They Bowed Down and Worshiped Him

Matthew 2:1-12

Key Verse 2:11

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 

Our Heavenly Father! Thank you for creating us as the crowns of creation. Thank you for sending Jesus to show us God, that we would rise to your level and live as your children. I praise your name for establishing the Apostle Matthew and speaking to us through him the worship of Jesus the king of life. May you bless the worship service today. In Jesus, name. 

Last Sunday we learned that Jesus is God who became flesh. Today we would like to think about how we should approach him. Some people come to Jesus as if Jesus is a beggar who is so poor as to be in need of them throwing a few coins at him. Some people come to Jesus as if Jesus is their personal gofer. So they bow down and say, “Lord, please do this or do that for me.” They are the ones who issue orders, and Jesus is the one who should take orders from them. Yes. Jesus came to serve all. But He is more than a mere gofer. And the way we approach him must be consistent with who He really is. How then should we come to him? The Magi set an example. Let us see how the Magi did it.

First, from the outset they had the right purpose of life, that is, to worship of the King of the Jews.

This morning I said to Rebekah, “Oh, I miss Christyn. What if they do not bring Christyn to Downey?” Then Rebekah rebuked me saying, “If you miss her, finish the message early. Go take a shower, and be ready to greet her.” She was right. Then I was reminded how much we need to get ourselves prepared in coming to worship Jesus the new born King. Worship requires lots of preparation. Obviously the Magi made a lot of preparations to meet the king of universe. 

Look at verses 1-2. “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, 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 in the east and have come to worship him."” This passage indicates they embarked on their journey to worship the king of the Jews. Matthew does not say exactly where they came from, for simply he says, “in the east”. But they saw “his” star in the east. And they came to worship him. 

The passage indicates that they made great sacrifices to come to worship the king. This tells us that they found the true value of the king. They knew that worship of him is so valuable that it deserves all the sacrifices they made. 

But unlike the Magi, in this world, especially in the U.S., most people are devoting themselves to two kinds of idols which are described as materialism and humanism. They put money in the position of God. To some, men (either they themselves or someone else) play God in their minds. And they sacrifice their time and energy to serve either money or man, or both.  

Since a lot of people know who Bill Gates is let me talk about him once again. During his young adulthood Bill Gates sacrificed his time and energy to study hard and get into Harvard University. But while studying at the university he quickly figured out that just collecting college degrees is not the way to make money. In order to make money you need to make a money-making machine. So he quit and got into a money-making business. Then he made a lot of money. Now that he made some money, he thinks that it might be valuable to give out some money to the poor. So together with his wife, Melinda, every once in a while he travels to depressed areas such as India or Africa. But mainly he sacrifices his time and energy to make money. Why? Money talks. Surely money is valuable. But is it worth investing your whole life? A good question! 

You heard about John Lennon last Sunday. But let me talk about him a little more because he used to be such an American idol. John Lennon thought that Bible is not worth believing. He did not think Jesus is worth believing. But he judged that he himself is the only real one to believe in. So he said, “I just believe in me.” His idea is, “The world is so cruel and cold. In this lonely world true love is nowhere to be found. And I have no one to depend upon. I am the only one to rely upon, for if I do not take care of myself, who will?” When we think about his family background, especially his parents fighting all the time, and his father abandoning him and his mom, we can easily understand him. But is the message really all there is for us to go for? Am I really the man to rely upon? Directly confronting the message, the Bible teaches us that we must “deny” ourselves. In fact Romans 2:8 rebukes us saying, “But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.”   

In the passage the Magi found that the king of the Jews is the one worthy of full devotion and sacrifice. He is the only one who never exploits us but builds us up, especially when we devote our treasures to Him. According to tradition, the Magi were men of noble standing. Yet, after a long time of searching they realized that the king of the Jews is the one worthy of worship. In order to worship him they took days, weeks, and even months off, made a long journey, until they arrived in Jerusalem, the capital city of the Jewish nation. 

Their sacrificial life thus far and the statement of their purpose in visiting Jerusalem makes us stop and ask: “In what respect then is the new born King worthy? What did they see which ordinary minds could not see?”

We find an answer to the question in the title “king of the Jews.” By the way, the word “Jews” means different things to different people. To Adolph Hitler “Jews” means people who are worse than pigs. But according to John 4:22, Jews refers to the body of people who carry the promise of the Savior to come.  Many teachings of Jesus also indicate that the king of the Jews denotes spiritual king. For example in many of his teachings, Jesus preached the message of the kingdom of God. God is spirit. So kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom. Jesus is a spiritual king who came to build a spiritual kingdom where God is the king. 

In this materialistic and humanistic society and generation people do not value what is spiritual. Rather they value what is of material and fleshly. But Jesus says in John 6:63, the Spirit gives life but the flesh counts for nothing. Jesus came to give us life. And life comes from the Spirit of God. Jesus came to bestow upon us God’s Spirit. He came to give a new life to those who are spiritually dead. The Magi saw this. To meet and worship the king of life, they said, “We have come to worship him!”  

Second, they invested all they had to meet and worship the king of life.

When we study the passage one thing amazes us: it was the Gentiles – the Magi – who learned the birth of the King of the Jews first! It was the Magi who came to worship the king “ahead” of the Jews! 

The Jews were in custody of the Bible. The Bible abounds with the promise for God to send the Savior. So the Jews were on notice of the Savior coming. They were the ones to first figure out the day and place for the Savior to be born. At length the long awaited Savior arrived. And he was born in Bethlehem which is less than five miles away from Jerusalem. So the Jews could have come first and worship the king. 

But unlike the Jews the Magi were far from east. They did not have a direct access to the Bible. So the Magi were greatly handicapped. Yet they somehow figured out that salvation would come through the king of Jews. They then combined this promise with their expertise in the movement of the stars. Most likely in their wisdom they figured out that the birth of the king was associated with the appearance of “his” star. In fact about 14 centuries before the birth of the king of the Jews, Balaam a magician from Mesopotamia saw ‘his’ star and said, “Numbers 24:17, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob…” 

Believing in the truth that the Lord God, the Creator of the universe must have written into the starry system the time of the Savior to be born, the Magi studied carefully the movement of the stars. Then lo and behold, one day in the east they saw “his” star had just appeared. The minute they spotted the star they were greatly exhilarated. They gave high fives to one another saying, “Hurray that is it! Let us go!” Because they had been waiting for this moment to come, they had already made everything ready to go: camels, “Mount Arrowhead Water Bottles”, flash lights, back packs, extra pairs of sandals, telescopes, Thomas Guide, everything. And they hit the road following the star! Bearing gifts they traversed afar through field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star, O star of wonder, and star of night. Star with royal beauty bright, westward leading, still proceeding, and guiding them to perfect light! 

In this way they came all the way to Jerusalem. But there they lost the star. Thinking that Jerusalem was it, they started asking people around saying, “Where is the king of the Jews? We have come to worship him!” 

But King Herod, together with the citizens in Jerusalem, was “disturbed” to hear the news. Plus, even after learning the news of the birth of the king, still they (the religious leaders included) did not come to worship the true king. 

What does this tell us? It tells us one simple truth: “We must make efforts to go meet and worship the king!” Say, “Make efforts.” 

Again in order for us to meet the king personally and come to worship him properly, we too must make “efforts” to come to know him better and meet him in person. Unlike the Magi we are well endowed with the resources to know the king. 

But we admit that there are many distractions in our generation such as internet games, the joy of shopping during holiday seasons, even the joy of going through yard sales or trying to buy some bargains at a swap meet or the thrill of going for the after-Christmas sale, or even the much needed family gatherings. Because of these we may so easily be distracted from the fellowship with the Lord, the king of life. Then very quickly we lose the Spirit. We get burned out, and fall flat like a flat tire.  

What should we do then? Again the example of the Magi gives us a clear direction: Like the magi, we must devote ourselves to meeting the king of life and worshiping him daily. And we must do so with a scholarly attitude. For this purpose we need to adjust our daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and yes life time schedules to be in a worship mode. With reverent respect and honor of the king of life, we need to adjust the times and priorities of our life in such a way to know Jesus and worship him better. As we get into this kind of mode of life, devote ourselves to worshiping him, he will bless us with all kinds of blessings: joy and peace will be supreme; inspiration will come to us instantaneously and naturally. And we can do it still pursuing our career as lay persons. 

Third, upon coming to the place they bowed down, worshiped the King, and then offered their treasures to the King.

Let us read verses 3-11. When they heard the news of the new born king along with the people in Jerusalem king Herod was greatly disturbed. The King Herod summoned bible scholars and asked them where the king of the Jews, also known as the Christ, would be born. Based on the Micah 5:2, the Bible scholars said, “Bethlehem is the place.” The King Herod then sent the Magi to Bethlehem saying, “If you go there, please let me know of the exact place the baby is, so I too would go and worship him.” But it was a lie. He wanted to go and kill the baby. Not knowing what was going on, the Magi said, “Thank you” to the king Herod. They went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. Then they worshiped the king. 

How did the worship go? Look at verse 11. “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 

In my opinion they set an example in worshiping the King in two ways: 

(1) Firstly, they put God above men. They set aside the idol worship called “humanism” – the ism that exalts man above God, the belief, the idea, and the lifestyle that puts that which is of human above that which is of God.  

The Magi bowed down and worshiped the king. The expression “bowed down” indicates that they emptied themselves and offered themselves fully to the king of life. In my humble opinion, the attitude they had in presenting themselves to Jesus is the same as that of a man covered with leprosy when he came out to Jesus. Luke 5:12 says, “While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." The Magi came out to Jesus as the man covered with leprosy. When the leper came out to Jesus, he fell prostrate, and then asked Jesus for his mercy. Just like the leper, the Magi (although they were men of standing, and filled with wisdom, so that they are rightly called Magi meaning “wise men”), in total humility, found themselves before the King of the Universe as “nothing” but a speck of dust. 

(2) They set a perfect example of putting God above money. They opened their treasures and offered them as gifts to the king. In this way they revered God as more valuable than God’s gifts such as money or anything. Their example shows us the practical way to fight materialism, and secure the worship of God. They set an example of how to put God above God’s blessings. 

Jesus says, “Where your treasure is there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21 By offering their treasures they gave their hearts to the king of life, not to something perishable such as gold. It has been said that the three gifts (gold, incense, and myrrh) represent who Jesus is (he is a king as the gold suggests), what he came to do (he came to pray for us as the high priest praying for our salvation before God for eternity), and how he is willing to save us (that is, through offering his body as an atoning sacrifice, which is indicated by the myrrh which is used to embalm the body of a dead person, symbolizing the death of Jesus). As these gifts suggest, Jesus came to save us from the power of sin and death through his complete sacrifice. And Jesus did this only to provide us with a blessed position - the position of a blessed child qualified to live in the blessed presence of God for good. 

But although Jesus came to bless us this much, materialism (which is to put money in God’s position) is so strong, it is not easy for us to set this materialistic idol aside and secure the worship of God. 

And the remedy and certainly the antidote is to positively offer our treasures to God. And I would encourage everyone in this ministry to make sacrificial (monetary) offerings to the Lord. I have not emphasized the importance of tithing. But now I encourage that those who do not practice tithing, must do so even as training. I also would like to encourage everyone to participate in Sudan mission. At the joint Christmas worship, some people especially from West LA made Sudan offering sacrificially. I pray that the Lord would bless them. I also pray that as you offer materials to God, the Lord would richly bless you more than you can possibly imagine, particularly with his divine presence in your life, granting you to grow to His greatness.

One Word: worship the king 

    

    

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