"Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.'
And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh" (Matthew 2:1-2, 11).

Merry Christmas.

Welcome to Pathway. And welcome to the Christmas wonderland at Pathway. It's absolutely beautiful here.

There is something wonderful about Christmas. There's a warmth. There's a beauty. Christmas lights everywhere. Christmas music. Christmas ornaments. There are ten thousand Hallmark movies.

It's awesome.

As a kid growing up in Chicago, I found Christmas magical, full of presents under the tree, snow, and Christmas vacations.

The one thing that I dreaded was the Christmas pageant at my little church. I dreaded that thing. I didn't want to be in it.

Even so, for this little Italian kid, Christmas was magical.

Even for friends who might not call themselves Christians, there's still something wonderful about Christmas.

I think there's a really deep reason for that.

The reason is that the human heart needs a little magic. We're on a quest for it.

Let me say it this way, because this is our theme for this whole month of December.

Deep in every human heart, we're all searching for a crown worth wearing, a miracle worth seeing, and a love worth finding.

That's the quest. That's human nature. It's the human heart. I am saying we're built for this search.

We're built for it emotionally.
We're built for it psychologically.
We're built for it spiritually.

It's the longing; it's the quest that drives whole societies and natures. This search for ultimate meaning is so strong that even when people don't want to hold onto God or Jesus, they still hold onto Christmas.

Believe in Christmas because life without a little magic is sad.

But I want to show you that the best thing any of us can ever do in our lives is to once for all fully embrace Christmas in its original and fullest meaning.

That original and fullest meaning is that the King is born, and that King is God, who came into the world as a human, without ceasing to be God.

He came into the world to be not only the king, but your king. And if you embrace him as your king, you will find he is radically unlike any other ruler or power broker of earth. King Jesus came on Christmas Day not to take anything from you, but rather to give you the deepest longings of your heart.

He came to bless you.
He came to save you.
He came to forgive you.

He came to make you you—your deepest, truest self, with all the power and beauty and excellence you were meant to display.

And when you have your own "come to Jesus moment," that is exactly what he will do for you, and so much more. I'm praying that you might have a "come to Jesus" moment today.

And I want to give you a little heads up. Because I'm not only going to preach and teach about Jesus. I'm actually going to ask you to receive him today. I mean make that choice to receive him so that this Christmas will literally be your first Christmas as a child of God.

I'll explain that, and then I'll talk you through it.

Don't worry, it won't be weird, and I won't single you out. But that's where we're going.

The Wise Men were officially called the Magi. We get the word magician from their name.

They were the advisors to the king in the ancient land of Persia.

Under Persian law, the kings of Persia were chosen by a ruling body headed by these Magi. That meant these wise men were actually king-makers.

When they arrived in Bethlehem, the wise men presented Jesus three gifts. They're called The Gifts of the Magi. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

 

The 3 gifts held powerful symbolic meaning. For today, we'll talk about the gold. Then over the next 2 messages, we can talk about the frankincense and myrrh.

 

What did the gold mean?

Gold was the most precious of metals. It represented wealth and prestige. By giving him gold, the Magi recognized Jesus' kingship and worth.

The Magi were willing to pour out their treasures at the feet of young Jesus because they saw in him the world's most glorious king.

But what they didn't see was something even deeper. Something so profound that people miss it, and so gracious that people think it's too good to be true.

The Bible calls Jesus not only King, but King of kings.

"[Jesus] is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords" (1 Timothy 6:15).

You'll find that in multiple places in the Bible.

On one level this is saying that of all the kings and queens of earth, Jesus is the High Most Glorious King, and he reigns over all of them. His authority is greater. His power is unmatched. His right to rule is without parallel. There is no king like King Jesus and there never will be.

 

But this also means something else. It means that Jesus the King allows there to be other kings and queens too.

We'll come back to this... but...

This has enormous meaning for you and me if we will have ears to hear.