New Year Message
January 2, 2022
This is really a great Sunday! When we think about the new year, there’s always the hope that the new year will be better than the prior year. If 2021 wasn’t the best year, then there’s the hope, maybe an expectation that 2022 will be better. And if 2021 was the perfect year, you’re hoping for more of the same. Often times, we move into the new year with expectation and anticipation that it will be a good year!
So, with that in mind, what are you going to do to ensure that this will be a great year? How will you seek God? How will you honor God? How will you give back to God so that you can make a difference in the world? How will you show who Jesus is in you? How will you serve God? How will you give of your material or financial blessings? How will you use your gifts in 2022?
I can go on and ask lots of questions about who we are and who we will become this year. As I was thinking and envisioning God’s plans for us this year, my mind was racing in 100 different directions.
It's interesting that when we make New Year's resolutions, most of them are more self centered in nature. That’s not necessarily bad, it’s just an observation. We might say, we want to lose weight, to get in better shape, to get a new job, to be a better spouse . . . and all those are good things.
Many of us don’t have spiritual goals or expectations when it comes to what we want to do in the new year. They’re me centered as opposed to God centered. I hope that makes sense.
When it comes to God, we try to get God to do what we want, as opposed to doing the hard work of intentionally drawing closer to God. We want God to get us that new job, to help us wake up in the morning with more hair on our head. We want God to take away those bad desires. You know what I mean?
We demand -- God bless me, God help me be richer, God help me be happier, God give me what I want. And whenever life doesn't go as we want, we blame God.
We might say, I tried. I gave it a week. I prayed for a day and crickets from God. You know, when people say crickets, that means silence, but crickets are noisy. So, I wonder if we say crickets from God, that means I didn’t hear God over all of the other noise I’ve created in my life.
We didn’t get the better job, we didn’t get the guy or gal we hoped for, we didn’t get that great Christmas present. And it’s all God’s fault. I tried God and it didn't work. God didn't do what I wanted Him to do.
If we were to be really honest, many of us believe God exists for us, when in reality, we exist to serve and honor Him. In fact, when Jesus invited people to follow Him, it was costly. Jesus said,
"Whoever wants to be my disciple must" do what? "must deny themselves and take up their cross "and follow me."
If we wan to be a disciple of Jesus, it's less about us and it's more about Him. And that's why as we move into a new year, in the culture that we live in, a very self centered, selfish culture, I want us to move closer to God, to become more selfless as we follow Jesus.
Because if we want to follow Him, it's got to be less about us and more about Him.
As I considered what God was calling me to start the year with, He impressed upon me we needed something different. As I was considering what we needed to start the year with, it hit me . . . well, God hit me with what we needed.
I can sum it up in one word - - - - PRAYER
I know, you’re thinking, we’ve talked about prayer before, this is getting old Pastor Michael. Isn’t there anything else you can talk about? You might even prefer I spoke about money over prayer . . . so don’t worry, that’s coming too.
But before we get there, I want to look at our basic mindset or attitude.
One of my favorite authors is Andrew Murray. In his book called, Absolute Surrender, written in 1897, he wrote - - -
We trust Jesus and His work on Calvary; we trust Him as our only Savior.
That is well and may be sufficient to bring salvation, but many do not realize that true Christianity consists in an intense,
close, personal attachment to Jesus and fellowship with Him every day.
Many think of Jesus as their Savior, yet never realize that Jesus ought to be their friend and guide and keeper all day long,
their leader and master whom they gladly obey.
Many Christians might talk about Him, yet not know what it means to walk with Him. We have never forsaken all to follow Jesus.
Isn’t that powerful? We see Jesus as He is - - - as our Savior, but we often miss out on more of that relationship because we personally don’t go further. That last line is kind of haunting . . . we have never forsaken all to follow Jesus.
That’s where I want to go this year. That’s why today is a start, and for the next few weeks, we’ll look at prayer in much more personal and practical terms and see what that means for us in our relationship with Jesus.
With this in mind, know that this is Epiphany week. In the western church world, Epiphany is the day the Magi finally reached Mary and Joseph and offered their extravagant gifts to the baby Jesus. Epiphany is about the manifestation or appearance of Jesus to the Magi or the gentiles.
Let’s read the story about these wise men. The story is found in Matthew 2:1-12 --
1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem,
2 saying, “Where is He who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.”
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;
4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.
8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the Child, and when you have found Him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship Him.”
9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose, went before them until it came to rest over the place where the Child was.
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
11 And going into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother, and they fell down and worshiped Him.
Then, opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
Now, there is so much we can unpack in this passage. We can get lost in lots of details. But I want us to focus on one central verse. When the Magi finally reached their destination, what was the first thing they did?
Matthew 2:11 tells us they fell down and worshiped Him.
These were rich, respected, wise men. They were on speaking terms with the king. As astrologers they were privy to the secrets of the stars, and the stars held the secrets to the universe. They weren’t even Jews.
Yet when they came into the presence of this helpless child, what did they do? They threw themselves down on the ground without hesitation and with total humility. Think of that nativity scene you put away. Usually you will find at least one of the wise men kneeling.
Here was the One we are to offer praise and glory.
the One whose greatness was to be honored.
the One who was born to die.
the One who was born to be "adored."
We sing, "Oh, come, let us adore Him."
These wise men were on a journey, we don’t know where they came from, other than they came from somewhere out East. Possibly it’s Persia or the region we now call Iraq. They didn’t know Hebrew tradition or religious practices, but they were sent on an adventure. When they arrived, they saw Joseph, Mary and Jesus, and they fell down and worshiped the Child.
Folks, do you get that? These guys, and we don’t know how many, we only know they brought 3 gifts. I’m assuming they have no relationship with the God of the Jews, they most likely practiced Zoroastrianism, an ancient eastern religion.
Maybe we’ve become too accustomed to Jesus. Maybe we’ve seen His face too many times. It’s kind of like seeing your child for the 10,000th time. We don’t get all excited anymore. We don’t look at them with wonder and awe. Oh, it’s my kid again, I wonder what they want!!
But think back about the time you saw your child, your grandchild, your niece or nephew, or the birth of some child, you’re struck with awe and wonder. With joy and excitement that you can’t help but to cry. You can’t contain it. That’s what these magi were experiencing. They saw the Christ child. It was their first and only encounter with Him and they fell down and worshiped!
Maybe we’ve seen Jesus too many times in our everydayness of life, that we don’t become all too excited anymore. Oh, hi Jesus, welcome into my home. You’ve been here before, you know where the kitchen is, go ahead and grab a snack.
Let me ask you . . . is this how we approach worship? Is it the same old thing! Nothing new, same old, same old! Which is comforting, but is it really leading us to worship the Child, you know the same Child who is the Prince of Peace and King of Kings?
Is that how we approach our daily living? We wake up and off to work or off to school or off to do whatever it is we are going to do? But Jesus is kind of the guy who sits at the table with us, yet we really don’t recognize Him anymore, because He’s always there!
Let me take you back one verse, let me take you to the prelude to the falling flat on our faces in worship! If you look at Matthew 2:10, this verse gives us a glimpse into their excitement ~
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
What occurs to me is that sometime while they were in Jerusalem, they lost site of the star. They were meeting with Herod and when they left his presence the star reappeared and they were ready to finish their journey. The journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem was only 6 miles. So, it wouldn’t be long.
But, I want you to focus on this passage for a moment. Literally written from the Greek, this passage says,
Having seen moreover the Star they rejoiced with Joy Great Exceedingly
Now, that is the literal Greek way to say it. What I want you to catch is this -- do we ever talk this way? I mean look at the ESV translation again - - -
10 ... they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
We don’t talk that way. We would simply say, we were overjoyed, we had great joy or we were joyful. In fact, most of the time we wouldn’t even use the word joy. We’d just say we had a great time or we were excited.
But their joy was so great that Matthew tells us they were flipping out with total joy. Isn’t that so cool? Did you see anyone open a present this Christmas where they opened a gift they didn’t know they were getting and they were jumping up and down with excitement? That’s how these magi were. They saw the star planted over Bethlehem and knew their journey was coming to its fulfillment and they were super excited.
Now, I want to show you why I like the ESV over the NIV and NLT. This is a 1 minute break, and this is one example of many in which the ESV give us a better picture than the NIV / NLT.
ESV - 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
NIV - 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
NLT - 10 When they saw the star, they were filled with joy!
Do you sense a difference in emotion in these two verses when you stop and take them in? I do. This is why I like a more literal translation like the NKJV or ESV, which is still understandable. Okay, now we can move on as we wrap up ---
My point this morning is that we need to be focused on Christ. We need to be ready at all times to worship Him. Whether He’s the Christ we’ve known for 80 years, or knowing Jesus is totally new to us. As we move through 2022, we need to be focused on Jesus. Nothing else will do for us.
You see, we often miss the great opportunities of life because we get sidetracked. I heard the story of a talented bloodhound in England that started a hunt by chasing a full-grown male deer. During the chase a fox crossed his path, so he now began to chase the fox. A rabbit crossed his hunting path, so he began to chase the rabbit. After chasing the rabbit for a while, a tiny field mouse crossed his path, and he chased the mouse to the corner of a farmer's barn. The bloodhound had begun the hunt chasing a prized deer for his master and wound up barking at a tiny mouse.
What about you and I? What are we chasing after this year? How focused on pursuing Christ are you? Have we forsaken all to follow Jesus?
