Christmas 2021 - The Quest of the Magi

 Christmas – 2021

Subject – The Quest of the Magi

By Rick Welborne

Matthew 2:1-12 (NIV)
¹  After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem
²  and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
³  When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
⁴  When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.
⁵  "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
⁶  "'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"
⁷  Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.
⁸  He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
⁹  After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
¹⁰  When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
¹¹  On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.
¹²  And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. 

--Nobody knows who the Magi were, though everyone’s heard of them. They embody the quest for truth, meaning, and purpose in life. 

--We assume they were men, and tradition tells us they were wise, but all we know is the direction they came from (east), and that one day they turned up at the palace of Herod. 

--Self-acclaimed “the Great.” Herod was not born a Jew, much less a king. He was an Edomite, historically one of the greatest enemies of Israel, now made king by the Romans.

1. Quest for Truth

--One day Herod’s court is disturbed by the arrival of these foreign dignitaries who come asking to meet the king of the Jews. They meet Herod and tell him sorry but this is not the right address to deliver their packages.

--These truth seekers had followed the clues that drove them west. They see the palace was not the destination but a detour that could be a distraction, so they didn’t stay there. They kept following until they found Jesus.

--There was a move in the church over twenty years ago to become “seeker friendly or seeker sensitive”. The intentions were noble, the shift usually was helpful but not always. 

--Music changed, drama skits performed, and regular clothing worn, to bring the church closer to connection with ordinary people who were looking for God and had written off the church as a place to find Him. 

--But what do you do when you’re a truth seeker—and you find it? Or rather you find Jesus, Who is “The Way, The Truth and the Life”?

--Christ is not an abstract claim among competitors to bring “a truth.” He is truth embodied. What you do when you find him is the test of whether you’re really a seeker or a perpetual wanderer—still lost.

Churchill - People occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off again as if nothing had happened.

2. Quest for Meaning

--Sometimes when people do come in contact with the church they are encouraged to make “a decision” for Christ. 

--Again that idea of crossing the line of faith in prayer contains a helpful kernel of truth but Christ himself called us to make disciples, not decisions. 

--I have made so called decisions about many things that made no lasting difference, but when you become a disciple, everything changes. That’s the difference. 

--Maybe you made a decision once as part of your spiritual journey in life. But that may not mean you’re a disciple. How do we know which is which?

--Here is it is. Verse 11 says when they found Jesus, “The Magi bowed down and worshipped Him.” 

--That was what they wanted to do from the start, they set out to follow the star but the quest was not the point, they already told Herod they knew that the end of their journey was the beginning of true worship.

A. Some people won’t bow down because they worship themselves.

--Of course Herod would not bow down and as the years went by he ordered the death of every boy born in Bethlehem. The spirit of abortion was alive back then too.

--Around that time he killed his mother, his wife, his sons—when he felt his throne and title were threatened by them. He encouraged the Magi to “search diligently,” but all he was looking for was how to keep his crown.

B. Some people won’t bow down because they worship science.

--Of course there’s no real dichotomy between science and faith, unless you put all your faith in science. The Magi were astronomers in an age when that line was blurred with astrology more than it is today for us. 

--Astrology falsely states that the position of the stars at a child’s birth determines their destiny. But the Magi found that the position of where Christ was born determined the position of the star!

--The Bible says “knowledge puffs up.” Some people having devoted their lives to the study of astrophysics 

--They are deluded enough to believe that the tiny amount of understanding they gain to write a PhD about the black hole somehow makes them qualified to teach everyone else how everything they know works.

C. Some people won’t bow down because they worship theology.

--Theology has been called “the queen of sciences” because the knowledge of God is the beginning of knowledge. 

--What a shame that the ecclesiastical, expert scholars in Herod’s court looked into their scrolls and the ancient prophecies and knew where the Messiah would be born, but never went there.

--I was taught New Testament at University by a published theologian who was also an atheist. An expert Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic—spent his life examining words of Jesus—but had no interest in finding him. 

--Because when we do, when we find the true King, we must bow down. Jesus said of the Pharisees that they diligently searched the scriptures that spoke of him, but refused to come to him and have life. 

--It’s like looking at maps and guide books of a place and becoming an “expert” in a place you never go.

3. Quest for Purpose

--The Magi let what they saw going on in their times and their world take them on a journey, but they did not define themselves as lifelong seekers. 

--When the meteor or conjunction of planets or the star got them where they were meant to go, they stopped. They bowed down. They were overjoyed. Because when they met Jesus, the search was over!

--They started as seekers, but when they found him, they became worshippers.

--They brought themselves, the very best that they had, and literally “offered it” to him. Their gifts represented not so much who they were—because this was no longer about them—but who He is.

A. Gold was given because of his royalty.

--They saw the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. They were important dignitaries for sure, representing the nations and rulers of the earth in all its splendor, but Jesus’ majesty outshines them all. 

--The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the silver is mine and the gold is mine says the Lord, so whatever we give to him we only give back.

B. Frankincense was offered because of his deity.

--He has always been God. When their quest was over they saw God the Son. The word for offering that is used here is used seven more times in the New Testament, and alway as an offering of worship. 

--Now we are called to lay our lives before him and become a living sacrifice, acceptable because he not only made us, but bought us with the most precious substance in the universe, his own blood.

C. Myrrh given because of his humanity.

--He who has always been God, became human. When the Magi’s quest was over they saw a Son of man. By the time they get to Bethlehem he is a “young child.” 

--He knows what we are like, because he has become like us in every way. Yet without sin. The Word became 

--When you discover these truths, how can you not bow down and worship? It’s sad if people hold onto their own crowns and the temporary gifts of this life like Herod did.

--A bigger tragedy is when people waste their whole lives going from one place or person to another—searching for meaning and truth, yet when they find it all in the only One who embodies it, they walk away.

--As you travel through life, with all its questions and clues, ups and downs, the problem may not be that you haven’t found the truth, but that you’re unwilling to bow down. 

--You will worship something, but you’re not willing to worship the One who made it all, yourself included.

--Are you willing to say today, “I’m going to call off the search, because God has come and found me. So I will give Jesus—who owns everything—what he wants from me.” If so, let’s bow down and pray to him now:

--Lord take the gold, everything I have, as an offering to your majesty. Jesus forgive my idolatry and take my worship, all of me—as an offering for your deity. 

--Savior take my imperfect life as you took on life and death for me, so that I can be not only a seeker but a finder, your follower, forever. Amen.