Jewish people.

A Jewish person

doesn't become,

doesn't go to heaven,

isn't made right with God

by being Jewish.

They have to know

the Messiah.

But God isn't finished

with the Jewish people.

That's what,

that's what the New Testament

fundamentally teaches.

And this is part of it here,

this little bit of a mystery here

that Jewish people,

by the time of the,

by the time of Jesus,

Jewish people

had started to move back in.

And part of the reason

that Galilee was viewed

as a little bit suspect

was that they,

they often were

very close to

pagan villages.

But the Jewish people

had moved in

by the time of Jesus.

And it's why,

amongst other things,

is that if you look

at Matthew chapter 4,

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

Matthew says,

when he describes

Jesus beginning

his preaching ministry

after his baptism

by John the Baptist,

that Matthew 4,

Matthew says that

this is a fulfillment

of the prophecy

in Isaiah chapter 9

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

being fulfilled.

It's the beginning

of the fulfillment

of the prophecy

because Jesus begins

his preaching

in the areas

that were depopulated,

where Assyria

had first come in.

And that's where

he begins his

preaching ministry.

And so there's

a bit of a,

you know,

a bit of a riddle here.

In 650 BC,

they wouldn't have,

it would have been

beyond their wildest dreams

that there would be

Jewish people living there.

They would have not

known entirely

what this meant

because there's

so many riddles

within the text.

But Jesus begins

his ministry

in an area

amongst Jewish people

in an area

that earlier on

Isaiah said

they are wiped out.

And we can now see

that both of those

prophecies came true,

actually,

can't we?

Then he moves

to these very,

very,

very powerful images

about what God

is going to do

in their midst.

And it's seen

in verses 3 to 5.

If you want to

follow along with me.

You have multiplied

the nation,

verse 3,

you have increased

its joy,

they rejoice before you

as with joy

at the harvest,

as they are glad

when they divide

the spoil.

For the yoke

of his burden

and the staffer

is a shoulder,

the rod of his oppressor,

you have broken

as on the day of Midian.

For every boot

of the tramping warrior

in the battle tumult

and every garment

rolled in blood

will be burned

as fuel for the fire.

Now,

the heart of these

two images is this.

There's a harvest image

and there's a battle image.

And at the heart

of both of these images

is this fundamental idea

that,

like in the harvest image,

the image is

that God

is like a farmer

but God

has tilled the land,

God has watered the land,

God has planted the seed,

God has plucked out

the weeds,

the harvest has come,

it's God's harvest,

and then God actually

brings in the harvest

and then after

all the work is done,

he invites people

to come and enjoy

the harvest.

But it's all done

by him.

And in the battle image,

and it's emphasized

by this image

of Midian,

in the battle image,

the image is that

there's a great battle

against Israel's enemies,

against the people

of God's enemies.

And God defeats,

does everything.

He takes on the enemies,

he defeats the enemies,

they're completely

and utterly defeated,

and then people

get to come in

and enjoy the victory

that he has accomplished.

Those are the two images

which are going on here.

And if you're wondering

a little bit about

the weapons

and the bloody boots

and all of that type

and the bloody clothes.

Some of you know

I was in Israel

in the last little bit

of October.

And we began,

I was part of the tour,

and we spent

the first couple of days

around the Sea of Galilee.

And one day

we were driving

from our hotel

in Tiberias

up to the Golan Heights.

It was really interesting.

I really,

it was really sort of neat.

We got to actually go

within 500 yards

of the Syrian border.

And we also,

and we were two kilometers

away from the Lebanese border.

We were able to see

in the distance

two villages,

one controlled by,

I think it was Al-Qaeda,

one controlled by Hezbollah.

And our guide

who was a just retired major,

we had two guides

at that point in time.

We had a military,

a former military major

of the Northern Israeli Command.

And he talked about

how sometimes

you can come up there

and you can see

the two villages

fighting at each other.

And he confessed

that as an Israeli

on one hand,

of course,

he hates to see

any bloodshot.

On the other hand,

he's glad

that they're fighting

each other

because it means

they're not attacking us.

But we're right up there

at the border.

But before we got there,

he's talking about

different things

and our tour guide

is talking about

different things.

And all of a sudden,

the tour guide interrupts them

and says,

oh, oh, oh,

we have to make sure

they understand

what's happening.

And he smiles

a big smile

and he said,

okay,

just in a few seconds,

we're going to go over

the mighty Jordan River.

And, of course,

it's really funny

because the Jordan River

is about the distance

from the end

of that chair

to the door.

Like,

the Jordan River,

it's not very,

the Jordan's not very wide.

Like,

it's tiny.

So,

some people say,

well,

what's the big deal

about all the things

in the Bible

about the Jordan River

and crossing it?

And the guy said,

well,

amongst other things,

he said,

it's deep.

I mean,

people back then,

a tall person

was five foot tall.

I mean,

obviously,

there were people

higher than tall,

but most people

were five foot tall.

In the time

of the Roman Empire,

most of the soldiers

that were doing

the fighting

were five foot tall.

And so,

when they had a shield

that was four foot tall,

it doesn't take much

to get underneath

to be protected

by a shield

that's four foot tall

when you're only

five foot tall.

And he said,

so the water's deep

and so it's hard to cross.

They couldn't swim.

So,

somebody said to him,

well,

why didn't they just

build a bridge?

It's not a very big river.

And he said,

look around.

If you're there,

look around.

There's no trees.

Like,

there's no trees.

There aren't.

No trees.

So,

how would they build a bridge?

It's a big deal.

It's a big accomplishment.

Even today,

if you couldn't swim

to get across a river

that's higher than you

and to bring all your family

and your goods

and everything like that

and there's no trees.

So,

this part of the text here

about the burning

of the clothes

and the weapons,

it's something that,

especially Jewish people,

they would have instantly understood.

They're practical people.

And here,

God has won

a wonderful victory.

All the enemies destroyed

and God is God.

And so,

you know what?

All these weapons of war,

you don't need them anymore

because God's won the battle.

But you know what?

They're really,

really handy to heat the house.

And they're really handy

to cook on.

Like,

why waste it?

You're not going to wear the clothes.

It's all filled with blood

and yuck.

But it dries

and you burn it

and you use it.

It's a very,

very,

it's part of the spoils

of the battle

which is being described here.

And it's a very,

very powerful image.

Now,

I have to confess

that,

so,

so,

some of you,

if,

some of you have been

to our Christmas Eve

seven o'clock service

or a Christmas morning service

and one of the things

I do at those services

is,

you know,

even though I had

all these kids,

God,

I didn't get that thing

about being able

to do good kids stories.

Like,

that's somehow missing

in me.

So,

a few years ago

it was always a struggle.

I have to do something

at Christmas

for the kids,

you know.

Just like,

it's like nothing,

right?

So,

a few years I discovered

that there's many movies

that you can get

for either free

or very little price.

So,

my Christmas Eve sermon

and Christmas morning sermon,

I interspersed,

I talked for like four minutes,

people were starting to go,

kids are getting restless.

I put on a movie.

They all perk up

and they go back

to speaking for four minutes

or five minutes.

They all start to get restless

or fall asleep.

I put on a movie.

So,

here's the thing.

For those of you

who are parents,

I came across

this spectacular

Christmas mini movie

called

There's a Dragon

at My Nativity.

And it shows

a dragon swallowing things

and there's the stable

but beside the stable

there's this huge

dragon

sort of drooling

because it wants

to eat the baby.

And I'm trying to decide

if I should show it.

So,

I think I should.

I think I'll just warn

the parents

that if you have kids

it's going to be too scary.

Cover their eyes

for this next three minute video

because it's really cool.

I think it's really cool

and if you come on

Christmas Eve

or Christmas morning

you'll get to see it.

But here's the thing.

Here's the riddle.

So,

you hear about

there's this

going to be this

like

the main images

are all around

this image of battle

that all of you

who are oppressed

and under the yoke

of slavery

under the yoke

of an oppressor

that yoke

will be broken.

All the people

who have staves

and rods

that beat you

on the shoulder

and beat you

on the back

this mighty warrior

is going to come

and he's going to

take them all

out of people's hands

he's going to break them

and all of the enemies

are all going to be defeated.

So,

what is the image?

What's this all

leading us to?

Is it going to be

something like Godzilla?

Is it going to be

something like

a mighty giant

way, way, way taller

with unbelievably

big muscles?

Is it going to be

something like

a superhero

who can fire

things with his hands?

Is it going to be

something like

a volcano?

They would have seen

massive storms.

Is it going to be

like a lightning storm

that somehow

is like a person

but can do things?

Like,

what's it going to be?

And so,

it comes to the whole

climax

and it's a baby.

That's the whole thing

about the dragon

in my nativity thing.

That's why I think

it could be a really

cool thing.

It's a baby.

Like, it's a baby?

Like, it's a baby.

All the enemies

defeated,

it's a baby.

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 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.

Remember,

this future is so certain

they use the past.

For the zeal

of the Lord of hosts

will do this.

That's the part

that I missed earlier

about the Midian image.

We're going to be doing

a series of,

we're going to go through

all the book of Judges

in the new year

and the Midian reference,

some of you

will remember the story

once I start to tell it to you

in the previous text

because the emphasis

on the text

is that God's going

to do all of this.

It's not going to be

any way that any human being

can think that they

were responsible.

And one of the wonderful stories

in the book of Judges

is the story of Gideon,

right?

So God raises up Gideon

to deliver the people

of Israel

from this terrible oppressor.

So Gideon gathers

a huge army,

thousands,

tens of thousands

of people

and God says to Gideon,

the army's too big.

You can just imagine,

I don't know if there's

any military people here

but generally,

the army's too big

is not normally

what a general

wants to hear.

Normally they say,

give me a bigger army.

Send me 30,000

extra troops.

But God says to Gideon,

the army's too big.

And so he tells Gideon

what to say,

almost everybody leaves.

And then God looks

at the army

and he says to Gideon,

the army's still too big.

And he gives them

some other tests

so that more people

will leave.

And when it's all over,

he's left with 300 people

against tens and tens

and tens of thousands

of Midianites.

And what's the point

of the story

is that God wants

to show Gideon

that he won the battle.

There's no way

that Gideon can say

it's because of my cleverness,

because I'm such a good general,

because we fought so hard,

because our muscles are big

or anything like that.

It's one of these

powerful lessons

that God wins the battle.

And yet when it comes down

to the culmination of it all,

it's this very,

very simple mystery

that it's all about

a baby being born.

Actually,

why don't you just all

read this text with me?

Some of you have to

fight yourself

from bursting into song,

I know.

But let's just read it.

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.

Remember,

at the beginning of the sermon,

I said that one of the things

that was a shock to me

at 36

was to discover

that I was actually

an anxious person

without realizing it,

that I didn't experience

my anxiety directly,

but because I found

anxiety so unpleasant,

and I found the stress

so unpleasant,

I either didn't recognize it

or I did other types of things

to mask my anxiety,

to dull my anxiety,

to dull my stress,

and it ends up leading to me

acting out in ways

that were further unhealthy,

which of course

create more anxiety,

which create more

covering it up

and masking it

and not experience it directly,

which means more acting up,

which makes you feel more,

you know,

it's a very, very terrible

way to live.

It's a very, very, very,

very terrible way to live.

And it's even harder

if you watch somebody else

struggling with that

and you realize

that they're caught

in this cycle

of not really dealing

with the stress

and anxiety in their lives.

And so,

I mean,

I still have times

when I struggle with anxiety.

And, you know,

one of the things

I'm just so thankful for,

and I think in heaven

I'll discover

that it's not

because of anything to me.

I'll probably discover

in heaven

that somebody was praying

for me at that instant.

And it's as if God

will speak to me

and say,

because I'll be really worried

about something going on

in the church.

I'll be worried

about the money

or I'll be worried

about some type of decision

or I'll be worried

about something

in my family

or I'll just be worried

about something

in my marriage.

Not that I have stuff

to worry about

all the time

in my marriage,

but, you know,

you've married for a while,

there's things

that are worrisome

in marriages.

If I didn't say that,

I'd be lying to you.

People who've been married

for very long

who say that they've

never had anything

worrisome in their marriage

is probably not

telling you the truth.

Sorry.

That's life.

And it can be really,

really,

you can get, you know,

weighed down by things

and I can be really

get down on myself

and just feel

a type of darkness

and coming on me.

And it's as if

many, many, many,

many times

a phrase from this

and other similar passages

will just really

be brought home to me

by the Holy Spirit.

Look at it again.

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government

shall be upon his shoulder.

And I have this,

it's as if God reminds me,

George,

if you try to carry

Church of the Messiah,

it will crush you.

George,

if you try to carry

your life

and your health

and your finances,

it will crush you.

If you try to carry

your marriage,

it will crush you.

If you try to carry

this problem,

it will crush you.

You see,

the wonderful truth is

that Jesus carries me

and he carries the church.

And he carries my marriage.

He carries those problems

and anxieties

that I have in my life.

He carries them.

Just as he carries me.

And, you know,

here's the wonderful thing.

I've only had a couple of times

I've tried to describe this

to non-Christians.

You can pray that I have

more time to try to

explain this to a non-Christian

because, you know,

for many people,

you'd think that

if you have this image

that Jesus is carrying you

and he's carrying the problem,

you'd think that this means

you can go,

whoa, okay,

if that's the case,

I'm going to go home.

On the way home,

I'm going to get a big bag of chips.

I'm going to get a six-pack of beer.

I'm going to binge watch Netflix

and just drink the beer

and eat the potato chips

because God's going to handle

the whole thing.

But here's the amazing thing

about the gospel.

You see,

amongst other,

remember I said that this text

is that there's all these mysteries

and riddles and enigmas

in the text.

Like,

how is it that a baby

is going to do this?

How is it that a baby

is God?

Because that's what

mighty God means.

Mighty God means God.

How is it that God

is going to take on flesh

and actually be born as a baby?

How is it that this is going to be

somehow a descendant of David,

his son,

yet it's also going to be God?

Because that's what the text is saying.

Many Jewish people

try to evade this text,

but it's a fundamental mystery

of the text.

The Hebrew,

all of it,

it points to this

fundamental mystery

and riddle.

And the fact of the matter is,

is that the wonder

of the gospel

is that God himself

takes on human flesh.

And he is God with us,

as Isaiah prophesied

just a few verses earlier.

And he really was with us.

And he's with me

even to the point of my

future death upon the cross.

And on the cross,

he is so deeply with me.

And he is so deeply concerned

that his order of shalom

would be what characterizes

the fundamental eternal order

of my life.

That he himself

takes upon himself

all my disorder,

all my sickness,

all my wounds,

all my shame,

all my sin.

And on the cross,

he bears it all.

He bears it all.

And when that gospel truth,

I mean,

part of the growth

in a Christian life

is receiving that

for the first time.

But the other part

of the Christian faith

is that that truth

becomes more and more

and more real

and precious to us

at a very, very deep level

of who we are,

at the level of our identity,

at the level of our

emotions,

at the level of our

basic thinking

and worldview,

that that truth

grips us

more and more

and more and more.

And the funny thing

about it is

that because it's

so freely given,

all in grace,

that God,

in his zeal

for me and for you,

does all of this,

when that truth

grips us,

the result is never

laziness and fate,

but a freedom to act.

And so it is

that when I have

these times in my life

where I'm weighed down

by thinking about

these decisions

I have to make

or different times

in the church's history

or my other churches

that I've served in

where there's been,

you know,

a financial issue

or some other type

of strategic issue

or conflict in the church

or conflict amongst staff

or conflict amongst leaders

or anything like that

that's going on

or problems in my family

or in my personal life

or whatever it is

and I start to get

weighed down on it.

And I just,

this text comes to me again

where a similar text

for to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government

shall be upon

the authority,

the rule

is upon his shoulder.

His shoulder.

I'm on his shoulders.

That's partially

what it means

to be a Christian,

that Jesus has redeemed me

and I am now

carried by him

and he carries

this other problem.

And every time,

as that truth grips me,

the result isn't

that I want to go home,

pick up the six pack

and buy a bag of chips

and just binge on Netflix.

The result is

a lightning of the load

and you look around

and say,

okay,

what steps can I take?

Like,

that's how it actually works.

What steps can I take?

Like,

what can I do?

You know,

Lord,

guide me.

You know what?

And then,

you know,

maybe a phone call

or whatever.

It doesn't mean

that there's still

not a series

where it's still difficult.

I'm not saying

it's just,

it's not magic.

But the reminder

of the truth

that I am on

his shoulders

and he is

shouldering

this burden

brings light

and brings freedom

to try to deal with it.

That's how it works.

See,

and that's what's so wonderful

about these other phrases

as well

that we can just pray

and I'm just going to

sort of close with these.

Look at these phrases.

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.

Wonderful Counselor

means,

in a sense,

not just a counselor,

basically it's an idea

of supernatural counsel.

Many of us,

I mean,

every single one of us

needs counsel.

We need advice.

And it means that

of the very,

very nature of Jesus

is that he is wise.

And he is both

from outside of this world,

he's eternal,

he's transcendent,

he's omnipotent.

But at the same time,

he was one who came

and dwelt among us,

who there is no trial

or temptation

that we have undergone

that he has not

undergone as well.

And he knows

the problems in our life

far better

than we know

the problems of our life

because he died

for things

that we're not even aware of

that we were sinning

when we did them.

I mean,

you know,

for those of us

who get a little bit older,

I've shared with it before,

you don't maybe realize

some of the ways

you've sinned

with your kids

until they call you

later on

and say,

you know what,

you did that was wrong.

Or maybe a co-worker

or maybe one of your employees

or something like that

and they tell you later on

and you didn't at the time

think it was wrong

and you realize it was wrong.

Even the things

that we don't know of,

Jesus knows those things

about us

and so we can call out

to him

for counsel.

I mean,

I actually

don't really

always know

how it is

that a person

who doesn't,

can't call out

on Jesus

for prayer

and wisdom

and advice,

like,

how hard it must be

to live

without knowing

that you can call

on God,

on Jesus

who died for you

and ask for his wisdom.

I know in heaven

there'll be many,

many,

God will show me

all the times

I didn't listen

to his advice.

You know,

pray for me.

But he is

wonderful counselor

and he's mighty God.

and this is something

which has become

an important part

of my prayer life

over the last 10 years

in particular

because one of the things

that would cause me anxiety

is I would think

that these problems

are really big,

like bigger than this building,

like bigger than the Rockies

and how on earth

could I ever deal with them

and it was really hard

for me to get my mind around.

It was one of those

until the scriptures

started to come

really home to me

that however big

my problem is,

God is bigger

than my problem.

I mean,

one of the things

that's so easy

for us to get

despairing about

our country,

it's very easy

to get despairing

about the world,

I just want to remind you

no matter how big

Trudeau is

or the government is

or the opposition is,

Jesus is bigger.

No matter how big

Brexit seems to be,

no matter how big

Trump or Pelosi

seem to be,

Jesus is bigger.

He is bigger.

He is bigger

than every problem

I face

and he is the mighty God.

It's a warrior image.

It portrays Jesus

as the ruler

who is both

supernaturally

and eternally

transcendently

yet imminently wise

and he is the one

who is bigger

than any obstacle.

He is bigger

than Satan.

He is bigger

than anything

that we will face

and he is bigger

and he is able

and present

and powerful

and active

and able

to deal with it.

And he is also

the everlasting father,

the prince of peace.

Everlasting father here,

it's not confusing

the Trinity,

it's an Old Testament word

to describe the king,

the perfect king,

the father

that we wish

we had.

Maybe some of us

have had such

a perfect father,

but the father

that we wish

that we had

who sees

that it is

his obligation

to care

and protect

for his family.

And God

has described

that the perfect king

is one

who described

that he sees

his people

as his children

and that he will do

what he should do

not for his own glory,

not for the furtherance

of his empire,

but to protect

and care

and nurture,

provide for his people.

And then this final thing

which I'll end on,

that he is the prince of peace.

This is a very,

very,

very,

very important

analogy

in my life

and hopefully

after I share

with it

with you as well.

You know,

almost every single time

in the Old Testament

and the New Testament

when the Bible talks

about the word peace,

it doesn't mean

an emotion.

It means

a type of order.

See,

what we need

to pray about

isn't that God

would give me peace,

but that God's

peaceful order

would order me.

See,

the word is shalom

and the basic idea

of shalom,

some of you have heard

me share this before,

is it used to be,

I don't know

if they still do it anymore,

they probably don't,

but it used to be

that you'd see mobiles,

right,

and a mobile

is something

with little sticks

and pieces of string

or,

you know,

fishing,

you know,

whatever that,

fishing line

and at the end

of the fish,

the sticks,

at the end

of the fishing line

there would be

some little object,

a plane or an animal

or something

and you could

occasionally

back in the day

see these very,

very elaborate mobiles

which had lots

of different sticks

all going out

in different directions

and the sticks

and all the whole mobile

if it's done really well

it can have different

heavy things

and small things

and if you have

a small thing

and a heavy thing

then the stick

has to be balanced

in a particular way

and then this balance

has to be balanced

with this

which has to be

balanced with this

and if it's very,

very well done

you can have a very,

very complicated mobile

so that the least

little bit of breathe

and it just moves

very,

very,

it just moves

a tiny bit

from the tiny breezes

in the house

and if you just think

of that type of mobile

with some sticks

this long

and some sticks

that long

and some sticks

with the cord

right in the middle

and some words

right here at the end

because you have

a tiny,

a big heavy thing

and a tiny thing

and if you see that,

you think that type

of order

that's what shalom is.

That's what shalom is.

Shalom

is when God

has ordered things

so that there's

a proper order

of me towards creation.

There is a proper order

towards me,

towards the plants

in my house,

towards the animals

in my house,

a proper order

towards me

and the children,

a proper order

towards me

and my neighbor,

a proper order

towards me

and my brothers

and sisters,

a proper order

towards me

and the government,

a proper order

towards me

and my God,

a proper order,

an order of peace,

of balance,

of harmony,

of beauty.

That's what shalom is.

And so Jesus

is the prince

of this order.

So what I need

in my life

isn't the feeling

of peace.

I mean,

for those of us

who struggle

with addictions,

you use the Jack Daniels

to give you peace

and your life

is in chaos.

Use the drug

to give you peace

but your life

is in chaos.

You use shopping

and debt

to give you

a sense of peace

but your life

is in chaos.

We don't need

a feeling of peace

while our life

is in chaos.

us,

we need

shalom.

We need

the prince

of shalom

to bring his

shalom

to order our lives.

And that's what

this text

is inviting us

to pray into.

Jesus,

you carry me

and you carry

my problems.

You are bigger

than my problems.

You are the mighty God.

You are the wonderful

counselor.

I need your counsel.

You are the one

who cares for me

and will protect me.

I need you

to be my fortress.

And most of all,

I need your order

in my life.

I need your peaceful

order in my life.

I need your peaceful

order in my church.

I need your peaceful

order in my family.

Lord Jesus,

come.

Babe of Bethlehem,

come.

Crucified Jesus,

come.

Risen Jesus,

come.

Returning Jesus,

come.

And bring your peaceful

order into my life.

I invite you to stand.

Let's bow our heads

in prayer.

Father,

you know those

amongst us

who struggle

with addiction issues.

You know those

of us who struggle

with them.

And we ask,

Father,

that for each person

here who struggles

with that,

that you would grip

them with the gospel.

and we ask,

Father,

that you would

grip them

with the truth

of this text.

That they

would not

turn to that

which addicts them

to give them peace.

But they would

turn to you

and know

that you carry them

and carry that problem.

That you would

help them,

Father,

to experience

their anxieties

and their stress

knowing that

it will not

unmake them

because you have

made them new

in Jesus.

And,

Father,

you know those

of us

who are carrying

big loads

of stress

right now.

It's Christmas.

Many of us

have spent more

than we can afford

on gifts.