Sermon Tone Analysis

When I mention Mona Lisa, The Scream, and Impression, Sunrise, what comes to mind?

If you thought, “They’re all famous paintings,” you’re correct.

They actually have a couple of other things in common.

The first is that they’re all considered to be tremendously valuable—you might even call them treasures of art.

The second thing is that the originals were all at some point stolen.

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Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the sixteenth century.

In 1911, a museum worker walked out the Louvre with the Mona Lisa under a smock.

He later expressed that he thought the masterpiece belonged in Italy instead of France.

Two years later, the thief was caught trying to sell the painting.[1]

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The Scream by Edvard Munch was painted in the early 1900s.

In 2004, The Scream was ripped off a museum wall by armed robbers.

Fortunately, it was recovered and restored.[2]

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Impression, Sunrise was painted by Claude Monet in the late 1800s.

In 1985, armed robbers stormed the Marmottan Museum in Paris and took the painting.

It was recovered by French police five years later.[3]

So all 3 of these treasured paintings was at one time a stolen treasure.

As we are closing in on Christmas, I wanted to remind you of what an amazing and precious treasure the first Christmas brought.

As our planning, preparation, and commitments reach a fevered pitch in these last few days before the holiday, I don’t want the real treasure of Christmas to be stolen out from under you.

If we are not careful, all the things that pack our schedules at this time of the year have a way of:

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Stealing the Season.

The point of Christmas, after all, is that God came to dwell with us so that we could dwell with Him forever.

As John reminds us in the first chapter of his Gospel, that: Next Slide

John 1:1 & 14

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

When you think of the enormity of God, the complexity of His creation, and the majesty of His glory, this effort for our salvation is beyond comprehension.

Why would God go to such lengths to restore us to Himself?

The answer, of course, is found in His nature.

It’s found in the one word God uses to describe Himself in

1 John 4:8

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So with Christmas nearly upon us, I wanted to help us preserve and protect the real treasure and meaning of the holiday by looking at the account of the Magi.

In the short account in Matthew 2 (page 1026 in the Pew Bibles)centered on the Magi’s worship of Jesus, we see three very different responses to this wonderful event.

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Three Different Responses to the Birth of Jesus in Matthew 2.

King Herod, the teachers of the law, and the Magi all take a different approach to the events of Jesus’s birth.

The meaning and the power of the event are lost and stolen for Herod and the Pharisees.

But the Magi’s approach of worship is the proper response to what God did that night.

When we consider that night was the culmination of hundreds and even thousands of years of prophecy, when we consider that God went to these great lengths for you, when we remember that Jesus did indeed save us from our sins, what else can we do?

If we follow the Magi’s example, we’ll find that the power, wonder, and meaning of the holiday will not be wasted on us or stolen from us!

With these thoughts in mind, let’s start by looking at: Next Slides

Response # 1: Enter the Wise Men.

If you’ve heard the account of the Magi—or the wise men—many times, the image in your mind may not line up with the Bible.

Before we begin looking at these different responses, let’s get the actual picture that the Bible paints.

If you have your Bible with you, open it to Matthew 2. Let’s see what the Bible says in Matthew 2:1–12 as we take a look at all three of these reactions to the amazing events of Christmas:

“2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, ‘Where is He who has been born king of the Jews?

For we saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.’ 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

6 “‘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.’”

7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.

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.” 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way.

And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

11 And going into the house, they saw the Child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped Him.

Then, opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.”

Despite what many of us sing every year, you’ll notice that the Magi weren’t kings and that the Bible doesn’t say how many of them there were.

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary tells us that, “In later centuries down to New Testaments times, the term [Magi] loosely covered a wide variety of men interested in dreams, astrology magic, books thought to contain mysterious references to the future, and the like.”[4]

So instead of kings, these individuals were likely highly educated men skilled in astrology and astronomy.

Some believe they got their start from a Eastern priestly group of people, going back to the time of the Babylonian Empire.

I’m going to tell you what many scholars believe to be the history of the Magi so you will have a little better idea of why this mornings passage, and the story of the Magi in Matthew 2 is so significant.

In Scripture, we first see the Magi in Daniel 2. They were a part of the list of individuals we see in Daniel 2:2 of wise men King Nebuchadnezzar assembled to first tell him what his dream was, and then give him the interpretation.

We see them a few other times in Daniel also, in fact many scholars believe that Daniel, who became the wisest of the wise in the Babylonian Empire was a hug influence on them.

While they weren’t kings, they did become known as king makers.

They were highly sought for their great wisdom and were called on repeatedly throughout the history of the Babylonian Empire and even into the Roman Empire for their great wisdom when it came to selecting kings and rulers.

This is why they became known as king makers.

Now, many have wondered where they got their knowledge of the birth of the King of the Jews.

As we read through Matthew 2, they specifically ask King Herod; “Where is He Who has been born king of the Jews?” Based on what I have read, this is where the story gets incredibly interesting.

Bear with me a moment while I go back in time in Jewish history.

Do you remember when King Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Nation of Judah?

Well one of the things he took when he conquered Israel was virtually everything contained in the temple Solomon built.

This would have included whatever they had at the time that was considered the Holy Scriptures.

This was huge, by the way, because this accomplished at least 2 things, one is it preserved God’s Word.

Had Nebuchadnezzar not done that, God’s Word would have been completely destroyed.

The second thing it did was make God’s Word available to men like Daniel and later on Ezra and Nehemiah.

And these men poured over God’s Word, but not only that, anytime they were able to they would teach the Scriptures to others.

It is widely believed that this is one of the things that Daniel would do to any interested Magi that were around him at the time.

As I mentioned earlier, they were also into astrology and astronomy.

So, when they saw this mysterious light appear in the sky, they likely consulted things they had been taught and had recorded from the past, this would have likely included what they had been taught by Daniel centuries earlier.

Through their research they find out about this Jewish King to be born.

There are many scholars that believe these specific Magi had become followers of the One true God and knew that this was no ordinary King being born.

As a result they made this several hundred mile journey to bow down and worship Him.

That is what we see taking place in Matthew 2:11;

Matthew 2:11

In looking at this verse, I want us to pay special attention to 2 words; “fell down”.

There is a specific picture Matthew wants us to have in our minds in reading these 2 words, that is that these Magi, the moment they saw this baby boy, fell down with their faces low to the ground and worshipped him.

He goes on to write; “Then, opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts, gold, frankincense and Myrrh.”

There are a couple things I want you to understand when we look t the gifts.

The first is, this is likely why many believe there were 3 Magi.

The truth is, there were probably many, but we will talk about that later.

The second thing we need to understand is this, these gifts were not given in addition to their worship, they were given as a part of their worship.

Just as we also give of our tithes and offerings, not in addition to our worship, but as a part of our worship.

As we finish our look at the first of the 3 responses in Matthew 2, let us be very careful to follow their lead in response to this Baby born in a manger.

This brings us to the next Cast of Characters in the Christmas Story as recorded in Matthew 2, the Chief Priests and Scribes.

What we know of them and their response is: Next Slides