Community Church Sermons

Epiphany Sunday – January 5, 2003

“A Faith Worth Finding:

Connecting The Present To The Future”

Matthew 2:1-12

 

I have some wonderful news for you today!

 

There is a faith worth finding!

 

That’s the theme I want to build on as this New Year begins, and we renew our efforts as a church to reach out evangelistically to people all around us. No, this does not mean we’re going to put up tents and hold revival meetings. There will be no snake handling, rolling in the aisles, or getting emotionally overwrought – although you can never tell exactly what will happen over there in the Nash/Puckett corner of the chancel. Our form of evangelism, I hope, will not be of the sort that gives evangelism a bad name.

 

It will be built upon a simple premise: there are people all around us – in our church, our community, our families, our places of work and recreation – who need a solid foundation upon which to build their lives – who need a faith that will carry them through life. And we have such a faith. We have a faith worth finding!

 

Do you know, hardly a week ever passes by when someone in our church family doesn’t share with me a concern about someone in their family. Often, it is a concern about a child of theirs who was raised in the church and nurtured in the faith, but for whom neither the church nor the faith is significant anymore. And what we parents and grandparents worry about is that these loved ones of ours are trying to navigate their way through a world far more difficult and complicated than ever before, but without the inner spiritual resources and the outer community support needed to negotiate the dangerous twists and turns of life in the 21^st century.

 

I remember a young man in one of my Confirmation classes whose life ambition was to become rich and own a Mercedes. I asked him if he didn’t think there was more to life, and after thinking about it for a minute, Brian said, “Well, I’d like a Rolex watch, too!”

 

I worry about Brian.

 

And there are lots of Brian’s in the world. Folks who have anchored their lives on foundations that will not last. People who’ve hitched their wagons to stars that lead nowhere. And the tragedy is that when life turns on them and true challenges arise, they discover that among all their possessions and all their abilities and experiences are not the things they really need to make life work for themselves and others.

 

But there is good news for these people we love and care about, and for us, too!

 

There is a faith worth finding! There is a faith that provides solid ground upon which to build your life as a person, as a family, as a church, as a community, and as a world!

 

And I can think of no better place to begin learning about this faith worth finding than in today’s story of the Wise Men.

 

Doesn’t that description strike you as interesting? Wise men! But that title is not given them until later. At the beginning of the story, they are simply called “magi”. Now that word “magi” in the Greek means magic or magician. They were people practicing a kind of magical approach to life - looking for easy answers, quick fixes, ways to manipulate nature to their advantage. And I guess, in that respect, many of us are magi, too – because that’s how we try to live. We love quick fixes. Easy answers. Clever maneuvers. Man, if I could just pick the winning number in the lottery. Or find the right person. Or get that next job. Everything would be great! But in the long run, magic doesn’t really work.. That’s why the magi were looking for something different. And take note that, by the end of the story in Matthew 2, we no longer call these people magi, but tradition calls them WISE MEN!

 

What do you suppose made the difference?

 

Well, first of all, Matthew tells us the lives of these magi began to change when they started looking toward the east.

 

The east! The east! The EAST!

 

Why, we are looking east today! In fact, when you go into the sanctuary of almost any Christian church – at least where topography allows - the altar is placed in such a position that the worshipers are always facing east!

 

Do you know why that is?

 

Well, east is the direction of the rising sun. East is the direction of the day’s new beginning. East is the direction of Jerusalem. East is the direction of the Garden of Eden.

 

EAST IS THE DIRECTION OF HEAVEN!

 

Oh, I know what you’re thinking. We were all brought up to believe that the direction of heaven is UP! But like a lot of the things we were taught about heaven as children, that’s not really true. I’ve mentioned before that, contrary to popular opinion, the song that sings, “In heaven there is no beer, that’s why we drink it here!” is full of baloney! There is beer in heaven, and I understand its very good beer, too! That view of a beer-free heaven is just plain wrong! Likewise, contrary to popular opinion, cloud-bouncing and harp-playing are not really the two main occupations in heaven! That’s someone’s fantasy, but it’s not reality! And in the same way,  contrary to popular opinion, the direction of Paradise in the Bible is not UP, but EAST!

 

The East, you see, SYMBOLIZES WHERE GOD IS!

 

And so, in our world, its no coincidence that Jews – and Muslims – and Christians alike…all aim their faces, and their prayers, to the east!

 

I believe the first and most important step you take toward building a solid foundation in your life - is that first step you take to the east! The step you take when you turn in the direction of God.

 

Now I know that sounds simple. And it is. And yet, its not as easy as you think.

 

You see, most of us are just not in the habit of looking to God for what we need in life. First, we look to ourselves. We think we can take pretty good care of ourselves! Then we look to the people around us – spouses and children and friends. Surely they’ll provide us what we need in life. Sometimes we look to material objects, or career possibilities, or even things like retirement! Some people look to the government to provide what they need. Or Wall Street. Or to some guru like Steven Covey, or Warren Buffet…or Madame Cleo of the Psychic Hotline!

 

I mean, in all honesty, where is God on your list of where your needs will be met?

 

For many of us, God is way down the option list. And yet, God is the only One on the option list who can really provide what we need!

 

I was visiting the other day with a dear friend. A church member. He’d just gotten the word that there are no more treatment options for his illness. His time among us may be measured in months. We prayed together. And cried together. And he said something wonderful. It was so simple, and yet so profound.

 

He said, “Now, I guess it’s all in God’s hands.”

 

Not his hands. Not his family’s hands. Not even his doctor’s hands anymore.

 

It was one of the most beautiful testimonies of faith I’ve ever heard. His life is in God’s hands.

 

And so is yours. Whether you know it or not, or even accept it, your life comes from God, belongs to God, and will return to God.

 

You can get by in life without any of the things or people you think are most important. People do that every day when they suffer losses.

 

But you cannot even draw your next breath without God! Your life is in God’s hands!

 

The magi turned to God. They turned to the east. They turned their lives, and focused their attention, and looked for help in the direction of God. Oh, I hope you’ll turn to the east, too! Because God can help you! God will meet your deepest needs!

 

And we know that because that turning to God is when the magi discovered one of the things that makes this a faith worth finding. You see, when you turn to the east, you begin to see things that only God can show you. In the story of the magi, it was a star. But not just any star. It was a star announcing the birth of a new King – which means it was a star announcing the beginning of a new Kingdom – which means it was a star announcing the beginning of a new dream for you, and your family, and our church, and our community, and our world!

 

In other words, these magi were given a gift only God can give! They were given the gift of God’s vision for the future!

 

Let me speak for a moment to the men who are here today. If you are at all like me, it probably came to you at some point in your life that whoever it is who decides what men are supposed to be like is totally messed up! There I am with my son Peter on the day we dropped him off at college. I want so much to tell Pete how much I love him, and how proud I am of him. And he’s looking at me as if he really needs me to say it. So we stand there in the parking lot in a moment of totally awkward silence. My inner emotions are swirling almost out of control. And I just can’t do it. I can’t get the words to my lips. And then my son turns and walks into the dorm. And the moment is lost.

 

You men understand, don’t you? It’s a guy thing.

 

Until you look to the east and see the star – the star that illuminates not the kind of man the world has made you, but the kind of man you can become! The kind of man God invites you to become. A compassionate, giving, sensitive, patient, nurturing man who reflects the love of God Himself into the lives of his wife, and children, and business associates, and neighbors.

 

In God’s future, you and I can learn to say, “I love you!” to the people who need to hear us say it! And in God’s future, you and I can say, “I forgive you!” to the person who has wronged us because more than anything we want to realize God’s dream of a reconciled friendship. And in God’s future, we can learn to say, “I’m sorry!” to those we’ve hurt. Because more important than our pride has become the future of what God dreams for the relationship.

 

That’s why this faith is so worth finding! Because it is a faith that superimposes a future over our present! A vision that is greater and more beautiful than anything we can possibly imagine for ourselves, our families, our church, our community, and our world! And then this faith challenges us to connect our present to that beautiful future, and to begin the process of walking toward it with God’s help!

 

Have you made mistakes in the past? In this faith, you can put those mistakes behind you, and even owning up to the consequences of those mistakes, find a new beginning with God’s help. Are you trapped in an unhappy situation? In this faith, God can give you the resources either to transform it into joy, or to find your way through it to freedom. Do you want the best for your family? In this faith, God will show you a dream for your marriage, for your parenting, for your caring for frail family members. Are you troubled by all the poverty, and hunger and violence in the world? In this faith, God will give you a dream of a world eradicated of such things, and show how you can participate in bringing that new world into being!

 

This is a faith that can revolutionize your life, bless your relationships, and change the world! This is a faith worth finding!

 

So the Wise Men turned east, and hitched the wagon of their present to the star of God’s future, and they followed it all the way.  All the way to Jesus!

 

That’s who it’s all about, you know. The One who came to give his life on a Cross so that we can have a future! The Cross before us today is a living symbol of the fact that Christ has made a future for you!

 

Would you make a decision today to accept that future? Because, you see, part of what it means to accept Christ is to accept the dream God has for you as a husband or wife, a parent or grandparent, a person living in the world today. To accept Christ is to accept God’s future for yourself and for the world around you!

 

And then to follow that star to Jesus!

 

Can I recruit you today to become such a wise man or woman? Can I enlist you in the cause of building God’s new world, and telling others about it?

 

Turn to God today and ask for help. Catch sight of God’s dream for you, your family, and the world. And then go and follow that star, and tell everyone you can about this faith worth finding!!