The Candle of Worship // Pastor Bobby

Glad you're here this morning and love it that we get to hang out and

worship together.

It's been a good and busy week.

Just so you know.

Everybody always asks about,

you know,

me being a grandpa.

So I did get to babysit Friday night.

Angie helped me.

It was necessary.

But anyway,

yeah, it's a cool thing and.

And God's doing some cool things there and we're enjoying it.

So thank you all for your prayers and all that kind of thing.

And no,

I don't know when the baby will be premiered.

I'm not privy to some of those things.

Today we continue our celebration of expectation and Advent as we look

forward to the celebration of the birth of Jesus and what we call

Christmas and.

And that kind of thing.

And so today we light the fourth candle of the Advent.

We'll do that in a little bit.

But this candle is the candle of worship.

It's the Wise Men's candle.

It's the candle that gives sort of us the opportunity to examine God's

announcement, not just in Bethlehem or in the surrounding fields of

Bethlehem, or through the prophetic messages to God's people from the

written prophets and the spoken prophets throughout the Old Testament,

but quite actually,

this is the candle we get to look at where God announced the birth of

Jesus in the heavens.

All right.

And so we're going to read from Matthew,

Matthew 2:1–12

chapter 2,

verses 1 to 12,

and you can follow along up on the TV.

It says this.

Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the

King, behold,

Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem saying,

where is he who has been born King of the Jews?

For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.

And when Herod the King heard it,

he was troubled,

and all Jerusalem with him.

And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people,

he began to inquire of them where the Christ was to be born.

And they said to him,

in Bethlehem of Judea.

For so it is written,

so it has been written by the prophet.

And you,

Bethlehem, land of Judah,

are by no means least among the leaders of Judah.

For out of you shall come forth a ruler who will shepherd my people

Israel. Then Herod secretly called the Magi and ascertained from them the

time the star appeared.

And he sent them to Bethlehem and said,

go and make careful search for the child.

And when you have found him,

report to me,

and I too may come,

that I too may come and worship him.

Having heard the king,

they went on their way,

and lo the star which they had seen in the east went on before them until

it came and stood over where the child was.

And when they saw the star,

they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

Kind of like the shepherds,

right?

And they came into the house and saw the child with Mary,

his mother,

and they fell down and worshipped him.

And opening their treasures,

they presented to him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.

And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod,

they departed for their own country by another way.

All right,

let's pray together.

God, we give you thanks and praise again that we get to gather and to

worship and to sing and to celebrate and to greet one another and to love

each other,

God, because indeed you first loved us.

And we celebrate in this season that incredible expression of your love,

which is our Savior,

our salvation,

our redemption.

God, we thank youk.

God. Help us to understand,

God, what yout desire of us and in us,

God, what yout expect as we study youy Word and this account of Magi and

pray, God,

that we would have an understanding of how we leave this place this

morning to follow after you and to serve you.

And we pray it in Jesus name.

Amen. All right,

so this is supernatural,

okay? This whole account is just a supernatural event.

And quite,

you know,

accurately, we as believers and Christians,

we call it miraculous.

You know,

this account of the star and Herod and Jerusalem and Magi and Bethlehem

and the star going before them,

this is all a miraculous event.

And so the best way to describe this is this is just God.

This is the kind of stuff God does.

You see,

this is the way God works.

This is the way God behaves.

This is the way God acts.

This is just God.

So what do you do when you are confronted by or with God?

What's the response?

What is it that God longs to see in us?

What is it that should be our,

not just response,

but our behavior when confronted by God and with God.

You see,

because there's a little book that I acquired.

I don't know how I acquired it.

I think some old preacher gave it to me because it's a really old book we

studied. Paul Mayer is a historian.

He was a professor at Western Michigan University.

He studied ancient history and the Reformation,

and he's written a few books like this.

He wrote this one called First Christmas.

It's out of print now,

so don't go looking for it unless you want to find it on digital or at

Goodreads or whatever those places.

Are. But anyway,

this book kind of gives a breakdown of the first Christmas,

the true and unfamiliar story.

So it goes in to explain a lot of the things that we just simply accept

and. And take from Scripture and from the Bible.

And we believe these things and we understand these things,

and we're like,

okay, yeah,

that's how it happened.

And yet he goes into explaining different cultural things and different

the time and the era in which all these things took place.

And he spends a couple of chapters just kind of explaining magi and the

star.

And it's really interesting to read that.

Throughout history,

for the last couple thousand years,

people have been trying to explain the scriptural text of this star and

what this star was and how it went before them and how it came to rest

over where the baby was in the house.

And it's like,

okay. And I remember when I first got this book and I read through it,

it was really cool to read.

You know,

a professor and a scholar and an intellectual trying to explain God,

right?

Because when I read the Bible,

I don't need an explanation.

I just simply go,

okay, that's God.

Okay, God did that.

You know,

quite honestly,

I told somebody,

I said,

you know,

what if God decided the Magi leaving Jerusalem needed a light right

there? God could put a light right there and go,

here, follow the light.

They could follow it.

Now it says,

lo, the star appeared and went ahead of them or went before them.

And so I'm looking at this thing,

and my response and going back over this text and reading back over these

things was like,

that's just God,

y'all. There's some things that we are never going to be able to explain

naturally because this is super beyond natural.

This is miraculous.

This is the way God works.

This is the way God has drawn our attention to him,

is by doing what only God can do,

right? And so when people come to me and they want to explain God and I

go, I'm glad you got him figured out.

I've been studying him all my life,

and I can't explain God.

Now I can tell you what I believe God's revealed to us.

I can tell you what I believe the Bible kind of presents as the

revelation of who God is.

And I can try to understand what it is that the Bible is saying to us.

But. But once we start to.

To understand the revelation of who God is and what God wants us to know

about him,

we've got to decide what we're going to do with it.

How are you going to act?

What you going to do how are you going to behave?

Right. Well,

I believe that this candle of the Advent and this story of the magi and

this account of the star and this confrontation between God and these

wise guys,

right? The response is worship.

We're supposed to bow before God,

we're supposed to fall before him,

and that's what we see in this account.

So what's the point of all this thing?

The point of all this thing is Christmas about Jesus.

Yeah. We can do presents and we can do family and we can do Chinese food.

Isn't that in some movie somewhere?

Somebody told me that,

you know,

you see,

you can do anything you want to around the celebration as long as you

don't miss the point or lose the point of what God intended Christmas to

be about.

Now, I'm going to say something that some of you,

being from a former tradition,

the idea of Christ Mass is actually right.

You know that.

I mean,

Christmas comes from the phrase Christ Mass.

What's it talking about?

It is the gathering celebration that we recognize and acknowledge and

really sort of prioritize the birth of Jesus.

Okay, so.

And folks,

just so you know,

you know what mass means,

gathering. Just let me define it for you.

So Christ Mass is a Jesus gathering.

Okay, so what you gonna do Tuesday night,

Wednesday morning,

you're gonna have a Jesus gathering somewhere.

You might be all by yourself,

but just like there was a song years ago says,

you know,

me and Jesus make four.

Or me and God make four.

Right.

That's a gathering right there,

y'all. So I started looking back over this this morning,

particularly as I get up at 4:30.

I was awake at 3:30,

but I was.

I was laying there,

I was like.

And quite honestly,

and I'm gonna be very forthright with you this morning just to tell you,

at 3:30 when I woke up,

I was like,

where are you,

God?

Where are you?

And I'll be.

And I told Angie this morning,

I said,

here's what I realized.

If I'm struggling with a question on Sunday morning,

it generally has to do with whatever I'm preaching on.

You know,

if I wake up with a question on my mind on a Sunday morning,

it's because God is challenging me before I have to get up in front of

you.

And so when I woke up this morning,

I was like,

where are you,

God? And the first point of the message of the fourth Advent candle,

that this outline was written down months ago.

Just so y'all know,

the first point was come and seek him.

And so I woke up this morning at 3:30 with the question,

where are you,

God? And it was like he reminded me.

He was like,

come and seek me.

Come and find me.

I'm where I've always been.

I've not left,

I've not moved,

right? And then I started working into the idea of the wise men.

And think about these magi.

Now, most scholars will tell you,

and Paul Mayer even comes to it,

is that more than likely these magi were some combination of astrologer,

astronomer, magic.

Hang on,

I'll read you what it says here.

It says,

because he says,

it's kind of,

I can't find anyone.

You know,

when I turn to it,

I even underlined it.

Y'all says they were some combination of medicine,

religion, astronomy,

astrology, divination,

and magic.

Their caste eventually spread across much of the east.

And by the time they were later,

and they could have been Babylonian by the time they were later,

they had kind of become a joke,

the culture.

But the Medo Persian magi were the respected cast of educated

intellectuals. So most scholars will say,

well, these were most likely Persian astronomers who just watched the

stars.

And then he goes into the fact that the star.

And they've tracked this back historically,

the star may or might have been this.

This sort of.

Sort of gathering in the heavens of Jupiter,

Saturn and Mars.

And that it happens every so many years at such and such a time.

And that it happens over a period of several months.

And that and that.

And that because of the different zodiac signs that were assigned at the

time, that these magi from Persia are looking up there and they're going,

okay, that's.

That's the Middle East.

That's west of us,

but in the east.

And that's.

And that Jupiter is the king planet and Saturn.

And something's happening in Palestine.

Something's happening among the Jewish people,

and we got to go.

And so,

you know,

he even says in there,

the song we three kings of Orient are gets it all wrong.

We don't know that there are three.

They brought three gifts.

Yay. Supposedly,

three gifts represent something of Jesus birth.

And that more than likely there were a dozen magi and it was a caravan.

And they all come cruising into Jerusalem,

creating a firestorm of activity and interest.

And then they announced to Herod that,

you know,

where is he that is born king of the Jews?

And Herod's like,

wait a minute,

I'm king of the Jews,

and I hadn't had any baby lately,

right? And so he calls the scribes and the chief priests together,

and they go,

well, you know,

the prophets do Say that down there in Bethlehem there's going to be a

birth, and,

you know,

the stars are kind of lining up the right way and that kind of thing.

He says,

all right,

well, y'all go find him and let me know so I can come worship him.

So the Magi from Persia are.

Are watching what only God controls,

right? The heavens.

Only God controls that.

And the Magi are watching the heavens,

and they notice something in the heavens,

this alignment of planets.

And whether or not,

by their understanding it's that alignment,

God intended for them to see the announcement of the birth of Jesus,

the heavens,

right? So what did it do?

It motivated and prompted them to go find Jesus.

Okay, now you can read some of what we refer to as church history.

And they came up with names for three of these Magi.

One of them is Balthazar.

You know,

you can find these names,

but they say those names appeared in the 6th century.

So they're not really,

you know,

you don't know whether they're real or not.

You know,

whether that's really who they were,

we don't know.

And then there's the story of their later baptism that comes down through

church history.

Somebody went out and found them,

Thomas maybe,

and found them in Persia and baptized the wise guys,

right? You see what I mean?

But the biblical story is as they were watching what God does and

announces, and they went looking for Jesus,

went looking for him.

What did they do when they found him?

And lo,

the star which they had seen in the east went on before them till it came

and stood over where the child was.

Folks, I'm just telling you,

that was some alignment and movement as they were moving.

And, you know,

as you move on Earth,

the stars kind of move around,

however they interpreted,

or if God put a light right in front of them and said,

here, follow the light.

When they saw the star,

they rejoiced exceedingly,

with great joy.

And they came into the house and saw the child with Mary,

his mother,

and they fell down and worshiped him.

What's the response when you are confronted by or you encounter God?

You fall down and worship,

right? I mean,

that's the thing that God not only expects,

but commands us to do.

So this morning,

and it's an old song,

and I was really tempted to ask Scott and Jared and them to change up the

worship order this morning,

because I've never done that,

but I almost did.

This is the song when I woke up and asked,

God, where are you,

God? These are the lyrics.

Draw me close to you and never let me go I lay it all down again.

To hear you say that I'm your friend.

Y'all know this song?

It's called Draw Me Close.

Michael W.

Smith wrote it probably 30 years ago.

You are my desire.

No one else will do.

Because nothing else can take your place.

To feel the warmth of your embrace.

Help me find the way.

Bring me back to you.

You're all I want.

You're all I needed.

All I've ever needed.

You're all I want.

Help me know you are near 3:30 this morning I was singing that song,

God, where are you?

Draw me close to you,

never let me go.

I lay it all down again.

Just to hear you say that I'm your friend.

When you're encountered by God,

what does God want us to do?

To draw close,

to fall down and worship him.

You know,

everything around us is going to go crazy in the next couple of days.

I've already heard people saying,

well, we're going here or we're going there.

We're getting together with this and we're getting together to do that

and all that sort of thing.

But here's the point.

Will it be about Jesus?

See, because I think what God's calling us as believers to do is to make

Jesus the point of our Christmas,

okay? Come and seek him,

fall down and worship him,

and go and obey him.

So what God's called us to do.

You see,

I look at these things and I.

This morning I woke up,

I was like,

pretty typically when I wake up,

I look forward to Sunday mornings.

And I love getting together here on Sunday mornings.

I think it's great.

I think we have this incredible opportunity to turn down the noise of the

world and to focus our hearts and our minds,

our attention on God.

To set aside those things that draw us away.

Draw me close to you.

Never let me go.

I lay it all down again.

What is it?

I'm laying down.

I'm laying down distractions.

I'm laying down my wants and desires.

I'm laying down what I would consider to be my priorities.

I'm laying down the things that distract me from the revelation of God

himself, right?

I mean,

I can imagine sitting in my little study cubicle at the Persian library,

right? And I'm looking out the skylight and I'm going,

oh, wait a minute.

What are those bright lights doing?

Guys, come here.

Everybody gather around.

Look, something's going on.

Well, hang on a minute,

let me get the scroll.

They start unrolling the scrolling go.

Oh, look,

that's that King planet,

that Saturn over there.

That's that.

And they're in this constellation.

And, guys,

something's going on among the Jews.

And one of them goes,

well, let's go.

Let's go over there.

Let's pack up our donkeys and our camels and let's get over there.

And it probably took months for them to travel up the rivers and down

into Canaan and Palestine and get to Jerusalem and find Herod and get an

audience with Herod and come in there and go,

hey, look,

we were sitting there just studying stars and planets,

and something's going on here.

Where is the king born?

And Herod's going,

wait a minute.

So he shoos out the wise men,

brings in the chief priests and the scribes and goes,

hey, something's going on.

Have y'all not told me about it?

See what's going on in your life today?

What you got planned this week,

right? I mean,

I've already,

like I said,

I've already heard people say,

okay, well,

we're doing this because we got to do that.

We're going here because we got to go there,

you see?

And I'm not saying that's wrong.

I'm not saying agendas are bad things.

I'm not saying to do lists are not the way we live our lives.

But here's the question.

Does Christ sit atop all of it?

Is Christmas about Jesus for you?

You see,

here's what I'm worried about.

I'll go ahead and tell you.

I'm worried that about 500 people are going to show up here 5:30 Tuesday

night, and we got seats for 257.

See what I mean?

I love it that people are going to make worship on Christmas Eve a

priority. I think it's great the 5:30 hours when families come with their

kids. And that's all cool and great and we love it,

but the place will be packed,

and that's fine.

We might even have to do floor seating.

Just sit in the floor.

Go ahead.

It'll be all right.

It'd be hard to get the Lord's Supper out.

Won't it nick people sitting in the aisles and stuff?

We'll throw it at you.

See, if the challenge is to come and seek him and the response is to fall

and worship him,

then the command is to go and obey him.

Okay? Merry Christmas.

It's a joyful time to celebrate God's greatest gift.

Don't miss the opportunity.

Don't miss the opportunity to tell somebody why it's Mary,

you see,

because you're going to run into people that's not Mary for.

And they need to know Jesus.

Okay, so we light.

I hope.

Okay. We lit the candle of the prophets,

which was the candle of hope.

We lit the candle of Bethlehem,

which was the candle of peace.

We lit the candle of the shepherds,

which was the candle of joy.

Today we light the candle of the wise men,

which is the candle of worship.

See? Looking forward to lighting the center candle of Christ on Christmas

Eve. Okay.

If you don't know Jesus,

you need Jesus.

Christmas is all about Jesus.

And if you don't know him,

then guess what?

For all the world that doesn't know Jesus,

Christmas is not Christmas.

It's not a Jesus gathering.

It's just a day.

We want you to know Jesus.

This morning we're going to sing another song.

Give you the opportunity to respond to him.

Give you the opportunity to do what he's called you to do.

He's calling to you to do.

Don't miss the opportunity.

Okay. Don't miss the movement of God in the heavens to get your attention

so that you'll come to him.

Alrighty. Pray with me.

Father, thank you for today.

Thank you.

God, that you have loved us and cared for us.

God, that you've called us.

You've offered to us this gift,

this redemption,

this salvation.

God, you've.

You've done everything to make us yours.

God, help us to receive Jesus.

Help us to receive this gift of redemption and salvation that you've

offered. We pray it in Jesus's name.

Amen.