Responding to News of a King

Just grab our bibles. Grab our bibles and turn to Matthew chapter two.

Matthew two. If you don't have a Bible with you, just raise your

hand and keep it up, and we're passing those out right now. Also,

if you didn't get a bulletin, that's going to be helpful for taking

notes. There's sermon notes on there already, so for tracking along. Just

raise your hand, keep it up. We'll find you if you need a

bible or a bulletin, and turn with me to Matthew chapter two. Matthew

two. We're going to be in verses one through twelve this morning, verses

one through twelve. And you know me, I go from super focus to

very scattered. There's nothing in between casual. There's just not a gear that

my brain fought very easily. But I just found it and it reminded me

to take a deep breath and say, Merry Christmas, y'all. It is

so good to spend this Christmas Eve morning with you, with the people I

love the most and love to be with, and love to worship with,

and love to grow with. I am glad to be here in Matthew's Gospel

with you this morning. It's a familiar passage. It's a very familiar passage,

you know. I'm the one about the wise man and the star raises

lots of questions like who are those guys? What was that thing? Which

we'll see right as we read it. It's clearly not Matthew's point, right,

you can pretty much rest assured that when the Bible doesn't go into a

lot of detail about something, it's not the point, right. The main

thing is the main thing, and Matthew uses this account to show what Matthew's

Gospel is intent on showing. Often throughout Matthew's account of the Gospel of Jesus

Christ, Matthew's intent is to show this two things. Jesus is the king,

and number two, there are really only two ways to respond to him.

We'll see it. You'll see it as we start to read. You'll

see that there is the herod way and there is the magi way. There

is the response to the news of a king that is possessive and threatened,

troubled by the rule of another encroaching on my domain and in the flesh,

that's where we're at. And then there is the response to news of a

king that is sincerely seeking to worship, to worship the one who has come

to bring grace to those who trust him. That's what we'll see. And

really that question of how will we respond to the king is the question of

the Christian faith. It's really also the question of the Christian life at this

moment, in this area, with this person, in this temptation, how

will I respond to the King? So, without being too cheesy about it,

it's the question of Christmas. That's the question of Christmas. How will

I respond to the King? Let's read it together, Matthew two. 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

saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When Herod

the King heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him,

and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people. He inquired of

them where the Christ was to be born, and they told him in Bethlehem

of Judea. For so it is written by the prophet. And you,

oh, Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are by no means leased among

the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd

my people Israel. And then Herod some of the wise men secretly and ascertained

from them what time the star had appeared. They sent them to Bethlehem,

saying, go and search diligently for the child, and when you found him,

bring me word that I too may come and worship him. And after

listening to the king, they went on their way and behold the star that

they had seen when it rose, went before them until it came to rest

over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they

rejoiced, exceeding with great joy, and going into the house, they saw

the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.

Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts gold, Frankinson's and

Mr. To Being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they

departed to their own country by another way. This is the word of the

Lord. You see it same thing Matthew is often doing, presenting Jesus the

King and saying, how are you going to respond to him? And as

we go through this passage, you can see these two different and distinct,

these very contrasting responses from Herod and from the wise men. We'll break it

down this way. How are we going to respond internally? The Bible says

the thing or two about their internal responses? How are we going to respond

externally? Because internal responses never stay internal. And then as we consider the

question, I think it would be good also to consider a warning and an

encouragement that's present in this passage and also present throughout scripture. So internally externally

and a warning and an encouragement, let's get into it. Responding to news

of a king internally. See each of these two characters in this account,

they feel what they feel because they want what they want. It's a biblical

principle. This is the ordinary workings of the human heart. We feel what

we feel because we want what we want. And what Herodd and the wise

men wanted were two very different things, and the way they responded internally to

news of a king was also very different. That the wise men have a

pretty transparent desires, as is fitting with godliness. They're just sincere. They

show up verse two, they say what they're there for whereas he who's been

born king of the Jews, we saw a star wind a rose. We

have come to worship him very plain. That's what they wanted. They wanted

to worship the promised King of the Jews, the one who would be king

of the world, the one of whom this prophecy, you know this,

this prophecy, This quotation here in chapter two is from the prophet Micah.

And just like Bible reading, whenever you see the Old Testament quoted in the

New Testament, you should think of it as like a hyperlink, right,

like click on that thing and go read the whole website, right, don't

just rush past it. Micah's not that long. If you go and read

the prophet Micah and you read what he says of this king, of the

one who was to come, he says, peoples and nations will flow to

the mountain of the Lord, saying, let's go that we may learn of

his ways and walk in his paths. That's these dudes. They were waiting,

and they were watching for the one to whom all nations and peoples would

flow, which raises the question, who are these guys? How did they

know about the coming king? When they're all the way over in Pagan Persia,

which is probably where they're coming from. Well, we don't know for

sure because the Bible doesn't go into very much detail, which means that it's

not really the point. But we're curious. I'm as curious as anyone,

you know. We do know that wise men magi were very much a part

of the societies of the East, like the Babylonian Empire, like the Persian

Empire that replaced it. Right, So you remember Daniel and Shadrack and Meshek

in a bed to go, So like five hundred years prior to this point,

Daniel and his friends were exiled into Babylon and they were conscripted into this

class of employer employees to the king. These were the guys who were given

the job of studying ancient religious texts, studying natural phenomena, studying supernatural phenomena.

It was their job to look into things that most people didn't understand.

And there were different schools of magi. That's probably worth understanding, Like,

there's not just one type of magi. They were all kinds of different schools

of philosophers and enchanters and magicians. They didn't all have the same level of

repute. But even though those fourteen generations before, and you can see that

in chapter one of Matthew says it was fourteen generations ago from the deportation to

Babylon. So even though it was fourteen generations Daniel and many of the Jews

had come back to the land and re established the nation. Not all of

them had come back. Some of them stayed. So it's likely that these

men were in the line of those type, right, the magi that the

Book of Daniel calls the wise men, magicians, enchanters, astrologers. Right,

these were probably those who were descended from the Jews, or at least

highly influenced by the Jews who'd been a part of that exile like Daniel.

So they knew enough to know the anointed Savior King was coming prophesied in the

Old Testament, the one who would bring the mercy of God to those who

trusted him. And so what did they want? They wanted to get there

and trust him. They wanted his rule, and that drove everything about how

they felt about news of the king. How did they feel? Well,

look at verse ten, This is actually my favorite expression in the whole passage.

And I love how Matthew says, they responded inside when they saw the

star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. They rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

They felt what they felt because they wanted what they wanted. They wanted

the rule of the righteous one. So their response to the news of the

king internally was joy not Herod not Herod. Verse three says when he heard

of a king being born, what is What is the word that Matthew uses

about his internal response in verse three, He was troubled. We can translate

he was disturbed or agitated. He was bothered. And the other leaders in

Jerusalem were too, although they were a slower boil, they came. They

came to oppose the king. Also, it's a big difference here internal response,

adoration, agitation. Why, well, what did Herod want? History

tells us what Herod wanted? Matthew tells us what Herod want wanted. Herod

wanted to hold on to whatever power he had. He was cutthroat and controlling

and committed to doing things his way. So his internal response to the king

was not come, let us go that we may learn of him and walk

in his paths. He was troubled by the rule of another encroaching on his

domain, and we often are when it comes to the question of Christmas,

how will we respond to a king. People aren't troubled by responding to gift

giving. People aren't troubled by responding to a season of goodwill. But if

one suggests that my domain, my life, my priorities, my body,

my heart is rightfully ruled by another, I might be troubled. Unless I

knew and expected and trusted and adored this king, Unless I knew that this

king came to give grace to those who trusted in him, who bowed to

him in faith, then I might be rejoicing in him. It's the question

when it comes to my domain, how am I responding to the rule of

another with rejoicing or am I troubled? Worth doing a little test, here's

a few tests. Let's say, when it comes to responding to the king's

command regarding mercy. When the king says forgive, When the king says,

my instructions to you is that you would forgive, your fellow servant says I

have forgiven you, and you say, my wound, my forgiveness, what

do we say? Let's learn from him and walk in his paths. I

rejoice exceedingly with great joy to learn to forgive as he forgives. He's the

king. How do we respond internally when the king's command is purity? When

the king's command is that we would keep ourselves to our spouse alone in body

and mind and heart, do we say my sexuality? I am troubled that

there would be such a suggestion. There is a king who rules over what

I want to do with my body and my mind. Or do we rejoice

succeeding with exceedingly with great joy to say, let me learn purity from the

creator of purity, and from the creator of sexuality, and from the creator

of my body. Let me respond to the king with rejoicing. How about

money? How do you respond to the king's command for generosity, to not

have our eyes on earthly wealth, but to be rich towards God. What

do we say, how do we respond mine or his? I rejoice exceedingly

with great joy to bow and worship and give him everything. In all these

things and many others like them, the question of Christmas, how will we

respond to the King? Has this internal angle, doesn't it? It's not

all just about the outside. It's very much about the inside. Is it

adoration or agitation to consider that one has come to rule? Well, even

though it's internal, it doesn't stay internal, does it. It's very internal,

but it's our our insides become our outsides. Let's look at the external.

Let's look at responding to the king externally, because the orientation of our

hearts never remains just internal. Our hearts act, and Herod acts. Herod

acts in deceit to undercut the rule of the king. Look at verse seven

and eight. So sneaky Herod summons the wise men secretly and ascertained from them

what time the star had appeared, And he sent them to Bethelhem, saying,

go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him,

bring me word that I too may come and slaughter him where he lies

and worship him. It's a trick, O, but you knew this.

It's a trick to get the wise men to do the work of going door

to door in Bethlehem to find this child. And Herod's like, this child,

who's the Messiah? If there even is such a thing. I am

not going to look like an idiot going door to door in Bethlehem, trusting

the promises of God. Those guys do that, maybe they're onto something.

And later in the chapter we see Herod's heart is finally revealed in full right,

he orders the mass murder of every two year old male in Bethlehem,

and of course the priests inscribes their opposition appears pretty mild. Right, they're

troubled too, and like, well, when does their internal become external?

Well, it takes a couple of decades, but eventually they come to the

same place and become the ones, at least humanly speaking, that are responsible

for the death of Jesus. Because here's the thing, unless God does something

by his grace, internal opposition to Jesus will always eventually become external opposition to

Jesus. And the same is true worship Praise the Lord. Right, we

see that in the wise Man they act in sincerity in their worship. I

love how they show up to the capital seating and they just asked, sincerely,

hey, where's the king. Where's he who's been born king of the

Jews. We're here, We're here for him. And when they arrive at

Joseph and Mary's place, which I'm sure was very modest. They don't hesitate

at all. They just Verse eleven. Going into the house, they saw

the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.

Then, opening their treasure, they offered him gifts gold and Frankinson's and

merh and Matthew doesn't really elaborate on these gifts. They're all just they're treasures

that are fitting a king. They're of enormous value. They are like tribute

to a king. They bow and they literally put their money where their mouth

is, which just illustrates what Christ said to his disciples before he died.

If you love me, you will obey my commandments. The orientation of your

heart never remains just internal. Our hearts act, which is why the question

of Christmas, how will we respond to the King is external too. It

isn't just how do you feel about the baby Jesus? It's also what does

your life look like in response to Jesus. As one person said in our

sermon prep team this week, it seems like almost everyone's comfortable with six pound,

sorry, eight pounds, six ounce. That's a healthy baby boy,

right, baby Jesus? Maybe six pounds? Who knows. We don't even

know about this star. Everybody's comfortable with little baby Jesus and a little season

of sentimentality. But do I respond to the king with a life of obedience?

That's a question that provokes some discomfort. Is my life or is this

area in my life marked by sneaky undercutting of the king's rule or by sincere

worship? How am I actually treating my spouse? Is it a sneaky undercutting

of the King's rule continuing to try to manage my dominion? Or is it

sincere worship? And it could be any area of life, And maybe this

morning, maybe the conversation that you're having in your heart right now with God

is God. You and I both know what area has been a sneaky undercutting

of your rule. But from this point forward, in repentance, I'm committing

to it being a sincere worship. I'm bowing before the king this morning with

that thing. That's always the question of the Christian life. How will I

respond to the king? And as we consider it, I think it would

be good to pick up on a warning and an encouragement that Matthew is putting

forward here. And in fact, it's the warning and encouragement that is frequently

put forward in scripture here it is you can be really close and miss him,

I mean, and you can be really far and find him. Can

you realize how far the wise men had to come to find Jesus as opposed

to Herod. I mean the wise men had to travel probably be a thousand

miles at least five hundred miles, depending on exactly where they were starting from

one thousand miles of a rough terrain right hill and mountain, field and fountain

following yonderstar. Yeah, you know how far Herod had to go five miles

in good shape, he could have hiked there and back in the day.

It's a well marked road. All he had to do was walk it.

You can be close and miss him. That's just a distance. Let's talk

about the guidance. Herod had all the experts he could and did assemble all

of the chief priests and scribes of the people. It says, and when

he said location where the crisis is to be born, they're like Bethelhem of

Judea. According to the prophet Micah, let's have Mesianic prophecies for two hundred

please. It's like they knew, they knew the Wise man had a star

as a star, which raises a couple of questions. Of course, here's

the first one, what is this star? And Matthew actually doesn't go into

a lot of details about what the star is, so you can be rest

assured it's not really his main point. Right, But we're curious. I'm

curious, they're really There are really two answers, two groups of answers when

it comes to what is this star? Right, there are two groups of

theories. One of them is that it is a miraculous occurrence, and the

other groups of group of theories is that it's a natural occurrence, supernaturally used.

Right, So a miraculous occurrence. God can and has and does use

the miraculous in the history of the people of God. Right, so this

could be any number of things that God specifically uses. Maybe nobody else he

could even see it, God could do it. On the other hand,

it could be a natural occurrence, supernaturally used, and God does that in

the lives of his people every day. My prayer is that this message it's

a natural occurrence, supernaturally used, whatever the star may be, and I'll

go ahead and do it. If you're interested in an explanation, there's a

guy named Rick Larson who's done some really great work on the natural occurrence supernaturally

used, Like you can just look them up. Okay, I did it.

Here's the second question. Should we be looking at stars to find stuff?

I mean, this is is this the Bible like like low key promoting

astrology and the short answers, No, No, the Bible. Actually,

the biblical teaching on astrology and mediums and fortune tellers and and and divination of

all kinds is that the instructions of to God's people are to stay away from

that stuff. Right, So this isn't the Bible advocating for divination. This

is the Bible showing that God will meet sincere seekers where they're at. This

is God keeping his promise that if you seek me, you will find me,

if you seek me with all your heart. Because when it comes to

guidance, yeah, Herod had the experts and the wise men just had a

star. But the wise men had God himself. He gives them a dream

like he gave Righteous Joseph both before and after this account. And that's the

encouragement. You can be far off and find him if you seek him.

You will find him if you seek him with all your heart. I bowed

down to the King after a night at the clubs in downtown Amsterdam. I

was far off, and you might be hardened in your pride for years,

but this morning, softening to the fact that Jesus Christ is the King.

You can be far off. You may have had a secret life for years.

I'm telling you all types of people come to faith in Jesus every day,

even those who are far off. But the other side of that is

a warning. You can be really close and miss them all together. You

can know a ton of Bible verses and live without bending your need to Jesus.

You can travel in all the Christian circles and have a church you go

to and at heart, and in places that nobody else knows about. You

have not in trusted your life to the Kingdom. You could. It's a

well marked road and all you have to do is walk in. You know

where it is. But until you really place your faith in Him in a

real way, if you're just close and you can miss him, but you

might say, well, what if I'm neither close far nor far? But

what if I'm stuck in the muddy middle, Like I feel like I'm close

enough that I could walk that road, but I'm too far to really just

start. Let me tell you about one of the most encouraging passages in all

of script fare to those of us who may be stuck in the muddy middle.

And it has to do with his other group, the priests, inscribes,

right, because these should be good guys. I we got Herod,

we know about him, we expect what we get from Herod. We got

the magi that's out of the blue. But then you've got these priests,

inscribes. They should be good guys, and here they're pretty lukewarm. And

over the course of Christ's life and ministry, some waffle back and forth,

most of them turn towards full opposition, eventually to sort of as a group,

they become humanly responsible for Christ's death, which is a pretty fitting plot

arc for those in the muddy middle. Right, so close but so stuck,

and then at the moment of truth, opting for our own way instead

of Christ. But the story doesn't end there, which brings me to this

passage and acts. After Jesus's death and resurrection, as Christ continues to work

by his spirit in and through his people in the church, some of the

priests who had turned their backs on Jesus began to hear preaching of the forgiveness

of sins in his name, that the King is not dead, and that

they can still come to him in faith and bow before the King of Heaven

to receive what he came to give grace to those who trust in him.

And Acts six says a great many of the priests came to be obedient to

the faith. You may have been close, you may have gone far.

You can still respond to the King and receive from him what he came to

give grace to those who trust in him. You can bow in faith.

And speaking of responding, let me suggest three ways praying in response to the

King, worshiping in response to the King, and living in response to the

King. I'm going to go over each one, ever so briefly, but

in age in its turn. So praying in response to the King. Let's

do that right now. But you bow your heads with me, Lord Jesus.

This is a prayer that we pray together all who would bow their knee

to you. Everyone listening to the sound of my voice right now, whose

hearts are submitted to you, maybe even for the first time, maybe even

for a fresh way. Come in submission as a response to the King,

and we bow our heads as we bow our hearts, and we bow our

lives in prayer. Lord. We know that prayer alone is not what you

call us to, but it is the most common starting place for everything that

you call us to, and so that's where we'll begin. We begin in

prayer. Lord, Let this prayer be our platform from which we launch out

into worship and into living in ways that you have instructed. You have commanded

our hearts. Right now we lift in prayer saying we want to come and

learn of you and walk in your paths. We have come to receive from

you what you came to give grace to those who bow in faith to you.

So that's what this prayer is this morning, for each one of us

that praise it together in this room, we bow in faith, trusting you

as our King. But we know it's not everything. A prayer is far

from everything, but it is a great place to start, and so we

do in your name, Lord Jesus. Amen. And now we have prayed

in response to the King. Let's worship in response to the King. That's

what the magi came and did They knelt before the child, and they gave

their treasures and they worshiped him. And so I just want to call on

you to stand where you are, open your hearts, open your mouths,

and respond to the King and worship. Let's do it.