SermonStudio

When, several years ago, I first began attending an academic-religious institute to fulfill my denomination's continuing education requirement, I had to scrape the rust off my skills in maneuvering between New Jersey and Manhattan. Once aboard the commuter train, I began to feel downright self- confident, and once I had reached the World Trade Center in New York, I was positive I didn't need any help at all in finding the subway to my uptown destination. "This is a piece of cake!" I said to myself while breezing down through the corridors to the subway platform. A train was pulling into the station just as I arrived at the platform, so one-two-three, I was aboard and, for once in my adult life, ahead of schedule!

Well, everything seemed great. Until the train began arriving at stations I didn't recognize. Finally, I decided it was time to swallow my pride and ask the nearest transit cop a question. "Excuse me, officer, doesn't the Number 3 line go up to 116th Street anymore?"

"It still does," he said with a laugh, "if you're on the uptown Number 3. You know what? You've got the right train -- but the wrong direction!"

What did the Apostle Paul say? "Claiming to be wise, they became fools" (Romans 1:22).

I thought I had a handle on the New York City subway system, even after many years of not using it. I thought I didn't need to be dependent on anyone's guidance. I thought I was heading for my intended destination. I acknowledged myself to be wise; but I was proven to be foolish.

I don't suppose any one of you have ever had a similar ex- perience. I'm kidding, of course! Are there any people who can honestly claim that they have never once been so self-confident about something that they have then actually found themselves going the wrong way?

I think not.

Whether it's reading kit instructions, or following math procedures, or comprehending classical literature, or relating to other people -- or even riding the Number 3 subway line -- all of us have found ourselves going merrily on our way, blithely unaware that we are 180 degrees out of sync! It often takes a good shot of truth therapy to jolt us out of our foolishness or stubborness and show us the right way -- the wise way -- to go.

The religious climate that existed in Judea at the time that Jesus was born is a perfect illustration of those who advertised themselves as repositories of all the right answers about what God wanted, while they had not one clue about what God really required. For instance, when questions about the coming of Messiah came up, the temple theologians fed the people what would please, and in this they failed to teach what would challenge them or change them. It was far easier to soothe than to awaken. It was less threatening to their fragile egos to "go with the flow" than "swim against the tide."

So when the masses said, "We want a Savior who will throw our oppressors out of Judea, someone who is going to destroy Rome forever," the leaders in Jerusalem responded, "All right, that is what Messiah will do, if that's what you like. He will come with his armies and his strategic defenses and his tactical weapons, and obliterate the enemy. That will be the redemption of God's people."

If you have ever wondered why the Magi found the Judean leaders in Jerusalem, and not in Bethlehem, this is precisely the reason. They had buried the truth of God's word about the advent of Christ so deeply under such a heap of their own philosophy and opinion that they had forgotten it!

As far as religion being the visible part of faith was concerned, they were on the right train -- but they were going in the wrong direction. With their mouths they claimed to serve God, but in their hearts they were ignoring God. They professed themselves wise, but they had become fools. Incredibly, it was the Magi, the kings of the orient -- the foreigners! -- who had to inform those in Jerusalem where Messiah was going to appear. Remember what the Bible says? "... [C]alling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he [Herod] inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born" (Matthew 2:4).

It was then that they finally dusted off those long- neglected prophetic words and found that he was going to be born in Bethlehem of Judea.

Well, what about all this? Great history lesson, Dan, and some pretty interesting information, but what does it have to do with me? Good question, if you're asking it. Here is how I hope it speaks to you. Think about your answer to this question: Are you on the right train ... but headed in the wrong direction? And don't guess how anyone else might answer. This is something that is strictly personal. And critically important.

It still comes as a shock to many that Jesus did not come to give his blessing to the religious community but to oppose it for ignoring God's wake-up call and putting the people into a kind of deep spiritual sleep. You see, God doesn't want people of religion; he wants people of faith. You can be up to your neck in religion -- going to church, helping the poor, feeding the hungry, giving to missions -- but still not right with God.

Being right with God involves your admission that you are headed the wrong way. It involves your confession that you've been in a state of rebellion against God. It involves your declaration of dependence on God to direct you to life. It involves your surrender of self, of pride, and of desire, to God's infinite wisdom. It involves your willingness to allow God's plan for your life -- not your purposes -- to be dominant.

And, most of all, it involves not your knowledge of, but your faith in, the Christ of Bethlehem, who came both to overturn our nice, comfortable thoughts about ourselves, and to get us back on the train -- headed in the right direction.

And that's the truth. Not mine, but his.