STUDY THEME: ONE SOLITARY LIFE: THE LIFE OF JESUS. 
UNIT TWO: BORN TO SERVE; "WORTHY TO BE WORSHIPED."  12-31-00
MATTHEW 2: 1-23.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO MATTHEW 2. 

In our text for today the Wise Men are on center stage. The story of the
Wise Men, however, is set in a context and we need to understand that
context. The story also has a challenge, and we need to understand that
challenge. The context is both divine and historical. The Divine context
is a star and the Wise Men. The historical context deals with King Herod
and his response to the report of the Wise Men.

The key actors in the drama are the Wise Men. Folklore tells us that they
were three in number, they were kings and their names were Melchior,
Caspar, and Balthaser. From Scripture we don't know how many of them
there were. We don't know where they came from. We only know they
followed a special star to give honor to a special baby. When they found
the Child they worshipped Him and presented gifts to Him. 

One of the key ideas of the text is the focus on WORSHIP. When we worship
we focus our attention on Jesus. In order to worship, we have to be
present with Jesus. As we worship, we need to bring presents to Jesus.

The Biblical worldview of worship is that God is to be worshipped with
all one's heart, mind and spirit. We find in worship the highest
expression of the human spirit and the closest we come on earth to a
heavenly experience. Real worship involves giving of ourselves and our
substance.   

Roy Rogers once said, "If He (Jesus) isn't born in your heart, what
difference does it make to you whether He was born in Bethlehem or not?"
He who has no Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree. 

The story of Jesus birth in Bethlehem between 6 and 4 BC introduced us to
the incarnate God-man, Jesus. In last Sunday's lesson we saw Jesus
presented by Mary and Joseph to the temple and their encounter with
Simeon and Anna. Note was taken of the obedience of the parents of Jesus
OT God's instructions both through the angel and through the Law. 

As we turn today to Matthew 2 we find the Gospel is at once historical
and prophetic. All the stories gather round four prophecies and, indicate
the fulfillment of their deepest intention in history.  

The first prophecy is from Micah 5:2 where the place of Jesus birth was
announced. The second is from Hosea 11:1 "I called my Son out of Egypt"
The third is from Jeremiah 31:15 where the slaughter of the children of
Bethlehem by Herod was forecast. The fourth is a truth uttered by many of
the prophets in some form. (Isa 11:1) that Jesus should be called a
Nazarene or citizen of Nazareth. 

Matthew 2 shows us that the coming of the King was the fulfillment of the
prophecies of the past. The last prophet of the O.T. Malachi spoke, then
no prophetic voice sounded for 400 years. Now, 400 years after the voice
of prophecy and the last vision, a child is born, the child upon whom all
the hopes of God should rest, and therefore the hopes of men. 

1. PLEASE READ MATTHEW 2: 1-6.

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem there came to do him homage Wise Men
from the East. The name given to these men is Magi. Herodotus says that
they were originally a Median tribe. The Medes were part of the Empire of
the Persians. They tried to overthrow the Persians and substitute the
power of the Medes. The attempt failed. From that time the Magi ceased to
have any ambition for power or prestige, and became a tribe of priests.
They became the teachers and instructors of the Persian kings. They
became men of holiness and wisdom. At their best the Magi were good and
holy men who sought for the truth. 

In those ancient days all men believed in astrology. We cannot tell what
star the Magi saw; but 
It was their profession to watch the heavens, and some heavenly
brilliance spoke to them of he entry of a king into the world. It may
seem strange to us that those men should set out from the East to find a
king, but the strange things is that, just about the time Jesus was born,
there was in the world a strange feeling of expectation of the coming of
a king. 

There is not the slightest need to think that the story of the coming of
the Magi to the Christ Child is only a lovely legend. It is exactly the
kind of thing that could easily have happened in that ancient world. When
Jesus Christ came the world was in an eagerness of expectation. Men were
waiting for God and the desire for God was in their hearts. They had
discovered that they could not build the golden age without God. It was
to a waiting world that Jesus came; and, when he came, the ends of the
earth were gathered to Him. It was the first sign and symbol of the world
conquest of Christ. The last part of Vs. 6 is from 2 Samuel 5:2 where
David was called the shepherd of Israel and identified as the one who
would rule God's people in that day. 

Having seen His star, the wise men came to Jerusalem seeking the new-born
King of the Jews, so they might worship Him. . 

In Vs. 3 it came to the ears of Herod that the Wise Men had come from the
East, and they the were searching for the little child who had been born
to be King of the Jews. Any king would be worried at the report that a
child had been born who would occupy his throne. But Herod was doubly
disturbed.

Herod was half Jew and half Idumean. There was Edomite blood in his
veins. He was called Herod the Great and in many ways he deserved the
title. He was a great builder; he was indeed the builder of the Tempe in
Jerusalem. He could be generous.

But Herod had one terrible flaw in his character. He was almost insanely
suspicious. He had always been suspicious, and the older he became the
more suspicious he grew, until, in his old age, he was, as someone said,
"A murderous old man." If he suspected anyone as a rival to his power,
that person was promptly eliminated.  

Something of Herod's savage, bitter, warped nature can be seen from the
provision he mad 3when death came near. When he was seventy he knew that
he must die. After he retired to Jericho, the loveliest of all his
cities. He gave orders that a collection of the most distinguished
citizens of Jerusalem should be arrested on trumped up charges and
imprisoned. And he ordered that the  moment he died, they should all be
killed. He said grimly that he was well aware that no one would mourn for
his death, and that he was determined that some tears should be shed when
he died. Fortunately, the order was not carried out

It is clear how such a man would feel when the news reached him that a
child was born who was destined to be king. Herod was troubled, and
Jerusalem was troubled, too, for Jerusalem well knew the steps that Herod
would take to pin down this story and to eliminate this child. Jerusalem
knew Herod, and Jerusalem shivered as it waited for his inevitable
reaction. 

So Herod summoned the religious aristocracy and the theological scholars
of his day, and asked them where, according to the scriptures, the
Anointed One of God should be born. They quoted the text in Micah 5:2 to
him.     

2. PLEASE READ MATTHEW 2: 7-8.

Herod sent for the Wise Men, and dispatched them to make diligent search
for the little child who had been born. He said that he, too, wished to
come and worship the child; but his one desire was to murder the child
born to be king.

No sooner was Jesus born than we see men group themselves in to the three
groups in which men are always to be found in regard to Jesus Christ. Let
us look at the three reactions.
(1.) There was the reaction of Herod, the reaction of hatred and
hostility. Herod was afraid that this little child was going to interfere
with his life, his place, his power, his influence, therefore his first
instinct was to destroy him.   
 
There are still those who would gladly destroy Jesus Christ because they
see in Him the one who interferes with their lives. They wish to do what
they like, and Christ will not let them do what they like; and so they
would kill Him. The man whose one desire is to do what he likes has never
any use for Jesus Christ. The Christian is the man who has ceased to do
what he likes and had dedicated his desire to do as Christ likes.  

(2.) There was the reaction of the chief priests and scribes, the
reaction of complete indifference. It did not make the slightest
difference to them. They were so engrossed in their Temple ritual and
their legal discussions that they completely disregarded Jesus. He meant
nothing to them. There are still those who are so interested in their own
affairs that Jesus Christ means nothing to them. The prophet's poignant
question can still be asked: Lamentations 1:12 "Is it nothing to you, all
you who pass by?" 

(3.) There was the reaction of the Wise Men, the reaction of adoring
worship, the desire to lay at the feet of Jesus Christ the noblest gifts,
which they could bring. Surely when any man realizes the love of God in
Jesus Christ, he, too, should be lost in wonder, love and praise.     

3. PLEASE READ MATTHEW 2: 9-12.

So the Wise Men found their way to Bethlehem. As the star moved the Wise
Men followed. Following God's leadership is a characteristic of giving
our best in worship. Over Bethlehem the star was shining. 

Later legends have been busy with the Wise Men. In the early days eastern
tradition said that there were twelve of them. But now the tradition that
there were three is almost universal. The N.T. does not say that there
wee three, but the idea that there were three no doubt arose from the
threefold gift which they brought. Later legend made them kings. And
still later legend gave them names, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. 

>From very early times men have seen a peculiar fitness in the gifts, the
wise men brought. They have seen in each gift some thing which especially
matched some characteristic of Jesus and His work.  

(1.) Gold is the gift for a king. And gold, the king of metals, is the
fit gift for a king of men.
 So then Jesus was "the Man born to be King." But he was to reign, not by
force, but by love, and he was to rule over men's hearts, not from a
throne, but from a Cross.

We do well to remember that Jesus Christ is King. We can never meet Jesus
on an equality. We must always meet Him on terms of complete submission. 
(2.) Frankincense is the gift for a priest. It was in the Temple worship
and at the Temple sacrifices that the sweet perfume of frankincense was
used. The function of a priest is to open the way to God for men. The
Latin word for priest means a bridge builder. The priest is the man who
builds a bridge between men and God.

That is what Jesus did. He opened the way to God; He made it possible for
men to enter into the very presence of God.

(4.) Myrrh is the gift for one who is to die. Myrrh was used to embalm
the bodies of the dead. 
 
Jesus came into the world to die. Holman Hunt has a famous picture of
Jesus. It shows Jesus at the door of the carpenter shop in Nazareth. He
is still only a boy and has come to the door to stretch his limbs which
had grown cramped over the bench. He stands in the doorway with arms
outstretched, and behind him, on the wall, the setting sun throws his
shadow, and it is the shadow of a cross. In the background there stands
Mary, and as she sees the shadow there is the fear of coming tragedy in
her eyes. 

Jesus came into the world to live for men, and, in the end to die for
men. He came to give for men his life and his death. 

Gold for a King, frankincense for a priest, myrrh for one who was to
die-these were the gifts of the Wise Men, and, even at the feet of
Christ, they, foretold that He was to be the true King, the perfect High
Priest, and in the end the supreme Savior of men. 

The wise men went out from the worship to obey the voice and will of the
Lord whom they worshipped. Obedience and sensitivity to God's leadership
is a mark of giving our best in worship. The Wise Men showed that they
were hearing and heeding God's slightest whisper. After seeing Jesus,
they were warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod.
Although they took something of a risk in doing so, they disobeyed the
king and obeyed God. Thus they departed to their own country another way.


The Wise Men appear only once in the Bible, but their coming as pagan
gentiles foreshadowed one of Luke's key themes: Jesus Christ came to be
the Savior of all people who trust Him as Lord and Savior. As early
worshipers, they exemplify marks of true worship. 

4. PLEASE READ MATTHEW 2: 13-15. 

The ancient world had no doubt that God sent his messages to men in
dreams. So Joseph was warned in a dream to flee into Egypt to escape
Herod's murderous intentions. The flight into Egypt was entirely natural.
Often, throughout the troubled centuries before Jesus came, when some
peril and some tyranny and some persecution made life intolerable for the
Jews, they sought refuge in Egypt. The result was that every city in
Egypt had its colony of Jews; and in the city of Alexandria there were
actually more than a million Jews, and certain districts of the city wee
entirely handed over to them. Joseph in his hour of peril was doing what
many a Jew had done before; and when Joseph and Mary reached Egypt they
would not find themselves altogether amidst strangers, for in every town
and city they would find Jews who had sought refuge there. It was as a
little baby that Jesus was taken to Egypt and it was as a little child
that he was brought out. 

The last words of this passage introduce us to a custom which is
characteristic of  Matthew. He sees in the flight to Egypt a fulfillment
of the words spoken by Hosea. He quotes it in the form: "Out of Egypt
have I called my Son." That is a quotation from Hosea 11: 1, which reads:
"When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son."


Matthew knew that almost the only way to convince the Jews that Jesus was
the promised Anointed One of God was to prove that he was the fulfillment
of O.T. prophecy. This would appeal to those Jews for whom Matthew was
writing.

In Vs. 16-18 we see Herod, a past master at assination ordering every
child under the age of two years of age in Bethlehem and the surrounding
district to be slaughtered. He is a terrible illustration what men will
do to get rid of Jesus Christ-again Matt. Quotes from the O.T. Jeremiah
31:15 reads "Thus says the Lord: a voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation
and bitter weeping; Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be
comforted for her children, because they are not."  

5. PLEASE READ MATTHEW 2: 19-23. 

In due time Herod died, and when Herod died the whole kingdom over which
he had ruled 3as split up. He divided his kingdom into three, and in his
will he had left a part to each of three of his sons. He had left Judaea
to Archelus; Galilee to Herod Antipas; and the region away to the
northeast and beyond Jordan to Philip.

But the death of Herod did not solve the problem. Archelus was a bad
king. In fact he had begun his reign with an attempt to out-Herod Herod,
for he had opened his rule with the deliberate slaughter of three
thousand of the most influential people in the country. So Joseph was
guided to go to Galilee where Herod Antipas, a much better king, reigned.

It was in Nazareth that Joseph settled, and it was in Nazareth that Jesus
was brought up. Thus he was called a Nazarene.

The theme of today's lesson is that we should worship Jesus because He is
worthy to be worshipped. In order to properly do this let's look at some
elements of worship. 
Number one, it is internal. Worship rises from inside. It's not something
you do on the outside. It's not a performance. It's not a set of words or
a set of actions. It becomes that but it is something that is moral and
mental and emotional. It is in the mind and the will and the emotion. It
sums up the whole inner being. It is like a great orchestra, every
element of the inner self has its place and every element of the inner
self adds to the harmony of the whole grand crescendo. The whole of the
inner being is worshipping.

Worship comes form the inside. It is not coming to church. It is not
singing a hymn alone. It is not reading words in a Bible, hearing a
sermon. It is not just giving something in the offering. It is not
carryout out a ritual, even the Lord's table. Those are potential, of
course, effects of a worshipping heart, but they cannot stand alone as
true worship. It is the inner heart of adoring praise that is the essence
of true worship. It is when the soul and the spirit are overwhelmed. It
is an internal thing. 

In fact, external, shallow observance or the birth of Christ is
distasteful to God and most of what goes on at the Christmas season
breaks His heart. Superficial worship finds no place of acceptance with
Him. 

For example, Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah 29:13 said, "This people draw
near me with their mouth and with their lips." If I can put it in the
Christmas vernacular, they talk about Me, they put things about Me on
their Christmas cards and they sing My carols but they do not honor Me.
They have removed their heart from Me, Isaiah 29:13. There's no heart.

Jesus said, "God is a spirit and they that worship Him must start by
worshi9iing Him in spirit." The true worshiper 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. And that takes me to the
second point, it is intense. It is not only internal, it is intense.  

Spontaneous, exuberant joy burst out in worship. So you have two
components of true worship. It is internal, it rises from what the heart
comprehends. It rises from what the mind understands. That's the stuff of
which worship is made, but it starts with revelation to the mind.

This is sincere, intense worship...not at all shallow, not at all
superficial, not at all temporary. Worship then is the right attitude, it
is internal and it is intense. If you look at the history of Israel you
will find how God despised superficial worship. Through the prophet
Malachi He says, "You have brought Me the torn and the lame and the sick.
You have brought an offering, should I accept this of you, said the
Lord?" Malachi 1. You bring me the worst animal, the blind the lame, the
broken, that's what you give Me. He even asks them in that first chapter
of Malachi, "Give it to the governor, see how he likes it." Let alone
giving it to Me.

The prophet Amos, the herdsman of Tekoa, was sent by God to both expose
and denounce the apostasy and hypocrisy of Israel. And among other
things, God said through Amos these words. "I hate, I despise your feast
days and I will not smell, I won't sniff in your solemn assemblies," when
all the smells and the incense rises, "though you offer me burnt
offerings and your meat offerings, I won't accept them, neither will I
regard the peace offering of your fat beasts. Take away from me the noise
of your songs. I will not hear the melody of your instruments. Let
judgment run down as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream. Your
superficial worship sickens me. The very feast, by the way, which God
himself had given them explicit directions to observe became through
their hypocrisy and double dealing a stench to His nostrils.

The third thing about worship, it is habitual. True worship becomes a way
of life because it's fixed on something that never changes. God never
changes. Christ never changes. Salvation never changes. His promises
never change. His covenant never changes. Our future never changes. The
Spirit never leaves. That never changes. So why should worship rise and
fall? Why should it ebb and flow? True worship doesn't .

If worship for you only happens on Sunday morning when it sort of gets
pumped up, or only happens around the Christmas season or other special
events, you're kidding yourself about whether you're a true worshiper. If
worship only happens when things are gong well in your life and you can
whistle a tune because you got what you wanted, or because you're happy
about the current events in your life, or because your measure of comfort
has been met, if worship is connected to that then you don't understand
the real stuff, because true worship is unaffected by fluctuating
circumstances. It doesn't rise and it doesn't fall. It is the constant
praise that comes from deep within the soul because that which is
spiritually true is unchanging.. unchanging.

And that leads me to the fourth element. The attitude of worship is
internal, intense, habitual and, fourthly, and here's really the key one,
it is humble...it is humble. True worship only comes from a humble heart,
only from a humble heart. And what is a humble heart? A humble heart is a
heart that has no thought for itself..no thought for itself. Pride is the
worship of self, that's what it is. And it competes with God. And if
you're not thankful, it's not because God hasn't fulfilled His promise,
it's because your comfort level isn't where you want it. And that's
because you're focused on you. It's because you didn't get what you
deserved, didn't get what you counted on, hoped for, prayed for, thought
you deserved. Pride remembers all wrongs done to it. Pride wants to
strike back when it is offended. Pride wants to retaliate. It is not
filled with praise because it fixes itself on the ebb and flow of life's
issues. Humility cares nothing for those. Humility is at the heart of
true worship, a sense of unworthiness. 

Now worship is internal, intense, habitual and humble. Okay, secondly,
the object of worship. The object of worship is God. All the glory goes
to Him. 
All the honor goes to him. All the worship goes to Him. Worship is very
central in that sense, very simple, very focused, very dimensional. We
worship God. In Luke 4:8 Jesus said, "It is written you shall worship the
Lord your God and serve Him only." Worship is limited to one being in the
universe and that is God. First Timothy 1:17 says, "To the King eternal,
immortal, and invisible, the only God be honor and glory forever and
ever, amen. That is the center and circumference of worship. It is all
directed right at God. And most particularly, the heart of worship is
that God is our Savior.

Thirdly, and lastly, the cause of worship..what makes it happen? What
motivates it? Well, three things, first, what God does for me personally.
I'm eternally saved. Can you believe that a holy God would do this for
me, a sinner? That's where worship starts. And let me tell something, it
doesn't mean anything that God is a Savior unless you've experienced His
salvation, right? It has to come down to you. That's where worship
starts. That's what motivates it. That's what causes it, when you
personally experience the saving reality of Jesus Christ. Then you
worship Him.    

NEXT SUNDAY FROM LUKE 2 WE SEE THAT EVEN THOUGH JESUS WAS UNIQUE, HE GREW
AND DEVELOPED. SO, WHAT ARE THE MARKS OF MATURITY? 
A.V. DAUGHERTY  12-31-2000.