Well, hey everybody, I'm Adam Schell, the pastor of Melbourne Heights, and welcome to our sermon podcast. And I just want to start out by thanking you for spending part of your day with us. And if you're blessed during our time together today, let me invite you to come and worship with us live on Sunday mornings at 10.30 a.m. Eastern Time.
You can worship with us live on our church website at mhbclouisville.com slash live, or if you're in the Louisville, Kentucky area, we would love to have you come and join us in person. With that, let's get right into this episode's sermon. You can ask almost anyone who's ever had a class in American history when our nation was founded, and they'd be able to tell you it was July 4th, 1776. And yes, that means the United States of America is going to be turning 250 years old this year.
But why is July 4th, 1776 considered to be our nation's birthday? Well, it's because that was the day when members of the Continental Congress came together and officially agreed on the Declaration of Independence. You know, that document where we officially declared our independence from Great Britain. So yes, the United States of America was born on July 4th, 1776.
But that doesn't mean that it resembled the America that we know today back then. And that's because back in 1776, the United States didn't have many of the things that we commonly associate with America today, like a president or a constitution. See, even though the United States was officially formed on July 4th, 1776, the Constitution wasn't written until 1787. It wasn't ratified until 1788, and it didn't go into effect until 1789.
And since the Constitution established the office of the President of the United States, that means we didn't have a president until after the Constitution let into effect. But, of course, we all know the Constitution did so much more than just create the office of the President of the United States. We also know that the Constitution helped establish some of our most basic rights, things like the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion. But what you may not know is that in addition to creating the office of the President of the United States, the Constitution also gave Congress the power to establish something that is every bit as synonymous with our nation today as our commander-in-chief.
The Constitution gave Congress the power to create our nation's capital. But the Constitution didn't say where our nation's capital was going to be. And there's a good reason for that. If the Constitution had directly spelled out a city and a state that were going to serve as our nation's capital, it probably never would have been ratified.
And that's because every state that was part of our union back then would have wanted the nation's capital to be inside of their state. So, after the Constitution was officially ratified, Congress had to determine where our nation's capital was going to be. And that wasn't exactly an easy decision for them to make, because there were a lot of great places that could have served as our nation's capital. You had places like Boston, Massachusetts.
And Boston would have made a great capital of the United States, because in a lot of ways, Boston is the place where the United States of America was born. Boston is where our first act of revolution, the Boston Tea Party, took place. It's also where the shot heard around the world was fired during the first battle of the American Revolution at Lexington and Concord. And that means that Boston is the place where blood was first shed in our fight for independence.
So Boston would have made a great capital of the United States. But Boston wasn't the only city that could make a compelling case for why it should be the capital of the United States. You also had cities like Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It would have made a lot of sense for Philadelphia to become our nation's capital, because back in 1789, Philadelphia was the largest city in the United States of America.
And there was also a lot of important American history that had already taken place in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is the place where the Continental Congress met when they officially agreed on the Declaration of Independence. It's also where the Constitutional Convention met when the Constitution was being written and being approved. And George Washington, who was there during the Constitutional Convention, even said, a government, if formed, shall have its seat in this city, Philadelphia.
And that's a pretty ringing endorsement. But Boston and Philadelphia both had some stiff competition from New York City. And New York made a great choice to be our nation's first capital, because back in 1789, it was already serving as our acting capital. It's where Congress was meeting under the Articles of Confederation.
It's also where George Washington was living, even though he wouldn't become president for another year. And New York City also had all of the infrastructure that a capital city would need as it tried to grow and lead a young nation. So Congress had a tough choice to make. And ultimately, they decided that New York City would be our nation's first capital, even if it was pretty temporary.
But even though there wasn't a clear-cut choice for which city should be our nation's capital from the get-go, it is pretty clear that there were some specific things that we were looking for in our nation's capital almost 250 years ago. We wanted our nation's capital to be someplace big and someplace important. We wanted our nation's capital to be a place that has a meaning and significance for our young nation. And we wanted our nation's capital to be a place that we could point to with pride.
So New York became the first capital of the United States. And it's really not that hard to see why. Because when you're starting something big, when you're starting something important, when you're starting something that you hope will change history, you don't want it to start someplace that no one has ever heard of in the middle of nowhere. No, when you're starting something big, when you're starting something important, when you're starting something that you hope will change history, you want it to start someplace that already matters.
And that just makes sense. Important things are supposed to start in important places. Important things are supposed to start in important places. That's why every new tech company wants to start in Silicon Valley.
It's why every new restaurant wants to open up in the busiest part of town. It's why every professional sports team wants to play in the largest city possible. Important things are supposed to happen in important places. And that was just as true 2,000 years ago when Jesus was getting ready to start his earthly ministry as it is today.
So today, as we continue to make our way through the season of Epiphany together, I want us to talk about where Jesus started his ministry. And this is something that's important for us to talk about during this season, because of what the season of Epiphany is all about. Remember, the word Epiphany refers to somebody who is having a sudden realization. A lightbulb moment.
A time where something just clicks and they're able to see or understand something in a way that they never could before. And that's kind of what the season of Epiphany is for the church. The season of Epiphany is supposed to be our lightbulb moment. It's a time where we have a deeper realization of who God is.
Because Epiphany always comes after Christmas. And at Christmas, God revealed himself in a brand new way to us. When God became human, when Jesus was born. But Epiphany reminds us that Jesus is so much more than just a baby in a manger.
Epiphany reminds us that Jesus is the one who shows us the very nature of God. Who God is and what God values. And when we find out where Jesus began his earthly ministry, that's going to show something important to us about who God is and what God values. So, let's talk about where Jesus began his ministry.
And unlike the United States back in 1789, who had a lot of different options and good choices about where our nation's capital could be, Jesus really only had one choice. There would have only been one place that everyone would have expected Jesus to begin his earthly ministry. And that was Jerusalem. Because Jerusalem wasn't just a city in Israel.
Jerusalem was the city in Israel. Jerusalem is where everything that mattered to Israel was. Jerusalem is where the temple was. And there's no way for me to overstate how important the temple was to the people of Israel back in the first century.
The temple was not just another building for them. The temple is the place where God was dwelled amongst the people of Israel. So, the temple is where the priests served. It's where people came to offer their sacrifices to God.
If you wanted to be close to God, you came to the temple. And the temple was in Jerusalem. But Jerusalem wasn't just important to the people of Israel religiously. It was also important to them historically and politically.
You see, Jerusalem is the place where all of Israel's kings, including Israel's greatest king, King David, ruled and reigned from. It was a place that Solomon established the first temple centuries earlier. It was a place that prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah had been talking about for generations. And when the prophets talked about God's plans for Israel, well, Jerusalem was always at the center of the story.
And on top of all that, Jerusalem is also where the people were. During busiest religious festivals, each year, festivals like Passover, the population of Jerusalem would swell from 50,000 people into easily over 100,000 people when pilgrims from all across the world came to Jerusalem to worship God. So, Jerusalem was not only the biggest city in Israel, but people commonly, routinely came there. So, if you were trying to launch a new movement, if you wanted people to hear your message, Jerusalem is where you had to be.
So, when Jesus was getting ready to start his earthly ministry, everyone would have expected Jesus to start in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is where God dwelled with his people. Jerusalem is where the priests and the rabbis were. Jerusalem is where the people were.
So, Jerusalem is where Jesus needed to be. So, let's see where Jesus begins his ministry. If you've got a Bible post-bibre, if you've got a Bible app on your phone, I'd encourage you to open it to Matthew chapter 4. Matthew chapter 4, and as you're finding it, let me quickly point out, the book of Matthew is basically a biography of Jesus.
So, in the book of Matthew, you can read all about Jesus' time on this earth. But in Matthew chapter 4, specifically, we're going to be reading about where Jesus begins his ministry. So, let's take a look and let's see what Matthew has to tell us. We'll start reading in Matthew chapter 4, verse 12, where Matthew writes.
Now, when Jesus heard that John the Baptist was arrested, he went to Galilee. He left Nazareth and settled in Capernaum, which lies alongside the sea in the area of Zebulon and Naphtali. This fulfilled what Isaiah the prophet wrote. Land of Zebulon and land of Naphtali.
Alongside the sea across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who live in the dark have seen a great light. And a light has come upon those who live in the region and in the shadow of death. From that time, Jesus began to announce, change your hearts and lives.
Here comes the kingdom of heaven. Now, did you notice that those verses never mention Jerusalem? Instead, they tell us that Jesus began to announce his message. He began his ministry in a place in a region called Galilee.
And if you're confused, if you're trying to figure out how on earth Jesus could have possibly began his ministry any place besides Jerusalem, you're not alone. Anybody who would have heard this story back in the first century would have been every bit as shocked as we are. Because Jesus didn't start his ministry in the political and religious capital of Israel. Jesus didn't start his ministry where the temple was.
Jesus didn't start his ministry where the people were. He started his ministry in a place called Galilee. And Galilee wasn't the kind of place where anything important ever happened. So what was wrong with Galilee?
Why would everyone have been so shocked that Jesus started his ministry there? Well, first of all, Galilee was about as far away from Jerusalem as you could possibly get and still be in Israel. Galilee was about 70 miles away from Jerusalem. And I know that doesn't sound like a whole lot to us today because we can hop in our cars at the interstate and travel 70 miles in an hour.
But it would have taken somebody three or four days to walk from the region of Galilee to Jerusalem on foot in the first century. So Galilee was far away from Jerusalem. It was far away from the center of life for the people of Israel. It was also far away from where God was supposed to dwell with his people.
But Galilee wasn't just far away from Jerusalem. Galilee also had a reputation problem. And you kind of get a hint of it in the passage that we just read. If you were paying attention, you may have noticed that in the passage from Isaiah, Isaiah referred to Galilee as Galilee of the Gentiles.
And that wasn't a compliment. That was a way of saying that Galilee was a place where Jews and Gentiles lived side by side. And that meant that Jews were constantly coming into contact with these Gentiles, people who didn't believe in the same God that they believed in, people who didn't follow the same laws that they followed. So anyone who was living in Galilee would have been religiously suspect to people who were living in Jerusalem.
And on top of all of that, Galilee also was a rule working class kind of place. Most of the people who lived in Galilee were farmers and fishermen. They weren't well-educated like a religious elite in Jerusalem. And if all of that weren't bad enough, the people of Galilee also apparently had some kind of undesirable accent.
And the book of Matthew hints at this a little bit later on when it's telling us the story of Peter and Peter's denial of Jesus. And the story takes place when Peter is in a courtyard outside a building where Jesus is being put on trial. And people are constantly asking Peter if he was one of Jesus' followers and he keeps denying it. But at one point, after Peter denies that he knows Jesus, someone in the crowd says to him, you had to have been part of them.
You had to have been part of Jesus' disciples. Your accent gives you away. So when I read the story, I can't help but imagine sometimes that Peter must have sounded something like Falkhorn Leghorn or maybe Gomer Pile. So Galilee was a place that was looked down on.
Galilee was a place that was far from Jerusalem. It had a bad reputation. And the people that lived there were treated like yokels. So finding out that Jesus decided that he was going to start his ministry in a place like Galilee instead of Jerusalem would be like finding out that Congress had decided that instead of picking a city like Boston or Philadelphia or New York to serve as our first capital, they decided they were going to put the capital in Mayberry.
That's how shocking, that's how unexpected it would have been for Jesus to begin his ministry in Galilee. So why did he start his ministry there? Well, Matthew actually explains it to us. When Matthew quotes to us from the prophet Isaiah, Matthew wants us to understand that Jesus didn't make a mistake when he started his ministry in Galilee.
No, Jesus was doing what God wanted him to all along. You see, the prophet Isaiah talks about people being in the darkness. And these people see a great light. And Matthew wants us to understand that Jesus is fulfilling this prophecy.
And he's doing that not by going to Jerusalem, this important, this prestigious city that would have been thought of and seen as a shining beacon, a shining light on a hill. No, Jesus starts his ministry in Galilee, a place that would have been considered the darkness, the fringes, a place that would have been far removed from everything important in Jerusalem and a place that everyone would have written off. That's where Jesus begins his ministry. Not in the center, not in the middle, but on the margins.
And this isn't the first time that we've seen Jesus do something like this during the season of Epiphany. We've seen this happen time and time again. During the first week of Epiphany, we were taking a closer look at the story of the wise men and then coming to visit Jesus. We saw that the wise men, who were foreign priests who worshiped a different God, were the first people in the book of Matthew to come worship Jesus.
Then a couple of weeks ago, when we were talking about the story of Jesus' baptism, we saw that Jesus was willing to wade it down into the water where sinners were being baptized so that he could be baptized too, even though he was without sin. Last week, we talked about the first people that Jesus called to be his disciples. And we saw that the first people that Jesus called to be his disciples weren't priests, they weren't rabbis, they weren't part of the religious elite. They were fishermen, tax collectors.
They were ordinary people. This is a pattern that we see over and over again in Jesus' life. We see God chooses the outsiders over the insiders. We see that God moves toward people that we consider to be unclean.
We see that God calls unqualified people over people who have all the right credentials. And today we see that Jesus started his ministry in the margins, not in the middle, not in the center. This is who God is. This is what God does.
This is what God has always done. But our problem is that we keep looking for God. We keep expecting to find God in our Jerusalems. We keep expecting to see God work in the places that we want God.
to work. We expect that we are going to see God working in the biggest churches that have the best buildings and the biggest budgets. We expect that God is going to work with people who have the best education and are living their lives with the right lifestyle and they have the right beliefs. We expect that God is going to bless those ministries that look important and successful to us.
But while we are busy waiting for God in Jerusalem, God is working in Galilee. While we are busy waiting for God in Jerusalem, God is working in Galilee. God is working through Al-Anon groups that are meeting in church basements, even if most church members are unaware of it. God is working through social workers who are helping addicts get into rehab.
God is working through community centers that are giving kids reasons to stay off the streets. God is working through people who contribute to GoFundMe campaigns to help a person they'll never met pay for their chemotherapy. God is working through community organizers that are working in overlooked neighborhoods, even if they've never set foot in our churches. God is working through people, allowing them to do kingdom work, even if they would never call it that.
God is working through people who are loving their neighbors, fighting for justice, and showing up for the least of these. While most of us in the church are completely unaware of it. Because God shows up where we least expect. God shows up where we least expect.
And this means that we are missing out on so much of what God is doing. We're missing out on what God is doing because we're looking for God in our Jerusalems. God is at work in Galilee. We're missing out on what God is doing because we expect God to work in important places while God is working in margins.
We're missing out on what God is doing because we've written off people in places. God has always been at work. You see, God doesn't need our permission to work in unexpected places. God has always been there and God has always been at work there.
So the question we have to ask ourselves is if we're willing to join God there and join in his work there. So here's what I want to challenge you to do this week. I want you to pay attention to where God is really at work. That means that you need to look in places that you don't always expect.
That means that you need to look beyond your Jerusalems to see the Galilies that God is working in. Because if Jesus began his ministry in Galilee, God is still at work there today. If Jesus began his ministry in unexpected places, God is still at work in unexpected places today. So let's stop being surprised when God shows up in the margins instead of in the middle.
Instead, let's see where God is working and let's join him there because there is no one and no place that God overlooks. Let's pray together. God, as we come to you in this time of prayer, you know that there are so many people and so many places that we easily overlook. We think that there are certain people groups, certain places on the map, certain communities that you could never be at work in.
But God, when Jesus began his ministry on this earth, he started in one of the most unexpected places possible. A place that was far from political or religious power. A place that not very many people were. And that Jesus started his ministry and a place as unexpected as Galilee.
That shows us that you are still at work in these unexpected places today. So God, open our eyes. Help us to see where you are working in our world today and challenge us to join you there. We pray all this in Jesus' name.
Amen. I just want to thank you for tuning in to this episode of our sermon podcast. And I hope that you've been blessed during our time together. If that's happened, once again, I want to invite you to come and worship with us live on Sunday mornings at 10.30 a.m.
Eastern Time. You can do that by joining us on our first website at nhbclouisville.com slash live. Or if you're in the Louisville, Kentucky area, you can also worship with us in person. And that's going to do it for this episode of our sermon podcast.
But I want to invite you to come back and join us again when our next episode drops next week. But until then, I'll be praying for you. I hope that you have a great week. And we'll see you back here soon for another sermon podcast.