Sermon Tone Analysis

What gift will you bring?

growing up as a child you probably remember be consumed by what you were getting for Christmas.

I don’t know about you.

but before the internet we did our “wish list via the sears catalog

.....

AS a child it all about what you are getting....

but as you grow older you get joy in other ways.

For me it started when we had kids.

the joy came in seeing them get excited about Christmas,

I really could care less what I was getting, my focus was on what I could give.

I believe the same is true for our Christian walk.

At first your time is spent asking God for what you want, hope hopefully as you mature.

More of your time is spent doing what He wants.

As Child we think of what we want for Christmas.

But have you ever thought what Jesus might want?

After all it is His birthday!

That is where Christmas began.

God Loved the world, so He gave what was most valuable to Him

.......

The wise men were the first to reciprocate God giving nature.Matt

Wise Men?

Magi, Kings, Astrologers, astronomers?

The magi were a priestly line, a priestly tribe of people from among the Medes, this very ancient and large people.

They were very skilled in astronomy and astrology.

This was a very great preoccupation with them.

Their interest in astronomy and astrology was only part of their involvement.

They were sort of occultists in a way.

They had some sort of divination processes.

They were involved in certain kinds of things that we would assume, perhaps, were like a sorcery and that’s why the word magi was corrupted through history into the word magic, magician, which is a synonym for sorcerer.

But the magi originally were basically a pagan, priestly tribe of people from the Medes and the Persians and there are many, many historical sources to validate this.

They became interested in astronomy and astrology and the study of the stars.

And in those days they didn’t make much of a separation between the superstition and the science.

The science is astronomy, the superstition is astrology, and they were pretty well blended at the time.

Now, what’s interesting about this is that during the time of the Babylonian Empire these magi were dwelling in the area of Babylon.

They were there during the Babylonian time and the Medo-Persian Empire as well.

Now while they were there during the Babylonian Empire, they were very heavily influenced by the Jews.

You remember that one of the things that Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon did was take Judah into captivity.

Do you remember that?

That’s what Jeremiah was saying.

“You are going to be taken into captivity.”

Jeremiah pronounced this fact and of course even the book of Lamentations laments this reality.

And they were carried off into the Babylon captivity.

Well, here in Babylon were existing these magi, and they were very high-ranking officials.

By that time they had ascended to a high place in the Babylonian Empire because of their amazing intuition, wisdom, knowledge, astrology, occultic ability, whatever you want to call it, they had risen to a place of prominence.

And so, immediately, they came into contact with all these Jewish people that had been brought to captivity.

They also came into contact with one very specific Jew by the name of Daniel, who was elevated in the Babylonian Empire.

And, consequently, they were very familiar or made familiar in the dispersion of the Jews in Babylon with Jewish prophesy regarding the Messiah.

They were made aware of what was really on the Jewish prophetic plan for this One who was to come.

And so that’s basically who they were.

The Gifts

These valuable items were standard gifts to honor a king or deity in the ancient world: gold as a precious metal, frankincense as perfume or incense, and myrrh as anointing oil.

The Book of Isaiah, when describing Jerusalem’s glorious restoration, tells of nations and kings who will come and “bring gold and frankincense and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord”

In addition to the honor and status implied by the value of the gifts of the magi, scholars think that these three were chosen for their special spiritual symbolism about Jesus himself

gold representing his kingship,

frankincense a symbol of his priestly role

and myrrh a prefiguring of his death and embalming

an interpretation made popular in the well-known Christmas carol “We Three Kings.”

Incidentally we don’t know how many Kings there were 3 types of gifts

They also had a practical value in that they were....valuable

I believe these gifts is what funded their escape to Egypt and the time they spent there hiding from Herod

What Gift are you bringing

What do you think Jesus would want from you.

Jesus is Lord.....of What?

This season take some time to think about what you could give Jesus.

What is on His wish list?

Let’s pray.