Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] O Lord God, we call upon you and we appeal to the beauty, the richness, and the majesty of your character.
[00:00:19] We acknowledge you as the source of everything good.
[00:00:25] We worship you because every good and perfect gift comes down from you.
[00:00:32] We pray that the wonder of Jesus Christ could one more time capture our attention and we could draw near to you.
[00:00:44] Grant us this great gift through Jesus Christ.
[00:00:48] Amen.
[00:00:53] It was a very ancient order.
[00:00:57] It was a group of men that passed down their knowledge generation to generation.
[00:01:06] But they were also a very active group.
[00:01:11] On any night that the sky was clear, you could find them standing on a zugarat in Babylon, watching the movement of stars and planets across the sky.
[00:01:32] They believe that each one of the constellations represented a country or a God.
[00:01:43] And they believe that the stars that would appear in any of these constellations at any given time was a hint of what was happening on Earth.
[00:02:02] And one evening, when they gathered on the zugarat and they started to watch the movement of the constellations across the sky, they noticed an unusually bright star in the constellation that they associated with the nation of Israel.
[00:02:29] And it seemed to them like a heavenly message.
[00:02:37] And so the.
[00:02:41] The order they met and decided, we have received a special message. We got to do something about this.
[00:02:55] And they picked some of their best representatives and they created a caravan and they made their way north up the Euphrates river until they came to the land of Haran.
[00:03:14] And then they got on a trade route and followed that trade route south until they came to the Jordan river valley.
[00:03:29] And they followed the Jordan river valley to a shallow crossing by the city of Jericho.
[00:03:39] And they crossed and made their way steadily uphill, uphill until they came to the city of Jerusalem.
[00:03:51] When they arrived in Jerusalem, it was a really big deal.
[00:03:57] Ah, they were a major caravan.
[00:04:01] They were obviously very wealthy. You could tell by the way they were dressed.
[00:04:07] And they were clearly from Babylon, they weren't from Israel.
[00:04:15] And that made King Herod uncomfortable.
[00:04:19] And so he invited them to have supper with him.
[00:04:27] And that evening they said to King Herod, we are here to see the baby that has been born in your kingdom, and he's going to be the next ruler in Israel.
[00:04:52] We saw his star.
[00:04:55] We received a divine message, and we're here to see that baby.
[00:05:02] That is the last thing that a man of Herod's insecurity wanted to hear.
[00:05:10] Herod, his entire life, had connived to get the throne and to hold the throne.
[00:05:17] He had made deals with Mark Anthony, and he had made deals with Octavius Caesar and He had manipulated people and he had even murdered people to hold control of the throne in Jerusalem.
[00:05:36] And the last thing he wanted to hear was now there was a baby in the world who would be trying to take the throne from him.
[00:05:49] But he was a political manipulator and he said to the wise men, to the Magi, oh, that's beautiful.
[00:06:02] Here's what I want you to do.
[00:06:04] I want you to go find that baby and when you find him, send a message to me, because I want to come and worship him also.
[00:06:19] And Herod called the chief priest and the scribes and the scholars of Israel and asked, where is Messiah supposed to be born?
[00:06:34] Where is the Christ supposed to come into the world?
[00:06:39] And they said, we know a passage from the prophet Micah.
[00:06:44] He lived about 700 years before Christ, and he prophesied you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judea, you are not the least of the governors of Judah, for out of you will come a leader who will shepherd my people Israel.
[00:07:10] And Herod said to the Magi, you'll find if, if he's here, you'll find him in Bethlehem.
[00:07:20] And so the next morning they packed up their caravan and they made their way south.
[00:07:27] Bethlehem is very close to Jerusalem. In fact, today it is a suburb of Jerusalem in it's so close.
[00:07:36] Bethlehem was a.
[00:07:38] It was an agricultural village.
[00:07:42] You see these beautiful Christmas cards and it makes Bethlehem look like a TV movie set.
[00:07:53] But it wasn't like that.
[00:07:55] It was a simple farmer's village.
[00:08:00] Every house had a garden, ah, most houses had a lean to beside them where they could keep sheep and goats in the winter.
[00:08:15] And they made their way to Bethlehem and by the grace of God, the star they saw Babylon stood over Bethlehem.
[00:08:29] In fact, it looked to them like the star was right over top a house.
[00:08:37] And they went to the house and knocked on the door and Joseph answered the door.
[00:08:44] And to his shock there stood men, wealthy men in Babylonian apparel, and they had camels and a whole caravan with them.
[00:08:59] And I'm sure Joseph said something simple like can I help you?
[00:09:08] And they said, we saw a star in the east and we sensed that God was speaking to us.
[00:09:20] And so we've come to see the newborn king of Israel.
[00:09:30] And Joseph said, we'll come in.
[00:09:33] And Mary was there.
[00:09:36] And the magi came in and they were in awe.
[00:09:46] It wasn't what they expected.
[00:09:49] They didn't expect to find the Messiah, the king in a simple farmer's town.
[00:09:58] It didn't line up with what they had expected.
[00:10:05] But they called for one of their servants and the servant brought in gifts, and they knelt before Jesus and worshiped.
[00:10:16] And they gave him a box, and it was full of gold.
[00:10:22] They gave him another box, and it was full of frankincense.
[00:10:27] And they gave him another box and it was full of myrrh.
[00:10:31] And they worshiped.
[00:10:36] Matthew doesn't tell us everything else that happened, but he does tell us that they spent the night.
[00:10:44] And that night God spoke to them again and said, I don't want you to go back to Herod.
[00:10:54] I don't want you to return to Herod.
[00:10:57] I want you to go home a different way.
[00:11:03] And because they were warned in a dream, they went home rejoicing in a different way, a different pathway.
[00:11:17] This incredible story is in the Bible because there's something about it that God wants us to associate with with Christmas year after year after year.
[00:11:33] I think one of the first things that God wants us to associate is finding Christ is worth the effort.
[00:11:43] These wise men made a long, laborious trip, a long, expensive trip because something was compelling about Christ.
[00:11:57] And it was so compelling that they were willing to do whatever they had to do to meet Christ.
[00:12:07] Ah.
[00:12:09] It is so easy to take Jesus Christ for granted.
[00:12:16] It's so easy to create a little crash scene in our heart.
[00:12:25] And every Christmas we drag out the little crush scene in our heart.
[00:12:30] We think about Jesus a little bit.
[00:12:33] And then January 1st comes.
[00:12:38] We pack away the crush scene for another year and Jesus kind of fades into the background.
[00:12:49] I believe God wants us to look at the wise men and say, finding Christ is worth a little effort in your life.
[00:13:03] Finding Christ is worth a little time in your life.
[00:13:08] Finding Christ is worth is worth searching for.
[00:13:13] I wonder if you have any plans to visit Christ this Christmas season.
[00:13:22] I know you have plans to visit your family. I know there are dinners and there are presents and there. And all of these things are good. I'm going to do them all myself.
[00:13:34] But I'm not going to let Christmas fly by without searching in my soul for some beautiful time in the presence of Jesus Christ, worshiping him for his beauty, his wonder, his dignity and his majesty.
[00:13:56] I don't want to miss Christ because I was so busy with Christmas.
[00:14:05] I believe there's another lesson that the Gospels want us to learn.
[00:14:10] Ah.
[00:14:12] Ah Ah.
[00:14:16] In spite of Jesus not being where and what the magi thought he where he would be and what he would be.
[00:14:29] Ah.
[00:14:30] They felt the impulse to worship him.
[00:14:36] Ah.
[00:14:38] I wonder.
[00:14:40] Ah.
[00:14:42] In your heart do you see Jesus Christ?
[00:14:48] Ah.
[00:14:49] Through eyes of ah Ah. Disappointment.
[00:14:57] Is it possible that the course of your life has led you to look at Jesus Christ and you don't see him with wonder and dignity.
[00:15:09] You see him with a little bit of disappointment.
[00:15:14] Ah.
[00:15:17] The disappointment of Christmas past.
[00:15:21] Ah. Perhaps there was a time in your life when you were much closer to Christ.
[00:15:28] Perhaps there was a time in your life when he was more compelling to you.
[00:15:33] You were more interested in him.
[00:15:35] Ah.
[00:15:37] He had a claim on your life, but one road led to another.
[00:15:47] And now you look at your relationship to Christ and it isn't what you dreamed it would be those years ago.
[00:16:01] Does anyone feel this?
[00:16:04] Can anyone connect with. There was a time in your life when Jesus Christ was much more beautiful to you.
[00:16:13] He was much more compelling. You were more interested in him.
[00:16:18] Pleasing him mattered to you.
[00:16:22] But somehow or another life has pushed you in this direction and in that direction.
[00:16:30] And now you have a sense of disappointment that this really hasn't turned out the way you had talked to Christ about it to begin with.
[00:16:48] Church, I want to ask you, would you look beyond your Bethlehem experiences and look into the eyes of the living, loving Lord Jesus Christ?
[00:17:05] He is greater than any disappointment you've had in your life.
[00:17:10] He is more beautiful than any disappointment you will ever have in your life.
[00:17:17] If you find yourself this Christmas not where you had longed and wished to be, I want you to do what the Magi did. They looked beyond the simplicity and disappointment of Bethlehem and they saw the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
[00:17:40] I think there is a.
[00:17:42] I think there's another lesson that the Gospels want us to learn.
[00:17:47] Ah.
[00:17:50] Ah.
[00:17:52] The Magi brought gifts to Jesus Christ.
[00:17:58] They brought the famous gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
[00:18:05] Ah.
[00:18:07] I wonder if these gifts all have meaning.
[00:18:12] I wonder if the gold might represent that which is most pure and most valuable in your soul.
[00:18:26] What is the most pure and valuable thing in your soul?
[00:18:32] What is the. What is the essence of what makes you the unique and valuable person you are?
[00:18:41] Have you ever considered offering that to Jesus Christ as a gift?
[00:18:49] Ah.
[00:18:50] It's more valuable to him than gold.
[00:18:58] The world and everything in it is passing away.
[00:19:02] Ah. But your eternal soul, it will last forever.
[00:19:08] And I wonder if this Christmas would be the right time for you to reconsider and say, who am I really and what is it about me that I should be sacrificing to Jesus Christ?
[00:19:26] What's going on in my mind?
[00:19:29] Are my thoughts worthy of Jesus Christ?
[00:19:34] What's going on in my affections? Do I love the things that Christ loves?
[00:19:41] What's going on in My choices.
[00:19:44] Am I choosing the things that are valuable to God?
[00:19:48] Or have my values been misdirected by my culture around me? And now I find I value other things more than I value the love and the beauty and the presence of Jesus Christ.
[00:20:07] Ah.
[00:20:08] I wonder, do you have the heart of the Magi?
[00:20:16] And would you be willing to give Christ the very best of who you are, the riches of what makes you uniquely you?
[00:20:28] You would simply say to Christ, I surrender what is most valuable about who I am to you.
[00:20:40] Ah. The world of Christ was a smelly place.
[00:20:44] People didn't bathe every day.
[00:20:47] There was no such thing as Old Spice liquid soap.
[00:20:52] Ah.
[00:20:53] People did not use deodorant.
[00:20:55] Ah.
[00:20:57] Streets were commonly covered with what animals left there.
[00:21:02] The ancient world was an odoriferous place.
[00:21:08] Ah.
[00:21:09] But if you lit some frankincense, the stinky world around you started to smell a little better.
[00:21:19] And frankincense was valuable because people like to have a pleasant scent more than an unpleasant scent.
[00:21:29] Ah.
[00:21:31] For the same reason we plug in those little things in the socket that makes the house smell better. They. They burnt frankincense.
[00:21:44] The frankincense made the environment more pleasant.
[00:21:50] I wonder, has it ever dawned on you that you could create a pleasant environment for God in your life?
[00:22:03] We always think about what God can do for us, and we always think about the blessings we want from him.
[00:22:13] But I wonder this Christmas, if you might pause and ask yourself, in the very same way that the Magi gave Jesus frankincense and it made the world around him a more pleasant place, what might you do to make the world around you a more pleasant place for Jesus Christ?
[00:22:41] How.
[00:22:43] How my. How might you, in your inner soul, say to Christ, I would like you to be more comfortable around me.
[00:22:56] What can I do in my inner self to make you more comfortable in my life?
[00:23:05] Ah.
[00:23:07] Husbands and wives, what if we sat down and held each other's hand and said, what can we do to make our home a more comfortable place for Jesus Christ?
[00:23:24] Ah. What kind of place? What kind of. What kind of environment would Jesus enjoy in our home that would make it a more pleasant place for him to share his presence?
[00:23:39] Ah.
[00:23:40] Brothers and sisters.
[00:23:44] Ah.
[00:23:46] How might you treat your brother and sister in a way that would make Christ more comfortable in your house?
[00:23:58] Ah.
[00:24:00] Ah.
[00:24:01] Maybe a little more kindness.
[00:24:04] Maybe a little more helpfulness.
[00:24:07] Maybe a little less. Ah. Ah. Ah. Ah.
[00:24:12] Ah. Fighting.
[00:24:14] Ah.
[00:24:16] Ah.
[00:24:17] Creating a place in your relationship to your siblings that Christ says, I enjoy hanging around with these kids.
[00:24:29] Church.
[00:24:32] Ah.
[00:24:34] Ah.
[00:24:36] Church.
[00:24:40] I Don't believe God enjoys every church equally.
[00:24:46] You can send me ugly emails if you want, but I, I, I don't believe that. I believe he is more comfortable in some churches than he is in other churches.
[00:24:57] I believe some churches work harder to please him. I believe some churches do more of what they know he wants us to do. And he finds greater pleasure in some churches than others.
[00:25:10] I wonder if we could light some frankincense in this church and we could create an environment in this church that God absolutely loves to be here, that he looks forward to when we're doing church because he finds joy in his spirit in hanging around with people like you.
[00:25:37] And then there was a third gift.
[00:25:40] And this third gift is myrrh. And many people believe it was used medicinally, it was used as a medicine.
[00:25:52] And so when the, when the wise men gave the myrrh, they, they were giving a first aid box. I don't know what, how to compare it to. They were given an antiseptic.
[00:26:10] They were giving what they believe had healing properties.
[00:26:16] Ah.
[00:26:18] I wonder if this Christmas we might be God's partner in healing some things in the world that need to be healed.
[00:26:30] Ah.
[00:26:31] Some of you came here tonight and, and you brought with you wounds.
[00:26:41] Ah.
[00:26:43] You brought with you brokenness.
[00:26:49] Ah.
[00:26:50] You brought with you some resentment.
[00:26:55] Ah.
[00:26:57] You brought with you an inability to forgive.
[00:27:02] Ah.
[00:27:05] What if this Christmas, ah, you laid that all down to Christ and said, I would like to be healed of this in my soul.
[00:27:19] And then I would like to be your partner and help you heal other people whose lives have been touched and broken and made difficult and sorrowful church.
[00:27:34] What if we became Christ's partners in healing that which is wounded?
[00:27:41] It might mean you'd have to pick up the phone and say to someone, I'm sorry that I've held this grudge so long, but I would like it to be healed this year.
[00:27:55] It might mean that you might have to sit down with someone and say, I did you wrong. And, and I wanna make it right. And I want what is broken between us to be healed.
[00:28:06] It might mean you have to say to someone, I know I disappointed you. I didn't do what I should have done. But I would like it to be healed this Christmas.
[00:28:17] I would like next Christmas to be very different from this Christmas because the thing that is wounded and broken gets healed.
[00:28:28] I wonder if the gifts of the magi are a way of God saying to us, I'm looking for what is most valuable in your soul.
[00:28:42] I'm looking for you to create a more pleasant environment for me to be in your life.
[00:28:49] And I'm looking to heal you and to heal others through you.
[00:28:56] There's one other part of this story that I'd like to look at.
[00:29:01] God spoke to the Magi and said, don't go home the way you came.
[00:29:10] I wonder if you can hear that message tonight.
[00:29:17] I wonder if somewhere in your heart you'll open your soul and let God whisper to you, don't go home the way you came.
[00:29:30] Let the reality of Christ lead you in a different way.
[00:29:36] Don't let next year be a replica of this year.
[00:29:42] Let Christ lead you in a better way, richer, more meaningful, more pleasing to God way.
[00:29:57] Go home with a new sense of the majesty of Christ and let his majesty affect the way you treat others and what you're planning to do.
[00:30:13] Let the wonder of Jesus Christ influence your imagination and imagine a better year for yourself.
[00:30:24] Imagine a better home for yourself.
[00:30:27] Imagine that you are more influential for good than you've ever been.
[00:30:33] Don't go home the way you came.
[00:30:37] Go home with the touch of Christ on your eternal soul.
[00:30:43] Go home with a sense that Christmas is a new beginning and that God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above what you can ask or think and that the life of Christ in you can make all the difference on who you are and what you do. This year, the last thing I'd like to share with you is.
[00:31:08] Ah.
[00:31:11] The Magi had a very different Christmas than Herod.
[00:31:17] Herod did not have a merry Christmas.
[00:31:22] Ah.
[00:31:24] His insecurity was raging.
[00:31:29] Ah.
[00:31:30] His fear and doubt were overwhelming him.
[00:31:36] Ah.
[00:31:37] And then Matthew tells us that Herod figured out that the Magi weren't coming back to tell him where the baby was.
[00:31:50] And instead of Christmas being a time of joy and beauty, Herod turned Christmas into a nightmare.
[00:32:01] The joy and the beauty that the Magi experienced, Herod missed altogether.
[00:32:11] Some of you have the potential to make Christmas for your family and friends absolutely beautiful.
[00:32:21] But some of you have the potential to make Christmas another nightmare.
[00:32:30] You have the potential to hurt and wound the people around you.
[00:32:37] You have the potential to break people's hearts again.
[00:32:43] I'm asking you to take a good hard look at your soul, to confront the ugliness and the insecurity.
[00:32:51] I'm asking you not to have a Herod Christmas. I'm asking you to have a Magi Christmas.
[00:32:59] I'm asking you to do something very different than what has become common. I'm asking you where you have in the past hurt and wounded, that this year you would love to you would encourage you would inspire and you would bless and that something of the wonder of Christ might enrich you so much that the people around you will say something significant has happened in your heart.
[00:33:34] You've been to Bethlehem, you've seen the Savior and it makes a difference in how you treat people and how you care for them, how you encourage them and what you say to them.
[00:33:49] I say let's have a Magi Christmas and not a Herod Christmas. Can I have one? Amen.
[00:33:56] Our dear Heavenly Father, I call upon your name.
[00:34:02] I thank you that in your wisdom you are had Matthew record this story.
[00:34:10] I pray that we can learn from the Magi.
[00:34:14] I pray that we would offer you our very best.
[00:34:18] I pray, Heavenly Father, for my brothers and sisters that they would all have a Magi Christmas and that next year would be different because Christmas was different this year.
[00:34:30] And I assist through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
