(Note for readers: There is a short Children’s Message at the beginning, followed by the sermon for an adult audience)
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE
There is a game we used to play when I was a kid… It’s called “Hide and Seek”… Do you know that game? One person will be “it” and try to find the other people who are hiding. My sister was really good at hiding… Sometimes, I would give up and go watch TV… and she would still be hiding! When it was my turn to hide, I would make noise on purpose so she would find me… I wanted to be found!
When Jesus was born 2,000 years ago, God wanted people to find Him! The Bible tells us the story about some shepherds… They were watching their sheep at night, and God sent an angel to tell them that Jesus had been born… and they would find Him in a barn in the town of Bethlehem… God wanted the shepherds to find Jesus… so He told them how to find Him.
There is another story about some wise men… They also wanted to find Jesus… So they followed a star… God used a star to lead the wise men to Jesus… because God wanted the wise men to find Him!
God wants us to find Jesus too! God does not hide from us… He wants to be found! And He has a present for everyone who believes in Jesus… the free gift of eternal life. All we need to do to receive this gift is believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and ask Him to forgive us of our sins. That would be the best gift of all this Christmas!
Let’s PRAY…
[Dismiss children… ADULT MESSAGE begins here]
Please open your Bibles to Matthew 2:1-12…
1 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.” 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. 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.’” 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.” 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. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
The most obvious part of this story is how the wise men were searching for Jesus… They spent a lot of time, and a lot of money to travel and look for Jesus… Many Bible experts believe the wise men were probably traveling for several months as they followed the star all the way to Israel.
They first went to Jerusalem… They were looking for the King of the Jews… Where would be the most obvious place to find the newly born King? Yes, in the nation’s capital city! Surely, the leaders of the Jewish nation would know where the King of the Jews had just been born! But that’s not what they find!
They see that King Herod is troubled by the news of this baby… But even more upsetting is that the leader of the Jewish nation doesn’t even know where the Christ was to be born… Herod doesn’t even know His people’s own prophecies about the Messiah… He has to ask around…
And to make it even worse, Herod doesn’t even send his own Jewish people to find the Child… he sends these foreigners to look for the Messiah for him… This is what the people of Israel have been watching and waiting for all these many centuries… but none of the Jewish leaders are interested in joining the search! They send these foreigners to do the work for them!
This tells us a lot about how far away from God the spiritual leaders of Israel had gone… We will not be surprised when we learn about how much they hate Jesus… and how these religious leaders eventually have Jesus killed on a cross. But this isn’t the message that God has for us today.
1. GOD SEEKS AFTER US
Today, I want us to turn our attention to what God Himself is doing. As we see God working in the story of the wise men, we also see what God is still doing today. First, notice that God is seeking after us… God caused those wise men to notice something… They saw a star in the sky that wasn’t like any other… Yes, the wise men went looking for Jesus, but God went looking for them first… Ezekiel 34:11-12 talks about how God seeks after us…
11 “‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. 12 As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.”
Jesus says something very similar in Luke 19:10, when He says this about Himself…
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
God seeks after us… He is trying to connect with us… He sent the star for the wise men to follow… In Luke chapter 2, He sends an angel to give a message to the shepherds… God could have chosen anyone to be the first to hear the good news… but He chose to reach out to those shepherds and to tell them to go find the baby in a manger.
God seeks after us, because…
2. GOD WANTS US TO FIND HIM
…God wants us to find Him! As humans, we are all searching for something… Searching for answers… Searching for truth… Searching for our lives to have some meaning and purpose. There is an emptiness in all of us that we try so hard to fill… Many people try to fill it with money, or jobs, or power, or fame, or drugs, or alcohol, or anything that we think will make us happy. But those things never satisfy us… They only leave us thirsty for more!
We’re all searching… and God wants us to find HIM! He is the only thing that can fill that emptiness inside of us… He is the only One who can give our lives meaning and purpose… He is the only One who can give us peace and joy that will never fade away… John 4:13-14…
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
And God wants us to find Him… Just like He wanted the shepherds and the wise men to find Jesus… He tells us in Deuteronomy 4:29…
29 But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.
This is a promise! God has promised that if we seek Him, then we will find Him! There is a verse toward the end of the Bible that is a beautiful description of this… Revelation 3:20…
20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
Let that picture sink into your mind… Jesus standing at your door… God is seeking after you! He has found you, and come to your door… and He’s knocking… He wants you to find Him! He wants you to open the door and let Him come in! When you do that, then we see our last point today…
3. GOD WANTS TO BLESS US WHEN WE FIND HIM
… God wants to bless us when we find Him! The wise men fell to the ground and worshipped when they found Jesus… and in Luke 2:20…
20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
God filled their hearts with indescribable joy! They worshipped and praised God when they found Jesus… Nothing else can compare to the joy of finding Jesus! Like we read in Revelation 3:20, Jesus will come in and dine with you… which is talking about forming a close, personal relationship between you and the Savior of the world! The joy of being in His presence!
Hebrews 11:6 says…
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
God’s rewards are not the same as what the world thinks are rewards… The world wants us to continue to desire wealth, fame, power… even our health… But these are all just temporary things that continue to leave us empty and looking for something more… God’s rewards will fill us with joy… Let’s take a look at Psalm 16:11 which says…
11 You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
1 Peter 1:8 says…
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy
God seeks after us… and He wants us to find Him… so that He can bless us and fill us with joy… so that He can fill that emptiness inside of us, and give us new life and new purpose.
Isaiah 55:6 says…
6 Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
There will be a time when it is too late… God is seeking after each one of us… and He wants us to find Him… He’s not hiding from us… Have you found Jesus? Have you put your faith in Him… given your life to Him? The shepherds and the wise men did…
This is what Christmas is about… God did not hide from us in heaven… He came to earth to be born as a baby… so that He could be found by those who seek after Him…
But what if you’ve already found Jesus? How is your joy? Have you allowed the world to creep into your mind, your heart, your life and steal your joy from you? Then God is calling you to the manger also! Go back to Jesus, and let Him restore you! Psalm 51:10-12 says…
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
When you do that… when you go back to the manger and find Jesus… then you will once again be filled with the joy of the Lord… and just like the shepherds and wise men, you will fall down and worship God for His amazing gift of a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!
Let’s PRAY.
