Wonderful Counselor

Opening

Last week we learned that Jesus was to be called “Emmanuel, God with Us”

What stuck out from last week’s message?

Are you more likely to always ask for advice or to never ask for advice? Why?

In what situations in life would you want help from a good guide?

What situations would cause you to pray?

Isaiah 9:6 CSB

For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Video Review

J.D. started the video saying, “Christmas can be a very difficult season for many people.”

What might make Christmas difficult? In what way could Christmas be a difficult time?

He then teaches us that Jesus is our wonderful counselor

God cares about:

the problems we may have

the pain we may have experienced

the loneliness we may feel

Though God is willing to help us with our immediate, or daily, problems, as we see in the miracles of Jesus, God is more concerned with the root of ALL our problems: our separation from Him.

John 5:1–15 CSB

1 After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda in Aramaic, which has five colonnades. 3 Within these lay a large number of the disabled—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 “Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.” 8 “Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk.” 9 Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk. Now that day was the Sabbath, 10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath. The law prohibits you from picking up your mat.” 11 He replied, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ 12 “Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” they asked. 13 But the man who was healed did not know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. 14 After this, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.” 15 The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

Takeaways from the passage

People laid around Bethesda to seek for healing or cures.

the man telling Jesus that he has no one to put him in the water when it is stirred up is based on a superstition that the water was stirred by an angel that would cause the healing I suppose.

Jesus, knowing the man was waiting for a miracle told him to get up an walk, providing him with the miracle he longed for.

the Jews were more concerned about the man breaking the Sabbath, which he didn’t, then the miracle that just happened to him.

Jesus ends the interaction with the man by getting to the ROOT of the problem, the man’s sin and separation from God.

Jesus implied that the suffering the man experienced was from his sin, not necessarily the fact that he was disabled.

Jesus told the man to not sin anymore, in order to not experience the eternal judgement for sin.

More Examples

Jesus healing another paralytic man

Matthew 9:1–7 CSB

1 So he got into a boat, crossed over, and came to his own town. 2 Just then some men brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Have courage, son, your sins are forgiven.” 3 At this, some of the scribes said to themselves, “He’s blaspheming!” 4 Perceiving their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why are you thinking evil things in your hearts? 5 For which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 6 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then he told the paralytic, “Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.” 7 So he got up and went home.

Similar story to the one in John 5

Jesus responded to the faith of the paralytic and his friends by saying “your sins are forgiven

this shows that faith is required for Jesus’ miracles and forgiveness

Jesus tells the man “your sins are forgiven” to emphasize the real problem, the problem of sin and separation from God

Jesus forgiving the adulteress woman?

John 8:2–11 CSB

2 At dawn he went to the temple again, and all the people were coming to him. He sat down and began to teach them. 3 Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, making her stand in the center. 4 “Teacher,” they said to him, “this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery. 5 In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 They asked this to trap him, in order that they might have evidence to accuse him. Jesus stooped down and started writing on the ground with his finger. 7 When they persisted in questioning him, he stood up and said to them, “The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Then he stooped down again and continued writing on the ground. 9 When they heard this, they left one by one, starting with the older men. Only he was left, with the woman in the center. 10 When Jesus stood up, he said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, Lord,” she answered. “Neither do I condemn you,” said Jesus. “Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”]

What this means for us

Hebrews 4:12–16 CSB

12 For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 No creature is hidden from him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. 14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.

Isaiah 9:6 says Jesus is not just our Wonderful Counselor, but also:

Mighty God

Eternal Father

Prince of Peace

Jesus wants us to come to him with our problems and our pain and our struggles

But for Jesus to take that problem, pain, struggle, we need to come to him

in honesty

willing to change

ready to do what he says

Closing Thoughts

Though Jesus never sinned, he paid the ultimate price and took the ultimate suffering for our sins.

instead of holding on to our pain and our scars and our struggles, we need to focus on the pain Jesus experienced on that cross, the scars he gained on his wrists and his feet and on his side, and the suffering He endured for our sins and for our sake.

Are you ready to be honest with Jesus, even about the painful and secret parts of your life?

Do you want to be healed?

Are you ready to do what Jesus says?