Love Came Down, Part 3
Love
Matthew 2:1-2, 11-12
Well
there are only 4 shopping days until Christmas
How
many of you have more shopping to do?
A)Anyone not started?
B) Different Kinds of Gifts
to Get!
C) Expensive gifts: Web Site
Born Rich pp unlike us money is no object
Perfect gift
for the Wife. Bugatti Veyron only cost
$1.7 million.
A little out
of your price range? Try the Neil Lane 15
carat Diamond Earrings only $750,000
For the
Husband: Runco 103 inch Plasma
display
Price tag: $100,000
Lonely grandma Swami conversational robot
$75,000
For your teen
age daughter: Vertu 7.2 carat Pink with
white diamonds cell phone: $73,000
So
those are your expensive gifts for pp who have money to waste!
A)Creative gifts Been said
that men are the hardest to shop for Marketing expert suggestions
Best
gifts for Dad!
A)Scuba diving
lessons / 3 stooges movies
Universal Remote
B)Fitting Gifts! Music lover: Bose Head sound resistant head
phones. I tunes gift cards
1) Chargers Fan next year !
C)Padres fan
season tickets ½ price
Where
did this whole gift giving idea start?
A)Part of the
First Christmas story Wisemen who brought gifts for the Baby Jesus.
B)Gifts they
brought were Expensive / Creative and also Fitting.
Matthew 2:1-2 and
11,12
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, 2 saying,"Where is He who has been born
King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to
worship Him."
V.11 And when
they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother,
and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they
presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 Then, being
divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed
for their own country another way.
Fast Facts:
#1 They were not with the Shepherds.
And when they
had come into the house, {not a stable}they saw the young Child {Not a Baby}with Mary His mother.
At least a year old So your
Nativity sets are not accurate but that is ok -
Finish the Song We 3 kings
of
.
#2
They were not from the Orient.
A)Came from the
east Possibly part of a group that had been earlier influenced by Daniel
#3
We dont know how many came?
A) We assume 3 because there
were 3 gifts but it could have been much more
B)Like the
Shepherds they came to worship and Part of their worship involved the giving of
gifts!
C)Their giving was not so
much an addition to their worship as an element of it.
D)These wisemen
have as much to do with our giving of gifts to
one another and to the Lord than probably
anyone else in History
E)Their gifts
were not Random They were fitting gifts Gold Frankincense & Myrrh
They
came looking for the Christ Child-
A)Christ is not
the last name of Jesus!
It is a title= Anointed one.
B)Christ =
anointed one Mas = Festival Christmas is the festival of Gods anointed
one.
C)Messiahs Festival
So the gifts that they brought were Fitting gifts for Gods
Anointed one
A)See there were
3 offices in OT history that prior to a man starting in anyone of those
offices - he was anointed with oil
B)Office of King
/ Priest / Prophet
C)Jesus was the
anointed one of God - Fulfilled all 3
of these offices
D)Fitting gifts
because Jesus would hold all 3 of these offices
Gold
for a King We imagine the first visitor stepping forward and presenting a
Chest filled with Gold.
A)The gift of gold needed no explanation throughout the ancient
world
B)Gold was coveted as the
most precious of metals and the standard where by all wealth was measured.
Gold
is the most sustaining of metals!
A)No single acid can destroy
it it cant rust away it cannot become corroded like Iron
B)And no one can successfully
imitate gold
C) Gold a fitting gift for
this new born king !
D)But He was to reign, not by force, but by love; and he
was to rule over mens hearts, not from a
throne, but from a Cross.
They
also brought Frankincense
A)Frankincense was a costly,
beautiful-smelling incense that was used only for the most special of
occasions.
B)Frankincense is a resin that comes from a tree
that is so rare so sacred that only a few select pp were even allowed to
approach those trees.
C)To
obtain this precious fragrance a slash is made in the trunk of the tree and the
bark is stripped so that the sap begins to pour out
DThe
sap is collected and allowed to harden 3 months becomes a resin- grows on a bush
like tree from which resin is extracted
The resin is crushed or ground up and put
into the fire!
A)Once
in the fire it turns into a liquid form to from which comes this incredible
fragrance.
B)Frankincense
was the incense used in the offerings in the temple.
C)In the Old Testament it
was stored in a special chamber in front of the Temple
1)When
applied to an offering it created this pure white
Smoke.
What is interesting is that it was never
used with the sin or trespass offerings.
A)Because
it was considered So Pure never mixed with
those offerings!
B)Only
used with the Meal offerings = thanksgiving 1) and to burn incense in the Holy
place - representing prayers of the PP
C)
So Purity /Prayer / Praise / were associated with Frankincense
Fitting: Because Jesus is the Perfectly Pure High
Priest who can sympathize with us in our
trials.
Hebrews
4:15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot
sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet
without sin.
Fitting Because Jesus is the Perfectly
Pure High Priest who is always interceding for us.
Hebrews 7:25
So he is able to save completely those who come to God through
him, because he always lives to intercede for them. NESV
Fitting because Jesus is the Perfectly Pure High Priest
declaring praises to God amongst the
people of God. Hebrews 2:11-12
11 Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy
are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. 12 He
says, "I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the
congregation I will sing your praises."
NIV
A Fitting Gift fit for a Ministering Priest
A)The function of a priest
is to open the way to God for men.
B)The Latin word for priest is pontifex, which means a bridge-builder.
C)The priest is the man who
builds a bridge between men and God.
D)That is what
Jesus did. He opened the way to God; he made it possible for men to enter into
the very presence of God.
Leads us to consider the 3rd
Gift Myrrh
Myrrh
Comes from the Hebrew word Mar = bitter
A)Myrrh was an embalming
fluid used to embalm a dead body in the times of Christ.
B)Prepared the Body by wrapping it in layers of linen cloth
same cloth as swaddling clothes
1)Which is an interesting
side note
C)So the body would be wrapped in the cloth and they would
present their embalming spices in between the layers of the cloth wrap some more
D)Remember Joseph of
Arimathea took 100lbs of Myrrh to prepare the body of Jesus for Burial
E)Now Ladies if you were
invited to a Baby Shower would it ever cross your mind to bring a case of embalming fluid.
That is what these men
Brought and it was a fitting gift because the Baby they came to worship The
Child who was a King and a Priest.
Came
for the Purpose of Dying on a Cross for the Sins of the World
A)The First Christmas tree
was a Cross
B)The Christmas light that
was hung upon it was when Jesus the light of the world- hung on that
Cross to pay the Price for our Sins
C)We
needed a Savior because we were born with a sin Nature
1)Inherited from Adam part
of the fall.
D)Sin is a part of our nature
for that reason dont need to teach kids how to Sin natural
When
my daughter Amanda was two yrs old no one told her how to lie. Came naturally
A)She also got this abnormal
sense of satisfaction from seeing her older brother Aaron get a spanking
B) One day Aaron was at school & Amanda was sitting in her high chair
eating a waffle
C) Denise left
the room for a minute & when she returned - she saw that Amanda had thrown
her waffle all over the kitchen floor
D)Denise said Amanda - why
did you throw your waffle on the floor?
1)Amanda responded - Aaron did it !!!! Then she said spank
Aaron!
E) Now why did
she - say that - and why does she act that way - I surely didnt teach her that
?
1) IT IS BECAUSE SHE IS A SINNER !!!!!
We sin Feel guilt -
because we are guilty
A)Jesus came
to die Cleanse us of sin forgive us
Take away the
Guilt
B)Sin has separated man from God - broken fellowship - man
in his sin is doomed ! BUT GOD HAD A RESCUE PLAN - FROM BEG.
C)Send his Son
born of a Baby Born to die for the Sins of Humanity
Why Would God
do that ? Why would Jesus agree to Come? One word : Love!
John 3:16 Broken down
God the greatest Giver
so loved
the greatest motive
the world the greatest need
that He gave
the greatest act
His only Son the greatest gift
that whosoever the greatest invitation
believes in Him the greatest opportunity
should not perish the greatest deliverance
but have eternal life the greatest joy
Now as we consider these gifts that were given to the Baby
Jesus during that first Christmas Season
A)Application
for us is
B)We need to
bow to Him as our King!
Philippians 2:10-11
At
the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on
earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Interesting that two of these same gifts are giving to
Jesus at His 2nd coming according to Isaiah 60:6
A multitude of
camels shall cover you,
the young camels
of Midian and Ephah;
all those from
Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good
news, the praises of the Lord. ESV
Myrrh is left out? Why
because He came once to do die for the sins of the world. One Sacrifice for
all.
We bow to Him as our King
Now too late later
C)We need to embrace Him as our Savior!
Romans 10:9
If
you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God
has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
D)We need to
come to Him as our Priest!
Hebrews 4:16
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
We
are going to finish this series today by partaking of Communion .
A)As we do, let it be our way
of declaring
B)We bow to You as our King
C)We embrace You as our
Savior
D)We come to You as our
Priest.