Worshiping

Worshiping Matthew 2:1-12

Introduction: Tell a story about worship - from the past. How it was done in the Temple?

Herbert M. Carson once said:

“To worship God is to realize the purpose for which God created us.”

Our passage this morning shows humans worshipping. However they aren’t all worshiping God.

Matthew 2:1–12 NASB95

1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet: 6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, Are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; For out of you shall come forth a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ” 7 Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.” 9 After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way.

Let’s start off this morning with the simple question of: What is Worship?

Definition:

According to the Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms:

Worship is: The act of adoring and praising God, that is, ascribing worth to God as the one who deserves homage and service. The church, which is to be a worshiping community, expresses its worship corporately and publicly (liturgically) through prayer; through psalms, hymns and spiritual songs; through the reading and exposition of Scripture; through observance of the sacraments; and through individual and corporate living in holiness and service.

So worship is an act or action which a person does that shows adoration or praise to God. There are many ways for us to show our adoration all of which would be considered worship, but it is through holy living and service that we best show our true light as children of God.

So if God created mankind to worship Him...

b. What happens if we don’t? Well if you don’t worship God then you are going to put something else in His rightful place. This is called idolatry. Idolatry is the worship or adoration of anyone or anything other than the LORD God. Idolatry includes the worship of other gods, such as those of the nations surrounding Israel, images, idols, creation or created things.

The key to this is Deuteronomy 6:5

Deuteronomy 6:5 (NASB95)

5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

If you put anything before God in your life you are committing idolatry. Nothing should come before Him. Matthew 6:24

Matthew 6:24 (NASB95)

24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

So either you are going to love and serve God and hate other stuff, or you are going to love and serve other stuff and hate God. There isn’t space in between. No grey area, no wiggle room.

Matthew 12:30 says:

Matthew 12:30 (NASB95)

30 “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

You are one or the other.

c. So, what does worship look like?

Service - to other people (What does it mean to serve others for you?)

However you don’t want to care about people more than Jesus Luke 14:26 says:

Luke 14:26 (NASB95)

26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.

Prayer - (Shinto, Buddhist - pictures)

Sing to and about - we do it here corporately (How many of you sing to worship God when your alone?)

Reading the Scriptures - that’s worship.

Preaching and teaching -

Giving -

Observance of the sacraments - we have communion and baptism. Other faiths have other sacraments which we could practice too. Such as confession, fasting, confirmation, anointing of the sick (last rights), holy orders (ordination), matrimony.

Living in holiness - doing our best to live a sin free life

Anything like this directed towards someone or something other than God is idolatry.

One possible example of idolatry is if you think about Money more than anything else and you do everything you can to get more of it. All of your effort goes into building your kingdom, there is no room for God. At this point you would be serving your wealth not God.

The worst form of idol worship is through the sacrifice of a child. Child sacrifice or offering a child to Molech the god of the Ammonites or some other deity was real and was performed often. Child sacrifice is one of the main reasons God told the Hebrews to avoid the Canaanites, and even to utterly destroy them. We still have the same issue in the world today. People groups in Africa and other parts of the world still sacrifice their children to try and appease some deity. However, here is the US we have changed it’s name. We call it abortion. All to often the reason for abortion points to the inconvenience the child will cause for the parents or the mother if the child is carried to birth and beyond. This points directly to a worship of self and not a worship of God.

2. So what about our Characters from our passage? There are basically two main characters. King Herod and the Magi. Both characters are opposite ends of a spectrum.

a. Herod - Is he worshiping God? More like himself. He is troubled that this new king is coming. A new king means he loses his crown. He is going to do all he can to keep it. Even if that means committing mass murder.

The big question is why does this happen? Well Romans 1:22-25 says:

Romans 1:22–25 (NASB95)

22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,

23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.

25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

In this particular case Herod was worshiping himself and his kingdom. He had completely forgotten God or he never knew Him to begin with.

In the musical nativity movie called a Journey to Bethlehem - King Herod sings that his is the kingdom, his is the power, and his is the Glory. He is expecting people to honor and fear him. He is definitely missing the point. He is worshiping himself, he is putting himself above God. He exchanged the truth for a lie. So the truth is causing him trouble when the Magi come knocking on his door.

That’s one end of the spectrum.

Now for the other end of the spectrum.

b. The Magi have come specifically to worship this new born king.

They have been watching and waiting. They have seen His star in the west and have traveled a long way for this one purpose. They have brought gifts. They did what ever they needed to do, to find this new born King. To include going to see Herod to get information.

What if things had turned out differently. What if Herod lost his mind and sent them out of his kingdom or worse, what if he had them put to death? But instead he tried to use them for his advantage so that he might rid himself of this new king.

c. As part of their worship each of the characters brought gifts for the new king.

Herod brought a sword: Matthew 2:16 says:

Matthew 2:16 (NASB95)

16 Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi.

Herod acted in his own best interest. He didn’t act in a way that showed adoration and praise towards God.

But the Magi, their actions were both adoration and praise. They brought gifts meant for a King and bowed down and worshiped Him.

The first of the three brought Gold:

The most valuable of all metals, gold was indicative of wealth and prosperity in biblical times. It had a wide variety of uses and was employed extensively in both the tabernacle and the temple.

A gift befitting a king.

The second of the three brought Frankincense:

An ingredient used in making the perfume for the most holy place in the tabernacle. It is a resinous substance derived from certain trees in the balsam family.

A gift befitting the Son of God. It was used during almost all worship in the Temple.

The third of the three brought Myrrh:

An aromatic resin having many uses in the ancient Near East. It was traded along with spices, used as an ingredient in anointing oil, applied as perfume, placed on clothes to deodorize them, given as a gift, and used to embalm bodies.

A gift given to prepare Him for His sacrificial death on the cross.

These three gifts together pointed to Jesus and represented His future role as a King, the gold, a divine being, the frankincense, and His eventual death, the myrrh. Essentially these gifts signified His kingship, divinity, and mortality all at once while He was still a baby.

3. So, what about you? Do you worship God?

Do your actions show adoration and praise towards God? Do you ascribe worth to Him as the only one who deserves homage and service. Do you express your worship corporately and publicly through prayer; psalms, hymns and spiritual songs; through the reading of Scripture; the observance of the sacraments; and by living in holiness and service.

Calvin Coolidge once said:

It is only when men begin to worship that they begin to grow.

We were created to worship God and when we worship Him we begin to grow in Him. We begin to reflect who He is to others. We begin to shine His light into this dark world so that those who have exchanged the truth of our incorruptible God may repent of their ways and turn to Him and be saved.

The children of God worship their heavenly Father, but what do people who don’t worship Him do?

a. Those who don’t worship God will put other things first depending upon what makes them feel happy, fulfilled or complete. Some things that might be worshipped are:

Themselves - I’m more important. What I want and what I do is the most important thing. Truth will be defined based on their personal viewpoint and point of reference. Right and wrong will be based on their idea of truth. Worshiping self causes people to make choices that go against God and His law. They make choices that harm themselves and others and it won’t matter because - I;m more important.

Money may be the thing they worship. If the accumulation of wealth is more important than God there is definitely a problem. Jesus said that you can not serve God and Wealth. God wants His children to focus on Him not money. So if money is drawing you away from God get rid of it. Jesus also told a rich young ruler who had great wealth to sell all that he had so he could follow Jesus. Money can get in the way.

Children may be something that gets in the way. If the children mean more to someone than God does than they create a problem.

We all need jobs so we can pay our bills and meet our needs, but if the job gets in the way of your life with God than perhaps it is time to make a change.

There are many other things that can get in the way. If the something is a point of fulfillment and identity than it is probably an idol. The fulfillment and identity of a child of God should be Jesus. He is the only one who deserves honor and glory. For His is the kingdom and the power and the glory.

b. Do you have Jesus on the throne of your life? Do you do everything for Jesus or do you simply do enough to get by? What would it mean for you if you did everything for Jesus? Romans 12:1 says:

Romans 12:1 (NASB95)

1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

The selection and presenting of a Holy sacrifice was a big deal. First a perfect lamb of the correct age had to be found. Then it needed to be removed from the group, properly sanctified or prepared and then it had to be kept close and safe for 7 days.

If you are going to offer yourself as a living sacrifice you need to separate yourself from the world. Sanctify yourself by keeping yourself unstained by the world. Since this is a spiritual sacrifice you don’t have to physically die but you have to put all of your desires aside. You have to live your life for Jesus. This must be a voluntary surrendering of your body and spirit. Presenting your body to God means that you must avoid sin that are committed against the body but you must also use your body and its members as instruments for righteousness. In other words don’t just avoid sinning with your body but use it for God’s glory by doing the things that glorify and honor Him.

Worship Him alone with your body and soul.

c. So if you believe than worship! John 4:24 says:

John 4:24 (NASB95)

24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

In the days of the Old Testament worship was practiced based on the law and its requirements. Worship was based on sacrifice which needed to be performed by the priests. The priests were the intermediaries or go-between for men and God.

But Christ Jesus changed all of that. He became the intermediary between man and God. He made it so that all those who believed could come directly to the throne room of God. There is no longer a requirement for sacrifices, there’s no requirement for going to a priest to seek forgiveness through sacrifice.

God wants His children to worship in spirit and truth. Our worship must come from inside from the heart not from the outside in things that we do. Our worship must be in truth. The Father knows who is faking it, He knows who is putting on a show.

So worship Him through all that you do. Worship Him in spirit and truth.

Exit: Worship for some has changed through the years. Many cultures that do not worship God continue to worship their gods in the same way their ancestors worshiped the same gods. The lie lives on and the bondage is as complete as it was when Jesus hung on the cross to free them.

But God. But God made a way for you to be free. He made a way for you to do what it is that God created you for. To worship Him. But it is your choice. Will you worship Him or yourself? Will you worship Him or your favorite football player? Will you worship Him or money? Your choice.

If you choose Him then worship Him with all you have, do it in spirit and in truth. No half-way trying. Do it all for Jesus.

5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

How will Christmas this year change the way you worship next year?

Pray!