We kicked off our Christmas series this morning at Hope Wesleyan Church. The series that Stefan and I are doing is called “The Cast of Christmas” where we are taking four weeks to look at different characters who shape the Christmas story.

I had the privilege of starting our series with the story of the Wise Men. You can find their part in Jesus’ birth in Matthew 2:1-12. The wise men have a small part in the story of Christ’s birth, but they bring three really important ideas to who Jesus is.

The first thing that we see through the Wise Men’s story is that Jesus is seeker friendly. The wise men were from a far off land and were not Jewish, they didn’t worship the God of Israel yet they were the ones who came and worshiped the Christ Child. It doesn’t matter where you come from or what your life is like, Jesus wants you to seek Him out and wants you to worship Him, we see that in Romans 10:11-13. Even from a young age Jesus was transforming lives.

The second thing that we see is that Jesus had a very humble beginning, which speaks volumes to who He is as our God. He was born to a teenager in a barn and the only ones that noticed were some shepherds and the men from a far off land. Even when King Herod heard about the Christ child he was not moved enough to go and see for himself. It is such a joy to know that we follow a God who was willing to be born a helpless babe in order to show the world that He was approachable. He could have easily come as a great King who conquered the nations, but in doing so He would have made Himself un-attainable to those beneath Him.

The final thing that we see from the wise men is that they gave themselves to Jesus. Before they gave their gifts they bowed down and worshiped the young child. Their gifts were offered with humble hearts; they did not give to show how awesome they were, but instead gave in order to show honour to God.

So in this Christmas season remember that it doesn’t matter what you have done God wants you to seek His face. He came in a way to show you that He is not so high and mighty that the average man or woman cannot be in His presence. And finally as you give in this season of giving do so with a humble heart and give to glorify God not yourselves.

So Merry Christmas. And if you live in the Shelburne, NS area join us as we finish our Christmas series. You can check us out here.