CHRISTMAS IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR?
Matthew 2:1-12
INTRODUCTION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. It was a few days after Christmas. A family was busy cleaning up and putting away the Christmas decorations. As they took down the Christmas tree, the son asked “what are you doing?” The parents said, “We’re putting all our Christmas stuff away.”
2. The boy asked, “Why are you doing that?” The mom answered, “So everything will be back to normal again and the house will be clean. Christmas only lasts a few weeks.” The boy responded, “I don't want things to get back to normal again.”
3. On this first service after Christmas, many of us have that thought too. Christmas is over — let’s pack everything up and bring out our Valentine’s decorations. After all, the stores have already done that. Christmas items are 50-75% off – Valentine’s Day items are out in force.
4. Sometimes, I think we rush away from Christmas too quickly, we’re too good at cleaning up after Christmas and quite possibly we run the risk of removing it from our lives.
5. What if, after Christmas, we could keep the wonder and joy of Jesus’ coming alive for the rest of the year? What if we could really hang onto Christmas & take it with us throughout 2023?
6. Maybe we CAN do that. Now I’m not talking about leaving our Christmas decorations up year-round (which a good number of people actually DO!) But, I wonder if there’s not a happy medium?
7. As Christians, there should be something different about us: we HAVE SEEN the star of wonder, we’ve HEARD the angels sing & the cry of the Baby in the manger, and our HEARTS have been strangely warmed – because God came to us AND has never left us.
8. So tonight, I want us to look at the story of the visit of the Magi, the Wise Men from the east, who came searching for Jesus.
B. TEXT
During the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 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.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ...He called [the] chief priests and...asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea...” Then Herod called the Magi...He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child....” 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. 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. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. Matt. 2:1-12
I. THE MAGI DIDN’T QUICKLY FORGET CHRISTMAS
A. THEY’D BEEN DETERMINED TO SEEK OUT CHRIST
1. The Wise Men had come to give their devotion to the new king and they wouldn’t be turned aside.
2. Distance and time couldn’t stop them, dangers of bandits and wild animals couldn’t stop them, the star disappearing couldn’t stop them, Herod’s jealousy couldn’t stop them, and even the unbelief of the Jewish Priests/leaders couldn’t stop them.
3. What amazing people of faith! There were many reasons they could have turned back, but they were relentless in their search for Christ.
4. In our world of suspicion, skepticism & opposition, it’s easy to let the light of Christ to be extinguished! We must hang onto the spirit of Christ as we move further away from the day of Christmas.
5. So, as we put away the Christmas decorations, let’s hold onto the memories & feelings of Christmas. Like the Wise Men, we need to keep Christ’s coming fresh in our hearts!
B. HUMOR: CHRISTMAS FIREMEN
1. A Northerner saw a ‘Nativity Scene’ in a southern town in which the 3 Wise Men were wearing Firemen’s helmets. Totally unable to come up with an explanation, he went to a "Buckee’s" store and asked the lady behind the counter about the helmets.
2. She exploded with consternation, "You Yankees never do read the Bible!" He assured her that he did, but couldn't recall anything about firemen in the Bible.
3. She jerked her Bible out, flipped to Matthew and jabbed her finger, saying, "See, it says right here, 'The wise man came from afar.'"
II. WHY JESUS REMAINED IN THEIR MINDS/HEARTS
After the Wise Men left baby Jesus that night, you can be sure they didn’t put their Christmas experience away (the next day) and go on about their lives. First, they still had a lengthy return home.
A. THEY HAD A LONG TRIP HOME
1. Their trip home was at minimum a month & a half long trip (42+ days) if they traveled 8 hours a day. Very likely it took them two months or more to get back home, because they had to negotiate rivers, mountains, canyons, and dignitaries they had to bribe on the way for safe passage.
2. All the way home I’m sure they discussed and relived the meeting with Christ over and over. They had “lived the dream” – gotten to fulfill their vision and what they set out to do. They had seen the Child who would change the world.
3. God had sent them and they’d obeyed Him and they felt the joy of God for what they’d done.
B. EXPLANATIONS BACK HOME
1. And when they got home, they had a lot of explaining to do. Their business and governmental contacts had thought they’d lost their minds when they left everything to follow the new star. Undoubtedly some of their family also disagreed with what their decision. Such a journey was almost as looney to the people of their generation as it would be to ours today.
2. They had a lot of apologetics work to do – but there were at least three confirmations that they HAD been on track with God. The Hebrew SCRIPTURES did foretell the exact place the Messiah would be born and the STAR had led them to that exact town and hovered over the very house the Child was in and moved no further. And the Presence of God had filled the house.
3. Then an ANGEL appeared to them (it is supposed) in a dream and warned them not to go back to King Herod. The Scriptures, Star and Dream were 3 objective truths that confirmed that their actions were warranted.
C. CONTINUATION OF SACRED WORSHIP
1. First, these men had gone on this trip because of a REVELATION FROM GOD. They’d been in prayer when God’s Holy Spirit had revealed to them that the appearance of the new star was a heavenly sign that a divine King had been born. This Child had been sent to alter human history. God wanted them to go and honor the Child with gifts. Not just any gifts, but gifts that were worthy of a King and worthy of God Himself.
2. I believe that as they were in the presence of Christ, God turned that humble house into the most sacred cathedral on Earth. It was like the Mount of Transfiguration experience which Peter spoke of even as an old man, with great reverence (2 Pet. 1:18).
3. I wonder if they, like Naaman the leper (2 Kings 5:17), wanted to take a sack of earth from outside the house back with them, so they could relive the moment and kneel and worship God on it. Naaman went back to his country, but his experience with God stayed fresh with him the rest of his life.
4. Likewise, I believe the Wise Men’s visit to Bethlehem was the greatest moment of their lives, and when they later kneeled to pray, the God of that experience was foremost in their worship.
5. In the same way, we shouldn’t quickly dismiss Christmas from our minds; it shouldn’t be just another item on our calendar. It should be a constant light in our hearts.
6. Charles Dickens once picked on the USA having a Thanksgiving Day, saying that we should be thanking God 365 days a year, not one. The same could be said of our celebrating Jesus’ birthday one time a year; it should be celebrated EVERY DAY of the year!
CONCLUSION
A. APPLICATION
1. We can take Christmas with us into the new year. IF you want your life to be better in the new year, keep Christ as the object of your devotion.
2. Christmas can inspire you to take a NEW DIRECTION.
a. Its LOVE can live in our lives, and we can share it.
b. Its HOPE can hold us up, and give us patience.
c. Its JOY can fill our hearts, and overflow into all our relationships.
d. Its PEACE can soothe our fragile spirits, and keep us calm within.
e. Its LIGHT can brighten our paths, and help us find our way.
B. ILLUSTRATION
1. A pastor went to see a couple in his church. It was early March. As he sat talking with them, he noticed a Christmas ornament hanging from a bookshelf.
2. The lady saw him look at it and she said, "No, we didn’t forget. Every year when I put all the decorations away, I choose one to leave behind on purpose to remind me that Christmas is not just one day, or one season. For me, Christmas is a lifetime. That ornament is a reminder that Jesus walks with me every day."
3. What a great reminder. So as you put away all your decorations, remember that the Christ of Christmas has not gone away – that He’s alive and well and lives with us always!
4. Let’s pray and ask Jesus to walk with us every day of 2023! PRAYER.
[This is a rewrite of Michael Deutsch’s “Year Round Christmas.”]
