Worship & Holy Communion 24th December 2014 at 11.30pm

‘- Our King, Our Great High Priest, Our Saviour from Sin ’

Intro:

Today is one of the most special days of the whole year.

We are celebrating because today is Jesus’ birthday! Today, over 2000 years ago, the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, came from heaven and was born on earth as a little baby.

People had been talking about the birth of a special King in for many years. Now that it had happened, the news spread fast and many people were filled with excitement. Like any newborn, lots of people wanted to see Him. Lots of people wanted to bring Him a gift to celebrate His arrival.

One such group were a number of very clever scientists. These men were called . They were experts in astronomy. They are better known as ‘the 3 wise men’ although the bible doesn’t actually tell us how many of them there were.

They saw a special bright star in the sky which showed them where the baby Jesus had been born. They saddled up their donkeys and they travelled to Bethlehem to see the baby Jesus and to bring Him 3 special gifts.

I thought we might reflect for a few moments on the presents the wise men brought Jesus. As we do that we will discover that each of these gifts helps us to understand something very important about Jesus and about why His coming to earth is so important.

1 Gold:

The first present that the wise men brought was Gold (Picture). In the bible Gold is always something that was given to someone who was a King. A King would have a gold throne. A King would wear a gold crown. A King would wear expensive gold jewellery. In the bible gold is also something that was used to remind people about God. That’s because gold is pure and is the most precious thing we can think of. That’s why God’s people the Israelites made some of their church furniture out of gold. To remind them that God was there with them.

The wise men were very clever in bringing Jesus a gift of gold. It was a perfect gift for a baby who as well as being human is also actually God. It was a perfect gift for a baby who is actually the King of the entire universe.

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The question is are we prepared to bow and worship Him like the wise men did? You see the truth is, if we want Christ to be our friend and Saviour we must be prepared to submit to His authority in our lives. We need to be willing to hand Him the keys of our lives and say, “OK Lord, you’re in control now. I’m prepared to obey you whatever you tell me to do.” Let me encourage you to allow the King of Kings to be your King this Christmas.

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The second present the wise men brought was something called Frankincense. It is a milky white goo that comes from the Boswellia tree (Picture). To get this goo a person would make a long cut in the bark of the tree and let the goo run out down the tree trunk (Picture). As it ran down the tree the goo would begin to harden in the sun. After about 2 weeks it would be hard enough to break off in little pieces, almost like little plastic rocks (Picture).

These little pieces of Frankincense could then be sold. They were very expensive. They could be crushed using a stone into a fine powder. That powder could then be mixed with water and oils to make nice smelling perfumes.

As well as being used to make perfume, Frankincense powder was used by Priests in the temple. The priest would burn the frankincense and the smoke would rise up into the air and make the air smell really nice. It’s a bit like what happens in some churches today. When the priest or people saw the smoke going up and when they smelt the nice smell of the burning Frankincense it would remind them of how when they talked to God their prayers would go up to heaven and God would hear them. It also reminded them that the Priest would pray to God for them.

The wise men were very clever in bringing Jesus a gift of Frankincense. It was the perfect gift for a baby who would be the greatest and most important Priest of all. Frankincense reminds us that Jesus is Our Great High Priest. He is alive in heaven today and there He is always praying to God the Father for us. Because He is alive, we can talk to Jesus every day. We can ask Him to forgive us when we do wrong. We can ask Him to help other people who we know are sick or in trouble. We can thank Him for all the good things He gives us and does for us. The great news this Christmas is that we don’t need someone else to pray to Jesus for us. We can pray directly to Jesus ourselves. Jesus is Our Great high Priest. Let me encourage you to talk to Him every day for yourself, for your family and for others.

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The third present the wise men brought was something called Myrrh (Picture).

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Myrrh is a bit like Frankincense. It is a red goo that comes out of the Commiphora tree. It is collected in the same way as Frankincense. Like Frankincense, Myrrh was very expensive. Myrrh was used to make perfume and incense. People also put it in their drinks to take away a pain that they had in their body. But one of the most important uses for Myrrh was that when it was crushed into a powder it was placed on people when they were dead in order to make them smell nice.

The wise men knew what they were doing when they brought Jesus a gift of Myrrh. They understood something of the old propechies made about this special King. They knew that though He would be great, He would experience much suffering. He would be despised and rejected, a man aquainted with grief. He would be pierced for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. And yet somehow through the punishment He would suffer, we would receive peace. Mysteriously, through the wounds that He would experience, we would find healing.

It was only later that Jesus’ disciples and through their testimony that we would understand the full meaning of the prophecies made about Jesus, this suffering King. The myrrh reminds us that Jesus died on the cross to take the blame for all the wrong things we have ever done or will ever do. Every wrong thought, every wrong action, every wrong word. Jesus bore the full anger of God the Father for every human when He died on the cross. The great news is that if we simply believe that Jesus has done this for us then God will forgive us completely and forever. Surely that is the greatest Christmas present ever!

Let me encourage you this Christmas to stop stressing yourself out trying to somehow make yourself good enough to be accepted by God. The truth is, we’ll never be acceptable. We’ve all disobeyed Him. We all deserve His judgement. That’s why Jesus came! To die in our place. To take the punishment we deserve. It’s only when we really believe and trust in what Jesus has done for us that God will accept us. Not because of what we have done. But because we are accepting what Jesus has done for us!

Conclusion:

I want to wish all of you a very happy Christmas and a blessed New Year. I hope you have great fun and great excitement as you open your presents together. But as you do that, let me encourage you to remember the greatest gift of all and the gifts the wise men brought to Him.

The gold reminds us that Jesus is God and King- But is He your King?

The frankincense reminds us that He is our Great High Priest- Alive in heaven forever. Why don’t you talk to Him this Christmas?

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The Myrrh reminds us that He died so that we might be forgiven for all our sins. Are you trusting in what He has done for you at the cross? Or are you somehow trying to frantically make your own way to God?

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