40 Preaching/Teaching (Candlelight) Matthew 2

Christmas with the Wise Men

Lessons from the wise men about CHRISTMAS

EOT-The wise men saw Christmas in a proper way.

EOS-How wise people view Christmas!

Who is the wisest person of all time?

I looked up wisest people of all time and here is who came up:

Leonardo Da Vinci

Ghandi

Aristotle

Einstein

Galileo

The Bible not only wants us to be wise it defines what wisdom is.

The Bible says:

Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Are you wise?

Do you fear God?

Wisdom is so important according to the Bible.

God wants us to be wise and more importantly he wants us to seek wisdom out.

Proverbs 2:4–5 “If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will discern the fear of the Lord And discover the knowledge of God.”

How would a wise man man or woman celebrate Christmas?

Setting

Could you picture living before Jesus was ever born?

You probably can’t because we have all lived after Jesus was born. We all know about Jesus right, even those who dislike Jesus can’t imagine this because Jesus is all we have ever known. In this area everyone at least knows something about Jesus.

But today we are going to see some wise men who celebrated the first Christmas and I think if we will look at them we can learn something from them.

Matthew 2:1 NASB95

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,

Lessons from the wise men

1. is we must anticipate Jesus showing up (2).

Matthew 2:2 (NASB95)

“Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

Do you really expect Jesus to show up this year?

Do you expect him to show up today at this church?

What about at your home?

What about your work?

Recently I was given some really nice seats at the Rockets game. We tot a parking pass, access to some food lounge. I got to take my Aiden and Bella and one of Bella’s friends. You know what, when I went to that Rockets game I was expecting it to be awesome. I went with anticipation. It was an awesome game.

If I go to a Rockets game with this kind of anticipation how much more should I anticipate Jesus showing up.

I think we often times don’t expect God to show up, you see when God shows up we will know.

Shakinah Glory-When he showed up for Moses his face turned white. When God shows up we are in awe!

When he showed up for Elijah he came down in fire.

When he showed up with Moses he came in a burning bush.

What if we really anticipated Jesus showing up?

William Carey-Attempt and expect great things for God.

This year what if we anticipate Jesus showing up.

Church what if we lived in such a way this year, like the wise men, where we anticipated Jesus to show up. The reality is we need Jesus to show up this year.

Matthew 2:9 (NASB95)

After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was.

Faith put them on the quest and faith kept them on the quest.

Isn’t it awesome that when we walk by faith God does amazing things. God is leading his people, these wise men, by a star right here.

Lessons from the wise men

2. Is to see Jesus in all of Scripture (5-6).

How did these wise men know Jesus was coming. Because they read their Bibles. Here is what it says in Matthew.

Matthew 2:5–6 NASB95

They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, Are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; For out of you shall come forth a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”

So at this point there was no New Testament. Their was the Old Testament. Explain the difference between the Old and New Testament

Old-Before Jesus

New-Jesus and After

At this time of the writing the New Testament had not been put together.

But did you know right when the Bible was written, thousands of years before Jesus was born, Jesus was all over the Old Testament.

Genesis 3-Protoevangel

The third chapter in the Bible it says this:

Genesis 3:15 NASB95

And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

God always had his plan of salvation: It was always his plan to send his son to save the world.

In the Gospel of Matthew it quotes the Old Testament

Then in Genesis God called Abraham to be the father of the Jewish Nation.

Abraham, Isaac and then Jacob and Jacob’s name was changed to Israel. And Israel had 12 sons and one of his sons was named Judah and here is what it says about Judah.

Genesis 49:10 NASB95

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

Jesus would come from Judah and he is the hope of the world.

In exodus we are introduced to Moses. We know that Moses delivered his people from a Leader who wanted to kill the Hebrews. He parted the red sea.

These verses all point to Jesus.

Go through the verses from Matthew!

How clearly do you see Jesu?

Is your Jesus big or small?

App: This year coming up we are challenging our people to read the New Testament.

If you will read through the New Testament or the entire Bible you will not help but see Jesus greater than you see him now.

As one famous preacher said: When I look at myself I do not see how I can be saved, but when I look to Jesus i don’t see how I can be lost.

This last week Doylene was so happy because she met one of our youth and she said the young lady wanted to read through the NT this nest year.

Take the challenge to read through the NT this year.

Lessons from the wise men

3. Following Jesus invites conflict (3-4).

Our culture loves to find ways to make things easier. Doesn’t it.

Work smarter not harder.

I mean think about how many hours the microwave has saved.

We love fast food, McDonalds was the first big time fast food place. But now we have Chik fil a.

Now making things easier is not a bad thing.

But following Jesus is not easy.

These three wise men were following Jesus and here is what it says.

Matthew 2:3 (NASB95)

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

In other words Herod was not excited that the wise men were there and that the wise men were excited about Jesus.

Matthew 2:4 (NASB95)

Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.

Jesus said they persecuted me, they will persecute you.

Josh McDowell Quote about Jesus being controversial

A couple of years ago target said we will not even say MERRY CHRISTMAS

PERSECUTED CHURCH-There are literally places right now where if it is found out that you are a Christian you could be killed.

Paul, who wrote the most books in the OT was troubled by Jesus until he had an encounter by Jesus and the he became a world changer for Jesus.

Matthew 2:7–8 (NASB95)

Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared.

And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.”

Herod was trying to pull a little trick on the wise men. Now we have all probably tried to pull a quick one on someone at some point. But the one person you may not want to pull a quick one on is the WISE MEN.

They were trying to trick people who feared God.

Application:

Will you follow Jesus this year even if it is hard.

Even if something happens that is not good.

Even if God asks you to do something that you just don’t understand.

Lessons from the wise men

4. is to make Christianity about rejoicing (10).

Did you know that God created us for joy. Our problem is we settle for temporary joy instead of eternal joy. We settle for small joy instead of big joy.

Matthew 2:10 (NASB95)

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

Overflowing Joy is connected to Jesus

When they saw the star-The star represented where Baby Jesus was. In other words their joy was directly connected to Jesus.

When our joy comes from anything other than Jesus it is not joy it is happiness.

But joy is greater than happiness because it is not based on the one thing that never changes.

I could not be more thankful to live in America. But don’t we all know some people who have way too much who are some of the most miserable people we know.

But how many of us have our joy connected to the American dream?

I just got a promotion at work

My family life is going well

….

that is happiness, joy can only come through a vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ.

How can someone who has all the stuff be so unhappy. It is because unless you connect your joy to Jesus you will be let down.

It did not even matter if the Magi would come after them and take their life, they had joy that was connected to Jesus.

This joy is overflowing

When we think of religion, we will not have this same response, but if we think about a vibrant relationship with God we will rejoice exceedingly with Great joy just like the wise man.

When we stay connected to our power source, there is nothing we can do but rejoice with great joy.

Ultimately Jesus is the wisest person to ever live and if you are one of his followers we are to look like him.

This year as you open presents, give presents, overeat, let learn from these wise men and:

Anticipate Jesus to show up

See Jesus in Scripture

Expect Conflicts

Rejoice