Hope and Healing: Life at the Pace of Jesus
Pastor Rollan Fisher
Focus: The life that we are all looking for is found when we begin to look to and live at the pace of Jesus.
Signs
What You’re Looking For Is…
Found in Christ
Signs
We need to be able to discern the natural and spiritual signs that God is giving us to be able to keep in step with God’s plans for us in Jesus.
Matthew 2:1-12 ESV
“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him." When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: "'And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'" Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him." After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.”
Life can seem like it is out of control when we are trying to do things on our own.
One sign that we might be inadvertently outpacing God is the breakdown of our health - whether physically, emotionally or mentally.
As we prepare to celebrate the epiphany by remembering Christ’s visit from the wise men, we need to prayerfully reevaluate the pace at which we’ve been running in life.
God is always working on multiple levels, in multiple ways to save lives.
The Magi were thought to be astrologers from the East who were influenced by the Jews speaking about the words of the prophets during their exile in Babylon.
The wise men had a sense of that which (or he who) should rule their lives, but needed the Scripture to illuminate and help bring clarity to the signs that they saw.
The wise men were looking for the one to be born king of the Jews.
The wise men were looking for Jesus.
The fact that God provided a star, a supernatural sign to lead the wise men to the answer of their life searchings demonstrated God’s desire to redeem not only the Jews, but the Gentiles (the rest of the known world) through the Messiah that God would send to be savior of all mankind.
God had spoken about this through the prophet Isaiah, who ministered approximately 700 years before the arrival of Jesus, before the Babylonian exile:
Isaiah 49:6-7 ESV
“he says: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: "Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."”
In providing the star for the wise men to follow, God would literally move the heavens and earth to get a hold of the souls that he came to save.
“Consider how precious a soul must be, when both God and the devil are after it.”
-Charles Spurgeon
What You’re Looking For Is…
We need to discern what it actually is that we’re looking for in life to see whether it’s worth the journey we’re on to obtain it.
Looking within is not the key.
“By declaring that man is responsible and must actualize the potential meaning of his life, I wish to stress that the true meaning of life is to be discovered in the world rather than within man or his own psyche, as though it were a closed system. I have termed this constitutive characteristic "the self-transcendence of human existence." It denotes the fact that being human always points, and is directed, to something or someone, other than oneself--be it a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter. The more one forgets himself--by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love--the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself. What is called self-actualization is not an attainable aim at all, for the simple reason that the more one would strive for it, the more he would miss it. In other words, self-actualization is possible only as a side-effect of self-transcendence.”
-Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
When looking into the word of God, the chief priests and scribes were able to determine not only that God had spoken about the king for whom the wise men were looking, but where this king was to be born - in Bethlehem of Judea according to the word of the prophet Micah.
What we saw is that the supernatural signs that God provided the wise men and the word of God spoken by the prophets all led to what the wise men, king Herod and the religious leaders were looking for - the Son of God who came to save the world.
What the Magi were able to discover is that true life is found outside of their own learning, in the person of Jesus.
Yet there is a catch.
Like King Herod and the people of Jerusalem, once we realize that what we are actually looking for requires a new king in our lives, it can be initially troubling to us.
“Idols control us since we feel like we must have them or life is meaningless.”
-Timothy Keller in Counterfeit Gods
Herod had the history of…
However, once we acknowledge that the things that were previously ruling us were unmerciful taskmasters (like Herod and our idols), then we are glad to let these other rulers go.
We are saved from both literal and metaphorical hell by turning from our sins to the worship of Jesus.
How did the wise men respond?
The wise men, once they realized who it was that they were looking for, came with their gold, frankincense and myrrh.
*Ironically, these are the things to which people often look for the meaning of life ( financial security, the power of self-help and the avoidance of death), trying to find their value, worth and security.
The wise men understood what Jesus would later speak to, that Christ’s kingdom and the worship of him was worth their all.
What did the Magi sacrifice to come worship Jesus?:
Time - if starting in Babylon, the wise men, after weeks of preparation getting an envoy and possible royal permission, would travel nearly 1700 miles to make their way to Bethlehem.
Traveling by camel, who can cover about 25 miles in a day, that would have taken them over two months to get to Jesus.
The question is:
How are we willing to give of our time to meet with, worship and offer our gifts to Jesus today?
Gold - brought as tribute to a king who would use the gold to advance his Kingdom purposes
Frankincense and myrrh were consecration and healing agents.
Frankincense - as well as being a key ingredient in perfumes and essential oils, frankincense was used for worship in the temple, burned as a part of the fragrant offerings that went up to God.
This is now what God associates with our prayers that God uses to shake Heaven and earth (Revelation 5:8).
The bringing of frankincense represented a form of worship pointing to Jesus’ divinity and identity as healer.
While frankincense could be used to treat gastritis and stomach ulcers, myrrh was used to treat wounds, skin conditions, digestive and respiratory issues.
Myrrh - used to prepare the holy anointing oil for priests, the tabernacle and kings, setting them apart by the power of the Holy Spirit for God’s service.
Myrrh was also used to prepare dead bodies for burial and foreshadowed Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross.
Myrrh would foreshadow not only Christ’s identity as the Anointed One, but his role as God’s suffering servant bringing salvation to the world through his death.
Again, the wise men would come to understand that about which Jesus would later speak:
Matthew 13:44-46 ESV
“"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
Here’s the good news when we turn to the worship of Jesus to move at God’s pace:
Time - you can be everything that GOD has designed you to be and achieve all that GOD has called you to do as you live at the pace of his commands
Gold - you will have all that you need for necessary provision and contentment when you submit your view of finances to his word and do what he says with it.
Frankincense - through a committed life of prayer and worship, you can be healed of the wounds received from a fallen world ruled by other kings.
Myrrh - by living set apart to God for his purposes and joining Christ in his death, you will also live with the joy and freedom of his resurrection life.
Found in Christ
Hope and healing can come when you begin to look to and live at the pace of Jesus.
If you go at God’s pace, you will find full life found only in Christ.
Hope and healing are found in Jesus alone because eternal life is found in Christ alone.
Matthew 2:10-12
And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.”
Once the star stopped, it revealed Jesus to the wise men.
The wise men came from far away to find Jesus with his mother, Mary.
You can always count on two things if you are trying to find Jesus.
If you are looking for Jesus, he can always be found seeking the lost and amongst his family, his people - the church.
When the wise men found Jesus they were able to rejoice exceedingly with great joy because they had finally found what and who they were looking for.
Make sure that like Herod, once you find out about Jesus, you are not trying to locate him for your own ends.
Once you find Jesus, repentance from sin and change are an expectation.
Once they met Jesus, the wise men were led by God’s word, this time in a dream.
The wise men, after meeting Jesus, went home a different way and avoided the traps that were set for them in life.
Like the wise men our ultimate goal in life should be to find Jesus, worship him, offer our gifts and live life at his pace.
What does it mean to walk at the pace of Jesus?
It means, like the wise men, I am taking my time to find King Jesus.
I know that the sum total of my success in life is being found in relationship with Jesus, serving him as king and loving him by obeying his commands.
Therefore I will slow down enough to keep in step with him, giving myself to the most meaningful things in life that he prescribes because I have found in his kingdom the pearl of great price and am now giving all that I have to obtain it.
“Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.”
-C.S. Lewis
Because of Christ’s sinless life, sacrificial death on the cross for our wrongs and resurrection from the dead, we have the ability to be forgiven of our past deeds, turn and find what we’re truly looking for - life lived at the pace of Jesus.
Second City Church