EPIPHANY
January
6-8. 2024
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Matthew 2:1-12 (EHV)
“INSIGHTS FROM THE
EPIPHANY”
1.
God
does not care about the things that man cares about.
2.
Man
does not care about the things God cares about.
3.
God’s
preplanning is absolutely astounding!
Matthew
2:1-12 (EHV) “After
Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, when Herod was king, Wise Men from the
east came to Jerusalem. They asked, 2 “Where is he
who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have
come to worship him.” 3 When King Herod heard this,
he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 He
gathered together all the people’s chief priests and experts in the law. He
asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They
said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, because this was written through the
prophet:
6 You, Bethlehem, in the land of
Judah, are certainly not least among the rulers of Judah: because out of you
will come a ruler, who will shepherd my people, Israel.”
7 Then Herod secretly summoned the
Wise Men and found out from them exactly when the star had appeared. 8 He
sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When
you find him, report to me, so that I may also go and worship him.” 9 After
listening to the king, they went on their way. Then the star they had seen when
it rose went ahead of them, until it stood still over the place where the
child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced
with overwhelming joy. 11 After they went into the
house and saw the child with Mary, his mother, they bowed down and worshipped
him. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts: gold,
frankincense, and myrrh. 12 Since they had been
warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country
by another route.”
So there is Epiphany and there are
epiphanies. Very specifically Epiphany is referring to the time when God
revealed that the Messiah, Jesus, is Savior for all people, not just the Jews,
but for all people as well. The occasion is when the non Jewish Wise Men came
from the East. Today when people say they have had an epiphany they mean the
light bulb went off in their head as they gained some new insight or revelation
about something important. The Epiphany of Jesus serves as a source of some
other epiphanies for us too.
The first is that God does not care
about the things that man cares about. God gives us that insight as the Wise
Men come to visit. Where do they stop first? Jerusalem. Why? It’s the capital
city of Judea. They had seen the special star that told them the new King of
the Jews that had been born. Where would you expect to find the new crown
prince? In the capital city. In the palace with guards and servants and pomp
and circumstance. Those are things man cares about. But not God. His son is
born in the little town of Bethlehem, nowheresville. He was born in a stable,
not a palace. And while it is very unlikely that Mary and Joseph were still in
the stable when the Wise Men came, they were the only attendants of Jesus that
the Wise Men found.
What else does man care about? Power.
Being in charge. Because you know the rest of Matthew chapter 2 you know
exactly why Herod said to the Wise Men, “Go and search carefully for the
child. When you find him, report to me, so that I may also go and worship him.”
Liar. Herod did not want to go worship Jesus. He wanted to kill him. Why? He
thought that Jesus was a threat to his power and his throne. And let’s make
sure we understand what Herod’s authority was. He was a puppet king. Rome
controlled Israel at this time. Rome allowed conquered nations to keep their
rulers as long as they behaved and paid their taxes. Herod valued temporary and
limited earthly power. God doesn’t. His Son was born to rule an eternal kingdom
with unlimited power of King of kings and Lord of Lord.
Now what can we learn from this
Epiphany insight? Check your values. Align them with your Lord’s. We have
tendencies to value the things of man over the things of God. Cars. Heirlooms.
Clothes. Epiphany! God does not care about those things. Prestige. Status.
Who’s in charge of temporary powers and limited authority. Epiphany! God does
not care about those things. He just uses them. So should we.
For as God does not care about the
things man cares about, the reverse is also true. Man, sinful man, does not
care about the things that God cares about. What is it that God cares about?
People! Their salvation. Keeping His promises. Everything that happened leading
up to Epiphany was put into place because God cares about people. He loves
them. He wants them in heaven. So His Son becomes man to take the place of
sinful man, to be their substitute. To live the perfect life they could not and
die the sinner’s death so they don’t have to. The coming of the Savior into the
world was such a great event that God made sure Wise Men from the East went to
a whole lot of trouble, spent a lot of time and money to come and see that
Jesus was for them. But that was not the common reaction. King Herod? He
doesn’t care about his eternal salvation, only his earthly power. And what a
spiritual tragedy! When the Wise Men come it is the chief priests, the experts
in the law, the equivalent of the pastors and seminary professors of today, who
are consulted. And what do they do when they hear the long-awaited Messiah has
been born? Nothing. They didn’t care about the things God cares about.
Nothing new today. Sinful man pretends
to care about people but does not. You hear too often of how the United States
sends humanitarian aid to some third world country only to have its rulers turn
around and sell it for profit instead of giving it to its people. King Herod
didn’t care about the families of Bethlehem but would order the murder of every
baby boy 2 years old and younger because he didn’t care about what God cares
about. Those babies could potentially inconvenience him. In the same way some
of our government leaders don’t care that God cares about every human life. Instead,
our Vice President will be here in Wisconsin soon on a nationwide tour that
pretends to care about people, but not those who could potentially makes
someone’s life inconvenient. As I would not want to be Herod on the day of
Judgment I would also not want to be the abortionist. It is a terrible thing to
fall into the hand of an angry God. Sinful man does not care about the things
God cares about. One day too late, he will.
But not everyone is messed up. There
are some who care about what God cares about and not what man cares about. Here
it is the Wise Men and that leads to our third Epiphany Insight. God’s
preplanning is absolutely astounding! Wise Men. From the East. Who are they?
How did they get there? God’s preplanning. We are not told but the only thing
that fits with the truth Scripture reveals is that they were exposed to Old
Testament prophecy. My guess is these are descendants for the wise men
influenced by Daniel of lions’ den fame. Over 500 years before it happened God
set the stage for these Wise Men to be believers in the Savior. He also
equipped them to serve. They were different from the rest of the people in
Matthew 2. They did not care about pomp, circumstance, earthly power or all the
other things man cares about. They had in mind the things of God. They looked
to the baby Jesus as their Savior. They treated Him as their Savior. They
served Him as their Savior. Gold. Frankincense. Myrrh. Costly items. Easily
transported. These Gentiles received the honor from God of providing for Mary,
Joseph and Jesus when they would flee to Egypt to escape the baby murdering
Herod. God preplanned all of it so the Wise Men would be in place and have the
opportunity and means to serve Jesus.
God is doing that same thing today
with you! Read this passage with me if you don’t already have it memorized.
“For
it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not
from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by
works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are
God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good
works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians
2:8-10)
Did
you catch that? Good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. His
preplanning is absolutely astounding. For each one of us God has preplanned a
part to play in His plan of salvation for you and others. We all get to be Wise
Men who don’t act like sinful man and do value what God values. Think. Look at
your life. What has God prepared you for? How has He gifted you, shaped you,
blessed you? There’s a method and meaning to all of it. God’s preplanning.
As I said, there is Epiphany and there
are epiphanies. We thank God today for giving us Epiphany insights that lead us
to check our values and align them with God’s and to be aware of and be willing
participants in God’s preplanning. One final epiphany from the Epiphany: Here’s
a great motto for 2024:
As with gladness men of old
Did the guiding star behold,
As with joy they hailed its light,
Leading onward, beaming bright,
So, most gracious Lord, may we
Evermore be led to thee.
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