We Come to Worship

Visit of Wise Men Matthew 2

2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from (magi)the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “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.” (homage)

3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;

For out of you shall come a Ruler

Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”

7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”

My brothers and sister I want to speak to you this morning from a subject of

We Come to Worship

Over the years as a church goer, I’ve noticed that people come to church for a variety of reasons. Some come because it’s a holiday such as Christmas or Easter. Some come to see who’s there. Some come because their parents made them come or a spouse pressured them to come. Some come to critize or some come for funerals or weddings. Others come out of habit. Therefore the truth is people come for numerous reasons but nobody but God knows a person’s true motivation.

The interesting thing is that people instinctively know there’s something special about being in the presence of God. If you’ve ever had an encounter of the Lord you’d know this to be true. That bible says that even demons believe in God and they tremble. So we know some people come to church and it has nothing to do with seeing God. Regardless of whether a person comes for the right reason or the wrong reason is not for us to decide. Nevertheless the number one purpose for coming to church should be to worship the Lord. That’s why we are suppose to come to the house of the Lord. To worship.

In the Bible, we find that the practice of worship is historic. Abram fell of His face in Gen 17:3, when God established a covenant with him. And at that time the Lord changed Abram’s name to Abraham and told him that “Kings will come from you.”

Another instance of early worship, was when Mose encountered God on Mt. Sinai, God told Moses, “take off your shoes, you’re standing on holy ground”. So all through history, the practice of worshipping God plays out over and over again.

Worship is to Adore—to express reverence and homage. The forms of adoration among the Jews were putting off the shoes, and prostration (laying out or fall down before the Lord), ”even Judas that betrayed the Lord kissed Him on the cheek which normally would have been a sign of adoration. However we know from the Bible that Judas did not have pure intentions; He actually betrayed Jesus. That’s why Judas act of betrayal was so dispictable because he used an act of adoration to identify Jesus to the enemy. It’s difficult to think of something more low down and disgusting than someone that supposedly loves you betraying you in such a way.

In our scripture today Mt 2:2 we find three wise men traveled to worship Jesus.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem (the City of David), the same place where David was crowned King. At the time of Jesus’ birth, Herod the Great was King. The wise men from the East came to Jerusalem. The wise men were magi or magicians or Persian kings as some would say. Magi were traditionally associated with socery, the fact that these men that were not religious in terms of being Hebrews show Jesus power over darkness. They recognized the significance of Jesus birth even if His own people did not.

The bible says

Jesus came into the world and the world knew Him not

He came to his own and his own knew him not

In Genesis 49:10

Genesis 49:10 ESV

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

But the wise men star came from the East because of a star; the star of Bethlehem appeared only to the magi in the East (most likely Persia, or modern-day Iran). “his star,” was a sign to them that a king was born. The star prompted the magi to travel to Jerusalem, the capital. This would be the logical place to start looking for the birth of the King of the Jews for someone who did not know of Micah’s prophecy about Bethlehem. The star “went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed” The star of Bethlehem, led the magi to the precise place where they could find Jesus.

The Magi had King Herod We have come to worship Him.”

3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled. CHrist was born in the 35th year of Herod’s reign. He was none too happy to hear about another King being born in his region.

4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: (Micah)

6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;

For out of you shall come a Ruler

Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”

7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”

After the wise men had worshipped they did not go back and tell Herod where to find Jesus instead they went back another way.

But he wisemen were not Jesus only visitors.

The wise men were not the only visitors. In Luke the shepherds were tending their sheep in the fields when the Angel of the Lord apeear to them.

The too came to see Jesus separately at a different time. The shepherds were the opposite of wise men, the were not rich, they were not educated, yet they came. Jesus came to put the shephards out of business. You see most of those sheep they were tending, were likely for a sacrificial offering at the temple in Jerusalem nearby.

The prophet Ezekiel spoke of a day when the Sovereign Lord would remove the shepherds of Israel—the leadership—and hold them accountable for not caring for his people. He would replace the wicked shepherds, who cared only for themselves, and become the Shepherd to his people: "For thus says the Lord God: 'Behold, I will search for my sheep and will seek them out. . . . I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep . . .'" (Ezekiel 34). After Jesus became the perfect sacrifice, we would not longer need as many sheep.

‌The birth of Jesus made it possible for all to come.

The rich and the poor.

The learned and the unlearned,

Those with something to give and

those with nothing to give but themself.

The key is that they came.

And when they came,

they came to worship

They kneeled down

They laid before him

They took off their shoes

They gave reverance

To the Lord

Not just to look

Not just to be nosey

Not just to gossip

But they came

With expectation

That Jesus

would change the world

They came

From near

They came

from afar

Later on

After Jesus

would have been

2 years old

Herod still

still wanted to come

But he wanted to come

for all the wrong reasons

It takes the Lord

to help us discern

When people come

for the wrong reason

to do harm

instead of good

Jesus said, the devil comes

to kill, steal and destroy

But I come

I come

That you might have life

Life , more abundantly

You see

when you’re with Christ

You need to come correct

Come correct

or don’t come at all

Joseph didn’t have to stop Herod

Mary didn’t have to stop Herod

God blocked it

God said

I can’t let you

Hurt my son

It’s not His time

God didn’t let

Let Herod come

Cause God’s got a plan

A plan

for all of His children

So you might as well

Come correct

Shift your focus

Clean up your act

Get it together

Start coming for the right reason

I don’t know

Know about you

I can’t speak

for nobody else

But I come

I come to thee

In the name of the Father

In the name of the Son

In the name of the Spirit

I come to Worship

Come let us adore Him

Kneel down before Him

Worship and adore Him

Not just today

Not just tomorrow

But forever more

Whatever you do

Come

Jesus told Peter to Come

Come unto me

I’ll give you rest

Come

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