Joy: The Wise Men

In the Declaration of Independence we are told that our inalienable rights are “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. This last one, the pursuit of happiness is very unique among documents. The only other place we find it is in the Virginia Declaration of rights a few weeks earlier that stated that people should be free to “pursue and obtain” happiness.

What’s interesting is its declaration that these it states “these truths to be self-evident.”. That from basic human nature we believe this to be true. But that isn’t really the case. Really, that is a late conception of the last 300 years, that we deserve happiness or that we are even “owed” happiness. And out of this idea, this pursuit of happiness, we have expanded it to the freedom of individual expression, a pursuit of material possession, and a belief that we can truly “obtain” happiness.

I read one article on this idea and argued that the founding fathers were arguing for what they called “thick happiness”. As they defined it, it is as a happiness that knows that life is not devoid of pain and problems and goes beyond “pleasurable sensations”.

But we already have a word for that…it’s called joy.

-The difference is Happiness is something that we are able to attain ourselves. That the right job, the right balance of wealth and family and activities, that the right amount of money saved up for retirement will make us happy. We like that better, it seems in our control.

-Joy, on the other hand, comes from outside ourselves. We can’t give ourselves joy, we only find joy when we come to terms with the fact we will not always be happy but that what is in front of us is still wonderful.

The pursuit of happiness can lead us frustrated and tired. Because happiness is fleeting. One person once asked John Rockefeller, how much money is enough? And he answered “just a little more.” Because however happy we thought we were, there will always be something to make us a little more happy.

What our story today tells us about is of these wise men that pursued joy. That traveled hundreds of miles, into a foreign land, to the house of a poor family, and that they were filled with unimaginable joy.

Because joy is only found in the pursuit of Jesus

They pursued something that would be of eternal value, far more.of value to them then earthly treasure. They left their earthly kingdoms with all their possessions to find this king and the beginning of his upside-down kingdom.

This message isn’t going to be “10 steps to find joy”, where by the end you know exactly how to have joy in Jesus. But rather we are going to look at the wise-men’s journey that led them to the character of God and hopefully it will help us in our own journey in the pursuit of joy.

I think there are three important things that their search for joy tells us about our own search for joy.

We look for Joy in the wrong places

-Matthew tells us that astrology brings them to search for Jesus. Something the Old Testament tells us not to trust in, but God often can use unlikely methods to bring us to Jesus. If we are searching for the right thing in the wrong place God will meet us where we are and bring us to Himself. That often the unlikeliest of people are those who come to worship Jesus and we shouldn’t reject those who come to Jesus from any odd path.

-This is a reminder to us that we should welcome all who come to offer their gifts to the Lord.

-But what they studied led them to believe that a great leader was going to be born in Israel. It was believed in many civilizations that a new star over a land heralded the birth of a significant person. But they may have also had OT scrolls that also led them to this belief, like Numbers 24:17 “I see him, but not now; I perceive him, but not near. A star will come from Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel. He will smash the forehead of Moab and strike down all the Shethites.”

-We don’t know how long after Jesus birth this happens, but Herod’s response later tells us he kills every boy “two years and younger” so probably around 2 or 3 years.

Where did the wise men go first? Well to the most obvious place, the capital of Israel, Jerusalem, and to the king of that nation. Asking not where is the future king of Israel is, but where the current king of Israel is.

We often look for the right-side up kingdom first, the one that seems most natural to us, that tells us a story that we’ve heard before.

One thing I notice when I watch Christmas movies is that every one tells you what they believe is the “true meaning of Christmas”, sometimes that even have that exact phrase! Or something like “I think we all learned that…But what’s interesting is that they all have a different vision of what the true meaning of Christmas really is.

-Movies like “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “A Christmas Carol” tell us the good that we do has an impact on others.

-Or movies like a Christmas Story or Christmas Vacation that Christmas is all about being with family

-Or the many many movies that say “it’s better to give than to receive.”

Now each of these get a PART of the true meaning, they are looking for the right thing, but they have missed it.

The story that we believe will be the one that we follow. And it might be a story that gets us close to the whole truth, but has fallen short. In the case of the wise men, they are only about 6 miles short of where the true king is.

we have to believe this story about Jesus and the one that Gospels tell us. We take Jesus words seriously when he tells us “seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be provided for you.” Or when he says “store up for yourself treasures in heaven, not treasures on earth”, or when he tells us that “the greatest of you must be a servant and the one who is first will be last”. We believe that story rather than the story that we do whats best for ourselves first, or just be a good enough person and you will find joy, or that any earthly leader can bring us peace.

This brings us to our second point.

We fear what we lose when we gain Jesus

There seems to be three types of people in this story.

1. Those who fear a righteous king

As the rumors spread throughout Jerusalem Herod hears these rumors of a king of the Jews and He is “troubled”, or even "in turmoil" or "terrified"

-We know quite a few things about Herod, we know he was a great architect and even rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem to gain favor with Jewish leaders, we know that he was able to bring some form of peace to Israel when previously there had been numerous riots led by false Messiah’s, we also know that he was a tyrannical ruler who imposed heavy taxes on the people for personal gain and would go so far as to even kill his own mother in order to protect his throne.

He knows He doesn’t have a true claim to the line of David, this child was certainly a threat to Him if this child did come from this line and it would threaten another revolt.

Herod then comes to the wise men and pretends as if he will worship this new king in order to gain more information on this threat, so he could know how old this child would be.

But it wasn’t just Herod that was troubled, it was all of Jerusalem with him. Why was Jerusalem disturbed with Herod?

-As people hear the Magi going through the city asking about this Messiah they would be “troubled” because they believe that they are in a time of peace, that everything was finally good for them. This new king would mess all that up, he would make things worse for them not better.

-They most likely fear that this new king would change things. They had gotten comfortable in how their life was under Roman authority.

-They trusted in the politically powerful even when God’s Messiah was present with them! It can be easy to find ourselves aligned against God.

-But God’s sovereignty can’t be overthrown by any earthly king, no matter the lengths they will go to stop it. The authority of Jesus will always win out, but it is much easier for us to stay where it is comfortable for us.

-Isaiah 31:1–3 “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and who depend on horses! They trust in the abundance of chariots and in the large number of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel, and they do not seek the Lord. But he also is wise and brings disaster. He does not go back on what he says; he will rise up against the house of the wicked and against the allies of evildoers. Egyptians are men, not God; their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the Lord raises his hand to strike, the helper will stumble and the one who is helped will fall; both will perish together.”

The wise men will show us later which king they truly fear in their response to the dream.

2. Those who know about the Messiah but don't respond to His coming

Herod brings in all the Jewish leaders in order to get all the details about this Jewish Messiah.

-They quote from 2 Samuel 5:2 and Micah 5:2

2 Samuel 5:2 CSB

Even while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led us out to battle and brought us back. The Lord also said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will be ruler over Israel.’ ”

It shows them that just like David this unlikely king would be born in the small town of Bethlehem, he would shepherd, care, and guide His people like none of the other kings had, and there would be one whose authority would be threatened by His arrival just like the man in front of them

They identify that the the Magi are in fact looking for the prophesied Messiah that would come for Israel.

Their ability to point out where the Messiah would come from shows it was not ignorance that led them to not worship Jesus. They knew where to find Him, they knew the genealogical record of this child, and now they have been given evidence that this Messiah has finally come! Yet they don't even take the short journey to see if this was true.

Even more so, if they would have continued their quote from Micah 5:2 it says that His “origin is from antiquity, from ancient times. This child would be more than human!

30 years later many of these same leaders and their sons will reject this same child who they once had a chance to see.

How sad that we can know the truth of the Gospel, we can hear its words and say we believe them, yet when we are given the opportunity to enjoy the presence of Jesus we reject it.

But this brings us to the wise men.

3. Those who are "filled with joy".

These foreigners, these Gentiles. What do they know of the God of Israel? What do they know of the prophets? These uncircumcised, unclean wise men, why are going to this boy in Bethlehem?

They follow the star, a light provided by God to reveal the presence of Jesus that goes ahead of them all the way to Jesus.

Their excitement levels is almost that of frantic, even ecstatic. It was more than just a little excitement. It is like a child going to Disney world for the first time.

When they get to the presence of Jesus they know they are coming to one who is worthy of being worshipped, who deserves the glory.

God is showing us that all people can now come and be filled with joy in this Savior. As Isaiah 60:3 says, “Nations will come to your light, and kings to your shining brightness.”

These wise men having given up many precious things to come to this Savior.

We have to grow disillusioned with the present kingdom to become illussioned with the kingdom of God.

What many times happens when we have come to fear what we lose if we have Jesus, or when we have lost joy in Jesus is we have grown to the allussion that the world has something incredible to offer. And sometimes, logically it doesn’t make sense. Sometimes the things that make us feel comfortable don’t seem like things that really should bring us comfort.

-like the Israelites after their trauma in Egypt it was comfortable to them.

-But we often have these things that are coping mechanisms for us. We go to them so we can take our minds off our problems, or we buy something so that we can have a little hit of happiness. Just think about what our phones have done to us. Man of us don’t want to have that uncomfortable moment where its quiet and we aren’t doing something so we just check our phones hoping someone has messaged us or that we have gotten an alert. We fear losing the coping mechanisms we used when we were without joy

-I heard a celebrity say letting go of Christianity was "freeing" to them. But it's only freeing if you have an idol as the focus of your heart. If spending time with God is a “distraction” from the things you really want to do.

But here is a thought…what if rather than enduring worship so that we can “enjoy” the rest of our weekend, or being upset that we have to wake up early on a Sunday to get toe church, we found joy being in God’s presence. And rather than looking forward to Saturday during the week, we spend our whole week excited about the opportunity to be with our brothers and sisters in Christ on Sunday. And what if hoping to fit some type with God in the mornings during our week so that we can “Get on” with the rest of our day, our mornings with God is our favorite part of the day. What we if grew disillusioned with the stories the world tells us about what we should want and enjoy and we believed God when He says we can find joy in Jesus. That rather than being like Herod who fears what he loses when Jesus comes or the religious leaders who have grown numb to the news of the Messiah, we are filled with joy.

Jesus is not just a thing to receive but a person to experience

They’ve done studies on how we respond to certain types of gifts that we receive. Expensive gifts, cheap gifts, home made gifts. But what every study has shown us is that the gift that you are most likely to remember isn’t a thing, it isn’t a gift wrapped in a box that you open. But its experiences you remember most vividly. A vacation with your family, a special dinner with a mom or dad, a beautiful scenery. That no matter how much money you spend in a gift, it will never have the same affect on your brain as an experience.

The wise men would not have been blown away by the place that Jesus was staying at, they wouldn’t still be in the stable but their living space wouldn’t be anything amazing. They are blown away by WHO would be there.

These men of prestige fall to the knees before this boy in the stable and they worshipped Him. They believe that this child is worthy of more honor then themselves. And they give him grand gifts, gifts fit for a king. And in giving these gifts up they are saying “I’m getting rid of the old kingdom I used to follow so that I can enjoy your kingdom” they are offering up their lives to follow this king.

But these aren’t just gifts for a king, these gifts are reminding us of the temple as well. Each was used in some way to remind the priests of God’s presence in the tabernacle.

-Exodus 30:34, Leviticus 24:7, Psalm 141:2. Frankincense was used to represent prayers going up to God's presence.

-Exodus 30:23-25, Myrrh was used as a holy consecrating oil, to purify priests to enter God's presence

-Gold was used in the temple extensively, and represented God's presence in the holy of holies.

- Their gifts reveal that God has come among us. That He is here with us. That is why we have joy, because God is now with us.

That when life has become a burden we can go to the Lord and He will tell us “I will give you rest”, when finances have become a burden Jesus comes next to us and says “seek first the kingdom and all these things will be provided for you”, when our sin has us feeling like a failure Jesus lays his hand on our back and says you are no longer a slave to sin but a child of God.

-This doesn’t mean all of our problems go away. But it means when we seek after Jesus, the one who came to be with us, that in Him we find joy where no where else can. A lot of things can give you momentary happiness, can give us a sense of accomplishment, can make us feel important. But there is only one who can bring us joy.

we have to learn to love his voice