The Gifts We Bring

Josh Owens

Clear Springs Baptist Church

Christmas • Sermon • Submitted 5 months ago • Presented 5 months ago

Matthew 2:1–12

Wise men come to Bethlehem

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The Gifts We Bring

Text: Matthew 2:1-12

Introduction

Now we all know the story of the wise men. But there is much about these wise men that we do not know. For example, we’re not certain that there were three wise men. There may have been more. There may have been three. We sing the song, “We Three Kings of Orient Are,” but there may be have been more. We know that there were three categories of gifts that are listed. There may have been more gifts. We don’t know, really, what country these wise men came from. They came from the East. I think, most likely, they came from Babylon. And I’ll tell you why I believe that they came from Babylon. In Babylon there was a great prophet, a man of God whose name was Daniel. And Babylon, of course, is to the east. It’s our modern Iraq. It was there that young Daniel was taken captive, and it was there that Daniel taught. And in Babylon there were wise men, magi. As a matter of fact, the book of Daniel tells about them. And these magi had their lives saved by Daniel. And obviously, they would have listened to the teaching and the preaching of Daniel, and it was Daniel who prophesied a coming Messiah. [Adrian Rogers, “The Gifts of the Wise Men and Our Gifts to Jesus,” in Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive (Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust, 2017), Mt 2:1–12.]

While we sing about “three wise men” there may have been more.

For every person(s) who made their way to see the Christ child, they had been given Divine guidance. Upon arrival, they all presented gifts to speak of who this child was:

For the shepherds, it was an angel and the heavenly host.

These shepherds left their sheep.

They brought a heart filled with hope.

They brought their faith.

For Joseph and Mary, it was Gabriel and a dream.

They presented their own bodies.

They presented their home.

They presented their life’s dreams.

They presented their wills.

The Bible says there was a “star.” I don’t believe this was a normal sense, but a symbolic sense. The Greek work describes a “supernatural light for leading” or “supernatural being.” It led them to a particular residence. This was beyond the normal celestial star. It could very well have been the “Shekinah glory” of God shinning in the night sky.

All groups made their way with their particular gifts in a certain context:

Inconvenience

Distance

Danger

Not only were they led to follow a particular path, there were at some point impressed upon by God to bring three particular gifts. These gifts are what we want to explore today. As we explore these gifts and there significance, ask yourself the question, “What gifts am I currently presenting to the Christ?” Maybe a good followup question would be, “What gifts should I be presenting to Christ?”

1) Gold For The Sovereign King

A. The message of this gift

Gold would be presented to a king.

Most precious metal of that day.

In Bible times as well as today, it is symbolic of royalty.

These wise men were undoubtedly declaring Jesus to be the king sent from Heaven.

Question — How did these men learn this? Better yet, from whom did they learn it?

If we take the position they came from Babylon, then it is very plausible they learned it from Daniel.

Daniel 9:25 “25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince (king, ruler, sovereign)…

B. What do your gifts declare Jesus to be?

Question — Have you recognized Jesus’ sovereign dominion over your soul?

Isaiah 9:7 “7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, Upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, To order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice From henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”

The biggest question of this Christmas season is this: “Will you offer your king the submission that is due Him?”

HE IS YOUR KING!

1 Corinthians 6:20 “20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

1 Corinthians 7:23 “23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.”

2 Corinthians 8:9 “9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”

What did these wise men do when they approached the Christ child?… ANS — They did not play games with him nor did they cuddle Him. They bowed before Him!

Illustration: Adrian Rogers had a preacher friend from Arizona who tested his congregation. He thought one day that he would give a lesson to his congregation, so he said to them, “You know, we’ve had some Secret Service men from Washington, from the White House, they’ve been here to talk with me. And they told me that the President of the United States is going to be in our city, and because the President of the United States is going to be in our in our city on a weekend, he’s going to be in a church to worship, and they have chosen our church, and the President of the United States is going to come and worship with us next Sunday. And because of that, we want to be ready.” So he said to the choir director, “I want you and the choir to practice. I want you to have the very best musical rendition that you can possibly have.” Then he said to the custodian and to the ushers, “We want this place to be spotless. We want it to be immaculate next Sunday. We’ve got some places in the carpet that need to be patched and cleaned. I’m going to ask that all of us be dressed and on our best behavior this Lord’s Day.” And he gave the ushers very special instructions. And he gave the custodial staff very special instructions. Then he spoke to the church hostess and said, “We want to have the flowers just right,” and so forth. Oh, what a rush of excitement was going through the congregation as he described all of the things they were going to do because the next Sunday the President of the United States was going to be there to worship with them! The people were thrilled. And then he said, “Now, folks, I want to tell you something. The President of the United States is not coming. He is not coming. I made all of that up. [Adrian Rogers, “The Gifts of the Wise Men and Our Gifts to Jesus,” in Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive (Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust, 2017), Mt 2:1–12.]

What are you going to give the king today???

2) Frankincense For The Sinless King

A. What is significant about Frankincense?

Turn to Exodus 30:34-38

Here is what God is saying:

It is most holy and is to be given to God.

As it would rise out of the tabernacle and temple, speaks of the prayers and worship of the saints given to God.

The wise men gave this gift to worship Christ in His sinless deity — Jesus was truly God and truly man.

Notice verse 2 “are come to worship him.” and then notice verse 11 “…fell down, and worshipped him.”

B. God is the only one to be worshiped

Many today will celebrate Christmas without giving Him the worship He deserves.

You might ask, “What is the big deal about that?”

Matthew 4:10 “10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”

Luke 4:8 “8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”

If however Jesus was not truly God, what we are attempting to do today would be nothing short of BLASPHEMY.

The fact this baby was God was the only reason these wise men worshiped Him.

1 Timothy 3:16 “16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”

Isaiah 9:6 “6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: And the government shall be upon his shoulder: And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

Question — What if Jesus was a mere human child?

Ans — I would reject him, disown him and would refrain from worshiping him. He would be nothing more than a fake and a fraud for claiming to be God.

If Jesus Christ is a man,—

And only a man,—I say

That of all mankind I cleave to him,

And to Him will I cleave alway.

If Jesus Christ is a God,—

And the only God,—I swear

I will follow Him through heaven and hell,

The earth, the sea, and the air.

—Richard Watson Gilder

However, Jesus claimed the most sacred name for Himself — John 8:58 “58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”

Take a moment and consider the uniqueness of Jesus’ life:

He never apologized for anything He said or did.

Never made a mistake.

Never had to seek advice.

He was never late.

He never tried to justify His actions to anyone.

He never asked for forgiveness from God or anyone.

He never asked anyone to pray for Him.

With all of that in mind, He was without arrogance, remained meek and mild.

Many today will not declare this!

Jehovah’s “false”witnesses

Muslims

3) Myrrh For The Sacrificial King

A. What kind of gift was that?

It was a bitter herb.

Myrrh was used throughout the ancient world. It was used prominently in perfumes, cosmetics, and medicine. According to Celsus, myrrh was taken internally to help fever, poisoning, ear, eye, and liver complications (Van Beek, Frankincense and Myrrh, 116–17). Today, myrrh is still widely used in medicine. [James W. Knox, “Myrrh,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).]

This was a spice used to in the embalming of the dead.

VERY STANGE, RIGHT?

B. What was it’s significance?

Pointed to Jesus dying of the cross for our sins.

Mark 15:23 “23 And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not.”

John 19:39 “39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.”

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