The Greatest Gift

20201220

Earlier this week I was having a conversation with Shannon and the girls about the different Christmas carols and the Bible stories they were based on. We started talking about part of the song “What Child is This?” where it says,

This this is Christ the King

Whom shepherds guard and angels sing

And we wondered why it was the shepherds keeping guard and the angels who were singing? After all, the “Host of Heaven” as our Bibles often translate it, really means “the Armies of Heaven”, so shouldn’t it be the angels who are keeping guard? Our conversation moved on to what it must have been like that first Christmas night. Our manger and nativity scenes in our homes and churches often have a lone angel hovering above the place where Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus, and the others present were gathered together, but we talked about how the reality was probably more like a “Standing room only” scene of invisible spiritual beings crowded around and jockeying for a spot with a good view of the incredible miracle of the birth of God as a human being. Surely there was no way that Satan and his minions could have gotten close to the newborn Savior to harm Him that night, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t try.

That same Christmas carol also says:

So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh

Come peasant, king to own Him

The King of kings salvation brings

Let loving hearts enthrone Him

If you have your Bible with you today, please turn with me to Matthew 2:1-11

Matthew 2:1–11 NLT

1 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, 2 “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” 3 King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. 4 He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?” 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote: 6 ‘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.’ ” 7 Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. 8 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!” 9 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. 10 When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! 11 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.

Let’s pray…

Even though traditionally we think of the wise men being present at Jesus’ birth, we know from reading the Scriptures that some time had passed between Jesus’ birth and when the magi arrived. Still, the magi are an important part of our Christmas tradition and were significant in the very early life of Jesus because they give us an example of how we should respond to the coming of Jesus, and also gave an early insight into what kind of Messiah Jesus would be.

The Wise Men:

Persisted in following the light that was given them until they found the object of their search.

The wise men knew that something special had happened. It had been revealed to them by the appearance of a sign in the heavens, a star announcing the birth of a king. They somehow even knew that the king that had been born was the King of the Jews. So, they set out in search of this king, and naturally, the place to find the king of the Jews must be Jerusalem, where the capital of the Jewish nation was. They took the step they knew and trusted that God would show them the next step they needed to take when they got there.

There are times in our own lives when we might feel that God is leading us in a certain direction, but we might not have a clear idea of how to get there. Maybe God is leading you in a new direction in life career-wise, or in a relationship, or in a big decision for your life. You have a conviction that God wants you to go or do or decide and move towards what He has called you to, but you don’t know exactly how to get there. That’s okay.

Often, God only gives us one or two steps to follow and we need to trust that He will show us the next step when we need to know it.

The wise men knew God had revealed a special destination or task to them, and even though they didn’t know the details of how they would get there, they started on that journey trusting that God would give them the next step to take when they needed it. God sometimes uses His people, or He speaks to us through His word, or sometimes even circumstances, or just a sense of peace or lack of peace for us to know what is the right way to go or not go, what is the right decision to make or not make. With the wise men, God used a group of people who were troubled by the news of the birth of the Messiah to guide them to their destination. In my own life, God has sometimes used difficult circumstances or people, as well as open doors and welcoming people to show which way not to go or which way to go as I follow Him. It’s not always an easy journey, and there are times that may cause you to question if you are on the right path, but if you continue to trust in God, obey Him, and just take the next step you know to take (or sometimes the only step that is available to you), you will eventually arrive at the destination that God is calling you to. Maybe it’s a big decision in your life, maybe it is a journey to meet Jesus Himself as your personal Lord and Savior.

The Magi followed one step at a time, and when they arrived at the place where Jesus was with his mother and father they…

Responded in worship.

When they found Jesus, they bowed down and worshiped Him. They knew and understood that there was something special about this child who was born a king, and yet who was probably . So even as a baby or small child, Jesus received worship from a group of strangers who had traveled a long distance to find Him.

The right response to an encounter with Jesus Christ is to worship Him. He is the Son of God, He is the Creator of the universe, He is the fulfillment of the Law of Moses, He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. The wise men who bowed down before Jesus didn’t understand the fullness of who they were worshiping, but they understood that He was no ordinary child. Likewise, we may not have a full understanding of who Jesus is. As limited people, we don’t understand all the complexities of an infinite and holy God, but we can know enough to understand that the proper response when we come face-to-face with Him is to bow down and worship.

Different people in Jesus’ ministry responded in this way as they realized who was before them. The disciples worshiped Jesus when He walked on water; the man born blind believed in Jesus and worshiped Him.

Let’s quickly look at the gifts the wise men gave Jesus and how they reflect Jesus’s role as Messiah, and also how He relates to us today.

The Gifts:

The first gift is gold.

Gold – symbolic of His kingly reign.

The wise men were searching for one who had been born “King of the Jews,” so they brought a gift worthy of a king. We know that Jesus came and revealed that He was a different kind of King than what people expected. Jesus Himself declared that Hs kingdom was not of this world, but that it was a heavenly kingdom. Still, Jesus’s message was also that the Kingdom of God has drawn near. There is an overlap between God’s kingdom and the kingdoms of the world, and as Christians we understand that God is ruler of the entire universe, even though for a time He has allowed the devil a certain level of authority and control on this earth because of the corruption that sin brought upon God’s creation. Still, the great promise that Christians look forward to is Christ’s promise that He will return. We look forward to Jesus returning and establishing His kingdom not only in heaven, but here on earth as well.

In the meantime, though, as believers we view Jesus as Lord and King in our own lives. Part of accepting God’s gift of forgiveness and salvation is that we recognize our need for God and His leadership in our lives. We recognize that as God, Jesus has the right and authority to receive our obedience and worship. We allow God to change the direction of our lives, and to transform us from who we are to who He designed us to be. It is a process of humbly submitting to God, but also realizing that God is good and loving, and so even when submitting may be hard at times, we trust in His character and motives.

One final note about Jesus as king: A king was the one who was charged with the defense of His kingdom. He would lead his armies into battle, defend his people, and rule them with justice. Jesus defends us from our greatest enemy, the devil. He is in charge of the armies of heaven, and I believe that these heavenly angels are constantly doing battle on behalf of Christ’s people and to help bring about God’s plan for humanity. We don’t have a wimpy, powerless king, we have the King of kings on our side.

The second gift is…

Frankincense – symbolic of His priestly ministry.

The priests in Jesus’s time were the ones who interceded for the people before God. They offered sacrifices for sin, they listened for instruction and direction from God, and they communicated God’s messages to His people. They also assisted the people in worshiping and serving God. They burned incense as part of their service to God as a symbol of the prayers of God’s people that went up to heaven to God. They also offered sacrifices to God for the sins of the people, in effect defending God’s people before the devil’s accusations.

The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus was a high priest in the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek was a mysterious priest in the book of Genesis that Abraham gave a tithe to after God helped him conquer his enemies and rescue his cousin Lot. He was a priest centuries before Moses established the Jewish priesthood, and so Jesus isn’t a priest that is under the authority of a human priesthood, but He is a High Priest that is above all human religion. As our High Priest, Christ gives us direct access to God. We no longer have to go through a human intermediary to communicate with God, we can pray to Him directly, and we can hear from Him directly. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, Jesus gave us a way to communicate with God, to understand God and to have access to God’s power and work in our lives. As High Priest, Jesus stands at the right hand of God the Father and defends those who have put their faith in Him against the accusations of the devil.

The final gift the wise men gave Jesus was…

Myrrh – symbolic of our redemption through His death.

Myrrh was used as an embalming oil to preserve a body after its death. The third gift of the wise men pointed to perhaps the most important part of Jesus’s ministry: His death on the cross for our sins. If Jesus had come and lived a perfect life and conquered evil, but had never died for us, then maybe Satan’s hold on the earth might be destroyed, but we would still be responsible for our own sin. However, Jesus DID die for us, and in doing so He paid the price for our sin so that we wouldn’t have to. This is what created the opportunity for us to be forgiven and adopted into God’s family. The resurrection that happened three days later was proof of the power of Jesus, and that His payment had been accepted by God.

God has done all He needed to do for us to be saved through Jesus Christ. Now it is up to you and me, and to each person to either receive or reject the gift that God offers us.

This week as you gather with family and friends, remember the gift that God gave us through His Son Jesus. Because of Jesus we have a King who protects us and comes to our defense, we have a Priest who intercedes for us with God the Father and defends us against the accuser, Satan, and we have a Savior who paid for our sin when we could not pay the penalty ourselves. Just as the wise men persisted in their search of the promised Messiah, let us persist in our search to know and follow Jesus more each day. As they presented gifts to Jesus and adored Him, let us present Him gifts of love and devotion, and let us bow in true worship before Him. And just as they returned home sharing the great news of what God had done, let us go from here and tell others of the greatest gift ever given, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

For some of you, your journey might be much more similar to the journey of the wise men. God was calling the wise men to an encounter with His Son, Jesus. Maybe God is calling you to draw close to Jesus too. There may be someone here who has been on a journey of discovering who Jesus is, and God is calling you to have a direct, personal encounter with Him. God wants you to know Jesus, not just know ABOUT Jesus. You might be seeking Him, and aren’t sure what the next step to find Him is. I encourage you to reach out to me or to someone here at church. We can help you on that journey. We can try to answer your questions, and help you take the next step or steps to meet Him personally. Maybe this Christmas, God is calling you to receive the greatest gift ever given, salvation through faith in His Son Jesus. If this is you, don’t wait, this is the true reason for Christmas, and there is no better way to celebrate it than to receive the gift He came to earth to offer you.

Let’s pray…

Hebrews 13:20–21 CSB

20 Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus—the great Shepherd of the sheep—through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 equip you with everything good to do his will, working in us what is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.