Follow the Star?
Matthew 2; Acts 15 December 8, 2002
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem [2] and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed. [4] When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. [5] "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
[6] " 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"
After the Magi had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. [11] On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.
Acts 15.
Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved."
The apostles and elders met to consider this question. [7] After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."
The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. [13] When they finished, James spoke up: "Brothers, listen to me. [14] Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself.
[19] "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. [So the church elders selected Paul, Barnabas, Judas (not Iscariot) and Silas]
With them they sent the following letter:
The apostles and elders, your brothers,
To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:
Greetings.
[24] We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. [25] So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul-- [26] men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. [27] Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. [28] It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: [29] You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
Farewell.
CCI: To be guided by Christ is to follow everyday in the little things so that we can hear his voice in the big things.
In March of 2000, as Miami was playing in the NCAA tournament, Mark Long wrote, “Miami coach Leonard Hamilton tugs at his black dress pants, showing how loose they are on his 200-pound frame. His belt is buckled on the last hole.
“Hamilton is 20 pounds lighter now than when the season began. Each October, Hamilton begins a diet of fruits, vegetables, juices and broiled, baked or grilled fish, turkey and chicken.
“No pasta. No red meat. Not even a slice of bread, a glass of milk or a piece of candy.
“The diet isn't about losing weight, though.
“It's about discipline.
“The trait comes from his father, and Hamilton tries to pass it on to his players. It's one reason the Hurricanes (23-10), seeded sixth in the East Regional, are in the third round of the NCAA tournament and will play seventh-seeded Tulsa (31-4) on Friday.
"To deny yourself of certain things that you really enjoy, it helps you stay focused," Hamilton said.
This basketball coach realized that disciplining his life would have and effect not only on himself, but on his entire basketball team. You see, disicpline is not just about what I do for myself, it is about what happens to God’s people. For the last 2 months we have been looking together at the classic disciplines of the Christian life, things like fasting and prayer and simplicity and meditation, Submission and solitude. Today, we will move further into what Richard Foster has called the corporate disciplines, today the discipline of guidance.
As Protestant Christians we have come to understand the privilege we have of going directly to God in prayer. We have been given the promise that Jesus will intercede for us and that the Holy Spirit will guide us. And so, we have concluded that finding God’s guidance is strictly between us and God.
This morning I want us to go one step further into the nature of the guidance of God, for God reveals his will through several channels. He guides us through his word, he guides us by the Holy Spirit’s prompting and he guides us through the voice of the Body of Christ.
In the scripture from Matthew that we read this morning I believe we see God’s people seeking God’s guidance through the Sacred word. When the Magi came and asked about the place of the birth of Messiah, the teachers turned to the Word and found the prophets words concerning Bethlehem. The Word revealed what they were looking for.
We must be careful though. When we take scripture out of context, it is deadly. So how do we use the Bible to learn God’s will? We study it and then we look at the life of Jesus. Some things are very clear, adultery, whether your marriage relationship is fulfilling you or not, is wrong. Taking advantage of your employees and not treating them justly is wrong. Making the Law a slave master so that legalism controls your actions is wrong. God will not lead you to do these things.
However the Word will answer your questions about forgiveness and the Word will answer your questions about serving one another. And the Word will call each one of us into a life of service and obedience. It may look different for each of us, but this is where he will lead.
The Psalmist, as he looked back over his life, wrote, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” God will lead us, he does not reveal the entire journey at once, but he does reveal each step. Finding God’s leading is not only about the big things, in fact, it may not be about the big things at all. Guidance is following God as he leads each step in his Word.
Let the Word of God lead you in the small decisions, then you will be ready to respond and recognize his voice in the big ones as well.
And Second, know that God will lead you through the inner working of the Holy Spirit. It began when they saw the star and chose to follow it despite the apparent foolishness of such a venture. Remember it was not common for people to set out in search of a new born king simply because they saw a star. By following the star, they were following the guidance of the Holy Spirit in their lives. And then, after the Magi had worshiped Jesus, God told them in a dream to return to their homes another way. This was the inner prompting of the Holy Spirit. Never will this inner prompting contradict the Word, but it may fill in some questions.
Gideon sought God’s confirmation by placing lamb’s wool outside and asking God to keep it dry while the ground got wet with dew, later he asked that the ground stay dry while the wool became soaked. God answered his request. We each may be able to point to signs that God has given us to guide us into his path. When my family moved from Slippery Rock, PA to Bridgeton, NJ my mother prayed that they parsonage might be close to the Christian School in town. After accepting the call, we realized that the driveway for the parsonage was the parking lot for the Christian School. These serendipitous events, I believe, are God’s way of confirming his leading in our lives. Guidance comes through the Holy Spirit as he moves in our hearts.
When Elijah ran from Jezebel and came to the cave on the mountain, it was in a gentle breeze that he heard God speak. This was the Holy Spirit prompting his heart. In that gentle breeze, that still small voice, God’s Spirit communed with his spirit and Elijah heard God’s voice.
Pegi Tehan writes, “One day I decided to take my three children to an ice skating party in a nearby town, but after several wrong turns and stops to ask directions, I pulled over to the side of the road and suggested we all ask God to help us find the rink. When we finally arrived, we were nearly an hour late. The following week, as we got into the car to go skating again, my five-year-old son exclaimed, "Mom, let's pray now and save time!"
Remember, finding God’s leading is not just about the big decisions, it is about every decision in our lives. As we learn to hear him in those gentle whispers, we will be ready to hear him in the big decisions as well.
The third way God guides us is illustrated in the passage we read from Acts. As the church grew, Gentiles began to come to Jesus. Up to this time, God had been, in the minds of many Jews, “the property of the Jews.” They were God’s people and if you wanted to come to God, you needed to do it through the Jews. As Christianity spread, some went out from Jerusalem and told the gentiles that if they wanted to be Christians, they must first become Jews by being circumcised.
The leaders in Jerusalem were divided about this, some wanted to hold on to the Laws of the Jews, others were not so sure. And so they called a council and together they prayed and sought God’s leading in the matter. Finally, after hearing Peter and Paul speak, they came to one mind and chose not to burden the Gentiles with the Law. God led through the body of believers.
As Baptists we practice this kind of faith. This afternoon, a council will meet in Mt. Pleasant to consider God’s call of Gary Freel into Pastoral Ministry. We believe that God will make his will known through the gathered body.
Sometimes God will guide us through the counsel of another. Throughout the history of the church, spiritual directors have helped men and women deepen their walk as they have pointed them in the direction of God’s spirit.
The guidance of God is not just a personal matter. It is extremely personal, but it is not exclusively personal. Finding God’s guidance involves the study of the word, the prompting of the Spirit, and the counsel of the Body of Christ. To ignore any of these elements opens our lives to doubt and temptation.
God will guide us. That is his promise, Jeremiah 29:11reads, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” And He is eager to reveal those plans to us.
Though not the way we often desire. When ethicist John Kavanaugh went to work for three months at "the house of the dying" in Calcutta, he was seeking a clear answer as to how best to spend the rest of his life. On the first morning there he met Mother Teresa. She asked, "And what can I do for you?"
Kavanaugh asked her to pray for him. "What do you want me to pray for?" she asked.
He voiced the request that he had borne thousands of miles from the United States: "Pray that I have clarity."
She said firmly, "No, I will not do that."
When he asked her why, she said, "Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of."
When Kavanaugh commented that she always seemed to have the clarity he longed for, she laughed and said, "I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God."
And that is the key to the discipline of guidance. To trust God, to believe that he will speak through the Word, through His spirit, and through His body. By disciplining your life to seek His guidance in the little decisions today, you will be prepared follow a star when God sends it.
