Christmas 2018
Speaker: Steve Jeffrey
Date: 23rd December 2017
Passage: Matthew 2:1-23
00:00:00 --> 00:00:06 Good evening, everyone. It's great to see you. Not that I actually can see you.
00:00:07 --> 00:00:09 It's all dark out there at the moment.
00:00:09 --> 00:00:15 But it's great to be here with you in church tonight on a special occasion like Christmas Eve.
00:00:15 --> 00:00:23 If you've got kids or got grandkids or something like that, it's just that time where it's just palpable in terms of their excitement.
00:00:23 --> 00:00:30 My kids are all, last time I saw them, they're all tucked up in bed, ready for tomorrow morning.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:34 They're going to get up fairly early. They've been pretty excited for some time for Christmas.
00:00:35 --> 00:00:41 And the thing they're particularly excited for, as I suspect you're excited for, is to what am I going to get?
00:00:41 --> 00:00:43 What's my Christmas present going to be?
00:00:44 --> 00:00:49 One of the great traditions of Christmas is the giving and the receiving of gifts.
00:00:49 --> 00:00:55 And all of us hope, I think all of us hope, for something that we really want.
00:00:55 --> 00:01:00 Something that connects with who we are, with our interests and our passions.
00:01:01 --> 00:01:06 The best gifts are not necessarily the expensive ones, but the ones that are personal.
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 My kids, for instance, were particularly excited.
00:01:10 --> 00:01:15 The thing that they stood out for them and talked all year about is that for each one of them,
00:01:15 --> 00:01:20 we got something that was unique for them and just put it in their stocking as just a joke.
00:01:20 --> 00:01:25 One of the kids in my place goes through band-aids like you would not believe.
00:01:25 --> 00:01:29 It just puts them on everything. It's sticky tape for them.
00:01:29 --> 00:01:35 So we put band-aids, several boxes of them in their stocking, and they just thought that was hilarious.
00:01:35 --> 00:01:40 One of our kids likes all things potatoes, so there was a bunch of potatoes in their stocking.
00:01:40 --> 00:01:46 Another one had a craving for avocado at that particular moment, so there was like four avocados in their stock.
00:01:46 --> 00:01:50 And they just thought it was the best thing, and they continue to talk about it.
00:01:50 --> 00:01:54 It's because those presents connected with them personally.
00:01:55 --> 00:01:58 It says something about them, something significant about them.
00:01:59 --> 00:02:03 And what we have here in this passage that Gary just read out to us
00:02:03 --> 00:02:08 is Jesus receiving some pretty strange gifts.
00:02:09 --> 00:02:14 Three gifts, really strange gifts, and yet quite significant gifts.
00:02:15 --> 00:02:17 It's there in verse 11 of Matthew 2.
00:02:17 --> 00:02:23 Jesus was presented with gifts of gold and incense or frankincense and myrrh.
00:02:24 --> 00:02:30 Now as a poor peasant girl, Mary might have been pretty pleased in this moment
00:02:30 --> 00:02:32 because these are expensive gifts.
00:02:32 --> 00:02:36 This baby comes with an extensive trust fund.
00:02:37 --> 00:02:42 But she's, I'd imagine, quite baffled by this at the same time.
00:02:42 --> 00:02:45 These gifts are deeply personal.
00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 They say something very significant about this baby.
00:02:49 --> 00:02:53 They are three gifts that reveal the significance of Jesus,
00:02:53 --> 00:02:59 of who he is, what he's come to do, and what it's going to cost him to do it.
00:02:59 --> 00:03:04 So the gold points to who Jesus is.
00:03:04 --> 00:03:10 Gold was a gift that was brought to an audience with a king in the ancient Near East.
00:03:11 --> 00:03:15 The magi were expecting to see a king.
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 And they ask in the text,
00:03:17 --> 00:03:21 where is the one born who has been born king of the Jews?
00:03:21 --> 00:03:27 And so they brought gifts for a king because they were expecting to see a king.
00:03:28 --> 00:03:34 And what alerted them to the arrival of this new king is in the second half of verse 2 of the chapter.
00:03:35 --> 00:03:41 We saw his star in the east and we have come to worship him.
00:03:41 --> 00:03:48 You see, these magi are astrologers and magicians and interpreters of dreams.
00:03:48 --> 00:03:52 And in the ancient world, most people believed in astrology.
00:03:52 --> 00:03:58 And so the magi, these three men, are considered to be the elite.
00:04:00 --> 00:04:01 They're the academics, if you like.
00:04:01 --> 00:04:03 They're the wise men of their time.
00:04:04 --> 00:04:04 They're knowledgeable.
00:04:04 --> 00:04:12 And when these guys saw a star, they immediately recognized that something special was happening.
00:04:13 --> 00:04:19 You see, a particular event happened in history that caused stars,
00:04:19 --> 00:04:23 and particularly significant stars, to be associated with kings and rulers.
00:04:24 --> 00:04:31 When Julius Caesar died in 44 BC, one of the most astonishing flukes in history took place.
00:04:31 --> 00:04:36 A nova appeared in the sky over his funeral.
00:04:36 --> 00:04:41 And so from that moment on, stars were connected with great men.
00:04:41 --> 00:04:43 It became kind of the fashion of the time.
00:04:45 --> 00:04:50 And so when these magi see this star, they put two and two together.
00:04:51 --> 00:04:56 And what would have also encouraged them to dust off their passports
00:04:56 --> 00:05:00 was that there was a very strong rumor around in the first century
00:05:00 --> 00:05:05 that world dominion is going to shift and be set in Judea.
00:05:06 --> 00:05:12 So famous first century historians like Tacitus and Josephus and Suetonius
00:05:12 --> 00:05:16 all recorded this shift in world dominion to Judea.
00:05:17 --> 00:05:20 And so it wouldn't have been elite for the magi to conclude
00:05:20 --> 00:05:25 that political changes are on their way when they saw this star.
00:05:25 --> 00:05:30 And what these stargazers saw was most likely the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.
00:05:31 --> 00:05:38 It happened three times in the year 7 BC, 29th of May, 3rd of October and the 4th of December.
00:05:38 --> 00:05:45 And the magi knew that Jupiter was regarded as the royal star, the royal planet.
00:05:45 --> 00:05:48 And Saturn had long been the symbol of Israel.
00:05:48 --> 00:05:57 And so the competent astromonor would have concluded that this new age is now beginning
00:05:57 --> 00:06:03 with a new king and the ruler of the world is about to shift to Judea.
00:06:04 --> 00:06:11 And they set out on a long and a difficult journey to find the ruler of the world
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 and offer this ruler gold.
00:06:14 --> 00:06:23 The second gift, frankincense or incense, was also an unexpected gift.
00:06:23 --> 00:06:27 And this gift reveals what Jesus came to do.
00:06:28 --> 00:06:31 You see, incense was used by the Jewish priests in the temple worship
00:06:31 --> 00:06:35 as they mediated between God and people.
00:06:35 --> 00:06:41 And incense was used to symbolize relationship with God.
00:06:41 --> 00:06:46 And the magi were recognizing Jesus as the ultimate priest.
00:06:47 --> 00:06:51 The one who would mediate between God and humanity.
00:06:51 --> 00:06:57 The one who would bring about complete reconciliation between God and people.
00:06:58 --> 00:07:01 Jesus is the one who would establish that relationship.
00:07:03 --> 00:07:08 But any new mother would have been thrown by the third gift, myrrh.
00:07:08 --> 00:07:12 You see, myrrh was used to embalm the dead.
00:07:13 --> 00:07:15 It was a symbol of death.
00:07:16 --> 00:07:22 So imagine tomorrow morning, one of my girls runs to the Christmas tree,
00:07:22 --> 00:07:25 grabs their present, and it's a toy coffin.
00:07:26 --> 00:07:28 It's kind of odd.
00:07:29 --> 00:07:30 What do I do with this?
00:07:30 --> 00:07:34 You see, the gift of myrrh here for Jesus was prophetic.
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 The baby born a king was the baby born to die.
00:07:41 --> 00:07:46 And this is how Jesus was going to bring about the reconciliation between God and humanity.
00:07:46 --> 00:07:50 Jesus would die for the sins of the world.
00:07:50 --> 00:07:53 And the title of King of the Jews, quite interesting,
00:07:53 --> 00:07:56 is only used twice in all of Matthew's gospel.
00:07:56 --> 00:08:00 It's used of him here at the birth of Jesus,
00:08:00 --> 00:08:03 and it's used again at the crucifixion of Jesus.
00:08:04 --> 00:08:10 Born a king who exercises his rule by sacrificing himself for humanity
00:08:10 --> 00:08:13 to bring us back into relationship with God.
00:08:14 --> 00:08:15 So there's the three gifts.
00:08:17 --> 00:08:22 We see who he is, what he came to do, and how much it cost him to do it.
00:08:22 --> 00:08:32 Now, what's really interesting in these verses is how people respond to the who, the what, and the how of Jesus.
00:08:32 --> 00:08:36 One thing you notice throughout the historical biographies of Jesus
00:08:36 --> 00:08:42 is that whenever Jesus turns up, opinions of Jesus are divided.
00:08:44 --> 00:08:49 And here at the very start of his life, we see at least two major camps forming.
00:08:49 --> 00:08:55 One is full of praise and welcome, and the other one is full of hatred and opposition.
00:08:56 --> 00:09:01 The Magi and Herod here in this text stand as polar opposites.
00:09:04 --> 00:09:05 Herod lies through his teeth.
00:09:05 --> 00:09:06 Verse 8, he says,
00:09:06 --> 00:09:11 Go and make a careful search of this child as soon as you find him, report it to me,
00:09:12 --> 00:09:14 so that I too may go and worship him.
00:09:14 --> 00:09:22 Now, Herod has as much interest in worshiping Jesus as I have in sewing lessons,
00:09:23 --> 00:09:25 which is not much, I can tell you.
00:09:26 --> 00:09:30 And later in the chapter, we know that Herod didn't fool the Magi.
00:09:31 --> 00:09:35 They sneak off without telling Herod where Jesus is.
00:09:35 --> 00:09:41 And Herod is furious, so furious,
00:09:41 --> 00:09:45 that he orders all the boys two years old and under
00:09:45 --> 00:09:49 in the vicinity of Bethlehem to be put to death.
00:09:50 --> 00:09:54 Herod wants Jesus dead.
00:09:56 --> 00:09:59 And he will do whatever it takes for that to happen.
00:09:59 --> 00:10:05 You see, Herod is the Roman appointed king of the Jews,
00:10:05 --> 00:10:09 and he doesn't like the news that there's a new king in town.
00:10:09 --> 00:10:13 There's a new king that's been born, and he is threatened.
00:10:13 --> 00:10:16 And Herod, when Herod is threatened,
00:10:16 --> 00:10:22 this guy is infamous for his cruelty in which he dealt with rivals to his throne.
00:10:24 --> 00:10:27 Herod's response was hatred and fear,
00:10:27 --> 00:10:30 a hatred of anything, of anyone,
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32 that threatened his self-centeredness and his autonomy.
00:10:34 --> 00:10:40 And this account of deception and fear and bloodshed and injustice and homelessness
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 is all too familiar.
00:10:44 --> 00:10:48 As we draw close, close to the end of another year,
00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 there is a great deal that is wrong with our world.
00:10:51 --> 00:11:01 But we walk into controversy when we ask where all this evil and wrong in our world comes from.
00:11:02 --> 00:11:03 One end of the spectrum says,
00:11:04 --> 00:11:06 well, it's the fault of the rich and the powerful.
00:11:07 --> 00:11:08 They're the ones to blame.
00:11:08 --> 00:11:14 And this view of the world tends to make the poor and the minority groups
00:11:14 --> 00:11:15 the heroes of the world.
00:11:15 --> 00:11:23 At the other end of the spectrum are those who insist that immoral and irresponsible people
00:11:23 --> 00:11:24 are the main problem.
00:11:25 --> 00:11:30 And this view of the world tends to make hardworking, decent, middle-class people
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 the heroes of the world.
00:11:34 --> 00:11:39 And at first glance, this story seems to side with the first view.
00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 Herod is an unjust ruler,
00:11:42 --> 00:11:43 abusing his power,
00:11:43 --> 00:11:44 slaughtering the innocent.
00:11:44 --> 00:11:50 However, when you take in the full teaching of the Bible,
00:11:51 --> 00:11:56 it says that the source of the world's evil is in fact every human heart.
00:11:57 --> 00:12:00 Every human heart.
00:12:01 --> 00:12:05 Herod's reaction to Jesus is in a sense a picture of us all.
00:12:07 --> 00:12:09 You see, if you want to rule your life your way,
00:12:09 --> 00:12:12 if you want to be king over your life and someone else comes along and says,
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 no, I'm actually king,
00:12:15 --> 00:12:18 one of you's got to give way.
00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 One of you's got to give way.
00:12:22 --> 00:12:27 Only one person can sit on the absolute throne.
00:12:27 --> 00:12:34 And Jesus comes into this world claiming to be God.
00:12:34 --> 00:12:35 Even before he could speak,
00:12:36 --> 00:12:37 others were claiming that of him.
00:12:38 --> 00:12:41 To be the ultimate ruler of all things.
00:12:42 --> 00:12:46 And as he grew and as his ministry developed,
00:12:46 --> 00:12:48 he called for allegiance to himself,
00:12:48 --> 00:12:50 so supreme,
00:12:50 --> 00:12:56 that it makes all other commitments look weak in comparison.
00:12:58 --> 00:13:00 It is a claim to absolute authority,
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 a summons to unconditional loyalty,
00:13:03 --> 00:13:07 and it inevitably triggers deep resistance in our hearts.
00:13:07 --> 00:13:11 Where's the true king?
00:13:12 --> 00:13:17 This is the most disturbing question possible for the human heart.
00:13:19 --> 00:13:21 Who is in charge of my life?
00:13:23 --> 00:13:26 We want to remain on the throne of our lives at all cost.
00:13:27 --> 00:13:30 For some of us, we use religion to stay on the throne.
00:13:30 --> 00:13:35 Trying to put God into a position where he has to do our bidding.
00:13:36 --> 00:13:40 Because we're so righteous rather than serving him unconditionally.
00:13:40 --> 00:13:41 Alternatively,
00:13:42 --> 00:13:45 others flee from religion,
00:13:45 --> 00:13:49 becoming atheists and loudly claiming that there is no God.
00:13:50 --> 00:13:51 Either way,
00:13:51 --> 00:13:57 we're expressing a natural hostility to the true rule of the true king.
00:13:57 --> 00:14:02 Herod couldn't get rid of Jesus,
00:14:02 --> 00:14:05 even with an army at his disposal.
00:14:06 --> 00:14:08 In fact, as the text said,
00:14:09 --> 00:14:10 he died,
00:14:11 --> 00:14:12 but Jesus didn't.
00:14:14 --> 00:14:15 Jesus still rules,
00:14:16 --> 00:14:17 and he still calls people to follow him.
00:14:19 --> 00:14:24 When Queen Victoria ruled as the British monarch in the 1800s,
00:14:24 --> 00:14:27 she controlled a third of the world.
00:14:28 --> 00:14:32 And she said one day that she couldn't wait to meet Jesus.
00:14:34 --> 00:14:35 And she was asked,
00:14:35 --> 00:14:35 why?
00:14:36 --> 00:14:37 Why do you want to meet Jesus?
00:14:38 --> 00:14:39 And her reply was,
00:14:39 --> 00:14:42 so that I can cast my crown before him.
00:14:44 --> 00:14:49 She recognized that even as one of the most powerful people in the world,
00:14:50 --> 00:14:51 she too had a ruler.
00:14:51 --> 00:14:54 A ruler who deserved her everything,
00:14:55 --> 00:14:56 even her crown.
00:14:57 --> 00:15:02 Now what's interesting here is that Herod isn't the only negative reaction to Jesus that's recorded.
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 There's another negative reaction.
00:15:05 --> 00:15:07 It's not as strong as Herod's,
00:15:07 --> 00:15:09 but it's just as negative.
00:15:09 --> 00:15:14 They're the ones who are simply doing nothing with Jesus.
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17 That is,
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 he's a non-entity in their life.
00:15:20 --> 00:15:21 And this group,
00:15:21 --> 00:15:22 ironically,
00:15:22 --> 00:15:27 is the chief priests and the scribes who have been waiting for the Messiah to come.
00:15:27 --> 00:15:29 Verse 4,
00:15:29 --> 00:15:30 it says,
00:15:30 --> 00:15:33 gathering together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people,
00:15:33 --> 00:15:33 he,
00:15:34 --> 00:15:34 that's Herod,
00:15:35 --> 00:15:38 inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.
00:15:39 --> 00:15:40 They told him
00:15:40 --> 00:15:42 where to go,
00:15:43 --> 00:15:43 where to look.
00:15:43 --> 00:15:46 And then that was it.
00:15:47 --> 00:15:49 Back to business as usual for these guys.
00:15:51 --> 00:16:01 The sheer silence and inactivity of the religious leaders is remarkable in view of the magnitude of what has just happened.
00:16:01 --> 00:16:03 They didn't lift the sandal.
00:16:06 --> 00:16:08 Why not at least go with the Magi?
00:16:11 --> 00:16:12 You see,
00:16:12 --> 00:16:13 they knew it all.
00:16:14 --> 00:16:15 But they did nothing.
00:16:17 --> 00:16:19 They knew their Bible.
00:16:21 --> 00:16:24 They had no problem in giving Herod the answers.
00:16:25 --> 00:16:27 But they missed God.
00:16:29 --> 00:16:31 They didn't go to greet him.
00:16:32 --> 00:16:36 Their apathy eventually hardened into an outright opposition of Jesus.
00:16:37 --> 00:16:40 And their knowledge of Jesus was no substitute for obedience to him.
00:16:42 --> 00:16:46 And so it's astonishing that the positive reaction of Jesus comes from the Magi.
00:16:47 --> 00:16:48 The rest of the Bible,
00:16:49 --> 00:16:53 these guys are viewed quite negatively.
00:16:54 --> 00:16:58 Only Matthew talks about these guys in positive terms.
00:16:59 --> 00:17:00 Impressed by what they saw,
00:17:00 --> 00:17:02 in the sky that night,
00:17:02 --> 00:17:06 they journeyed west to Judea to find out what it all meant.
00:17:06 --> 00:17:16 It is astonishing that these men who had so little to go by should venture so far,
00:17:16 --> 00:17:19 endure such hardship in travel,
00:17:19 --> 00:17:25 and face such uncertainty of actually finding the one to whom the star was pointing.
00:17:25 --> 00:17:28 And what's more,
00:17:28 --> 00:17:32 they gave him costly gifts and the worship and the honor of their hearts.
00:17:32 --> 00:17:36 Where the religious leaders expended no time,
00:17:36 --> 00:17:37 no energy,
00:17:37 --> 00:17:41 no expense or inconvenience.
00:17:41 --> 00:17:47 Where Herod expended a great deal of time and energy and expense and inconvenience
00:17:47 --> 00:17:49 in order to try and kill Jesus.
00:17:49 --> 00:17:55 The Magi expend a great deal of time and energy and expense and the reason to try and find Jesus
00:17:55 --> 00:17:59 so that they can worship and honor him as God.
00:18:00 --> 00:18:02 The Magi are the worshipers.
00:18:02 --> 00:18:05 Those who joyfully ascribe the dignity,
00:18:06 --> 00:18:07 the authority and honor to King Jesus.
00:18:12 --> 00:18:12 Indifference,
00:18:15 --> 00:18:15 hostility,
00:18:15 --> 00:18:18 or worship.
00:18:19 --> 00:18:21 They're the responses to Jesus.
00:18:22 --> 00:18:26 So let me just take a pun here and I want to speak to two broad groups here tonight.
00:18:26 --> 00:18:29 There are those who are gathered here tonight who are the worshipers.
00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 Those who accept Jesus,
00:18:34 --> 00:18:35 accept the claims of Christmas,
00:18:35 --> 00:18:36 accept Christianity,
00:18:37 --> 00:18:38 and you follow Jesus.
00:18:39 --> 00:18:42 It's really important for you if you're a Christian to know
00:18:42 --> 00:18:49 that every Christian still has a heart with residual anger and hostility towards God.
00:18:52 --> 00:18:54 And it will always be there until the end.
00:18:55 --> 00:18:57 It will always be there.
00:18:58 --> 00:19:00 And that's why it's so hard for us to pray.
00:19:00 --> 00:19:02 It's so hard for us to be generous.
00:19:02 --> 00:19:04 It's so hard for us to obey.
00:19:04 --> 00:19:06 It's so hard for us to grow.
00:19:06 --> 00:19:09 There is still a bit of Herod in all of us.
00:19:09 --> 00:19:16 There is still something in us that fights God every day.
00:19:18 --> 00:19:21 And so you cannot just glide through the Christian life.
00:19:22 --> 00:19:27 We've got to be far more intentional about following Jesus
00:19:27 --> 00:19:29 and treasuring Him above everything.
00:19:29 --> 00:19:32 Far more intentional about our Christian growth and about prayer
00:19:32 --> 00:19:35 and about our accountability to other people
00:19:35 --> 00:19:37 in overcoming our bad habits.
00:19:37 --> 00:19:40 And so take the opportunity this Christmas
00:19:40 --> 00:19:47 to renew the commitment to move forward following Jesus into 2018.
00:19:49 --> 00:19:51 If, however, you're here tonight
00:19:51 --> 00:19:56 and your response is maybe an indifference or even a hostility,
00:19:57 --> 00:20:00 I'd like to give you some respectful advice.
00:20:00 --> 00:20:06 For those who are unsure about Christmas and Christianity
00:20:06 --> 00:20:09 or perhaps even the existence of God,
00:20:10 --> 00:20:11 that's okay, wherever you are.
00:20:13 --> 00:20:18 Just know that you are not objective in your view of Jesus
00:20:18 --> 00:20:22 or of God or of Christmas or of Christianity.
00:20:24 --> 00:20:27 The philosopher Thomas Nagel is an atheist
00:20:27 --> 00:20:29 who's very candid about this.
00:20:30 --> 00:20:31 And he wrote this.
00:20:32 --> 00:20:32 He says,
00:20:32 --> 00:20:35 I'm talking about the fear of religion itself.
00:20:36 --> 00:20:38 I'm speaking from experience,
00:20:38 --> 00:20:43 being strongly subject to this fear myself.
00:20:43 --> 00:20:46 I want atheism to be true.
00:20:47 --> 00:20:50 And I'm made uneasy by the fact
00:20:50 --> 00:20:53 that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know
00:20:53 --> 00:20:55 are religious believers.
00:20:56 --> 00:20:59 It isn't just that I don't believe in God.
00:20:59 --> 00:21:01 And naturally, I hope that my belief is right.
00:21:03 --> 00:21:04 I hope that there is no God.
00:21:05 --> 00:21:07 I don't want there to be a God.
00:21:08 --> 00:21:10 I don't want the universe to be like that.
00:21:10 --> 00:21:16 My guess is that this cosmic authority problem is not rare.
00:21:18 --> 00:21:22 His point is that nobody is really neutral
00:21:22 --> 00:21:23 about whether Christmas is true or not.
00:21:25 --> 00:21:28 If the Son of God was really born in a manger,
00:21:29 --> 00:21:31 then we, by that moment,
00:21:31 --> 00:21:34 have automatically lost our rights
00:21:34 --> 00:21:36 to be in charge of our lives.
00:21:40 --> 00:21:43 Who can be objective about the claim like that?
00:21:44 --> 00:21:47 Keep that in mind if you don't believe in Christianity.
00:21:49 --> 00:21:50 Question your doubts.
00:21:52 --> 00:21:53 I've got to know,
00:21:53 --> 00:21:54 I just imagine that, you know,
00:21:54 --> 00:21:55 in the next couple of days,
00:21:55 --> 00:21:57 you've got a number of things on your plate
00:21:57 --> 00:22:01 in the next week even.
00:22:01 --> 00:22:03 But maybe in the very near future,
00:22:03 --> 00:22:05 you might want to take a look
00:22:05 --> 00:22:07 at the issue of who Jesus is,
00:22:07 --> 00:22:09 what he came to do,
00:22:09 --> 00:22:11 and what it cost him to do it.
00:22:13 --> 00:22:15 The Magi were the knowledgeable men of the East.
00:22:15 --> 00:22:17 They were the academic elite.
00:22:18 --> 00:22:20 But their knowledge about the events of Jesus
00:22:20 --> 00:22:21 and his first Christmas
00:22:21 --> 00:22:23 took them only a certain point.
00:22:24 --> 00:22:26 Their observation of the star
00:22:26 --> 00:22:27 took them to Jerusalem.
00:22:28 --> 00:22:29 Wrong town.
00:22:29 --> 00:22:30 Took them to Jerusalem.
00:22:31 --> 00:22:33 That's as far as they got.
00:22:34 --> 00:22:34 In the end,
00:22:34 --> 00:22:39 they had to go to God's revelation of himself
00:22:39 --> 00:22:41 in the Bible to find Jesus.
00:22:42 --> 00:22:43 And in finding Jesus,
00:22:43 --> 00:22:45 they found what they've been looking for
00:22:45 --> 00:22:47 all of their life.
00:22:47 --> 00:22:48 He is the wisdom
00:22:48 --> 00:22:51 that these wise men were looking for.
00:22:52 --> 00:22:54 And I want to say it without explaining it.
00:22:56 --> 00:22:59 Jesus is the answer to everything
00:22:59 --> 00:23:00 that you are searching for in life.
00:23:00 --> 00:23:03 He is the goal.
00:23:03 --> 00:23:05 He is the destination.
00:23:07 --> 00:23:08 And so I encourage you
00:23:08 --> 00:23:10 to be like these wise men,
00:23:10 --> 00:23:11 to search for Jesus,
00:23:11 --> 00:23:14 but go to the source.
00:23:15 --> 00:23:17 The evidence for him
00:23:17 --> 00:23:19 is overwhelming
00:23:19 --> 00:23:20 and it is compelling.
00:23:20 --> 00:23:24 In fact,
00:23:24 --> 00:23:25 on the way out tonight,
00:23:25 --> 00:23:26 out there in the atrium
00:23:26 --> 00:23:27 on the Connect desk
00:23:27 --> 00:23:28 is a little book called
00:23:28 --> 00:23:29 Christmas Uncut.
00:23:30 --> 00:23:31 Just grab one.
00:23:31 --> 00:23:32 Take it with you.
00:23:33 --> 00:23:34 Grab it and take it with you.
00:23:34 --> 00:23:36 Read one of the biographies
00:23:36 --> 00:23:36 as we're doing tonight
00:23:36 --> 00:23:37 in Matthew's God.
00:23:37 --> 00:23:38 Read one of the biographies of Jesus.
00:23:39 --> 00:23:40 Consider Jesus
00:23:40 --> 00:23:42 and ponder who he is,
00:23:43 --> 00:23:45 what he came to do
00:23:45 --> 00:23:47 and what it cost him to do it
00:23:47 --> 00:23:49 and what it means
00:23:49 --> 00:23:50 to bow down
00:23:50 --> 00:23:51 and worship him
00:23:51 --> 00:23:52 2 years later.
00:23:53 --> 00:23:54 Amen.