December 17th, 2024
The Upward Look, by Jon Forrest
Coming From Afar
There was an art contest held one Christmas season in an East Texas school. One prize winner was a picture drawn by a nine year old boy showing three men, offering gifts to the baby Jesus in his manger. What made the picture unique is how the three gift presenters arrived – there was a fire truck on the side.
The principle asked the boy why he included the truck. The boy, in his heavy East-Texas accent, was quick to reply: “Well, the Bible says the wise men came from a-far.”
The coming of the magi (wise kings from the east) was a unique aspect of the Christmas story. They were gentiles who had read some of the Old Testament Scriptures and were students of the heavens. These royal astronomers had seen an amazingly large star moving across the sky. They combined their study of Scripture and their knowledge of the stars and realized that there was to be a king born in the Palestinian region. While there was much they didn’t know, they acted on the little bit of knowledge they had in a faith driven journey to meet the new king; the King of the Jews. Once they had met with King Herod and learned more Scripture from the religious leaders in Jerusalem, they went on to Bethlehem and completed a near two year journey. There they found Joseph, Mary and Jesus in a house. When they came it was for one ultimate purpose; worship!
These great royal guests knelt before the Son of the Most High God, and laid their expensive gifts at his feet. There they worshiped him. These great men, who had subjects who would have worshiped them as kings, recognized the King of all kings and humbled themselves before Jesus the Christ.
We live in a generation of arrogance and great material prosperity. Objects of worship seem to be things like power, physical ability and looks, fame, money, accomplishment, talent and all forms of material gain. The kingdom most populous, these days, is “the kingdom of self.”
As our introductory story mentions, these wise men came from afar and worshiped him. Afar for them meant physical miles. I would submit to you that many of the people today who want to come and worship Jesus must also come from “afar.” Except, for them, “afar” is a spiritual distance. It seems as if, for us today, the distraction of our self-centeredness makes the distance to our knees seem like light years. However, once we clear away that pride and get to our knees before Jesus, the Son of the Living God, He is right there to meet us. No matter how far you must travel, coming to worship Jesus Christ is worth every inch of the distance. It was for the magi and it’s worth it for us.
This Sunday, Josh and I will do a tag-team style sermon for the final Sunday of Advent. The message is titled A Time for Wonder and will be based mostly on Mark 10:13-16 & Luke 2:1-20. We hope that you will join us even if you have to come from “a far.”
Humbly,
Jon
Coming From Afar
There was an art contest held one Christmas season in an East Texas school. One prize winner was a picture drawn by a nine year old boy showing three men, offering gifts to the baby Jesus in his manger. What made the picture unique is how the three gift presenters arrived – there was a fire truck on the side.
The principle asked the boy why he included the truck. The boy, in his heavy East-Texas accent, was quick to reply: “Well, the Bible says the wise men came from a-far.”
The coming of the magi (wise kings from the east) was a unique aspect of the Christmas story. They were gentiles who had read some of the Old Testament Scriptures and were students of the heavens. These royal astronomers had seen an amazingly large star moving across the sky. They combined their study of Scripture and their knowledge of the stars and realized that there was to be a king born in the Palestinian region. While there was much they didn’t know, they acted on the little bit of knowledge they had in a faith driven journey to meet the new king; the King of the Jews. Once they had met with King Herod and learned more Scripture from the religious leaders in Jerusalem, they went on to Bethlehem and completed a near two year journey. There they found Joseph, Mary and Jesus in a house. When they came it was for one ultimate purpose; worship!
These great royal guests knelt before the Son of the Most High God, and laid their expensive gifts at his feet. There they worshiped him. These great men, who had subjects who would have worshiped them as kings, recognized the King of all kings and humbled themselves before Jesus the Christ.
We live in a generation of arrogance and great material prosperity. Objects of worship seem to be things like power, physical ability and looks, fame, money, accomplishment, talent and all forms of material gain. The kingdom most populous, these days, is “the kingdom of self.”
As our introductory story mentions, these wise men came from afar and worshiped him. Afar for them meant physical miles. I would submit to you that many of the people today who want to come and worship Jesus must also come from “afar.” Except, for them, “afar” is a spiritual distance. It seems as if, for us today, the distraction of our self-centeredness makes the distance to our knees seem like light years. However, once we clear away that pride and get to our knees before Jesus, the Son of the Living God, He is right there to meet us. No matter how far you must travel, coming to worship Jesus Christ is worth every inch of the distance. It was for the magi and it’s worth it for us.
This Sunday, Josh and I will do a tag-team style sermon for the final Sunday of Advent. The message is titled A Time for Wonder and will be based mostly on Mark 10:13-16 & Luke 2:1-20. We hope that you will join us even if you have to come from “a far.”
Humbly,
Jon
Recent
Archive
2024
January
September
November
2023
July
August
October
November
2022
February
April
Categories
no categories
Tags
no tags
No Comments