Lives Change When People Meet Jesus

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Introduction

Between the ages of 16 and 21 (1964-1969), Frank Abagnale Jr successfully posed as an airline pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer, cashing millions in fraudulent checks along the way. He made a series of decisions that led him deeper into crime, starting with running away from home as a teenager and discovering he could forge checks to survive. You might remember this story, which was told in the movie “Catch Me If You Can.”
Eventually he was caught, and given the opportunity to change the course of his life, he did just that. After serving his prison sentence, Abagnale accepted the FBI's offer to help them understand and combat fraud. This decision marked the beginning of a decades-long career as one of the world's foremost experts on forgery and fraud prevention.
He helped develop secure documents and banking procedures that have saved countless people from becoming victims of fraud. His early decisions in life made him notorious...but his later work in life brought him genuine fulfillment and the ability to make amends for his past actions.
Even after years of making harmful decisions, Frank’s choice to change direction completely transformed not only his own life but has helped protect millions of others.
“Life is a sum of all your choices. So, what are you doing today?”
--Albert Camus
The choices we make lead us down the paths that define our lives. One choice this way...another choice that way...and every choice we make for someone or something is also a choice against other options and opportunities.
Today, we’re going to look a choice that was made by a group of very influential people...a choice that was made, after meeting Jesus and bowing before him, and in response to a vision from God. It’s a choice that represents the choice before each of each day....even today.

After bowing down in worship before Jesus, which way do we go? Which choice will we make? Which path will we take?

Let’s return to Matthew 2 — ,

King Herod: The Kingdom of the World

First of all, Herod is an Edomite. 150 years before Jesus, Herod's ancestors were conquered by a Jewish king John Hyrcunus and forced to convert to Judaism. So, Herod was a a cultural Jew at best. He might have known how to talk the talk but faith never reached is heart or changed his life in any meaningful way. There are a lot of people of all faiths like Herod, in this respect.
Herod was a political strategist. When he saw a vacuum of power in Jerusalem as Rome swept through, he saw his chance. He had family wealth and bought his way into power by offering gifts of wealth, power, and opportunity to his friends and others. Power politics at its best, you might say.
Herod was mean...and suspicious of everyone, even his own family. By all accounts, he loved his wife, but when he began to believe the rumors that she was after his throne, he killed her, along with two of his songs and her brother. grandfather, and mother.
Finally, when Herod knew he was dying, his soldiers were ordered, upon his death, to kill some of the most well-liked and admired community leaders. Why? So that he could guarantee that people would be mourning during the time of his funeral and burial -- he would force people to come to his party, whether they wanted to or not.
So, when this king — Herod — heard about a new king being born — you can imagine what began to happen in his mind.

Herod represents all that the world has to offer — the things that our world tempts us to grab onto, to hold onto, to trust and depend no for our hope and well-being.

And to Herod the Great, Jesus the Greater was a threat that had to be eliminated.
And Herod had a plan — the Magi would be perfect as spies — and he, Herod the Great, gave them a direct order to tell him where this newborn king was located!

King Jesus: The Kingdom of God

Now let's turn to Jesus. While Herod built castles and ruled with fear, Jesus started out as a vulnerable baby in a manger and living out the words that his friend John would later write --
1 John 4:18 (NIV) — here is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
Jesus proclaimed a kingdom of truth and grace. We see this throughout Jesus' life, when Jesus spoke harshly to the religious leaders and their hypocritical ways and practices that left some out in the cold. When Jesus turns over the table in the temple it was for this reason -- the space reserved for worship in the outer courts was being used for other, non-worshippy, purposes, making it difficult, or impossible for people — to come in and perform their acts of worship, as they desired to do.
Herod used soldiers to keep his power while Jesus knelt down beside the undesirables and the unvalued untouchables. He fed the hungry, walked with people on their journey, and made himself accessible to all. Herod was an authoritarian king....Jesus was a shepherd king.
John 10:11 —  “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
The will of the heavenly Father, and the kingdom of God were Jesus’ purpose...a purpose carried out in relationship with people. Jesus saw people, and commended their faith, like the time he stopped to look a single person in the eye, the woman who had been bleeding for year, to commend her faith, and call her a daughter of God.
Herod was so scared of losing his power, and killed those closest to him to keep it. Jesus willingly surrendered his power and authority, giving up his own life so that others might have the opportunity to find life. When Peter was ready to fight to save Jesus, Jesus told him to put his sword away. Those who live in fear will die in fear. Those who live by power will die by power. Those who live by grace...will change the world.

When we meet Jesus, we choose and alternate route

East Java -- following earthquake -- mud covered up a major North-South road that we had to travel fairly regularly. As you approached the closed part of the road, people lined the roads, offering to take you on an alternate route through through field and villages, over deep pot holes and mud-soaked alleyways...through people yards and up steep and narrows roads not really designed for vehicular traffic. It was precarious....like alternative routes can sometimes be.
The Magi, in response to finding Jesus, bow down and presenting their gifts,
We don’t really know how long they stayed
Eventually it’s time to go home…to go back to their day jobs...
Matthew doesn’t tell us what they had been planning…but he does tell us that theirs plans were changed by a dream...
Matthew 2:12 (NIV) — And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
They chose to take an alternate route home. They chose to avoid the path that led to Herod, the path that might have been far more lucrative, a path that might have led to career advancement or beneficial partnerships....but also a path that was anti-Christ in almost every way.
Had they taken that path, we might have never heard their story. But here we are, talking about them more than 2000 years later. The alternative route, wherever it took them, was a good choice.
We have similar choices today -- to follows paths that lead us towards the Herod’s of our day — people, places, and things that lead us away from Christ....that take us back to who we once were and the life we once lived…those things that cause us to exalt ourselves…and to to desire what I want, how I want it, and when I want it.
...or paths that honor our Lord and Savior, Jesus…the ways of God’s kingdom…a life that bows down to Jesus (in the manger, on the cross, and seated beside the Father in heaven)…and says more of you, Lord, and less of me.
The alternative route of the Magi has a few things for us to think about today:

First, the alternative route represents demonstrates the proper response to bowing down in worship

When the Magi worshipped Jesus, they used a special Greek word "proskuneo" which meant getting down on their knees with their face to the ground --- of course, doing this requires that we forget about trying to look cool…and some of might be in this category, too (having a plan for getting up again]
Taking an alternative route, choosing a different path in life....is the proper response to kneeling before Jesus.

To whom or to what are you kneeling in your life?

Who or what is sitting on the highest throne of your heart?

I'll warn you....when you truly bow, truly worship, and truly pray...it'll mess up your life...change your plans...
Jesus doesn’t mess around — his path is not all “happy talk, no rock, non-stop easy listening” .... it’s not all comfortable chairs, familiar hymns, and polite conversation.
The alternative route can be bumpy....but it’s the best…it’s low-key the best choice you’ll ever make.

Second, the alternative route represents the transformation that happens when we meet Jesus, and surrender our lives to him:

When a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly - once those wings appear, there's no way to go back to crawling! The Magi did not return to Herod or take their old route home. Their encounter with Jesus changed whatever their previous plans may have been. The Bible puts it perfectly in 2 Corinthians 5:17 when it says
2 Cor 5:17 — Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
You’ve been upgraded, version 2.0…
It's not just about making better choices or having more self-discipline -- it’s not merely making a few changes around the edges or eliminating a few glitches --
it's becoming a new kind of person! Trading in your old rotary dial phone that was attached to the wall for the latest smartphone (android or iphone, take your choice).

You begin to see people…and things…and your life…differently.

This doesn't mean that life will be a breeze, with no bumps in the road -- alternate route are often difficult -- and it doesn't mean that the consequences of our past actions suddenly disappear -- we may have to continue living with those consequences for the rest of our lives.

But...we begin to live with a different purpose and new priorities as new people.

How well does my life reflect the purposes and priorities of Christ? It’s a good question. We gather here each week to worship…and to ask God to continue doing God’s work in us, perfecting us, completing us, and shaping us more and more into the image of Christ.
We come to church for an hour or two…and we walk out those door to be the church for the other 166 hours of the week.

Third, the alternative route illustrates the practical importance of our intentional decisions.

The Magi had two clear options: go back through Jerusalem as Herod asked, or take the longer, unfamiliar route God showed them. It's kind of like when you know the shortcut to school goes past the kids who always cause trouble - sometimes the right choice means taking the longer, more difficult way -- not taking the higher paying job, not working the extra hours, doing something for the benefit of others even if it causes you some loss, ... you get the idea.
In Joshua 24:15, we find Joshua making his final speech to the people of Israel — he reminds them of all that God had done for them throughout the generations. He reminds them of the God who saved them because he knows that some of them are clinging to other gods… holding on to other Herod’s that promise them protection, and the good life.

And Joshua calls them to make a decision — it’s a call to complete commitment - either serve the Lord fully or choose another god, but stop trying to have it both ways.

Joshua 24:15 — 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
It's not enough to just think about it, or to put Jesus into your back pocket as a back-up plan…we each have to pick and path and start walking.
.... because every day we find ourselves at crossroads — right or left, forward or back....Herod or Jesus?
And as we heard last week from Reverend Scott Shaw...choosing the way of Jesus requires boldness and courage...and full trust in the One who calls us.

Which way will you go?

Mark Twain quipped, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”
A journey of 1000 miles begins with one step.
Maybe your at the place of taking that first step.
Or maybe you’ve been on the journey for many miles already — the question for you is, are you going to take the next step?
Either way the question for you today is this — Today, which way will you choose? Which choice will you make? Which path will you take?
Winston Churchill said, “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
We can’t learn to square dance without stepping on a few toes.
LeBron James has missed more shots than anyone in the history of basketball…on his way to scoring more points that any one in history.
I remember the commercial when I was a kid — “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” I’ll probably have to get one of those button to wear around my neck someday, but the great thing about walking with Jesus is that there’s no falling without the hand of the Father, ready to pick us back up again and continue the journey.

The alternative path — the way of Jesus — is not about performing perfectly...

Hebrews 10:24–25 “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
1 John 2:6 “whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”
…it’s about walking together…and helping each other...it’s about trusting Jesus with each step and each decision along the way.
Let us be like the Magi who, having met Jesus, could not go back the same way. May we too have the wisdom to recognize divine guidance and the courage to take different roads when God calls us to do so. With boldness and courage, mercy and grace, truth and faithfulness, and overflowing the the love of Christ.
Let’s walk together in the way of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
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