Sermon Tone Analysis
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Friending Jesus
Isaiah 9:2-7
Does anybody here do Facebook?
I have an account with a fake name because I want to remain
anonymous.
It’s kind of contrary to what Facebook is all about; that is, wanting to be known and found out.
I
just opened the account so I could see pictures and posts from Gabe and family.
But somehow I am now being
asked to be friends with someone because of mutual acquaintances.
Friend has turned from being a noun to
being a verb.
People want to friend me.
I had no trouble using a fake name, but some people have had trouble using their real names.
If your
last name is Christmas, you have a problem.
Facebook probably won’t accept you.
Come to think of it, there
was a gal on Big Brother whose name was Christmas Joye Abbott.
I wonder if she has a Facebook account?
If
you submit the name “Christmas” on Facebook’s brief online form, you’ll probably receive an automated
rejection.
The anonymous gatekeepers of this social networking site have decided that “Christmas” cannot
possibly be a real name.
A man named Tim Six also has problems with his name.
He comments, “It’s hard
making a reservation at restaurants when I say, ’I’d like a table for Six at five for three.’”
What might the gal or
guy at the other end of the phone think?
Say what?
Facebook clearly isn’t in touch with the eccentric names people sometimes have.
And it has to take
seriously that people will feel hurt when they’re rejected for simply being themselves.
All these people want to
do is connect with their friends and they get booted for having a rather uncommon name.
As a result, a new
group has been created on Facebook, of course.
It’s called “Facebook Hates My Name.”
Question: Could “Wonderful Counselor” be a Facebook name?
The prophet Isaiah tells us that a Child
has been born for us, a Son given to us, “and He is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
These are certainly unusual names.
You have to wonder: would
Facebook accept them?
More importantly, are we accepting them?
Isaiah tells us that the Child’s “authority
shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom” (v. 7).
Jesus
is our newborn King, the Son of David, the Messiah, the Prince of Peace.
Are we friending Him?
The great challenge of Christmas, the holiday, that is, not the name, is to establish a strong connection
with the Baby born at Bethlehem.
This begins by hearing a message from Isaiah that invites us to accept the
Child as a powerful and loving King.
We don’t want to make the Facebook mistake of concluding that His
names cannot possibly be real, thus rejecting Him.
So do you want to be friends with Jesus?
That’s the
question Facebook would ask us.
If you look at His profile, you see that Jesus is first a: Wonderful Counselor.
At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus passes through Samaria and meets a woman at a well.
He speaks
with her, despite the fact that she’s a woman and a Samaritan; and He tells her everything she has ever done.
He reveals to her that He is the Messiah, and that the day is coming when the barriers between people will fall
and “the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23).
The woman is filled with such
joy that she goes to her city and spreads the word about Jesus.
Many people come to see that He is indeed the
Savior of the world.
Jesus is our Wonderful Counselor, the One who knows us most fully and loves us most
deeply.
He tells us the truth about ourselves and invites us to follow Him in a life of worshiping God in spirit
and in truth.
So often, our success in life depends on the quality of our counselors.
Without good advisers, we
tend to stumble more than we have to.
His second name is Mighty God.
When Jesus’ friend Lazarus becomes ill and dies, Jesus travels to the
man’s home in Bethany.
One of Lazarus’ sisters meets Jesus on the road and says, “Lord, if You had been here,
my brother would not have died” (John 11:21).
Jesus answers her: “I am the resurrection and the life.
Those
who believe in Me, even though they die, will live” (v.
25).
For Jesus to make such an audacious statement, He
has to be either a raving lunatic … or a Mighty God.
He can be only one or the other: insane or almighty.
So
Jesus goes to the tomb and cries, “Lazarus, come out.”
Then the dead man emerges with his hands and feet still
bound with the grave cloths.
Lazarus is given new life, and so are we, if we believe in Jesus, our Mighty God.
It’s no coincidence that many of our favorite Christmas stories contain a message of new life, even if
they fail to give credit to Jesus.
Think of A Christmas Carol, which includes the transformation of the miser
named Ebenezer Scrooge; or It’s a Wonderful Life, with its dramatic discovery of what really matters; or How
the Grinch Stole Christmas, with the growth of the Grinch’s heart, which had once been “two sizes too small.”
Christmas is all about moving from death to life, through the power of our Mighty God.
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