Take the plunge and walk by faith

Matthew, Chapter 2. It says here: ‘When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, Magi from the East came to Jerusalem saying: “Where is the King of the Jews who has been born? Because we have seen his star in the East and we have come to adore him. Hearing this King Herod was troubled and all Jerusalem with him and summoned all the chief priests and the scribes of the people asked them where the Christ was to be born. And having summoned all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he asked them 'Where was the Christ to be born?'

“They said to him: In Bethlehem of Judea because so it is written by the prophet and you Bethlehem of the land of Judah are not the least among the princes of Judah because from you will come a leader who will shepherd my people Israel. Then Herod, secretly calling the magicians, inquired from them diligently the time of the appearance of the star. And sending them to Bethlehem he said: "Go there and inquire diligently about the child and when you find him let me know so that I too can go and adore him."

“They, having heard the King, left and, behold, the star that they had seen in the East went before them until it came to rest over where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with great joy, and upon entering the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they fell down and adored him. And opening their treasures they offered him presents: gold, frankincense and myrrh. But being warned by revelation in a dream not to return to Herod, they returned to their land by another way.

May the Lord bless his Holy Word. Amen.

Forgive me if I take off my jacket, it's hot. This jacket and this sweater make a deadly combination. Good, brothers. This week I was thinking about these Wizards. In my mind I spent trying to put myself in their minds and understand how they felt and what prompted them to make this trip. Because the truth is that it is something very mysterious.

The scripture doesn't tell us much about how they knew what that star was about, or that a king was going to be born, or what the meaning of that king was. It does not tell us many details, the only thing it tells us is that these wise men came from the East and asked: "Where is the king of the Jews who was born because we have seen his star in the East?"

Another thing, here I clarify, when he says that a star - I know that those who study astronomy and a bit of science know that a star is a gigantic thing, the sun, which is not a very big star, is billions of times bigger than the Earth, for example- and astronomically that story of a star does not lend itself much, I think rather the word used here as star refers to a luminous object, let's say, that pointed in a certain direction and that they could interpret in a certain way where that lightning could reach.

So don't think too much, don't waste too much time trying to figure out how scientifically this can be done…the Bible is not that interested in solving those scientific problems. When you get to Heaven, ask Papa God and He will tell you exactly how it was. You will be able to see the recording, the video and there you will understand perfectly how it was.

But what interests me to point out is that process and I imagine how uncertain that trip was. They came from the East and many people think they were from Iran, from the area of Ancient Babylon where Daniel had been held captive and the Israelites had been held captive for many years. And those people had to make a trip that is not like today when you take a plane and arrive in, you know, from Iran to Israel [I imagine that] it's more like you can travel in a rocket from Iran to Israel today. It would have been a few minutes, a few hours perhaps at the most, but a journey in that time was a very terrible thing, very dangerous as well, and very uncertain. Those men had probably never been in that place.

What I was thinking this week is that… about travel. God always takes us through journeys in the Christian life and those journeys require faith on our part. These men were not sure of all the details, they had a few ideas that they had received from God, but evidently from the questions they ask when they get there, they did not have the whole story.

God didn't tell them, “Here's a Google Map or Mapquest or a GPS” to get there. They had to go looking and I don't know if they used scientific instruments of their time to shoot perhaps some coordinates and see perhaps the angle of that star or whatever to locate it. But they had to exercise faith all the way.

That reminds me, brothers, that God often sends us on trips and journeys and does not tell us all the details and we simply have to undertake a path of faith; launch ourselves in the name of the Lord and believe that He is going to open the way step by step.

Do you know that this travel thing is not only these men who took this trip but that in the Bible there are many trips that God tells people to undertake? And they do not give them all the details of the trip, but simply give them some basic things and tell them "Now let them walk because I am going to provide all the details along the way"

Let me make a parenthesis.

First what I want is to dispel some myths, some false beliefs about these men. That will be very good for you and those who still do not know that, the brothers who are watching us through the Internet, but so that we know a little more: Who were these men, really, these three Wise Men? First of all, there weren't three. It is not known how many there were, okay? Are we clear on that?

If you read your Bible - remember this is very important, okay? - because there are a lot of things that tradition puts in there. If you read it doesn't say how many there were, alright? They weren't called Melchor, what is he like? Gaspar and Baltasar. It doesn't say what their names were, okay? Please, that's all tradition.

What's more, there weren't two whites and one black there, that wasn't true either. There is no such thing, but they were simply… I think, they would have to be more than three, probably, because these men were more of a tribe. It is believed that a special tribe that were priests, was a priestly tribe in Iran. So probably a procession more of them came.

They were not kings, that was something else, the three Wise Men were not kings. Drop that idea, nothing here says they were kings. They were probably scientific priests. In Babylon, as also in the Western world, until the Middle Ages or the Renaissance science and theology were together. Everything was mixed up. Only in the modern world was there such a separation of science and religion, until today they are like two completely different branches.

In those times men inquired about spiritual things. Perhaps they were astrologers. They observed the stars, that is very probable: "that we have seen its star in the firmament".

In Babylon the stars were explored and the stars and signs were explored. The mysteries that there are, we cannot go much into them. But these men were scientists, they were philosophers, they were religious priests, it was a mixture of things but they were not kings, they were more like priestly people, scientific people who investigated these things and probably when they investigated them they stumbled across this sign and they could understand and discern. And God in his mercy provided light for them and he would want them to go and worship his Son.

They weren't wizards either in the sense that we understand the word. Don't think about a people with a magic wand, okay? Doing magical things or putting on a hat and pulling rabbits out of the hat. These people were not wizards in that sense. Because they were wizards, we think... no. The word "magos" comes from the word in the original Greek which is 'magoi', it is said to be a translation of a word from Iran, Iraq, Babylonia, half Persian that meant people like that "wise people", priestly people, people who inquired about spiritual things.

And I believe that these men were seekers of the truth and I believe that this is why God touched them and spoke to them about his Son. Because they were eager to know more about God, the only light they had was their occult traditions, the stars, this kind of thing. But they were searching, they were wanting to know the truth and God spoke to them. And he spoke to them in terms that they understood and from then on, I imagine, a process began until it led them to the baby Jesus and even after they returned to their homeland, I think the process must have continued.

Who knows how they then came to truly understand who this being was? They converted and went, but I don't think they became great theologians, I don't think they got to read the Epistles of the Apostle Paul or this type of thing. Which tells me something about- and that is that God, God reveals himself to those who are looking for him, to those who have a truly open heart, who want to know. And that encourages us to have, you know, the desire to know God because God reveals himself when we seek him. Even though we have bugs and all this.

It is important that we understand that salvation and the revelation of God does not depend on perfect knowledge of having all the correct theology and of… God searches our heart, we do not have to be perfect in our walk, but God sees the desire of our heart, the desire to know him better, the desire to please him, our sometimes clumsy efforts that we make.

And the Lord is willing to meet us where we are and from there guide us little by little towards a better knowledge of Him. But what He wants is that we begin the journey, that we begin where we are and as we are and He will guide us to the place perfect where his perfectly manifested Son is. It is a day, it is a journey and the most important thing we have to do is start that journey.

This idea that these men returned to their country and that they did not have all the knowledge, what is more, Mary, the mother of Jesus, did not know specifically who her son was. It was a day. When Jesus was already a man, his brothers and his mother still thought he was crazy when he announced that he was the Son of God or began to preach. What's more, I believe that Jesus always spoke there as between quotes, between parentheses, between mysteries and parables about his true nature.

His mom and siblings didn't understand correctly. When Jesus was a child, it says that Mary saw certain things and kept them in her heart. I was always speculating. She herself, who had received the word of the Archangel, herself was not totally clear about all the theology about her Son. I think she never understood what we understand today, she didn't understand it one hundred percent. We have much more light than Maria had, I think. Imagine that she had it in her womb and we understand more than she.

I believe that this idea, also from these magicians, who did not have perfect knowledge and that God was leading them towards greater knowledge, invites us to be very careful how we treat people who do not believe like us, okay? I believe that we have to be convinced of what the Word says, that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life and that no one comes to the Father except through Him.

For me that is firm, sure. We have to preach the Gospel, we have to announce the Word. You know all that, I'm not questioning that. But I am saying that wise is the person who saves a little space in his theology for the mysteriousness of God. God announces himself to whoever He wants and how He wants and I believe that we are going to get to heaven one day and we are going to find people there with turbans and strange things and we are going to be surprised. Let's say what is he doing here? God says 'No, I invited him, so what?'

You are going to have to simply say 'Amen, Lord. You know what you do'. Now let's not get into that mess ourselves, I don't have to be... The only thing I've learned in my life is to reserve space for a God who is mysterious and sovereign and He knows what he's doing. Now I believe what the Bible says and what I know and I preach the Gospel and I preach Christ and it is necessary that people know Jesus. But God announces himself as he wants people.

Right now, for example, in the Middle East, many Arabs say that the Lord is appearing to people everywhere in dreams. Many people are being converted through dreams and revelations, directly. Because the Arab world is so closed to the preaching of the Gospel that the Lord appears directly to people so that they convert.

Do you remember the story when these men approached Jesus and said, “Lord, there are some out there who are preaching the gospel and they don't have evangelical cards? They are not Methodists, they are not Lutherans. We have already investigated them, they are not Baptists, they are not Pentecostals and they are preaching. And we are the ones who have the evangelical franchise”

And what did the Lord say? 'Leave them alone, because no one calls me Lord and can say something bad or deny me. So let them, don't start chasing them or anything. And that's how we sometimes do: Ah! Because they don't believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit anymore... Hey! Be calm, God knows what He does. Give people time. God takes them little by little.

We have to be careful and allow the Lord to reveal himself, to teach his purpose in the lives of others and we have to give him space. There are many things that we can… I am going to close this.

But other things that I see about these men that are very important, about these journeys of faith that we have to undertake and that the Lord does not tell us all the details, but He reveals details to us when we take steps of faith and begin to walk. So He goes -as we walk- revealing what He wants and that we shouldn't just wait until we have the whole map laid out and all the details.

The Christian life is a life, brothers, of walking by faith, believing that the Lord is giving us instructions as the path goes.

It is important, brothers, that we understand that when God calls us to do something great in our lives and a journey can be buying a house, starting a business, entering into a loving relationship, deciding on a profession that we are going to study, deciding between three colleges which one are we going to, take a mission trip, decide on a church, decide to study theology in a seminary instead of studying a secular career, start an English class or an English course, many things in our life. Start a romantic relationship to marry a person.

All these things presuppose uncertainty in the future and no one guarantees that this decision will be one hundred percent perfect. But you know what? I believe that if we and our hearts are noble and we are seeking to please God and we have inquired, we have prayed, we have sought advice, we have examined ourselves, we have sought the word of God and we are still sure that or at least we believe that yes, this is from God and we are sincere, let us launch ourselves in the name of the Lord.

And let us believe, then, that along the way, God is going to direct us as he directed these men and he is going to give us light while we walk and that there is nothing that happens on that journey that is going to be ultimately destructive.

We may be wrong, we may sin, we may reach a dead end and have to go back and look for another way out, we may offend someone, there may be a loss along the way, we may make a decision that costs us more time to arrive But, brothers, all these things, God uses them for His glory and for our blessing because we are always going to be learning something.

God will always draw glory, honor, blessing from all this process and He will be glorified in that energy that emerges from our efforts during the day while we seek his perfect will. There is no loss for the children of God, in other words, you do not lose. God recycles everything that you release, God recycles it and turns it into Glory and Honor for his name.

That is why I believe that as Christians we have to have great faith. We have to undertake things in the name of the Lord, we have to be daring. Live a creative life in the name of the Lord.

I believe that of all human beings, the Christian is the one who has the most right to climb on the tightrope, there with a stick and start walking that path of faith believing that God is going to provide. Because I know that we have a mesh below. If you fall all you're going to do is bang, bang, you're going to bounce off the net, pick up your stick again, go to the ladder and climb back on the… keep going. You will never break your head because the Lord will be there. 'Because he will send his angels near you to guard you in all your ways -says the word- so that your foot does not stumble on a stone'.

Launch yourself in the name of the Lord on a journey. If God has told you 'Look, there is the star', follow the star, throw yourself and walk by faith and dare. You are like Don Quixote, go find your destiny. Let's live creative lives. "Get out of your land and from your relatives," he says, "to a land that I will show you."

We have to know that God is Lord and that when we hit a dead end because of a mistake, the Lord is going to be there to tell us “Hey! Take this route, go this way and I'll take you.” Because He is glorified, because it has to be Him who gets the glory, not us, okay?

So I want to invite you to: trust in your God, trust in the Lord. Even if you don't have all things clear.

This is a tremendously complicated narrative. We could spend hours here talking about Herod and the question and how the people react in Jerusalem and Herod's desire to kill the child and the dangers faced by the magicians and a thousand things that we don't have time to elucidate. And there were these men, I was going to say these three men - but there's not three, these men and they're into this thing and…

What would have happened if God did not reveal to them not to go where Herod's? Herod might have killed the boy and killed them too. But God delivered them, he revealed himself to them and from a dream. So, understand this, that God is going to be with you wherever he wants, in all this process. God will be with you.

This morning I was thinking, why doesn't God be a little more consistent with us and why didn't he leave that snow for Monday or Tuesday? Why does he have to let it be Saturday night? You know? And I say, wow! The truth is that there is so much mystery in life. Why does a child in a Christian family die at the age of two, when they are in love and adore that child and then the Lord takes it away?

Why is there an accident and a noble and good person crashes and dies and why are we who are serving the Lord, there is a financial failure and we lose the house even though we pray that the Lord will not take it away? You know? That is the Christian life. It is a day full of situations but God is in everything because obviously God was in this.

What we can do on the journey of faith is to take steps of faith even if it rains, shines, winds, even if giants come, even if there are accidents, even if there are divorces, even if there are losses from home, even if there are unexpected illnesses. Keep taking one step of faith ahead of the other because God knows the detail, God knows the journey.

One day you will see Christ as you need to see him, you will see him face to face, and all the details of the day will be left behind, what you did, what you did not do, will no longer matter. You will see how you will see how God sees you. One day you will know as you are known. In the meantime, get on with the day. Amen?

Amen.

Let's start the day. Amen. We are going to begin the journey of faith and we continue the journey because God is very interested in us taking that journey. Amen?

Father thank you. Thank you for your word, thank you for your invitation to take the journey of faith. Father, how good it is to know that You are so merciful! So loving, so good, so beautifully patient with us! It gives me great joy to know that I don't have to have all things ironed and know all the details and have everything well arranged because You have mercy. You are a good God and You seek the desires of our hearts.

I bless my brothers and sisters and I ask you to be with each one of us, may our day bring you joy. Of course, Lord, may it bring you delight when You look from your heaven and see our walk here on Earth.