Are You Wise?

I want you to focus on this passage for a moment. If I translate this passage literally from the Greek, this passage reads this way ~

Having seen moreover the Star they rejoiced with Joy Great Exceedingly.

Now, that’s the literal Greek way to say it. Obviously, we don’t talk this way, but look at how the most literal translations translate this verse ~

10 ... they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

We don’t talk that way, do we? We might say, they were really, really excited or they were overjoyed. But their joy was so great Matthew tells us they were flipping out with total joy. Did you see anyone open a present this Christmas where they opened a gift they didn’t know they were getting and they were jumping up and down with excitement? That’s how these magi were. They saw the star planted over Bethlehem and knew they were close to meeting Jesus. And they were unbelievably super excited.

NOW for a moment — we’re going into Bible Study mode. I want you to understand the difference in Bible translations, and why I prefer the ESV and NKJV over the NIV. This is a 1 minute break, and this is one example of many in which the NKJV and ESV give us a better picture than the NIV.

ESV - 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

NIV - 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

You can see, they both start out exactly the same way, so we’re good at this point, now I want you to see what I think is a big difference in the excitement of the magi. Let’s finish off the verses now.

ESV - they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

NIV - they were overjoyed.

Do you sense a difference in emotion in these two verses? I do. This is why I like a more literal translation like the NKJV or ESV, which is still understandable.

I believe we don’t read the Bible with much emotion as it is, and I don’t want to lose the emotion and excitement that the wise men were experiencing. They weren’t just overjoyed, they were super exceedingly excitedly rejoicing! That’s joy!

Okay, now we can move on as we wrap up ~

My point this morning is that we need to be focused on Christ. We need to be ready to worship Him, at all times! Whether He’s the Christ we’ve known for 80 years, or knowing Jesus is totally new to us. As we move through 2014, we need to be focused on Jesus. Nothing else will do for us.

We need to be committed to knowing Jesus, we need to be here or somewhere on Sunday mornings. I want to encourage you this morning to really, really consider how joy-filled you are at meeting Christ — again and again. I want you and me to slow down and experience that Child, become Savior. I want us to worship Jesus with all we’ve got, whether we like the music, the message or nothing is clicking, I want you to give Jesus your all, and I promise you will experience the joy of Christ, and you’ll walk out of here, rejoicing exceedingly with great joy.

You see, we often miss the great opportunities of life because we get sidetracked. I heard the story of a great bloodhound in England that started a hunt by chasing a full-grown male deer. During the chase a fox crossed his path, so now he began to chase the fox. Then a rabbit crossed his hunting path, so he began to chase the rabbit. After chasing the rabbit for a while, a tiny field mouse crossed his path, and he chased the mouse to the corner of a barn. The bloodhound had begun the hunt chasing a prized deer for his master and wound up barking at a tiny mouse.

What about you and I? What are we chasing after this year? How focused on pursuing Christ are you? Are we as wise as the wise men?