The Original Christmas Ornament
The Christmas Star Mt 2:1-12
The question on my lips this week to people was:
Name a fascinating star?
The answers I received you may surprise you.
Someone said Tom Hanks,
Another person said Tim McGraw
One woman said Dolly Parton and
Someone even said Arnold Schwarzenegger
Those may be fascinating stars to some people..
But those are all of course stars to entertain.
But the star I want to speak to you about from God’s Word this morning is a star more spectacular and more fascinating than any earthly star..
A star not created for earthly entertainment but for divine purpose, and for a plan that was connected to the birth of Christ.
(Play Clip of the magi following the star)
Matthew Chapter 2 introduces us to what easily could be called the Original Christmas Ornament –
The Christmas Star – Lets read about it in Mt 2
1After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi 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 in the east 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 Christ 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 be the shepherd of my people Israel."
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 make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
9After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the STAR they had seen in the east 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 and of incense and of myrrh.
12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
We see in the midst of these verses a STAR.
The Magi commented in v 2 to King Herod about it.
In verse 7 King Herod asked the Magi about the time of this star’s appearing….
and then we read also in verse 9 how the star rested over the place where the Christ Child could be found.
What about this star?
This original Christmas Ornament?
What exactly was it?
The Bible is, to a large degree silent on the specifics of this star, as to what it was…
Some have suggested that it was Jupiter…
Others have had the idea it might have been a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn forming the symbol of the fish that would be the early symbol of Christianity for the persecuted church.
Some say it might have been a meteor others suggest that it was a comet.
None of these considerations can be accepted as certifiable fact. We just really don’t know for certain.
What we do know is this:
The star of Christmas…. speaks of God’s glory.
I. The Star Speaks of God’s Glory
This star in the sky was the ORIGINAL CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT and it speaks of God’s Glory.
What is your favorite kind of ornament?
I find that many people are especially fond of those ornaments that are shiny and reflect light.
Ornaments that reflect light are usually quite popular.
This original ornament of Christmas…
The Christmas star…
It was one that reflected GODS LIGHT and GODS GLORY.
Why do people enjoy looking up into the sky on a dark but clear night…
It’s to see the stars reflecting light…God’s light.
You see God set those stars into place in the heavens and it is God who allows for those stars to reflect light.
All throughout the Bible we find light associated with God’s Glory.
It was light that God lead the way for His people to come out of Egypt and make there way to a new place.
The Bible says that
21 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.
Ex 13:21
When God called Moses near to Him to come up on Mt. Sinai, God’s people saw the glory of God like a radiant light.
15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 16 and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. 17 To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a CONSUMING FIRE on top of the mountain.
(Ex24:17) God’s Glory- God’s Light
God allowed for Moses to inscribe the Ten Commandments onto stone tablets and when Moses returned to the people the Bible says Moses face GLOWED with the LIGHT of God’s Glory.
30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.
When Jesus, was transfigured on that mountain in the presence of James, John and Peter…The Bible says
2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.
When the angels delivered the message of Christ’s birth to those shepherds that first Christmas it was accompanied by God’s glory… generally believed to be a great light….
For the Bible says
9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them…LK 2:9
There is no mistaking the Glory of God with light in the Scripture for even Jesus Himself is called the Bright Morning Star in Revelation.
16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give youa this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”
Rev 22:16
God- His Glory- and Light …consistent throughout the Scripture and very much present in that Original Christmas Ornament the Christmas Star.
Stars shine because the sun is reflecting on them.
Christians shine because God’s Glory is reflecting on them.
What kind of an ornament are you?
The story is told of one particular family who loved decorating for Christmas…especially their tree.
There was an ornament that was a particular favorite it was a beautiful star that lit up. One year they went to decorate and the star was placed on the tree but great disappointment filled the air when the ornament failed to show forth any light.
There was some sorrow and sighing about it but eventually the ornament lacking light was removed and placed into a box and stuffed somewhere out of sight.
A year went by and two then three and the ornament that was once the magnificence of the tree now was merely even a memory.
No one spoke of it.
It now had no place or part in the celebration of Jesus.
But then one Christmas the Father drew it from the box and restored the light to the ornament…
and it again became an important part of the celebration of the Savior.
May I suggest to you that the ornament of which I speak is the testimony of too many churches and too many Christians lives.
Once allowing God’s power to reflect in their lives and manifest His glory but then they failed to shine with the light of God’s glory and became useless and an unattractive ornament.
The solution is simple… if we desire to be like that original Christmas ornament… the Christmas Star Full of God’s Light…
Full of God’s Glory …
then we need to allow God’s glory to be
absorbed into our lives…
made known in our lives….
And through each of us … Lived out through our lives.
Let me ask you very personally and individually this morning
“is your life like that original Christmas ornament?, Are you allowing God’s glory to be reflected through you?
God wants to use each of us as instruments of His glory and grace but are we surrendered and in His will to make that possible.
You see not only did the STAR speak of God’s glory but also
II. The Star Speaks of God’s Guidance
Are you allowing God to guide you?
Can I ask you a serious question this morning?
What is the GUIDING LIGHT in your life?
Now I am not talking about that stinky soap opera guiding light…not that Junk…
I’m talking about Jesus…not junk…
What is the real guiding light in your life?
If you say
“yes God is my guiding light”
than it is because…
daily you are seeking to walk where Jesus would have you to walk… Jesus said in John 8:12
"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
Are you walking daily with the Savior who is the light of the world..? (That’s God’s Guidance)
Is that your guiding light.?
Are you looking to the Word of God… the Bible
that it might be a map by which God shines His guiding light to you…. Through it.
In the 119 Psalm the Psalmist wrote
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path.
PS 119:105
The original Christmas ornament…
That Christmas star represented God’s glory but it also represented God’s guidance.
The magi were men obviously aquatinted with the Messianic prophecies which by this time has reached faraway places…and they had faith in them.
They were obviously men who knew something of God’s Holy Scripture and the prophecies contained within….and they had faith in it.
They allowed God to guide them.
They surrendered whatever their personal plans were to be a part of God’s plan.
(Does that describe you and I).
They sacrificed time, energy and personal resources to make their way to worship Him.
(Does that describe you and I).
I’m convinced they did it all…. because of what they believed they would find.
THE GIFT!…The Gift!
You see the magi were fascinated by the star
They followed God’s guidance
And they found
The Greatest Gift.
III. There finding beyond the star was God’s Gift
Here are some men…
the magi….
who must have been …of some status in the world around them…
We gather this… just by gauging the sort of gifts they brought. Gold, Incense and Myrrh.
Rather elaborate gifts,
These gifts certainly would have been quality gifts by the people of that day.
And Yet….all of their gifts combined 1000 times over could not begin to compare to the marvelous gift of God their eyes beheld as the star lead them to that place where they found “their Savior.”
Have you reached that place the magi reached?
Has God with His Glory,
Guided You
To ……The Gift of Jesus Christ?
The Bible says the wages of sin is death
BUT THE GIFT of GOD is eternal life.
Not a gift with a bow…
Not a gift in a bag….
But rather…
A gift beyond the star
A gift given in a town called Bethlehem
A gift of a Baby…Christ the Lord.
Not only did He come to live on this earth…
but through His life…His death….
His burial…. and His resurrection
He came as the gift to all of us who will receive Him.
*
Lord thank you for the Glory of God found in our Lord Jesus Christ who is the guiding light of the world and your precious gift to all who will receive Him.
May we receive the gift of Jesus and then may His marvelous light shine out of each of us that others may know of God’s Glory.
