God With Us Sermon Vi: Blessed Be The Wise Who Accept Christ As Savior And Lord Series

BLESSED BE THE WISE WHO AFFIRM JESUS AS THE CHRIST AND ACCEPT HIM AS THE SAVIOR

Bright is the Light of Hope at the start of yet another Year of our Lord!

This Year, worry if you must – but be brief. Constant worry solves few if any problems, but exacerbates anxieties. Mark Twain: “I am an old man, and I have known many problems in my life, most of which never happened.” Antidote to unneeded anxiety: Pray about everything . . . Cling to the Lord’s promises . . . Commit your way unto the Lord . . . Be led by The Holy Spirit.

A prayer for solving problems - if prayed sincerely, honestly and unselfishly:

“Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace; Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.” (St. Francis of Assisi’s Prayer for Peace)

Born to bring peace to willing hearts - God’s Son the Prince of Peace . . . Promised . . . Prophesied . . . Virgin birth foretold . . . Forerunner born . . . Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem . . . the Savior’s birth announced by angels . . . His birthplace discovered by humble shepherds . . . the Good News of salvation spread by believers . . . Amazement of all who heard the Good News!

Then the truth of the Good News confirmed by Luke who concluded his investigation and authentication of The Story by telling about Simeon’s affirmation of the newborn’s identity (Simeon and Anna had been led by the Spirit of God to be at the Temple at the same time that Jesus was there for ceremonial consecration).

Simeon, with the Baby Jesus cradled in his arms, rejoiced and gave Glory to God as he declared, “For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation!”

Born to save sinners who affirm His Messiahship and accept His salvation!

Regardless of who they are . . . where they come from . . . socio-economic status . . . cultural background . . . societal rank . . . occupation . . . age or stage in life . . . gender . . . prior religious affiliation . . . political persuasion! The simple fact is:

To repent of sin . . . affirm Who Jesus is . . . to accept God’s Son as Savior . . . to commit one’s life to Him as Lord - is to be freed: from bondage to sin and the consequences thereof . . . to worship Him . . . to serve Him . . . but not freed from the anger, accusations, and attacks from “the fall of many” (“This child is set for the fall, as well as the rising, of many.” Therefore,

His Birth was destined to bring out the best in folks of good will . . . to bring out the worst in folks of ill will . . . depicted by Matthew’s account of mysterious wise men from the East whose expensive long journey by camel, in search of the Child that had been born a King, not only led them to the place where the newborn king was being housed so that they of good will could “pay homage to” Him, but their search also got the attention of a type of folks of ill will that Simeon had in mind when he spoke of “the fall of many” – Matthew 2:1-11 . . .

The “rising” of these Gentile “Magi” – highly skilled in philosophy, medicine and natural sciences such as astronomy – came about due to a combination of factors that had to have been of the Spirit of God: Three things to consider . . .

Their arrival occurred a year or two after the birth of Jesus . . .The phenomenal brilliance in the sky was the kind that astronomers live for -- which caused them to fix their gaze on it and to follow it . . . Instinctively these scholars knew that this was no ordinary luminary but a special sign of the birth of a special kind of messianic king whose advent they had heard about.

From Matthew’s account of the Magi’s search and discovery, we draw this conclusion:

From the time of the earliest public awareness of His birth, throughout His ministry on earth, then - through the years and centuries after His Resurrection - as the Gospel spread all over the world - there have been, are now, always will be, three responses to The Christ of the Gospels: