Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12

Transcription

1 Should Auld Acquaintance be Forgot? Friendship Series: Unwrapping God s Gifts: The Four Loves + Sermon No Sunday, December 23, Peachtree Presbyterian Church, 3434 Roswell Rd NW, / Dr. Victor D. Pentz Senior Minister + Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12 Is there anything in the whole world as wonderful as the physical presence of a friend? A letter just isn t the same. Two epistles in the Bible, 2 nd and 3 rd John, acknowledge this truth. Both books close with exactly the same words about friendship: Though I have much to write you, I would rather not use paper and ink, but I hope to come to see you and talk to you face to face so that our joy may be complete. Ah, the physical presence of a friend to be home for Christmas, and not rely on faxes and s and telephone calls, to be there. Christmas, from day one, when the Wise Men and the Shepherds gathered, has been a celebration with friends. This morning I would like us to look at the story of the Wise Men in Matthew 2: After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 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, and all Jerusalem with him. 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. In Bethlehem in Judea, they replied, for this is what the prophet has written: 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. Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him. After they 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. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child

2 with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. I invite you to join me in prayer. Our gracious God, how we thank You that these Wise Men, who traveled such great distances, were rewarded by the discovery of the Christ Child. This morning we too have come on a quest for the Christ Child. We pray that the star of your Spirit would lead us to the place where he is, and that as we kneel at his side, You would draw us close to him and to one another in the sweet bonds of Christian friendship. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Several weeks ago, we began our series called Gifts of Love. You see the gifts before you. We began with what we called entry level love. That is our love of familiar things and people. We moved on to Eros, which is not just sexual love; it is a love of those things and people who are attractive and desirable, those who are very easy to love. This morning we come to the third love, expressed by the Greek word philia, from which we get the name of the city of Philadelphia: brotherly love, friendship. Today we are going to celebrate those special people who are our amigos, compatriots, pals, soul mates, buddies, partners in crime whatever you want to call them. When you are with special friends like these, you are so in tune, you find yourselves finishing each other s sentences. They are the persons who, in the words of the poet, are the we of me. Someone has written that a friend is someone with whom you can think out loud without penalty. You are at your best with friends because you can be at your worst without prejudicing them against you. That s why the loss of a special friend can feel like the loss of the whole world. The essence of friendship is sharing a common passion. You meet someone else who shares your passion for, say, the paintings of Winslow Homer. I love his paintings; his seascapes are so wonderful. When I meet someone who shares that passion for his paintings, we are immediately friends. We are bonded by our common passion. Or, when you meet somebody else who also believes that Neil Diamond s album Hot August Night is the greatest piece of music ever written and since there are only two of you in the whole world who feel that way suddenly you are friends. Or, you meet someone who possesses your twisted sense of humor; or someone who shares your love of hunting or flower arranging or cycling or whatever unique passion you hold. C. S. Lewis says that while lovers stand face to face, absorbed in one another, friends stand shoulder to shoulder, facing in the same direction. The Bible says that Jesus stands like this with us. At the Last Supper, Jesus looked around at -2-

3 his disciples and said, I am calling you friends. No longer am I calling you servants. Servants just mindlessly snap to when the master gives an order without understanding the meaning and the purpose of what they are asked to do. I don t want you disciples standing three feet behind me any longer. I want you up here beside me, shoulder to shoulder with me. I am sharing with you my soul, my dreams for the kingdom, my love for my Father. I call you my friends. We glorify Christ when we embrace others in Christian friendship. That means that as Christians, we must not set ourselves apart from one another, even those among us who really love to be alone. As Christians, we are called to community. Authorities have just now released a likely profile of the person who sent the deadly anthrax envelopes to public officials. Not surprisingly, they suspect that perpetrator is a person who is isolated. Our minds play crazy tricks on us when we are by ourselves. Think about the Unabomber. On the other hand, the Bible gives us the profile of the Christian: the Christian is one of those Barbara Streisand people who need people. The Apostle Paul was the ultimate people person. In Romans 16, Paul greets his friends, and you never heard a more diverse roll call: I commend to you... Phoebe (who was probably the woman carrying the letter)... greet Priscilla and Aquila... Note that he mentions the wife before the husband; that was an interesting thing to do in his time. Then he goes on to mention multi-racial names, multi-ethnic names, Greek names, African names, unpronounceable names Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers with them. Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the saints with them. Was this guy connected, or what? Do you know why the Apostle Paul was so brilliant? It is because he had a diverse, broad community of people with whom he could think out loud. His encounters with such a variety of people and viewpoints helped him clarify his own thinking. The advice we can take from Paul s example is, don t make friends with only one kind of person. At the manger shepherds and Wise Men gathered. Most of us grew up thinking shepherds and Wise Men went together like turkey and stuffing. The combination was more like oil and water. You could not find two more diametrically opposed groups of people. If the Wise Men and the shepherds were ever together at the same time and place at the manger or at the house of Jesus, those common laborers must have looked at the Magi as if they were the Eighth Wonder of the World. These men rode in on camels, adorned with the finery of nobility, covered by the dust of a thousand miles. They slid down from their camels, straightened their turbans, and carried expensive gifts in to the Christ Child. By contrast, the shepherds were members of the lowest profession in Israel. In fact, we in the South would have called them rednecks. Why? For one thing, they worked with sheep, which are the dumbest animals in the world. I once heard a truck driver say that he transported cattle and horses, but not sheep. When he drove his truck around a corner, cattle and horses would lean in the opposite direction to keep -3-

4 themselves balanced; sheep, on the other hand, would lean in the wrong direction! They would fall down and be unable to stand up again. Furthermore, these shepherds watched their flocks by night! These were the night shift shepherds. (Earl Palmer). The owners worked during the day, and then they found some folks to watch the sheep at night for minimum wage. Yet, to the shepherds who had nothing and the Magi who had everything, God gave the same gift for Christmas: the gift of his Son, in whose presence we all become friends. In our text, we find a red flag about friendship: that is, if you have the right friends, they will lead you to the manger; and if you have the wrong friends, they will hold you back from where God wants you to be. Let me illustrate by telling the story of the doctor, the attorney, and the minister who were marooned on a desert island. They had been out in the South Pacific, miles and miles from civilization, for months. They had almost given up hope, when one day, a bottle floated ashore. They took out the cork, and a genie appeared and said, I ll grant each of you one wish. The doctor said, I m a physician and a researcher at Emory University, and before I got stuck on this island, I was on the verge of a cure for cancer. I really need to get back to Atlanta to my wife and children. Poof! He disappeared and was back home. The attorney said, I ve had a lot of time to think while I ve been out here by myself, and I want to go back to Atlanta and devote my whole life to the betterment of society, working to create and defend just laws. Also, I m engaged. I want to go back. Poof! He was back home. The minister looked around, found himself alone with the genie, and said, Gosh, I liked those guys. I wish they were still here. The wrong friends will keep you from where God wants you to go. The Wise Men traveled and arrived at the palace of King Herod. They asked, Where is he who is born the King of the Jews? That was not real wise of the Wise Men. King of the Jews was Herod s exact title. Herod answered, You re looking at him. They said, Oh, no, not you. It s someone else. We want to find him. Herod, not surprisingly, said, So do I. The Bible says, When Herod had called together all the people s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. The teachers of the law responded: In Bethlehem in Judea, they replied, for this is what the prophet has written: 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. How ironic that the teachers of the law would not travel the six miles from Jerusalem with the Wise Men to Bethlehem to see the born Messiah! A similar apathy is sometimes seen among religious people in the church today. Someone might say, Hey, when it comes to God, I ve been -4-

5 there, done that, got the tee shirt. I ve been baptized, confirmed I m one of those ten thousand members of the Peachtree Presbyterian Church. Ho-hum. A friend like that will hold you back. But then suddenly, along comes a group of fired-up foreigners, and they say, We ve seen his star, and we want to worship him. That kind of passion is infectious. Choose your friends very carefully. Are your friends bringing out the best in you? Or do you have some who are bringing out the worst in you? How many of us with teenagers wish we could pick our children s friends? Are your friends leading you to the manger, or are they leading you to Herod? Dietrich Bonhoeffer said: True friendship happens when the Jesus in me sees the Jesus in you. That s why true friends bring us the very strength and peace and faithfulness of Christ. When my father died last week, I picked up my voice messages, and a friend from this church had called. He said, Vic, I want you to know I love you. I wish I could be there with you. I know how hard this is for you. I hope you feel my strength. In that moment, I felt the strength of my friend. Another friend, Ara Carapetyan, called and said, Vic, you are the eldest son in that family. You are now the patriarch of the Pentz clan. You need to be strong. I m praying for you. I felt the strength of my friend, Ara. I regularly meet with a group of elders to pray. They got in touch with me and said, Vic, we are praying for you. I felt the strength of their prayers. Their support reminds me of the phrase Jeb Stuart used to sign his letters to General Robert E. Lee, Yours to count on. Did you ever wonder why our soldiers show such courage in battle? Throughout history American soldiers have been known for their extraordinary courage and bravery in combat. I d like to recommend a book to you. It s called Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley, the son of one of the men who inspired the famous monument of the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima. Bradley interviewed marines who stormed the beaches of Iwo Jima, who put their bodies in direct line of Japanese automatic machine gun fire. They ran directly at those guns with nothing between their flesh and those bullets but their uniforms. Bradley asked the veterans, Why? What was your motive? We would think they might answer that it was their love for the country, their love for the Constitution. But again and again, the marines said, It was my buddies. I did it for my buddies. One marine said, It s very deceptive, because we would fight over a beer, we d insult each other s sister, and then we d go out and lay down our lives for each other. Can you think of any better definition of friendship than the Marine motto? Semper fidelis always faithful. Author James Bradley says the Japanese were willing to go out and die for the emperor. That made them formidable. These American boys would go out and -5-

6 fight and die for each other, and that made them invincible. Jesus said: Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends. Then he said, I have called you friends. Our friendship with Jesus makes us invincible. Here in this world we have moments among friends when we look at our watch and say, Oh, my goodness, I ve stayed so late tonight. I have to get up in the morning; you have to get up in the morning. I have to go. We part from our friends. But with God, that moment never comes. When God begins to talk to one of his friends, He says, Nothing is going to stop us from having this conversation neither death, nor life, nor powers, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else will interrupt my sweet communion with my friend. He is Semper fidelis always faithful. He is yours to count on. I have called you friends. Would you join with me in prayer? Lord, we pray that You would help us this season to deepen the sweet bonds of friendship with those special people You have sent to us. We pray that You would give us the time to deepen even the deepest friendships. How we thank You for the friend we have in Jesus, who is always faithful, ours to count on in this life and in the next and forevermore. Amen. -6-