Come and Worship

Introduction

Come and See the Worship of God's Lamb

A Adams / General; Kids

Come and See the Wonder of God's Lamb

Introduction

Open bibles to know your bulletin says , but save till next week, today look at sory of wise men. Perfect for 3rd week of advent, pink candle, joy candle, because at end of story, wise men "rejoiced exceedingly, with great joy.” So this is the right text for today!

I know this is a story that you probably know, at least a little, even if you don’t know much about the Bible, chances are pretty good that you know something about the wise men. Now, whether what we know is what the text says is another matter altogether

Take the song, “We Three Kings of Orient Are,” ¾ of the words in the title are wrong. “3” – we don’t know how many there were. 3 gifts. “Kings,” not kings, they were magi or wise men. “Orient,” probably from Persia or Babylon.

Illust: So the story is like this – maybe you’ve got a place in your house like this. My house is pretty old, built early 50s, and little spot where trim is so old, worn down – right on corner when going down into basement – anything taking into basement probably going to take a piece of that molding with it – repainted, repainted, repainted, until eventually, hard to tell what the profile of that molding originally was. I don’t know what color it was, either. And that’s what we’ve done with stories like this. We’ve added layer after layer, and knocked off much of the original. So, we imagine that they rode camels in – we don’t know. We imagine they wore funny hats. Funny names – Melchior, Balthasar, Casper.

But the details we acutally have in the Scripture are better than any of the ones we’ve made up over the centuries. And it all wraps around the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

Last week, in Luke chapter 2, we saw that God chose to reveal the birth of Jesus Christ by sending an army of angels to a bunch of shepherds. They heard the news that the savior had been born. They went and found Mary and Joseph, and Jesus lying in a manger, just as the angel had declared, and the shepherds returned to their fields, glorifying God and praising Him.

Now, in Matthew chapter 2, in the court of the Roman-approved client-king Herod, the news arrives from a very different, but still surprising, source. And the response is very, very different.

Now, in the court of the Roman-approved client-king Herod, the news arrives from a very different, but still surprising, source. And the response is very, very different.

We wouldn’t expect the birth of the Son of God to be announced by these men. Number 1, they weren’t Jews. Number 2, these wise men were “magi,” which probably meant they spent their time trying to divine the will of all the gods for their kings off in their foreign countries somewhere. But God chose to bring them to see this King. And they did it. They came to worship Him. We see a different response from Herod.

Why do we see such a difference in the way that people respond to Jesus? Some hear the Good News and worship. Others hear the good news and do whatever they can to stop it.

As we look at this text today, just as it was for Herod, and for the wise men, you are here today because God brought you here. He has brought us here to worship the Lamb. The question is, will we bow with joy at this wondrous calling?

We’ll look at the whole text from 3 different perspectives. First, the Promised King. Second, the Petty King. And third, and I hope you’ll forgive me for just using the term out of the song, we’re gonna look at the Prudent Kings.

Theme: Worship as humbling oneself, self-abandonment, commitment

Thrust: God has brought you here to worship the Lamb. Will you bow w/ joy at this wondrous calling?

Q.

I. The Promised King

the wise men have come by God’s calling to find the Promised King.

• opens up with Jesus already born in Bethlehem, and the wise men from the east have come to Jerusalem looking for the king of the Jews.

• most of our storybook Bibles skip straight to verse 7, to the part where the wise men come into the court of King Herod. But that’s not how the story starts. They show up in Jerusalem, and start asking around. “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star when it rose, and have come to worship him.” So this isn’t a diplomatic mission to Herod, they show up in Jerusalem and just start asking around.

So, why is it that everyone is greatly troubled? 2 reasons: One of them is called Rome, and the other is called Herod, and both of them have a temper and a reputation. Herod’s already murdered his wife and two of his sons, and Rome routinely crushes royal aspirations with the most powerful armies in the world at the time.

So, why is it that everyone is greatly troubled? 2 reasons: One of them is called Rome, and the other is called Herod, and both of them have a temper and a reputation for crushing any upstarts with hideous violence. By this time, Herod’s already murdered his wife and two of his sons, and Rome routinely crushes royal aspirations with the most powerful armies in the world at the time.

• and strangers have come to town w/ what sounds like a challenge to them. (so, everyone troubled, because Herod troubled)

• Look how Herod responds: He gets all the religious authorities together to find out what the Bible say about the coming of the Christ, the messiah. God’s promised anointed one. The one who would sit on King David’s throne.

Now, Herod was a king in Judea, but he was not a king on David’s throne. He was not from Jewish background, he had no hope of standing if the actual messiah had arrived.

So Herod gathered the scribes and the rest together to find out where the Bible said the Messiah would be born, and the unanimous answer is Bethlehem, six miles outside Jerusalem, just like David, the great king.

• Right in the middle of the text, the quotation of . Elements of vv2-5.

• Micah was a prophet in Judah at the same time as Isaiah, prophesying judgment and exile for Israel and Judah.

• Through the prophet Micah, God told the people that the judgment was due to Israel and Judah’s idolatry, persistent rejection of their him, hatred of good & love of evil

• But in ch. 4, Micah prophesies redemption. A future where Zion would be established as God’s dwelling place with his people again, that many nations would come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." ( ESV)

• In Micah’s prophecy, the Lord promises to gather those who have been driven away into exile (v6), and the LORD will reign over them in Mt Zion. Kingship will come back to Jerusalem, the Lord will redeem them (v10)

• And then in Ch. 5 – This Messianic prophecy - when the kingship comes back to Jerusalem, the king will come from Bethlehem, a little town, just like the song says, the town where David was from.

• Will also be “from of old, from ancient days.” In other words, the Lord Himself come to dwell with his people, Immanuel, God with us, the eternal Son made flesh, in order to bring broken people back to God.

• End of , “He shall be their peace” (cf. )

• Matthew quotes /c it’s what the scribes and leaders brought to Herod, but this text actually fulfills a dozen or more Scriptures from the OT. For example:

Isaiah 60:1–3 ESV

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

ESV

ESV

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

Here, we have the wise men, representing the nations coming to His LIGHT in Christ Jesus.

Have you ever wondered why God chose to use a star to guide the wise men, and why He sent them to Jerusalem before Bethlehem? He could have sent an angel, like he did to Mary, and Joseph. It was to fulfill . Noble men, with kingly treasures, from far-off nations, saw His light rise, and came to his light. It was a foretaste of the nations coming to Christ. There’s a similar prophecy in , and all throughout Isaiah we see this, the nations coming to Jerusalem seeking the Lord. (2:2-5; 11:10, 12; 14:1; 49:22; 56:3, 6)

Even Balaam, an enemy of God’s people, prophesied this:

Numbers 24:17 ESV

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel;

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel;

God used Scripture to tell us how He would save us; He used Scripture to tell us He would gather people from all the nations to His promised Messiah; He used a miraculous star to bring these wise men to seek Him; He made it so clear to the Bible experts that they gave Herod a unanimous answer, Bethlehem.

The Promised King has come. And now, let’s look and see how the Petty King responds

II. The Petty King

• When Herod hears that the wise men are looking for the King of the Jews who was born, first he’s troubled in verse 3. Second, in verse 7, it says he summons the wise men secretly. Third, he lies, and tells the wise men he also wants to go and worship the Christ. Fourth, in verse 16, when he finds out that the wise men had tricked him and returned home by a different route, it says that he became furious. And fifth, with murder, killing all the children who might have been that little baby. It says that

“he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.” ( ESV)

This seems to us to be an insane way to respond to God’s promised King. The messianic promises in the Old Testament were for the blessing of all the nations - He brings fellowship with God, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life. No one loses when they bow to the King of Kings. And yet, Herod responds with lies, fury, and murder. Why is that?

Friends, before we excuse ourselves, let’s consider how often we prefer our kingdoms to the better things that God offers, because it means we have to give up our own throne.

When we see what Herod is doing here, we ought to take a step back and say, “How different am I? Apart from the work of God in my heart, convicting me and teaching me to walk in holiness like Jesus, apart from his restraining hand keeping me from being as evil as I could be, how bad would I get? I still manage to resist God’s good plans again, and again, because I’m afraid that they might not be as good as the little broken kingdoms I build for myself.

I think of Jonah the prophet. Given a message of destruction, told to go to Nineveh and say, “God is gonna wipe you out,” Jonah turns and gets on a ship headed in the opposite direction, because he knows that God is just, but that He’s also merciful. And when God brings Jonah to Nineveh anyway, and he declares God’s judgment, the people turn from their sin and called out to God, and God has mercy. And Jonah is angry, and he says to God, “I knew that this would happen, because I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful.” And Jonah preferred destruction over salvation.

I think of Jonah the prophet. Given a message of destruction, told to go to Nineveh and say, “God is gonna wipe you out,” Jonah turns and gets on a ship headed in the opposite direction, because he knows that God is just, but that He’s also merciful. And when God brings Jonah to Nineveh anyway, and he declares God’s judgment, the people turn from their sin and called out to God, and God has mercy. And Jonah is angry, and he says to God, “I knew that this would happen, because I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful.” And Jonah preferred destruction over salvation.

We think of Herod as exceptionally evil. How can a man see that the son of God has been born as a savior to all people and say, “I will kill all the children until I kil that one?” It’s because his heart is wicked. And before we say, “Not I,” let’s remember

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? ( ESV)

Friends, apart from God’s work in our hearts, we are Herod. We are Jonah. We will prefer our own destructive kingdom over God’s kingdom, and why? Because in order to receive God’s blessing, we must bow the knee to the Lamb.

Illustration: Every one of us has a seat, a throne that we prefer. I know what mine is. It’s ancient. It was a hand-me-down from my Father-in-law. It’s a raggedy old recliner, and when I come home at the end of the day, and one of the kids is sitting in it, reading, guess what: I kick ‘em out, because I want my chair. Every one of us has a throne that we don’t want to give up to the son of God.

It doesn’t matter what it is, how small it is, how innocent it feels. Maybe it’s weekends. How you spend your leisure time. Maybe it’s wealth. I know men and women who have told me they have no problem with the doctrine of the divinity of Christ, or His substitutionary death, or His resurrection, but the one thing they can’t abide is the idea that the good God, who created all things, and invented the idea of sex, would dare to tell them how they should order their intimate lives.

Whatever it is, however small, however great, the Lord calls you not to be like that petty king, Herod, but to respond to Christ like the prudent kings.

First response: Troubled. Second: Secrecy. Third: Lies. Fourth: Fury. Fifth: Murder

• Illustration: Parents, how often have you been amazed that your children will choose to fight each other, disobey, be defiant, when you know they know they’d be happier if they simply chose to do what’s right?

III. The Prudent Kings

Notice how the wise men introduce themselves in verse 2. They have come to Judea for one reason. To pay homage, to worship, to bow their foreheads to the ground at the seat of the infant Jesus. They have come from a faraway land seeking the Lord, to bow to Him. It doesn’t change throughout the story. Later on, when they come before Herod, and he sends them on their way, and God once again provides the miraculous star to guide them directly to the house where jesus is, when the star stops, see how they respond: They don’t complain, “Well, I guess I’m going to have to give my gift now.” No, it says they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy! Why do you thin that is?

Brothers and sisters, it’s because they knew that the King of the Jews was not just the savior of the Jews, but that the king of the Jews was the savior of all peoples. I don’t know how they knew it, but they rejoiced because they knew that this was their Lord. So, when they walk in, it says that they fell down and worshiped him. Do you remember 3 weeks ago when we were in , and we saw the way that the elders responded to the Lamb when he took up the scroll? It says that they threw down their crowns at His feet and they fell down and sang “Worthy are you to take up the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and tongue and nation and people.”

And here, the wise men do the same. And then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. You might say these are kingly gifts, and they all are, similar to what was given to Solomon when the queen of Sheba came.

Gold is particularly a kingly gift. And who offers incense before the Lord? The priests – frankincense is a priestly gift. And myrrh, apparently used to prepare bodies for burial. Who is it that Jesus later says the people of Jerusalem killed every one of them? The prophets. Perhaps these wise men had figured out that this was the prophet-priest-king.

Regardless, what I want you to see is the word treasures in verse 11. They did not hold back from God.

What is your treasure? What is your seat, your throne? There are two ways to respond to the promised King. One of them is to tighten your grip, but look at what happened to Herod. He could not keep his kingdom forever. Now, look at the wise men. They came with one kind of treasure, but they departed with an infinitely greater one. Now, they had fellowship with God. I don’t know how else to understand this text except to say that these men, bowing down to Jesus, expressed saving faith.

So as we close, I have an important question to ask: Have you given up the seat and opened your treasure for the Lord? Have you bowed down to worship Him, to declare that He is Lord? Have you said to Jesus, “In spite of all these treasures, in spite of all the greatness that I think I’ve got, in spite of the kingdom I’ve built for myself, I see that it’s nothing compared to you. And in fact, I deserve what Herod wanted to do to you, but because you died in my place on the cross, and rose again the 3rd day, I can bring you my everything, and I’ll gain everything in return.

Missionary Jim Elliott, martyred with five other missionaries in the first attempt to take the Gospel to the Waorani people of Ecuador, wrote in his journal this famous quote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

Why did the wise men respond so differently from Herod? Because they saw the worth and the wonder of God’s Lamb, they knew that He was worthy of their worship and all their wealth, that no kingdom or treasure of theirs could compare to fellowship with God here and into eternity.

Stand up from your throne, worship the Lamb, and you will know joy beyond any petty, passing thing.