WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.279 Good morning, everyone. Very happy New Year to you. Hope this year will bring you much 00:00:08.279 --> 00:00:16.199 blessing as it unfolds, as Arthur Askey would say, before our very eyes. I want to preach 00:00:16.199 --> 00:00:24.820 to you from a verse that we just had read to us by Sonia, where it says that the three 00:00:24.820 --> 00:00:32.859 Magi came to the house. They saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped 00:00:32.859 --> 00:00:43.519 him. Randomly, I was reading my successor's Christmas letter on the Diocese of Bristol's 00:00:43.519 --> 00:00:48.920 website, and she had found some research which I thought you might find vaguely entertaining. 00:00:48.920 --> 00:00:55.900 I have no idea who would pay for research like this. What the research was there to find 00:00:55.900 --> 00:01:03.900 out was, if you played a particular role in a nativity set at school, the researchers reckon 00:01:03.900 --> 00:01:10.340 they can predict what salary you might earn in adulthood, simply off the back of that 00:01:10.340 --> 00:01:16.780 role. So here you have it. If you were a lamb, don't have to shout it out, if you were a lamb, 00:01:16.780 --> 00:01:23.280 you would earn up ending 20k a year. If you were a narrator, 24k a year. If you were an angel, 00:01:23.719 --> 00:01:33.700 25k a year. A donkey, 25k a year. I know some donkeys who'd love to earn 25k a year. And then 00:01:33.700 --> 00:01:41.439 when you get to the kind of higher end of things, Joseph, 38 grand, Mary, 39 grand, the angel 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:52.379 Gabriel 40. Guess who tops the list? Want to try a guess? You know the answer to everything 00:01:52.379 --> 00:01:58.159 in church is Jesus, for crying out. But actually, it's not in this case. If you want to be a 00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:07.700 high earner, you need to grab the part of the ox. Right? Now, in the middle of all this, 00:02:07.700 --> 00:02:14.520 of course, are the three kings. Very often very noble looking young people, dressed up in their 00:02:14.520 --> 00:02:21.159 parents' dressing gown and some kind of constructed crown on their heads. If you were a king, you're 00:02:21.159 --> 00:02:29.539 kind of middle range. You're going to earn 26,000 a year. Because what we know about the three kings, 00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:36.920 we mostly learn from Christmas cards, don't we? We don't actually pay much attention to what the 00:02:36.919 --> 00:02:43.000 Bible says. The first thing is, it never says they're kings. The second thing is, it never says 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:49.199 there were three of them. The third thing is, I have a Christmas card here. Actually, the best 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:57.179 dressed person on this Christmas card is the camel. They've got crowns on, they've got lots of, you know, 00:02:57.259 --> 00:03:04.560 bling and all that stuff. The baby Jesus is in the crib. I think it's meant to be a halo rather than 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:12.180 any suggestion that the infant Jesus might have cried. Because we know through singing away in a 00:03:12.180 --> 00:03:18.140 manger that the baby never awakes. My wife and I have five children, we never got one like that. 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:27.539 So what we know about them is largely built, and you can go to Cologne, incidentally, to the cathedral 00:03:27.539 --> 00:03:34.039 there. And in the cathedral, you will find three skulls, which are reputed to be the three skulls of 00:03:34.039 --> 00:03:42.799 the three kings slash astrologers slash wise men slash... And we three kings of Orient, I mean, 00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:47.459 it just wouldn't work. I mean, that's got a nice timbre to it, hasn't it? You know, we can sing that. 00:03:47.699 --> 00:03:56.259 You couldn't really sing. We three possible astronomers from the Far East, it just wouldn't work, 00:03:56.259 --> 00:04:08.840 would it? Enough. They were Magi. And the Magi were an interesting people. They go back hundreds of 00:04:08.840 --> 00:04:16.939 years. Some people think as far back as the time of Abraham. And the Magi were a priestly tribe. They 00:04:16.939 --> 00:04:23.539 were not a Jewish priestly tribe. They were a priestly tribe that followed some Persian religion, 00:04:23.540 --> 00:04:33.300 who believed that you could predict events, foresee events, simply by looking at the movements of the 00:04:33.300 --> 00:04:40.379 planets and the stars in the sky. So naturally, when they saw the star heading east, this bright star, 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:49.020 it was their way of being priests just to follow the star, which is what they did. 00:04:49.019 --> 00:05:00.039 I have heard some preachers, believe it or not, some preachers use this passage of scripture to justify 00:05:00.039 --> 00:05:10.180 astrology. Many, many people, some of you will be, some of them, open your magazines and your newspapers every 00:05:10.180 --> 00:05:19.620 day and you read your astrological prediction. Which probably, you have to say, you know, given that 00:05:19.620 --> 00:05:26.180 most newspapers have circulations in tens of thousands, probably is a rather generalist approach 00:05:26.180 --> 00:05:36.160 to kind of make decisions about your life. Interestingly, in the book of Daniel, I think we find out the real 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:45.500 truth about astrology. And you remember the background to this story is that this king called Nebuchadnezzar 00:05:45.500 --> 00:05:51.960 has a dream and he asks all his astrologers and his wise men, who are on his payroll, of course, 00:05:52.740 --> 00:06:00.120 he asks them, what is this dream? Who can interpret this dream for me? And the astrologers are very worried 00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:06.340 by this question because Nebuchadnezzar is a guy on a short fuse and if you said something to him that 00:06:06.340 --> 00:06:16.300 he didn't like the sound of, you probably would end up being no more. So the astrologers come back to 00:06:16.300 --> 00:06:22.540 Nebuchadnezzar when he asks them to interpret the dream. This is what they say, there is not a man on 00:06:22.540 --> 00:06:27.560 earth who can do what the king asks. No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any 00:06:27.560 --> 00:06:34.540 magician or enchanter or astrologer. What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the 00:06:34.540 --> 00:06:46.000 king except the gods and they do not live among men. And Daniel shows up. And Daniel hears the dream, 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:53.639 the king narrates the dream to Daniel. This is what Daniel says. Daniel says, no wise man, enchanter, 00:06:53.639 --> 00:07:02.419 magician or diviner, can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about. But there is a God in 00:07:02.419 --> 00:07:10.779 heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. 00:07:11.159 --> 00:07:17.759 Your dream and the visions that pass through your mind as you lay on your bed are these. And he goes on 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:26.839 and interprets the dream. You see what's being said here. That personally, I personally think 00:07:26.839 --> 00:07:34.800 astrology is mumbo jumbo. But even if there's a shred of sense in it, the bottom line is, Daniel got it 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:40.699 right. There is a God in heaven who reveals himself and his will to us. And we would be better to stick 00:07:40.699 --> 00:07:48.420 with him who created us rather than read the wittering of people who are writing astrological 00:07:48.420 --> 00:07:53.959 reports. I mean, I don't know what it means if Jupiter's passing Mars. And frankly, I don't care 00:07:53.959 --> 00:08:02.740 because I'm going to stick with the living God. Amen? Amen. So what do these Magi teach us? 00:08:02.740 --> 00:08:13.699 That's a very critical question. If you compare the attitude of the Magi, who were from the Far 00:08:13.699 --> 00:08:22.139 East, were probably of dubious theological background. If you compare their attitude to that of Herod, 00:08:22.139 --> 00:08:32.600 you are talking about chalk and cheese. Herod pretends that he's interested in 00:08:32.600 --> 00:08:40.540 finding the babe, the Messiah, to use his word. He's not interested in the Messiah because he wants to 00:08:40.540 --> 00:08:49.200 worship him. Oh, that's his stated aim. He's only interested because he sees that somebody who might 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:57.560 become king of the Jews will be a threat to him. And he's only interested in that child so that he can 00:08:57.559 --> 00:09:07.159 kill the child. You compare that to these theologically dubious people from the East 00:09:07.159 --> 00:09:15.299 who've come to worship Jesus. You're talking about two different things. And I want to say 00:09:15.299 --> 00:09:24.000 that this passage of Scripture teaches us three very important things that we need to know, not least 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:32.860 at the beginning of a new year. And I want you. I have no way of making you. But I want you this year to 00:09:32.860 --> 00:09:40.860 think on these things. And I even am bold enough to ask you to be ruthlessly honest with yourselves 00:09:40.860 --> 00:09:49.220 when you make some kind of assessment, some kind of audit of where you are in your relationship with God. 00:09:49.220 --> 00:09:58.820 The first thing we learn from these people is the difference between false religion and living faith. 00:10:00.660 --> 00:10:07.980 Herod was only interested in Jesus because he wanted to kill him. These theologically dubious men 00:10:07.980 --> 00:10:16.820 were interested in him because they wanted to go and worship him. Somebody has described the Church of 00:10:16.820 --> 00:10:28.240 England as cultural Christianity. To attend the Church of England is a bit on a par with red telephone boxes 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:36.980 and steam trains. It's part of our kind of national fabric. And in fact, if that were true on its own, 00:10:37.040 --> 00:10:42.580 it would mean that you could sit in the... Well, you can't sit in the pews in this church. We've taken them all out 00:10:42.580 --> 00:10:52.680 in business class seats. You can sit in these seats and apply cultural Christianity to your life. 00:10:53.500 --> 00:11:02.280 And if Jesus didn't exist, it wouldn't make any difference to you. Right? Say that. And part of our 00:11:02.280 --> 00:11:08.280 inherited fabric just feels comfortable, doesn't it? John Betjeman described the Church of England 00:11:08.279 --> 00:11:17.399 as like putting on a warm pair of slippers. Somebody said the Church of England... Everybody 00:11:17.399 --> 00:11:23.339 thinks that the Church of England belongs to them, even though they don't belong to it. 00:11:25.839 --> 00:11:31.819 I've never forgotten, when I was in local church ministry, we decided we would floodlight our church 00:11:31.820 --> 00:11:37.360 in the evening. And can I just say, nobody talked about light pollution back in the day. 00:11:38.280 --> 00:11:42.780 So we thought we floodlight our tower, it'd all look nice and, you know, everybody would be happy. 00:11:43.660 --> 00:11:50.000 Except one guy came in to the annual general meeting of the church and kicked off Major League. 00:11:50.640 --> 00:11:53.460 I had never seen this man before. He wasn't a church member. 00:11:53.460 --> 00:11:58.900 And so the next time I saw him was with his large dog in our churchyard. 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:06.139 Turns out that his large dog loved our churchyard, primarily as a lavatory. 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:13.460 So I said to him, you know, I'm interested that you'd have such strong feelings about illuminating 00:12:13.460 --> 00:12:17.200 the church, since you never set foot in the place. 00:12:18.300 --> 00:12:19.120 He said, what do you mean? 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:24.060 I said, well, I wouldn't dream of, you know, are you a member of a club? 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:26.639 Yes, he said, I'm a member of a local archery club. 00:12:26.740 --> 00:12:31.659 I said, I wouldn't dream of coming to the archery club and telling you what you needed to do or not to do. 00:12:34.519 --> 00:12:37.960 It is true that if you're on the electoral roll of a church, 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:42.320 and you can get on without ever attending one if you are a resident in the parish, 00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:48.340 you can turn up at the annual general meeting and make the vicar, 00:12:48.340 --> 00:12:53.200 I'm not suggesting you do this, but you can make the vicar's life very tough. 00:12:56.180 --> 00:12:57.340 That's not my point. 00:12:57.640 --> 00:13:03.460 My point is this, that there is a thing called cultural Christianity 00:13:03.460 --> 00:13:07.360 that haunts the corridors of the Church of England, 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:14.600 which means that you can attend a church and know nothing of Jesus. 00:13:15.700 --> 00:13:20.019 You have never had, to use that powerful word that Clive used in the introduction, 00:13:20.519 --> 00:13:24.720 you have never had that encounter with him. 00:13:27.220 --> 00:13:32.220 The Magi teach us that faith begins with an encounter. 00:13:32.220 --> 00:13:36.560 In this story with a baby in a manger. 00:13:38.740 --> 00:13:43.300 People often say to me when they find out what I did for a living, 00:13:44.259 --> 00:13:46.139 they'll say to me, well, of course I'm not religious. 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:48.580 And my response to that is, well, nor am I. 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:50.960 I'm really not religious. 00:13:51.300 --> 00:13:55.060 By religious, I have very little passion. 00:13:55.139 --> 00:13:57.399 I shouldn't probably be saying this to you as a former bishop. 00:13:57.399 --> 00:14:02.399 I have very little patience with all the kind of claptrap that goes with religion. 00:14:03.259 --> 00:14:05.279 Dressing up, all that stuff. 00:14:05.579 --> 00:14:07.559 Never really felt cool about that. 00:14:08.819 --> 00:14:11.259 I don't think I am religious in that sense. 00:14:11.579 --> 00:14:14.819 Religious in the sense of, I love Jesus Christ. 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:19.259 And I want him to affect everything I do in my life. 00:14:19.439 --> 00:14:21.240 If that's religious, then I'm religious. 00:14:23.240 --> 00:14:26.179 But the rest of it is just hoopla to me. 00:14:27.399 --> 00:14:28.459 Are you religious? 00:14:29.819 --> 00:14:30.740 Don't shout out. 00:14:33.159 --> 00:14:38.439 See, let me just show you the hallmarks of godless religion. 00:14:38.579 --> 00:14:41.439 The first thing is, if your religion is godless, 00:14:41.699 --> 00:14:46.039 you are trying to earn your salvation rather than relying on the grace of God. 00:14:47.639 --> 00:14:48.539 Say it again. 00:14:48.539 --> 00:15:01.199 If you are just religious, you are still trying to earn your salvation rather than rely on the grace of God revealed supremely on the cross of Calvary. 00:15:02.659 --> 00:15:08.419 Second thing is, if you are just religious, you will know about God, but you won't know him. 00:15:08.419 --> 00:15:10.419 Why? 00:15:11.979 --> 00:15:12.219 Why? 00:15:12.279 --> 00:15:23.199 Jesus came so that in human form we could start to understand, never fully understand, but start to understand what God is like. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:34.180 If you are religious, you will be far more concerned about your outward appearance than you will about inner transformation in your life. 00:15:35.660 --> 00:15:37.800 As long as it looks good. 00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:48.419 I have stood for many, many hours at the back of a church at the end of the service, shaking hands with the saints, so they went out, you know, hi Mary, how are you? 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:50.899 Everybody says, fine. 00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:53.000 Why? 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:59.620 They are consumed with what people think of them rather than what God thinks of them. 00:16:01.659 --> 00:16:02.940 It is extraordinary, isn't it? 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:08.279 I remember a lady one day, she is coming out and said, oh, hello, how are you? 00:16:08.360 --> 00:16:10.220 She said, I am in a dreadful state. 00:16:10.299 --> 00:16:11.580 I am like, that is the wrong answer. 00:16:13.340 --> 00:16:14.700 Get to the back of the line. 00:16:15.580 --> 00:16:16.519 Sorry, this was a joke. 00:16:17.159 --> 00:16:18.500 I did not say that. 00:16:18.500 --> 00:16:25.820 Outward appearance will matter to you more than inner transformation. 00:16:26.779 --> 00:16:31.700 Deadly, you will think of your life as a journey, but you have got no idea where it's headed. 00:16:33.960 --> 00:16:42.000 Whereas the Bible teaches us, in Christ, we're headed for heaven, for eternal life. 00:16:42.620 --> 00:16:45.620 These are just some of the characteristics of false religion. 00:16:45.620 --> 00:16:55.460 Any of these behaviors, I mean, you could, you know, I could get you to fill in a piece of paper saying which of them apply to you if they do. 00:16:56.539 --> 00:17:01.080 And you might say, well, I'm okay, you know, three out of four, I'm fine on that, 75%. 00:17:01.080 --> 00:17:03.120 I would have settled for that in college. 00:17:04.380 --> 00:17:04.779 Wrong. 00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:08.240 Any one of these applies to you. 00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:13.700 And you have some thinking to do, my friend, in this new year. 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:16.700 Peter wrote these words. 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:23.940 He said, come to him, the living stone, rejected by man, but chosen by God and precious to him. 00:17:25.500 --> 00:17:34.319 These strange men from the East teach us that there is a difference between false religion. 00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:38.639 People who just say stuff for the sake of saying it, like Herod. 00:17:39.679 --> 00:17:40.720 And false religion. 00:17:40.819 --> 00:17:47.000 The second thing that they show us is the difference between true worship and false worship. 00:17:48.159 --> 00:17:54.000 Never forgotten a story that David Bubbers of the Church Pastoral Aid Society told me. 00:17:54.579 --> 00:18:00.359 He said that there was a mum in church for the first time, and it was a church with pews, 00:18:00.359 --> 00:18:05.159 and they kept standing up and sitting down, standing up and sitting down, kneeling down, standing up, sitting down. 00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:07.419 Child talked to his mother. 00:18:07.579 --> 00:18:10.099 He said, what are they frightened of? 00:18:10.119 --> 00:18:11.119 Who are they hiding from? 00:18:16.819 --> 00:18:17.419 Scripture. 00:18:18.719 --> 00:18:25.139 John's Gospel encourages us to worship God in spirit and in truth. 00:18:25.140 --> 00:18:33.759 Herod claimed he wanted to worship God, but he didn't want to worship him, did he? 00:18:34.920 --> 00:18:37.140 He wanted to put him to death. 00:18:38.500 --> 00:18:42.100 What would be the hallmarks of false worship? 00:18:42.259 --> 00:18:48.980 Well, the first thing is, false worship would just be attending church without adoring God. 00:18:48.980 --> 00:18:55.019 The second thing is, it would be clock-watching, not Christ-focused. 00:18:56.160 --> 00:18:57.160 Do you ever do this? 00:18:57.279 --> 00:18:58.339 I mean, I've put my hand up. 00:18:58.400 --> 00:18:59.920 I have done it myself, right? 00:19:00.200 --> 00:19:03.740 You get to the end of a service where the minister's droned on. 00:19:05.140 --> 00:19:05.839 I know. 00:19:07.700 --> 00:19:15.420 And Clive leaps up, and Julian leaps up, and they tell you, this is the last time you're like, 00:19:15.420 --> 00:19:17.240 oh my gosh, it's the seven-verser. 00:19:18.980 --> 00:19:22.740 You know, remove all sharp objects. 00:19:26.700 --> 00:19:31.319 Look, if you're watching the clock, and I am, as a matter of fact, because it's up on the wall up there, 00:19:32.360 --> 00:19:35.700 that's not focused on Jesus, is it? 00:19:35.720 --> 00:19:37.220 That's focused on your lunch. 00:19:38.700 --> 00:19:40.339 Or focused on something else. 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:46.319 I don't even know if you can get this. 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:52.879 You can probably get it on Kindle, but I think there's a book that I would love for all of you to read. 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:59.559 It's written by a great old preacher of the church, long since he died, called A.W. Tozer. 00:20:01.460 --> 00:20:05.879 And Tozer wrote this book, and it's called Whatever Happened to Worship? 00:20:05.880 --> 00:20:12.800 And in that book, he says a number of things. 00:20:12.800 --> 00:20:23.320 In the foreword, Graham Kendrick writes this, and he's quoting directly from A.W. Tozer. 00:20:23.319 --> 00:20:32.139 In some circles, said A.W. Tozer, God has been abridged, reduced, modified, edited, changed, and amended, 00:20:32.700 --> 00:20:37.839 until he is no longer the God whom Isaiah saw high and lifted up. 00:20:39.079 --> 00:20:42.279 He has been reduced in the minds of so many people. 00:20:42.740 --> 00:20:48.379 We no longer have that boundless confidence in his character that we used to have. 00:20:48.380 --> 00:20:59.320 I have spent my life going from church to church in a peripatetic ministry. 00:21:00.780 --> 00:21:03.040 And it breaks my heart to tell you. 00:21:04.460 --> 00:21:06.360 But I fear that might be true. 00:21:08.020 --> 00:21:09.780 I fear it might be true. 00:21:10.700 --> 00:21:13.000 That we've just reduced God. 00:21:14.340 --> 00:21:15.300 Tozer goes on. 00:21:15.299 --> 00:21:17.119 I mean, there's so many good things in it. 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:19.980 He says, let me say two things about worship. 00:21:20.319 --> 00:21:26.879 First, he says, I do not believe it is necessarily true that we are worshipping God when we're making a load of racket. 00:21:27.799 --> 00:21:30.279 But not infrequently, worship is audible. 00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:33.299 Second, he says, I would warn those... 00:21:33.299 --> 00:21:37.440 And this really does fit the Church of England. 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:44.400 Second, I would warn those who are cultured, quiet, self-possessed, poised, and sophisticated, 00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:49.140 that if they are embarrassed in church when some happy Christian says amen, 00:21:49.799 --> 00:21:53.000 they may actually be in need of some spiritual enlightenment. 00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:04.039 Yeah, worshipping saints of God in the body of Christ have often been a little noisy on this front. 00:22:04.039 --> 00:22:09.839 Don't you love that picture? 00:22:10.059 --> 00:22:14.500 I mean, I even love this postcard, although it's factually all over the place. 00:22:15.259 --> 00:22:15.980 I love it. 00:22:16.059 --> 00:22:23.039 I love the idea that these men, who as I say, had at best a dodgy theological background, 00:22:24.039 --> 00:22:29.799 could come to that crib, see that baby, and worship him. 00:22:29.799 --> 00:22:38.339 I mean, if that doesn't strike you as extraordinary, I don't know what would. 00:22:39.899 --> 00:22:44.259 And the third thing is, there is a message from the crib, 00:22:44.859 --> 00:22:50.460 by this encounter that the Magi had with the Lord Jesus. 00:22:50.460 --> 00:22:54.180 And the message is this. 00:22:55.740 --> 00:22:57.559 All are welcome. 00:22:59.079 --> 00:23:00.380 All are welcome. 00:23:01.299 --> 00:23:02.480 You think about that. 00:23:02.840 --> 00:23:04.340 I think there's this thing whereby, 00:23:05.120 --> 00:23:10.039 we kind of think that if you're going to, you know, follow Jesus, 00:23:10.500 --> 00:23:11.840 if you're going to go to church, 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:13.460 you've got to be a bit different. 00:23:13.559 --> 00:23:15.180 You've got to have something special about you. 00:23:15.180 --> 00:23:22.519 There's a church sign I passed in the States that said, 00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:24.519 only sinners welcome. 00:23:26.580 --> 00:23:30.519 It kind of gets the tenor of what I'm about to say to you. 00:23:31.700 --> 00:23:35.880 In Downing Street, there's this very highly intelligent man. 00:23:35.960 --> 00:23:38.000 You'll hear him on Radio 4 occasionally, 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:39.279 called David Halpin, 00:23:39.840 --> 00:23:44.779 who is a behavioral psychologist who advises the government on policy. 00:23:45.180 --> 00:23:49.000 So that they might, you know, create policy that might actually be good. 00:23:51.100 --> 00:23:53.799 And Halpin has this thing, it's very interesting, 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:55.779 borrowed from the world of marketing. 00:23:55.940 --> 00:24:00.019 He says that people identify with things far more 00:24:00.019 --> 00:24:03.660 if they feel it's for people like us. 00:24:06.299 --> 00:24:08.380 Well, friends, the truth is, 00:24:08.440 --> 00:24:09.640 there are a lot of people in Cleveland, 00:24:09.799 --> 00:24:10.940 there are a lot of people in Bristol, 00:24:11.100 --> 00:24:13.360 there are other people in the United Kingdom 00:24:13.359 --> 00:24:15.859 who don't feel when they look at us 00:24:15.859 --> 00:24:17.679 that we are people like them 00:24:17.679 --> 00:24:19.659 and they are people like us. 00:24:22.419 --> 00:24:26.339 There is a kind of veneer of self-righteousness, 00:24:26.859 --> 00:24:28.819 a veneer of judgmentalism 00:24:28.819 --> 00:24:32.399 that can so readily become the mark of the church 00:24:32.399 --> 00:24:36.879 and it gets in between people and an encounter with God. 00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:41.920 Dr. Sangster, that very caustic Methodist minister, 00:24:42.080 --> 00:24:44.520 I hope Ross won't mind me referring to him as such, 00:24:44.920 --> 00:24:47.900 used to say to his congregation on a Sunday morning, 00:24:48.260 --> 00:24:51.720 you realize a lot of people aren't in church this morning 00:24:51.720 --> 00:24:52.640 because you are. 00:24:54.920 --> 00:24:56.100 I'm not saying that. 00:24:56.099 --> 00:25:03.579 Shepherds, ordinary working men, 00:25:05.059 --> 00:25:11.240 even animals, dirty, smelly, lovely animals 00:25:11.240 --> 00:25:13.959 are welcome. 00:25:16.659 --> 00:25:22.199 And anybody who wants to come and encounter Jesus 00:25:22.200 --> 00:25:23.960 is welcome. 00:25:25.500 --> 00:25:26.160 You say to me, 00:25:26.200 --> 00:25:28.480 well you don't know what kind of a life I've been living, 00:25:28.580 --> 00:25:30.720 I don't care what kind of a life you've been living, 00:25:30.920 --> 00:25:32.799 the truth still holds. 00:25:35.259 --> 00:25:36.779 If you want to come to Jesus, 00:25:38.059 --> 00:25:40.220 the manger door is open for you. 00:25:43.700 --> 00:25:45.620 It's not for special people. 00:25:45.619 --> 00:25:49.679 It's for people who recognize they're not special, 00:25:49.819 --> 00:25:52.519 who recognize their ordinariness, 00:25:53.159 --> 00:25:56.219 who can become extraordinary 00:25:56.219 --> 00:25:58.899 in that encounter with God. 00:26:04.179 --> 00:26:06.079 At the heart of worship, 00:26:06.759 --> 00:26:08.819 and we see this in the Magi, 00:26:09.619 --> 00:26:12.979 is the idea of offering. 00:26:12.980 --> 00:26:17.039 When I come to church to worship, 00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:20.680 I come to offer myself to God. 00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:21.759 All that I am, 00:26:22.480 --> 00:26:23.620 all that I have, 00:26:23.960 --> 00:26:25.339 all that I ever will be, 00:26:26.339 --> 00:26:27.799 is a gift from God. 00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:30.759 And when I worship God, 00:26:30.839 --> 00:26:32.240 I offer that to Him. 00:26:33.579 --> 00:26:36.420 In the hope that He might deem me faithful, 00:26:37.420 --> 00:26:40.079 and help me use it to serve Him, 00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:43.240 and to serve this world which He loves. 00:26:45.879 --> 00:26:46.699 And of course, 00:26:47.039 --> 00:26:49.819 the reason why it starts with encounter 00:26:49.819 --> 00:26:51.359 is that in a few moments, 00:26:51.679 --> 00:26:54.000 we're going to be celebrating Holy Communion. 00:26:56.299 --> 00:26:58.679 Reminding ourselves that the grace of God 00:26:58.679 --> 00:27:01.759 dawned upon the world at the cross of Calvary, 00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:08.480 where the Son of God made His own self-offering, 00:27:09.019 --> 00:27:13.039 so that we could be set free and forgiven, 00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:19.539 and turn from rebels into worshippers, 00:27:20.319 --> 00:27:24.240 turn from unbelievers into believers, 00:27:25.240 --> 00:27:30.619 turn from dispassionate to being on fire for God, 00:27:30.619 --> 00:27:34.179 friends, let me tell you this, 00:27:35.419 --> 00:27:37.319 that the millions of people 00:27:37.319 --> 00:27:39.859 who think that lying in bed is a better choice 00:27:39.859 --> 00:27:41.199 than showing up to God, 00:27:41.699 --> 00:27:43.399 a half-hearted army, 00:27:44.179 --> 00:27:45.599 will never impress them. 00:27:46.699 --> 00:27:48.259 We need to wake up, 00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:50.179 and to step up, 00:27:51.079 --> 00:27:52.839 and understand what real, 00:27:53.359 --> 00:27:54.739 living faith is. 00:27:55.739 --> 00:27:58.199 Understand what living worship is. 00:27:58.200 --> 00:28:00.740 And most importantly, 00:28:00.920 --> 00:28:03.980 understand that you are welcome, 00:28:04.180 --> 00:28:06.360 and maybe in your mind's eye today, 00:28:07.160 --> 00:28:10.059 you need to come to that manger of old, 00:28:10.819 --> 00:28:12.680 and push open the door, 00:28:13.819 --> 00:28:15.180 and discover for yourself 00:28:15.180 --> 00:28:17.279 the welcome that awaits you. 00:28:18.100 --> 00:28:20.460 In the name of our wonderful God, 00:28:20.740 --> 00:28:23.039 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 00:28:23.160 --> 00:28:24.259 and the people who agreed, 00:28:24.259 --> 00:28:25.019 said together. 00:28:25.019 --> 00:28:26.180 Amen.