Searching for Jesus

Pray

I came across an article this past week that explains: Every parent's worst nightmare… A child's Christmas list contains a toy that is impossible to find in the weeks leading up to Dec. 25. (goes on to explain) As people go crazy this year trying to help Santa find a Hatchimal to put under the tree, we thought we'd look back at some memorable, impossible-to-find toys from Christmas past.

Cabbage Patch Kids In 1983, Cabbage Patch Kids were released for sale in the United States, causing a tremendous demand. Mobs of parents eager to get their hands on the doll raced through stores -- often pushing and shoving. Some retailers tried crowd control by issuing "purchase tickets" to the first several hundred customers, leaving many empty-handed after standing in line for several hours.

Beanie Babies Plush, soft Beanie Babies were all the rage in the 1990s. They came in various forms -- from bears to alligators. And when Ty Warner, the toy's creator, started retiring specific animals in 1995, the fad truly began. By the 1996 holiday shopping season, people were crazed to obtain the highly coveted, retired versions of the toy.

Furby During the 1998 Christmas season, parents scrambled for Furby, a robotic toy that started out speaking only "Furbish," but had the ability to learn English.

Talkboy The Talkboy was designed as a non-working prop for the 1992 movie "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York." After young fans wrote in asking how they could get the recorder, the working product was manufactured by the Tiger company in 1993, and it was the must-have Christmas gift of that year. The most popular feature of the device was the ability to speed up or slow down a voice.

And who could forget… Tickle Me Elmo - Tickle Me Elmo, the plush toy based on the popular "Sesame Street" character, was first introduced in the United States in 1996, and was impossible to find during the Christmas shopping season that year. The toy chuckled when squeezed.

You see, most of us in one way or another are familiar with these toys. Some of us searched frantically under the tree for them, others searched our local Walmart’s, targets and Toys R Us. But in either case, most of us can relate with the idea of searching for these gifts, or something similar.

We transition then to ourselves this morning. With Christmas coming tomorrow, many kids will search anxiously for a number of different gifts under the tree. And the question is, what will they do when they find them? How will they respond?

You see the truth is, we may not be getting a tickle me Elmo, a furby or a beanie baby tomorrow… but we already have received the best gift of all. Jesus Christ. And so…. The question becomes, how do we respond to what we have already received?

If you have your bibles with you… turn with me to the book of Matthew 2. As we find searching for Jesus leads to: 1. King of kings. 2. Joy. 3. Worship

1. Searching for the Jesus leads to king of kings

Matt 2 :1-8

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.”

We stop and unpack the scripture for a moment and here’s the scene we encounter. We see in verse 1 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.”

Now in these two verses, there are 4 primary figures that will which our scene focuses on this morning. There other person is Mary who will briefly mention in verse 10… But we have King Herod, who is a blood thirsty, ruthless figure. We have the magi, those who from our Christmas nativity that would be viewed as the wise men, and we’ll discuss them briefly in a moment. We also have the Jewish Teachers of the law and chief priest, who at the time, we’re both religious leaders and political figures. So, there’s an element of corruption? Here/. And finally, and most important, we have Jesus.

You see without Jesus, there is no story. There’s no Christmas story, there’s no glad tidings of great joy. The other characters in this scene don’t matter without Jesus…

You see the entire old testament with hundreds of messianic prophecies, had been pointing to this moment. All of creation was pointing to the coming Messiah, the true, anointed King of Israel.Who was and is, and is to come…

Yet as we uncover this scene… there’s a major tension. There’s a major challenge (or problem introduced) and that issue is this… Jesus came, but not everyone accepted him.

You see if notice in the text, if we notice with our 4 figures this morning. That Jesus had a different response, from both Herod, the Chief Priest and teachers of the law, and from the magi.

On one hand, we have Herod… who was not of Jewish decent , but Edomite. And as such, Herod Married his wife, the heiress to the Jewish Hasmonean house, in order to make himself more acceptable the Jews he now ruled. But he was also cruel and merciless.

In fact, this same wife, he would later have killed, and his wife’s brother, and 3 of his sons killed… Because in one way or another, they poised a threat to his crown.

For Herod, the birth of Jesus posed a threat to His plans. Afterall, In Herod’s eyes… Herod alone was king…there couldn’t be another king. And so, he went as far you’ll recall, to have all the boys 2 years of age and below in Bethlehem killed.

We’re also introduced to are the chief priests and teachers of the law (or scribes). and as a reminder, these chief priests had been instrumental throughout the Old Testament, by the time of Jesus birth in the New Testament. were little more than a group of corrupt, religiously focused politicians. From the time of Jesus birth to His crucifixion these priests and teachers of the law would largely stand in opposition to Jesus.

Unlike Herod who was determined to kill Jesus, and the high priest and scribes who were indifferent to Jesus, we find a third group… the magi. Who the bible tells us

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.”

What’s true about the magi, is that through the years there have been many speculations made about these men. For instances, our nativities present them as 3 men who were kings… (song). But the truth is, little is really known about these magi. We’re not told their names, the numbers, their means of transportation of specific country of original.

We do know from the book of Daniel that magi were among the highest-ranking officials in Babylon. And at the interpretation of King Nebuadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2. Daniel came to be regarded highly among the magi. And so, it’s likely that because of Daniels high position and great amount of respect from the magi… they would have learned much about the one true God. and Knowledge of the messiah would have been passed down to them through time.

But here’s the key, these wise men, these magi, traveled a long distance, in search of The king of kings and Lord of Lords. You see although we can’t say for sure. If These men from the East as scholars would suggest being modern day Iraq… Would have traveled 900 Miles. This would have taken At least 4 to 5 months. You see God called them at this moment in their lives to not only search out Jesus. But also worship Him.

Friends, some 2000 years removed, many have the same response. Some will greatly accept him, others will reject him entirely, others only allow him to fit into areas of their lives that they want to… that are convenient. Church, would we allow the king, to be the king in our lives this morning.

You see if you were here last week, you’ll recall our children who put on a wonderful Christmas program. But one of the common themes, one of the questions was will you make room in your heart for Jesus. And there was a cute puppet figure that talked about Mary And Joseph who found know room in the inn… This same puppet went on to explain that surely if the innkeeper had known that this was Jesus, he would not have only made room… he probably would have given up his room, his entire inn…

Friends, the question I have for us this morning is this… we know him… he is the king of kings, and lord of lords… are we making room for him in our hearts today?

Let every heart… prepare Him room… Church have you made room available for him, not only in the part of your heart that you want him… but also in every area of your life?

2. Searching for Jesus leads to Joy

(the toys rot, there’s always something new to replace the current toys… Jesus doesn’t change, he’s the one to find true joy in.)

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.

As we continue with the scripture, we find that the magi have traveled to Bethlehem in search of Jesus… the bible Tells us: and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was

And here’s the key, here’s what I want us to notice, was their response. We’re told: 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

By the way, the word overjoyed here is the Greek word chara. And it wasn’t just a small amount of Joy, know in the original text, there is this sense of deep, overwhelming, uncontrollable Joy.

That after days and days of travel, after many miles spent on their way. That they had finally arrived to Baby Jesus.

You see magi were called by God to go and search for Jesus and worship him.

And in finding him… there is great Joy.

By the way we see this same concept of Joy expressed in Luke 2,

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

You see here’s the point for us Church, is that the angel brought good news of Great Joy. The shepherds we’re told of the birth of Jesus. And after they found him, the Bible says: The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

You see here’s the point for us this morning… The shepherds, like the Magi… are passionately searching for Jesus… and here’s the key, when they find him… they find great Joy.

It reminds me of a story I came across this week. It explains, In her book, A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Rebecca Solnit tells the story of her friend Sallie who is part of a search-and-rescue team in the Rocky Mountains. Sallie still remembers the frantic search for a lost eleven-year-old boy who was deaf and losing his eyesight. The boy wandered off during a late afternoon game of hide-and-seek. Because he was deaf, he was particularly hard to find. He had been blowing a whistle given to him for just such an occasion, but could not hear how close he was to a nearby stream. The roar of the water made his signal impossible for those searching for him to hear. After a harrowing night on his own, the sun came up, and he started blowing his whistle again. The search-and-rescue team finally found him, very cold but okay.

Sallie and other search-and-rescue experts say that the key to survival often hinges on one thing: knowing and admitting that you are lost. That's why kids are found more often than adults. Kids don't stray as far. They usually curl up in a sheltered place and wait for their rescuers. And unlike many adults who get lost in the Rockies, kids don't desperately try to save themselves. Instead, they aren't afraid to stop and admit that they need help.

Friends, this morning, we need help. Some of us are looking to a variety of remedies to get us through… but church… Our Joy this morning, is found in Christ.

We don’t know the details of the magi’s life, how well off they were, how many kids they had, what anxieties they felt, similarly with the shepherds, we don’t know how old they were, what struggles they faced. But here’s what we do know… when they found Jesus… they found Joy.

Friend, where are you this morning? For some of us, with the loss of loves ones, depression, or anxiety, or a host of other things taking place… Church, this morning, Jesus loves you, and he offers you Joy… Will you search for him?

1 Peter 1:3-9 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

We find Joy in Him this morning…

Jeremiah 29:13 tells us: You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

3. Searching for Jesus leads to Worship.

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.

As we wrap up the sermon this morning. I want us to notice how the Magi responded to their encounter with Jesus.

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.

So immediately, there is a sense of great Joy, but then they enter the house… they find Jesus, and they bowed down and worshipped. They paid homage to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Now here’s what I want us to realize, is that as they come to Jesus, they had these gifts of Gold Frankincense and Myrrh.

· Gold being a precious and valuable metal as it is today. Symbolizing Royalty.

· Frankincense, a costly, beautiful-smelling incense used only for special occasions. Symbolizing His deity.

· And Myrrh a valuable perfume, that was often mixed with other spices to prepare bodies for burial. Symbolizing his humanity and ultimately speaking to his coming death.

You see the Magi weren’t giving to Jesus in hopes of what they might get in return, they were giving out of adoration…. They had the gifts before they arrived at the house that day.

I wonder with us, in our lives this morning… are we still passionate about pursuing him, do we still get excited, do experience Joy… at the thought of worshiping Jesus?

Friends, this morning, as we celebrate the king of Kings and Lord of Lords. Would we worship him well? Not in hopes of getting something in return, but because he alone is God.

Call the worship team back up at this time.

- Joy

- Make Room in your heart