Focal passage: Matthew 2:1-11
John Piper shared a powerful story from Stanford Kelly in his sermon, To Finish the Aim of Christ’s Affliction: Called to Suffer and Rejoice. The story is about a Haitian man who lived sacrificially to honor the Lord.
Piper writes, “The church was having a Thanksgiving festival and each Christian was invited to bring a love offering. One envelope from a Haitian man named Edmund held $13 cash.
“That amount was three months’ income for a working man there. Kelly was as surprised as those counting a Sunday offering in the United States might be to get a $6,000 cash gift.
“He looked around for Edmund, but couldn’t see him. Later Kelly met him in the village and questioned him. He pressed him for an explanation and found that Edmund had sold his horse in order to give the $13 gift to God for the sake of the gospel.
“But why hadn’t he come to the festival? He hesitated and didn’t want to answer. Finally Edmund said, “I had no shirt to wear.”
Edmund’s story is a great testimony to a believer’s willingness to make great sacrifices to worship and honor the Lord. In like manner, our lesson this week teaches us about the wise men who also made sacrifices to worship the King.
In Matthew 2:1-11, the wise men knew something great had happened and they prepared to make the journey to see the Christ-child.
Once they arrived they rejoiced and worshipped Jesus. Although commanded by Herod to come back and report the location of Jesus, the wise men obeyed God and did not return.
I am sure disobeying Herod came with a potential death threat, but the wise men were willing to honor God and go back home a different way.
Their willingness to live sacrificially before God underscores the value we should give to worshipping and honoring God.
Like Edmond or the wise men, we would to do well to follow their example to demonstrate Jesus is worthy of worship, regardless of the costs.