“We Have Come To Worship Him”
Matt. 2:1-12
Intro.: Surely one of the great stories of Christmastide is
the visit of the Magi from the East.
The account of strange men from some faraway land who brought Christmas
presents to the baby Jesus is filled with mystery and intrigue. But what motivated these influential and
learned advisors of kings to make a treacherous 1,000+ mile journey across the
desert? Our Gospel gives us the answer “…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 saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” (vv.1-2)
Like them, led by prophecy and a great
light we have come to…
I.
We Worship The One Who Is Born As King.
A. The Magi of our Gospel were the professors
and philosophers of their day. They were brilliant and highly educated scholars
who were trained in medicine, history, religion, prophecy and astronomy. Hundreds of years earlier the Lord’s faithful
servant, Daniel, was among them and shared with them the prophecies of the
birth of a Savior King from Judah, a king whose birth would be marked by a
rising star [Nt. Num. 24:14] and whose rule would be eternal.
These prophecies and the appearance of the
bright, shining “star coming out of Jacob” convinced them that the promised One
had been born, and so they followed the star so that they could fall down and
worship Him. But then these guys took an
incredibly wrong turn as they neared the end of their trip. Instead of
following the star to
Their problem was that they knew a baby had
been born but they didn’t know where. They knew he was a King but didn’t know
His name. So they went to
B. One person who certainly did not want
anything to do with Jesus was Herod. Our
Gospel says, “When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all
C. Perhaps the same is true for some of
you. Maybe you do not come to worship
the King of kings as you should because you fear the change it might bring. Maybe deep down you are afraid to let Him be
king because it would result in the loss of a claim to power over your own
life. It could be that you are afraid of
the sacrifices, difficulties and even persecutions you might face for following
Jesus. Jesus has come to you and made
you His own, but do you recognize Him as your Savior and receive Him as your
King?
Maybe we are not as hardened as Herod or
as blind as the people of
D. Like the Magi we need to be led back to the
scriptures and to see our great light so that we may come and worship our
Savior King, Jesus Christ. Our Gospel
says, that Herod inquired of the chief priests and scribes, “where
the Christ was to be born. [And] They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea,
for so it is written by the prophet: "'And you, O Bethlehem, in the land
of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall
come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'" And he sent [the Magi]
to
Given direction by God’s Word and
following the light of the star the Magi discovered where to find Jesus and
just what kind of king He was. He was
not an ordinary king and His kingdom was not of this world. With joy and excitement they followed the
prophecy to
In the same way God’s Word and the Saving
Light of Christ has led us here today in joy and excitement to see in the face
of Jesus the full radiance of the glory of God.
We find Him in the quiet words and hidden beneath the covers of bread
and wine. We have come here as people
who have taken our wrong turns in life, people who have turned aside and
wandered away. Yes, people who have
sinned against one another and against God.
We have come to confess those sins, and to look with the eyes of faith
into the face of Jesus to receive forgiveness.
We have come to worship the One who comes to save us, Jesus Christ, the
Only Begotten Son of God, our Heavenly King!
II. We Worship Him With Our Gifts Because
Of The Great Gifts He Brings.
A. Our Gospel says that going “into
the house [the Magi] 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.” (v.11) As part of their
worship the Magi brought valuable and meaningful gifts to their Savior
King. These gifts signified to Mary and
Joseph that this child would grow up to be the High Priest of all God’s people. This baby Jesus would one day grow up to
offer Himself as the great sacrifice that would pay the price to rescue all
people from their sins. There at Jesus’
feet the Magi laid gifts that already pointed to the day when Jesus would hang
on a cross, robed in a glory that gold can never match, offering prayers into
heaven that frankincense could never carry forth, and buried as a sacrifice
that myrrh could never make sweeter.
Those gifts are nothing in comparison to the greater gifts Jesus was
preparing to offer for them and for us.
B. From His mother’s arms in
What then is our response to this? What do we do for our King who has done
everything for us and what can we give to our Lord who has given us so much and
more? Like the Magi we simply follow the
Word and the Light and come to worship Him.
We come and lay our gifts before Him.
Not gold and frankincense and myrrh, but our praise, prayers, and all we
have and all we are as living sacrifices.
Like the Magi we come with the best we have to offer. We come to worship our King. We come to give Him glory as we pray to the
Father in Jesus’ name. We come to sing
our praises to Him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We come with exceedingly great joy to offer
our hearts our hands and our treasures to the One who loves us with an
everlasting love.
Concl.: Come you Wise
Men and Wise Women, rise and shine, your light has come; your King reigns! Come let us worship Him! Amen!