Jesus Our Mighty God.

Isaiah 9:

In the past, he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the future, he will honor Galilee of the nations by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land in deep darkness, a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy. They rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressors. Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

Isaiah 9:1-7

Let us pray. Holy Spirit, we thank you for your word that is alive and active. We thank you for the ways that you continue to speak to us through your Holy Spirit. We just ask that you would do that right now. God, you have our attention. We're listening. Holy Spirit, come speak. Have your way. It's in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

Jesus as our Mighty God

Our so what for today is recognizing that Jesus came to be our redemptive righteous strength. Now what: we need to learn how do we receive and experience Jesus as our Mighty God.

Last week we talked about Jesus as our Wonderful Counselor. This week we're focusing on what it means for Jesus to be our strength, our Mighty God. Does anyone here today struggle sometimes with asking for help from people? I'm not alone in this. Let me tell you a story.

A few years back, I was about to move into an apartment by myself. I had always lived with roommates. So I'm scrolling Facebook Marketplace and I found these really nice couches in some suburb, not that far away. So I'm like, great, I'm going to get them. Then I realize I have no idea how I'm going to transport two couches. I only have a car. So I'm thinking, you know what, there's another pastor I know who has a pickup truck. Have I ever driven a pickup truck? Absolutely not. But I'm like, I got this.

So I call him up and he's so kind and generous. He's like, yeah, I'm not home, but my wife will leave the keys in the mailbox. I'm a little short, so I remember I get this pickup truck and I'm looking up at it. I have to hop into this thing. He's like, oh, and by the way, it needs gas. I'm like, yeah, okay, great.

So now I'm driving this big truck. I'm so afraid I'm going to hit things or get stuck. I did not. No one was harmed. But I finally show up to these people's house. And then I realize, how am I going to put two couches by myself in the back of this truck?

So these sweet people, they helped me load it in the truck. Then they offered, do you have someone to help you when you get home? Do you need us to follow you back? And I'm like, absolutely not. I'll be fine. But really, I have no idea how I'm going to do it.

It's moments like this when you start to realize how messed up you are. You're like, what is wrong with me that I really cannot text anyone else to ask for help? It's so hard to acknowledge that I am physically not strong enough on my own to lift two couches into the back of a pickup truck. You need help sometimes.

When I got home, I ended up sending a bunch of texts to people. Some friends graciously came and helped me unload these couches and get it set up. What I recognize in that moment is that sometimes we say, oh, it's hard to ask for help. But sometimes it becomes so a part of who we are. We are so formed into being strong on our own and relying on our own strength that we don't even realize that we struggle to ask for help until it's far too late and we find ourselves in situations where now there's no way out.

We're going to talk today about what it looks like that Jesus is our strength, that he's our help, that he wants to give us his power. He wants to give us his strength. We need to be willing to receive it, to ask him, to talk to him, to acknowledge that we cannot lift the couch on our own and we need help from Jesus, from his Holy Spirit, and from the community that he has provided for us in each other.

The meaning of El Gabor

I want to start today by talking about the word Mighty God that's used here. It's El Gabor. El Gabor means mighty God. In Hebrew, El Gabor is used to describe might and power and strength. Since the Bible wasn't written in English, they didn't actually say mighty God. But this is what it translates to.

In Isaiah 9:6, for us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, El Gabor, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. This title here is emphasizing the one that is coming. That's Jesus. The one who is coming will have both power and authority and be God. He will be powerful, but also be God, the most ultimate authority.

Jeremiah also uses this language when he prophesies, where he says things like, you show love to thousands, but bring punishment for the sins of the parents into the laps of their children after them. Great and mighty El Gabor, whose name is the Lord Almighty. Jeremiah is addressing God and recognizing again his greatness and his might. This highlights God's sovereignty as creator, that he is God throughout generations.

We also see this in Deuteronomy 10:17, for the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, the Gabor, the awesome God who is not partial and takes no bribe. I love this because we're starting to see that when they're using the word Gabor, this might, they're using it in the context of saying his might is not partial, his might takes no bribe. There's a purity to the might of God that's different than maybe human might.

Psalm 24:8 says, Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle. Talking about the strength of the Lord to overcome battle.

Throughout Scripture, El Gabor is might. It's strength. It's power. There's sustainability to it. It's divine. But some other themes we see in the way this word is used is to highlight God's justice, God's righteousness. God is fair. God has power, but God uses that power for good.

Jesus' power is good and different

This is the first thing I want to talk about today. When Isaiah is prophesying that someone is coming and that someone is Jesus, who will be a Mighty God, his power is different. Jesus' strength, his power, his might is good. It is good.

Now we know, and for many of us, we have probably experienced ourselves, people that have not used power for good. We can look at things that are happening all around the world right now. I mentioned last year we helped purchase a home in Bangladesh. I was supposed to go and do some work with the women there and meet with their ministry leaders this past fall. But because of the corruption in leadership, I got a call that said, hey, we might be able to get you into the country, but we probably can't get you out. So you probably shouldn't come because of the level of corruption and power that has been taken advantage of and used for evil and not good.

This is happening all around us. How we have seen it through generations and even in our own country. If you think of ways that people use their earthly might and power not for the good and for the glory of God and for the advancement of his kingdom, but to fulfill their own selfish needs, desires, control. Earthly rulers, generals, political leaders often use their power to fulfill self-interest, greed. Ultimately, it's common that people use power to oppress other people, to manipulate them. Human power on its own can be corrupt.

But the type of power we're talking about here today is the power of God, this divine might that is used for good. God's might is not a power and a strength that is used to oppress and control, but instead to uplift and restore.

We see Jesus demonstrate that in the life that he lived. He had all power and all authority when he came as fully human and fully divine. He did not use that to just build an earthly kingdom. In the humble nature that he came as a baby, he died on the cross and bore and paid the price for our sins and our shame. He showed us that he's a good God. He uses his strength to uplift the people around him, not to oppress them.

Why do people use their power and their strength for corruption and evil? I think the extreme is you can say some people are just evil and bad. Maybe they really are so ill that they cannot process the evil and the harm that they're causing. But I also think that sometimes people use their power for evil rather than good because it's culturally normal and it's common. People get so normal to well, everybody around me is doing this, so how could it actually be bad?

Slavery is a great example of that. It was normal in so many parts of our country to enslave other people that it just became common, even for people in the church and Christians to do. I saw this even last year when I went to Thailand. I was in the red light district. From coming in from a different point of view as a Christian, as a follower of Jesus, I'm in this place where there's so many people enslaved in human trafficking. I can say, this is evil. This is bad. But it's culturally normal even for the churches in Thailand to not want to help these women and these people because they think that they have committed so much sin and they're choosing this life for themselves. Even Christians in Thailand will distance themselves and say, well, we're not really helping them. It's culturally normal for them to do that.

I bring this up because in Isaiah's passage, there were things like this happening. There was oppression, deep darkness. People were being oppressed. This was not a good time. He's saying there's light, there's hope, there's might that is coming.

I bring this up because it's important for all of us to recognize that we have different power and different strengths and different advantages that we have been given. As followers of Jesus, we have the choice now because God sent Jesus and Jesus left with us his Holy Spirit and empowered us to continue to go and to make disciples. We now get to usher in the might and the power and the strength of God. But for us to do that, we have to be so intentional to say, how do we surrender our comfort and our control? How do we not get to the point where evil is so common that we turn a blind eye to it?

So many people use their power for corruption because it's common and also because it keeps them in control. Control is something that we all struggle with deep down inside. Because if I'm not going to be in control, that means I'm trusting somebody else to be in control. So many people keep using their power for evil because they're so scared to let go of the control and have to trust someone else.

I think a huge reason why we talk about the Big Give and this at the end of the year and around Christmas too is every time you give financially, every time you do something, you are reminding yourself that this is not mine. I am not in control. But it's scary. I still get scared whenever I give financially because it's like, God, I don't really know. What if there's not going to be enough next month? What if this, what if that? But every time you do it's an act of surrendering and saying, God, I trust you to provide. I trust you to come through.

So why do we not want to give to people? Because we're afraid that if we do we might not have enough. What does it look like for us to be people that rely on God to be our Mighty strength, our El Gabor, the powerful one that uses his power for justice and righteousness and to help people find redemption with him?

Jesus shows us his power in action

Jesus did this. One of my favorite stories of Jesus showing us the way that he lived this out as El Gabor is found when Jesus turns the tables. In Matthew 21, he goes in and he flips the tables of the money changers. He says, my house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.

What's happening here is that people were in the temple courts and they were selling things and there was all this money being changed over. But it wasn't about money being in the temple courts. It's that people that were doing those things were oppressing the poor. They were taking advantage of the poor. Jesus is coming in and he's like, there will be no more. This is not what it's about. We are not oppressing people. We are not using our power and our control and our authority to get even more control of other people. We use our power to empower other people. That is what we are to do.

Prayer is a great way that we empower people. Jesus is our strength and his strength is good and he wants that goodness to flow through us. So will we be people that constantly look and evaluate what power do I have and am I using that power for justice and for righteousness and to help people find restoration with Jesus?

Jesus' strength heals and restores

Jesus' strength is needed. His strength is needed. We see Jesus all throughout the gospels coming in and using his strength to heal people and to restore people in a way that truly was miraculous. There are so many things now and maybe you're even in situations in your own life where it's like you need divine healing. You need divine healing.

Luke 7:22 says, the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Jesus lived this out as he healed people, as he restored them. He had compassion on them. He continued to be stopped along the way and let go of control of his plans and his day to make way for people to encounter healing.

He healed the least of these. He healed the lepers that nobody else wanted to come close enough to get near. Think of it today and it's like they're so contagious. What doctor or nurse would even want to go near them? Jesus is like, let me touch you. This is wild to think about knowing that what they have is contagious. He's saying I'm going to get close enough and I'm going to trust that God's power is going to heal you and that I'm not going to be impacted. I'm not going to catch it.

He had compassion on them. You see his heart for people in this, for justice and redemption where he's looking at every single person and saying, you are worthy. You are worthy of healing, of wholeness, to be empowered, to live healed.

God's strength is accessible

The final thing that I want to talk about today is how Jesus' strength is good, we need it, we need that divine strength, but it's also accessible and that is the best news of all for us. Jesus' strength, his might, his power, his purpose to usher in justice and reconciliation is accessible for all of us today through the Holy Spirit and through each other.

What I love is that we read about all of the powerful ways that God moved in the Old Testament, the battles that he won, the things that he helped people overcome, the great victories. In the New Testament, all the healings and miracles that took place. But the good news for us today is that God's power is not limited to the battles of the Old Testament. God's power is not limited to the 33 years that Jesus was here walking with us physically. Because of the Holy Spirit that Jesus left with us, God's power, we have access to every single day. God wants us to experience and encounter his presence and his power and his might.

I love as we talk about Christmas and waiting for that power and waiting for that strength. In Luke chapter one, we read of Mary's song. Mary, the mother of Jesus, these are her words. And I think it's important. What I love about this is, and we see it in the Psalms too when David writes a lot about the power and the might of God, is I think that there's some moments where it's like we just have to remember and remind ourselves that he's mighty, that he's our strength.

We have to remind ourselves that we didn't just get here today. We're not all just here healthy and in this room and living and breathing by chance. Each of us have a story of all the many miracles and all the ways that God has made way for us to even be here in his presence and in community together today. Sometimes we just have to take a step back and we have to remember, like where have we seen his power? Where have we seen his strength?

Mary's song of strength

Mary says in Luke 1:46-55:

My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.

Luke 1:46-55

Mary is singing of this. She's naming this. She's proclaiming this before Jesus was even alive to do any of the miracles and the things that he did. She's already talking about the faithfulness of God that she has seen through generations.

So the question today for us is, how do we receive and how do we experience Mighty God, this strength, this power? The first is through the Holy Spirit and the second is through each other. We can receive the might and the power and the strength of God through God's Spirit and through God's people.

Advent is all about waiting. It's about this anticipation. It's about growing this hunger for God to say, we want to see you come in the same ways that we've seen you come before. It's looking to the light. Even as we light the candles every single week to say, even though things may seem dark in this moment during this season, we remember that Jesus is coming back to establish his throne and his kingdom for all of eternity. This is what we're celebrating this season.

But Advent is not passive waiting. It is active. People for generations, when they heard the prophecies that Jesus were coming, they didn't just stop living and say, okay, we're going to now just sit still. They actively waited. They continued to worship. They continued to pray. When Jesus ascended and he told the disciples, wait here in Jerusalem until my Holy Spirit comes, they didn't just sit still. When the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, they were gathered together, reading scripture, worshiping, praying. They continued to move. They continued to listen to what God was doing, to lean in close and to serve one another.

Isaiah 40:31 says, but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. There is something powerful for us in this season to say, what does it look like for us to wait to receive Jesus as our Mighty God? And how can we start to experience him as that even now?

Closing invitation

When I was talking about earlier when I needed help with my couch, the Holy Spirit did not just levitate this couch and it didn't magically fly to my living room. There were people in place that were willing, when I was humble enough to pick up the phone and call and ask, to help. This is just a small example, but you get the picture of with this small thing of needing a couch in my living room. The way that God provides and shows his strength and his might and his power and his care through his people.

That requires not only me asking, but it requires other people responding to be willing to say, God, how can I be a demonstration of your power? How can I be a demonstration that you want to move in people's lives?

For us to experience God's might, we need to receive it and we need to let it flow through us, which sometimes is letting it leave us and trusting that there's more power where that came from. There's more might. There's more strength where that came from.

As I was praying about ways for us to respond, there's a few scriptures I want to read to us. But I feel like for some of us when we hear about God being all-powerful and mighty and authoritative, I also recognize that for many of us we have experienced the abuse of power and authoritative figures of people in your life that maybe should have used their strength for good but instead did for evil.

With that, I think it's so important for us to look at the life of Jesus and the way that he came and he flipped tables and he healed people that nobody else would come close to. Remind us that his power and his authority and his strength is not like human power and authority and strength. He is not grasping for control. He is not grasping to just be comfortable. He is not grasping to just fit in with culture. He's saying, no, my power and my authority and my might, it's different. It's good. It's for you. It's better than anything that you could ever experience.

Maybe for some of us here today, we've been living in this lie, and I'm going to use that language intentionally, that we don't need the strength of the Lord. Maybe we have been trying to just call all the shots and do all the things. We haven't actually relied on the Lord and given up that control to see the fullness of his strength and his power in our life.

I believe that this Christmas season, as we talk about waiting, that for some of us, the invitation is to say, what does it look like for us to really let go of that control and that power and invite Jesus to come and to show off in our lives in the ways that he wants to do things? But so much of it starts with us just saying, will we receive it?

I think receiving it is us getting out of the way and saying, I don't need control anymore. But God, I trust that in the same way that you overcame battle after battle, war after war, in the same way you healed person after person, that you want to move in power and in strength in my life and through my life so that we can make way for other people to experience that same power, that justice, the redemptive work that only the power of the Holy Spirit can do.

Deuteronomy 10 says, For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty and the awesome God who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.

Revelation 19:11 says, Then I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse. The one sitting on it called faithful and true. And in righteousness he judges and makes war. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

I just want to invite you to take a moment and to just talk to God and ask him to show you, to highlight to you, any ways that you need to receive him as Mighty God. If there is any healing that needs to take place when it comes to how you have seen power used, would you say, Holy Spirit, would you come in and would you heal that part in my life?

If there's any way right now that you're feeling like, yeah, I have been relying on my own strength and I don't even know if I know how to trust him to be my Mighty God, would you just invite the Holy Spirit to come and to show you if there's anything that you need to let go of, anything that you need to lay down, any ways that you need to make way for him to come and to do what only he can do?

We are not the first, but there have been generations of people that have waited for God to show up in might and in power and in strength. A strength that is not like the human flesh, anything that we could accomplish on our own. There's generations of people that have prayed, that have worshiped and said, God, we will not settle for anything less than your might and your power and your strength. Would you in your own ways join in that expectation today? Would you say, God, would you come be our Mighty God, our El Gabor, our strength? Would you come bring redemption in my life and the lives of those around me? Would you come bring justice? Would you let justice flow through me?

God, would you continue to draw all people to you so they can experience your might and your power? God, we just continue to welcome your Holy Spirit in this place as we sing, as we worship and we pray. You are welcome here. Amen.