2011-01-02-am Sermon Matthew 2:1-12 Eph 3:1-12

110102am Matthew 2:1-12 Eph 3:1-12

I enjoyed going on the church walk yesterday (thanks to Alan and Jenny and all the members of the church walking group – the plan for the year is published, all welcome who are able). I like walking, for lots of reasons, it's good for your health, it's good for conversation, it's good to get out into the countryside. For another thing it's a way to experience moving through the world without being in a car. It often makes me think of characters in the Bible who walked, like Moses walking through the desert and up Mount Sinai, or Jesus walking through the Land, and not least the Magi. Despite all the legends that have grown up around them, all we really know is that some Magi came from somewhere in the East at some point. If they came from Babylonia, they travelled maybe a thousand miles, maybe on camels as they are often depicted, maybe on horses, in wagons, or on foot, who knows. All it says is magi from the east came to Jerusalem, but the idea of them has stimulated our imagination - these gentile astrologers, patiently studying the stars and believing that they could find meaning in them, seeing some event that they thought meant a king of the Jews was born, and above all the journey that they made: say it was a thousand miles, that's about the distance from here to the south of France, if you could travel 8 hours a day 6 days a week at 1 mph that would take nearly six months, that's without counting delays, finding lodgings, getting food etc.

It's a reminder of the determination and commitment and patient endurance that we need to seek Christ and follow Christ. We live in a time of such ease and speed that it's easy to forget this. We expect things now, and we're not used to having to make an effort. But Christ requires and deserves every effort.

And of course the other thing that fires our imaginations is the gifts. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts, gold, incense and myrrh. We can speculate on the meaning of their gifts – gold for a king, incense for worship, and myrrh for anointing – but the word that struck me as I read these Scripture was treasures. They had come to offer honour to royalty, and these were gifts for royalty. We don't know if they were personal gifts representing their own allegiance, or diplomatic gifts representing their community's official response, but they were costly.

The thing is, they presented their riches, but what they didn't yet know was that he had riches for them. Paul says that his ministry was to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph 3:8). Here are the Gentiles presenting Christ with their earthly riches, but what lay before them were the unsearchable, unmeasurable, infinite riches of Christ.

It's a phrase Paul uses several times, so what does it mean? Well, there are several things just in this chapter. v.2 grace: the administration of his grace - God's great love and kindness towards us, his attitude, the way he is disposed to us for our good and our blessing. v.3 revelation – the fact that he has made this known to the whole world. After all it's not much use loving someone if they never know it! But he has made it known. v.6 membership: members of one body – so our inclusion in the one body of Christ. And also v.6 sharers together in the promise – the promise of blessing on earth and for ever in the new world. v.7 power: - his power in creation and his power in salvation, power to make us and to remake us, to change our lives. v.10 wisdom: - the manifold wisdom of God, the rightness of everything he think and everything he tells us. And v.12 access in him and through him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

So there are just some of the unsearchable riches of Christ: grace, revelation, membership, power, wisdom and access all made available to us in the gift of Jesus. And there's so much more, because his riches are unsearchable, we can never come to an end of them.

It's right and good that we should offer him our riches, like the Magi who opened their treasures, and present him with all that we have and all that we are – our time, our treasure, our talents. Paul says, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice. And it's even more right and good that we open ourselves to receive his treasures.

How do we receive them? By the word of God, by preaching and announcing them. They come first into our eyes as we read and our ears as we listen, and so into our minds and hearts as we believe. They work their wonders in our souls as we take them in and turn them over in our thoughts, like Mary did, who Luke says treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart (Luke 2:19). These treasures are not material objects, they are 'only words', but they are the words of God, and so they have mighty power. As we take them in, they affect how we think and act. By living with them and living them out, they affect how we see ourselves and others and the world, how we make decisions, the attitudes we take, the ways we approach our lives and the tasks that Providence puts before us, the situations we face and the things that are asked of us.

Paul speaks in Rom 2:4 about the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience – so we feel ourselves to be valued by God, we learn not to abuse his kindness, we learn to be kind and patient with others. In Rom 11:33 he says oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God – so we learn to trust God's wise plan, and to be humble about our human knowledge and wisdom, we learn that he knows best, and we realise that we always have more to learn. Again in Coloss 2:2 Paul prays that we may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And in Romans and Ephesians he talks about the riches of his glory. So we learn that life isn't about getting our own glory, and it's not about being impressed by the glory of the rich and powerful and clever, it's about giving glory to God and enjoying his eternal glory which we are made to share.

God's riches are truly unsearchable. He is unfathomably rich in his own being, his wisdom and magnificence and power and love. And he has displayed his riches and manifested them in the gift of Christ – in this little child, weak and vulnerable and gentle. And he has given these riches to us.

Doesn't it strike you then that in order to be truly rich we need to cultivate above all our relationship with God? Life is just so much richer with Jesus – you know God loves you, you know he forgives and accepts you, he strengthens you, he guides you, and he will take you to eternal glory.

This is a good time of year to ponder this. 1^st January is the Feast of the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus – all about him being offered to God in the covenant on the 8^th day, his self offering to the Father's will, his obedience and commitment. It's Epiphany on Friday, the offering of the Gentiles; it's New Year, looking back and looking forward – a time to renew our resolve and commitment to Christ.

If we think the Magi made a long sacrificial journey to come to Christ, think what an infinitely greater journey Christ made to come to us, from the riches of heaven to the poverty and suffering of earth. If we think the Magi offered him rich treasure, think of the unsearchable treasury of riches he offers to us. And if we believe that to possess Christ, to possess in him all the riches of God, is the greatest gift we can find, think of what effort, what a sacrificial journey it's worth us making, think of how we should cultivate the richness of our relationship with God above all.

Will you resolve to renew your commitment to Christ? Will you decide to put him first in everything? Will he have the first place in your love, will you be renewed in praising him and en-joying him, taking joy in him? Will you commit yourself to obey him, celebrate him, think on him and speak of him? Will you like the Magi put him at the centre of your life, your number one objective? Will you open your heart for him to make you more loving, joyful and peaceful, more enthusiastic, gracious – in fact, so full of him that he shines out of you?

Does it sound like a lot of effort? It is and it isn't. The effort is not so much to make those riches grow in you, but rather to overcome the distractions and traps and snares that take your mind and focus away from him. It's the effort to put yourself in the position where he is able to take his rightful place in your life. They bowed down and worshipped him and opened their treasures.