Seeking The Savior

(Note for readers: There is a short Children’s Message at the beginning, followed by the sermon for an adult audience)

CHILDREN’S MESSAGE

There is a game we used to play when I was a kid… It’s called “Hide and Seek”… Do you know that game? One person will be “it” and try to find the other people who are hiding. My sister was really good at hiding… Sometimes, I would give up and go watch TV… and she would still be hiding! When it was my turn to hide, I would make noise on purpose so she would find me… I wanted to be found!

When Jesus was born 2,000 years ago, God wanted people to find Him! The Bible tells us the story about some shepherds… They were watching their sheep at night, and God sent an angel to tell them that Jesus had been born… and they would find Him in a barn in the town of Bethlehem… God wanted the shepherds to find Jesus… so He told them how to find Him.

There is another story about some wise men… They also wanted to find Jesus… So they followed a star… God used a star to lead the wise men to Jesus… because God wanted the wise men to find Him!

God wants us to find Jesus too! God does not hide from us… He wants to be found! And He has a present for everyone who believes in Jesus… the free gift of eternal life. All we need to do to receive this gift is believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and ask Him to forgive us of our sins. That would be the best gift of all this Christmas!

Let’s PRAY…

[Dismiss children… ADULT MESSAGE begins here]

Please open your Bibles to Matthew 2:1-12…

1 After 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 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.’” 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.

The most obvious part of this story is how the wise men were searching for Jesus… They spent a lot of time, and a lot of money to travel and look for Jesus… Many Bible experts believe the wise men were probably traveling for several months as they followed the star all the way to Israel.

They first went to Jerusalem… They were looking for the King of the Jews… Where would be the most obvious place to find the newly born King? Yes, in the nation’s capital city! Surely, the leaders of the Jewish nation would know where the King of the Jews had just been born! But that’s not what they find!

They see that King Herod is troubled by the news of this baby… But even more upsetting is that the leader of the Jewish nation doesn’t even know where the Christ was to be born… Herod doesn’t even know His people’s own prophecies about the Messiah… He has to ask around…

And to make it even worse, Herod doesn’t even send his own Jewish people to find the Child… he sends these foreigners to look for the Messiah for him… This is what the people of Israel have been watching and waiting for all these many centuries… but none of the Jewish leaders are interested in joining the search! They send these foreigners to do the work for them!