The Three Wise Men

Read scripture:

Whenever we have new challenges and opportunities arise we are faced with making

choices. This story from Matthew tells of many decisions that these wise men were

faced with making as they pursued their journey with finding the baby Jesus. We,

too, are pursuing things here at the end of the year 200 in the area around Franklin

Kentucky. We are pursuing new opportunities as individuals and within our

families. Here at Fairview Baptist Church our hope and prayer is that as we are on

the very brink of a new year, we will honor our God with obedience in whatever He

calls us to do. Whether it be to teach, to minister or maybe even to “follow a star”

to find and uncover new and great things that God has for us as we come face to

face with His son Jesus Christ!. Through and because of these new challenges and

opportunities, we will be facing many decisions, some will be easy decisions to make

and some will not be so simple.

At this time of year most start to consider what types of New Year’s Resolutions to

make and, if you are like me, are already starting to develop those excuses as to why

the resolutions fell by the wayside. Resolutions are promises that you have made to

yourself, which will require a shift in priorities and require time effort and some

personal sacrifices.

On the highway to decision making we each have a pattern to our decision making

process. Some are spontaneous, deciding by impulse. Others are intuitive, thinking

and discerning which way to choose. Others rely on persons of authority, like a

parent, spouse or good friend. Some even decided on what “feels” good and still

others look at benefits.

I don’t know how you make most of your decisions, but this I’m sure of, no one is

responsible for teaching us how to make those decisions. Most of us have had to

“wing it”. Difficult decisions can cause us much stress and even overwhelm us. We

don’t want to make mistakes. We want to do the right thing. Unfortunately there

are always forks in the road that force us to go one way or another and the choices

we make can have very different results.

I believe the story of the wise men has a lot to tell us about how we make decisions

or maybe how we should make decisions. They chose to proceed on a long journey,

not knowing where they would end up. They chose to pay homage to the Christ

child, bringing gifts and adoration. They gave Herod information about the star

they were following and continued on to Bethlehem. They also chose not to return

to Herod and returned home by another route.

Their pattern of making decisions involved three significant dimensions.

First seeking and worshipping the Son of God was their highest priority.

The wise men were seekers. They had a passion to follow this new star and discover

for themselves where this “new” king might be. For them it was a long, tough,

taxing journey. It took many months and more resources than we can even imagine

to find their way. At the same time they had a sense of gratitude for the way in

which God intervened in the world. Having reached their goal they returned home

with a new sense of appreciation for the wonder of God.

There are no easy answers to profound questions of life. The story of the wise men

seeking and searching for the Christ child illustrates the importance of our need to

seek after a mysterious God who has intervened on our behalf. The more we seek

and search, the more we discover the scope of God’s creation. The more we seek the

more we uncover the vastness of His love for each of us, His love for you and His

love for me!

IF we go back to our focal passages for this morning and camp out at verse 2, we

find that the wise men didn’t simply come into town and ask a few people along the

sides of the road about the location of this Messiah, but rather they asked

continually. They went to every store front, to every front door, to every back alley

and to every junk yard, inquiring about this child for whom the star shown.

As long as I can remember, I have asked questions about things that I didn’t

understand. I guess I have a need to know or to probe deeper on some issues. I am

not the type that will accept information on face value. I have always believed that

to be a person of faith one must be a seeker. A seeker just as those wise men.

Following the star, not knowing for sure where it was or is leading, but doing so