Illuminating the King

Well, good morning, everyone. Merry Christmas. Great to be with you and wonderful to see some

festive outfits out there. I got to tell you, it is actually hot. Getting festive is kind of hot

and also uncomfortable. I've got suspenders on and I can understand why these babies went out

in the 1980s. It just makes you shorter is what they tend to do. They're wanting to stretch up

all the time. One of the great traditions of Christmas is the giving and receiving of gifts.

Who's opened Christmas gifts already this morning? Put your hand up. You know, right up so I can see it.

Anyone open? Okay. Keep your hand up if you got what you were hoping to get.

Okay. So there's a few hands that are kind of, I'm sort of not sure. It's one of those things,

isn't it? That good gifts are not necessarily expensive gifts. They're personal gifts. It's

the hope of getting something that we really, really like. So I've opened a couple of things

already this morning and nothing grand but personal, such as old gold, rum and raisin.

You know, it's a winner. And I can see a few people around there saying, this is a winner and this is

deeply personal. This is the one chocolate that's in my fridge that you must not touch.

In fact, kids, none of the chocolate is available to be touched as a general rule.

The other thing is I got a pair of cheap socks. Seinfeld socks. I binge watch Seinfeld. I love

Seinfeld. And so these socks, if you had given me a $200 gift card to Lincraft, not as valuable to me

at all as Seinfeld socks. Lincraft, I'm just not hoping to shop there anytime soon. It's just not

something. Bunnings, however, very different. The good gifts are gifts that are deeply personal,

that connect with you as an individual. They're not necessarily expensive. And so what we're doing

this morning is we're looking at that passage which Ash just read out for us in Matthew. And we're

going to see there, we're going to look very briefly at the three gifts that this baby Jesus receives.

And what it says about him, they're deeply personal gifts. And then what those gifts say about him and

the response that different people have because of those gifts and what they say about Jesus.

So come with me, open up the passage, Matthew 2. If you've got the St. Paul's app, you can crack

that open as well because I've got a bit of an outline to make it easy for you to follow along.

So Jesus received some very strange gifts as a young child from a bunch of strangers. Verse 11,

Jesus was presented, we are told, with gifts of gold, incense, and myrrh. Now as a poor peasant girl,

Mary might have been totally pleased with this. These are expensive gifts. So this baby Jesus might

have been born in a stable, but it appears that he comes with some kind of trust fund or something.

These are expensive gifts. But she's baffled as well. These gifts are deeply personal. These three gifts

reveal three significant things about Jesus. They reveal who he is, what he came to do,

and how he went about doing it. That is what it cost him to do it. So gold, the first gift,

points to the kingship of Jesus. You see, gold was a gift that was bought to an audience with a king

in the ancient Near East in the first century. They tend not to do it nowadays. For instance,

one year, our grateful nation of Australia gave Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II,

the 50th edition of Who's Who in Australia as a gift with a gray scarf. So it's a little bit

different nowadays. We're not handing over gold to Queen Elizabeth. The Magi, when they handed over

this gift of gold, were in fact expecting a king. That's their expectation. They asked,

where is the one born who has been born king of the Jews? What alerted them to the arrival of the new

king is the second half of verse 2, where it says, we saw his star in the east and we have come to

worship him. Now these Magi are astrologers. They're magicians. They're interpreters of dreams. And in the

ancient world, most people believed in astrology. And so the Magi, if you like, are considered the

elite. These guys are the university lecturers of their day. They're the academics. They're the wise men,

the knowledgeable ones. When these guys saw the star, they immediately recognized something

significant, something very special has happened. That's because there was a particular event in

history that caused stars to be associated with kings and rulers of nations. And that was when

Julius Caesar died in 44 BC, one of the most astonishing flukes in history took place. A nova appeared in the sky

magi over his funeral. And from then on, from 44 BC, stars were connected with great leaders and rulers of some

fashion. They became the fashion in the ancient Near East. And so these Magi see the star and they put two and two

together. What would have encouraged them also to dust off their passports was that there was also a very

strong rumor around in the first century that world dominion was going to shift. Politics was going to shift

and Judea was going to be the center. Famous and diverse first century historians like Tacitus,

Josephus, Suetonius, all recorded this shift, expectation of a shift in the first century.

And so it would not have been much of a leap at all for these Magi to conclude the political

change in the air when they saw the star. Now what these stargazers saw was most likely the conjunction

of Jupiter and Saturn. It happened three times in the year 7 BC, which is most likely the year that

Christ was born. It happened on the 29th of May, the 3rd of October and the 4th of December.

And the Magi would have also known historically that Jupiter was regarded as a royal pattern,

planet, and Saturn was the symbol for Israel in the ancient Near East. And so these competent

astronomers would have concluded that this new age has now begun with a new king and the rule has now

shifted to Judea. And so they set out on this long and difficult journey to find the ruler of the world

and offer this king gold. But incense, that's an odd one. That's an unexpected gift. Incense in the

first century was used by the priests in the temple as they mediated between God and his people.

It symbolized relationship with God. And so the Magi were recognizing Jesus as the ultimate priest,

the one who would mediate between the creator God and his rebellious people.

Any new mother would have been totally thrown, however, by the gift of myrrh.

You see, myrrh was used in the ancient Near East in the first century to embalm the dead. It was a symbol of death.

Imagine one of the presents under the Christmas tree for your children today.

Wrapped up nicely in Christmas is a toy coffin.

A little toy coffin to play with. With a dead person you can put in it.

Unusual, unexpected gift.

Unusual, unexpected gift.

Unusual, unexpected gift.

Unusual, unexpected gift.

How much it cost him to do it.

Then we get three personal reactions.

What is interesting is how people respond here to the who, the what and the how in these verses.

One thing you notice throughout all the historical biographies of Jesus is that when Jesus turns up,

people are divided in their opinions of him.

Right from the get-go.

Right from the get-go.

And you see that even right here as a baby, right from the start of his life, people are divided in their opinions of him.

Two camps are forming already.

We have three ideas here, but two camps are forming.

One is full of praise and welcome.

The other is full of hatred, opposition and indifference.

First of all, we have hostile Herod.

Herod lies through his teeth.

In verse 8, he says,

Now, Herod, as we know, the rest of the text will tell us, has as much interest in worshipping King Jesus as I have in taking up knitting lessons.

Later in the chapter, we read Herod didn't fool the Magi at all.

They saw straight through him and they sneak off down to Egypt without telling Herod where Jesus is.

And he is furious.

Herod is furious and so furious that he orders all of the boys, two years old and under, around the surrounds in the Bethlehem LGA to be put to death.

What a tyrant.

He wants Jesus dead and he wants to make sure that he doesn't miss him at all.

Herod is the Roman appointed king of the Jews.

He doesn't like the news that another king has been born.

He's threatened.

And he's infamous for his cruelty in which he dealt with any rivals to his throne.

He killed one of his wives, several of his sons, anyone who was a threat to his throne.

His response here is hatred and fear.

A hatred of anything or anyone that threatened his self-centered autonomy.

Now we know that this account here of deception and fear and bloodshed and injustice and homelessness are all too familiar.

There is a great deal wrong with our world today.

And we know it.

But we, I think, walk into controversy when we ask where all this evil and wrong has come from.

You see, one end of the spectrum says that the big problem with the world nowadays is the rich and the powerful ones.

They're the ones to blame.

They're just all selfish and making everything, you know, ordered for themselves.

The rich and the powerful ones to blame.

And that particular view of the world, which is generally a liberal progressive view of the world, means that the poor and the minorities in this world are the heroes of the world.

The other end of the spectrum, which is more your conservative perspective, insists that it's the immoral and the irresponsible people in the world.

They're the main problem.

They're the problem with the world.

You know, if you're poor, you just need to get a job.

That's your problem.

You need to work harder.

That's your problem.

This view of the world tends to make hardworking, decent, middle class people the heroes of the world.

Now, at the first glance of this story, it seems here to side with the first view, the liberal progressive view.

Herod is an unjust ruler, abusing his power, slaughtering the innocent.

However, the full teaching of the Bible is that the source of evil in this world is every single human heart, liberal or conservative.

Every single human heart.

Herod's reaction to Jesus is, in a sense, a picture of us all.

If you want to be king and fundamental value of Western civilization is individual autonomy.

We want to rule our own lives.

When someone else comes along and says, in fact, no, I'm the king, then one of us has to give way.

Someone has to give way.

Only one person can sit on the absolute throne.

And Jesus comes into this world and he claims to be that king who has the right to sit on the throne, to be the ultimate ruler of all things.

He calls for our allegiance so supreme that it makes all other commitments look weak in comparison.

It is a claim to absolute authority, a summons to unconditional loyalty, and it inevitably triggers deep, deep resistance within every human heart.

Who has the right to rule my life?

That's the most disturbing question possible for the autonomous human heart.

We want to remain on the throne of our lives.

Some of us, potentially gathered here today, listening online, some of us use religion to stay on the throne of our lives.

Trying to put God in a position where he owes us something.

Because we're so righteous and we're doing these good things for him.

Some of us flee from religion.

Become atheists, we loudly claim that there is no God.

Either way, we're expressing our natural hostility to the rule of the true king.

Religious or not.

Herod could not get rid of Jesus.

Even with an army at his disposal.

In fact, one of the great ironies of this text is right at the end.

Herod is dead and Jesus lives.

Next, we have the passive priests.

We've got hostile Herod, we've got the passive priests.

Their reaction is not as hostile as Herod, but it's just as negative.

You see, these are the ones who simply do nothing about Jesus.

The Magi turn up.

Verse 4.

Herod gathers together all the chief priests, the scribes of the people, inquiring them where the Messiah was to be born.

And they told him.

They told the Magi.

Down to Bethlehem.

All the prophecies say Bethlehem.

Ah, fantastic.

And then they go back to doing whatever it is that you do.

Their sheer silence and inactivity of the religious leaders is overwhelming in view of the magnitude of what has just happened.

They didn't lift a sandal.

Why not go with the Magi?

Why not just go with them and check it out just in case?

Why not go with them and check it out just in case they did nothing.

Their knowledge of Jesus was no substitute for their obedience.

Finally, the final reaction we see is the only positive one and that's the malleable Magi.

That's the only word I could come up with that sort of went with an M.

Malleable Magi.

And their response is remarkable.

In the rest of the Bible, these guys are always viewed negatively.

Only Matthew puts these guys in a positive light.

Impressed by what they saw in the sky at night, they journeyed west to Judea.

Massive journey.

Massive journey.

To find out what it all meant.

It's astonishing that men with so little to go on should venture so far, endure such hardships in travel,

face such uncertainty of finding the one to whom the star pointed.

And what's more, they gave him these costly gifts and the worship and honor of their lives.

Where the religious leaders expended no time, no energy, no expense or inconvenience at all.

Where Herod expanded a great deal of time and energy and expense and inconvenience in order to try and find Jesus and kill him.

The Magi expended a great deal of time, no money, no expense or money.

As the king over their lives.

The Magi are the worshipers.

Those who joyfully ascribe dignity, authority, honor to King Jesus and whose lives are ultimately satisfied in him.

it's a call that

Jesus continues

to cry out to the nations

to the people of all the world throughout the histories

for the last 2,000 years

to throw your crowns at his feet

as the gracious loving king

who gave his life for us

when Queen Victoria ruled as the British monarch

in the 1800s

she controlled one third of the planet

massive

she said one day

that she couldn't wait to meet Jesus

and she was asked why

she said so that I too can cast my crown at his feet

she recognised that even as one of the most powerful people in the world

she too had a ruler

one who deserved her everything

even her crown

which brings me to what is your personal reaction

indifference

hostility

or worship

two camps really

positive camp and negative camp

there's really no middle road

I want to speak to two broad groups here

that are potentially gathered here

and online

firstly to those who are Christians

those who accept Jesus

on his terms

of what he says he is

and what he proved to say

that he is

that he is your Christian

you engage

you believe in Christmas

and Christianity

it's important to know

that as a Christian

that every Christian

still has a heart

with residual

anger

and hostility

towards God

very important for you to recognise that

and it will always be there to the end

that is why it's so hard for you to pray

to give

to obey

to grow

to love Jesus

so hard to love

there is still a little bit of Herod in each of us

there is still something in us

that wants to fight with God

day in and day out

we can't just glide

through the Christian life

we have got to be

far more intentional

about our Christian growth

and prayer

about accountability to other people

to overcome our bad habits

that is the reality

if you think that you can glide

through the Christian life

by yourself

you are deeply confused about it

if however you're here today

and your responses

may be indifference

and hostility

I'd like to give you some

respectful advice

if I may

let's call it respectful advice

for those unsure about Christmas

and Christianity

or perhaps even the existence of God

let's just take it a step further there

remember

I think this is really important

for you to understand

remember that your view

your view

is not an objective view

it's not an objective view

it's not an objective view

of Jesus

of God

of Christmas

and Christianity

the philosopher Thomas Nagel

who himself is an atheist

was very candid

very candid

he wrote this

I am talking

about the fear

of religion itself

I am speaking from experience

being strongly subject

to this fear myself

I'm an atheist

and I want atheism

to be true

and I'm made uneasy

by the fact

that some of the most

intelligent

and well informed

people I know

are in fact

religious believers

it isn't just

that I don't believe

in God

and naturally

I hope that my belief

is right

I actually hope

there is no God

I don't want

there to be a God

I don't want

the universe

to be like that

my guess is

this cosmic

authority

over our lives

is a problem

and it's not

a rare problem

that is

his point is

that

whatever you are

on the spectrum

here today

you're not

neutral

you might think

well there's another

alternative

Jesus

sorry Steve

don't make the

connection there

there's another

alternative Steve

I'm just neutral

there's no such

thing as neutrality

there's no such

thing as neutrality

about whether

Christmas is true

if the son of God

was really born

in a manger

then you

and I

have lost

all rights

to oversee

our lives

you cannot

be objective

about a claim

like that

and so

keep that in

mind

if you don't

believe in

Christianity

and therefore

at the very

least

question

your doubts

for your own

sake

question

your doubts

now

I figure

you've got

several things

on your

plate

in the next

today

and in the

next few

days

one of them

for me

is sleep

but can I

encourage you

that real

soon

that you

might want

to look

at this

issue

of who

Jesus

is

what he

came to

do

what it

cost him

to do

it

the

magi

were the

knowledgeable

men

of the

east

they were

the

academic

elite

but their

knowledge

about

these

events

around

Christmas

only took

them so

far

their

observation

of the

star

took them

to Jerusalem

to the

palace

because that's

where they

assumed

that he

would be

and they

got that

bit wrong

in the

end

they had

to consult

the

Bible

God's

word

in order

to find

Jesus

and in

finding

Jesus

they found

what they

had been

looking for

all of

their

life

he is

the

wisdom

that they

had been

searching

for

all of

their

life

now I

want to

say this

without

explaining

it

so let

me just

do that

Jesus

is the

answer

to

everything

that you

are searching

for in

life

he is

the goal

he is

the destination

and can I

encourage you

at least

to be like

these wise

men

and search

for Jesus

go to

the source

the evidence

is overwhelming

and it is

compelling

read one of

the biographies

of Jesus

consider Jesus

and ponder

who is

Jesus

what did

he come

to do

what did

it cost

him

in order

to do

it

and what

does it

mean

for me

now

what does

it mean

to bow

down

and worship

him

over

2000

years

later

now I

want to

encourage you

this morning

because it's

Christmas

and because

we're a

Christian church

and we want

to just

delight to

give you

out there

in the

H and

behind us

is a

bunch of

resources

on a

table

they are

all

free

take

them

take

them

this

Christmas

as a

gift

from

us

and

search

for

Jesus

have a

great

day

and

half

down

in