Truth: Worship Jesus as God and King.
Key Verse: Matt. 2:2
Reading Assignment: Matt. 2:1-23
Overview of the Reading:
1. Worship Jesus:
a. The magi rightly worshipped Jesus
b. Jesus is the king born in the royal city of Bethlehem as it was prophesied.
c. Jesus is the Son of God who comes out of Egypt, the location from where the prophet said God will call His Son.
2. Two more prophecies that confirm Jesus as the Messiah:
a. Jesus came amid mourning the death of children.
b. Jesus was a Nazarene.
Prayer:
1. Jesus, I believe You are God and King.
2. I worship You as my God, and I honor You as my King.
3. I humble myself before You as Your worshipper and Your servant.
4. Command me whatever You will. I am here to honor You and to carry out Your word.
5. Is there any wrongful attitude in me? Please show me, so I can make it right.
6. Show me if there is any rebellion or insubordination in me. I want to make this right.
7. I commit to honoring You and respecting You as my God and King.
Transcript
OK. Let me pray for us and we'll dig into God's word together.
Our God, thank You. Thank you that we can draw near to You this morning. And we thank You that as we close our eyes and talk to You, we can have assurance in our hearts that You, the creator of the universe, You hear us; and we pray that you would guide us during this time and that you would bless everyone here as they seek You every day by reading Your word and by calling out to Jesus in prayer. I pray that you would open their minds to the reality of who You are more and more, and that each of them would have hearts that are more and more committed to Jesus with an attitude that is more and more obedient to Him. Help them to see just how glorious and exalted Jesus is, and how worthy of all our worship He is. And I pray that there would be a joyful response of praise and thanksgiving in each one's heart. Now, we pray that You would guide us and teach us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
So last time, I gave us a quick overview of Matthew chapter 1. This time I'm going to do that with chapter 2. I'm going to begin by pointing out a truth that comes out of this chapter. Now, last time I first pointed out “the main idea” of chapter one, and that's because the main idea of that chapter was also the truth that I wanted us to meditate on and pray about. But this time around there's a little difference between the main idea of the chapter and a truth that comes up in the chapter. In chapter 2, these are not exactly an overlap. But I want to start by pointing out the truth, because this is something that we all can pray about and respond to Jesus with. And so what is that truth? The truth is this: Worship Jesus. God wants us to worship Jesus. And the reason is simple: Jesus is God. As we saw last time, He is God with us, Immanuel. Today we also learn that He is the King. This is what comes up in the first half of chapter 2. Jesus is the King who is worthy to be worshiped. We see this in the example of the Magi from the East, who come from a foreign land to worship the King of the Jews. And I’ll get further into this in a little bit, but the truth for us to meditate on is to worship Jesus.
Last time we saw that Jesus is the Messiah, Savior, and God. As we move into Chapter 2, Matthew shows us that Jesus is also the King. And this is the very first thing that comes up in this chapter. And the key verse I want to highlight from this chapter is verse 2. These are the words of the Magi. They say, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship Him.” These wise men from the east understood who Jesus was, who the Messiah was going to be, that He was born King of the Jews. But more than that, they had an understanding, I believe, from the prophecies of Daniel (he prophesied in their country, in the land of the East). Well, they had an understanding that this King of the Jews was meant to be, as we've studied in the book of Daniel, the stone cut out without hands, the Son of Man who comes from heaven riding on the clouds of heaven. This is the King, the final King of the world, who will rule over the entire world with an everlasting kingdom. And so they come to worship Jesus because they recognize who He truly is.
Well, that's the truth I want you to think about, but that's not the same as the main idea or the main message of this chapter. The main message of this chapter is a little bit different from that. Matthew wants to give us four more prophecies that confirm that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior, God, and King.
Now, let me give us a little bit more perspective on this. Often when you read the Bible, you'll find that every passage has a particular message that is intended by the human author, and that is actually God's intended message also. But you'll also notice that as you read the Bible, that there are important truths that are embedded in every passage. The particular message that is intended by the author, that's the main idea or the main message. But equally important to that are the truths that we find in the chapter. The first is important because that helps us understand the Bible, and if we understand the Bible, we understand its main message, the message of God. But the second is also very important because it allows us to have a truth, a principle from God’s word to think deeply about and something that we can also pray to God about. And so, both of these are important and I would say they're equally important. Believe it or not, this is what I do in every sermon. My aim is to explain the passage, but that's not my singular aim. My aim is also to highlight an important truth that's embedded in that passage, because that will really help everybody to develop their spiritual life and to become spiritually healthy people who are truly connected with God. And so the main message of this chapter is that Jesus is confirmed to be the Messiah because He fulfilled these prophecies. But in terms of the truth that I want to highlight, it's what I said at the very outset today: worship Jesus. Worship Jesus, because He is really the King and he is really God. And if you really believe that, then you will worship Him. And I'll explain to us what that worship is in a little bit.
Now, we see this truth about worship in three ways in this chapter.
First, we find the wise men that they came to worship Jesus. And they actually do this. They literally bow down before the child Jesus, who was at most two years old—as you'll see in the chapter when you read it. And so first, the Wise Men show us that Jesus is worthy to be worshiped. They themselves worship Jesus.
Secondly, Jesus is born in the city of Bethlehem. Now, that might not mean much to us at first, but as you read the chapter, you'll learn that Bethlehem is the place of the royal lineage of David. It's the city of David. It's the city where David was born. And so this is the city of the king. This is the royal birthplace. And you'll also read that this is the place that God said that the Messiah will be born in. And so Jesus, being born from this place, confirms that he really is the promised King who was to come.
Thirdly, you'll find that Jesus spends some time in Egypt and that he comes out of Egypt back into the land of Israel. Even this was predicted by God in the Old Testament scriptures. In that prediction, we hear these words. God says, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” And what that shows us is that God is the one who called Him out of Egypt. The very most important thing to point out from that prophecy is that God calls Jesus His Son: “Out of Egypt, I called My Son.” What that shows us is that not only is Jesus born King of the Jews, He is also the Son of God. And because Jesus is truly God's Son, God protected Him, and you'll read about this in the chapter. Jesus is deeply precious in God's sight because He is His beloved Son. He loves Him, and so this is truly the Son of God.
And so what should be our response? Our response should be to worship him, to worship Jesus. Because He is really God the Son. And because He is the King, the one whom God established to be the Ruler over all of us. One day when Jesus comes again, the whole world will have to submit themselves to Him and pay homage to Him, because He really is the King that God has established.
Now, beyond those points, Matthew also gives us some more prophecies. I mentioned two so far. One is about His birthplace and the other is about coming out of Egypt. There are two more prophecies found in the chapter. The third one is the fact that when Messiah comes, there will be mourning over dead children. And of course this happens. This is fulfilled when all the babies who are two years and younger are slaughtered by Herod the Great because he wanted to eliminate Jesus. Of course, by then Jesus had already left Egypt because of the prophecy of Scripture. Finally, Jesus is confirmed to be the Messiah, because He is a Nazarene. This is the fourth prophecy Jesus fulfilled. And so Jesus is confirmed to be the Messiah, the promised Savior, God and King. And again, as we consider this, what should be our response? We ought to worship Jesus.
Now, we might ask, “Well, how do I worship Jesus?” Simply put, we worship Jesus with words, and we do it with prayer. This is the reason why on Sunday mornings we spend a good amount of time singing and many of the songs that we sing are directed directly at the second person of the Triune God, Jesus, the Son of God. Sometimes the songs are addressing God the Father. Sometimes the songs also address God the Holy Spirit, because God is indeed one God who exists in three persons. Well, why is that worship? That's worship because we are expressing with our words how awesome the Savior is, how awesome Jesus is, how great He is, how worthy He is of our devotion, of our enthusiasm, of our obedience, and our submission. And so how might we do this in prayer? Let me give us some examples of how we might do this in prayer.
But before I get to that, let me, again, remind us that when we pray, we must pray from our hearts. If there is anything within you that says, “Well, if I just say the words then I guess I should experience something or feel something,” but that's actually not how prayer works. Prayer is meant to be that which comes out of our hearts and out of our minds. And so the first thing to do is to ask yourself whether you really believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior, God, and King. And if you really believe, then you just need some words to express that belief. And so I would encourage you to first of all do some soul searching to see whether you really do believe; and if you do, then I think the words will help you to express that which you believe.
Now, a prayer toward the Lord would go something like this, with regard to worship. If I were praying, I would say something like this. I would say, “Jesus, I believe you are God. You are the King. And you're not only God and King, You are my God because I believe in you, and You are my King, because I know who You are. I know what my duty in life is. It is to worship You. It is to praise You. It is to glorify You and it is to obey You because You are my King. And so command me whatever You will, and my heart’s commitment is to carry out that which You command me to do. I humble myself before You. I am not Your equal; I am Your humble subject. And I am Your humble worshiper, and I want to honor You as my King. And I want to worship You as my God. If there is any attitude in me that is not consistent with this, please show it to me. Because I know what the truth is. The truth is You are God and You are the King. And I want to honor You, and I want to worship You as I should. So, show me if there's any wrong attitude in me. Stamp out of me every rebelliousness and insubordination to You. I don't want to be rebellious. I don't want to be disobedient. Show me where I am wrong so that I can make things right. Because I really want to be right with You. So, command me and teach me how to live life for Your honor. And my commitment to You is that I will obey You in everything You have said. I ask of You to be with me today. Because I need You. I need every help to be a good worshiper and a servant to You. Whether it's at work, at home, or in any other setting, I need Your help. You are Immanuel, God with us, and I am seeking for You to be with me, as I on my part, strive to be a good worshiper and a good servant to You. Amen.”
And that's how we respond to the Lord. So I want to encourage you, this time around, to read Matthew chapter 2. As I said last time, if you read it twice, that would be even better because more of it will stick. And so start by reading Matthew chapter 2 sometime today and then once again tomorrow, and then we'll reconnect on Friday. And again, as you read, think upon this truth that Jesus is to be worshiped, and then respond to Jesus in prayer. I know that God will work in your heart if you call out to Jesus like that from your heart. Okay, I went a little bit over today. I'm going to be more disciplined and stay within our time slot going forward. Lord bless you. And I'll see you next time on Friday. Happy Thanksgiving. Bye.