When Strangers Want to Hold Your Baby

Intro

Can I tell y’all a story? A few months ago we were at home watching TV one evening and our doorbell rang. It was weird because we didn’t know of anyone who was supposed to come over and we hadn’t ordered anything off of Amazon recently. When I opened the door, there were some dudes standing there! I didn’t have any idea who they were, but I could tell by the way they were dressed that one, they were rich, and two, they weren’t local. I said, “Can I help you?”, and one of them said in an accent “We’re here to see your baby!” And then they all just came in and started staring at Dawson!

How weird is that?!? Well thankfully that didn’t happen to us, but it happened to a guy we know! We’re talking about the wise men tonight, who are basically some strangers who show up at baby Jesus’ house to worship Him. Now y’all don’t understand this totally yet, but parents tend to be protective of their kids. When strange people come around and want to interact with them, it puts us on edge.

One time when Parker, our oldest, was just a few months old, we were at Walmart. As we’re headed to the bathroom with a Walmart employee walks by and sees Parker and exclaims, “Oh my goodness he’s so cute!” Kristen and I smile and say thank you, we know, we made him. Then she reaches out her hands and says, “Let me hold him.” Uh, hi, who are you? Do you have any infectious diseases? Are you the type of person who sneezes into her hands and doesn’t wash them? I don’t know any of these things! So I said, “Well we’re on our way to the bathroom to change him. He has a dirty diaper.” “Euuuoooohhhh”

But it was weird! I can’t imagine what is was like for Mary and Joseph had a group of people show up at their house and start worshipping their infant. But that’s what they did! We’re going to look at this part of the story of Jesus’ birth tonight to see what God is telling us through it. And there is a lot He’s telling us, but it all points to one thing...

When you look at the details of this story, it’s clear that all people should worship Jesus as King.

Read and pray.

Jesus came for all people.

verses 1-2

You know how when you hear that Billy has a crush on your best friend Suzie and you really want to tell her? That’s news just for Suzie. It’d be weird if you ran into her class and yelled it out… You just tell her. Well the news about Jesus is the opposite of that!

Matthew was written to the Jews. The Jews thought they were better than everyone else. But the first people who hear about the Jewish Messiah in the book of Matthew are Gentiles, non-Jews! Jesus came for everyone...

Luke 2:10 HCSB

But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:

Luke 2:10

We’ve got to treat the news about Jesus like it’s something everyone is supposed to hear! We’ve got to tell people the Messiah has come for everyone!

But how do you know He’s the Messiah? The prophesies for starters!

Jesus fulfills the prophesies about the Messiah.

verse 2; 3-6

The wise men step off stage for a minute and we see what Herod does...

Are there any other nerds in here? Let’s see, what movie trailer came out this week? Avengers Infinity War! I stinkin love these movies! I’ve been waiting on this trailer to drop. I told Kristen like a year ago, “Babe I know what I want to do for my birthday in 2018. I want to go see Avengers Infinity War! I’ve been waiting on the trailer, but I’ve also been teased. Lots of fake trailers come out and it’s always disappointing. The Jews have been waiting on the Messiah because they knew He was coming. There have been some imposters, but this one fulfills the prophecies of Scripture, He’s the real deal.

The star the wise men are talking about is from

Numbers 24:17 HCSB

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.

Numbers

This other quotation in verse six is from the book of Micah, chapter five verse two.

We know Jesus is the true Messiah from his birth because He fulfilled the prophecies about how the Messiah would be born...

And so we should believe in Jesus. God is pointing humanity to Jesus to believe in Him much like He led the wise men to Jesus.

God the Father is pointing people to Jesus.

verses 7-9

God puts that star right back up in the sky to lead them to Jesus. He led the wise men to Jesus so they could behold Him. So they could worship Him. God still wants people to behold Jesus and worship Him, so He is still leading people to Jesus.

All around us in nature, in our biology, in our philosophy. It’s pointing to God and God is pointing to Christ. If you are following God, then join Him in pointing people to Jesus! If you aren’t following Him, please come and tell me why not before you leave here tonight. Seriously, come tell me why you are not following Him with your life.

God is pointing people to Jesus because...

Jesus deserves our worship.

verses 10-11

Kristen and I started season two of Stranger Things last night. If you haven’t watched it, the main characters are these four kids. They’re nerds. Like Dungeons and Dragons nerds. When we first see them in episode two they are gathering change to go to the arcade. One of them has all the high scores on the games, but while they’re there they notice that someone has beaten all his high scores. They start freaking out because they think it’s amazing. They find out this who this person is, and it’s a girl, which is even more amazing to them. They start following her around like creepy people. They just want to watch her play the video games because she’s so good. And they have a crush on her. But she was so good that they just wanted to look on in amazement, worship her basically. But she didn’t deserve worship.

Jesus deserves our worship. He’s the only one who does.

Revelation 4:11 HCSB

Our Lord and God, You are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because You have created all things, and because of Your will they exist and were created.

The wise men worship Jesus because they know He deserves our worship. And He still does today.

He deserves our worship because of...

who He is...

and what He did...

Herod and the chief priests and scribes knew how the wise men were led by the star and that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies, but they did not worship Him. It’s not enough to just know about Jesus. He has to be our Savior and our Lord. You can’t have just one.

Those who make Him Savior and Lord will worship Him forever in Heaven, those who don’t will spend eternity apart from Him in Hell. You can be sure of that because...

God the Father is protecting his plans.

verse 12

Just like He protected his plans for Jesus’ life, He is protecting his plans for the whole earth and all of creation. His plans will happen and nothing can stop them.

Psalm 115:3 HCSB

Our God is in heaven and does whatever He pleases.

So if you’re a Christian, take comfort in that. Satan can not overturn any of God’s plans. Satan can’t ruin any plans God has for you. Have peace in that!

If you aren’t a Christian then this means there is no way your opposition to God will be good for you. You need to submit to Him. And why wouldn’t you? He sent his Son from Heaven down to Earth for you. Jesus, God in the flesh, suffered and took the punishment of sin for those who believe in Him.

If God is pointing you to Jesus tonight, urging you to believe in Him and surrender to Him, do it tonight. Let this be the first Christmas where you truly understand and appreciate what we’re celebrating!