Finding God by Looking Up (Matthew 2.1-12)

 Introduction

“We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts we traverse afar, field and fountain, moor and mountain following yonder star.”

That was all well and good in the First Century. But what legislation and bureaucracy would they have to contend with if Jesus were born in 2014?

You can see the problems can’t you?

1. All visitors to Israel must have valid passports with biometric ID, visas and travel insurance.

2. Tom-Tom satellite navigation systems will not be held responsible for any deviation from your intended route as the accuracy of star navigation cannot be guaranteed.

3. Please note, as per the guidelines from the RSPCA, that camels are entitled to food and rest breaks every 4 hours or every 10 miles.

4. Scissors, hand cream and similar products are not permitted on camels. A full list of proscribed items is available on the Foreign Office website.

5. You are reminded that the offering of presents to royalty is subject to strict guidelines and regulated by the Bribery and Corruption Act. Therefore all gifts must be listed in duplicate on the Declaration of Interests form available at most post offices.

6. This may be waived in the case of a back hander deposited in FIFA’s offshore bank account in the Solomon Islands.

7. It is particularly noted that currency or gold must be declared at customs, while caution is advised regarding other common gifts, notably aromatic resins such as myrrh which may provoke allergic reactions or frankincense which is not to be lit in any public place.

And don’t get me started on “Away in a Manger.”

We are advised of the recent case of an infant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, found in a domestic animal’s eating trough, with no crib for a bed. Social Services have been alerted and will be arriving shortly.

Actually, the circumstances that surrounded Jesus’ first coming are strikingly similar to those of today and may perhaps be a sign that his second coming is near - though I think we always need to be cautious when speaking of these things. 

For example, when Jesus was born, like today, the Middle East was a tinder box of restless political agitation, marked by violence and almost ungovernable.  

When Jesus was born, as in our day, there were sudden vast leaps forward in communications. In our day, we have telecommunications, the internet, air travel and the prevalence of English as the world's commercail language. In the First Century too, Roman roads were making travel much easier and cheaper and safer. The Greek language was widely spoken, making it possible for nations and peoples to come together as never before.

When Jesus was born, like today, the eyes of those in the west were looking east and the eyes of those in the east were looking west – and the focal point at the centre of it all was an unstable Middle East.

They Spotted the Star

And amongst those in the east looking west were these Magi. Of course, as you know I’m sure, the Bible never actually says that these visitors were men or women, or how many of them there were, whether they were royalty or not or even if they were wise. We certainly have no idea what their names might have been so we have to clear away quite a lot of sentimental folklore to get a picture of who these Magi really were.

We do know that they were from as far as Persia or perhaps even India. They were the philosophers, intellectuals, scholars of their day. They studied the universe and they tried to make sense of it all. They looked for patterns in the stars and noticed that you can arrange the lights in the sky together in groups. The patterns they traced reminded them of the shapes of things they knew and they gave them names.

The Magi noticed that all the stars appeared to move in a great arc as the night progressed. Then they made charts and divided the heavens into sections. So they identified stars, labelled their groups and learned about their motion.

And from this learning, people began to say that the movements in the heavens affect our lives and that we can therefore predict the future based on the known trajectory of the stars and planets.

There is actually a very small element of truth in that. We now know for example that the solar cycle affects the weather on earth. The position of the moon influences the tides. Some say the full moon affects people’s moods – (I don't know where they get that from, sounds a lunatic idea to me!)

Maybe movements in the heavens impact life on earth in small ways, but the truth is this: God orders both the heavens and the earth. God clearly forbids speculating with horoscopes and astral charts because they lead us away from trusting him for our future.

Don’t waste your time or spend your money on useless stargazers who say they know what path you should take. The Bible says trust in the Lord with all your heart and he will make your paths straight.

We’ve all heard of people who blame their misfortunes on the fact that they, a Sagittarius, happen to have Saturn coming into Orion or whatever drivel Mystic Meg is serving up that day. It’s rubbish. As Shakespeare said in Julius Caesar, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars. But in ourselves.”

Some of you know that I love astronomy. I love looking at pictures of nebulas and galaxies thousands of light years away. It speaks to me of the awe and wonder of God; his infinite greatness, his mighty and glorious creative wisdom.

The writer of Psalm 8 felt the same way.

I look up at your skies, dark and enormous,
your handmade sky-jewellery,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
Then I look at myself and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
Why take a second look our way?

“The fuel of worship is a true vision of the greatness of God” said John Piper. God’s majesty and authority are what the vast splendour of the heavens reminds me of. You can find God by looking up.

I like Professor Brian Cox. He certainly knows his facts. But when you listen to him carefully, you notice that he tends to mix his facts with his opinions. In his recent series The Human Universe he said that a scientific way of thinking includes removing the idea of a creator God – because, he says, there is no god. Well that’s his opinion. His mind has ruled out the possibility of a Creator before he looks up so it’s unsurprising he sees nothing when he does.

But there are many scientists who are Christians who see the incredible order in the cosmos as evidence of God’s wise dominion over all things.

Johannes Kepler was one of the most famous. He was incredibly brilliant - a total mathematical genius. And, as a Christian, his conviction was that God has created the world according to an intelligible plan and so you can make sense of it when you study it. He was the first to work out the precise orbits of all the planets round the sun and he explained using complex equations why some orbits were circular and some were oval shaped.

He was centuries ahead of his time. And because he saw that the circular motion of planets was totally predictable, one of the many things he calculated was that, seen from the earth, there were alignments of Saturn and Jupiter in 7BC, which is about three years before Jesus was born. Many people think it was this that caught the Magi’s attention and set them off on their quest.

Or it might have been Halley’s Comet which passed by in 11BC. Or there are records in China dating back to 4BC of an unusual evanescent star. What the Magi saw could of course have been a supernatural manifestation of the Lord’s glory. 

William Barclay thinks it was the brightest star in the sky, twice as bright as any other - Sirius. Here’s what he says. “In the years 5 to 2 BC there was an unusual astronomical phenomenon. In those years, on the first day of the Egyptian month, Mesori, Sirius… rose at sunrise, and shone with extraordinary brilliance. Now the name Mesori means “the birth of a prince”, and to those ancient Magi such a star would undoubtedly mean the birth of some great king… It was their profession to watch the heavens, and some heavenly brilliance spoke to them of the entry of a king into the world.”

All we know is this; as they looked up they made the greatest spiritual discovery of their lives.

They Searched the Scripture

Well, our Bible reading begins with the words “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem…” And v11 says they were in a house. There’s no talk of an inn or a shelter for domestic animals.

It seems that the census was now over and the crowds were gone. But the baby must have been too small to travel the long distance back to Nazareth. You wouldn’t trek 70 miles on foot in the winter with a new born infant would you? And Mary will have welcomed a bit of a rest after all she’d been through so it seems they decided to spend a few weeks, maybe several months, in Bethlehem before returning home.

And it was during this time that these visitors from the East arrived in the area. But before they got to Bethlehem they went to Jerusalem, about 5 miles away. They had no idea where to look of course. So they went to the most obvious place for a new king of the Jews - the capital, and the palace in Jerusalem where Herod lived (v1).

His title was Herod the Great. But he was Herod the petty; insanely jealous – he killed his wife and sons the minute he saw them as potential rivals for his throne. He ordered many massacres, shedding the innocent blood of thousands. Herod’s paranoia in this chapter matches perfectly everything we know about him from secular history. Mark will no doubt say a bit more about Herod next week.

I just want to say this; the Magi’s logical deduction got them to Jerusalem. It got them as far as the general vicinity – but it didn’t get them to Jesus. Did you notice; it wasn’t until the Magi found people who knew the Bible that their search went from being in the right general area to actually encountering Jesus personally.

It’s like that funny story of the young boy who goes up to his father and says, “Dad, why does the wind blow?” to which the father responds, “I don’t know, son.” “Dad, where do the clouds come from?” “I’m not sure, son.” “Dad, what makes a rainbow?” “No idea, son.” “Dad, do you mind me asking you all these questions?” “Not at all, son. How else are you going to learn?”

Rational study is great. But logic and reason and human enquiry can only take you so far in your quest to know God personally. You also need faith. You need revelation.

But here’s the sad thing for me; in v4-6 the priests and teachers of the law in Jerusalem who knew the Scriptures and read them every day didn’t bother to go with the Magi to meet their Messiah. Isn’t that sad? Listen, you can know the Bible inside out, you can study it in a dry and academic way, but still have little or no interest in knowing Jesus personally.

Where would you be? Would you be in Herod’s fine palace, enjoying the nice food and debating it all with the ruling elite? Or would you be on your way with these visitors to see if it was really true?

Jesus challenged people like this 30 years later. He said “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”

And isn’t it telling that the simple, low-life, illiterate shepherds had only a few hundred yards to travel to see the new king? (They’d already been and gone of course). But the intellectuals, the academics, had to journey for miles and they arrived later.

Ordinary people often find God more easily. Those of great learning often have so many sophisticated questions, so many mental barriers, so many rational objections that get in the way. They may arrive in the end but it often takes them much longer - and it did here.

They Saw the Saviour

So they went to Bethlehem. And it’s only as they travel on in faith, which is quickened by revelation from God’s word, that they see the star again (v9-10). 

When you’re looking for the Lord’s leading, his guidance is so often like that. People sometimes ask me about the Lord’s guidance and I always say that it’s easier to turn the steering wheel of a car when you’re moving than when you’re parked. It’s easier to know which direction to take in life if you’re spiritually active, serving the Lord, and growing on in faith.

When they get to the house (v11) they find a plain working man, a simple young peasant woman, and a baby boy. There’s no outward sign of royalty, no butler and no maid, no crown, no fine clothes. But they knew. They knew they have found who they had come to see.

The first time you meet Jesus you never forget do you? I remember when the Lord opened my heart to believe when I was 17 – it was like coming home. I knew that I found what I had been looking for all my life when I opened my heart to Christ. Oh, the emotion, the joy!

They bowed down and worshipped. They came to give themselves as subjects before they opened their gifts.

Louie Giglio says “Worship is our response to what we value most.” So if you value money most you worship money. If you value youth most you worship youth. If you value your job most you worship your job. If you value sport most you worship sport. The Magi valued Christ most and they bowed down and worshipped him.

They didn’t go home saying “Well, I didn’t get much out of that.” They didn’t moan that the worship wasn’t their preferred style. They got it that worship is about him - and not about them.

And on the day we too offer gifts to those less fortunate than us at Saint James’ House, just look at the value of their gifts. Nothing last minute from the petrol garage here is there? Gold for royalty, incense for a priest, myrrh to embalm a body (v11). Their gifts speak of his kingship, his deity and his suffering.

They opened their treasures, (v11) isn’t that beautiful? If we were entertaining the Queen we’d serve her the finest dinner we could prepare, not dish up the leftovers we didn’t want. And here it wasn’t just what was left over after they’d spent all they wanted on themselves. They gave extravagantly. 

So what should your giving to the King of kings look like? What do you think? They gave what was most valuable, most precious. When you come into the presence of Jesus what treasures do you open?

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 14th December 2014