5 Questions ~ Are you looking for some real power?

People today are looking for power and the evidence is all around. Physically people are looking for power which is why the P90X is the #1 home fitness program on the market today. P90X isn’t your regular home fitness videos, if you have seen it on TV then you know P90X is revolutionary system of 12 sweat-inducing, muscle-pumping exercises designed to transform your body from regular to ripped in 90 days. In other words it is a power workout which guarantees a physically powerful body and people are buying it and using it because they want power. But it’s not just physical power people want, there is also financial power which is why every week people turn to powerball. The jackpot last night was $146,000,000 and since I know nothing about powerball I actually went and purchased a powerball ticket this week. Guess what, I didn’t win, but many people play because they are looking for financial power in their lives.


People also look to food for power; after all, we have to maintain those powerful P90X bodies, so we have things like power bars and powerade. All around us we see the evidence that people are looking for power. We are looking for it in bodies and in our finances and in our relationships and we are looking for it in our society as well. People look to government for power and people are looking to the economy for power. Now, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but for the next 9 months we will hear endless debates and discussions about the appropriate power of government or how to make our economy powerful once again. As we gear up for this year’s presidential election we will be looking for the most powerful candidates with the most powerful solutions to lead the last remaining super-power.

We are all looking for power, a power that is real and a power that will last and the gospel of Mark makes it clear to us that real power and lasting power isn’t found in P90X or powerade, it’s not found in powerball tickets or powerbars and real and lasting power is not even found in a powerful economy or a powerful national leader, real power and lasting power is only found in Jesus.

Last week it was the power of Jesus love that we saw when he called ordinary fishermen to follow him. When the world said that these men didn’t have what it takes to be a rabbi or to even follow in the footsteps of a rabbi, the power of Jesus love and faith in the men reached out and called them to drop their nets, leave behind their ordinary lives and follow Jesus in the work of God, and they did. But that was just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the power we see in Jesus, there was so much more to come and what we heard from Mark’s gospel today opens our eyes to the rest of that power. The gospels are clear, there is real and lasting power in Jesus and people first saw this power, or actually heard it, in his teaching.

What made Jesus’ teaching so powerful was that it had authority. While other teachers taught from the authority found in the words of the teachers who went before them, Jesus taught people with the authority of His word and people could hear the difference. People could hear the power of truth in Jesus’ teaching and preaching and they could actually begin to see the power of God’s kingdom in the stories Jesus told and the images He used. But it wasn’t just the teaching of Jesus that revealed his power, it was his actions as well.

When Jesus was teaching in the synagogue one day he is confronted by a demon possessed man, actually, he is confronted by a demon in a man and Jesus shows his power over this demon and over all the forces of evil by silencing the demon and commanding him to leave the man he had tormented for years. When the demon has no choice but to silently leave the man’s body, mind and spirit, the power of Jesus is clearly seen, and this power, the power of Jesus’ word and actions caused people to flock to him.

Huge crowds began to follow Jesus and they came with demons and diseases that they wanted Jesus to drive out – and he did. The power of Jesus literally took people by the hand and lifted them up, it healed them. It cast out demons and restored people bodies and lives, and what Mark is making clear to us is here is that Jesus is the one who has real and lasting power for everyone’s life. There is power in Jesus love for people, there is power in his faith and trust in people, there is power in his teaching and truth, there is power in his authority over demons and evil, and Jesus is the one who has the power to change people’s live physically, emotionally and spiritually. There is real and lasting power in Jesus.

So if we are looking for power for our lives today, then we need understand that it is not going to be found from somewhere deep within us as we discipline and train our muscles, and it’s not going to be found by putting the right food or vitamins into us, and it is not going be found from anything in the world around us, real and lasting power only comes from Jesus and if we want to experience this power we need to start looking to Him.

Turning to Jesus for power is exactly what the crowds begin to do in Mark and I think it’s interesting that Jesus begins to reveal his power not thought mighty acts and miracles but through teaching and preaching. The first sign of power that we see in Jesus life doesn’t come from his actions but his words, he spoke with authenticity and authority. When other rabbis just quoted the words of the rabbi’s who went before them, Jesus spoke out of his own authority and he spoke with conviction and passion because he was the word. Jesus himself is the word of God in the flesh, so he has authority and power when he speaks. There was power in his teaching to reveal truth and there was power in his story telling to reveal to people what God’s heart and mind looked like and what life in God’s kingdom looked like.

If we want to begin to experience the power of God in our lives then we need to start by turning to the teaching and the preaching of Jesus. There is power when we come face to face with the truth of God shared with us through Jesus. It’s not always easy to face that power because sometimes the truth of God penetrates into the darkness of our hearts and it convicts us of sin and challenges us in life, but the power of that light can also bring forgiveness and healing. The power of God’s word can bring direction and purpose and life. So if we are looking for power, real and lasting power in our lives then like the crowds who were first drawn to Jesus because of his word, we need to first turn to God’s word. I would encourage all of us this week to read the most powerful sermon of Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7. In this sermon Jesus speaks with authority and in it we begin to hear the power of Jesus. The more we read God’s word the more power we will see and the power won’t just be in Jesus teaching us the truth, it will be in the miracles we see as well.

The miracles that are recorded in the gospels are the physical evidence of Jesus power in the world. As we saw earlier, Jesus had the power to overcome evil. Jesus literally drove out demons not just once but on many occasions and he restored people’s minds and spirits. He healed the sick and even raised the dead and Jesus is the one who had the spiritual power to forgive sin which released people to experience the fullness of God. But there’s more because in the gospels we read about Jesus walking on water, telling the wind and the waves to stop and multiplying bread in order to feed thousands of people. Over and over again we see that it is Jesus who has real and lasting power and the more we turn to Jesus the more power we see and one of the things we see is that Jesus not only had power but he shared it as well. Again, we heard that from Mark this morning. Jesus used his power to drive out a demon and restore a man’s life – he shared his power. Jesus used his power to heal Simon-Peter’s mother in law and he used his power to heal people.

Jesus didn’t hold on to the power of God that was part of his life – he shared it. During his lifetime Jesus shared his power with those who were sick and demon possessed. He shared his power with those where sinners and those whom society ignored and neglected. Jesus shared the power of God with others and that power changed people’s lives, but it goes so much deeper than that because Jesus actually shared his power to heal and teach and forgive and inspire with those who followed him. Look at Mark 6:7 and 12.

The disciples were given the power of God to teach and preach and cast out demons and heal the sick and they used it. Jesus literally shared his power, he gave it to his followers so they could help people and then God gave his full power to the church which means it was given to all of us. In Acts 2 we read about the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit thaws given to the followers of Jesus and that Holy Spirit was the full power of God and what we read about through the rest of the book of Acts is the story of Jesus followers using the power of God to do the same things that Jesus did. They teach and preach and heal and forgive. They change peoples lives and build God’s kingdom and then they offer people the power of God for their own lives.

If we are looking for power today we need to turn and see that the only real and lasting power is found in Jesus and then we need to understand that Jesus shares this power with us, and all of this leads us to ask… how can we receive this power and experience the power we want in our own lives? The simple answer is, we ask for it. Jesus said, seek and you will find, knock and the door will opened, ask and it shall be given to you. Now I don’t think this means that whatever we might want in life we will get, after all my ticket didn’t win the powerball, but if we ask God for something that He wants us to have and something He is willing to give us, then I believe He will give it to us when we ask. So if we want to experience power and God has power to give, and God wants to give us His power, then the simple answer of how to receive God’s power is to ask Him for it.

But, and you knew there was a but coming, but… we have to ask with the right heart and the right faith. On the day of Pentecost when the power of the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples, the reason they received it is because they were in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit came and the reason they were in Jerusalem was because they were following the instructions of Jesus. Before he ascended into heaven Jesus told his followers to wait in Jerusalem and you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. God shares his power with us when we ask for it but he shares it with us when we ask with hearts that are willing to wait on him, listen to him and follow what he has already told us. In fact, I think what the day of Pentecost teaches us is that the power of God is experienced as we follow Jesus.

When we put into practice what we find in God’s word and as we follow the teaching of Jesus we find the power of God flowing into our lives. As we forgive others we experience the power of God ourselves. As we serve those in need we experience the power of God in our lives. As we worship and connect with God through prayer we experience the power of God. God shares his power with us willingly and abundantly when we ask but that power flows as we stay connected to God and walk in the footsteps of Jesus.

So if you are looking for power in your life today, real and lasting power, then first turn and see that Jesus is the one who has the power we want and need in life, and then see how willingly God shares this power with us, and then, let us ask. Let us just ask God for his power, a power that can fill us and a power that can change us. Let us ask…

Next Steps: Are you looking for some real power?
1. See that real power rests in Jesus.
Read Jesus Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7)
Reflect on Jesus miraculous power

• Power to Forgive (Mark 2:1-12)
• Power to Heal (Mark 5:21-43)
• Power over Evil and Demons (Mark 5:1-20)
• Power over Nature (Mark 6:45-52)

 2. See that Jesus share real and lasting power (Acts 1:1-5, 2:1-13)

 3. Ask God for His power.

•  Ask in simple faith.
•  Ask with open hands and willing heart.
•  Ask in faithful service.

5 Questions ~ What does it take for profound life change?

I’ve always been amazed at the immediate response of these four fishermen when Jesus called them to follow him. 2 of them drop their nets, and the other 2 leave their boat behind with their father still in it as they all turn to follow Jesus. How did these fishermen make such a profound life change and how did they make it so decisively? What moved them to act so quickly and completely because this really was a complete change of life for them. While they still had ties to their boats and families and fishing business because later in the gospels we see them fishing once again, they never really go back to their old way of life. When they drop their nets and leave their boats behind to follow Jesus it is for good, this is a profound life change and I have always wondered what it was that enabled them to do this? I guess I want to know because I want to know how to make profound changes in my own life.


Many times when we reflect on this story and make the assumption that this is the first time Jesus had ever spoken to these men, but that is probably not true. Jesus had been teaching and preaching in this region for some time and most likely these men heard Jesus’ message about the Kingdom of God. At least one of the fishermen, Andrew, had gone out to be baptized by John the Baptist and last week we heard that he left John to begin to listen and learn from Jesus. We also believe that another one of these fishermen, John, was the other disciple of John the Baptist who went with Andrew. So Andrew and John had spent some time with Jesus, they heard his message and experienced the power of Jesus’ presence and personality. Whatever it was they saw and heard during their time with Him began to convince them that Jesus was not just a great teacher but that perhaps he was even the Messiah, after all, John the Baptist had called him the lamb of God.

So this encounter is probably not the first time Andrew and John had heard Jesus and it makes sense to think that Peter and James had also at least heard Jesus teach and preach, but there is still something powerful taking place here for all four of them to drop everything and leave behind all the security that comes with a job and a family business. What will help us understand how these men were able to make this profound life change will be to understand how they ended up as fishermen in the first place. They weren’t just fishermen just because their father was a fisherman, they were there because up until this point, they didn’t measure up to be a disciple.

In first century Galilee, the most honored and important people in the Jewish community were the Rabbis so it was an honor and a great calling to be invited to be a disciple of a Rabbi. Only the best families among the Jewish people were allowed to send their young boys off to study with them and they did this with the hopes that their sons might one day be chosen to become a discipli, and then maybe in time even become a Rabbi themselves. The learning process just to become a disciple, however, was difficult. First these boys would have to learn the first 5 books of the Bible, called the Pentateuch or Torah. Now, I don’t mean they had to learn the names of the Torah or even learn them well enough to pass a test on what happened when Moses got to the Red Sea, these boys would have had to memorize the entire Torah, that’s Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy – memorized. If they were able to do that – then they were chosen to keep going and if they weren’t the best of the best – they were sent home to learn the family trade.

But the process didn’t end there, after memorizing the Pentateuch, they then had to go on and memorize the rest of the Hebrew Bible, or our OT, that’s 35 more books from Joshua to Malachi, all the history, all the psalms, all the words of the prophets: both major & minor - memorized. Now I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time even memorizing the names of the books of the Old Testament let alone the entire Old Testament and while we may think this is excessive, keep in mind that this was a time in history when they didn’t have a lot of written materials. Rabbis couldn’t carry round a pocket Hebrew Bible, they couldn’t look up a passage on their iphones, and yet they had to be able to quote any part of scripture at any given time. So they had to simply know God’s word – all of it.

So after a certain age the boys would be tested again and only the best of the best of the best would be chosen to continue on as an actual disciple of the Rabbis, the rest would be sent home to learn the family trade. So Rabbis only called the best of the best of the best to follow them. Rabbis only chose the men who they felt could do what they did. They invited people to follow them that they respected and trusted and believed in and no one else.

So when we see that Peter, Andrew, James and John are all fishermen it’s because they were not considered the best of the best of the best. They are fishermen because they either didn’t come from the right families to be able to go and study with the rabbis when they were young, or if they did get that opportunity, they obviously had been sent home somewhere along the way because they just didn’t measure up. But everything changes when Jesus comes along. Jesus’ teaching and preaching is powerful and he speaks as one with authority. Everyone is beginning to see in him the power of God and some are even beginning to think that this unconventional rabbi is the Messiah. So when this Rabbi approaches Andrew and Peter and says, follow me, part of what he is saying to them is that he believes that they have the right stuff. Jesus believes they have the ability to do what he is going to do. This invitation to become fishers of men is an invitation to learn how to do what Jesus was doing and to follow in the footsteps of a great Rabbi. This was an incredible honor that very few people received and it told these simple fishermen that they were valued and respected and that Jesus believed in them and I think that is what enabled them to make such a profound life change.

What enable Andrew, Peter, James and John to drop their nets, leave the boats and families and business behind was knowing that the God who they experienced in and through Jesus believed in them and saw in them not just value but potential. To follow in the footsteps of a Rabbi was the greatest honor and privilege, it’s like being called up to the big leagues in baseball or starting a game in basketball or being selected the first chair in the orchestra and knowing that God believed in them and loved them that much changed their lives.

Knowing that God loves us and believes in us can help us make profound and lasting changes in our lives. The author Rob Bell has said that we are often told to have faith in God and to believe in Jesus, but we don’t often look at the other side of that. We don’t often hear the message that God has faith in us and that Jesus believes in us and yet, that’s the truth we see here. Jesus doesn’t call the best of the best of the best; he calls these fishermen and the tax collectors. Jesus called ordinary people to follow him because he loved them and believed that they could be like him and I believe it was this faith and trust that Jesus placed in these fishermen that enabled them to make this profound and lasting life change and I believe that when we begin to understand just how much God believes in us and loves us and even trusts us that we can begin to make some profound and lasting changes as well.

Too many times when we look at the changes we want to make in life we tell ourselves that part of what we need to do is work harder and place more of our trust in God, but the problem with that thinking is that it places all of the work for change on us and it has always been my experience that I will fail. I can’t tell you how many times I have tried to make changes in my life and while I might be able to accomplish these changes for a while, there comes a point in time when I fail and then I am left feeling defeated and wondering if I can really make any kind of life change at all, but when we begin to change our thinking and tell ourselves that God loves us and that God believes in us and that Jesus believes that we can live like he lived and not just do what he did but do even greater things than he did it gives us the power to make substantial and lasting changes.

Think about it, when other people believe in us and when other people have faith in us it gives us the strength and power to live life a different way. When I was in college some friends approached me about leading a Bible Study, I didn’t think I could do it but they said I could. Their faith and trust in me changed me. I’m not sure I would be here today if that first step wasn’t taken and I would never have made that first step if someone hadn’t had faith in me. Maybe you have experienced this in school with teacher or in sports with a coach. When someone believes in us it gives us the courage and the strength to do things that we might not do otherwise and it gives us the power to make profound life changes. If people believing in us and having faith in us can give us the strength and courage to change, then think about what God believing in us can help us do.

So we need to hear and take to heart the truth that God loves us and that he believes in us and that this love and faith can do more in us than we ever thought or imagined. In Ephesians 3:18-21 it says… When we begin to fully comprehend God’s love and power at work in our lives and how that love helps us do far more than we ever thought or imagined, we will begin to find the courage and the strength to make changes that we feel are necessary and important.

So it is not our hard work and discipline that helps us make profound life change, it is God’s love for us and God’s faith and trust in us that enables us and helps us, but there is something else God shows us here. Have you ever noticed that the first disciple called by Jesus wasn’t an individual but a team of four? God didn’t ask Andrew or Peter alone to make a significant change in their lives and I think this is important. The first people Jesus called to radically change their lives was a team of 4 men who already knew each other and worked well together as a team. Peter and Andrew worked together as fishermen, they were already a team that communicated well together, worked on common goals and supported and encouraged each other in business and in life, now they were making a significant life change together. And then it is says that without delay Jesus went and called James and John. It’s as if Jesus knows that Peter and Andrew were going to need more support and encouragement if they were going to follow through on this life change so he immediately calls 2 more people to follow him so they could do this all together, but it wasn’t just any 2 people Jesus called, it was 2 more fishermen who were not only brothers but fishing partners and most likely fishermen who had worked closely alongside Peter and Andrew.

Maybe Jesus called these 4 men as a group to follow him because he knew that the kind of change he was asking them to make was going to be difficult and while he believed in them and had faith and trust in their ability, maybe Jesus knew that they were also going to need each other. The truth is that to make lasting changes in our lives we need people by our side who will support us and encourage us and believe in us. If you have ever tried to lose weight or start an exercise program on your own you know how hard it is and how important support and encouragement and inspiration can be. The truth is that we need each other if we are going to make lasting and significant changes in life and I think Jesus understood this which is why he didn’t begin his work by calling just one person, but 4 and then anytime he called another person to follow him they immediately had people there, a strong team, who would welcome them and then support them in their life change.

If we want to make successful changes in life we need to make sure we are also surrounded by people who will love us, inspire us, encourage us and hold us accountable. We need people in our lives who will help us follow through on the changes we want to make and help us become the people we want to be. No change is easy, but lasting life change is possible when we understand the power of God’s love and begin to trust the faith God has in us, and lasting change is possible when we surround ourselves with people who will encourage us and inspire us through the difficult days of transformation. If there are significant changes you want to make in life, trust in the power of God’s love for you and trust in the power that family, friends and a team of support can give.


Next Steps:
Making profound life changes requires us to know that God loves us AND has faith in us.


Take time every day this week to hear this message of love and faith from God through quiet times of prayer and daily reading of scripture:
• Monday – Jeremiah 29:11-14
• Tuesday – Judges 6-9 (Story of Gideon: especially 6:36-40)
• Wednesday – Psalm 23
• Thursday – John 8:1-11
• Friday - Romans 8:28-39
• Saturday – Matthew 28:18-20
• Sunday – Philippians 2:11

Making profound life changes requires the support of others:
• Name the changes you (and God) want to make in your life.
• Name the people who can support you as you make these changes.
• Invite these people to be part of a support team that will help you make profound and lasting life changes.

5 Questions ~ What are you searching for?

Last week we heard that John’s message of confession, repentance and baptism drew huge crowds of people from all over the entire region and while many of these people would have gone out to John, listened to his message and then returned home, there were some people who stayed out there and followed him. Like many of the prophets and teachers of that day, John had his own disciples and one day as John is standing with some of them they see Jesus walk by and John says, look, there goes the Lamb of God. Now this is the second time John has said this about Jesus and so two of his disciples, Andrew and John turn and begin to follow Jesus and when he sees this, Jesus asks them, what do you want? In other translations the question is recorded, what are you looking for?


I’ve been asking myself this week, what where they looking for? While we don’t know for sure, they had to be looking for something more than self reflection and forgiveness because that is what John had given them. As followers of John they had engaged in confession and repentance and they had been baptized by John, so what were they looking for? My sense is that they were looking to experience for themselves and live out day to day the new life with God that John had talked about. I think Andrew and John were looking for a life that was intimately connected to the power of God. They were looking for a life that was infused with God’s passions and values and meaning. They were looking for something that was going to fill them up and never leave them hungry again. They were looking for the very same thing many of us are still looking for today and that is a deeper connection to the living God.

It’s important for us to see here that while Andrew and John do turn to follow Jesus, it is Jesus who initiates the conversation with Andrew and John. I think this is symbolic of how God works in all our lives. God knows that we are looking for something more and as soon as we acknowledge this in some way, God is willing to reach out and help us in our search. If we want to know more about Jesus or if we want to experience more of God, God doesn’t hide from us, God reveals himself. In fact, God is willing to come to us and take the first step in developing a deeper relationship with us. Jesus tells the story of a young man who asks his father for his share of the inheritance early and then he goes off and squanders that money on wild living. When all of his money is gone the young son decides to return home to his father and see if he can just become a servant in his home because he doesn’t deserve to be a son anymore. Jesus tells this story in Luke 15:20-21.

Now why is it that the Father saw his son while he was still far off? I like to think it was because every day: morning noon and night, the Father stopped what he was doing and took the time to look for his son hoping that he would return. God is always looking for us to turn toward him. God is waiting, even wanting us to search for him and when we make that turn, like these 2 disciples, when we make that turn to God – God not only turns toward but God reaches out to us. Jesus is the first to reach out here and he is the one begins the conversation with the question, what are you looking for?

It is interesting that the first recorded words of Jesus in the gospel of John is a question that is just as relevant today as it was 2000 years ago. Today we are all still looking for something and that is made clear by the popularity of websites like google. Did you know that every day google alone get’s hundreds of millions of hits and every year google worldwide does billions of searches? But google is just one search engine, there are hundreds of other search engines in over 20 different categories and each one will help you look for whatever it is you want. From Blogs to Business, Maps to Medical to Multi-media, News, People, Real Estate, Schools and Shopping there are specific search engines to help you look for information, inspiration, entertainment even friends and relationships, whatever you are looking for you can search for it online and every day millions of people are looking for something. So the question Jesus asks Andrew and John 2000 years ago is still relevant today, what are you looking for? Not what are you searching for online but what are you searching for in life?

If Jesus were here today, sitting in front of you and he suddenly turned around as asked you that question, what would you say? I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I would have a good answer because sometimes when it comes to God and my relationship with Jesus Christ, I don’t know what I’m looking for, I just know I want something more. I think that is exactly where Andrew and John are when Jesus asked them. They don’t know what they want, I’m not even sure they knew why they turned to follow Jesus, they just know they wanted something more, so they end up saying to Jesus, Where are you staying?

Now I don’t think the exact location of where Jesus is staying or who he is staying with is really what they want to know, but I don’t think they know what else to say. They aren’t sure what they want they just know that after confession, repentance, forgiveness and baptism they are still searching for something, something that will change and fill their lives. Does that sound familiar? I believe that in all of us there is simply a hunger and longing for more of God but many times we can’t name it. We are looking for power or purpose, security or safety, we want deeper relationships, deeper insight into the world, answers for why things are they way they are. We are looking for a lot and while we may not be able to articulate things perfectly, or ask the right questions, how wonderful that God doesn’t wait for us to get the words right. Instead of laughing at these two for asking such an absurd question, Jesus understands their deeper needs and knows what they are longing for and so reaches out to them again with a simple invitation, come and see.

Come and See. Again, I don’t think Jesus is inviting them to come and see where he is staying, I think he is inviting them to come with him, to literally go with him in life and in ministry and begin to find in Jesus all that they are looking for. I believe that this invitation still stands. No matter what we may be looking for today, I believe that we can begin to find some answers or direction if we are willing to go with Jesus and open ourselves up to what he has to offer. So let’s look at what it means for us to come and see.

When Jesus says to Andrew and John to come he literally wants them to go with him. Jesus is inviting them to walk with him, travel with him and to go to the places where he is going. Too many times when we are looking for God’s will or purpose in our lives or when we are searching for more of God’s power and presence we just stay put and expect God to come to us. The author Mike Slaughter has said, Being a Christian isn’t taking Jesus into our lives and asking Jesus to go with us - it’s going with Jesus into his life and adopting his lifestyle. While God does meet us where we are, the answers to what we are looking for in life begin to be found when we are willing to go with Him.

So when Jesus invites us to come it is an invitation for us to move. We have to be willing to move out of our routines, leave behind what is comfortable and easy and go where Jesus goes. Think of what this invitation meant for Andrew and John. They had to leave their jobs and their families to be able to travel with Jesus. They had to leave John the Baptist and their circle of friends and begin to develop relationships with people I’m sure they never had thought about associating with before, people like tax collectors, prostitutes, Samaritans and all kinds of sinners. They literally had to walk new roads, reach out to new people and be willing to do new things with Jesus. To find whatever it is we are looking for also means that we have to be willing to move.

God, and the life he offers, can not be found by simply sitting at home and doing a google search for Jesus. You can do that and let me tell you, it is fascinating what you will find, but all that you will find will be information about Jesus and while some of what you will find might be entertaining, much of it will not even be accurate. We are used to being able to search and do just about everything at home and find all that we want from the comfort, safety and security of sitting behind our computers, but if we never move beyond that – we will never really find what we are looking because the real life God offers isn’t found online it is found in the world. God is more than information and God is more than inspiration, God is life and relationship. God is alive and moving in our world. God is where people are hurting and hungry and happy and hopeful. God is where people are working and worshipping, where people are building relationship and building homes, sharing food and sharing faith. God is never going to be found unless we are willing to go where God is most visible and most powerfully at work and that is in the world.

Jesus said that we will see him when we feed the hungry, clothe the naked and visit those who are in need so Jesus is out there in the world and if we want to find answers in life - we need to go where he is and we need to begin to do what he is doing, and that is the second part of this invitation. When Jesus says come and see, I don’t think he is inviting Andrew and John to just follow and observe. This is a call for them to get invovled. Travelling with Jesus means we began to do what he did.

One of the most amazing miracles Jesus performed he did through the hands of his disciples, in fact, Andrew himself experienced this power of God. In John 6 we find Jesus and his disciples in a very remote place with thousands of people surrounding them. They have been listening to Jesus teach and preach all day and while the disciples want Jesus to send everyone home to eat, Jesus tells them, no you feed them. It is Andrew who brings to Jesus a boy with 5 barley loaves and 2 fish and gives the food to Jesus. Jesus then blessed the food and gave it to the disciples to distribute among the people. Can you imagine the fear and anxiety among the disciples as they think about trying to feed 5000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish? I’m thinking that they started passing out very small pieces of bread, but then as they kept having more and more food to give, they gave out larger and larger pieces and with more and more excitement. Andrew didn’t just see this miracle take place – he was part of it and when Jesus performed miracles his disciples were often part of them and that experience changed their lives.

When Jesus calls us to come and see it is not to passively observe it is a call to do what he is doing and be actively involved. One of my greatest fears is that too many of us follow Jesus but from a distance. We observe instead of getting involved and what happens is that we not only miss experiencing the power of God for ourselves, but we never really find what we are looking for because the things that will meet our deepest needs and give us the greatest direction in life are only found when we are willing to get involved and experience the life Jesus offers.

I know I have shared this before, but when I first made the decision to attend seminary I didn’t know what I was looking for. I was like Andrew, I felt that Jesus held the answer but I didn’t even know what the question was. My first year in seminary, I was an observer. I went to class, I read books, I took tests, I wrote papers and I learned a lot about God but I still didn’t have a sense of direction or purpose and I still didn’t know what I wanted or needed in life. My second year of seminary I began work as a student associate pastor of a church in Graham NC, and as I actually got involved in the work of God, from teaching third grade Sunday school to helping with weddings, funerals and worship, and as I got more deeply involved in the lives of people on a spiritual level, I began to experience God’s power and the life God had for me. I didn’t get direction for my life and the answer to my questions from a book or a lecture or a class project, I got it by going to where God was at work and working with God and his people.

I still believe that we find what we are looking for in life when we respond to Jesus invitation to Come and See and I believe that it is this invitation that Jesus offers us today. Today we can turn and go to those places where we sense God is at work and today we can make the decision to get involved in the work God is doing which means that today we can begin to actual find what we are looking for.

Next Steps:
What are you looking for?

Make a list of the things you are looking for from God.

• Share this list with God in prayer.
• Share this list with a friend.

In response to our searching, Jesus invites us to Come and See.

• What will it mean for you to Go with Jesus?
• Where do you sense Jesus working in our community?
• What would it look like for you to go there and spend time with Jesus?

What will it mean for you to See Jesus?

• What work is God calling you to in the life His church?
• What work is God calling you to in the community? World?

5 Questions ~ Are You Tired of Religion?

So John the Baptist suddenly appears in the wilderness and begins to proclaim a message that calls people to confess their sin, repent and be baptized and while you wouldn’t think that kind of a message would have mass appeal, it did. It says that people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to John to be baptized. John was drawing huge crowds and the reason I believe the people were drawn to John and his message was because those same people were tired of religion. People were tired of long prayers offered by the priests; they were tired of meaningless sacrifices that had to be given again and again and they were tired of empty rituals that had long ago lost their meaning. They were tired of a religion that was heavy on rules and regulations and light on grace and freedom and power. They were tired of religion and were looking for something different, the people were looking for something real and something that would make a difference in their lives and maybe through them make a difference in their world. People were looking for something that would improve their relationships with family, friends and neighbors and they were looking for a new and fresh movement of God. John drew crowds because the people were tired of religion and I think that if we are honest with ourselves then we would say that many people today and maybe many of us here are also tired of religion.


I read a blog post this week from a young woman who said that after 34 years of regular weekly church attendance, she was bored. She was bored with long sermons and predictable liturgy, bored with rambling announcements and empty prayers, bored with endless sign-ups for small groups and lunches. She was just bored. Now let me say that while this young woman is not a member of this church, many of her words reflect what we do on a regular basis and so I had to stop and ask myself, how many of us are tired of religion and maybe bored with church and worship? It’s ok if we are; in fact that might be a good thing because when we get tired of religion and bored with church it is because we are looking for and hungry for something more. Like the young woman says, “I’m sincerely unsure of the solution, I just know I’m ready for something else.”

Many people today are tired of religion and looking for something else, they are looking for something real, and longing for something that will touch their lives to the core and make a significant difference. A young man wrote that when it comes to church he doesn’t want cool as much as he wants what is real. “If we are interested in Christianity in any sort of serious way,” he writes, “it is not because Christianity is easy or trendy or popular. It’s because Jesus himself is appealing and what he says rings true.” I think when people heard the message of John the Baptist they were drawn to it because it rang true and it offer them something real, so they left behind their religion and headed out into the wilderness to find the beginning of a relationship with the living God.

Today if you are tired of religion, and if you are bored with church, then I want to invite you to find what is real because what is real is the opportunity we have to build a relationship with the living God but that relationship only comes when we begin to get serious about who we are and how God wants us to live our lives. Our journey to find what is real doesn’t start by going out into the wilderness but by being willing to go inward into the very depths of our own hearts and lives. St. Augustine wrote, do not go outward, return within yourself. In the inward person dwells truth.

The real journey that John called people to take wasn’t out of their towns and cities so they could be baptized in the Jordan River but to go inward and look deep into their own hearts and lives to see what needed to be confessed and offered up to God so they could begin to see God for themselves and see God’s will for their lives. If you are tired of religion and bored with church then it’s time to look inward and get honest with God and to get honest with ourselves and begin a process of confession and repentance, but beware, because this is not an easy process.

After his fall from grace a few years ago, Tiger Woods said, “at first, I didn’t want to look inward. Frankly, I was scared of what I would find—scared of what I had become.” It is scary to look deep into our hearts and lives because many times what we find there are thoughts, attitudes and actions that are not pleasing and acceptable to God, or for that matter to us. We know there are things we want to change about our lives and we know there is sin that we want to overcome but many times we just feel powerless to do anything about it so we just let that sin remain. But sin doesn’t just go away on its own. Selfishness, pride, out of control habits that destroy our families and finances, these things just don’t go away on their own – they need to be confronted and confessed so they can be overcome.

The first step in confession is to get real and honest with ourselves. What is it that we see when we look into our hearts and lives? What are the habits and patterns of thought and behavior that need to change? Where is our life out of control? We need to get honest about these things and confront this sin and confess it to God. Maybe we need to take some time alone and reflect on what we see in our hearts and lives and maybe even make a list of what we find there. Actually writing down our sin so we can see it helps us confront it in ways that then help us confess it to God. There is simply something about seeing the truth of our lives written down that convicts us like nothing else can.

When a woman who had been caught in sin was brought to Jesus and the crowd was ready to stone her, Jesus wanted to turn that situation around and confront people with the reality of their own sin, so he bends down and begins to write on the ground. I imagine Jesus writing down specific words like lust, greed, anger, lying to your wife, cheating on your husband, pride, fraud, selfishness. When people saw their sin written down they had to own up to it and that moved all of them to the point where they dropped their stones and walked away. They were convicted. There is something powerful about sitting down and looking at the reality of our own sin literally spelled out in front of us. Once we see it we can’t ignore it, so maybe we need to spend some time doing some serious self-reflection and write out our sins.

As difficult as that is, what would be even harder would be to then sit down with someone we trust and share that list with them. When people went out to John to be baptized they confessed their sin and when they did they didn’t use some nice generic cleaned-up prayer written by a priest or rabbi in some synagogue or Temple far away. They used their own words and most likely words that flowed through their own tears and pain. They would have walked down into the muddy water of the Jordan River and said things like this, my life is out of control and I need God’s help. I have allowed anger and greed and lust to control my life and I need God’s forgiveness if I am going to be able to experience freedom and healing in life. I’m tired of trying to live life on my own and always falling short, I need God. Religion calls us to go through the motions of confession while a relationship with God calls us to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another so that we may be forgiven and healed. That’s what it says in James 5:16

When was the last time you confessed your sin to someone? Have you ever confessed your sin to someone else? I’m not talking about getting caught by someone in a lie or having someone else confront us about an issue in our lives, I’m talking about being willing to sit down across from someone and start getting real about life. This kind of honesty and vulnerability is not easy but it is the beginning of a relationship with God that will be anything boring. You see, religion gets tired and boring because it takes this idea of confession and turns it into empty prayers when what God wants is for us to be willing to come clean with one another and in love and grace start walking with one another in life. Generic prayers don’t bring life, generic prayers don’t bring the power to heal and forgive, that comes when we confess to one another and pray together using honest, heartfelt and often broken words.

Confession was just part of John’s message, the other part was repentance. You see, it’s not enough to just confess to God and to others all the darkness that we find in our hearts and lives, we have to be willing to take some steps to start living in the light. While confession means that we confront the reality of the sin and actually name it to God and others, repentance means we need to turn away from that sin and start living life different. Now as hard as confession is, repentance is even harder because it is not easy to change the way we think about ourselves, others and the world around us and it’s not easy to overcome habits that have become such strong parts of our lives – but we can overcome our sin and we can live life differently with the help and the strength of God. That’s why John baptized people because baptism was the sign that through the power and grace of God we can die to our old self and old habits and sins and raise up from the water to live a new life.

Baptism was the reminder to the people that new life was possible and the same is still true today. New life is possible for us. It is possible to overcome our sin and experience a freedom and forgiveness that can change us but this new life doesn’t come from ourselves and it doesn’t come from trying harder or thinking better or disciplining our bodies, this new life comes from God. It is God’s forgiveness that makes new life possible because it is God’s forgiveness that actually removes our sin from us. In Psalm 103:12 it says as far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed our sin from us and it is because God has forgiven us or removed our sin from us that we can experience new life. When John baptized people it was to remind them that there was real forgiveness from God which makes new life possible.

New life is still possible for us today and I believe that it is this new life that people are searching for and it doesn’t come from religion. The new life God offers us doesn’t come from believing the right things or following all the right rules and traditions. New life comes when we are willing to build a relationship with God where we turn away from our selves and walk with God. 1 John 1:7-8 says, if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin. Walking with God day in and day out and trusting Him cleanses us from sin which in turns gives us the strength and power we need to begin living life a different way.

So what does it look like for us to walk in the light as God is in the light? It means walking in the light of prayer and the light of God’s word. It means taking seriously what we find in God’s word and understanding that the real joy and thrill in life doesn’t come when we try to figure out how to avoid doing what the Bible says but we actually start living it out. So many people who are searching for something real and powerful in life find Jesus appealing and what he says rings true but they never experience the adventure Jesus offers because they never really follow him. We have to take seriously the word of God and apply that word to our lives. In Jesus God has shown us the way to live and it’s not an easy road of religious rules and regulations, it is a personal journey of seeking the direction and power of the living God just like Jesus did each and every day.

So if you are tired of religion and if church has become boring, what you are feeling is nothing new and the answer is nothing new. The answer is getting serious about a relationship with God which begins with confession and moves to repentance and then calls us to step out to live a new life. The answer is to get honest with God and real with one another so that together we can experience the power and life of Jesus.

Next Steps: If you are you tired of Religion:

Confess your sin to God and others:
• Take some quiet time this week to reflect on your heart and life.
• Write out the specific sins that you struggle with, and don’t avoid the hard stuff.
• Confess your sin to God.
• Find a trusted friend and put James 5:16 to work.

Repent (turn away) from sin and find the power to live a new life
• Experience freedom in God’s forgiveness .
• Read and reflect on Psalm 103:12 and 1 John 1:7-9.
• Look up other biblical passages on forgiveness and repentance.
• Walk “in the light” with God
     o Pray for God’s strength and guidance every day
     o Live out what you read in God’s word
     o Trust God to raise up new life in you

The Journey of the Magi

Today we end our journey to Bethlehem by looking at the last group of people who make a journey to find the Christ Child, and that is the Magi. One of the things that we have seen in our study of the Nativity this year is that sometimes the story of Jesus birth is shaped more by images from Christmas Cards and Carols and pageants than the Bible and nowhere is this more true than in the story of the Magi. Our understanding of this story is probably shaped more by the Christmas Carol we three kings, than from Matthew 2 because we always see these men pictured as 3 kings, but nowhere in Matthew does it say that these men were kings and nowhere does it say that there were three of them, just that there were three gifts. And while many Christmas cards and pageants have the magi arriving at a stable and kneeling down at a manger, what Matthew says is that they find the child Jesus in a house with his mother, which leads us to believe that they arrive some time after Jesus had been born, which makes sense because if the star appeared at Jesus birth, it would have taken some time for the Magi to make their journey.


So what do we know about these travelers? Matthew says they came from the East which means they most likely came from Persia, which is modern day Iran, and this means the Magi may have travelled up to a 1,000 miles to find Jesus. Now a journey this long would have taken several months, if not years, so again, the Magi would not have found Jesus at the stable and in a manger, and they would not have been surrounded by sheep and shepherds like we see in so many Christmas cards. What Matthew does say is that they find Jesus and his mother at a house in Bethlehem. Now as we have seen, if Joseph was from Bethlehem, this house would have been Joseph’s parents home which had now become their home. Remember, after a couple was married they would move in with the groom’s family until they had enough money to move out on their own, so it makes sense that the Magi would find Mary and Jesus living in the home of Joseph’s family in Bethlehem.

Another thing that Matthew tells us about these travelers is that they were Magi, which comes from the Greek word Magos and this doesn’t mean they were magicians but scholars and because they noticed a new star in the sky and understood that this star meant a new king had been born in Israel, we believe that the type of scholar they were was a cross between an Astronomer and Astrologer. In Persia at this time the scholars who read the stars were Zoroastrian priests. Part of the religious beliefs of these priests was that good words and good deeds were necessary in order to be happy, so when they see the sign that a king had been born, they would have wanted to welcome that king so they set out on the long journey to find him. Not being well versed in the prophetic writings of Israel, the Magi travel to Jerusalem because Jerusalem was the capital of Israel and if a king was to be born that was the most likely place to find him. When they arrive in the city they ask the religious leaders of Israel where the king was to be born and when they are told in Bethlehem they once again head out to make the very short trip to Bethlehem and as they make their way they once again see the star that had led them on their journey and the star stops over the place where they find Jesus.

One of the interesting things we see in this passage is that it’s when the star stops that the Magi are filled with joy. As a cross between an astronomer and an astrologer it was the stars that spoke to those men so when they see that the star has stopped they know they have found what they are looking for and even before they see Jesus, it says they are overjoyed. These men find joy in the journey they are taking and when they know they are close to finding what they have been looking for, when they know they are about to meet this amazing king whose birth is proclaimed in the stars, they are filled with joy. Sometimes I wonder if we are filled with joy on our journey of faith. Are we ever overwhelmed with joy just by the thought of being in the presence of Jesus? If not, why? Why does the thought of God in the flesh, or a savior, redeemer and king present with us not move us the way it did these Magi, or the shepherds, or the angels?

One of the common themes we see in the Nativity story is overwhelming joy. The message that the angel gives to the shepherds is good news of great joy and it is so great a joy that as soon as it is spoken all of heaven breaks into songs of joy. Once the shepherds see Jesus for themselves they are filled with joy and go away glorify and praise God and now these Magi are overwhelmed with joy even before they see Jesus because they know that he has to be something special for a star to announce his birth.

Since today is a day for New Year’s resolutions, how about we make a resolution to be a people filled with overwhelming joy? Let’s resolve to be a joy filled church and we can do this because joy isn’t an emotion that we feel when things are going well joy is the byproduct of committing ourselves to walking with God and keeping ourselves in the presence of and staying connected to Jesus. It was the journey that helped fill the Magi with joy, so we need to commit ourselves to our own journey of faith in the New Year.

Walking with God and being in the presence of Jesus calls us to be in prayer and in the word of God on a regular basis and for joy to be sustained we need to worship together and work together in mission and ministry. Joy comes in our journey of our faith – it is not an end result of faith. Let me say that again, Joy comes in our journey of faith – it is not the end result of faith, isn’t that what we see here. The Magi were filled with joy before they ever saw Jesus, but they were on their way – joy came to them on their journey. The shepherds grew in their joy as they first heard the good news and then travelled to find the baby and then shared the good news with others. Joy grows and was sustained on their journey and joy for us will grow and be sustained on our journey and so to be a people of overwhelming joy we need to be people committed to the journey of faith. Maybe that should be our New Year’s resolution, to be people committed to travelling together on our journey of faith.

There is one more thing to note about this story of the Magi and that is what it tells us about God. By placing a star in the sky at the birth of Jesus, God spoke to these foreign men in a way that they could understand. As astrologers or astronomers, they understood the message of the stars so God spoke to them through the stars and God guided them in life and to faith through the stars. What this says about God is that God is willing to use any and every means available to proclaim his message about Jesus. To shepherds God used angels, to Magi God used a star, to us today God uses people, books, songs, movies, nature, science, the internet and all sorts of means and media to share his message with us and the reason God does all of this is because God wants us to find him.

The star in the sky and the journey of the Magi shows us that God wants to be found not only by his people, but by all people. God doesn’t hide from us and he doesn’t hide his truth from us, God reveals himself to us and to the world because God wants us all to find him and follow him. Through the prophet Jeremiah 29:13-14 God says, You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by declares the Lord. While God wants to be found by all people and as we see with the Magi God reveals himself to all people, even a group of Zoroastrian priests in Persia, we also see from this story that not everyone finds Him.

The Magi search for Jesus and find him because they were open to God and searched with all their heart. They wanted to know God more and even wanted to worship this new born and divine king. Herod, on the other hand, did not find Jesus. Herod was also an outsider who heard about the work of God and I believe God wanted Herod to come to him as much as anyone, but Herod was not open to God. His heart was closed and his only interest and passion was self preservation. Herod only cared about Herod, so instead of finding Jesus – which he easily could have done because Bethlehem was just a few miles from Jerusalem, he closed his heart toward God and never found him. So in the Nativity store we see God revealing himself to everyone, a faithful couple, Jewish Shepherds, foreign priests and even a ruthless king, and those who were open and wanted to find God found him. Those who closed themselves off from God did not.

There is a lesson for us here as we enter into the New Year. It’s not enough for us to know that God reveals himself to us and wants to be found by us, we also have to be willing to search with an open heart. We have to want to know God more and that is my prayer for all of us, that we would have a desire to simply know God more, because that desire will move us to seek God and when we seek God with all our heart – when we joyfully follow the light of the start - we will find Jesus.

Next Steps: (A New Year Resolution)
To be a people filled with Joy and since Joy comes in the Journey of faith I will seek God this year with an open heart.

In 2012 I will:
Connect with God through…
Weekly Worship and Daily Prayer

Serve God through…
Monthly ministry in the church and mission in the world

Grow in my understanding of God through…
Personal Bible Study, Small Group and/or Sunday School Participation

After-Christmas Angels

If you could place yourself in just one scene of this entire Christmas story, where would you want to be? Would you have wanted to be there when Gabriel told Mary that she was going to have a child? Would you have wanted to be at the stable and heard the first cries of the son of God, or watch as Joseph gently laid Jesus in a manger? Or maybe you would have wanted to be at the stable when a group of shepherds arrived and watched the wonder on their faces as they saw for themselves the Savior of the world? Would you have wanted to see the star first appear in the sky hundreds of miles away from Bethlehem and maybe travel with the Wisemen? As you look at Nativity scenes, hear the story read and see it acted out, where would you want to be?


I would have wanted to be on the hillside with the shepherds because I would have wanted to see what the angel looked like and what that great company of heavenly hosts looked and sounded like. Was it a spectacular array of winged heavenly beings filling the sky or was it, perhaps, just a group of men – similar to the shepherds – who walked over the hill and told this lowly band about the birth of the Savior? Remember, angels in the Old Testament weren’t necessarily heavenly creatures with wings and halos and radiant light shining around them – they were simply men who came bringing a message from God. So could the angel who came to visit the shepherds have just been a man, or a group of men, who approached them on the hillsides with the good news that the long awaited savior had been born?

The only problem with that scenario is that unlike the angels of the Old Testament, this angel shines with the glory of God, but it’s not just the glory of the Lord that appears, when this angel gives his message to the shepherds, the news is so great that all the hosts of heaven suddenly appear and break into some kind of song of praise. And then as quickly as they all appeared, notice what happens, they all disappear. The Christmas angels – all of them - return to heaven and they are never seen or heard from again.

So the Christmas Angels share with the shepherds the news that a Savior has been born, but then they return to heaven and as far as we know never share that news with anyone else. I wonder why? I wonder why the angels didn’t continue to share the news on other hillsides and throughout the village of Bethlehem or the nearby city of Jerusalem. Why did they stop with this group of shepherds? Maybe it was because the angels knew that this group of shepherds would spread the word about Jesus themselves so they knew that their job was done. Well, that is exactly what happened. After the shepherds received the message of the angels it says they hurried off to find the child, and once they find Jesus in a Bethlehem stable, lying in a manger, they know that the Angel’s message is true and that the Messiah has come and the first thing they do is begin to share this good news with others. In fact Luke wants to make sure we get that detail so he mentions it twice. Luke 2:17 & 20.

So the Christmas angels return to heaven because they know that a group of shepherds would now become the after-Christmas angels. You see angels are simply messengers of God’s word and God’s truth, so when the shepherds see Jesus for themselves and begin to share the message that the Savior of the world has been born , they in effect become angels – or messengers - themselves. And every person who has shared this message of Jesus, that he is Christ the Lord becomes an after-Christmas angel and today God still needs after-Christmas angels to spread the news and share the love of Christ in all the world.

All of us are here today because of an After-Christmas Angel. There has been someone in our lives who shared with us the truth that God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to save us from sin and death. There has been some angel who shined forth the light and love of God and helped change our lives and bring us life. Who was that angel for you? Who was the one who told you about Jesus and shared with you the love of God? My after-Christmas Angel was Dave DeGraaf. Dave was a friend of mine at Michigan State who didn’t just tell me about Jesus but shared with me the love and joy of Jesus and he just radiated out the grace and power of God.

Today Dave is still an After-Christmas Angel because he works to translate the Bible into the native languages of Africa, so he literally continues to share God’s message of good news and great joy with people who have never heard of Jesus and that message is changing their lives – he is still an angel, but we don’t have to be a bible translator or missionary to be an angel, God wants us to be After-Christmas angels right where we are and we learn how to be that kind of an angel by simply following the example of the Christmas angels.

We’ve already seen that the Christmas angels were different from other angels we read about because they seem to be surrounded by the radiance and glory of God. There is some kind of light or power that literally shines forth from these messengers; it’s so real and visible that it catches the attention of the shepherds – they are filled with fear. Now as After-Christmas Angels we will not shine with a physical light, but our lives can reflected the presence and the light of God. Do people see in us the joy and peace and power of God? Do people look at us and listen to us and say, Wow, there is something different about that person? Do people see God’s light and glory in us and through us?

As I have been thinking about the people I know who do radiate out the light of God I realized that none of them work at it – the glory and presence of God just flows from their hearts and lives and the reason it does is because their hearts and lives are fully surrendered to Jesus. Like the angels and then the shepherds who become angels, they simply can’t help but share God’s good news of great joy because it has touched their own hearts and lives and they can’t help but share the love of God because that love has changed them.

If we want to be the kind of angel that shines God’s light into the darkness of our world then we don’t work on being the light – we work on reflecting God’s light and we do this by just surrendering our hearts to God every day and I am convinced that this needs to be an every day process. The darkness of our world is strong and whether it is the bad news we see around us or the depression and despair that tries to settle deep within us, the darkness of the world seeks to steal our joy and peace and so every day we need to ask Jesus to enter our hearts and lives and fill us up. We need to be filled with a light that simply won’t go out.

Like the Christmas Angels, we don’t just shine forth God’s light, we also have to speak God’s message. The Christmas angels told the shepherds the good news of great joy that was told to them – that a Savior had been born. The Shepherds simply told the world the good news of great that was told to them and that they had seen with their own eyes that a savior had been born. Today we are simply to share that same message, a savior has been given to the world, has been given to us, and it is Jesus Christ. It’s important for us to be able to speak the truth about God’s word which means that it is important for us to know God’s word, so I hope that you will make a commitment in the coming year to continue to study the word of God so that together we can share that word with others. Again, I’m amazed that the Christmas angels told just one group of people and then went back into heaven, God had faith in those shepherds to spread the word and you know God’s plan hasn’t changed, he isn’t sending heavenly beings to share his message with the world today because his plan is to use us and God still has faith in us as after-Christmas angels.

The last thing that I think we After-Christmas angels need to do today is something not seen in the Christmas Angels and that is to share God’s love in real and personal ways. The Christmas Angels return to heaven so quickly that they don’t spend any time building relationships with the shepherds so that they can really share God’s love, but as After-Christmas angels we have that opportunity. We have the opportunity to not just speak God’s word but to share God’s love in very real ways with one another. Dave DeGraaf didn’t just teach me about Jesus, he became a friend who shared with me the love and grace and power of God. He walked with me during difficult times, patiently answered all my questions about life and faith and personally cared about me and my life and I think that is part of what God wants from us today. We have an opportunity the Christmas Angels didn’t have, we get to build relationships with others and through those relationships we get to share the love of God. We get to offer people grace and mercy, we get the privilege of telling people that they are forgiven and loved by God and then share that forgiveness and love as we walk through life with them. What an honor and what a joy we have in being After-Christmas angels.

So on this Christmas Day as we hear the Christmas Angels, their great glad tidings tell, let’s become those angels who will tell the world that God loves us all so much that he came to in the person of Jesus to be our Savior. Today let’s be those After-Christmas Angels who will go forth and shine God’s light, speak God’s word and share deeply God’s love.

The Manger

When the angels announce to the shepherds that the Messiah had been born in Bethlehem, it wasn’t enough for them to just tell this good news to the shepherds, and it wasn’t enough for them to break into songs of great joy praising God, the angels wanted the shepherds to go to Bethlehem and find for themselves this Messiah. The angels knew that the real power in Jesus wasn’t going to come in knowledge about him but in a relationship with him, so they tell these shepherds how to find this new born king for themselves and what’s amazing to me is that to help make sure the shepherds find the right child, they don’t describe what this Messiah looks like, and they don’t describe the parents or even give their names (which might have been the smart thing to do, I mean how many Mary and Joseph’s could there be in Bethlehem who had just given birth to a baby boy). No, the angels don’t give that kind of information and they don’t even given an address or clear directions on where to find the stable. Look at what information the angels did give, Luke 2:12. Now since every newborn child in Bethlehem would have been wrapped in strips of cloth, the unique sign that would tell the shepherds that they had found the right child – the Christ child – was the manger.


The sign to the world that God had come to dwell among us and that a Savior has come to redeem us was that the shepherds would find this savior lying in a manger. A manger is just a common, ordinary feeding trough. It could have been made of wood, or maybe even a stone that had been carved out or worn away to make a simple trough, but no matter what it was made out of, it was most likely dirty. While mangers would have been cleaned out occasionally, they would never have been scrubbed down and ready for an infant, and in the crowded city like Bethlehem at the time of the census, chances are this manger wasn’t even clean. So the sign for the Shepherds that they had found the Messiah was that he would be the child lying in a messy, dirty feeding trough – that says something about the heart of our God.

That God chose to enter this world and be laid in a manger tells us that God loves us so much that he is willing to enter into the chaos of our world and the mess of our lives. When we look around at the world today we see a lot of chaos. There is economic instability and a financial future that is really troubling. There continues to be violence and instability in places from North Korea to Afghanistan and even as a nation we are deeply divided in our social, economic and political viewpoints and the chaos of the coming election year will only make this situation worse. We live in a pretty chaotic world, so when God chooses a manger as the first place to lay his head, God is making a bold statement that he loves us so much that there is no chaos, no uncertainty, hopelessness, fear or anxiety that will keep him from us. That’s part of the good news of great joy that the angels sing about.

God is willing to enter directly into the problems of our world and he does it to bring the needed hope and peace. God enters our world in Jesus to show us a different way of living, a way that gives us the hope and strength we need to overcome the problems and rise above the chaos we see around us. The good news tonight is that God is willing to enter directly into the chaos of our world but God’s love is also very personal and so he is willing to enter directly into the problems of our own lives and the fears of our own heart. The manger doesn’t just stand for the chaos of our world it represents the mess of our lives. Last summer a group of us went to Harrisburg for a work camp and three of us spent an afternoon cleaning out water troughs for horses. After emptying out the water, we literally had to scrape out the mold and milder that had accumulated over the months and because these were huge 100 gallon tubs, at times it seemed to make more sense to clean them from the inside of the trough.

That experience will always stick with me because it seems to me to be exactly what Jesus did on the night he was born. Jesus not only entered the world, he loves us so much that enters into the mess of our lives. Through Jesus we see God patiently, powerfully and persistently working to scrape away the hardness of our hearts so we can experience the life God wants for us.

For some of us, the mess of our lives is years of pain and sadness that God wants to scrape away so that we can experience lasting joy. For some of us there is deeply entrenched sin that needs to be blasted away with the forgiveness and grace of God so we can experience freedom, and for some of us there is just the hardness of a heart that is skeptical and critical of all of things spiritual. Many of us just have a hard time believing that there really is a God who loves us. I think that was what the shepherds faced that night, wondering if there was a God out there who really loved them.

Shepherds were looked down upon in their community, they were not trusted and because their work kept them ritually unclean they often found themselves on the outside of church and the outside of society looking in. The circumstances of their lives made them outcasts and therefore maybe skeptical of a message that God loved them and cared for them. Like many of us today, they may have had a difficult time believing that there was a God who was willing to come and redeem them, so they may have needed the years of hardness scraped out of their heart to experience this love and the acceptance of God. I have to wonder what they thought that night as they saw the Messiah, the one who comes to save, lying in a dirty manger. Did seeing that manger tell them that God was willing to enter into the mess of their lives? Did it tell them that the love of God was for them? In so many ways the mess of the manger represents the mess of our lives and the good news for us tonight is that it doesn’t matter what that mess is, God is willing – even wanting – to enter right into it so he can clean it up and clean it out bring salvation and life.

So how do we allow Christ to enter into our lives and bring about this cleansing and transformation? The angels give us the answer. The angels tell us that salvation and life isn’t found in knowledge about Jesus but in a relationship with him, so we need to make our own journey to find Jesus and once we do we need to accept him and ask the power of God’s love to enter our lives and not only fill us but to change us. Now our journey to find Jesus won’t take us to Bethlehem and we don’t even have to come to this manger or any manger, our journey is a spiritual one where we need to just stop and ask God to enter our hearts and lives to forgive us.

A relationship with God begins by simply asking Jesus to meet our spiritual needs and fill us with spiritual food. You see, a manger was not just a messy place, but it was a place where animals came to get food. If you have any kind of pet, you know it doesn’t take long to train an animal to go to their own manger or food dish when they are hungry. I feed my dog in the basement and when he is hungry he doesn’t go to the kitchen for food he goes to the basement and he stands right in front of his dog dish because he knows that is where the food will be placed that will fill him up and meet his needs.

Our spiritual hunger will be met in Jesus and so we need to turn to God and ask him to fill us up and meet our needs and stop looking to the world around us. The world can not meet our deeper spiritual hunger. Presents under the tree and the food on our tables will not fill us and feed us spiritually. History has shown us that the world can not bring lasting peace or hope and joy, but God can. God can offer us a forgiveness that frees us from the power of sin so that we can experience the fullness of life and God can establish a lasting peace in our lives and in our relationship with one another and this peace will give us the strength to move forward no matter what our past may be and it will give us the power to live life the way God meant it to be lived. God can bring us peace and joy that will endure no matter what goes on around us.

The manger tells us that God is willing to enter our lives no matter how dark and messy and sinful they may be and the manger tells us that no matter what we hunger for: forgiveness – acceptance – joy – strength – peace – hope – whatever it is, God is here to fill us up. All we have to do is come to the manger, come to Jesus, and accept the grace and love he offers. The shepherds found Jesus in the manger and when they saw him, they found what they longed for. They found acceptance and redemption and life and it says that they left the manger praising God for all they had experienced – their lives were changed. Tonight I still believe that our lives can be changed because the invitation of the angels to find in Jesus all that we long for still stands.

God invites us, all of us, to come to the manger, to come to Him, and find all that we really hunger for. Whether it will be for the first time, or the 100th time, it doesn’t matter, I just want to invite you to come to Jesus and find forgiveness. Come to Jesus and find the hope you need for broken hearts and dreams and relationships. Come to Jesus and find hope for an uncertain future. Come to Jesus and if you ask him into your heart and life and into your world – you will find a joy that will remain long after the presents are opened and the food is gone. So come to Jesus and find real love and everlasting life. That is the gift that has been given to us all.