Study Guide: "Emmanuel"

Text: Matthew 1:18-25

OPEN:

Choosing what to preach is a daunting task; not because I have nothing to say, but because there is so much to talk about. I was contemplating Sunday's subject and text when a deeply theological conversation with my granddaughter interrupted and preached my sermon for me. She said she knew God is with us, but asked the difference between that and God living in our hearts. That difference is explained in today's text from St. Matthew.

"'and they shall name him Emmanuel,' which means, 'God is with us.'" (23)

God is with us -- Good News for the world.

"'She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.'" (21)

Jesus saves -- Even Better News for individual believers.

Were we to take the time to read the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:17, we would see that what Matthew hints at in verse 16 is fully presented in verses 18-25, namely the actual historical facts of just how Jesus was conceived and born. Luke presents the same facts from the angle of Mary; Matthew, after giving us Joseph's ancestry, presents the virgin birth from the angle of Joseph. He brings in Joseph's dilemma when Mary was discovered to be pregnant, squarely meeting the hostile Jewish slander about the illegitimate birth of Jesus.

Here we encounter an interesting dilemma. The Messiah is to be given the name Emmanuel. But wait, he is also to be given the name Jesus. What gives? Both are appropriate and essential descriptions of our relationship to God in Christ.

Christmas is ultimately and essentially about God becoming man, and Christianity is ultimately and essentially about what we do with Christ.

God becoming man is good news for the world, and especially good news for believers.

I. Emmanuel -- God With Us, Good News for the World (1:23).

1. God is with us, whether we recognize him or not.

1) God is with us in a general way.

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold down the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse: because that, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened." (Romans 1:18-21)

This explains the reason man has always been either generally or intensely religious.

2) Religion is man seeking God.

Whatever they call him, all human religions set off on their own contrived path of finding God:

- Buddhists follow the eightfold path and four noble truths.

- Islam has its five pillars and the Koran.

- Jews adhere to the Torah.

- Hindus look to the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads to achieve enlightenment.

- Adherents to Primitive religions are called Animists, and they conduct themselves in the effort to manipulate the gods or God to grant them good health, abundant crops, and victory over their enemies.

- New Agers buy crystals and pyramids and seek to find the power source and get in its flow.

Back then to the essential message of Christmas, which is Emmanuel, God with us, and to the questions it raises: Who is this God and how is he with us? 

"The high and lofty One who inhabits eternity" is the answer to the first. The One who is with us is the One whom none can look upon him and survive the ordeal. The One who is with us is the One who has made himself known at most only partially and dimly through the pantomime of nature and history and the eloquent but always obscure utterance of prophets, saints, and mystics.

The answer to the second question (how is he with us?)...

2. God is uniquely with us in Christ.

1) The virgin birth really is a big deal.

2) Christianity is God seeking man, or it is nothing at all.

"The facts and their inspired record remain unaltered and unalterable as they have been from the moment when they occurred. Their denial places those who make it outside the pale of Christianity. The Christ who was not conceived and born as the evangelists record is no Christ in any true sense, is nothing but a figment of men's brains. Any religion based upon this sort of Christ is as vacuous as the Christ upon which it is based." (Lenski, p. 38).

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

"The claim that Christianity makes for Christmas is that at a particular time and place God came to be with us himself. When Quirinius was governor of Syria, in a town called Bethlehem, a child was born who, beyond the power of anyone to account for, was the high and lofty One made low and helpless. The One who inhabits eternity comes to dwell in time. The One whom none can look upon and live is delivered in a stable under the soft, indifferent gaze of cattle. The Father of all mercies puts himself at our mercy. (F. Buechner)

II. Jesus -- Jesus Saves, Even Better News for Individual Believers (1:21).

The choice of a name was not left to Joseph. God named his son, Iesous, "Yahweh saves." The reason for the name is stated literally, "for it is he, he alone that shall save his people from their sins." The verb "to save" always denotes rescue and deliverance from danger. But coupled with the act of rescuing is the idea of keeping those rescued safe and secure, preserving them so that the danger shall not again involve them.

1. Jesus shall save his people from their sins.

With one stroke all political ideas are swept away for Joseph, such as deliverance from the Roman yoke, or from the ills that the yoke had brought on the Jewish nation. The real evils under which the Jews suffered were "their sins."

1) It isn't enough to know and believe God is with us; Christ wants to reside inside of us.

Romans 8:10, "And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness."

Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me."

Ephesians 3:17-19, "that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God."

Colossians 1:27, "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Our bondage is of our own making (Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:23, 6:23),

But it is broken by personally receiving Christ's finished work of salvation.

2. "Receiving Jesus"

John 1:12-13, "But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood, or of the will of man, but of God."

John 3:16-18, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him. He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God."

Acts 2:21, "And it shall be, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Romans 3:21-24, "But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

Romans 10:9-10, "because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved: for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

Actually as simple as A, B, C:

Admit you've sinned and are separated from God.

Believe the Gospel--God became man, Christ died in your place, Christ is risen.

Call upon the Lord--invited him to be Lord.

CLOSE:

God becoming man is good news for the world, and especially good news for believers.

"Whether he was born in 4 B.C. or A.D. 6, in Bethlehem or Nazareth, whether there were multitudes of the heavenly host to hymn the glory of it or just Mary and her husband — when the child was born, the whole course of human history was changed. That is a truth as unassailable as any truth. Art, music, literature, Western culture itself with all its institutions and Western man's whole understanding of himself and his world — it is impossible to conceive how differently things would have turned out if that birth had not happened whenever, wherever, however it did. And there is a truth beyond that: for millions of people who have lived since, the birth of Jesus made possible not just a new way of understanding life but a new way of living it." - Buechner, The Faces of Jesus

(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)

Study Guide: "He Shall Be Called... Everlasting Father"

Text: Isaiah 9:6

OPEN:

 

I love the way that Eugene Petersen, editor of The Message, introduces Isaiah:

 

"For Isaiah, words are watercolors and melodies and chisels to make truth and beauty and goodness.  Or, as the case may be, hammers and swords and scalpels to unmake sin and guilt and rebellion. Isaiah does not merely convey information.  He creates visions, delivers revelation, arouses belief.  He is a poet in the most fundamental sense—a maker, making God present and that presence urgent.  Isaiah is the supreme poet-prophet to come out of the Hebrew people."

 

We see some of the poet-prophet at work when we read Isaiah 9:6.  How beautiful: 

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

 

Isaiah's work as a prophet began in the year 739 BC and his public prophetic ministry lasted 53 years. He prophesied during the reign of four kings (Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah). Jewish tradition claims he was sawed in two at the command of a 5th king, wicked King Manasseh. 

The prophet Isaiah knew something about the significance of names. His name means "The Lord is salvation." He was married to a prophetess and they had at least two sons with prophetic names. The elder was Shear-Jashub whose name means "a remnant shall return"; and the younger was Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, which means "quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil."

We've previously seen some of the beauty and importance connected to the names Wonderful, Counselor, and Mighty God. Today we encounter a fourth meaningful description, "Everlasting Father."

This portion of the title given by Isaiah to the coming Messiah appears contradictory. The title Everlasting Father has caused some difficulty to believers through the ages. They have wondered why that name was prophetically ascribed to him who in human nature was a “Child born” and a “Son given” for the salvation of people. The name “Father” has normally been associated with the first person of the Godhead.

 

To properly understand this title, we must note that the name given is not “Father” but “The everlasting Father.” In the East men were often given a name or a title that signified some quality or characteristic for which they were famous. One could be a father of wisdom or a father of folly or a son of wisdom or a son of folly. James and John were called the “Sons of Thunder.”

 

This particular messianic title speaks of the coming Savior as “the Father of perpetuity, the Father of eternity, the Father of the forever.” Together, the two words speak of the scope of the coming Messiah's reign and the quality of his ministry. To be the everlasting is to be characterized by eternity. To be Father refers to Christ’s lordship over eternity.

I. The Title Emphasizes the Messiah’s Deity.

It distinctly sets him apart from sinful man, whose life has been compared to a vapor that appears for a while and then fades away.

​1.​To the Savior is ascribed ageless, timeless being and character. In this respect he is uniquely different from others.

Isaiah 57:15, "For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy, 'I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.'"

​2.​ Our Savior is the Eternal One (John 1:1-14).

​The Messiah came and lived on this earth, died for our sins, and lives again as the Lord of life and death. 

Revelation 1:18, "I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hell."

​In the midst of a changing world, we worship and serve the unchanging Christ. 

Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

​3.​ Our Savior, the Father of eternity, is immune to the limitations of time.

He is as young as the morning; he is as youthful as the daybreak. 

Time cannot tarnish the glory of his person. Age after age reveals his ability to achieve miraculous results in the lives of those who trust him.

The Savior whom we worship at Christmastime did not come into existence at the time of his birth in Bethlehem. He always was. In this event the eternal God clothed himself in the garments of human flesh that people might better understand the nature and character of the true God. What the Savior was, he is and shall be forever.

II. As the Everlasting Father He Gives Eternal Life.

Psalm 36:9, "You are the giver of life. Your light lets us enjoy life." (NCV)

To be in relationship with Jesus Christ, means to be connected to eternity.

1. Everlasting life is the future for believers (John 3:16).

​2. Everlasting life is a present possession for believers. 

John 3:36, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life."

Eternity has already begun.

Great challenge is to see God at work in ordinary moments of this life.

“We must be careful with our lives, for Christ’s sake, because it would seem that they are the only lives we are going to have in this puzzling and perilous world, and so they are very precious and what we do with them matters enormously” ~ Frederick Buechner

III. As "Father” Christ Cares For Us Like a Parent.

1. "Father" is a term of intimate relationship.

Our appreciation of the term depends on our own experience.

This is a term of intimacy and nurture.

​

2.​ He provides tender, loving care for the children of God.

​

3. He constantly exercises the concern of a father’s loving heart.

CLOSE:

The Savior continues to be “The everlasting Father” in his ability and availability to meet the deepest needs of the human heart. He can introduce you to the true God who has revealed himself in terms of love and mercy and grace as well as in terms of holiness and justice.

As the Father of eternity, he is eager to bestow on you the gift of eternal life. This life is more than endless duration. It is a new quality of life—the very life of God. Recognize him, respond to him positively, and this will be the most wonderful Christmas of all.

 

(Dr. Dane Fowlkes, www.danefowlkes.com)

Study Guide: "He Shall Be Called... Mighty God"

Text: Isaiah 9:6

OPEN:

The names and titles given to God contain a revelation of his person, his character, and his purposes toward humankind. The names by which God chose to make himself known to his people are part of the self-revelation by which he led his people to get to know him.

1) The First Name of the Messiah is "Wonderful."

A Celtic proverb describes our Savior as a “Wonder of Wonders and every wonder is true.” God has done many wonderful things for us in and through Jesus Christ. We need to have our eyes opened to recognize all that God has done and proposes to do for us through our wonderful Savior.

2) The second name of the Messiah is "Counselor."

The advent of Jesus Christ means that God is concerned about and intimately involved in our lives.

3) The third name of the Messiah is "mighty God."

In Hebrew: El Gibbowr.

GOD - The Hebrew word for God is 'el. We see it as part of other words such as Beth-el ("House of God"). As a noun, 'el literally means, “strength.” To fully understand how the word fits into the context of Isaiah 9:6 it becomes necessary to trace the meaning of the word from its Hebrew root origin. The root word is 'ayil and it contains several possible definitions and applications:

1) Ram: a) Ram (as food), b) Ram (as sacrifice), c) Ram (skin dyed red, for tabernacle)

2) Pillar, doorpost

3) A strong man, a leader, a chief

4) Mighty tree

MIGHTY - The Hebrew word gibbowr for "mighty" is an adjective; Strong’s defines gibbowr as powerful, warrior; as an adjective it means strong or mighty.

So, 'el gibbowr could be rendered as strong sacrifice; this is a possibility, and if it truly is the intended meaning, perhaps it is meant to build upon the prior words for wondrous counselor by his distinguishing act of obedience to God as he became the sacrificial lamb crucified and the propitiation for their sins. I believe this is valid but unlikely, since the tenor of Isaiah 9:6 is directed more towards strong, governmental-type leadership (throne of David).

Therefore, 'el gibbowr means a strong man, a omnipotent leader, a warrior chief in Isaiah 9:6.

The Messiah is our Warrior Chief: Strong on our behalf

His might is always exercised for two reasons:

1) His own glory

2) Our good

I.  GOD’S GLORY IS OUR MIGHTY GOD’S GREATEST PASSION.

1. God’s Ultimate Goal in all that he does is to Preserve and Display His Glory.

He prizes and delights in his own glory above all things. God’s passion for God is unmistakable.

J. Edwards: “The great end of God’s works, which is so variously expressed in Scripture, is indeed but one; and this one end is most properly and comprehensively called, the glory of God.”

Glory is not easy to define.  The term “glory of God” in the Bible refers to the visible splendor or moral beauty of God’s manifold perfections. It is an attempt to put into words what cannot be contained in words—what God is like in his unveiled magnificence and excellence.

Another theme in Scripture that signifies much the same thing us “the name of God.”  When Scripture speaks of doing something “for God’s name’s sake” it means virtually the same as doing it “for God’s glory.”

The name of God is not merely his label, but a reference to his character. The term “glory” simply makes more explicit that the character of God is indeed magnificent and excellent.

2. God would be less than God if he valued anything more than what is supremely valuable, namely, himself.

Psalm 115:3, “Our God is in the heavens, he does whatever he pleases.”

None of God’s purposes can be frustrated.

God is never deficient or needy. He is never gloomy or discouraged.

God is always full and over-flowingly energetic for the sake of his people who seek their happiness in him.

II.  A PASSION FOR GOD’S GLORY IS THE ESSENCE OF ALL TRUE WORSHIP.

1. Since God’s Glory is God’s Greatest Passion, a Passion for God in Worship Precedes and Supersedes Everything Else in Our Lives and the Life of Our Church.

We are “on mission with God”, but missions is not the ultimate goal of the church, nor is evangelism, discipleship, ministry, fellowship.

J. Piper: “Missions exists because worship doesn’t.  Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man.  When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more.  It is a temporary necessity.  But worship abides forever.”

If the pursuit of God’s glory is not ordered above every other pursuit, regardless of how beneficial, God will not be duly honored and man will not be well served.

“When the flame of worship burns with the heat of God’s true worth, the light of missions will shine to the darkest peoples of the earth.”—J. Piper

Churches that are not centered on the exaltation of the majesty and beauty of God will scarcely kindle a fervent desire to “declare his glory among the nations.”

I want to ask a probing question and seek an honest answer: How brightly does the flame of worship burn at Bosqueville United Methodist Church?  How central is the glory of God to who we are?  How is a passion for God’s glory impacting our programs/staffing/budgeting/outreach/ministry/fellowship?

III. GOD'S MIGHT IS ALWAYS WORKING FOR OUR GOOD.

God's activity on our behalf is constant, not occasional.

God cares for us, not because he is needy, but because his care for us declares his greatness/ his might.

Psalm 68:28, "Summon your power, O God, the power, O God, by which you have worked for us." (ESV)

Jeremiah 32:17, "Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you."

Luke 1:37, "For nothing will be impossible with God" (Angel's response when the virgin Mary questioned how she could possibly bear a son when she had never been with a man)

Mark 10:27, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God." (Jesus' reply to the disciples' incredulity when they responded to his statement of how difficult it would be for a rich man to enter heaven)

2 Corinthians 9:8, "And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."

Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Whatever you need in order to serve God and declare his glory, he will supply in abundance.

CLOSE:

The Messiah is our Warrior Chief and his might is always exercised for two reasons: 

1) His own glory, and 

2) Our good.

With this vision of the Anointed One, attention is drawn away from earthly things and reverently fixed upon God and his glory.  This vision of sovereign majesty is to be our delight and is to shape our entire mindset, filling our mind with thoughts of God and his glory.  In this way the God of grace becomes the center of our entire life.

With this understanding of our potential in light of God's mighty power at work on our behalf, we may face any circumstance with great confidence that God will overcome. He is our Warrior Chief.

- What is your impossible situation?

- What is your greatest need?

Turn to God, surrender it to him, move forward in confidence that God is at work on your behalf.

(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)

Study Guide: "He Shall Be Called... Counselor"

Text: Isaiah 9:6

OPEN:

There are a few things to keep in mind as we study this powerful statement by the prophet Isaiah:

1) This is an example of Hebrew parallelism

- A common feature of Hebrew poetry in the Old Testament is called parallelism, in which the words of two or more lines are directly related in some way. This feature may be found in any poetic passage, as well as in narrative sections. Multiple words or phrases with the same/similar meaning, are repeated one after the other for emphasis.

- Examples:

"The heavens are telling the glory of God;

and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.

Day to day pours forth speech,

and night to night declares knowledge." (Psalm 19:1-2)

"You shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart, and with all your soul,

and with all your might." (Deuteronomy 6:5)

2) This is a Messianic prophecy.

- These titles/attributes are those of the promised Messiah.

- "Messiah" is a Hebrew word that means "anointed one." The Greek equivalent is "Christ." Whenever we say Jesus Christ, we are saying Jesus Anointed One/ Jesus the Messiah.

3) The word translated "counselor" is actually a verbal adjective.

- This describes Christ by what he does.  We know him as God in our lives because he is actively involved.

- Francis Schaefer talked about "the God who is there." This passages speaks about a God who is near/ actively involved with us.

The advent of Jesus Christ means that God is concerned about and intimately involved in our lives.

I.  The Counselor Provides Exhortation.

1) The idea conveyed by this word is one of encouragement.

2) This is the root meaning of the New Testament word used for the Holy Spirit.

John 14:15-17, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of Truth."

The Greek word is parakletos. "One who comes alongside to exhort/encourage."

3) Healing comes not from feeling better about the awful mess I'm in, but by being encouraged to get out of it.

II.  The Counselor Produces Comfort.

1) This is the ability to fully understand/ identify with another person.

Isaiah 66:13, "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you."

2) Jesus understands us completely because of his own humanity.

Hebrews 4:15, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

So, we should never hesitate to honestly pour out our hearts before the Lord. He understands and he cares.

III.  The Counselor Promotes Action.

1) The root meaning of the word may also be interpreted as "coach."

Coaching is different from counseling.

Counseling looks to the past to address problems from the past. That's called 'Therapy.'

Coaching looks to the future. Coaches ask carefully selected questions in order to help the coachee discover what they don't know that they know.

2) The Christian life is an active rather than a passive one.

We're not puppets or marionettes. God is not the Master Puppeteer. 

God doesn't do everything for us while we dangle by divine strings. That's fatalism.

God wants us to discover the gifts and strengths he had given us, to recognize the calling he has placed within each of us, and then serve him with great energy and effort.

CLOSE:

The advent of Jesus Christ means that God is concerned about and intimately involved in our lives.

(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)