Hope for the Unlikely

How long have you been willing to search for something?  Have you ever set your heart on anything, and been willing to pursue it for weeks, months or years?

Once, I tried to seek God's will on a certain area of my life. I prayed hard for a week... and then that was it. I prayed sporadically after that, but the intensity of my passion to find Him had fallen away. Life had consumed me again, and God was still in my life, but I wasn't seeking His will with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength.

I am so, so weak. And I'm guessing I'm not alone; seeking God's heart can be so hard, in the midst of life's busyness.

Our pastor gave an incredible sermon on the story of the wise men in Matthew 2 this morning. I love these two points that He highlighted:

Christmas is missed most by those who should see.

Christmas belongs to the unlikely.

Often, in our nativity scenes, the wise men are set right next to the shepherds in the stable on the night of Jesus' birth. But historians would tell us much differently; when the wise men finally saw the Messiah, it was in his own home, not in the stable, and he was probably over a year old at the time.

These men, who had lives, dreams, and plans of their own, were willing to seek God out for over a year. Theirs was not just a passive maybe-I'll-pray-for-awhile-today attitude; they were willing to lay everything else aside to pursue Him, no matter the cost.

Historians estimate that the wise men were probably from Babylon. This city and the nation of Israel were far from allies; throughout scripture, the horrors of Babylon are portrayed vividly, and in Revelation, Babylon is portrayed as the epitome of evil. These wise men were the unlikely, and God chose them to behold His son.

If we were to look at this story without the lens of history, the ones we would have expected to visit Jesus would have been Herod and his officials. After all, he was the king of the Jews at the time, the man who was supposedly guiding God's people to await the coming of the promised Messiah. He was only miles away from Bethlehem, and could easily have made the journey to worship the one his people had been waiting for.

Instead, the so-called leader of God's people tried to kill the son of God.

The men from Babylon followed the light of God for as long as it took; the men of Israel tried to extinguish it.

Christmas is missed by those who should see, and belongs to the unlikely.

This is God's heart for the world; it is because of stories like this that Biblical authors could write with confidence that those dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and that there is redemption for even the most fallen.

Thousands of years and hundreds of miles removed from these events, we were the outsiders; we were the unlikely. And yet the God of the universe called us close to His heart, and poured out His blood to save us. At the end of Jesus' life, it would be a criminal who received salvation, while the "righteous" condemned the Word of God to death.

Which side are you on now?

We are the unlikely, but in some ways, growing up in good Christian homes, we are also those who should see. Do we realize that this is a hope for all people?  Do we overlook those who we don't think it could ever reach?

Voice of the Martyrs once shared the story of a Muslim sheikh, who literally ingrained the ideology of jihad into the minds of ISIS fighters. He taught them how and why they should kill "infidels", and he did it with pride. If ever there was a person who seemed beyond reach, it was him. And yet, eventually, he left his position, because he was tired of seeing the bloodshed. He left the country, and the thing he wanted to find most was a Bible.

God is capable of turning the hearts of the unlikely. He has called us to himself, while we were still the unreachable, and He redeemed us. Are we willing to believe that the same can be true of others?

This week, I'm keeping Syria on the prayer wall. I would encourage you to challenge yourself with this question: do you believe that these people are not beyond the reach of God?  Do you believe He can save them?  This week, as you pray, don't just pray for those who already know; pray that the unlikely would be brought near to the heart of God.

Because this hope is for them, too.

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Worship Song: 

"We Three Kings",
by Tenth Avenue North

Low Places

He came to the most painful, unlikely place imaginable.

It's so easy this time of year to enjoy the beauty of the holiday season and our cute ceramic nativity sets so much that we forget how real the story of the manger was. We all know the story by heart; an angel came to Mary, she and Joseph made the trip to a little town called Bethlehem, and sweet baby Jesus was born and placed in a perfect manger with soft hay and smiling animals to guard him. It's a cute version of an incredibly raw phenomenon that only God could have created.

I love that version of the Nativity, in some ways. It's sweet, it doesn't distort the actual events that happened. But it simplifies and romanticizes them so much that we often miss one of the most key components to the story: pain.

I know a several of you have had the chance to actually watch the birth of a younger sibling. And while it's a beautiful thing to see a child come into the world, you know that what characterizes those hours of labor is the intense amount of pain it creates. The Bible draws this theme out several times, saying that all creation is groaning in the pains of labor awaiting redemption. More than that, the pain of childbirth is a direct result of original sin; it was part of the punishment in Genesis 3. The agony of childbirth was one of the first visible repercussions of the fall.

And it was through that venue that the uncreated, timeless God of the universe came to earth.

It was more than just the physical pain of labor; it was what it represented. The punishment of sin played a role in the coming of the Messiah.

This was not an ordinary birth, however. Jesus was born into apparent adultery. He lived his entire life as a seemingly illegitimate child, born to a woman who was shunned as an adulterer and cared for by a father who was not his own.

And the birth took place in a cave, barely fit for animals. Because out of all the places in the world He came to rescue, not one door would open to Him.

Jesus was the Living Water from God. Water is such an intriguing concept, from a Biblical standpoint. It quenches the insatiable desire of thirst. It gives life, and without it nothing can live. And it flows downward, to the lowest place.

It's amazing to think about how the Christmas story sets Christianity apart from any other religion. Nowhere else, in all the history of ancient or modern gods, will you find one who loves His people, enough to walk among them as a human, born into humiliation and pain, bearing the shame of the world on His shoulders, and ultimately laying down His life to save them. No other god took the lowest place in that way.

God understands pain, on a level more deeply than anyone. He entered into it, and felt it. And He did it, not through chariots and fireworks, but through the most humble situations imaginable. He created a plan to redeem the world not with armies, but with individuals. He chose a teenage girl and a doubting man to be the key vessels in His plan for redemption.

This is the God we follow. Thank you, Jesus!!!

How many kings stepped down from their thrones,

How many Lords have abandoned their homes,

How many greats would become the least of these?

How many gods have poured out their hearts

To romance a world that is torn all apart

How many Fathers gave up their sons for me?

Only One did that for me.

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Worship Song: 

"How Many Kings",
by Downhere