First off, I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Before I jump into the second half of Pastor Jason's sermon series on Christmas, I'd like to share something from last night's Christmas Eve service with Pastor Garlow.
Geographically speaking, Bethlehem (where Jesus was born) and Golgotha (where Jesus was crucified) are only six miles apart. Where the journey of Christ starts and where it ends does not amount to much distance. It is very important for these two events to be kept very close to one another - at this point I'm no longer speaking geographically. Generally, when you celebrate a person's birthday, you are in essence celebrating their life. For those that are deceased, you look at the things they did in their life. For those that are living, you can celebrate is the very fact that they are alive. However, Jesus was the only person born to die. While Christmas is a celebration of his birth, it is inextricably tied to his death. In all of his time with us on this earth, Jesus' greatest accomplishment - the greatest accomplishment in the history of mankind - was his death. It was for this unfathomable pouring out of love that he was born. Pastor Garlow pointed out that many people are comfortable with the nativity scene, the idea of baby Jesus being born in a manger. However, many will not take that journey six miles north and see the man hanging on a cross for their sins, so that they might live with Him forever.
While that has very little to do with Pastor Jason's sermon, I feel it fits the theme of what Pastor Jason has been really pushing us to do this season: to look at Christmas and how we celebrate it and not see ourselves or even our families, but to see our Lord and Savior and to be humbled at his presence.
With that, I'll begin to introduce the topic of this post. As I was thinking about this sermon throughout the week, it felt to me like less of Christmas sermon and more of a New Year's resolution sermon. So whether you're reading this today (Christmas), tomorrow, a week from now, or sometime in April 2014 when you happened to stumble across this post in the far reaches of some internet search engine there is something to be said about this message still. To me, this is not a Christmas sermon. It's a beginning. So many times throughout my own journey as a Christian, I've realized my life needs a change but have never been able to figure out where to start. When you can't find the beginning, it's really hard to make the journey. So this Christmas, my gift to you - well, Pastor Jason's gift to you - is a place to start.
Last post, we began by looking at the Message translation of Matthew 2: 1-12. This sermon is supported by that passage as well, so for the sake of convenience, here it is again:
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem village, Judah territory— this was during Herod's kingship—a band of scholars arrived in Jerusalem from the East. They asked around, "Where can we find and pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews? We observed a star in the eastern sky that signaled his birth. We're on pilgrimage to worship him."
When word of their inquiry got to Herod, he was terrified—and not Herod alone, but most of Jerusalem as well. Herod lost no time. He gathered all the high priests and religion scholars in the city together and asked, "Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?"
They told him, "Bethlehem, Judah territory. The prophet Micah wrote it plainly:
It's you, Bethlehem, in Judah's land,
no longer bringing up the rear.
From you will come the leader
who will shepherd-rule my people, my Israel."
Herod then arranged a secret meeting with the scholars from the East. Pretending to be as devout as they were, he got them to tell him exactly when the birth-announcement star appeared. Then he told them the prophecy about Bethlehem, and said, "Go find this child. Leave no stone unturned. As soon as you find him, send word and I'll join you at once in your worship."These wise men saw the star that signaled the birth of the Messiah and took this two year long journey - four if you count the two years it would take them to return home - to find him. Have you ever taken a four year journey to single-mindedly find just one thing? I certainly can't say I have, but Pastor Jason would speculate - and I would have to agree - that something like that changes a person. You cannot make a journey like that and return home as the same person you were before you started. Come December of 2011, when I look back at who I was December 2010, I don't want to be the same person. I want to come to next Christmas a different person.
Instructed by the king, they set off. Then the star appeared again, the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the place of the child. They could hardly contain themselves: They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time!
They entered the house and saw the child in the arms of Mary, his mother. Overcome, they kneeled and worshiped him. Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh.
In a dream, they were warned not to report back to Herod. So they worked out another route, left the territory without being seen, and returned to their own country. (The Message)
New Year's resolutions are something that are statistically proven to be utter failures most of the time. The problem with a lot of these resolutions is when you start. Pastor Jason pointed out that if your New Year's resolution is to lose weight, how many people would go most of the year eating the same things and exercising - or not exercising - the same until the holidays come around again and then start trying, in those last couple of months, to drop those fifteen pounds? That is highly unlikely to work. The author of this blog would assert that another reason is that some people just don't know where to begin. So if the idea of growing in your relationship with Jesus and coming to next Christmas a different person is something that is appealing to you, well, here's a good place to begin. However, even with a place to begin, this will only succeed if you start now.
Looking at the journey made by these wise men, Pastor Jason extracted three main characteristics from their mission, which he called "the three journeys of the wise men."
Journey of Sacrifice
These men left everything behind in order to find the baby Jesus. Pastor Jason asserts that to get from Point A to Point B, first you have to leave behind Point A. Now, this might not sound like a revolutionary idea, but how many Christians out there - how many people out there in general - try to drag Point A with them? Pastor Jason illustrated it this way. Imagine a little child climbing a ladder for the first time. They are standing on one bar and their hands tightly grasp another. The child, in a panic, suddenly cries, "I'm stuck." You tell the child, "It's okay, all you have to do is let go with one hand and reach for a higher bar, then you can get yourself higher up." However, the child knows that if he does that, there will be a brief moment where there is only one hand on that bar, and that for a moment, all his weight - his very life - will be supported by that one hand.
Christians are often too scared to let go of that bar to get to the next one. By that I mean, if you're going to progress in your relationship with God, there are going to be times - a lot of times likely - where you are going to have to trust Him. You'll have to let go of your own protections, the securities you've built up, and trust that God will get you to the next step.
Let's take a look back at the wise men. Imagine for a moment, what their neighbors thought of them when they said they were going on a journey to see a baby? These men are highly educated individuals with a lot to lose. Their neighbors probably thought they were crazy. They probably wondered how they could leave everything behind and go on this journey that would take them who knows how long. But those wise men trusted that God would see them to the end of their journey, that he would protect them and reward them for their faith. In the end, those wise men found their way to Jesus, that star led them to the right place at the right time.
So I challenge you this next year to find places where your relationship with God needs improving and give up the things keeping you from Him, trusting that he will carry you through. If you have no idea where to start, take a look back at posts like The Five Love Languages. Do you tithe? If not, start by giving that ten percent of your wages to the church. By that I do not mean, give to the church when you can afford to. You have to take that Journey of Sacrifice, and trust that by being obedient to God's word, He will carry you financially. Do you read your Bible daily? If not, I'd suggest doing so. There are plenty of online materials that help you budget your reading time to get through a certain amount of the Bible in a year, if you are someone that needs structure. If you think you don't have time, take that Journey of Sacrifice and trust that God will provide you with the time.
Journey of Giving
As stated in Matthew, the wise men came with gifts. Pastor Jason pointed out that despite the depiction in most Christmas plays, the wise men didn't bring a bag of gold, a bag of frankincense, and a bag of myrrh. Imagine it more like, an 18-wheeler truck filled with gold, another filled with frankincense, and another filled with myrrh. These men came with camels upon camels carrying these gifts for the baby Jesus.
When you think about that, these men didn't just give Jesus whatever they had left over. They came with their best.
Going into this next year, check yourself, are you giving God your best? Or are you giving Him what's left over? Do you give Him quality time, or do you only spend time with God when you have free time and nothing else to do? Do you act on His word when it's convenient or always? Do you reach out to his children when their some canned food drive or you just want to feel good about yourself, or do you reflect the love of Jesus Christ in everything you do? This is a hard journey as it requires you to be intentional about every part of your life. But Jesus already gave you more than you can ever give back. In the copy of the Bible that I (the author of this blog) have, there is a footnote for Luke 18: 26-30 that says, "You can never outgive God." So if you think it's hard to give to God, keep in mind that when you give to God, he reciprocates a hundred fold.
Journey of Worship
This word "worship" comes up a lot throughout this passage in Matthew. The wise men's whole purpose in taking this journey, is to worship a baby. Granted, this baby will one day grow up to die for their salvation, but think for a moment of the climax from some epic journey. Whether it's an action movie or a book, it usually consists of some hero fighting an intense villain in a battle of epic proportion, winning, and coming home the victor. This epic journey did not go that way. The climax of this story is when these men, these scholar of high standing, bowed down to a baby.
When you think about it, these guys were a big deal. They drew attention wherever they went. They even got Herod's attention when they came into town. But what these men knew was that this journey was not about them. Imagine them for a moment, with crowds of people around them, marveling at their wealth and status, and them thinking, "Don't look at me, because my journey is going to end with me on my face worshiping a king."
There will come a time, when we all bow down before Jesus. Jesus will return to this earth and every knee will bow to him. Pastor Jason asserted that it is a lot easier to bow when you are already in a humbled position. Too many Christian out there pretend like that have everything together, that everyone should look to them for the example to follow. They try to take the spotlight and the credit for their lives. As Pastor Jason said, "It will hurt a lot more when their knees hit the ground, then for someone who is already in a humbled position." When the work you do, the things you say, and the decision you make are no longer for yourself, but for God, your life suddenly has more purpose. It is these people, the ones who can bow down before Jesus and leave a different person, that will change the world.
Apply these journeys, live intentionally, and always maintain the goal of growing in your relationship with God, so when next Christmas comes around, you can say you left last year different.
There is no Sky94 tomorrow, so this is likely the last post I will be making for 2010. Going into next year, I look forward to how God will shape my generation. This year I got a glimpse of the world-changers that make up our generation, and it is my prayer for 2011 that God will raise up our generation to stand under His power and strength, so we can reach out like nothing this world has ever seen. I pray strength and protection over the warriors of this generation; that they will be given the confidence in Him to do His will.
No comments:
Post a Comment