Why the Wise Men?

I’m a true fan.

Have you ever met a fair weather sports fan?

This is the person who only roots for a team, when they are doing well.

This is the person who only roots for winning teams.

That’s his requirement.

This person will never admit to rooting only for winning teams.

Because he proudly proclaims to always have been a fan of … whatever his favorite team is this year.

There’s a few ways to spot a fair weather sports fan.

First, and probably the most obvious, is that he’s never experienced a losing season in all his years of being a fan.

His team is always the one that goes all the way.

Second, and the most irritating, is the person who has multiple favorite teams in a sport.

Which means he doesn’t really have A favorite team.

But it also means that his favorite team happens to be the one that wins it all, because he’s got more to choose from.

A third way to spot a fair weather fan is he has apparel for multiple teams.

This gives away his bandwagonness.

One week he wears a shirt for one team.

The next a hat for another team.

He invests in multiple teams.

When a team makes it to the playoffs, he’s ready to say he’s always rooted for them because he’s got the clothes to back it up.

A fourth give away for being a bandwagon fan is how you talk about a team.

If the team is winning, it’s “we.”

If a team is losing, it’s “they.”

A true fan is always “we.”

And the fifth and final way to show you’re a bandwagon fan is when your favorite team is from a place you’ve never been, but also happens to be one of the most successful franchises in sports history.

This is like when a person from LA says, “I’ve always been a Yankees fan.”

No, you haven’t.

You’re lying.

This is all very near and dear to me because, I have the amazing ability to root for losing teams.

I have the amazing ability to root for losing teams.

I like the Padres.

They’ve only gone to the World Series, twice.

They’ve never won it.

Each year, I have this hope, that they won’t be as bad as they were the year before.

Being a Padres fan is kind of nice, because no one talks trash to me about my team.

Mostly because they pity me.

No one has ever accused me of being a fair weather fan.

I am not on the Padres bandwagon, I am the Padres bandwagon.

No one has ever said to me, “Luke, you like the Padres, just because they’re good.”

Because it’s been 20 years since you could say they were good.

And yet, at Christmas time, it seems as if Christmas fans crawl out of the woodwork.

The decorations come out.

The sweaters are worn.

The music is played.

Everyone seems to know the true reason for the season.

I had a stranger come up to me the other day, and complain to me about how people don’t know even know what Christmas is about anymore.

And his reasoning is because of the way someone was driving on the street.

And yet, this man was a passionate fan of Christmas.

Church’s experience an increase in attendance.

There’s even a special name for people who attend CHurch during Christmas.

They are called C & E Christians.

Christmas and Easter Christians.

You won’t find them the rest of the year.

But on Christmas … they’re there.

Their team is in the playoffs.

The bandwagon Christian is very similar to the bandwagon sports fan.

He always roots for the dominant holiday.

He’s never known what it’s like to suffer through the unpopular parts of the Christian journey.

The things he likes to believe, he says, “we believe.”

But when it comes to the unpopular parts of Christianity, he says, “they believe ...”

Today, we look at the wisemen, the magi.

Their hand in the Christmas story, shows to us what a real fan, or a real follower of Christ is like.

Their story also shows us what a bandwagon follower is like.

It all is seen in the context of worship.

We will see what genuine worship of Christ looks like, as opposed to bandwagon worship.

And hopefully we can apply this to ourselves in a series of tests.

And you will be able to see if you are a genuine worshiper of Christ, or a counterfeit follower.

Please open your Bibles to .

Read Matthew 2:1-12.

Let’s look at the Tests of the pursuit of worship

All agree that worship is a part of religion.

Worship of Christ is important.

And the tests here are in your pursuit of worship.

Are you willing to abandon all to worship Christ.

Or do you abandon worship.

We begin with Abandoning all to Worship.

We begin talking about the Magi.

The Magi were a group of astrologers, magicians and wisemen who originated in the Medo-Persian Empire.

We learn about this Medo-Persian empire, back in the book of Daniel.

If you think back in your history of Israel, you’ll remember, that in 586bc, Jerusalem was destroyed, and conquered by the Babylonians.

The Babylonians took a number of the Israelites into captivity.

One of which was Daniel.

Daniel, became a part of the school that produced Nebuchadnezzar’s wise men.

In , Nebuchadnezzar has a dream, and he wants to know the meaning of it.

But he also thinks that his wise men have been playing him, only telling him what he wanted to hear.

So he has this dream, and says that he wants to know the meaning of the dream, but he’s not going to tell anyone what the actual dream is.

To make matters worse, he said that if they couldn’t tell him the dream and its meaning, then all the wise men would be killed.

You can see the drama here, Daniel is one of those wise men.

I couldn’t expect you to tell me what my dreams were last night.

At the last moment, God revealed the dream and its meaning to Daniel.

, records Daniel telling Nebuchadnezzar his dream.

“You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”

“You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”

It’s a statue, with 4 different parts to it.

And each part represents a weaker kingdom that will conquer or take over after the previous.

So there is Babylon.

They are conquered by the Medo-Persian Empire.

Then there are the Greeks.

Then there are the Romans.

But at the very bottom, is a stone.

Nothing fancy.

Just a stone.

But this one stone, would strike the image, and cause it to all crumble away.

And this one stone would end up ruling the whole world.

You’re wondering what does this have to do with our Magi.

The Magi, were the wise men/astrologers of the Medo-Persian empire.

Daniel was alive when the Persians took over Babylon.

He was very influential in the nation.

He be

He and the other young Jewish men, made an impact on the nations.

The result is that Medo-Persian’s were very interested in Judaism.

And they were fascinated with Judaism.

They absorbed many of the elements of Judaism into themselves.

Some of the teachings of God, worked their way into their religion.

I’m not saying they were good.

I’m not saying they even worshiped the true God.

But they absorbed some of it.

They knew some of Scripture.

They knew some of the stories.

They knew certain things to look out for.

They knew enough to know that one day there would be a king who would rise out of Israel, and rule over the world.

So now, we return to our text in .

Jesus has already been born.

And in verse 1 it says that some wise men from the east show up.

They are Magi.

Magi are descendants of a Medo-Persian tribe.

In fact the word magi is a Persian word.

The word magic has it’s roots in Persia.

They know the old stories from Daniel’s day.

They know of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a stone that will strike the nations of the world.

They are looking for this.

Verse 2 says, “For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

There’s all sorts of conjecture about this star.

Was it a comet.

Was it a planet.

Documentaries of it are made.

What do I think it was?

First, let me say that we get pretty distracted by this stuff.

It’s always frustrating to me when people get more excited about side issues than the real issue.

It happens about all the supernatural things in the Bible.

People are more interested in:

How the Red Sea parted, then in God’s providence.

In how Jesus walked on the water, then in it being a display of His divinity.

And here, in what the star was.

The main issue is that this star caused them to drop what they were doing, and go on a 30 day trek through the desert, to find the king of the Jews, the humble stone that will strike the nations.

What do I think this star is?

I think it was the glory of God.

It’s a blazing light.

When Moses was in the presence of God, his face glowed.

When the Israelites were lead through the Wilderness, God appeared as a pillar of fire.

This is the blazing glory of God.

He appeared to them, to let them know that the legends they heard from Daniel, were true.

The king has been born.

And they knew enough to know that this king would come from Israel.

This might ruin your memory of the wise men, but they didn’t follow the star to Jerusalem.

It wasn’t a guiding beacon in the sky from Persia all the way to Jerusalem.

It rose where they lived.

They recognized it as something from the true God who comes from Israel.

Something they heard about in the past.

They went to Jerusalem, seeking this king out.

The wise men were the real fans of Christ.

They were not on the bandwagon.

They knew truth, and looked forward to its arrival.

And when it arrived, they pursued truth, wherever it was found.

They abandoned all to worship.

It was probably a 30 day trip, one way, through the desert.

What is your worship of Christ?

They make it to Bethlehem

They make it to Bethlehem

Let’s compare the Magis’ Abandoning all to worship, to Herod and the religious leaders in Jerusalem, who were simply Abandoning Worship.

At the time of Jesus’ birth, Israel is governed by Rome.

Rome controls everything, and they would continue to be in charge till it’s fall later on.

Rome, allows a man named Herod the Great to rule over Judea.

You have Herod the great.

He’s a mixed bag.

In one sense, he was a good ruler.

He was known for his massive building projects.

He rebuilt and built up much of Israel.

It was he who had the temple expanded, to its largest state.

He had a comprehensive welfare system.

He provided for the people under him.

There was a clothing shortage at one point, and he had clothes imported.

When people needed food, it was delivered.

But in another, very real sense, he was a cruel, violent, and heartless leader.

He is the one who would later sentence all boys under the age of 2 in Bethlehem to be killed.

You also have the religious leaders of Judah at this time.

They were the priests.

The scribes.

The lawyers.

Those who studied God’s law.

These were the people who should have known about Jesus coming.

They are those who studied God’s law.

Think this through.

Israel is not free.

They have not been free since Jerusalem was conquered in 586 bc.

They are governed by the Romans.

Yet, there are these prophecies of a coming king.

A king who would come like a simple stone, and topple great kingdoms.

This is something they should have been looking forward to.

You’d think, they’d be saying, “Is it now?”

Instead, you have the wise men showing up asking about the King of the Jews.

They’ve seen the shakinah glory of God in their country.

They’ve come here to see Him.

But what is the response of Herod and the religious leaders?

Verse 3 says, “… he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;”

I don’t think that means every person in Jersualem.

Because we read about people who were very excited to meet Christ.

The all Jerusalem are the religious rulers.

Notice, they don’t reject the news.

They don’t say, “No, no, that can’t be true.”

They know that this day is coming.

In fact, they even know the Scripture to back it up what has taken place.

They quote , ““And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”

But they refuse to do anything about it.

They abandon worship.

There’s a certain irony here.

I’m sure you see it, because it’s hard to miss.

Who is it that is pursuing worship?

It’s not those who are near.

It’s those who are far.

Another way to phrase this is who is the genuine worshiper of Christ?

Many are content to say they’re the worshiper, but they haven’t actually actually pursued Christ.

Their “worship” is a matter of convenience.

It’s more convenient to say your a worshiper, then to actually be a worshiper.

The true worshiper of Christ abandons all to worship.

Dying to yourself.

Being born again.

Regeneration.

Being born again.

New creations.

We talk about being regenerated.

This is being able to say that what you were before was no good.

In Luke 15:33, Jesus said, “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

The magi, the wise men, left the old world, in pursuit of the king.

While those closest to Christ, the religious rulers in Jerusalem, wouldn’t renounce what they had.

It’s the one who abandons his old life, and goes in pursuit of Christ.

What have you abandoned to worship Christ?

Sin

Desire

Things you think you are deserved.

Perhaps you sit there and you think that you have abandoned yourself to Christ.

You say that you have a desire.

We have another test, and this is the test of genuine worship.

How do we know that what we give to the Lord is sincere.

Now it’s how do we know that what we give to the Lord is sincere.

Because sincerity is important.

says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

So how do we know that you have this broken and contrite heart?

We have Tests of genuine worship

Feigned Worship

This is a worship that sounds interested, but it’s really not.

The wise men come to Herod and ask about the king that has been born.

Look at verse 8, “And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.””

There are a couple things that stand out in that text.

He says, “and when you have found him ...”

But a better way to translate that is to say, “if you find him ...”

Then at the end of that verse he says, “that I too may come and worship him.”

And I think that would read better if it said, “I might worship him.”

So perhaps a better reading of verse 8 would say, “Go and search diligently for the child. If you find him, bring me word; and I might go and worship him.”

Do you pick up the difference?

“If you find him ...”

“I might worship him”

Parents, you know the difference.

You are in a restaurant, and one of your kids ask you a yes or no question.

You can give a yes or no answer.

But there’s no way you are going to say yes to whatever is being asked.

You also know that if you say no, there’s a very good change you’ll face a screaming tantrum in the restaurant.

So what do you say?

You know you aren’t going to say yes, because whatever they are asking you don’t want to do.

But you are in a public setting, and you don’t want to deal with a tantrum.

So what do you say?

Maybe.

Maybe … never means yes.

Kids also figure this out.

My mom said it to me all the time.

Maybe meant, “I don’t want to say no right now, so drop it.”

Maybe says, “I’m kind of interested, but I’m not really doing to do anything about it.”

It’s a feigned interest.

Herod said, “Maybe I’ll go and worship Christ.”

Herod had no real intention of worshipping Christ.

As it’s already been pointed out, he knew that the child is actually a threat to his rule.

His goal was for the wise men to tell him where Jesus was.

And with that information kill the child.

At this time of the year, people feign interest in Christ.

They show up at church.

They put out the nativity.

They might worship Christ.

And yet, Herod might go to Bethlehem.

Herod might worship Christ.

There was this time Jesus was walking along a road and a couple people came up to him.

They said they wanted to follow Jesus.

But they had other things to do.

One said he wanted to bury his dad first.

Another wanted to go home and say goodbye to his family.

They feigned interest in Christ.

They might follow Him.

It’s pretending to desire to follow Christ, but not really doing it.

That’s not worship.

It’s hypocrisy to say you are one thing, and be another.

Sometimes this feigned worship, has with it some altruistic motive.

It’s Christmas … it’s what you do, you celebrate Jesus.

Your family goes to church.

It’s tradition.

You don’t want to disappoint your parents.

It’s part of our culture.

Frank Sinatra sings about Christ’s birth, so I will too.

Every red blooded American celebrates Christmas.

You think that participating will teach your children the right values.

Or it will teach them your heritage.

These might sound good, but they are examples of feigned worship.

There’s no sincerity.

And God isn’t looking for this.

In fact, God hates feigned worship.

- ““I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

We love to quote, “Where 2 or more are gathered ...”

Yet, says, “I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked.” - He’s not present where worship is false.

God

God is actually looking for Fainted Worship.

And here’s what I mean by that.

The wise men are told that the child is in Bethlehem.

They leave Herod, and what appears again? The star!

They haven’t seen the star since they were in their homeland.

And it appears again.

Now you might not catch the excitement of this moment.

Let me break it down for you.

It’s no secret, I like Star Wars.

I really like Star Wars.

And there have been times in my life, I’ve liked it too much.

Disneyland has this ride, it’s called Star Tours.

You go inside a space ship, and travel through the planets and famous scenes of the Star Wars movies.

Really, what it is is a 5 minutes video, inside a room that looks like a spaceship, and rocks back and forth and side to side with what is being played on the screen, so it feels like you are in a space ship.

I love this.

It fools my brain into thinking that for 5 minutes, I’m in the Star Wars Universe.

I have been known to get tears in my eyes as we blow up the death star.

I am reliving something that I love so much.

Now back to the wise men.

They’ve heard stories about how Israel was freed from Egypt.

And after being freed from Egypt, God guided them through the wilderness with a pillar of fire.

This is something they’ve heard of.

They leave Herod, and suddenly they see this star, this blazing fire in the sky.

But it’s not a planet.

It’s not some comet.

It’s not an actual celestial body in outer space.

Because it moves throughout the desert.

This is similar to the pillar of fire that Israel experienced, that guided them to where God wanted them to go.

They now have their own pillar of fire, that they get to follow in the desert.

A childhood dream.

This is me on Star Tours.

A childhood dream

They are experiencing their own childhood dream.

They see the star and they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

There’s a lot of redundancy in that statement.

They didn’t just rejoice.

They didn’t just have joy.

They rejoiced exceedingly.

And with great joy.

Normal people go on Star Tours at Disneyland, and they say,

“That was fun. Good ride. Let’s do Space Mountain now.”

I come off of Star Tours, and I say,

“I need to sit down. I’m emotional.”

I’m rejoicing exceedingly with great joy.

The wise men have just lived out a dream.

And they are emotional.

The fire in the sky, this star, guides them all the way to Bethlehem.

It’s not a big town.

It’s a small town.

The prophecy says it is least among the towns.

And they find a child, an infant, a baby.

They find the king.

They don’t find a warrior.

They don’t find a polished sword.

They find a baby.

What can a baby do?

Nothing.

Do you remember the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had in his dream?

It had:

Gold.

Bronze.

Iron.

Clay.

And what toppled it all?

A small stone.

Something you would pass by.

And the wise men put it all together.

This child is that small stone.

They were guided by the glory of God in the sky.

They came to Bethlehem of Judea.

Born to a couple of poor people.

There’s a child.

And this child “will break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.”

He’s a dream come true.

And what do they do?

They faint.

They fall down.

But they don’t just fall down in respect.

They fall down and worship.

This is no feigned worship, this is fainted worship.

When God appeared to Abraham in , Abraham fell on his face before God.

When God appeared to Aaron and Moses, they fell down before the Lord.

When David prayed for the people, they fell down prostrate before God.

At the Transfiguration, when God spoke, the disciples fell on their faces.

Fainted worship cannot be faked.

It comes from the reality of knowing God.

The wise men sincerely worshipped because they saw the fulfillment of promises fulfilled.

Why do you worship?

We’ve already seen it can’t be because of others expectations of you.

That only leads to feigned worship.

How about this for motivation?

First, there is one God and He is holy.

That in itself is motivation for worshipping only Him.

And besides His position over all mankind, He has intervened, and acted upon mankind.

You, along with the rest of mankind, have sinned against God.

He being a just God, and a just judge, could have simply wiped out you and the rest of mankind out, the first time you sinned.

But in His kindness, He sent Jesus to this earth, to live the life we failed to live.

And then to receive the punishment that we deserved.

He is God.

He acts.

Because on top of His actions in the past, He works within lives today

And He is personal.

He is kind to many.

And saving individuals.

Placing His Holy Spirit within people.

So what kind of fan are you?

While sports fans look down on the fair weather fan, and those who switch sides.

God is looking for people to switch sides.

Because while you might be able to say you’ve always rooted for the same sports team, you haven’t always rooted for God.

He is transferring people from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved son.

You haven’t.

Ephesians says “and you were dead in your trespasses ...”

You used to wear another teams colors.

That’s why Jesus came.

The good news is that God is transferring people out of the domain of darkness, and putting them into the kingdom of Christ.