It is important to know that the reality of our worship at Christmas is directly related to the quality of our regular worship. If we do not experience a thrill in our daily times with the Lord, we likely will not be excited about Him on Sunday, nor will we be excited about Him on Christmas day. The psalmist reminds us to "seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face continually" (Ps. 105:4).
The
second lesson in genuine worship is bowing before the king. These wise men were
in marked contrast to the religious leaders of Jerusalem. The priests and
scribes knew where the Messiah would be born, but none of them journeyed with
the wise men from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Pride and apathy have a strong grip
that can choke the spiritual life out of a religious people. The priests and
scribes could talk about their love for God and His law, but they would not
venture the few miles to Bethlehem by faith to verify it. The wise men,
however, put their faith to work and discovered the Savior. Their first
response, in verse 11, was to fall down and worship Him. They knelt humbly in
Jesus' presence. They may even have lain prostrate before Him, stretching themselves
out in an act of submission before the child King. The whole picture is painted
with emotion. And while emotion does not make a worship service, worship
without emotion is like a marriage without passion. It scares me that as
Christians we can get caught up in the activities of the season and take the
birth of Jesus for granted. We get excited about the gifts, family and friends,
but not about the Savior of the world coming to Earth.
Something
is missing if we, day by day, Christmas after Christmas, no longer can be moved
to adore Him who came to pay a debt He did not owe to free us from a debt we
could not pay. If God arranged for a star in the heavens to point to His Son,
if God sent His angels to announce the news and stirred men hundreds of miles away
to come for a celebration, why shouldn't we burst with excitement?
We
can erect nativity scenes, adorn the church with decorations, bring canned
goods for the needy, purchase gifts from the angel tree, give to the Lottie
Moon Christmas offering; but if our hearts are cold and dry and void of sheer
joy, we need to fall down beside the wise men and learn the thrill of bowing
before the Savior.
Linked
to their devotion expressed in falling down was adoration in worship. The word
worshiped in verse 11 is a word used only to refer to worshiping one who is
divine. It is used often in the book of Revelation to describe the adoration of
the Lord. The comparison is striking. The wise men worshiped the Lord as a
child; one day we will worship the Lord as He sits on the throne of glory.
No comments:
Post a Comment