Are you WISE?
January 5, 2014
Matthew 2:1-12
Well, we made it through last week. That was fun, wasn’t it? We shoveled 5 times last Sunday, then the cold hit, and we all huddled in our homes. But that’s behind us. Now, can you believe we’re almost half way through January? It’s hard to believe Christmas is long gone. Christmas sales are over; Valentine’s Day stuff is out. I’ve even seen some St. Patrick’s Day stuff at the store; and many of us have already given up on our New Year’s Resolutions.
Speaking of New Year’s Resolutions I have the same ones every year! Honestly, I really do, even though I don’t like to make New Year’s Resolutions. I hope I can improve in all aspects of my life. It starts with the heart, moves to the soul, extends to my mind and is wrapped up in my physical being. So that means I’m trying to eat healthier, drink more water, pray and read the Bible more, be better at loving my family, stretch my mind with reading and discovery, and exercise more. That’s it. It’s the same every year. Because every year I can improve in those areas.
Now if you resolved to attend worship on a weekly basis, not letting the cold or snow; heat or rain stop you, then great work! You’ve succeeded! Week 1 didn’t count.
So, let take a little survey ~
How many of you still have your Christmas tree and decorations up?
How many of you have you thrown out your tree, and you’ve taken down your Christmas decorations until next Christmas season?
There aren’t too many of us who wait until after the passing of Epiphany to take down our Christmas décor. What word did I just say?
Epiphany! Literally it means a "manifestation," a "striking appearance, or a revelation!" Traditionally, it’s a Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ.
It always occurs on January 6th. Epiphany was this past Monday.
In the western church world, Epiphany is the day the Magi finally reached Mary and Joseph and offered their extravagant gifts to Jesus. Yet, I think we find this story either too cute or irrelevant, or maybe even kind of out dated.
Maybe it’s because we've opened, used, returned, eaten and even broken our presents. We’ve packed up our nativity scenes even before the wise men had a chance to show up for the celebration.
So, let’s read the story about these wise men. The story is found in Matthew 2 ~
1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem,
2 saying, “Where is He who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.”
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;
4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.
8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the Child, and when you have found Him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship Him.”
9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the Child was.
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
11 And going into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother, and they fell down and worshiped Him.
Then, opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
Now, there’s so much we can unpack in this passage. We can get lost in lots of details. But I want to focus on two main points. When the Magi finally reached their destination, what was the first thing they did?
Matthew 2:11 tells us they fell down and worshiped Him. Isn’t that cool!
These wise men weren’t even Jews. We presume they were wealthy and respected. They were on speaking terms with the king. As astrologers they were privy to the secrets of the stars.
Yet when they came into the presence of this little child, what did they do? They threw themselves down on the ground without hesitation but with abject humility. Think of that nativity scene you put away. Usually you will find at least one of the wise men kneeling.
Here was the One we are to offer praise and glory.
Here was the One whose greatness was to be honored.
Here was the One who was born to die.
Here was the One who was born to be worshiped.
These wise men were on a journey, they came from somewhere out East. Possibly Persia or the region we now call Iraq. They didn’t know Hebrew tradition or religious practices, but here they are. When they arrived, they saw Mary and Jesus, excuse me, but a woman and child! And they fell down and worshiped the Child.
Folks, do you get that? These guys, and we don’t know how many, we only know they brought 3 gifts which are mentioned in scripture. I’m assuming have no relationship with the God of the Jews, they most likely practiced Zoroastrianism, an eastern religion. And they fell to the ground, knowing they were in the presence of the Son of God.
Maybe we’ve become to accustomed to Jesus. Maybe we’ve seen His face too many times. It’s kind of like seeing your child for the 10,000th time. We don’t get all excited anymore. We don’t look at them with wonder and awe. Now, we look at them and wonder, ‘what do you want!!’
But think back about the time you saw your child, your grandchild, your niece or nephew, or the birth of some child, you’re struck with awe! Wonder. Joy! Shock! Excitement! You can’t help but cry. You can’t contain it. That’s what these magi were experiencing. They saw the Christ child! It was their first and only encounter with Him and they fell down and worshiped!
Maybe we’ve seen Jesus too many times in our everydayness of life, so we don’t become all too excited anymore. ‘Oh, hi Jesus, welcome into my home. I think you’ve been here before, you know where the kitchen is, go grab a snack.’
Let me ask you . . . is this how we approach worship? Is it the same old thing! Nothing new, same old, same old! Sometimes, same old, same old is comforting, but is it really leading us to worship the Child, you know the same Child who was called the Prince of Peace and King of Kings?
Is that how we approach our daily living? We wake up and off to work or off to school or off to do whatever it is we’re going to do? Yet, Jesus is the One who sits at the table with us, He’s there, but we really don’t recognize Him anymore, partly, because He’s always there!
Now hold this thought in mind. Now, let me take you back one verse, let me take you to the prelude to the falling flat on our faces in worship! If you look at Matthew 2:10, this verse gives us a glimpse into their excitement ~
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
What occurs to me is that sometime while they were in Jerusalem, they lost site of the star. They were meeting with Herod and when they left his presence, when they left the evil, the star reappeared. It was time to finish their journey. And the final leg, from Jerusalem to Bethlehem was only 6 miles. So, it wouldn’t be long.
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?
