[Matthew 2.1_15] 2025.12.25 Abandon your throne to worship the King
[Matthew 2.1_15] 2025.12.25 Abandon your throne to worship the King
Abandon your throne to worship the King
Big Idea: Since King Jesus has come, abandon your throne and instead, seek and worship Him with all of your heart.
1. Wisemen sought to worship the true king of the Jews
2. Tyrannical man sought to worship the king falsely
3. The Boy whom the wisemen worshipped
4. The Heavenly Father led the family’s escape
Good morning! Merry Christmas!
It’s so good to see you all here this morning!
A special welcome to all those who are spending Christmas in Australia for the very first time!
Some of you woke up early this morning and travelled far to join us for our Christmas service.
Wherever you’re from, you probably didn’t travel as far as a 70 years old lady called Hiliary Spinks for your Christmas celebration.
Hiliary lived on the Isle of Wight, an island south off the south coast of England, near Portsmouth.
She took the ferry from the Isle of Wight to Portsmouth and walked to her connection coach to Yorkshire, which was 480 kilometres away.
However, she missed the coach and got back to her ferry in tears.
One of the workers, Mr Mitchell, saw the distressed Hilary and decided to give her a ride.
And so, the Mr Mitchell drove Hilary on a 5 hour trip so that she can celebrate Christmas.
Do we anyone who travelled further than Hiliary to come here this morning?
Who wants to travel that far to celebrate Christmas? And more than that, who would want to drive that far for a stranger so that she can celebrate Christmas?
In today’s passage, we see a group of people, commonly known as the wise men, who travelled even further to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
What drives these wise men to travel hundreds of kilometres to celebrate the birth of Jesus?
Please open your Bible with me to Matthew chapter 2, beginning from verse 1.
We’ll see four things:
1. Wisemen sought to worship the true king of the Jews
2. Tyrannical man sought to worship the king falsely
3. The Boy whom the wisemen worshipped
4. The Heavenly Father led the family’s escape
But before we begin, let’s pray, “Heavenly Father, you have led the wisemen to the Lord Jesus. By your Holy Spirit, please lead our hearts now to the Lord Jesus, in whose name we pray, Amen.”
1. Wisemen sought to worship the true king of the Jews
Look with me at Matthew 2:1, “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem”
that wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem.
According to historical records outside of the Bible, King Herod reigned in Jerusalem from 37 to 4BC.
Jesus wasn’t a newborn by the time the wise men came to visit Jesus; he was probably close to two years old already.
Who were these wise men from the East?
They had originally been called the Magi in the Bible.
While we may not know exactly who they were, we do know that somehow, these Magi have known about the coming the Christ, the King of the Jews.
There’s a possibility that they came to know about the Christ through the Jews who were exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon
According to the Old Testament, in Daniel chapter 2, the Babylonian King, King Nebuchadnezzar made Daniel the chief governor over all the wise men of Babylon.
It’s possible that Daniel shared what he’s learnt from the Old Testament prophecies with the other wise men in Babylon.
If they were from Babylon, they would’ve travelled over 1000 kilometres to get to Jerusalem, a very long journey by foot.
They were very keen to celebrate the One who was born King of the Jews.
For our family, the highlight this year was the wedding of Zoe and Rohan.
Some of our friends and families travelled far for the special occasion.
They took time off work, they paid for airline tickets, they bought wedding gifts and spent their time with Rohan and Zoe.
The Wise men travelled far as well.
We don’t know how many came except that there were at least two, and very likely more than three.
They came to Jerusalem and asked (in verse two), “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.”
Why did they travel such a long distance to visit the King of the Jews?
The Jews weren’t a superpower but a people living under Roman oppression.
Why would they go through all the trouble to see this King of an oppressed people?
Around the time when Jesus was born, there was an expectation that a ruler would come from Judea.
The ancient Roman historian Suetonius writes, “Throughout the whole of the East there had spread an old and persistent belief: destiny had decreed that at that time men coming forth from Judea would seize power [and rule the world].”
When the wise men from the East saw the Star, that was the signal for them that the King of the Jews was born.
It was the signal for them to get up and travel to worship him.
What did the signal, that star, looked like?
Again, we don’t know for sure.
There’s a possibility that it was an alignment of stars.
We have to remember that they didn’t have our modern understanding of astronomy.
When they saw the stars, they saw shining objects in the sky and not our modern understanding of stars being massive gas balls of energy.
However, we mustn’t look down on their understanding either.
We ourselves, in 2025, don’t have a perfect knowledge of science either.
There’s still so much to learn as we marvel at the beauty of our sky.
For example, a few weeks ago, there were some people who could see Aurora Australis (Southern Lights) in Sydney.
Aurora Australia happens when charged particles from the sun collide with Earth's magnetic field.
I’m not saying that this happened at Christmas, but the God who made the whole world could certainly arrange to cause solar winds to collide with Earth’s magnetic field near Jerusalem, scattering light at precisely the right moment at a precise location, so that the Wise men in the East would recognise this phenomenon and travel many miles to worship the one born of the Jews.
Again, I’m not saying that the star was an aurora of some sort.
What I am saying is that we have a God who can do marvellous things within as well as beyond our understanding.
The Wise Men saw and understood God’s sign for them.
But understanding by itself, wasn’t enough.
They understood what the sign meant and they got up and did something about it.
They stopped whatever it is that they were doing, got their gifts for the king, and started on a long journey to see this King.
The Wise Men saw the sign, understood it, and did something about it.
How about us? If God gives us a sign, would we understand it?
You know what? God has given us a sign.
Look with me at Hebrews 1:3, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word.”
God has given us a sign and His name is Jesus.
Jesus is the clearest sign of who God is and what God does.
Jesus is the greatest sign that God’s shown us.
At Christmas, we sing wonderful songs about Jesus, but what if we believe what we sang about Jesus? What we will do with what we know about Jesus?
The Wise Men got up and fully committed to finding Jesus.
Will we be wise like the Wise Men, following through with what we know about Jesus?
2. Tyrannical man sought to worship the king falsely
As the wise men entered Judea, they went to the city of Jerusalem to look for the king.
After all, Jerusalem was the capital of Judea (at least it was back in those days).
However, the people of Jerusalem, many of whom were Jews, had no idea that the King of the Jews was born.
Even the sitting king of Jerusalem, Herod, didn’t know about the birth of the new King.
Instead of getting excited, we read in verse three that Herod was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
This was King Herod the Great, not to be confused with his son, Herod Antipas, who would be mentioned later on in the Bible.
Even though he was known as the King of the Jews, Herod the Great was actually an Idumean (an Edomite).
He was appointed King of the Jews by the Romans.
He was called Herod the Great because he accomplished many building projects.
However, Herod the Great was not a good king; in fact he was terrible.
He was so afraid that people would take his power away that he would kill members of his own family if he suspected that they were a threat.
After all, he wasn’t the rightful king of the Jews; he wasn’t even Jewish!
The throne didn’t belong to him.
And so, when these Magi from the East came marching into the capital of Judea, asking for the where-about of the King of Jews who had just been born, Herod was deeply disturbed.
He would not tolerate a rival king, even if he was only a child.
That’s a threat that Herod won’t tolerate.
And so, the first thing Herod did was to find out more about this new King.
Look with me at verse 4, “So he assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah would be born.”
Now notice that he didn’t ask when the King of the Jews would be born but when the Messiah would be born.
In Herod’s mind, he associated this King whom the Wise men from the East came to worship was the Messiah, the Christ, that God had promised in the Old Testament.
This Christ, this Chosen One of God, would save God’s people and would rule the world.
But rather than celebrating the birth of God’s Chosen King, Herod began plotting how he could destroy him.
As one commentator puts it, “Herod was more interested in saving his throne than in saving his soul!”
All the chief priests and scribes reported back to Herod to say that according to the Bible, the new King would be born in Bethlehem.
Here we see two flawed responses to the birth of Jesus.
Flaw one: False worship.
Herod the Great said to the Wise men that once they located where the Child was, let him know, so that he could go and worship him.
He used the same religious language as the wise men.
However, as we read on, we know that he didn’t want to go and worship Jesus.
He wanted to kill him.
Herod’s worship was a false worship for he only claimed to worship Jesus but in his heart of hearts he was an enemy of Jesus.
There are people who would come to Jesus, and even say the right, religious words.
They would say that they had come to worship, but they still sit on the throne of their hearts.
Like Herod, they know about Jesus; they might have even did their own research and found the truth about Jesus, as recorded in the Bible.
But knowing and even believing the facts about Jesus is not worship.
As long as they still want to be the ruler of their own lives, as long as they hold onto the throne of their hearts, they still act as enemies of the true King.
Flaw two is that of the chief priests and scribes.
They knew what the Bible said about the Christ.
They knew that the Wise Men from the East had come because the new King is born.
What did they do? They reported it Herod about it and they did nothing beyond that.
They responded with apathy; they didn’t care enough to do anything about Christ, the very One God had promised in His word.
They didn’t celebrate his coming, and they didn’t go to Bethlehem to find out about it.
Bethlehem was only 8 miles away.
Compared to the Wise men from the East, the chief priests and the scribed only had to walk a short distance.
But they didn’t even do that.
That’s like many people today.
They know about Jesus, and again, like Herod the Great, they might even believe that it’s true, but they’re not willing to do anything about it.
They’re apathetic about Jesus.
They know the truth but they didn’t believe it, they weren’t convinced by it.
The chief priests and the scribes probably could’ve guessed that King Herod would plot harm against the Baby but they didn’t do anything about it.
Many of us here might know the Christmas stories very well.
Many of us probably know it enough to retell it.
But do we believe it?
3. The Boy whom the wisemen worshipped
Instead of coming to Jesus with flawed worship, the wisemen came to worship the Boy Jesus truthfully.
Look with me at verse 9, “After hearing the king, they went on their way. And there it was—the star they had seen at its rising. It led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was.”
The star that the wise men were following was like a heavenly GPS and when they got to Jerusalem it was like them going through a tunnel.
Somehow, they lost the signal to their heavenly GPS when they got to Jerusalem.
However, once they set out for Jerusalem, they saw the star again, leading them to Jesus.
When the wise men saw little boy Jesus, they were overwhelmed with joy.
They had more joy than they could handle!
They travelled across many countries, scaled hills, descended into valleys to worship Jesus.
How? They fell at their knees; they knelt down before him and worshipped.
To worship is to acknowledge the greatness of another person.
In ancient Near East, there would be times when people would bow down before the king.
However, for both Jews and Christians, only God is worthy of our worship.
The wise men might be bowing out of deep respect for the One who was born King of the Jews, but they were really bowing before God the Son, even though they might not have known Jesus fully yet.
As part of their worship, they brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
They brought these precious gifts to honour the King.
Their gifts show their respect to the King.
When we come before God to worship him, we’re not necessarily called to bring gold, frankincense, and myrrh when we come before Jesus.
However, as part of our worship, we want to give God what’s precious to us because that’s how we honour and show respect to the King.
A famous song that used to be sung around Christmas was the Little Drummer Boy.
The story of the little drummer boy is not in the Bible; it’s a story that imagines a little boy coming before Jesus on Christmas Day.
It imagines this conversation the little boy has with Jesus.
I need your help for this son.
When you hear I say Pa rum pum pum pum, can you tap the rhythm on the pew in front of you.
Little baby, pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pum
That’s fit to give a King, pa rum pum pum pum Rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum.
Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum
On my drum?
We might be like the poor boy, feeling like we’ve got nothing to bring to Jesus.
However, whatever gift he’s given us, whether it’s our time, our passion, our skills, let’s bring that gift back to him, to honour him and to pay respect to him.
The Heavenly Father led the family’s escape
The wise men were warned then in a dream not to go back to Herod the Great.
Joseph, the husband of Mary, was also told by God in a dream to leave Bethlehem as well.
Look with me at verse 13, “After they were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to kill him.”
Joseph obeyed the angel of the Lord and fled to Egypt which was around 130 kilometres away.
The Heavenly Father used Joseph, the man God chose to look after Jesus, God’s Own Son.
That was a massive responsibility God had given to Joseph.
Joseph, who was an ordinary carpenter from a little country town called Nazareth, now suddenly given the role by God to look after Jesus, God’s Son and the one Born King of the Jews.
Some of us might still remember the first time being a father.
I remember when I first became a father and feeling the weight of the responsibility.
How do I look after another human being?
What if they’re sick? What if I get sick?
Can I afford to give them what they need? How do I protect them?
Being the father of another human being is a big responsibility.
But being the adopted father of Jesus is a whole new level!
How can someone act as the father to the Son of God?
How does someone raise the Son of God?
More than that, King Herod the Great, the tyrant who was both powerful and influential, was coming for the baby.
How could Joseph possibly keep this little family safe?
The task seemed impossible!
And it would have been, if not for God the Heavenly Father intervening.
Sometimes, like Joseph, we might feel like we’re placed in an impossible situation because we have put our trust in God.
From a human point of view, if we chose not to trust God, then many lives would be safer and more comfortable.
And so, why keep trusting in God, even when my life and my comfort are at risk?
It’s because trusting God is always the right thing to do.
To trust God is to have faith in God.
In fact, to trust God is part of what it means to worship God.
It is by trusting Him with all of our hearts, not just a part of it, not just when we feel like it, that we worship Him.
Joseph trusted God and gave up living the normal and safer life as a carpenter.
Instead, he chose to obey God and fled to a foreign country, as a refugee, even as he looked after his little family.
He probably didn’t have time to bring many belongings.
He would’ve had to travel light to travel fast with Mary and the little Boy Jesus.
And he did this for a Son who was not his.
However, by faith, Joseph trusted God.
God said that this Baby would save his people from their sins and so Joseph willingly, and humbly, accepted any difficulties that came his way.
In fact, I suspect Joseph, as a righteous man, will see this as an honour, because he gets to worship God by protecting God’s Son.
Joseph was a man of honour, a man who was not afraid of difficulties, and a humble worshipper of God.
I don’t know what next year is going to be like for you, but if you are a Christian, worship God by choosing service over comfort, faith over security, and protecting those whom God’s put under your care.
Don’t be afraid to reach goals, to travel to unfamiliar places, if that’s where God is calling you to go.
By faith, let God take control of your life, abandon the throne of your heart, and find out where God wants you to go as you follow Jesus.
Next year, there’s a man’s conference in Sydney that has this poster: “Burn your boats”
It will be a wonderful time of men encouraging one another in God’s word.
And this picture of burning your boats is a powerful one.
It’s the idea of fully devoted to going ahead on the journey.
It’s the idea of leaving yourselves to go forward with no option of turning back.
That’s what worship looks like.
It’s abandoning your throne, abandoning your goals, abandoning any back-up plan, to follow Jesus.
That’s what it means to come to worship Jesus.
And so, coming back to our question earlier, how far had you had to travel for Christmas this year?
Some had a short walk, while others travelled far and crossed many barriers and tunnels to get here.
I’m so glad you came today.
If you’re a Christian already, keep going, keep seeking his will.
Keep praying and asking God, not to tell you your goals in life but to ask Him to show you his goals for you.
Keep reading His word to find out his will for your life.
If you’re not a Christian yet, keep going, keep seeking his will.
It may not be quite clear yet, but don’t stop.
Don’t be like the scribes and Pharisees, who didn’t care about Jesus’ coming.
Don’t be like Herod, who comes with false worship.
Be like the wise men and keep seeking.
Be like Joseph and follow the direction of the Heavenly Father.
This Christmas, remember that since King Jesus has come, abandon your throne and instead, seek and worship Him with all of your heart.
Let’s pray, “Father, thank you for that in your perfect timing, you sent Jesus to our earth, who stepped into our time and space to save a people like us. Father, thank you for showing us Jesus, the Greatest Sign you’ve given to show us how to come before you. Please help us to be wise and keep seeking you, to keep following you, that we might worship you, with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever, Amen.”