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The Marks Of A Wise Man St. John’s – East Moline Matt. 2:1-12 01/08/12 Intro.: A number of years ago, we had a vicar who had the secretaries convinced that he was the smartest guy who ever lived. He would sit in his office, overhear a conversation involving some unknown fact, and shout out the missing information. “Genius,” the secretaries would exclaim. “Google,” the vicar would snicker to himself as he sat at his computer. We live in the “Information Age” when individuals are able to instantly access knowledge that would have been difficult, even impossible, to have acquired before. In ages past Wise Men, like those who traveled to Bethlehem, were among the elite few who were highly educated and served as depositories of knowledge. If a personal computer can, now, put all that information at everyone’s fingertips then what are the real marks of a wise man, today? Our Gospel reading for the celebration of Epiphany offers us a few. I. The Wise Will Seek Him. The evangelist records that the wise men saw a star that announced to them that the promised Christ Child, the King of the Jews, had been born. So they traveled a long time over many miles in search of Him. This is the first mark of a wise man; it is a person who seeks the LORD. A. The wise men from the east, without benefit of Google, had great knowledge of the stars, history, and sacred writings. Perhaps since the time of Daniel their kind had been looking for that special sign of the Savior’s birth, so what would wise men do when it finally appeared? Would they just look up and say, “Cool, I wonder where that little dude is?” Of course not! Anyone who is truly wise will do exactly what the wise men of our Gospel did – they will leave everything behind to find Him. Regardless of how busy they are or how important they believe their work and activity might be, they will pack it all up and seek Him and His kingdom, first. They will leave everything else because they know that He is the One thing needful. Are you there yet or did you just casually walk by the manger this Christmas, say “That’s Cool!” and move on with your busy life and all the more important things you had to do? It is time for all of us to wise-up, set aside everything else and seek Him as our first priority and as the One thing we need for an abundant and everlasting life. B. When the wise men of our Gospel were searching for the LORD they looked to God’s Word to find Him. They did not aimlessly wander around the middle-east, but went to Jerusalem, the place where God promised to dwell in His temple. That was where they could find out from those who knew the scriptures where the Christ-child was to be born. And they did, because the prophet Micah had foretold that the ruler and shepherd of God’s people, the promised Savior of all, would be born in Bethlehem. So led by God’s Word that is where the wise men went to find Him. When it comes to looking for the LORD it is still wise to seek Him here, in His Word. Imagine being given a clearly marked map that leads you across deadly terrain on a dangerous path with only a limited amount of time to make it to your destination before you run out of supplies and perish, but you choose instead to use your own uninformed intuition. Foolish, right? Well, why do so many people and even some of you act so foolishly when it comes to looking for the LORD, God? People say it all the time: I look for God in nature or I seek Him through my personal experiences or in my mind I have my own idea of who God is. Why do so many wander aimlessly in their spiritual journey and risk perishing eternally when the map that leads us to the LORD is right here! Those who are truly wise are the ones who will continue to look to the Scriptures which are able to make them wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. This, His Word, is the light for our path and lamp for our feet that will lead us straight to the LORD and the salvation that He offers us. C. By following the path laid out in God’s Word those who are wise soon discover the LORD in places where others least expect Him. In our Gospel we hear that the wise men from the east did not find the one who was born as king of the Jews in the palace at Jerusalem, adorned in royal robes. They found the Christ-child in the arms of a peasant girl, living in a little house at Bethlehem. While some scoff at what they consider our foolishness, we who have been made spiritually wise know that our Lord continues to be found in the most unexpected places. Here, among this little flock, as the two or three gather together in His name to hear Him speak to them through the Gospel. There, at the baptismal font, as He comes to give us spiritual life and new birth through the Water and the Word. There, at that table, as He comes to feed us His very body and give us to drink of His own blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins. He still comes to us in this unexpected place and in some unexpected ways, but made wise unto salvation we know that this is where He has promised we would find Him. You are those who bear the mark of wisdom because you have left everything else behind this morning/evening to seek the LORD through His Word and you have been blessed to find Him in these unexpected ways. Transition: I thank God that, you are not content to casually observe Him from afar, but like the wise men of our Gospel have come here to worship Him, which is another mark of those who are wise. II. The Wise Will Worship Him. A. Still, today, the wise are those who will humble themselves and fall down in reverence before the LORD. The wise men who came from the east were not the first to worship Jesus, but they were not like the lowly shepherds who came to the stable on Christmas. These were society’s elite – men who were used to being in the presence of kings. They were high and mighty, wealthy and influential, but look what they did when they came to that modest house in the little town of Bethlehem: “Going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped Him.” Yes, they were great and learned men, but they did not come to Jesus or offer their worship in a high and mighty spirit. They had not come to give Jesus the honor of their noble presence or to impress lowly Joseph and Mary with their great knowledge. They had not come to show the people on the street what a great work they were doing for God. They fell down before Jesus in true humility and worshipped Him. They understood that the honor and privilege was all theirs. They had come so that they might see the great work that God was doing for them. So, they bowed down and they worshipped the Lord for who He was – the LORD of lords and King of kings. In the eyes of the world they may have been important and powerful but there they were humble creatures before their Creator and poor miserable sinners blessed to look upon the Son of God who had come to bring them forgiveness and salvation. Knowing that “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” they fell down before Jesus and worshipped Him. This Christmas season we have all had opportunities to see the Christ Child for ourselves and are here again to fall down before Him in humility of faith to worship Him, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. I pray that none of you are here because you think that this is some great work that makes you right with God, or to impress other people or to show the people out there on the street how good you are. I pray that in the wisdom of those men who travelled from the east you are here to fall down and worship the LORD in true humility for who He is and for the great work that He did for you there on the cross and is still doing for you here in this Divine Service. Some of us may consider ourselves the elite of society, a little smarter than others, more powerful, wealthy or influential, perhaps even somewhat morally superior. We are each proud in our own way, but here in God’s presence, in Christ’s presence, the wise realize that none of that counts for anything. In the eyes of a Holy God we are all sinful and unclean. Those who are wise by God’s standards recognize that it is not God who is honored by their presence in worship, but they who have been given the honor of God’s presence and the and privilege of receiving His undeserved blessings. We are here to humble ourselves before God, to bow down and confess that we are poor miserable sinners and to receive the forgiveness and salvation that Christ has won for us through His holy life, innocent death and glorious resurrection. This is the humble house where we, like the wise men of old, get to see Jesus and to receive the grace of God and the truth of God’s love that has come to us through Him. B. Another thing we can learn from the wise men of our Gospel is that their worship included the offering of extraordinary gifts. The gifts were not just items they found laying around the house, left-over regifts, or white elephant throw aways. Consider the three kinds of gifts they presented: Gold, denoting the riches of royalty. Frankincense, such as that offered to God as a sweet-smelling sacrifice. And Myrrh that was often used for anointing and embalming the dead. These were meaningful gifts which paid tribute to Jesus as the King of kings, the true God, and the One who would die for the sins of all people. When we worship God with our gifts, what do they say about our thoughts concerning Christ and what meaning do they hold? Are they leftovers after we have used our share? Are they like the tip we leave on the table for the waitress in which we say, “God, you gave me pretty good service this week” or “God, I think you could have done a better job”? If the so then our gifts are saying that we do not think much of Christ, at all and they mean that we do not love and honor Him as we should. The mark of a wise person is that they worship the LORD with the first and the best of all that God has given them. And they do it not because of what others will think of them. They do it because they believe that Jesus is their true and everlasting King, their God who has blessed them with life and every blessing, and their Savior who died on the cross for their sins, so that they may have eternal life. We worship the LORD with extraordinary gifts from the time, talents and treasures He has given us as a testimony to the whole world of who He is to us and should be to them. We worship Him by offering all that we are and all that we have as a living sacrifice simply because we love Him and want to honor for who He is and for the love that He first showed us. Concl.: Google may allow us to fool some people into thinking that we are geniuses, but what does God see when he looks upon us, tonight/today? Has the Holy Spirit led you to seek Him and to find Him here in His Word? Have you come to fall down in worship and to give Him extraordinary gifts from your heart? Then surely He is looking down and saying, “There are the truly wise!” Yes, by God’s power and grace you have been made wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. You have the marks of a true wise man. Amen.