Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons podcast.
We're so glad you chose to listen today.
In this message, we reflect on the journey of the wise men and the faith lessons they teach us.
Their wisdom is seen in their pursuit of Jesus, their recognition of his worth, and their humble worship.
Join us as we explore how the wise men's devotion challenges us to seek Christ, honor him with our lives, and obey his calling above all else.
Thanks for listening.
Well, good morning.
If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to join me in Matthew chapter 2.
I hope each and every one of you had the opportunity to enjoy some of the wonderful goodies that were out there this morning.
I want to thank every single person for coming who were able to provide those for us.
So, normally, I don't eat on Sunday mornings.
I'm on a steady diet of caffeine from early in the morning.
And today was a steady diet of caffeine and sugar.
Right?
So, here's my goal.
Right?
I'm going to probably try to have to slow down a little bit the way that I talk.
And I'm going to ask that you guys don't experience your sugar crash until you get home this afternoon.
So, if you feel like I'm about to, like, my sugar's crashing, I need to go do, go out there, like, hammer a couple of cinnamon rolls, come back in here, and you'll be good.
But, see, it's just a wonderful opportunity for us to gather together as a church.
Not that simply gathering together to worship and to open God's Word is insufficient, because it's not insufficient.
This is what God calls us to do, and I'm so grateful that we have the opportunity to do that as well.
But, on special occasions like this, it's just so wonderful for us in the busyness of life, in all of the chaos that is happening around us,
to be able to come together as a family, as a church family, and experience that together.
So, thank you all for being here this morning and for doing that.
With that said, just a reminder, these were in those videos, you guys have heard this,
but our Christmas Eve service at 530, we'd love everyone will be in here.
It'll be loud, it'll be noisy, it'll be shorter than a normal service,
and it'll be a wonderful time for us to gather together, to take the Lord's Supper together,
to acknowledge Christ and His work and remember that, and to celebrate again as a family, all of us.
And then our New Year's prayer service that we'll have on December 29th.
So, if this was heavy on the sugar, we're going heavy on the protein, right?
So, we'll have bacon and sausage and eggs and all those things next Sunday.
And so, we'd love for you to be here with us, 950s, and we'll start breakfast again.
That's everybody in the room.
If you can help us out by registering, that is really important for us,
that we can make sure that we have enough food here for everyone that morning.
Now, something a little bit different.
After the service is over with, we will go into a special called business meeting for church members,
for us to be able to vote on the budget for next year.
So, if you're a church member, prepare, just kind of hang tight.
Dave's going to come up on stage.
It doesn't take us long to walk through that, but we want to make sure that you hold on to that
and that you, Dave will dismiss everyone who's not a church member so that we can vote.
So, you'll want to make sure that you hang around for that.
And with that said, if you are a first-time guest, we count it as a privilege and honor that you're here.
Maybe you're in town visiting some families for the holiday season.
Maybe you're here because you're checking out our church and you're visiting us and you're looking for a new church home.
Whatever the reason that you find yourself here today, we count it as a blessing and an honor and a privilege
that you would decide to worship with us.
And you'll notice there's some QR codes on the backs of the chairs in front of you.
At some point in time, maybe even right now during the service, if you would scan that,
you can give us just a little bit of information just so we have a record that you were here.
But then after the service is over with, okay, while the business meeting is happening,
I will be out in the main lobby in the front.
And if you wouldn't mind for our first-time guest, if you wouldn't mind stopping by,
would love to just shake your hand to meet you and to thank you for being here and for worshiping with us.
I want to read to you, we'll be in Matthew 2, but I want to read to you James 1.17 this morning
as we set our hearts for God's Word.
This is every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights,
with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
Would you pray with me?
God, we come to you this morning, Lord, and we thank you for what a privilege and honor it is to gather together.
Father, I thank you for this church.
I thank you for this church family.
I thank you for this opportunity to gather in fellowship, to gather in worship, Father, and to gather in studying your Word.
God, as we study, as I preach, God, I pray that this would not be of me and my heart and my thoughts and my motivations,
but God, it would be of you and it would be of your will and it would be of your heart and your words.
Lord, may you teach us, may you guide us in the power of your Holy Spirit, Lord, and instruct us and change us.
And Father, if there's anyone here who does not know you, I pray that today they would put their faith, hope, and trust in your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.
And it's in his name we pray, amen, amen.
Today's theme, today what we're going to look at, and in the telling of the biblical story, the biblical narrative of the wise men,
we're going to have this kind of this theme of gifts.
It's what we think about, it's oftentimes where Christian tradition has come from, but around the Christmas season that we give gifts and do that.
So in this, we're, this is kind of the theme that we're going to look at this morning.
I found it, I chuckled a little bit.
I was outside loading my face up with cinnamon sugar donuts this morning.
Van Ham looked at me and he was like, hey man, right?
All right, you've got it right here.
And I looked at him and I said, I know.
And then I think it was Brent Hawkins said, oh, he's saving that for later, right?
And I came inside though to get ready to pull my message up on my iPad and I go through my email to do that.
And I just sent my sermon through there.
And then, but the email that popped up right before that, just in case you were wondering, was Amazon.
And it said, it's not too late, right?
Last minute, click here.
So we're surrounded by the pressure, the obligation, the opportunity, the joy of this time of year to give gifts.
And what I love is as we think, we got the kids in here and there's the excitement of this time of season of what they think through.
In fact, I was talking to one of our elementary school kids just a second ago and was talking about being excited and immediately went in to tell me about what they get to do and where they get to go and all the different gifts that they get to open.
But we're going to look at this opportunity that we see, this beautiful true story coming out of Bethlehem of the wise men who bring gifts to Jesus.
So let's begin reading Matthew chapter 2.
We're going to read all the way through verses 1 through 12.
And God's word says this.
Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying,
Where is he who has been born of the Jews?
For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.
When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him.
And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people.
He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
And they told him in Bethlehem of Judea.
For so it is written by the prophet.
And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah are by no means least among the rulers of Judah.
For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people, Israel.
Verse 7.
When Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared,
and he sent them to Bethlehem, saying,
Go and search diligently for the child.
And when you have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him.
After listening to the king, they went on their way.
And behold, the star that had been seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.
And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him.
Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod,
they departed to their own country by another way.
Let's understand some of the details concerning the birth and the early days and months of Jesus' life.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
You and I here at Bethlehem, we sing songs about Bethlehem.
We know about Bethlehem.
In fact, several years ago, Aaron and I had some friends who lived in the real place of Bethlehem.
And it's a small city, as we know, it's a small city, about six miles south of Jerusalem.
And this was the place of birth for King David.
While this place carries significance and importance for us,
in the time of Christ, this was not a city of significance.
This was not a city of influence.
But yet, what we see happening in this story from the birth of Christ to what we find now,
the wise men coming to see Jesus, is this insignificant setting is carrying individuals in a story of great significance.
During this time, there is a ruler who ruled over the area by the name of Herod.
And this can get a little confusing because we'll see throughout history different Herods.
But this Herod was referred to as Herod the Great.
And he was great.
If you acknowledge that his greatness is a little bit complicated.
He was seen by peers and adversaries to be a great ruler in areas of politics, in areas of administration, in areas of building and construction, and many other ways.
He oversaw building projects.
Where some of those buildings still stand today, he's written about and studied.
During his rule and reign, the region in which he oversaw suffered one of the worst famines today on record.
And you look at what he was able to do, and he provided famine relief to many.
And even those during the day who opposed him go on historical record, not biblical record, I'm sorry, but go on historical record to commend him of his decision making and the things that he was able to accomplish and that he was able to do.
However, with all that said, we said he was great, but his greatness was complicated.
He was a man that his cruelty was great as well.
Before the birth of Christ, Herod, who was already had a bent toward cruelty, suffered an illness that caused him to have various mental struggles.
And the way that these mental struggles began to manifest in his life is he was a man who was constantly bombarded with thoughts of paranoia.
And very specifically, this paranoia was geared toward the Jewish people that he ruled over.
And very specifically, within those Jewish people, a threat that one day that one of them would come and take his throne, take his rule, take his reign.
And again, we begin to see and understand the situation that we find us in.
I thought this was interesting.
I read this this week, speaking to the cruelty of Herod.
There's a Roman emperor whose name was Augustus.
And here's a quote from Augustus concerning Herod.
He said this, it would have been safer to be Herod's pig than it was to be Herod's son.
As he wanted to make sure that no one, no one could take what is his.
But this morning, while Bethlehem is greatly significant, this morning, while Herod is definitely significant in the telling of the story,
we're largely going to focus on this group of individuals known as the wise men.
As the wise men.
But who are they?
Who are these kind of mysterious group of men who show up in the narrative of the telling of the birth, of the story of the early days of Christ?
I think it's important for us to understand some things about them.
Traditionally, what we have seen, traditionally, what we have heard,
traditionally, what has been common thought in the telling of the story in the churches,
is that there were three of them.
But the truth is, we don't know if there were three of them or not.
We don't know if there was more than three.
We don't know if there was exactly three.
The number three comes because what you just saw, there were three gifts that were given.
So that's a number that's there.
But the truth is, we don't know how large this group of men who have traveled from a great distance,
we'll understand in just a second, are.
But we know that they were wise men who came and who traveled,
and there was a group of them who did this.
The Bible tells us that they came after Jesus was born.
They did not come on the same night as the shepherds.
In fact, they probably came months later to see Jesus.
While Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were still in Bethlehem.
The Bible tells us that they traveled from the east.
And many believe that these wise men who have traveled from the east
were actually exiled Jewish men who lived in what we would come to know as modern-day Iran.
And this means their journey would be about 800 to 900 miles.
If you want to know what it's like to travel 800 to 900 miles at about 3 o'clock today,
get on 378 from I-20 and head toward Walmart.
When you get to Walmart, right, that's about what it would have felt like to make that distance.
It's a long, long ways.
But the Bible tells us the word that's used is magi.
And we've translated that kings, and it's close, but it's very specific with the type.
And it's that these were literally wise men.
They were highly educated, probably in the area of astronomy, specifically,
but not just the area of astronomy.
They'd have been highly educated in the area of mathematics and the sciences.
So what we have are literally a group of individuals who have made this long trip.
They've made this long journey.
They are wise men, even in the world standards.
They would look at them and their mental capability of what they've studied,
of what they've journeyed, of what they've known, of what they have,
as they're applying what they have in order to be able to make this journey as they follow a star.
It's pretty sharp, fellas.
The Bible tells us that they come bringing Jesus' gifts.
Very specifically, the Bible gives us the gifts that they brought.
They brought gold that translates well in our day.
If you're wondering what would be a gift that would wow someone, gold, right?
And they bring this gift to Jesus.
They also bring frankincense.
Frankincense was a white resin that would be used during worship in the temple to be burned.
Incense.
So they brought gold.
They brought frankincense.
I'm like, okay, I can definitely get behind the gold.
The frankincense, okay, that's different.
But okay.
And they brought myrrh, which would have been a spice that would be used in the embalming process.
You're like, okay, you got me on that one, right?
I'm like, fellas, just telling you, for the lady in your life, right?
If you're in that panic mode, number one, get on Amazon right now.
Like, you've got my permission.
They still can get it there.
But don't, like, look up embalming fluid.
She's not going to like that, right?
But all of these gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh, all of these gifts, highly valuable, and they bring them to Jesus.
And this kind of paints this picture of what we do.
This brings us this picture of who we are to be as people, of what we not just gather in this time of year
and take packages and wrap them with paper and put them on bows, and we get cards and write them,
and we give them to friends and family to do this.
But it's also the telling of the story that God is good and that God gives to us.
And it's why we begin in James 1, 17, of this time of the year is the reminder that we don't just gather
and we think about the gift of Christ once a year, but it is a day in, day out, 365-day,
beautiful reminder of the gift of God's goodness, the gift of God's grace, the gift of God's salvation,
which is not found in you, it's not found in your works, it's not found in your capability,
and it's not found in mine either, but God's goodness of His grace and His gift in Christ Jesus
is found in Christ and Christ alone.
And He continues every single day of more and more to pour out His gifts on us.
And we are blessed, we are blessed, and then God calls us to be givers, and we gift one another,
but we also, we take what God has given us, and we give it back to Him.
We give it back to Him.
You know, when you think you're hearing me say that, you're like, okay, well here we go on tithing,
and sure, yeah, we take what God has given us, and we take a portion of that, and we bring it in our tithes,
in our offerings, and we give it back to Him, but the beauty when we become givers,
and we understand what that means, is that we understand as givers that we're stewards,
and that all that we have, every single bit of it, not 10%, but 100% is His,
and in all of it, we do what God has called us to do, in every single aspect of it.
We use our gifts, we use our talents, we use our time, we use it all for Him.
And that's what He called us to be.
But specifically, it's just thinking through, like, what is the gift that we can kind of think of within this?
I thought about, in this, with the wise men, the gift of wisdom.
The gift of wisdom.
Of what God gives us.
Of what God calls us to.
God's Word promises that those who trust God, those who put their faith in God,
that those who seek God, that God, in turn, will give them wisdom.
It's not obtained through a degree.
It's not connected to your intellectual capabilities.
But that God, the greatest giver,
it's who He is,
and we are recipients of that,
that He gives,
and He gives wisdom.
James 1.5 says,
if any of you lacks wisdom,
like, you ever feel like you fall into that?
Like, that's me?
If any of you lacks wisdom,
let him ask God,
who gives generously to all without reproach,
and it will be given to him.
In the context of this,
James is writing,
and he's encouraging the men and the women of the faith
who are facing unbelievable trials
that you and I cannot possibly fathom.
And he says,
during this,
as you're desperate of what to do,
how to handle,
how to move forward,
like, ask God in faith.
God, this is not dependent on me.
God, this is not dependent on my problem-solving capabilities.
God, this is not dependent on my mental fortitude.
God, this is not dependent on my own moral capabilities.
But God, this is dependent on you.
God, and in faith, Lord,
I need your wisdom.
And God's word says to ask,
and he's generous,
and it will be given.
Proverbs 2, 6 says,
for the Lord gives wisdom.
From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
Right?
But that's God.
God is our source of wisdom,
that all of the powerfulness of wisdom
comes from the combination of the knowledge
and the understanding that God gives us.
It's why the greatest mind
to study God's word
that I've ever had the privilege
to sit at their feet
was a man who barely graduated high school,
who grew up a dirt poor farmer
in Abbeville, South Carolina,
who was not going to wow anyone
with his ability to read
or formulate mathematical equations
or get into a theological debate.
But I could sit at the feet of my grandfather
and hear the wisdom of God's word
as you have the knowledge
and the understanding
because it came from God.
Proverbs 2, 6
says, for the Lord gives wisdom.
From his mouth
come knowledge
and understanding.
The Lord gives.
Psalm 111, 10.
The fear of the Lord
is the beginning
of wisdom.
All those who practice it
have a good understanding.
His praise endures forever.
Grayson's at home today.
He's not feeling well.
If y'all could pray for him,
that'd be great.
So he's watching this right now
on the live stream.
And so I'm going to confess
something to him.
We were talking about
and I taught him
how to play spades last night.
So we sat around the table
and we were playing spades
and we were there
and I was talking about
how the points
were divided out.
And it was afterwards.
And it was just me and him
and again,
he's kind of wrapping his mind
around all of it.
And he said,
so you mean to tell me
it's like a,
and then he used a word
that I've never heard of
in my entire life.
And then he said,
formula.
And that's how this happens?
And in that moment,
I was afraid
to let him know
that he knew more than I did.
And that I was petrified
to admit that.
And I said,
exactly.
Like,
now you're getting it, boy.
Right?
That's it.
I could not have said it
any better myself.
The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom.
And here's
what the psalmist
means when he says this.
Is that
in our proper,
in true wisdom,
proper wisdom,
the wisdom of God's word,
it comes
from this fear
of the Lord.
And if you're here
this morning
and you're not
a follower
of Jesus Christ
and you're like,
well man,
I don't know
that I want to follow
a God
that I'm afraid of.
Well,
that's not
what that word means.
What we mean
by fear
of the Lord,
it's an awe,
it's an awesomeness
of who he is,
and it's submission
to that.
It's a mind
that's blown away
by his goodness
and who he is.
It is a depth
of respect,
it is a depth
of mind-blowing,
unbelievable goodness
that when we stand
before him
and his holiness,
the only thing
we can do
is say,
I give up.
I give up
and I'm yours.
And we begin
to see this.
So,
we got these
three guys
and we're getting
back to these wise men.
what made the wise men
wise?
What made the wise men
wise?
Educated
beyond
what you and I
would be capable of.
The closest thing
that I would compare
these guys to
is they are
Harvard-level
PhD
after PhD
students.
And that may
have been
why the world
would have said
that they were wise.
But we can find
from this story
some aspects
about them
that did not come
from their
earthly education
but came
from their
submission,
from their fear,
from their
understanding,
from their submission
to God.
Five aspects
that we see
in this story
that caused
us to say
beyond your
understanding
of mathematics
and science,
here is the
wisdom of men
who have submitted
themselves
before a holy
God.
And there are
things that you
and I,
regardless of
where we find
ourselves this
morning,
simplicity
of truth
can take,
can hold
into our
hearts
and in the
power of the
Holy Spirit
begin to
implement
in our
lives.
And we
too,
we too
can be
wise.
Number one,
they read
and believed
God's word.
They read
and believed
God's word.
In this
interaction
in Matthew
chapter 2,
we see
evidence
of two
times where
they begin
in the telling
of their
story of
what they
are doing,
of why
they are
on the
journey,
of why
they've
come from
modern day
for us,
Iran,
to this
little,
nothing,
insignificant
town,
800 to
900 miles
away.
Because they
followed a
star.
Followed a
star,
well why
this star?
Why not
another star?
There's theories,
there's people
that have argued
about the
different stars
and where
the star
could have
been,
but here's
what I think
is important
and I
apologize
that these
verses are
not on the
screen,
so if you
want to
jot the
references
down,
the first
one is
Numbers
24,
17.
It says,
I see
him,
but not
now.
I behold
him,
but not
near.
A star
shall come
out of
Jacob,
and the
scepter shall
rise out
of Israel,
and it
shall crush
the forehead
of Moab
and break
down the
sons of
Sheth.
Right?
The promise
of a star
and the
promise of
a savior
and the
journey of
which it
will come.
You see,
the star
is not
just this
piece of
what's there
and the
prophecy
of a
being in
the sky,
not a
being,
I'm sorry,
of a
star in
the sky,
but a
baby born
in a
manger.
And so
they read
that and
they believed
it.
But it
also would
point them
to a
person in
a place
in Micah
5,
2.
But you,
O Bethlehem,
Ephrathah,
who were
too little
to be
among the
clans
of
Judah.
From
you
shall
come
forth
for
me
one
who
is
to be
ruler
in
Israel,
whose
coming
forth
is from
old,
from
ancient
days.
So these
were men
who gathered,
who took
the
scripture
that they
had access
to,
not the
whole
thing,
but the
part that
they had
the access
to.
And they
said,
this is what
God's
word is,
so this
is what
we'll
believe,
but not
just that
we'll
believe it,
but we'll
act on
it.
But we'll
act on
it.
You see,
the wisdom
that we
see from
these wise
men are
not just
that they
read and
that they
understood,
it's that
they read,
it's that
they believed,
and it's
that they
acted.
You know,
we're getting
ready to go
into the
new year.
One of the
things that
people commit
to every
single year,
I'm one of
you,
is I
desire and
I commit
to spend
more time
in God's
word.
And I
will say
to you,
we need
to do
that.
If you're
ever wondering,
should I
spend more
time in
God's
word?
The answer
to that
is yes.
Yes,
you should.
Yes,
spend more
time.
It's never
going to
fail you.
It's never
a waste
of your
time.
And what
I love
is that
you and
I can
take in
God's
word in
so many
different
ways.
We can
read it,
we can
listen to
it,
we can
get
emails
that send
us
reminders,
we can
get text
messages
that send
us
reminders,
we got
apps on
our phone
that will
send
those to
us as
well,
like over
and over
again.
We can
obtain,
we can
consume,
we can
read and
then be
given God's
word.
But the
question is
when we
do this,
are we
just going
to read
it,
are we
going to
acknowledge
mentally
that yes,
this is
right,
or do we
take the
fullness
of wisdom
and in
submission
and obedience
say if
this is
true,
then this
is who
I am.
If this
is true,
then this
is what
God's
called me
to.
You see,
these wise
men were
wise because
they read,
because they
believed,
and because
they acted.
And when
they acted,
the second
thing that
they did
was they
sought
Jesus.
They sought
Jesus.
See,
their study
brought them
to Jesus.
And very
simply,
in their
journey,
Jesus was
enough.
They didn't
come seeking
relief,
seeking answers,
seeking agendas
to be met,
seeking
predetermined
outcomes.
They just
simply came
looking for
Jesus.
And when
they found
him,
he was
enough.
He was
enough.
Have you
ever been
looking for
something,
and when
you found
it,
it wasn't
what you
expected?
the wise
men
were very
clear.
They came
looking for
a king,
and instead
they found
a baby.
They came
looking for
a royal
family,
but instead
found a
poor family.
My assumption
is they
came with
an expectation,
but walked
away very
simply with
Jesus being
enough.
I wish I
could tell
you in
truth that
every struggle,
every difficulty,
every hurt,
every pain,
every bit
of suffering.
Boy, I
wish that
you could
just bring
it, and
we could
say a
prayer, and
wave our
hand over
it, and
it would
just disappear
and go
away.
But if
you've been
a believer,
faithfully
following Jesus,
you know
that that's
not the case
that we
just saw
in James.
James to
a group
of men
and women
who are
suffering
for the
Lord, and
his message
is endure,
endure,
endure.
He is
good.
He is
faithful.
Endure,
endure.
It's the
message of
the New
Testament.
Endure.
And the
question that
I have for
you is
this.
If you
come to
Jesus,
and you've
got your
agenda,
if you
come to
Jesus,
and you've
got your
predetermined
plan,
is Jesus
going to be
enough?
Is he
going to be
enough?
My fear is
for so many
of us.
Our belief
is attached
to Jesus
plus my
expectations.
Jesus
plus my
desires.
Jesus
plus my
wants.
Jesus
plus my
healing.
And when
this side
of the
equation,
on this
side of
eternity,
doesn't
come true,
then the
misbelief
that you
have is
that Jesus
has failed.
And the
hope of
the gospel
should bring
us to the
truth that
Jesus is
enough.
The third
thing,
that the
wise men
do,
that display
their wisdom,
is they
recognized
the worth
of Jesus.
They gave
gifts.
We talked
about it.
Probably a
little strange,
right?
Like imagine
being Mary,
right?
She's like,
oh,
fantastic.
Gold.
Oh,
the next
one,
frankincense.
Okay.
Myrrh.
This just
got weird
a little
bit,
right?
But they
recognized
the worth,
the heavenly
worth of
Jesus.
If you've
ever wondered
why,
why gold,
why frankincense,
why myrrh?
And what I
believe is
only the
working power
of the Holy
Spirit,
of God,
in the lives
of this group
of men,
as they
journey to
see a king
that they've
longed for,
that they've
studied about,
that they've
hoped for,
that in the
working of
that,
that what God
does in their
lives is God
ordains and
has them bring
these gifts.
And it
displays the
worth and
the value
and the
essence of
who Jesus
is.
They bring
gold,
a precious
metal.
Do you
know who
you brought
gold to?
You didn't
bring gold
to a
carpenter's
boy.
You didn't
bring gold
to a virgin
son.
You didn't
bring gold
to Bethlehem.
You brought
gold to a
king.
And so as
they show up,
they're showing
up, and
they're like,
man, you're
a baby.
You're
oohing and
gooing and
all that stuff,
right?
It's baby
time.
But you're
king, and
you're king
Jesus.
And so they
brought frankincense.
They brought
the incense that
was burned in
the temple during
worship, so that
when you smelled
the smell that
would come from
the incense, that
you knew that
the very presence
of God was
before you.
So they're
coming in, and
they're bringing
this incense, and
they're looking at
this baby, and
they're saying,
you're a king, and
you're God.
This is who
you are.
See, Jesus
won't grow up
and become
God.
Jesus won't do
good works and
earn to be
God.
But he's
God.
That in the
most vulnerable
state, this
baby comes, and
he is God.
When you smell
it, when you
smell that
frankincense, it's
the reminder of
him before you,
and the divinity
of Emmanuel.
the divinity of
Christ.
And so then
they bring
myrrh.
Oh, you see
this.
I know you.
Like, you're
tracking with me
on this.
Remember myrrh,
the spice you
use for
embalming?
Because you
are king, and
you are God, and
you're man, and
you're going to
die.
And you're going to
die on the cross, and
you're going to pay the
price of sins for
humanity.
so gather before
them is the
mission of God, found
in Jesus, and
represented, that he
is king, that he is
God, and that he
will die.
But praise the
Lord, the tomb will
not hold him.
And the fourth
thing, they
humbled themselves
in worship.
Matthew 2, 10
and 11, and
when they saw the
star, they
rejoiced
exceedingly with
great joy.
the journey
they've been
on.
800 miles.
It's worth it.
Every bit of your
struggle is worth
it.
Every bit of this
week was worth
it.
Every time,
every time that
you were spoken
illy against, it
was worth it.
Every time they
slandered your
name, it was
worth it.
Every time they
took advantage of
you, it was
worth it.
Every time your
character was
questioned, it
was worth it.
It was worth it.
Every bit of that
800-mile journey,
every blister, every
moment of confusion,
every struggle that
you went through is
worth it.
Verse 11, and
going into the
house, they saw
the child with
Mary's mother, and
they fell down and
worshipped him.
They humbled
themselves in worship.
These educated,
successful,
powerful men of
influence fell down
on a dirt floor in
front of a teenage
girl and her baby,
humbled themselves
face, and worshipped
him.
There's a song, I'll
date myself.
When I got saved,
when I got saved,
the first, we used
to do these events at
the church that I was
at.
I was an intern,
wasn't there long.
It was called
Disciple Now
Weekend.
It was a cool
weekend.
Our youth guy, at the
time, our youth
pastor, his name's
Mark Owens, great
godly man.
I love him to death.
He just kind of
stumbled into things
sometimes.
I remember he was
talking to us, and
he was like, I got
this guy, he's from
him, he's been in
Texas, but he's in
Atlanta now, he's
kind of doing some
stuff back and
forth.
His name's Chris
Tomlin, and like
some of you, you're
like my age, or
you're older, you
remember Chris
Tomlin, and if
you're younger than
that, you're just
like, I just play
his music all the
time on Christian
radio, right?
But he said, I've
got this guy, and
he's willing to
come and be our
worship leader for
D now, like, what
do you think?
And we're like,
yeah, yeah, yeah,
that would be
great, that'd be
cool, that'd be
awesome.
And I knew
nothing about
worship music for
me at that time,
like right out,
like in fifth grade
I went to a
Carmen concert,
right, and that
really dated me,
right, and if you
don't know who
Carmen is, like,
go check out some
YouTube videos,
right, enjoy that
for the rest of
your day, right?
And so we went,
and I'll never
forget, and this
verse rang just
in my mind over
and over and over
again, that they
saw Mary.
And they saw
Jesus, and these
wise men, these
magi, got on the
dirt, and they
put their face
down, and they
got dirty, and they
worshiped him.
And the verse is
like, we fall
down, we lay our
crowns, like, at the
feet of Jesus.
And what I had to
repent of in that
moment, and man, I
hope this lands the
way that God's going
to use it in your
life, is how many
times do I selfishly
come into worship and
say, God, what can I
get from this today?
God, let me be a
consumer.
And God's like, no,
no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, like, you
got to get this.
Like, worship is not
you selfishly coming
to me and saying,
what can you get from
me?
But like, I've been
overflowing your cup
all week long, but
worship is in the
wisdom of these men
before Jesus.
Face down, surrender
in humbleness, my
accomplishments, my
agendas, my plans
don't matter.
Jesus, I'm yours.
It's not, you've
given me everything.
You've given me more
than I could possibly
fathom.
You've given me more
than I could possibly
comprehend.
God, it's me, and I
give all of me to you.
Have me.
Use me.
Do with me what you
please.
And they humbled
themselves in worship.
And then lastly, you
remember Herod?
Scary man.
He'd sooner kill a son
than a pig.
Let me know.
Let me know where he's
at.
But they had a dream.
You know, God's been
speaking in dreams.
God spoke to Joseph in
dreams.
And because they were
wise, because they
listened, because they
studied God's word,
because they were
obedient to God's word,
when they had the
dream, they knew that
this is the dream from
God.
And it says, like,
don't go that way, go
this way.
And so they did.
And in this last one,
what we see in the
wisdom of what it
means to follow God
and the way that the
wise men did, is that
they obeyed God
rather than man.
They obeyed God
rather than man.
I want to tell you
something about
Herod that rings true
still today.
man has an agenda.
Man has an agenda.
Sometimes we can
justify it.
Sometimes we can
promote it.
Sometimes we can be
subtle with it.
Sometimes we can be
blatant with it.
But we have an agenda
that comes from our
flesh to promote us,
to be who we want to
be, to do what we
want to do.
But what we see is
they had faith.
They had faith in the
plan of God.
They had faith in the
purpose of God.
And then their desire
was to fulfill that.
You see, I don't,
I don't care what your
SAT or your ACT
score was.
I don't care whether
you went to college
or not.
I don't care what
your GPA was in high
school.
I understand that at
numerous points and
times during this
message, I myself have
butchered the English
language.
The wisdom of God
is not defined in the
terms of the wisdom
of this world.
But it is found in the
fear of the Lord and
submission to Him.
And so in the next
couple days, we're
going to scatter from
this place.
We're going to gather
with friends and
families.
We're going to open
up packages.
And if you're a
believer in Jesus
Christ, and you've put
your faith, your hope,
and your trust in Him,
and He is your Lord and
He is your Savior, I
pray that for you, this
Christmas season, the
gift that you would
desire above all is the
gift of the wisdom of
God.
to know Him and to
live for Him, to take
His knowledge and His
understanding and put
those together and
practically live those
out in your life.
But if you're not a
follower of Jesus, my
prayer for you is that
during this time, there's
a greater gift that you
would receive.
It's the gift of this
child that we talked
talked about.
This Jesus, who would
walk on this earth for
roughly 33 years.
He came in the form of a
baby, fully God and fully
man.
In those 33 years, when I
say He lived a perfect
life, He lived a perfect
life.
There's no little sin, there's
no big sin, there's no in
between sin in His life.
In His humanity and His
divinity, He lives every
moment in holiness, in His
thoughts, in His actions, in
His words.
And He came fully God and
fully man and experienced the
hurts and the pains of this
world.
You see, He wasn't free
from that.
He knew what it was like to
lose.
He knew what it was like to
hurt.
He knew what it was like to
cry.
He knew what it was like to
be hungry.
He knew what it was like to
be betrayed.
And that as He walked on
this earth, that He looked
and saw humanity.
He saw the evil in
humanity.
He saw the destruction in
humanity.
He saw the pain in
humanity.
He saw the suffering in
humanity.
And the Bible says that He
came to save all of
humanity.
To pay the price of their
sin on the cross of
Calvary.
And so at age 33, He was
falsely accused and
arrested.
He was beaten and had a
crown of thorns stuck on
His head.
The thorns weren't small,
but they were, man, they
were those big, big
thorns.
I mean, they pierced
through His skin.
And He was taken.
And He was stripped
naked.
He was tied to a pole.
And they had a whip.
And they took the whip.
And they beat Him with
it.
And they beat Him with
it.
And they would have
beaten Him until He
almost died.
And then they would
resuscitate Him.
And then they'd beat
Him again.
And then they would take
His cross, the instrument
of death that He would be
nailed to.
And they would force Him
to carry it.
And He'd carry it as
long as He could.
To the top of a mountain.
And there on the top of
that mountain, they would
take three spikes.
And they'd ram Him into
His arms.
And they would ram Him
through His feet.
And they would hang Him
on that cross.
And with all of the pain
and the experience
that we had gone through,
it would not be blood
loss that would kill Him.
But it would be
suffocation.
Because you see, when your
body's that beaten
and you hang down,
it becomes impossible
to breathe.
And so the only way to
breathe is to put all
of your pressure onto
the nail in your feet
and the nail in your hands
and pull yourself up.
And while He's on the cross,
there's a thief
who deserved it.
Who deserved every moment
of it.
And He said,
remember me.
And Jesus said,
I will.
For today,
you'll be in paradise.
And here's the truth.
You and I
deserve to be
on that cross.
We do.
We're the thief.
We deserve it.
You see, there's another thief
who mocked that guy.
But one cried out to Jesus.
And it wasn't in His goodness.
The thief.
He didn't have time
to right his wrongs.
He didn't have time
to get it right.
But He put His faith,
His hope,
and His trust
in the One
who always got it right.
And for you
and for me,
when we put our faith
and our hope
and our trust in Jesus,
then the work
of the Son
on the cross,
the Bible tells us,
is imparted
to our account.
And that in His death,
the Bible teaches us
that your debt
has been marked
paid.
So the punishment
is no longer on you,
but the punishment
has been put on Him.
But the Bible also tells us
that not only
has the debt
been paid,
but we have been forgiven
and in our forgiveness
in Christ,
we've been adopted
into His family.
You see,
so on that day,
the thief on the cross,
he wasn't just someone
that has been forgiven.
He wasn't someone
whose debt was just paid,
but he came
as Son of God.
And that three days later,
Jesus' body
was dead in the tomb
that He rose again.
And He rose to life.
And that the promise
for us
is that being sons
and daughters of God,
that we too,
that death is not the end
in this earthly death,
it's not the end for us.
And the promise
in a God
who always fulfills
His promises,
His eternity with Him.
And my hope for you
this morning,
if you find yourself here
and you're that skeptic,
you're that wanderer,
you're that searcher,
that today,
today,
you would put your faith
and your hope
and your trust
in King Jesus.
Would you pray with me?
God, we thank You.
We thank You
for the beautiful,
wonderful majesty
of who You are.
God, we stand here.
God, we are so
not worthy
of Your love for us.
Lord, You love us anyways.
God, I pray
that as we've seen
the wisdom
of the wise men,
that that wisdom
would ring true
in our life.
God, for all of us
who have known
and trust Jesus Christ
as our Lord
and Savior,
Lord, that today,
today,
Lord, we would
commit to more.
More of seeking You.
More of trusting You.
More of knowing You.
More of obeying You.
More of worshiping You.
More of submitting to You.
Lord, that we would look
at this 800-mile journey
that is life.
We know,
we know
that, Lord,
that You are the prize.
God, I pray
for everyone here
who does not know Christ
as their Lord and Savior.
God, I pray
that whatever lie
in their mind,
Lord, that they choose
to believe,
Lord, in the power
of Your Spirit
that You would set them
free from it.
That You are real.
That You are good.
That You did come.
That You did die.
That You did rise again.
That we are not
good enough.
That we are not
capable enough.
That there is not
another way.
That there is not
another mission.
That there is
a point.
That there is hope.
That there is peace.
That there is joy.
And all of that
is found in Christ
and Christ alone.
Lord, when You say
that You are the way
and You are the truth
and You are the life,
You are everything.
Lord, in that they would
put their faith,
their hope,
and trust in Jesus.
Lord, that they might
not understand
all of that now,
but that is the beauty
of faith.
Faith says you are not
going to understand it.
Faith says you can't
fully comprehend it.
Faith says you have
to trust it.
So God, right now
where they are at,
God, I pray
in their words
and the revelation
of their heart
to You
in a beautiful moment,
God, as the power
of Your Holy Spirit
is wonderfully captivating
their mind
and their heart.
Thank God they would
move from death
to life.
That they would move
from sinner to saint.
They'd move
from the old
to the new.
God, right now,
right now,
they would choose Christ.
Choose Christ.
Jesus,
You are good.
You are sufficient.
You are enough.
You are beauty.
You are hope.
You are meaning.
You are purpose.
You are eternal.
You are everlasting.
God, we repent.
We repent
when we've come
looking for more.
Jesus,
we just come
to You.
Listen,
Jesus,
then we pray.
Amen.
That's it for this week's message.
Be sure to check back
next week
for another episode.
In the meantime,
you can stay up to date
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and online
at willowridgechurch.org.
Thanks again for listening.
Bye.