Seeing God at Work Among Us

“I like work. I really do. I can sit and watch it for hours!”

My practice of social interaction, certainly with people I don’t yet know, involves way more listening than talking.

Sometimes I overhear people’s conversations or notice what they say in passing. I’m not trying to be nosy, just aware.

One thing that is clear is in where they put their trust.

For some it is a politician, or perhaps in a particular political system.

For many, security is about income and savings. For some of those, it’s not what they make but about who pays the bills for whatever they want to do.

For others, their security is in science. They observe the world and the universe to see what they can discover. What is going on, and why, is about a certain rules and the mathematics behind it.

Seeing the order in the universe, they base everything in life on what can be discovered and about how things work.

Many of those people are Atheist or Agnostic, and since they know the science they don’t think they need any God to make it work. So they trust in the science itself instead of any person or entity behind it all.

And, surprising to me, is that some of those will say that everything happens for a reason. As if science chooses the why of what happens and not just the how.

Others who make a lot of use of science do it with a full understanding that there is a Creator behind it all.

A few even recognize that it is that same Creator that made the universe who created science, and decided how all the elements and stars and living things would interact.

In other words, they believe God teaches us about himself through science. Some believe there was a creator, but he has been hands-off since he created the world and set up the science to keep it going.

In other words, they don’t believe God is still active, involved, or even cares about what he created.

But, for those whose trust is truly in the Lord God Creator of the Universe, in the fulness of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, nothing happens without a reason. There may be a science component to that, but we can describe it in another way: God is. . . .

The Why of What Was, What Is, and What Is to Come

When we see the universe through the perspective of faith, it is not the stars who control our fate but God who controls the stars.

When people take the first option, to believe the stars control of describe our fate, they either believe in Astrology or become astrologists themselves.

Astrology is very different than astronomy, just to be clear. Astrology looks to the stars to find out what effects our lives, and what that means.

Astronomy looks to the stars to find out what has happened, and try to find out why it did. Every time you look at the night sky, and notice a star or planet or moon or satellite, you are

Seeing What Was, Not What Is

The light that reaches your eyes from the moon started out more than a second ago. The light that we see from the Sun is already 8 minutes old. The average time of light travel between us and Mars is over 28 minutes, which is why NASA gets so nervous when its probes have to move from inter-planetary travel to touchdown.

So, Astronomy is a science of what has happened. Maybe even billions of years ago. Light speed is the speed limit of the universe, for radio and vision.

Right now, if you are at the back of the church while I am speaking from the pulpit, at the very slow speed of sound you actually hear what came out of my mouth 4/100ths of a second ago. It even takes time for a nerve signal to reach your brain from your finger tips.

If our conversations with God were limited by the speed of light or sound or anything else, we wouldn’t have a chance of our prayers reaching Him before our need has passed.

The good news in this is that . . .

God Exists Outside of Time

because He created time. So we can be sure that he is the only reality of “right now” that exists.

So those last 6 minutes of introduction are really about where our trust may lie: it is either in the limits of creation or in

God who is . . . .

The Unlimited Creator

who has chosen to make himself known in what we can see, hear, experience, and know.

It is this same unlimited creator who chose to reveal himself completely in the little tiny shell of human form and the limits of human flesh and bone through his Son, Jesus Christ.

It is the appearance of Jesus when he was born of Mary in Bethlehem that caused God to celebrate with a star or comet or whatever it was that the Astrologers of Persia saw that led them to Judea.

Why did they respond to the stars?

Romans 1:19–20 ESV

19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

They observed the universe and saw God. So when God did something new, they knew that it was up to them to respond.

God Called the Magi to Jesus

Which never could have happened unless they were sure that the stars showed them part of the reality of life.

They were scientists, scholars, and magicians. At least it seemed like magic when they became able to predict things like solar or lunar eclipses.

As scholars, they had read whatever they could through their lives. They knew about the histories of the Jews in Babylon and their return under the Persian ruler Cyrus and Darius the Mede. They knew the writings of the Rabbis and the Torah and the interpretations of the Jews and the idea of the Coming Messiah.

The Magi Saw God At Work

in the stars they scanned and recorded. And when this new light in the sky showed up, they knew it was from God. They knew it was a message to them. And they followed what they saw with action to go and see.

Matthew 2:1–2 ESV

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.”

It’s never a good idea for a sitting Eastern King to have someone tell them that their successor is at hand, and not in their own household.

Herod was scared, but he was also careful.

He checked out their story:

Matthew 2:3–4 ESV

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.

and we are so familiar with the response:

Matthew 2:5–6 ESV

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.’ ”

Herod Believed the Magi and the Stars

and was afraid of losing his place in his own world.

So he began his Scheming.

Matthew 2:7–8 ESV

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.”

We are on this side of the story, so we are pretty sure that Herod really wanted to eliminate the competition.

Somehow, Herod believed what the stars told the Magi from Persia yet did not truly believe that God who formed the stars was the author of his own future.

But the Magi had been summoned by God through the stars, and they went to see the new-born King.

The Star Led Them to Jesus

Matthew 2:9–10 ESV

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.

So far, they were at the village of Bethlehem. But they had come this far because God had called them through the star. Herod was right next door, in Jerusalem, but he had missed the star. He still believed he was in charge of his own fate.

The Magi, the Scholars from the East, knew that

God is In Control

of past, present and future.

The big difference between them and the Jews was that they were not focused on the active voice of God through his word, his prophets and his priests, but through the constant revelation of God’s own nature in the universe.

God being in control, he led them to exactly where he wanted them to be, and there:

Matthew 2:11 ESV

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.

Three Gifts to show the three sides of Jesus’ role in the universe, brought by those who believed the Creator showed them the stars.

Gold for a King; Frankincense for Divinity; Myrrh for a Death that would bring Life.

Jesus’ purpose revealed to them in the stars, because

The Magi Saw God at Work In the Stars

so they believed God’s message to them in a dream and got out of town another way.

Matthew 2:12 ESV

12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

The biggest reason to bring up the Magi on this 1st Sunday of Epiphany, the 1st Sunday after the church calendar describes the appearance of the Magi, or wise men, is because

God Shows Us Himself In Creation

Romans 1:19 ESV

19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

and if God will do that for Persian Priests, he will do it for us as well.

Back to my eavesdropping.

When I overhear people, they either trust in the God of the Universe or in whatever they make up in their own minds, whether aided by science or not.

And even though God has made himself known, they ignore what they can see around them:

Faithless People Don’t See God at Work

Romans 1:22 ESV

22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

Romans 1:23 ESV

23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Living Without God is Living a Lie

Romans 1:25 ESV

25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Missing God at Work Messes Us Up

Romans 1:28–31 ESV

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Are You Looking for God at Work in Your World?