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I. Introduction

So…Thanksgiving is over, black Friday has passed, and we find ourselves now faced with yet another Christmas season; but I have to admit that, I am…concerned…these days.  I am concerned about Christmas.  The more I learn about God, the more concerned I find myself.  The more I learn about what He has said to His people throughout history, the more concerned I am.  The more I realize what He desires for us, the life He is trying to free us to live, and the peace and healing He is trying to usher into our hearts, the more I am concerned for the supposedly Christian Holiday of Christmas… in the supposedly Christian nation of America.  I am concerned that our Christianity, that America as a Christian nation…is…dying.  I am concerned that the actual meaning of Christmas either is dying or has already passed away.

Our video clip pointed out that, statistically, Americans spend 450 Billion Dollars on Christmas each year and that to solve the leading cause of death in the world would require only 10 Billion Dollars.   That means that if we were to take 2 percent, if everyone in America were to take 2 percent of what you spend at Christmas, and if you gave it to a common fund, that common fund could stop the leading cause of death in the entire world.  Heh, and we wonder why people who are poor, who live in less fortunate situations, in countries like Afghanistan, the Congo, Mexico, and Iran hate us so badly.  Do not be so naïve as to think that it is simply religious difference.  Do not be so easily confused by Liberal AND Conservative American Media that says we are hated because we are “Christian,” and they are Muslim.  I’ve been there, I’ve lived in places like this.  We are hated because we Americans are nearly inhuman in our materialism and in our consumption of “stuff.”  We are hated because we could do something, but we do not.  And what is sad is that we are most inhuman during the time of year in which we gather together with our “church families” and celebrate the in breaking of God as a man so that we may be saved from these very tendencies and wretchedness such as this.

However, I do not want to be so hard on you because many of the things that we do and think are conditioned in our minds.  My generation and all of the generations represented here today are in a difficult spot because we do not know any better.  How can be we held at fault if we’ve never learned any different.  You see, we do not do things without instigation usually.  Just as terribly wrong beliefs about the Bible or God are generally formed around a small kernel of accurate beliefs and then distorted, so, often times, our terribly wrong practices are formed around and learned from a kernel of good practice.

 

[Transition: And so I began to wonder what good practice the act of giving gifts at Christmas in such disgusting excess came from.  Why do we seem to act like Christmas is our birthday when it is clearly not and is instead Christ’s?]

 

II. The Tradition of Giving Gifts.

The Tradition of Gift Giving –Esther to the Wise men

Where do we get our tradition of giving gifts today at Christmas?  Does anybody know?  I’ve asked around and I’ve heard all kinds of reasons, from the tradition that developed among the Jews WAAAY back when Esther was around to St. Nick, Father Christmas, the Dutch Sinter Klaas –or Santa Clause –and so many other people in Europe who gave out presents to the poor and to the children.  My own understanding, as well as many Christian’s understanding, of why we give presents to people during Christmas has always derived from the fact that the Wise Men from the East came bearing gifts to Christ.  So I began to look into the story more, deeper, to figure out just what was going on here and what we derived our understandings from.

B. Let’s remind ourselves of the story

Matthew 2:1-12 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men¹ from the East came to Jerusalem,  ² asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising,¹ and have come to pay him homage.”  ³ When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him;  ⁴ and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah¹ was to be born.  ⁵ They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:  ⁶ ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd¹ my people Israel.’”  ⁷ Then Herod secretly called for the wise men¹ and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.  ⁸ Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”  ⁹ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising,¹ until it stopped over the place where the child was.  ¹⁰ When they saw that the star had stopped,¹ they were overwhelmed with joy.  ¹¹ On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

 

 

III. The story retold

A. The Magi

So the story goes that while a man named Herod was king of Judea, three wise men from the east saw a great astronomical anomaly in the sky.  Now of course they would have called it a star, but it really could have been anything from a comet to a star or perhaps even a UFO –okay I’m just kidding it wasn’t a UFO, that would really mess up some understandings of the Bible I feel like, haha.  Regardless of what it was, there was something of quite a bit of interest burning in the sky –the Star of David many people call it.  And these men from the East were not just your average fellas.  The New Testament calls them, Magoi, or Magi.  It’s from this word that we get the term “magician,” though we tend to mean it in a negative way these days.

The fact was that these men were probably very, very well educated and very well read.  Magoi was a term used to refer to people who were involved in arts or occupations or knew things that the general population did not.  This would include priests, scorers, philosophers, and astronomers.  They were from the East and most likely dwelt in Persia, modern day Iran and Iraq, or Arabia, modern day Saudi Arabia.  It’s likely that they did not come from beyond Himalayas though and that they were the very same people who would have been held in high esteem to the kings and emperors of the Babylonian, Assyrian, and Persian Empires.  They would have been healers and people who were considered in connection with the God’s or God, and they had seen something that tipped them off to something very very important in the history of the world.  So convinced of this were they, that they packed very expensive gifts and took off across a very dangerous and risky land.

Eventually the three wise men or magicians arrive in Jerusalem, where they run a, suffice it to say, very crotchety and temperamental King Herod, and then they go on to Bethlehem and the inn over which the star rests.

 

[Transition: This brings us to the verse I want to tear apart here and learn from –Verse 11.]

IV. The Actions of the Magi

A. Arrival

The Bible says that the Magi entered into the home.  Now, this brings up the question that many people struggle with of whether or not the Magi came here to the manger Christ was born in, or not.  The problem is that the Magi had a wicked long distance to travel and probably arrived either weeks, months, or even years AFTER the birth of Christ.  None-the-less, their actions are what is important to our understanding, not what condition they found the boy in or where he laid.

B. “Knelt”

The scriptures say that upon entering the home, they saw Mary and Jesus and they knelt.  This doesn’t seem all that important really, but the scripture actually says is that they “collapsed.”  What is literally implied is that they fell down, they collapsed, and  that they were destroyed in a sign and act of devotion to the child.  The wording implies that they were at a very high level, but in the presence and face of God they were ruined to a lower level.  They became invalids and unworthy to be there.  These wise men, with all of their knowledge, success, and their riches were reduced, by a baby, to three grown men on their faces on the floor.  Wrap your mind around that for a minute.

C. “Paid him Homage”

You have to understand that, in all likelihood, these men were not Christians or “Jews.”  They were not of the Jewish faith; but the Bible says that they ‘paid him homage.’  They, ‘worshipped’ him.  In fact, it says that they “became worshippers.”  They were, before, not worshippers; but upon seeing the child and seeing the confirmation of all these signs and wonders, they were converted.  They were men who were likely to have, at least in some ways, been worshipped by those around them because of all that they knew and the mystical understandings they seemed to have; but on that night two thousand years ago the first three people in the world were wood and captivated by the love and presence of God, as a baby.  As Rob Bell said, “I hear the music, and I find it captivating.”  They heard the music and they found it oh so captivating.

 

[Transition: Now what these captivated men do next is what I bears interesting commentary about our discussion on giving at Christmas, buying huge TV’s, unneeded toys, unnecessary clothing, and spending 450 Billion Dollars.

D. Gifts

The men do what next, according to the Bible?  The scriptures that they open up their storehouses or their treasure chests and give, to Christ and his mother, gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  The question here is not, “Did they indeed give gifts?”  Clearly they did, the right question to ask at this point is, “Why did they give gifts?”

So, I ask you, “Why did the wise men give Christ gifts?  What were they doing when they did it?”  Any guesses?

The truth is that the giving of gifts by the wise men was done as an act of worship.  They were giving them to Christ as an act of worship.  The original “giving” of gifts at “Christmas time” was done in worship for God.  Why are you giving gifts this Christmas?  Are you following in the footsteps of the Magi, giving gifts as an act of devotion to and love for the Most High God, or are you using Christmas as an excuse to justify your gluttony and your excess spending?

Listen, I have no problem with giving gifts.  I will not argue with one of you if you decide to by me a 40 inch LCD TV or an Xbox 360 with the game “Call of Duty 4” in it.  Just don’t do it and claim to be doing in the name of Christ!  Don’t you dare do it and claim to be doing it in the Christmas Spirit.

I had a relative recently who bought asked me what I wanted for Christmas, and I gave her the name of two books I wanted that she could find real on Amazon.com.  Her response was, “That’s my kind of Christmas shopping: point, click, and buy.”  It made me sad and kind of hurt my feelings.  She, she didn’t really care for me enough to want to spend time looking for a gift for me.  She didn’t want to be put out of her way anymore than she had to.  She wanted it quick and easy.  She was not worshipping God with those gifts to me, even though the books were about God and I am very thankful for them.

The wise men were so moved by God that they were ruined.  God wrecked their lives as they knew it, and they were captivated –to the point that they worshipped by giving some very expensive things back to God.

 

V. It begins with Worship

Christmas began with worship.  It began with all of heaven splitting open and worshipping God before an audience of sheep and shepherds.  It began with mules and pigs and horses and cows standing as the vanguard over God.  It began with those filthy shepherds coming to the baby and worshipping.  It began with men traveling across a continent only to be converted to a new religion and find themselves in worship.  It began with worship, it begins with worship.

We worship because God has come for you, he is coming for you, he will come for you.  He comes to free you from all that holds you in bondage all the chains in your life that keep you from being truly free and truly joyful.  That is what Advent is, this is why we worship…listen to the music of God’s story to you, find it captivating, and worship.  Amen.