The Gift of Myrrh
The Three Gifts December 22, 2024 Luke 2:1-20 Notes
The gift of gold points to Christ as King. The gift of frankincense points to His divinity and priestly work. So what does the gift of myrrh point to? It points to the cross. The gift of myrrh points to Christ as Savior!
In the Gospel of Luke, he recorded the shepherd’s faithful response to the good news that Christ the Savior had been born. We too can faithfully respond to the good news about Christ the Savior has come.
Audio
Good morning, church. It is good to see all of you. Merry Christmas!
You know what I need down here? I'm feeling really lonely. I need some children down here sitting with me so we can read the Christmas story together. So start coming on down, children. Come on down, children.
You know who you are. Come on, come on, come on. Start moving. Wanna sit up here? Sit right here, right here.
Get close. Scoot in tight because we want room for everybody. Scoot in tight, scoot in tight. Here, sit right here. There you go.
Oh, I like that dress. I like that red. Beautiful bow. You want to sit up here? Sit up here.
Sit right here. Right there. You're doing good. You're doing good.
Okay, we have a seat right here. Somebody sit right up here. Okay, you can scoot up a seat. Everybody on the front row, see if you can
scoot up a seat. There you go. Help us out, Ms. Robin; this one needs a place.
There's a seat right over here, honey. There's one right here. You okay? Okay. Scoot in tight.
Let him in. It's okay. We'll sit sideways. Sit right here. Put your legs right there.
There you go. Here, sit right here. Sit right here behind me. Okay, we're doing good. Do you alll have this much fun at home?
This is good. This is basically the way my house looks when I have everybody over, because we have ten grandchildren. I think there's more than ten here.
There are more than ten kids down here right now. .
Okay. You all look beautiful. Very festive. You look awesome. This one's looking right at me like,
Thank you so much for saying. What's that? Sixteen kids; did you count them?
Okay, we have sixteen kids, for your information. Here's what we're going to do. I'm going to read the Christmas story from Luke, chapter two, and we're going to talk about Jesus. If you are really good and you're being really good so far, we have a little
gift for you at the end. Okay, so let me read and then listen closely because I might ask you some questions. Luke 2:1-20 (ESV) 1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. 8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them,
and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” 15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” This is God's word. Everybody say Amen. Amen.
Okay, so a couple of quick questions. What was the name of the mommy and daddy that were there? Mary and Joseph. Very good. Mary and Joseph.
That's right. And do you remember what city Jesus was born in? Bethlehem.
Have y'all heard this story before?
Some of you are geniuses, aren't you? Yeah, I thought so. And of course, a genius knows when they're a genius. That's great. Now, I have something in my pocket right here.
Can you guess what it might be? A candy cane? Were you at the first service? Yes.
I thought so. A candy cane. Sure enough it is. Now, I want to tell you the story about a man who was a candy maker. This is called the Legend of the Candy Cane.
He was inspired by the story of Jesus, especially how the shepherds said that they heard, they saw, and they told about Jesus. He wanted to make a piece of candy that would do that, that would tell others about Jesus. So, if I hold it like this, what does it remind you of in the story?
It’s a shepherd's thing. A shepherd's cane.
If someone's holding it like this, it looks like a cane.
The sheep try to run away.
Okay, it's a shepherd's staff. Now what if I turn it like this? J is for Jesus.
It's a J for Jesus, guys and so it reminds you of Jesus.
It reminds you of a shepherd’s staff. The white reminds you that Jesus was without sin, that He was pure. The red reminds you of His blood, which He shed on the cross. So, that's the legend of the candy cane. Now, whose birthday are we celebrating at Christmas?
That's right and so the most important thing that we can do for Jesus is give the gift of telling others about Jesus. Ms. Robin, my wife, is going to come over here and give you a candy cane to take back to your seat to remind you when you get home to tell your family the story of Jesus and the story of the legend of the candy cane.
How about that? So when you get your cane, go ahead and go to your seat. I didn't count one person, so there's 17. Okay, you missed one.
Don't give him a broken one. He wants to exchange. That's what we all have to do at Christmas. We have to keep the receipt.
Okay, get your candy canes. You gotta keep moving. Keep moving.
You guys were so good. Give them a hand, everybody. The kids were so well behaved.
So, for the past few Sundays, we've been going through a series called, “The Three Gifts.” The first gift was the gift of gold. The second, the gift of frankincense. And the third, which is where we're at today, we've entitled this message, “The Gift of Myrrh.” This idea comes from the three gifts that the Magi brought to Jesus.
We read about it in Matthew 2:11 (ESV) “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.”
The Bible says that the Magi brought Jesus three wonderful gifts. These aren't the kind of ordinary gifts you'd normally see at a baby shower, are they? These are unusual gifts. The gift of gold certainly points to the fact that He is Christ, that He is king. The gift of frankincense, that He is divine, that He's the Son of God.
Now, we will consider what the gift of myrrh points to. By the way, what is myrrh? Myrrh is a resinous exudate that comes from the stems and branches from a low, shrubby tree native to the Arabian deserts and parts of northern Africa. Its gum drips from the shrub onto the ground, where it hardens to form an oily, yellowish brown resin and then it's collected. It's included in so many different cosmetics and other preparations; in oils and other things.
It's been an ingredient in the holy anointing oil that you find in the book of Exodus, chapter 30. It was prized for its aromatic qualities. We can read about that in Psalm 14. It was included in cosmetic preparations. We can read about that in the book of Esther.
And it was often used to relieve pain. It had that quality. Indeed, it was offered to Jesus and the criminals on the cross at Calvary in Mark, chapter 15. And then we see that whenever Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus took the body of Jesus in preparation for His burial, that one of the prime ingredients of the spices that they used was myrrh. So if gold points to Him as king, if frankincense points to Him as the Son of God, what does myrrh point to?
It points to His death, it points to His sacrifice, it points to Him as Savior. All three gifts are appropriate to Jesus. In the Gospel of Luke, we see the shepherd's faithful response to the message of the angels, that they heard the message, and then they went to see for themselves what the angels had told them. Then, they began to tell others after they had seen the Christ child. As we look at the text today, I think we can follow the example of the shepherds and faithfully respond to the good news that Christ the Savior has come.
Let's consider verse 20 of our reading today that we just read with the children. Look there, verse 20, “And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” You can see those three ways they responded. They heard, they saw, and they told others about what they had seen.
1. Hear it.
That's the faithful way we can respond to the good news of the Savior. Notice the word, “heard.” It has the meaning, “to really listen, to really listen to someone.” Jesus often would be teaching.
He would say, “he that has ears to hear, let him hear.” I don't think there were a lot of people in those days going around missing ears. I don't think that was the problem. I think what he was really saying was, ‘he that has spiritual ears to hear, let him hear.’ You know, one of the challenges for us, as adults, is we've heard the Christmas story our whole lives.
But have you really listened? Have you really heard? Have you really allowed yourself to enter the story so that you engage with the story? Have you heard? The shepherds heard.
I wonder why the angels appeared to shepherds. Of all the people they could have appeared to, they decided to appear to this blue collar bunch of third shift workers out there keeping watch over their flocks at night. But isn't that the way God always works? He always sends His calling to the least of these, those who recognize that they need a Savior. Perhaps the shepherds were more appropriate because they would recognize the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the world.
The angel says to them, Verse 11, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” This harkens back to the book of Isaiah, chapter 9, but it also can be applied to each of us. Who was Jesus born to? Who did He come to save? You. He was born unto you.
The angels declared to the shepherds. Where was He born? He was born in Bethlehem, as we heard the children say, ‘the city of David.’ Because Joseph and Mary both were from the lineage of David. So, He fulfills the Messianic prophecies that He was born to the line and lineage of David. He was born in Bethlehem, which in Hebrew means “house of bread.” How perfect that the bread of life would be born in the house of bread.
Notice the three titles that the angels declared in verse 11: He is Savior, Christ and Lord. He's Christ; He is the anointed one. He's the King that was to come to the line of David.
He's Lord, which means He's the Son of God and that He's Savior. He's the one Who came to save. Those who really hear the good news are able to hear the Spirit of Christ calling them. They can hear Him knocking at their heart's door. It says in John, Jesus speaking.
He says,John 10:27 (ESV) “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” Have you ever noticed a mother's ability to hear her child's cry? Have you ever wondered about that? When I was a young father, I remember when we brought our firstborn home and my wife would wake up at the least little sound. Did you hear the baby?
I'd reply with, What? because apparently that gift wasn't given to me. I don't know about other fathers, but I've heard that it's specifically given to mothers. In fact, my wife began to tell me that she knew what every type of cry was. Oh, that's a hurt cry.
Oh, he's hungry. Oh, he needs his diaper changed. I'd say, It sounds like the same cry to me. She knew exactly that every cry meant something.
She had an ear tuned to her baby's voice. This is what Jesus says about you. If you've really heard the gospel, this is what He says about us. If you've really heard that He came as Savior, as Christ, and as Lord, if you've heard that and received that into yourself, your ears will become tuned to His voice. “My sheep know my voice, and I know then, and they respond to my voice.”
Have you heard the story? That's one of the faithful ways we can respond to the gospel, to the good news of Jesus. Here's the second way we can respond.
2. See it.
The second way we can faithfully respond is to see it. To see it. Look at verse 20 again. It said they had heard and they had seen. It also points out that in verse 15 that they were determined to go see it for themselves.
Verse 15 says, “When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” They weren't satisfied with just hearing the angels report. They said, ‘Let's go down and see this. Let's see it for ourselves.’ There are two Greek words used here.
In verse 20, we have a Greek word that they had seen, which means to perceive with the eyes. It also has the idea of experiencing a thing. Then in verse 15, it was a different Greek word, which means to really focus on a thing. Let's go see it. Let's really get a good look at it.
I think they said, ‘We don't want to just hear about this story. We want to see it for ourselves.’ We use that word, see, not just to speak of the eyes, but to speak of the experience and to understand the thing, don't we? We say, ‘Oh, I see what you mean. I get it now.’
So, when they went to see the baby, they saw Him just as the angels had said, a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. We still do that today, don't we? We still wrap babies. It makes them feel safe. It makes them feel like they did when they were still in mama's womb.
You swaddle them tight. There He was, laying in a manger in a feeding trough, not in a palace, but in a stable. When they saw Him, they saw it for themselves and they were in wonder.
I'm just suggesting this; it doesn't say it in the scripture, but I'm thinking that some of those old shepherds, they came there and they said, ‘Would you mind if I held Him? Would you mind if I put my hand on Him?’ I think they really wanted to see it for themselves. Have you really put your hand out and said, ‘I want to know for myself?
I want to know you, Jesus. I want to know You for myself. I want to experience You.’ It says in Psalm 34:8 (ESV) “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”
This idea of seeing has the idea of experiencing and understanding. It's not enough just to hear. We've heard the story over and over again, haven't we? But we must enter the story, see it, understand it and apply it to our own lives. Have you ever tried to get a child to taste something they'd never tried before,
a food they've never tried before? That can be quite a parental challenge. You offer them something and they say, “Ew.” They haven't even tasted it yet.
“Ew.” They're just basing it on what it looks like. But to really see it and to see what it tastes like, you have to put it in your mouth and chew. It's so hard to get children to do that today. I'm just so thankful for chicken nuggets, aren't you?
You know, our grandchildren probably would not have survived; we have several teenaged grandchildren and they would not have made it to their teen years without chicken nuggets. We're so thankful for them. My wife, still to this day, she'll prepare, I guarantee you, for Christmas, we'll have them all over, and she'll have all kinds of wonderful foods and then in a pan to itself is chicken nuggets.
They'll be there. Otherwise our grandchildren would starve to death. They won't try anything new. Have you noticed this about your children?
Apparently, it's always true. I think I was like that too when I was a little kid. I remember my parents bought one of those plates that had dividers in it because I didn't like it when my food touched. That was a problem.
My dad tried to explain it to me, “Son, don't you know that all that food ends up in the same place anyway?” and I said, because I thought I wanted to be a lawyer apparently when I was little, “But, Daddy, it doesn't have to start out that way. I'd like for it to start out apart.” Well, kids are picky.
They're picky. They don't always want to enter into the story. But the gospel says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” He says, “Come unto me, ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Do you see it? Have you entered the story? Have you really thought about the story that God himself came in the form of man and His name is Jesus? This leads us to the third faithful way that the shepherds replied and the shepherds responded:
3. Tell it.
We see it in verse 20 that the angels had told them. But we see that they told others in verse 17. Verse 17 says, “And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.” And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. So, now the shepherds themselves have become evangelists.
They've become people who are carrying the message. We heard angels. We saw them singing and telling us about it and then we went. There He was in the stable, just like they said.
They begin to tell everybody, all throughout the region of Bethlehem. Can you imagine this? They weren't just satisfied hearing it and seeing it. They had to tell others. You know, we can't resist telling others something if we're in the know on a thing.
Have you noticed that if we're the ones that know a thing, we can't help but tell others except for when it comes to the gospel. For some reason, we all tend to be kind of “lips sealed”on that one. I don't know why that is. Children don't seem to have that problem. We've sent them all back to their seats this morning with little candy canes.
I guarantee if you ask them, they'll tell you. They'll tell you the story. What is it about adults that we forget this most important step of faithfulness after we hear it, experience it and see it, to tell others because that's the only way that they're going to hear the good news about Jesus. You see that the shepherds went and made known what they had seen.
We see the way Mary responded whenever the shepherds showed up there and talked about the angels. That's four angelic visits. She'd already heard about her relatives, Zechariah and Elizabeth. Zechariah had seen an angel. Her husband Joseph had seen an angel.
She had seen the angel Gabriel and now the shepherds. She's pondering this; she's wondering and treasuring in her heart this wondrous thing. Verse 20, “And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” Jesus tells us, and He tells the disciples, to go into all the world. Mark 16:15 (NLT) And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.”
This is what Jesus commands all of His followers to do. Faithful followers of Jesus today still tell it. We tell others what Jesus has done for us, having heard and seen the good news. Will you do that? Will you go and tell others, too?
I think perhaps the greatest gift you could give to the one Who owns everything is yourself. It's hard to give a gift like that to Jesus because He owns everything, but perhaps He doesn't have you. Maybe the best gift you could give Him today is the gift of yourself. If you've done that, if you've given Him your life, I would say the greatest gift after that would be to tell others,
to tell others what Jesus has done for you. The shepherds returned to their flocks. They went back to their job. I don't know who watched over the flocks while they went to see Jesus, but they returned back and they began to faithfully tell the story about this. Have you ever noticed that as you get older, the Christmas season seems to lose its mystery?
Maybe for you, this Christmas has been a hard Christmas. I don't know what you've been through this year. Maybe it's been difficult. Maybe you have just moved here.
Maybe, there's someone who won't be sitting at the table on Christmas Day that was sitting there last year. There are many reasons that we struggle this time of the year. But even if those things haven't happened, let's just say you've grown up to adulthood and it's just kind of lost its sparkle. Yeah, I know that story. Yeah, Christmas.
But there's something about it. When you focus on the little ones, you focus on Christmas Eve, or whenever you have the little ones around you, read the Luke 2 story again and as they get older and are able to read, start assigning it to the oldest one and begin to rotate it. Then, do what I just did; sit with them. They'll squirm and they'll interrupt you.
They're kids, but trust me, they hear every word. Let them read the Luke 2 story and when you do that, guess what happens to you? Christmas gets its wonder back because you're seeing it through the eyes of children. When you tell others about Jesus, whether they're young or old, your faith gets its wonder back because you see one that's hungry for God.
As you share it with others, would you be one who tells it? It says in the book of Luke 2:11 (ESV) “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Will you hear it, see it, and tell others? Will you give Him the three gifts that we talked about these past three Sundays? Will you give Him the gift of gold, which is one that Christ deserves, the one who would sit on the throne of David?
Give Him the gift of frankincense because He's the Lord God, the Son of God and give Him the gift of myrrh because He's the Savior who takes away the sins of the world, the Lamb of God. The gift of myrrh says, ‘I repent of my sins and I recognize that You died in my place so that I might have Your righteousness and Your eternal life.’ Have you given him the gift of myrrh?
Well, let's pray. Let's talk to the Lord. Lord, I thank You for Your word. I thank You for Jesus and I pray for that person that's here this morning that's never given their life to Him.
Is it you, my friend? Right now, as I'm praying, you could be praying with me. It's not the words as much as it is the belief. The faith in your heart that is underneath the words. Would you pray, believing, like this?
’Lord, I turn away from my sin. I repent of my sin and I believe in You as my Savior. I believe You died on the cross for me, that You were raised from the grave and that You live today. I believe that.
Come and live in me. Forgive me of my sins and make me a child of God. I want to follow You as my Savior and Lord. If you're praying that prayer of faith, believing, He'll make you a child of God. He'll adopt you into His family and forgive you of your sins and your ears will be tuned to His voice. Others are here and you're a believer.
You're a Christ follower. Would you rededicate your life today to telling others, especially as you go to be with loved ones, maybe family or friends in the coming days, all of them celebrating Christmas? I pray for you that you would have a holy boldness to tell them the true meaning of the season. Tell them about Jesus. We pray in His name.
Amen.
Audio
All right. Good morning. What we're going to do today is we're going to start off with a little children's service sermon time. So, kids, come on up. If you're willing, come on up and hang out with me.
We've been doing this for many years together.
Wow, y'all are looking sharp today. I mean, you always look sharp. Don't take it that way, but extra sharp today.
All right. Okay, let's start with one question and then we're going to read a little passage together. Who feels like reading today? Is anybody up to being a reader? Okay, let's split it up.
You raved yours first. And I know, but I'm going to do one Cappelletti. All right. Sorry, Spencer, she beat you. And then I'll go.
G, I owe you one. All right, Next time. All right, so let me ask you this. If I'm trying to see the fullest picture of the Christmas story, where would I want to go in the Bible? Anybody know?
You were ready, but not ready. What do you think, buddy? New Testament. The New Testament. That's true.
More specific. Anybody? More specific, G. John starts in A. He doesn't quite start in the Gospel, but you're really close.
You're really close. Anybody else? The Gospels is right. Which one would be the ideal? What do you.
Peyton, do you know if. You know, I'm going to be like. You went on the other side of it. All right, so John and Mark both close. What's in between them?
Matthew? No, Luke. All right, so we're going to be in Luke chapter two. Fiona, I'm going to let you read. You got.
Hey. My readers, you've got to read loud because you're not mic'd. And you got to stand up and read it. You still want to do it? All right.
All right, well, stand right here because the people, they got to hear you. Alright, here's what I want you to do. I want you to read Luke 2:1 through. Let's see, I might give you the. I'll give you the big bite.
All right? Because you're so good at this. All right? Luke 2:1 through 13. And then I'll let G finish it.
All right?
In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinus. Quirinus was governor of Syra. And all went to be registered to each of. To each to his own town.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee to the town of Nazareth, to Judah, to the city of David, which is Called Bethlehem because he was in the house lineage of David to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And there they were. The time came for her to give birth and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them.
And the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior who is is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts. And praising God answered, good job. Proud of you. All right, G. That was a.
That's a lot to live up to. Alright, here, you're going to start right here at Glory and then turn the page and read to verse 20. Okay. Glory to God in the highest and on earth praise among those with whom he is praised. When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem and see this king that has happened.
Happened which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste, Haste. And found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made gnome. Gnome.
Yep. The saying that had been told to.
Concerning. Concerning this child and all who heard and wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary tries, treasured, treasured up all these things. Protesting, pondering, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been taught to them.
Good job, buddy. Hey, well done. Hey, you done run off. You done left behind.
I'll do it for you. Another one for you. All right.
Have y'all ever heard the legend of the candy cane? You know the legend of the candy cane? Okay, well, we're going to do a refresher on the legend of the candy cane. Okay, now you're just having Scary. So here's how the legend goes for those of you who haven't heard it.
All right? There's a legend that perhaps when the candy maker made this candy, his Goal was to tell the story of Christmas, to tell the story of the gospel. Even with the production of this candy. All right, so I'm going to ask you a few things. Is this candy hard or soft?
It's hard, right? If you just try to bite right into it. Not fun. Why did he make it a hard candy? What does that tell us about God?
Anybody? You ever heard that? God? Yes. What do you think God has made?
Candy can. Yeah. God made candy. That's true. All the stuff we use for candy, God made.
You are right. He made it hard. Because God is sometimes called the Rock of Ages. Have you ever heard this? He's the rock.
He also made it a certain shape. What does that look like? A shepherd's cane? Yeah. Why would he make it look like a shepherd's staff?
I don't think. True. The shepherds went to see Jesus. There's more. Why else did he make it look like a shepherd's staff?
Yeah. Because God's our shepherd and wear his seed. Bingo. God is our shepherd and we're his sheep. How about this?
What's that look like? Well, that one's obvious. J for Jesus, Right? Now, it's got a few colors. One of them is white.
Why do you think he made it white? For his body. Interesting.
What did you say?
Yeah. Sometimes they have more colors. Why white? What do you think? Because Jesus is pure.
That's bingo. Bingo. So white signifies his purity, his holiness. Why do we have this deep red stripe? You.
What do you think? Yeah. It represents his blood. Because what did Jesus do for us? He died on the cross for us.
That's right. Now look. Do you see these three? Well, almost looks like four, but supposed to be three little. There we go.
Three little stripes. You see the three little red stripes? Yeah. Why do you think there's three little red stripes?
That's not bad. But that's not the reason I'm thinking of. What do you think? What do you think?
That's good, too. But that's also not what I was thinking of three. We don't know how many shepherds there are. What do you think? Because he resurrected in three days.
Yeah, that's what she said. That's a good answer. Now, here's what I was thinking was Jesus was pierced in three places. Did you know this? Both hands and through the tops of his feet.
But Yalls answers were just as good. All right. There's one more thing of interest about this. Do y'all know what it tastes like? Peppermint.
Peppermint. Do you know what peppermint most resembles something called. Well meant. That's true. How is it is a mint.
It most represents something we call hyssop. Hyssop. It most smells like this herb called hyssop, which is used for anointing and also for preparing a body. And so this perhaps the legend of the candy cane is that he was trying to tell the story of Christ's birth, death and resurrection. Isn't that neat?
Isn't that neat? Now let me ask you this. Do you want one? Okay, this one's mine. Although my two readers.
You didn't know there was going to be gifts. My two readers get a big one. Another one. Hey, deal with it. You know, this is a meritocracy here.
But the little ones get this.
Well, the big humongous kids get little ones then. All right. I'm not little. All right, everybody gets one. Parents, these are die free.
In case you are concerned about that. You don't get five. Share with your friends. Share with your friends. And then you can take it back to your seat when you've got one.
All right.
Help. We'll get a different one. All right, everybody get one and take it back to your seat.
Parents, if they're getting more than one, this is an honor system that they have just broke, you know. No, you get one of these.
Want this one? Come on, buddy. Well, that one's broke. That one's broke. Come here, Cam.
Hey, Cam, I'll trade you. There we go. Did you get one down in there? Perfect.
Good stuff.
All right.
All right. I got a few more for the best behaved parents as I speak. Okay. Good job, kids. Y'all give the kids a hand.
What a great time together. Very good reading. Some of those words are not particularly easy to read, so very impressive. We're going to spend just a few minutes together. I know the kids are in the room and it's a bit of chaos.
I pray you'll just try to enjoy the chaos. I know. I'm a parent, too. It's a bit much sometimes, but I'm going to try to keep it short and sweet and fun. And so we're going to be finishing up our series called the Three Gifts.
We've already talked over the last two weeks about gold and frankincense. If you missed those, you can go back and check them out online. But today we're going to be talking about this gift of myrrh. And I want to remind you of the text that we've been focusing on. It's In Matthew, chapter 2, verse 11 it says going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and they worshiped him.
Then opening up their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. Now the Bible says very specifically that they gave these three gifts, probably in great quantity. This would have been an impressive gift, but it's an unusual gift. Myrrh is perhaps one of the most unusual gifts to give a newborn, to give a baby or a small child. This would be a very weird thing to give because myrrh is primarily used for burial.
It's primarily used as a scent to cover up a decomposing body. Now that is weird to be talking about. On the birth of Christmas, on the birth of Christ, on Christmas Day. And so what is this myrrh? First of all, just to give you a little bit of head knowledge, myrrh still obviously exists today.
It comes from this low, shrubby tree. I've got a couple of images for you. It's this, this thorny little pain in the butt looking tree to get something from. And this resin drips off of this shrubby, thorny tree. And it's native to Arabia and to parts of Africa.
And as it drips on the ground, it hardens into this brownish resin. You could pop up that image. Yep. And so that's kind of what it looks like in its natural form. And they turned it into various perfumes and things like that.
Myrrh is mentioned all throughout scripture as an ingredient for anointing. Exodus 30 speaks to this. It's prized as a very, very good smelling thing. You can read that in Psalms, Proverbs and the Song of Solomon. It also is used to relieve pain.
You can see that in Mark 15. And then obviously the obvious thing it points to is in John 19 where it's used to bury Jesus. And so these gifts, they all point to certain things about who Jesus is. The gold pointed to the fact that he's king. The frankincense pointed to the fact that he's divine, or that he's doing a priestly work for us.
Then this last one points most clearly to the fact that he is our Savior and that we needed someone to be in our place before God Most High, that we needed a Messiah. So we're going to be just very quickly looking at the Gospel of Luke, which our children just read to us very wonderfully. We're going to just take that apart quickly. And this is this faithful response we see from the shepherds. They hear that the Christ, the Savior has been born.
And they just go. They listen and they do as they've been instructed, and then they respond to this good news. And I think the text gives us very simple things to do with the Christmas story. So let's dig in. Now.
I don't have to reread it. I was just about to do that. I think we've got it, Luke chapter two. But I am going to open it back up. And what we see Here in Luke 2 are 3 responses to the good news of Christ the Savior.
And they really all come from verse 20. From verse 20, we see the total response of the shepherds to Christ. The first thing that they do is they hear it. They hear it. These are going to be real simple blanks for y'all today.
Even your kids could fill these in for you. You Hear it verse 20. Look at the three things it says. It says that the shepherds responded by glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen as it had been told to them. The word heard there is very important in the story.
This word heard in the Greek doesn't mean just simply, hey, it came into your ears. It's the idea that you've considered it, that you've understood it, and that you are attending to this thing you've been told. So it says they heard what? They heard the good news that this Christ had been born. This word good news is the word gospel.
It's the word good tidings. It's a good message. It's where we get the word gospel. And he says it's good news unto you. The invitation is not just for anybody.
I heard a sermon this past week from the Spurgeon that you could check out about this. Just all he digs into is the unto you piece of this story, and it was wonderful. This idea that it has come to you personally is very important in the story. For unto you has been born this day in the city of David. He gives us a little notation that Caesar has making this census.
It's commanded Joseph, but God is the one who's overseeing it. He's the one who's commanded Caesar. And three titles are given here to Jesus the Savior, verse 11, the Messiah and Lord. Now, those who really hear the good news, who are able to hear the spirit of Christ, are called the following. I could go to a lot of different places in scripture, but John 10 says specifically, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me.
This makes me think of. It makes me think as a parent of my kids. But I would say this is probably generally true, that just because someone is listening or has ears on the sides of their head does not necessarily mean they've heard you. If you haven't noticed this in your business world or among your family or even, certainly as a parent, if you haven't observed that not every time you're speaking are you being heard, then here's a news flash. Generally, if you don't have eye contact, you're not getting heard.
That's just a good rule of thumb. This is kind of what I do to my kids constantly. It's probably annoying to them, but I don't care. I say, hey, let me get your eyeballs. Look at me before I tell them something.
Because I know I was a kid not long ago. I still feel a little bit like a kid inside. And so I remember just my dad or my mom would tell me something. And before they'd fully even told me what to do, I'm on the move. Hey, son, go get.
And then I have to run back. Get what? That's just who I was. That's how I rolled. I've got those kinds of kids.
And so before they even start to try to listen or do whatever they interpret as being what I'm telling them, say, let me get your eyeballs, and just stand still and listen. And then I know I've been heard. Now, this is true, I hate to say it, a lot of wives in the room. You might want to take note of this, too. If your husband is not looking at you, he may not be listening.
He may not. Yes, honey. I mean, if you're just getting a lot of yeses and you've just asked question that wasn't yes or no, he's not listening. All right? Now, wives, don't go too crazy with this, because every once in a while, and this is rare, every once in a while.
She's not listening to me. You know, every once in a while, and it happens, we need eyeballs. We need eye contact. If I'm watching something, playing something, there's a pretty good chance I'm not listening. And so this is the idea here of the good news.
Yeah, it's come to the shepherds. It's come to you now. And you're hearing it, but are you really hearing it? Are you getting it? Have you heard the story, the good news, that, guess what, it's crazy that we would get over this somehow, that every year we just pass it by, and we get over the fact that the God of the universe took on flesh for us, how do we get over that?
That's not something you easily or should get over. It should be something that impacts you. If you've really heard it, you've really understood it, that the Messiah has been born unto you. What incredible news. Here's the second thing that the Scriptures say they did.
They heard it and they see it. They saw it and we see it. Verse 20 says this. So clearly, this seeing idea has a little bit more than just seeing with your eyes. It's to experience it.
When it says they see this thing. It's the idea that they really went and got the full picture. They didn't just hear the news, which I'm sure was incredible, that they're just out here trying to do their work, trying to mind their business, and then suddenly an angelic host appears. It terrifies them, as is the way of angels. Throughout Scripture, their first words are often fear not.
Because apparently it's pretty impressive thing to have happen to you. And they show up, Glory, glory in the highest. The earth is filled with peace now. And this is this amazing news. And they could have stopped there and just, okay, we've heard it unto you.
Has been born this day down in this manger. The shepherds didn't just hear that. They said, we got to go see that. We got to go experience that for ourselves, too. This takes this even further, that there's some of you in the room right now that you've heard this Christmas story.
You've heard the story of the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus, and you would be like the shepherd that heard it but didn't go see it. That's some people that may be you today. That, yeah, I grew up with this, and I'm happy to get all dressed up today and be all Christmassy today. But let's be honest. Have you really experienced it?
Have you, as the Bible said, have you both seen and tasted. You went beyond just. I heard it once, the psalmist says in Psalm 34, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. How many times have you tried to get somebody in your life to try to taste something for the first time?
Probably every parent in the room has done this. But I've found even lately with my wife, that there's something she says to me sometimes where, hey, let's go try this or that. And she'll say, I'm a little scared. I'm a little scared to try that. And she, I think, is just kidding because she kind of likes to go on an adventure with.
I'm a food adventurer. Alright. I don't know if you know this and it's starting to catch up with me. The vest is really containing it, alright. So just, just know it's not really.
Things may appear larger anyway, objects. I was thinking about the side view mirror and move on from that. So I'm kind of a foodie at heart. I like to cook, I like to try new things. My kids, on the other hand, not like that at all so far.
And I've noticed something with children, but some adults and some of you are this way that just to look at a thing, you might go, hmm, I don't know about that. I don't know if I'm going there. For me, this is weird. You're going to think I'm wacky. The weirder it looks, the more I'm like, I got to try that.
Like, I've got to know what that is. It's almost like I don't want to leave this planet before I've tasted all the weird things that come from this earth. But some of you are not that way. Every child is not that way. And it'll be good things, things that everybody would generally agree on.
This is good. Sometimes it's sweet things that my kids are like, I don't know about that. It looks kind of, if you try that, it'd probably be the only thing you want to eat for the rest of the day. If you just try it. This is the idea of what happens here to the shepherds and what happens to us.
I think in a really rudimentary way that the gospel has been given to us. We've been offered it freely, we've heard it perhaps, but have we decided that it's ours? Have we decided to, as God told Ezekiel, eat the scroll, like, make it your own? Decide to taste and see that the Lord is good, like, for most people, I mean, you can just about ask anybody in your life, they're going to say, I love that Christmas story. I love this idea that God became man.
I love this idea, but that doesn't mean anything more. Do you love the idea that not only did it do that, but he has a purpose for your life, that he cares about you specifically and deeply, and that he saved you for himself, that he's called you to eternal worship? Do you taste that? Do you see that? Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.
Have you heard this good news of Jesus and really experienced it? Here's the last thing that's kind of implied here. By the text, verse 20, it says it was told to them. And everybody begins to wonder. There's this amazing thing that has occurred in Bethlehem, and it's getting out.
The news is getting out. The third thing is this. Tell it, tell it. Hear it, see it, tell it. It says in verse 17 that it was made known and that all who heard it wondered, and they treasured and they pondered.
And it says in verse 20 that they glorified and they praised the shepherds, telling all that God had done, praising his name, and being amazed by what has happened. We call this, in a sense, the first person to really follow through on the Great Commission. The first people were the shepherds. The first people were those who saw his birth. In Mark 16, it says that Jesus told them, go into all the world and.
And preach the good news to everyone. As I kind of close right now, I've noticed a trend, and some of you might not be into this if you haven't observed over the last few weeks, if you've been with us. I'm a Christmas junkie. Like, I really dig it. I'm all into it.
I was kind of bummed today that I wasn't able to find a new shirt. I went out yesterday to TJ Maxx, which was a terrible idea. Any of you who were out yesterday thinking about buying anything, I'm sorry that you were there around me, because you couldn't buy nothing anywhere unless you wanted to wait forever. It was crazy. I didn't even know that many people lived in Rocky Mountain.
That was nuts. Couldn't find a red shirt, green shirt, nothing I wanted to really blow up today. Just maybe something that was bright and lighting up. I don't know. I don't know what I was thinking, but I really love this Christmas season.
I'm one of the weirdos that likes the music. I like it all. It makes me feel. I don't know, it makes me feel a certain way. Maybe it reminds me of something from my childhood.
I don't know. I've never really analyzed it. But here's what I know. Every Christmas movie that seems to be coming out right now, and my kids have a list of what we have to. Addie told us last night we have four days to watch six more movies or something.
I'm like, I don't really know how that math is going to math, but we'll see what we can do. Like, they want to get the movies in. Last night was Elf. If you don't like that, that's on you. I mean, I don't know what's up with you, but we watching movies, Christmas movies, Christmas movies, most of them trend the same way.
Have you observed that almost every one of them tell this, that Christmas spirit is low? Isn't that crazy? Like, almost every single one of them, the sleigh won't fly because Christmas spirit is low or whatever. There's always something going on. And I would argue that maybe they've got that piece right.
They just don't. They don't know what they're really trying to say. It's about Santa and that piece. But that's. I can't help but watch that part and go that sometimes the Christmas, the real Christmas story has, the wonder has kind of wore off.
And that concerns me as a person, as a church member, as a Christian, that the wonder that Christ, that God became man, has somehow worn off. That's the Christmas spirit. I'm interested in getting back up that we would get very much into telling this wonderful story again. And I'll tell you, one of the best ways to get the wonder back is to tell others. I can't really think of a better way than to tell somebody for the first time.
Hey, I know you've heard about the Christmas thing. I know you've heard about. Perhaps you've heard about the resurrection of Jesus, but have you really understood it? There's nothing much more fun and much more wonderful in this life than to see someone believe for the first time. There's a lot of great moments in your life, having children, getting married, all of these things are wonderful.
But I would argue one of the most wonderful things you'll experience is seeing someone come to Christ. And there's nothing more wonderful that you would try or endeavor to do this Christmas than to let people know. I haven't just heard it. I haven't just seen it. It has changed my life that the Christmas story was the beginning of life change for me.
Have you heard it? Have you seen it? Will you tell it? This is what it says unto you, friends, family, Luke 2:11 is for you. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord.
Will you give him his gifts, the ones due him this Christmas? The gift of gold, that he's Christ the King, the gift of frankincense, that he is God divine, the high priest on high. And would you lastly give him the gift of myrrh, receiving him and telling about him as Savior? Let's pray now together. Church Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this opportunity to share the good news of the real good news of the Christmas story.
I ask you, Lord, that you would so take care of these families over the next week or two, as many of them will be traveling, as many of them will be seeing extended family that God, you would give them opportunities to hear, see and tell, opportunities maybe to tell one of their family members this wonderful story in greater detail. Hey, so many people know the story, but do they really? Do they really know it? Has it changed them? I pray for your family, God, your church family here, that you will give us opportunities for the gospel over the next week, that we would represent you well.
I pray for that person here today. Perhaps they've heard that story, but they've not really seen it. They've not really tasted and seen that God, you are true, you are good and you have changed everything. I pray that they would experience that today, that God you would move in their life. God, use us over these next few weeks.
Use these little children who often have the most basic understanding of the gospel. And that's all that's necessary that you would help them to be a witness to in their classrooms when they go back to school, among their peers and among their family. God bless us this Christmas. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for the Savior.
Thank you that we can give you back the gift of myrrh. Because Jesus, not only did you come, not only did you take on flesh and live a sinless life, but you died for us. And better than that, still you rose again so that we could be free from sin and death's penalty. We love you. We pray all these things in Jesus name, Amen.