Wesley Memorial Church (High Point, NC) Sermons & Podcast

so i've always encouraged people to ask questions i think questions are important in church i think they lead to answers of course and they lead to aha moments you're never going to get an answer if you don't ask a question god's not intimidated by our questions that's why i think christianity is true one of the reasons it's true is because it stands up to intellectual uh debate and rigor and in the bible is full of messy people it's not trying to be something that it's not uh and so questions are good they lead to aha moments now i've been asked many questions over the years that people that are wondering about faith and i was in youth ministry for a long time so i would speak to teenagers all the time um and when you speak to teenagers you got to keep it kind of short right you can't you can't go on for 30 minutes it kind of you know check out um you know squirrel that sort of thing so um you keep about five seven minutes maybe ten but you know so the all the these meetings were the same you have like an opening game and like some songs and then i would get up and talk you know there's this kid who would come in with a friend this kid's parents didn't go to church but but he would come with his with his friend and he would sit on the front row um and whenever i started to give a message he had like a timer on his watch and as soon as i started talking i'd hear a little beep and then i would talk and then when it was over he would go beep and he timed me and i was thinking this kid's this kid's special he's special and so he would time me every single week but he had really good questions and he would come to me uh with stuff and wonder these like crazy ideas that no one had ever asked me before and one sunday he came up to me after the service and he said it wasn't even a question he just came up to me and he said dinosaurs

why aren't dinosaurs in the bible i said well that's a very deep theological question you've asked me what you're really asking is the creation story can i trust the creation story or stories there's actually two of them but they're basically the same can i can i trust that and really the creation story is not a recipe but it's poetry if god was ever going to describe to us how he made all the heavens and the earth we wouldn't understand it anyway so he's given us some a poetry now it's pretty beautiful that the recipe or that the poetry does go in line with science we know that it does track with how we think things were made light came and then then then water and then earth came out of the water and then living beings and it goes with what we see in god's creation which is nature and that science is not opposed to faith but they're actually complementary of each other and as i said all that to this kid you could see this sort of thing happen above his head and he was like oh ding ding ding

another time i got asked a question or was not a question was more of an accusation you probably heard this before um the bible was written by primitive people so therefore it has no bearing on postmodern enlightened people educated people today now the arrogance of that statement is pretty clear uh and it's implying a lot of enlightenment we're smarter than stuff and it's really holding the bible to a different standard than whether works of antiquity it's a double standard statement because they weren't primitive people they weren't stupid they were ancient people but they weren't primitive they're not crow magnets writing on the wall they're they're they're just they're just ancient people we don't discredit plato and aristotle for their works they contributed to human history so why should we do the same with the bible so it's god has spoken to the whole of human history his word is still relevant today outside of the context of culture and time is spirit speaking through imperfect people right and another question people have said is the word trinity doesn't appear in the bible it was added later therefore uh we know that trinity isn't part of god like it was added after jesus and and i've heard that before it doesn't appear in scripture that's just not true because actually the old testament we see god referred to as father repeatedly throughout the old testament of course you see the spirit in the old testament in genesis through the creation of the world and other parts of scripture you see the sun the son of man appearing with daniel and the in the furnace you see son of man references in ezekiel so there's lots of trinity actually and even even in genesis 1 where god decides to create adam god the hebrew says that let us create man in our image there is a reference to trinity from the very beginning but that's okay it's there in the old testament it's also there in the new testament there's a story in luke chapter 3 where the fullness of the godhead is present in one place and luke actually gets to see this and he records it in luke chapter three where father son and holy spirit appear at one time starting in verse 21 now when all the people were baptized and when jesus also had been baptized and was praying luke's the only one that includes that it's a matthew mark and luke luke's the only one that includes a detail that jesus was praying when okay i lost my place the heaven opened so when jesus prays heaven's open i i'd like to think when i pray the heavens open or when you pray the heavens open let that be an encouragement to us that when we pray there's a lot happening that we can't see if we could see what was happening when we pray we would probably never stop praying but here jesus is praying after his baptism heaven opens and the holy spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove the holy spirit is not a bird okay so the holy s luke is describing as best he can with what he is seeing he's saying the holy spirit descended upon jesus like a dove in bodily form the holy spirit is a personality just like the father and the son that's why we see personal pronouns describing the spirit so you see that you see the spirit you see the sun of course present and then a voice came from heaven you are my son implying that he is the father the beloved with you i am well pleased so there you see in this this story you get a real aha moment here that here you have jesus and so i'm going to focus on this one there's a lot of aha moments in those two verses but the one i want to focus on is why would jesus need to be baptized why he doesn't have any sin john the baptist ministry was focused on repentance and and the remission of sin and clean starts jesus doesn't need a clean start why is jesus being baptized and this is the aha moment that in the gospel of matthew we get more detail about this where matthew tells us a bit more of why jesus get baptized and he gives us the answer it's in order to fulfill all righteousness because john the baptist was hesitant to even baptize jesus in matthew 11 matthew 3 14 john says i need to be baptized by you but you're coming to me like i'm not like this this is all backwards john's having an aha moment right now you know he's like whoa whoa this is backwards this isn't about supposed to go then jesus tells us let it be so for it is fitting in this way for us to fulfill all righteousness that's a weighty answer and it's the two words fulfill and righteousness are is so important jesus is saying this is why i have come to do this now what is righteousness we know that righteousness is essentially right living it's right living jesus has come to show us the kind of life we're supposed to live he's the new perfect adam he has come to walk the path correctly and he is identifying with sinners that's you and me and showing us the way to righteousness to fulfill all righteousness he doesn't have to do that but he's doing it on our behalf as a sign of his dedication of his obedience to the father and so we're called to follow his example but we don't just get baptized because he did that's not the only reason when we're baptized we're actually on a deeper level we're baptized into him we're baptized into his death like when you were if if you remember your baptism you were lowered into the water i was 12 years old i got baptized and that baptist church you know they have that big font like in the front like everyone sees it you know and like i saw a youtube video where a kid like did a cannonball on one of those things not a good idea they're not very deep um he said you died to sin you raised a new life in christ that when we're baptized we go into christ's death and then we come out of the water it's representative of burial and resurrection that baptism is symbolic of those things and also symbolic of your entry into the church so it's kind of a big deal so jesus leads us by example by fulfilling all righteousness by showing the way forward essentially the author of faith doing what you would expect an author of faith to be doing right leading from the front you've probably heard this phrase before uh don't do as i do do as i say do your parents ever say that to you it's essentially an admission of guilt you're saying i'm a hypocrite but don't do what i'm doing okay and that kind of rings hollow you know when someone says that to you like okay you know dom a hypocrite but don't be like me you know there are positive aha moments in our lives where we see something new we ask a question we get an answer we see something from a new perspective we didn't know before there's also negative aha moments where you have a light comes on and you think oh i could probably get away with that that's a good idea like i remember when i was in high school and i've been driving for a few months and i realized one morning as i was going to school hey i have a car i can go wherever i want i don't have to go to school right this is called a negative aha moment kids and so i was like i'm going to pull it in my driveway and i'm going to go park on a side street and once my parents leave i'll just go back home perfect perfect plan except what i didn't know is while i was turning back out of the side street my mother saw me and so when i got home they knew i was home all day i never forget what my dad said to me that that night he said how would you like it if i skipped work every day that's a good answer he was pointing to the example of his life and saying the consistency of what i'm doing if that breaks down if i don't lead by example we don't have a house like it all falls apart so you know there's something that's so powerful about example about leading from the front about recognizing that talk is cheap and that action in in going where you want other people to go is the most important thing and that's what jesus has done for us in his baptism he's practicing what he's preaching you know there's zero examples in the bible of affirming the behavior of saying one thing and doing the other zero if you want examples go read matthew chapter 23 where it's not jesus meek and mild if he doesn't exist but especially not matthew chapter 23 he is dressing down religious hypocrisy for an entire chapter of the bible he just goes in on them calling them whitewashed tombs serpent snakes you say one thing you do the other you tie the ten percent of spice in your income you treat people horribly he goes on and on and on because god you can't fool god god knows if we don't lead by example if we don't say what we do and do what we say god knows so jesus perfectly did everything he said he was going to do and of course baptism is indicative of that hypocrisy is not in his vocabulary he's been baptized to fulfill all righteousness and example for us to follow my last church i was at we had a young family coming to a service like this and a wonderful guy and he'd been coming for a couple of months and one day he came up to me and he said i want to be baptized i said great why would you want to why do you feel led to do that and he said well i've never been baptized before and i know it's important then he said something really cool he said i want my children to see me i want them to see me do it and he realized the power of that of that example for his kids that the he was going to lead them in the way that they should go right and and so there's power in that uh in that example of right action there's many verses in the bible that put a high value on leading by example the apostle peter in first peter exhorts his audience do not lord it over those in your charge but be examples to the flock saying hey let your life lead not just your words talks cheap let your life lead paul would echo this in first corinthians 11 be imitators of me as i am of christ look at my example not just what i'm going to tell you i'm going to show you how to do this look at my life if you want to know how it's done

i remember in second grade i got a very special letter in the mail one early december as i went and opened the mailbox when i was seven years old i had a there's a letter there the return address said the north pole

and i opened it up and it was this brown paper calligraphy dated santa claus had written me a letter y'all and it was had my name in it he knew i had a brother and sister he knew i had been a good boy he knew what about what i wanted for christmas and as soon as i read that thing i thought i'm taking this to show-and-tell

i'm taking this show until the next day of school fast as i could i got in front of the class when we back when we did show and tell other kids had their games and their beach balls like whatever y'all i held it up i saw i don't know about y'all santa claus is coming to my house

you know if there's power in showing isn't there not just telling there's power it's showing with our actions you know when we train our ushers and our greeters here we train them to not just tell people where to go but we try and tell them you know show them where to go well because they might get lost too there's so many doors in this place but we want you show them as a sign of servanthood but also um as a sign of example of of lead of leadership there's power in in showing i had a former college roommate who came to christ early on and he had a pretty dramatic experience and he left behind you know the partying and all this stuff he had been doing and a lot of those other guys came up to him many months later they recognized the change in his life they wanted to have lunch with them and they sat down with them and and they basically said how did you have such a change we want what you've got that's what they said you can't refute example can you leading from the front just living your life let your life be this the song that attracts people to christ i last one church i was at we had a young dad who had tragically passed away left behind a widow and two little kids and this uh the widow was involved with a women's group and the women of this group beautifully cared for her and and mourned with her and watched the children and raised money and and it was the church at its best you know like that's it's totally it was so so sad but it was also just bit so bittersweet beautiful as they cared for each other and loved and beared one another's burdens through that very difficult time of life and there was another woman that was friends with those young women but she didn't go to the church but she came to that women's group and said can i be a part of your group because i need what you you have got i want i've seen how you love you loved her and i would like that for my own life there's power in our example and our actions and when we lead by example aha moments will abound in the lives of others the early church father

augustine tells that tells us that way back when the pagans were struck by the how christians loved each other and he's quoted as saying look how they love one another there they would remark that the way the church cared for each other isn't it was an example for others to want to follow you see the first two centuries especially of the christian church the church grew not because of big budgets and programming and smoke machines and lasers and skinny jeans and led walls and coffee and all this stuff if anything some of that stuff can air on the side of pride it's all fine things but it can err on the side of pride it's not none of that was what grew the church back then if they even if they had it what attracted people to christ back then was christians it was their lives it was that made them go what is it about you that i don't have it's not what they don't have it's who doesn't have you it was their righteousness they had that could be theirs freely but it was their life it was their example because this is how you shatter the misconceptions people have about christ or christianity is simply by the life you live and the words you choose to use and in the way that we show others to follow in the example that jesus has shown for us because this is so important because a lot of people see god as this sort of task master that's never happy especially in america a lot of people live their lives their whole lives with their parents their music teachers their bosses their coaches their professors are always saying do better be better try harder do more and what we do unintentionally is that we project that onto god and say that god is the same way he's got a whip in one hand and he's never happy with me but hear this with jesus's baptism and his life and death and resurrection on your behalf he has met those demands for righteousness for you so there's no condemnation condemnation left for anyone who trusts in that righteousness our death and your rebirth as we're baptized into christ and his church is representative of newness of life and the apostle paul would write about this in romans chapter six

do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into christ were baptized into his death and therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death so that just as christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father so we too might walk in newness of life i don't know about you all but i i i groan for newness of life i think our world as the bible just say is in the birth pangs it's in the place of groaning for newness of life for rebirth for resurrection you see it everywhere we look and people are trying to find that newness of life in all the wrong places but we live in a place of groaning hungering for righteousness for someone anyone to give me some answers and to raise new life to these dry bones the world is groaning so many people feel their best years are behind them or i'm not never going to be good enough but here's the deal especially when it comes to baptism baptism is not the end of something but it is the beginning of new life it is the beginning of something it's not just this checkbox of your of your social to-do list for your kids or something and then you get it over with jesus didn't approach it that way he said i'm doing this to fulfill all righteousness it's not just a destination but it's the beginning of something new there was a man in the bible who asked a really important question and jesus gave him an answer that led to one of the greatest aha moments in history and we are recipients of that when we read john chapter 3 and a man named named nicodemus who was a pharisee a religious leader a very well-educated man who understood the jewish law and all the hebrew scriptures and he was intrigued by jesus he saw him do wonders and miracles and he knew there's something about this guy that i can't put my finger on and i can't shake it so he goes to jesus and the cover of night and he starts to pepper him with questions there's probably more questions than he even asked that we even get to read in john chapter 3. but jesus essentially says in order to see the kingdom of heaven you must be born again and nicodemus a very wise man says how can anyone be born after having grown old can it can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born jesus doesn't rebuke that question and say oh don't be so stupid nicodemus no he doesn't do that he says he gives him an answer he doesn't turn away his question very truly i tell you no one can enter the kingdom of god without being born of water and the spirit what is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the spirit is spirit now i'm going to touch on that real quick born of water and the spirit if you look at what jesus is doing he did that he does this a lot where he compares a physical reality to a spiritual truth he's talking about flesh being born of a woman as compared to the spiritual rebirth of the holy spirit so when he says be born of water and the spirit he very well could be referring to just birth of a woman not baptism some people thought history have interpreted this as jesus saying you must be baptized to be saved that is not true it's very important but it's not conditional to being right with god he's juxtaposing these things in teaching in this way to show this truth that the wind of the spirit comes and blows wherever he chooses and that just as everyone has been born physically right you must also then eventually one day be born of the spirit in order to see the kingdom of heaven so then he goes on do not be astonished that i said to you you must be born from above he's implying the holy spirit comes from above the wind blows where it chooses and you hear the sound of it but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes so it is with everyone who was born of the spirit so we know that wind is always present we know that wind you've never seen wind you've seen the effects of wind on the water you know the wind is real but you've never seen it it's a similar thing with the holy spirit the holy spirit is present he's always present with his people sometimes he blows stronger than other times but he's always around he's always with us he's here with us here and now and jesus is saying if anyone wants to be up to know the kingdom of god for themselves you must be born again and the way you're born again is for the holy spirit to do that within you and how do you do that we do it by faith by trusting christ by faith and there's a lot of christians here in the room probably watching at home as well there's probably somebody who's not and just to tell you that just as you have been born into the world physically as all people have been in order to see the kingdom of god you must be born again by the holy spirit this is a truth from the mouth of jesus this is maybe the ultimate aha moment for any human being who is alive today it's probably the most important aha moment you'll ever have because we need the holy spirit to enliven us to give us a fresh touch from god to remind us we're not alone to help god's words come alive in our hearts and minds to encourage us to comfort us these are all the things and more that the holy spirit does in our lives and we receive it and encounter him by faith that's why he's here with us until jesus returns as jesus said i will be with you until the end of the age because he knew i'm sending the helper to you after i'm gone and he's here he has been here all along for those that have ears to hear and eyes to see that reach out by faith he will come to you so we're going to spend a few moments and just wait on god in prayer and use his time with an open heart before god just just to wait on him and we're not looking for emotion that's not really what a life of faith is about you might not feel anything when the holy spirit moves in your heart in your life and that's okay but it is saying god i want to trust you at this moment to make me a new creation in you let's pray together

oh god we do indeed wait on you in this time we remember your words lord where you told us that this through that ultimate question of how can we encounter new life the holy spirit comes and goes as he pleases but god we believe and know that you're here and now with us god we want to encounter you in a new and fresh way not just play church

but god we want to know that you're real in our hearts and lives

so holy spirit come into our hearts and lives in this place today i believe you're calling us to reach out to you to be close to you and that you're here with us

god i pray that you touch any area of our life that's broken that's hiding in darkness that's hurting that's full of shame or guilt or fear that thing that doesn't feel alive today thank you holy spirit you come to make us new

we receive you by faith and know that you're present here with us

so

the lord jesus said that anyone who will ask they will receive anyone who knocks the door will be opened

if we ask anything in your name jesus that you will do it

maybe the most important thing we'd ever ask the most important aha moment is to ask you into our lives to know that our our life is in your hands

and that you will carry us from this life and into the life to come

thank you jesus that you identify with sinners that you love us you got baptized to fulfill all righteousness to stand with us to lead the way to make straight the pathways of the lord to bring down every hill and raise up every valley so that all men and women might know the way to the father

god you're amazing it's in your name we do trust and pray amen

FULL TRANSCRIPT

i invite you to find your bible take a bible and turn to the gospel of luke chapter 3.

our second reading for this day the day we remember the baptism of our lord comes from luke's account of that event in chapter 3 beginning at verse 21.

now when all the people were baptized and when jesus also had been baptized and and was praying the heaven was opened and the holy spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove and a voice came from heaven you are my son the beloved with you i am well pleased this is the word of god

would you pray with me

god we pray that through the power of your holy spirit that you will invade our lives interrupt our lives disrupt our lives and do whatever is necessary in our lives to move us along in the journey of becoming more and more like jesus christ

god we give you thanks for this morning we give you things that you allow us you call us to worship you and because of the grace that's ours in jesus christ we can approach your throne boldly we pray god that as that grace continues to work in our lives that we may become trophies of your grace your goodness your work here in this world

god we pray that for a few moments earthly distractions may cease all of those inner voices that speaking to us may fade away and that we will hear your voice we know that you seek to speak a word to each one of us right here right now in these moments so god give us ears to hear what you're saying to us

in the powerful name of jesus christ we pray amen

we are continuing in our sermon series entitled aha moments moments of spirit-led inspiration or i might say spirit-led revelation and my prayer for each one of us is that we'll have lives punctuated by those aha spiritual moments i even i even dare to pray that each one of us will have one of those moments right now in this place at this time

today we are looking at the baptism of jesus it is related in matthew mark and luke and it is assumed in the gospel of john we're looking at the text particularly as it comes to us today from luke's account we're looking at that special aha moment that jesus had there on that day in the jordan river it's only been since the year 2000 that we have been able to go to that spot and we know the spot where jesus was much more than likely to have experienced john the baptist and to have received baptism the bible tells us where it's at it's a cross from jericho there in the judean wilderness of the judean desert on the opposite bank of the jordan river so we we know where it's at pretty much and we know the spot because that spot has been marked with christian churches for centuries going all the way back to the ruins of those churches from the earliest days of the christian movement so we we know the spot where this event occurred and it's fascinating when you go to that spot now we've only been able to go to that spot since the year 2000 because before then it really was still in no man's land it was in disputed territory between jordan and israel and people could not go there but in the year 2000 in order to celebrate the dawning of a new millennium pope john paul ii made a pilgrimage to the holy land and pope john paul ii wanted to see the spot that spot so in a rather remarkable way israel and jordan and the palestinian authority got together and they allowed a spot to be created there where those ancient churches had sat we almost we're almost certain that that's very much in the vicinity of where jesus would have gone and been baptized by his cousin john when you go there today it very much is in the desert and because it's in the desert every fly and every nat in the region goes to that water so it's not a pleasant place when you go there today as you're driving down the road from the main road to get to the jordan river you see signs of danger on both sides of the road because that used to be no man's land so there's still signs up saying do not stray from the road because we know that the field is full of land mines and that was in no man's land so it's an interesting place to visit it's an interesting place to go and remember the baptism of jesus but in so many many ways it may very well be in a very appropriate spot to remember the baptism of jesus it's hot it's dry it's dusty it's unpleasant and it's somewhat dangerous if you decided to wander from the site so maybe that's the perfect place to remember the baptism of jesus you remember that immediately immediately that's mark's word immediately following the baptism of jesus what jesus did he went again further into the desert the judean desert and he did battle he did battle with the enemy he went and he was there for 40 days 40 nights being tempted by the devil so maybe in a dry dusty unpleasant conflicted spot is the place to receive the baptism because maybe in the dry dusty unpleasant conflicted spot is a reminder that sometimes in those kind of spots in our life god can do god's best work we go to those spots frequently throughout our life some of you may be in one of those spots right now this morning in this sanctuary dry dusty unpleasant conflicted and you're looking for some spiritual sustenance this morning you're looking for some living water that can change your life in these moments my prayer for each one of us is that we may experience an aha moment a moment of inspiration a moment of revelation from god as we sit here in this place today here in the account of jesus's baptism it definitely was an aha moment it is amazing to me that when you compare luke to matthew and to mark that luke presents the baptism of jesus in two two short verses

mark and matthew tells us more about the baptism of jesus but luke tells us what luke wants to tell us and it's so pointed and so important i want you to look at the text now when all the people were baptized you see all these people were going out to this seemingly ungodly place on the jordan river to be baptized by john the baptist john the baptist cousin of jesus was out there in the jordan river calling the people to start over again in their spiritual life he was calling them to begin anew as the people of god so he was calling them back to the jordan river so that they could literally go through the jordan river again and come into the land that we call holy and begin anew they had wandered so far from god they had messed up so many things they had strayed from god's will for their life so john the baptist was out there in the desert calling the whole nation of israel to come and start over to come and experience proselyte baptism as if they weren't even jews to come and begin anew and people were going that amazes me people were going to watch what was going on as this revival preacher was preaching out in the jordan river and people were going i'm sure the crowds were large and then as the crowd the line got closer to john the baptist john the baptist eventually looks up and there is jesus his cousin in this line can you believe it in this line john the baptist made it very clear this was a baptism for the forgiveness of sin this was a baptism for the remission of sin this was a baptism of repentance to allow you to start all over again and that's why when jesus gets there right in front of john the baptist john the baptist according to matthew's gospel tries to talk him out of it john knew as john says in the gospel of john this jesus behold this is the perfect um blemish lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world perfect unblemished he had no sin of his own so what in the world is he doing in that line with those people seeking baptism on that day he doesn't need to repent of any sin why is he there and that's the question that startled his cousin john the baptist he tries to dissuade jesus from being baptized but if you look at matthew's gospel jesus says i need to be baptized because it is the right thing to do

you see jesus came for us jesus came to invade our lives jesus came to stand with us jesus came to be sin on our behalf so that we can experience the righteousness of god so he wasn't there in that line for his own sake he was there in that line for our sake here at the very beginning of his public ministry he is identifying with sinful people like you and me he's identifying with people who need that baptism so he's there not needing himself but identifying with us his whole life will be an identification with us for us up to that very moment when on the cross he becomes sin on our behalf i'm quoting paul when he becomes sin on our behalf so that we might possibly become the righteousness of god so john tries to talk him out of it jesus will not be talked out of it so john baptized jesus and in mark's account we learned something very interesting john baptizes jesus and in the midst of this event bracketing this event jesus is praying matthew's gospel does not tell you that mark's gospel does not tell you that luke is the only gospel that tells you at this moment in this event jesus is praying the gospel of luke seems to be particularly fascinated by jesus's prayer life that's why the gospel of luke is always telling us about prayer experiences in jesus's life he's praying here at his baptism it's luke and luke alone tells us that before he chose the twelve he spent the night in prayer it's luke and luke along that tells us that when jesus took his closest disciples up to the far north to the region of caesarea philippi a long way from the jewish religious officials in order to spend some time with them and ask them the question who do people say that i am who do you say that i am luke tells us jesus prayed before he did that it's luke's gospel only that tells us when jesus went atop mount hermon and was transfigured glorified began to shine with the radiance of divinity there in front of john and james and peter that by this point we expected he was praying as it happened all the gospels tell us about the garden of gethsemane but it is only luke's gospel that tells us that the prayer of jesus there in the garden of gethsemane becomes so earnest becomes so agonizing that his sweat become became drops of blood and it's luke's gospel that tells us even when jesus is on the cross he he prays we expect luke to tell us this now he prays while he's on the cross and you'll notice in luke's gospel he does not pray for himself he prays that prayer we all know father forgive them these people who are doing this to me forgive them because they really do not know the full extent of what they're doing so jesus is even praying at that point luke's gospel tells us that there were many occasions when jesus would go to a deserted isolated place just so he could spend an extended period in prayer i'm challenged by this when i read this in luke's gospel because if prayer was this important to the son of god how much more so should prayer be important to us

i hope you know that we have four spiritual practices that we as a congregation focus upon one of those is prayer we're trying to help each other grow as prayerful people because we know beyond the shadow of a doubt when we look at the the jewish bible in the christian testament that prayer is very much god's will for us prayer is critical and crucial to how god does god's work in the world god could send a committee of angels to accomplish what god wants to accomplish but god rather would rather do it through us and most of the time god would rather do it through our prayers it's through the prayers of god's people that god primarily does god's work in the world and of course it was john wesley who said famously that god does nothing in this world except in answer to our prayer that's the that's the means by which god decided to involve us in god's work in this world prayer is so important we we know it's important to us here at western memorial church we will have another prayer retreat this year to help give each other practical tools for praying and we're already looking at another sermon series on prayer prayer is so important and we need to understand that prayer is not

just walking around in a spirit of wishful thinking prayer is something very specific in the bible and that's why the bible talks so much from beginning to end about prayer and here comes jesus the very son of god and he prays in order to do his work you see jesus praying all night long because what he's going to do during the day if jesus needed prayer that desperately how much more so should we be called to live as prayerful people here in the text jesus went into the river he was baptized by john he was praying as he was baptized and it says the heaven was opened

prayer is the way we open heaven prayer is the way we touch heaven prayer is the way heaven touches us prayer is the way we access the power of heaven and the purposes of heaven for this world

prayer is the way we usher god into this world it was charles haddon spurgeon who famously said one time a little faith will get us to heaven but great faith will bring heaven to earth even to our lives we can experience the kingdom of god in the here and now we can experience the work of god in the here and now we can even have lives punctuated with aha moments but it's dependent upon us becoming more and more and more a prayerful person living in constant communion constant communication with headquarters living in fellowship with god jesus prayed the heavens opened we know that is how important prayer is if we want these ah-ha moments if we want god to do amazing things in our lives in the life of our congregation in the lives of our family members i know we care about our family members then we should boldly rush to the throne of grace and prayer so jesus goes he's baptized as he prays the heavens open and it says here in luke's account the holy spirit descended upon jesus in bodily form like a dove isn't that fascinating by the way as an aside at no extra cost when those people come and knock at your door and they usually come in pairs and if you give them a chance they're going to tell you that the word trinity does not occur in the bible therefore you should not believe in the doctrine of the trinity you need to tell them you know that the word trinity does not occur in the bible but you see the trinity all over the place in the bible such as this takes before us this morning god the son goes out to be baptized in the river jordan god the father speaks as god the spirit comes down we see the trinity throughout all of the new testament so we didn't just invent this doctrine out of whole cloth so here's jesus baptized he's praying as he prays the heavens open the holy spirit comes down because it's through prayer that we touch heaven and we allow for a channel for heaven to touch us he prays the holy spirit comes down in in the form of a dove that's always fascinated me he didn't come down in the form of a majestic eagle he didn't come down like a flamboyant peacock he came down in the form of a common bird the dove and i think we can learn a lot as we think about what that perhaps means that the holy spirit at least at this point took the form of a dove in the bible we know that the dove is a harbinger of peace you remember the story of noah noah's ark remember noah sent the dove out to see if the waters had receded and the dove comes back with with a branch a leaf but then noah sends them out again and the dove does not come back and that's noah's message the water is in the process of receding so we know that the dove is both a messenger the dove is a brain or harbinger of peace and we know that the holy spirit is the way god speaks to us today those of us who nurture and cultivate ears to hear we know that the holy spirit is god's messenger we know that the holy spirit is the bringer of peace we know that the dove worldwide throughout and beyond the christian faith is known as a symbol of peace there's so little peace in the world and i believe the reason there's so little peace in the world is there so few hearts of peace in human beings but if the spirit can cultivate in us a heart of peace if the spirit can give us the gift of a disarmed heart the gift of a heart at peace then it will show in our lives and that peace will be evident in our lives and that peace will touch the people around us but the gift of peace isn't is an inside job it's the holy spirit who brings peace to us

so the holy spirit descended upon jesus you know when i think about the holy spirit being symbolized as a dove one of the things that keeps coming to me is a dove is easily frightened the dove is easily scared away and that might be why paul in his writings at one point tells us do not quench the holy spirit at another point paul says um do do not do not cause the holy spirit to be grieved so evidently paul thought we could quench the spirit we could grieve the spirit and i think what paul's getting at there is most of the time the spirit is very much a gentleman the spirit's normal normative way of working with us is in a gentle unassuming way now i know the spirit can rip our lives wide open and give us damascus road experience but that's not the normal normative way the spirit works the spirit is very gentle the spirit works as a still small voice and that's why it's really easy to drive the work of the spirit away from us the spirit is as gentle wants to be as gentle with us as a dove so if you want an aha moment a life punctuated with aha moments we've got to nurture our relationship with the spirit you know every year about this time

fitness centers and gyms get ridiculously full and i'm glad they do tammy and i have always been members of fitness centers and i've always been frustrated by all those other people that want to show up in january and you can't hardly get in in january but of course you know the reason people make those new year's resolutions and the gyms are usually packed at the beginning of the new year but before long the resolutions fade away and the and the numbers return to normal in those gyms or fitness centers i've often wished we could have the same phenomenon in the church at the beginning of a new year because it is it is good it's fine to make new year's resolutions but i don't think people make as many new year's resolutions about their spiritual life or the gift of the spirit as our culture tends to make about the physical life and the strength of their bodies

if you want aha moments you need to nurture your relationships and spirit if you're want aha moments you need to make a place make space in your lives for the spirit to do the spirit's thing and you notice lastly in this text the spirit came down and god the father spoke says in the text god the father spoke you are my beloved son you are the one in whom i'm well pleased god the father spoke to jesus because god the father is commissioning jesus here at the beginning of his public ministry you know there's only a few few places in the new testament where god the father speaks this is one of those few few places where god the father speaks and you've probably heard me say i know we sometimes put jesus's words in red i think we need to put the father's words in green what few times they occur in the new testament here's the father speaking to jesus and the father declares who jesus is i hope that you know who jesus is the father is declaring it to you i hope that you know who jesus is but i want to leave you with this i hope that you will allow god to tell you who you are

allow god to tell you about yourself allow god to paint the picture of heart how important and how valuable you are in this world you know we we allow so many people to tell us who we are we allow so many people to tell us about our value you know sometimes we we have um people around us sometimes we have family trying to tell us who we are sometimes we let our failures in life tell us who we are sometimes we're even foolish enough to allow our emotions those fleeting emotions within us to tell us who we are and we bring ourselves a great deal of misery because of that we need to grow in the spiritual life to the point where we let god's estimation of us be first and foremost in our life you are the beloved child of god if you had been the only human being in the world jesus christ would have still died for you

you are precious to god you heard that text that pastor clark read a few moments ago you are precious to god you are the apple of god's eye you are the plan of god to change the world you are so important that god gave god's only son to die for you let god tell you about you be very very careful allowing other people and circumstances and emotions and failures to make that evaluation

i hope that right now in this place we're having some aha moments some moments of spirit-led revelation we have a god who delights in communicating with us that's why we have a bible we have a god who delights in communicating with us i hope that we have ears to hear god communicating with us right now you know all churches all congregations

have reputations in their community i'm not going to speak as to what perhaps our reputation or reputations may be in the community of high point but i'll tell you what my prayer is my prayer is that we will have a reputation here at wesley memorial church of being a congregation being a place where jesus christ happens where we allow the spirit to work we are so christ exalting that we invite christ into our midst to do his work in our lives there's a lot of things congregations can be known for you can make your own list i pray that we will be known in this community as a place where people can come and find the life that only jesus christ can provide

would you pray with me

god here on the threshold of a new year we pray that your grace and courage will give us the willingness to invite you into our lives to do a new thing to send us in a new direction to give us some new experiences just like you claimed jesus on on that day at that day in the jordan river we know that you have claimed us as your very own you have called us you have equipped us you have given us the gift of your spirit

may we give the spirit free reign in our lives free us of our addictions to control free us of our fear that keeps us from joyfully following you

in the powerful name of jesus christ we pray amen

good morning everybody i am so glad that we get to be in worship together we are looking at the text about the wise men from matthew chapter 2 verses 1 1 through 12. in the time of king herod after jesus was born in bethlehem of judea wise men came from the east coming to jerusalem asking where is the child who has been born king of the jews for we observed his star at its rising and have come to pay him homage when king herod heard this he was frightened and all jerusalem with him and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people he inquired of them where the messiah was to be born they told him in bethlehem of judea for so it has been written by the prophet you bethlehem in the land of judah are by no means least among the rulers of judah for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people israel then herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared then he sent them to bethlehem saying go and search diligently for the child and when you have found him bring me word so that i may also go and pay him homage when they had heard the king they set out and they're ahead of them went the star that they had seen at its rising until it stopped over the place where the child was when they saw the star had stopped they were overwhelmed with joy on entering the house they saw the child with mary's mother and knelt down and paid him homage then opening their treasure chest they offered him gifts of gold frankincense and myrrh and having been warned in a dream not to return to herod they left for their own country by another road this is the word of god thanks be to god well the second day of new year's and i'm reminded of a new year's day story i heard some time ago of a husband and wife that were sitting on the couch together on new year's day they were reflecting a bit on what the previous year had brought and what their hopes were for the coming year the husband was stretched out with his head in his wife's lap and in a quiet moment she just leaned down and gently removed his glasses and said to him honey without your glasses you still look exactly like that handsome young man i married he replied honey without my glasses you still look pretty good too

what i'm going to ask us to put on some different glasses today and take a clear look at this passage of scripture about a very familiar story the wise men actually the literal translation is magi and from that word magi we get magician and magistrate truth is we don't know a lot about these guys they are from the east from the area of persia in that day in our day iraq iran somewhere in that area and what we do we do surmise about this is that these folks study the skies they study the celestial bodies for insights into what is going on in the world what the meaning is as well as what it portends for the future we don't know very much else about them except they set out on this incredible journey so friends as we look at this story i i want you to understand that we're going to be looking at three key players the magi are the first ones they see this celestial event and they decide they're going to take off and find out what it means they don't have all the answers in fact i as i think about this story i i try to modernize it and contextualizes and wonder what it would look like if it happened in today's time so here comes one of those wise men one of those magi home and says to his wife if he's married honey i i got to go on a trip and she says well where are you going i don't know well how long i'm going to be gone i don't know well what are you going to be doing i don't know well we are going to be following this star and she looks at him kind of skeptically and says is this one of those mid-life crisis things because if it is you know you could trade in our two-hump family camel for a sportier one-hunt model she just doesn't see the sense in this at all you know it really is kind of a risky journey just to head out following a star that's setting a direction but you don't know what you're going to find not in reality you don't know how difficult or how easy the journey is going to be but these wise men are acting on what they know and they know enough to know they've got to go it's a familiar pattern of the divine interactions in life you'll remember moses in the old testament when he's tending his father-in-law's flocks there in midian one day out of the corner of his eye he sees a bush on fire now he's seen that before because there are lightning strikes in the area but what gets his attention is this bush is not consumed by the fire and he decides to stop to look and to listen and in doing so he has an epiphany a revelation an ah-ha moment friends aha moments come to us in life sometimes they're great and big and just earth-shattering and sometimes they're just small and lead to other aha moments as we go on life's journey some of them are joyous hilarious they just make us smile like those youtube videos of kids tasting ice cream for the first time but aha moments can also lead to uh-oh moments like when you get in your car and you turn the switch or hit that start button and nothing happens it's an aha but it's an uh-oh these disciples are living in to this aha moment so they decide if they want to know they've got to go and they set out on this incredible journey not knowing what it's going to lead them to now i think it's also important for you to understand that these folks are not jewish they are gentiles they are not people of the covenant they are not people of the promises of god in fact these are the descendants of the very people that took god's people into babylonian captivity babylonian captivity in which they were in bondage for decades for decades so there is no love lost between the people of israel god's people and those of that region in the east and yet what god is doing by sending this heralding star is talking to the world to say this gift this emmanuel this god with us is available for all people even those with whom we have been at enmity isn't that glorious good news paul is overwhelmed with this as over in ephesians chapter 3 verses 1 through 12 he talks about the graciousness of god extended to the gentiles and opening heaven's doors that they might too drink deeply of this well of grace forgiveness and hope and become a part of what god is doing in the world now the star does set the direction for them but it doesn't answer every question and so it is on our own spiritual journey we set our direction according to the star that is jesus who beckons us to follow in his footsteps to trust him with our hope and with our future and it doesn't mean that the journey is always going to be easy it doesn't mean it will be without challenge it doesn't mean that it will be without loss but these wise men decided to go in trust not even knowing they were claiming the name of jesus and the loving heavenly one now on their journey they follow the star to jerusalem now it makes sense to go to jerusalem because that's where the reigning king is king herod and so they check in at the palace hey we're here we're here we brought gifts for the new baby the newborn king and everybody in the palaces said new baby new baby you be we don't know anything about a new baby quick check of the nursery no nothing new there here it invites them in and inquires of them what about this new baby he said well we've seen his natal star and we have come to pay him homage and it says in the text herod in all of jerusalem was troubled was troubled you see friends in this story those three main characters are the wise men those who wanted to know and had the courage to go and there is herod and those like him who are openly hostile that want nothing to do with this messiah guy in fact he is so troubled that he calls in the scribes and the high and the priest of israel and he inquires of them where is this messiah to be born and they look it up they look it up it's right there in the scripture it's in the scripture they open the scripture and it's revealed he is to be born in bethlehem in bethlehem not that far from jerusalem just down the road

and here it says you go and find that child and bring me backwards so i can pay him homage which is a lie because you see herod doesn't want anybody to threaten his authority or his autonomy he already has murderous intention in his heart hostile hostile you know he was such a dastardly person

he had some of his own sons killed he was responsible for the death of his wife someone said it's safer to be herod's pig than it is one of his sons hostile but then there's another group the scribes the priest who came and opened the scripture who opened the scripture and they saw where the messiah was to be born and yet we have no record that they got excited about that that they would have said to the wise men hey let us go it looks like it could be true the ancient prophecies could be true this is a validation of god's word of god's great prophecy let us go and let us see this great thing that has come to pass like the shepherds did but no now this is the gospel according to 10 according to kenda the text doesn't tell us this but it seems to me it seems to me that these folks these folks have a major case of indifference

indifference the wise men we want to know so we're willing to put in the effort we're willing to become intentional about that that posture is available today for those of us that are willing open who are willing and intentional because it's not likely we will drift into this deepening relationship with christ it is not likely that we'll be out on a serendipitous little walk and all at once we will have the epiphany and it will be life-changing it is more likely according to the text in jeremiah as god speaks to his prophet you will find me when you seek me with all your heart and so it was with the wise men and i hope with some of us that posture of hostility is still evident or we may not have murderous intent like herod but we we really stand just with arms outstretched there are people who are hostile to the whole concept of their being god some years ago i did a sermon series called evidence that demands a verdict and in the first installment of that series we talked about the evidence the evidence that points to the credibility of the existence of the creator it seemed to be well received in my congregation they this will tell you how long ago that was they they made cassette tapes back in those days and some of our folks took those cassette tapes and they mailed them to some of their friends or relatives that they hoped would find something of benefit

what i got as a response was pretty harsh from some folks the hostility that they exhibited did not want anything to do with this

now i'm as human as anybody else and i can tell you i did not shed that like water off a duck's back i had to do some heavy duty praying about that but then i decided okay this is an opportunity at least they have energy they have energy about this thing of the holy one and so i wrote them back and invited them into a conversation just a conversation about those possibilities promising them that i would hear their case i would hear their questions i would respect their opinions and i failed miserably but just because i failed on that occasion doesn't mean that we always fail there is a person by the name of lee strobel who was trained in an ivy league university in law he became an investigative reporter with the chicago tribune he was good at his job fierce in his logic his keen intellect and he was a devoted atheist hostile to the very concept of faith lo and behold his wife became a christian and it troubled him and made him afraid because he was afraid it would change her into something that he couldn't live with much to his delight it did change her but in ways that were wonderful for their relationship and it caused him not to change his opinion but rather to go on an honest quest at first to disprove this idea of god to disprove this idea of messiah jesus to disprove this this validity of faith but after many many months of study of interview of questions hard questions he came to the place where his hostility was drained and in its place became an aha moment that god had prepared him to receive over those many months and he embraced the faith he is now one of the foremost foremost defenders of the faith he wrote the case for christ he has written many other publications that have helped people on their spiritual journey at least people who are hostile have some energy about this i think the most dangerous posture a person can have is that one of indifference

well yeah i know it's in the bible

but so what what different it doesn't make any difference in my life it's not going to change the way i live i'm basically a good person i don't care what it says well yeah i know it's supposed to be the word of god

indifference the indifference means we give no energy we give no intentionality we have no hunger no thirst and in doing so our hearts continue to grow calloused and hard our hearing is dimmed and our spirits shrivel

and we miss the aha moments that god may intend for us to have

those wise men went on their way and were overjoyed when the star stopped over the place where jesus and his mother were and they went in and the text says they worshiped they bent their knee and they worshipped and as a part of worship they opened and offered their gifts now traditionally traditionally our understanding is that gift of gold is something worthy of a king certainly the material world's best representative of economic power etc that offering of the frankincense recognition that this would be a priest of some kind a high priest of some kind frankincense used in worship the incense used in worship was often thought to lift the prayers of the faithful up to the nostrils of god and the myrrh perhaps the foreshadowing of the sacrifice he would make for the life of so many and while i agree with all of those representations i sometimes wonder i sometimes wonder and this is very personal this is the gospel according to ken i sometimes wonder if the offering of the gold is the symbol of offering all that is temporal all that is material that the wise men brought to that place surrendered to his loving authority that the frankincense would lay claim to him to be the centering influence and spiritual guide of their life giving him loving authority over their spiritual journey and the myrrh the recognition the recognition that following such a king will inevitably mean challenge hardship perhaps even loss and the willingness even now to trust him with those things

so for me the question comes as we enter into 2022

will i join the journey of the wise will my posture be open will i be willing to go or will i allow the hardness of my heart the hostility of my mind prevent me from the aha moments that god wants to use to bless me and those god has given me to love would you pray with me

oh god we thank you for these moments

your word brings life to us

i pray that we might have open hearts and spirits that we might have the aha moments you want us to receive for in them brokenness is healed sin is forgiven and life is renewed amen friends i invite you now to join in this time of communion you will recall when jesus met with his disciples on the night before he was betrayed they had supper together

and as they were eating jesus took the bread

and said this bread represents my body which is broken for you do this as often as you eat it in remembrance of me

and in that time of a great aha moment in breaking the bread and lifting the cup this cup represents the new covenant represents my blood my very life life is contained in the blood and this is my blood of the new covenant given for the remission of sin and the life that it can bring so friends in just a few moments we are going to partake of this holy mystery and i ask you now to join me in these moments of prayer oh god we do give you thanks for this holy mystery yours is the creation story yours is the intention of a heart for all of your people you break down the dividing walls of hostility you want to make us brothers and sisters in one humanity and in your wisdom and in your grace you make that possible through jesus christ the offering of himself in the profound act of sacrifice upon a cross and you demonstrate your power by bringing life to the lifeless body in an empty tomb and it's because of that empty tomb because of that resurrected christ we face the future in 2022 in confidence and great hope with whatever difficulties we may face we will look to you to be on them to guide us through them and we ask now that you make this bread you make this cup to be the body and blood for us

and as we partake of it may there be aha moments here and may we become open to those that are yet to come in the name of father son and holy spirit we pray amen

so friends i invite you to take the cup and take the bread remembering jesus said this is my body given for you do this in remembrance of me

and likewise he took the cup

and after he gave thanks he gave it to them and he said to them

the blood of the new covenant drink this as often as you do it in remembrance of me and so in remembrance of jesus and him his many acts of grace forgiveness and hope drink this all of you in his name

would you pray with me

oh god we are gathered here as your imperfect people but we pray that we may also be your willing people we want our hearts to be kept tender we want our minds always to be open to your divine leadership and we want our souls to be satisfied with what you bring as your spiritual food oh god hear us as we pray and as we offer ourselves in the name of jesus our hope and the worlds amen