Matthew 2024

Matthew chapter 2, starting at first 1.

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem, In Bethlehem in Jude, during the time of king herod, Major from the east came to Jerusalem and asked. Where is the 1 who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When herod heard this, he was disturbed and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.

In Bethlehem and Jude, they replied. Well, this is what the prophet has written, but you, Bethlehem, and the land of Judah are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, or out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people, Israel. Then, Howard called the Meijai secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Oh, good morning. My name is Pete Woodcock. I'm 1 of the elders of the church. And it's great to to have you with us. If you're online, then nice to see you.

If you're maidens family, it's lovely to have you with us as well. And if you're just a guest, then great. A couple of, weeks ago, a friend told me that they were advised to move house and buy near a really good secondary school. And then they'd be able to get their son because they lived near be able to get their son into that secondary school. Their son's only about 6 months old.

It's extraordinary planning, isn't it? That some people have. You know, that that that you would think about a secondary school you know, 11 or 12 years in the future. I do find that quite extraordinary, but I guess it's only natural that that parents want the best for their children, but I think actually that type of planning is only gonna bring massive anxiety and frustration. Because it's there's too many moving parts on there.

I mean, that school might not be there in 12 years time. It may turn from a good school to a bad school. That happens all the time. So that may not be the school you want your kid to go to. Or your your son may not be up to the school academically, and so you're gonna push him and make him do more homework and try and get him in there, the frustrations and the anxiety to do that.

But that made me think of a really old song that only a few in this room will know, and I I I have I'm looking at 1 that we'll know. Let it all know. It took me back to 19 79, an old song that was around just as I became a follower of Jesus. It was a by a group called ecstasy and it's called making plans for Nigel. Do you know that?

Yeah. Do you know that? Yep. Who knows that? Making plans for Nigel.

And the whole point of the song was that there are middle class parents making plans for their son, Nigel. And it didn't matter whether he was happy or not. If he said he was happy, he was happy. That's how the song goes. And the plans they were making for Nigel back in 19 79, was that he would be in top management in British steel.

Now is there such a thing? So it's interesting. This is how it goes. We're only making plans for Nigel. Do you tonight?

It's Chris. Great song. We only want what's best for him. We're only making plans for Nigel. Nigel just needs that helping hand.

And if young Nigel says he's happy, he must be happy. He must be happy. He must be happy in his world. We're only making plans for Nigel. He has his future in British steel.

We're only making plans for Nigel. Nigel's whole future is as good as sealed. And, you know, I know parents need to make plans. And we've actually, you know, you've made promises about the plans and stuff that you'll make for Ezra. You made them family.

But, it's right to provide and make plans for our children. There's no doubt about it. But how do we know they're the right plans? How do we know they're the right plans for our children? How do we know what's best for them?

We're only making plans for Ezra. Really? We only want the best for him. We're only making plans for Ezra. Ezra needs just that helping hand.

Well, that's true. That's absolutely true. But what are the plans we're making and are they too, you know, manipulative? We're here to give thanks to god for Ezra at the beginning of his life. Here's a question I wonder what other people will be giving thanks to god for Ezra at the end of his life.

What guidance from his parents will he be eternally thankful for? Between life and death of Ezra, what are the best plans for him? What plans are we making for Ezra? Is it that he just would be happy in this world? Well, there's something in that?

But is there anything more? Now the Bible passage that we read, because we're at the beginning of December, and we're stout now starting to think of Christmas. We can talk about Christmas now. We're in December, is that very, very famous passage of the Magai, or sometimes they're called the 3 Kings. We're gonna sing a song at the end.

We, 3 Kings. What a song. We're gonna sing it at the end. I mean, there's only people will think there's only 3 because there are 3 gifts, and they probably weren't Kings, they're Magai, they're sort of wise men. You know that story where they're following the star.

And many people take from that story, and many people think that actually we're we'll find our plans in the stars. Do the stars plan our life? Is that what we want for Ezra to look at the stars? Or do the stars at least help us map out the best choices in life? So this is my first point.

Look at the stars and see how they shine for you. You know your songs, you might get that 1. We're a little bit more up to date than 19 79 now. Coldplay. Know it?

Yep. Their first 1, I think, look at the stars and see how they shine for you and everything you do, yeah, and they're all yellow. Well, they're wrong on that because the stars are not all yellow, but, you know, that's know, they were young in those days. All around the world. Let's look at the stars.

All around the world. There's an instinct in humanity all around the world to look up at the stars and the planets. And and not just in awe and looking at the beauty of those planets, and the more we know, and the more the telescopes are bigger, and the the more the we find out about those planets, the more sort of beautiful and strange they are. Not only looking up in awe, but actually saying things like we believe that if the planets and the moons and the stars are in line, they're gonna help us and affect our our very, very day to day life. So many believe that.

China and many of the Asian countries, they name their years after animals from the zodiac. The 12 animals from the zodiac. If you're born a rabbit that affects you, apparently, and you're not compatible with someone who's born a rooster. If you're born in the year of the pig, then you're not compatible with someone who's born in the year of the snake. Yeah?

If you're a snake, don't look to a for a pig for a husband. I I think those very words You know, if if there's a pig, you'll probably best not to marry them. But is is anyone here a pig? Hands up, you're in the year of the pig. There we go then.

Where's your husband? He's not here. No. So, you know, the now in Britain, we have a a a a slightly different system of zodiac, but it's it's it's the same principle. If the planets line up, then you're gonna have a good relationship.

If the moon is rising in Mars, then, you know, it means that you can change your job and you'll have good opportunities or not or whatever. I don't know what you think about astrology or horoscopes. What do you think? Do you have you read them recently? I mean, it's this time of year that they they become big for the new year.

You can have ones, you know, specially written out for you, not just the ones in the newspaper. Do the stars actually control our day to day lives? Do you think that? Or at least do they help us navigate when they're all lined up, we can make the right choices. What are your assumptions about the universe that we live in?

Do the stars really give out vibes? That help us in our finances and our love life and our relationships and our job. Ann and myself a few months ago went to Glastonbury. Not not the Glastonbury music festival. I have been to that once, but just Glastonbury, the town.

I've always wanted to go. I'd never been. And I always wanted to go up the big tour, the big sort of hill thing. That's where I wanted to go. And it was amazing Glastonbury.

Because he walked down the high street, and every shot offers something about the stars or horoscopes. And if not that, crystals, I heard a bloke explaining to another bloke on the street as I was just sort of drinking my coffee and listening in, about how, you know, you can't have this this, sort of crystal alongside, you know, this precious stone because they would cause frictions. And what you need to do is to have this which will chill you out. Is that right? Or maybe the lay lines.

You know, there are lay lines that are around the earth. It's is that the key to unlocking life? Or there's body energy, the auras. And you went down the high street and there's people that can massage your aura and and cleanse you and properly balance your spirit. The the what about speaking to dead ancestors?

But, you know, if the dead ancestors are around, and many believe this, that whole spirited away, film and play is amazing film, is about the dead ancestors, isn't it, that are around, and, they affect us, and we need to somehow release them and move them on. In the spirit world. Is that right? Or what about the layout of your furniture? Peng shui or whatever it's called?

You know, you've gotta have, you know, the lights in the right place or your sofas or your toilets gotta face east or not face east, face west or whichever way, you know, the toilet is it's so important to get that right. Is that what we're going to tell everyone? Or when you walk down at Glassery High Street, there's a bloke who tells your future and your life by the shape of your skull. That mom makes me laugh. They're gonna feel your skull or the palms of your hands, the lines on your hands.

Oh, that's a long life. You're gonna have 15 wives. Yeah? I've had my wife for a long time, so I've gotta get 14 in, and I'm nearly dead. You know, and, you know, or tarot cards or or or the tea leaves and the tea cups.

They're all there. Are these the things that we look to to unlock the best life so that we can have the best life now? My real for my relationships and my finances, my family, my job, and my health. Now We may not fully believe these things, but do we impart? You know, do we wear that amulet just in case?

All these things, they seem to have some power. Now when we read the Bible, even in fun, these things are seen as dangerous. Even in fun, they're seen as dangerous. And why are they seen as dangerous? Well, there's a number of reasons, but here's the 1 I want to think about because what they do is they do something right and then something wrong.

What they do is they make us have a sense of transcendence. Something spiritual, something bigger, something outside of us. Something that's ruling that isn't me. They initially make us an even of god perhaps, something spiritual, something transcendent. They take me out of me and make me look at the stars.

But here's the danger that I wanted to think about. In the end, it turns into about me and about this life. And about which school I go to. We gaze up at the stars, and there's a sense of bigness all around the world. There's something about humans that look at the stars.

And know there's something bigger, but in the end, we turn it round to our tiny little lives of finance and jobs and relationships. Are the stars really sending vibes out? About your small little life. Is the universe really about you? We stand outside.

We gaze. It's about me. Instead of leading us to the creator of those things, those crystals, those rubies, those stars. We end up thinking just about the created and turning it back on ourselves. The Bible gives warning to this.

It gives warning to this. It talks about people that Listen to this. It's quite hard. It's quite hard stuff. That exchange the truth of god for a lie and worship and serve created things.

Rather than the creator who is forever praised amen. That's the verse from the Bible. He's forever praised because there's something bigger. There's a god that always is worthy of us praising him that so much bigger that actually we'll find our identity if we look to him, but what we do is change the creator for the created. Here's an ancient prophet.

His name is Isaiah, and it's in his, prophecy chapter 47. Let me just read some of it. I haven't got it up, so you have to listen carefully. He's warning about these things. He says all the council you have received has only worn you out.

I'll come back to that in a minute. All the council you've received has only worn you out. Let your astrologers come forward. Those stargazers who make predictions month by month. Let them save you from what is coming upon you.

Now here's an ancient prophet saying, here they come, these stargazers, these astrologers, and month by month by month, they're predicting things to for you, and he says, they won't come true. Let them say that it won't happen. But the big thing that struck me was all the council of those stargazers, all and those horoscopes, all the council you've received will only wear you out. When I walked down Glastonbury High Street, I thought about if I popped into every shop to have my skull measured, then my hand my palm taken. To have my tarot cards.

And there are people doing this. The money and the exhaustion and the wear and tear of that. I must burn this candle and not that candle. I must wear this ruble and not that ruble. I must smell this.

Take this in. It wears you out. And it doesn't help. But you get addicted to it. Jesus in his very famous sermon on the sermon on the Mount.

Talks about people that worry about their clothes and what they're gonna eat, and they're worrying about which school their kids go to. It's that sort of stuff. He says, why are you worried? Why do you have anxiety? Isn't it better to know that god is father?

And he clothes the birds of the air? And he could have said, the planets in all their beauty. He closed them. So why are you worried about it? Look at the stars.

See how they shine for you. And everything you do, they're all yellow. That's the problem with humanity, whether you believe in this stuff or not. I'm not bothered really, but we are so narcissistic. We turn everything into ourselves.

We look at our own reflection when we see something like the planets and say, how does that affect my love life, my finance? My life on this planet, and that's an error. And the Bible warns us about that error. And so here's my second point. Star of wonder lead us to thy perfect light.

We're gonna sing that funny old song, at the end. I I actually really love it. And it talks about we, 3 kings. As I said, They probably won kings, and there was more than 3 of them, but it doesn't matter. It's it's poetry of this whole issue.

But the chorus is amazing of that song. And this is how it goes. Star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright. Westwood leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light. So do the stars have anything to say to us about life?

Do they have a message for us? Well, the ancient magi, the ancient wise men, were traveling a long way to bring their symbolic gifts to the lord Jesus Christ, the baby Jesus, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And there there's so much meaning in that, and you'll get that in the song that we're gonna sing in a minute. But they're directed to Jesus by this appearance of a star in the sky. And the star brings them to Jesus, not just some vague thing.

The star specifically, they say, obviously told him about Jesus because it says where is the 1 who has been born king of the Jews? We have come to worship him. So the star reminded them that there was this king of the Jews who is in fact the Messiah, the king of heaven, who was going to be born into this world, and we wanna worship him. So these Majai, when they looked at the star, they saw the real message of the star and the stars. Here's a song in the Old Testament, a Psalm, it's called, it's Psalm 19.

It says this. The heavens declare the glory of god. The skies proclaim the work of his hands. Now you gotta get this. When it says heavens, it's not talking about sort of the heaven and hell thing.

It's talking about the midnight sky, the sky above. Which is very interesting because today we call that space. But the ancients and the bible always called it the heavens. Space is void of anything. It's cold.

It's dark. It's void. So that when, often the moderns look up at the sky, there's just space. There's just void. But the Bible and the ancients called it the heavens, and he says the heavens is filled with the glory of God.

Now what's the glory of God? Well, if you read the Bible, the glory of God is Jesus. He's the glory of god. So when you look up at the stars and the planets and the sun and the moon, you're supposed to see not just space cold void stuff. But Jesus, the maker of these things.

Listen to how it goes on. The heavens declare the glory of god. The skies proclaim his the work of his hands. That there's something when we look up at this creation. It's made.

It's designed. It's beautiful. We can't quite explain it. The scientists say all the planets should roll around 1 way, but, no, there's some rolling the other way. How does that happen?

They can't be explained. The night sky is so full of the handy work of someone. It's like an artist painting, putting something here and the nearer you get, the more detail you see. Of these beautiful planets, the heavens declare the glory of god, Jesus. The skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day, they pour forth speech. Night after night, they reveal knowledge. They have no speak. They have no speech. They use no words.

No sound is heard from them. Their voice goes out to all the earth, their words to the end of the world. You they're not saying words, but they're saying everything. There's a designer and a creator, and he's magnificent, and he's brand and he's beautiful, and every star isn't yellow. It's all kinds of different colors.

Spilling around. And the more we know, the more fascinating they are. The heavens are concerned with a person, but not you or me, but the Messiah the 1 to come. And the stars are all about him. John about you and whether you should take that job or not.

Is the universe really all about you? These Majai, these wise men understood the true meaning of the heavens. It was like a giant finger pointing It was like the whole cosmos. It's bowing down to this new baby born, and it's all looking at him. This is what we're about.

This is what creation is about. This is what the whole universe is about. This star of wonder points to where light really comes from. The light of the world. The universe According to the magi and according to the Bible, orbits around none other than Jesus, not you.

Around Jesus. And the lovely thing about the Christopher story is Jesus will pull you into his orbit so that you can shine something of his glory back like the moon reflects the sun. You can be part of his majestic plan, and not a meteorite, flying off outside of orbit. Into empty void space, but something that reflects his glory. And that's what the major I saw.

They saw that very clearly. Let's just root it a bit now. We can get so worked up about our tiny lives. What school is Esra going to go to? What's he going to become?

Is he gonna become famous? Maybe he'll be a great scientist, a great artist. A great botanist. What did you study? Great historian.

Ezra, the great historian. Oh, you know, we know about Tom Holland and you know about all the all we wanna. You have you ever read Ezra? He really digs deep. He might be that.

Be quiet if he was? It doesn't matter if he wasn't. It doesn't matter if he's just an ordinary person. That actually is never in any history book, and no 1 writes anything about him because he he lives rather a dull life. It doesn't matter if he's orbiting Jesus.

Because his life isn't dull, because he's got eternity right, because he's reflecting none other than the bigness of Jesus himself. That's the main thing. That's what he wants to thank you for. But what score he goes to? And that leads me to my third point, and then I'll finish.

Look up and wonder and ponder. It's very important. We need this regular therapy, and it's 1 of the reasons why we we have so many issues in the mental health sort of area is that this is the therapy we really need and we seem to have lost. And that is to ponder our place in the universe and to look up and wonder and to look away from our little lives and what school we go to and what job we have and how much money we've got in the bank and our little relationships. We are meant to wonder.

We are meant to look up and marvel. We are meant to look out at the universe and be humbled and put in our place that what are we in all of this vastness? What are we? And yet when you ask that question, and see that everything's about the lord Jesus Christ. Then you know the message of the Bible which says he invites you to orbit him.

He invites you into his plans. And now suddenly you're reflecting something of his glory. So your dignity and your wonder comes from him? You are special then. We need to wonder.

We need to drink deep in the glory of god. We need the constant therapy of not what school I go to. But who am I in the plan of god? It's interesting that the Majori, when they came to Jesus, were overjoyed and worshiped. They were overjoyed and worshiped with what?

With themselves? With their cleverness? No. Always outside. Joy is always about something outside.

We're overjoyed, and worship is saying that there's something bigger than me, and then you'll be overjoyed. Now if you read the other stories of the events of Christmas time, and it's worth doing that, and you read about Mary, and you read about the shepherds that come to Jesus, they use the word wonder and pondered and amazed all the time. Their life isn't dull. There are even the shepherds and just this this teenager girl, Mary, they're taken up with wonder and pondering and understanding in their hearts. These things go on.

We need to teach our kids, and you need to teach Ezra to go out into the world and ponder and wonder, wonder at things. Far too quickly. We just dismissed stuff. Far too quickly, we think of the negatives, and we sort of wallow in our grumbling instead of actually thankful for the good things. Look at the child's hand.

Look at Ezra's hand and wonder at it. It's a phenomenal thing. It's a wonder, isn't it? No fingerprint the same as anybody else's. It's a wonder.

If the moon only came out once every 20 years, you'd go out and have a look at it, wouldn't you? But because it's so regular, We forget to look and wonder. You have people even in this congregation that hate foxes. I mean, they're weird. If there was only 5 foxes in the world, David Ashenburg would do a program about them, and the rich people would go and watch them.

When did you last look at a spider? Making a spider web? Or do you walk out and the spider web's over? You just break it off. Are you wondering?

Well, you're just living? It's amazing, isn't it? That we can watch a film and it will even move us maybe to tears or is a powerful story. And we're moved by it and challenged by it in some way. But, oh, no.

We've got 10 seconds before the next 1 comes up. We need time to wander and ponder. And partly, the stars are there to make us do that. To regularly go out. It's a problem of, you know, England.

This is, you you know, hardly ever see the sky, but we need to go somewhere where you can see. Look at all these little things. That's like the stars, and you watch them. And look at them. And ponder.

Who made them? How did they come about? What is life about? Is it bigger than me? Can I be connected to that big list, gains and wonder?

And the star led them to Jesus. Is it time to relook at him and wonder about him? Why did Jesus come to this world? Think about his teaching if you read that recently. It's extraordinary.

Why worry about what you eat and what you drink when there's a heavenly father who will clothe you better than the sparrows. Have you ever looked at this and wondered and pondered and given it time? What about his death? What's that all about? He seemed to be talking about dying a lot, and he came to die.

He talks Have you wondered about that? Have you pondered that? Have you thought about what's going on? What about his resurrection? Who else has come from the grave?

Have you looked at that? Investigated that, thought about that? What does that mean? Twinkle twinkle little star. How I wonder what you are.

Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle twinkle little star. How I wonder what you are. What are you? Are you just gases and dust?

Is that all it is? So you have programs of professors that wander and look up and they see something of the beauty, and then they tell us it's just dust. That it? Is there not a creator? 1 of our, children in Sunday school.

She's 9 years old. Tia. She wrote this poem not long ago. I love it. It's so short.

She's just got, telescope. And she started writing poems. A brilliant. Here's 1. Shining bright in the night.

Something glows. A young star shows. How was it made? A mystery? But if you trace its history, you'll find out something special.

Love that. It just ends. Shinning bright in the night. Something glows. A young star show.

How was it made? A mystery? But if you trace its history, you'll find out something special. That's a 9 year old girl. How old is Tia?

9 year old looking out to her new telescope. When she sees the stars, it says you'll find something special. You need to relook and reponder Jesus. That's what you need to teach, Ezra. Ponder.

Think. Doesn't matter whether he gets any a levels whatsoever or what they're gonna be called in his day, that we call something else. Yeah. Doesn't matter. But if he can ask questions, if he's curious, if he ponders, if he wonders, if he sees the greatness behind the spider web and the intricacy of a designer god, that's what he needs.

And at the end of his life, where he breathes his last. That's what he'll thank you for. But he learned to wonder. How about you? How are you doing?

I'm just going through life. Just the next job, the no money, the next house. Oh, I must get near a store. That your life? So small.

Or is it a bigness of creation and the creator behind it? 1 last thought and then I'll hand over to Tom. There's a person in this story. I don't know really who noticed it in this major story called Herrod. Herrod.

He didn't like, and he didn't want to wander, and he didn't want to he didn't want to worship, and he didn't want to ponder. He pretended to worship. He found out about the star, and he was angry because he wanted only the star to assert his own little life. He denied the truth, and went his own plans. The stars should be about me, he said.

In the end, he acted criminally and is nowhere near the lord Jesus Christ. Just have a moment, the ponder, then over to Tom. Heavenly father, we thank you that this world that you created, speaks to us every day, that all around us are little sermons of messages declaring that we live within a creative world, that's speaks of a designer under the glorious 1. It's, put all of these messages in creation and in the heavens. And, we're sorry that so often we put our fingers in our ears and we close off our eyes and we look for alternative stories and explanations rather than seeing the plain truth before us that we are living in this world designed by you.

And we thank you, lord Jesus that we were we were not in the innate worship creation. But to to look to you the god who made everything and the god who even came to die for us. Please help us to be those who wander and, ponder this world around us to follow the science and to discover the special lord Jesus Christ, who sits above and in all things. We thank you for showing us that from this story in Jesus' name, amen.