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A
Season Of Wonder
Open Your Heart’s Door To New Opportunities
Romans 8:28; Matthew 2:1-12
Introduction: To Such Belongs The Kingdom Of God
Randolph Klassen is a Canadian-born artist whose work
includes the painting featured on the cover of the bulletin. We have had the
opportunity to look at it each week during this Christmas season. It's called
To Such Belongs the Kingdom of God. In it, a small child stands dwarfed by the door of a cathedral. He strains
with every ounce of energy he can muster to pull the enormous door open. It
barely budges. But, it budges enough to allow a warm glow of light to spill
out to where the child stands.
It's
a painting to which we all relate. The door represents the threshold of the
unknown future, but a future which we know deep within to be controlled by
a loving heavenly Father. The little child represents each of us. It's a picture of our fragile children, impressionable
and vulnerable, intimidated by so much in life. It's a picture of our young people, brimming with potential and curiosity, but overwhelmed
with a sense of their own limitations and unattractiveness.
It's a picture of me as your pastor. Week after week, I enter the church to speak on behalf
of our awesome God. I am humbled. I am weak. I am so inadequate, and yet the
Lord chooses to speak through me. It’s a picture of you who are thirty-something or forty-something
"kids" standing at
the door to the Father's house asking for wisdom, courage, and patience. It’s a picture
of you who are assuming the parenting role for your aging parents, the roles have reversed and you wonder what to
do? And it’s
a picture of you who are approaching the later years of life where you find yourselves at the threshold of much
that is unfamiliar and unwanted and having to deal with unending changes that
leave you feeling helpless.
All
of us are like the child in Klassen's painting. Intimidated
by the difficult challenges that lie ahead, we head to the Lord for help.
As we deal with circumstances beyond our control that leave us uncertain and
afraid, we all stand at the door, straining, anxious, yet hopeful.
The
boy at the cathedral door is also a great mental picture of what it means
to stand at the door to a brand new year. The enormous door, like the year
to come, seems overwhelming. What's behind it is largely unknown. We fear
that of which we aren't sure. Still, we stand at the door and bravely pull
at the handle with all our might. And from within the cathedral, a warm beam
of welcoming light bathes our fear.
Do
you hear me? On the other side of the door, on the other
side of tomorrow, the light is on. God is at home, and He invites us in.
Whether cautiously or boldly, hesitantly or willingly, as we move into the
year 2009 we understand how much we need God’s guidance. As we tug at the
door of opportunity, we long for the assurance of that warm beam of welcoming
light. At least, I do! It promises to be quite a year.
A First-Century Backdrop
Listen
to these reassuring words calling out to us from the other side of the door.
These
are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What
he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds.
See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that
you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my
name.
Revelation 3:7-8 NIV
Jesus
spoke those words to the apostle John, who was exiled on an island in the
Mediterranean Sea. The message was to be passed on to a congregation in the
thriving first-century city of Philadelphia. Not the Philadelphia in Pennsylvania;
the one in Asia Minor. Not the one with a cracked bell; the one with a cracked
and crumbling moral foundation.
We
think our lives are fragile! Well, they are: Fragile life, fragile faith,
easily broken. The failure of marriages indicates it. So does the rate at
which people leave churches at the first sign of discomfort. When life is
hard, it is easy to break faith. As if being Christians in the first century
wasn't tough enough, the Philadelphians were also residents of the brutal,
pagan Roman Empire. Yet Jesus was telling them, "Good for you! I'm proud
of you. I know your deeds! I've seen what you've done."
That
should come as no surprise to us. It's not Santa who sees us when we're sleeping.
It is the real Father Christmas, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He sees
us when we're sleeping. He knows when we're awake. He knows if we've been
bad or good. Yes! He knows our deeds. He knew the deeds of those in Philadelphia.
And He was pleased with what He saw.
Nevertheless,
ours is not a gospel of simply impressing God with our ability to measure
up. We are not good for goodness' sake. We are good because the Holy Spirit
of God in us has planted and cultivated in us an ability to hang tough, hang
on, and even hang our heads in shame and contrition when we routinely fail
to measure up. The good deeds God sees in us—and the perseverance He saw in
the lives of those first-century believers—are nothing more than living proof
that the risen Christ is at work in us.
Open Or Closed Doors?
Jesus'
words of commendation to the Philadelphians are wonderful, but they aren’t
the high point of this passage. The
key to this whole section is that God opens doors and closes doors for those
who belong to Him. This deals with the essence of our faith. More important
than doing good is the good God does for us. It's called grace! God makes
possible what we can't accomplish on our own. That is what our faith hinges
on. No one can shut the doors God opens. And the ones He closes, no one can
open. As we approach the threshold of a new year let's consider a few of these
doors.
Close The Door
To The Past
First,
there's the door God has closed that no one has a right to open. It is called
the door to the past. Too many Christians attempt to live on the backside
of the present. You know what I mean by that, don't you? Even though their
car is moving in a forward direction, they are looking in the rearview mirror.
They are held hostage by yesterday's events and circumstances—regrets over
missed opportunities, guilt over poor choices, depression over unmet expectations,
frustration that results from endless mental games called "what if"
and "if only." You know those games. They are especially popular
at this time of the year.
But what's the use? You know what they say: If ifs
and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a wonderful Christmas. But ifs and buts aren't reality. Life is disappointing
sometimes. We make mistakes. We mess up. But grace says the door to yesterday
is locked. The apostle Paul put it this way.
Forgetting
what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal
to win the prize for which God has called me.
Philippians 3:13-14
I
like the way cartoonist Bill Keane put it in his Family Circus comic strip:
Yesterday is the past. Tomorrow is the
future. Today is a gift. That's why it is called the present.
The
door to what we are sorry about and what happened last year has shut behind
us. We can't live there anymore. So,
why do we try so hard? If you willingly (or unwittingly) chose
a path you knew was not in keeping with your calling as a child of God, confess
it and get on with it. It's a door God has shut and no one can open, not even
you. When we try to pick the lock and sneak back where we don't belong, it
is often because we want to try to rewrite history or rationalize our actions
or punish ourselves as a way of feeling better about being forgiven.
Hear
me clearly: God doesn't want us to earn His forgiveness
any more than He wants us to be imprisoned by our past. No matter how
awful the days gone by were, grace says they are days gone by. "Forgetting what
is behind . . ." In other words, don't even think of backing up.
Here's a mental picture for you. When you exit a parking lot, you pay your fee, the bar swings
up, and you read the sign: Do Not Drive Backward Over This Metal Grate. Severe
Tire Damage Will Occur. When we attempt to drive in reverse, we
can sustain severe emotional damage. God has dealt with the past, and our
part is to accept it as a closed account, a canceled check, a paid toll.
Open The Door
Of New Beginnings
That leads me to the next door. I call this the door of new
beginnings. It is one of those doors that God has opened and no one, absolutely
no one, can shut. When the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippian church about
forgetting what is behind, he didn't stop there. He went right on, without
taking a breath, to add, ". . . and straining
toward what is ahead." The back door may be stuck, but thank goodness,
the front door is wide open. That's good news! That's grace, too. We not only
are freed from the guilt and regret of what reflects in the rearview mirror,
but we are blessed with a second chance.
Leave it to Paul to put it in language we can understand. In
his second letter to the church in Corinth, he wrote,
Anyone
who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten,
and everything is new.
2 Corinthians 5:17 CEV
Do you feel the fresh air in your face as
you stand at that open door? In his unexplainable mercy, our
heavenly Father has designed a
fresh start in His plan for us.
You probably wouldn't think of old lamenting Jeremiah as a
prophet of grace. But he is the one who said that the steadfast love of the
Lord never ceases, and His mercies never come to an end. In fact, he said
they are new every morning
Because
of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They
are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23 NIV
That means His mercies are new at the dawn of a new year, too.
God didn't have to wake us up this morning if He didn't want to. The fact
that He did is a pretty amazing thing. The present is more than a tense. It
is a gift that God desires we unwrap. It is an open door He wants us to go
through. And it is in going through this open door that we can act on what
we have learned from our past failings, not as a way of earning our forgiveness,
but as a gift of gratitude for God's faithfulness and forgiving love.
This open door is an opportunity to risk something new, to
recognize a rut and bury it—without you in it! Grace says a door has been
opened to explore new territory. All you need to do is trust God!
At various points during my years in ministry
I have given people the assignment to write a letter to themselves outlining
their hopes, dreams and plans for the new year. Instead of looking back at
the year that is ending, it turns our gaze toward the year that is ahead.
When the letter is finished it is sealed in an envelope and addressed. At
some point 6-8 months out I mail the letters so people can evaluate how the
year is unfolding.
I
think the account of the Wise Men is one of the best passages in the Bible
for embracing the hopes and dreams of the coming year. They followed the star
searching for the newly born king and were rewarded when they arrived at the
house where Joseph, Mary and Jesus were staying. When it was time to return
home, they went another way.
They
went another way because of the divine warning that Herod planned to harm
Jesus, but it really is a good picture of what a door of new beginnings is
all about. After encountering Christ once more at Christmas you can return
to the job another way. You can return to school with a new outlook. You can
get up each morning with a new attitude. This coming year is the perfect year
to replace some bad habits with good ones.
Let me suggest one. Break
the habit of finding fault in the lives of those around you. Instead,
break new ground in your spiritual life by finding God at work in those around
you. Every day, purposefully look for ways in
which the Lord is involved in the people you run into, as well as the routines
of your life. The Lord is at work all around us—everyday! Our ability to see
each day as a gift to unwrap and enjoy is entirely based on an awareness of
the Lord's presence around us.
If I could editorialize on Bill Keane's Family Circus cartoon caption,
I would change it to read, "The Lord's
presence in my today is what makes the present a gift!"
Open The Door Of Providence
There's another door I'd like us to consider this morning.
It, too, is a door that God has opened and no one will ever be able to close
it. I'm speaking of the door of Providence. "Providence?" you say.
"You're really taking us on a tour of the eastern seaboard. Philadelphia.
Providence. What's next? New York?" No, actually it's New Year! I'm attempting
to highlight an itinerary for a memorable journey through this new year. And
the door through which we are invited to enter is that of God's sovereign
plan.
Providence simply means God's unthwarted purpose for the lives of those who belong
to Him. When
we consciously walk through the door of Providence, we remind ourselves that
life isn't a gamble. We come to terms with the
fact that God is in control—that all things work together for good
to those who love God and are called
according to His purpose. We believe His purpose is for good—to give us a future and a hope.
A holy, yet loving God is in charge,
and He providentially brings about His agenda for His world and His
people. No one can lock this door, because God alone has the key.
This is a door with a frame ornately hand-carved with references
to God's faithfulness. Look at all the Lord did to accomplish what He did when Jesus entered our world.
·
He opened a womb that had known no man.
·
He opened the womb of another sealed shut
with age.
·
He closed the mouth of a man who verbalized doubt.
·
He opened a door in a barn when a hotel
sign flashed "No Vacancy."
·
He shut the door of deceit in Herod's
face.
·
He opened the spiritual eyes of pagan
star gazers by arranging a cosmic phenomenon
in the sky.
This
is what I mean by providence—God's purpose accomplished
by His control of circumstances. We can enter through the door of this
year with confidence, knowing that we belong to an awesome God, and nothing can separate us from His love or His
providential plan for our lives.
Open The Door To Home
The
final door is the door to home. I’m not talking about the house where you
live. The
home I have in mind is the home to which we are headed. It is where our Father
lives. It is where we really belong. From the time we were born, we have been
homesick for heaven. It is the door that child is really pulling on in the
Randolph Klassen painting. There, the soft warm glow of the Father's presence
will envelop us with eternity. And this year is one year closer to that great
family reunion, when the gates will swing open wide and we'll sit at Jesus'
side.
The message Jesus gave to the Christians in Philadelphia concludes
with a verbal picture of that reunion. Let me read it for you. Jesus is speaking.
I
am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your
crown. All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God,
and they will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of
my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God—the new Jerusalem
that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my
new name.
Revelation 3:11-12 NLT
The door of home is in the distance, but it is there. I invite
you to look beyond the boxes of Christmas decorations waiting to be stored,
beyond the boxes of gifts waiting to be returned, beyond the stress and the
mess of life about to return to what we call normal. Look beyond it all to
see the door through which we one day will enter. As long as we can keep our eyes on that door, we can handle the anticipated
pressures and the unexpected difficulties the year to come will bring.
That's what Jesus did. He kept his eyes on the door yet to open. Why don't we follow His
example?
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter
of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross,
scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2 NIV
Conclusion: Cross Your Threshold For 2009
As
we come to the end of the year most of our decisions for 2008 have been made.
There is one more I want to ask you to consider. What
are you going to do about the door you know God has placed in front of you?
Some of you will continue
to be paralyzed by events and situations of your past unless you reach for
that door handle and, by faith, push it shut behind you. You know what the chains are. So does the Lord. The
good news of this New Year's message
is that He has dealt with the problem. You are forgiven. You are free—if you want to be. Now, hear me carefully.
In the name of Jesus, in your mind's eye, shut the door. Resolve today
to not give in to the temptation to dwell on those thoughts and events again.
Some of you who stand at the door of new opportunities will just
stand there and chalk up yet another New Year's message that warmed your
heart. Well, messages, like coffee,
only
stay warm for a while. What are you going to do? Don't just stand there! Walk
through the doorway. Go ahead. Determine to start reading that book you got for Christmas.
Is this the year to take steps that will lead to a different career path? Go for it! Enroll in a class if that’s what it takes to start the ball in motion.
Some
of you smiled when
I talked about mailing back letters
written to ourselves with aspirations for the
year. But I'm smiling now. I'm smiling because I think some of you really
would like that accountability in your
life. Go ahead. Write a letter to yourself and seal and address it. Then give
it to me. You tell me when you want me to mail it back to you, and I give
you my word, I'll do it. I'll even pay the postage! Are you catching my drift?
Follow the example of the Magi. They took another route into
the future. They refused to retrace
their steps. Because they returned home a new way, they were able to share
their experience in Bethlehem with people they met on their way back to the
East. We have that same opportunity; we can engage those who haven't heard
how to become eternally related to the God of the universe. Do your dreams for 2009 include people you may be able
to introduce to Jesus? That would make it the best year ever, wouldn’t it?
Finally,
listen very carefully to these last words of 2008.
I know some
of you are standing at the open door of new beginnings,
but
on the brass hardware of the door handle you see the reflection of a jaded
Christian. You stand at the door of Providence and can't go any further. You
feel like God has let you down. A child died. A marriage failed. A business
partnership fell apart.
You aren't sure you really believe the
Bible verse that says,
We know that in all things God works for the good
of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 NIV
In fact, you’re pretty sure you don't believe it. As far as
you are concerned, all things haven't worked together for good in your life.
So, where has that attitude gotten you?
·
Do you like the way it sounds to hear
someone say you don't believe God's Word is true?
·
Are you content to believe that God is
not trustworthy?
·
Why not accept this message as a gift
from the Lord and walk through the door of Providence this morning?
·
Are you willing to doubt your doubts?
·
Are you willing to admit that maybe God's
perspective and timing is better than yours?
Either take a pair of scissors to that verse and cut Romans
8:28 out of your Bible or make it your life verse for this year. Face it.
What have you got to lose? Go through the door. Cross
the threshold. Start today to give God the benefit of the doubt and start trusting Him
again.
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