The Epiphany: Laying it All at Jesus' Feet

  The Epiphany: This is a traditional Christian observance on January 6th that speaks of the coming of the "wise men" to see Jesus Christ at Bethlehem.

The observance of the Epiphany is, aside from the commemoration of the resurrection, the oldest of Christian "feast". It is commonly found in more liturgical Christian bodies. The word Epiphany in the Koine Greek is ἐπιφάνεια, epiphaneia, "manifestation", "appearance" . The Epiphany or sometimes referred to as the “Theophany”.

 In the Ancient Church the Epiphany commemorated three separate occurrences in the life of Jesus Christ. The visit of the Magi, The Baptism of Jesus and the Miracle at Cana. Over the years in the western church tradition the emphases has shifted more to the view toward the visit of the Magi to Bethlehem and their presentation of gifts and adoration. Each of these occurrences were a type of "Epiphany" of its own.

The Magi saw his star in the east and came to where Jesus was.

There has always been a lot of conjecture as to the events which took place at the birth of Jesus, and the time right after his birth. Most of those things are secondary or of no importance, what is important is that Jesus came to reveal God to us, and to be "God with us".

The early Apostolic Church understood that Jesus' coming was the appearance of God in the flesh to and for humanity. They understood that Jesus was not just a bringer of a new philosophy or religion but rather , Jesus was the very creator of all things having entered his own creation and joined us to himself in a relationship.      

 "and the Word became Flesh and lived among us" Jhn: 1:14

The Magi

Many often wonder who these visitors, the Magi, were and from whence did they come. It is also probable that their arrival was most likely up to two years after Jesus' actual birth. In many ways it does not matter, the real point was, and is, that they came when God got their attention, and drew them there to that place in Bethlehem where they had an encounter with the Lord Jesus.

 The Magi came bringing what they could to honor Jesus, they brought it all to him laying it all at Jesus' feet and worshiped him; the gifts were only symbolic of the  transformation that happens when they or we come to Jesus, when we have that personal Epiphany of who Jesus is and what his coming means to us all.

Jesus is the Real Point

 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.” Matt: 2:1-2

"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.’”Matt:2:5-6

"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 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." Matt: 2:9-11

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace":Isa:9:6

St. Matthew's account tells of the Magi's search for the "King of Jews". God had gotten their attention and they responded. What most do not realize is, that all of us are looking for Jesus, and in his providence, God will send us a star to get our attention.

Incarnation

God, in the person of His Son Jesus, took on our humanity. He became one of us, limited himself never using his deity for his own advantage though he retained it to the fullest.

In Jesus all of God is seen, that is, he is incarnate, this is what the Magi found, there, two thousand years ago, in that out-of-way place; and what we can still find today, is God in the flesh.

Our search for a life of meaning is ended when we come to Bethlehem, that is, that place where we find Jesus. Bethlehem is that place in all of our lives where we find our Lord Jesus. When we find Jesus and come to believe in Jesus for who he is, then our lives have accomplished everything that that a human life  was ever intended to accomplish for we were born to come to believe in Jesus, that is why you were born.

"For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" Col: 2:9

This divine self-disclose of the great God in Jesus, is ongoing it never comes to a conclusion. Jesus' humanity makes this possible, and allows us to have a relationship with the Great God.

They Respond

For those who see his star, and follow it to that place where Jesus is, their search is over.

When we come to believe in Jesus, we accomplish everything that our lives were ever intended to accomplish, we all were literally created and born to believe in Jesus. 

Remember the Magi came from afar off, they were willing to transverse even great distances to discover what God was leading them to. It was worth the journey, but this journey to Bethlehem would not have occurred had they not responded to the star that God had sent.

When the Magi arrived there at that place where the star had directed them, they came and presented to Him their gifts and worshiped Him. Matt: 2:9-11

Their Gifts

The gifts given are powerful symbols for us with great meaning.

Gold- The resources of their lives, all they had all which is valued for Jesus as our King.

Incenses- Their worship as their recognition of who Jesus is, the Great God incarnate and our High Priest.

Myrrh-The laying down of their lives, in recognition that Jesus would lay down his own life in death for all. , and embracing His death for us and the death of the old self.

Jesus Changed All Things Forever

"They knew that their lives could never be the same and that all human history would be changed"

Now that Jesus has come, the Magi knew that this young child would be the One who would change all things forever. So here they were "great men" and they knelt before this young child and gave gifts which represented more than time allows to expound upon

Jesus' Epiphany into our lives, demands a change, when the Lord is revealed to us, that is, when we have an Epiphany, when Jesus manifest himself to us, when we are called, are willing to make any journey which we are called to make no matter what the distance, are we willing to lay our lives at Jesus' feet?

No distance was too far to journey to find Jesus, the Magi saw his star in the east and came to where he was, because he came to where we are.

All Things at His Feet

None of us, who truly encounter Jesus, can remain the same, the One who has changed all things forever calls out to us, we need to forsake the old life and follow Him. If you are searching for meaning in life, then come to Bethlehem you will find our Lord is there.

There are many who hear the invitation to come to Christ, many to whom Jesus has been manifested, they metaphorically “see His star” and they now realize that he is present, but they hesitate.

Do we see “His star over a house”, that is where is Jesus working, do we worship? Do we acknowledge his rightful place?

His Epiphany, Our New Life

When Jesus is manifest to us, we have a chance to experience new life, which demands changes within us…an all-new life in him.

His Glory

Our God, in Jesus, is always manifesting Himself to us from Genesis to the nativity, or that Sunday Morning to the “Lord’s Day” in 90s AD on the Island of pathos to St. John-to us here today.

As we come to know him, when Jesus is manifest daily among us, and to us, we should be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, to be growing in the likeness of the Holy Son of God.

Every time we gaze upon him, come into his presences, we are transformed.

When his glory manifest. He calls upon us to to come to Jesus and, to lay all things before him, as did the Magi two thousand years ago. It will be worth the journey.

Benediction: May we each and all lay everything at the feet of Jesus when he has drawn us to himself, today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen.

Rev. Todd Crouch, Pastor

Topinabee Community Church

Topinabee Michigan

If You Would Like to Know More About or to Support the Ministry of Topinabee Community Church You Can go to Our Web Site.

https://topinabeechurch.org/index.html

You Can Follow Topinabee Community Church on Face Book 

https://www.facebook.com/Topinabeecommunitychurch

                       “If Its Not About Jesus, Its Not About Anything!”  

Christmas: A Holy Contradiction

 

“'For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” 2Cor:8:9

St. Paul wrote to the Christians in the Greek city of Corinth, and to Christians throughout the ages, about the Holy contradiction that the Great God, the one who is Lord over all things, the one who St. Paul tells us “was rich” “became poor” all for our benefit and salvation.

This Holy contradiction was not done out of some judicial necessity but completely out of God’s divine love for us, that is, for all humanity if they will but freely receive it.

At that time the Emperor Augustus had issued an Imperial proclamation regarding census and taxation requiring those who lived in Palestine would return to their ancestral homes to register and be counted for the tax census.

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.” Lk: 2:1-3

It is due to this Imperial proclamation that Joseph and Mary travel to their ancestral home the town of Bethlehem.

Into an Humble Estate

Our God has come to us in the humblest and lowliest of estates, in a stable, bedded in a manger which is the feeding trough of animals.

Our God has come to us this way showing us his identification with us all.

The Great God, the eternal Son of God the second person of the Holy Trinity stepped out of the glory of eternity and joined us here upon the Earth. Our Lord did this not out of necessity but rather out of love for each and all. 

This is a Holy Contradiction, the highest come low as the words to an ancient creedal hymn sung in the early Church declared. And these divine lyrics are introduced by the posture of mind which Jesus displayed in the incarnation and that we are to emulate that of putting others first which is what Jesus has done for each and all.

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” Philp: 2:5-8

Jesus descended into that place of humiliation in that stable in the city of Bethlehem. 

It is likely that the Holy family of Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem after dark making it difficult to secure a guest room. All that could be found for the one who is deserving of the royal of accommodations was a place in a stable along with the livestock, a place which would have stank of dung, straw and animals, yet it is in such a place that our Lord came forth into the world.

“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.”Lk: 2:4-7

There were no royal swaddling clothes of silk or satin blankets to place him in, only old linen clothes to wrap about him which prefigured the burial shroud he would be wrapped in thirty-three years from this moment.

The Glory Revealed

The Glory of the incarnation was announced to some of the who were the least esteemed in the society of that day. Shepherds who were in the country side tending their sheep. This announcement was made through the agency of an angelic messenger who proclaimed it as a message to dispel theirs’s and all humanities fears.

“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (8-12)

This announcement was followed by the singing of the angelic host worshiping the great God.

“Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (13-14)

At the departure of the angels the shepherds seek out the Messiah which the angelic messages proclaimed to them finding him in Bethlehem with Joseph and Mary. Here in the stable some of the lowest of Earth meet the highest of Heaven. It is not great kings who have sought him out this Holy night so long ago but rather the outcast and the lowly who have received the divine announcement delivered through the angel who have come.

“When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” (15)

Having encountered their Messiah, the shepherds are compelled to tell others about his coming. His coming which should have been announced by Royal heralds receives rather the lowly voice of the lowly shepherds.  

“So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” Lk: 2:16-19

The Holy Contradiction

Jesus, the one who came that night two thousand years ago, disrobed himself for a time of the glory of his divinity, yet still retaining that divinity to its fullest extent, and took up the ragged mantle of our humanity, all for us that we might come to know our God and see his glory.

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.” John: 17:1b-6b

Jesus Exulted

Jesus the one who has come to us, none higher has come lower, even to the point of humiliating death only to be lifted high once again. Again, the words of the ancient Church hymn speak of this very truth.

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”. Philp:2:9-11

Our Lord Jesus condescended to our low estate all for us, not out of judicial necessity but only out of love, the rich became poor for us that we might share in his riches. St. Paul wrote of this very Holy contradiction.

“'For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” 2Cor:8:9

The one who held and possessed all riches and glorious power, the one who should have been received by the Royalty and the great of the Earth and who was worthy of the highest worship and adoration came in the lowliest and humblest of places on that Holy night long ago as we reckon time, all so that we might be made rich in him. This is the Holy Contradiction of Christmas.

Benediction: May we each and all ever bow our knees before that one who became poor so that we might become rich, today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen.

Rev. Todd Crouch, Pastor

Topinabee Community Church

Topinabee Michigan

If You Would Like to Know More About or to Support the Ministry of Topinabee Community Church You Can go to Our Web Site.

https://topinabeechurch.org/index.html

You Can Follow Topinabee Community Church on Face Book 

https://www.facebook.com/Topinabeecommunitychurch

                       “If Its Not About Jesus, Its Not About Anything!”  

Christmas: God With Us

 Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, 

and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us."

The Promised Seed

From the very beginning there has been the promise that God would provide the means whereby humanity would be saved out of their estrangement from him, even as our first parents were, under the deceptive sway of Satan and set the course of human civilization. 

"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel"Gen: 3:15

This verse is called by some Theologians the " Protevangelium”, which means, the First Preaching of the Gospel. This is the message that has been consistent from the very beginning, that God will save His people. That God himself will be with them.

In Jesus, who The Apostle St. Paul identifies as "the Seed" , God has accomplished this and more for each of us.

In Jesus, God has come to us as one of us and he meets all humanity in a very unlikely place.

To See the Glory

Moses, during a time of prayerful dialogue with the Great God, asked to see what all humanity truly has sought, even if they are unaware of it.

"And Moses said, I beseech you, show me your glory." Ex: 33:18

 God responded by giving Moses just a glimpse of His glory.

 "And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And he said, You cannot see my face: for there will no man see me, and live": (19-20)

The Lord then tells Moses that his face cannot be seen, this means far more than we may first understand. What is being told to Moses, and all of us, is that God was not, at that time yet incarnate, that is, in the flesh in Jesus.

Apart from the incarnation we cannot see the full glory of God, that is "His face", we can only see a glimpse of his glory, "His back". 

  "And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand on a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen".(21-23)

Jesus is the face of God wherein we can truly see God's glory at its greatest, as we are the recipients of His mercy and grace through Jesus, as the Lord God said to Moses:

"and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy"(19c)

Jesus Reveals God

At the conception and birth of Jesus God has come to us, in the person of his Holy Son the second person of the Holy Trinity. In Jesus we meet our God even as we peer into the manger of the Nativity. God is there come to us as one of us. We are beholding the face of God even in the infant Jesus.

 In the Nativity, there in the manger , long ago as we count years, yet ever present for any and all who will but come forward to look and gaze upon the child Jesus, who, was and is, wrapped in swaddling clothes of old linen strips used mostly to bury the dead .

 If we will but look even here in the manger, we will see the glory of God; we will meet our God there, even in this the humblest of places just to be with us as one of us.

Emmanuel 

“Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.

But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

"Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us."

When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife,

but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus”. Matt:1:18-25

Jesus is God with us, not just in a historic sense but rather in a very real and personal sense, a one of us, yet in his Holy Self all of God is found and met in Jesus even in the manger of Bethlehem.

"All the history of Israel was to prepare them, and all humanity to encounter the great God, to meet God face to face in Jesus. "

The Great God had prepared all history, not just Israel’s history but all human history for this moment when we meet our God in the person of Jesus.

  "Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel: and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel" Am:4:12

 Jesus came to reveal to us the loving Creator, to give us all what Moses had asked to see God; to know God, to see his face.

 "show me your glory" Ex: 33:18

In Jesus, we come to know God; he has made this possible by becoming one of us.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made." Jhn: 1:1-3

"and the Word became flesh"(14)

Jesus has come to show us the Glory of God in its clearest most powerful way.

"Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me.

If you had known me, you should have known my Father also: and from now on you know him, and have seen him.

Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffises us. Jesus said to him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father? Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak to you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. Truly, truly, I say to you, He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to my Father. And whatever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” Jhn: 14:6-13

From his very birth Jesus has been showing each of us the Glory of God in his very self. Jesus is the self of God for if he were not, God could not reveal himself in and thru Jesus, even in His High Priestly Prayer affirms this.

"I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do. And now, O Father, glorify you me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world was."Jhn: 17:4-5

The Fullness of God

In Jesus all the fullness of God dwells in him. We can encounter the fullness of God in the person of his Holy Son Jesus.

"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form", Col: 2:9

  Meets Us Still

There in the manger, all of this was present and made possible by the workings of the power of the great God. That Child, in this place suited more for livestock, which stunk of the dung and animals; this is where we meet our God. This where we see His glory, then and now, some times in the worst of conditions, where we would have never had expected to find him, we encounter Jesus.

He is not a God who has removed himself from us and stands a-far off, aloft and withdrawn, rather he is a God who is come to us amidst our toils and trials and  hardships, even when we stumble and fall he is there with us,  to reassure us of his unconditional love, his mercy and grace.

Jesus lifts us up and encourages us to move forward in life knowing that he walks with us. 

 He is still meeting us in the places of our lives that have the offensive smell of the dung of our broken humanity. Jesus is there to assure us that God is near and he has come to us.

Our God has come in the least threatening way possible to us. As an infant. Our God does not want us to fear, but rather, our God wants us to know that he loves us and has come to us even where we may not think to have found him.

He loves us so much to have descended into the humblest of places, the feeding trough of animals. Jesus awaits each of us, ever still, there he is calling us to come and look upon Him and know that our God loves us.

Here, in the Nativity manger of Bethlehem, is where we all see His glory and first meet our God and come to know that he is Emmanuel God with us.

Benediction: May we each and all ever meet our God and see his glory in the person of his Holy Son Jesus, today, tomorrow and forevermore...Amen

Rev. Todd Crouch, Pastor

Topinabee Community Church

Topinabee Michigan

If You Would Like to Know More About or to Support the Ministry of Topinabee Community Church You Can go to Our Web Site.

https://topinabeechurch.org/index.html

You Can Follow Topinabee Community Church on Face Book 

https://www.facebook.com/Topinabeecommunitychurch

                       “If It's Not About Jesus, It's Not About Anything!”