What Child is This? 3

Intro

We are going to continue in our advent series

How much school left?

I have mentioned this every week

We don’t celebrate Christmas for Santa

Presents under the tree

Or Mariah Careys greatest hits

We do it to celebrate the birth of our Messiah

Whose name is?? help me out

Jesus was born of an immaculate birth

And as we talked about last week/ Jesus born in stables and placed in a manger.

There were shepherds in the fields with their sheep and they went to go see Jesus .

However the story doesn’t just end with Jesus being born

Before we get there I want to talk about the name of our series

As I have shared each week many times when we think of the Christmas story

We think of This (SLIDE)

However this is much different than how the Bible explains it

There would have been much more stress, pain, and even frustration

Mary and Joesph were real people

That had real emotions

And so my hope for you as we go into this series

A new view of This story

A new view of the characters in this story

A new view of the Little baby in the manger

A new view of Christmas as a whole

Same as the past few weeks have alot of scripture to cover

Stand and read

Candy for who brought their Bible

Matthew 2:1–12 “Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?” “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote: ‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not least among the ruling cities of Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’ ” Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!” After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.”

And so today as we unpack more of the Christmas story Jesus has already been born

Today the people that we are going to be focusing on are the Magi

Everybody say Magi

Everybody say Wise-men

How many of you have heard of these guys before in the Christmas story?

They probably look something like this (SLIDE)

*Fun fact we don’t know if there were 3*

Other weeks we didn’t to focus in too much any specific people

This week is a little different because as we go through the scripture. this portion is really only about Herrod and these guys

The Magi were likely men from either Babylon or Persia

From what we know as Magi these men were astrologists

They studied stars, interpreted Dreams, and Often they would be advisors for kings

And so they weren’t royalty they were people who were considered to be in high regard

Thats a little bit about Magi, But how do they find their way into the Christmas story………….

Well interestingly enough scripture tells us that they saw the star

And if we remember these guys are astrologist who are studying the stars

They see this star and can tell that something is up

All that being said this leads me right into my first point for us this morning

1. Jesus isn’t just cultural

Matthew 2:1–2 “Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.””

So if you remember as I already told you guys

More than likely these were dudes that were from Persia or Babylon

Not only that but with them being astrologists

It is very very very likely that these guys were not Jews

Adam why does it matter that they weren’t jews

Everyone else that we have talked about in our story has been Jewish

Mary

Joesph

The Shepherds

They were all expecting that some day the Messiah was going to come

But the Magi didn’t believe in the prophesies in Isiah and Jeremiah

In fact, they probably didn’t even know about them

As the Magi studied stars they studied major events that would correlate to signs in the sky.

They weren’t believers in God

They didn’t here the stories of Moses

and the stories of David and Goliath in Sunday school like you and I did

………………………………

How many of you guys are into tornados?

Whenever I think about tornados? by brain instantly goes to being back in school.

Do you guys have to do tornado drills at school?

What do you have to do?

One of the most interesting things to me is that when that alarm goes off. everyone is in agreement right?

When it goes off no one is trying to fight back about it. everybody gets on the ground

whether you are the kid that literally knows everything about storms

EVERYONE agrees, and knows what they are supposed to do

Why do I share all this

because in our story even though these magi aren’t jews

They still recognize that he is messiah. They understand that he is the King of the Jews.

here is what I want you to hear

Where culture draws lines Jesus crosses them

When we look at Jesus life we can see him do it over and over again

Jesus will talk to someone no one else would

Jesus helps someone that everyone else avoids

What does this mean for us?

It means that people are still urning for Jesus

I think that for many of us we spend so much time in church we forget that there are people who don’t know about our Jesus

Not everyone has the family tradition to come to church.

So similar to the wise men what those people need is an encounter with the king

The only difference is that there is no star in the sky. it is up to us

2. Jesus offends the Prideful

Matthew 2:3–8 “King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?” “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote: ‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not least among the ruling cities of Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’ ” Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!””

You guys ever had a moment when you try to do something by yourself that you know you can’t do

But you don’t want to ask for help so you do it by yourself

Well a few years back Delaney and I had gotten central air in our house and so we had to take all the window air conditioners out

Delaney was at work and I wanted to do it by myself

She asked me if I wanted help. I didn’t just say no, but I was offended that she said that

I thought I am strong enough I don’t need any help

So in this moment not only did i actually need the help

But because of my pride I was offended

Well all of that being said I ended up falling down the stairs

Why share this story?

In our scripture we see that Herod hears that a king is being born

not only that but finds out that people want to worship him

and all of a sudden pride sets in

The scripture tells us that he is “disturbed by hearing this”

and then icing on the cake he calls the wise men into a private meeting

Says he wants to “meet the new king and worship”

little Spolier alert thats not what he really wanted

Now Herrod I don’t think ever fell down a flight of stairs carrying an air conditioner lol

But we can see that PRIDE has set into his heart

“Who is this Jesus guy?”

“Who is this messiah?”

“Being worshipped?”

“But I am King?”

Here is what I want you to hear

Pride is the root of so many sins in our lives

If we are really honest with ourselves

we find ourselves with the same attitude as king Herrod

obviously none of us are kings with a palace and servants and all of that

But there are times when because of our pride we not only are offended by Jesus, but we don’t go the ways that he would want us to go

Think about it there are so many sins that come from a heart of Pride

How many of you guys have ever been angry before?

“God how come I have to deal with this situation?”

“God how come I have do deal with that person?”

We get prideful and forget that his way are higher than ours

How many of you guys ever blamed something on someone else before when you know you are really the one to blame?

“Well thats not my fault”

“If they wouldn’t have said that”

“Well they started it”

Pride sets in, and we think there is no way we can be at fault

How many of you guys have been stressed before?

many times when we are feeling stressed we are forgetting who has a plan for our life

We are forgetting that there is someone who came to pay for those stressors

So what is our response supposed to be

Don’t forget who is King

Herrod was so caught up into beliveing that he was King

As we talked about a few weeks ago we have Emannuel “God is with us”

We are not alone, and we have a God who wants to help us in our pride

3. Jesus is worthy of our Treasures

Matthew 2:9–11 “After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”

How many of you guys have seen the new concert trend where people will through their phone in hopes to get photo

Its becoming more popular

What I find funny is how much we value our phones

We do so much with our phones

In fact they keep getting more expensive all the time

And so we have this thing that is so expensive but we aren’t afraid to just throw it

I give this example because

In our Scripture we see the Magi not just come to worship Jesus

But they offer what the bible calls “their tressures”

Who remembers what they were?

“Gold, Frankincense, and myrrh”

just like our phones we all have things that are valuable to us

And we need to understand that Jesus is worthy of all of it

If we can chuck our phone at a celebrity

If we can spend money on that pair of shoes we don’t need

Or that videogame that we really want, but don’t really need

If we can do all of that then we can give to our savior

And I can already hear it right now

“But Adam I don’t have a job”

God calls to give more than just money

The truth I believe we can see more than anything is that they gave things that were valuable to them

God deserves our treasure not our trash

When the Magi gave they gave what they saw as valuable

And so when you give this is how we ought to give

whether it is our time, talents. whatever

try your best. you are doing it for the king

giving is not just for Christmas time

Jesus is worthy

4. Jesus Protects us

Matthew 2:12 “When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.”

How many of you guys have ever used these before

These are “little tree air freshers”

And I think by far they are one of the best selling car air freshers of all time

Why I find funniest about them though is that we have always been using them wrong

they are supposed to look more like this

The wrapper that is on there is supposed to work as a protector

I share this story because how many of us would like God’s protection

I say this because for many of us God wants to give us protection but we often like that air fresher wrapper just throw it away

For the Magi they they received a dream from God

However if we are honest God doesn’t always work that way right

If we want God’s protection have to listen to him

Like I said sometimes when God speaks to us its more subtle

Sometimes its through a scripture that we read

A Prayer with him

Advice from our mom or dad

But I gave the example of the air fresher trees and throwing away the wrappers, because I think there are so many times when we do that

God is trying to speak to us

“Hey don’t go that way”

“Hey don’t talk like that.”

“Hey don’t spend some much time with them”

And so what is our response supposed to be?

SPEND TIME WITH JESUS

Luke 11:9–10 ““And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

So today as we have unpacked another part of the Christmas story I want to close us out with 3 prayers

Jesus, what ways can Lose my pride and remember that you are king?

What tresures do I keep from Jesus that he is worthy of?

Whats one way we can we stop and hear from Jesus this Christmas season?