Sermon 12/21/03 pm

Jim Huskey, Wisdom From Afar

Again this evening, as generally peoples' attention, whether right or

not, is focusing on the birth of Christ, there are some lessons that

can be learned. Tonight we're opening our Bibles to the second

chapter of the gospel of Matthew, to the story of those wise men who

came from afar at the birth of Christ.

"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod

the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

saying, 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. When Herod the king

had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the

people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And

they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea; for thus it is written by

the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least

among the princes of Juda; for out of thee shall come a Governor, that

shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had privily called

the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said Go and search diligently for

the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that

I may come and worship him also. When they had heard the king, they

departed; and lo, the star, which they saw 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 exceeding great joy. And when they

were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his

mother, and fell down, and worshipped him; and when they had opened

their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and

frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream, that they

should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another

way." Matt. 2:1-12.

There are a number of interesting lessons that can be drawn from that

passage. If I were to give our sermon a title, I guess it would be

"Wisdom From Afar". The reason I say that is this. These men had

come on a rather lengthy journey. I base that on several things.

This morning when we looked at the shepherds, they found the BABE

wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. When the wise men

came, they found the YOUNG CHILD in the house with his mother. So

a period of time has elapsed. Well, how long a period of time? I

think we can pretty well understand verse 16. "Then Herod, when he

saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent

forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all

the coast thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time

which he had diligently enquired of the wise men." So we know that

by the time the wise men arrived, Jesus was a young child, not just a

babe. We know from the reaction of Herod that a period of time had

elapsed.

But there are several interesting things here. First of all, we're

told when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea, there came wise men

from the east to Jerusalem. Have you ever thought about that little

expression "from the east"? I thought it might be interesting to go

back and look at some passages of scripture. You remember that

promise God made to Abraham and how Sarah tried to speed up the

promise by giving him her handmaid. Then we know later after Sarah

died Abraham took another wife, and he evidently had concubines.

But in Genesis 25:5 beginning, we find "And Abraham gave all that he

had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham

had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while

he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country." Gen. 25:5,6. A little

earlier when Sarah demanded Ishmael be sent away, he took Hagar his

mother and Ishmael and sent her away and evidently that's the direction

in which she went. Then we have the book of Job. Now we know the

book of Job fell in the Patriarch Dispensation, as did Abraham. In

Job 1 we're told he was from the land of Uz. Notice verse 3 of that

chapter. "His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three

thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she

asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest

of all the men of the east." In Judges 6:1 beginning, we read, "And

the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord; and the

Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand

of Midian prevailed against Israel; and because of the Midianites the

children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and

caves, and strong holds; and so it was when Israel had sown, that the

Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east,

even they came up against them." Judges 6:1-3. I Kings 4:29,30 reads,

"And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and

largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. And

Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east

country, and all the wisdom of Egypt." So these wise men had come from

afar. These passages give us a little bit of background when we talk

about the wise men coming from the east. Even in Solomon's day those

people had the reputation for their wisdom. Evidently they were not

Jews, very possibly many of them were the offspring of Abraham by his

concubines. There came wise men from the east, however.

Isn't it amazing that so many times we have to see wisdom exhibited

from afar from elsewhere rather than where it should be exhibited.

Remember, when Herod enquired of the people as to where Jesus would

be born, the chief priest, scribes told him Bethlehem of Judaea,

'Here's what's written in the prophet. Thou Bethlehem, in the land of

Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda, for out of thee

shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.' Why, they

knew what it said. They hadn't paid any attention to it. But the

wise men from the east saw the star and they knew what it meant. They

knew what it meant!!!!! "...we have seen his star in the east and

are come to worship him." "..Where is he that is born King of the

Jews?" Why wasn't that same wisdom exhibited by very Jews to whom

Jesus came? After all, they had the scripture!!!! They were the ones

who were supposed to learned, particularly with respect to those

matters spiritual. Remember, these were people who at times, evidently

from what we read in the book of Judges, gathered against Israel to

battle. But I guess we could call it wisdom in unexpected places.

There are several things that set these wise men apart. One of course

was their wisdom. The Jews were familiar with the scriptures, but

they did make application of them. They didn't "connect the dots".

But the wise men studied the skies, as well as evidently being

familiar with the Jewish scriptures; and when they saw the star, they

knew exactly what it meant. They had confidence enough in what they

saw to lead them on a journey that probably would last for a period of

over two years, from the time they saw the start, until the time they

arrived where Jesus was, then made their journey back home. Think

about it!!!! They had enough confidence in what they had read in the

scriptures and what they saw in the sky when they "connected the dots"

to make that journey. Remember this journey the made was not made by

jumping in the car and driving. It was a long journey, probably the

best mode of transportation over land being camel back. We're talking

about riding for days and days and days and days and days and days.

But they did it, because they had enough wisdom to make application of

what they knew. That's one of the problems folks faced then, and

folks face now. They have the knowledge, the "smarts", but they don't

have the wisdom to apply the knowledge they have. It's sort of like

some of these evolutionists who have studied so much. Having studied

so much, they realize the evidence they have just doesn't sustain

what they believe and teach. However, they won't look at the

evidence in another light and see that it does endorse what the Bible

says, that God created the heavens and earth, that man is set

apart from all other life because he has something unique that none of

the rest of life has. Even their methods of dating things fly in

their face. Since the evidence doesn't really tell them what they want

it to tell them, they begin to reason in unsound ways. 'We found this

bone and this bone is 6 million years old.' Well, how do you know

that bone is six million years old? 'Well, we found it in a strata of

rock that's 6 million years of.' How do you know the rock is six

million years old? 'We found a six-million-year-old bone in it.'

Just reasoning in circles. And they can't sustain either. Even

among some of the more learned of them, they admit that if an event

like the flood occurred, every method of dating just about that's

known to man "goes out the window", because everything with them is

based on a time table. However, if something happens to upset that

time table, like the earth being under hugh amounts of water, and we

know the water was on the earth for over a year and that it covered

up the top of the highest mountaians, they admit there's no way they

can determine by the veins of coal and diamonds, etc. that have been

formed, because a lot of that is determined by the weight on it,

compressing it. If the flood was there, then all their methods of

dating are useless. There are all sorts of things like that; but

rather than "connect the dots", they choose not to. But the wise men

from the east did. They made application of what they knew. Most

people, if they would just do what they know, would be amazed at how

much better off they would be, physically and spiritually. I remember

chiding a group of elders at a congregation one time. They just had

preaching once a month. I chided them for that and they said, "We just

can't afford it." Now this congregation was larger than the one for

which I was preaching at the time. So I said, "Well, you're just too

cheap. You don't want to spend that money, that's what the problem

is." One of them said, "Well, preacher, we know more than we're doing

now, and if we learn anymore that would just make it worse." I guess

he probably got as close to it as anybody did. But these wise men

"connected the dots".

Then they came with purpose. You know, so many times people do things

an they don't know why they do them. They don't know what the

purpose of it is and as a result their efforts sometimes are not nearly

what they could or would be if they knew why they doing what they were

doing. I've told you this story before. The young couple married

and she was going to cook her first Christmas ham. She went to the

store and bought a whole ham, brought it home, prepared to cook it.

Her husband sat there watching her as she cut a big chunk off the end

of the ham. He said, like we husband are sometime prone to do, ask

questions, "Honey, why did you do that?" "I don't know, Mama always

did." He said, "Well, what's the purpose?" "I don't know." So she

called Mama. "Mama, why do you always cut a chunk off the end of the

ham when you get ready to cook it?" "Well, I don't know; you're

grandma always did." So they called Grandma. "Grandma, when you

cooked your ham, why did you always cut a chunk off the end of it?"

"I never did have a pan large enough to cook the whole ham." A lot

of folks go through life doing things for a reason they have no idea

from whence it came. These wise men had a purpose for their mission.

"...we have seen his star and are come to worship him." We can't get

folks in this country today to get in an air-conditioned/heated

automobile and drive five minutes and set in an air-conditioned/heated

building, whatever the season may be, oft times even on padded pews,

to worship. "..we have seen his star and are come to worship him."

Talk about wisdom from afar!!!!!!!! There it is - the wisdom of the

wise men. They came with purpose. They did what they came to do.

They followed their purpose to the very end. They came to worship and

in their worship, they brought gifts that would be befitting of the

child whom they had come to worship. You talk about putting those

Jews to shame, they did.

Then, Herod, remember had charged them to come back to him; but they

were warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod.

"...they departed into their own country another way." Now I know

God doesn't instruct people today in a miraculous way like he did

back then, but here are wise men from the east (not Jews). They had

to be familiar with the scriptures to know about the star and to know

about the birth of the King. Now God told them 'don't go back to

Herod.' Without hesitation, they returned home another way. Talk

about wisdom from a place you might not likely expect it, there it

is!!!!! The wisdom to do the things God told them to do. What a

different world this would be if folks today were as smart as those

folks. It would be amazing!!! They came to worship him, and they

did that. They accomplished their mission and returned home.

There's another lesson I'll just throw in for nothing. Usually

things that are worth while cost us something, whether it's a

relationship with a person, an achievement, if it's worth while it's

going to cost us something. It may be in time, in effort, in money,

whatever the case may be. But these men spent likely two years on a

journey. They brought expensive gifts, but they accomplished their

purpse. They are immortalized in scripture. The wise men of the

Jews, supposedly, were put to shame.

Now those are just some thoughts on the other story related to the

birth of Christ, this time from Matthew's account.