What We Can Learn From The Wise Men

THE WISE WILL ALWAYS SEEK HIM

INTRODUCTION:

We are starting today a new series on the relevance of the Christmas story to our lives.

We will start with the story of the three wise men in search for the baby Jesus in Matthew 2.

Do you know that the Bible is a book filled with many examples of wisdom and wise people?

• There was Enoch and Noah, they were wise enough to walk with God in their day while the world around them refused to.

Thus, they were both saved while others perished.

• There was Ruth, she was wise enough to say to her Jewish mother-in-law, " Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God." (Ruth 1:16), while her sister-in-law turned around and went back to sin.

Thus, she became an ancestor of Jesus. She was rewarded because of her wise decision.

• There was Andrew, who was wise because he brought people to Jesus including his brother Simon Peter.

• There was David, who was wise enough to say, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

• There was Martha, who was wise enough entertain Jesus in her home.

• There was Mary, who was wise enough to sit at Jesus feet and hear his word.

• There was Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, 1 Kings 12:3. People from all over the world sought out his wisdom.

• Then, there were the wise men, who came to worship the Lord Jesus when he was but a child.

The word wise means having the power of discerning and judging properly.

There are still many wise people living in our world today.

They may not be famous in this world but God calls them wise.

Just like these wise men, we can be wise when we seek Him with all our hearts.

That’s what the men in our text did.

The Lord gave them a light and they followed it until they came face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ.

When they met Him, their lives changed forever.

When you meet Christ, your life will change forever.

We will look at three things today:

1. The Wise men in search for Jesus.

2. The Wise men disturbed King Herod.

3. The Wise men worshiped the child.

I. THE WISE MEN IN SEARCH FOR THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Matthew 2:1-2 (NIV) "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.”

Verse 1 starts with the Magi who came from the east.

Who are these men?

The Bible talks about these three wise men who followed the star to visit Jesus Christ when he was a baby and gave him presents.

According to the Bible Dictionary, these wise men came from Mesopotamia, somewhere in the east, perhaps Persia or Babylonia--we are not told.

They were famous for their learning, and for their search for wisdom.

They were very interested in astronomy (study of celestial objects) and astrology (study of the movements of these celestial objects)

When they observed the movements of stars and the planets they carefully recorded everything they saw.

Anything out of the ordinary was taken by them to be some kind of a message to humans.

Then, one day, they had seen a strange and brilliant star that could not be identified.

They were suddenly curious decided to follow it with great enthusiasm.

They already knew from their previous study that a star would march forth out of Jacob and a scepter will rise out of Israel.

Numbers 24:17New International Version (NIV)

17 “I see him, but not now;

I behold him, but not near.

A star will come out of Jacob;

a scepter will rise out of Israel.

He will crush the foreheads of Moab,

the skulls of all the people of Sheth.

Clearly, that star is in reference to the star of David who will someday be the king of the Jews.

That is why they knew that this person to be born would be special, worthy of worship.

As they searched their collections of books and talked to various scribes of the different religions, they would have learned that Israel was the place.

And so, when they saw the star, they searched diligently for the King of the Jews.

They never gave up in their search in spite of the heat and in spite of the hazards of the deserts.

They kept looking in the midst of the dangers from the bands of robbers along the way.