Sermon Transcript
The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.
- Matthew 2
- How Many Wise Men?
- Why Is This Story Here?
- The Magi Were Not Jewish
- It’s Never Too Late
- Closing Prayer
Matthew 2
I’m going to read a text and then we’ll hear the finale. Obviously, I feel like I’m blocking people’s views. You want to see them, not me. The story today is about the three wise men, which we get from the book of Matthew in chapter 2. It says, “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 have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.’ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, ’In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.’ Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, ’Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.’ When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.” [audio unclear] “…departed for their own country another way.”
How Many Wise Men?
So we’re going to have a quiz. How many wise men were there? Wrong. Ha ha. That was a trick question. You think it’s three, don’t you?
Why do people think it’s three? Because there’s three gifts. But it never says there were three. We don’t know. In church tradition, some say three, some say four, some say eight, 12. So we don’t know. There might have been three. There were three gifts. But we really don’t know.
Now also we refer to them as the three kings, right? Does the passage say there were kings? No, it doesn’t say that. So we actually know very little about the wise men. We do know that they came from the East, Babylonia, Persia. Some people believe they came from actually Iran, of all places.
Of all places, Iran. And they were Magi. And Magi back then were not really magicians; they were kind of like the Babylonian version of a prophet, really. They studied the stars for signs from God. They believed in God. they were very influential in their society, they held kind of quasi-political positions and they would advise the king on various matters just as the Old Testament prophets did.
Why Is This Story Here?
So you know as I read scripture I’m always asking questions of the Bible. Why is this really in here? Now, I wasn’t born with a Bible. I didn’t come out of my mother’s womb with a beard and a Bible. Matter of fact, for many years of my life, I didn’t believe in any God at all. I was an agnostic/atheist, depending on what day you talked to me. And I had a lot of objections. Well, one day somebody handed me a Bible and said, you should read this. Really? He said, “Actually, why don’t you read the Gospels?” I thought, well, you know, I was reading other things at the time. I had an inquiring mind, although I wouldn’t say I was seeking God or seeking a spiritual solution to life’s questions. So I started reading the Gospels. And I was amazed at what I found in the Gospels. And I just read them, and I read them over and over and over and over. And I found out that the picture that I had of Jesus in my head was not Jesus in the Bible.
And so I I would ask questions of the Bible. Why did Jesus say this or why did he not say that or why is this here or why is this there? And as I was reading this passage in light of the musical today, I said, why is this passage even in here? If you read all the early accounts of the birth of Jesus, the announcement to Zacharias, the announcement to Mary and all of this, you don’t really need this. This could not be in there and we wouldn’t lose anything. But I think there’s a very important reason why it’s in here. It has to do with who the Magi were. [audio unclear]
The Magi Were Not Jewish
And it has to do with who they were not. What I mean is simply this. When you read all of the accounts and the Gospels regarding the announcements of Jesus, whether it’s a personal announcement of an angel to an individual, whether it’s a more public announcement to the shepherds, all of these various accounts. The thing that makes the Magi different is that the Magi were not Jewish. They were not Jewish. All the other accounts, Jews were addressed. And basically the message was, hey, the Savior’s coming, the Messiah, and to them there was a whole historical context to all of this. Okay? And in fact here in Matthew, if you go back a couple of verses, when there’s the announcement to Joseph and Mary, it says in Matthew 1, or the angel says, that “she shall bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Well, in this context, “His people” would to them mean the Jewish people. But the Magi weren’t Jewish. And so what we see in this story in Matthew is an illustration of what we read in the account in Luke where when there’s an announcement of the birth of Jesus, It says, “I’m giving you good tidings of great joy” about a Savior being born, but it says that it is a message to all people. All people. Jew, Gentile. It doesn’t matter. All people. Old, young, male, female, rich, poor. Doesn’t matter what your nationality, what your class, what your economic status is, what your age is. It is to all people. Anybody here 100 years old? I feel like it today. 90? You don’t have to stand up if you’re 90. You can raise your hand, though. Got a 90? Anybody 80 or older? Raise your hand. 95? Praise the Lord. Anybody 80 or older? I know once I get to 70 a bunch of you don’t want to raise your hand.
So, but you get, okay, all age.
It’s Never Too Late
Why do I bring up age? Because I think a lot of people kind of get set in their ways, you know. Especially about the time they’re 70 or 80, like, “Yeah, this is what I believed, so I’m going to believe this, and I’ve always believed it, so that’s why I’m going to believe it.” And one of the great blessings of my life is that my own mother, who was not a Christian her whole life, became a Christian at 81 years old. And it was right before her very last Christmas. So whether you’re 80, 90, it doesn’t matter. It’s never too late for you to receive the Savior. Because the message is to all people, that means it’s to you and me. And the gospel literally means good news, it’s glad tidings, that Jesus will save us from our sins. Now, I don’t need to tell you that you’ve sinned because you know that. But what you might not know is that Jesus can remove your sin. [audio unclear] He can remove the guilt. He can remove the shame. And whether you’re 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90-years-old, you can be born anew, a completely clean slate and your whole life literally starts over no matter how old you are. You’re born anew like a newborn baby in your heart and God gives you a new and a clean heart. So what we’re celebrating today at Christmas is the birth of a Savior who gives us new life, who gives us forgiveness, who removes our sins and all the pain that goes with those sins. But we have to believe in Him, right kids? Yes. Right? How many of you believe in Jesus? Raise your hand. Look at that, even little kids can understand it, right? Even little kids. Jesus said, you must become like a child to enter the kingdom of heaven. You have to humble yourself and accept the message, in simple faith. But I can assure you that when you do, you will be transformed. You’ll receive new life.
Closing Prayer
Let’s pray real quick before the finale. Lord, we thank you for today. Thank you for the kids, we thank you for the directors, we thank you for all the hard work that they put into this program today. I ask that they’d be encouraged and they would know how much we appreciate them and value their hard labor. We ask most of all, Lord, that You were honored today and pleased, and we pray these things in your name. Amen.