Elm Street Community Church

Help support the Elm Street Community Church!For those who have been blessed and have the ability, we greatly appreciate your support in His Kingdom-building efforts here on Elm Street in Fitchburg!https://tithe.ly/give?c=394343

So once again, we continue along in Advent looking at the big picture of Christmas, or what we might call the meta-narrative. The goal of this (as mentioned throughout the series) is to see more than just a baby born in a manger, but to see that Christmas is part of a bigger picture that ultimately brings Creator and creation together.

They weeks ago we looked at how prophesy has been woven throughout the OT so that humanity would know what to look for.

We were created by God as creatures with free will, able to freely love our Creator, but also able to choose not to love or follow Him. Sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, and humanity has struggled with sin ever since.

But this didn’t catch God off guard or by surprise. Since God knows all things, including what will happen and what could happen, He knew that this struggle would affect humanity, so He had a plan in place to address the problem of sin.

Knowing we had tried and failed to live holy and righteous lives on our own, he implemented the sacrificial system, where the cost of our sin was covered by the ultimate payment which Jesus made, sacrificing His body and blood on the cross (which we celebrate every Easter)

And because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we are able to come near to God, as seen throughout the OT. over the last few week we have shared some of the signs seen in the OT. You are welcome to go back over the message that first week either through our Facebook page or our YouTube channel.

Two weeks ago we looked at the Mary and Joseph (and a long line of people who said “yes”) and their courage to say “yes” to God, even though they knew it might cost them everything . Mary alone could have been divorced or even stoned for being pregnant without Joseph. But God stepped in. And God always steps in to make sure that His purposes are fulfilled.

And last week we looked at how God met them in the ordinary, and revealed to them the extraordinary. God met ordinary people, like the Shepherds, in ordinary places, such as the fields and the manger, and showed them the Extraordinary - God incarnate (or God in the flesh).

And God continues to reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary, as His Holy Spirit lives in us!

And today, as we see His plan coming to fruition, we will hopefully see that what has been revealed to us commands a response. In today’s text, we see different people who all had different responses to the birth of Jesus.

So we have talked about the OT and all of history leading up to Jesus’ birth, and then Mary and Joseph having the courage to say “yes,” responding to God’s call in their life by being obedient to Him. And because of this they saw first hand the extraordinary in the ordinary - Jesus’ birth to Mary in the manger, as did the shepherds.

Today we will see, though, that they weren’t the only ones to get this opportunity. (Read Matt. 2:1-6)

Here we get introduced to the rest of the Christmas characters, the Magi, King Herod, the chief priests and scribes, and the people of Jerusalem.

The Magi, or wise men as we call them, were probably astronomers, soothsayers and priests. These men were appointed as overseers (as seen in the book of Daniel).

As some commentaries mention, they were probably looking for that which was passed down from as early as Daniel, the information of the Messiah, the King of the Jews, who would be born. and after waiting some 400 years, they saw the signs that God’s promise to His people was about to be fulfilled.

This information that they were reading and seeing in the sky demanded a response. Their response could have been to ignore the signs and continue to enjoy what they were doing, but this isn’t the response that they had. Their response was to go and find this King, and to bring Him gifts.

Please note that there were 3 notable gifts that were brought, but the caravan was undoubtably much larger. History has attributed 3 magi bringing 3 gifts, but we are not told the number that came with them.

Next is King Herod. This man was a psychopath, known to be “tyrannical, ruthless, and cruel.” A Quick look into the history of King Herod shows him murdering people, including family, if he thought they were a threat to his authority or the throne.

It says in verse 3 that all Jerusalem was troubled with him. This would make sense, because a mentally unstable ruler who is troubled can cause a lot of trouble.

This is all we hear about the people of Jerusalem. And what is their response? Their long awaited King is supposedly being born. And what do they do? Their response is apathy. They don’t go to Bethlehem to check it out. They acted like nothing happened.

Now back to King Herod. For someone who didn’t allow for any threats to his reign as king, this news was quite troubling. So he gathered together the chief priests and scribes to figure out where this was going to happen.

Here we have the next cast of characters. These are the ones who have been studying the OT. The prophesies that we have been mentioning, they would know them. This timing was around what should have been expected from the book of Daniel.

From Isaiah 7:14, they should have been looking for a baby born of a virgin. They are told that Magi from the East have come to see Jesus. And they have been waiting over 400 years. And what is their response?

Nothing… they don’t choose to go to Bethlehem to see if its true. None of them asks to join the caravan and go with the magi to see if what they have been waiting for has actually happened. But they choose to stay home.

For many of them, they had built up a good life for themselves. They were content with the status quo… with the current power structure. So they don’t do anything that could upset things.

Let’s continue on in Matthew (read Matt. 2:7-10)

Herod tells them where to look, and they go, following the star. And behold, the star stopped over the place where Jesus was laying.

So the magi’s continued response is to go and search for Jesus. These Gentiles search for Jesus, while the Jewish people and leaders ignore the signs and stay home.

And when they see Jesus, we are told that “they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.” This is a proper response to seeing Jesus, the Messiah.

They didn’t worship Him because He would see their response and reward them, they did it because that was the state of their heart. They got to see the extraordinary, and their response was to rejoice.

Let’s finish this passage up. (Read Matt. 2:11-12)

Not only did they respond with worship, but they responded with gifts for Him. But isn’t this the Jewish Messiah, the Jewish King? Yes, but He is also the Messiah for all people!

They brought their gifts of gold (a gift fit for a King), frankincense (a priestly gift), and myrrh (representative of the reason He was born - to give His life as a sacrifice for us).

And they had one more response. The response was to disobey King Herod’s order and not tell him where they saw baby Jesus.

Once again, they chose to obey God as opposed to men. And King Herod’s response? He chose to kill all baby boys 2 years old and younger (this is seen in verse 16).

So the magi’s response was one of worship, obedience, and presentation of gifts. King Herod’s response was hatred and violence. And the Jewish people’s response was apathy and ignorance.

And as we get to this point in the story, the question is, “What is your response to Jesus going to be?” Will you be like the magi, who sacrifice to see the extraordinary, to see the King of kings, to worship and adore Him, to love Him and obey Him?

Or will your response be like the Jewish people and leaders. Will you hear about this Messiah, the came to die, so that the price of our sin would be paid in full, and choose to ignore it or be apathetic towards it?

Hopefully your response won’t be like King Herod, who chose hostility towards the Gospel and fought against it. For his response caused great pain and suffering, but did nothing to hinder His cause.

Jesus said this, as recorded in Matthew chapter 10 (read Matt. 10:32-33)

We have this opportunity to partake in the extraordinary. Jesus calls to us, “Come to me My child.” Because of His sacrifice we are able to be adopted into His family.

Jesus saw our plight, He knew the hopeless condition we were in, but His response was to come and be born, to live a sinless life, that He could be the perfect sacrifice for us.

Because of His response to us we can have hope. Because of His great love, we can be loved. Because He has conquered sin and death, we can have joy. And because of His promises to us, we can live in peace, even when there is chaos all around us.

His response was to offer His life as a sacrifice for us… for you! How will you respond?

I don’t know about you, but my response is worship and praise!

Let’s pray, and then let’s sing out His praises

Pray…