The Worship Of The Wise Men Series

Alba 1-8-2023

THE WORSHIP OF THE WISEMEN

Matthew 2:1-12

Three small boys were in a Christmas play. They were the three wise men, and they had to give their gifts to Jesus. The first boy stepped forward, held out the gift in his hands and said, “Gold.”

The second boy stepped forward, held out his gift and said, “Myrrh.”

The third boy stepped forward, held out his gift and said, “Frank sent this.”

The biblical story has it a little different. It also tells us the reason the gifts were given. Those wise men who gave those gifts had come to worship the one who had been born king of the Jews.

The account is found in Matthew 2:1-12. Here is what it says:

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, 2 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.”

3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;

For out of you shall come a Ruler

Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”

7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”

9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 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.

12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

I realize that we are already past the Christmas season, but the action of the wise men and their desire to worship our Lord Jesus should be an example to us as we begin this new year.

It is interesting that if you look up “worship” on the internet, most articles are about music, or how and what we sing in church. There is discussion about the “worship wars” that have gone on for some time. And about the positives and negatives of various modes of “worship”.

But it is also interesting that when we look at this account of the wise men in Matthew chapter two, that there is no mention of music. Those men did not come to sing to Jesus, they came to worship.

That is not to say the one cannot worship while singing. To lift up our voices and sing praise to the Lord is indeed worship. But worship is much more.

Worship requires something of us. Jesus, when talking to the Samaritan woman at the well, said that what God wants is for us to worship, “in spirit and in truth”. It is deep and meaningful. It comes from the heart.

The wise men showed their hearts were in the right place as they were willing to give of themselves to offer worship to our Lord. They came prepared to worship.

After they saw the star and realized the significance it had, they began to make the preparations for the journey to Jerusalem.

We need to understand that for the wise men to set out in this journey was no small undertaking. It was not like running down to Walmart, or even taking a road trip to visit grandparents three states away. The journey was long and dangerous.

Seeing the star, doing the research, preparing for the trip and making the trip certainly would require great expense and quite a bit of time, not arriving until a year after the birth of Christ, possibly longer.

Have any of us made the same effort when it comes to offering worship to our Lord? Too often it is too easy and lacks heart.

If we truly want to offer worship to the Lord we need to prepare ourselves to do so. First, we need to allow the Lord to look to see if there is anything in us that would get in the way of real worship.