Creating a Culture of Worship (III)

‘CREATING A CULTURE OF WORSHIP’ (III) Stand for reading of God’s Word! MATT. 2:1-“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 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.” Skip down to verse 11! “And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” The word Matthew uses for ‘worship’ (pro-sku-neo- means to pay homage, to give honor to a human dignitary. These Wisemen sometimes referred to as the Magi came looking for Jesus, bringing gifts to show their respect not only to a human dignitary, but also to pay special honor to a divine King, they came to worship Jesus Christ, for He was both man and God. It is believed these Magi had a background in priestly duties. They became in Persia very similar to what the tribe of Levi were in Israel, priest. They were skilled in philosophy, medicine, science, and they were well versed students of astrology. And in their astrological study, as they were star gazing something peaked their interest. They saw a star, there was an occurrence in the sky that aroused their desire to know. They saw enough to believe that there must be more. Have you heard something, have you seen something, have you experienced something, have you observed something about life and your living that has created soul curiosity? Has your interested been peaked, you are left with longing to know more? For me at the age of 21, with my new bride by my side of less than a year, and with what most would even call a good life I knew something was missing, I had observed enough to believe there must be more. This time I went searching in the right places, and I found what I was looking for. And over 40 years later what was missing for me, was what the Magi found, Jesus. Has there been occurrences that has peaked your interest in considering God as the missing link in your life? You have seen enough to believe there must be more! Have you heard enough to know there is something else? The question for the Magi, and the question for us, is what do you do with what you have observed, seen and heard? How do you respond with the occurrences that have peaked your interest? Your next move is critical, because not to move could be fatal. Do you stay where you are and wait for more? Do you settle in with your current circumstance and wait for the undeniable, the indisputable, the unquestionable, the unmistakeable certainty? Or do you go on a quest, do you allow your 6th sense of faith to move you along in the search? If not, you will not leave where you are. And if you don’t leave where you are, you will not find more. That is what most people do, they stay where they are and wait and see if more comes. They declare they want to be certain, they want to make sure before they make a move. Most always that approach doesn’t find more. To stay and wait isn’t finding what missing! We must go on a journey that is greatly influenced by faith. Herein lies the danger if we don’t go on a faith journey. If we fail to seek what has elevated our interest, it fades into oblivion. If we don’t pursue the interest we have, we soon lose interest. If you don’t do something with your something, something happens to your something. Here is what the Magi did! They left where they were and went in the direction they believed He was! Keep in mind this was no few hours walk, this was probably over a 1,000 mile journey. Over rugged terrain, under dangerous and threatening circumstance. Playing it safe and waiting for an undeniable, indisputable, unquestionable, unmistakeable certainty will not bring the discovery of Christ nor His transformational experience. When we talk about leaving where we are, I’m not talking about our specific geography. But we got to leave where we are philosophically, and by faith go. If we haven’t found Him where we are philosophically, there is a real good chance we are not going to find Him if we stay there. You have seen, you have heard, you have observed enough to think there must be something more. Now the question is do you leave and go looking? And there is a repeated theme through out scripture, ‘If you seek Him you will find Him. The Magi believed there was more, and they went for it. And when they did they found Him, they encountered Him, they held Him, they adored Him and they worshipped Him. So far the application of the Magi is related to urging the non-Christians to go on a faith quest and find Christ as Savior. Now let’s reflect on the Magi in light of Christians going on a search for more. I think we can use this context for us Christians to go on a quest and discover Christ as our Lord and Master. Before our salvation, while we remained in the bondage of sin we went on a quest to find Christ. We were not thinking of bring Him gifts. We all came in the direst need of His gift. We had one thing in mind, our sins forgiven, our guilt gone, our hope would be restored. We wanted relief, we wanted to unload our load, and most thankfully we found new life in Christ. Now every how many months, or years later, we are a new person in Christ. We have been baptized, we go to church, yet we wonder is there not more, should there not be more? Are we destined to this Christian mediocrity! Go to church on Sunday if nothing else to do, behave as good as we can Monday through Saturday. Do our job, provide for our family, help folks when it’s convenient. Read our Bible occasionally, frequently fall asleep praying. And then get up on Sunday and do it all over! And your thinking there must be more! We like the Magi see some things that has raised our suspicion. There are those occasional occurrences, we wonder is there not something to this pull within my heart. There is a restlessness in the nest that was once so comfortable and cozy. When that happens God is sending a message saying it’s time to take a faith journey. This is God inviting us to go on a hunt for the holy. We watch our culture continue to deteriorate, we see Christianity quickly losing its significance in a country were 40 years ago it was esteemed highly. And we wonder isn’t there more? Here is the deal, we will not do more for Christ, until we encounter more of Christ. More being done is not just Christians doing more, it’s first Christians being more like Christ. And that won’t happen until we leave the comforts of where we are and go where He is bringing our gifts to worship Him. We read the red, and we hear the Words of Christ in The Bible. “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” We observe the action of the Savior as He walks the earth with laser focus on honoring His Father. And we conclude that’s the secret to more. We are to be more than just be one among over 3 billion in this world. We sense we’re here for such a time as this to impact to make a difference. We are restless with only wearing our Christian label, we wish to make a Christ-like presence. But as it was before we got saved we have this pull to play it safe, to stay somewhere in the middle, we question if running the risk is wise, and is it a price worth paying? After going back and forth, after the struggles, after the overcoming the longing for personal complacency. After counting the cost we head out on a journey for more, to be more, to find more of Jesus. And while we are on this faith journey, this travel of uncertainty we can know for certain before we get there, if we are looking for Christ more will be found. And nothing assures us more in our travel, that more will be found than, We come to worship bringing gifts fit for a King. The Magi, the Wisemen were bringing gifts, they were coming to worship. This is what sets apart authentic worship from the poor evolution of what worship has become today. Worship is honoring Christ, coming to Him, and offering Him our gifts that is fit for a KING. Worship is not coming to this place to be fed, to be filled, or for that matter be edified. As we worship we are fed and edified, but to come looking for that is self focused, self serving and misses honoring Almighty God. Worship is not looking for Jesus, so we can get something from Him. Worship is coming and looking for Jesus to bring something to Him. Lord I am here with my gifts! There is a drastic difference in the way the saved and the sinner come to Christ. As a sinner we came with absolutely nothing, looking for something! Our righteousness were as filthy rags! Nothing of worth do we bring, only to the cross of Christ we cling. But now that we are saved we have something to bring, we have something to present Him. And that is at the heart of worship! Worship is making a presentation to Almighty God, and Him accepting what we are offering. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” So what do we bring that will be classified by the Father as worship. What can I give Him that will honor Him? What can I offer that will pay homage to The KING of KINGS, and LORD of LORDS? What did the Magi bring? Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Where do I find that, can I order that from Amazon, will I need to make a Wal-Mart run? The next time Lord willing we will talk about what our gold, frankincense, and myrrh looks like, and how we make application with them. But you need to know now, you got it! Look no further! The question is not where do you get it, or how you get it. Every believer has these gifts that the Father will accept as worship. “Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.” The question is will you offer them to The KING?