Oh Christmas Three

(This is not an original sermon, ideas from I believe, Jason Dexter. I have expanded main points and updated for my particular style)

TITLE: OH CHRISTMAS THREE

SCRIPTURE: ST. MATTHEW 2:1-12

I am excited and ready to begin our Advent Journey together as we march toward Christmas Day, which is on Sunday this year. How exciting is that! Some have already asked “Are we having Worship Service on Christmas Day?” Of course we are. And I anticipate a high worship experience. As I am accustomed every year, I will begin with the many characters and events that took place leading to the birth of our Savior.

Each character witness spoke of a particular aspect of Jesus’ glory.

• ELIZABETH gave testimony that Jesus is the Lord

• THE SHEPHERDS reported the words of the angel that he is the Savior

• SIMEON bore witness that Jesus is the Christ

• ANNA, the prophetess, spoke of him as the Redeemer

• Today we come to the narrative of the wise men, who very clearly bear witness that Jesus is the King

Gifts are an important part of Christmas. They demonstrate how we Love - Care For - And Value Others. In part, the tradition of giving Christmas gifts goes back to the Wise Men. In the original Christmas narrative, they are best known for the gifts they brought to the baby Jesus, as they recognized who he was and why his birth mattered.

This narrative found in our text of the wise men is a narrative that is shrouded in mystery. From tradition we seem to know all the facts and details. But as we study the scripture, we find there are a lot of questions we cannot answer about the wise men from the Biblical text. For example –

• How many were there? - We don’t know

• Where did they come from? - We don’t know

• How long did their journey take? - We don’t know

They seem to just show up mysteriously – and just as mysteriously they are gone. But one thing I am certain about is the number of wise men and women increases in every generation as people continue to seek the Christ. VS. 1 tells us they were “MAGI FROM THE EAST.” Nothing else is said about their origin here. THE WORD USED FOR MAGI IS THE SAME GREEK WORD FROM WHICH WE GET THE WORD “MAGICIAN.”

• A similar group of people is mentioned in the book of Daniel

• They are the group of advisers to the kings of Babylon and Persia

• The king calls upon them to solve difficult Mysteries – Riddles - Dreams

• Daniel himself belonged to this group

• And he was admitted only after he studied for three years in their university

Let’s look at a few facts that we can learn from the narrative of the wise men as we begin our Advent Journey this morning. My First observation - A WISE MAN’S JOURNEY IS ONE OF FAITH. "WHERE IS HE WHO HAS BEEN BORN KING OF THE JEWS? FOR WE HAVE SEEN HIS STAR IN THE EAST.” What would prompt someone to leave the comfort of their homes to go on a dangerous journey?

• Romance? - Yes

• Wealth? - Most definitely

• But faith? Yes – Faith

“WHERE IS HE WHO HAS BEEN BORN THE KING OF THE JEWS?” What a probing question – there is no doubt in their language that He had been born – the question is “WHERE IS HE?” They had seen the star – the evidence was real – now where is He? They had faith that He was alive – that He existed – now all they needed to do was to find Him. Their purpose was established – find him.

• So they were willing to risk everything to find Him

• They were willing to leave the safety of their homes – to risk a pearliest journey to seek a King

Can you imagine their neighbor’s reaction?

• Are you going on a journey? - Yes

• Where are you going? -- We don’t know for sure

• How far is it? -- Well we don’t know that either

• How long are you going to be gone? -- Well were not quite sure on that either

• Boy for wise men you guys sure don’t know much, do you?

But you know the same thing must have been said to ABRAHAM when he left his home for the Promised Land. They must have said the same things to NOAH who was building an ark – even though it had never rained in the history of the earth up till that point. They must have said the same kind of things to PETER, ANDREW, JOHN and JAMES when they left the fishing nets to become Fishers of Men.