Jan 3, 2017 – Matthew 2
The wise
men saw the child, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened
their treasures… Matt 2:11
Worshipping
Jesus means supporting His Kingdom instead of our own.
Jesus impacted many people and performed many miracles, but
one of the greatest stories of His impact came when He did nothing. According to the story of the birth of
Christ, a star was created, and some astronomers from the East recognized it as
a sign of great significance. Purely out
of faith, they started a long journey to meet the new king, lasting almost two
years. After a short stop in Jerusalem,
they traveled to Bethlehem and finally found Jesus. If that wasn’t extraordinary enough, these
‘wise’ men did two things to demonstrate their belief in this child:
1.
They bowed down and worshipped a 2-year old
Jesus.
2.
They offered sacrificial gifts as a
demonstration of honor to Jesus.
Both of these actions are hugely significant!
When the wise men bowed to worship Jesus, they weren’t
worshipping a miracle-worker, or a great teacher, or a powerful leader. They were worshipping a 2-year old without a
track record, solely based on the prophecies and signs around them. Most people today expect God to prove Himself
(usually many times), before they would even consider submitting to Him a
little, but these men had the wisdom to recognize Jesus as Lord, and bow to Him
BEFORE He did anything to prove Himself.
That’s amazing faith and true belief --- the kind of faith & belief
Jesus DESERVES from all of us after the cross and resurrection.
Secondly, they pulled out treasures to sacrifice to Jesus a
significant gift. Offering gifts is
common in the presence of a king or prince, but Jesus was the child of two poor
parents, and had nothing to indicate His future position would be a king. Nor would the wise men be expected to give
gifts, yet they gave sacrificially to a 2-year old they would never see
again. That’s amazing devotion – the
kind of devotion we should all be giving to Jesus but often avoid.
All this happened prior to Jesus teaching, performing
miracles, or raising from the dead. They
believed and acted on it. They were very
wise – putting aside their own kingdom to pursue the King, worship Him, and
support His Kingdom. What a contrast to
today’s ‘advanced’ Christian, who doesn’t have time for God’s Word, is too busy
to worship even weekly, and tries to limit their level of sacrifice and giving
to God’s Kingdom.
If you have made Jesus your Lord, then show it by pursuing
Him every day, worshipping Him regularly, and giving sacrificially to His
work. Open your heart & your
treasures to the King. (And if you
haven’t found Jesus yet, keep searching until you find the One worthy of
worshipping & sacrificing to.)
Because the truely wise man knows that worshipping Jesus leads
to supporting His Kingdom instead of our own.
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