Magi
Series: Find HOPE
Speaker: Steve Jeffrey
Date: 23rd December 2015
Passage: Matthew 2:1-12
00:00:00 --> 00:00:04 It's Christmas time. It's that time of year when presents are under the tree,
00:00:05 --> 00:00:10 or in our case, hidden away in cupboards so that little fingers don't get to them in advance.
00:00:12 --> 00:00:18 It's that time when we've spent a fair bit of time, hopefully, in picking out presents,
00:00:18 --> 00:00:23 taking lots of time to think about it, to get the right present to the right person.
00:00:23 --> 00:00:27 I've got to say that's particularly not a gift that I have, personally.
00:00:27 --> 00:00:35 I'm grateful that Nat does most of our present picking in our place, and she often does some great gifts.
00:00:35 --> 00:00:43 I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to receive any of these gifts tomorrow.
00:00:43 --> 00:00:44 Pretty confident of that.
00:00:45 --> 00:00:47 For instance, microphone tongs.
00:00:48 --> 00:00:54 They are for the multitasking kitchen lover person who is quite joyful when they're in the kitchen,
00:00:54 --> 00:00:57 or the snuggie.
00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 Sort of reminiscent of a bit of the Vicar of Dibley, I think.
00:01:01 --> 00:01:05 I kind of feel like I'm cuddling a bishop or something, I think, if I had that.
00:01:05 --> 00:01:10 Spray on hair, although I believe I might need it soon.
00:01:10 --> 00:01:12 It's not something that I suspect I'm going to get.
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 Or this one, smoking mittens.
00:01:15 --> 00:01:18 Not even the cold can keep you away from a cigarette.
00:01:18 --> 00:01:21 Or there's the coffin couch.
00:01:23 --> 00:01:25 That's pretty hideous, I think.
00:01:26 --> 00:01:32 Some of us might need emergency underpants, just like a box of tissues.
00:01:33 --> 00:01:34 Pull them out when you need them.
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 Hopefully, they're not as thin as tissues.
00:01:37 --> 00:01:43 And one that I just cannot comprehend why this would be the case for a teenager,
00:01:43 --> 00:01:46 this is a teenage one, a school exam simulator.
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 It's a computer game.
00:01:50 --> 00:01:51 Like, serious.
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 Who would buy a school exam simulator?
00:01:55 --> 00:02:02 Now, not to be outdone, there are some, in fact, worst baby gifts ever that you could possibly give.
00:02:02 --> 00:02:04 For instance, there's the crib dribbler.
00:02:04 --> 00:02:11 However, many years ago on a pig farm, we had this sort of stuff for pigs in their pens.
00:02:11 --> 00:02:13 They could sort of feed themselves wherever they need to.
00:02:13 --> 00:02:19 Of course, when the baby's awake, you can attach the baby mop to them and let them go around the floor.
00:02:20 --> 00:02:25 If the crib dribbler is not up for you, then there's the bacon baby powder.
00:02:26 --> 00:02:28 Bacon-flavoured baby powder.
00:02:28 --> 00:02:29 Now, I'm all for bacon.
00:02:29 --> 00:02:32 But seriously, bacon-flavoured baby powder.
00:02:32 --> 00:02:35 There's the baby keeper, again, for the multitasker.
00:02:35 --> 00:02:39 If you don't get the multitasker bum, you just want to sort of hang the kids somewhere.
00:02:39 --> 00:02:40 Just leave them there.
00:02:41 --> 00:02:44 For the potty trainers, there's the iPad potty.
00:02:44 --> 00:02:46 That can be useful, I'd imagine.
00:02:47 --> 00:02:51 Probably slightly inappropriate in northern New South Wales and parts of South Africa
00:02:51 --> 00:02:55 is the shark sleeping suit for the kids.
00:02:56 --> 00:03:01 There's also, for the wintertime, there's the snug a baby.
00:03:02 --> 00:03:03 Carry your baby.
00:03:03 --> 00:03:06 Is that the weirdest thing that you've ever seen?
00:03:06 --> 00:03:08 Having your baby's head poking up through there.
00:03:08 --> 00:03:13 Now, if, of course, you don't want to buy any of these gifts but continually want to screw up your children,
00:03:13 --> 00:03:17 then just get the book, Seven Ways to Traumatise Your Children,
00:03:17 --> 00:03:20 and just be done with it rather than buy those gifts for them.
00:03:21 --> 00:03:23 A bunch of weird gifts out there.
00:03:23 --> 00:03:27 These things make the list of worst Christmas presents ever.
00:03:27 --> 00:03:32 I wonder if you ever noticed, as Sam read through the Christmas account, though,
00:03:32 --> 00:03:38 that the gifts that Jesus received, there in verse 11 in Matthew chapter 2,
00:03:38 --> 00:03:41 were pretty strange gifts for him to receive.
00:03:41 --> 00:03:46 Normally, you'd go, you know, take some Lego, take some flowers, a baby jumpsuit,
00:03:46 --> 00:03:47 or something useful, or something like that.
00:03:47 --> 00:03:50 And here, Jesus gets a bunch of strange gifts.
00:03:51 --> 00:03:55 He's presented with gifts of gold, and of incense, and of myrrh.
00:03:56 --> 00:04:03 Now, on one level, you could say that as a poor peasant girl, Mary would have been stoked.
00:04:03 --> 00:04:08 These are expensive gifts that have been brought to her.
00:04:08 --> 00:04:12 And so this baby comes with a pretty extensive trust fund.
00:04:13 --> 00:04:19 But they would have been sitting there, kind of confused, as these magi came in.
00:04:20 --> 00:04:23 Gold? A weird gift for a baby.
00:04:24 --> 00:04:31 It's a gift that you brought to an audience for a king in the ancient Near East.
00:04:32 --> 00:04:36 Incense was used in temple worship in Jerusalem as a symbol of prayer.
00:04:36 --> 00:04:38 It pointed to a relationship with God.
00:04:38 --> 00:04:43 And myrrh was used to embalm corpses for funerals.
00:04:45 --> 00:04:48 It's a gift that speaks of death.
00:04:49 --> 00:04:55 Imagine one of the presents under my tree tonight for my four-year-old was a little coffin.
00:04:57 --> 00:05:01 You know, if it wasn't a joke present where the skeleton sort of jumped up and said something,
00:05:01 --> 00:05:04 just a serious gift, you know, here's a little coffin.
00:05:04 --> 00:05:12 And there might be days when you kind of wish it, but you sort of think a coffin, it symbolizes death.
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 What a strange gift.
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 These gifts here are all about Jesus.
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 They're about Jesus confronting the world.
00:05:21 --> 00:05:28 They reveal the significance of who he is, what he came to do, and how he did it.
00:05:29 --> 00:05:35 The first gift stresses the kingship of Jesus, a king at birth.
00:05:36 --> 00:05:41 The magi ask the question, where is the one born who has been born king of the Jews?
00:05:41 --> 00:05:46 As we've seen, they brought gifts appropriate for a king, gold.
00:05:47 --> 00:05:52 And what alerted them to Jesus was, in fact, the second half of verse 2, where it says,
00:05:52 --> 00:05:57 we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 In the ancient world, most people believed in astrology.
00:06:02 --> 00:06:12 It's not surprising, the steady course of the stars and the planets represented a settled order in the universe.
00:06:14 --> 00:06:19 They assumed that astronomical events that were out of the ordinary
00:06:19 --> 00:06:26 was God breaking into his ordered world to announce something, making some news.
00:06:26 --> 00:06:35 And a particular event in history caused particularly stars to be associated with kings and rulers.
00:06:35 --> 00:06:44 You see, when Julius Caesar died in 44 BC, one of the most astonishing flukes in history took place.
00:06:45 --> 00:06:50 A nova appeared in the sky above his funeral.
00:06:50 --> 00:07:01 And from that moment on, stars were associated with great men, became the fashion.
00:07:03 --> 00:07:08 And of course, linked with that was this very strong rumor that went around the first century
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 that world domination would come out of Judea.
00:07:13 --> 00:07:19 Famous first century historians like Tacitus and Josephus and Suetonius all recorded it.
00:07:19 --> 00:07:28 And so it wouldn't be surprising for the Magi to conclude that political changes were on the way when they saw the star.
00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 These Magi, they were wise men.
00:07:31 --> 00:07:35 They were knowledgeable astrologers and magicians and interpreters of dreams.
00:07:35 --> 00:07:36 They were stargazers.
00:07:38 --> 00:07:43 And what they saw was most likely the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.
00:07:43 --> 00:07:52 It happened three times in 7 BC on the 23rd of May, the 3rd of October and the 4th of December.
00:07:53 --> 00:07:54 Jupiter and Saturn.
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 Jupiter was the royal planet.
00:07:57 --> 00:08:00 Saturn had long been the symbol of Israel.
00:08:00 --> 00:08:05 And so the competent astrologer would have concluded that a new age was beginning
00:08:05 --> 00:08:09 in which the rule of the world was about to shift to Judea.
00:08:09 --> 00:08:14 And so they set out for Judea.
00:08:15 --> 00:08:19 They set out on a long and difficult journey to find the ruler of the world
00:08:19 --> 00:08:23 and to offer him gifts as the new king of the world.
00:08:24 --> 00:08:25 And so they gave him gold.
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 And incense was used by the priests in the temple.
00:08:30 --> 00:08:35 And so here they were acknowledging that before them was the ultimate priest.
00:08:35 --> 00:08:39 Jesus is the one who would mediate between God and humanity.
00:08:39 --> 00:08:43 The one who would bring about a complete reconciliation between God and people.
00:08:44 --> 00:08:47 Jesus is the one who would establish that relationship.
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 And then myrrh was used to embalm the dead.
00:08:52 --> 00:08:56 The man born a king was a man born to die.
00:08:56 --> 00:09:06 That is what he needed to do in order to bring about the reconciliation between God and humanity was to die.
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 Jesus would die for the sins of humanity.
00:09:09 --> 00:09:09 It's interesting.
00:09:10 --> 00:09:14 The title, King of the Jews, is used only twice in Matthew's gospel.
00:09:15 --> 00:09:18 It's used here at the birth of Jesus.
00:09:18 --> 00:09:21 And it's used again at the crucifixion of Jesus.
00:09:21 --> 00:09:29 Jesus exercises his kingship by sacrificing himself for us to bring us back into relationship with God.
00:09:30 --> 00:09:41 And so these strange gifts represent who Jesus is, what he came to do, and what it cost him to do it.
00:09:41 --> 00:09:51 One thing you notice throughout the historical biographies of Jesus is that whenever Jesus turns up, he divides people.
00:09:53 --> 00:09:57 People have different opinions about him, much like people do today.
00:09:57 --> 00:10:05 And here at the very start of his life, we see at least two camps forming.
00:10:06 --> 00:10:11 One full of praise and welcome, and the other one full of hatred and opposition.
00:10:13 --> 00:10:17 That the Magi and Herod here stand out as polar opposites.
00:10:18 --> 00:10:21 You see Herod in verse 8, he's just lying through his teeth when he says,
00:10:21 --> 00:10:23 Go and make a careful search of the child.
00:10:23 --> 00:10:29 As soon as you find him, report to me so that I too may go and worship him.
00:10:30 --> 00:10:30 He's lying.
00:10:31 --> 00:10:37 He has about as much interest in worshipping Jesus as I have in taking up cross-stitching lessons,
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 which is very little, I can tell you.
00:10:40 --> 00:10:48 And we know this because in the rest of Matthew chapter 2, it says that the Herod didn't fool the Magi.
00:10:48 --> 00:10:52 They sneak off without telling Herod where Jesus is.
00:10:52 --> 00:11:00 And Herod is so furious that he orders all the boys two years older and under around the vicinity of Bethlehem to be murdered.
00:11:01 --> 00:11:06 That is, Herod wants Jesus to be wiped out.
00:11:06 --> 00:11:13 You see, Herod doesn't like the news that another king has been born.
00:11:14 --> 00:11:18 He would have heard the rumours of the new king and he was threatened by it.
00:11:18 --> 00:11:24 You see, Herod had been appointed by the Romans as king of the Jews for 40 years.
00:11:25 --> 00:11:28 He was appointed by the Roman Senate in 40 BC.
00:11:28 --> 00:11:31 He gained control of the whole country in 37 BC.
00:11:31 --> 00:11:37 And he died in 4 BC, most likely not long after this event.
00:11:39 --> 00:11:45 And he was infamous for his cruelty in which he dealt with possible rivals to his throne.
00:11:46 --> 00:11:48 He killed his favourite wife.
00:11:48 --> 00:11:48 He had several.
00:11:48 --> 00:11:56 He killed his favourite wife and two of his sons because he had this idea that they were plotting against him to take his throne.
00:11:57 --> 00:12:00 And so Herod's response was hatred and fear.
00:12:00 --> 00:12:06 A hatred of anything or anyone that threatened his self-centredness and his autonomy.
00:12:07 --> 00:12:12 He had a lust for power and control that blunted his better qualities.
00:12:14 --> 00:12:19 Of course, Herod was spot on about his assessment of all these events.
00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 Someone more important than him had been born.
00:12:21 --> 00:12:28 The baby lying in the manger was and is the king of the Jews, but also the king of heaven and earth.
00:12:28 --> 00:12:34 Jesus is someone so important that he has a right to tell us how to live and demand allegiance.
00:12:35 --> 00:12:40 Herod certainly got that bit right, but he got it wrong when he thought that Jesus was a political opponent.
00:12:41 --> 00:12:45 He thought that Jesus was going to get an army and push him around.
00:12:45 --> 00:12:51 Yes, Jesus is king, but he's a king who came to save and to serve.
00:12:51 --> 00:12:58 When the angels came to Joseph and told him that Mary was pregnant, this is what they said.
00:12:59 --> 00:13:06 She will give birth to a son and you're to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.
00:13:06 --> 00:13:10 And this is exactly what Herod does not understand.
00:13:11 --> 00:13:13 Herod doesn't see that Jesus came to save and serve.
00:13:13 --> 00:13:16 And so he is threatened by Jesus.
00:13:17 --> 00:13:20 And so he acts with dishonesty and brutality.
00:13:21 --> 00:13:25 Herod is blinded by his arrogance and his sense of self-importance.
00:13:28 --> 00:13:37 I wonder whether the thought of Jesus being your king, as we have sung a number of times already tonight, gets your bristles up.
00:13:37 --> 00:13:45 Maybe a little mini Herod fighting a turf war with Jesus in control of your life.
00:13:46 --> 00:13:49 Is that your position this Christmas in 2015?
00:13:50 --> 00:13:53 That is that Jesus is a threat to your rule.
00:13:56 --> 00:14:04 When Queen Victoria ruled as the British monarch in the 1800s, she controlled approximately a third of the world.
00:14:04 --> 00:14:10 And she said one day that she couldn't wait to meet Jesus.
00:14:11 --> 00:14:12 Why?
00:14:12 --> 00:14:17 Her response was, so that I can cast my crown before him.
00:14:19 --> 00:14:26 She recognized that even as one of the most powerful people in the world, she too had a ruler.
00:14:28 --> 00:14:32 One who deserved her everything, even her crown.
00:14:32 --> 00:14:33 One who deserved her.
00:14:33 --> 00:14:37 It was a tough war with Jesus that you cannot win.
00:14:40 --> 00:14:43 Now Herod isn't the only negative reaction to Jesus here.
00:14:44 --> 00:14:50 The other reaction is not as strong as Herod's, but it is a negative reaction.
00:14:51 --> 00:14:54 They're the ones who simply do nothing about Jesus.
00:14:55 --> 00:14:58 He is a non-entity in their lives.
00:14:58 --> 00:15:05 And this group is remarkably represented by the chief priests and the scribes.
00:15:05 --> 00:15:07 Notice in verse 4, gathering together.
00:15:07 --> 00:15:08 This is what Herod does.
00:15:08 --> 00:15:16 Gathers all together the chief priests and the scribe of the people and inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.
00:15:17 --> 00:15:21 These are the guys who are looking for the Messiah to come.
00:15:21 --> 00:15:26 These are the guys who knew the rumors that something significant was happening.
00:15:26 --> 00:15:33 And when they tell the Magi, well, that was it.
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 It was back to business for them.
00:15:37 --> 00:15:46 The sheer silence and inactivity of the religious leaders is overwhelming in view of the magnitude of what has happened.
00:15:46 --> 00:15:48 They didn't even lift a sandal.
00:15:48 --> 00:15:53 Why did they not go with the Magi?
00:15:55 --> 00:15:56 They knew it all.
00:15:58 --> 00:15:59 But they did nothing.
00:16:02 --> 00:16:04 They knew their scriptures.
00:16:05 --> 00:16:11 They had no problem in answering Herod, giving the Magi directions.
00:16:11 --> 00:16:15 But they missed Jesus.
00:16:16 --> 00:16:18 They missed God in our midst.
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21 They didn't go to greet Him.
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 They didn't worship Him.
00:16:25 --> 00:16:29 Their apathy eventually hardened into outright opposition to Jesus.
00:16:30 --> 00:16:36 And friends, this has got to be a warning for us who hear these stories again and again and again about baby Jesus.
00:16:36 --> 00:16:43 For he who acknowledge who He is.
00:16:44 --> 00:16:50 It is quite clear that knowledge of Him is no substitute to obedience of Him.
00:16:50 --> 00:16:57 What's astonishing is that the positive reaction to Jesus comes from the Magi.
00:16:57 --> 00:17:02 Because the rest of the Bible, these guys are viewed pretty negatively.
00:17:03 --> 00:17:07 Only Matthew talks about these guys in positive terms.
00:17:08 --> 00:17:14 Impressed by what they saw in the sky one night, they packed their bags.
00:17:14 --> 00:17:23 They took a journey of over 1 kilometers west of Judea to find out what it all meant.
00:17:24 --> 00:17:32 It's so astonishing that men with so little to go on should venture so far, endure such hardship in travel,
00:17:32 --> 00:17:38 and face such uncertainty of actually finding the one to whom the star pointed.
00:17:38 --> 00:17:45 And what is more, they gave Him costly gifts and the worship and the honor of their hearts.
00:17:47 --> 00:17:54 Where the religious leaders expended no time, no energy, no expense, no inconvenience.
00:17:54 --> 00:18:02 Where Herod expended a great deal of time and energy and expense and inconvenience to try and find and kill Jesus.
00:18:02 --> 00:18:09 The Magi expend a great deal of time and energy and expense and the love of their hearts.
00:18:09 --> 00:18:12 So that they could worship Jesus and honor Jesus.
00:18:13 --> 00:18:16 The Magi here are the worshipers.
00:18:17 --> 00:18:23 Those who fully ascribe dignity and authority and honor to King Jesus.
00:18:23 --> 00:18:28 And whose lives are satisfied in Him as the wisdom of the world.
00:18:28 --> 00:18:32 These wise men have found their wisdom.
00:18:35 --> 00:18:41 And so there we have indifference and hostility or worship.
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 They're the responses to this Jesus.
00:18:45 --> 00:18:50 And if your response is maybe indifference or maybe even a little bit of hostility,
00:18:51 --> 00:18:55 I want to make one suggestion this Christmas.
00:18:55 --> 00:18:59 Now I figure you've got a bunch of stuff on your plate in the next few days.
00:18:59 --> 00:19:04 But maybe in the near future, you might want to take a look at the issue of who Jesus is,
00:19:05 --> 00:19:08 what He came to do, and what it cost Him to do it.
00:19:09 --> 00:19:13 The Magi were the knowledgeable men of the East.
00:19:14 --> 00:19:15 The Oxford Dons.
00:19:17 --> 00:19:19 They were the academic elite.
00:19:19 --> 00:19:26 But their knowledge about these events of the first Christmas took them only so far.
00:19:27 --> 00:19:32 Their observation of the world, of the star, took them to Jerusalem.
00:19:33 --> 00:19:35 But that's as far as they got.
00:19:36 --> 00:19:40 In the end, they had to consult the Scriptures, the Word of God,
00:19:40 --> 00:19:42 to find out where Jesus was to be born.
00:19:43 --> 00:19:45 They had to find Jesus through the Bible.
00:19:45 --> 00:19:54 And so can I encourage you to be like these wise men and go to the source?
00:19:55 --> 00:19:59 There's a danger in thinking that you've got the Christmas story all worked out
00:19:59 --> 00:20:02 because you've seen a bunch of nativity scenes in shopping centers
00:20:02 --> 00:20:05 or that you've sung a bunch of Christmas carols.
00:20:05 --> 00:20:07 We're going to sing a Christmas carol in the moment.
00:20:08 --> 00:20:09 That's not quite correct.
00:20:09 --> 00:20:11 We three kings of Orient are.
00:20:12 --> 00:20:14 Nothing in the Bible says that they're kings.
00:20:14 --> 00:20:17 Nothing in the Bible even says that there's three of them.
00:20:20 --> 00:20:21 There's three presents.
00:20:21 --> 00:20:22 Acknowledge that.
00:20:22 --> 00:20:25 But I'm going to give nat three presents.
00:20:25 --> 00:20:26 Well, I've given nat three presents.
00:20:27 --> 00:20:27 Maybe not tomorrow.
00:20:27 --> 00:20:29 I'll give nat three presents.
00:20:29 --> 00:20:30 But there's not three of me.
00:20:32 --> 00:20:36 Go to the source of the actual facts that point us to Jesus with clarity.
00:20:37 --> 00:20:39 There are a lot of opinions out there about Jesus today.
00:20:39 --> 00:20:46 Today, why not go to the source, read the Gospels again and consider Jesus.
00:20:47 --> 00:20:50 And ponder who Jesus is.
00:20:50 --> 00:20:52 What he came to do.
00:20:52 --> 00:20:54 And what it cost him to do it.
00:20:55 --> 00:20:59 And what it means for you to live a life that worships him.
00:20:59 --> 00:21:00 Amen.
00:21:00 --> 00:21:00 Amen.
00:21:00 --> 00:21:00 Amen.
00:21:00 --> 00:21:01 Amen.
00:21:14 --> 00:21:14 Amen.
00:21:14 --> 00:21:14 Amen.
00:21:14 --> 00:21:15 Amen.
00:21:15 --> 00:21:16 Amen.
00:21:16 --> 00:21:16 Amen.
00:21:16 --> 00:21:17 Amen.
00:21:17 --> 00:21:20 Amen.
00:21:20 --> 00:21:25 Amen.
00:21:25 --> 00:21:26 Amen.
00:21:26 --> 00:21:27 Amen.
00:21:27 --> 00:21:27 Amen.
00:21:27 --> 00:21:28 Amen.
00:21:28 --> 00:21:28 Amen.
00:21:28 --> 00:21:28 Amen.