God Seekers (Matthew 2:1-12)

            ... For the scientists, and the rest of us;

... For the curious, people who ask “How does this work?”  “Why is it like that?”  “What does that mean?”  And, an invitation to all of us to be curious.  

This passage, Matthew 2, the wise men coming to find the newborn king of the Jews whom they knew came from God; this story from holy scripture is for a town like our and a church like ours, a town and a church that includes scientists, mathematicians, doctors and researchers.  

            The story is also for outsiders.  You get this sense that there’s an “in group,” and you’re not in it.  This story is for you.  The birth of Jesus happens in a Jewish world.  The story is told in a Jewish way, for the Jewish people.  Jesus was a Jewish man, prophesied by Jewish prophets to save the people of Israel. 

            Yet at the very beginning of his story, while he’s still a baby, these strange visitors come from the East.  They aren’t Jewish leaders.  The Jewish King, Herod, was caught off guard by their arrival.  He had not been watching for the Messiah’s birth and was unhappy when these Persian Magi showed up announcing it had happened.  His scholars, Jewish scribes who worked in the temple, knew the stories from Micah and Isaiah, but they were not ready to greet the Savior sent by God.  No these visitors weren’t Jewish at all.

            They weren’t Greek either.  The Greeks dominated the cultural scene from Jerusalem to Athens and even to Rome.  Greek, not Latin, was the lingua franca.  The Romans had their hands on the hammer.  If Greek culture was admired, Roman power was feared.  There were Jews, Greeks, and Romans in Jerusalem, uneasily co-existing when Jesus was born.  Yet, none of them recognized the monumental things that had happened.  It is these ancient wise men from the east, Persian star-gazers who came and asked, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?”  They came and reported, “We have observed his star at its rising.”  They saw the Light!  They declared “We have come to pay him homage” (2:2).  The story of Jesus’ birth is a Jewish story, yet non-Jews have a place in it too.  He’s a Savior for everyone.

            The late 20th and early 21st centuries have witnessed an unfortunate historical phenomenon: the disconnect between science and faith. Anxious conservative Christians are tempted to fear science if discoveries call into question some of their beliefs.  Rather than re-examine their beliefs in order to fortify their faith, and rather than trust that the God they believe in will stand up under scrutiny, they disregard scientific voices as “godless liberal speak.” Instead of learning from the marvelous advances in science, some Christians consciously or unconsciously engage in a cultural war, planting their flag in ignorant ground.

For their part, many scientists become so enamored with progress and the things humans can do, they forget their need for God altogether and assume the only things that are real are those things which can be observed and measured.  They live in the delusion that God has been left behind and religion is nothing more than childish superstition.  Without knowing it, they exhibit religious devotion to an atheistic worldview even as they decry the notion of religion.  Intentionally or unintentionally, they too engage in the cultural war, opposite the conservatives and fundamentalists.  And the ground in which the secularists plant their flag is just as ignorant.

In all likelihood, these sages from the East were interdisciplinary scholars.  Experts on the constellations, they spent countless hours studying the night sky.  They also knew  Jewish theology.  Jesus was born almost 600 years after the Jews had been taken into exile in Babylon.  The Old Testament reports that 1000’s of Jews returned to Israel after the Persians had defeated the Babylonians in the early 5th century BC.  Under Ezra and Nehemiah, they rebuilt the city of Jerusalem. 

However, not all Jews returned.  Some remained in Babylon and in Persia.  The scholars there, the wise men we meet in Matthew 2,  learned Jewish history and religion from these Jews who had stayed behind.  They became experts not only in astronomy but also in theology. They became scientist-theologians. And something inside them helped them see that God was at the heart of the Jewish people.  The wise men experienced the exact opposite dynamic we have seen in the religion v. science culture wars of the past 50-75 years.  In their pursuit of truth and knowledge, they found God.  Their scientific research led them to follow a star, a star that led them to Bethlehem where they got to see the newborn Jesus, the Christ, the King.  

What was that something inside them that enabled them to connect the star and Jewish theology and the truth that it was God they were following?  My faith tells me it was the Holy Spirit.  Adopting an attitude of humble learners and earnest seekers, these gentiles met God in Jesus and paid him homage.  The insiders, Herod and the temple scribes, those entrusted with the scriptures, were blind to God because they stopped wondering.  They stood on their own position as keepers of Israelite culture.  They stopped looking to God for new insight. They assumed history had anointed them the rightful bearers of God’s truth and in their assuming, they missed God’s arrival.

I began by asserting that this story in Matthew 2 is one for the scientists and the curious, people who ask how, why, and what does this mean.  I also said this a story for outsiders, the excluded.  In Jerusalem in 2BC, and in Bethlehem less than 10 miles south of Jerusalem, the outsiders weren’t just gentiles.  Poor Jews, the majority, had little access to the privileges and benefits Herod and his scribes afforded themselves. 

Joseph and Mary were Jewish peasants, ruled by Herod and bullied by Rome.  Why did the Savior come to a low class family like that and not a wealthier one?  The prophets tells us: Amos 5, where God says, “I despise your festivals ... take away from the noise of your songs; but let justice roll down like waters” (5:21, 23a, 24a).  And Isaiah 58, where God says, “Is this not the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself; ... to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless into your house” (58:5, 7)?  Herod wasn’t taking any homeless people into his house.

I believe God did not come to Herod because Herod did not recognize his need for God.  He had the need, but did not see it.  He was neither curious, nor humble.  Joseph and Mary, devout peasants were ready to receive the gift of God’s grace and, with courage, answer God’s call.  They were certainly Jewish and when the wise men visited them we see the incredible work of God come to life in the lives of very real and very different people.  Erudite, rich Persians scholars and a peasant Jewish carpenter’s family came together around the crib of the son of God.  They were united, God using the scientific curiosity of the Magi and the recognition of need in Joseph and Mary.  In both postures, God came to people, meeting them where they were. 

Herod adopted a posture that left him blind to what God was doing.  And his own arrogance put him in opposition.  He was, without knowing it in the worst possible place someone can be.  An arrogant, self-reliant insider, he was against God.

The wise men found God because they were looking for him.  Listen to Psalm 9:9 in the New Living Translation.  “The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed.  Those who know your name trust in you, for you O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you.”  Mary and Joseph received God because they knew they needed him and were ready to live by faith when God came to them.

To see God and not be blind to His presence, and to be for God and not against Him, requires a new way of seeing.  We are invited to live observantly and seek God in our everyday places.  That’s where we undergo transformation.  When the Holy Spirit begins to work in us, we need to humbly, prayerfully respond in faith.  The scientist, the curious, the outsider, the one on the margins, and any and everyone who recognizes his or her own need is welcomed by God and invited by God into the life of God. 

Constantly seeking God, will completely change how we see the world and live in it.  Think of the most normal, everyday places, experiences, and relationships in your life.  The most mundane, banal, unremarkable places and people: in those places, that’s where the quest for God begins. That’s where God is going to meet you and me and begin going to work in us, transforming us into His holiness.  

The commitment you and I are invited to make is the commitment to curiosity and humility.  Decide today you will spend your life seeking God, receiving God, and following - going wherever God leads and loving and helping everyone you meet along the way.  Step down that path and this account of the wise men comes to life in your life as God speaks to you when you meet him in the world, and then speaks to the world through as He speaks through you.

AMEN

First Sermon of the Year - 2016

The Big Reveal (Matthew 2:1-12)

Rob Tennant, HillSong Church, Chapel Hill, NC

Sunday, January 3, 2016

My wife loves home remodeling shows and I love my wife.  So, I have watched these shows.  We don’t see them often now that we don’t have cable TV.  But, whenever we get a night away, we sit in the hotel room and watch some “do-it-yourself” program.

The experts from the Bravo network or HGTV meet with homeowners and spend the entire show with crowbars and sledgehammers tearing the kitchen apart.  It looks like a disaster.

            But, they stick with it.  They paint.  They review the designs.  They encourage each other in moments when it seems like it cannot possibly come together.  Then at the show’s end, they provide the “Big Reveal.”  The new kitchen is worthy of display in a design magazine.  It is immaculate, fresh, innovative, and so wonderful the homeowners weep in wonder and joy.  Can God do something so marvelous it leads us to weep in our gratitude and wonder?

            Adam and Eve weren’t sure he could.  They decided to trust their own wisdom instead of God’s.  The rebellion continued when their son Cain killed their other son Abel.  Sin spread to the point that the world descended into chaos so bad that God wiped it all out in the flood.  God started over with Noah’s family. 

            As soon as Noah was off the arc, he worshiped.  God accepting the offering, but God also noted that evil perpetually lurks in every human heart.  Noah’s son Ham confirmed God’s observation by shaming his father, who himself had passed in a drunken stupor. 

            By the first century BC, the world appeared as if for centuries human structures and institutions – societies, governments, families – had been torn apart by crowbars and sledgehammers.  However, unlike the design show, the destruction had no bigger purpose.  Sin has taken the good world God created and sent it in plummeting into chaos.  Sin destroys individual lives, communities, nations, and the natural order. 

            At Christmas time, we see how God deals with the devastation.  The coming of Christ is God’s “Big Reveal.”  Jesus is God’s answer.  If we look at disease and disasters, divorce rates and abortion rates, drunk driving deaths and addictions, terrorism and war – if we consider all the ways people suffer; if we see this and ask, OK God, what are you doing about it all???  “Jesus” is God’s answer.

God came and dwelt among us as one of us.  On the cross we see God take all the damnation of sin on himself.  Christmas – the birth of the Savior – is the beginning of God’s revelation of how the world is saved.  On the design show, in the newly remodeled kitchen we see results of the homeowners’ efforts.  They worked really hard.  The birth of Jesus is the big reveal of what God has done.  This is God’s work.  Salvation is what God has done and will do.

            Viewers of the design show, if it is done well, find themselves joyfully surprised at how wonderful the new kitchen is.  It went from a seemingly irredeemable mess to a place of beauty, a work of art that invites us to come in, sit down, and enjoy coffee and conversation.  What surprises come in God’s Big Reveal? 

            Hear that question, and rest with it for a moment.  What surprises does God have in store for you?  If you are an experienced churchgoer, can God surprise you at all?  Everything I have said about God, coming in human form in Jesus, all of it has been said before.  If you attend church regularly or even occasionally, you have heard this many times.

January 6 is Epiphany – the revelation of the Lord.  How much of a revelation is it?  Every year has a January 6 on the calendar.  Every year the magi come and see Christ for the first time.  They may be filled with wonder each time, but we read the story over and over.  How can we still be surprised by God?

I can’t give an exact answer.  If I could it wouldn’t be a surprise!  But I do believe with everything that is in me that God has new things to show me and to show you, to show our church and to show the world. 

New Testament scholar N.T. Wright has written several books that anticipate the Second Coming of Christ, the final Judgment, and eternity spent in the Kingdom of God for all who are in Christ.  Wright does not attempt to describe that day in more detail than the Bible gives.  He imagines what life in the Kingdom will be like, but acknowledges that what he’s offering is imagination.  We are given glimpses in the Bible, but not much more than that.  Wright does offer this important suggestion.  He thinks the Day of the Lord, “will be full of surprises.”[i]

I don’t think we have to wait until then for surprises from God.  If we live in a dynamic relationship with God in which our prayers include listening to God, in addition to asking things of God which is also appropriate, God will open our eyes to new wonders all the time. 

To explore the thought that God might surprise us, we will begin 2016 in Biblical stories about people who went looking for God and were amazed and surprised by what they found.  We will go from now, into the first Sunday of Lent, February 14, seeing how different individuals in the Biblical story were surprised by God.  Along the way, we keep in front of us some questions. 

How can God surprise me?

How can God surprise HillSong church?

What surprises does God have in store for 2016?

As it is Epiphany, we begin with those seekers from the East who followed the star.  In our hymn, we described them as “three kings” from the Orient.  They are also called “wise men.”  We don’t know the actual number in their traveling party.  They were magi, ancient astronomers, first century Persian scientists.  They journeyed across the desert following a phenomenon in the sky.  They were headed toward Jerusalem.

Because so many Jews stayed in Persia after the end of exile, the Jewish religion was known there.  These intellectuals were more familiar with Hebrew Scriptures, including Messianic prophecy, than many Jews.  The amazing star and the fact that it led them to Israel made it clear that the Jewish Messiah had come. 

So the seekers went to the King’s palace in Jerusalem.  There, Herod gave them their first surprise.  “When King Herod heard this,” Matthew writes, “he was frightened.”  Why would the king of Israel fear the coming of the one promised in his own holy book?  He should have been watching for the Messiah.  Why did these Persians see the sign God had sent, and Jewish king did not?  The seekers discovered that Israel was not expecting anything from God; at least Herod, the supposed Jewish King, was not.  How could this be?

We must pause and deal with a haunting question.  If someone outside of Christianity looked into the church, would they be surprised to find that Christians don’t expect much from God?  Would they be shocked to discover our view of reality and our values in life are no different than people who have no interest in God?  We may find it easy to cast Herod as a faithless villain.  How much are our lives marked by a faith that truly expects God to speak, to protect and provide, and to act in ways that will bless us and the world in which we live?

The second surprise for the magi came in Bethlehem.  By the time they arrived, Joseph and Mary were out of the stable.  However, I bet their living quarters were far more humble than what the magi had back in Persia.  These erudite, wealthy scholars found themselves in the home of a peasant family.

Yet in that home in that baby, they saw the face of God.  How surreal was it for Mary when these exotic guests  began showering her with gifts worth more than generations of her family had ever seen?  What did Joseph think when these men who would normally never cross his path knelt to worship his baby boy?

The wise men left Bethlehem with an understanding of God they did not have before they came.  That’s what happens when we meet God face to face.  They learned how unconcerned God is with human conventions. God has no need of human kings.  God did not need Herod’s approval or acceptance.  God was fully God in a simple peasant family’s home.  And God was fully absent from deviant, faithless king’s palace. 

The wise men did not know a cross was coming, or a resurrection.  But after what they had seen, I don’t think they would have been surprised.  Rome crucified so many people, the news of Jesus’ death would not have causes even a ripple in the lives of people in other parts of the world.  Yet, I kind of think that the magi, the wise men, kept tabs on this baby they visited.  I believe they heard news; Jesus has been crucified.  I imagine them in deep grief.

And then, in a way that strains credibility but is just like our God of the possible, the report of the resurrection found its way east to the ears of these God-seeking scientists.  And I believe their heavy hearts felt the blinding brilliance of Heaven’s light shine on them.  Of course!  The God we met so many years ago, the nursing baby, conquered death through resurrection.  We didn’t see it coming.  Of course we didn’t.  I think they heard of the resurrection, believed it more easily than even the disciples, and broke out in smiles that could not be erased. 

This is the God we meet in the story of Jesus: the God of surprises.  What is God going to do in your life in 2016?  I believe God will do something.  I don’t know what it will be.  I am certain it will be beautiful.  I am certain of this because of who God is.  God is the God of the possible, the God of blessing, and the God of wonder.  I believe wonders are in store for us. 

I say this knowing people are going through some real trials.  Many among us care for ailing parents and have to make hard decisions.  Some among us face the specter of cancer.  Some live in the shadow of job uncertainty.  Some are in relationships that are very fragile right now, threatening to completely break.  I believe God sees all this, all that we go through.  I believe God loves us so much, there is more than just a promise of help in the face of pain or crisis.  God does not just want to get us through, help us survive.  God has blessing in store. 

This doesn’t mean the pain is not real.  It is and that needs to be named.  But even in dark days, I think God can and will reveal blessings that bring joy and enable us to flourish.  We will see what God reveals as we watch and listen in prayer, and we do this together.

How can God surprise me?

How can God surprise HillSong church?

What surprises does God have in store for 2016?

We begin 2016, turning our hearts to Heaven and putting these questions to God.

AMEN

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[i] He says this in Surprised by Joy and in other writings.  I have also heard him make this point in several speeches.

The King’s Version of Justice (Psalm 72)

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Second Sunday of Advent

“Please help the King be honest and fair just like you, our God” (Psalm 72:2).

“The king rescues the homeless when they cry out, and he helps everyone who is poor and in need.  The king has pity on the weak and the helpless” (Psalm 72:12-13). 

What is Psalm 72 saying?  What are we seeing in Psalm 72?  How does it tie to Jesus and to his birth?  Of the 150 Psalms, Psalm 72 is one of only two are related to King Solomon, the son and successor of King David.  Possibly, this Psalm read aloud in the ceremony or coronation for Solomon.

“God give your justice to the King.”  The prayer asks God for prosperity for the new king.  The prayer expresses hope for the expansion of the nation under this king’s rule.  There is prayer for the king’s endurance, long life.  The one praying hopes God will subdue the King’s enemies.  But please note how the prayer starts.  Please, help the king be fair.  Give the king justice. 

I appreciate the comments of Pastor James Howell. He writes,

The Psalm begins by asking God to “Give the king Your justice… and Your righteousness… May he defend the cause of the poor, and give deliverance to the needy.” Such a campaign in our day would be lambasted as “liberal,” and a debate would be touched off about governmental programs versus private sector aid or, more likely, the conversation would drift toward blaming the poor, and insisting they get busy and take care of themselves. [i]

The cluster of Hebrew terms used in these phrases is telling. “Justice” is not fairness or the good being rewarded and the wicked punished. Rather, mishpat (“justice”) is the Bible’s subversive term for God’s desired state of affairs: mishpat is when the poorest are cared for. A society is just to the degree to which every person has enough and is lifted up; a king is measured, not by hordes of chariots or the gold in the treasury, but by whether the cause of the poor was defended, whether the needy were delivered. Similarly, “righteousness” isn’t smug goodness; zedekah (“righteousness”) is being in sync with God’s ways, embodying God’s will.

The most fascinating verse in Psalm 72 is the verse 11: “May all kings fall down before him.” Israel was a small time power, forced into subservience more often than relishing independence. The other kings most certainly would not be falling down before him! Was this national pride? A fantasy? A sick dream? Or a Messianic hint, that in God’s good time, God’s king would be the one before whom all would bow (Philippians 2:10).

But notice why those kings in verse 11 will bow down: “For he delivers the needy when he calls… He has pity on the weak… From oppression he redeems their life” (verses 12 and 13). Other kings never do such things; but one day the truth will be made palpable, and they will realize the wisdom, wonder, and grace of God’s way.

          Christmas magnifies the pain of those who are desperately poor.  Sometimes the church helps them, but governments, kings, and people of power rarely use their resources to elevate downtrodden people.  When help is offered, it does not often actually lift someone out of the suffering imposed by economic hardship. 

Yet Psalm 72, the coronation prayer, calls for justice.  What is justice?  Justice is the king, the one with the most power using what he has to help the weakest in society.  That is Biblical justice.  It is not getting what one deserves.  Biblical justice is the one with power and resources sharing with and uplifting the one who  is poor and vulnerable.  Yearning for that justice, working for it, and most importantly, praying for it – that is Advent prayer.  In our anticipation of Jesus and our celebration of his coming, we are reminded to pray for justice.

          As we do, recall King Herod.  He was ruling in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ birth.  Visitors from Persia, star gazers whom we refer to as the three wise men even though we don’t know how many there were come to Herod.  And Herod is scared to death.  What does every first term president want?  A second term.  What does the king want?  He wants to hold onto power.  Herod killed his own sons in his lust for it.  He would not tolerate any competitor. 

          Wise Persian astrologers come looking for the new born king and Herod feels the threat.  So he tries to enlist the visitors from the east.  But they have been guided by a star from God and have come to worship this baby king, not help get him killed.  The God would led them by a star, speaks in dreams and they do not help the wicked, unjust king.

He is so desperate to wipe out  this new threat that when he cannot figure out which 2-year-old in Bethlehem is the one he kills every 2-year-olds in Bethlehem.  Why doesn’t God stop him?  Why doesn’t God simply impose justice on the world?  We need it!

When God made us in God’s image, we were made with a free will.  We can choose.  Humans choose evil – it happens with everyone.  We don’t always choose to sin.  We have the mark of God in us.  We often choose beauty, love, and hope.  But we just as often hurt and lie.  When my sins and your sins stack with the millions and billions of sins of the millions and billions of people in the world now and from all time, then the world is fallen.  If God were to simply force all the pain out we would lose our free will and our ability to choose to worship God.  We would no longer be His followers.  We’d be God’s robots.  God’s wants relationship.

The Psalm prays that the king would “vindicate” the afflicted; in another version it says the king is to rescue the homeless (72:4).  This is the prayer for the king who serves under God.  King Herod was the bringer of affliction. For the sake of power, he committed genocide. 

          But he did not last.  Paranoid kings never last.  He missed his target.  Jesus grew and became the man, the savior, who died on a cross, rose from the death and is now the eternal king.  Holding the two kings – Jesus and Herod – side by side, Lutheran seminary professor David Lose offers this perspective.

The presence of these three magi and their quest for God’s messiah announce that the world is changing, that God is approaching, and that nothing can remain the same in the presence of God’s messiah. The arrival of these wondering astrologers signals that the reach of God’s embrace is broadening considerably, that there is no longer “insider” and “outsider,” but that all are included in God’s plan for salvation. This isn’t a new theme in Judaism, as from the very beginning of the story God promises to bless Abraham that he may, in turn, be a blessing from the world. But now it is happening – all distinctions between people of different ethnicities and religions is dissolving. All are becoming one in Christ, and who knows what may change next.

This is what is at the heart of Matthew’s darker, more adult-oriented story of Jesus’ birth: the promise that is precisely this world that God came to, this people so mastered by fear that we often do the unthinkable to each other and ourselves that God loves, this gaping need that we have and bear that God remedies. Jesus isEmmanuel, God with us, the living, breathing, and vulnerable promise that God chose to come live and die for us, as we are, so that in Christ’s resurrection we, too might experience newness of life.[ii]

          We can read Psalm 72 and see that it is dream, a fantasy.  No king could live up to what is depicted there.  Jesus did. Jesus does.  We see problems – war in Syria; drug addiction in all circles of society; rising teen suicide rates; unchecked terrorism; our own government run by appeasing politicians in search of re-election instead of true leaders that the he good of the nation in their hearts.  We see it all and it appears unfixable.  People sink to depths where there is no hope. 

But then we remember that Christmas is the birth of Jesus, the one who offers real hope.  Lives are changed when His church realizes He is the king who does all that the Psalm describes.  He is the answer to the prayer that is raised in Psalm 72. 

Which king do our presidents and governors and senators look like?  King Herod or King Jesus.  Our leaders have the same sin nature in them that we have in us.  Our governing officials make the same mistakes we make.  They may not repeat Herod’s evils, but they are fatally flawed.  Our hope is in the king born in the manger.

That does not mean we just give up on our leaders, cross our fingers, and hope things won’t get too bad.  Psalm 72 is a call to prayer and the coming of Jesus reminds us that God hears us when we pray.  God answers.  Psalm 72 calls us to turn our faces to God, fall to our knees and say, “Oh God, give the president your wisdom and your justice.”  It does not matter if we like him or hate him.  In our country, the king changes every 4 or 8 years.  God wants us to pray blessing for the president.

As we do, we set our hope in Jesus.  We commit our lives to him.  And daily, we give of ourselves to help hurting people because we know this is the King’s justice.

AMEN

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[i] James Howell, workingpreacher.org - http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1520

[ii] David Lose, December 30, 2012 - http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=1509

Christmas Day Sermon

For the Christmas Day message, I am going to share my heart as a pastor, as a person, as a Christ-follower in a very personal way. Often in sermons, I criticize much of 21stcentury upper middle class American life. I criticize the patriotism that sees America as more favored than other people. God loves Koreans, Chinese, Libyans, Mexicans, and everyone else as much as Americans. I criticize American consumerism. We buy too much stuff; consume too high a percentage of the world’s resources. American consumerism and materialism is sinfully unjust. In these ways and others, I am critical.

And yet, I love America. I love being an American. I am fortunate enough to travel overseas, and when I do, I go as a representative of the United States. I do so proudly. I feel a sense of mission; it’s like one of the things I must do in an international airport is represent America well. I don’t always succeed. But it is in my mind.

I especially love American Christmas. I know many of my critiques are especially on display at Christmas time. I heard and radio announcer who was doing a read for a jewelry store say, “Whether you are spending $50 or $50,000 ...” and I didn’t another word. $50,000 for a Christmas gift?? Insane! I say that, I love this morning, coming from the bedroom to the Christmas tree and seeing that Santa has come. I love it.

I love coming to the church and singing these hymns, true worship songs that put the birth of Jesus into story set to music. I love Christmas parties. We had several school Thanksgiving and Christmas events for our boys. I love Christmas lights on people’s homes. Our family drives around night after night to see how the town is lit up, acknowledging that this time of year is special. I wouldn’t trade Christmas in North Carolina in the United States for anything.

What I have discovered this year at Christmas is that all the preaching I have done in my time at HillSong has come back to me. Every spiritual challenge has been thrown upon me in this festive time of feasts, time off from work and school, hustle and bustle, and holiday cheer.

I have repeatedly said we can honor God and worship Him and represent Him in the world by doing our normal tasks with excellence. A simple example is a baker who is also a passionately devoted follower of Jesus honors God by baking good bread. His work is an offering. Similarly in our relationships, we strive for excellence. I want to be a great husband and dad, friend and neighbor for the sake of glorifying God. That has been a wonderfully difficult and rewarding challenge and I am acutely aware of how better I need to be –especially as a husband and dad and pastor.

Another mantra of mine, from this pulpit, is that we are called by Jesus himself to share the good news of salvation and forgiveness of sins. All Christians are called to tell about Jesus. Just a couple of weeks ago, UNC student came in asking what she would need to do to be baptized. As she and I walked through the building, I talked about forgiveness and new life in Christ. It was awesome, but, I don’t do enough of that. I have to improve in answering Jesus’ call to evangelism.

Beyond evangelism and beyond praising God by doing the daily thing of work and personal life with excellence, there other ways my own preaching has come back to me this Christmas. But I won’t go into more detail because the important thing is not for you to hear my confession. The important thing is that upon hearing my own story, you get serious about your own relationship with God. Where do you need to improve?

Do you know why I have become so aware of all I have mentioned? I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about evangelism every Christmas. Each year at this time, I don’t pause and think, “Rob, are you practicing what you preach?” This year though, I can’t think of much else. It is intensified in the joy I feel when I am getting things right and in my disappointment when I fail miserably. Why this year I am so concerned about becoming a better Christ-follower?

It’s the scripture – Psalm 97. The Psalms are the worship book in scripture, so this Advent, as a church, we’ve been praying the Psalms as a worshiping body and hopefully as individuals. Psalm 97 is one of the enthronement Psalms. Most Psalms are laments or praises. Some are categorized as Royal Psalms. The smallest category is the enthronement Psalm. Enthronement Psalms are sung only to God, acknowledging God. The Royal Psalms apply to Jesus, but originally they also applied to Israelite Kings. Enthronement Psalms are only for, to, and about God. When we sing an Enthronement Psalm with Jesus in mind, we’re saying Jesus is God.

We’re also saying Jesus is king, an un-American idea. I began my confession this morning saying how much I love the American Christmas traditions in which I have been raised. When Christmas comes around, I am flooded by happy memories.

As a follower of Jesus, I cannot think of his birth and think of carols and nativity scenes. Those things are wonderful, but the birth of Jesus is first and foremost the story of God come to earth. The eternal one stepped out of the limitless beauty of Heaven and the unbound power and majesty of divinity. God stepped out of godhood and into the fragile, perilous form of a human baby. God put on humanity in its rawest forms.

What did the wise men say when they came to see the baby Jesus? “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews” (Mt. 2:2)? They said “King of the Jews,” but they, Persians, knew this king was a king beyond Israel. They dropped everything in their lives because they knew from gazing at the star and studying the ancient Hebrew texts that this king was like no other. Yes, he was a Jew. Yes, they were Persians living in what today we call Iran. It did not matter. They would drop everything and come to him because was not just a king, but the king.

Today, we know how the story went from there. Jesus grew into a man who embraced children when more respectable people would say, “children should be seen and not heard.” Jesus was a teacher who paused to listen to and heal blind roadside beggars when more important people said the beggars should be silent. Jesus was a revolutionary who defeated evil itself by dying on a cross. And he was and is a King who rules with the power of love instead of the power of the sword or gun.

The way we Americans became a nation was by throwing off the yoke of king in a bloody revolution. We declared ourselves independent, fought, and today have a representative democracy. The idea of a king in America today is absurd.

Yet, in reading Psalm 97, I have felt more than ever, that the birth of Jesus, the season of Christmas, is a reminded that I am first and foremost a child of God. Being an American comes after that. As a child of God, born again in Jesus Christ, I am called to take on the yoke of a king.

My work as a writer of sermons and visitor to hospitals and spiritual counselor and church administrator is to be done at the pleasure of the king. My life as a husband, a dad, a son, a brother, a neighbor, a sports fan, a Carolinian – it is to be lived at the pleasure of the king. At any point, should the king command a change, it is to be made. At any point, should the king interrupt my daily life, I welcome the interruption. At all points, I am mindful that God is always present and I am always to love others as He has loved me and to act as he would have me act.

Of course, I am telling you my intent. There are moments when I succeed. In many others, I come up short. The UNC student I mentioned earlier who came in confessed to some pretty significant sins as she and I walked through the building. Right at the moment she was pouring her heart out, we were in this room, and I was able to point up to the cross and explain that Jesus covers our sins and we are forgiven. Right now, as I tell you my intent to live every moment of life in service to the king and I acknowledge how frequently I come up short, I turn myself to the cross. I am reminded that I am washed in grace.

I am also aware of what Jesus said. A moment ago, I recalled that America threw off the yoke of a king. As Christ-followers we take on the yoke of King Jesus. Do you know what a yoke is? It is a large, heavy wooden brace that connect two oxen together. Then the farmer can come behind and drive the oxen wherever he wants them to go. When we take on the yoke of Jesus, we are enslaved to God. We go wherever King Jesus directs us.

The good news is Jesus said, “Come to me all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”(Mt. 11:28-30). The heavy yoke laid on oxen means heavy work is ahead. The yoke of King Jesus brings rest and revives the soul.

It’s a paradox. The more love we give, the more we have. The more we die to self and give ourselves to Christ, the more life we have. And the closing verses of Psalm 97 become our Christmas confession and our everyday reality.

“Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name” (97:11-12)!

The call I have felt to be a better dad and to be better in evangelism and to do it all for the sake of bringing glory to God is invitation to take on Jesus’ easy yoke and light burden. It is the reality that my life is lived in absolute slavery with Jesus as my master, and at the same time there is no freedom like the freedom one has when yoked with Him. To do more is to have more rest. It cannot be understood except by those who know the baby in the manger is the eternal King of all Kings.

Christmas is His day. Every day is His. I am thankful for what a blessing it is to know that, and I am thankful God has, this year, called me to live in that reality.

AMEN