May 6 Sermon

Matthew 2:1-12

2In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, ²asking, “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.” ³When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: ⁶‘And 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.’” ⁷Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. ⁸Then 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.”

⁹When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. ¹¹On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Have you ever heard a person referred to as someone who 'made it in the world'? This might be said about someone for any number of reasons—perhaps they have achieved the highest level of their chosen profession, or it might simply be an individual who has a lot of money and no need to work—they're really got it made, don't they?

When I was much younger, I used to envision myself as wealthy and successful—that's what my vision of 'making it in the world' would look like. It didn't so much matter what kind of work I did, merely that I made a lot of money doing it. I was voted 'most likely to succeed in high school', and I think we all had a certain definition of what 'success' looked like.

Even when my first college physics class made it abundantly clear that I wasn't going to 'make it' as an engineer, I still had that vision in my head that riches and fame were what defined a successful life. I'd go ahead and venture that when I first arrived at New Hope, I even had a clear idea of what it meant for a church to make it, to be successful. It means it has to grow numerically, right? The world has to see it and be jealous, right? Isn't that what it means to make it in the world?

I'd like to suggest that we take every notion of what the world counts as success and toss it out the window, where it belongs. Let's not let the world's idea of success of 'making it' affect how we live as Christians for one more second. Let's turn to the Bible and let God redefine our score sheets. But first, we need to understand what really counts.

Now, God has always been active in the world. From the beginning of God's creation, we can read about how he's been intervening in the world, moving in the hearts and lives of his children to bring us closer to him. At the same time, he's been promising that, one day, he will defeat sin and death with finality and establish his kingdom forever, in which there will be no more evil.

When we get to the New Testament, we have a radical in-breaking of the Kingdom of God. It had always been around, and God had been working with his chosen people, Israel, but in the life of Jesus Christ, God himself comes to earth to show us how to live, to help us see that the promise of God's Kingdom isn't just some idle, far off pipe dream, but rather a reality that will one day change the earth. In the life of Jesus, we see snapshots of what it will be like—there will be enough love for all, and no one will be excluded because they're not of the right social status. It won't be about earning God's love—that love will be freely given to the rich and the poor, but there won't be rich or poor, because all the factors that divide us will be destroyed.

In the visit of the Magi, we get a foretaste of what the Kingdom of God is going to be like. In their visit, these rich, powerful and successful men travel for a long period of time to visit a poor toddler and worship him, giving this babe wildly expensive gifts. Their financial adviser and anyone who knew them would have advised that this was madness, that it was a wild goose chase, and even if they went that they didn't need to spend money on the child, that the money could be better served invested for their retirement, but the men, through their faith in God, began to see the world differently. They recognized that money didn't matter, that time spent on the road didn't matter—that what truly mattered was the chance to worship Jesus. Saving for the world's wealth, to ensure their worldly success, was seen as wasteful in comparison to the eternal treasure of faith in God.

If this happened today, it would be international news. Imagine Bill Gates, a man who we would certainly say has made it in the world. He couldn't spend all of his money if he tried, unless he decided to buy Tennessee or France or whatever else he decided to purchase. The whole world knows who he is. Just think how the world would react if he decided to pack up and travel to rural China, to bow low before a child in a poor village and write a check for ten million dollars. We'd consider the man crazy, right? We'd spend all this time wondering why he did it, and we'd think about all the other things that could have been done with that money, right? Books would be written about the trip.

But in God's Kingdom, wise men travel from far away to worship an infant, born into poverty.

In God's Kingdom, this same infant, more powerful than any man who has ever lived, will spend his time serving the poor and the lame selflessly.

In God's Kingdom, this child will one day die on a cross, so that others may live.

In God's Kingdom, things are different. There is a different scorecard. Making it in God's Kingdom means that we have to give up the idea that our efforts are what determines the success of our lives. Making it in God's Kingdom means seeing the world, and one another, through a different set of lenses—it's not about being associated with the rich and powerful, with getting your picture on the front of the paper, but rather it's about how well we love anyone, everyone—from an unborn child to the homeless man on the street to the president of the country. Each is equally worthy of our love.

God sees the world differently than we do—and God pushes us to understand that when his Kingdom comes in fullness, it's not going to be just a prettier version of this world as we know it now. It's going to be radically different. Our status before God isn't going to be determined by our wealth or power or fame, but rather by the grace of Christ, which is a free gift, and which he demonstrated to us how to use it. The Kingdom of God is going to be a place where each person is celebrated because they are made in the image of God, rather than judged because they look a little different. In the Kingdom of God, each and every person is worthy of our service, of our love.

Possessions, if they still exist, will be viewed differently, too. No longer will they be things for us to possess, to accumulate, to own. No longer will we obsess over items. Rather, each thing will be something that we can use to serve God and our neighbors.

In God's Kingdom, it's not about us. It's not about making it. It's about worshiping God in all we do.

The best part about God's Kingdom? We don't have to wait—in Christ, it has already come, and we already live with one foot in God's Kingdom. The life that we now lead is practice for the eternal, so God invites us to live our life as though we were already fully in God's Kingdom—to stop judging ourselves and others by how successful we are in the eyes of the world and start treating each and every person as though they were made in the image of God, fully worthy of our love and service. In God's Kingdom, we're called not to worry about ourselves and what tomorrow brings, but to live each moment as an opportunity to worship God. In God's Kingdom, a church isn't judged by how many people show up on Sunday, but by the integrity of our worship and the willingness of our members to serve the world as Christ's hands and feet.

In God's Kingdom, life looks different than it does in this world's eyes. But let us not be stopped by fear or uncertainty—let us live according to God's rules, and may our lives be a witness to the world that the only Kingdom that matters is the one that will last forever.

Let us pray.