America has a fascination with following rising stars in movies and music and media. Our fascination tonight is with just one. May God bless our time in his Word.
The Magi or Wise Men were star-followers too. Not for astrology, but astronomy. There is a difference you know:
Astrology believes there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world. People today are still fascinated by and follow 16th century French astrologer, Nostradamus, famous for his annual predictions. But,
Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences in the world. It’s the scientific study of stars. That’s one of the areas the wise men were wise in. They weren’t dim-witted, brainless, unintelligent men. They were the top IQs of their day. MIT calibre.
There have been all sorts of explanations about what this star over Bethlehem was about. In 1884, Joseph Seiss said it was a rare alignment of Jupiter and Saturn around the time of Christ's birth. Chinese records around the time period of Jesus’ birth also mention the appearance of a strange star in conjunction with 2 comets. Critics write it off as a passing supernova.
But this star wasn’t some natural astronomical occurrence. Stars are like the sun. They are stationary. They do not move. They only seem to move because of the earth’s rotation. But one night, as these wise men were carefully conducting a survey of the night sky, they discovered one that moved. And when they followed it, it led them not just to a general geographical area, but to the right house on the right street in the right city where Jesus was. No star had ever done that before. I’ve never heard of one that’s done it since.
No wonder people are fascinated by legendary Wise Men on an epic adventure involving seeable proof. Tonight, let Matthew share Epiphany’s story from a 35,000 ft. perspective. He’s the only one of the gospel accounts to tell us the Wise Men account. Only him. Why? I believe Matthew writes with a specific purpose in mind: to prove that Jesus is direct fulfillment of O.T. Scriptures (Mark, Luke and John quote OT, but Matthew does it the most). AND, Matthew is unique in that he begins his gospel connecting Jesus to the Magi who were not Jews. Matthew ends his gospel with Jesus’ great command, “Go make disciples of all nations.” Put it all together - Matthew has a universal outlook about Jesus as the Savior of the world. Jesus is the Star and the Star is for everyone - for all wise people to follow and wise people to worship. The question is: why? Why ought you to follow and believe Epiphany’s Star?
If a star like that appeared over Racine tonight, do you know how many UFO sightings would be called in? What made the wise men wise is not just that they knew something about stars. The wise men must have known something about Scripture. They told Herod the reason they followed the star: "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
How did they know that this was a HIS star and not HER star?
How did they know that this star signified that the KING OF THE JEWS had been born and not a Pharoah of Egypt or Queen of Cypress?
They must have known something from Scriptures. Had they read this nugget in Numbers 24? Listen: "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.” HIM, STAR, SCEPTER and ISRAEL - clues about a boy who someday would be seen – someone with a scepter in his royal hand. "In Israel" means among the Jews. So the wise men went to Jerusalem. Logic told them that’s where you’d find a king - in his capital. Maybe the wise men didn’t know the prophecy from Micah 5:2 which would have told them to look in Bethlehem, not Jerusalem. Herod's advisors found that verse and shared it with them.
Matthew shows us that the wise men were smart enough to know they needed to find a king but their wisdom alone couldn’t find them that King. The Word of God had to be revealed to them. The wisdom of this world can diagnose problems, but it cannot tell you the solution. You can look at beauty of world and know there is a creator but it won’t find you the creator. The creator has to reveal himself. World’s wisdom can’t find God.
Christmas is God coming to us. Epiphany is God revealing himself to us. You don’t find God. God finds you! In tonight’s lesson from Ephesians, Paul says the truths of God “are unsearchable riches.” Untraceable! If a prisoner escapes in the dead of winter through deep snow, one way to confuse his pursuers is to make tracks, backtrack, criss-cross tracks to cover his tracks -- make it impossible for anyone to find him. When we try to track down the riches of God’s grace in Christ, we start with one set of footprints, which lead to another. And it goes on and on. We cannot count or sort through them all — they’re too much! It’s humanly impossible to trace the power and grace found in the incarnation, Christ’s humiliation, the power of Baptism, the Real Presence of His Body and Blood. How unsearchable are the riches of God!
Which brings us to the same place as the shepherds Christmas night and wise men tonight. Both are at the same place. How did they find their way? Both had the word of God revealed to them. Shepherds heard it through angels and Wise Men were guided by star and Holy Scripture. Tonight, step by step, God makes clear his plan- revealed when he sent his Son born of the woman and under law, revealed when his Son redeemed those under law. Step by step, through the searching of word pictures and bible references and gospel accounts, the Star’s light turns on the lightbulb in our darkened heads and lives: “the people walking in darkness have seen a great light ... a light has dawned!” (9:2). The wisdom of Christ is for misfits like you and me to hear and believe. It’s not about your GPA or your degrees or where you work or the kind of background or family upbringing you experienced, or how long you’ve been in the faith. “God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe” (1 Cor. 1:21). God choses the foolishness of a virgin. Of a stable. He chose people humble and poor like a Mary and a Joseph. He chose me and you.
The wise men knew that the real star of Bethlehem was not the one up in the heavens. The real STAR was the one who had come from heaven to earth. Matthew says, "On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. The Greek word for worship is proskuneo and it means “to lay face down on the ground”. Can you envision that? Grown men who advised royalty and rulers face down on the floor before a child?
A lot of people these days have trouble taking the awesomeness and holiness of God seriously. They’d rather worship God comfortably and casually as a longtime buddy or friend.
Maybe we worship … as long as it doesn’t take more effort than it’s worth.
Maybe we’re a little nonchalant when we confess our sins with words we’ve heard so many times before, but the yawn that follows reveals the lack of heart behind it.
on’t let that happen to you, my friend! Like Moses, we take off our shoes, because the padded seats and tiled floor beneath us is holy ground. The Wise Men entered a holy house. This is a Holy House. It belongs to the Lord. And the Lord is present with us. When we come to communion we approach as burlap-clothed sinners before divine-royalty – realizing the nightmare of our sins.
We do well to join the wise men face down with noses pressed to the floor because in our darkness, a light is dawning - a star above leading us to a little Prince of Peace who will grow up and take the nickname Lamb of God on whom the Lord would lay the iniquity of us all.” It was because of the work of this suffering Savior that the Lord declared whether a king and queen, whether the brilliant intellectuals to the simple-minded or mentally-challenged, whether blue-collar, white collar, or no collar at all, whether male or female, child or adult, young or old, black or white --- whoever you are, God declares all us worthy of his royal gifts of forgiveness and righteousness in his sight.
The wise men worshipped. Then gave gifts fit for a king. 2023 is an amazing year to present to our Lord, the best we have, our most generous, EXTRAORDINARY gifts!
When we sing, let it be to the best of our abilities like you do when you’re on the road singing along to your favorite song with the volume cranked. We’re singing to the King!
When we pray, fight against just going through the motions without really thinking about what we’re saying. We’re praying to the King who truly cares for those that are mentioned by name.
And when a pastor motions, "Please rise for the Gospel …,” stand with goose bumps because you are about to hear Jesus himself speaking directly into your ears!
CONCLUSION
If God guided nobodies like you and me here to hear his Word and believe and worship his Son, then truly it proves we are saved by grace alone. Every time you come here to worship – worship with your nose on the ground in reverence before him. But don’t just stay on the ground. Now get up and let every fiber of your being and life reflect his light! Work for him! Give gifts fitting for a God - who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for you and me - the God who through his Son, the STAR, opened up heaven itself for us.
That’s why the Wise Men did what they did. May that Star guide and keep you doing the same and make you wise for salvation. Amen.