The Gift of Gold
The Three Gifts, part 1
Wildwind Community Church
David Flowers
November 29, 2008
Have you ever had Christmas or Easter sneak up on you? I mean, you’re doing your thing, right? Going to church, and hopefully reading your Bible and getting familiar with God’s Word, and all that stuff, but then one day you think, “Holy cow, Christmas is in like two days!” Then you’re rushing around shopping and getting stuff ready. You show up to church the Saturday before Christmas exhausted because you’ve been working so hard getting ready for Christmas, staying up cleaning, wrapping presents, or whatever. So you rush into church and it’s the weekend before Christmas, and you try to calm yourself down and meditate on the reason for the season and all that stuff, but your mind is racing and no matter how hard you try to focus on God, the fact is you have managed to completely saturate yourself in the busyness of the world over the past few weeks, and now there’s no way you can wring enough of the world out of your head and heart to be able to absorb anywhere near all the God you need in just a one hour service. Only you don’t realize this because you’re so used to living with both feet in the world and then kind of fitting God into whatever space is left that you can’t understand why God didn’t turn your heart into Bethlehem during that one hour and birth Christ there and bring you the peace and joy you have been lacking as you have bustled about during these past weeks, totally sold out to something – that’s for sure – most of which is not God – as evidenced by the fact that it has served to kind of empty you of God to the point that you’re now sitting in church hoping to get a little God poured back in. And a little is of course exactly what you get, because, as I’ve already said, you’re so saturated with “world” that there’s really not much room for “God” anyway, so you leave church kind of disappointed, but hey you tried, and since that didn’t really affect you much you go right back out there to live the way you were living before you came to church – after all there’s stuff to do – and before you know it it’s Christmas Day and up late the night before getting stuff ready for the kids or whatever, then up early with excited little ones, and doing the whole Christmas Day thing and thinking in the back of your mind, “Christmas maybe should be more than this spiritually,” only you’re unsure how to make it so, and so you just keep doing what you’ve always done and before you know it another Christmas has come and gone.
Today we start our Advent series moving into Christmas. Why observe Advent? When we observe Advent we come here each week and say, “It’s getting closer. Christmas is coming.” We have four weeks to be reminded that maybe we’re rushing around too much. We have four weeks to think about something we might want to do to honor God in a special way. Four weeks to consider and maybe plan and take a day for prayer or for silence. Four weeks to read over the story of the birth of Jesus and absorb it, and live into it, and let it get into us. Four weeks. Hopefully sometime during those four weeks we’ll realize we’re doing it again – rushing through Christmas – getting lost in activity – and maybe we’ll put the brakes on and allow the season to be what it perhaps has never been to us before – HOLY.
So each week we’ll light a candle to mark the weeks of Advent. Each week you’ll hear a reading from scripture (like today) and you’ll have a chance to meditate on it and take it in. It’ll be a passage that will be read to you without comment – without teaching. Just a chance for you to sit in church and hear the Word of God read to you, and to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal himself to you. So I invite you to institute something in your life to make these days special. They will only be special if you MAKE them that way. Otherwise they’re just days, and we want to hallow (make holy) these days by ordering our lives differently – putting different rhythms in them! If we do that, I assure you Christmas will mean something this year it has never meant to you before.
So let’s dig in today. We’ll begin by reading the passage on which this series will be based.
Matthew 2:1-2; 10-11 (HCSB)
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived unexpectedly in Jerusalem,
2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”
10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed beyond measure.
11 Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary His mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
For each of the next few weeks I’ll be focusing on the meaning of one of these gifts, and we’ll just take them in order – gold, then frankincense, then myrrh.
The first gift mentioned is the gift of gold. The wise men asked, “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews?” Gold was a gift frequently given to kings in those days, and the wise men brought Jesus a gift befitting his status as a king. Jesus was referred to as a king in prophecies hundreds of years before his birth.
Zechariah 9:9 (MSG)
9 "Shout and cheer, Daughter Zion! Raise the roof, Daughter Jerusalem! Your king is coming! a good king who makes all things right, a humble king riding a donkey, a mere colt of a donkey.
Now the idea of Christ being a king was certainly not welcome to Herod, who killed all the babies in Bethlehem in an attempt to wipe out Jesus, as obviously a king born in Bethlehem would therefore be a rival to him. Since Herod had murdered several of his own sons to keep them from taking his throne, certainly it would not be an issue for him to kill Jesus and anyone else who stood in his way. The prophet had said, “Jerusalem, your king is coming,” but that Jesus would be a different kind of king – humble. Most kings were not humble.
Fast forward 33 years later at his trial before Pilate. There we see this exchange:
Jn 18:33-37 (The Message)
33Pilate went back into the palace and called for Jesus. He said, “Are you the ‘King of the Jews’?” 34Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you this about me?” 35Pilate said, “Do I look like a Jew? Your people and your high priests turned you over to me. What did you do?” 36“My kingdom,” said Jesus, “doesn’t consist of what you see around you. If it did, my followers would fight so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. But I’m not that kind of king, not the world’s kind of king.” 37Then Pilate said, “So, are you a king or not?” Jesus answered, “You tell me. Because I am King, I was born and entered the world so that I could witness to the truth. Everyone who cares for truth, who has any feeling for the truth, recognizes my voice.”
The kingship of Jesus was a threat to Herod when he was born, it was an insult to those over whom he claimed to rule (the Jewish people), and it ultimately landed him on a Roman cross. Let’s look more closely at what Jesus said about his kingship.
Jn 18:36-37 (The Message)
36“My kingdom,” said Jesus, “doesn’t consist of what you see around you. If it did, my followers would fight so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. But I’m not that kind of king, not the world’s kind of king.” 37Then Pilate said, “So, are you a king or not?” Jesus answered, “You tell me. Because I am King, I was born and entered the world so that I could witness to the truth. Everyone who cares for truth, who has any feeling for the truth, recognizes my voice.”
So Jesus was predicted to be born a king. But his kingdom doesn’t consist of what we see around us. My friends, this is huge when it comes to hanging on to hope in this world. Jesus is a king. His kingdom doesn’t consist of what we see around us. There is something else entirely that makes up his kingdom. It’s based on another reality. Jesus tells us what that reality is (v. 37) – it is truth. Jesus’ kingdom is made up of what is true, and what is real. People who care for truth, he says, will recognize his kingship (his Lordship and Mastery over all creation) by what he says and what he teaches.
At this point I can’t resist going back to Wildwind’ s mission statement. Wildwind’s mission is to help people to find, face, and follow the truth. Please understand, we do not believe that church is where you go to talk about “spiritual things” that don’t really matter and aren’t part of your everyday life. Church isn’t the place where we deal with philosophical notions that can’t be understood. Church is not a place to sacrifice an hour a week to so that you can live the rest of your life in the “real” world and do whatever you please. Church is the place where we deal with the truth – where we deal with what really matters. Because the thing that matters most about you is not whatever you fear most right now, or whatever you lack, or whatever you have accomplished, or how you may have failed. The thing that matters most about you is that ten thousand years from now, you will still be alive. If that is true, then perhaps it’s okay to get excited, wondering what we will be doing! If that is true, then there is nothing more important than tending to that reality and learning to live in it. What Jesus knew is that we are spiritual beings – that everything that matters most about us is stuff that is eternal. The way you are living right now – the way you will live when you walk out the door tonight, the way you live at work and at school and at home with your family – it is all determined by the absolute reality that you are a spiritual (eternal) being having a physical experience in this world. Let us leave behind the notion that there is any separation between physical and spiritual, or that one is fact-based and “real” and the other is spirit-based and kind of ghostly or ethereal. Spirit reality determines physical reality. If you yelled at your kids today, that’s because of a reality that exists in your spirit and in your soul. If you spent the day in fear, that’s because of a reality that exists in your heart and mind. If you connected deeply to your children this past week, that’s because of something real that is in you. And Jesus is King of the reality that determines how you actually live in this world. Am I making sense? The longer I serve God and the deeper I look into these things, the more absurd it is that the world around us so easily dismisses the spiritual world as inconsequential – maybe good if you’re having surgery or going to AA or something and “need” that kind of thing for a while, but not of any deep and real value in determining real stuff like how and whether we shop, what car we buy, how and whether we deal with anxiety, how we treat other people, how we think of ourselves, and stuff like that that really matters.
Spiritual reality actually determines physical reality. Why? Because you and I live from our hearts – the things we do and the words we say come out of the spiritual realities that govern our lives. Jesus came from, lives in, and is king over this reality. Jesus taught from this unseen reality that is actually more real (way more) than anything you and I see around us. So it was from this reality that he said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” Jesus understood something that we do not understand. It was from this reality that he said, “He who wants to save his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake will find it.” It sounds other-worldly because it is. Those words came from a different reality. That’s why Jesus was the first person to ever teach the things Jesus taught. No one could possibly have taught the things Jesus taught unless they lived in the reality that Jesus lived in. It was from this reality that Jesus said of his killers, “Father forgive them – for they know not what they do.” Think about his situation physically at that moment, and how you or any other human being would have responded. Jesus had the capacity to respond differently because he lived in a different reality – one based on truth – which means right thinking and right understanding and right acting based on the right understanding that we have. In a word, his head was on straight.
What is it that makes a king a king? When you think of a king, what do you think of? I’ll give you a hint – I’m looking for an answer that starts with the letter P. POWER! A king has power. A king is a person who is the master of a certain domain – a certain area. A king is somebody that when he gives an order, his will is accomplished. Jesus came to earth quietly and humbly – he was, exactly like Zechariah predicted, a humble king. But Jesus was King. He had power over every disease he encountered. Power over death. Power over his schedule. Power over the wind and waves. Power over his own emotions. He lived without fear. Without guile. Without suspiciousness and paranoia (even though people were constantly plotting to kill him), without lust, without envy and jealousy and pettiness. Without rage, without moodiness and arrogance and irritability. Jesus lived, as a king does, in constant command of his environment. But Jesus refused to exercise power to force people to honor and serve and love him. Instead, this king served his subjects! What king does that? A very different kind of king than what we could have ever known otherwise. A king who is so certain of who he is and where he is from and what he is about that he does not need to force loyalty upon his subjects. Unlike kings of this world, Jesus did not get his sense of self-worth from the number of people who bowed down to him. Think about who was really king in this exchange:
Jn 19:7-11 (The Message)
7The Jews answered, “We have a law, and by that law he must die because he claimed to be the Son of God.” 8When Pilate heard this, he became even more scared. 9He went back into the palace and said to Jesus, “Where did you come from?” Jesus gave no answer. 10Pilate said, “You won’t talk? Don’t you know that I have the authority to pardon you, and the authority to—crucify you?” 11Jesus said, “You haven’t a shred of authority over me except what has been given you from heaven. That’s why the one who betrayed me to you has committed a far greater fault.”
There’s Jesus, standing before the Roman governor – the “king” of that territory. Pilate was the ultimate “go-to” guy in that region. Mr. Big. Supposedly the guy with the keys to life and death. And there’s humble King Jesus standing there before him, on trial for a capital crime. And which of them is fearful?
Jn 19:7-8 (The Message)
7The Jews answered, “We have a law, and by that law he must die because he claimed to be the Son of God.” 8When Pilate heard this, he became even more scared.
Pilate. Pilate is fearful. Why? Because he was out of touch with reality. It was actually Pilate who was delusional, not Jesus. See, Pilate lived in a world where there was much to fear.
Pr 28:1 (The Message)
1The wicked are edgy with guilt, ready to run off even when no one’s after them; Honest people are relaxed and confident, bold as lions.
Spiritual reality is that the wicked will live in fear and the righteous will live in confidence. Jesus lived in that reality. And whether he wanted to or not, so did Pilate! Jesus was completely honest and therefore relaxed, confident, and bold. Pilate was wicked, and therefore edgy with guilt, ready to run off, and afraid. Both Pilate and Jesus, in that moment, were governed by spiritual reality. Only Jesus knew what the reality was, and Pilate didn’t. Check out how clueless Pilate was, and how Jesus stood there gently informing him how things really are:
Jn 19:10-11 (The Message)
10Pilate said, “You won’t talk? Don’t you know that I have the authority to pardon you, and the authority to—crucify you?” 11Jesus said, “You haven’t a shred of authority over me except what has been given you from heaven…”
Jesus was king over a kingdom where kings like Pilate don’t rate – and that kingdom was so real that it allowed Jesus to stand there peacefully – the criminal standing calmly before the judge, not wavering in authority or confidence – the judge sitting there cowering, lacking confidence, looking to his subjects for advice on what to do. Which of these men acted like a king?
And when Jesus said, “You don’t have any authority over me except what you have received from heaven?” what was Jesus actually saying? Who is the King of Heaven, and who has authority to distribute power? Jesus was saying, “Your power to rule and to be king has actually been given to you by the king of another kingdom – and by the way, that would be me.”
The only way we can live fearfully in this world, or with hatred, or bitterness, or animosity, or self-loathing, or anything less than bright hope, is if, despite what we may say about the baby born in the manger, we have a hard time seeing him as a king. But he was, and is, King over ultimate reality – the reality that governs how you live in this world. See there’s Pilate, thinking Jesus is on trial before him, but he in fact was on trial before Jesus, and his cowardice condemned him.
You cannot escape reality. Spiritual reality will govern who you become and what happens to you whether you choose to acknowledge it or not. Jesus, the King over the reality of the spirit, came to tell us about that reality and how we can live happily and peacefully and totally at home within it. We can accept that or reject it, but we cannot escape the consequences of that choice, because they too are just part of that reality.
Jesus was given gold by the wise men. A gift fit for a king, and a king he is. But the question is “what kind of king is he?” He is a king that would have your allegiance not by force but by love. He is a king who invites you to serve him, then turns around and gives you everything he has in his kingdom! He is a king who knows and understands and has taught us about the way the world really works – who understands the governing realities of your life. Therefore he is a king who can be trusted with all you have and all you are. Will you trust him? Will you trust him with your pain? Your fears? Your brokenness? Your sin? Will you trust him with your life? Will you pray with me?
Jesus, may we live according to truth, since you came to make the truth known. May we honor you as King of our hearts, and king over all reality, and trust you completely with our lives. Amen.
Let us worship Christ the King
