The Wise Men
Reading: Matthew chapter 12 verses 1-12.
Ill:
• Story told of a retired man who bought a top of the range BMW as a present for himself.
• It was of course a convertible and boy did it go!
• As he took it for a spin on a dual carriageway, and his foot hit the floor and whoosh!
• Off it took, and within second he was soon doing over a ton!
• Then when he looked in the mirror, he saw a blue flashing light;
• Something came over him and instead of slowing down and pulling over,
• He decided to press the accelerator even harder;
• And he soon started to leave the police car behind.
• Then he came to his senses and thought; “What are you doing?”
• So he pulled over.
• When the police officer arrived on the scene, the man was red faced and very apologetic.
• The policeman said;
• “Listen, I am about to go off duty, if I write you a ticket,
• I am going to have to go back to the station and complete a load of paperwork.
• If you can give me one good reason why you were going so fast,
• A reason I have never heard before, I will let you off with a ticket”
• The man thought for a moment and said;
• “Well, years ago my wife ran off with a policeman….
• And just for a few minutes I thought you might be bringing her back!”
Note:
• The story of the wise men & their gifts is a story that is shrouded in mystery.
• From tradition we seem to know all the facts and details.
• But as we study the Bible we find that there are a lot of questions;
• That we cannot answer about the wise men from the Biblical text.
Ill: For example:
• How many were there? We don’t know.
• Where did they come from? We don’t know.
• What were there names? We don’t know (5th century they were called Caspar, Melchior, & Balthasar)
• How long did their journey take? We don’t know.
• They seem to just show up mysteriously;
• And just as mysteriously they are gone!
Note:
• From the Greek word translated in English as “wise men” or “Magi”,
• We get our English word “magician”.
• But these ‘Magi’ are not magicians as we would think of today;
• They were not experts at slight of hand, and they pulled no rabbit out of their hats.
• The word “Magi” in Bible times;
• Referred to those who were experts in philosophy, medicine and natural science.
• In Bible days you didn’t ‘Google’ for an answer;
• You looked to the Magi (specially trained wise men) to come up with an answer.
• These Magi (Wise Men) were literally walking encyclopaedias.
• Their one job in life was to learn, learn, learn;
• Then when called upon by their king or queen.
• They were required to give an appropriate answer or solution to the problem.
ill:
• Biblical example of wise men or ‘Magi’ was Daniel (of the Lion’s den fame);
• He was captured and taken to Babylon with his three friends;
• Shadrach; Meshach and Abednego (ill: my shack, your shack and a bungalow)
• And we are told they were chosen because they were…..
“Selected only strong, healthy, and good-looking young men,”
“Those that were well versed in every branch of learning, are gifted with knowledge and good judgment, and are suited to serve in the royal palace.
Train these young men in the language and literature of Babylon”.
Note:
• Someone has suggested that if the Magi existed today;
• They would be called “astronomers”:
• Note: astronomers not astrologers!
• There is of course a big difference!
• Astrologers are those who claim to read the future buy looking at the stars.
• e.g. horoscopes, zodiac signs, astrologers believe the stars guide & influence us in life.
Ill:
Story of anxious frog who was worried he would never find a partner in life;
• Decided to go see a Fortune-teller,
• Gazing into his crystal ball, the fortune-teller said to the frog:
“You are going to meet a beautiful young woman.
From the moment she sets eyes on you she will have an insatiable desire to know all about you. She will be compelled to get close to you—you’ll fascinate her.”
• The Frog excitedly asked: “Where am I? At a singles club?”
• Fortune-teller: “No in a biology class!”
• Astrologers are those who claim to read the future buy looking at the stars.
• e.g. horoscopes, zodiac signs, astrologers believe the stars guide & influence us in life.
• Note: the stars did not influence this baby!
• The text makes it very clear - it was this baby who influenced the star!
• Now Astronomers are more concerned with the classification and description of;
• The phenomena in the sky - they are scientists not soothsayers!
• These Magi appear to be astronomers and not astrologers!
• They were men of science and information and not soothsayers and fortune-tellers.
3 Things to note from the narrative:
(1). A wise man’s journey is one of FAITH.
"Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews?
We saw His star in the East.”
Note:
• This description of the star would suggest;
• That it did not move ahead of them like a UFO (as many of our xmas cards portray it).
• The Magi reported in verse 2: “We saw his star in the east”.
• Notice it was a past tense statement.
• Had they been following a star and made this statement in the present tense;
• They would have to say “We can see his star in the west”.
(b).
• We are told in verse 9 that later on route a star appears once again to the Magi,
• We are told that it stopped over the house that the young child now lived in.
(c).
• It is called in verse 2 ‘His star’.
• The Greek word for ‘Star’ means ‘radiance’ or ‘brilliance’ or ‘bright light’.
• Some have suggested that this may not have been a literal astronomical star;
• But rather what the Bible calls the ‘Glory of God’ – radiant glowing light!
A WISE MAN’S JOURNEY IS ONE OF FAITH.
Question:
• Just think for a minute and ask yourself the question;
• What would prompt someone to leave the comfort & security of their homes;
• And to go on a long and dangerous journey;
• Without any guarantee that they might find what they were looking for?
Answer:
• Romance? Yes.
• Wealth? Most definitely.
• But faith?
• Yes – faith, these Magi were men of faith!
Notice
• Look again at their insightful and probing question:
• “Where is He who has been born the King of the Jews?”
• They did not ask; “Has a king been born?”
• There is absolutely no doubt in their use of language that He had been born!
• They had faith that this baby existed and that he was alive!
• And they had given up everything in a quest to find him!
Ill:
Can you imagine their neighbour’s reaction back home?
• “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.”
• You can imagine the neighbours saying:
• “For wise men you sure don’t know much do you!”
Note:
• Their journey was one of faith;
• But it was not one of blind faith!
• I believe they got their information about these events from the Old testament prophets;
• As men of learning they would have come across the Jewish Old Testament prophets;
• And if they came from Babylon (as many scholars think they did);
• Then maybe even Daniel himself introduced into the Babylonian library of information;
• The Jewish prophecies telling of a coming Messiah!
A WISE MAN’S JOURNEY IS ONE OF FAITH.
• God’s journeys always involve FAITH.
• People of faith have been willing to respond to the challenges of the unknown;
• Over and over again down through history.
Ill:
• A number of years ago;
• An advert appeared in a national newspaper:
• “Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold,
• Long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful.
• Honour and recognition in case of success.”
• Would you believe there were thousands of men who responded to it.
• The reason for such a response was the name that accompanied the ad;
• It was the famous and renowned Artic explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton,
Like those wise men of old:
• Faith is still the key ingredient is discovering the living Christ in our lives today!
• Quote: Bible: Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6:
“It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him”.
Ill:
• R.T. Kendall & McDonalds story.
• Louvre Art Gallery, Paris.
Quote: C. H. Spurgeon:
• “I would recommend you either believe God up to the hilt, or else not to believe at all.
• Believe this book of God, every letter of it, or else reject it.
• There is no logical standing place between the two.
• Be satisfied with nothing less than a faith that swims in the deeps of divine revelation;
• A faith that paddles about the edge of the water is poor faith at best.
• It is little better than a dry-land faith, and is not good for much.”
(The second point I want to make is:)
(2). A wise man’s journey is one of WORSHIP.
Ill:
• When the wise men came on their journey it was for the purpose of worship.
• They brought with them gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
(a).
• These gifts have a lot of symbolism associated with them.
• Gold represents wealth. It is a gift fit for a king. (Jesus was and is the King of Kings)
• This title is found at both his birth and also his death;
• Ill: “King of the Jews” – ill: 3 languages – relevant for all people!:
(b).
• Frankincense is the sap of a tree that was dried and hardened;
• And used as incense in the temple as part of their worship of God. (Jesus the Priest)
• Ill: Priest in Latin is the term ‘Pontifex’ which means ‘Bridge-Builder’.
• Ill: Bible calls Jesus “The one mediator’, ‘middle man;, ‘bridge builder’ between us & God.
(c).
• Myrrh is a fragrant perfume that was used to anoint the dead;
• To embalm and preserve them. (Jesus the Sacrificial Lamb)
• Once again Jesus is pictured as being unique;
• We were born to live, but he was born to die!
Ill:
• DVD clip – “The wonderful cross”
• The cross not the crib as the crib was to be the climax of his life!
Note:
• But there is more to worship than gold, frankincense, or myrrh.
• There is more to worship than outward things, isn’t there?
• True worship always involves SACRIFICE.
• True worship always involves a great cost!
• Was there a price to be paid for the wise men’s worship?
• You bet. They had given themselves to a two year journey.
• Travel in those days was not very comfortable and was also extremely dangerous.
• The wise men had sacrificed their own careers to find the king and worship Him.
Ill:
• A woman missionary in the South Pacific Islands;
• Was explaining to a group of children the custom and significance of giving gifts at Christmas.
• "Giving gifts," she said,
• "Expresses love and reminds us of the perfect gift of love we received from God: Jesus."
• Later that week, a young native boy came to the missionary’s side and said,
• "I love you and want you to have this."
• He pulled from a straw basket the most beautiful shell the missionary had ever seen.
• As she admired its beauty,
• She recognized it as a special shell only found on the far side of the island,
• A half day’s walk from the village.
• When confronted by this, the boy smiled and said,
• "Long walk part of gift!"
True worship requires sacrifice.
Ill:
A young boy in Southampton complained to his father;
• Dad he said; “Most of the church hymns are boring;
• They are outdated, with tiresome tunes and meaningless words”.
• His father put an end to his son’s complaints by saying,
• “If you think you can write better hymns, then why don’t you?”
• The boy went to his room and wrote his first hymn,
• “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”
• The year was 1690, the teenager was Isaac Watts.
• The carol “Joy to the World” is also among the almost 350 hymns written by him.
“Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all”
Notice: Two things concerning their worship:
(1). It was humble (vs 11) “They bowed down”.
• Everyone who wants to know God must come on the same basis;
• Not one of us can come in our pride or on our own merit!
• We all come on the same level playing field;
• Admitting that we have sinned and that we cannot save our selves!
(2). It was spontaneous (vs 11) “They opened their treasurers”
• These Magi had prepared gifts;
• Now was there opportunity to give those gifts.
• To worship is to open OUR treasures to God!
• We can do that this evening!
Quote: Carol: “In the Bleak Midwinter”
“What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.”
(3). A wise man’s journey is one of CHANGE (vs 12).
"And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another route."
• Isn’t it interesting that after they encounters Jesus;
• They could not go back the same way that they had come!
• To me that is a lovely picture of conversion;
• What it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ!
• Quote: 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17:
• “Therefore is anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone the new has come.”
God gives everyone who becomes a Christian a new beginning:
• This change, conversion does not mean Christians are perfect,
• But it will produce a change of direction!
Ill:
• A London businessman told the story of a warehouse property he was selling.
• The building had been empty for months and needed repairs.
• Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows,
• And strewn trash around the interior.
• As he showed a prospective buyer the property,
• He took great pains to say that he would replace the broken windows,
• Bring in a crew to correct any structural damage,
• And clean out the garbage.
• “Forget about the repairs,” the buyer said.
• “When I buy this place, I’m going to build something completely different.
• I don’t want the building; I want the site.
• When we become God’s, we have a new beginning!
• All he wants is the site and the permission to build.
