"Presents for the King," Matthew 2:1-12, Andrew Evans

Well, good morning. My name is Andrew Evans.

I'm one of the pastors here. And this morning I want to tell

you the story of three Kings. So before we get started, let me

pray for us. Father, would you and your

Spirit meet with us here today? Would you open up your word so

that we might go even unto Bethlehem and meet the Savior?

I pray this in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Now tradition has it that there were 3 kings who went to

Jerusalem to meet Jesus, but we don't actually know how many

kings there were, right? We know that there were three

kinds of gifts. There were gold, frankincense,

and myrrh, right? And from that we kind of just as

extrapolate there probably were three wise men. 3 magi, 3 kings

makes for a good scene on the lawn or on the Mantel place,

right? We actually don't know if they

were actually kings. In fact, odds are they probably

weren't kings. Greek here is magi probably

means something like sage astrologer.

These were very likely well studied men who watched the

stars for signs and were well versed in the Hebrew Scriptures.

And yet there is a sense, and we shouldn't miss this, there is a

sense in which they are kings. They are rulers of the domain

that God has placed in front of them.

They understand the stars and they can make decisive action in

order to travel for weeks or months to go see a new baby.

They are the rulers of their own lives, and so in that sense they

are kings, and in that way they are very much like you and like

me. Maybe we, you know, can't take

off work from once on end to go travel to the Holy Land, as much

as we might like to. But God has given us each

authority over the realms of our lives to make decisions and to

influence affairs. We are each rulers in our own

small way. And so in this way these magi,

however many there are, are the first king that we meet in our

story. And as such they are inviting us

to go with them to meet the other two kings.

The second king is Herod. He gets wind of these.

These foreign travellers. You can imagine them coming in

with, with great luxurious robes, maybe from Arabia or

Persia, walking into the into the city and asking where is

this new king? And he's, he hears this news.

It gets to him. It gets the wind of these new

travelers with this question and he becomes alarmed.

There's a new king. I thought I was the king.

What's what does this mean? And so King Herod does what

kings and what politicians through the millennia have done

when they have encountered the Christ.

He schemes. Now, I learned at the concert

that was here on Thursday evening that over the course of

the 20th century, actually, several regimes banned the

reading of the Magnificat, Mary's song, which is the song

that she sings after she learns that she is going to give birth

to the Savior. She's singing the Christmas

story. And regimes in the 20th century

had actually banned reading this story about this song about a a

new king who lifts up the lowly. This is a tactic that Herod

likely would have approved of. Now, he doesn't ban talk of this

new king, does he? But in short order, he will do

something even more brutal instead, right here, what does

he do? He deploys all of his guile and

his charm and even his deceit to try to figure out what is going

on and to neutralize the threat. So first he assembles the chief

priests and the scribes. These, these groups, probably

the Pharisees and Sadducees, Sadducees and Pharisees,

respectively, did not get along. We know that.

But he flexes his political muscle, you know, plays both

sides and gets input from both sides.

And he's, he's got to figure out, you know, what's the,

what's the geographical extent of the problem we've got here?

Where is this Christ who everybody's expecting?

Where is he to be born? Then he summons the magi to

figure out what's the timeline that we're looking at here?

What's the when did this star arise?

And then he seeks to win the confidence of the magi.

Go find the boy, then come back and let me know so I can too can

come and worship this new king. Herod was a rich and an

impressive king. He had a lot of political skill.

He built a lot of things. We can still see them in Israel

today. And he's not above using pious

words to further his own political agenda.

In other words, he's an awful lot like the kings of our own

day. There's a great tradition in

politics of using religion to Curry favor with the electorate,

and King Herod, like many politicians today, has no real

interest in actually submitting to King Jesus.

He says the right things, but he intends the opposite.

This new boy is a threat to his throne, and threats to the

throne must be neutralized. This is the second king, now,

the Magi. They meet King Herod.

They learn where the Savior is to be born.

They learn where to go, and then they travel the six miles down

the road to Bethlehem. This is not where the powerful

come to play. This is not where the impressive

buildings are. This is a little farming town.

There are sheep in the fields around it.

There are probably granaries around it.

Bethlehem literally means House of bread.

In other words, it's kind of like going from Washington, DC,

with its beautiful capital and White House and the amazing

buildings we have here, to a small farming community in rural

Nebraska. Some of you might know that

well, but it's here. Not in the capital, not with all

the impressive buildings. It's here where they meet the

king, the third king, the king who has been promised for

centuries, the king who comes not to tax, not to to to

oppress, but the king who comes to shepherd his people.

And what is so striking is that it's it's here, and only here

that they rejoice exceedingly with great joy.

Maybe they were awed in Jerusalem.

Maybe Herod wined and dined them with the best that the

Mediterranean had to offer. But they didn't rejoice there

because there wasn't life there. The true king wasn't in

Jerusalem, only a pretender to the throne was.

But it's in Bethlehem and a House of bread with sheep

bleeding in the distance, where they meet the true king.

A king who comes not with guile but with innocence.

A king who comes not with pomp but as a child.

A king who sits not on a throne but on his mother's knee.

A king who came ultimately not to tax, not to oppress, but to

serve and ultimately to die and to die actually with the same

words nailed over his head that the magi he here are saying

about him. Where is the king of the Jews?

He ended up on a cross. This is the king that they met.

This is the king whose advent brought them overwhelming joy.

And it's this king, this humble king in a backwater city in

rural Nebraska of of Israel with no name parents.

This king is the king that they worship.

Herod might have been impressive, but he was a cruel

overlord. The kings of our day may be

impressive in their own way, rich and smart and charming, but

my friends, they will ultimately prove to be cruel overlords as

well. Worship them and you might get

some power in prestige, but you will find ultimately only death.

But if you follow the Magi, follow him to Bethlehem, and

worship King Jesus, you will find more than you could ever

imagine. He came to give you everything,

all the way to the point of giving you his very life.

My friends, no king is more worthy of your worship.

No king is more worthy to fall down and worship.

Now the irony is here that Herod, when he lied to the

Magine about wanting to go worship him, Herod spoke better

than he knew. He said he would come and

worship the new King. He had no intention of doing

that. That's very clear, you see.

But he was right. He will bow before King Jesus.

All kings will bow before King Jesus.

You and I and every person in this room, every person in

history will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord.

We will all bow down and worship Him, and the only question is

whether we will do so like the Magi rejoicing with great joy,

or whether we will do so in fear and dread.

My friends, this is the story of the Three Kings.

We will all worship someone, whether ourselves or the Herod's

of our world. And my friends, they are many or

humble King Jesus. My friends, I implore you this

Christmas follow the Magi, worship King Jesus, find in him

the ultimate joy that only he can offer.

In the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit,

Amen.