Beyond the Carol | Meaning Of We Three Kings Of Orient Are

 TRANSCRIPT

We Three Kings. Now, when this was written originally, it was known as Three Kings of Orient and it was written actually in 1857 and it actually wasn't a pub song, even though it sounds like one, right? Um, and it was written by a man called John Henry Hopkins and John, he was an American hymn writer. His dad was a pastor and he actually wrote this song to be performed in a Christmas pageant, which is why I thought this was great today, right?

And he had written this. for the very first Christmas pageant. in the United States of America. And it was performed in New York City. And this was the part, obviously, of the story where the three kings were coming to see Jesus. And the amazing thing as well in this was, um, John Hopkins, he actually wrote the music and the lyrics, which in that time was very strange.

Most people wrote either the lyrics or they wrote the music, but not both. And it became the first widely popular Christmas carol. because of that pageant. So today we want to actually have a little bit of a look at what John Hopkins was actually writing in this, because in the crafting of this song, he's actually taking you on a journey and it's the journey of stepping into the lives of these men all those years ago.

And perhaps you've never heard that song before, maybe you've hunged along or you've sung it before, or you've just sat there and saw someone sing it at you. Um, but what was actually happening? Um, At this period of time, from this particular carol, this is what we want to look at today. And in the scriptures, we actually read that these men were called Magi.

And the word Magi, it actually comes from a Greek word, which was Magos. And then they actually stole it from a Persian word, which was Magas. Such a huge distinction there. Um, but the meaning was powerful. So in the ancient East, um, Eastern world where these three guys were from, well, they were known for like priestly wisdom and their expertise in things like interpreting dreams, astrology, and that's not like star signs.

All right. But being able to read the stars, um, reading signs. Uh, and also just oriental wisdom. And so this is where the traditional phrase of wise men came from. And then it's about the third century where men were kind of, these men were kind of commonly more thought of as perhaps being kings. And that was in relation to the fact that prophets had mentioned, um, in Psalm verse two, we can read it, it says, kings will bow down to God's son.

So they thought perhaps they were kings, but you know what, whether they were kings or whether they were just wise men, it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of the story. We don't really know. Even if there were three of them. That's just based on the fact that we hear that gifts were brought and they mentioned three of them.

But again, those things don't really matter to the story of what was happening. And if you strip back all of the King and the wise men stuff, you strip all that back and you look at it and what these men experienced and what they chose to do. That's where maybe we start to see some correlation to us here today.

between these men and us. Because just like you and me, the main people in this song and this part of the story were just that. There were people, there were men that had lives, that had pasts, that had experiences in their lives. And all of a sudden, this event is occurring as a part of a chapter in their own stories, because they were just regular humans.

They will be born at a young age. Badoom ching. Um, they would have grown up into young boys. They had been educated, obviously. If they end up being intellectuals later on, they've obviously had some sort of education, which is probably quite thorough. They would have hit puberty. They would have had all that hormonal stuff going on, pimples, whatever.

Maybe they dated. They could have even had wives and families, but they had built a lot of things into their life that many of us looking from the outside and from a world perspective would say are successful traits. Now, I've got my own little, uh, crown here. Lovely little crown. And I had a look at some of the things that, um because we all observe things that are indicators of success.

And I did a little bit of a research as well on what most humans see as indicators of success in their lives. And one of them is financial stability. So these guys, obviously money, well, if they're able to bring some pretty hefty gifts along to this trip, I'm pretty sure they were financially stable. And a lot of us are hoping to have that ability to be financially stable.

Um, they were. Yeah. Let's see. Freedom! Freedom's a big one. To have freedom in your life, to be able to choose what you want to do, where you get to go, when you want to go. These guys could go on like a trip. They obviously had some freedoms. They're building some really nice things for themselves there.

Meaning and purpose is a huge one for people. If you feel like in your life you've got some meaning and you've got some purpose in your life, you can add that to a success. Like, I figured that out. That's quite a successful thing for me. What about community? Having a community where you get to be with like minded people or people that at least you can get along with well, that care about you.

Like these guys had a community. They were the Wise Men Club. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. But they had community. So when we look at it, their resume was something to actually be pretty proud of, I would say. They built a great life for themselves. Over time and throughout our own lives. That is what we are doing.

We're striving. We're trying to build our own resumes of things that are successful in our lives. And we don't know all the details of the Magi. But these people, I would believe, had reached a pretty amazing pinnacle of their life.

They were known as being wise men, magi, powerful, maybe even kings. But then in this part of their life, something phenomenal was actually happening. And in the opening lyrics of this song, it says, We three kings of Orient are, Bearing gifts we traverse afar, Field and fountain, More and mountain following yonder star.

O star of wonder, star of light, star with royal beauty bright, westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light. So they had an Oriental background. They were bringing gifts, their gifts. They were travelling on a journey and they were following a guide. And the men, they had curiosity. They had a curiosity about a Messiah that they had probably heard about.

They're not going to go on a trip if they hadn't heard at least something about him. And the Magi were even so curious that they chose to halt the things that were going on in their lives, to search for the somewhat unknown. of what may lie at the end of this star. And so they start on this journey. And today we're going to read from the scriptures.

Matthew actually recorded this down. Matthew was great with details as well. And Matthew wrote in the book of Matthew, great name, um, chapter two. This is what we read of the recount of what happened. Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the reign of King Herod. And about that time, some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem asking, Where is the newborn King of the Jews?

We saw his star as it rose and we've come to worship him. And we pause there for a second. It says we saw his star as it rose. So one morning they woke up and they're like, Oh, what's that? They were astrologers. They were watching this thing and they had a curiosity. They see it rising and they're like, we are intellectuals.

We don't recognise this star. We have been studying and we don't recognise this. And if you're a man of science. There's a good chance you might question things when it comes to the supernatural, when it comes to the godly things, you might question, well that's not scientific accurate, that's not a star we've ever seen before.

But in the same vein, they then have this absolute confidence where they're saying, I have seen it Rose, and I have come to worship him. There's no question about it. I have come to worship him. And they're asking, where is he? Where is this one? And we go along for number three, um, from verse three. It says King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem.

He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law. And he asked, where's the Messiah supposed to be born? And this is what they say to him. Well, in Bethlehem in Judea, they said, well, that's what the prophet wrote. This is what the prophet had written. And you, Bethlehem in the land of Judah.

You are not least among the ruling cities of Judah. For a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people, Israel. So way back in the day, Micah, he had actually written as a prophet about the fact that this King was going to be born in Bethlehem and Herod goes into fact checking status.

What, where did they say it was going to be? In Bethlehem. Oh, crud. That's what they said. They said, it's going to be this Messiah. Yeah. But I'm the king, this is not good for me. And then we continue on. Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared.

Is this one on?

Hello. Is it good?

Hello. Hello. Hello. Then he told them, go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me, because I want to go and worship him too. Well they are wise men. I don't think they're going to fall for that one. Good try. But Herod tries to give them a side mission. I know what you're trying to do guys.

Yeah, when you find him, just come right back. Let me know. I've got this all sorted. You know. And then after this interview, we're going to keep going. After this interview, the wise men went their way and the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. And It went ahead, the next one, it went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was.

So there's this like moment of revelation for them, where they see this star and it's finally stopped. They've been travelling and following it for so long, it's finally stopped above the house and the anticipation would have been pretty huge by this point and this is where we see the last part. When they saw the star they were filled with joy.

They entered the house and they saw the child with his mother Mary and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. That's the whole story, apart from the last little bit, where they didn't go back to Herod. Ha, ha, ha. Got him.

Um, but imagine the moment leading up to that. All those little moments that they had. They had been going through a lot of things to be able to reach this point of this journey. Like, the first time, oh, okay. We've been looking at this star, it's been raising, it's been rising for a while, it's different isn't it?

That's definitely different isn't it? Yeah, yeah, that's definitely different. Okay, okay. Well we all know what we need to do. We all know what we need to do. Okay, on the count of three let's say it. One, two, three. Follow it. Okay, yes. We're all going to follow it. Right. We're We just need to ask our wives, because it could just be a little bit of a journey, but I'm sure they're going to be fine with it.

Yeah, they're going to be totally fine with it. Like, it's just a boy's trip. It's going to, it's going to be fine. Yeah, just, just make sure you mention traversing afar, and bring a little prezzie. I am going to bring a shotgun mur. Okay, that's, I've got mur already, but you, you can bring the gold. Maybe you can bring some frankincense.

Okay, obviously I'm joking. But, there would have been a lot of preparation for this trip. It would have been a lot of things that they needed to get in order. And these men left everything behind to go and find Jesus. And they were at the top of their games in their careers. They would have been regarded for their wisdom and their knowledge.

They were able to afford gold. Frankincense is super expensive and myrrh. So they had riches to their name. Perhaps they left their whole families behind. They had status they had used for years and years to build themself up to this place and they were big deals in their country and they left it all behind.

And then by the time they arrive to Bethlehem, Jesus isn't a baby anymore as it said, he was a child. So they've obviously, obviously travelled for months since this first star arrived. And they're not flying first class either, on this trip. It would have been fairly rough. And Jesus is in a home, and now he's a little bit older, and they see this child, and they bow down to worship him.

And bowing is one of the greatest signs of humility, when you lower yourself before somebody else. Like, I'm so humbled before you. And you can think about it, they're like, we've had this huge journey, and this is the thing we have been searching for, it's here. The Messiah we have been searching for is actually here.

And grown men are bowing down to a toddler. And that is not normal in the regular world. They were wise men, and their journey did not seem wise to a lot of people, I'm sure. But it was real. And so they've done this huge trip and their first response is to humble themselves and show gratitude and give all that they had to this child.

Gold I bring to crown him again. Gold. That was for royalty because they recognise this is the true king of the world. I'm bringing gold. Frankincense to offer have I. Now this was a perfume that was always used for priests, for priestly things, and to be shown towards things that were like the creator and a supreme being, the deity.

I'm bringing this because we know that you are a supreme being, you are the deity, you are the god that we have been waiting for. Myrrh is mine, it's bitter perfume, breathes a life of gathering gloom. And then that verse says, So, um, sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, sealed in the stone cold tomb. So obviously the author of the song knows what was going to happen.

But these three kings, they then bring this myrrh, which was for embalmment when people go to death. So even though he was still alive and he was a child, they had an inkling that this is the one that's going to die for us. And they worshipped him with their gifts. But also, in the fact that they worshipped him with their gifts, they also risked everything for that particular journey, and they gave it all.

They surrendered everything. And every single step that they took towards leaving their own place, they left more of themselves behind. All those things that they have built for themselves, The hard days, even more of a sacrifice was required. The further away from home, the more of their title they were getting rid of.

They were laying it all down. And they knew, you know what? This doesn't even matter anymore. This doesn't even matter anymore. This is the highlight of our life. Even though we have worked our whole lives for where we are at, none of it matters anymore. Because they knew Jesus is worth giving our all to.

Jesus is worth giving away everything we have. And that's why we're going to bow to a toddler and we're going to do it with gusto. And we're going to be so excited. Because we know that this is it. This is what our life was meant to be for, to give our all to. And they humbly come before this saviour of the world and they knew this little child is actually going to die for me.

This child that I'm looking at in the face is the one that's saving my soul for eternity. I would be crying like a baby if I was in that position. The revelation of that for them. Because Jesus is worth giving out all to. And I don't know for you today what's brought you to listening to this, whether you're in here or whether you're online watching now, watching later.

But perhaps for you, you've had a bit of a curiosity about what is this Jesus person that these people talk about? And maybe you're at a place where you're thinking, well, I want to explore a little bit more. I want to start the first steps of that journey to maybe see what this has on offer for me. So welcome if that's you.

And for some of you maybe you've been on that journey for a long time and you've started to learn so much more about who God's created you to be and how he wants the best for your life and how he wants to release you into different things for your life and maybe you're at the point of going well what's the next step now?

What's the next step now God? What do I need to give over now? What do you want to work in now for me? And then there may even be some of you. That maybe once before you had been drawn towards knowing about Jesus in your life but something came and robbed that wonder from you. And maybe right now you're actually here listening to this because you're actually being drawn back.

You're being drawn back to him for maybe a fresh revelation. Star of wonder, star of light, Star with royal beauty bright, Westward leading, still proceeding, Guide us to thy perfect light. Jesus is the star. If you take out the word star, you can pop Jesus name in there. Jesus of wonder, Jesus of light, Jesus with royal beauty bright, he's leading you, he's proceeding to take you places and he's guiding you to his light.

That's what this song is about. And the thing that the Magi would never have found Jesus, so they would never have found him if they hadn't taken those first steps from their curiosity. If they had seen that star And they felt the pull to the wonder and the majesty of its light, but they decided No, that's, that just seems like a little bit hard.

I don't really want to do that. Oh, how long is that going to take to get to that final destination? Like, we don't even know where the ending is. But what are all these friends and colleagues going to think of us? Like, we're supposed to be the wise men. What are we doing? Well, what am I going to have to leave behind?

There's a lot of stuff I'm going to have to leave behind to do this. What about this one? Well, you know what? My life's just a little bit too important to be interrupted with that. I'm a king.

Actually, they didn't respond that way. They didn't actually respond that way. Imagine what they would have missed out if they had responded that way and hadn't gone. Instead, they were like, well, we're going to lay down all that stuff which is just of us. And we're going to come and we're going to bow before the true king.

And they let all of the experiences go that they'd had before to experience a new life. And we look at those questions again and we think, well, no, that's too hard. Maybe these are questions you've asked yourself. About the whole journey of getting to know a little bit more about God and Jesus. And you might be thinking, well, no, that's too hard.

Well, my question is, is life already easy for you? Is it, can you please tell me your secrets?

How long will it take to get to the final destination? Well, I've got some really great news 'cause Jesus has already paid it all. He's already had the final destination planned for you. You just have to seek him. You just have to seek him. The final destination is sorted. You don't have to even worry about the final destination.

Oh, but what will our friends and colleagues think of us? Well, which of your friends and colleagues actually need to hear this? And I would say all of them. If we stop ourselves from exploring something because we're worried about what someone else thinks, well, what if that person never hears about it because you didn't take the step?

What will I have to leave behind? Well, what will you get to gain? What are you going to get to gain from being free from those things and stepping into a journey with him? And, oh, my life is too important to be interrupted with this. Well, I'm going to tell you right now, your life is actually too valuable to stay the way that it is.

And I know that for a fact because that baby of Jesus that turned into a man, that ended up going to the cross and he died so that we could have a relationship with God, which would give us a way to have this amazing eternal life with him. If you weren't valuable, that never would have happened. This whole story would never have happened.

And I love in, um, Paul wrote this and Paul was a Christian killer that turned into a Christ follower and one of the greatest Christ followers we've seen. And he wrote in Philippians 3. 8 to the Philippian people there, he wrote, Yes. Everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Jesus Christ, my Lord.

Everything else is worthless. The crown's gone. Everything else doesn't matter. For this, for His sake, I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I can gain Christ. And that's exactly what happened with these wise men. And we're all like the Magi, we're all in the search for something greater.

And he invites us all to walk with him. And that invitation never dates. It is good, it's an invitation for all time. There's no like, you have to respond by this time or that's it. It's good for all time, but it is us that need to accept it. And there may be things in your life that you need to surrender.

Some of these little jewels, in your life that you've been working towards.

That you might need to surrender those and go, you know what, I've been working really hard towards that but maybe that's been more me than what maybe God's got planned for me. I might just have to, not, not ditch it completely but maybe I've got to just check and see, do I need to surrender that? And it's not a one time laying down of our crown and going, oh.

That's great. Because the jewels, they come back very quickly in our own lives, but it's about you bringing your gifts to Him. Your gifts that you have and bringing that to Him because Jesus is worth giving our all to. And when they started off, these men didn't know what the journey would look like. And they just took it day by day.

They were travelling, following the star, letting the light guide them. But I also believe that God prepared them the whole way along. He would have prepared them through the journey, however long it was, so that when they finally got to their house, they could receive the King exactly the way they were intended to.

All the stuff had been started to be worked on. So by the time they came, they were in that place to be able to say, yeah, I will accept this. I will accept this as truth. I will accept this for me. And so, we're going to finish off now, but I have a few things for you to think about. What is it for you specifically today?

Are there things that you know in your life, well, I probably need to just completely leave that behind. parts of my old life that I feel like don't fit into maybe what my new life with God is looking like and stepping forward and humbly saying I'm gonna do something about that I'm gonna put that to the side and then what are the things you actually feel drawn to bring as a gift to God and say all right use this I don't know what you're gonna do with it but use it Do something with it.

I'm here to give it over to you. Let's see what you want to do. Maybe some of you are at that stage today. But I'm here to say that Jeezy, Jeezy's. That's what I like to call him. Me and Jeezy, we're tight.

Get that on a shirt, I think. Jeezy's. He's worthy of it all. He's worthy of it all. And I've experienced this in my life, in my life as I've continued to give things away. And then I get extra things. I'm like, Ooh, look at me, look what I've done. Yeah. Then I realized, Oh, hang on. I need to humbly bring that back.

All right. What do you want to use this now? It's a journey that continues on. But I also want to leave you with this, that remembering that you are actually worthy enough that this plan of redemption was made for you. So when you think about Christmas and we think about this song of the kings, these kings were from the oriental lands.

They weren't the Jewish people. And they came and said we want to come and worship the king of the Jews, the newborn king of the Jews. But it was actually God saying well yeah in the past I was really for Israel and the Jewish people but now I'm for everybody. And that's why I picked you. I didn't pick Jews to come to worship me for the first time.

I picked people from the Orient, somewhere different, that people hadn't seen before. I'm going to pick these shepherds as well. They stink and no one really likes them. I'm going to pick them as well. To come and worship Jesus for the first time. Because I have now created a plan for all to come to me.

For all to be worthy. For all to have the gifts to bring. For all to be used. And that is the beauty of the Christmas story. And at the end of this song, have we got the last lyrics for that song? It says, glorious now, behold him arise. King and God and sacrifice, Alleluia, Alleluia, sounds through the earth and skies.

How beautiful the way he finished that song. He didn't stay dead when he died. Glorious now behold him arise. And he did it for you and he did it for me. And today, I've asked the band just to sing this song you all know it. Worthy of it all. Because he truly is worthy of all the gifts that we have to bring him.

And the greatest gift of that being your life and your heart. And I'm just going to pray quickly before they sing. And I pray that this Christmas and every time you see the three kings again, you maybe think a little differently about this story. Father we just thank you that you did bring your son for us.

And at this Christmas in the middle of all the mess and all of the busyness and all of the things that make it sometimes a little bit of a nightmare season, we know that this is a remembrance of what it is that you've done for us. And that Jesus you didn't stay as that toddler. You grew to be a man and you did something phenomenal for us, that we can come into community with you, that we can come and be with you, and that you love us so much, that you look down upon us and you say, you know what?

Even without a crown, you're the best to me. So Father, just today as we continue, we ask your spirit to speak to us and just guide us to see what is our next step in response to your Messiah.