The Gospel according to M&M!

Grab yourself a packet of M&M’s and open your Bible to Matthew 2:1-12 or click here to read it.

Take out your first M&M, have a look at the letter – there should be an M on every M&M but some seem pretty faint. If you can’t see the letter eat it and take another one!

Once you find one with a letter, turn it on it’s side – you should get a ‘3’, how many wise men were there? Actually, that’s a trick – we don’t know! There were 3 gifts, but there could have been more or less than 3 men. You can eat that one now and pull out another. Turn it on it’s side and make the letter ‘E’ – we might not know how many men there were, but we do know that they came from the East! Now you can eat that one and pull out another one, this  time turn it upside down and you’ll get a ‘W’  – have you ever wondered Why they followed the star? I mean, why leave everything just to head towards a star! There must have been something that compelled them to go. 

Do you know what I think that was? Well, eat that one, and take another and make another ‘W’ – this one stands for the Word of God.  The word of God tells us about the most wonderful king, a king who only ever used His power to serve others, a king who would be king forever.  And the word of God said that He would rise out of Jacob (Israel), and even spoke of a star (Numbers 24:17). But you might be thinking, how could men in the East have the word of God? The word of God had only been given to God’s people in Israel at this time.  Well take out another M&M and we’ll find out how they had the word of God…

This time turn it on its side until you get the letter ‘E’ – this stands for Exile! Did you know that  almost 600 years before Jesus was born, God’s people had ended up in Exile in the East. This was because they disobeyed God, and just as God had warned, they were punished and sent far away to the East – to Babylon.  God’s people took the Scriptures with them, and God spoke to people like Daniel while they were in Babylon.  God told them about this forever king.  The wise men must have seen these Scriptures, and so when they also saw the star, they knew they must head off to find this king!

After you’ve eaten that one, get another one and turn it upside down and you’ll get another ‘W’  – this one stands for Wrong turn!  At some point along the way the wise men stopped following the Word of God and the star, and started thinking that maybe they knew better – and it was nearly a disaster!  They ended up in Jerusalem and started asking where the new king was, they were met by a sea of blank faces! No one had heard about a new king in Jerusalem, there was just Herod but he was about 70 by now.  They may have been tempted to give up, but thankfully they were summoned before a Mad king! You can take out another M&M and hold it the right way up to make M for the Mad king! Angry King Herod was very angry, “I’m the only King around here” he said. How dare anyone else claim there was another king! Herod called the religious leaders in to find out where this new king may have been born, he wanted to destroy anyone who challenged his right to rule.

The religious leaders looked in the Word of God. Yep, you guessed it – you can eat the M and get out a W! The religious leaders knew the Scripture, they could quote chapter and verse – Micah 5:2. They knew this wonderful king would be born in Bethlehem.  But here’s the surprise – they didn’t go! They couldn’t be bothered to travel 8km to go and find Him! There is a huge star in the sky pointing to Him, the Word of God confirms that this forever king would be born there, the wise men have coming looking and the religious leaders say, we can’t be bothered! What?! They knew what the Bible said, but didn’t think it was relevant, maybe they didn’t believe it.

But thankfully, the wise men did! Why not take out another M&M and see if you can spot what the wise men did (Matthew 2:11) – they Worshipped! That is the right response to king Jesus.

Well, we’re nearly at the end, but let’s just take out one more M&M, and go back to where we started with the number 3. Did you spot the 3 reactions to Jesus?

First, was King Herod, he wanted to destroy Jesus. His reaction was to say “I’m the only King around here” – don’t you find yourself sometimes thinking that? Don’t you want to be in charge? Maybe you don’t like being told what to do.  The Bible calls this sin, it’s as if we’ve said to God “Shove of God, I’m in charge, No to your ways.” But what if this King, is actually the most wonderful king who always acts for the good of others. The kind of king who even would lay down His life for people who lived as if they didn’t want Him as king.  He is the kind of leader we need.

Second, there’s the religious leaders, they think Jesus is not relevant! They can’t be bothered to look into who Jesus is.  Sadly some people I still like this, but if Jesus is the forever king who came into our world to rescue us, how can he not be relevant? He’s surely worth looking into!

Third, there’s the wise men – they bow down and worship king Jesus! This is simply the best thing we can do, maybe you’ve already done this, but maybe you’re still on a journey – like the wise men. I’d love to invite you to continue that journey in the New Year – you’re most welcome to join us on a 3 week course called Hope Explored, looking at the reasons for the Christian Hope. Please get in contact here if you’d like to join us.

But maybe you’re ready to worship king Jesus right now, and if so here’s a prayer that you could pray:

Lord Jesus, I’m sorry that sometimes I’ve treated you a bit like Herod did, and I’ve not wanted you to rule over me, thank-you that you are a loving King who came to serve me by dying for me.  I’m sorry that sometimes I’ve treated you like the religious leaders did and just got on with life as if you’re not really important.  I know that you are king forever and I want to worship you like the wise men. Please help me this Christmas and all of life to treat you as King. Amen

This message was first given at our Carols by Car Light, you can find it below – it starts at 24mins: