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January 6, 2002
Epiphany
Matthew 2:1-12
Pastor Robert Raasch

Worship Christ the Newborn King

1. With the Attitude of the Magi
2. With the Gifts of the Magi

Today is the Festival of Epiphany. Obviously, Epiphany doesn't get quite as much attention as the last festival we celebrated in the church year, doesn't it? I mean, Mount Olive didn't have a special candlelight Epiphany service. We didn't have to put up chairs for an overflow crowed on Epiphany, did we? The stores around town aren't having a bunch of Epiphany half-price sales. No, for the most part, Epiphany has become kind of a forgotten festival of the church year, kind of overshadowed by all the attention showered on Christmas. And of course, it's not a bad thing to celebrate the birth of the Christchild. But sometimes I wonder if we're so worn out by the Christmas, or maybe more specifically, worn out by all the activities leading up to Christmas, that we don't have the energy to appropriately celebrate Epiphany.

And really, that's a shame. For you see, Epiphany is certainly a festival worth celebrating. In the Eastern church, January 6 has historically marked the celebration of Jesus' birth. But in our circles, Epiphany focuses our attention on the coming of the Wise men, or the Magi, as they're referred to here in our text. In fact, sometimes Epiphany is referred to as the Christmas for the Gentiles. For those Magi from the East were very likely the first non-Jews to come and worship the Savior sent by God to rescue all mankind. This morning we want to try and capture the spirit of those first Gentile worshippers. Today on this Festival of Epiphany, we call to mind the words of the hymn we just sang and listen as the gospel writer Matthew invites us all to Come and Worship…

Worship Christ the Newborn King

Worship Christ:

1. With the Attitude of the Magi
2. With the Gifts of the Magi

First, God encourages us to worship Christ with the attitude of the Magi. Tell me, if you would have been in the position of those Magi, do you think you would have done what they did? If you were to see a very unusual star in the sky and concluded that this was a sign from God marking the birth of the Messiah, would you have left behind your job, your home, your family, and traveled to see a baby some 500 miles away? If we assume that the Magi came from the country of Babylon (and both sacred and secular writings attest to that fact), then the Magi were looking at a journey of over 500 miles from their homeland to the land of Judea. Do you know how far that is? That's like from here to Kansas City, MO. Would you have made that kind of trip? Remember, traveling 500 miles in those days was not like traveling 500 miles today. The Magi couldn't just hop on a plane or jump on the interstate to travel 500 miles. At the rate of travel in those days you're looking at a trip that may well have taken more than a month to complete. You think about that. That took quite a bit of determination on their part didn't it? It required no small sacrifice of time, energy and money.

The question is: Why did they do it? What prompted them to drop everything and make this arduous journey to visit a baby born in Bethlehem? Well, I can tell you a number of reasons they didn't do it. They didn't do it out of idle curiosity. It wasn't peer pressure or a desire to be part of the action. Kind of like when everybody jumps on the bandwagon to go see their favorite football team in the championship game. Nobody wants to miss out. No, there was a much more spiritual reason for these men to pack their camels and head west. First, there was the matter of the star that appeared in the Eastern sky. .

They were astronomers by profession. These men knew what the night sky was supposed to look like. They knew their constellations and the position of the various planets. They also knew when something way out of the ordinary suddenly appeared in the sky. They recognized that this star was a sign from God. And maybe what is even more remarkable is that they somehow they drew a connection between this miraculous star and a Savior promised by God. How did these men know about the promise of a Savior? Well, remember these Magi were from Babylon, the very country in which the Jewish nation was held captive for over 70 years. During that time of the Babylon Captivity, a number of devout believers rose to very influential positions in the country. People like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and later, Esther, Queen of the Persians, Do you think that these people ever had the opportunity to share their faith with the Babylonians? Sure they did. In fact the Bible tells us that Daniel, for example, had a great deal of interaction with the Magi. Is it too much to believe that Daniel may even have shared with them a passage like Numbers 24:17 which reads, "A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel." Somehow these Gentiles star-gazers were able to put two and two together and determine that this miraculous celestial light in the night sky was in fact, announcing that all those promises that God had made about a coming Savior were now being fulfilled.

And really, that's what sent these men on their way to Jerusalem, wasn't it? These men knew what their greatest need was. They had undoubtedly felt the weight of their own sins. They had come to the conclusion that they could never earn God's favor by means of their pagan sacrifices or man-made rituals. Instead, they had been led by the Holy Spirit to put their faith in a God who promised to send his own flesh and blood to live a perfect life in the place of all sinners, and in so doing, rescue all mankind from hell forever. In those gospel promises, issued to Adam, Abraham, Israel, and in effect to these Gentile believers as well, the Magi found the peace of mind that no other religion in the world could offer them.

Is it any wonder that when these men came to the conclusion that the Messiah had actually been born during their life time, on their continent, is it any wonder that they just had to go and worship that king in the flesh? Like the shepherds of Bethlehem, these Wise men of Babylon just had to "go and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about" (Luke 2:15). My friends, I sometimes wonder whether you and I share the same determination those men displayed? Would we be willing to walk to Kansas to worship the Christchild? Or do we allow much smaller obstacles get in our way? You know, "The church service is so early. We have to drive so far. It's so cold out there. I have to work on Sunday. The kids are unbearable. The game starts at noon."

My friends, when you and I find ourselves thinking along those lines, we need to step back and take a cue from the Magi. Those gentlemen set their priorities, didn't they? They recognized that nothing was as important to them as the gift that God had delivered to them in the form of a baby born in Bethlehem. And nothing was going to deter them from bringing to that child their heartfelt thanks and praise-even if nobody else was doing that.

I mean, have you ever wondered what those Magi must have been thinking when they came into Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish nation, and found nobody celebrating the birth of the Messiah? They start asking around, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." Can you imagine these foreigners traveling 500 miles to worship the king of the Jews, and none of Jews know anything about it? That would be like a visitor coming to Mount Olive on Christmas Eve only to find out we aren't having any services. Are you kidding? How could we not celebrate the Savior's birth?

The more you think about the attitude those Gentiles believers displayed, their determination to worship the Christchild, in spite of all the obstacles, the more reasons you and I have to be here today doing the very same thing, worshipping our newborn King. And yet, as we look to our text, we see that these men were not only determined to worship their king, they were also determined to bring him their costliest treasures. And in so doing they set an example for us New Testament believers. Come and Worship Christ the Newborn King not only with the attitude of the Magi, but also II. With the Gifts of the Magi.

Here in our text, St. Matthew records the actions of the Magi with these words, "On coming to the house (notice that Mary and Joseph were no longer in the stable. They've long since moved to more permanent quarters), the Magi saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh." You all know what gold is. Incense, or Frankincense, as its sometimes called, was burned to create a pleasant aroma. Myrrh was a gummy resin used as a perfume. All three of these were regarded as very precious gifts. The question is, "Why give these gifts to Jesus?" What's an infant going to do with a wad of gooey perfume or a container of incense? A kid shouldn't be playing with that kind of stuff. Why didn't men give Jesus something a little more practical, like a rattle or a blanket or a pair of booties?

My friends, the gifts which the Magi brought to the newborn king, teach us an important lesson about Christian giving. Christians don't give to God because he needs something. No, we give to God because we need to give something. Those Magi didn't bring gold to Jesus because he needed it. They gave it because they wanted to express their appreciation for God's greatest gift. Doesn't that same spirit permeate all truly Christian giving today as well? When you or I sit down to determine what our weekly gift to the Lord will be in 2002, will we say, "Let's see, I wonder how much the church needs to get by this year? I wonder what the budget number is? I wonder exactly how they'll use my offering?"

Or will we say, "Wait a minute. I don't give because God needs my money. I give because I want to return to God what he gave me first. My offering is a tangible expression of my love and devotion to God my Savior. It's how I show how much God is worth to me. Is my gift always offered in terms of silver and gold, currency and coin? No there are a lot of different kinds of gifts we bring to God. This morning we'll recognize the many years of service which our board members have offered in service to God and our congregation. Many more of you are offering your time and talents in faithful service to God in other capacities here at MO. And that's what God's love in Christ compels us to do, isn't it? God has already given us his best. Therefore we want to give him our best. That's what the wise men did 2000 years ago. And that's what wise men and wise women still do today. May God bless the gifts you bring, both with your hands and in your heart, as gifts that are fitting for Christ, the Newborn King. Amen.