AM Sermon preached at Central Christian Church December 30, 2012
Take the Christmas Journey sermon series
Message #4 based on Matthew 2 story of wisemen
A few nights back I was listening to the forecast on TV when the weatherman said that there was a beautiful ring around the full moon. He went on to explain that the ring was the result of the moonlight shining through a layer of ice crystals that were in the clouds thousands of feet above the earth. He suggested that if you had the chance you should go outside and look at it. I took his suggestion. After the big build up he’d given it, I threw on a coat and went outside and looked up. He was right, it was a beautiful sight to behold. I noticed there weren’t any stars visible inside the ring so I wondered if the old folklore was true and if that meant we were going to get some precipitation within 24 hours. Turns out we did. But here’s what I’m leading up to, I’ve been something of a nature buff as far back as I can remember. And I’ve spent nights outside gazing up at the stars and planets. I’ve seen eclipses and meteor showers and shooting stars and comets and all kinds of beautiful sights but it wasn’t until this week as I was studying for this morning’s message that I found myself wondering if there wasn’t, as I was taking in those awesome nighttime sights, a whole lot more going on than meets the eye. Here’s what I’m talking about---I’ve known for years the verse of scripture in Psalms 19 which says that the heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of his hands. But it wasn’t until this week as I was reading and rereading and meditating on the story of the wisemen found in Matthew 2 that I began draw lines between that verse and the opening verses of Matthew 2. It wasn’t until this week that I began to wonder if there wasn’t something more to the comets and shooting stars and rings around the moon that I’ve looked at through the years than their simply being beautiful natural phenomenons? I got to thinking this week that it just might be possible that every shooting star, every comet, every show of the Northern lights, every eclipse and every ring around the moon was planned out before God even created the world and was set into motion at exactly the right time to mark an event that was taking place in the spiritual realm, some mighty work that God was in the process of doing. Think about it, if the wisemen had not recognized that possibility, we wouldn’t be reading their story in scripture and we wouldn’t be talking about the journey they made to Bethlehem some 2000 years later.
Matthew 2 opens this way...
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
After Jesus was born Magi came looking for Him. The Magi in the story surrounding Jesus birth are usually called the wisemen and are sometimes called the three kings. Traditional renderings cause us to imagine that there were three men and we picture them dressed all fancy wearing crowns and jewels, riding camels across the sand and showing up at the stable where Jesus was born. But the Bible doesn’t tell us how many there were. The Bible doesn’t say they rode camels or that they wore fancy clothing or that they were kings. And the Bible doesn’t say they showed up at the place where Jesus was born. To the contrary the Bible tells us by the time they showed up Jesus was living in a house---and the context seems to indicate they probably didn’t arrive until Jesus was somewhere between 6 and 18 months old----which I’ve been told is proof enough that there were no women among the Magi---because if there had been they would have stopped and asked for directions and showed up on time. We can’t be certain about that but what we know from history is that Magi were star-gazers. Or in other words, the wisemen may have been astronomers or astrologers, possibly both. If so they’re possibly the first example we have of people who understood that science and faith can co-exist in the human heart. Commentary writers suggest that the wisemen were promoted to act based upon information brought to their country during the time Daniel and the Israelites spent in Babylonian captivity. They probably had in their possession a copy of the book of Numbers and knew well the prophecy found in Numbers 24. There in verse 17 it says ““I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.” Perhaps they laid that alongside of that verse David wrote about the heavens declaring the work of God---put two and two together when they saw a star appear and thought in their hearts when a thousand year old prophecy has been fulfilled it’s worth checking out. We’re not told. We just know they were telling people they had seen a new star, believed it was a sign that a new king of the Jews had been born and they had come to worship him.
Real quick like, let me add that that word worship is a strong word. I mean it’s one thing to admire a newborn heir to a throne or to show him respect but it’s a whole different matter to worship a newborn king. The Bible doesn’t fill us in on the many conversations the wisemen must have had with different people in Jerusalem---so we don’t say for certain that they knew that this newborn baby was the long awaited Messiah. We can’t say that they somehow knew that it was God’s Son who had been born. But I get the idea that their hearts were at least in that ballpark because they came to worship the newborn king---and because of the way Herod reacted to their asking people if they knew where they could find the newly born king.
According to the Bible- when word of the wisemen’s quest reached Herod it upset him something awful...let’s read on in Matthew 2.... 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. Notice Herod didn’t ask where is the next king to be born--he asked where the Messiah was to be born. If the wisemen hadn’t put the star and the birth of the Messiah together--Herod must have. In answer to Herod’s question we read in verse 5...
5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: 6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
Some of you are old enough to remember the TV show lost in space and how when the young Will Robinson began to approach a threatening situation his robot companion would flail its arms all around and shout out “Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!” Well what happens next is one of those things that if the wisemen had had a robot in their company would have had the robot screaming “danger, danger!” Verse 7 reads... 7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” If you know nothing about the type of person Herod was, you’d probably not see anything suspicious in his actions or words. But once you understand that Herod was bad to the bone and perhaps one of the most evil and paranoid kings to ever occupy any throne---you’d have a hard time not suspecting foul play and evil intentions behind his every move. I mean Herod, although he was half-Jew, had basically become a traitor to everything Jewish. He worked for the Roman government and collected taxes for them from the Jews. If he thought for even a second that someone might be out to take his throne away from him, he’d have that person killed. And Herod often had those thoughts, so a lot of people died at his command including---a wife, a mother-in-law, some of his sons, several priests and even the high priest. Like I said earlier that guy was bad to the bone, not in some he’s hip or he’s cool kind of way but in a self-serving evil kind of way. Well, as we read on we learn that---
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. I have no idea how a star went ahead of them and lead them and stopped over the place where Jesus was. Maybe it sent down a concentrated beam of light, you know like what you sometimes see on a cloudy day when a shaft of sunlight breaks through---I don’t know---all I know is that the Bible says it happened. The star stopped over the place where Jesus was. It’s no wonder we read in the next verse.... 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house (again that’s a house, not a barn, stable or any other type of animal shelter), they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. (Funny how it doesn’t even mention Joseph’s being there. Maybe he was there at the time of their visit and maybe he wasn’t, doesn’t really matter. Anyway---)
Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. (At first thought those sound like pretty strange gifts for a baby, don’t they?---gold, frankincense and myrrh. A lot has been made of the symbolic appropriateness of those gifts through the years. Gold supposedly represents Jesus being a king. Frankincense was burned at the temple and so many say it represents the fact that Jesus is our High priest. And Myrrh was a balm that was used during the embalming process and many say it was given to represent the fact that Jesus would die to save us from our sins. Now if the Magi had actually put all of those things together about Jesus and that’s why they gave the gifts they did, then it’s no wonder we call them the wisemen. A part of me wants to simplify their gifts. Gold---that’s money---perhaps it was their way of saying we don’t know what the child needs but here use this to help buy it. Frankincense---that’s a fragrance---a first century room freshener---can’t imagine an infant our toddler’s room ever needing one of those. Right... And myrrh? It’s true myrrh was used in the embalming process but did you know myrrh was and still us used in ointments to treat everything from toothaches to minor scrapes and bruises? I’m thinking possibly it was meant to be used in treating boo-boos and maybe diaper rashes. I guess we’ll believe what we want about the gifts. In any case after they’d seen Jesus and worshipped Him and presented their gifts to Him they left. And according to verse 12---- 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
As you read on in the Bible you find that after Herod learns the wisemen had slipped away without telling him where to find the newborn Messiah---he gave orders to have all the boys living in the area who were two years old and younger killed. But before Herod’s soldiers were able to carry out their orders God warned Joseph in a dream to leave the area immediately---He did and He, Mary and baby Jesus moved to Egypt for awhile. They do return later, after Herod has died. But that’s taking us into a whole new story.
Right now, I want to share with you a few life lessons that I see woven into the story of the wisemen...
The story of the wisemen reminds us of the importance of worshipping God with others. Worshipping God in community. First let me say that you and I and every person in the world is wired for worship. And whether we admit it or not, whether we understand it or not, whether we believe it or not---it doesn’t change the truth that everybody worships. Every person has a god---a person, thing, event or passion that’s number one in their heart and mind. Worship has to do with value. What we choose to value more than all else is the thing that we worship most. It can be anything from our family to our free time, our possessions to our paychecks, our homes to our hobbies or our 4G phones to the one true God. When it came to worship, the wisemen were right to center their worship on the person of Christ. And they were wise in choosing to worship Him together. Notice the way they described their quest--- WE saw his star rise---and WE have come to worship him...”
Maybe we should consider the Magi wise men in this---it looks as if they understood not only that we’ve been wired for worship, but that we’ve been wired for worshipping God with others because a lot of people just don’t seem to get that... Here’s why I say that ---I’ve been in the ministry for more than 30 years and when it comes to reasons why people do not make attending church worship services regularly one of their highest priorities---I’ve heard just about every excuse imaginable. They can’t stand for the worship singing. They can’t sit through a sermon. They don’t want to leave their spouse home alone. It’s their only chance to sleep in. Someone at the church was rude to them. The room’s too hot for them. The room’s too cold for them. There’s too much singing. There’s not enough singing. The sermons are too long. The sermons are too short. Actually, I’ve never heard that one. But you get the idea. I’ve heard lots of excuses...and there have been lots of times people have tacked on to their excuse some comment like “well, even though I’ve not been coming to church, I still worship God. I just kind of do it on my own. You know in my own private, personal way.” Some people will even come right out and say, “well you know, you don’t have to go to the church’s worship service to worship God. You can worship Him anywhere, anytime.” Now it’s hard to argue with that---because it’s true. A person can have personal private moments of worship with God at anytime and in any place. In fact a person might come to prefer private worship over public worship. Listen, if you enjoy private times of worship with God, great!---that’s how it should be. But please don’t ever get the idea that private worship times with God are an acceptable substitute for times of public worship. They’re not. God has wired us for both and God wants both from us---that’s why we’re told in Hebrews 10:25 to make our attendance of public worship gatherings a thing of habit and not to skip out on being here.
You see, we weren’t created to have our journey through life become a solo act. We were created to live life in community with others. We were created not only to care for ourselves but also to care for others. Our joy and our love is made complete as we do life together. And you know, I think we all pretty much get that---I mean we’ve all seen the movies and we’ve all seen the transformations of the Grinch and Ebinezer Scrooge---and we’ve all agreed in our hearts that they needed to learn that our lives aren’t all about us and that the shared life is better. But what hasn’t sunk into the hearts and minds of many is that not only is our joy and our love made complete as we share those them with others---our worship is also made complete as we worship together with others. The story of the wisemen reminds us of that truth.
The story of the wisemen also reminds us that Jesus is an equal opportunity Savior. In Acts 10:34, Romans 2:11 and Galatians 2:6 you’ll find the statement that “God does not show favoritism.” The coming of the wisemen makes this so clear especially when you look at how different they were from the shepherds who went to find Jesus after an angel announced His birth to them. The shepherds came from the immediate vicinity, the wisemen from a distant land. The shepherds were poor, it’s obvious from the gifts they gave the wisemen had some wealth. The shepherds came on that unforgettable night, the wisemen showed up much later. They learned of Jesus birth through different means, they traveled different roads, but they came for the same purpose to draw near to Jesus. In scripture we find this promise from God in Deuteronomy 4:29 and Jeremiah 29:13 that “if a person seeks the Lord---they’ll find him if they seek him with all their heart and with all their soul...”
We read in John 7 that it was during the Jewish holiday celebration known as the feast of tabernacles that Jesus stood up in a crowd and said in a very loud voice---- “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” John went on to explain that what Jesus was talking about was the gift of the Holy Spirit that He would after his death burial and resurrection give His followers. But I want you to notice the qualifier Jesus used when who spoke about who could come to Him, who could be His followers and who could receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus didn’t say---only the very poor could come to Him---and He didn’t say only the very rich could come to Him. Jesus didn’t say only those who haven’t graduated from High School can come to Him---and He didn’t say only those who’ve got a college degree could come to Him. Jesus didn’t say only whites could come to Him and He didn’t say only blacks could come to Him. No what Jesus said was “anyone” could come to Him. Anyone who is thirsty. Jesus was speaking to anyone with a spiritual thirst---meaning---Anyone with a desire to draw near to God. Anyone who wants to be a friend of God. Young and old, rich and poor, men and women, boys and girls, shepherds and wisemen, people without a GED and those holding multiply Phd’s, working and retired, Cubs fans---Cards fans, cat lovers---dog lovers, people who spell potato with and “e”---and people who don’t---people who love getting up early---people who love staying up late---- anyone---anyone---the story of the wisemen reminds us that---anyone with a spiritual thirst can go to Jesus and He will not turn them away.
And finally the story of the wisemen reminds us that God wins. It’s ugly and vicious and it casts a dark shadow over the celebratory scenes of the birth of Jesus but we can’t escape it when we read the Biblical narrative---woven into the story of the wisemen’s coming to find and worship Jesus is the attempt by Herod to kill the baby Jesus. Imagine for a moment you’re standing on a sidewalk and there in front of you, right smack dab in the middle of a sidewalk there’s a tiny black ant. Now imagine that you don’t just dislike ants but you hate them. Imagine you have a hammer in one hand and a spray can of bug killer in the other---but not only that imagine that the ant you’re looking at is stuck to a drop of sap that’s fallen on the sidewalk. In that situation, if you were to go on the attack with every intention of killing that ant as quickly as possible---what do you think the chances are that that ant would survive your attack? Slim to none? How about zero? Under those circumstances you can pretty much say that that ant’s a goner, right? I mean unless something happened before you could whack or spray that ant, that ant’s done for.
Well the situation for the baby Jesus was every bit as grim---in fact it was worse because it wasn’t an imaginary situation---it was real. There was baby Jesus or perhaps by the time the wisemen showed upon the scene He was the toddler Jesus. Now God’s plan was for little Jesus to grow up to become a man, a man who would die on a cross to pay the price of our sins, after which He would be buried and then on the third day He would be raised to life again. But Herod had other plans. Herod had never even seen Jesus but he hated him. In Herod’s warped mind, little Jesus was a threat to his throne. And so he wanted Jesus dead. Herod had been appointed the king of the Jews by the Roman government. And so Herod had soldiers--- armed, trained killers with horses and chariots and swords and knives and shields and lances and bows and arrows who obeyed his orders. Jesus was a small child. He might not have even been able to walk yet. Now Jesus wasn’t totally alone and unprotected---his parents were there for him. But what chance would a young woman and a carpenter have at protecting Him once Herod learned the whereabouts of their little home and he had the place surrounded by an army? Slim to none, right? How about zero? Zero that is unless something happened before Herod’s assassins showed up on the scene. And something did happen---in fact a couple of somethings happened---because Mary and Joseph weren’t the only one’s watching out for the welfare of little Jesus. God the Father was watching out for Him too. And so God warned the wisemen not to report back to Herod. That bought a little time before Herod gave his men their marching and killing orders. And as I said earlier God told Joseph in a dream to hightail it to Egypt with his family. They did and they escaped with their lives---and in time Jesus did what exactly what was planned. He became a man. He died on a cross to pay the price for our sins. He was buried. And He was raised from the dead. He’s returned to heaven. And someday He’ll come back and in a once and for all battle to end all battles, He will absolutely defeat everything evil because God wins. God always wins.
In a few moments we’re going to sing our invitation and decision song. As Michelle makes her way back up on stage to lead us in it, I encourage you to be open to hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. Maybe in these next few moments God will speak to you about something related to your worshipping Him in community with others---maybe He’ll encourage you to make your attendance of our worship services a higher priority in your life----maybe He’ll speak to you about your attitude or your level of participation during our shared times of worship. On the other hand God may speak to you about Jesus being an equal opportunity Savior---maybe you’ve been putting off the decision to be baptized because you’ve had it in your head that God doesn’t love you or want someone like you to become a Christian...and maybe today God’s trying to use the story of the wisemen to help you to recognize that He does love you and He would gladly receive you--- but you have to come to Him. And so maybe He’s telling you it’s time, time for you to take that first step and begin a new life with Him today. Or maybe instead of those things, God will jump off of that equal opportunity Savior idea and He will lay on your heart the face or name of a person that He wants you to reach out to and share the Good News with. Or maybe you’ve been feeling really defeated lately. Maybe you’ve been trying hard to live life the way God wants you to live it but it seems like the harder you try the more you’re bombarded with set backs and you’re dealing with the temptation to throw in the towel and give up on your faith---and God wants to encourage you through the things we’ve looked at today to hang in there with Him. Maybe God’s got something completely different in mind, I just encourage you as we sing this next song---listen for God’s voice and commit to follow God’s lead---and if He’s leading you to come forward for a public decision, now would be the time to make it as we stand and sing....
