THE
WISE ALWAYS WORSHIP CHRIST
A Sermon by
Dr. Walter A. Maier
“Now, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem
of Judea in the days of Herod the King, behold, there came wise men
from the East to Jerusalem, saying, Where is He that is born King of
the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and are come to worship
Him.” SAINT MATTHEW 2:1-2
OUR TRUE AND TRIUNE
GOD: Everlasting thanks be to Thee, O Jesus, that in Thine endless
mercy Thou wast born the Savior of all men! Praise be to Thee, O
enlightening Holy Spirit, that throughout the centuries Thou hast
brought mighty minds to humble faith in Christ, the world’s Savior!
Eternal glory be given Thee, O Father, because Thou art no respecter of
men, but dost receive every sinner who penitently clings to Thy Son! On
this first Sunday of the new year we plead not primarily for wealth and
ease and luxury, but for a deeper, personal trust in the love that sent
Thee, Jesus, into this world and to the cross for our redemption.
Remove all doubt from our minds and fortify our faith in Thy
sin-removing redemption! Guide the President, the new Congress, our
military and naval leaders, along the right paths! Forgive us our sins
of pride and thanklessness! Make us a penitent, believing people! With
loving care bless especially Thy children in the armed forces! Shorten
the days of our separation from them and grant all people a righteous
peace! First of all, however, give each of us the trusting, obedient
faith of the Magi, by which we kneel humbly before Thee, the cradled
Christ Child, our own and only Hope for this world and the next! We ask
this confidently because we pray in our Savior’s name and by His
promise. Amen!
On Christmas Day an
American airman, piloting a P-51 over China, was shot in the eyes by
Japanese ground fire. Instantly blood covered his face, everything
before him blurred, and he lost practically all his sight. What deadly
peril—to be blinded over enemy territory! However, a comrade in a
companion plane came to his aid. He radiophoned minute directions to
the wounded flier; and by this constant, careful guidance the sightless
pilot was able to land safely at an American base.
If only morally and
spiritually blinded mankind, daily moving closer to destruction would
follow the unfailing voice of Jesus and be led to blessing, peace, and
salvation! In their bloodlust and mania for murder, men often become as
animals, except that human beings wear clothes and speak; but by their
disregard of God they sinned even lower than dumb, brute creatures. A
resident of Victoria, British Columbia, lost his retriever dog and
advertised, offering a reward for its return. Sixty miles away in
Vancouver the dog was discovered, and the finder called by
long-distance telephone. To be sure that there was no mistake the owner
asked, “Let me speak the the dog!” The receiver was placed near the
animal’s ear and immediately it recognized the well-known voice.
Leaping from those who held it, the retriever dashed beneath tables and
desks, behind cupboards and doors, eager to find its master. Yet when
the Almighty tells the world of men and women who pride themselves on
their intelligence,”This is the way; walk ye in it,” they show less
sense than that dog; they refuse to recognize the voice of their God,
although He is “not far from everyone of us,” and His errorless, tried,
and tested truth is printed black on white in the Bible. His Word
directs, “Keep thyself pure,” but a book which as become America’s best
seller has 971 pages of sordid sex and seduction. Even our soldiers are
sometimes deliberately led into temptation and vice. Listen carefully
to this, shudder, and then do something about it! A chaplain, described
by a fellow officer as “a soldier’s chaplain, a humble, hard-working
man, who has preached seven or eight services on a Sunday when he had a
fever and could hardly drag himself around,” writes: “Within a stone’s
throw from where I sit this evening is the open-air theater… with a
show in progress…. A few moments ago a song from a women’s voice came
screaming through the loud speakers… the most vile, obscene thing I
have ever heard. In seductive language she is describing why she wants
to get married. At the close the mistress of ceremonies yells through
the mike, ‘Men, you could all get twenty years for what you are
thinking,’ and then lets out a vulgar laugh…. After one has been around
Army camps as long as I have, he knows something… of degrading
humanity; but in all my life my ears have never been forced to listen
to more obscene, suggestive, degrading prattle than these female
entertainers are blathering over the air.... It is an insult to God
Almighty and human intelligence. My heart is sick over it. Sodom and
Gomorrah would blush with shame if they were forced to sit and listen
to such obscenity…. Once before I went to a Special Service officer
with a protest, and he informed me that nothing could be done, for all
programs by agencies entertaining troops were censored in Washington
before being allowed to go overseas.” Is it any wonder that America is
confronted by serious problems when masses are unconcerned about
repentance, return to God, reliance, on His mercy, reinforcement by His
heavenly power?
Behind this
disregard of the Almighty is the murderous mistake which concludes that
the Christian faith is power less, passe; that only weak, crippled
minds, mental morons, still believe the Bible; that the sages and
scientists of all ages have rejected Jesus as the Redeemer.
In protest against
this destructive lie, my message, commemorating the visit of the Magi
to the Infant Jesus, assures you:
THE
WISE ALWAYS WORSHIP CHRIST
This is the lesson
of our Epiphany text (Saint Matthew, chapter two, verses one and two):
“Now, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod
the King, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem,
saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His
star in the East and are come to worship Him.”
1 AS THE MAGI THEY ARE CONSECRATED TO
CHRIST
As we review this
familiar, beloved story, we should note that these Magi who came “from
the East to Jerusalem…when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the
days of Herod the King,” first of all, were not Israelites, not
descendants of Abraham, not members of the chosen race, but aliens,
foreigners. What a marvelous example of love in this fact! It shows us,
most of whom are Gentiles, that the nationality of our parents, the
color of our skin, the place of our birth, mean nothing to our heavenly
Father, who “will have ALL men to be saved,” Take heart, you Americans
whose ancestors were born in Germany! You know that despite the cruelty
racial bigotry, and unbelief of Hitlerism, many sincere, devoted
Christians are left in that country. A United States Army officer in
occupied Germany writes to a New York newspaper that the homes he
entered there were marked by definite loyalty to the Lord. Praise God
with me today that the menace of National Socialism did not kill
Christian faith across the sea; that Jesus is the Savior of all men,
including our foes! Pray in the Epiphany season also that the Gospel
may have wide and free course even in the lands of our enemies!
Again, the Wise Men
came from the distant East. Wartime travel is hard today, but it was
indescribably more dangerous, difficult, and costly when they made that
long, exhausting journey to the Christ Child. For them one moment at
His side was worth far more than all the time, money, and effort spent
in bringing their caravan around the edge of the dismal desert, by the
heat of the day and the cold of the night, through perils and pitfalls
unnumbered. O that America loved its Lord with this devotion, that many
who carefully keep away from worship every Sunday would walk or ride
the few miles separating them from a true church!
Again, these early
visitors at the cradle of the heavenly Babe were men of wealth. How
many millionaires in the United States humble themselves before Jesus
as they did? Thank God, some blessed with earthly goods are rich in
their Redeemer too! One of the most unforgettable moments in my
broadcasting experience came when a leader in American industry,
pointing to his barns, with their blue-ribbon, prize-winning cattle,
put his arm on my shoulder and said, “If you ever have trouble with
your broadcast and you can’t go on, I will sell all this to help you
keep Bringing Christ to the Nations.” God bless all you who show such
devotion to His kingdom! But God warn those of you who love in
comfortable suburban homes, whose only financial problems are how to
spend your money and how to keep you income tax down, yet who refuse to
realize that after all the Lord has the first claim on the bulging bank
accounts He gave you!
Then, the Magi, who
asked for the Christ Child, saying “We have seen His star in the East,”
recognized the divine Creator in this marvel of nature. Today the
Almighty has surrounded us with myriads of divine miracles, yet an
increasing number of Americans deny His very existence. Have you ever
heard of anyone who stood before the Empire State Building in New York
City, craned his neck to behold its skyscraping top, and then declared:
“This whole thing came by chance. The steel and stone, bricks and
mortar, wood and nails, paint and varnish, all just happened to come
together without any plan or design, without architect or builder”? The
man who would make that statement would be regarded as insane. Why,
then, do people, especially educators with a long string of imposing
degrees, behold this entire world, with a billion times as many wonders
as in the tall Manhattan building, and say: “The Bible is all wrong.
This whole earth is an accident. No God ever made it. No God directs
it”? Why, when our Father has given us signs definitely foretelling the
return of His Son Jesus Christ “to judge the quick and the dead”—and
these every signs are being fulfilled before our eyes as never
before—do men sneer, “Where is the promise of His coming?”
While these
oriental sages had only a star to guide them, we have sixty-six books
in the Bible. Yet I ask pointedly, “How do men in our age follow this
divine, unfailing direction?” Are you not agreed that the world would
be far happier and blessed by peace, instead of cursed by war, if
international figures had the humble minds of the Magi and followed
Scripture?
Remember also, that
these pilgrims from the East recognized Christ’s royalty! The question
they eagerly raised in Jerusalem was, “Where is He that is born KING OF
THE JEWS?” They acclaimed Jesus a Monarch, a Sovereign. Do we, even
those of us who bear the Savior’s name? One can trace the trouble which
has engulfed the world, disrupts homes, disturbs souls to the tragic
fact that many have not been willing to bow before the Redeemer as the
Ruler of the race, who says, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and
in earth.”
These truly wise
men showed their sincerity by bringing the cradled Babe nothing cheap,
gaudy, artificial, but costly gifts—precious gold, fragrant
frankincense, and costly myrrh, imported and prepared at great price.
How differently we often approach Christ in our puny penny-pinching! At
the annual fair near Paris, cattle dealers on a specified day cut off
the sick animals’ tails and bring them into church, hoping that by this
ceremony the ailing creatures will be restored. That is the way many
people give today. They offer God the poorest product, yet expect the
richest blessing. In our country, spared the bombing and blastings
which wrecked large parts of other nations, we are not contributing
relatively as much now, despite high salaries and income, as fifteen
years ago. In France last week General Patton stated that although for
thirty-five years he had been trying to care for soldiers’ health and
welfare, he had received only one letter of thanks. Has God received
proportionately more throughout the centuries? Would it be unreasonable
to expect that Americans, moved by gratitude to the Lord for His mercy,
protection, and victories, should give God 10 per cent of their income
when some of them are paying the government 90 percent? Had Americans
tithed, the Lord’s kingdom would have received $15,900,000,000 last
year when, as a matter of fact, church contributions reached hardly one
tenth of that tenth. If, as some of you write, your cities have two
night clubs for every church, pleasure received the dollars; God, the
pennies.
Learn also this
lesson from the Magi: they believed that “we ought to obey God rather
than men.” Herod, the murderer, approached them with much friendliness,
urged them to find the newborn Babe and then return to Him with full
details; yet all the while the crafty King was planning a devilish
plot. The world is always trying to use the Christians for evil. The
Spirit give us the determination to disobey authority when it seeks to
destroy the Savior! They returned to their homes not via Jerusalem and
Herod’s palace, but by “another way.” Our country too must be read to
go “another way” than that taken by atheist nations. We shall never
find real blessing through intimate contact with unbelief. Similarly,
you followers of the Savior, be a separate, consecrated people! You
young folks, don’t marry unbelievers in the hope that you can convert
them! Too often they will take you away from your faith.
Above all, however,
keep clearly in mind that these visitors from the East, well called
“Wise Men,” fell on their knees and worshiped the Christ Child. Much at
Bethlehem must have startled them: the humble parents, the helpless
Babe, the lowly home. The lack of all outward evidence of kingship
doubtless left them bewildered; yet they took their reason captive and
adored Jesus on their knees. Intellectual leaders bowed down before the
Savior!
Some of you object
that those days are gone forever. Wise men since then, you insist, have
kept their distance from the Son of God. Only the simple-minded acclaim
Him. The learned have been atheists and infidels. But have they? Samuel
Kinns, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, states pointedly:
“Though there are some few men of high
talent and deep research who ignore the authenticity of Scriptures…I
contend that not only are skeptical physicists in the minority but also
men of highest eminence in every branch of science have been, and still
are, sincere believers.” He is right. The most profound minds in every
leading nation, particularly in the United States, have been positively
Christian. John Adams. Signer of the Declaration of Independence,
declared in his will, “I rely on the merits of Jesus Christ for the
pardon of my sins,” and he pleaded for “the holy and happy period when
the kingdoms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may be everywhere
established and the people willingly bow to the scepter of Him who is
the Prince of Peace.” He spoke in the spirit of many devout American
heroes who have led in our march of progress. Now, if men upon whom the
nation has bestowed its high honors, patriots like Alexander Hamilton,
Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, were professed Christians; if the United
States has never had as President a man who ridiculed Scripture or
assailed Jesus, then certainly our faith cannot be a childish
superstition which educated gorwnups must cast away.
The mind of the
Magi similarly guided some of history’s deepest thinkers. Ask
scientists to mention the dozen leading chemists and physicists, and
all will name Michael Faraday as one of them. Now, was he a skeptic or
a child of God? Listen to him declare, “The thought of death brings the
thought of Judgment; it also brings to the Christian the thought of Him
who died, who rose again for the justification of those who believe in
Him”! Ask physicians who know the history of medicine to designate
distinguished doctors, and they will mention Sir James Young Simpson,
discoverer of chloroform. Was he an infidel or a believer? He gives
this glorious confession of faith: “In the infinitude of His love to
our fallen race, God offers to each of us individually a free and full
pardon, and
life now and forever, if we only believe on Jesus Christ, His Son, whom
He sent to suffer in our stead—to die that we might live.” Ask
mathematicians to designate outstanding scientists in their field, and
they will select among others George Stokes. Was he an agnostic or a
follower of our Lord? You know the answer when you hear him testify,
“Though sinless Himself, the Son of God suffered death, the appointed
penalty of transgression, in order that through His blood we might have
redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Ask astronomers to choose notable
leaders in their field, and many will point to Sir William Hamilton.
Was he an atheist or a disciple of Jesus? You need not doubt when you
hear that he gave this expression of his faith:
O
Lamb of God, on whom was laid
The debt of all worlds never paid,
Have mercy! Savior, hear and aid!
For Thou art God….
Ask geographers to list noteworthy
experts in their field, and most of them will propose Charles Ritter.
Was he for Christ or against Him? He has left us this confident
assertion: “In respect to my eternity My Savior and my Redeemer will
decide according to His grace. While deeply conscious of my
unworthiness and sins, I am still trusting, because I know that God is
the everlasting love and mercy, and '‘my Redeemer liveth," ”who maketh
His faithful to be the partakers of the grace of the eternal and
righteous." ”ask scholars in any branch of science to name their most
distinguished leaders, and you will regularly find that humble
followers of our Lord occupy most of the highest places.
I know, if course,
that present-day college and university teachers are often hostile to
our faith, but I charge that many of these are ignorant of its truth
and not qualified to speak on religion as experts, as they may be in
their own scientific field. I charge also that their rejection of Jesus
has helped bring the world into its present plight. Where God’s Word is
despised, viciousness and immorality reign. Our constant prayer should
be: “O Holy Spirit, give us and our children the faith of the Magi!
Help us recognize that ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning’—and the
end—of all true wisdom! Give us schools for our children where the
Savior’s love is daily taught, colleges for our young people in which
His Word is revered, with no haughty, second-rate minds to ridicule and
oppose His redemption! Take out of our homes all books that question
Thy Word! Remove doubt from our hearts! Help us all look to the cross
and declare with firm assurance, ‘I know whom I have believed, and am
persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him
against that Day.’” If America refuses to follow the Wise Men in
worshiping the Savior; if the world continues to shower high honor on
those who use science to kill and destroy—and recently we read that the
German inventors of the V-l and V-2 bombs had been given outstanding
awards; if we train our children’s minds, not their hearts, make them
clever, not Christian; if our country permits itself to become
entangled in any selfish program while its people spurn an alliance
with Jesus, we have no reason to expect anything else for the future
but continued chaos, confusion, and conflict.
2 AS THE MAGI THEY ARE BLESSED BY
CHRIST
The wise always
worship Christ because of the blessings He bestows. The Magi
experienced this benediction for we are told that when the star led
them to the cradled Babe, “they rejoiced with exceeding great joy,” a
direct fulfillment of the Christmas angel’s promise, “Behold, I bring
you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.”
With all the
happiness Christ offers even a world at war, we marvel at the tragedy
that masses live on in fear, worry, sorrow, loneliness, grief, anguish
of soul, and terror of mind, when there is peace and joy for them in
Jesus. Mighty world figures have spent miserable, cringing lives,
despite their money, education, power. They have locked themselves in
their rooms, forbidden everyone to mention the word “death,” carried
charms, good-luck pieces, and other articles of superstitions in the
hope of avoiding sorrow. They have worried themselves physically and
mentally sick, until life became a frightened, phobia-filled existence.
The truly wise,
however, always worship Christ because He—and he alone—offers them
release from these ruinous fears. First of all, our Lord destroys the
cause of all evil, suffering and sorrow—our own transgressions of the
divine Law. When every one of us was lost “in trespasses and sin,”
doomed to hell, with nothing we could do or say, give or sacrifice, pay
or perform, able to deliver us from eternal death and damnation, God’s
own Son, moved by a love truly beyond description, came to rescue,
redeem, and restore us to His heavenly Father. He had no sin of His
own. Even His enemies could invent no justified charge against Him;
yet, innocent as He was, he became the most guilt-cursed of all
criminals, when He took your transgressions and mine, the myriad
millions of all humanity’s lustful thoughts, hate-filled words, bloody
crimes, and removed them from us completely, unconditionally, and
forever, so that, if only we believe Him, in God’s sight we escape
condemnation. Jesus suffered as the sinners’ Substitute, Himself
assuming the sentence, the punishment, the curse, of our guilt,
shedding His precious blood for our cleansing, dying the death of
deepest agony for us, and then rising from the grave to give every
believer the assurance of the resurrection and life everlasting, all
through trust in His truth.
You see, then, that
I begin this year with the same promise I have tried to bring as the
climax of each sermon, the pledge of full and free forgiveness through
faith in the Lord Jesus. Recently a pastor wrote me, “Why do you always
preach the same thing? Why don’t you follow so-and-so?” and he
mentioned a speaker who has repeatedly dealt with various theories of
the millennium, God and Magog, the number 666, and similar issues.
These, I am convinced, may well engage the attention of experienced
Bible readers and firmly-rooted believers, but they are so secondary to
the Gospel that a man can be saved without knowing of their more
intricate details. Our broadcast is a mission. It seeks especially to
bring Christ to the 65,000,000 unchurched Americans and to the many
more millions throughout the other twenty-four countries and
territories in which we employ radio stations. Therefore I make this
one definite request: If ever you hear me bring a message that does not
show a sinner the way to salvation, come to Saint Louis and pull me
away from this microphone! Gag my mouth! Tell the Lutheran Laymen’s
League to put someone else in my place! But as we go on for the Lord
Jesus, stand by us with your personal, persistent, prevailing prayers!
The wise always
worship Christ, for He, and again only He, gives the courage required
to defeat fears and worries. I wish all of you could have heard a naval
chaplain who last week spoke to the students at our Seminary. He told
of case after case how pilots and others on his airplane carrier before
battle were suddenly overcome by grim terror. These fliers, some of
them young and inexperienced, others veterans, would nervously tell
their commander that they were through. They were bewildered and dazed.
Fellow officers could give little help; physicians and psychiatrists
shook their heads; but when the chaplain read the Bible with them,
spoke to them of Jesus, explained His promise of all believers, “Lo, I
am with you always,” prayed with them, many men were changed, filled
with new courage and confidence. You can experience the same
transformation. Once the Savior rules you heart, you know that in
wartime no problem is too difficult for Him to solve, no need too great
for Him to supply, no sorrow too heavy for His comfort, no separation
too wide or long to be bridged by His love, no bereavement too crushing
to be healed by His compassion. If only you embittered men and women,
who feel yourself defeated in life, who are selfish, suspicious,
sorrow-filled for your past, dissatisfied with your present, fearful of
your future, would find the new life in the Lord, give Him the mastery
over your souls, dedicate yourself to Him in grateful love and service,
I could promise you in His name that an entirely new and far happier
existence would begin for you.
The wise always
worship Christ because through His love—and once more I say, only
through that devotion they can begin to understand earth’s sorrows.
When you view your life in the light of the Savior’s truth, you realize
that the blows which your Father permitted to strike you were the means
of raising you closer to Him; that the pains of body and mind you
endured came not from God’s anger but from His love, all directed to
strengthen you spiritually. When God’s children, forgetting His love,
become proud, self-reliant in their prosperity; when, following their
own way, they would destroy themselves, Jesus, who paid too much for
their redemption to permit that, intervenes and sends the visitation of
His love to bring them back to full reliance on His mercy, full trust
in His grace, full acceptance of His leadership. Blessed will you be
who labor under these remedial affliction if as you stand beneath the
cross, you look up to Christ and say, “He hath done all things well,”
Our troops defending Saint-Vith in Belgium must have shivered when the
temperature suddenly dropped and bitter cold engulfed their battle
area; yet, if that below-zero weather had not come, a five-mile stretch
of forest road would not have frozen—it had been muddy the whole week
before—and our Seventh Armored Division could not have withdrawn to
escape capture or destruction. Similarly in your lives, as children of
your heavenly Father, heavy blows are often disguised blessings;
hindrances, helps; agonies, advance toward heaven.
The wise always
worship Christ, because He is the one effective Power in resisting
temptation and overcoming evil; the one Impulse to a life of service
and sacrifice; the one Help against hatred, envy, jealousy, strife; the
one Hope our world has for counteracting war’s increased brutality; the
one Means of giving us a real peace, the one Assurance of a blessed
eternity, with no more war and wickedness, no more wounding and
killing, no more bombing and blasting, no more wasting-away and
starving, a heavenly place prepared by Jesus, where we who love the
Lord will have the privilege of beholding Him and enjoying the
fulfillment of the startling promise that “we shall be like Him”
My fellow redeemed,
are you one of the wise who worship Christ? Don’t write me, as some of
you do when you criticize the Gospel, “If you want to know who I am,
look me up in Who’s Who.” That leaves me cold. Criminals have been
listed in Who’s Who. What I want to know is this: Is your name found in
God’s Who’s Who, the Book of Life? The Lord grant that you especially
whom the Spirit now urges to declare yourself for the Savior, who are
close to the Kingdom but not in it, almost persuaded but no altogether
convinced, will heed the call issued on this first Sunday of January to
join the precession starting with the Magi, including the most profound
minds history knows, and leading to the worship the incarnate Redeemer.
Every day you defer
accepting Jesus becomes more dangerous. Over in Russia where, despite
atheistic disfavor, many humble folks yesterday, on Epiphany,
celebrated their Christmas, the peasants told each other the story of
an old woman who saw the Wise Men pass on their way to Bethlehem. “Come
with us,” they invited her, “for we are going to find the heavenly
Child.” “I will come,” she answered, “but not just now. I will follow
you every soon and overtake you.” When her work was finished, the Wise
Men had disappeared. She could not find them, and she never saw the
blessed Babe. Men and women of America, these Eastern sages, in spirit,
are passing you now. Through the words I speak to you they are asking
everyone of you, “Come with us to worship the Christ Child, the King
and Savior!” May the Holy Spirit grant that on the first Sunday of the
new year, you, as the truly wise of God, the Magi of our modern world,
will answer this invitation and repeat it to other:
Oh,
come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
Oh, come ye to Bethlehem to
worship the Lord!
Come and behold Him, born the
King of angels,
Oh, come let us adore Him, Oh,
come let us adore Him,
Oh, come let us adore Him, Christ
the Lord!
Amen.
The preceding Lutheran Hour
sermon first aired on January 7, 1945.