Community Church Sermons
January 6, 2008
Epiphany
Sunday
Matthew 2:1-12
Listen to this Sermon!
I wonder what happened to the treasures they gave – the gold and frankincense and myrrh? They were very precious commodities in that day – the aromatic myrrh being worth more than its weight in gold, frankincense lavishly used in religious ceremonies as a symbol of life, and gold – well, the price of spot gold last Friday closed at $863 an ounce! I wonder what happened to all that gold…and frankincense…and myrrh?
I wonder what happens to the gifts WE bring to the Christ Child – our money, our prayers, our gifts of time and talent, our songs of praise, our service to others?
Whatever happened to the gifts the magi gave? What happens to the gifts WE give to Jesus?
Well, the simple answer is, “We don’t know.”
As unsettling as it may be, we don’t know if Mary and Joseph used that gold, frankincense and myrrh for a noble cause like financing their escape to Egypt to save their little baby, or if maybe they used the gifts instead to buy lottery tickets and cigarettes and a big satellite TV dish.
“We don’t know what happened to the gold and the frankincense and myrrh.”
And we don’t know what ultimately happens with any of the gifts we bring either.
The story of the arrival of wise men from the east to Jerusalem is a study in contrasts. We sometimes describe the magi as “kings”, and that description enables us to understand that the story – at least in part – is a story of two sets of kings and how each of them responded to the gift of God’s Son. There were these “three kings of the Orient” on the one hand, and there was King Herod on the other. And interestingly enough, both sets of kings are focused on the same thing. Listen:
“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea during the time of Herod the king, magi from the east came to Jerusalem asking, ‘Where is the one born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to WORSHIP him.”
And then this, about King Herod:
“When King Herod heard this, he was troubled…(he) called the magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child and when you find him bring me word, that I too may go and WORSHIP him.’”
Two sets of kings – the magi from the east, King Herod from Jerusalem – and they both want to find the child so that they may go and WORSHIP him.
Of course, we know the story-behind-the-story about Herod. We know that King Herod’s interest was not really worshiping Jesus, but rather putting an end to him. The King of Judea was not about to give up his throne to the newborn King of the Jews.
So do you see what we have here in this story? We have laid out before us the very meaning of WORSHIP – what IS worship, and what is NOT worship.
And the question each of us must consider is, “How will I worship the Christ-child?”
To be as transparent with you as I can be, I think I would personally answer that question by saying I’m probably much more like King Herod than I am like the three kings of the Orient. Now I’m not saying that I want to put the big kibosh on Jesus and get rid of him like Herod did. No, what I’m saying is that – like Herod – I want to be in charge. I don’t want to give up my throne to anyone – not even to Jesus. And because I AM a person who wants or needs to be the General Manager of the Universe, I can’t stand the idea of not being IN control – IN charge – completely CERTAIN that what I’m about to do is going to benefit ME.
That’s the kind of worship King Herod wanted to bring to the Christ child – worship that somehow gained control over God, and God’s ways, and God’s plans for the world so that King Herod’s ways and plans and needs could prevail.
On the other hand, the kings of the Orient simply bowed before Jesus and worshiped him, “…and opening their treasures they presented him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.”
And they didn’t even have a clue as to how those gifts would ever be used!
Where King Herod was trying to control God, the magi relinquished control TO God. They bowed before the Christ child. They gave their gifts, no strings attached. And then they went home, leaving it all in God’s hands to do with according to God’s will.
And that is what true worship is.
Over the years, I’ve seen both kinds of worship in my own life and in the lives of others – true God-worship, and true self-worship:
· There was the man in one of my churches who came up with a large amount of money to make it possible for another church member to go into detox and alcoholic rehabilitation. What a beautiful and generous thing for him to do! I said, “You do know, Bob, that there are no guarantees with this and you might just be throwing your money away.” He said, “I know, but it’s worth the risk. And somehow I think God will take care of things.” Sadly, the alcoholic member flunked out of rehab and Bob lost all his money. And it was a LOT of money. It wasn’t until almost twenty years later that sobriety finally won out for that church member. And then Bob said, “See? I told you that God would take care of things! It just took a little longer than we thought!” Offering our gifts for God to use in His time, in His way, for His purposes and not our own is the character of true worship.
· On the other hand, there was the family who got upset with the new style of music introduced in their church. I love this story! They didn’t like it one bit and said so - over and over and over again! But that didn’t change things. So here’s what they did - they cut their pledge to the church, and it was a VERY substantial pledge, with the promise they’d reinstate it once they got their music back. When that didn’t happen, they left and went to another church, where even today, I suppose, they offer their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh so long as they get hto be in charge of the music program!
Isn’t the story of the kings so true of how people come to worship? Sometimes it is out of sheer devotion to God, laying down the gifts of our lives for God to use in any way God sees fit. And other times it is with strings attached and out of devotion to our own perceived needs of self-fulfillment.
And to be honest with you, after all these years in
ministry, my experience is that there is much more of the latter than the
former in the Christian Church today – and even here in our own church right
here in Tellico Village. We amenity-conscious people are much more prone to ask
the question, “What’s in this for me?” than the question, “What’s in
this for God?”
How is that you come to worship the Christ-child?
But this sermon is not a rant against those who, like King Herod, seek to serve themselves in the name of God. We can all number ourselves among that group from time to time. No, this sermon is a celebration of those courageous souls who dare to worship like the magi – freely offering their gifts for God to use in His time, and in His way, and for the purposes of His kingdom.
I think there are some things about such people that teach us the meaning of living as God’s people and followers of Jesus Christ. They are good examples of what it means to be a Christian.
For one thing, they are people who are focused on the bigger picture of what God is doing in the world instead of on the little picture of their own self-interest.
Those who founded our nation on religious principles were such people. America was to be like a “city set on a hill” – a shining symbol to all the world of God’s freedom and liberty! And what personal sacrifices the founders were willing to make to accomplish that dream! Like the magi, they bowed their own wills to God’s will and laid down their treasures of gold, and frankincense and myrrh to build a better future.
And in a few weeks, we will celebrate the Martin Luther King holiday, and there is no more powerful example of an individual man who gave his life to the dream of what God is doing in the world. Martin King’s focus was not on the preservation of his own life, or the defense even of his own rights. His prayer was not that God would spare him from difficulty and tragedy. His prayer instead was for the day when little black children and little white children can sit down at the table of brotherhood and be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Like the magi, and like our nation’s founders, Dr. King laid down his gifts before the Christ-child and – like those others before him - did not get to see the results himself. We do not see them yet either. But we believe we will one day because we believe in God and that God is shaping a future that is worth working for. The day WILL come when racial brotherhood is realized – in God’s time, and God’s way and according to God’s will. In the meantime, we give our gifts to it, even before we see the result. True worship is worship that looks out to the future of what God will do through the gifts we bring.
This is why, when people ask me why I feel so strongly that we should follow the dream of our expansion project, I encourage them to not think of it in terms of themselves. Oh, its tempting to do that – and there WILL be personal benefits to all of us - but its not wise to think that way. Think of it instead in terms of the several thousand people yet to move into Tellico Village who will need a church home where they are accepted and called out to serve. Think of it in terms of the greater good we will be able to project out into our community and counties. Think of it in terms of children saved from abuse, and families given a hand UP rather than a hand OUT. Think of it in terms of people fifty and one hundred years from now who will stand up in their day to overcome the dangers of religious division by witnessing to the better way of ecumenical cooperation and Christian unity. Think of it not in terms of what we will get out of it – although we will ALL gain something - but more importantly, think of it in terms of what God will get out of it!
That is true worship.
A second thing about such worshipers is that they are people who know that it is in GIVING that we RECEIVE.
Of all the wonderful moments that come my way as pastor of this great church, my favorites are those times when people come and tell me that they went and volunteered to work on a Habitat house, or at the Good Sam, or as a mentor in one of the schools, and they say, “Marty, I get more out of it than I put into it!”
Isn’t that true? And it IS true because this is how God has wired us human beings – to find personal fulfillment through giving ourselves away. This is why Jesus said such outrageous things as “forgive one another”, and “love your neighbor as yourself”, and “feed the hungry, help the poor”, and “give a cup of cold water to the thirsty child, clothe the naked, visit prisoners, proclaim God’s favor to people”. Jesus never told anybody to be religious or even study the Bible, but he did tell people to give themselves away to others in love. The Christian life is designed to be a life of giving! It is in GIVING that we RECEIVE blessing from God. That is true worship.
And then one more thing about true worshipers. In the very last scene of the story about the magi, it says that after they had bowed down and given their gifts of gold, and frankincense and myrrh, they “went home to their own country by another way.”
To truly worship the Christ-child is to leave your old way behind way behind, and go back to life by another way.
In my own family, there was a period of time when hurt and anger and bitterness became our way of life. It was all justified of course – at least in our own minds. When people hurt you, you hurt back, or maybe you run away and put up walls between yourself and others, or maybe you just internalize it and give yourself ulcers. You know how it goes. And over time, these things have a way of taking on a life of their own, and becoming so large they threaten to destroy us – as families, as spouses, as individuals. We know what that is like because we’ve been there, done that, got the tee-shirt.
But in one sacred moment, a couple of our family members decided to set aside their own way, and try to take up God’s way instead.
And although our family is still a work in progress, God’s way has proven to be the better way.
The magi, Matthew says, “went home by another way.”
Which way will you take when you leave here this morning?
Whatever happened to the treasures of the magi?
We don’t know.
Or maybe we do.
God took the laying down of their lives, and raised a child through the gift. And that child laid down his life for the world.
And God’s love found its way through Jesus – to us, all these many centuries later.
Whatever happened to the gold, the frankincense and myrrh? They became part of what brought US to faith, and part of what built THIS church. The gifts of the magi are still at work today!
Thanks be to God for those who truly worship the Christ-child!