Featuring:  The Wise Men & Herod the Great

Introduction:  At the heart of sin is pride.  It is the motivation and foundation for all sin.  The Christmas Story has models of both pride and humility; it presents a contrast between a foolish king who is disgraced by his pride and wise men that are honored for their humility.

The Wise Men Were

• Intelligent Yet Teachable (Matthew 2:1) (Proverbs 11:2)

• Men Yet Asked for Direction (Matthew 2:2)

• Prominent Yet Worshipped a Child (Matthew 2:9-11a) (1 Chronicles 16:29)

• Wealthy Yet Spiritually Sensitive (Matthew 2:11b) (Matthew 19:24, 26)

• Wise Yet Obeyed God (Matthew 2:12)

Herod Was

• Competitiveness Just as Pride (Matthew 2:3-6)

• Breeds Self-Promotion

• Breeds Suspicion

• Deceptiveness Just as Pride (Matthew 2:7-8)

• Breeds Invincibility

• Breeds Insecurity

• Vindictiveness Just as Pride (Matthew 2:13-16; Matthew 2:19-20)

• Breeds Destruction

• Breeds Death

Application: “…be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time…” (1 Peter 5a-6)

Even though Jesus was deity, He was the perfect example of humility.  (Philippians 2:5-11)