Advent: Jesus as Our Wonderful Counselor and Guide

Dec 01, 2024

Devotional

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“You ever feel that way in life? You're going along. You think you're on the right path. Things are going well. And all of a sudden, something happens. You know, you thought things were going great in your career or in this relationship, that relationship, this situation, that friendship, or whatever, or your future. Something happens, and now there's difficulty. Now there's challenge. Now there's anxiety and confusion and just, like, no idea what to do. You feel lost. You feel stuck. I would have loved that night if a farmer would have come by and pulled me out and gave me some guidance on how to get to Mark's house. Don't we all want that kind of thing when we're in a difficult spot? Someone to give guidance. Someone to help us. Someone to give wisdom when we desperately need it. The reality is I have good news for you. There is one who has come, who does that very thing. It's Jesus Christ, our Savior.”
“Our hope as we look at these descriptions of the name of Jesus and think deeply about each one of them, it would help us walk with Jesus more consistently. It would help us trust Him more fully. The reality is as we live in this time between the first and the second coming, as we live in this time between the two Advents, life is often complex, difficult, hard, and we desperately need help. We desperately need wisdom. And Jesus is that one. He is wonderful counselor.”
“All these good things that are promised are found in the child that would be born, the son who would be given. Look at verse 6.4. In other words, this is explaining why we can have this light and this expectation. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall rest upon His shoulder. And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And so the hope of freedom from oppression, the end of war, and having light rather than darkness, is found in this child. He would rule. The government would rest upon His shoulder.”
“So when Jesus starts His ministry, He comes into Capernaum, which is in the Galilee area, which is Zebulun and Naphtali. He fulfills this prophecy that was given some 750 years before, that the people walking in darkness would see a great light. It's about Jesus and the start of His ministry, and Matthew helps us make that connection. And so the child that's talked about in 9-6 is this one who came into Galilee and began preaching about the kingdom of God. It's about Jesus. He is the wonderful counselor. He's all of these things that we're going to look at the next four weeks.”
“So counselor is more than just advising. Like when we think of a counselor, a lot of times we think of someone who's going to sit with. They advise us, that kind of thing. But it is that, but it's also more than that. It can have a stronger sense like planning, deciding. One of the first examples of a counselor that we read in the Scriptures is found in Exodus. Moses has come out with the people out of Egypt. And Exodus describes how from morning until night, Moses is the one who's judging all the matters of the people, all the issues that they need judgment and wisdom on.”
“And so counselor is one who advises, guides, directs. And a good counselor is one who's full of wisdom and truth. And Isaiah proclaims that this child to be born would not just be any counselor. He would be a counselor who's truly good. He would be wonderful counselor. That phrase could literally be translated, a wonder of a counselor, wonder of a counselor. And so wonder can have the sense in scripture of marvelous. The verbal form of this word, it's also used to express miraculous things done by God.”
“So wonder can have that sense of beyond comprehension. And so this child to be born would be wonderful counselor. Means that this one to be born would have extraordinary, marvelous wisdom, far beyond human comprehension. He would come among his people, provide guidance and divine wisdom. He would speak truth. He would give direction. He would bring light. God, that's wonderful counselor.”
“God knows the end from the beginning. God knows all things. He understands all things. His counsel, his plans, what he decided, decides they will stand. And so this is a description of God the Father, but it's also true of God the Son because they share equally in all these abilities. So when you find yourself in a place where you're uncertain about the future, when life just seems too complex and confused, Jesus knows the end from the beginning. He understands all things. He has the wisdom. He has the truth that you need.”
“He knows the purpose of your life. He knows what you were made for. He knows the flow of history and your part in that. I mean, he just knows it all because he knows the end from the beginning. And because he became one of us, he doesn't know these things from afar. He knows them intimately well because he's experienced everything we've experienced. So he's truly a wonderful counselor that gets it and has perfect wisdom, perfect insight about all things.”
“Let me give you some thoughts. First place to start is make sure you're in a relationship with him. I mean, this is where it starts, that you're actually in a relationship with him. You actually know him. As we think about Advent and Jesus first coming into the world, it's all about God rescuing us from our own spiritual darkness, right? Our spiritual death, our spiritual separation. Because of sin, we're alienated from God. We're separated from him. We cannot know him, but he sent his son into this world. To be born as a human, to live a perfect life, to ultimately go to the cross, to die for our sin.”
“There's this great transaction that takes place. Our sin is placed on him. His righteousness is placed on us. We're born again. We're given spiritual life. That is the start of experiencing him as a wonderful counselor. You can know things about him, but you cannot know him as a wonderful counselor apart from being in a relationship with him. So make sure you're in a relationship with him.”
“But then for those who are in a relationship with Jesus, we need to choose to walk as his disciple. We need to walk as his disciple. And a true disciple says, I'm going to go the way of Jesus, whatever the cost. I will follow him wherever he leads. I will sit at his feet and let him be the one that I'm actually listening to. I will sit at his feet and let him be my teacher, my guide, the one that is bringing truth and wisdom to me.”
“See, Jesus didn't come just to be wonderful counselor in our difficulties. He didn't come just to be wonderful counselor when we're in a mess. He came to be wonderful counselor about all of life. He knows all things. He knows the best way for life to go, for your life to go. He knows perfectly well your situation. But see, we have to make an intentional decision that we're going to let Jesus be the one that leads and guides us.”
“If we don't decide, if we don't choose to step under his leadership and be a disciple of his, there are a thousand other voices that will be speaking to you. The habit patterns of your family of origin, friends, the culture around us, the news you listen to, the social media accounts that you're connected to, all those things will gladly try to speak wisdom into your life. They are every day. I mean, they're talking to us every single day. But none of those things are wonderful counselors. Of course, Jesus alone is a wonderful counselor. So choose to walk as his disciple.”
“As a disciple then, fill your mind with his word. We receive Jesus' wisdom through his word. We've been in the Sermon on the Mount this fall. In January, we will continue to that. And one of the things we've said over and over again is the reason we're looking at the Sermon on the Mount is if we want to walk as a disciple of Jesus, we need to know his teachings. And the Sermon on the Mount is one of the core places where we see the teachings of Jesus. So we need to develop this rhythm of filling our minds with God's word.”
“It's great that we come on Sunday morning. It's great that we have this time. But if this is the only time where you are opening up the scriptures and hearing and thinking about God's word, you're kind of starving in some ways. When I think about eating, like I eat three times a day with snacks between each one of these, plus a bedtime snack, right? Anybody with me? If I just ate once a day, I'm a little bit hungry, right? And so many times we treat scripture like that as like one meal a day. It's when I come to church, we need to find rhythms of regularly coming to God's word to let it be the thing that is shaping how we think, because this is God's wisdom.”
“This is how he speaks to us. This is how the wonderful counselor shows up in our life and gives us wisdom. Do you have rhythms of coming to God's word? I'm not talking about does it have to be every day or any of that kind of stuff, but is there a regular, consistent practice of sitting with God, opening up the word and reading and thinking about it? It's really critical if you want to experience Jesus as wonderful counselor.”
“Here's my thought. If that's something that is not part of your rhythms right now, find a place and a time where you can do that in a consistent way. And if you don't know where to start in the scriptures, any of the gospels would be great. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But I may suggest that you start in Matthew 5, Matthew 5, 6, and 7. That's the Sermon on the Mount. That's what we've been teaching on Sunday mornings. That's where we'll return. And so read a paragraph, read three or four or five verses, sit with that, pray over that, think about that. God, is there anything I need to hear from you out of this passage? That's how we let his word shape our mind.”
“And in that, he is a wonderful counselor to us. Fourth, and this is a reverse order. I changed the last two from what's in the bulletin, but fourth, lean into the body of Christ. Lean into the body of Christ. So often, the way Jesus wants to speak into our lives is through our brothers and sisters. I've experienced this. I know many of you have experienced this. Sitting with a person over coffee and you're processing with your believing friend, or you're in a life group, or you're intentionally going to someone or a few people like, hey, and what do you think about this? And God often will use those relationships to speak wisdom to us.”
“When you think about what the scripture says about the body of Christ, he gives gifts, gifts like wisdom and discernment and encouragement and teaching and all these different kind of gifts because he wants us to be useful in each other's lives. So again, if your only experience of the body of Christ has shown up on Sunday morning, you are kind of removing yourselves from a great way that God speaks into our lives. We need to find ways to connect with at least some more deeply. That's one of the reasons we try to cultivate and encourage groups to find ways to gather.”
“But you need to find a way to develop spiritual friendships because God will use that as that group of people as they're in the word of God, as they're walking as disciples, and you come seeking wisdom. It's a way that he is a wonderful counselor in our lives. Lean into the body of Christ.”
“And here's the last one, probably not the only other last one, but it's the last one I'm going to offer this morning, is look to the spirit within you. Look to the spirit within you. Think about the disciples. They walked around with the wonderful counselor for three years. For three years, he was speaking truth to them. He was bringing light to their lives. I mean, he was in the flesh with them. Then he was going to go, but he didn't leave them alone, right? He promises to them that he will send them another helper after his departure.”
“Jesus has sent his spirit to dwell within his children. The moment you trusted Jesus, the spirit of God came to dwell within you. And so God is not just a far off God who has spoken. He is a God who has come near in the very presence of his spirit dwelling within us who continues to speak. And it's this living, active relationship with the God himself who's dwelling within you. And so we do all these other things. Yes, our mind is being formed by the scriptures. scriptures, but he speaks not just through the word, but in a way consistent with word and the spirit actually leads and guides in a living, vital relationship with him.”
“Let me give you an example. Several years back, there was a decision that Cindy and I were trying to make, and we had polar opposite ideas about what we could do and what it was doesn't matter. But we would just, we couldn't agree. We would talk and talk and talk. And there wasn't a scripture that was going to answer this situation. It was kind of a different preference on a certain thing, but you couldn't do it. You couldn't compromise. It was one way or the other. And we'd had several weeks of really disagreement and frustration over this situation.”
“There was this day where eventually we decided, you know, let's both just take about an hour alone and let's just sit in quietness and let's try to hear from God. And we did that. And we came back together and both of us had this sense. God didn't speak to us audibly, but we both had this sense of here's what we should do. And we had the same sense about it. God, through the presence of his spirit, showed up and was a wonderful counselor to us. And it let us move together in harmony and not have that conflict as we listened to the spirit of God within us. That's the kind of relationship you have with God. The spirit of God dwells within you. So make sure you look to the spirit within you.”
“So if you know Jesus and it's your heart's posture to follow his disciple, you're filling your mind with his word. You're connecting to others in the body of Christ and you're looking to the spirit to guide and lead you. I mean, you're in a great place to experience Jesus as your wonderful counselor. Wonderful counselor who will lead and guide you.”
“Who will you listen to for wisdom, guidance, and even comfort? Who will you listen to, really, for wisdom, guidance, and comfort? Will it be Jesus or will it be a thousand lesser voices that are all trying to speak into your life? What will you choose? What will you decide? In these moments as we eat the bread and drink the juice, we're reminded that Jesus entered into our world as a baby to save us. His body was broken for us. His blood was shed for us to save us, to redeem us, so we could find life in Him.”
“And sometimes we wrestle with letting Jesus really be our counselor, to guide and direct us, because we're unsure, would it really be good? Would it really be good to go His way? If He would enter this world, if He would suffer and die, if He would do all of that for you, would not the rest of it be good? I'm not saying easy, but wouldn't it be good? Wouldn't it be best? And so let these moments today remind you that He really loves you. He really wants what's best for you. His plan, the one who knows best, to go His way, it's the only thing that really makes sense. Let Him kind of strengthen your resolve, your belief in that.”
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