Episode 170: The Story of His Glory | Will McLaughlin+

Good morning. Good morning. You can have a seat. So glad to be here with you guys. How's everyone's Christmas? Good. Okay. I know Tim already said it and usually when we talk about the weather, it's kind of like small talk, but how about the Christmas weather? Awesome.

So my kid just opened up all their stuff and sent them outside. Just go play with it outside, don't care what it is. We had a blast yesterday. Our kids got all kinds of fun stuff. We got Legos, Reese got a little bunk bed for her dolls, got a bunch of art supplies, the kids got bikes, which is super iconic and fun.

Yesterday we're at my in-laws, and they said, "Liam, what was your favorite gift you got?" He said, "Oh, I got Rudolph." They're like, "Rudolph, what's that?" And he's talking about, after all the stuff we got him, he's talking about last week at the youth Christmas party. He acquired this tiny Rudolph clock that has a really self-confident nod. He goes like this. And he's like, "That's my favorite thing I got." I'm like, oh my gosh, after all the shopping. So the moral of the story is just get your kids free stuff and they'll be happy with it.

But I always think this is funny. People ask, "How was your Christmas?" Because it's like, well, how much time do you got? This is okay to say: just fun, good, thumbs up. But the truth of the matter is, if we know each other and if we've got time, I'm really asking for a story. Right? Story is the language of the heart. It's the way that we best connect with each other.

If my mom calls me and asks, "How was your Christmas?" A fine isn't gonna suffice. She wants details. She wants stories. And she wants a zillion pictures of all the kids and their stuff. And God knows that story is the language of the heart too, because that's what the Bible is. The Bible is the story.

At our Christmas Eve service, I read this passage from one of my favorite books ever, seriously, the Jesus Storybook Bible. I always tell my kids, "Okay, we're gonna read this because I need it. Dad needs this tonight." So I'm gonna read you a passage from it. This is from the very beginning where it talks about the importance of story.

The Bible isn't a book of rules or a book of heroes. The Bible is, most of all, a story. It's an adventure story about a young hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure. It's a love story about a brave prince who leaves his palace, his throne, everything to rescue the one that he loves. It's the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life. You see, the best thing about this story is it's true.

Ain't that great? So understanding the Bible as a story has really helped me in my spiritual walk with the Lord. G.K. Chesterton, this great apologist of C.S. Lewis' age, said that he's always thought of the Bible, of life, first of all, as a story. And if there is a story, there must be a storyteller.

So when I think about the story that God is telling, I start to wonder: How do I see God's big story in Scripture? How do I see God's story working itself out in history? What's God's story he's telling in my life? And how does my little life fit into God's big story that he's telling?

So when we talk about God to people, the best thing we can really do is share a story. We often think that we have to have our apologetic nailed down, but really if people ask us about our faith, they're not asking for some kind of perfectly polished theological paper. They're asking us for our story.

But when I tell my story, it's good for others, but it's also just good for me. When I talk about how God's comforted me in the past, I'm comforted right then. And when I talk about God moving in my life in the past, I begin to listen for ways that he's moving in my life today, opening up doors today and speaking, guiding me today. So telling our story to others encourages us just as much as them, if not more so.

Today's little Bible story comes in an awesome part in God's bigger story. It's a story about God's call to the furthest, the least likely, and their subsequent mission he sends them on with the good news. It's a story of the Magi, or the wise men.

So before we get started, let's pray and ask that God would open up his word to our hearts.

God, we ask that you be here with us this morning, speaking to each of us, showing us the wonders of your love revealed in the story in the Bible. Speak through me. Use my humble words as a conduit of your grace and love here. Amen.

So today, as we outline the Magi story, we're gonna be asking these questions: What is God's story he's working in my life, and how does my little story play into God's larger story?

And we're gonna focus on the story of the Magi and see if the same kind of principles can apply to our lives. So here's another way to put it. My friend and colleague, Tim Henderson, likes to say that the gospel comes to us on the way to somebody else. The gospel came to the Magi on the way to their hometowns. We're gonna talk about it at the end.

Here's our outline for this morning. First, what was the Magi's story? Second, what did their story lead them to do? Third, where did they take their story afterwards? So the Magi story, what did their story lead them to do, and where did it take them afterwards?

Who Were the Magi?

Real quick, who were the Magi? I don't wanna shout out any fun facts or interesting nuggets about the Magi. What do you got? Who were the Magi? What else do we call them? Wise men. Were they kings? Some people say "We three kings of Orient are"—it's not in the Bible, but some people speculate they might have been kings. It's a beautiful song anyway. What else? They look to the stars. That's right. They look to the stars for guidance. Exactly. We'll come back to that. Anything else? How many were there? Okay, so we always say three. Why do we say three? Because of the song, yeah. Everyone assumes there are three, maybe there are three, but likely there was more. There were three gifts they brought, right? Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. So it could have been thirty, it could have been forty-five, who knows? It could have been four.

These are basically magicians who studied the stars and they had this ability to decipher and discern dreams. They're like advisors for the kings, kind of like Daniel and Joseph in the past. They had the ability to decipher dreams and the word magi—we usually get the word magic from. They had this ability to do magic tricks, card tricks, who knows what they did back in the day. And they also looked at the stars.

The cool thing about that is they looked to the stars for hints of what God was saying to them. They didn't read the Bible, they didn't pray, but when they saw God at work in the stars, they followed him. So they actually met Jesus, which I think is pretty awesome.

The Unlikely Guests

Here's another reason the Magi are really unlikely guests. Do you know where they're from? Likely Persia, which is also called Babylon. So Babylon—how did Israel feel about Babylon? Are they cool with Babylon? No way. Babylon had enslaved them, taken Jerusalem, desecrated their temple—all kinds of terrible stuff. These are the most random people to show up in Bethlehem looking for the king Jesus. They're the most unlikely guests you can imagine. They didn't wear the right clothes, speak the right language, they probably smelled different, had different social norms. They knew virtually nothing about the God of the Bible, yet there they are to greet the boy Jesus.

Here's something interesting. If you were inventing a religion, crafting something perfect and compelling, would you include magicians from the rival nation as some of the first people to greet your new king? No way. You would not include that story. So my question to you is, why is it in there then?

First off, because it actually happened. Matthew's telling us—I can't make this stuff up. Magicians from Babylon were the first people to come worship Jesus. People reading Matthew's report are like, "What? Why did he even include that? Couldn't you just have skipped that story?" But no, it's right there.

The Global Scope of Jesus' Mission

Here's another reason it's really important. This story of the Magi sets a global scope to Jesus' mission right off the bat, because Jesus isn't only the king of the Jews, he's the king of the world. These foreign outcasts are merely the first of many to come and greet the new king Jesus.

The Magi are not just last-minute additions to the story. Rather, they're fulfilling a central promise of the Bible—namely that God's glory would spread to the whole earth, that people from far and wide could be called and welcomed into the family of God.

From the very beginning of the Bible, God planned to bless all nations through one family—through Abraham's family. When they didn't cooperate, God had to come himself in the form of Jesus to begin to jumpstart the mission of God to the nations. The Magi are like the first trickle of water right before the floodgates open. It's a sign of something much, much larger to come—namely that God's plan and this mission to the nations has started. It's begun.

So here's what it reminds me of.

You guys remember you gotta quote C.S. Lewis in a sermon, right? You guys remember C.S. Lewis' first book in the Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? The witch has the whole world under this evil spell, right? It's always winter and never Christmas. So sad. That's the worst. Always winter, never Christmas.

So what's the first sign that the witch's power is breaking, that a new power is breaking through? Santa Claus shows up, which is always so funny to me. As a little kid reading this, like, Santa Claus made it into Narnia. And so I think they call him Father Christmas, which sounds more British and proper, but either way, Santa Claus shows up. So check out this quote, we'll talk about it:

He was a huge man with a bright red robe, bright as holly berries, with a hood that had fur inside of it, and a great white beard that fell like a foamy waterfall over his chest. Now that the children actually stood looking at him, he was so big, so glad, and so real, they all became quite still. They felt very glad, but also solemn. "I've come at last," said he. "She has kept me out for a long time, but I've got in at last. Aslan is on the move. The witch's magic is weakening." And Lucy felt that deep shiver of gladness that you only get if you're being very solemn and very still.

Father Christmas coming is the first hint that the old power is crumbling and a new power is breaking through. Lewis goes on to describe the witch's power weakening with the snow melting, and he has this distinct image that's stuck in my head of the ice melting off the branches with this trip, trip, trip. It's slow, incremental, yet very certain—a very sure sign that Aslan is on the move and his power is growing and the witch's is weakening.

And so this is cool in the story of the Magi because it's true at a global level that the mission is going to the ends of the earth, but also the global level is made up of individual people, right? It's made up of us right here. We're part of that mission that God's reaching. And so for you, what's been the slow, incremental sign of God moving in your life? Maybe it's the first time you met Jesus. That's the way that C.S. Lewis describes it in his book Surprised by Joy—the same thing, incremental, kind of shifting over towards Jesus. Maybe it was all of a sudden, or maybe once you knew Jesus, you saw his power working in your life in a fresh way, but in a very small way. Maybe it was after a season of depression—like the first good day you could get out of your house. Maybe it was after a long sickness, the time that you could actually stand up out of bed. Or maybe it was after a tense moment with your family, having just a pleasant meal together.

What's been like the little sign that Aslan is on the move, that God's working in your life? There's a master storyteller weaving a story, and if we just brush past it, we'll never look back and see. And once you see the storyteller, we can be compelled to share that story with other people, right?

So the Magi's first coming is the sign that the witch's power is weakening and that Aslan is on the move, that Jesus has come and that his mission is to the ends of the world.

The Purpose of the Magi's Journey

So what were the Magi hoping to accomplish when they set out on their journey? They're packing their camels, people are asking them, "Where are you going?" "See baby king." "Oh, okay. What are you gonna do when you get there?" This is actually so crazy. What would they have answered with? Do you know? Worship. That was their answer. We're gonna worship him.

Let's look at the text real quick:

They came from the East to Jerusalem saying, "Where is he who's been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose, we have come to worship him." — Matthew 2:1-2

At the end of the passage in verses 10 to 11:

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, frankincense, and myrrh. — Matthew 2:10-11

They came to worship him. The word worship actually appears in this passage three times, and it's kind of a theme in the gospel of Matthew.

When you hear worship, what do you usually picture? Hillsongs? Some kind of worship station on the radio? Or just singing songs a couple times a week, right? But I don't think I have to convince you it's probably not what worship means entirely. The Bible's definition of worship is much broader than just singing songs three times a week. To worship means to express your love and allegiance for someone.

We worship when we tell who we love and who we're loyal to, and also why we love him and why we're loyal to him. So this is just so upside down. For one thing, because of the odd characters coming to visit and for two, because of their humble submission to him. I want you to picture this. Picture foreign dignitaries coming from almost a thousand miles away on camels, and they get there and they see a boy and they just fall down and worship him. They say with their posture, "You're worth my loyalty. You're worth my love and allegiance and I submit to your authority." So to worship is to express our love and loyalty, and this is the proper response from them.

Did you catch in the passage how excited they were? It says it like four times—they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy, just over exuberance, over excitement to meet Jesus. And I wonder, have you experienced this phenomenon? When you really enjoy something, you've got to share it with somebody else. When you find a good song on Spotify, you hit the share button. People have got to know about this. I have got to share this with people. I want to share my joy and excitement with somebody else. Isn't it the worst when you have a really good meal and there's no one around to say, "Isn't this good?" We like to share about how good something is, and it actually completes our joy, right? And so I wonder if, like the Magi, we have this posture of worship.

By the way, that's what hallelujah means. Did you all know that? Hallelujah just means the Hebrew word means praise God, okay? It's not just like a thing you say. It's an imperative. It's a directive. Like, you guys, you praise God. When you say praise God, it's you tell each other, tell the world how great God is. A few days ago, I was in the lobby talking with some people, and I heard a conversation where a gentleman said, "God's been so good to us, I've just got to tell everybody." And I was like, yes. That's exactly what I'm talking about. God's been good to us, we have to tell everybody.

Worship as a Practice

So do you have a spirit of worship, a posture of worship in your life? Sometimes it can be hard to have words to give God. Sometimes we're too tired. Sometimes we're too distracted or apathetic, or sometimes we're too sad or even angry. It can be really hard to worship God. And so one little way that I began a habit I formed in my life is just praying the words of scripture back to God. I use them like a jumpstart to my own heart, so that I can hopefully begin to pray words of praise along with these passages. So it might be the Psalms for you, or some of the prayers you find in the Bible. Personally, one of my favorite ones to do is in Luke chapter one—it's Zechariah's prayer. Remember Zechariah? He's the father of John the Baptist, the baptizer. And remember what happens to him when the angel says, "You're gonna have a son?" He goes to speak and he's silent, he's mute.

I want you to picture this. What if the whole time, the nine months from the time he's mute until the time his son is born, what if he knew? What if he knew the whole time that the Messiah was coming, the deliverer was coming, but he couldn't tell anyone? The whole time he was just waiting. And the first thing, when his tongue is loosed and he can finally speak, you know what he does? He just praises God. He says:

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, he has come to his people and set them free. He has raised up for us a mighty savior.

These are the first things that he can say, and sometimes in my time of prayer, I pray these words back to God. And it's not a silver bullet—I have off days—but oftentimes the words of the Bible actually jumpstarts my heart into a posture of worship, and maybe it could for you as well.

The Changed Life

When we have a posture of worship like the Magi, we might find that God sends us unusual ways to share that worship with somebody else. So where do they go afterwards? This is the last point. Where do they go afterwards? Look at Matthew 2:12. This is how the story kind of ends. It's so mysterious, guys. It says:

Being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

So their lives are changed because they know they can't listen to Herod. Herod's the fake king. They can't listen to him anymore, so they worship Jesus with their gifts, but also they worship Jesus with their actions, because they say, "I'm not going to listen to the fake king. We have to go and be loyal to the new king." So this last part is so interesting because it's just like a mysterious ending. These enigmatic weird guys show up and then they're just gone.

They depart by another way, just gone. And so the good news of the new king came to them on the way to somebody else. What do you think they did when they got back to their own country? Do you think they're quiet about this? I doubt it. If they could tell Herod the fake king that the new king was there, I bet they told their people back home about Jesus. I bet they were bold enough and excited enough to tell their own people about Jesus, and who knows the impact this may have had. But these magi had a reorienting experience—it's an epiphany.

So this is an act of worship: when they talk about Jesus among their own country to their own people. Worship is not just telling God how great he is, but it's telling others too. It's making him known to those around you. This is what witnessing means, by the way. Witnessing—often we think this is like a special Christian word. Really, it just means tell us what you saw. Like a court case: tell us what you saw. And all we can do is just tell the story of what Jesus has done, both in our lives and to the whole world.

Witnessing as a Four-Year-Old

So I wanted to show you guys what witnessing looks like for a four-year-old. My son, Liam, he's four and a half, and one of the best parts of raising kids is they just say the best stuff. Sometimes they're little monsters, sometimes it's brilliant—they say the best stuff. Some of you might know that my family and I are captivated by this notion of the gospel reaching the nations, and we're planning to move to an unreached country, Cambodia, which is in Southeast Asia. It's a place where very few people know Jesus, and we're moving there because we believe that Jesus deserves to be worshipped in Cambodia.

One day when we were deciding whether we should go or not, I was pushing Liam on the swings—one of those big net swings so we can look at each other. I said, "Liam, what do you think, man? Should we go to Cambodia?" He said, "Well, do they know Jesus in Cambodia?" I said, "No, buddy. Very few people know Jesus in Cambodia." And he said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, we gotta go tell him. We gotta go tell him about Jesus."

So then I was curious. I said, "Liam, what would you tell him about Jesus?" I'm pushing him back and forth, and he thinks for a few swings. He says, "I want to go tell them they don't have to be afraid anymore because Jesus conquered death."

And that's a story to share, isn't it? I think so often we get so wrapped up in: do I have the right, the perfect apologetic, do I have the right footnotes, what if they ask me this question I can't answer, am I gonna look stupid? And I really don't think that's what it is. I think it's really just simply sharing the story of Jesus and seeing if the Holy Spirit would use that.

Your Story

So my question for you is: what opportunities do you have to tell Jesus' story? A lot of us are entering into fun holiday time, parties, and everything. Maybe there's somebody there that you've never actually shared your story with, and you wonder if God would give you a chance to do that. Maybe there's someone there that you're even too afraid to talk to, but just pray: okay, I'm just gonna say Jesus' name and see what happens. Or I'm just gonna say one sentence about how good God's been to me, and see how they feel about it.

What comfort does Jesus give you? Just like Liam said, we don't feel afraid anymore. What's the small comfort that God's given you? Maybe as you share your faith, your faith will be renewed and strengthened as God gives you the boldness to share.

A Word for Those Seeking

A special word to those of you who are here and maybe you say: you know what, I've never thought about God working in my life. In fact, I'm not even sure if he has. I'm not sure if I know this God. To you I might say: what if God's been working in your life up until this very point? What if he's been calming fears and calling you to himself? What if he's brought you right here, right now to put your trust in him? What story is God the storyteller weaving in your life?

This is exactly what Jim Rayburn thought. He was the founder of Young Life, which is a ministry aimed to introduce young people to Jesus and help them grow in their faith.

And it was the forties in Texas, and he said that he graduated college with a degree in geology, and he got married and settled down at his house, and he woke up one morning, and he realized there was a school full of people who didn't have the foggiest chance to know the truth about Jesus Christ. They didn't have a chance, and there wasn't anybody there that knew enough about him to tell them. So he dedicated his life to making the story of Jesus available for young people, his whole life.

And right near the end of his life, these are some of the last words he said. He had his closest friends and family gathered on the bed. This was his last directive for his ministry. He said, "Don't let them stop talking about Jesus. It's the most powerful thing you can do is to talk about Jesus."

I know it works for you today: don't stop talking about Jesus. He's the one who conquered death for a broken world. He entered into our mess and went through the worst of it, the absolute worst of it, and came out on the other side. He came back to life and offers his gift of life to anybody who would ask him.

So tell the story. Tell about his life, his death, his resurrection. Tell what he's done in your life, and just wait and see if the Holy Spirit might use it. The gospel has come to you on the way to somebody else. Who is that someone else for you?

Prayer and Invitation

We're going to transition now to a time of prayer where you can come forward and either receive prayer at the straight rails or just pray by yourself with the curved rails. And maybe this is the time you'll ask God, "God, what is the story you've been weaving in my life? There's some messed up stuff that's happened to me. How have you been using that in my life?"

Or maybe you can confess to God and say, "God, I haven't been bold with my story. In fact, I've been selfish with my story. Give me boldness and give me compassion to share your joy, to share your story with those who need it more than I do."

Maybe there are specific people in your mind that you're going to see in the next couple weeks. "God, give me boldness to just mention this person."

As we come and pray, I pray that you would encounter the storyteller and that he would speak so clearly to you—comfort you or maybe challenge you where need be.

Let's pray. God, thank you so much for coming to us in the person of Jesus. We're so grateful. We can't do anything but all we can do is say thank you to you and express your story and your joy to other people. I pray that you give us boldness to do that. I pray that you would give us perspective to see your work in our lives and that you'll give us simple words to share with those that we love. I pray this in your son's name. Amen.