Sermon Tone Analysis

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

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.

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.

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.

isaiah 45

new testament

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.