Are You Satisfied this Christmas?

CHRISTMAS LIST

Are You Satisfied this Christmas? God’s Greatest Gift is for you!

Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12 I hope you had a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! And I hope I can be

one of the first to wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

So many of the songs we sing at Christmas are reminders that Christmastime is supposed to be happy. Speaking of Christmas

songs, what are some of your favorite Christmas songs? In the comments or in your living room, list off some of your favorite Christmas songs.

Songs like "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas," "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire," "Jingle Bells," and "Walking in a Winter Wonderland," all communicate that Christmas time is to be a joyous, trouble-free season.

But let me ask you honestly: Is that what you are expecting this upcoming season? A joyous, trouble-free season. Probably not.

For some of you, personal problems will keep you from experiencing the most wonderful time of the year. For others, you feel like one crisis after another has you ran over by a reindeer. With such an avalanche of problems it is hard to have a holly-jolly Christmas.

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Some of you are so busy and working so hard that there is no time for sitting around a fire roasting chestnuts. Or, maybe there isn’t anything really wrong, but for some reason you are just not ready for the upcoming Christmas season. It is not providing the emotional lift that you expected. In fact, it is almost depressing. The world does not look like a winter wonderland. It just looks like

winter.

Disillusionment at Christmas is not an unusual thing. We get so hyped up with expectations about what Christmas is “supposed to be” that often the real thing doesn’t measure up, and we are disappointed.

I’m excited to jump start this new series that will take us to the end of the year. CHRISTMAS LIST: Reordering Your Priorities.

What can you do this Christmas to avoid disillusionment? How can you improve your level of joy this Christmas?

The answer is found in the story of the magi in Matthew 2. Surely one of the great stories of Christmas is the story of the visit of the

Wise Men from the East. Wherever the story of the birth of Jesus is told, so too is told this delightful tale of strange men from some faraway land who brought gifts to the baby Jesus.

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Every children’s Christmas pageant has included them. Joseph, Mary and Jesus in the middle, shepherds on the left, Wise Men on the right. Always three nervous little boys dressed up like oriental punk rockers bringing gold and two other gifts they can’t even pronounce.

Here's what we know about these three men. Are you ready? It's going to take us a while to unpack this morning... Nothing. We literally know nothing about them. We know they're from the East. They could be Babylonians, or they could be Arabs. We don't quite know.

In all honesty, everything is a guess. We don't know. We know they see the star and are compelled to take an unbelievably dangerous journey across the first-century landscape to head west to find this Savior of the world.

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The story comes to us only in Matthew’s gospel. All that we know about the Wise Men we find in chapter 2. They show up in verse 1 and disappear in verse 12, leaving behind so many unanswered questions:

1. Who are the Wise Men and where did they come from? 2. How many were there? 3. What is the star they saw and how did it lead them to

Bethlehem? 4. How long after the birth of Jesus did they arrive in Jerusalem? 5. How did they know that the baby was going to be the king of the Jews?

One thing’s for sure, from the attitudes of these wise men and the events that surrounded their journey, we see how we can raise our level of joy at Christmas.

I want us to read the story of the three wise men showing up, and I want to point out three things we see in this text. If we can grasp them, I believe our experience and understanding of Christmas will monumentally increase, thereby giving us a greater opportunity to experience the fullness of joy we should experience around this time of year. With that said, let's go to Matthew, chapter 2. We're going to pick it up in verse 1.

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"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, 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.' When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

They told him, 'In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: "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." That's quoting Micah 5:2 there. "Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.

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.' 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.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 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. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way."

There are three lessons we learn from this story.

First lesson: What do you seek?

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Your level of joy at Christmas is directly related to what it is you seek.

Ask the question: What is it I want to get out of Christmas? What is it that would make your Christmas wonderful and satisfying? Snow? All the family together and happy? A feeling you define as the holiday spirit? Finding the right present to give? Getting the present you have been hoping for? The problem with all these is that they can leave us disappointed.

Have you ever had that kind of experience - when you were disappointed by Christmas because it did not deliver what you thought it would? The problem is not Christmas. It is in our expectations. We are looking for the wrong thing.

The magi show us how to increase our level of joy at Christmas by looking for the right thing. What was it they were looking for? Verse 2 tells us. They came to Jerusalem and said, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him." They were looking for Jesus. Christmas for them was an opportunity to worship Jesus.

That is what we need to be looking for and expecting this Christmas - an experience of worship, a fresh glimpse of He who was born King of the Jews. If our goal this Christmas is to worship Jesus, then I doubt very seriously we will be dissatisfied with our experience.

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If our first lesson is that we must look for the right thing, it leads us to examine our second lesson. Which is, where do you look?

Second Lesson: Where do you look?

Your level of joy at Christmas is directly related to where you look.

We learn from the magi that there are wrong and right places to look for Christmas. They started by looking in the wrong place. They looked where their own human reasoning said they should look. The star indicated the birth of a new king in Israel. The magi went where kings should be born - to the palace of Herod the Great in the capital city of Jerusalem. But what a mistake that was! When Herod heard of the birth of a new king, his jealousy sought to destroy him.

We, too, are tempted to look for joy at Christmas in all the wrong places. We think by getting or giving the right gift we will be satisfied. We imagine that being with family, which will for sure make us joyful. All these can easily disappoint us. You may not be able to afford the right gift for a loved one. Family members may be missing from your holiday celebration (this year more than ever). If you are looking to these things for joy, you may be left with a feeling of disillusionment.

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The magi looked in the right place when they looked to God. The trip to Jerusalem was not a total loss. While there they discovered where they should have looked in the first place: the Bible. The scribes in Jerusalem said that, according to the prophet Micah, the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. With this new information, they looked again at the star and followed it until it stood over the house where the child Jesus lived.

Unfortunately, far too many of us are like the magi (in a bad way). We know about Jesus without knowing Jesus. We're men and women who can give some of the best stat lines about Jesus.

We know where he was born. "Oh yeah, Jesus, he was born in Bethlehem. Great little town. It's an old little town. Yeah, he took some fish and some loaves and gave lunch to, I don't know, a 'kabillion' people or something. It was awesome." You remember Sunday school felt board stuff. (Well, probably not anymore. I really need to change that illustration. That's probably now officially gone. Does anybody felt board? Never mind. I'm going to keep using it.)

We know some of the stats of Jesus. We know some of his good works. We know how well he played in that game, but we don't know him.

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It would almost be like me reading a book about dating Stephanie on a date with Stephanie, reading the chapter about how Stephanie doesn't want me to read books on our dates, but not putting the book down. Just going, "Okay. Yeah. Don't read when you're on a date. Where's my highlighter? 'When you're on a date with Stephanie, don't read.'"

"Will you put that book down?" "Hey, I'm trying to learn how to date you here."

That's what's going on. We’ve become experts on who Jesus is but refuse to come to who he is.

So far, in Matthew, chapter 2, we’ve learned to for the right thing in the right place. The third lesson the text answers is, what do you give?

Third Lesson: What do you give?

Your level of joy at Christmas is directly related to what you give.

The magi came to Jesus' house bearing gifts (not the stable). News flash, the shepherds and wise men were not together the night Jesus was born. Most scholars are going to say we're probably looking at Jesus being about a year and a half to 2 years old.

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Remember the story? What did they do? They fell on the ground and worshiped him. Faith drives that. You don't fall on your face and worship a 2-year-old unless God has granted you an amazing measure of faith. It's the only way anyone has ever been able to come to Jesus: by faith alone.

I don't know if you've been around many 2-year-olds. I've never been around one who makes me want to worship them. They make me want to do other things to them, but worship doesn't tend to be one of them. Yet three wise men, wealthy men... The gifts they bring are legit... Side note, because some people are going to go, "I hear you saying 'faith alone,' but they kind of purchased their way in there with their gifts. Look at the dude brought some myrrh. I mean, surely he's getting some favor from God by bringing myrrh."

No, no. They're not getting favor because of the gifts; they're getting favor because of the faith. It's the same way you and I must come to Jesus Christ even to this day. You have no gift to bring. We get that, right? What are we going to give him that he needs or doesn't already have? What are we going to give him? Our life? Are we serious? What part of our life do you think is ours? Like, seriously. What part of it do we think is ours?

You and I, we nailed him. You and I have nothing to bring, nothing to give, nothing to lay before his feet. It is by faith alone.

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That's what the apostle Paul would tell us later in Ephesians, chapter 2, starting in verse 8. It says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

The gifts the magi gave were entirely appropriate. They gave gold, a gift for a king. By giving it they acknowledged that Jesus was and is the King. They gave frankincense, a gift for a priest. This was incense the priests used in the Temple. By giving it they acknowledged that Jesus was a priest - the One who would bring us to God. They gave myrrh, a gift for the dead. This was a fragrant ointment used to anoint a body before burial. By giving it they acknowledged that Jesus had come to die for the sins of the world.

We ought to give appropriate gifts this Christmas as well. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not talking about material gifts. I am talking about more important things. We ought to give the gift of our love and kindness to our friends and family. We ought to give the gift of our help to those who are hurting. We ought to give the gift of forgiveness to those who have hurt us. Giving these kinds of gifts will result in a joyous and meaningful Christmas.

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When I was little, my parents would give us a tiny bit of money to buy them presents at Christmas. Do any of you guys do this? It wasn't a lot. My dad would be like, "Here's $15. Here's $20. Buy your mom and me a gift." Here's what I know about those gifts. They were pretty ghetto gifts. I mean, I remember getting my dad soap-on-a-rope, where you could hang the soap, and then you could take it off the thing. Then I'd always get my mom perfume or a pin, both of which she would never actually wear. I was like, "Oh, that smells good or, oh, that looks pretty" and would get that.

Here's what was crazy about those gifts. Those gifts were actually bought for them with money that was theirs. So I actually didn't give them anything.

You and I have nothing to lay at the Lord's feet except faith, because we have nothing to boast in except for his saving grace and mercy granted to us by faith alone.

By faith, the wise men risk their lives and walk across the ancient world. By faith, they stop in Jerusalem. By faith, they worship a 2- year-old who is reliant upon his mother to feed him, to care for him, and to protect him. We see in the text no miraculous sign from Jesus. Jesus doesn't call them by name when they roll in. Yet the wise men worship him. That’s faith alone.

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The message in the message of the lesson of “what do you give?” is that God is a God who keeps his promises. That really means two things we need to be anchored into in this season. First, that God has promised to save us from our sins and the coming of Christ is him keeping that promise. He has also promised us to be sufficient, regardless of whether or not 2020 has been a good year or not.

In closing, I would like to offer three long-lasting truths from this story for your consideration.

The first truth: If the Wise Men can find Jesus, then so can you.

Think of how many barriers they had to cross to get to Jesus. There was a cultural barrier, a distance barrier, a language barrier, a racial barrier, a religious barrier, not to speak of a hostile king and indifferent religious leaders. It wasn’t easy for them to find Jesus, but they did. If they found him, then so can you.

The second truth: If God can use a star to reach the wise men, then he can use anything to reach anybody.

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Sometimes we have a complete loss of hope of seeing our friends come to Christ because nothing we say seems to have the slightest effect on them. The story of the wise men ought to give us great hope. Our God is infinitely creative in the things he can use to break through to people who seem to be so far from him.

Think about your one. For me, it’s Rick. God can use a star, a book, a tract, a television show, a song, a bow and arrow, a chance comment, or anything he desires. If God can reach the Wise Men, he can reach anybody.

The third truth: If the Wise Men offered Jesus gifts, then so should we.

It’s good to remember that the tradition of giving gifts at Christmastime did not start with Santa Claus. It started with the Wise Men. Often we get so caught up in giving and receiving that we forget where it all began.

It is good to give gifts to each other; it is even better to give gifts to Jesus. It is good to show our love to those we love; it is even better to show love to the One who loved us when we were unlovely.

This is the central meaning of the Christmas story. This year and every year, and all during the year, we are invited to return to Bethlehem. A baby lies there who is King and God and Sacrifice.

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The King in the cradle. The Deity in diapers. The Sacrifice resting in his mother’s arms. Before long, he will arise to do his work and the world will see him for who he really is. For the moment though, the baby sleeps in Bethlehem surrounded by royal gifts and foreign eyes wide with wonder.

What are you giving for Christmas this year? Why not consider giving yourself? Give your time to your family. Give your compassion to the hurting. Give your forgiveness to the isolated. And give your heart to Jesus?

I promise you, when you look for the right thing, look in the right places, and give the right gift, then and only then will you will have joy at Christmas.

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