Outsiders to Insiders January 05, 2014

Isaiah 60:1-6 Matthew 2:1-12 Ephesians :1-12

Have you ever been in a place where you were the outsider? Sometimes it is as simple as going to an away game for your local sports team. You find yourself in a place where you are not at home and where you are not in familiar territory. It happens when you visit another church or a restaurant with different rules than you are accustomed to. If you are used to going to sit-down restaurants, your first trip to a cafeteria style place leaves you a little unsure what you should do next and what you are, and are not, allowed to do. he same thing happens if you are used to fast food and casual style places and suddenly get invited to a high class place that has more than three pieces of silverware. !f course, there are places where the separation between insiders and outsiders is even more extreme. here are buildings that re"uire name badges and security screenings to get in and even private apartment buildings and gated communities where you can#t get in at all unless you $now someone inside. %hen &atti and I travelled to 'ussia to adopt (oah and )onah we stayed in *ladivosto$ which, until +ust a few years earlier had been a closed city. *ladivosto$ was the port city for the &acific fleet of the Soviet ,nion. he security there was so strict that the city did not even appear on many maps. -rom the hills surrounding the city you could see the harbor, many of the navy ships, and an island which housed the 'ussian navy#s submarine pens. !ur translator told us that during that earlier time, only the people who lived in *ladivosto$ could get in or out without special permission. He had been born there, but as a young teen had moved away. %hen he wanted to return, he too$ the train across Siberia to the edge of the province and then had to get off the train. In that town, he phoned his mother, who visited a government office and got him permission to visit. .rmed with that invitation, he again boarded the train and returned home. !nce there he visited another government office and filed an official re"uest to remain as a resident. He was an outsider who had become an insider. his is the $ind of story that is told in scripture. he prophets hinted at it, but with the coming of )esus at /hristmas, the world changed. he gates which had, for centuries, divided the insiders from the outsiders were thrown open and things would never be that same again. Isaiah is one of the voices that foretold the coming of the 0essiah and hinted at how things would change. !Isaiah 60:1-6" Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. 3 Nations ill come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your da n.
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Lift up your eyes and look about you" All assemble and come to you# your sons come from afar, 1

and your daughters are carried on the hip. %hen you ill look and be radiant, your heart ill throb and s ell ith &oy# the ealth on the seas ill be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations ill come. ' (erds of camels ill cover your land, young camels of )idian and *phah. And all from Sheba ill come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the Lord.
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Isaiah says that 2Nations ill come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your da n.3 .nd then later he spea$s of camels from 0idian and 4phah and people coming from Sheba bearing gifts of gold and incense. &eople from far away nations would come to worship the $ing but none of these nations were )ewish. It seems as if Isaiah saw that with the coming of the messiah, 5od was going to do something new and different. %ith the coming of the messiah, the name of Israel#s 5od would be proclaimed in nations outside of Israel to people who were not )ewish and with the coming of the wise men 6at what we call 4piphany7 that is exactly what we see. !Matthew 2:1-12" After +esus as born in ,ethlehem in +udea, during the time of -ing (erod, )agi from the east came to +erusalem 2 and asked, .here is the one ho has been born king of the +e s/ .e sa his star hen it rose and have come to orship him.0
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.hen -ing (erod heard this he as disturbed, and all +erusalem ith him. ! .hen he had called together all the people1s chief priests and teachers of the la , he asked them here the )essiah as to be born. $ 2n ,ethlehem in +udea,0 they replied, for this is hat the prophet has ritten"
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3,ut you, ,ethlehem, in the land of +udah, are by no means least among the rulers of +udah# for out of you ill come a ruler ho ill shepherd my people 2srael.10
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%hen (erod called the )agi secretly and found out from them the e5act time the star had appeared. 6 (e sent them to ,ethlehem and said, 7o and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that 2 too may go and orship him.0
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After they had heard the king, they ent on their ay, and the star they had seen hen it rose ent ahead of them until it stopped over the place here the child as. 9: .hen they sa the star, they ere over&oyed. 99 ;n coming to the house, they sa the child ith his mother )ary, and they bo ed do n and orshiped him. %hen they opened their treasures and presented him ith gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 92 And having been arned in a dream not to go back to (erod, they returned to their country by another route. -irst the shepherds came. Shepherds were poor, and smelly, and often handled dead things. .s such, they were often ceremonially unclean. &eople didn#t li$e them and they stayed in the hills and $ept to themselves but 5od invites the outcasts in. (ow the 0agi come. heir arrival in )erusalem caused a great uproar. In their own way, they too are outcasts. hey may be wealthy and powerful, but they are not )ewish. hey do not worship Israel#s 5od. 8ut still they come and when they find the baby )esus, they bow down and worship him

and give gifts that were appropriate for the birth of a $ing and in fact, they bring the very gifts that Isaiah, eight hundred years earlier, said that they would. 5od is beginning to do something different. %hile the emple had an outer court that was built for non-)ewish people, 5entiles, to pray, it was clear that such people were not made to feel especially welcome. 8ut now, with the birth of the messiah, among the first to worship him are the outcasts and the unwelcome. 5od has already begun to invite the outsiders in. !ver and over again, during the life and ministry of )esus /hrist, 5od begins to push that opening wider. :uring )esus# life and ministry the leaders of the church were among those who were trying to $eep that door closed. hose leaders wanted the outsiders to stay outside but over and over again, )esus ministers to the outcasts and the outsiders and invites them in. )esus casts out demons from a man in 5adara and sends them into a herd of pigs, he heals lepers, and a 5entile woman with an issue of blood, he witnesses to a Samaritan woman, and even a 'oman /enturion. )esus tells his disciples that he was sent to see$ and to save the lost children of Israel, but the ministry of )esus cannot be limited and constrained and begins to overflow into the world. he outsiders are being invited in. .fter )esus# death and resurrection the disciples begin to disperse throughout the $nown world sharing the 5ood (ews and telling about )esus. 0ost of them were going out into the )ewish world and telling the )ews about )esus and explaining how )esus was the messiah that had been promised by the prophets of old. 8ut a few heard the call of 5od to witness to another group, to the people who were not )ewish, to witness to the outsiders 6li$e us7 $nown as 5entiles. .mong these, was the .postle &aul. !Ephesians :1-12" <or this reason 2, =aul, the prisoner of >hrist +esus for the sake of you 7entiles?
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Surely you have heard about the administration of 7od1s grace that as given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made kno n to me by revelation, as 2 have already ritten briefly. ! 2n reading this, then, you ill be able to understand my insight into the mystery of >hrist, $ hich as not made kno n to people in other generations as it has no been revealed by the Spirit to 7od1s holy apostles and prophets. ' %his mystery is that through the gospel the 7entiles are heirs together ith 2srael, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in >hrist +esus.
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2 became a servant of this gospel by the gift of 7od1s grace given me through the orking of his po er. Although 2 am less than the least of all the Lord1s people, this grace as given me" to preach to the 7entiles the boundless riches of >hrist, 8 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, hich for ages past as kept hidden in 7od, ho created all things. 9: (is intent as that no , through the church, the manifold isdom of 7od should be made kno n to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 99 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in >hrist +esus our Lord. 92 2n him and through faith in him e may approach 7od ith freedom and confidence. &aul was called by 5od to share the 5ood (ews of )esus /hrist with everyone who was not a direct descendant of .braham and therefore not a child of Israel. %ith the birth of )esus, the door to heaven had been unloc$ed and the outsiders had begun to tric$le in. %hen the ministry of )esus was in full swing, the door opened farther, many heard the news of )esus# rescue and began to flow toward him but &aul and a few others were among the first to see that door $ic$ed wide open. &aul travelled the 'oman world sharing the message of )esus# life, death, and resurrection and explaining that because of )esus, all people had been invited into 5od#s family. &aul says that it was 5od#s intent that what had been hidden was now made $nown. he door that had been closed had been opened. he outcasts and the outsiders had now been invited in.

!ver and over again, this is the model of the ministry of )esus /hrist. hose who were outside were invited in. he outsiders became insiders. wo centuries ago, )ohn %esley and his friends reformed their entire nation when they began to preach, not +ust to the people in the church, but to those outside the church. he %esley#s and the people $nown as 0ethodists began preaching in par$s and the public s"uare, in factories and at the gates of the coal mines. hey preached in places where the poor and the outcasts could be found because these were the people who were often not welcome in church. !ur history as /hristians, as and as 0ethodists, is one of inviting the outsiders in. It is a part of our mission and ministry as well as a part of our history to see$ out those who are on the outside. %e remember that we too were outsiders who were invited in, and who have now become insiders. It is a part of who we are to spea$ for those without a voice, to preach to those who feel unwelcome and unworthy, and to invite the outsiders in. Since that first /hristmas when that door was unloc$ed, to the ministry of )esus when the opening widened, to the days of &aul when we ourselves were invited in, as followers of )esus /hrist it is our calling to invite the outsiders. !ur prayer is that we would be less li$e the emple leaders who tried to $eep outsiders out, and more li$e )esus who $ept inviting them in. !ur mission is to transform outsiders and outcasts into insiders. his wee$, I hope that you will thin$ about these two "uestions< %ho are the outsiders in #y world? How can I invite them in?

You have been reading a message presented at rinity ,nited 0ethodist /hurch on the date noted at the top of the first page. 'ev. )ohn &artridge is the pastor at rinity of &erry heights in 0assillon, !hio. :uplication of this message is a part of our 0edia ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. >etters and donations in support of the 0edia ministry or any of our other pro+ects may be sent to rinity ,nited 0ethodist /hurch, ;?@? >incoln %ay 4., 0assillon, !hio ==A=A. hese messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribeBtrinityperryheights.org. If you have "uestions, you can as$ them in our discussion forum on -aceboo$ 6search for &astor )ohn !nline7. hese messages can also be found online at http<CCwww.scribd.comC&astor )ohn &artridge. .ll Scripture references are from the (ew International *ersion unless otherwise noted.