What makes the “Wise Men” wise? S31e9

We call the 3 guys on the camels near the birth of Jesus WISE MEN.  Well, what exactly makes them wise?  One thing: worship.

They set themselves to worship the Right Guy in the right place and at the right time.  It comes with great cost.

Join with me for 7 minutes on our journey with them.  

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https://youtu.be/tLRmfFoIFCE

Transcript

 What makes the “Wise men” wise? S31e9

Listen to the perhaps familiar story of the Wise Men.

We’ll zero in on Worship. Worship like a Wise Guy

Matt 2 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 saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: 

6    “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, 

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; 

       for from you shall come a ruler

who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”

7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. 

Few observations. 

We don’t know how many wise men there were. 3 or 30.

Why were there wise men in the story of this birth?

What is their purpose? They tell us: 

We have come to WORSHIP

We have come to worship at great length

We have come to worship at great distance. 

We have come to worship at great COST: time, distance, risk,

         If these guys are carrying precious cargo they are targets

         Likely brought entourage and defensive

We have come to worship with great preparation

2 Samuel 24:24 

24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lordmy God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 

         Think of that, ESV study bible speculates they came from a distance. Maybe Babylon, 800 miles, 40` days travel one way. If so, they came because of the influence of their Jewish captives , and their great book the bible, the OT, that they had with them in 700bc. They have been gone for 700 years, but the pearl, that a KING, a savior was to come from the Jews.

The wise men, were in Judea in 4bc, because of the witness of worship that the Jews may have done 700 years prior. 

These wise men, passed this information, this HOPE down over dozens of generations. Perhaps using the scripture: Num 14:            17          I see him, but not now; 

I behold him, but not near: 

       a star shall come out of Jacob,

and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; 

       it shall crush the forehead of Moab 

and break down all the sons of Sheth. 

A Star shall come out of Jacob. This is a relatively obscure passage from a book of the OT that almost nobody wants to read.  It isn’t our favorite now, and probably wasn’t then.  They probably wanted to cherry pick the books of Genesis or Deuteronomy. Note to self: nobody doing a daily Podcast video starts in Numbers.  But Deuteronomy! Oh yeah!

Where are the Jews? They had the same scripture.

         Wait these guys from far away, maybe Babylon, certainly GENTILE, with no family of God witness x 700 years, made it to the baby or young Jesus

These guys believed the. BIBLE

If you are a Jew, worship Jesus.

If you are a Gentile, worship Jesus.

If you have to travel hard to gather to the Savior, worship Jesus.

         Required TRAVEL. If you are worshipping in your living room, and you are not a shut-in from age, or infirmity, then you need a reset in priority.  Go find the family of God. There is a whole day set aside for this one purpose. 

If you have to work at gathering in fellowship, worship Jesus

         Require fellowship: though everyone is responsible for the individual walk of faith they may trod, they did not trod it alone.  They came TOGETHER. This idea, perhaps hatched in the land of the Jewish exile 700 years ago.

If it costs you something extraordinary, worship Jesus

If it costs you something ordinary, worship Jesus

Require priority: This priority of these guys. Planning, money. Risk. Cost.

If you encounter evil along the way, worship Jesus

If you need to prepare exensively before you arrive, worship Jesus

If you need to remember stuff from 700 years ago, worship Jesus

By worshipping the one true God, you may be leaving breadcrumbs of truth for subsequent generations

What makes a wise man wise/

Charge: Let’s worship like a wise man!