ASTROLOGERS?! REALLY?: God doesn’t care how little you know about Him.
- Matthew 2:1-2 – “Magi”
- The Christmas story and its details are so familiar to us that we fail to see the uncomfortable details that should shock us.
- One such detail: Magi come to bow down to Jesus.
- It’s not the religious leaders from Jerusalem or even some good believers from some rural synagogue that come. Instead, it’s something that’s a little embarrassing.
- First of all, they’re foreigners.
- Second, they’re astrologers or astronomers.
- It’s a little better if they’re just astronomers. If they’re astrologers, that means that they put false beliefs on the movements on the stars. But either way, though, it’s embarrassing.
- Third, they know almost nothing.
- Verse 2 indicates they basically have one piece of information: a star indicates the birth of the King of the Jews. They don’t know where He’s to be born, they don’t know anything about Him or His rule.
- We don’t know the specific source of their knowledge about the star. Some speculate that it might be extracted from Numbers 24:17, which is kind of obscure but some take to mean that a star is connected to the birth of the Messiah.
- Others presume that it could have been from an extra-biblical source that’s unknown to us.
- In the end, we don’t have any way of definitively knowing. We do know, as I said a moment ago, that their knowledge was seriously limited.
- It’s a huge statement that God would include such outsiders in the story of Jesus’ birth.
- God doesn’t care how much of an outsider you are.
- God works in mud.
- It really must have been quite a stick in the eye of the religious leaders when these guys came into town asking about where this one was who had born King of the Jews.
- “What? We haven’t heard anything about that!” they must have thought.
- In fact, it’s a curiosity in the story that none of the religious leaders went with the Magi to look for the baby. If the King had been born, wouldn’t they want to find out about it also? Perhaps they didn’t go because they presumed that there was no way that what the Magi was saying that the King had been born could be true because the message hadn’t come through official channels (read: them). I tend to think that even though verse 3 says many were disturbed by the Magis’ questions, upon reflection the religious leaders probably dismissed these guys as clueless yokels.
- Those of us who know a lot about the Bible look down sometimes on those who don’t, but God is after everyone.
- Look at the two groups who God prompts to come worship the baby:
a. The lowly (the shepherds).
b. The outsiders (the Magi).
- It raises the question: why does God include the Magi in the Christmas story?
a. It could be a nod to the fact that Jesus’ mission will include reaching out to those who are outside the Jewish nation.
b. It could be a nod to the fact that God is always looking beyond those who are the insiders.
- There is a constant temptation to make a sharp distinction between the outsiders and the insiders and presume that God has greater love for those of us on the inside.
- The Magi are a reminder that God is reaching out to everyone, not just those of us who think of ourselves as His favorites.
FINDING THE PATH: To get you there, God will speak to you in a way you’ll understand.
- Matthew 2:2, 4-6.
- These guys were astrologers or astronomers and so God speaks to them through a star.
Two things:
a. God will meet you where you are.
- They are hundreds, possibly thousands of miles away from Jerusalem, and yet God gives them a sign that meets them where they are.
- There is a notion that you have to clean up your life and then God will meet with you. That is absolutely false. The truth is you can’t clean up your life on your own in a way that would make you clean before God.
- We have to come as we are.
- God is willing to meet you in the midst of your mess.
- God is willing to meet you in the middle of the disaster that you’ve created.
- God is willing to meet you no matter how far away you are from where He’s at.
b. God will speak to you in a way you can understand.
- You don’t have to know everything for God to speak to you. He’ll craft the message in a way that you can grasp.
- He knows that we don’t know all that we need to, so He works within our limitations.
- There were times in the past where people would tell me their stories of God calling them to Himself and the details would be a little weird or a little flakey or not something that sounded really churchy and official and I’d think, “Really? I don’t know about that?”
- Well, God can speak however He wants to.
- If you’re a long-time Christian, you are better equipped to understand a sermon. If you’re a long-time Christian, you’re more likely to be reading Bible on a regular basis. If you’re a Christian, you know better how to hear God speaking to you in prayer.
- But if you’ve never heard a sermon and never read the Bible and haven't prayed in forever, it’s harder to hear God through those avenues.
- What are some ways that God might speak to someone in a way they’ll understand?
1. Music.
2. A word or phrase.
- Becky Tarabassi: “If I put you on the stand, you’ll be crucified.”
3. A lost job or a new job.
4. Birth of a child.
5. Illness.
6. Nature.
- Some of the crazy ways that God has spoken in Bible stories:
1. Burning bush.
2. Talking donkey.
3. From a cloud of thunder and lightning.
4. In a voice but through the example of a shady plant (Jonah).
5. Object lesson: To Israel in asking Hosea to marry a prostitute.
- God doesn’t have official channels for speaking that He limits Himself to.
- The Pharisees pushed the idea a lot that everything God said had to be in a means that they would approve of. They felt that they were the gatekeepers.
- Today we in the church act like we’re the gatekeepers as well. It has to be pre-approved by us or it can’t be legitimate. Well, God has the right to say what He wants when He wants in the way He wants.
- God will do what it takes to get the message to you.
- He will make the message something that will speak to your heart. What gets your attention may be radically different than what gets my attention.
- How do I know if it’s really from God?
a. It will not contradict the Bible.
b. If it allows you to do what you really want to do, be wary.
WHAT'S THE KEY QUESTION? It’s not “Are you certified?” but “Are you seeking?”
- Matthew 2:1-2.
- They are seeking the King by their words (v. 2) and their actions (v. 1 – their trip).
- By certified, I mean those who have a religious pedigree and know all the religious stuff. You know, people who have their official Baptist church membership card (laminated!).
- The question isn’t whether He’s willing to draw, but whether you’re willing to come.
- John 4:23 – Jesus says that when someone comes to worship the Father in spirit and truth, that’s a worshiper that the Father seeks.
- Sometimes we within the church want our church to grow, but we really only want people to start attending who look like us and talk like us and live like us.
- God loves variety – just look at all the different types of people He created.
- God doesn’t want His church to be homogenous. He wants variety.
- God is a master at weaving disparate elements into something beautiful.
- When I say seeking, I mean that you want to be in your life. You want to receive His wisdom. You want to walk with Him and be changed by Him.
- When I say seeking, I don’t mean that you want Him to rubber-stamp what you’ve already decided so you won’t feel guilty about it.
- If you’re genuinely seeking Him, He will meet you where you are, no matter where that is.
GOD'S GOAL: For you to bow down to the King.
- Matthew 2:11.
- The climax of the Magi’s journey is when the star leads them to the house where the (most likely) toddler Jesus is.
- Verse 11 tells us that they bowed down and worshiped Him.
- The religious leaders from Jerusalem didn’t do that. The scribes from Jerusalem didn’t do that. The scholars didn’t do that. Instead, some astrologers from way out west did.
- Why? Because they were willing.
- This morning, no matter how far away from God your life is, no matter how messed up things are, no matter how little you know about God, He is eager to see you bow down to the King.
- I’m not sure what the factors were that led you to be here this morning. It might have been a chance meeting with an old friend and an invitation. It might be an old family memory that came back to you recently. It might be that you were at the Civic Center and the Lord used the mere presence of this building to get you to thinking. God can work through just about anything.
- Now we’re here and He’s speaking. Will you receive Him as King in your life?
- None of us start out knowing all that we need to know. God meets us in what we do know – whether it’s a little or a ton – and then walks us toward the truth.
- The Magi had their lives disrupted – this was a long trip.
- INVITATION: Maybe also invited Christians to come and pray for the person who they think is the furthest from God. Don’t give up on them because God hasn’t.
