Fan into Flame the Gift of God

Pastor Ron Burcham

Sunday, January 8, 2006

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

This morning, we celebrate Epiphany. Epiphany is the celebration when Magi from the east traveled over to Bethlehem to see Jesus and to present their gifts to Jesus. Now, on several occasions, I've tried to convince my family that really we should celebrate Epiphany more than we celebrate Christmas. In fact, what I've proposed to them is “Why don't we exchange gifts on Epiphany instead of on Christmas?” And I think I can make a pretty good case for this. For instance, the first gifts that were ever given obviously were on Epiphany when the wise men from the east came and presented their gifts to Jesus. Therefore, wouldn't that be the natural day we would exchange gifts between one another. I even have historical data for this. In the early church, Epiphany was celebrated long before the church ever started celebrating Christmas. So I think we should celebrate Epiphany and we should exchange gifts on Epiphany. Of course, my family has a more cynical view of that. They think I just want to get in on the after-Christmas sales for gift buying. I could save hundreds. No.

You see, the emphasis of Epiphany, just like the emphasis of Christmas, is not on the gifts. It's not about the gifts exchanged, but it's about the gift that was given. Epiphany is the fact that some men from the east saw a star up in the sky and decided to follow it. Men who were not from the chosen people of Israel, those who were not of Jewish descent, who traveled for hundreds of miles, for weeks, months, possibly over a year, to visit the Christ child. Epiphany is about the revelation that God is for all people, that God's Savior, God's Son didn't just come for the chosen people of Israel but God came for the Gentile as well, that God came for everyone. Epiphany is about the star in the sky and about following that star.

It's interesting when you look at the Epiphany account and you see the different reactions to what was happening. For instance, it's astounding to me that some people didn't even see the star. How can that be? How can men hundreds of miles away see this unique star in the sky, identify it, and then set about the task of following it? How is it, from hundreds of miles away, the Magi could see the star but the people in the Promise Land, the people in Jerusalem, the people in Bethlehem themselves couldn't see the star? How could they miss the star? How could each evening go by and them not notice this bright light in the sky that wasn't there before? But then it occurred to me. If you never look up, you'll never see the star. The people of Israel at this time weren't looking up. The people of Israel at this time had fallen into a routine. In fact, I would dare say they fell into complacency. It was just one day the same as the next day, one week just ground by like the next week sort of grinds by. They have their duties to do. They had their lives to live. They were so caught up in their own existence that they had their nose to the grindstone and they never looked up.

Now, unlike the Magi, they had the prophecies. They had the Word of God. It was studied on a regular basis. On a weekly basis, they went off to the Synagogue to hear it read to them. Stories were told around the dinner table as it was passed on from one generation to the next. They had all the information but yet they never looked up and they never saw the star. Had it become so routine for them that it was just words on a page, that it was just nice stories that maybe Grandpa told in the evening, that there was such a disconnect between the promises and prophecies of God with reality and their daily life that they never looked up and they missed the star completely?

Well, then we have to ask the question. “What about God's people today?” How much are we missing? How much of God's revelation and how much of God's activity in our lives and in our world are we missing? Are we so caught up in our own existence that we're not looking up? Are we so caught up in the daily routine of what we do that we're never opened up to the activity of God on our lives or the activity of God around us? Would we have missed the star just as much as the people of old missed the star? We read God's word on a regular basis. We hear messages from God's word on a weekly basis. Children go off to Sunday School and adults go to their small groups and to their adult studies. And yet, are we missing the connection? Are we missing the connection with our daily lives? Has it just become words on a page, nice Sunday School stories to be retold again and again? Are we so caught up in our daily lives that we've stopped looking up and we're missing the star?

Not everyone missed the star. What's more astounding to me than the first fact is that some people saw the star but refused to follow the star. In fact, the star was pointed out to them and yet they still refused to follow the star. You remember back to the Luke account of Jesus being born, the shepherds come, and what does Luke tell us? That the shepherds returned to their fields glorifying God and doing what else? Telling anybody and everybody that would listen to them what the angels told them about this child. Yet, nowhere in scripture is it recorded for us that the residents of Bethlehem rushed to the side of Mary and Joseph. There weren't great crowds gathered around the stable to celebrate with them the birth of the long-awaited Messiah, even though they'd been waiting for it. It had been promised for hundreds, thousands of years, yet there is no account of that. The star had been pointed out to them, and they still refused to follow.

How about Herod, the chief priest, and the teachers of the law, the leaders of the people at that time? Matthew tells us the Magi come to them. Now they're confused. They don't know the prophecies. They don't know the history. They don't know the Old Testament. And they say, “We've been following this star. Can you tell us where the King of the Jews is supposed to be born?” Now did you notice this question didn't confuse them. It wasn't like the chief priest and the teachers of the law said, “Well, now what do you exactly mean by that? King of the Jews? We've Herod here. I don't quite get that.” Immediately, they said, “Oh, yeah, the prophet Micah. There it is right there. He was born in Bethlehem .” So even if they missed the star, they refused to look up, the Magi come and they point out the star. They said, “There it is.” Now you've just told us the prophecy from 700 years ago has now become true and yet Matthew doesn't tell us the chief priest and the teachers of the law packed their bags as quick as they could and joined the caravan five miles south to Bethlehem to see the new Messiah. No, Matthew tells us that Herod and all of Jerusalem were disturbed. They were disturbed by the news. In other words, they felt anxious about the news. They were troubled about the news. To be frank about it, they were afraid. News that the Messiah had actually come, the one they had been waiting for, the star is there in the sky, and they're afraid. They're afraid things might change. They're afraid this Messiah might say something they don't want to hear. They're afraid, all of a sudden, life is going to different right now and so that scares them. So they decided, even though they had the star pointed out to them, they weren't going to follow. They were going to stay put.

So what about God's people today? You and I have seen the star, it's been pointed out to us. We've seen the star and we know the significance about the star. We know the truth about the babe of Bethlehem , that He's going to be the man of Nazareth and that He's going to be the Son of God who's hung on a cross of Calvary . We know what the star means. The star has been pointed out to us. We know Jesus would give His all for us, that Jesus would come and that He lived among us, the Jesus revealed God to us and revealed a loving, compassionate, and gracious God to us. We know Jesus would lay down His life and, through His blood, our sins would be forgiven and eternal life would be given to us. We've seen the star. But are we afraid?

Are we afraid to follow the star? Are we fearful for what it might mean if we were to truly follow Jesus? To truly be His disciple and live according to what He taught us and how He led us? Are we afraid of how it might change our lifestyle, might change our habits? Are we afraid of the vices we might have to give up if we truly follow after Jesus, if we truly follow the star? Are we afraid what the world might think of us, more importantly, our friends, our acquaintances, that they might think us a fanatic, one of those bible beaters, one of those judgmental people, narrow-minded? Are we afraid, if we follow the star, we won't fit in anymore? So even though the star's been pointed out to us and we know it, have we refused to follow?

Not everyone refused. Some saw the star and they followed after that star. Even God's people of that day saw the star and followed the star. Matthew tells us that Magi from the east saw the star and they followed after the star. Note that I called them God's people. Even though they were not from the chosen race of Israel , the race in which God would bring about His Savior, but, from the very beginning, God's plan was that all men would be saved. It means that all men, women, and children that have ever been born, ever will be born, they're God's people because God created them and God desires all people would spend an eternity with Him. The great news about Epiphany is that God reveals Himself as a Savior, not only to Israel , but as the Savior of all people, Jew and Gentile alike.

And so it is the Gentiles, the Magi, who see the star and follow the star. Now they didn't understand the star. They didn't understand what it meant. They didn't have the Old Testament prophecies. They didn't know the real significance of who had been born. To them, it was just the King of the Jews. But, although they didn't understand, they knew it was special and they still followed the star. They set across on a journey, a journey that probably took months, maybe even over a year for them to accomplish. They didn't know where they were going. They didn't know where the star was going to lead them, and they certainly didn't know the destination, but they followed anyway. And they weren't disappointed when they arrived. Because when they arrived at the house and they saw the child, you know something happened at that moment because they fell down on their knees and they worshiped Him. And then they presented their gifts to Him. They had come into the presence of the Son of God because they followed the star.

Now the real question of the morning, what about God's people today? What about you and what about me? Do we need to look up? Do we need to set our sights a little bit higher than what they've been? Do we need to pull ourselves out of some complacency? Do we need to stop going through just the grind of every day? Is it time for us to look up and to see God's activity in our life? Do we need to stop being afraid, being afraid of what other people will think of us if we live according to God's Word, stop being afraid of what changes it might mean to our life? Isn't it time we start following the star? After all, Jesus said of Himself He is the way, the truth, and the life. Isn't it time we follow that? Jesus is the light of the world He told us. Isn't it time we follow the light of the world? Jesus is the one who laid down His life for you. Isn't it time we followed the one who sacrificed everything for you? Jesus is God. He is the Son of God incarnate taking on flesh. He's not just King of the Jews. He's King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Isn't He the one we want to follow?

Dallas Willard is a professor at the University of Southern California . He teaches philosophy. He's also a very devout Christian. It seems strange he's a devout Christian and yet he teaches philosophy. Often times, his students asked him, “Why is it you're a Christian?” And in typical philosophy professor fashion, at least from my experience, he doesn't answer the question. He asks them a question back. And so he says, “Who better to follow? You got someone better in mind?”

Who better to follow than the Son of God? Who better to follow than the one who had such love for you that He laid down His life for you?

It's time for us to see the star and follow the star. We may not know where He's going to lead us. We may not even know the final destination He's going to lead us to, but we can trust and believe, in the end, we'll come into the presence of the Son of God. It's time to follow the star. Maybe it's time to break the routine. Maybe it's time to come out of our complacency. Maybe it's time to get over some fears.

My friends, I believe going a long way towards following the star is going to begin in two weeks as we begin rekindling the faith, part of our Ablaze. I'm that convinced. I'm that convinced that it's that important for us, that we can look up and we can start following the star. We're going to make a commitment to be here and listen to the messages for six weeks. We're going to study God's Word for six weeks. We're going to rekindle this fire, and we're going to get excited about our faith. It's not something we're going to hide, not something we're ashamed of, but something that's just going to glow about us. We're going to rekindle that fire, and it's going to burn brightly in our hearts. We're going to boldly follow the star. And that's why I'm going to challenge you this morning. And my challenge is this: My challenge is right here, right now, you make the commitment to listen to all six messages because I believe they're that important. Right here, this morning, after worship, you sign up for a small group, you study God's Word for six weeks so His spirit can get active in your heart and rekindle that faith and get it burning brightly again. And the third challenge I have for you is this: I want you to identify someone, a friend, a relative, a neighbor who, for whatever reason, has become disconnected from God. And you're going to invite them to come along on this journey with you. You're going to invite them to look up at the star and follow the star. Amen.