We're going to have our offering hymn now, so we're going to remain seated and it's My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness. I will praise Him and make me light again. Will approach like a soft, simple vest and hold me in His arms. Weakness versus strength, and all that is needed to thrive. We'll lose everything. So I will give my life, my all to Thou alone. We're just gonna give thanks for the offering, just let's pray. Heavenly Father, I just thank you for every head bowed here today that is filled with thankfulness and I just thank you for everything you have done for us. Thank you for this time of year when we can remember that you were born in a manger and So, Duke, become King of Kings. And Father, I just pray that you would just take this offering that has been lifted this morning and just use it for the furtherance of your kingdom. We just pray these things in your precious name. Amen. Now, we're going to stand again and we're going to sing a more Christmassy one in the bleak midwinter. ♪ Frosty wind may blow ♪ ♪ Furnace with iron and iron ♪ ♪ Water like a stone ♪ Snow has fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow. In the bleak midwinter, all alone. ♪ No death nor earth shall stay ♪ ♪ Heaven and earth shall flee away ♪ ♪ When He comes to reign ♪ ♪ In the blink of winter ♪ ♪ The stable grace of Christ ♪ The Lord Almighty, Jesus Christ. Angels and archangels, they have gathered there. ♪ Cherubim and seraphim draw on the air ♪ ♪ But his father only in her native land was born ♪ ♪ True as I am ♪ ♪ If I were a shepherd ♪ ♪ I would bring a lamb ♪ ♪ If I were a wise man ♪ ♪ I would do my part ♪ Good morning. It's good to see you all here. It's good to have time of worship with you. It's great to be singing some Christmas carols. Love them. We have just sang, if I were a wise man, I would do my part. Well, we're gonna be looking at the wise men this morning. Now, I am aware that the wise men traditionally don't turn up until Epiphany. In case you're wondering where that is, come and speak to me afterwards, okay? But they normally come, they normally don't turn up on Christmas morning or just shortly after Christmas morning. But we're gonna be looking at those. If I were a wise man, I would do my part. The question is, what part is that? What part did they play? You will be very aware that in our series, our Christmas mini series, we've been looking at the advent of Advent. Someone looked at me when they asked me about that and they went, that's a bit weird. And then when I explained it to them, they went, oh, that makes sense. Advent, the advent of Advent, Advent being an event, a thing, something that's about to happen. And the advent is the arrival of Christ, Christ birth. So we've been looking at both of those things as we've been unpacking Christmas and seeing what this thing is. And we've looked at it not just in terms of his first coming, but as his advent is his second coming. Because everything is linked. There's nothing in scripture that's done in isolation. And so we've been looking at Advent, the advent of Advent in different ways. We've had two weeks so far and we've looked at part one was the hope in waiting. And we looked at the whole concept of prophecy. They were hoping for a child. This child was to be God. This child would be king. And this child would restore. And we looked at that and how the whole focus was on Christ coming. And again, the lessons there for us is that our focus should be on Christ coming back again and what Christ will do when he comes back again. And these things are important. Then last week, we looked at preparation while we wait. And we looked at the concept of that we were told to prepare the way. And what does that mean? John the Baptist was calling the people to repent, to prepare their hearts to meet the King of Kings, to meet Christ, the Messiah. And so the same call comes out to us to prepare our hearts. We are to prepare away, remove the stumbling blocks, to remove the pride and the sin, preparing our hearts for the for the king to come back. So the cry still goes out, prepare the way, make straight the paths. And so we've been looking at it in that way. So today, I've given the title, again, not just the Advent of Advent part three, but Joy and Peace Filled Waiting. Joy and Peace Filled Waiting. And as I say, we're gonna be looking at the wise men. So a reading is from Matthew chapter two, Matthew chapter 2 verses 1 to 11 will be in this passage, both services today, so don't think it's a mistake when we add a bit more this evening. But Matthew chapter 2 verses 1 to 11, again, very well-known passage. that we cover every single year. Matthew chapter two, starting at verse one, says this. 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 has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, but you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judea, are not the least among the rulers of Judea. For out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Then Herod when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search carefully for the young child. And when you have found him, bring back word to me that I may come and worship him also. When they heard the king, they departed. And behold, the star which they had seen in the east went before them. till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshiped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Let's just pray together. Lord, we ask that you will open up this passage to us. Again, very familiar to us. Parts of it, if not all of it, very, very familiar to us at this time of year. Lord, just prepare our hearts, open up our hearts. Let us hear you afresh as we remember your first coming and prepare ourselves for your second coming. Amen. The first thing we want to think about here is that is the phrase that is said in verse Now we're not gonna unpack a lot here, but there's a phrase in verse 10 that really struck me, and in essence provoked the question that we're gonna look at, or provoked the thought pattern that we're looking at this morning. It says in verse 10 that when they saw the star, they, that is the Magi, rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. Isn't that a great phrase, exceedingly great joy? You know, I don't often have, I've never heard too many people come down first thing in the morning and go, oh I have exceedingly great joy. You normally don't get that, you know, especially kids on a Monday, well, especially on a Monday morning when you have to go to work, you have to go to school. I have exceedingly great joy, you know. It doesn't normally happen, but here we have the wise men, these magi. When they saw the star, they had exceedingly great joy. Now that phrase is an interesting phrase because one of the questions I had was why on earth did Matthew put in exceedingly great joy. Not just, why didn't you just say with joy or with lots of joy? Why exceedingly great joy? I don't believe anything is in scripture by mistake. I think everything's in scripture by design and everything is there to bring out a point about Christ. And we should have our hearts drawn to Christ. So in verse 10, exceedingly great joy. This phrase translates from the Greek, and if you read the scholars, they will talk about intensifiers. The way language is constructed, they have intensifiers, which brings an overwhelming sense at the end of the phrase. And here we have in Greek these intensifiers that show an overwhelming happiness I'll clarify this in a minute, but they say there's an overwhelming happiness at finding the Messiah. That's what it means here, that when the Magi seen the star, and we'll explain this in a minute, and they came to worship Christ, they were filled with exceedingly great joy, exceeding happiness, because they found the Messiah. I wonder how we're filled this morning. Do we, I mean, let's be honest with ourselves and with each other, do we go, oh, it's Christmas again? You know, so much busyness, so much, when we think about the business, and we think about the hecticness, and we think about all the stuff that has to be done, and the poor turkeys are running for their life. You know, we're thinking about all that stuff, and yet, where's the exceeding happiness at the Messiah coming? I believe personally, Christians, we who claim to be followers of Christ should give back to being exceedingly joyful at the birth of Christ. And I think and I believe that we should be exceedingly joyful at the fact that he's coming back again. Now, I wanna unpack this, because I think it's very important, and it's not just words that we say. The Greek words that are used, and I did a bit of research on this, because I think it's very important, the verb rejoice, the verb that is used, rejoice, in Greek, you'll be surprised to know, means to be cheerful or glad. There you go, I bet you're glad I told you that. The noun for joy, gladness or delight, it emphasizes a deep, calm happiness that is related to God's grace. Do you get that? There is such a joy at the fact that Christ is born, but there's this deep calmness, because when we think about the birth of Christ, that the King of Kings has been born, we see God's grace on show. And I've said this before, that the birth of Christ is not to show how bad we are, but the grace and mercy of God at work to come and bring salvation. And we should be filled with exceeding happiness, this calm happiness that relates to God's grace, that produces within us not just happiness, but a joy that is so overwhelming, so overflows, that the world should be going, why are you happy? They should stop us and go, why on earth are you happy? Because we know the Messiah has been born and is coming back again. And that's why we're joyful. The objective great, this great joy, this exceedingly great joy, this large or wonderful, this intensifies the joy. It's such a big joy, it's such a great joy that I just can't contain the joy. Have you ever been so joyful? I don't know if you've ever had this, where you're just like, and you're just buzzing and words just won't come out, but you feel like you're gonna burst. That's the joy we're talking about here. Exceedingly great joy. It is like an immense, overwhelming joy. And they haven't even seen Christ yet, they've seen the star. But yet they've got that overwhelming joy. Now, I've been very careful here, even though one of the phrases is happiness, but happiness, as we know, you've heard it from here many times, and you've probably heard it before I got here many times, that happiness is an emotion. It comes and goes. Quick question, quick survey. Who is happy every single day, 24 hours a day? Who's happy like that? Come on, hands up. I didn't think so. Because I'm not. Because happiness is an emotion. Listen, trust me, when I was working on the building site and I hit my thumb with a hammer, I wasn't happy. I wasn't singing songs of happiness. Because happiness is an emotion. It ebbs and flows. Joy is a state. Joy is a state of mind and a state of heart. And that joy, that state of mind and heart is focused in one place. That's where it's at. And that's why it says here, exceedingly great joy. We're not talking about an emotional rollercoaster up and down. I'm feeling happy today, I wanna praise God. True praise comes knowing that when you're in your worst day, God's there with you and you praise him for who he is in the middle of your worst day. Why? Because I know my God's with me. I'm so full of joy that I'm not on my own. I'm not abandoned. I don't have to cope with this all on my own. And this exceedingly great joy is there. So there is this sense of joy that should be overflowing within us. As I said, it was at the sight of the star, it was not at the sight of Christ. The star was the sign in the heavens of the king of kings, this super king that was to be born. And I use those words carefully, and we'll probably, we'll look at those a bit, we'll look at those tonight, but I, the star's a wonderful, a wonderful thing, a wonderful declaration of God. plastered in the heavens that the king of kings was to be born in a specific time and a specific place. And that's why the Magi came saying, where is he who is born king of the Jews? They knew exactly there was a super king born, a king of kings born to be king of the Jews. And not a bit of wonder Herod didn't like it. He got a bit miffed at that thought. We need to understand, and for those who have been with us as we've gone through Daniel, you will have known by now that the Magi were astrologers. In fact, they weren't just astrologers. We know from Daniel, They were into all sorts of Babylonian literature and teaching. They were into occultism, astronomy, astrology. They were into a lot of stuff. And that's why when it says that they saw the star, they were very apt at looking at the stars, the rotation of the planets and everything else, and foretelling what would happen. Now, you may think that's a bit weird, not as weird as you may think. When we went through Daniel, I said, how many people do you know start their day by reading their horoscope? It's exactly the same thing. And yet some people I used to work with used to go, oh, it's only a bit of fun, but they would never start the day without reading it. Interestingly. These guys were astrologers. They studied the stars. They seen the passage of the stars. And so by looking at the stars, these wise men, these magi, these guys that Daniel was part of, okay? Daniel was trained as a magi. They seen that the king of kings, the super king was to be born and they journeyed from the east. Now we'll get into a bit more of that a bit later on tonight. But they came looking for the Messiah. God paints in the heavens the proclamation of the coming Messiah for the Gentiles to see and understand. This blows my mind when you think about this. The Jews had everything in the Old Testament. They had the prophecies. We looked at this before. Isaiah had prophesied 700 years before Christ came, that Christ was coming, they had all the prophecies, and yet God goes, I'm going to tell the Gentiles, watch this, and he paints in the heavens this great declaration that the Messiah is coming. So much so that the Magi from the east, from Babylon, go, oh, look, let's go worship him. And the Gentiles are drawn to worship Christ. Because God leaves no man out. God wants all to be saved. And so he will proclaim this message. He will proclaim the gospel. He will make a way for all people to understand. But it's your choice to accept it or reject it. That's the choice you make. But God wants you to understand that he is the Messiah. He has come to pay the price. He lived our life, died our death, and rose again. And he's coming back. but there's joy in this journey. We can have great joy, this peace, knowing that not only did Christ come once and pay the price for us, and rise again, but we can have joy in the journey knowing he's coming back again and he walked with us. He'll never leave us nor forsake us. We can have great joy in the journey. So these Magi, these Gentile people, some would say that they were unbelievers. I won't go into too much of that. I mean, if you think about the journey that they've had from Daniel and everything else, but they definitely understood and they came, to worship the King of Kings. When they saw Christ, and this is one of the great thing I love, when they saw Christ, they fell down and worshiped him, and then they presented the gifts. But they were filled with exceeding joy at the sight of the star. There's this great joy that they are not left alone. There is exceeding joy, this great joy knowing that they are not abandoned. There is this great joy knowing that God wants them to follow him. And so when they see what the star proclaimed, they worshiped. And this is an invite to each and every one of us to worship the king, to fall down and worship him. with exceeding joy. Get that, not happiness, joy. Because God's grace is on view. When we think of Christ, we should be thinking of God's grace on view. God's mercy being offered to all, if only we will receive, and we should worship him. Matthew chapter two verse, Two, we're told they asked the question, where is he who is born King of the Jews? They came looking for a child, a child who was born King. You remember, that's what the prophecy was. That's what we look back in the very first part of the series. He was a child and he was a child who was going to reign. He was going to be King. So he was born to be King. and they worshiped him. The worship here in Matthew 2, verse 11, the bowing down to the baby Jesus is debated. Now, as with most things in scripture, especially around the birth narratives, it's always in debate. But I wanna, I just wanna put my two pennies worth in here, and I wanna say that they worshiped Christ because they understood who he was. There was a true worship that they expressed. Many will say that it was homage, you know, it was a king, they were showing homage to a king, but I think it was much more than that. And I believe, again, I can't prove this, But I think there could be more than three gifts, but Matthew picks out three gifts that are relevant to the birth narrative. That's where we get the three kings from. We three kings of Orient are, because we read about three gifts, but nowhere in Scripture does it say there was only three kings. There could have been 23 kings who all brought gifts. We don't know, but we do. These three gifts that are gonna be highlighted here are for a purpose. Matthew is key here. The important thing here to remember is that the word for worship that Matthew will use here is proskuneo, which means to bow down or to show homage, to bow down. Now, the reason I believe this is a worshiping of Christ as God is because of the three gifts. We know this, it's probably said every year, that gold is representative of his kingship, frankincense is representative of his divinity or his priesthood, and myrrh is representative of his future death and suffering. So, the three gifts that Matthew highlights says this, that he is king, priest, and our sacrifice. What a great message. Not a bit of wonder they had exceedingly great joy. That as they fell down and worshipped this child, and they presented their gifts. They were going, you are the king of all kings. You're the super king. We are here to worship you, bow down and give you, because you are not only king, you're not just a super king, but you're God. There is this sense of recognition that he is God. And so my invite, or the invite to each and every one of us, is this. This Christmas as we gather around and we sing carols about the child being born, do we want to worship a baby who one day we will hopefully, we will go, we'll put him away come January? Or are we worshiping the king of kings? The one who is God? The one who is priest, high priest? The one who went into the Holy of Holies with his shed blood, the death that he was to die. The gold frankincense and myrrh are clearly speaking of who Christ is and what Christ had come to do. And the wise men with exceedingly great joy, this overwhelming joy, this uncontainable joy, worshiped. Oh, how I would long for Christ's church to get back to that, eh? That we're so filled with exceedingly great joy that we worship. We fall down and we worship. We're focused on the King of kings and the God who came to die on the cross for us, to conquer death, to rise again victorious, to offer us life, and one day is coming back for his church. This is the advent of advent. This is it. The advent was not just the birth, but it's also the cross and the resurrection, and it's his second coming. It's the whole thing. It's not just one thing. So here they have exceedingly great joy. So as they come to the baby, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. The second thing I want us to look at very quickly is that Jesus is the source of the joy. It's Christ. He is the source. Not why they had joy when they seen the star, it's Christ who is the source of the joy. These wise men would have seen many stars in their day. They spent their day looking up at stars. They interpreted stars all the time. So it's not fundamentally just the star, but the child who brought the joy. He is the source of the joy. John 15, 11 says this, these things I have spoken to you, to you, that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full." He is the source of joy and he wants his joy to be in us and for our joy to be full, that exceedingly great joy at who he is because he is the source of joy, not our feelings. The context here in John John 15, and I, again, without getting too far, because time is going, is this. If you know John 15, we touched on this in the I Am's, that Christ is the true vine. The follower of Christ bears fruit if we remain in him. A branch cannot bear fruit if it's separated from the life source. We cannot bear fruit if we're separated from our life source, Christ. In bearing good fruit, we bring glory to God the Father. We are instructed to abide in Christ, to abide in Christ's love, we are to abide in Christ's teaching, we are to abide in the Father's love, and we are to keep God's commands. That's John 15. You know, that's a quick scan of John 15. And it's in this, it's in keeping his, it's remaining in Christ and keeping his commands and obeying him that our joy is complete. We remain in Him and His joy in us that our joy may be complete because He is the source of our joy. We get everything that we need from God and from Christ because they are the source of our life and our joy. 1 Peter 1, 7 and 9 says that the genius of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory of the revelation of Jesus. Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love, though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. I love the way Peter speaks. You've never seen him, but you believe him. You don't know him, but you follow him. And you do it with joy inexpressible because Christ has lived our life. He's died our death and he lives now eternal. That's a wonderful thing. Our joy is in Christ. Psalm 1611 says, you will show me your path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures evermore. in your presence is fullness of joy. The psalmist is full of these great phrases, these great verses, these great declarations that the source of our joy is God. And so as we think of Christmas, God in flesh, Emmanuel, God with us, he is the source of our joy. And being in his presence is exceedingly great joy. Because we know that God has never abandoned us, but is with us, and we can rejoice. Paul says, didn't Paul say in Philippians 4,4, rejoice in the Lord always, I say again, rejoice. Try writing that from prison, which Paul did. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice. What a great, we're told to rejoice not because of who we are or what we have done, but because of who Christ is. But you may say, but Rodney, I slip and I fall so very easily. That's why the Psalmist says in Psalm 51, as we know it, create me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. There's always a way back and God will always restore the joy of salvation. So they see the star, they have exceedingly great joy. They come and they see Christ and they fall down and they worship Him because He is the source of their joy. And then lastly, as time goes, we see that Christ is the source of peace. He is the source of peace. We always sing at Christmas, peace and goodwill to man. He is the source of peace. He is the prince of peace. That's what Isaiah says, he is the prince of peace. So he will be the source of peace. And yet Paul writes in Colossians chapter one verse 20, he says, and by him to reconcile all things to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven or things, having made peace through his blood on the cross. This is why it's important that we don't think of the advent as purely Christmas. It's Easter and the second coming. Christ has made peace between us and the Father. If you come to him and you say, I wanna follow you for the rest of my life, I want you to forgive me for all the wrong I've done. When we follow Christ and we learn to live the way he wants us to live, he has made peace with us through his shed blood. Not your merit, not your goodness, nothing that you can do, Christ. That's why they fell down with exceedingly great joy. They'd seen the grace of God at work in bodily form, Christ. And Christ made peace through his shed blood. But our hope, joy, and peace is found in the cross. It's not found in the cross. cross alone but also in the resurrection. In Hebrews 13 verses 20 and 21 it says, now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead by that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you complete in every good work to do his will working in you what will be pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. The God of peace raised Christ from the dead. I like the way Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, if Christ is still dead, our faith is useless. Why do this on a Sunday? He didn't write that bit, I added that bit. I mean, if Christ is still dead, why do it? Because he's dead. But he's not dead. He is alive. The God of peace brought him back from the dead. And because the God of peace have raised Christ physically from the dead, his shed blood has made peace between us and the Father. Christmas, Easter, second coming, the advent of advent. It's all around Christ. his first and second coming. In Galatians, chapter six, verse 16, we're told, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcised nor uncircumcision avails anything but a new creation. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God. This is very important we understand this. Peace is on us when we live in obedience to God. Peace is on us when we walk as followers of Christ, obeying the commands of Christ, as we walk in unity with Christ. Peace is upon us. I can't express this enough. So when we're singing about Christ being born, he is the source of joy. He is the source of peace. And it's all to do with what God was doing in the nativity, in the cross, in the resurrection, and what he will do at the second coming. There's so much more I could say, but time is going by. As we conclude then, how does this affect us? What's this? What's this mean to us? Matthew chapter two, verse 10 says, when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. Jesus is our reason for joy, our source of peace, which should provoke worship with exceeding joy in us as we wait for our King to come. I wonder if we are so overwhelmed with joy. If we are at peace, please, again, as I say those words, I can almost hear someone saying, but Rodney, you don't know what I'm going through. Please let me say this. All the stuff we read in Scripture, they're written at times of stress and turmoil. Paul didn't write about peace when he was on the beach. He wrote about peace when he was in prison. He wrote with joy when he was in prison. All these things are times of hardship because Christ was with them. So when we think about Christ, when we have come here to worship Christ, when we have come here to think about Christ's first coming, in preparation for his second coming, are we worshiping him with joy and peace? Is he our source of joy every single day? Is he our source of peace? Peace of mind, peace of heart, Does he speak peace to our emotions as they rage? Is he our source of peace? In Romans chapter 15 verse 13 says this, now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace. Let me read that again. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. See, there's three things there that we've just touched on over these three weeks. Hope, hope, there's hope in waiting. The whole thing is prophesied about Christ coming. Our whole focus is on Christ. He is the source, and the source of our joy and our peace. That's what, may the God fill you with joy and peace. We are to be a people typified by joy and peace. In the middle of turmoil, joy and peace. Not because we're good and we're calm and we're rocks in that sense, but because we trust the person who is joy. And we trust the person who is peace. We trust the person who came, was born, to die, to rise again, and one day is coming back. And we will live a life in accordance with him so that his joy may be in us. Amen. Let us just pray before we end with our final song. You are the giver of peace, restorer of peace, and our prince of peace. Lord, we ask that you would fill our hearts with your joy and peace as we, in redemption, follow you our Savior, our Messiah, and stand in the peace that only you can bring. Fill our hearts with joy and overwhelm us with your peace, knowing that I am your child and you are my Savior. In this Advent season, speak peace to our minds. Fill our hearts with joy through the indwelling of your Holy Spirit. that all may see joy and peace that only you can bring. Amen. We're gonna sing our final song, which is, Who is He in yonder stall? Is the Lord a wondrous story? Is the Lord the King of glory? That is He, the young King of glory. Is the Lord the King of Glory? I love you. comes to Thee to help and save. Tis the Lord, a wondrous story. Tis the Lord, in the name of glory, that is seen beyond reproach. Lord, we fall at your feet. Lord, we proclaim that you are lord of all. You are seated. Lord, you're Your dominion is an eternal dominion. We fall at your feet, knowing that you are the source of our joy, and you are the source of our peace, and we pour out our gifts to you, proclaiming you are our hope. And we eagerly await your return. Again, Lord, take away that which is not from you, leave your truth, Plant it deep in our hearts that we may be filled with exceedingly great joy at your first coming, but also as we anticipate your second coming. Take us to our home safely and bring us back again to worship your most wonderful name. Amen. Bye!