INTRODUCTION
Well, we have come to the season that celebrates the birth of Jesus around the world. Different cultures have attached a lot of traditions surrounding the birth of Jesus. Most of the time, we end up doing everything and forget the real essence of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ which is to worship Christ. So what does the Christmas season call us to do? What are we supposed to do because Christ is born as our call of worship?
THE CALL OF WORSHIP DURING CHRISTMAS
For the world, Christmas is a lot of things. To the liquor industry, the Christmas spirit comes in a bottle. For some, the call of Christmas is to decorate their homes and send greeting cards to their friends. For some Christmas is all about new dresses, cakes, partying, and outings. Yet for some Christmas is grief from the loss of a loved one, the pain of sickness, and the burdens of life.
But what should be the true response to Christmas? Well, I intend to read some selected reactions to the birth of Christ that can show us how the people around Jesus responded to his birth. There’s a call of worship for each one of us.
ZECHARIAH (CALL OF WORSHIP)
Luke 1:41-43
41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? That was Elizabeth’s reaction – Filled with the Holy Spirit.
Let’s look at the husband of Elizabeth, the father of John the Baptist.
Luke 1:67-69
67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: 68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. 69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. Zachariah’s reaction tells us something of his spirit, his attitude.
Look at the angels.
ANGELS (CALL OF WORSHIP)
Luke 2:13-14
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” The angels were praising God.
Look at the shepherd’s response
SHEPHERDS
Luke 2:20
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
In Luke 2, we meet another individual attending the period of the birth of Christ named Simeon.
SIMEON’S (CALL OF WORSHIP)
Luke 2:25
Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. Notice how many of these people have a usually described relationship to the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth, Zachariah, the angel, the child in the womb of Elizabeth, Mary, and now Simeon.
Luke 2:26-28
26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28Simeon took him in his arms and praised God.
Another reaction comes in
ANNA’S WORSHIP
Luke 2:36-38
36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
Elizabeth, Zachariah, angels, shepherds, Simeon, and Anna, basically had one response. And that one response to the birth of Christ is worship; praise, thanks, blessing, and glory to God or worship.
Now turn back to
WISE MEN’S WORSHIP
Matthew 2:2
Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
Look what Herod spoke about Jesus in his wickedness.
Mathew 2:8
He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” Herod knew about worship, but he used the word for wicked intentions.
Everybody was worshiping. That is the call of Christmas. That is why Jesus came into this world. Worship is an attitude of the heart that is so filled with gratitude for what God has done that there is no thought of self, but no matter what we praise God in adoration.
Now, to give form to our worship, I want to show you another person, a person very close to Jesus. That person is one other than his mother, Mary.
Mary gives the most magnificent psalm of worship when she conceived Jesus.
MARY’S WORSHIP
Luke 1:46-55
46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”
When Mary knew that she was to be the mother of the Son of God she burst into worship. She had been told that in
Luke 1:35
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
She had been told that this offspring would be great:
Luke 2:32-33
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end. Elizabeth even called Mary “the mother of my Lord.”
Luke 1:43
But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? So Mary knew that Jesus in her womb was God and she burst forth in the only appropriate response, and that is worship.
Now people respect Mary, yes she is a wonderful woman. She bore Jesus who was God incarnate. Unfortunately, many have perverted that reality into developing the worship of Mary.
Some theologians believe in the Immaculate Conception of Mary. It doesn’t mean that she immaculately conceived Jesus Christ. It means that Mary was immaculately conceived by her mother, thus making Mary free from original sin. The Immaculate Conception has nothing to do with the birth of Christ. It has to do with the birth of Mary which is wrong.
Some others believe the sinlessness of Mary, that she lived her entire life and never sinned. Mary is a sinner like any other person. She was born in sin and she needed a savior.
The third doctrine is the perpetual virginity of Mary, that is she never knew a man all her life long. After Jesus was born Mary had other children through Joseph.
Matthew 13:55-56
55 Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56 Aren’t all his sisters with us?
Then there is another wrong theology called the assumption of Mary, that Mary bodily ascended into heaven, and when she ascended into heaven, she was coronated as the queen of heaven.
John 3:13
No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
Now all of that presents a convoluted and perverse picture of Mary. When we study Mary’s song, Mary’s worship, she is the worshiper. Mary is not the worshipped, Mary is the worshiper.
In this message, I just want us to look at the elements that are in this psalm that speak of the significance and the meaning of worship. Here is a worshipper. Here is a Christmas. Here is Mary and she teaches us how we are to worship.
A. THE ATTITUDE OF WORSHIP
Luke 1:46-47
46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
Here we find the attitude of true worship.
WORSHIP IS INTERNAL
Luke 1:46
And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord. The soul speaks of the inner person. She is simply summing up her whole inner being. She is saying that worship rises from the inside.
Luke 1:47
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. Worship is internal.
External shallow observance of the birth of Christ is distasteful to God and most of what goes on at Christmas breaks his heart. Superficial worship finds no place of acceptance with him.
Isaiah 29:13
The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. If I can put it in the present tense, they talk about me, they put things about me on their Christmas cards and they sing my carols, but they do not honor me. Their hearts are far from me.
Jesus said, God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The true worshipper is the one whose heart is devoted, the one whose heart is overflowing. It comes from deep down inside and it therefore goes on all the time. Let me close for now. I will be continuing this sermon next week.
CONCLUSION
What is the attitude then of worship? Worship is an attitude that comes from within, from the inside and it intensifies to the outside, not based on your circumstances or times but and deep sense of gratitude and joy because Christ, the eternal God is your God. That’s worship and that’s the spirit of Christmas. This season no matter what we do let us not forget the call of Christmas – Worship God. Amen. Let’s Pray
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