Dear Christian friends:

The story about the Wise Men who followed the star to worship the new born Savior is very beautiful and precious to us Christians. It is especially precious to us who are Gentiles, non-Jews, because it shows that Mary's Baby is also the Savior of the non-Jewish nations. The Lord's angel announced Jesus' birth to the shepherds, who were Jews, but God used a star to announce Jesus' birth to the Wise Men who were Gentiles. So this story of the Wise Men should be very precious to us who are Gentiles.

The Wise Men are a good example for us Gentile Christians who live on the earth today. So let us attend to our text and learn from the Wise Men.


First, we need to have faith like the Wise Men. Through the prophet Balaam God had told about the "star." There shall come a star out of Jacob who shall be ruler in Israel." (Numbers 24:16) When the Wise Men saw the strange star in the East they believed God's prophesy and followed the star to Jerusalem. When they arrived in Jerusalem, the capitol city of Israel, they asked the people, "Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East and are come to worship Him. (verse 2)

When King Herod heard that the Wise Men had come from the East and were looking for the Savior God had promised, he called the Jewish Church leaders together and asked them where the promised Savior should be born. The Jewish teachers told him what the prophet Micah wrote 586 years before: "Bethlehem." (verses 4-6)

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler in Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times." (Micah 5:2) The Wise Men believed this prophesy also and went to Bethlehem searching for the Savior. The Wise Men had faith in God's Word and promises. They are a good example for us today.

We can have strong faith like the Wise Men. True we do not have a star to lead us, but we have a better guide than that. We have the Holy Bible. The Wise Men had only the Old Testament, but we have both the Old and the New Testaments. Therefore our faith should be stronger and more wonderful than the Wise Men's faith. If your faith is weak, it is because you do not attend to God's Word enough. If we attend to God's Word in the Bible, then the Holy Spirit can come into our hearts and take away our doubt and fear and give us instead faith, confidence, joy and hope in Jesus.

A woman in the crowd call out, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you. He replied, "Blessed rather are they who hear the word of God and obey it. (Luke 11:28)

St. Paul: "Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)

Secondly we need to he ready to endure hardships for Jesus.

The Wise Men endured hardship in order to come and worship Jesus. Bible experts figure that it took the Wise Men 18 months to travel from their home countries to Jerusalem. They did not have fast cars, airplanes or trains like we have today. They traveled by slow camels over vast desert areas, hot during the day and cold at night. Also they had to watch and guard against robbers along the way as they brought with them food, clothes and costly gifts. It cost them much time and money to make the trip to Bethlehem to worship the Christ Child. But they accepted the cost and endured the hard trip. They are a good example for us.

We, like the Wise Men, should be eager and ready to accept hardship and pay large costs to worship and serve Jesus. Sometimes we complain about church work and refuse to accept hard work. We complain that church costs too much money. Shame on us when we complain! We have it easy, compared to the Wise Men!

In our American culture today there seems to be a great disdain for humility, suffering and cross bearing. We need to be on guard. Jesus had a lot to say about that. For example, "If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Matthew 16:24 TLB)

Thirdly, we need to have great joy in Jesus.

The Wise Men worshipped the Savior with great Joy. We read in our text that when they left Jerusalem, "the star which they had seen before in the East, appeared to them again; and went before them until it stopped over the house where Jesus and His parents were staying. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy." (verses 9-10)

Let us, like the Wise Men worship the Savior Jesus with great joy. Often we do not come to our worship services with joy. We seem tired and bored. A few even fall asleep during the worship service. Sometimes we stay home on Sundays because our hearts are empty and have no joy in Jesus. See how the Wise Men worshiped Jesus with great joy! We read in our text, "On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. (verse 11a) We can have this great joy only if we keep in mind who this child really is and what He came to do for us.

Fourthly, we need to bring offerings worthy of a king.

I want you to notice that the Wise Men came with their gifts prepared. Before they left home they thought and thought and discussed with each other about the gifts they would bring for the Savior King. They did not bring small, cheap gifts. Their gifts were expensive and precious, fit for a King. They did not wait until they arrived at Jesus' house and then feel in their pocket for a dollar or two to give to Jesus. They prepared their offering before they left their homes. With much thinking, joy and love they prepared their gifts for Jesus.

We, like the Wise Men, should prepare our offering gifts which we bring to church. With much thinking, joy and love for Jesus we should prepare our gifts. That is why we asked each one last November on our Commit Sunday, to make a pledge for 1997. If you make a pledge, you must think about your offering and prepare it with care. If you do not make a pledge, you may not think much about your offerings for Jesus or even forget to bring an offering and then you must in a hurry look in your wallet or purse for some left-over money before the offering plate comes to you. If we really love Jesus, and we ought to love Him very, very much, we will prepare our offerings before we leave home and do it with joy and love, as did the Wise Men.

As a practical matter we should take notice that the gifts of the Magi were no doubt put to good use to finance the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt in order to escape King Herod's diabolical plan to kill the Christ Child, whom he thought to be a threat to his throne. In a similar way the offering which we bring today will finance His kingdom work at home and in foreign lands.

The Wise Men are a very good example for us! Let us copy them and worship Jesus, our Savior King with great joy.

Amen.