The gifts we give say much about how much we value the receiver.
Sermon Title: THE GIFT: MYRRH
Sermon Text: MATTHEW 2:11-12 (NIV)
Sermon Series: THE GIFT
By: BRO. JEREMY LEONES
Sermon Notes:
MATTHEW 2:10-11 NIV
10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.
The gifts we give say much about how much we value the receiver.
Matthew 2:2 NLT
2 "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”
Three Things about Myrrh:
Its SIGNIFICANCE in Biblical history.
1. As beauty treatment.
2. As perfume.
Psalm 45:8 NLT
8 Myrrh, aloes, and cassia perfume your robes. in ivory palaces the music of strings entertains you.
Proverbs 7:17 NLT
17 I've perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
3. As medicine
Mark 15:23 NIV
23 Then they offered him wine mixedwith myrrh, but he did not take it.
4. As annointing oil
Exodus 30:22-25 NLT
22 Then the Lord said to Moses, 23 "Collect choice spices - 12 1/2 pounds of pure myrrh, 6 1/4 pounds of fragrant cinnamon, 6 1/4 pounds of fragrant calamus, and 12 1/2 pounds of cassia - as measured by the weight of the sanctuary shekel. Also get one gallon of olive oil. Like a skilled incense maker, blend these ingredients to make a holy anointing oil.
5. As embalming fluid.
John 19:39 NLT
39 With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought about seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes.
Its symbolism in Jesus’ ministry.
The same substance that was associated with Jesus’ early life is also associated with the end of His Life.
myrrh | Hebrew: mor
Unless you see the shadow of the cross falling on the crib, you don’t see the crib clearly at all.
Revelation 13:8 NKJV
… the Lamb slain from the foundations of the earth.
He was born to die
“… Rest well, tiny hands.
For though you belong to a king, you will touch no satin (nor) own no gold.
You will grasp no pen, (you will) guide no brush.No, your tiny hands are reserved for works more precious:
to touch a leper’s open wound,
to wipe a widow’s weary tear,
to claw the ground of Gethsemane.Your hands, so tiny, so white – clutched tonight in an infant’s fist.
They aren’t destined to hold a scepter nor wave from a place balcony.
They are reserved instead for a Roman spike that will staple them to a Roman cross…”
John 3:16 NIV
16 For God so loved the world that he gavehis one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Hebrews 2:14-15 NIV
14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
Ephesians 1:7 NIV
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
Romans 5:10 NIV
10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
Colossians 1:22 NLT
22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
Isaiah 53:5 NLT
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
Jesus was crushed for us to be saved, for us to be healed!
The gift of myrrh signifies to us the greatest act of love ever shown – Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross.
Its signal to us personally.
Matthew 2:11 NIV
11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
worship | Greek: proskuneo
“Among the Orientals, especiall the Persians, to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound reverence.”
Thayer’s Greek Lexicon
Their worship cost them their dignity.
Their worship cost them financially.
“There are three conversions that are necessary in a person’s life: the conversion of the heart, the conversion of the mind, and the conversion of the wallet.”
Martin Luther
2 Corinthians 9:6-7 NIV
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Let’s offer Him the best version of ourselves
– our Christ-like selves –
as living sacrifices.
Would you receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?