The bright, starry night of Christ’s birth which took place in the tiny hilltop town of Bethlehem stands as a reminder to all mankind that God has been inviting people from around the world to know Him, to worship Him, and to walk with Him. All throughout scripture we find God introducing Himself to His creation - telling people His names and giving them a peek into His very character. God showed Himself over and over again in the Old Testament through mighty miracles, words to the prophets and just His day in and day out faithfulness to His people, Israel.
But as we come to the New Testament, we see more vividly God calling people from around the world to know Him. Think of the various differences of the people who surrounded the event of Christ’s birth. We see a young couple, poor in the world’s eyes birthing God’s son! Angels inviting lowly, smelly shepherds to be the first to visit this Holy child. Simeon, a righteous man, is introduced to God incarnate as he chooses to approach this young poor couple as they were performing the necessary purification rites for Mary, 40 days after the birth of their child. Anna, an older poor widow, was phenomenally spiritually rich as she devoted everything she had to daily worshiping God. And then a couple years later, we see rich (probably Persian) wise men come with gifts that were equivalent to those given to royalty and we see them falling down before this toddler that was in front of them.
Invitation. God throughout time has been offering an invitation. The invitation is this: Come and receive the most precious & priceless gift you will ever have - eternal life through Christ alone. But along with this incomprehensible rich gift that is given, God also provides another aspect to the gift. It is the ability for mankind to unabashedly worship their Creator God. He has given us the opportunity to throw off all hindrances such as race, status, or gender and to worship Him together as a people united in Christ.
Today in our world, to be able to experience unity among so much global diversity is something towards which world leaders continually strive. But as people who have accepted God’s gift that has been offered, we have the ability and opportunity that confounds the watching world - we have the God-given privilege of entering into such diverse, yet unifying worship that only can bring glory to God alone.
Here at the ministry at the International Chapel of Montpellier, we tend to have a very simple focus. We do not come with flashy programs or projected strategies as we invest our lives into this work. We come with just an invitation to the people around us who come from All around the world - Come. Join us at the foot of the cross. Worship with us. Study with us His Word which brings life. And may we as a church be able to say as David did in Psalms 86:9, “All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord; they will bring glory to your name.” Now and forevermore. Amen.
