Good morning.  Today we are going to take a look at another important group of characters from the Christmas story.  Last week we said that it wasn’t about the Reindeer, it was about the Shepherds.  Well this week, on my time is a picture of Santa.  And we always associate Santa with gifts at Christmas time.  But this year I want us to realize that it isn’t about Santa and the gifts that he brings.  Instead, it is about the wise men and the gifts that they come bearing.

Go ahead and turn with me to Matthew 2:1-12.  That is where we will find today’s account of The Visit Of The Magi.  It’s a familiar story.  Wise men, kings, Magi, astrologers, whatever you call them, they come from the East to find a child that’s born to be a great King.  A new star has appeared in the Eastern sky announcing and directing to the birth of someone destined for greatness and they’ve come to worship Him.

But what do we really know about the wise men?  Not much when you examine the scripture.  Where did they come from?  “The East” you say.  But where in the East?  How far East?  We know they came from the East and that they came from a long way away, but we don’t really know where they came from.

How many of them were there and what kind of men were they?  Again, we don’t know.  In the second century, a church father named Tertullian suggested that these men were kings because the Old Testament had predicted that kings would come to worship Him.  He also concluded that there were 3 kings based on the number of gifts mentioned, gold, incense or frankesence, and myrrh.

And the manufacturers of nativity scenes caught on and so in every nativity scene, you see 3 kings or wise men.  But the Bible doesn’t tell us who they were or how many of them came.

So we don’t know who they were, where they came from or even how many of them there were.  But why not?  Why doesn’t Matthew tell us any of this information?  My guess would be that all of these little details are left out of the picture in order that the full emphasis may be placed on the one thing that is central to this story.  These men said, “we have come to worship.”  That’s the main point of this particular story as Matthew tells it to us.  “We have come to worship.”

Before we get started today, let’s begin with a word of prayer.  Let’s Pray!

The challenge for us today, is whether we will be wise men and women or not.  I believe that wise men still seek Him today.  Wise men still serve Him today.  And wise men still worship Him today.  Let’s go ahead and read that text.  Matthew 2:1-12 says, “1”

First, wise men still seek Him.

It’s likely that these magi were descendants of the 10 tribes of Israel that remained in Babylon after the time of Daniel.  Many of the Jews did not return to their homeland but rather chose to remain behind in Babylon.  There they were worked into the culture and probably adopted many of the religious practices of the pagans.

So these magi may not have been very orthodox in their faith, but still, they were looking for the coming Messiah.  They took literally the statement from Numbers 24.17 which says, “A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.”  And so they searched the skies for hundreds of years looking for a sign that the Messiah had come.  And when they saw the star, they rejoiced and came seeking the one who was born king of the Jews.

Now we don’t know exactly how far they traveled, but it is likely that they came from 500 to 1000 miles away.  Imagine traveling that far on the back of a camel.  One hump or two?  It might not be that bad if you were on a two humper.  Maybe you could settle in between the humps and put it on auto-pilot, or auto-camel.  But imagine being on top of a one humper trying to keep your balance the whole way!  And it was a long and difficult trip across the desert.  We need to give these men some credit.  They really wanted to come and worship Jesus.  They were serious seekers.

So naturally enough, they head for the palace of King Herod.  That’s where you’d expect a King to be born.  But no.  It’s all a bit of a surprise for King Herod, isn’t it?  And a nasty one at that.  The last thing King Herod wants to hear about is about a new king to the throne.  There’s only room in this town for one King.  But Herod doesn’t let his upset show too much.  But you know, he wasn’t all that different from lots of people today.  Not that they go around killing anyone who gets in their way, but there are lots of people who’ll do just about anything to avoid the possibility that they might lose control, that someone else might have sovereignty over their lives.

Most people in fact want to run their own lives the way they like and they don’t want to have to worry about what someone else thinks.  They certainly don’t want Jesus Christ coming along and upsetting their life with demands for godly living, let alone giving up their Sunday mornings to worship Him!

But also, like Herod, many of them are well versed in how to sidestep the issue.  Say the right words.  Express the right sentiments.  But never commit themselves to doing anything about following this King.  You see, that’s what Herod does.  He plays along.  He calls in his advisors.  From the description that the magi have given it’s clear that this isn’t just a rival king.  There’s a spiritual dimension to their description.  This is a king who should be worshipped, according to the magi.  So he calls in all the chief priests and scribes of the people.

So the chief priests and scribes come in and are asked where the Messiah will be born.  Well, it doesn’t take them long to find the answer.  The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem, or so the prophet Micah had said some 700 years before.  Yep, that’s the place to look.  You see, these priests and scribes, these teachers of the law, knew their scriptures.  They knew all the stories, all the predictions of the coming Messiah.  But again, that wasn’t enough was it?  It wasn’t enough to know the prophecies.  It’s not enough to just know the Christmas stories.  There are plenty of people around today who know the stories about the baby Jesus.  I mean they’ve been hearing them since they were in pre-school.  But knowing the story doesn’t help if it doesn’t lead us to worship and follow the one the stories tell of.

The chief priests and teachers of the law were not the least bit interested.  They didn’t care about the star.  And they wouldn’t travel 6 little miles down the road from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to check out what was happening.  They knew the right answers.  They just weren’t willing to make the effort to see if what they had heard was true.

You see, the scribes and priests knew all the prophecies about the Messiah, but when He appeared among them, and began to teach what it meant to be a true child of God, they didn’t want to know about it.  And so, despite knowing the prophecies, despite seeing so many of those prophecies coming true, they failed to recognize Him; and they refused to accept Him for who He was.

Well, they tell Herod where the Messiah would be born and he tells the magi.  First, though, he finds out when the star appeared, then he tells them to go and find the child and when He’s found, let him know, so he too can go and pay Him respect.  Of course we know from what happens later that the only thing he has planned for this baby is a funeral.

But what we need to realize is that wise men and women still seek Him today.  What about you?  These men teach us that perfect theology is not required to come to the conclusion that Jesus is God’s Son who came to Earth for you.  The Apostle John says that Jesus came to His own but His own did not receive Him.  Literally, he is saying that Jesus came into this world that He had specially prepared for Himself.

He came into the world He had created, walked the land that He made and came to the people He had chosen as His special people.  And He was rejected.  But then John says that as many as received Him He gave the right to be His sons and daughters.

Are you actively seeking Him today?  For many of us, we’ve made that commitment.  But it’s important that we continue to seek Him, to know Him each day and to know His word.  So, wise men still seek Him.

Second, wise men still serve Him.

The magi came to worship.  They stopped in Jerusalem to find out exactly where Jesus could be found.  There they met King Herod.  He must have been enraged by their question and statement.  “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.”  “Born king of the Jews?”  Kings are not born.  Herod had to murder, commit acts of deceit, and a whole lot more in order to become king.  Who in the world could be born a king?  And why would he have a star?  And why would these men want to worship a baby?  Herod must have been beside himself.  But he kept calm and tried to make a deal with the magi.

“Tell me where he is so that I too, can come to worship.”  The magi knew through supernatural means that he was lying to them.  But now they had a choice.  Who would they serve?  The little tiny helpless baby born king of the Jews or the full grown, murderous Herod?  After all, if they served Herod, he might reward them greatly.

Jesus was just a baby, what could He do for them?  Maybe they could worship and serve Him later in life.  Maybe they could serve Herod now and Jesus later.  Maybe they could have the best of both worlds, have their cake and eat it, too.

But that’s not what they did.  They went to worship this little tiny baby.  And then when God warned them supernaturally in a dream and they understood what He wanted them to do, they were faithful to serve Him regardless of the danger of disobeying King Herod.

Wise men still serve Him today.  Are you serving Him?  What has He called you to do?  I don’t claim to know specifically, but I do know that serving God involves serving others.  There are a lot of opportunities to serve others especially at this time of year.  Maybe you would serve God by inviting your friends, neighbors, or associates at your work to come to our Christmas services.  Maybe God would use you to bring a friend to church to find Christ for the first time.  What better Christmas gift could there be?

Whatever it is that God calls us to, we need to remember that wise men and women still serve Him.

And finally, wise men still worship Him.

These men had come all this way with one purpose in mind.  That purpose was to worship the one who was born king of the Jews.  They came to worship the Son of God.  They did it with confidence.  They did it with the certainty of hope.

Look at some of the language.  “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.”  They didn’t just set out for a leisurely ride in the desert, show up in Jerusalem and say, “we heard something was going on in this area.  What’s happening?  We saw some bright stars and thought maybe they meant something.”  No, they were definite and they were certain.  “Where is He?  We have come to worship Him.”

The magi continue on their way to Bethlehem until finally the star stops overhead and they realize they’ve reached their destination and are overwhelmed with joy.  There in Bethlehem they enter a house and find the child with His mother and they kneel down and worship Him.  Then they open their treasure chests and offer Him gifts of gold, incense or frankincense, and myrrh.

Now I want you to think about these gifts.  Most of us know the significance of each of them.  Gold for a king, incense for worshipping a god, and myrrh for burial.  But that’s not what I want to think about right now.  What I want us to think about is the fact that these magi seem to have been able to see into the future to what Jesus would become.

Did they appreciate the significance of their gifts?  We don’t know.  But what we do know is that they didn’t just wander out, find a little baby, and then decide that they needed to find a mall to pick up a gift.  They brought gifts, expensive gifts, because they knew they were going to worship a king.  You see, it’s all very well for us to sit here looking back and say, “Oh yes.  That’s what these gifts signified.”

But it must have been something completely different for the magi.  They would have been like some of the Old Testament Prophets who spoke about things that were to come, without having any real idea what they were.

Yet they hit the nail right on the head.  By the end of His time on earth it was clear what the significance of these gifts was.  But even if the magi didn’t fully understand what they were doing, they did it right.  This child, born to poor parents, in an out of the way place, in this insignificant nation, deserved to be worshipped as God and King.

Wise men still worship Him today.  Are you a wise man or woman?  Are you spending time worshipping Him?  I’m not just talking about attending church.  You can attend church and still not worship.  Worship involves praising God both in speaking and in singing.  Worship involves hearing the word of God taught and responding by changing our lives.  And worship involves giving of our gifts to God.  So let me ask you again, “How are you doing in your worship?”  Are you taking time to praise, to confess, to study and to grow?  Are you giving generously to God’s work?  Wise men and women still worship Him.

So, which of the people in this story are you most like?  Are you like Herod?  Happy to play along with the Christmas celebrations as long as you can continue to rule in your own world.  As long as no one expects you to change the way you are?

Or are you like the chief priests and scribes?  Knowing the Christmas stories forward and backwards, but never letting them touch your life?  Happy to go through the religious motions, buy the cards with the manger scene and the angels, sing Christmas carols, give a generous gift to the church, but never actually getting around to giving God your whole life in worship?

Or are you like the magi, not knowing all the answers but wise enough to recognize that here is one who deserves our worship?  Are you one who’d be willing, like them, to give up your life of comfort to travel through the wilderness to come and worship this great King?  Are you one who’s willing to lay before His feet your treasure chest; to give your whole life to Him in worship?

As we look at this passage, we find that these magi really were wise men.  And today, wise men still seek Him.  Wise men still serve Him.  And wise men still worship Him.  My prayer for us is that we will be a church of wise men and women, seeking Him, serving Him, and worshipping Him.

Let’s Pray!