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Baptist Church in Warren January 4, 2009
Prelude /Chiming of the Hour
Welcome
Call to Worship “He that sat upon the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new’” (Rev. 21:5 KJV).
*Adoration of God # 108 “The First Noel”
*Invocation (Disciples’ Prayer) Almighty God, fill our first worship of this New Year with winds of renewal and direction, that we may faithfully worship and serve our God this year and every year.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen
*Psalm for Today cx Psalm 72: 1-7 (NLT)
Give your love of justice to the king, O God, and righteousness to the king’s son.
Help him judge your people in the right way; let the poor always be treated fairly.
May the mountains yield prosperity for all, and may the hills be fruitful.
Help him to defend the poor, to rescue the children of the needy, and to crush their oppressors.
May they fear you as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon remains in the sky.
Yes, forever!
May the king’s rule be refreshing like spring rain on freshly cut grass, like the showers that water the earth.
May all the godly flourish during his reign.
May there be abundant prosperity until the moon is no more.
Just for Kids TITLE: Wake Up SCRIPTURE: Isa. 60:1–6
KEY VERSE: Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. (Isa. 60:1, NASB) KEY CONCEPT: Jesus as the Light of the world
MATERIALS: Bible, bathrobe (or pajama shirt with a pocket), toothbrush, teddy bear
PREPARATION: Have an accomplice ready to shout, “Wake up sleepy head: Arise,shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.”
Put on the bathrobe and mess up your hair. As the kids come up for the children’s sermon, say things like, “I got up too early this morning, I need to go back to sleep,” or, “It is so bright in here. Won’t someone shut off the lights,” or, “I have got to go back to sleep!” Then curl up with your teddy and pretend to fall asleep. As the kids are wondering what is going on, have your accomplice shout out the phrase, “Wake up sleepy head: Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.”
Huh? Did you say, “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon ME?” Wow, I never thought of it like that. I better wake up. I better put my clothes on and get ready for today. (Take off bathrobe).
That means Mr. Sleepy has to go back to his little bed. (Put teddy bear down.) (Open Bible.) Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. This is from Isaiah 60:1. (Point at each child as you say this.) What a fantastic reminder for you and me. We should wake up every day and say this. Can you say it with me? (Repeat the verse several times with the children.) This verse is prophecy, telling us that Jesus came to the world for me and for you. Jesus is the Light of the world. Light is a picture word used to describe Jesus to help us understand that Jesus can show us the way to live. This verse reminds us of Jesus’ love for each one of us. It is like the brightest, sunniest day that we have ever seen. Light helps us to see when it is dark. Jesus wants each one of us to live every day like we have him shining through us. Jesus wants us to light the way—to show others how to follow him. Now, let’s say that verse one more time: Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.—Lizette Hunt
Our Offering To GOD But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8nlt
*Doxology
*Prayer of Dedication Lord God, allow our first offering of this New Year to set a steady pattern of stewardship that will find us at year’s end faithful soldiers of the cross.
Announcements
Scripture Reading Isaiah 60: 1-6 (NLT)
1 “Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see. For the glory of the Lord rises to shine on you. 2 Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth, but the glory of the Lord rises and appears over you. 3All nations will come to your light; mighty kings will come to see your radiance. 4“Look and see, for everyone is coming home! Your sons are coming from distant lands; your little daughters will be carried home. 5 Your eyes will shine, and your heart will thrill with joy, for merchants from around the world will come to you. They will bring you the wealth of many lands. 6Vast caravans of camels will converge on you, the camels of Midian and Ephah. The people of Sheba will bring gold and frankincense and will come worshiping the Lord.
*Hymn of Worship # 107 “Gentle Mary Laid Her Child”
Pastoral Prayer
Kind Father, as we begin this New Year, guide us into it with the sense of your loving direction, ever-present Spirit, and unending wisdom. We give thanks for the accomplishments of the year past and eagerly anticipate your gracious work among us in the year ahead. May today mark not only the beginning of the year but a new beginning in a life of faith.Renew us, we pray, for the living of our days. Give to us, we pray, keen sensitivity that we may see where you are at work around us—and courage
necessary to enter into that great work. We ask that our lives may be molded into the image of your dear Son, Jesus, and that our witness to his name will be clear and bold. And grant that we may walk closer to you at this year’s ending than at its beginning. We pray in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen.—
*Hymn of Petition insert “We Three Kings of Orient Are”
Scripture Text Matthew 2:1-12 (NLT)
Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, 2 “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”
3 King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. 4 He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”
5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote: 6 ‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not least among the ruling cities of Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. 8 Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”
9 After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! 11 They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.
Message Gifts
We remember the Magi mainly for the gifts that they presented to the infant Jesus. We are moved by the fact that they traveled so far to deliver their presents. We are inspired by the fact that they presented valuable gifts, perhaps the best that they could offer, to the newborn King. We think of our Christmas gift giving as being inspired by the gifts of the Magi. There is no doubt they did offer fine gifts, and there is no doubt that their gift giving is inspiring to us still. I. God’s gift and our gifts. The gifts of the Magi were given, however, in response to a gift that they had received. They gave because they had been given to. They gave their gifts because God had shown them a star, which they followed to the Christ child. Can we even begin to imagine what an astounding gift that was? The Magi were astrologers, likely from the area of modern-day Iraq or Iran. They spent most of their time gazing at the stars. Out of all the stars on which they could have focused, God led them to see the one that would lead them to Jesus. That’s awe inspiring. Think about it.
How many stars are there in the universe? The number is larger than a simple mind like mine can comprehend. Just to get some idea of the kind of number we are talking about, think about this: there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches in the world combined!
No wonder that, when we look into the night sky, the vastness of it all amazes us, and when we do such stargazing, we are seeing only a tiny fraction of our own solar system, which is, in turn, only a tiny fraction of the universe. No wonder that we can so readily echo the words of the psalm, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him?” (Ps. 8:3–4, KJV). And yet out of that vastness God directed the Magi to the one star that made all the difference.
II. God’s gift is for you and me. We may have lost sight of how astounding this event is in terms of its implications for us. I fear that we lose something if we lose sight of the wonder of the truth that “‘Whosoever’ meaneth me.” The astounding thing about the revelation to the Wise Men is that they were Gentiles. According to the gospels, the first announcement of the birth of the Messiah was to Jewish shepherds—men who lived on the fringe of Hebrew society. The second announcement was to Gentiles—people who lived on the outside of that society. We are Gentiles. The announcement to them was the first announcement to people like us. John Wesley called the Magi “the first fruits of the Gentiles.”
Even though it was always God’s intention for the Hebrews to be a light to the nations and for Gentiles to be included in his Kingdom, it took the coming of Jesus as the Messiah to throw the way for us wide open. Even then it was a hard sell. It took much debate and the heroic efforts of people like Paul to make full Gentile inclusion in the Church a reality. But God’s truth won out: salvation is by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ and nothing else. We come in from different backgrounds, but we all come in the same way: through Christ. God went to the extreme of extremes to make salvation possible for people like us, who were the outsiders; we will gain something very valuable here at the beginning of this new year if we reclaim the truth that the salvation of people like us—of someone like you—of someone like me—is a great gift from God.
III. God’s gift is for everybody. We may have lost sight of just how astounding this episode of the “Christ event” was for everyone. God went to great lengths to let the Magi know about the birth of Jesus. He went to great lengths because what he was saying to the Magi was what he wanted to say to the whole world. His sign to the Magi signaled from the very beginning that God’s gift of his Son was for all, not just for a select few. The revelation of God to the Magi was an eye-opening experience for those Wise Men, no doubt, but the revelation to the early readers of Matthew’s gospel was just as much of an eye-opening experience. After all, the Magi were foreigners, they were practitioners of another religion, and they were astrologers. They bore characteristic after characteristic that should have (the people in Israel would have thought) disqualified them from having a positive experience with the Messiah. And yet God showed them the star, they saw the star, and they followed the star. They were Gentiles, and yet God gave them the gift of his Son; Jesus came for them, just as much as he came for the people of Israel. We will gain something very valuable here at the beginning of this new year if we reclaim the gospel truth that the coming of Christ means that the walls have come down, that the door is opened to all, and that the Church to be gathered around Christ will be a Church that makes no distinctions because of race, gender, or social standing.
IV. Responding to God’s gift. We don’t always take advantage of the gifts that are given to us. When the Wise Men came to Herod’s court at Jerusalem and inquired as to where the king of the Jews was to be born, the priests and scribes knew the answer because they knew the Bible—he was to be born in Bethlehem. So the Wise Men headed off to Bethlehem, which is only six miles from Jerusalem. Can you believe that the priests and scribes didn’t go with them? It is as Søren Kierkegaard said: “What a difference!
The three kings had only a rumor to go by. But it moved them to make that long journey. The scribes were much better informed, much better versed. They sat and studied the Scriptures . . . but it did not make them move. Who had the more truth? The three kings who followed a rumor, or the scribes who remained sitting with all their knowledge?”
It makes me wonder about us. God has given us such tremendous gifts. God has given us salvation; he has included people like us in his great plan of salvation, and he has even included me. God has given us our Christian fellowship, our Bibles, a free country in which to exercise our faith, and so much more. How, though, are we responding to his tremendous gifts to us?
A poet put it this way:
What can I give Him, Poor as I am? If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb. If I were a wise man, I would do my part—
Yet what can I give Him, I give my heart.
But are we really giving him our hearts? Are we really giving him our lives? Kierkegaard went on to say, “What an atrocious self-contradiction that the scribes should have the knowledge and yet remain still. This is as bad as if a person knows all about Christ and his teachings, and his own life expresses the opposite.”5 The early Jewish Christians had a hard time accepting the fact that God wanted Jews and Gentiles in his Church on the same terms. Now the Church is a Gentile Church. Are we ready to accept the fact that God welcomes all into his family? We withhold a large part of our greatest gift—our lives—from God if we withhold our hearts from anyone. And what a gift we cost ourselves if we don’t accept God’s gift of that great multifaceted collection of people who can—and should—make up the Church.
Many years ago the actress who played the mother on the television series Eight Is Enough died, and her death was written into the story line of the show. In one episode, the family members began to find Christmas presents hidden around the house that she had acquired for each of them. Each gift found was a reminder of her love for them. We are surrounded by people for whom God has the great gift of salvation and who would be a great gift of God to us. They are hiding in plain sight all around us. As we find them, love them, and relate to them, we will be reminded of God’s love or them— and for us. What a gift that will be!—Michael Ruffin
Now may the majesty and the power and the glory of our great God go with you, sons and daughters of God. Be strengthened in these days to live faithfully for the sake of the Kingdom. And let us rejoice. Amen.
Hope. Rogers and Hammerstein’s musical South Pacific has long been a favorite for many of us—and continues to be now, nearly fifty years after the end of World War II. In the play, Nellie Fawbush, from Little Rock, Arkansas, falls
in love with a French planter, Emil. The two are discussing the war. “Is it the end of the world?” she cried. “Maybe it’s the end of some worlds,” he replied. Nellie, gathering herself, declared, “Well, I just can’t feel like that.
It’s a terrible time, but I don’t believe it’s the end.” Her friends at the hospital where she worked thought she was naïve, and so gave her the nickname, Knuckle-head Nellie. Later she sings, “People think I’m a cockeyed optimist. I can see the sun and forget every cloud I’ve ever seen.” The last line of the song is, “I’m stuck like a dope with a thing called hope, and I can’t get it out of my heart.”
Well I can’t either. Not because I believe in shallow optimism but because I trust in the grace of God. I like the song, but I disagree with Nellie’s view of hope. Hope isn’t something we’re stuck with. Hope is something we choose. At times it may come unstuck, but when it does we can choose to hope again. We will disagree with the writer of Ecclesiastes, that there is nothing new under the sun. There is something new: the renewal of life.—Lee McGlone
Empowerment. The New Year is filled with opportunity. Sadly, a disquieted spirit within will cause the opportunities to vanish. A renewed spirit is needed for the new year. Charles Allen writes of the terrible tortures of the Spanish Inquisition. The worst of all was to put a man in a jail cell with the ceiling so low he could not stand up fully. He was never able to stand up straight, never able to hold up his head. This was discovered to break even the strongest man’s spirit. As we step into the months ahead, may we do so standing on tip-toes, anticipating God’s grand work among us. As Allen said,
“Christian, stand up straight; be a real person.”6—Lee McGlone
*Communion Hymn # 210 “Here, O My Lord, I See Thee”
Celebration Of The Lord’s Supper (open to all believers)
Reading of the Church Covenant (inside back cover of Hymnal)
Please take the Bread/Cup as it is served and hold it until all have been served.
We will partake together.
*Hymn of Benediction # 114 “As with Gladness Men of Old”
*Benediction The Lord watch between me and you, while we are absent from one another.
*Gloria Patri (Sung together) # 575
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen.
*Postlude
Sermon Outline
I. God’s gift and our gifts.
II. God’s gift is for you and me
III. God’s gift is for everybody
IV. Responding to God’s gift