Wise Men Still Worship

What the Bible says about Worship Part 1

A little boy was looking at a plaque on the wall of the church foyer. The pastor was near by so the little boy asked him," Pastor, what's this for?" The pastor answered, "Oh, that's a memorial to those who died in the service." The little boy said, "Which service, the morning service or the evening service?"

Getting people to go to church and worship God can be a real challenge. Some people become apathetic in worship and forget that we go to church for His sake and to honor Him. Still, others, like the wise men who visited baby Jesus, go to great lengths to worship him.

"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, 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." They marveled at the shrugged shoulders of the Jews in Jerusalem. "Where is He?" they said as though everyone would know about it." (Matthew 2: 1-2)

As we head into the Christmas season I am awed by the story of the men who traveled from a distant country to worship the King of the Jews, but at the same time the Jewish nation seemed oblivious to what was going on. These wise men had heard of a great God and what He was doing and came to find out, at the same time those who were so familiar with Him seemed uninterested. Hmm, sounds like church to me! The Bible commands us to worship God in the congregation many times.

"Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, and His praise in the congregation of the godly ones." (Psalm 149:1)

People say, "Well you know that I really love the Lord and everything and He understands that Sunday is my day off and I need to sleep in. Surely God does not want me to overdo it, besides the church is filled with hypocrites anyway." NO, He does not understand. Besides when people say they don't come to church because of all the hypocrites, you can tell them, "Don't let that stop you there is always room for one more!"

These wise men put out great effort to come and find Jesus Christ. Most people's pilgrimage is from the TV to the refrigerator and back. These wise men did something about the prospect of worship. They acted. They were like King David and Solomon. They were proactive about worship. God likes that! The people of Jerusalem were a different story. The arrival of the wise men in Jerusalem must be viewed in the context of all that happened in Jerusalem during the previous year. The miraculous pregnancy of John the Baptist's mother, Elizabeth, was well known to those in Jerusalem. So, too, the birth of Jesus was announced to the shepherds, who came to see the babe, and who proclaimed what they saw to others. And yet those who were so familiar with religious things made no effort to honor this great King. Let me encourage you to make the effort to go and worship and honor this great King. He deserves it!