Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

It’s a classic story that we all know well. Maybe we know it from reading the novel that was originally published in December of 1843. Or maybe we’ve seen one of the countless movie and TV specials. Everything from Mickey Mouse, to the Muppets, to Jim Carrey in 3-D animation, to the intense, freaky version starring George C. Scott…any way you slice it, A Christmas Carol is a classic.

In the story, Charles Dickens tells us about a man named Ebenezer Scrooge. And as we all know, Scrooge wasn’t real big on this whole Christmas deal.

My favorite Scrooge quote is, “If I could have my way, every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips should be boiled in his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart!” Hard to miss the point there.

But in this story that we all know so well, Scrooge was visited by three ghosts after the initial visit from his former partner, Jacob Marley. The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet To Come (or Christmas Future). And through this series of events, Scrooge was forever changed.

A Christmas Carol is a brilliant work of fiction. But here’s what I’ve learned. These ghosts are not fictional. They are, in fact, very real. And a lot of us are haunted by these ghosts everyday of our lives.

We are haunted by ghosts from our past. Or our present. Or even our future. The only difference between Scrooge and us is the ghosts who visited Scrooge were there to help him. The ghosts that haunt our lives are there to destroy us.

Over the next three weeks as we lead up to Christmas, we’ll be exposing these ghosts in our lives. And through the Christmas story in the Bible, we’ll see how God is bigger than any of our ghosts.

This entire series is based in Matthew 2. We’re going to spend the next three weeks looking at the main characters in this chapter and how God dealt with their ghosts. The ghosts of their past, their present, and their future.

Today, we’re opening the series by talking about the ghosts of our past. And we’re going to see the powerful work that God did in the lives of the Magi that came to visit Jesus.

Matthew 2, starting in verse 1. The Bible says, “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 in the east 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 Christ was to be born. “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 be the shepherd of 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 make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east 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 and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. (Matthew 2:1-12, NIV)

A lot of us know this story because it has been immortalized in our Christmas traditions. But most of our traditions about this story are wrong.

We sing Christmas songs like “We Three Kings.” Well, the Bible never says that there were three. It says that there were three gifts (gold, incense, and myrrh), but it never mentions three kings.

And in fact, the Bible doesn’t call them kings. Older translations of the Bible like the King James Version calls them “wise men,” but even that isn’t a very good translation.

The best title for these men is Magi. They weren’t kings. And there probably were more than three. And they never came to the manger in Bethlehem. Jesus was probably two years old when the Magi arrived. And the Bible says very clearly that they came to the house where Jesus was. Not the manger.

So you can go home and burn the three kings in your nativity scene because it’s all wrong. If it makes you feel better, you can roast some chestnuts over the open fire as you burn them.

Now, let’s talk about what is really true about these guys instead of the false traditions that we’ve been taught.

The term “Magi” is where we get our word magician. These Magi were actually astrologers. And that is what makes this story is so amazing. A group of astrologers were among the first people to worship the Christ child. It’s also very possible these men were involved in some sort of black magic. And they probably worshipped the stars instead of just studying them.

These astrologers, who might have even practiced in black magic arts, were some of the first people to worship Jesus. That is incredibly significant because they were involved in a whole lot of stuff that God had condemned as wicked and sinful. Let me show you.

In Jeremiah 8, the Bible says, “They will be exposed to the sun and the moon and all the stars of the heavens, which they have loved and served and which they have followed and consulted and worshiped. They will not be gathered up or buried, but will be like refuse lying on the ground.” (Jeremiah 8:2, NIV)

Isaiah 2 says, “You have abandoned your people, the house of Jacob. They are full of superstitions from the East [which is where the Magi came from]; they practice divination like the Philistines and clasp hands with pagans.” (Isaiah 2:6, NIV)

And listen to this from Isaiah 47. “Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.

Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror.

All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you. Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. These are not coals for warmth; this is not a fire to sit by. That is all they are to you— these you have dealt with and labored with since childhood. All of them go on in their error; there is not one that can save you.” (Isaiah 47:11-15, NIV)

It’s pretty clear how God felt about astrology. Now, let’s not confuse this with modern day astronomy. The two are very different. Astronomers study the stars. In the first century, astrologers worshipped them. They looked to them for guidance. They believed that the stars directed all the affairs of Earth.

It’s pretty easy to see why God was so opposed to astrology. People were worshipping the stars instead of the One who created the stars. They were looking to the stars for meaning and direction and purpose instead of looking to Him.

And yet, these Magi came and worshipped Jesus. It didn’t matter what they had been. It didn’t matter what they had done. It didn’t matter what they had worshipped and believed in the past. What mattered was they met Jesus. But think about how it happened.

God met them where they were. The only reason that the Magi found Jesus at all was that God met them where they were. He sent a star to guide them because that’s where they were.

This defies all scientific explanation. Some have suggested what the Magi saw was actually a comet or a supernova or a conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars. But all of those explanations have problems. None of them explains the star’s movement. The Bible says that the star kept moving and stopped over the house where Jesus was.

And these theories also don’t explain the fact that apparently the Magi were the only ones who saw it. If it was a comet or a supernova, everyone would have seen it.

All of these theories fall short of explaining what actually happened because it can’t be explained outside of a move of God. God met these astrologers where they were and guided them to His Son.

N.T. Wright said that these astrologers believed that “everything was interconnected, and when something important was happening on earth you could expect to see it reflected in the heavens. Alternatively, a remarkable event among the stars and planets must mean, they thought, a remarkable event on earth.”

These men spent their lives studying the stars. Looking to the stars for answers. Even worshipping the stars. That’s where they were. And that’s exactly where God met them.

As much as He hated what they were involved in, He loved them more. He loved these men more than He hated their sin. And so He met them where they were. They were looking to the stars, so He sent them a star.

God didn’t wait for them to leave their sinful ways and wicked traditions behind. He didn’t wait for them to clean up their act before they met Jesus. He took them to Jesus as they were. All of their past sins didn’t matter. What mattered was meeting Jesus.

And that’s exactly what God does for us. He meets us right where we are. He doesn’t wait for us to get it right. He doesn’t wait for us to get ourselves cleaned up. He meets us where we are.

Far too many of us get caught up in all the sins of our past. Our past is a ghost that haunts us everyday. You don’t need to look any further than the Magi to see that God is not concerned about the ghosts of your past.

These astrologers had a past that was about as far away from Jesus as you can get. And yet God met them where they were and took them to Jesus. And when they met Jesus, they worshipped Him.

Look at how Matthew describes the scene in chapter 2, starting in verse 9. “After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east 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.” (Matthew 2:9-11a, NIV)

God led them to a life-changing encounter with Jesus. They met Him and they worshipped Him. And the Bible never says this, but you’ve got to believe that these men left forever changed because that’s what Jesus does.

Jesus erases your past and gives you a new future.

That’s why the Bible says in 2 Corinthians, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV)

It’s high time that we stop living in the past. It’s time that we stop allowing the guilt of our past to dominate us. We can’t allow the ghosts of our past to haunt us anymore. If you constantly dwell on the sins and shortcomings of your past, then you are living like this verse isn’t true.

You are living like you believe that the death of Jesus really isn’t good enough. If the cross is not enough to wipe your past clean, then it’s not enough to do anything. It’s powerless and pointless. And Jesus was an abject failure.

You don’t believe that, do you? Then stop living like you do! When you dwell on your past…when you won’t let it go…when you allow these old ghosts to continually haunt your life…you are living like the entire mission of Jesus was a failure. His perfect, sinless life was worthless. His death was worthless. His resurrection was worthless.

It’s time that we start living out the truth in our lives. Jesus is enough. His grace is all-sufficient. His death paid the price for all our sin. His resurrection gave us complete victory over sin and death and hell. It is enough to wipe away your past. All of it. It is enough to conquer all your ghosts. All of them.

“But you don’t understand. I had an abortion. I’ve had more sexual partners than I can even remember. I’ve lied. I’ve cheated. I’ve gossiped. I’ve hated.”

Listen to what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6. “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, NIV)

The most important word in that passage is the word “were.” Paul lists all these different sins, saying that people who indulge in this sinfulness will not inherit the kingdom of God.

And then he says, “And that is what some of you WERE.” Past tense. But now, you have been washed, you have been sanctified, you have been justified by the grace of God. By the death of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Your past does not dictate your future. If it did, then the grace of God is completely without power.

The power of grace is that God can change any life. Any life. He changed the lives of the Magi, who were involved in every kind of sinful practice you could possibly imagine.

That same God has changed my life. When I look at my past, I am completely ashamed. I have committed sins that just devastate me. When I think about my sinful past, it destroys me. And if you’re thinking, “Yeah, right. You’re a pastor. What kind of past could you have?” It would blow your mind. And every time I dwell on what I used to be, it wrecks me.

But when I look at what God did for me, it amazes me. It blows me away that Jesus would leave His place in heaven for a manger. More than that, I cannot comprehend why He would trade His throne for a cross…all for me.

And that cross is enough to erase my past. It is enough to eradicate my ghosts.

Let me tell you something, church. It is not spiritual to live in the guilt of past sin. A lot of people believe that, “If I always dwell in the guilt of my past sins, that means that I recognize how bad my sin really is. That is very spiritual.”

That isn’t spiritual. It’s stupid. And worse than that, it is sinful. It is sinful when we allow the ghosts of our past to dominate us because it makes a mockery of why Jesus came in the first place.

In Galatians 5, the Bible says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” (Galatians 5:1a, NIV)

That verse is purposely repetitive. God wants to make sure that we don’t miss the point. The whole reason Jesus came was to set us free. Freedom is the whole point. He came to release you from the prison of guilt. To free you from the ghosts of your past.

And everyday that you refuse to let go of your past, you are mocking the very reason that Jesus came.

Anybody who is a Reds fan knows that the great Reds manager, Sparky Anderson, died a few weeks ago. Sparky was a reporter’s dream. He always had a lively quote for every reporter who interviewed him.

One of my favorite Sparky-ism is this quote: “I’ve got my faults, but living in the past is not one of them. There’s no future in it.” (Sparky Anderson)

It’s true. It’s absolutely true. If you want to derail your present and destroy your future, then continue to live a life that is haunted by the ghosts of your past. It will work every single time.

Here’s what you’ve got to realize about your past. If you don’t let it die, it won’t let you live. The ghosts of your past will always haunt you. They will never go away until you fully and finally let Jesus do what He came to do: set you free.

Now, how do you do that? How does this actually work? Because it sounds great in a Christmas service at church…but can you actually do this in real life? Yep. And our good buddies, the Magi, show us how.

Go back to Matthew 2, verse 10. Matthew tells us, “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 and of incense and of myrrh.” (Matthew 2:10-11, NIV)

These men had a past that was littered with evil. But look at what happened when they met Jesus.

First of all, they bowed down. That’s a sign of submission. If you want a life that is not haunted by the ghosts of your past, the first thing you have to do is submit to Jesus. You’ve got to acknowledge that you have sinned. You have fallen short of the mark. And you are now ready to submit your life completely to Him.

Then, the Magi worshipped Him. They had worshipped the stars in the past, but now they worshipped Jesus. A lot of us have worshipped a lot of things in our past. Anything that dominates your life is an object of worship. And you and I have worshipped a lot of stuff in the past. But today can be the day when you decide that Jesus alone is worthy of your worship.

Then the Magi gave Jesus gifts. Their gifts were all extremely valuable. It’s where our tradition of giving Christmas gifts originated. But don’t miss the bigger point here. The point is not that you have to be wealthy and buy lavish gifts to follow Jesus. The most precious gift you can give Jesus is yourself.

God accepted the Magi as they were. Not as He wanted them to be. And He accepts you as you are. Not as you should be. Not as you would like to be. God takes you as you are. Now, He won’t leave you as you are. He’ll do a life-changing work in you, but it all starts as you are.

The question is, are you willing to come to Jesus as you are? Are you ready to throw out all this bunk that says you have to get yourself cleaned up before God will accept you? You’ve got to do all this stuff to make God love you?

The message of Christmas…and more importantly, the message of Christ…is that God did it all. God sent His Son. Jesus died in your place. The price has been paid for you. The real you. The you with the skeletons in the closet. The you with all those ghosts in your past.

You might have convinced yourself that God wants nothing to do with you. Christmas says differently. The cross says differently. And when you finally allow yourself to accept that kind of grace…that kind of forgiveness…that kind of love…then your reaction will be just like the Magi.

Matthew says that they were overjoyed. I really like the way the King James Version says it. “When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.” (Matthew 2:10, KJV)

That’s what Jesus does. That’s what happens when you realize that you don’t have to live a life haunted by the ghosts of your past. There is incredible, exceeding joy when you finally realize that you don’t have to carry the weight of your past anymore. That two-ton gorilla on your back can actually go away. And it’s all because of what Jesus has done for you.

Some of you have claimed to be a Christian for a while. Maybe even for years. But you’ve never gotten over the ghosts. Your past still haunts you because you’ve never allowed Jesus to fully and finally set your free. Today can be the day when you stop claiming to be a Christian and instead rejoice in the freedom of Christ.

Others of you need to claim this grace for the first time. You’re sick of the guilt. You’re sick of the shame. You’re sick of the ghosts. Jesus died to set you free from all of that. You can accept Him as your Savior and Lord. You can be baptized into Christ. And you can leave this place in total freedom.

Your past does not have to dictate your future. And if you’re ready to claim that promise, we invite you to come.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: Christmas, Ghosts, grace, guilt, Matthew 2, past