Beacon Sunday Service December 10th 2023

Offer up a quick prayer to the Lord. Um, in the season of Christmas, we look forward to the advent of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and really just that miracle should put us in a state of awe that uh God, an infinite God would come in the form of a finite man, and in this case in Christmas for Christmas, in the form of a baby, to be birthed as a man. What a crazy truth to try to latch on to and to hold that God would become man. And so as we just look forward to the advent of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, may we just thank him for that great miracle that uh he would do such a thing that he would humble himself in the form of man to come to live, to die on behalf of our sins, right?

He showed great mercy and love to us. What a great gift from our our God. And so let us just offer up a quick prayer, and then we'll get started with the call of worship. Let's pray.

Help us, God, to just remember that Christmas is not about gifts or giving or shopping or even just spending time with family, Lord. The season is about you. God, you came in the form of man. You came as a helpless babe, Lord. What an unfathomable truth, Lord, that we are to cling to, to believe, Lord, that you are fully God and fully man in the form of Jesus Christ, Lord. And we just thank you for just showing us that great humility, showing us your mercy and love, and in this season, may we give you all the glory. We thank you, we love you, and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

I'm just gonna read it for us. It says, stand in awe before the Lord, for the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the Virgin will shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Manuel, God with us.

Oh, come, let us adore him. Oh, come, let us adore him price no soul years most holy light of light eternal born of virgin of the father now in the shutter oh come let us adore oh come let us adore him oh come let us adore himself sing choirs of singing exaltation above glory to God glory oh come let us adore oh come let us adore him oh come let us adore yeah Lord Yeah on his morning us to the glory Word of the Father now in flesh up let us adore Oh come let us adore him oh come let us adore him Lord oh come Oh come let us adore him oh come let us adore him oh come let us adore so we give you all we give you all the glory we give you all the glory we give you the glory amen we give him all the glory and will kneel in the dust at the foot of the cross where mercy where the wrath I deserve it is gone it has passed your blood has in me mercy mercy and see I'll sing your for all we will live to come and the land we will break.

We will fall for praise.

Mercy. I'll send you all that get mercy. Mercy. May I never live.

May I never lose the wonder. Oh the one of your mercy. May I sing your hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen. May I never lose the wonder. Oh no, your mercy. May not sing your hallelujah.

May I never lose no one? May I see your hallelujah?

May I lose a water mercy? May I see your hallelujah? I will mean the dust the food of the cross memory for me.

This morning we will confess our faith using the Baptist Catechism. In this question and answer, we will confess what biblical repentance is. And here's the question. What is repentance unto life? And together, repentance unto life is a saving grace by which a sinner out of a true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ does with grief and hatred of his sin. Turn from it to God with full promise of an endeavor after you obedience. Amen. Church, this is what we were saved into. This is the reason why we celebrate Christmas, the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who came to live and die and to resurrect for our sins. May we continue to dispraise him.

Came down from heaven above into the cross, so I know this love that reach for me. A love that sets me free.

All ways living now to see your praise.

Such undeserved love.

And in your mercy to my toy I'm reminded of your grace all ways living now to sing your praise. Your praise you Jesus, I praise you.

I will live you. Save your am I killed in praise you praise you as I praise you. I live my hands and raise you, I will embrace you, save my king, my king.

We give you all the glory.

Good morning, everyone.

At this time, we're gonna have a confession of sin. I know that we have had our confession of faith to be a part of repentance. I think as I've shared before, the Lord wants us to be transparent with who we are and the struggles that we have before him. Understanding that as Christians, yes, we have once we repent of our sins, we're forgiven. But it's also important for us to acknowledge to the Lord that we still have these struggles and that we're not brushing them away, and we're not trying to hide them from him, because we can't hide those things from him. But let's come before the Lord. We're going to have two parts of this confession of sin. One is where we're gonna have a corporate time where we confess something together as uh as people of the Lord, and then we're gonna have an individual silent time of confession where you be specific about the things that you struggled with this week, or you have been struggling with in your life and just give it up to the Lord.

So let's do the first one together. Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed. We have fallen short of what we have done and left undone. Our love has grown cold towards you and also our neighbors. We are truly sorry and humbly returned to you for the glory of your great name. Have mercy upon us, cause us now to delight in your will and walk in your ways. Amen. Please be seated. Let's take in a silent personal time of confession to our Lord.

Blessed are the pure in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Brothers and sisters, the pardon of Christ is a grace greater than all of our sin. He forgives you. For today's prayer topic, I'm gonna just go over some things that maybe have crossed your mind recently. Fourteen days till Christmas. Do we get all the gifts? Do we set all of our travel plans? Are we gonna go to the school performances? Are we gonna do this? Are we gonna do that? Are we gonna have a party? Are we gonna do this? And it's easy to get caught up in what is happening everywhere around us. All the advertisements, all the billboards, everything is geared towards our focus in buying and preparing and doing all of these things.

But for a prayer book today, I want all of us, all of us to remember why we celebrate Christmas. Because in Z in Isaiah 53, 5, it was foreseen that it says, but he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. As we sang today in our songs, and as we want to be faithful to the gospel message, is that Christ was born as a child and lived his life pure so that he could take our place. And so let's not forget. I know that we are faithful Christians, and I know that that's not the main intent that we're not intentionally forgetting. This is not blaming or con or can or uh attacking any of you.

This is just for this moment in peace when we've come to worship today together, just to have that moment of thought and realization that we should be praying that God's kingdom will come in this place in this moment of turmoil, and in the ways that Satan will be tricking us to forget about Christ, forget about the reason for Christmas. So let's take this time to reset. Let's pray together as a church about just ourselves and our families and the loved ones around us, that this season is about Christ. So let's pray for yourselves, your family, our church, that our focus would be about Christ and not on any of the residual things going on in our lives.

Father, we thank you for our church and our ministry being able to serve, to join and to gather here. We pray, Father, that in the midst of just commercialism and everything going on with our preparing for our families and traveling and celebrating with with each other. I just pray that we always just take this pocket of time to remember that Christmas is about Christ. Um, it's not that we forget, it's not that we uh ignore Lord, but just to focus on that aspect of Christ when we have that moment and when we're able to, when we're not distracted or too busy to just really take a moment to focus and to reset our thoughts. So, Lord, I I want to lift up you and your kingdom. We know that the gospel message usually is focused on Easter and your sacrifice of your son, but Lord, there would be no sacrifice without birth, without the coming of our Savior.

So, Lord, we pray. We pray for that to be remembered. Um whenever we remember, Father, may we take that time each day as Christmas comes to remember. And I pray for each of us and our members and those around us, Lord, to acknowledge and to just have that moment of time each day. We thank you in the Jesus name we pray, amen. Uh okay, children, you are dismissed for Sunday school. Please have a great time with teacher Tiffany and teacher John. As they're being dismissed, uh, I'm gonna have a uh time of announcements. Um, just so you know, we didn't announce this earlier, but uh our Christmas service will actually be next week. Um, a large contingent of us will be out on the twenty fourth. Uh, we are still going to have a Christmas Eve service, which is going to be a little bit modified, but we're still going to be meeting here at church on 24th at ten thirty.

Uh, but next week will be our official Christmas service. So if you are coming, or please remember to come uh and your kids will be doing a performance. So if you want to take pictures afterwards, uh, if you want to dress them up, you can, or maybe you should prepare to do that for next week. Uh following our service on Sunday, we're going to be having our Christmas party, uh, the office themed. I forgot about that, uh, at the Huang's house. Um, so uh please uh fill out um I think they you they haven't sent have you guys sent off okay on the uh chili zorb staple jellows pies okay so yeah so that's um that's what we're gonna be doing this year uh so just keep that in mind uh children's ministry sign up sheet ongoing um announcement we have a sign-up sheet in the back please confirm whether you can actually help out that Sunday that you're signed up for if not please use the other column to fill in the sun like cross your name out and then fill out your name on another Sunday that you can maybe back up or take over for someone else.

Last but not least, our offering options are Zell, Venmo, Cash and Check. Uh please do not be obligated to give if if you're visiting, but as a member of the beacon, we pray that you give faithfully as the Lord has blessed you in your life. So I'm gonna introduce our uh guest speaker. He is also from Lighthouse Community Church. Uh he is an associate pastor, his name is David Lee. Uh he's been married to his wife, Jamie, and they have three kids, Abby 12, Sophie 10, and Owen 8. He grew up in San Francisco in a non-believing family, but he attended a Christian K through 8, which is where he heard and believed the gospel. He moved down to LA for undergrad at UCLA, where he uh kind of accidentally wandered into Lighthouse on the first Sunday.

If they had ever had service, uh, and they haven't kicked them out yet. So then he attended massive seminary or while interning at Lighthouse and eventually came on full time as an associate pastor where he is currently overseeing worship ministries, communication, and youth ministries. So let's give him a warm welcome. Well, good morning. It is a joy to be here. Uh greetings from Lighthouse. So thankful to finally have my turn uh to come up here and worship with you guys. Um staff and our pastors at Lighthouse have been so grateful uh to have the opportunity to come and visit you and minister the word to you. And I've heard so much about what a loving and humble and worshipful community you are, and I'm thankful that I get to witness it personally today.

Um I don't know how many of our pastors have come up and preached, but they must they must have given you like a punch card or something, you know, like you you know, get 10 of our pastors and you get to keep one. You know, you can choose which one you like, and you know, we'll send them up here. But it's especially a blessing to get to be here during this Christmas season. Um, this is a sacred and special time for any church. So to be able to worship with you during the season is a real gift. And I think that's oftentimes what we think of when we think of Christmas. We think of the gifts. And I know that's what our family seems to be preoccupied with these days. So, as was mentioned, my kids are 12 and 10 and 8, and they count down the days until they are unleashed on that ever-growing pile of gifts that are growing under the tree.

Uh, my middle daughter Sophie has her birthday a week before Christmas, and she just had a birthday party yesterday. So for the most of December, she is just completely punch-drunk with gifts. That's all she's thinking about. And even my wife and I, we have gifts on our mind because less for ourselves, but we just have a never-ending list of people that we need to get gifts for. And we have the Amazon purchase history to prove it. So gift giving and generosity, they go hand in hand with Christmas. Or generosity is baked into the DNA of Christmas. And you don't even have to be a Christian to feel that little tug in the heart to just be a little more generous at this time of year. But what Christians have, what we have as Christians that the world doesn't have is the ultimate perspective on where generosity comes from.

And we know that any display of generosity in the world is ultimately a reflection of the generosity of God. And one of the outflows of our God's generosity is that our generosity should spill out of us. Because we have a generous God, we must be a generous people. And if that's true, if we embrace the joy and the privilege of being generous as Christians, then the greatest resource and the greatest asset, the most valuable possession we have is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The most significant thing we can be generous with to the world is the news that God sent a Savior to pay for our sins, to forgive us and to restore our relationship with God.

We have a treasure in the good news of Jesus Christ. And it's not a treasure that's meant to be hoarded or hidden away. It is meant to be expanded and to spread and to multiply, to be lavishly given away to a world that is spiritually impoverished. Put simply, the height of God's generosity is seen in the giving of his son. And the ultimate end of any amount of our generosity has to be the same. So, yes, we should be generous with our checkbooks or your Venmo account. We have to be generous with our time, with our skills and our gifting. We have to be generous with our homes, we have to be generous with our possessions, we have to be generous with our prayers. But in all of this generosity, we must be generous with Christ.

We have to give him away. We have to show people the surpassing value of knowing Jesus. We have to be generous with the gospel. And so this Christmas season, my challenge for you is to ask yourself, how can I be generous with the gospel? What opportunities will God bring into your life to share Christ this season? What relationships do you need to invest in this season so you can be in a position to generously share the gospel? Christmas is already a busy time for many of us, right? Students are looking down the barrel of finals, we're trying to get Christmas shopping done, we're wrapping up all of our end of year things for work, we're juggling family obligations, and it may seem like this sermon is just adding one more thing on your holiday checklist item on your ever growing to-do list.

We have to reorient ourselves, though. And we have to remember that the heart of Christmas is God wanting to know, wanting the world to know his saving grace through Jesus Christ. And so help us reorient ourselves to this priority. What I wanted to do today is to revisit a part of the Christmas story. And specifically it's the story of the Magi. And it's the story of their journey to visit the newborn Christ. It's a familiar part of the story. It's a story that just about everyone is familiar with at some level. We think of the magi, we think of their famous generosity of gold and frankincense and myrrh. But I think as we look at the story, what we're going to see is it's not really a story about their generosity.

It's a story about God's generosity. It's a story about the generosity of God and wanting to display his grace and his mercy to the world. That is always been about how God lavishly pours out the riches of his love in the coming of Christ. And as we see that generosity, I'm hopeful that it will overflow into our generosity with the gospel to others. And so as we look at this passage, I want you to be thinking, right, who is that person in your life? Or who is the individual in your life that you need to share the gospel with? Like you know God needs to be generous with the gospel towards. So let's keep that person in mind. Maybe you can write that person's name down. But as we hear God's word, let's pray that God will move us and motivate us to be more faithful in this gospel ministry to people like that.

And so if you have your Bibles, please take them and turn with me to Matthew chapter two. And I'll invite you to stand as we read God's word for us this morning. Let's stand for the reading of God's word. We'll be looking at Matthew chapter 2, verses 1 to 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, saying, Where is he who's been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him, and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

They told him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet, 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. Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, Go and search diligently for the child. And when you found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him. 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 they came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him. Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. This is the reading of God's holy word. Please be seated. So as we look at this story, we're going to see three ways the Christmas story motivates us to be generous with the gospel. Three ways the Christmas story motivates us to be generous with the gospel. But before we do that, let's pray and ask for God to bless the preaching of his word. In the busyness of our lives and the busyness of our the season, to be able to pause and contemplate what it meant for Christ to come, what it meant for you to be generous to us.

And God, would you, by your grace, allow us to relinquish our hold on the things of this world, and instead to be lavish in our generosity with others, and to particularly to be lavished with the most significant greatest treasure that we possess with the gospel of Christ. God, even as we read this very familiar story, would you help us to see afresh the grace of Christmas, the mercy that comes, and the hope of the gospel? God, we ask this in Christ's name. Amen. So three ways the Christmas story motivates us to be generous with the gospel. And the first is that Christ came to call outsiders. Christ came to call outsiders. Look again at verse 1 of chapter 2. Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men came from the east, or from the east came to Jerusalem, 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. Alright, so we got some classic Christmas stuff here. Already, as you read this passage, there's some picture in your mind of what comes what's happening in this scene. But what does that picture in your mind look like? Years of Hallmark cards and front yard nativity scenes have taught us to imagine a glowing baby Jesus in a straw-filled trough, Mary and Joseph lovingly at his side, surrounded by shepherds, along with three wise men and their gifts. And you've already probably seen a few light up wise men already as you're driving around town. But we can't let Hallmark cards and front yard nativity scenes be the way we interpret Scripture.

We have to let this text tell us exactly what it was like. And it's probably a little bit different from what we have in our minds. If we're looking actually, if we're actually looking at the biblical information, what seems likely is that this whole story that we just read from Matthew chapter 2, this whole encounter with a magi took place around two years after Jesus was born. And the reason we think this is that Herod would eventually put to death all children in Bethlehem under two years old. So Herod, based on his conversation with scribes and priests and magi, they concluded that this child was born around two years prior. So when I was in seminary, I had an old seminary professor who had a nativity scene that his family would put out every Christmas, and they put it out on top of their piano.

A lot of us probably do something like that. But he refused to let his wife put the magi near the major scene. He insisted that the magi be on one side of the piano, and that baby Jesus would be on the other side of the piano, because they were traveling to Bethlehem when the baby Jesus was born. Right? So you can't tell my professor, but our wise men in our nativity scene, they're still next to Jesus, you know, for artistic purposes. And then there's the question of the wise men themselves. Who are they? Right? There's a lot of tradition that surrounds these individuals. Our tradition has it that there were three of them. And this tradition may have developed on the fact that there are three gifts that are listed, right?

There's gold and frankincense and myrrh, right? So maybe there are three wise men. Eventually, the tradition gave these three magi the names Balthazar, Balthazar, Kaspar, and Melchior, and they developed their own sort of origin story of being kings from Persia, Arabia, and India. And so that's why we have the song, We Three Kings of Orient are. And there's even a reliquary in a cathedral in Cologne, Germany, that purportedly holds the bones of the three magi. But when we actually look at this passage, we don't see any of that. There's no names, there's no number, there's no named origin. We're simply told that they are magi and they came from the east. Their exact nature will remain a mystery, but there's a little bit of humble filling in the blanks, I think we can do.

So were there three? We don't, we don't know. We don't know for sure. Nothing in the text suggests that there were three. It seems likely to me that there were more. There was probably a large enough contingency of them that when they arrived in Jerusalem, the text says that it caused a stir in the whole city, and that all of Jerusalem was troubled. But I can imagine the difficulty of trying to have an activity scene in your house with like 30 wise men. So I see why we cut it down to three. Were they kings? They are not named as kings. The literal word is magi. And magi is a really weird word biblically. But we see it being used in the Old Testament to refer to scholars and students of the stars, particularly in pagan nations to the east of Israel, like Babylon.

So we can think of them maybe as more like scholarly astrologers. Were they from the Orient? Technically, yes, because the Orient means east, and that's exactly what the text says. But we don't know exactly where. Just that it was somewhere east, relative to Judea. So the use of the word leads some scholars to think it may have been somewhere like Babylon or Arabia or Persia, but we just don't know. And to realize that this is like crushing Christmas dreams everywhere. And a Christmas carol that is called We Indeterminately Numbered Astrologers from an undisclosed easterly location. That's that's we're not singing that around the Christmas tree this winter. But we're told that these magi arrive in Jerusalem with a purpose.

So they show up in the city and they have a question. Where is he who's been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. So they're looking for one who's been born king of the Jews. And this is remarkable because they are pagan scholars from a distant country, and somehow they know that someone has been born into the role of the king of the Jews. And that this is not gonna just be some regional local leader or ruler, but whoever this is is worthy of worship. Now, how would they have known this? They are the most Gentile of Gentile people. They are as far removed from the people of God as you can imagine. And it may have been that they were aware of Jewish biblical prophecy, right?

The Jews have been exiled in Babylon. God may have revealed this news to them by some other means, right? There's some evidence in surrounding nations at that time that there was some anticipation of a ruler that was going to come out of Israel. But whatever the details are of how they know that this king has been born, these outsiders know it and they believe it. And the reason they've come to Jerusalem specifically is because they saw his star. Right? The Christmas star, right? Is there one up there? There is a teeny tiny little Christmas star on top of that tree, right? So whatever the star was, it was much more prominent than that one. And it is a prominent part of our understanding of the Christmas story, but it's not actually clear what it is.

Again, there's a lot of conjecture, a lot of speculation. Some think it may have been an actual star or some kind of astronomical, astronomical phenomena, some think it may have been an angel, something it was the visible manifestation of the glory of God, but whatever it was, it was clear that it was unusual, and it was miraculous. And it was clear enough to the magi that this star, this light, this phenomena, belonged to this promised king. It was his star. And if they followed it, they would find him. So that's a lot of wiseman facts. Hashtag wiseman facts. But what kind of picture does this give us? What we have is a picture of God bringing those who were outsiders to himself. What we have here is a picture of the generosity of God.

We can't let the familiarity of the story blind us at just how amazing it is. These are an unbelieving people who had nothing to do with the promises of God. And God is going to incredible, miraculous lengths to draw them to King Jesus. These wise men were outsiders for a number of reasons. Maybe at the most superficial level, they were geographically and ethnically outsiders. Wherever they were from, it was pretty far. And they were Gentiles. Yahweh is the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He had marked out a specific ethnic group for himself to be his special people. But God's intention throughout the whole Old Testament was not that He would mark out a special people, not to be this locked box where His grace would only reside there with those people, but they would be a vehicle through which He would unleash that grace upon the whole world.

And he promised to Abraham, I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who blessed you, and him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So what we have in the story of the Magi is God making good on his promise to bless the families of the earth and to bring all people to himself, regardless of their ethnicity and nationality. But at the deepest level, the reason why they were outsiders was because they were sinners. The greatest boundary that they lived beyond was not a geographic or an ethnic one. It was a spiritual boundary of God's holiness. We don't need to know anything about them.

We don't need to know anything about their background, their upbringing, their culture, their history, to know that they were sinners who had rejected the one true God. And the reason we know that is because every person is a sinner who has rejected the one true God. We were all created to live inside the joy and happiness of worship, bringing the God who made us and saved us, and instead, we've all chosen to live outside of that by pursuing our own gods and our own way. We deserve to be cast outside of God's favor and God's blessing. And instead, we deserve only to exist within his righteous wrath. But the Christmas story is a story of God calling outsiders like the wise men and outsiders like us to himself.

The wise men are called to a king who was born as an infant, but was God in the flesh, who would grow in stature and wisdom, who would live out the perfect life that weren't able to, who would go to the cross, suffer and die in our place, take the wrath of God that we deserve.

So that we who are outsiders can be brought near. That's the kind of generosity we celebrate at Christmas. So as we think about Christmas, we have to see that this is the heart of the Christmas story. And I think that this should motivate us to be generous with the gospel. Do we see this season as an opportunity to be a part of how God is calling outsiders to himself? There's a few different takeaways I think we can glean from this. One thing to remember is that you need to remember that you were an outsider. You were an outsider. Do you see yourself in this story? Do you remember how far outside you once were? That you once were dead in your trespasses and sin, that you were cut off from the promises of God.

You were a child of wrath. You were doomed to destruction. And do you see how God was lavishly generous to you to bring you here and to save you? And I can't believe that God would choose to save wise men like this and a foolish man like me. God has lavished his love on us. But how can we not let it overflow into a world that is wasting away? We have to be generous with the gospel because we have been generous, we've generously received the gospel. We who were outside have been brought near. We have to go out and bring the gospel to those who are also separated from God. Martin Luther said that we're beggars telling other beggars where to find bread. Do you remember that you were an outsider?

We also need to remember that every unbeliever is an outsider. Every unbeliever is an outsider. Where the story of the wise men is so familiar to us that we forget how shocking it would have been to Matthew's readers. Where we think of the nativity scene wise men, and it's hard to imagine them not being displayed in our mantles. But for the original audience of this account, it would have been hard for them to imagine including them. We forget that these wise men didn't belong in this story. They were outsiders. And I think we can fall into that same trap with the unbelievers in our lives. And we think, well, that's just that's just my mom. That's just my son. It's just my wacky uncle. It's just my boss.

It's just my neighbor, that's just my UPS delivery person. And we're so familiar with them. We just talk with them about familiar things. We talk about work and school, health, and kids' activities and winter plans. And there's so much familiarity with them that we forget that they haven't placed their faith in Christ, and therefore they're outsiders. Right? And viewing them as an outsider is not an effort to exclude them or to draw, try to draw this boundary between us and them. It's exactly the opposite. We're trying to draw them near. We're trying to invite them in from the cold so they can bask in the warmth of God's grace. So if we see Christmas as God calling outsiders, right, how can you initiate gospel conversations with familiar people?

Right? Think about all the people you're going to rub shoulders with this Christmas season. How can you turn your conversations in a gospel direction? Right? So you might just in the simple conversations, they ask you how things are going, and you say, Yeah, you know, one of the things that's been such a huge blessing in my life this year has been our church. I just love our church. I know this may seem a little odd to you, but you know, trying to follow Jesus and being part of this church has made such an incredible difference in my life. And I know I've never really talked about that with you, but if you don't mind me asking, is that something you've ever thought about? Just a simple gospel conversation to try to bring an outsider in from the cold to show them the warmth of the gospel.

You also need to remember that God can save any outsider. Not just that you are an outsider, that every unbeliever is an outsider, but God can save any outsider. Right? There is so much stacked against these wise men. It is so hard to imagine a more unlikely group of people for God to bring into this story. But God goes to incredible lengths to call them.

He providentially brings Old Testament prophecy to them. He gives them dreams to protect them. If God wants them, God will get them. We have to believe that God is more capable of more than capable of drawing anybody to himself. Who are the people in your life that you're just tempted to give up believing that they could ever come to faith? The people that just seem so unlikely. They're so far outside of the realm of the gospel. It's hard to imagine them ever coming to know Christ. But do you believe that if God wants them, he will get them? And he can use you to do it. God can save any outsider. So remember, this is one of the this is the first mark that we see in the story that motivates us to be generous with the gospel.

The second motivation is that Christ came to dethrone our false kings. Christ came to dethrone our false kings. So we're introduced to these wise men, and we're told that their visit to Jerusalem coincides with the rule of Herod the king. And the search for the king of the Jews reaches the ears of Herod and provokes a visceral reaction. Look at verse 3. It says, when Herod heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Now, why would King Herod be troubled? Why would he react this way? And we have to understand who Herod was. There are a lot of Herods that we hear about in the New Testament. But this Herod is the first. He's literally the daddy of them all. He was known as Herod the Great.

Now Herod the Great was not actually a full Jew himself. He was half Jewish, half Edoumean. He was descended not from Esau, or he was descended from Esau, not Jacob. His father had been appointed by Julius Caesar himself to be the ruler of Judea. And his father granted Herod his own political appointment over Galilee. And Herod proved himself to be a cunning warrior and a shrewd politician. And he rose to the ranks to be appointed by Rome as the king of the Jews. He quelled rebellions, he initiated significant public works projects, he navigated the significant famine in the area, but he was also cruel and proud and jealous and arrogant. He knew that his power was appointed and tenuous, and he would do anything to protect it.

Eventually, Herod would put his wife to death, her mother, and two of their sons, all because he was paranoid that they were plotting against him. So that's Herod the Great. And here come these wise men, and they're asking, where's the one who is born king of the Jews? And the text says that Herod is troubled. And it's not hard to imagine why, right? He's paranoid about losing his power. And the idea that there's some baby out there who has a claim to the throne completely freaks him out. So Herod does what Herod does, and he loses his mind. And he starts doing whatever he can to protect himself. Verse 4 says he assembles all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, and he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

So he wants to gather some information about this potential threat. Verse 5. They told him in Bethlehem of Judea. For so it is written by their prophet, 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. So to their credit, the priests and the scribes, they rightly connect the pronouncement of this king with two Old Testament passages that he kind of mash up in order to give their answer. So they're pulling from Micah 5 2 and 2 Samuel 5 2, and they make this prophetic connection between the birth of the Messiah as the heir of the Davidic kingship and his role to be a shepherd over God's people.

And they kind of mash those prophets, prophetic verses together, and they give Herod his answer. Verse 7. Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, Go and search diligently for the child, and when you found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him. This is some like cartoon-level supervillain stuff, right? You almost expect Herod to be sitting in a throne, twirling his message, yes, yes, come tell me where the child is, that I too may come and worship him. And it would be comical if it wasn't true. Where he secretly gathers the wise men together and he gives them the information they want, but of course, we see what he's doing.

When he says, when you brought when he found him, bring me words if I too may come and worship him. What he really means is bring me word so that I too may come and kill him and secure my throne. And we know this eventually exactly what he tries to do as he slaughters all of the infants in Bethlehem. So what do we see in this portrait of King Herod? What we see is a false king, desperate to protect his false kingdom. He's a political pretender. He has no real authority other than that which has been given to him, and he knows that what has been given will be taken away in an instant. So when the wise men arrive, searching for the one who's been born king of the Jews, this is a dagger to the idolatrous heart of Herod.

So Christmas for Herod was not the most wonderful time of the year. It was filled with anxiety and dread and fear. When the true king arrives, it exposes false kings, and it exposes false kingdoms. And the result is a troubled heart. Fear and anger, deception, manipulation, and eventually murder. And what we have is a picture of the battle that rages in the heart of every unbeliever. Every unbeliever has bent the knee to all manner of false kings and false kingdoms. Right. We live for pleasure and possessions and career and financial security and people's approval and relationships. We have subjugated ourselves to other rulers. And the people around us become subjects in our kingdoms who will bow, who we insist must bow the knee to our will and our expectations.

And we react the same way as Herod when our kingdoms are threatened. We have troubled hearts. We are full of fear and anger and deception and manipulation and even murder in our own hearts. And this is the height of spiritual treason because the only rightful rule to the throne of life is God Himself. But Christmas is God coming, Jesus coming to reclaim his rightful place as the ruler of our hearts. He comes to show the world that Christmas for the unbeliever is not a silent night. It is a collision of kingdoms. I think this theme of dethroning false kings can be such a helpful way to understand our evangelism to others. Because it really gets into the kitchen of unbelievers' hearts. When we're sharing the gospel with people and trying to evangelize to them, these are not just abstract philosophical ideas.

This engages with the nuts and bolts of everyday life. Think of the unbelievers in your life. They are living for something. They have bent the knee to something. They have a functional king that is ruling them. And you can tell what it is if you just ask yourself what makes them act like Herod? What makes them troubled and angry and frustrated? They act like that in those moments because their kingdoms are being threatened and their kings are being dethroned. And our responsibility, our joyful privilege in evangelizing them is to show them that Jesus is a better king. He is a better king. And that they would trust in him. How would that change things for them? That Jesus is offering them what they really need.

And if they bow the knee to Christ, they will have true hope, true happiness, true security, true intimacy, and true joy. Imagine at a Christmas dinner this year, you're talking to a cousin. Maybe you see this cousin a couple times a year. You're asking them how they've been, you're just catching up on stuff, and they tell you how stressful things at work have been, and all the things that are burdening them and stressing them out. So you follow up and you're asking about what's been happening at work, and they're talking about the constant pressure to perform, the fear of being passed by for a promotion, the uncertainty of whether or not they want to stay at their job, but the fear of having to find a new one.

What does that reveal about the false kings in their life? Or the false kings of having to live for the approval of other people, the false king of a job and hoping in security in the identity that it offers. You're listening to them expose the false kings of their lives. And eventually you tell them, you know, that sounds really difficult. I'm so sorry it's been a difficult year for you. And I don't know everything about why it's been difficult for you, but I can tell you that what has made such an incredible difference in my life is having Jesus Christ be the ruler of it. Right, knowing that I have God's approval has brought me so much peace. Knowing that my identity is defined not by what my boss thinks of me, but what why my but why, but by what my creator thinks of me.

It has been so freeing. For seeing my calling as a Christian and not as an employee of my workplace, that is giving me true purpose in my life. You know, and I see the stress you're under, and I love you so much. I would, I wish you could experience something better. You know, can I tell you about what a difference Jesus might make for you? Again, this is not going to be the only conversation you have with this cousin, right? But this is one scene in many, many conversations where you walk with people and you can show them the foolishness of their false kings. So Christ came to dethrone false kings. And third, Christ came to create worshipers. Christ came to create worshipers. So let us leave behind the foolish and false king, and return our attention once again to wise men.

Look at verse 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. And though it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. I love how repetitive the language is. They rejoice with exceedingly great joy. They are so pumped. They are so hyped. They're out of their gourds with excitement because they know they're getting close. And the star leads them to Bethlehem. It's only about five miles away from Jerusalem. Verse 11, going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and what is it that they do? They fell down and worshipped him. They found the one they were looking for.

They found the one who called to them when they were on the outside. They have discovered the one who is born king, the true king, and their only reaction is to worship. This was the end goal of the whole story of the Magi. This is the end goal of the whole story of the Magi, and this is the end goal of the whole story of the gospel. The whole reason why Jesus came. The ultimate reason for Christmas is to create worshipers. God is zealous to save sinners from destruction, to rescue them from darkness and sin. But why? Is it so that we can just get a spiritual get out of jail free card? Is it so we can be fitter, happier, more productive? No, ultimately, Christ came to create worshipers. Our sin broke that worship of him, and he has come to fix us so that we can do what we were made to do.

Jesus would say in John 4, the hour is coming and is now here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. So as we're sharing the gospel with others, we can't lose sight of that being the goal. We're not looking for a bump in church attendance.

We're not looking to offer a little addition to their lives that might make their marriages a little bit better. We want them to prostrate their souls before their king and their maker and worship him. So what kind of worship are we hoping for and longing for in the unbelievers in our lives? I think the reaction of the magi actually gives us a good picture of what worship produces. One is that worship calls for sacrifice. Worship calls for sacrifice. In verse 11, we see that then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. This is probably one of the most famous, you know, wiseman facts that we have, right? These extravagant gifts to the Christ child. Throughout history, different scholars have tried to figure out like why these gifts.

Like, was there some kind of hidden meaning behind these gifts? That gold represented Christ's authority, frankincense represented his divinity, and the myrrh represented his death and burial. I really doubt that was their intention. You think what's more likely is they recognize that this king was someone that deserved their worship, and they wanted to offer a costly gift in his honor. Their worship here is a picture of sacrifice. If we're calling people to the Christian life, and the Christian life is one of worship, then what we're calling them to is a life of sacrifice. We're not calling them to give up their Sunday mornings. We're not calling them to give up just, you know, part of their budget as they think about how to give for the church.

We're calling them to give up all that they are for the sake of Jesus Christ. Worship calls for sacrifice. Worship also calls for submission. Worship calls for submission. But if we're asking people to turn away from their false kings and embrace the true King Jesus, then they also have to embrace King Jesus' authority. They have to live for a new king now. And a call to faith is a call to submission to the one that they have placed their faith in. If God speaks, then they must listen. They must submit. And that's what we see from the wise men. We see that in verse 12. Being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. Right? It's a small detail in the story, but I think it's really significant.

God gives them a dream to warn them of Herod's duplicitousness, so they take another route home. So God speaks to them and they listen. Now, granted, they receive a dream from God, right? That's not a normal way that God speaks to us. But there's nothing normal about any of this story. Everything about the story is crazy. We ought not to expect God to speak to us through dreams or visions. Because we have something more reliable. We have the written word of God. That is how God speaks to us. And when he speaks, we must listen and we must submit. And this is what the wise men did as well. They didn't just listen to dreams, they listened to the word of God. They like they knew something of biblical prophecy, which led them to look for the Christ.

And when they receive the word of God from Herod's scribes, it drives them to continue to search for the Christ. God spoke to them through his word, and they listened and they submitted. In contrast this to the scribes and the chief priests and King Herod. They had the exact same word of God. They knew that the king had been born, but they did nothing. We want those that we share the gospel with to know that God, that what God is calling them to is a life of change and transformation. They have to repent as you so fittingly confess together as a church. They must set aside their sin and rebellion. They have to live a life committed to obedience to the word of God. So worship calls for submission.

And finally, worship creates joy. Worship creates joy. The wise men find the Christ child, and what is their response? They rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. It's almost comical, like how emphatic the Greek is here to rejoice exceedingly with great joy. They're just stacking words for joy on top of each other, one after another. And these are men whose sacrifice and submission have produced the kind of joy that very few of us have experienced. This is a picture of the life of Christian worship. Think about how much it cost them in order to take this trip. How much it costs them in order to find the king, to find the Christ, and for all that labor and all that cost and all that sacrifice, they didn't lament it.

They weren't trying to figure out, they were thinking, man, we should have taken a vacation, you know, the other direction instead. They said, this is the happiest we've ever been. This is true joy. This is the joy of people who have found what they're looking for, the joy of people who've been made whole, the people of the joy of people who've discovered their true king and their true kingdom. So yes, they sacrifice and submit, but what they get in return is unshakable, incomparable joy. Where the missionary Jim Elliott famously said that he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. And these wise men are no fools. What we're offering unbelievers is not a life of morose obedience.

We're offering a life of full satisfaction and joy. So yes, there is a cost. Yes, there is pain, but yes, there is joy, joy unspeakable. In our witness, do you possess that kind of joy? Would your parents and your siblings, your classmates, your kids, your coworkers, your neighbors? Will they describe you as someone who rejoices with great joy? Or what does the world think of Christians who are angry and selfish, entitled and bitter, resentful and unkind. I think of how I am prone to complain and murmur and be cynical. And I am positive that in those moments I am not presenting Jesus to be a better king. But our worship, our worship should create an incredible joy, and we should be eager to share that joy with others.

I think any message on evangelism produces some really normal responses. But hopefully you're excited. Hopefully you're excited and longing to see the lost come to know Jesus. That you're hopeful for the opportunities that God might give to you. Some of you are probably nervous about the whole thing. And you wouldn't disagree that you should be a faithful evangelist this Christmas season. It just really freaks you out. And you're really scared to do it. Some of you are already discouraged because you feel like you tried this and it hasn't yielded the results you hoped for. But no matter what your response is to the story, I think that one thing stands out that really can anchor us. It's that God is so supremely sovereign in this story.

God is the one who directed the star to lead them. God is the one who protected them through a dream. God is the one who led them to himself. And God was the source and sustainer of their joy. When we think of the Christmas story, God's all over it. God's hand is so clearly part of the story. Of course, God is in control of everything in the Christmas story. Do we believe that that same God has the same hand in the story of the unbelievers in your life? Or think of the person that you want to share the gospel with. Do you believe that God is not just a generous God, but He's a sovereign one? That He is wise and loving in how and when He dispenses His generosity. And that He asks us to be faithful in how He does it.

Beloved, let us be generous in all things. At all times, in Christmas and without Christmas, but most of all, let us be generous with the best of things. Let us be generous with the gospel of Christ. Let's pray. Father, we're so thankful that we who were spiritual beggars have been made rich. That we possess scripture says, spiritual blessings in the heavenly places, that we have far more than we could ask or imagine or think. That we who are poor have become heirs and adopted sons and daughters in your kingdom. God, we are so overwhelmed by your generosity, and so we joyfully humbly ask that you would allow us to be freely generous with others. God, we confess that we are scared and we are anxious and troubled.

And this very notion of sharing the gospel with those that we love feels like an impossible and difficult task. Father, would you give us a boldness and a courage and more than just resolve and self-control and determination, but you give us joy, exceedingly great joy that we can share with fellow beggars where to find bread. God, we thank you. Pray this in the great name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much for that. And just remembering the generosity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and what God has done in our lives. May we sing that truth out that even in our sinful state, that he would show us great grace and mercy, and just a proper response to that is to be overjoyed, to have exceeding joy upon joy because of what he has done.

And may that just outpour in our lives to the lives of others that may not know him. So let's uh rise and respond in worship this morning. Praise the Lord. His mercy is more stronger than darkness.

They are many. It's mercy.

His mercy. Praise the Lord. His mercy and more stronger than darkness new every born. Our sins they are many mercy what patience would weigh us we constantly what Father so tender is calling us home he welcomes the weakest the violence the poor our sins they are many mercy praise them for mercy is more stronger than darkness through every more our sins they are many his mercy is more what riches of kindness he lavished on us his blood was the payment the cause we need the dead beaten for they are many mercy and more praise them for mercy in more stronger than darkness new every more our sins they are many mercy praise the Lord his mercy more stronger than darkness through every born sins they are many mercy praise the Lord his mercy is more stronger than darkness you every born our sins they are many mercy is more and gracefully God our Father and grace and mercy of his son Jesus Christ and the fellowship and comfort of the Holy Spirit be with you may we leave this place being generous with the gospel amen.