Epiphany - 1 - Celebrating Epiphany

Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12

Matthew 2:1–12 NIV

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 when it rose 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 Messiah 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 shepherd 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 search carefully 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 when it rose 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, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

1/5/2025

Order of Service:

Announcements

Opening Worship

Prayer Requests

Prayer Song

Pastoral Prayer

Kid’s Time

Offering (Doxology and Offering Prayer)

Scripture Reading

Sermon

Communion

Closing Song

Benediction

Special Notes:

Week 1: Communion

Opening Prayer:

O God of light and peace, whose glory, shining in the child of Bethlehem, still draws the nations to yourself: dispel the darkness that shrouds our path, that we may come to kneel before Christ in true worship, offer him our hearts and souls, and return from his presence to live as he has taught. Amen.

Epiphany Celebration

Plans

Planning together is challenging work. If you’ve spent time with friends and family over the past few weeks, you’ve likely experienced this. Each year, for every special gathering, someone has to devise a plan. I say someone, but in reality, several people are usually involved in the planning, especially when many individuals are included and travel distances come into play. In the planning process, architects, orchestrators, and negotiators engage in different kinds of planning. Some have personal agendas, while others intentionally set aside their needs and desires. As you know, it can get quite messy. It would be nice to think that once you’ve made the plan, you could stick to it and use the same one again next year. However, life often doesn’t go according to our plans, and we must learn to grow and improve them each time, or they stop working entirely.

Making plans may seem straightforward on paper, but it seldom is. There are far too many factors beyond our control. Whether we are planners or simply going along for the ride, most of us feel we are doing things because we have no choice, often repeating the same traditions without a genuine understanding or caring about why they are done. Or the wrong understanding or care. Sometimes, we even find ourselves frustrated by the plans and actively work to rebel against them. And then there’s God. Oh yes, we nearly forgot about Him. He isn’t on the email lists, texting groups, or in phone conversations, and sometimes, we leave Him out of the planning until the very end when we finally ask Him to bless our mess.

But God so loved the world that He devised a plan long ago to do far more than bless our mess. He created a plan for the salvation and redemption of creation, and through that plan, God calls His people from all over the world to come to Jesus.

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Vast

God has a plan to save us and redeem creation. While this plan may sound good, it has stirred conflict in the hearts of humanity for thousands of years. We struggle with what it means to be saved. Sometimes, we even struggle with being saved. Whether we surrendered our lives and committed to following Jesus within a small group of believers, declared our faith in Christ in front of hundreds, or prayed to God alone after watching an evangelistic television show or listening to a radio program, there may be days, weeks, months, or even years when we question if we did it right.

The challenges we encounter before becoming followers of Jesus do not permanently vanish after we decide to join him. Thankfully, we know he accomplished our salvation on the cross, not based on what we did or did not do. It is a gift to be invited to follow Jesus, and we get to choose to follow him each day, rising to follow him again when we stumble.

It’s difficult enough to contemplate our own salvation, let alone that of humanity. When God gave the law to Moses after liberating his people from Egypt, he built upon the covenant with their ancestor Abraham, who was blessed to be a blessing to others. As he established them as the nation of Israel, he consecrated them to be a holy nation within a kingdom of priests, meant to draw the entire world into a relationship with him. Israel never accomplished this. Like us, they wrestled with their own faithfulness, let alone guiding anyone else to God.

Our doubt in God‘s ability to execute His grand plan of saving the world fuels conflict among believers, with consequences that extend beyond the church. You have likely felt this impact, whether you realized it or not. We acknowledge that everyone has a choice to embrace Jesus for salvation and redemption or not. Most debates about free will have been put on the shelf. Yet, many questions remain about how much of creation God wishes to save. Does He truly desire to save all people? Or are there individuals who are too far gone? Are there those who weren’t born or haven’t lived in the right environment among the right people to genuinely experience salvation and redemption through a relationship with Jesus? That’s the essence of the question.

As usual, we typically don’t voice these questions. Instead, we focus on everything else as we ponder whether God will save or not. The passages in Revelation suggest that heaven will be rolled up like a scroll while fire, earthquakes, poison, and disease wreak havoc on the Earth. We will wrestle with God’s will in light of His love for the rest of creation and our obligation to it. We recognize it’s a broken mess, but we don’t know which parts align with God‘s plan and which parts illustrate our failure to follow it. Those are crucial questions because God created all of us to be stewards of this world. As followers of Jesus, if we neglect to care for creation, does that indicate we’ve failed in our responsibility? Even those of us who are saved, have we lost our purpose? Did God learn His lesson after the Garden of Eden? Is humanity untrustworthy? Such discussions can become profound, theological, philosophical, and even political, and the truth is, we don’t possess easy answers.

We lack easy answers because the questions involve a plan far greater than ourselves. God‘s salvation plan will touch everyone who has ever lived. Many may reject that plan and ultimately turn away from Him, but God will still utilize their lives, even if it’s merely a negative example to show others what not to do. We cannot see the entirety of the plan, and even if we tried to unify our efforts, we couldn’t halt it. We can either follow Jesus and intentionally engage in that plan or remain among those unintentional witnesses of what not to do when others observe our lives.

This vast plan of salvation and redemption is why the Magi: the wise men, pagan sages, astrologers, and wealthy rulers from the East came to see the baby Jesus, the King of the Jews. No one like them appeared at the birth of King David or even his son Solomon because salvation didn’t come through them. But Jesus was different, and God desired news of Him to spread to the entire world through His people and sometimes despite them. Mary and Joseph likely didn’t know how to handle these strangers who spoke in thick, broken accents and may have only known Greek, not the Jewish language at all. But these wise men knew what to do. Their star led them to the Savior of the world. They left their gifts beside Him and worshiped Him in a more genuine and costly way than they had worshiped any other person or thing in their lives. Their hearts were prepared for the gospel that had just been born into our world.

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Unchanged

They probably knew less about God than you and I, but they understood enough. The Bible states that what captured their attention was that bright star in the sky, shining more brightly than any other star, moving and communicating a story about something incredible and powerful happening in the world. That was enough for them.

When they arrived in Jerusalem, they realized that God‘s people had known about the coming of Christ for a long time—hundreds of years, according to the prophets. If you look back at Genesis chapter 3, you’ll find hints of the Messiah even before Adam and Eve had their first child. This grand plan for salvation was ancient and was being fulfilled right before their eyes.

You see, old plans are not that special. People have been planning, scheming, and working on projects since the Garden of Eden. You can’t unearth any ancient civilization without discovering plans for growth, change, the acquisition of power, and aspirations for a better future. But as we both know, when we face our struggles planning holiday gatherings, things rarely go as intended. Here is God, showcasing thousands of years of history, still working with plan A. No, old plans aren't impressive. What is remarkable about God‘s plans is that they remain unchanged.

Isaiah the prophet called it when he wrote:

Isaiah 60:1–6 NIV

1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. 4 “Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip. 5 Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come. 6 Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the Lord.

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Coming to you

The original Christmas story aligns perfectly with our understanding of God coming to rescue, heal, and uplift his poor, broken, and slightly rebellious people. There’s a miraculous birth, peaceful shepherds, and angels delivering his news from heaven. This story resembles many Old Testament accounts and how God worked through them. He called to guide his people, and we are good with the sheep. Yet, things get strange when the camels show up. Who are these unusual men from distant lands, and what do they want with Jesus? Why does the nation get stirred upon their arrival, causing King Herod and the chief priests to pay attention to little Bethlehem? No one cared about Jesus’s birth unless the angel sent him there. But these Magi show up, and King Herod sends in the army. Christmas is over.

I can’t imagine how surprised Mary and Joseph were by this entire ordeal. Their little Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, was something they likely planned to keep to themselves until he was old enough to do something about it. Jesus, the savior of the world, didn’t remain a secret for very long; the broken world came to him before he could walk, all part of God’s vast, unchanging plan.

So, should you be surprised when the world that needs your redeemer, who lives in you and whom you strive to follow every day, meets you right outside your door? Should you be surprised when God‘s vast, unchanging plan of salvation and redemption involves something you do or someone you encounter between the grocery store and your car?

Let me tell you about three wise men I’ve met in my life. I received a Christmas card from China from a man who teaches communication at a government-sponsored school and who wandered into church I served several years ago. One of my church members saw him walking and invited him in. He could speak English, but he was quite difficult to understand. After the church service ended, he came to greet me and apologized for not introducing himself in front of the entire congregation. I told him that we never expected guests to introduce themselves during church services but that we were glad he visited us that day. He said he would introduce himself the following week. The next week, he showed up at church with a little flash drive containing a PowerPoint presentation to display on the projector screen, showcasing pictures of Chairman Mao and many things celebrating China. He then offered to teach all the children in the church how to speak Chinese. That went over like a lead balloon. But I felt bad and I believed his heart was in the right place, so I offered to take some of those lessons myself.

I am terrible at languages; I struggle enough with Spanish, and Chinese is one of the hardest languages to learn. But I gave it a try. I didn’t master the language, but I made a friend. He couldn’t attend church very often, but he offered to come and cook us some authentic Chinese food on Wednesday nights at church. It was nothing like what we were used to getting at the restaurants. A few months later, his semester as a visiting professor ended, and he headed back home to see his wife and son, whom he had been away from for months. Before he left, he came to church one more time on a Wednesday night, and there, in front of a couple dozen of our church members, he told everyone that when he came here, he didn’t believe in God. But everyone here made him feel warm inside, and now he had God in his heart and was going back to China to share Him with everyone there. There was no confession of sin, altar call, or anything like that, and it surprised me, even though I’d been praying for him for months. God forbid me to get in the way of His plan.

The second Magi I met was not a man; she was a young woman. I only met her once at a Christmas program our church hosted. It featured a lot of Christmas music and a narrator who did a beautiful job of explaining the gospel clearly and plainly. We ended the service by celebrating communion together. I saw this young lady come down to receive communion, and I didn’t recognize her. She had a darker complexion, and I wondered if she was part of the African-American church we often shared worship and fellowship with. I was happy to see a guest, but I didn’t think much about it until after the service. At the end of the service, one of our church members approached me, bursting with excitement. “Did you see her?” she asked. “It was so good that she came this evening.”

She was a visiting college student preparing to go home and would not be returning. She had never been to our church but had visited the home of one of our older couples. She wanted to see them one last time before she left town. She knew they would be at this church service, so she came to see them. But she was not just any ordinary college student; she was an English as a second language student from Pakistan and a Muslim. When I realized that, I started freaking out a little, trying to recall all the scriptures that talk about serving communion and whether we’re supposed to share communion with Muslims or not. I’m glad I didn’t know that when she came down the line. But God had a plan. She had a wonderful time during her first and only visit to a church, hearing the Christmas message and learning about Jesus, the Savior of the world. She contacted those church members several months later, asking the church to pray for her mom, who had a treatable illness but no access to good medicine. They told her, “You do know we pray to Jesus, right?” She said, “Yes, please pray to Jesus for my mom.” There was no noticeable moment in church that night, but because God’s people were faithful in inviting others and making that Christmas service about Jesus while sharing Him in word and deed, a little corner of the Middle East was changed.

My third Magi came from Scotland. He found me online on Facebook while I was trying to advertise some of my writing. His first words to me were that the Bible is full of contradictions. I felt nervous engaging with him because he was a college professor, and I didn’t know his field of study. When I tried to look it up, I could barely pronounce the words, let alone understand them. It all sounded somewhat like mad science to me. I replied as gracefully and curiously as I could, not arguing but just trying to find out his particular questions and issues. After several long back-and-forth responses in the comment section of my advertisement, my phone began to ring, and it indicated that Scotland was calling. It’s been almost ten years now, and my phone rings from Scotland every week, sometimes more than once.

John spent much of his life helping to pioneer a new field of science to help the world determine what causes cancer. He’s trying to retire, but he continues to mentor others in the field. When he introduced himself to me, he called himself an atheist, although I’m not sure I truly believe that. I know he had a bad experience with the church that was more about show than about living out the faith and love of Jesus. I don’t know what I’ve been able to do for him, but I can say he has kept me sane through a global pandemic, crazy church politics, several moves, and a lot of life happening in between. I got him to read scripture for a church service via video several years ago. On one of those Sundays after Easter, he read the story of Doubting Thomas and told me that the scripture had been working on him a little bit. He’s followed our services online for the last several years and seen some of those devotions that you all have done for us as well. Last year, he told me I better watch myself because he has a 15-year-old grandson who has started watching those too with a lot of interest.

I couldn’t plan encounters with these kind of people if I tried. But this is the kind of work that Jesus does through us all the time if we have our eyes open, our ears open, and our hearts open to Him, and if we are willing to be faithful to the very little bit of the plan that we know, trusting Him with the rest of it.

If you are faithful in the small things, God will increase your responsibilities. If you are faithful in following Him wherever He leads you, He will bring the world to you. And if you are faithful to hold fast to the relationship you have with Jesus, growing closer and more in love with Him every day, the world will come and dump their treasures on your front lawn because they will want what you have. They’ll bring all their troubles too, and it will be much more than you know what to do with. The God who started this all, and brought us here today, will lead us through every bit of that mess to the salvation and redemption that He’s promised from the very beginning.

What is God calling you to be more faithful to this year?

Where is God leading you today?

Who has God brought into your life that has got your attention?

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, you have a way of stirring things up. Whether it is the conflict that goes on within ourselves or in the world around us, you don’t leave our messes alone. You don’t cover up or hide them either, nor do you use your heavenly power to blast them out of existence. You call us to you and lead us in a way that weaves us together in ways we don’t always understand that rearranges and re-orchestrates our lives, and mercy and grace break forth where they touch. You show us that we are no better than anyone else and no worse. We, along with the rest of our world, need to be saved and redeemed, and we only get that by following you every day. We don’t know how many steps we have today, Lord, but however many they are, help us to take them with you. In Jesus name, amen.

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