Steve Gentry
[0:08] All right. [0:09] Go ahead and have a seat. [0:11] Go ahead and have a seat. [0:12] Thank you so much for being here. [0:14] If you’re new here, if this is your first time, my name is Steve. [0:17] I’m one of the pastors here.
[0:18] And I just want to welcome you all to our first official service in this building. [0:24] So many hands and so much sweat went into this. [0:28] The thing I love about this building is that it’s not just a building. [0:29] [0:29] What I love about this auditorium is that it was built by the people of the village church. [0:36] And so I’m very, very thankful for each and every one of you this morning.
[0:40] Now, also remember that time that we told you not to invite people the first Sunday? [0:46] Well, found out why. [0:48] Remember also when I spent like five minutes last Sunday telling you not to come in that door? [0:53] Well, Monday morning we found out that the stairway onto this side of the building [0:58] was not going to happen this past week and it’s going to happen this week. [1:02] So the next time you’re here, you should be coming in through this side unless tomorrow morning I get more bad news.
[1:08] And then I’ll just be angry. [1:10] So just ignore that until you get here and actually see something on that side. [1:16] If you see these gifts up here, I want to thank you guys so much for helping out with our gift and food drive [1:24] for the Hispanic population and the Hispanic church, Nueva Esperanza. [1:30] Christie will correct me if I said that wrong later. [1:33] But just thank you so much.
[1:35] These are gifts for children that would not have had gifts otherwise. [1:39] And if you brought the $50 Walmart gift card or you gave money, [1:43] those are Christmas meals for families that would not have otherwise had meals. [1:49] And so thank you so much. [1:50] This is going to help Pastor Fernando so much in reaching that area that we ourselves cannot reach [1:57] because many of those families are not necessarily here on good terms.
[2:05] So they don’t speak our language. [2:07] So the nations are right here. [2:10] That’s what oftentimes I think we have to grasp as people living in this country [2:14] is that this is not just a place where people speak English and where people are just here [2:21] and understand our culture, but rather we can just be missionaries right here [2:25] learning all types of cultures, learning languages,
[2:28] and reaching people from all over the world right here in our own backyard. [2:32] And I’m so thankful that God has sent missionaries from other countries [2:36] to come here and be pastors and plant churches for those areas. [2:40] And we want to come up beside them and we want to partner with them. [2:42] So these gifts are not going to nameless and faceless people in other parts. [2:48] They’re going 15 minutes away to right here in Chesterfield County,
[2:53] to people who are hungry, to people that aren’t going to experience the gifts that you and your family may experience. [3:00] So thank you so much for that. [3:01] Thank you so much, Rick and Kathy, for running ahead and that up for us. [3:05] And anybody else that I’m leaving out, thank you so much. [3:08] This is going to further the mission of Jesus right here in Chesterfield County. [3:14] And that’s what we’re all about.
[3:16] Christmas Eve Eve is coming. [3:18] That’s going to be our official grand opening after we work out all the kinks of this morning, [3:22] like with sound and temperature in this room. [3:27] I see the fans already happening. [3:30] We’ve never had this many people in this room, so we didn’t know what to do. [3:33] So we’re learning a lot of lessons this morning that we’re going to use for our grand opening next week.
[3:38] On Sunday night, 5 and 7. [3:41] Now, James said that there’s an RSVP section on the website. [3:45] We’ve already had, I believe it’s 175 people RSVP between those two services. [3:51] Now, what I want to ask you to do is I want you to go home this afternoon, go on the website if you’ve not already. [3:57] And RSVP, just to kind of give us an indicator, you can go either 5 or 7 p.m. [4:03] Both of them are about even right now where signups are concerned.
[4:06] So please go home and do that just to help us out a little bit if you can. [4:11] But come out. [4:11] It is going to be a lot of fun. [4:14] You have probably never been to a Christmas Eve Eve service, number one. [4:18] But you’ve probably also never been to one quite like the one that we do. [4:22] If you were there last year, you know what I’m talking about.
[4:25] It is a lot of fun. [4:27] Just bring it’s for the whole family. [4:29] We if we have power in the modules at that point, we will have infant and toddler care in another building. [4:35] That’s another thing that’s a little different this week. [4:37] That is not our nursery, by the way. [4:38] That’s where you’re supposed to come in.
[4:41] But today it had to be converted because the power man didn’t quite show up for us. [4:45] So we’re working on a few things, a little bit of kinks. [4:48] And I’m just thankful that you guys came in and you look kind of happy and you didn’t try to come in those doors like I told you to. [4:54] I’m really thankful for that because you may have fallen in mud. [4:57] If you have your Bibles, Matthew chapter two, Matthew chapter two this morning.
[5:06] It’s the Christmas season or some people call this Advent season. [5:12] And if you did not grow up in a tradition where Advent was was a thing that you celebrated, neither did I. [5:18] But Advent, what the term actually means is basically the anticipation of the coming of the Messiah, the coming of the Savior of the world. [5:31] And so what we do during December is we anticipate the time when Jesus, our Lord, the God of the universe, the one whom all things were created through by and for. [5:45] So this is a season where we anticipate a day where we reflect on his birth into this world where God literally became man. [5:56] And he just God became a human being, which if you think about it, that’s the greatest miracle that’s ever happened.
[6:02] That the God of the universe became one of us. [6:07] And he lived and he walked and he breathed our air. [6:10] And then ultimately, he sacrificed that very life for our sin on the cross.
[6:18] And during this time of the year, we celebrate that. [6:21] And then after that, we basically anticipate another Advent, the time when he will come again. [6:29] And at that time, he’ll not come as a child. [6:32] He’ll not come as one who is heading on a path towards his death for our sin, but rather he will come as the one who’s already decided. [6:40] He will come as the one who has defeated death, who’s already risen from the dead and will come as the conquering king, restoring all things to the way that he created them to be. [6:51] And I can’t help and I can’t get past this Sunday.
[6:56] Without reflecting that there are those during this time of the year who experience great pain. [7:04] And there are those who, because of events of an evil, evil man this past week, really did.
[7:18] Ruin Christmas for many families.
[7:25] I apologize, but as a father, it changes you, doesn’t it? [7:30] When you have kids.
[7:34] And I am of the personality type. [7:38] I don’t want to talk about that because of what it does to me. [7:41] But I can’t get past today without talking about that. [7:45] And I want to talk about that a little bit today. [7:47] And I want to talk about the God who inserted himself into suffering for us. [7:58] That we do not have a God who is a far off being, but rather we have a God who cares.
[8:06] We have a God whom we can look at and literally say, while I don’t understand and while I don’t have all the answers. [8:14] And I don’t. [8:16] I often say to myself, why do these things happen?
[8:20] But the one thing I can’t say is that I don’t have a God to turn to who understands. [8:26] Because he does. [8:28] Because he himself went to the greatest steps of suffering because of his love for you and I.
[8:38] And some 2000 years ago, we found three men, supposedly. [8:44] There were probably a few more, according to history, who sought Jesus. [8:51] And these are, of course, the three wise men, or as some would call them, magi. [8:55] And so if you’ll join me in Matthew chapter two, I want to begin there in verse one.
[9:02] In verse one, we read, Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, [9:07] in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, [9:13] Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? [9:17] For we saw his star when it rose, and have come to worship him. [9:22] When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. [9:28] And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people,
[9:31] he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. [9:35] They told him in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet. [9:40] This is actually a quotation basically from Micah chapter five. [9:44] And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. [9:50] For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people, Israel. [9:56] Now I want to stop there and I want to unpack that a little bit.
[10:00] The realization that we have here is that in what we see some of those quotations from the Old Testament [10:04] is that throughout the Old Testament, Israel was this people that were chosen by God. [10:09] And what they were chosen for was that from them, as we see in light of Jesus, [10:14] is that from them the Messiah, or literally the Savior of the world, [10:21] and Israel understood it at that time that it was the Savior of Israel, would come through them. [10:27] And so what we’re seeing here is the actual fruition of those prophecies.
[10:35] But it’s different than Israel thought it would be. [10:38] Because what we find is not just a Savior, someone that’s coming for Israel alone, [10:46] but instead by drawing these three wise men, because what you would understand these wise men [10:51] is basically they were wise men from a foreign land. [10:55] History tells us they were probably from the Persian Empire. [10:58] And these weren’t just a couple of guys from the Persian Empire who were just really smart.
[11:02] These were people that were probably pagan priests, [11:05] whom the reason that they found to come to Israel at this point [11:09] was because they practiced astrology, attempting to understand the future.
[11:17] And so God draws these men whom by the standards of Israel would have been unclean. [11:22] They could not worship God. [11:25] But God draws them towards Jesus, and what he’s revealing there is that Jesus is the Savior of all people. [11:32] Jesus is the Savior of the entire world. [11:35] So the wise men, then the first thing that we see in this story is that they reveal Jesus as the Savior of the world. [11:43] They don’t simply reveal Jesus as the Savior of Israel, but instead he’s for all people, for all time.
[11:51] And we see this in Numbers chapter 24. [11:55] We see Jesus reflect, excuse me, we see God and Jesus speaking through the prophet Moses, [12:02] that God would raise up a star, that men would come and that people would follow [12:06] to basically say that the Savior’s being born. [12:11] And so we see from the very beginning of the life of Jesus, [12:15] God is doing miraculous things to draw sinners to himself.
[12:20] And I’m so thankful for this time of year, [12:22] and I’m so thankful that sometimes we kind of look at it and we pass by nativity scenes [12:26] or we think there’s a couple of wise men, so we put them in the front yard there beside the shepherds, [12:31] maybe in the back holding the gold, the frankincense, and the myrrh, and we’re like, why did God do that? [12:36] We don’t really necessarily think that through, but there’s so much more behind the scenes [12:40] of what God is doing through these men than we ever really think about
[12:44] is because these men are literally pagan sinners who worship false gods [12:50] and basically try to tell the future apart from God, [12:53] and God draws them to witness the time when he became a human being. [13:00] The analogy there that God is really unfolding for us cannot be lost on us. [13:05] We must look at that, that God is not just a God of those who are religious. [13:11] God is not just a God who cares for those who kind of grow up in church.
[13:16] He’s not just a God who knows who could grow up looking at the Ten Commandments, [13:20] but he is a God for all, even those who do not know his name, even those who profane his name, [13:26] even those who would worship false gods. [13:28] He is a God that sent his son to draw all people to himself, no matter what your background, [13:34] no matter where you are in life, no matter what you’ve experienced, God wants to draw you to himself.
[13:42] The reflection of that is are you seeking him, because the wise men are seeking him. [13:48] And in that seeking we see that God made them seek him, [13:52] because if you notice in the text they say that a star that we’ve never seen before appeared. [13:58] Now these men are astrologers, so they pay great attention to what’s going on with the stars, [14:03] and they unpack that there’s a star they haven’t seen before that just suddenly appeared right there in the text. [14:10] And it would appear that in their academic studies and in their being wise and stuff,
[14:16] they studied the Old Testament, they studied the Torah, and they saw in the book of Numbers that a star would appear.
[14:27] And God used it, that one star, to make them leave their palaces, leave their academics, [14:36] leave everything behind, and go to Israel to find the coming king.
[14:43] But notice if you will, a little bit further down, if you’ll go to verse 2, [14:50] the wise men come to him and the first place they go is the palace, because they’re expecting to come and find the king. [14:59] They’re expecting to come to the palace and find the Messiah of Israel, the one who was foretold about, [15:05] and they literally want to come and they want to worship him. [15:09] And so the first place that they go is the palace, because surely if there’s a newborn king, then he’s going to be at the palace. [15:14] But when they come to the palace, they don’t find him.
[15:18] They say, for we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. [15:22] But notice Herod, who is the king of Israel at that time. [15:24] He is a Roman king and he’s the chief over the land that makes up Judea. [15:29] So as the king of Judea, he oversees this land, he rules Israel. [15:34] And this was a tough spot that he was in, because there’s constantly, if you’ve ever seen in the films, [15:40] the historically accurate thing about films like Gladiator and those,
[15:42] is that there was constantly a struggle for power over all the provinces of Rome. [15:49] So his life is really constantly being threatened. [15:52] So that’s why this was an era in which the kings would do great harm and they would just do mass murder all the time. [15:58] And they would kill entire families if there was ever a thought that someone would try to unseat them. [16:03] Because they were always threatened, because there was always a struggle for power. [16:07] And so when we read there that Herod was troubled, another translation of that term is that Herod was terrified.
[16:17] And so this isn’t just the kind of thing where it’s like, well, this is unfortunate. [16:21] No, the attitude that Herod has here is one of absolute terror, [16:25] because he’s seeing this as a family that is trying to unseat him. [16:31] And so Herod kind of goes behind the scenes. [16:33] He gets some of the priests and some of the scribes of Israel to come in, [16:37] and he’s like, what are these wise men talking about?
[16:39] And they tell him of the prophecy of the one who will be the savior of Israel. [16:44] And as the king over Israel, this is troubling because he’s like, wait a second, is Israel going to try to unseat me?
[16:51] And so behind the scenes, he works to have Jesus killed.
[16:58] Basically, to have his entire family killed, because he doesn’t want anybody to unseat him. [17:04] And so he tells the wise men, ultimately, he tells them, go and find him and worship him. [17:10] And then when on your way back, could you just come and tell me where he is? [17:14] Because I want to worship him too. [17:16] With no desire to actually worship him whatsoever. [17:20] And we actually see a little bit further down in the text, in Matthew chapter 2, verse 16,
[17:28] that Herod hatched a very devious plan that brought great pain to the entire city of Bethlehem. [17:36] He had all children, two and under, killed.
[17:41] Bethlehem is understood at this point in history to have probably about a thousand people. [17:45] And so statistically, in a town of about a thousand, we’ll probably have a few dozen children that are newborn at that point. [17:56] And so we see, as soon as Jesus is born, we see the great pain, the great evil, and the great suffering of the world at that time. [18:07] That at the birth of Jesus, within two years, there have been dozens of families who lost their children, their newborn children.
[18:17] What I want you to understand about this point in history is that this isn’t even a footnote in the history of King Herod. [18:24] Because King Herod was such a vicious ruler that it was normative for him to have people killed at any whim. [18:32] And that he would have dozens of people killed at a time, history tells us. [18:36] And he would have people call him Herod the Great, and he was a terrible, terrible man.
[18:42] And so what we see in times of tragedy, such as the time when Jesus was born, [18:47] because as soon as he’s born, tragedy just happens all around him,
[18:53] is we see that man is constantly attempting to undo the plans of God.
[19:02] That because of the evil of man, because of our bent towards sin, and our bent towards control over our lives, [19:11] and our bent towards seeking power at all costs, and wanting to be in charge, and wanting to be in rule, [19:18] we see and inherit things that we see all around us every single day.
[19:25] And what that sin does to us is that we want our way.
[19:31] I watch my son sometimes, and if another child takes his toy, he gets this from me. [19:37] It’s because I’m a sinner, he’s a sinner, he gets it from me.
[19:40] This rage overcomes him, because he doesn’t have what he wants. [19:46] And my son doesn’t strike out at people. He bottles it up. [19:52] And you just see him, he clenches his fists, and just burrs down. [19:57] And you see him start to shake. [20:00] And it’s like, is the Hulk going to happen here? [20:03] I’m a little bit afraid of my three-year-old right now.
[20:07] But just, he gets this rage. [20:09] And the other day, my wife told me this story that she was watching a couple other kids from the church. [20:14] He just started shaking, and he put his head against the other child’s shoulder, [20:17] and he pushed with his head a little bit. [20:19] It didn’t knock him over or anything, and it’s just kind of like, what in the world was he doing?
[20:24] Got to teach him some anger management tips here.
[20:30] I didn’t teach him that.
[20:33] You don’t teach your kids that.
[20:37] Because at a very early age, our children exhibit this thing called sin. [20:42] At a very early age, what I’m seeing in my son is that he’s not perfect. [20:46] He’s not quite right. [20:48] And I don’t mean that in the handicap sense. [20:53] But he’s not. Neither are your children, by the way. [20:56] I meet some people, and it’s like, you think that kid’s perfect? Nope.
[21:01] They might be perfect in front of you. [21:03] When you leave the room, they’re not.
[21:07] But Herod, what’s happened in his life is that evil and that sin that’s just in him from birth [21:14] because of the sin that overcomes each and every one of us, [21:16] it has grown and it has developed in his life, and it has just gotten worse and worse. [21:22] There has been no governor on there. [21:24] There has been no cap that’s been put on there. [21:26] He’s not been taught right, but rather, he can just delve into all of his sin
[21:30] because at that point and then that city, he basically has absolute power. [21:34] No one can tell him otherwise. No one has correction over him. [21:39] So when he sees the possibility of someone correcting him, [21:43] of a God that would send a king to unseat him, [21:47] he lashes out immediately to attempt to change the plan of God for his control to be ultimate.
[21:59] And when we see things in the media, when we see terrible tragedies that are done by the hand, [22:04] of people who are sinful, we must understand that ultimately, behind the scenes, [22:12] we cannot legislate, we cannot make new rules, we cannot make new ways to fix the situation [22:18] because man is ultimately evil and we attempt often to undo the plan of God, [22:25] even when history has unfolded that God said thousands of years ago, [22:30] that this is the way it’s going to happen, that a virgin will conceive,
[22:35] that he will be the light of the world, that a star will rise in the east, [22:38] that all of these things will take place. [22:40] There’s always this temptation that even though God has shown himself to be the sovereign ruler [22:45] over all of history, to lash out and attempt to undo his plan.
[22:52] And oftentimes, we may not like the place that we have in life. [22:55] We may not like the cards that were dealt to us. [23:02] We may not appreciate just the things that have unfolded in our lives. [23:06] So our attempt rather than to trust the God who controls all of history [23:10] to the point where he just makes a star appear for a while and then takes it away,
[23:16] our reaction often is to lash out in bad ways, to lash out in hurtful ways. [23:22] Some just hurtful mentally, some hurtful physically. [23:27] But the root of that lashing out is that we are sinners. [23:33] The root of that lashing out is that we quite often do not trust the God who controls history. [23:42] And we do not want his plan, we want our plan. [23:47] And ultimately that’s what Herod is doing.
[23:49] He wants his plan. [23:52] And how dare anyone, even God, give him a different one. [23:58] But what we see in the birth of King Jesus is we see that the wise men seek the king of a greater kingdom [24:08] than even this world can have a king over. [24:13] And that Jesus is not simply the king of the kingdom of earth, but he’s the king of a greater kingdom.
[24:22] Which is not leaving this world out. [24:27] And I think sometimes we misunderstand what Jesus means in John chapter 18. [24:32] See at the end of Jesus’ life before he puts himself into the greatest depths of suffering that the world has ever known, [24:40] He’s being questioned by Pilate. [24:42] He’s an adult at this point heading towards the cross and he’s being questioned. [24:46] Pilate asks him the same question that I think Herod would have asked Joseph and Mary.
[24:54] Is this the king of the Jews? [24:56] And Jesus’ answer is that my kingdom is not of this world.
[25:03] If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews, [25:08] but my kingdom is not from this world.
[25:14] Jesus never says I’m not the king of the Jews.
[25:18] Jesus never says I’m not the king of Rome. [25:21] Jesus never says I’m not the king of your country, that country, this country, the United States, the whole world. [25:28] What Jesus says is that you can’t grasp what I’m the king of. [25:32] Because I’m the king of everything. [25:34] My kingdom doesn’t leave this world out. [25:37] Rather, my kingdom is over top of this world and every world that could possibly ever exist.
[25:44] And the ultimate revelation of how powerful Jesus the king, the one who was born in Bethlehem, [25:51] the one whom the wise men were drawn to seek, is that he goes to the cross, [25:56] dies for the sins of the world, but he doesn’t stay that way. [26:02] When Jesus says my kingdom is not of this world, what he’s saying is my kingdom is so great, [26:08] your finite mind can’t even grasp what I’m the king of. [26:15] Three days after his death, Jesus rises from the dead and he says that’s what I’m the king of.
[26:22] I’m just simply the king of life.
[26:27] Death cannot keep me. [26:30] Because I can go there, I can rise up, I can ascend to heaven, [26:35] I can rule and reign over all of my followers from there, [26:38] and then one day I’ll come back and I’ll draw them into my kingdom forever.
[26:45] The wise men sought the king of a greater kingdom than Herod could ever rule.
[26:54] Let’s keep reading. [26:56] Matthew chapter 2.
[27:01] Look down in verse 7. [27:02] Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. [27:09] And he sent them to Bethlehem saying, [27:11] Go and search diligently for the child, and when you’ve found him, bring me word, [27:14] that I too may come and worship him. [27:16] After listening to the king, they went on their way.
[27:20] And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them, [27:24] until it came to rest over the place where the child was. [27:27] Can you imagine what that would be like? [27:30] A star put in the heavens, held by the hand of God. [27:34] I don’t know anything about astronomy, but that has to be pretty crazy.
[27:39] And it goes so specific as to just rest over the very house that Jesus is in. [27:45] Because we understand in history, at this point, Jesus is not still in the manger, [27:49] so our nativity scenes may be a little off. [27:52] That Jesus is probably a toddler at this point. [27:54] Mary and Joseph have probably moved into a home in Bethlehem at this point. [28:00] Yet God still draws people to see him.
[28:07] After listening to the king, they went on their way. [28:09] The star rested over the place where they were. [28:12] In verse 10, when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. [28:17] And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, [28:21] and they fell down and worshiped him. [28:23] Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
[28:28] And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, [28:31] they departed to their own country by another way.
[28:36] Finally, this morning, I want you to understand that the wise men, [28:39] they sought the king of a greater kingdom, [28:41] but they found a greater treasure for all people.
[28:49] The wise men sought a king, and I want you to understand, [28:51] they brought him gifts, and you know, in the stories we see gold and frankincense and myrrh, [28:57] they may have had more. We don’t know. The scripture is not that specific. [29:02] Because men like this wouldn’t just travel by themselves. [29:05] They had legions of servants with them.
[29:10] But they come with these gifts because they’re preparing to meet a king, a great king, [29:16] the greatest king of all. [29:17] So they bring these gifts, and imagine how perplexing it must have been to just find a small house.
[29:27] Sometimes I love to think, what would it be like to be those people? [29:31] So they enter into the home, and they see Mary and the baby there. [29:35] But I want you to understand what it is to be in the presence of God.
[29:40] Notice their first inclination isn’t, what do I have to offer him? [29:44] Their first inclination is just to drop down and worship.
[29:50] Because he has far more to offer to them than they could ever have to offer him. [29:58] These three or more pagan priests, face to face with the one who spoke the world into existence, [30:09] humbled in all of their wisdom and all of their knowledge to understand I’m in the presence of God. [30:20] And they worship.
[30:23] They brought gifts, but they found the greatest treasure that anyone could ever come face to face with. [30:31] They come face to face with God as a toddler.
[30:41] My mind can’t even understand what that must have been like. [30:46] But the scripture records what the response can only be, [30:51] and that is a response of absolute ceaseless worship of the God who saves. [30:59] The wise men brought gifts, but found a treasure. [31:02] And just real quickly I want to unpack something. [31:04] Jesus later in his life, he explains his kingdom in Matthew chapter 13 verse 44.
[31:12] And he says that his kingdom, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, [31:18] hidden in a field which a man found and covered up. [31:21] Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
[31:29] It’s a very short parable, kind of confusing. [31:33] Who would find treasure and then cover it and buy the field?
[31:38] Seems counterintuitive.
[31:41] The kingdom of heaven is like that because when you find it, [31:44] you find something that’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen before, [31:48] anything you’ve tried to wrap your mind around before. [31:52] And according to this parable, what Jesus is saying is that when you find me, [31:57] when you find the king, you find the kingdom, [32:00] and you want everything that has ever been attached to that kingdom to be in your life,
[32:05] to the point where you look back at the life, you look back at your possessions, [32:09] you look back at everything that you have, and you say, [32:12] Nothing compares to this. I will leave everything for this. [32:19] Jesus has a conversation also with a rich young ruler who says, [32:22] I’ve done everything religion has ever told me to do. [32:25] What else do I need to do to come to the kingdom of God?
[32:27] And Jesus looks at him and says, one thing you like, sell everything that you have and follow me. [32:32] It’s an unreasonable offer.
[32:37] But you have to understand what Jesus is really saying is, [32:42] is that to follow me is to understand that I’m the greatest treasure you could ever have in your life. [32:50] And I’m not putting down a new law, but rather what I’m saying is, [32:54] is that Jesus looks at this rich young man and he says, [32:57] To know me is to understand who I am. I’m God. [33:02] To know that God through me is offering the greatest gift,
[33:07] and that is a new relationship with him, where sin does not bar us from his presence, [33:12] where sin is not a hindrance, but where he throws the door wide open and he says, [33:16] Come, you can know me, you can follow me, you can worship me. [33:20] There’s no hindrances, no matter what your baggage, no matter what your guilt, [33:23] no matter what your sin, no matter what your struggle, you can know me. [33:27] And to know that is to know that it’s the greatest.
[33:29] And then you look at everything else and you’re like, it’s not as good. [33:33] I’d gladly walk away from it all, because he’s God, he’s the King, he’s the only good in this world.
[33:44] In a world of such great suffering sometimes, in such great tragedy that we see, especially this week,
[33:52] we see the God who saves completely. [33:58] We see a God who offers us absolute joy.
[34:04] That’s the only good we can ever have.
[34:09] We see that this great treasure that they find changes their path, [34:12] because God does more than just give them stars. [34:15] He’s not putting thoughts in their heads through dreams. [34:18] And he literally changes their path.
[34:22] And what’s interesting about this is that these pagans, these pagan priests, [34:27] when God changes their path, he sends them back home. [34:32] He doesn’t say, stay here, I just want you to kneel before me the rest of your lives. [34:38] His worship is a little different than that. [34:42] He says, go back home, because now there are few people of influence in the pagan empire of Persia. [34:51] Who know who Jesus is.
[34:56] Our God is a God of mission.
[34:59] And he sends these wise men back into Persia to be his witnesses. [35:04] God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to save the entire world from their sin. [35:11] And he sends these men back, and he sends us as well. [35:17] That if you know Jesus, to know him is to be sent as Jesus was sent. [35:24] In John chapter 17, he looks to his disciples and praying for them. [35:29] He says, as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
[35:34] And then two verses later, he says, but not just these that I pray for, [35:39] but rather all those who will come after them.
[35:43] If you’re a follower of Jesus, you are sent into this world in times of tragedy, in times of suffering, [35:50] with the only answer.
[35:54] That is Jesus. [35:57] That is the God who saves. [36:00] The God who is willing to put himself into great suffering.
[36:05] Live sent as Jesus was sent, as the wise men were sent. [36:11] We exist so that others may worship the King of Kings. [36:18] As the band comes, I want you to understand this morning that in looking into this season [36:26] and in looking into this time, if you’ve never met Jesus, if you don’t know him, [36:32] if you’ve not trusted him, if you have answers, I want you to understand [36:36] that today can be the day that you go into the Christmas season knowing why
[36:42] and what we are reflecting as followers of Jesus. [36:47] That this is a season that is about what the wise men were about, [36:51] and that is the worship of our great God and King.
[36:55] So as you come into the coming weeks, as you have Christmas parties, [36:59] as you go to Christmas parties, as you have family that you love or hate, [37:03] come into your presence. [37:05] I want you to understand that you are not going and you are not there [37:11] as just a spectator of God’s great kingdom, but rather you are sent to build God’s kingdom. [37:21] And that the same God that saved these pagan priests from their sin
[37:26] and has saved you from whatever sin or wants to save you from your sin, [37:32] I want you to know that you must live as one who is sent with the message [37:38] of the God who became man to save men. [37:44] Let’s worship him this morning.