Finding Christ in Spite of the Barriers
Matthew 2:1-12
December 16, 2007
NOTE: THE ME/WE/GOD/YOU/WE FORMAT USED IN MY MESSAGES IS BORROWED FROM ANDY STANLEY’S BOOK, "COMMUNICATING FOR A CHANGE."
Me/We:
Top 10 Reasons why there was no room for Joseph and Mary in the Inn.
10. The Roman Government’s “Buy one night, get a second free” promotion was a bit too successful.
9. The only room left was by the ice machine.
8. The Nazareth Shriners tore up the place the night before.
7. The innkeeper didn’t accept the Judean Express Card.
6. It was the weekend of the Caesar Impersonators convention.
5. The last pregnant lady riding a donkey took all their towels.
4. The health department had shut them down because of an E. coli outbreak.
3. The innkeeper’s wife wouldn’t let him take olive wood carvings as payment anymore.
2. The front desk was closed early so the innkeeper and his family could go outside and watch the unique star.
1. No last names; no service.
(SermonCentral.com. Contributed by David Owens)
This is a time of year when people are probably most likely to think about Jesus, right?
Christmas music is playing and the songs are about Jesus, for the most part. And even if a person isn’t really “religious,” they are usually conscious of the fact that at its core, Christmas is a religious holiday, even if they don’t grasp the significance for themselves.
But I think that many people don’t really find the significance of Christmas because things get in the way.
Barriers crop in people’s lives that keep them from finding Jesus and worshiping Him.
These barriers existed in my own life growing up, and I think you’ll find that as we go through these, they’ve existed in your life as well.
For some, these barriers still exist. Maybe some in here. If that’s the case for you, then I hope that you’ll not only recognize the barriers, but you’ll see that they can be overcome.
God: In the Bible we find the story of some men who took an incredibly journey to find a baby who’s birth was announced by a star.
They overcame a number of barriers to find Jesus and I want to discuss them because they’re barriers that people face today when it comes to finding Jesus.
Matthew 2:1-12 (p. 681-682) –
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5 "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
6 "’But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’"
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.
12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
These guys came from a long way off. From what the researchers can tell us, they probably came from Persia, or near there. Persia is modern-day Iran.
To get there they had to go through some barriers to get to this baby in order to worship Him.
They’re the same types of barriers that so many people have to go through today in order to find Jesus.
1. Distance.
This and the next one are probably the biggest issues in terms of just getting around to looking for the baby.
They traveled probably the better part of a thousand miles or more, without the benefit of cars, planes, trains, or any of those modern conveniences.
They went from Persian, into what we know today as Iraq and Jordan, and maybe even hit a bit of Syria.
Anybody heard of those places before?
My point is that these guys didn’t just jump into their Volvo and head to Bethlehem.
But they did it because it was important enough to them. They most likely weren’t even Jews – who would be looking for the Messiah. They just knew that this was an event of immense importance, and they went.
Fast forward to today.
What kind of distance does anyone have to travel in this area to find information about Jesus?
In Aberdeen alone, there are over three dozen churches that I wouldn’t consider to be cults. In that number, about half are those who would be considered evangelical – those who believe that the Bible is the Word of God and that a person needs to have a personal faith and trust in Christ for forgiveness and a home in heaven.
Eighteen churches that at any given time a person could walk into and learn how to find Christ, in a land area of 8.4 square miles.
You can barely swing a dead cat in this town without hitting a good church where a person can find Jesus – at least in comparison to what was around when the magi took their journey. They didn’t even HAVE a church to go to, for crying out loud.
It’s amazing how in this age of convenience that some people feel that driving across town is just too far to go to learn about the Savior who loves them so much.
The second barrier some people face is:
2. Time.
The time it took for the magi to get to Bethlehem was lengthy. At a brisk pace of 20 miles per day, it would have taken almost 2 months to travel a thousand miles, if everything went okay.
My guess is that between sandstorms in the desert as they crossed the top of Saudi Arabia, camels getting sick or lame, bickering between the magi, and problems finding laundromats along the way, it probably took them more than 2 months to get there.
Again, look at what we have today. Even with the vast area of 8.4 square miles to cross, anybody within the city limits can reach this church within about 10 minutes, driving the speed limit and actually stopping at the stop signs…
Some of you drive a lot farther than that, and believe me – I appreciate that, and I believe God does, too.
But how many are staying home right now because it takes too much time to get ready and drive to church – any good church in this area?
Lots. In fact, according to some research done by some pastors here, about half of Aberdeen stays home from church. That’s over 12,000 people, folks.
Now let me just say for the record that coming to church isn’t the only way to find and follow Christ. I hope that all of you would take the effort to do that outside of these walls.
But a person outside of Christ usually equates finding Christ with Church. And that’s a good thing, so we need to keep that it in mind.
A third barrier people face in finding Christ is…
3. Priorities/Apathy.
I think this is actually the driving force behind why people don’t find and follow Christ.
I think that the magi probably could have come up with some great ways to avoid traveling all that far to see Jesus.
They may have had jobs, families, camel races to watch, and all sorts of stuff.
They could have said, “Who wants to go all the way to Israel when I’ve got plenty of things to do here? I’ve got better things to do.”
But they didn’t say that. Or at least, they didn’t let those things get in the way of finding this King of the Jews who they knew was something special.
Today, people have all sorts of reasons to not seek Christ, don’t they?
Jobs, family, recreational activities. Busy Schedules. Other priorities.
Maybe they think that they had enough “religion” when they were a kid getting dragged to church, or they were told by the words or attitudes of their parents that religion is for old people and weaklings.
I don’t know.
But for some reason, people think that Jesus can wait, or that He’s not important at all, especially if He gets in the way of our desires to live for ourselves.
It’s a common deal. No different from when Jesus first arrived.
There were lots of people living in Israel who had heard the prophecies, but they didn’t get it and they didn’t understand that the promised Messiah was now here.
I find it fascinating that the people who were supposed to know these things – the religious leaders – didn’t find it important enough to go check it out for themselves.
Maybe they were ashamed that these pagans had a better handle on this deal than they did.
The bottom line is that people have always had other priorities ahead of God. This feeds the attitude that He doesn’t need to be taken seriously.
And if they don’t get serious about Christ before it’s too late, they will regret that attitude for all of eternity.
This relates pretty closely to the fourth barrier that the magi had to overcome, and what people nowadays have to overcome as well, and that is…
4. Ignorance.
The magi didn’t totally know what they were getting into.
They may have had access to the Scriptures since they were from the area near where the Jews were exiled during the time of Daniel. But we don’t know that for a fact.
About all we know about what they knew was that this star was supposed to be a sign that the King of Jews had been born.
And they knew that He would be worthy of their worship, as uninformed as it would be.
They didn’t get all the implications of what this birth was to mean, but they worshiped Him anyway.
I think that most people who don’t seek Jesus don’t know what they’re missing.
And they think that because they don’t have it all figured out, then they can’t worship and serve Him.
Or they don’t understand that without Christ they have no hope for eternity nor the help from God they so desperately need for today.
And you know why they’re ignorant? Because we’re not telling them. We’re too afraid of being rejected.
And yet eternity rides in the balance for them. They go along in blissful ignorance, and one day they’ll find out what they’ve been missing – and it’ll be too late.
It’s up to us to help them find Christ. It’s our job. It’s your job just like it’s mine.
They don’t know – even if they think they do. They live in ignorance, and we need to help them find Christ.
The question is whether or not you’ll become ready to help them find Him. I can’t force you. I can help you become prepared, and I’d love to do that. But I can’t force you to be ready to help people find Christ.
Four things that could have kept the magi from coming to Christ, and which keep people from coming to Him today:
> Distance.
> Time.
> Priorities/Apathy.
> Ignorance.
Any one of these could have kept these guys home. Yet they made the hard journey, intent on finding the King of the Jews so they could worship Him.
People are seeking Him today, but they come across barriers like these, and maybe even lots of others.
And like the magi, they want to find Christ. Are we willing to help them?
You: Here’s what I want you to remember for today:
Barriers exist, but they can be overcome by God.
You and I all know people who don’t yet know Christ.
They all have barriers to overcome, and some of them were talked about today.
Others have other barriers in the way – big, serious barriers that will keep them from ever finding Christ, aside from the power of God in their lives.
So here’s what you need to do:
o Model a life of seeking to know Christ better for yourself.
I’m going to touch on this in a minute, but you have to realize that a lot of what people decide regarding whether or not to seek Christ and follow Him comes from what they see in you.
It’s so important that people see Christ in you and that you place a priority on Him. If you claim to be a Christian yet live like Christ is just someone you mention when it’s convenient without actually living for Him, then they’ll think they can do the same thing – and they’ll miss Him.
o Pray for the barriers to come down in the lives of those you know without Christ.
I’ve mentioned 4 barriers but let me tell you that there are other barriers people face
- An ugly childhood with abusive parents who claimed to love Jesus;
- Questions about the Bible that have been pushed aside by religious know-it-alls who shoved stuff down their throats.
- Seeing the hypocrisy of those who love Jesus on Sundays but treat others with contempt the rest of the week.
All sorts of things. And unless God gets through to them, they will be lost.
You need to be praying for those who are on your heart because they haven’t yet found Christ.
Pray that the barriers will fall and they will see Christ for who He really is – the Savior who paid the penalty for their sins.
We: We often complain about how people in the world, and especially here in the US have trivialized Christmas.
It’s become over-commercialized, it’s become secularized, it’s become all about getting presents and out-doing your neighbor in your house decorations and light show.
And we blame the media and the atheists for making all this happen.
But I’m here to tell you that we’re the ones to blame.
Because they see the Church of Jesus – you and me letting these barriers I’ve just talked about keep us from living for Christ like we should.
They see us making excuses just like everyone else. They see us making other things a priority over Christ. They see us making more of a fuss over the presents than we do about helping people find Jesus.
They see us deciding that living for Christ takes too much time and effort.
And I’m convinced that if we’d get serious about the Savior – really learning about Him and living for Him by spending time in the Scriptures, praying over them, wrestling with understanding them so we can apply them to ourselves, letting the world see that we love Him all through the year – then the world would see that this season is more than a religious holiday.
They’d see the hope that the Messiah came to bring – they’d see that hope alive in us, not buried under the tinsel and credit card limits.
They’d see that Jesus is worth overcoming the barriers in their way. I hope they see it in you. Let’s pray.
