Bow Your Knees
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Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
We are here this morning in the last of our 4 week series called come to worship. That has been the title of this series based on the story of the wise men who followed the star to find the christ-child where they would come to worship him.
Let’s start with
When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
They were overjoyed because the world was waiting for centuries for the savior to be born. They found him, and they bowed down and worshiped him.
What we visualize with this story is the wise men bowing down to a a little baby.
We see that because that is what all the christmas cards have on them. All the posters say that.
But in reality, scholars believe that Jesus was not an infant but that he was probably around 2 years old, probably a toddler. This, dramatically changes the dynamic of this story don’t you think?
How many of you have had a 2 year old? How many of you have been around a 2 year old?
Now listen, there usually isn’t much good that happens when it comes to 2 year olds.
They are loud, they are unruly, they are messy, you clean them up and then they are messy again. It never stops!
Ever been in a restaurant with a table next to you with a 2 year old. Ever have one pop their head over your booth? Stickin their finger up there nose and staring at you?
I used to think this was bad parenting until I had a two year old. There is a reason they call it the terrible twos. For us some of them waited til they were three but all of this is to say that when the wise men came, they brought the gifts and they bowed down to a 2 year old.
Thats amazing.
Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
Hebrew Shakah not shaka kahn 170 times in bible (bow down low in worship) posture of worship
culturally we don’t kneel more often because fundamentally we do not understand, comprehend the holiness of GOd
If we understood God’s holiness then we would be more willing to worship Him appropriately by bowing down. want to be low
So holy is God that mortal man cannot stand in God’s essential being and live
Remember when talked about Moses a couple of weeks ago and Moses asked God to show him His glory and God couldn’t do that because he wanted Moses around. S
So God passed by Moses so that Moses could see his back and that was so amazing that Moses glowed, physically glowed, and it freaked the people out so that he had to wear something to cover his face .
It’s God’s holiness, So Important that when the temple was built, the place where God would reside before Christ came. When the temple was built there was a spot right in the middle. Right in the middle called the Holy of Holies where God would reside and the only person in the WORLD who could go in there would be the high priest for that year, but only after he prepared himself by sacrifices to pay for his sins.
So holy was this place, that if that priest would somehow do something that wasn’t right during worship that a rope would be tied to his leg so that if they heard a thump on the ground they would be able to get him out of there.
They weren’t even sure if he would live.
When we begin to think about God in this way, when we begin to understand the holiness of this God whom we worship; that God who spoke the universe into existence, the God who we can’t even see with our eyes because we would cease to exist.
Suddenly, suddenly it makes a little more sense to drop to our knees in worship of Him.
It is an interesting fact that there is no place where God tells us to bow down to Him. God does not tell us in one place in Scripture, but it is like God assumes that we know to do that.
Because we see Him instruct His people to not bow down to false Gods, not to bow down to idols, not to put any other gods before me, He says.
It is assumed, God knows that our place before Him is to bow down before Him, bow down before Him.
This whole series, like we said before has to do with worship. It has to do with worshipping our creator.
That when we recognize who God, is, not neccesarily what He has done, or what He promises to do, we worship God because of who He is! Because of who he is we respond by the lifting of our hands, we respond by being generous, we respond by pouring out our hearts and that we respond by bowing to our knees before the great and mighty God.
Pausing in the middle of all the hustle and focus on the birth of christ.
Not too far reaching that he came for us. Not in a palace.
Sometimes our only reasonable response is to worship.
3 reasons to worship this way. WHy do we kneel?
Kneel in pursuit
Story in Marks gospel about a rich man, a morally good person. He recognizes that there is something missing in his life and he goes to Jesus and he wants to ask him this question.
And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
when we hear this story preached, I have always heard the focus on the question that the man had. “what must i do to have eternal life” That is what we focus on.
Actually, We know he was rich, we know he kept the law, but he definitely lacked something.
What we don’t notice in verse 17 is the posture of the man.
Look at that. “a man ran up and knelt before him.” knelt before him. He was kneeling in pursuit of Jesus.
Maybe some of you are where this guy was. You are trying to do everything right, you are following the rules but deep down, deep down you know you are missing something. You know you aren’t really following God with your life.
You are treating God like a part of your life instead of all of your life.
Listen, that is not what God wants from you. I would caution you if that is the way you are living your life. I would caution you if you think that you can just give God some of your life instead of all of it.
You want the good stuff that goes along with being a Christian but unwilling to do exactly what it takes.
We can’t expect God’s blessings if we aren’t living totally for Him. We can’t expect God’s blessings if we aren’t living totally for Him.
God is a jealous God and He wants all of you.
Maybe you are pursuing something, I would encourage you to Kneel in Pursuit. Even if you aren’t a believer yet, it is still very appropriate to kneel to Him in pursuit of Him. I would encourage you.
By myself I have sworn;
from my mouth has gone out in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
‘To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.’
isaiah 45
new testament
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
It’s gonna happen anyway. Kneel to God in pursuit of Him.
So maybe you aren’t sure if you believe in God, it’s still appropriate. Kneel and pray. God, show yourself to me. I want to know if you are real God, please let me know if you are real, really God.
Get ready though, because when we draw close to God he draws close to us/ Get ready, because God answers those prayers, He answers the prayers of those who come to Him and desire God to reveal Himself to you. Not in your way, but in His way.
Maybe you are a follower already, maybe you aren’t like that rich young man in pursuit of the truth, maybe you don’t need to kneel in pursuit, maybe you need to kneel in repentance.
Kneel in repentance.
Sometimes we do things that break the heart of God, our lives or the lives of other people.
Christmas is like a magnifier, Good times are great, bad times are really bad. This time of year magnifies whatever is going on.
Maybe you have hurt someone deeply and you are smiling on the outside but are dying on the inside. Maybe you are really hurting even though it may not show.
Actually,
Peter was fishing, didn’t catch anything. Jesus the carpenter comes up and tells Peter the fisherman to throw your net on the other side of the Boat. Jesus the carpenter tells Peter the fisherman how to fish.
Now, the boat that Peter was on was probably this wide.
I just threw the net over here and you are telling me that the net is right here. This is not good advice as far as Peter is concerned. Peter has fished all his life. Peter knows how to fish.
As if the fish are on to the fisherman and all go over here, throw the net over there and then they all move over here. It doesn’t make sense.
But then Jesus comes and tells Peter to throw that net on the other side of the boat. Doesn’t make any sense.
Side tracking for a second. We may be experts in whatever area, God still knows better. Throw the net on the other side if God tells you to throw the net on the other side. Doesn’t always matter if it makes sense or not. Just listen to God and throw the net on the other side.
For some that might mean giving to God financially. It might mean standing up for what you believe in even though it may seem like there will be some blow back. Throw the net on the other side.
That is what Peter (the life long fisherman, who knew his craft) did.
Peter says, okay, I will throw it over there and when he did there wasn’t enough net for the fish.
Obedience will get you more fish. They were right there but they were still not in your net.
Obedience to God got Peter the fish.
Peter is like, I didn’t know who you were. Look at Peter’s response.
Peter doesn’t say, “God you are good, you are amazing, I worship you, please keep the fish coming… no he says.
Luke
But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
Peter is recognizing his sin in his attitude toward Christ. And what does he do? He bows literally down at the feet of Jesus and understand what the sin does to their relationship.
Notice this, Jesus never, never, ever turns away a sinner with a repentant heart.
Notice this, Jesus never, never, ever turns away a sinner with a repentant heart.
You know there may be people here today who feel that they don’t belong here. Maybe they are surprised that the lightening bolt didn’t come down when they came in, but listen, it doesn’t matter how bad you are, you belong before your father with a repentant heart.
Peter was a bad dude, but he was repentant, which means that he knew he was wrong but wanted to move away from that and bowed in repentance to Jesus.
And Jesus never turns away a repentant heart, and Jesus tells Peter that he will no longer catch fish, but he will be a fisher of men.
God will forgive you of your sins when you come to him
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
John
When you confess your sins, our God is faithful and just. Maybe you want to kneel today in repentance, knowing that God will cleanse you from the inside out. Maybe you feel dirty inside and maybe you are beginning to understand that.
When you confess your sins, our God is faithful and just
Know that God will cleanse you. Kneeling in repentance.
Some of us need to kneel in pursuit, some of us need to kneel in repentance, some of us need to
kneel in submission
Maybe for you there is something that you are holding on to, something that you wont let go of, that you won’t give up. You want to control it and nobody is going to make you give that up. Today, you get to kneel in submission.
Anyone ever watch ufc fighting? You know what tapping out is? There are submission holds and there comes a time when the guy in the hold will eventually tap out.
Nobody wants to tap out. Nobody seems to want to submit. I had a friend who was really stubborn. When I was in high school I had this group of friends and we would wrestle around and try to get each other to say uncle. Not sure why that was so important but it was important to get someone to say uncle.
And one of the guys didn’t want to ever yield. Wouldn’t give in. Even when gross things would be the result as he was being held down, he wouldn’t give in.
Some of us are like that. We don’t want to give in, we don’t want to submit. Especially to God’s will in our lives.
But we need to remember that this is what God calls us to do, because His plan is so much better than any plan that we can have on our own. We think we know what we want but ultimately, God our creator really knows what we need. WE just need to kneel in submission
This is what Jesus did. Jesus, the little baby Jesus, born in the manger came to earth to die Born to die,
He took off his God suit and put on his man suit, stepped away from all of his glory to be the savior that would give us access to God the father.
And Jesus knew what was in store for Him, Jesus knew the plan for His life and yet He never sinned against God. Jesus was submissive to God throughout his earthly life. And if you think this was easy for him think again.
Jesus would literally (as the scriptures state) would literally become sin. Become sin and dying on a Roman cross because of your sin and mine.
And Jesus understood what this meant. This mean that there would be a time, while on that cross where he would become sina nd that God the Father would turn his face from Jesus, something Jesus had never faced. God’s presence sustained Jesus throughout his earthly life and that would go away while he was on the cross and Jesus knew this was coming.
and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.”
And he said to them, “When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.” He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.” And they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” And he said to them, “It is enough.”
And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Luke
And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed,
saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
-42
Jesus is submitting to the Father’s will for his life here on earth. He kneels in submission from where he kneels and pours his heart out to God but in the end he prays,
Not my will but yours be done.
For some of you here this morning this is your prayer, God, your will be done. Your will be done in my life.
I surrender.
Kneeling to pray can many times give you the strength to stand.
There are those of you here this morning that need to make a decision, a gesture, a posture even of worship. Maybe it is with the lifting of hands, the bringing of gifts, the pouring out of your heart or even the kneeling down before God.
Remember, you can kneel now, or you can kneel later.
You can kneel in pursuit, in repentance or in submission, you can do that now, or, you can do that later. Because either way you are going to kneel.
That is actually scriptural.
By myself I have sworn;
from my mouth has gone out in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
‘To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.’
One day when it isn’t your choice you will bow.
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
One day when it isn’t your choice you will bow.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
This is why we celebrate Jesus at Christmas time. To bow down and worship him.
God never commands us to bow in scripture but He knew that our only reasonable response is to bow down and worship him.
I will let you listen to what God wants from you today.