Sermon for 01/03/21 ?? Minutes

This morning I'll be reading Matthew chapter 2 verses 1 through 12.

And I'll be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

Matthew 2:1-12

The verses that we will look at this morning,,, give us information that all of you should be familiar with. Three things that they tell us are,,, first,,, it tells of the wise men's visit,,, second,,, it helps us to estimate how much time has elapsed since Jesus' birth and third,,, gives us information about the gifts that they bring.

Matthew 2:1–12

1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived unexpectedly in Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was deeply disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 So he assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah would be born. 5 “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they told him, “because this is what was written by the prophet: 6 And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah: because out of you will come a leader who will shepherd My people Israel.” 7 Then Herod secretly summoned the wise men and asked them the exact time the star appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you find Him, report back to me so that I too can go and worship Him.” 9 After hearing the king, they went on their way. And there it was—the star they had seen in the east! It led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed beyond measure. 11 Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary His mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another route.

God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with everyone here today and all that are listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.

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This week we have seen the end of 2020,,, and hopefully 2021 will be a much better year than 2020.

Only time will tell for sure,,, but,,, there is hope in some of the things that are happening around us.

And,,, at the same time,,, we will have some of the problems from 2020 hanging over us as we go forward.

But,,, the one thing that we as Christians won't have to worry about,,, is the presence of God.

But we will need to do some things to keep “us” focused on Him this coming year and the rest of our time spent here on earth.

Hopefully after looking at these verses this morning,,, they will help us in our walk with God!

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Verses 1 and 2 say: 1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived unexpectedly in Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

My Bible Knowledge Commentary says that even though scholars don't agree on the exact timing of the arrival of the Magi from the East,,, they apparently came long enough after the birth of Jesus that they had moved from the stable into a house.

There are also many different stories or traditions associated with them that you will hear about.

I'm sure that all of you are familiar with the fact that even though most Christmas traditions and scenes always show three wise men,,, the Bible never says how many there actually were.

There were three gifts,,, that's well documented and no one argues about that,,, but the number of men were never mentioned.

There's not any definite writings about where they came from,,, just that they saw His star in the East.

There is not any mention of how long it took them to travel,,, but,,, I brought up the length of time now because of a legend that the wise men arrived 12 days after Jesus was born,,, which of course cannot be correct,,, and this ties into another tradition practiced today,,, mostly in Great Britain,,, but by a few people here in the United States,,, called "Chalking the Door",,, and that is tied to an older tradition that the 3 Kings were named Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar.

This tradition called "Chalking the door" is usually done on the eve of Epiphany and is a ceremony that involves writing the numbers that correspond to whatever year it is along with the letters C,,, M,,, and B,,, along with 4 crosses over the door frame.

And it used the letters because of the names of the kings that came to worship Jesus.

Some also suggest,,, a Latin phrase,,, that the three words in it begin with C,,, M,,, and B,,, which means, “May Christ bless this dwelling!”

It makes sense to me to be from the Latin phrase,,, but either way,,, I just thought that it was interesting.

The most important part that you need to remember,,, is the fact that Gentiles came to visit Jesus,,, and worship Him.

Another early hint that Jesus came to save all,,, not just the Israelites.

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Verse 3 says: 3 When King Herod heard this, he was deeply disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.

This statement has always intrigued me.

Not necessarily that Herod was disturbed,,, that would be understandable.

He knew that he wasn't from the line of David and that was one of the reasons that the Israelites didn't like him,,, it wasn't the only reason,,, but it was part of it.

But it's the fact that all of Jerusalem with him,,, was deeply disturbed,,, that gets me.

You would think that they would have been happy for this kind of news,,, but they didn't make any effort to go and see Jesus,,, even though they had the information that showed them where Jesus was to be born,,, as we will see from the next few verses.

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Verses 4 through 6 say: 4 So he assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah would be born. 5 “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they told him, “because this is what was written by the prophet: 6 And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah: because out of you will come a leader who will shepherd My people Israel.”

So you can see from this verse that the chief priest and scribes had the right information about the Messiah,,, but their hearts weren't prepared to seek Jesus out,,, and as we know,,, it doesn't get any better as Jesus begins His ministry years later.

This is why that we always say that just knowing the Bible and knowing about God are different than having that personal relationship that is so critical to our salvation.

Even Satan can quote the scriptures,,, but that knowledge will not do him any good either!

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Verses 7 and 8 say: 7 Then Herod secretly summoned the wise men and asked them the exact time the star appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you find Him, report back to me so that I too can go and worship Him.”

We see from these verses along with verse 12 that Herod had no intention of going to worship Jesus if the wise men told him where they found him.

But as we know,,, he did meet with the wise men and told them where to search for Jesus,,, but he makes no effort to find Him on his own.

It's the same for us today,,, if we don't have Jesus as our personal Savior,,, we might know about Him,,, but we must seek Him to be saved,,, He isn't forcing Himself upon us,,, that's our choice to make.

As we see in the next verses,,, the wise men go on their way and put forth the effort to find Jesus.

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Verses 9 and 10 say: 9 After hearing the king, they went on their way. And there it was—the star they had seen in the east! It led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed beyond measure.

My Believer's Bible Commentary says,,, as the wise men set out,,, the star which they had seen in the East reappeared.

This indicates that the star had not guided them all the way from the East.

But now it did guide them to the house where the young Child was.

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Verse 11 says: 11 Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary His mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another route.

The most important part of these verses to me,,, are the three words,,, they worshiped Him.

This shows that the wise men were intent on showing the world through their actions that Jesus was sent to save us all,,, not just the Israelites.

They put forth the effort to find Him,,, and in doing so,,, we have the first indications of Gentiles worshipping Jesus,,, even though Jesus,,, was still a child.

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Which is what we need to do as well.

Jesus promised never to leave us or forsake us,,, but,,, we are continuously doing things that leave Him out of the picture.

Especially when things are going well,,, this tends to be a problem.

This year,,, with the covid pandemic continuing,,, we might make the same mistake because we think that God is ignoring our pleas for help.

That's why that we need to be sure that we use the example that the wise men gave us and be sure that we are putting forth the effort that we need to keep Jesus in our sight.

The wise men came from a long way away and yet,,, the chief priest were already close by,,, but the wise men were able to see Jesus and worship Him because they thought the trip was worth it and the religious leaders didn't.

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Hopefully,,, going into 2021,,, we won't make the same mistakes,,, and we will truly take the time to stay close to Jesus.

I say that because,,, Jesus will always be there,,, just like He promised,,, but we need to be sure that we are taking the time to stay close ourselves,,, instead of just ignoring Him like the religious leaders did,,, so many years ago.

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