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Introduction
Advent of the Messiah: Love
This is the last in the series on the Advent of the Messiah.
If you have missed some, let me recap.
Hope
The first week was the advent of Hope.
The long awaited messiah foretold through the prophets came and brought the fulfillment of their hope
Peace
The Angel’s message brought news that the Peace or shalom of God has come
Joy
The shepherds saw the realization of the Lamb of God and shared this good news of joy with all they could tell,
And finally,
Love
Love has come to the world.
God’s love for the world has come in the form of a child to become the saviour of the world.
The magi or wisemen from the east came to see the love that was promised.
This morning we are going to discover the LOVE and what will our response be this Christmas season.
We are going to look at it from 4, not three different perspectives.
In preparations for this sermon, for those of you following me on FB found out, I had to see what the world’s perspective is on the story of the wiseman.
I watched the move “The star” on netflix.
No it’s not my first primary source of information about the scriptural text, but it was cute.
There were a couple of line in there that were true in nature, true to the text, but the main message was that the Son of God was born and that the Star brought them to see him.
If you have young children, or grandchildren and you have netflix, it’s not a bad show to bring up discussions of Christmas.
The truth is that this message comes from the text of Matthew 2:1-20
It draws us to look, to observe, to view the events and finally see an expression of worship.
but before we dive into the text, let’s pray.
PRAYER
Turn with me if you would to Matthew’s Account of the Magi found in the second book of Matthew starting in vs 1
we need God’s Love.
The wismen or magi came from the east driven by a passion to worship for what this promised child wold bring.
It was God’s love that drove them to come and see.
Who is seeking Christ today.
Why do we seek God.
Do we come to God seeking Him to worship him or to get the gifts.
Do we come to the feet of our saviour and offer our gifts.
Looking
The first of the four thoughts this morning is the thought of looking.
When the messiah was born people began to look for things.
The first verse begins to tell us of the various characters in the narrative that are looking.
Each has a different reason or purpose for looking.
What are you looking for this Christmas season?
For some of us its that time where we once again get to see loved ones.
A time of celebration and refreshment with family.
Connecting with each other.
For some of us we are awaiting that special gift.
We have been dropping hints for the last 4 months hoping that that special someone would catch the hint.
For some of us, we are looking just to make it through the holidays.
For those feeling that way its a painful time.
It could be a lonely time.
As a pastor over many years the messiness of life appears its ugly head during the holidays and pain and sorrow comes to some during this season.
For those of you who are in this state right now, God’s sent his son for you.
To bring about the Hope, Peace, Joy and love that we can only experience through Christ.
May I encourage you this morning if you are in that state, hoping just to make it through the holidays, continue to look to Christ.
The wise men from the east came looking.
Their trip began much earlier.
You see it was prophesied that they would come.
The Magi were looking
The Advent of the Messiah also brought about the advent of God for the entire world.
These men from the east came looking because they noticed a change in the heavens.
The celestial world, the stars.
God uses whatever means he has to bring men to come and worship him.
God used the stars and these men noticed something had happened.
Something great, something different.
The shinning star got the attention of the people of the world.
It got noticed.
I began to wonder to myself.
Who is Looking at us
How do I present myself to others?
Does the love of God shine through me.
I asked myself the question, if people are looking for something, a fulfillment in their lives,
If they are looking and sensing something is missing would they look to me and see something I have that they need?
Is Christ’s love shining through me?
We often say Jesus is the reason for the season, but isn’t he the reason for living.
He is the reason for every season and purpose in our lives.
This Christmas season what are you looking for?
Their are many things in our lives that can appear to be the most important thing in our lives, but let me remind you as the Wise man came looking they came looking for the King.
The ruler.
The child
The one that will save His people from their sins.
Are you on a journey this Christmas season?
Is your journey leading you into God’s Love?
Are you seeking His truth, his grace?
I hope this Christmas season, no matter what life looks like for you that you would begin and continue to see the one, the saviour of the world.
Herod was looking.
He was looking to rule.
He was the farthest person looking to have God in his life.
He was cruel.
He believed himself to be God and set out to keep a grasp on that kingship.
I don’t want to give anymore credence to this man than what was in the story.
Herod began looking for the child not to worship but to destroy.
The greatest part of this story is that God would not allow the power of the King of the land to overthrow Power and Purpose of God.
Herod was looking to win over the wise man only for his own purposes.
The People
The people began looking, at least in Jerusalem.
The people were not looking for the Christ child, they were looking and watching what Herod was going to do.
Scripture described that all of Jerusalem was troubled.
You see when you have an evil king ruling and he is feeling threatened, only bad things can happen.
To me its a reminder that when we feel the evils of the world are in control, we must look to God who will triumph in the end.
God is still in control and the people had been so in bondage with this ruler that they couldn’t get their minds off of the impending destruction.
The reality is that Herod’s rage did come to fruition, much suffering and loss came at the hands of this man, yet God’s promised Messiah was protected.
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