Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12
1 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,
2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”
3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him;
4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.
5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
6 “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’
7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.
8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”
9 When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was.
10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.
11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
SERMON: THE GIFT OF TIME
HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE.
Slide #1. A nativity set including shepherds and wise men.
QUESTION: How many of us have a nativity set at home that has Jesus, Mary, Joseph, shepherds, wise men, sheep, and maybe camels or donkeys?
QUESTION: who can tell me what is inaccurate here?
- First, I want to clear up a few things.
- Then I have questions that I’ll try to answer.
- We will marvel at the commitment some have shown the Lord.
- Then we will examine our own commitment.
- And at last, through the power of the holy Spirit, I hope to make a change in my life and yours
When I read the account of the Magi I have questions. This is my study process.
QUESTION 1: How many Kings?
QUESTION 2: Were they Kings?
QUESTION 3: When did they visit?
QUESTION 4: How did they know about the birth of a new king of the jews?
QUESTION 5: How long did they travel?
Which brings me to
QUESTION 6: Other than gold frankincense, and myrrh what other gift did the wise men give?
#1 Their time and efforts. This wasn’t a quick decision or an easy trip. To quote from Advent Conspiracy – “These men were not playing the worship games of which many of us are guilty—these gifts of gold and precious spices nearly cost the Magi their lives. “ –
Remember King Herod’s reaction when the wise men came asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?
Fear!
”When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him;”
Frightened enough to murder a generation of infants.
He would gladly have tortured and killed the wise men had they returned to him after finding Jesus.
WE THREE KINGS.
We three kings of orient are
Bearing gifts we traversed afar
Field and fountain
Moore and mountain
Following yonder Star
I love that song in spite of its inaccuracies.
The history of the Three Kings, also known as the Magi or Wise Men, originated in the Gospel of Matthew.
According to this biblical account, a group of wise men, magicians, and astrologers from the East traveled to Jerusalem to visit the newborn king and pay their respects.
Despite being members of the upper class, they humbly presented the child with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Interestingly, Matthew did not mention the number of men or their names nor did he refer to them as kings. This aspect of the story only emerged in the 8th century when it became a popular tradition.
The significance of the gifts presented by the Magi is not to be overlooked. Each one holds a symbolic meaning –
frankincense representing Christ as the High Priest,
gold representing him as the King, and
#2 Myrhh – a foreshadowing of Jesus’ death for the sake of truth, and his role as a Prophet.
.
Q. Where in the “East” were the wise men from?
- Matthew’s use of the term “Magi” gives us a clue. Magi is the only Persian word in the original Greek Bible. They were likely priests of Zoroastrianism, which was the official religion of Persia.
- Q. How is it that The Wise Men from Persia were familiar with the prophecies of Christ, the King of the Jews?
- A. You will remember the many times that the Jews were conquered and taken into slavery. Read the book of Daniel and you will see how he introduced the God of Israel to the King’s Court.
- Many others in other times made known the one true God to their foreign masters.
- Wise Men still seek out knowledge and store it away. As do wise women.
- Q. How long did they travel?
- A. The Bible does not say how long these wise men traveled to reach Jesus.
- Church tradition suggested 12 Days for the journey. This is the basis of the 12 Days of Christmas – another song that I like. Twelve days is not likely though.
If the Magi had visited the holy family twelve days after his birth, the family would have had wealth with which to redeem Jesus at the temple instead of the two doves that they used.
You, of course, remember what I taught two years ago about the need to redeem the first born sons. Right?
- Because according to the law of Moses, It is customary for the mother to come to the synagogue on the Sabbath after her 40 days when she has regained her strength.
In Remembrance of the Passover in Egypt, Since that time, all first born males belong to God. The parents could redeem, that is “buy back” their sons by an offering of a lamb, silver coins or a family, like Joseph and Mary, who could not afford a lamb or the silver. For the poor, an offering of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons was made.
If the wise men had arrived within the first twelve days, Jesus would have been redeemed with a lamb or coins rather than doves
- Many believe that the wise men traveled for two years. This idea comes from the fact that King Herod, after asking the wise men when they saw the star, ordered the slaughter of all children under the age of two.
“Two years of travel seems excessively long to me as the distance from Persia to Israel is only about 1600 miles (depending on starting point). Knowing that they could travel only as fast as the slowest walker in the group, (Their servants would not have ridden camels) These were people who were used to walking sometimes long distances but probably only walked 25 miles a day on average. That would give them about 64 days travel time. However, since they were traveling by night (following a star) they probably traveled somewhat slower. So purely as a mental exercise, I’d estimate that they COULD have traveled it in 90 days. One quarter of a year.
- Now, if I haven’t lost y’all by now, you may be wondering,
- “WHAT’S THE POINT?”
- TIME! Time is the point. This was not an easy undertaking for these men. It took planning, it took resources, and it took time.
- Q. If you were going to be gone from home, from family, from your business or job for even one quarter of a year and possibly as long as two, what would be your cost in resources and in time?
Seriously, shout it out. What are things you would need to take care of to travel that long?
God often asks for, or rather demands, our time.
Now for the BIG question. How much TIME does God expect of me and of you?
The short answer is, All of it!
But let’s just say that God wants a tithe of everything – including our time.
Time is a slippery concept to grasp. Time past is gone and can not be altered.
Future time has no substance. Making plans for the future is like writing on air.
Only NOW is real and can be manipulated – but be quick about it – NOW will soon be the PAST.
A tithe or a tenth of 24 hours equals about 2 1⁄2 hours a day.
Don’t answer this out loud. . . But
Do you commit 2½ hours a day to prayer, to biblical study, or to service for our king? It needs not be a solid block of time. Minutes and seconds spent in service, study, and/or prayer can add up.
Here are some sobering facts about time usage.
A 2020 study showed that Americans averaged a little over 3 hours a day of television.
But wait there’s more.
On average, adults spend about 11 hours a day staring at some kind of screen, whether that be a computer, phone, tablet, TV or another type of electronic device.
Second slide
I’m a firm believer that every believer needs to read the Bible. And not just read but study. Ask questions and look for answers.
There are countless helps available to guide your reading through the bible.
I suggest starting with the gospels.
Take your time and learn something new everyday.
3rd Slide
Another option is to listen to the Bible in audiobook format.
On average, audiobooks read at about 150 words per minute, so it will take around 90 hours, or a little less than 4 days of non-stop listening to “read” the entire Bible.
I would recommend, when possible, read and listen at the same time. Be ready to stop the playback to make notes and reflect on what you just read and/or heard.
Earlier I mentioned the book of Daniel. As w read, we see that Daniel made a habit of praying three times a day.
Jewish men are obligated to perform public prayer three times a day; morning, afternoon, and evening. The Jewish prayer book has special services set down for this.
Now, depending on how established you are in God’s grace, you can interpret that as a religious routine, or you can see dedicated prayer time as an outward expression of an intimate relationship with the Lord.
Praying regularly enables a person to get better at building their relationship with God
Although Christian have no formulas or shortcuts to walking in the Divine Presence, here are some steps to follow that you may find helpful:
PRAY, STUDY, AND SERVE.
These are all active verbs and all require an investment of our time.
Many of us have been studying The Advent Conspiracy. It contained a quote by Mark Labberton that I feel bears repeating here.
4th Slide quote below
(“According to the narrative of Scripture, the very heart of how we show and distinguish true worship from false worship is apparent in how we respond to the poor, the oppressed, the neglected, and the forgotten.
As of now, I do not see this theme troubling the waters of worship in the American church.
But justice and mercy are not add-ons to worship,
nor are they the consequences of worship.
Jesus and mercy are intrinsic to God and therefore intrinsic to the worship of God.”)
What Would Jesus Do! Is a great way to live a life.
However, how do you know what Jesus would do if you haven’t even studied what he did do?
Are we keeping the lines of communication open with the Godhead through prayer and meditation?
What sacrifice do we bring to the king? Do we even understand what sacrifice means?
Do we give or do we only do what is convenient?
The dictionary says this: Sacrifice is a noun that means to give up something valuable to gain something more desirable or to prevent evil.
To put it another way, if it doesn’t hurt a little bit then, … though it was an offering … it wasn’t a sacrifice.
#3 Jesus’ sacrifice to God for us – he was faithful to God’s commands to the point that the religious people put him to death. His death defeated sin/satan’s hold on us
While it is true that salvation is a gift freely given …, it comes with a DUTY.
We are to be SERVANTS.
Servants to God our Father,
servants of our brothers and sisters in Christ,
servants of widows,
orphans, and
strangers,
the hungry,
the thirsty,
the naked,
the sick,
and imprisoned.
At the very least we owe a sacrificial gift of our TIME to our Lord.
Years ago, even when I preached every Sunday, I denied being a preacher. I thought of myself as a teacher.
One day the Spirit came to me, “What’s The difference between a teacher and a preacher?”
Immediately the thought came to me that a teacher wants you to learn something whereas a preacher wants you to become something.
I am after all a preacher. Because I want us to become something, to make a change in our lives,
I will leave you with this thought.
We must look into ourselves. Examine our daily routine.
#4 Time is the most precious commodity for most of us.
Do we tithe a tenth of our time to God, to study, meditate, pray, and
serve the family of God – including believers and non believers,
friends, family, strangers, and yes … enemies.
Will we take time to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the sick or those in a physical, emotional, spiritual, or financial prison?
Here ends the learning.
The doing is up to us.
Remember, #5. Christianity Is Not A Passive Religion!
Armchair Sermons 