In May 1940, the Government of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain collapsed and King George VI called upon Winston Churchill to form a new government. It was a dark hour for our nation. We were unprepared for war, we were losing on all fronts, we were in deep trouble.

Churchill came to Parliament to share with them his aims and purposes. Let me quote from his speech:-
I would say to the House as I said to those who have joined the Government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. There is before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. There is before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, ‘What is our policy?’ I would say it is to wage war by seas and in air with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us, to wage war against the monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, ‘What is our aim?’ I can answer in one word – victory. Victory at all costs; victory in spite of all terror. Victory however long and hard the road may be. For without victory there is no survival. Let that be realised.

Matthew when he wrote his Gospel also had a purpose in mind. He wanted to reveal the Messiah, who is King of the Jews and King over the Gentiles as well. Both Jews and Gentiles were welcome to come and worship him, for here was the real King, not the usurping king Herod.

Now I just want to digress onto a couple of points, just to spare you asking me afterwards.

Firstly, child: that’s how Matthew describes Jesus. We know Luke describes him as a baby. This event of the Magi obviously occurs later than the shepherd event. How old was Jesus then? Interestingly, Luke refers to Jesus as a child just 40 days after his birth (Luke 2:27). Herod however arranges the murder of all under 2 years, which was probably a ‘catch-all’ policy, based on the widest possible interpretation of when this rival King might have been born. So, we don’t know his age, but he was still very young.

Secondly, astrology: that’s how Matthew describes the means by which these Magi (a Persian word used for astrologers or magicians) found out where to look. Now, in the ANE, astrology and astronomy were intertwined into one subject, in fact into quite a sophisticated science in Babylon, where these Magi may well have come from.

There are three possible explanations for what this ‘star’ was. A) Halley’s Comet which passed over in 11 BC but that’s thought to be too early. B) An exploding star burning brightly at the time and ancient Chinese records tell of one about 5-4BC, which burned for about 70 years. The first of these is probably too early, the second too late – Herod died in 4BC.

C) I think the best possibility is the conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn in the area of the sky called Pisces. This happened 3 times in 7BC: 29 May, 3 October, 4 December. Being astrologers, the Magi interpreted this planetary activity: Pisces marked the end of the sun’s old course and the beginning of the new. Jupiter was the royal planet and Saturn had long been the symbol of Israel. So the conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn and Pisces would suggest to the Magi that a new age was beginning in which the sovereignty of the world would move to Israel.

Now my digression is less planetary and more astrological. Surely the Bible condemns astrology. Well, yes it does. So why does it feature so strongly in Jesus’ birth. Let me quote NT scholar, Dr R.T. France:-
“God’s use of their astrological … background to communicate with [the Magi] does not imply his endorsement of astrology, but indicates his care in meeting individuals where they are.” (Matthew, TNTC, p. 84-5)

So let’s look at our text a bit more closely. We can see that these Magi came with a purpose, came with excitement and came with treasure.

They came with a purpose
I came across this comment by the boxer Mike Tyson last year:
“I’ll never be happy. I believe I’ll die alone. I would want it that way. I’ve been a loner all my life with my secrets and my pain. I’m really lost, but I’m trying to find myself. I just want to escape. I’m really embarrassed with myself and my life. I want to be a missionary. I think I could do that while keeping my dignity. ... I’m not going to be a Jesus freak. But that’s what I’m going to give my life to. I love Jesus and I believe in Jesus, too -- and I’m a Muslim. Listen, I got a imam, I got a rabbi, I got a priest, I got a reverend -- I got ‘em all.”

The Magi had a purpose for their journey. Well, you don’t travel hundreds of miles and for many months for no reason. They knew that a new king had been born: note that the Magi are looking for the ‘one who has been born King’, not the one who has born to be king. They were after a living King, not an heir.

That was their first purpose and their second purpose was to worship him, not to just look at him, not just to coo over him, but to worship him, to acknowledge that this child deserved praise and honour and glory and power and majesty and might and authority. Their purpose was to find that King and to worship him.

They came with excitement
You can sense their excitement in their words (v.2) and we know they were excited (Matthew uses the word ‘overjoyed’ v.10) when they saw the star reappear again whilst in Jerusalem.

They knew they were at the start of a new venture, the dawn of a new beginning, even a fulfilment of God’s plans. The King they were seeking was clearly important: they brought rich gifts, they travelled from afar and for many days, they sought help to find him. This is a great adventure – seeking and finding the King of kings, the Lord of all, the Saviour of the world.

They came with treasure
Their treasure was treasure indeed. Gold was for the rich, frankincense was for the rich and myrrh was for the rich. There was no stinting on the presents here.

Unlike the stingy man who went Christmas shopping, but everything was too expensive except for a £50 vase reduced to £2, because the handle had been broken off. He bought it and had the sales assistant post it so that his friend would think he had paid £50 for it, and that it had been broken in the mail. A week after Christmas he received a thank-you note from his friend: “Thank you for the lovely vase. It was so nice of you to wrap each piece separately.”

There was no stinting on the presents of the Magi. These are rich gifts, which show all too clearly the high honour they wish to pay to the Christ-child. These gifts were an apt and fitting way of responding to a new-born King.

The Magi came with purpose, with excitement and with treasure. These are important markers for us as we begin a new year, as we take on board the reflections of the PCC and others in key leadership who gathered this weekend to pray and to seek God’s purpose for us, to get excited about what God is upto and to be prepared to pay the cost of being members of God’s church here.

Rick Warren put it helpfully like this: “If Churches don’t have the right purposes, they’re just a social club.” When we as a PCC discussed what was the purpose of Christ Church, one member said, “To make disciples”. That’s exactly how Jesus phrased it in his great commission.

As a phrase ‘To make disciples’ sounds quite small, but actually it helpfully encapsulates all things that matter. To make disciples is the task given to the church in respect of its members: Christ Church needs to help you be a disciple of Jesus. But also to make disciples is the task of reaching out with the Gospel in all sorts of ways (not just Alpha) to let the world out there, the needy world out there, come to know and to love Jesus – or to use the example of the Magi, to worship him.

Disciples, wherever they are on the continuum of faith, are called to worship, to spiritual maturity, to service, to evangelise and to fellowship. As we do that we will fulfil the PCC’s vision of some 4 years ago that we would be a church that lived to love God.

That is our purpose, but are we excited by it? Surely that is exciting. Can you imagine that if we begin to actually think in these terms, in wanting to live as if we did love God, in wanting to make disciples of ourselves, of our family, of our friends, of our neighbours, of our colleagues at work, at school, at play, what might happen?

The transforming power of Jesus Christ would be so evident in our lives that people would want that transforming power for themselves. God’s church would become such a light for the Gospel that as people streamed here to know this Jesus so we would be streaming out in love and service and witness to our community round about.

I have dream to see Christ Church like that and I want to do all in my power under the grace of God to enable that to happen, and I am excited about it. It stirs my heart and I long that it would stir the heart of everyone here: any pettiness would slip away before the overriding need to be the church that God longs for us to be.

But I tell you now, that will be costly. The Magi brought costly gifts; most of us don’t possess gold, frankincense and myrrh. But that wasn’t the greatest gift that they gave to Jesus and it isn’t the greatest gift we can bring.

The greatest gift the Magi brought was their devotion; their willingness to endure whatever it took and to search as long as it took to find what God had promised them through a sign. Their physical gifts pale in comparison to the gift of their devotion.

The last verse of In the Bleak Midwinter goes:-
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

Will you give your heart with me to serve the purposes of God, to make disciples and to see his Kingdom grow here among us and around us in the year ahead?