A Divine Interruption (Pt.1)

“That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”-Luke 2:8-12

As I was pondering this passage, I couldn’t help but think about the limited number of ways that news could be communicated in Jesus’ day. It wasn’t like today where we can turn on a television, radio, computer, or cell phone and quickly get up to speed on what is happening; not just in our community, but around the world. 

News in those days traveled slower. Important information had to be communicated in person or by letter. Writing was certainly an avenue for relaying important news and events, but it wasn’t being massed produced. It was painstakingly written down and then passed among the people. 

However, when it came to communicating the birth of our Savior, God used a more unconventional approach: an angelic visitation! That night as the shepherds were settling in for a long evening tending sheep, an angel appeared like a broadcaster breaking into their regularly scheduled lives: “We Interrupt this broadcast with this late breaking news.” 

This caused me to think about how the birth of Christ and the message of Christmas were like a divine interruption. The word interrupt means to stop the continuous progress, or break the continuity of something. It usually carries with it a negative connotation. 

Let’s be honest, none of us like to be interrupted. Whether we are talking with a friend and one of our kids starts pulling on our pant leg to get our attention or we just get into a groove at work and the boss calls for a mandatory meeting. We don’t like having our progress broken or the continuity of our conversations disrupted. 

Yet, the Good News that was proclaimed that night has been interrupting lives since the moment it was broadcast. From the announcement of His birth, it was obvious, that God was going to interrupt some things. One of the things that the Good News of Christ interrupts is our schedules. His birth records numerous people’s lives that were interrupted by His coming. Mary & Joseph certainly had other plans for their lives, when it was announced to them that the child she bore would be the Son of God. 

The shepherds were going through the same routine that they went through every night as they tended sheep. I am sure that some evenings were disrupted by the occasional predator that they had to run off, but nothing could have prepared them for the angelic invasion that broke through into their world that night. Talk about getting off schedule! Every item of the to-do list that night took a backseat to the birth of our Savior. That is the power of the Gospel! It causes us to take a good, long look at the priorities of our lives. 

Think about the Wisemen that visited Jesus. These men’s schedules were in complete upheaval, for weeks; perhaps months after seeing the star that declared the Messiah had been born.These men rearranged their entire worlds just to pursue Jesus.

Receiving the Good News caused a transformation in their schedules. I know from my own personal experience that my life radically changed after hearing the Good News. There were places and things I did with friends that stopped. Church was a new line item in my weekly activities along with daily devotion, worship and prayer. None of which took up any space in my schedule before I heard the Good News about Jesus. Here is a hard truth to accept: If the Good News isn’t interrupting anything it’s not transforming anything! 

Pastor Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

A gift worth giving!

 “Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, 2 “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”-Matthew 2:1-2

The Wisemen that travelled from the East were on a mission. A mission to worship. We are not certain how long or how far they travelled, some scholars believe they could have traveled 400-700 miles.  Depending on the conditions, that journey could have taken some 30-60 days to complete. However, regardless of how long it took them; they still came intending to worship! That commitment to worship is what carried them to the very feet of Jesus.

 When the Wisemen arrived, not only had they come intending to worship, they came prepared for worship; each one carrying a specific gift to offer the newborn king. None of them came empty handed. They prepared themselves to meet a King. Each of their gifts was unique, but valuable in it’s own right. 

" 11 They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod."-Matthew 2:11-12 

I am reminded of the Christmas Song- “The Little Drummer Boy”. Although we don’t read of him in the Bible, we glean the sense of the story to be connected with that of the Wisemen. Take out the Rum-Pum-Pum-Pums and you get to the heart of the story: 

Come they told me

A new born king to see

Our finest gifts we bring

To lay before the king

So to honor him

When we come

Little baby

I am a poor boy too

I have no gift to bring

That's fit to give our king

Shall I play for you

on my drum

Mary nodded

The ox and lamb kept time

I played my drum for him

I played my best for him

Then he smiled at me

Me and my drum

The little drummer boy didn’t think he had a gift worth giving. All he had to give was his very best worship, but it made Jesus smile. You may feel like you are too poor to give Jesus anything of value: poor in talent, poor in skills, poor in resources, but none of us are poor in praise.  

“Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”-Hebrews 13:15

 It wasn’t the value of the items brought that was impressive, it was the wisemen’s willingness to open up their treasure chests and give it all to Jesus that causes us to remember them today:

“They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”-Matthew 2:11

Gold, Frankincese, and Myrhh. You and I are the ones who are so fascinated by what was inside. We are the ones who have spent years studying and analyzing what was given. However, the gift was never what was inside. The gift was their willingness to open up and give Jesus their very best!  Are you willing to open up? Are you willing to give Jesus the very best of what’s inside of you? It’s time to open up your treasure chests!

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

Stop the funeral (Pt.2)

(Part 2)

“Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.”-Luke 7:14

 

Sometimes we are so busy focusing on what’s been lost that we have fail to see what is right in front of us. The widow of Nain was on a collision course with Jesus. When Jesus saw the woman, his heart overflowed with compassion for her and He stopped the funeral! Come on somebody! Jesus stopped the funeral. He put His hand on the coffin as if to say, “That’s far enough”.  He even caused those tasked with carrying the dead boy out to be buried to stop in their tracks. 

 

 Just because you put something in a coffin, doesn’t mean it’s dead, especially if Jesus is in the room. You can try and put 2020 in a coffin, but you can’t call it dead. We need to quit trying to bury things that Jesus still has His hand on! Obviously, Jesus didn’t see a dead body. He saw an opportunity; an opportunity to demonstrate compassion. He was about to breath life and hope into a helpless situation.

 

Some would say, that just like the widow’s son, this year is just too far gone. We’ve lost 345 days of this year already, however can I declare to you that there are still 20 days remaining. How many days does Jesus need to turn things around? Ask Lazarus how long it takes Jesus to breath life back into something. Ask Jairus’ how much time Jesus needed to turn his daughter’s life around? Ask the widow of Nain, just how long it takes for Jesus to radically impact a person’s life.

 

I will agree that we started off 2020 strong and then when Covid hit, we lost momentum, but here is what I feel God wants me to tell you this today: You don’t need momentum, when Jesus can do miracles. We don’t need to recapture our momentum, we need to recapture our compassion for others:

 

When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”-Luke 7:13

 

As the body of Christ we’ve been weeping our year away, carrying 2020 around in a coffin, waiting to bury it so we can move on with our lives. 

 

Like everyone else, I’ve suffered loss this year. I’ve battled Covid, I’ve had numerous vacations and trips canceled, and I’ve grieved the loss of a loved one who have passed away. So it’s not that I can’t identify with the loss everyone is experiencing. 

 

However, as the Body of Christ, we can’t allow our weeping to drown out our compassion. People all around us are experiencing loss and if the Body of Christ isn’t going to step up and respond, who is? 

 

I understand the dangers of Covid-19. Hundreds of thousands of people have died, but let me ask you this, how many of them died without knowing Jesus. Who’s job is it to proclaim Christ during a pandemic? Are we to put our mandate to make disciples on hold until the conditions are better? How many of those who died missed heaven because they did not hear or witness a single demonstration of Christ’s compassion, simply because we refused to adapt and find ways of sharing Christ.

            

What do we say to the thousands upon thousands of additional people that will likely die, between now and 2021? “Sorry, we are postponing our mission of winning souls until the beginning of next year.” 

 

No! Do what it takes to mitigate your risk (put on a mask, sanitize your hands, and socially distance), but don’t bury this year thinking next year is going to be better; because I bet someone was thinking that same thing in 2019. 

 

It’s not time for the church to give up, it’s time for us to give back!

 

“Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.” Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother.”-Luke 7:14-15

 

Jesus gave the widow of Nain more than a son back. He restored her hope. His compassion led to her miracle. Listen, there are things that you and I can’t give back to people. Losses that we are just not able to recapture, but we can give them the hope we have in Jesus Christ. 

 

However, we can’t do it isolated from humanity. We have to find ways of engaging the lost and the hurting. We have to stop the funeral! Stop trying to bury 2020. I believe Jesus wants to resurrect it. I believe He wants to breath life into it. We have a choice. We can squander the next 20 days or we can demonstrate compassion to a world that needs it more than ever. 

 

Pastor Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church