If you could turn to page 7 in the sheet that you were given, I'm going to speak from Matthew 2 and verses 1-12.
! And there's an abundance of sermon title puns from this chapter.
So, Stars, Schemes and Dreams.
Or you might have heard Wise Men Worship Jesus Still.
Star Trek, to name a few.
But I think there's no story of Jesus' birth that's been more distorted over the years.
Let me try and prove my point with a quiz.
You're not going to shout out. You can whisper your answers to the person next to you.
But let me ask you some questions.
How many wise men were there?
What were their names?
How did they get to Jerusalem? No shouting out.
When did they arrive?
What country were they from?
And if you know the answers to those questions,
you're probably more familiar with sentimental carols and tradition
than with what the Bible says about them.
Let me give you the answers to the quiz.
We don't know how many wise men there were.
There could have been three.
There could have been ten. I'd quite like to think there were 500.
We don't know that Casper, Melchior, Balthazar were their names.
We don't know their names.
We don't know how they got there.
There's no mention of camels.
I think we can safely rule out one on a bus, one on a car, one on a scooter.
The belongings to two.
They didn't arrive at Christmas night.
They went to a house.
And not a stable.
And all we know about them is that they're from the east.
And so Matthew, who wrote this gospel, is very short on Christmas trimmings.
There's no stable.
There's no shepherds.
It's a very plain account.
But he's very, very clear on who and why we're celebrating tonight.
In the last verse of Matthew chapter 1, we're told Jesus was born.
And in verse 2 of chapter 2, it tells us that we celebrate the birth of God's king.
Jesus, and not the wise men, however many there were, is the hero of the story.
Two points for you tonight.
First of all, the contrast of the kings, and then the contrast of the responses.
So look at verses 1 and 2 on page 7.
Can you do that?
Look down with me.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod,
Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked,
Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?
We saw his star in the east, and we've come to worship him.
When you put them together, you don't have to be very astute, do you,
to realise that there's two kings.
There's King Herod, verse 1, and then there's the king of the Jews.
That's not an editorial coincidence.
It is a deliberate statement.
Herod was the man-made king.
Jesus is the God-born king.
Let's look at that contrast.
Herod, he's half Jew, he's half Edomite.
But Herod, the man-made king, he was appointed king by the Roman Senate about 40 BC.
You can look him up in history.
King Herod was an outsider.
In fact, he was a vicious outsider.
He killed his mother.
He killed his favourite wife.
And so you wonder what happened to the least favourite.
He killed at least three of his sons.
His reign is characterised by paranoia.
He was always vulnerable to a king rising up, to a true Israelite.
King Herod had sleepless nights about a king from the true Davidic dynasty.
That somebody would come from King David's line.
Think of that situation today, where there's a royal line.
But now there's someone else on the throne.
And of course, that someone else would be vulnerable.
Herod hears the news he's been dreading for decades.
There's another king.
A king of the Jews.
Jesus, well, he's got the credentials.
If you go back to right at the start of Matthew's Gospel,
the very first verse says,
Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
It's telling you right from the start,
Jesus is definitely in the royal line.
And so you see Herod, the man appointed king,
is terrified.
Can you see in verse 2,
this baby has been born king.
He's not born to be king.
He's in the royal line.
And he's born in the right place.
He's born in the little town of Bethlehem.
And that quote that we're given there in verse 6,
is from the Old Testament.
It's from the Old Testament prophet Micah.
This king has been born in the right place.
He's geographically authentic.
So what we're being told in Matthew 2,
is in the words of the carol,
the hopes and fears of all the years
are met indeed tonight.
The promised one of the Old Testament,
God's long promised king, has arrived.
And incredibly, Herod gets that.
There's more contrast.
What kind of king will Jesus be?
Will he be like King Herod, the tyrant?
And the contrast is not only in their origin,
but in the nature of their kingship.
I think tragically,
sometimes people can look at Christianity
and think that Jesus is a tyrant
telling you what you can and can't do.
That Jesus makes demands on your time,
your money.
He tells you who you can sleep with
and who you can't sleep with.
But if you look at verse 6,
just over the page, on page 8,
look what it says about this king.
For out of you will come a ruler
who will be a shepherd of my people.
And that idea of a king who's also a shepherd
is throughout the Old Testament.
I think Matthew is drawing here
from when King David was crowned king of Israel.
And we're told in 1 Samuel 5 verse 2,
you shall shepherd my people Israel
and you shall become their ruler.
Here is the king in David's line,
but he's the king in fulfillment to David.
He is the king, but he's also a shepherd.
He rules.
But how does he rule?
He rules as a caring shepherd.
What does a good shepherd do?
A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Do you remember Herod?
He is the one who will kill to keep his throne.
But Jesus is the one who will die
because he's on the throne.
You see, Herod was troubled
when he heard the news of the king of the Jews
and all Jews slim with them.
They sensed a threat.
They knew of Herod's paranoia.
He'd killed his mother, his wife,
at least two of his sons.
They had good reason to fear.
But in chapter 2 in verse...
Chapter 2, we're told that he will be a shepherd.
There's a joke at the time
when this was written,
which spoke that it was a rhyme in the original,
that it was safer to be Herod's pig
than Herod's son.
This man killed for his throne.
But the one the wise men wanted to see
will die,
not because he is forced off his throne,
but he will die for his people.
He will give his life
for the sheep.
Matthew tells us that at his birth
and at his death,
he's given a title, isn't he?
The king of the Jews.
And so there's a choice for the wise men.
As there is a choice for each one of us tonight.
There's the pomp and the rank
and the visible power
of the Herods of this world.
Or there's the seeming weakness
and vulnerability
and near invisibility
of God's king.
And the Magi, they chose wisely.
Well, we know, don't we,
from 2,000 years,
Herod is dead and gone, isn't he?
Herod was an important man,
a very important man,
but his kingdom was small.
And even in his time,
Herod was not the most important person
in the world.
As far as I'm aware,
there is nobody
who is worshipping Herod tonight.
As far as I'm aware,
there is nobody
that will celebrate Herod's birthday.
Nobody says,
I follow Herod's rule.
But the king of the Jews
born that night
is a universal
and everlasting king.
There's a clue to that.
Where are the Magi from?
The Magi are from the east,
aren't they?
They are not Jewish.
If you go back to the Old Testament,
you will see that
there's this promise
again and again and again
that God's king
will be a universal king
for all people
and for all time.
Psalm 72 says this,
it was like the national anthem
for the people of Israel.
May he,
that's God's king,
have dominion from sea to sea,
from rivers
to the ends of the earth.
May the kings of Tarshish
and of the coastlands
render him tribute.
May the kings of Sheba
and Sheba bring him gifts.
May all kings
fall down before him
and all nations serve him.
Blessed be his glorious name forever.
May the whole earth
be filled with his glory.
What Matthew is telling you,
that what Israel looked for
and prayed for
is beginning to happen.
We are seeing in miniature
in Matthew chapter 2
that the king of the Jews
is actually the king of the nations.
The promise is given
in the Old Testament
that God is going to bless
all the nations
is here being fulfilled.
The nations are coming
to Jesus.
An international mighty king
who will rule over his people
forever.
And so here in Matthew 2
is the beginning of many nations
coming to Jesus.
Millions upon millions
upon millions
have since done that.
People like me
who are not Jewish
who have been cut
into the story.
And Matthew
at the end of his book
says exactly the same thing.
He says,
go into all the world
and tell people
about this universal
and everlasting king.
You see,
Matthew 2
is telling you
that the baby
or the toddler
as he is in Matthew 2
is God's king
and so get on your knees
and worship him.
And if this is the start
of God's plan
what will it be like
when Jesus comes back?
We're told,
do you know what will happen then?
The Bible says
when Jesus comes back
every knee will bow
whether you've bowed
the knee before or not.
Mohammed's knee will bow.
Piers Morgan's knee will bow.
The Dalai Lama will bow his knee.
Rishi Sunak,
Joe Biden,
Donald Trump,
they will bow their knee
before King Jesus.
You
will bow your knee.
And will you bow your knee now
or will you bow your knee then?
And if I was you
I would make sure
I bow my knee now
and worship the universal king.
The contrast of the kings.
But secondly
the contrast of responses.
He's the universal king
but that doesn't mean
that he's universally acclaimed
and welcomed.
There are different responses
aren't there?
I think there are three.
Firstly there's the Magi.
We don't know anything about them
apart from this passage.
What did they know?
But it seems they must have known
some of the Jewish scriptures
to be looking for the king of the Jews.
It's absolutely remarkable isn't it?
They see the star
and they trek.
They trek to Jerusalem
where they expected the child to be born.
That's where you'd expect the child to be born
in the capital city.
And then they go on to Bethlehem
where they're told to.
And they give Jesus gifts.
Some have put special emphasis on the gifts.
Some have said it's gold for a king,
frankincense for a prophet,
myrrh for a priest.
I'm not completely sure about that.
But the gifts that they gave
were of great value.
And you have to wonder
that they went so far
with so little to go on.
They eagerly arrive at Jerusalem.
And they talk with Herod.
And Herod is troubled.
He is so troubled
that he gets the theologians in.
The religious guys.
And they know
where the king of the Jews
is going to be born.
They know that Bethlehem
is the birthplace
of the promised king.
But they can't be bothered
to go there themselves.
The wise men,
they have so little
to go on.
But the chief priests
and the teachers of the law,
they have so much,
but they're not going to stir.
And Matthew again
is deliberately contrasting
for you.
He is showing you
the eagerness of the Magi
to worship Jesus.
Despite their limited knowledge.
And he contrasts it
with the apathy
of the Jewish leaders.
Apathy isn't new.
What does apathy mean?
I don't care, you say.
It means, isn't it?
You can't be bothered.
It's really frightening, isn't it?
That some of us
can know our Bibles
and you can be really familiar
with the story of Christmas
like many of us are.
But that doesn't necessarily
lead to knowing
and loving Jesus.
If the chief priests
and the teachers of the law
were around today,
they'd be church leaders.
Incredibly well read,
incredibly sophisticated.
They'd be the religious
establishment.
But they still
wouldn't know
and love Jesus.
You see, for the Magi,
no trouble is too great
for them.
For the Pharisees
and the religious leaders,
they cannot be bothered.
And their apathy
in the end
led to opposition.
Herod's devious plan
shows he's against Jesus
right from the off, isn't it?
He's threatened by him.
And so even at his birth,
can you see,
Jesus is dividing people
into two camps
just like he's dividing
us into two camps.
Those who are for him
and those who are against him.
What's the result
of these three responses?
Well, verse 10,
for the Magi,
they saw the star
and they're overjoyed.
And they come to the house,
they see the child
with his mother Mary,
they bow down
and they worship him.
They open up their treasures,
they present him
with gifts of gold
and frankincense
and myrrh.
Can you just see
the response?
They came
and they worshipped Jesus.
What did they experience?
They experienced
great joy.
Exceedingly
great
joy.
I wonder
whether you know
anything of that.
That is
real
Christianity.
That is
the reason
we as a church exist.
That is
what we're inviting you
into tonight.
Real
exceeding
joy.
How will you
react
to King Jesus?
Will you
search for him?
Will you
look for him?
Will you
read about him?
Come back
on a Sunday
and find out
more about him.
It's really
why we're so excited
about this course
Hope Explored.
It's going to run
on three Wednesdays
in January.
Wednesday the 10th
and the 17th
and the 24th.
And it's an opportunity
for you to hear
more about Jesus
and hear
more about what
he claims
and to hear more
about that
exceedingly great
joy that he
offers you.
Come with your
questions.
Come with your
concerns.
Come with your
doubts.
You'd be really
really welcome.
Three Wednesdays
in January.
will you
be a fool
and not
bother
ignore him
maybe
think he's
unimportant
maybe
box him up
with the other
Christmas decorations
get him out again
next year.
That is a tragic
mistake.
I beg you
don't do it.
Or will you
recognise
that the baby
born in
Bethlehem
is God's
King
whom God
has sent
into this
world
to bring you
exceedingly
great
joy.
Let's bow
before him
now and let's
pray.