Rev. David Holwick ZO What We Bring To Christmas, #3
First Baptist Church (Cantata at second service)
Ledgewood, New Jersey
December 16, 2007
Matthew 2:9-11
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I. The reason for the season.
A. Expensive Christmas gifts.
Do you have any gifts under your tree?
How about a gift that goes under the sea.
For $1.44 million, you can order a submarine from the Neiman
Marcus Christmas catalog.
Since unlicensed people can't run submarines, you have to hire
a crew, too.
They also have a $1 million 305-carat uncut diamond necklace.
Or a custom his-and-hers portrait by Vik Muniz, available for
a sweet $110,000.
It is really sweet, because it is drawn with chocolate syrup.
Also of the organic variety is a $30,000-dragon topiary for
the front lawn, complete with gold leaf horns, claws and
teeth.
But those that really want to their give their neighbors
something to talk about can invite them to a private
classical concert.
It is hosted by Regis Philbin and costs $1.6 million.
#34882
Are you going to receive any gifts like this?
If not, it's because they really don't love you.
B. Why gifts take center place.
1) For one thing, they drive the United States economy.
a) Don't you hate those reports on how Christmas buying
is off 7%, or up significantly, or whatever.
b) I don't think this is the priority God has in mind.
2) What is God's priority for this season?
a) The Wise Men illustrate it.
b) And maybe you need to ask yourself how wise YOU have been.
II. Gifts show how much we value the giftee.
A. Old Testament gifts to God.
1) God's greatest buildings have always come from offerings.
The building of the Tabernacle in Exodus 36:1-6:
[All the skilled craftsmen] said to Moses, "The people
are bringing more than enough for doing the work
the LORD commanded to be done."
Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout
the camp: "No man or woman is to make anything else as
an offering for the sanctuary."
And so the people were restrained from bringing more,
because what they already had was more than enough to do
all the work.
a) The temple was built the same way.
b) Building maintenance, however, came from taxes!
2) The people brought the best they had.
a) The finest of the best went closest to God.
b) The Holy of Holies got most of the gold.
B. The wise men brought fine gifts as well.
1) Gold.
This has always been valued because it is rare, it is a
beautiful color, it is easily worked, and barely
tarnishes.
2) Frankincense.
A glittering, smelly gum obtained by making incisions
in the bark of trees that grow in the desert.
An amazing thing about these trees is their ability to grow
in environments so unforgiving that the trees sometimes
grow directly out of solid stone.
They use little suckers to hang on.
3) Myrrh.
Myrrh is a sap that secretes from a tree found in Arabia.
For thousands of years it has been a much-valued spice and
perfume.
Old Testament kings used it on their robes. Ps 45:8; Song 3:6
According to John 19:39, it was also used for embalming.
C. Do they hold deeper meanings?
1) Ancient and modern commentators find symbolic meaning in
these three gifts:
a) Gold indicates royalty.
b) Incense indicates divinity.
c) Myrrh represents Jesus' crucifixion and burial.
2) Maybe they just represent expensive gifts.
a) The Magi were astronomers, not Bible theologians.
b) For desert dwellers, these gifts represented the best
they had.
III. Their gifts were not their focus.
A. For many of us, Christmas gifts are an end in themselves.
1) We exchange them with each other.
2) We worry about whom we owe them to this year.
B. For the wise men, the gifts were only homage.
1) They had come to worship a baby king. Matt 2:2
2) They worshipped only him, not Mary.
3) Only Jesus received the gifts.
IV. The ultimate gift to God.
A. It is ironical that Jesus no longer gets Christmas gifts.
1) It is commonplace to say that "the spirit of giving" is
what this season is all about.
2) Such a saying sounds nice and doesn't offend anybody.
3) But it ignores the real reason for the season - Jesus.
B. Do we worship him?
1) Except in a symbolic way, we can't give anything to Jesus.
a) He is in heaven and has no need for material objects.
b) However, Jesus takes note of any material gift to
Ledgewood Baptist....
2) There is one gift he can still accept - our worship.
a) Genuine worship must come from the heart.
b) It involves praise and thanks.
c) It also involves our obedience.
3) The wise men have come to represent something larger.
a) Traditionally, the three gifts suggested three men.
1> They were turned into kings.
2> (The Bible talks about the kings of the earth
bringing gifts to God, especially in the last days.)
b) They were also seen as three different races.
1> Together, they stood for all humanity.
2> Jesus came to save the world.
3> More specifically, he came to save YOU.
V. What do you bring to Jesus?
A. Not everyone believes.
1) In John's version of Christmas there is no manger.
a) No shepherds or wise men either.
b) It simply says Jesus was God, and he became a human being.
c) He did this so we could believe in him.
2) However, most people won't believe.
a) They don't see the larger purpose in his coming. John 1:10
b) Do you see it?
B. We are God's children by choice.
1) Actually, it is God's choice, not ours. John 1:13
2) Those he chooses, become born again. John 3:3
3) Give your heart to the Savior.
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SOURCE FOR ILLUSTRATION USED IN THIS SERMON:
#34882 "A Submarine From Santa," by Jessica Dickler, CNN Money.com,
November 15, 2007.
This and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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