MATTHEW 2:1-12

[1] Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying,

[2] "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."

[3] When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;

[4] and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

[5] They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it is written by the prophet:

[6] `And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for from you shall come a ruler who will govern my people Israel.'"

[7] Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star appeared;

[8] and he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him bring me word, that I too may come and worship him."

[9] When they had heard the king they went their way; and lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was.

[10] When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy;

[11] and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

[12] And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Life is full of warnings.  Warnings like “No trespassing”  “Beware of dog” “Caution: Slippery when wet.” Because we live in such a litigious society some warnings are actually kind of comical.   Maybe you’ve seen the email that includes a list of bizarre warning labels that you can find on various products.  For example did you know that there used to be a warning label on a Sears hair dry that said: "Do not use while sleeping."   There used to be a warning label for Marks & Spencer Bread Pudding that said: "Product will be hot after heating."

Here are a few more unusual warning labels:

On a Rowenta iron: "Do not iron clothes on body."

On  a bottle of Boot's Cough Medicine for children: "Do not drive a car or operate machinery after taking this medication."

On Nytol sleeping pills: "Warning: May cause drowsiness."

On most brands of Christmas lights: "For indoor or outdoor use only."

On Planter's peanuts: "Warning: Contains peanuts."

On the one hand you have all these comical warnings and then you have all those serious warnings at the end of the drug commercials that you see on television.   The commercial spends 50 seconds telling you how the drug is going to make life wonderful for you and then in the last ten seconds you get ten minutes worth of dangerous side effects.  The announcer talks so fast it’s a miracle he doesn’t break the sound barrier and create a sonic boom.

Life is full of warnings and sometimes the warnings  come from God.   The wise men saw that when they went to see the Christ child in Bethlehem.  Before they went to Bethlehem the wise men stopped in Jerusalem and had a private audience with Herod. During that private audience Herod told the wise men to go and search diligently for the child.  Then after finding the new born king Herod told the wise men to come back and tell him all about it so that he, too, could “come and worship him.”

Herod, of course, was lying through his teeth. Herod didn’t want to worship the new born king.  Herod wanted to slit the new born king’s throat.  The wise men didn’t know that however which is why God sent them that warning.   “And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod they departed to their own country by another way.”

When you think about it the world hasn’t changed all that much over the years. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of Herod’s out there. Most of them aren’t as ruthless and repugnant as Herod was but they still can’t be trusted.  Sometimes it’s a stockbroker who really doesn’t have your best interests at heart.  Sometimes it’s a so-called friend who is slowly sucking the life out of you. Sometimes the person you have to watch out for is yourself.  That’s because sometimes you can be your own worst enemy. It happens when you let your emotions get the best of you.  You let your pride or anger, fear or jealousy push you to do something that isn’t good for you or the people around you.

Fortunately, when that happens God will be there to warn you.  The story of the Wise Men makes it clear that God will do everything possible to keep you from making a big mistake; from trusting a person who really shouldn’t be trusted; from making a decision that’s going to cause you or someone else a lot of sadness and sorrow.

All you just have to listen. All you have to do is cultivate an attitude similar to the one that a ten year old boy displayed one day.  It all started when he came home late one evening.  The boy was supposed to be home on school nights by 6 o’clock and he was usually very good when it came to obeying the rule.  The day after daylight saving time began though he came home at 7 o’clock instead of 6 o’clock.  When his mother scolded him the boy pointed to the window and said, “But it’s still light out. The light tells me when it’s time to come home.”  When the mother realized what had happened she explained daylight saving time to him.  She told him how people move their clocks ahead an hour to make the daylight last longer.   As the ten year old listen to his mother a frown appeared on his face.  He then put his hands on his hips and said very suspiciously, “Does God know about this?”

When you put God in charge of your life and the warnings will come.  There are lots of ways God will try to warn you. Sometimes the warning comes through another person, or through that inner voice that tells you something isn’t quite right. Sometimes the warning comes to you in a dream or while you’re listening to a sermon or reading the Scriptures or during a moment of prayer.  Here are some more less obvious warnings that God sends you from time to time. When a teenager puffs on a cigarette for the first time and starts coughing like crazy that’s a warning.  The body that God gave you is screaming at you and saying, “Get that disgusting tar and nicotine out of here.  It’s pure poison.”   When your stress level keeps going up and up and up and you start experiencing chest pains that’s also a warning.  The body that God gave you is telling you that it’s time to make some changes in your life.  When the glaciers start melting and the weather starts going haywire that’s also a warning.  It’s God’s way of saying, “What are you doing to this beautiful planet that I created?”

God will always be there to warn you about people and decisions and situations you find yourself in, but here’s the point.  The story of the Wise Men also makes it clear will never force you to do what you really need to do. Notice that God didn’t command the wise men to go home by another way.  God warned them to go home by another way.  The stakes were incredibly high here.  After all this was a life and death situation not only for the wise men but for God’s only begotten Son.  Even so God didn’t command them to go home by another way.  God warned them to go home by another way. 

So you get to decide. Whether you listen or not the one thing you can be sure of is that God will always be there to look out for you.  Just ask the 15 choir members from the West Side Baptist Church in Beatrice, Nebraska.  They’ll tell you an amazing story.

They’ll tell you that choir practice at the church always began on Wednesday evening at 7:20 p.m.  Well, on Wednesday, March 1, 1950 at exactly 7:25 p.m. an explosion  demolished the church. The explosion was in the boiler which was directly below the choir loft.  The blast caused the roof of the church to collapse.  It also forced a nearby radio station off the air and shattered windows in surrounding homes.

Every one of the choir's fifteen members though escaped injury…because for the first time ever they were all late for practice that night.  Two people were delayed because of car trouble. The minister and his wife and daughter were delayed by a dress that needed ironing at the last minute. Others were late because they paused to complete homework, finish a letter, or hear the end of a favorite radio show. One woke up late from a nap. Others could think of no special reason; they were just late.

Over the years I’ve come across this story on several occasions and always wondered if it was true.  So, I went to Snopes.com  It’s a great website to go to if you want to find out if something is true of if it’s just an urban legend.  Now I can tell you that over the years I’ve noticed that Snopes seems to enjoy debunking stories that have an element of faith to them; stories that point to the existence of a Divine Being.  When it comes to the explosion at the West Side Baptist Church in Beatrice, Nebraska on March 1, 1950 and all 15 people who were saved the verdict from Snopes is that this story is absolutely…..true!

God loves you and God will always warn you when danger is close at hand.  All you have to do is listen.   Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

January 8, 2012