Sacrifice and Selfishness
Text: Matthew 2:1–12 ESV
Good morning and welcome to the second week of Advent. If you weren't here last week, we have titled the Advent series this year, “Wrought in Wisdom and Wonder”. And if you're like me, you had no idea what that meant. I didn't even know how to spell it, to be honest.
But Ryan helpfully defined “wrought” for us by comparing the word wrought to the word work. Though the words are similar, to work, create, make, is such a general term while wrought demands that we see that the process was done with intentionality. This was done with care. That the process of making this was just as important as the outcome.
So what we're saying in this series is that God did not just make or improve this Christmas story. We are taking Advent to pause and say, “He wrought every detail. And he didn't do it randomly. He wasn't reacting. This was intentional.” Just like the builder of this table—a table we say is made out of wrought iron—intentionally put these arches in. They are not random. There's purpose behind what he was doing.
And today, we are going to marvel at how God wrought, in wisdom and wonder, love into the Christmas story. And this love comes in very surprising ways, but also very intentional ways. Specifically, we are going to look at what selfishness and sacrifice have to do with love. So here's where we're going—here's the main point from today—love joyfully sacrifices, having nothing to do with selfishness.
Here is how we are going to dig into this. We are going to look at four people but look at it in two sets—one who is the example, the other is the foil. If you remember, a foil is a character (or plot) who draws attention to characteristics in another character. Think of good cop/bad cop. The bad cop makes the good cop stand out even more.
We're going to begin with the wise men and see their sacrifice. Then, we will see their foil, the chief priests and scribes who display selfishness. That’s the first set. We are going to spend most of our time here because I think we are supposed to see the wise men as the ones responding rightly to the birth of Christ.
Then we will look at the second set, Herod’s selfishness as the foil to Jesus’s sacrifice.
Okay first, the wise men’s sacrifice and their foil, the chief priests and scribes with their selfishness. Look at verse one:
“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem.” (Matthew 2:1 ESV)
Let me set the scene because as we do I think the stark contrast between the wise men and the chief priests and scribes will become more and more painfully clear.
Look at the first part of verse 1: “Now after Jesus was born.” Now, I don’t know about you, but I definitely have read this story multiple times, and I just placed it in my mind as happening immediately, like days after Jesus was born. But this is at least a little bit after he's born.
Here’s how we know that. First, the wise men find Mary and the baby in a house, not in a manger.
Second, we read in verse one that these wise men came from the east when they saw the star. That means they had to travel at least 400 miles, probably more. It took them weeks, maybe months to travel this far, just to get to Jerusalem.
And sure enough, we find out in verse one, that these wise men have finally arrived in Jerusalem. And they're going to find out they need to go to Bethlehem to meet this baby.
Now look at verse 2, and we will find out why these wise men have traveled so far:
“Saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:2 ESV)
Did you catch that? They came to worship him. At this point, we now get this reminder that God must be doing something here. This is very strange. This kind of event is what pushes us to say, “God wrought something here.” Why?
Because of who these wise men are. Call them magi, call them wise men, whatever you want to call them. What is stunning is that God has worked in their hearts so that they have come to worship this king.
These wise men are really magicians or sorcerers. They would study all different kinds of religions and are especially known for being astrologers.
They study all these different religious texts, look at the stars, and they make predictions. Really they're just pagan, idolatrous Gentiles. They are certainly not Jews.
Apparently, these wise men had been studying the Jewish scripture and had realized that there's this star that God had promised, and it promised the birth of his Son. And so they dropped everything, and they came to worship him.
But what we find out in verses two and three is that they don't have all the information. They want to know where the baby is, so they ask, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?’ They asked Herod, and Herod is troubled by this. But this is where we meet the foil to these wise men—the chief priests and scribes.
Herod assembles the chief priests and the scribes, those Jews who are experts in the Old Testament, and asks them the questions these wise men were asking, and they give the right answer. Look at verse 4–6:
“And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” (Matthew 2:4–6 ESV)
So Herod gets back to those wise men and sends them on their way to Bethlehem. And just so we know, Bethlehem is only six miles away. I don’t know, maybe a two hour walk. But at this point the contrast between the wise men and the chief priest and scribes is staring us right in the face.
The chief priests knew the right answer of where Christ was born. And what I think we are supposed to feel is that these pagan worshippers have walked hundreds of miles over weeks, maybe months, and the chief priests and scribes, who have been waiting for their Messiah won't move six miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Talk about selfishness versus sacrifice.
But the chief priests and the scribes had their own ideas, their own plans. They had the kind of Messiah who was the King that would build their kingdom, bring their kind of peace. And the kind of king who was going to defeat the Romans once-and-for-all is not some nobody born in a manger. It wasn't Jesus for them because he didn’t fit their desires. Meanwhile, the wise men drop everything and travel to see this King.
And if you are on the fence wondering if these wise men are good examples of sacrifice, look at what they do when they arrive in Bethlehem and find Jesus and Mary in a house.
Starting in verse 10:
“When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.” (Matthew 2:10–11 ESV)
Matthew, in a not so subtle way, is trying to write to say, look at these Gentiles, these pagans who don't even know the Scriptures well enough to know where Jesus is born; they travel hundreds of miles, come and worship Jesus, and they give him gifts. They sacrifice giving frankincense, myrrh, and gold.
Back to the main point of this week: love in the Christmas story looks like this, as shown by these wise men: love expressed through joyful sacrifices, having left behind selfishness.
But I think Matthew has even more he wants us to see with them. I think he wants us to see that God is up to something here. God has wrought something, and the proper response is wonder.
Here is what I mean. God had written long before this day, a promise that people would follow a star to see the promised one. Here is what God said in Numbers 24:17
“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.” (Numbers 24:17 ESV)
Furthermore, he promised that foreigners (like wise men from another country in the east) would bring gifts to the newborn king. Here is Psalm 72:15 and Isaiah 60:6—
“Long may he live; may gold of Sheba be given to him! May prayer be made for him continually, and blessings invoked for him all the day!” (Psalm 72:15 ESV)
“A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD.” (Isaiah 60:6 ESV)
And all this to show that God has wrought this story. It is no coincidence that these wise men arrive from the east with gold, frankincense, and myrrh, while the chief priests and the scribes do nothing.
And it is meant to lead us to wonder. The proper response is to join the wise men and worship this one born as king.
As I chewed on this text this week, wondering about helpful ways to try to apply it, the most obvious one was staring at me the whole time. Before we talk about loving others, before we talk about sacrificing for your neighbor, we have to begin where the Bible begins—with loving God himself.
And one of the ways that we know we love God—or anything really—is that we are willing to sacrifice whatever we need to get it. Here is what I mean:
The wise men give up time—they walk— and they give gifts so they might worship.
How do I show love for my kids? One way is if there is someone who kidnapped my sons and said, “Hey, you know what? I'll give them back to you if you give me everything you own—all your money, all your possessions.” There's no question in my mind. I love them. I will gladly give up everything if I could have them back.
Advent is a perfect time for me to ask myself, “do I love God? Do I love God like this? If I was alive in that day, would I leave everything and walk four hundred miles to worship and give any treasures I had to show my affections for this baby?”
Here is how Paul describes his love for God:
“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:7–8 ESV)
I think in this story we see living examples of the wise men saying, “I will count everything as loss. I'll leave. I’ll walk hundreds of miles. I'll take riches and gold and give them to this Christ so I can join in the joy of worshiping him.” And that's love—love sacrifices. Love gives up things to gain what it loves.
And the chief priests and scribes are a great warning that it is one thing to know about this Christ, but it is a whole different thing to love this Christ. The Bible seems to constantly remind us that we cannot settle with just knowing about God. We must love this God. We must worship him. If you have never worshipped God, if you have not come to love him, come now! Don’t sit back like the chief priests and the scribes.
And if you’re sitting here thinking, “my love for God has cooled down”, let me encourage you: Advent is such a good time to start to seek God again, praying that your love will increase.
In fact, we have a reading plan we are publishing each week with this as one of the goals. Would you consider joining in reading it with us? And would you pray, “God will you use this to increase my love for you so that I might be able to join Paul in saying, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” ”
Okay that was pairing number one. Now we move on to the foil of King Herod with Jesus as our example. We are going to see once again that love joyfully sacrifices, having nothing to do with selfishness.
So let's go back and see Herod in our text. Here it comes up in verse two, the wise men actually come to Herod, and they say,
“Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:2 ESV)
Then we get Herod’s reaction:
“When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” (Matthew 2:3 ESV)
So here it is, the example of selfishness. If you didn’t see it clearly in the chief priests and the scribes, you can see it right here with Herod. Because it takes almost no stretch of the imagination to come up with why Heron was troubled. Herod was appointed King by the Romans. The wise men walk to the door and say, “Hey, where's the one born king of the Jews?”
If you're king, and you hear this, it’s not going to sit well if you want to keep your throne. And sure enough Herod is troubled, and he sends the wise men out on this mission, so that he can go and “worship” this new king.
And if you were wondering if this might be what is going through Herod’s head, the guy killed his two sons because he was worried about them usurping him. It is like Matthew has put a huge sign over Herod that blinks “selfish.” Herod’s number one concern in the world is Herod.
He is the ugly foil to Jesus, the one born king of the Jews. They are such completely different kings. You begin to feel the difference when you read this of Christ in Philippians 2:5–7—
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” (Philippians 2:5–7 ESV)
Herod, the selfish king, versus Christ, the one who was in the form of God, he was with God in the heavens and had everything, but he gave it all up to be born as a baby in a manger. Christ embodies the truth that love joyfully sacrifices, having nothing to do with selfishness.
Oh the difference between Herod’s selfishness that will take out anyone or anything that stands in the way of his reign, versus Christ, who will give up everything to be born king! Christ is a perfect example that love joyfully sacrifices, having nothing to do with selfishness.
And we already talked about how the principal response to this text is to ask, “are we loving God.” But already in that verse in Philippians, we see something else that this Christmas story is supposed to get us to see. Look at the beginning of Phlippians 2:5 again:
“Have this mind among yourselves.” (Phlippians 2:5 ESV)
What mind? The mind of Christ that would empty himself for the sake of others. In other words, this Christmas story is not only about our need to worship this newborn king, but to also follow his example of loving others this way.
When Christ talks about summarizing the Christian life, you know where he goes after saying,
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37 ESV)
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39 ESV)
So if Christ is a great example of how love sacrifices for the sake of others, we learn that he stands as the example for us on how we are to love those around us.
And as soon as we do that, we realize that this selfishness in Herod happens to be part of our story. I hate to break it to you. You are born selfish. And you have no hope of overcoming it, unless God does a work like he did in the wise men to move them to love God above themselves.
If you are wondering if selfishness is our default, let me ask you, when you pick up a family photo who is the first person you look at? Yeah, selfishness is our default. But Christ gives us hope that we can, with him through us, live as he lived not as Herod lived. But before first talking to the adults about how we might do this during Christmas, I first want to talk to the kids in the room.
First, thank you for joining us in the service. I want you to know that we really enjoy having you be a part of what we're doing on Sunday morning. And I want to challenge you kids to apply what you're hearing this morning. Here is how you can apply this—ask God to help you think of others first. I'm guessing you're like all of us; you tend to think about yourself first. So I want to tell you a story from when I was a kid.
It was Christmas time, and my family decided to do a game where we put out a bunch of presents that we had each bought. We put it in the middle, and then the first person grabbed a present, and they unwrapped it. And then it came to the next person, and they could either take a present from someone else, or they can unwrap another one. A gift exchange. But here was the key. A present could only be stolen twice. Then, it was not able to be stolen.
Okay, there were only two kids in this gift exchange—myself and my younger sister. Well, guess what happened. Someone opened up a Tickle Me Elmo. And eventually, my sister gets to Tickle Me Elmo. She has taken it once, and it comes to my turn. And I have a choice before me, I could take the Tickle Me Elmo from my sister, or I could go get another present.
So what did Don, as a little kid do? I took the Tickle Me Elmo. And my sister cried. And you know what, I don't have that Tickle me Elmo anymore. But I still have a memory in my mind of that moment. That was a moment where I thought of myself first. I thought of Don first. I didn't think about my sister first. And so I'm stuck with that memory.
We call that selfish, thinking of yourself first. And this Christmas season, you're gonna have a lot of opportunities to think about yourself first or to think about others first. And I want to say to you, just listen real quick, when I was a kid I didn’t know Jesus. So I just felt guilty and didn’t have Jesus to go to and receive forgiveness for not thinking of my sister. But guess what, there will be times this Christmas where you won’t think of others first. And guess what, if you know Jesus, you can go to him and receive forgiveness.
But you know what else you have if you know Jesus that I didn’t have, you have someone who can help you think of others first. If you would ask God, “God, please help me to think of others first”, you know what God has promised to do? Help you! So I want to challenge you. Will you pray that with your parents this week? And then after you pray that, look for chances to think of others first. Maybe you could do the dishes for your parents. Maybe you could draw someone a picture or write someone a letter. Look everywhere for opportunities to think of others first. And when you do, you will be following the example of Christ.
Now adults, examples of the call to love others are everywhere. I mean, this Advent feels like no other Advent I’ve experienced. As Christians, we have the opportunity to be those who display a kind of joyful sacrifice that will look absolutely shocking right now. So many are bummed they can’t travel, have lost hope because of a pandemic or election or whatever it might be. The point is, surrounding us is an epidemic of selfishness. The difference it could make this year to not only love your neighbor but joyfully love your neighbor feels so incredible. Because it will stand out as so extraordinary.
For example, with COVID it is as simple as putting on a mask whether you think it is necessary or not. It is as simple as shoveling someone’s sidewalk. Inviting someone into your home if they are comfortable with that right now.
But it's not as if you can just conjure that up. You can’t just force yourself to have this extraordinary love. You have got to go to the source, and you have got to get a deep drink from this fountain of Christ. That way his love will overflow from you.
So in the text this morning we saw two sets of people—one the good example, the other the foil. Both sets displayed that love joyfully sacrifices, having nothing to do with selfishness. The first was the wise men set in their sacrifice and the foil was the chief priests and the scribes. The second set was Herod the king vs Jesus the King. And in this story, we see a God who has been crafting this story for far longer than the day Jesus was born. It is right to say this is a story wrought in wisdom and wonder.
And this morning as we turn to communion, we come remembering that this story is not yet complete. God has wrought a much larger story, one that ends with his Son coming back. So yes we get to remember that Christ came as a baby. But we also get to look forward to the fact that this very Christ is returning.
And oh, if the wise men had exceedingly great joy on his first coming, how great will the joy be when he comes again?