Good morning! I hope everyone has had a great Christmas. I want to thank each of you for being here this morning. Christmas is behind us and how many have taken that deep sigh of relief? This holiday season isn’t over and the Christmas story isn’t done. We have looked at Joseph, Mary, and Angels and, Christmas Eve night, Sister Mary read about the birth of baby Jesus and the shepherds. Each year, as we approach the holiday season, our preparations for Christmas include revisiting the events surrounding the birth of Our Lord. All of these are familiar to us. The rest of the story is told by those we see placed incorrectly, in Nativity scenes all around the state.
Let us turn in our Bibles to Matthew Chapter 2 and read in the first 12 verses about the Magi.
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] 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.’[b]”
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.
Not much is generally known about the mysterious “Magi” who came to visit baby Jesus. We have assumed, in church traditions that there were three of them. The Bible text doesn’t number them. At one time tradition defined them as a select sect of priests from Persia. As time passed tradition portrayed them as kings. Somewhere in the 6th century they were given names and associated with Shem, Ham and Japheth- the three sons of Noah- thus representing Asia, Africa, and Europe. In the 14th century, Armenian tradition identified them as the kings of: Arabia, Persia, and India.
What we do know is their knowledge of the coming Messiah is attributed to Daniel. If you haven’t read Daniel, he had a dual capacity--chief of the Magi and principal administrator of two world empires.
Prophecies of the gifts from these travelers are found in Isaiah 60 and Psalm 72. As I studied for this sermon, I found more historical material about them then I can share. What I would like for us to consider from them is the different qualities of worship we can learn from these God seekers.
The first quality is demonstrated in the following of the star. Their worship was grounded in the understanding that God was and is working continuously in our world. For us as, Christians today, this is a wonderful reminder of God’s Prevenient Grace. Friends, we should worship in the assurance that God is going to meet us where we are. The secret to the wise men and to us today is; we must be seeking Him to see that He is here. The Bible reads in Jeremiah 29:13, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” I don’t think these wise men we praying, God I hope I’m in Your will. God I’m not sure if You are here. God I hope You here my prayers, God I … and we could go on and on. How many of this morning, the day after Christmas, have lost our focus own God and it is evident by the “I” prayers in your life? By the “Magi” following the star, they teach us to worship knowing that God is working, He is here and, we like them, should be searching to see where we fit into His plan.
The second quality of worship is found in their faith. Can you imagine the faith it took to ride into another kingdom and inquire about a new king in that region from the person who is the current ruler? I can’t imagine the depth of courage, guts, faith. We want even walk into the neighborhoods of the oppressed for fear of our reputation, ridicule, probably if the truth were known, fear of what we just might see. Yet, there faith was bold. They entered in never worrying about controversy, simply knowing that God was working through them and around them.
Do you ever think about the obstacles these men had to overcome to be worship Christ? Distance, unbelief, lowliness - all those things could have discouraged the “Magi” ; caused them to turn back. But for them, Christ was worth it. We are told, “when they saw the star (stop over the place where the child was), they were overjoyed.” Why are we not overjoyed when we have been given the chance to share Christ, His hope, His promises, His love, His forgiveness to others? Friends we should know by now that any time we are glorifying Christ we are being lead by the Spirit of God. Matthew tells us where two or more are gathered in the name of Jesus, He is there. Yet we concentrate on the obstacles more than the presence of our Lord. The bible says the “Magi” rushed to the house, and bowed down and worshiped the Christ. They pushed those obstacles aside and worshiped their Savior. That is a big part of worship, my friends. Worship is more than just sitting out there on those cushy chairs with perfect temperatures and nice music and singing and praying and hearing God’s Word. Worship is also overcoming obstacles.
I’m struck by how much effort they went through to worship an unknown king. We know they saw the star and they set out on a journey of great effort and cost, so that they could simply worship this king. It makes me ask the question: how much effort do I put into worshiping this same King? Think about! You and I know who He was, why He came, what He did for us. We know lots of His life and His teaching. We know Him personally – in relationship with Him.
There is no doubt the “Magi” were determined to worship Christ. I want you to notice the expression of their worship for they worshipped God for the right reasons. Scriptures say when they left the presence of Herod; they followed the star until it stopped over the place where the child was. And when they see the star over the house, they are overjoyed! Literally, the Greek New Testament says that they “rejoiced with a mega joy!” They say, “Yeahhh!!!! We finally made it!!! We’re here!”
Then they go inside and they worship and they say “Thank you Jesus for coming into our world! Thank you that after all this time, we finally get to meet you for ourselves! We love you! We praise you! We worship you! And someday, according to the great prophecy of Psalm 72:10, you will rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth! Thank you Jesus for being the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! Thank you for being born to die so I may have eternal life!”
You say, “Wow, Bro. Michael, you’re expressing a lot of emotion.” But what’s wrong with that? Every time the Razorbacks get a touchdown, do you not jump off the couch and go “Yeahhhh!!! Wooooh!!!!”
If we get that excited over a touchdown, then why shouldn’t we be excited when GOD scores touchdowns in our lives? Why shouldn’t we get excited when God scores points right here in our church?
Oh, I know, we have to get up on Sunday morning or heaven forbid give up our Saturday night, we have to get in the vehicle and drive a few minutes. Sometimes you have to sit through an un-inspiring sermon; sometimes there are other things we don’t like. My question is to us this morning is how much effort do we put into worship?
The third quality of worship is found in their gifts. In verse 11 the scripture says, “…They worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”
Do you find it funny that when we celebrate Jesus’ birthday we celebrate it by giving ourselves presents? If we truly are celebrating the birth of Christ, why are we not giving Him presents? For some of us the truth is; we don’t want to change the way it is because we don’t want to think about what kind of presents Jesus would like. It would cause us to consciously make a decision to seek Him over our selves. But the reality is that without choices that either serve the Lord or serve ourselves, we aren’t truly worshiping.
A parable is told of a community of ducks waddling off to duck church one Sunday to hear their duck preacher. After they waddled into the duck sanctuary, the service began and the duck preacher spoke eloquently of how God had given the ducks wings with which to fly.
He pounded the pulpit with his beak and said, with these wings, there is nowhere we ducks cannot go! There is no God-given task we ducks cannot accomplish!
With these wings we no longer need walk through life. We can soar high in the sky!
Shouts of Amen! ¨ were quacked throughout the duck congregation.
The duck preacher concluded his message by exclaiming, with our wings we can fly through life!
WE......CAN.....FLY!!!!¨ More ducks quacked out loud “AMENS” in response.
Every duck loved the service. In fact all the ducks that were present commented on what a wonderfully convicting message they had heard from their duck preacher....
and then they left the church and waddled all the way home.
APPLICATION:
Too often we waddle away from worship the same way we waddled in....
Unchanged!
Friends we read that once the wise men come face to face with Jesus not only did they return by a different route, they returned different men. When we make a decision to worship Christ with determination and passion and extravagance, the course of your life starts to head in a different direction. True Worship Results in a changed Life and a changed direction.
May we worship in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
