31/12/06 Does God approve of Astrology!? Bible Matthew 2:1-12
1 What does 2007 hold for you? Want to know how the future will pan out for you and your newborn? Our astrologer takes a look into her crystal ball to reveal your fortunes for the year ahead... That’s from the latest issue of Pregnancy magazine. But it could have been from any one of a thousand publications couldn’t it? I suppose a mum expecting a baby has all sorts of questions and thoughts about the future… but then so do lots of people.
2 A couple of years ago I was standing at the checkout in Wickes in Cannock. I was using my credit card to pay for something. But then when she put it in the machine the assistant said, “Sorry I’ve got to make a call”. A couple of minutes later she came back with the phone… the phone card company wanted confirmation of my identity. The Lady from the credit card agency started asking me questions… address, postcode, then said “What is your star sign?” I said, “Why are you asking.” “Just need it to confirm your identity”. I said, “Don’t you want my mother’s maiden name… significant place…”. “No sir, those are confidential… I just want you to tell me your star sign”. I said, “I can tell you my birthday”… She said, “No I just want to know your star sign sir”. I refused. I said, “I’m not interested in what my star sign is.. it’s against my religion.” She went off to consult with her line manager. After a wait of several minutes… came back on the phone and said it was OK to give my date of birth. What struck me was that the credit card company felt they were doing something so normal asking me to tell them my star sign… it is just a normal, everyday bit of information that we are supposed to know about ourselves. And it is. I mean, how many people here do not know their star sign? Has that ever struck you as odd?
Odd in the twenty first century, odd in this scientific age, odd that in the western world, there should be so much interest in astrology.
Quick Definition: Astrology… the study of the positions of the Moon, Sun, and other planets in the belief that their motions affect human beings Astrologers observe the movements of the stars and see a correlation between those movements and the lives, behaviour, and personality of people here on earth.
Astrology is part of our culture today. Every tabloid paper, every magazine has it’s horoscope pages. People turn to them for fun… or for guidance and hope, depending on how honest they are being with themselves. A big idea in astrology is that the positions of the planets and stars at the time of your birth will influence the sort of person that you are. Did you know that I have the same birthday as Rod Stewart… see similarities between us can’t you… I also share the same birthday the boxer George Foreman and the Rasputin, the evil Russian monk. There you are … you’re convinced now!
If I can quote from the Guide for International Students produced by the University of Southampton… Here is a quote from one of the students in the guide…
“There are plenty of activities to do at Southampton. There are so many clubs and societies to enrol in at the University that it took me a while to decide which ones to join! In the end I joined the basketball team and the astrology society.” Southampton is a brilliant university… I just notice that a at one time the idea that a university student would be learning about astrology would have been thought unusual. Maybe not any more.
And here is a brief extract from the publicity of the Sophia Trust…The goal of the Sophia Project is to advance the scholarly study of astrology and “cultural astronomy” in British institutions of higher education. We seek to make it possible to study any aspect, past or present, of the heavens’ human significance – Funds for this purpose are administered by the Sophia Trust, which is advised by a steering committee comprised of trustees and elected representatives from the astrological community. And the money from this trust is being used very effectively. I discovered that You can now take an MA degree in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology at the Bath Spa University… the first course of it’s kind in the UK. The Sophia Trust is a reminder to us that if the people of God do not invest their wealth in making the good news of Jesus known to the men woman and children of this land… then there are other people around who are willing to invest their time and money telling our nation to look away from God.
And in a culture where people do not know the truth about the God and Father of our Lord Jesus.. then anything is believable - even astrology.
Does God approve of astrology? that was the title of this sermon.
Never mind for a moment what might be “written in the stars” do you know what’s written in the book?
God has promised that He will guide those who love him
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. Psalm 32 verse 8
Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path… psalm 119:105
So we can choose to be guided by God’s word to us, or we can read the words of Russell Grant (or some other celebrity astrologer… and choose to be guided by them)
Sometiems people can be fearful of the future… afraid of making the wrong choice… but Jesus came to set us free from the fear of what the future might bring… a fear that can so easily dominate and ruin our lives. Jesus came so that we could live in intimate friendship with our loving heavenly father and know that whatever happens to us… we are held, safe in his hands forever.
In the book… God has promised that we don’t have to be afraid…
Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. Is 40:1
or what about this one…
God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God Romans 8:27
The truth in the bible is that the creator of all things takes a personal loving interest in us.
See, I have written your name on my hand. Is. 49:6
So why would we need to live as if our lives were at the mercy of the movements of the starts and planets?
Now I would suppose that churches up and down the land, you are not likely to find a minister or church leader telling people to read their horoscopes and base their live upon the guidance of astrologers. I would have thought that in most churches you would find church leaders who would say that astrology is not something that should be part of the lifestyle of those who say they live as followers of Jesus.
Interesting isn’t it then that in churches all over the world on this Sunday people will be hearing a Bible passage that talks about a group of people who were perhaps the most famous astrologers of all time.
The wise men who came to visit Jesus.
We don’t know their names, we don’t know how many of them there were. We know they brought three gifts between them to give to Jesus… but we know that they were astrologers… because that’s what the Magi were.
Magi all belonged to a tribe of priests. They weren’t priests in the Jewish faith, ( like the OT Levites were) they were priests in an ancient faith that part of the Zoroastrian religious tradition. They would have believed that the universe was caught up in a battle between two equal and opposing entities. Ahurah Mazda a good creator god, and Ahriman an evil creator god. They studied the stars to find signs that would give guidance about what was going to happen on earth. They would give advice, based on what the stars said. They engaged in all sorts of occult practices. The Magi were part of the hisoptry of the ancient empires of Egypt, Persia and Babylon. Over centuries they developed the system of thought that now informs modern astrologers and horoscope writers and fortune tellers.
Do you get the picture? The Magi were not Kosher! They were not Jews, not Christians, they would not have fulfilled the requirements of the Church of England when they were selecting candidates for ordained ministry! Their beliefs and practices were not in line with what God has revealed to us in the Bible.
Yet… they are here…
part of the story of what God was doing when Jesus was born.
Isn’t God amazing?
He is at work in the most unlikely of places.
Something must have happened somewhere for these magi to have become aware of prophecies about the birth of a King in Israel.
We find Magi mentioned in the book of Daniel in the Old Testament. For a time Daniel was the boss, the leader of the Magi and other counsellors who were part of the Court of King Darius who had conquered Babylon. Maybe it was in Daniel’s lifetime when the people of Israel were in exile in Babylon, that the Magi had learned about beliefs in the God of Israel or about the prophecies of a coming Messiah. We don’t know.
The pseudo-scientific interpretation of the stars that is the foundation of astrology, is the product of human imagination. And if it leads people away from knowing the creator of the stars then the devil is very pleased with it. But on this one occasion, it seems God used a belief that the stars were signs in the sky, so that
when these Magi saw this star.. they made a connection between that cosmic event and what they knew to be a prophecy that a sign would accompany his birth.
These Magi set off on a journey … convinced that what they had seen in the stars meant that something significant had happened. I suppose they were searching for truth.
And in all the confusion of beliefs in this country today.. there are people who are genuinely, honestly, searching for the truth. The good news is that Jesus has promised that Anyone who seeks.. will find. Anybody who is honestly searching for truth about life, about God, about the purpose and meaning of human existence… they will at the end of their search find Jesus who is, as he said, the way, the truth and the life.
And I find it interesting that the Bible says about these magi…
They entered the house where the child and his mother, Mary, were, and they fell down before him and worshiped him.
They didn’t know all the answers, they didn’t even know the questions.. but still they recognised the presence of God in that place when they met Jesus.
When we have our special services, events like the Carol Service, the Christmas Special.. all those school gatherings… or when the place is full on Remembrance Sunday, or whatever… do you think that the Holy Spirit might work in the hearts and minds of people in Burntwood just as he did in the hearts and minds of those magi who were searching for truth?
Pray that he will. Be here on those special times.. praying for and expecting the Holy Spirit of God to move people to worship, to move them to worship, even though they might not know it all, understand it all.. but worship simply because in a moment of time they realise that God is here, present in this place.
And these Magi they were guided by God. The Bible says… when it was time to leave, they went home another way, because God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod. (Matthew 2:12)
God obviously knew how to speak to these Magi in a way that they would understand because as we see whenever the Magi are mentioned in the Old Testament book of Daniel, they are being asked to interpret dreams. Magi believed that the gods spoke through dreams. And so they recognised the dream as a message from god and acted on it.
The Magi were…
Open to God’s Holy Spirit and searching for truth, Worshipping in the presence of Jesus; and recognising the guidance of God. It’s Not bad for a group of “unchurched” people was it?!
When we see how God was at work in and through the Magi, it gives us hope.
God does not approve of astrology, he doesn’t approve of a great deal of what is going in the life of our nation today. Although we live in a culture where any and every belief is possible… God does not approve of them all.
God wants people to know him as their loving heavenly father and to receive the forgiveness that Jesus has made possible for us, and to be filled with his presence, the love and power of the Hoy Spirit. That’s what he approves of.
But one message in this story of the magi is that God is at work in and through the lives of people who do not yet know him… but who are willing to look for the truth.
May we pray for the Holy Spirit to stir up more and more people in this community to make their journey to find the truth during this coming year. And may we see more and more people, like the Magi… coming into the presence of Jesus, our Saviour and King and worshipping him.