Epiphany: Opening Up Our Treasures

In Matthew chapter 2 and verse 11, we read these words,

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

Then they, the wise men, opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.

I suspect with many of you, I have a kind of unease about the way we celebrate Christmas.

Just the idea of our shops being decorated from mid-November and then, of course, followed by the sales.

Would make it seem, I think, if a Martian were to land on earth, that this is just one massive celebration of materialism, of things.

I look in my own family's homes, my grandchildren, and the absolute piles of presents under the Christmas tree, and I shudder a little bit.

I see children who are overexcited, and that's part of the joy of Christmas in a way, isn't it?

Ripping into their presents, so carefully wrapped, but ultimately bored with much of what they've received unless it can be played on a screen.

I admired the man on the radio chat show I heard about this year, who told us, and was slightly esconced,

that his wife was very upset when she unwrapped her gift and found it was a dishcloth.

And then he said, actually, that was a joke, he said, and he presented her with a large box, which was beautifully wrapped.

We all thought this was going to have a nice ending, this story, until we discovered that in the big box there was a hoover.

I'm rather in favour of the Icelandic tradition at Christmas, where on Christmas Eve, a gift is exchanged, one gift, and it's usually a book, and it's given on Christmas Eve.

I know that would be hugely unpopular, and I'm not seriously suggesting it, but there is something about that that appeals to me.

The story of the wise men, the magi, as we call them, comes from a Greek word, magoi, which means wise,

is a fascinating addition to the birth narratives.

And only Matthew, in his Gospel, records this particular story.

You will note that history and the Church have added details to that story, which actually don't exist in the original text.

I'm always vaguely amused by we three kings of Orient are.

I mean, firstly, because we have no idea how many wise men there were.

We assume there were three, because there were three gifts.

But we haven't got a clue.

There could have been a football team of wise men, as far as we know.

And the likelihood that they came from the Orient is very unlikely.

Much more likely they came from the ancient Middle East, places like Iraq or Iran or Syria or places like that.

Even as far afield as Yemen, one scholar says.

And of course, and this is where I take issue with the scholars,

a good many modern scholars think that this event never took place at all.

It's just a bit of made-up history.

I have to say that I cannot believe that myself.

As far as I'm concerned, whatever happened, three kings or a football team of kings coming from wherever,

I believe in my head and in my heart this story to be a historical story.

And a number of things strike me about this story very immediately.

Firstly, the courage of these wise men.

Not only was making a long journey in those times a highly difficult and dangerous thing to do.

But then they had to confront Herod and his wily scheme to use the wise men to find the baby Jesus.

He lied through his teeth when he said, so I could go and worship him.

What he really meant was, so I could go and kill him.

He was threatened by anybody who might be a threat to his kingship.

The wise men decided that they would sidestep Herod and didn't go back to him and tell him where they found the Christ child.

Their commitment strikes me.

Many of us, I think, are too easily put off owning our own faith.

And they were not put off from their journey to find the Christ child, to follow the star.

Their kindness, they brought gifts.

And the consequences of them meeting the Christ child.

It is thought by many scholars that these wise men were astrologers.

You know, the kind of people who write stuff in newspapers telling you what your future might look like.

In other words, they might have been of extremely spurious theological background.

And yet, the consequence of coming and seeing a baby in a stable was that they bowed down and they worshipped him and they offered their gifts.

And that's what I want to talk to you about this morning.

I want to talk to you about the offering of gifts.

And before you put your hand in the pocket and hope that you left your wallet at home, I'm not talking about money.

I want to talk to you about the reality that God has given to you, if you are a believer in Christ, charismata.

Where our word charismatic comes from.

Charismata means gifts of grace.

Every believer is given these gifts of grace.

It doesn't matter how young you are or how old you are.

God has given you these gifts.

And I need to say that at the beginning of this new year,

the way that we're meant to offer our gifts will make a huge difference to your life as a Christian,

will make a huge difference to the life of this church,

and ultimately will make a huge difference to the wider community of Clevedon.

But before I talk to you directly about the gifts,

just one or two more introductory comments, if I may.

If you are a Christian, and I need to say that I never take it for granted

that people sitting in front of me in a church building are truly Christian.

I never take that for granted.

Funnily enough, as somebody who worked in the Church of England for 40-odd years,

I've never taken it for granted in the Church of England

that the people sitting in front of me are actually genuine believers.

It's a bit like Billy Graham said once,

that going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more

than going into a garage makes you a car.

Because it's about a personal relationship with God.

It's about knowing that your sins are forgiven.

It's about being assured that when you die,

you will not hit a brick wall,

but you will go through a gateway into a state of existence called heaven.

A lot of confusion about what happens to Christians when they die.

I dare say that confusion is represented in this church,

and it would be another sermon for me to explain to you exactly what happens.

There's some really strange ideas,

and I don't want to go into them right now,

but listen, you can have assurance.

If you have a relationship with Jesus,

know your sins are forgiven,

you can have an assurance that when you die,

you will receive eternal life.

The Apostle John,

writing in his first epistle at the end of the Bible,

says that,

these things,

meaning these things I have written,

these things I have written,

said John,

are written that you may know

that you may have eternal life.

Not that you may keep your fingers crossed

and wildly hope that you might have a place in heaven,

but that you may know.

Friend, if you have no assurance

that you will go to heaven when you die,

I want to reassure you

that if you trust Jesus Christ,

you will be accepted into heaven.

That's the amazing thing about grace.

It's God's gifting to us,

even though we don't necessarily deserve it.

The second thing about gifts

is that they can be natural gifts.

Some of you are great musicians.

Some of you, no doubt,

were great sportsmen.

Looking at you a few years ago now,

let's admit it.

A lot of you are great hosts and hostesses.

A lot of you have a lot of natural gifts.

Are those natural gifts,

spiritual gifts?

Well, they are

when you hallow those gifts

to serving Jesus through them.

When I was a young fellow

and trying to witness

to my non-Christian friends

up in the north of England,

it amazed me

how often they would say

Christianity,

I can't use the word

that they actually describe,

but basically it means

Christianity is for wimps.

Fellows up north

believed then

that nobody who was a man,

a real man,

would ever

give their life to Jesus Christ.

They talk about crutches.

Well, I can tell you

there are times in your life

when you'd be very grateful

for a crutch.

And now I see

the embodiment

of kind of

1970s macho man,

our premiership footballers.

How many of them

are people of faith?

I mean,

I have no idea

whether that's genuine faith.

I have no idea

what it would be like

to be a Christian

and earn 350 grand a week.

Though I wouldn't mind

the opportunity

of trying to find out.

Look,

here's the thing.

God has given you

these spiritual gifts.

They may be natural gifts.

I had a man

in a congregation

in which I worked

who was a very good pianist

and purely

before he became a Christian

played it for his own enjoyment

and for the entertainment

of others.

There's nothing he loved

more than applause.

I don't want to say

there's anything wrong with that

but when he became a Christian

he hallowed this gift to God.

He offered it to God

and said,

use me.

Funnily enough,

he became a bishop

in the Church of England

and did a wonderful

evening of testimony

where he played music

throughout the whole

of his life.

He was actually

a trained concert pianist

and it was a very,

very poignant evening

for him to play his music

but talk about

the way he had

become a Christian.

We have music

from the Beatles

and we have music

from Rachmaninoff,

whoever he was.

So it could be

a natural gift.

The most important thing is

you need to discover

what your spiritual gifts are.

And a lot of Christians

are very frustrated

with their walk with God

because they don't know

what their spiritual gifting is.

Some of you

will be very frustrated.

Some of you will be here

because church going

is actually a Sunday habit

for you

rather than you come

to the reality

of the risen Christ

who died for you

and forgave your sins

and you want to come

like those wise men of old

and worship him.

I made a comment

at the beginning

of the service

about singing carols.

I should never have said that.

We haven't come here

to sing songs.

If you want to do that,

you can go down

to the football.

We've come here

to worship

the living God.

Someone say amen.

Someone say hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

And look,

these spiritual gifts

have three primary directions.

Firstly,

our spiritual gifts

are given

that we might glorify

God ourselves.

that we might bring

honor to him

through the exercise

of those spiritual gifts.

The thing about

spiritual gifts

is they are never

about drawing attention

to yourself.

I've been in a load

of churches

in my life.

That was my ministry

in a way.

Every week,

a different church.

And I have to say,

I veered on the edge

of being a little judgmental

when I saw some people

in the music group

who it seemed

to be more about them

than it did seem

to be about God.

No,

spiritual gifts

are given

to glorify God,

to bring honor

to him.

Secondly,

to edify the church.

I want you to

imagine

for a moment,

and it would

take imagination,

that we were

in churches

where people

who undertook

ministries

were gifted

to undertake

those ministries.

I want to say,

I think this is,

in my view,

I would give

Christchurch

a pretty good score

on that.

I think we have

people who undertake

ministries

who are really gifted

to take them.

I thank God

for our youth work

and for our work

with children.

I thank God

for my colleague

minister,

who I think

attempts week by week

to preach

the living word

to you.

I'm grateful

for those

who have the gift

of hosting

and provide us

with coffee

and all that.

I'm very grateful

for that.

And I think

as a church,

we might score

well,

were there ever

to be a competition,

and there never

will be.

The third reason

God has given us

two spiritual gifts,

one is to glorify

himself,

two is to serve

the church,

that the church

might be

what the church

is meant to be.

And the third thing

is that some

of those gifts

need to be given

to serve the world.

when I

look around

our town,

I think we have

a huge assignment.

And the huge

assignment is

how are we going

to re-evangelize

this town?

And I want

people who are

gifted in evangelism

to play their

part in that.

Billy Graham

once said that

we don't all

have the gift

of evangelism,

so most of you

can relax.

But he did say

we're all called

to be witnesses.

That is,

to take responsibility

in your walk

with God

that some people

will make their

minds up about

God on the basis

of what they see

in your life.

Can you imagine

that?

Can you imagine

if you took

that responsibility

seriously

how the world

would be a

different place?

But I want

Christians with

gifts of leadership

to get in

prominent positions

in commerce

and in charities

and in organisations

that the church,

that the world

might be served

better.

God has promised

these gifts

and right now

don't let the

devil or your

sense of low

self-esteem

start to say

to you,

oh, he couldn't

use me.

Oh, poor little me.

I'm too old.

I'm too young.

You know,

it's interesting,

isn't it,

that many of those

great prophets

of old,

when God called

them to a life

of prophecy,

what was their

first response?

Jeremiah,

Jeremiah,

I'm too young.

God said,

and here I

paraphrase the

Bible,

God said to

Jeremiah,

get over it.

When God

called Moses,

Moses said,

you know what,

I'm not a great

leader,

I don't want to

do this.

So God gave him

Aaron,

who admittedly

was a mixed

blessing,

but nevertheless

they got through.

When God

called Ezekiel,

Ezekiel said,

I'm a man

of unclean

lips.

And God

metaphorically

touched his

lips with

burning coal

and set him

free to do

his weird

stuff.

love.

So,

you have

these gifts

if you're

a believer.

And the

great shame

is the

shame

of an

unopened

gift.

Of a gift

that you may

have that you

choose not

to offer.

father.

And you

sit in

church

week by

week

with a

faith in

your heart

wondering,

why is my

walk with

God not

more

stimulating?

Why is it

not more

exciting?

How many

gifts do

you have?

Well,

I can't

answer that

for each

one of you

individually.

And I do

want to say

when I tell

you this,

I did not

go to

Mount Sinai

and come

down with

this.

But in

my experience,

most people

have three

primary

spiritual

gift

areas.

I once

sat with

a group

of mega

church

leaders in

the USA.

Goodness

knows how

a minnow

like me

ended up

with them.

And the

purpose of

the day

with these

great leaders,

people like

Rick Warren

and Bill

Hybels

and Stuart

Briscoe,

the purpose

of the day

was for us

to have an

honest discussion

with each

other and

tell each

other in

the end

of the day

what did

we think

each other's

spiritual gifts

would be.

It started

out that we

filled in this

kind of matrix

of questions

and we filled

that in and

then they

were distributed

and then we

prayed for an

hour.

It was an

amazing day.

thing.

And at the

end of it

I was told

very clearly

what my

three primary

gift areas

were.

It completely

reshaped the

way I thought

about my

ministry.

And I think

if you knew

what your

spiritual gifts

were,

it would

reshape

your life

and your

walk with

God.

So I

would say

most people

have three

spiritual gifts

and then

you come

across these

people who

have far

more than

three spiritual

gifts and

you pray for

the grace

from God

not to hate

them.

and they

are

world

changes.

So how

will I

know my

gifts?

That's a

great question

and here

I have to

say there

is a major

problem

which besets

us human

beings.

And the

problem is

what

psychologists

call delusion.

That we

can think

we're really

good at

stuff that

nobody else

on planet

earth thinks

we are good

at.

And that's

why it's

really important

I think

that we need

to check out

with people

who spiritual

counsel we

respect and

who love us

enough to tell

us the truth.

We need

to check

out whether

or not our

inclination that

we are a

future opera

star or

whatever has

actually got

any basis in

reality.

Maybe a

talk with a

minister from

the church

maybe and

this is a

great way of

discovering your

spiritual gifts

join a home

group.

A home

group which is

small enough for

you to build

relationships of

honesty and

integrity with

one another

where there

can be an

exchange of

feedback which

is vital in

helping us

discover our

spiritual gifts.

gifts.

And if like me

you're a

senior I

just want to

say one

thing to you

in relation to

this issue of

spiritual gifts.

God is not

finished with you

yet.

God is not

finished with you

yet.

Go home

stand in front of

a mirror

say to

God you're

not finished

with me

yet.

There's this

thing in

churches isn't

there the

80-20

thing.

You know

80% of

the people

sit there

passively

sometimes

aggressively

week in

week out

who haven't

got a clue

what their

ministry is.

And then on

the other

side of the

church there

are ministers

with the

Colgate ring

of confidence

around their

necks who

think that

their job

is to get

you to help

them with

their ministry

whereas I

have always

thought that

my job was

to help you

with your

ministry to

discover it

and to

offer it.

Imagine

a church

where ministries

were undertaken

by people who

were gifted to

undertake them.

Cherish the

church where

the ministers

understand that

their ministry

is in part

to help you

discover your

ministry.

All right

well you're

sitting there

and you say

well what will

this do for

me?

You know

I'm already

I've already

got enough

to do

you know

I got my

daytime television

I got

you know

mindless stuff

to watch

and do.

Listen

if you

set yourself

to discover

your spiritual

gifts and

you offer

them.

You will

have a renewed

sense of

fulfillment

you will

have a new

excitement in

your faith

and you

will have a

new impact

with the

ministries of

this church.

We stand

at the

threshold

of a new

year.

a year

which is

full of

anxieties

and worries.

I hesitate

to say

that I've

read anybody

who can

tell you

what the

end of

2025 is

going to

look like

in the

world

in our

local

in our

country

in our

local

community.

Nobody

it seems

can work

out what

is going

to happen.

Whilst

we kind

of worry

about the

way the

world is

going,

whilst we

worry about

that,

I want to

say to

you,

I think

that in

the whole

of my

ministry

I've never

felt that

the opportunity

for the

gospel is

greater

than it

is now.

There are

amazing

things happening

in our

culture which

maybe many

of you are

unaware of.

The death

of the new

atheist movement,

very well

charted now

in social

media and

in serious

academic

circles.

else.

I've never

felt that

opportunity

more and

I want to

give myself

afresh to

it.

And I

wonder

who amongst

you will

join me?

Who of

you on

this first

Sunday of

2025

will say

I'm going

to get

serious about

my spiritual

gifting.

For those

of you who

don't know

what it

is you

need to

say I'm

going to

discover what

those gifts

are.

They're not

all spooky

things.

If you

turn in

your Bible

when you

get home

turn to

1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12

this is an

amazing passage

of scripture.

You get the

same kind of

thing in

Romans chapter

Romans 12 · chapter mention

12.

It's as if

the Holy

Spirit made

it easy for

us by saying

you've got to

remember chapter

12.

Now to

each one

the manifestation

of the

Spirit is

given for

the common

good.

Amen.

To one

is given

through the

Spirit the

message of

wisdom to

another the

message of

knowledge by

means of

the same

Spirit.

It goes

on.

Some of

those gifts

are going to

spook some

of you and

it may well

be that some

of the gifts

that spook you

today will be

your gift

tomorrow.

I don't

know about

you but the

first time I

heard anybody

speak in

tongues I'm

like show

me the

door.

I got a

little impatient

with prophecy

where basically

the strap line

of the prophecy

was God

says you

scratch my

back and

I'll scratch

yours.

I compared

it to those

prophecies of

old where

people like

Ezekiel

had to say

to the people

of God the

glory of the

Lord has

departed from

your temple.

I don't

think prophecy

is about

just saying

what we want

to hear.

It's about

saying what

we don't

want to

hear.

when I

was a

young

minister

family

services

were just

coming onto

the agenda

for churches.

Because I

was young

it was

assumed

that I

would be

great at

family

services.

And so I

tried to

teach myself

a few skills

to do that.

I mean I

love the way

in this

church

Ross could

use his

magic gifts

to occupy

I mean not

just children

I love

them but

you know

good thing

to do.

And make

a great

kind of

teaching

point out

of that.

But one

of the

things I

devised

it was

actually a

stolen

idea

and I

stole it

from the

guy who

was at

St.

George's

in Leeds.

And to

make the

point about

the importance

of you

knowing your

gifts and

offering them

I made

a giant

jigsaw.

I get

the kids

to come

up and

help me

put the

pieces

together.

What the

kids didn't

know was

there was

a piece

missing

right in

the center

of the

jigsaw.

At the

end of it

I had the

kids hunting

around the

church for

the missing

piece.

I had it

hidden under

the altar

cloth on

the Lord's

table.

And at

the end

of it

to make

myself a

hero I

pulled out

the piece

and I

put it

there.

My

message was

this.

If you

don't know

your spiritual

gifts,

if you

don't like

those wise

men of

old come

and offer

them,

sadly the

church is

always going

to have a

missing piece

in the

jigsaw of

its

ministry.

who,

who will

bring their

gifts and

offer them?

The wise

men followed

the star

and the

wise today

will follow

that same

star and

discover that

same Christ

child and

discover a

new way of

living through

him and

in him.

The wise

men came,

they opened

their treasures

and they

offered their

gifts.

In the

end,

it's down

to you.

In the name

of God,

Father,

Son,

and Holy

Spirit,

the people

who agreed,

said together,

Amen.

they

get

out