Sermon Tone Analysis
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Scripture
Pray.
Introduction
Every year in church there is always someone that will ask us why are we still doing Christmas stuff....let’s move on.
Now, I get it you felt obliged to take down your Christmas stuff and you are grumpy with the rest of us that decided to leave it up a little while.
I assure you there is purpose behind Christmas time continuing into the beginning of January.
If you have spend any amount of time in the church and now the liturgical rhythms of the year then you know that today is Epiphany.
EPIPHANY Term “epiphany” comes from a Greek word which means “appearance” or “manifestation.”
In Western Christianity the festival of Epiphany, observed on the sixth of January, celebrates the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, the coming of the Magi to see the child Jesus (Matt.
2:1–12).
The 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany have often been called the “Twelve Days of Christmas.”
Fred A. Grissom1
1 Grissom, F. A. (2003).
Epiphany.
In C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E. R. Clendenen, & T. C. Butler (Eds.),
Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (pp.
501–502).
Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
So we look to the Magi and their journey to Bethlehem to see the newborn King.
Babylon Bee: Scholars Now Believe Jesus Ignored Magi’s Gifts, Just played with the boxes they came in.
With a 4 and 2 year old and having just experienced christmas.
Yeah I get this.
if he is fully human, right?
The magi are the most peculiar additions to the birth narratives as there is a lot of commentary considering who they might be.
Discussion of their religion background:
Are they pagan?
Are they practicers of dark arts and magic?
Are they astrologers or studying of the constellations as a way of reading the time and future, etc?
what is their role in the telling of this story?
There is no doubt many details of the birth and the journey that are left out, why include these magi and the giving of their odd gifts.
Any time I think of these stories, I immediately go to the characters in the live nativity scenes of my childhood.
The Magi are interesting because they have sort of taken on a life of their own.
....there is nothing in the text to tell us there are three Magi.
Likely based on the three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
And in our live nativity there was as many as we needed to fit kids haha....extra sheep and wiseman.
(I guess it would be inappropriate to have an extra Jesus or Mary haha).
And why have they become like these kings from another land?
Even sometimes having specific names Gaspar, Balthasar, and Melchior.
Some of this is mixed from OT allusions like that of Isaiah 60:3
Still it is interesting what has come of this story.
You remember the childhood game called telephone? 1 of 2 things would happen when you played this game....
Either the phrase would start with 25 words and end with like three....
or it would become the greatest manipulation of the original.
So what began as a simple statement has taken a life of its own.
Should we be concerned that we have kind of imagined what is going on with these magi.
That we have created details and added to it some.
No, I dont think so.
Not when you consider the purpose of Matthew’s gospel and his including them in the birth narrative.
I believe the inclusion of the magi is less about historically reporting details of those early days and more about theologically claiming something profound that was going to begin at Jesus birth.
Namely, the gentile movement of the world.
I think there are theological takeaways we should see in this text....
(The came to Worship)
If you read the text a few times and pay careful attention there is some repetition here that might clue us in on what Matthew is emphasizing.
The word “Worship” which can be translated to several different things in English is repeated three times.
First, verse 2
Second, verse 8
Third, verse 11
The Magi teach us about worship
The repetition is not accidental and the force of the text is to show who is worshipping Jesus.
This is where we will spend our time.
I want you to see three movements of worship this morning.
Worship requires action
Worship requires action and really all of the characters in this text act in some way.
True worship has a specific flavor of action that we will discuss.
Herod
Herod’s action is not one of disbelief but it is of fear.
His aim is to control and protect his own power.
Before you dismiss his actions, think of the times that you have chosen to not submit to God because you wanted to control things...
Religious people
Then Herod calls together the religious folks.
These are the experts, the ones who know the scriptures… and their response is a little trickier.
They find the right answers in the scripture upon asked and pass on the information and then that’s it.
They do not consider the impact on themselves, they do not inquire more, they just fade back into the shadows.
And later on they will be the very people that question all of Jesus motives and actions.
The response of religious folks in this story and throughout the gospel of Matthew should invoke a strong conviction to measure our actionable response to Jesus.
Thinking about the year that is in front of us.
The church continues to lose credibility in the eyes of the world.
Scandal, politics, race.... Make sure your rhetoric, your approach, how you talk to people, and how you pray is an action that acknowledges your allegiance to Jesus above all else.
Magi
The magi go.
They bring gifts, they bow and worship.
The word for worship is used around 70 times in the Greek New Testament.
It has nothing to do with a hymn you sing, or a Chris Tomlin song, or a location, it does not matter if it is in a gym or a sanctuary....it actually has nothing to do with the gifts the magi bring.
The word is about bowing before God.
Prostrate before God.
People throwing themselves at the feet of Jesus time and time again.
This is an action of humility.
Not before a Hedonist God who needs your praise but in a place of identity, desperation, and purpose.
Bob Stamps:
“Worship is the churches’ appropriate response in thanksgiving and praise to who God is, to what God has done, and to that which God has spoken.”
- Dr. Bob Stamps
Worship is:
an affirmative response to a seeking God
a right answer to a speaking God
a vital encounter with a living God
Would Marvin be a church known for this here?
Not how good our music is.
Not how good our preaching is, but for our response to the seeking, speaking, and living God?!
That begins in us individually and our response to Him.
Is it one of fear?
Is it one of self-perservation, complacency?
Worship inspired by the supernatural and rooted in Scripture
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