Adapted from a Perry Greene sermon series https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/3-greatest-command-3-a-pledge-of-allegiance-perry-greene-sermon-on-wise-men-186474?ref=SermonSeriesDetails

2. The magi brought the child Jesus
three symbolic gifts.
These gifts can be interpreted in light of the
greatest command as a pledge of allegiance to
him.

3. The Greatest Command is a "pledge of
allegiance" to God.
NIV Hear, O Israel: The LORD
our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD
your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your strength. These
commandments that I give you today are to be
on your hearts.

4. Impress them on your children. Talk about
them when you sit at home and when you walk
along the road, when you lie down and when
you get up. Tie them as symbols on your
hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write
them on the doorframes of your houses and on
your gates.

5. The Wise Men gave a Pledge of Allegiance to Jesus
with their gifts.
NIV After Jesus was born in Bethlehem
in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from
the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is
the one who has been born king of the Jews? We
saw his star when it rose and have come to worship
him." When King Herod heard this he was
disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he
had called together all the people's chief priests and
teachers of the law, he asked them where the
Messiah was to be born.

6. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this
is what the prophet has written: "'But you,
Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no
means least among the rulers of Judah; for out
of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my
people Israel.'" Then Herod called the Magi
secretly and found out from them the exact time
the star had appeared. He sent them to
Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully
for the child. As soon as you find him, report to
me, so that I too may go and worship him."

7. After they had heard the king, they went on
their way, and the star they had seen when it
rose went ahead of them until it stopped over
the place where the child was. When they
saw the star, they were overjoyed. 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.

8. Typically we see the gold as Royalty;
Frankincense as worship;
and Myrrh as the death of Jesus.
Let's apply these to the greatest command.
The story of the Wise Men is a story of mystery,
for it presents questions that we cannot answer.
"Where did they come from?" We don't know."
"How many were there?" We really aren't sure.
"How did they know to follow the star?“
We're not told.

9. Scripture doesn't give many details, but
tradition has had a heyday! Tradition says that
they were 3 in number, & that they traveled on
camels across the desert, silhouetted against
the nighttime sky, graced with palm trees.
Tradition gives their names as Casper, Melchior,
Baltezar. Tradition tells us where they came
from, what they did, & where they went.

10. Love the Lord with all your strength.
The Call is to Give God Authority Over Our
Possessions
Jarchi interprets "all thy might" of mammon or
substance; and, indeed, that is one way in which
men may show their love to God, by laying out their
substance in his service, and for the support of his
cause and interest in the world.

11. 1) all, the whole 1a) all, the whole of 1b) any,
each, every, anything 1c) totality, everything
properly the whole; hence all, any or every
He gave them to us, what will we do with them?
NIV Moreover, when God
gives someone wealth and possessions, and
the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and
be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God.

12. Element of Stewardship.
Element of Generosity.
The greater the love, the greater the gift.
Subject of wealth is an important topic.
1/3 of Jesus' parables are about money.
"The most sensitive nerve in the human body is
the one between the heart and the wallet."

13. Widow's coins (out of her poverty; their abundance)
NIV Jesus sat down opposite the place
where the offerings were put and watched the crowd
putting their money into the temple treasury. Many
rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor
widow came and put in two very small copper coins,
worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to
him, Jesus said,

14. Rabbis: "We come into this world with clenched
fists, grasping all we can. We leave this world
with open hands, taking nothing."
How we deal with our wealth/possessions/might
is an indicator of our love and commitment to
God.

15. NIV A certain ruler asked him, "Good
teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus
answered.
"All these I
have kept since I was a boy," he said.

16. When Jesus heard this, he said to him,
When he
heard this, he became very sad, because he was
very wealthy. Jesus looked at him and said,

17. Those who heard this asked, "Who then can
be saved?" Jesus replied,
Peter said to him, "We have left all we had to
follow you!" Jesus said to
them,

18. Heart -- Inwardness of Emotion and Mind --
NIV Do not eat the food of a
begrudging host, do not crave his delicacies;
for he is the kind of person who is always
thinking about the cost. "Eat and drink," he says
to you, but his heart is not with you.
The stingy person is always thinking about the
cost believing in their heart the more I give the
less I have for me!

19. Frankincense is a Valuable Oil.
To be offered to God in the incense formula
stored in temple for fellowship and thank
offerings.
NIV Then the Lord said to Moses,
“Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha and
galbanum—and pure frankincense, all in equal
amounts, and make a fragrant blend of
incense, the work of a perfumer. It is to be
salted and pure and sacred.

20. Representative of Prayer
Key worship/service of the heart.
NIV May my prayer be set before
you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands
be like the evening sacrifice.

21. NIV And when he had taken it, the
four living creatures and the twenty-four elders
fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp
and they were holding golden bowls full of
incense, which are the prayers of God's people.
And they sang a new song, saying: "You are
worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals,
because you were slain, and with your blood
you purchased for God persons from every tribe
and language and people and nation.

22. Know before whom we stand and act
accordingly.
Replay the words of the last 24 hours.
What would we hear?

23. Anointing Oil (Messiah)
Pain Killer offered to Jesus on the Cross.
NIV Then they offered him wine
mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.
For use on dead bodies. NIV He was
accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who
earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus
brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about
seventy-five pounds.

24. Offering of Soul (Life)
Jesus poured out his blood. (life)
NIV
He was a fragrant offering.
NIV and walk in the way of love,
just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for
us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

25. Alabaster jar -- NIV While he was in
Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of
Simon the Leper, a woman came with an
alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made
of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the
perfume on his head.

26. Pouring out of love an expensive, fragrant
offering. We, too are to be fragrant offerings.
NIV But thanks be to God, who
always leads us as captives in Christ's triumphal
procession and uses us to spread the aroma of
the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are
to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those
who are being saved and those who are perishing.
To the one we are an aroma that brings death;
to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is
equal to such a task?

27. Reminder of resurrection
His, Ours -- NIV What shall we say,
then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may
increase? By no means! We are those who have
died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or
don't you know that all of us who were baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We
were therefore buried with him through baptism into
death in order that, just as Christ was raised from
the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may
live a new life.

28. During his reign, King Edward VIII of England
was especially concerned about social
conditions. He once decided to visit some of the
homes in a slum section of the waterfront where
he was to christen a ship. He stopped first at a
house in which lived one of the most
disreputable men in the area. He had become a
social outcast. Hearing a knock at his door, he
shouted in a gruff voice, "Who is it?!"

29. The answer came back, "I am your king. May I
come in?" Thinking it was a cruel joke, the man
refused to open the door. The king, a gentleman
who respected the rights of a man in his own
household, would not force his way in, so he
turned and left. And this poor man missed
seeing his king.

30. Don't be confused...He might look like a baby,
but that's just the Creator/King who became
flesh to dwell among us.
Wise men searched and found Jesus -- gave
him gifts from Heart; Soul; and Might.
We are to search also.

31. NIV You will seek me and find
me when you seek me with all your heart. I
will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and
will bring you back from captivity. I will gather
you from all the nations and places where I have
banished you," declares the LORD, "and will
bring you back to the place from which I carried
you into exile."

32. Find God and give. NIV Therefore,
I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of
God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living
sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your
true and proper worship. Do not conform to
the pattern of this world, but be transformed by
the renewing of your mind. Then you will be
able to test and approve what God's will is—his
good, pleasing and perfect will.
Giving of self is our ultimate allegiance!