Sermon Title: The Symphony of Christmas, The Sound of Worship
Date: December 20th, 2020
Text: Matthew 2:1-12
Subject: The wise men had a deep desire to worship the King of the Jews.
Complement: Herod wanted to use their desire for sinister motives.
Key Idea: Herod wanted to use the deep desire of the wise men to worship the King of the Jews for sinister motives.
Memorable Bottom Line: The Sound of Worship Can’t Be Ignored
Introduction:
I want to start by thanking you for your prayers for our family during this time. I know for those who are with us in worship in person, me not preaching in person and looking at an empty pulpit may be a bit troubling for you this morning, but I do thank you for your consideration, your grace and for your prayers for my family during this time.
But I want to help this be as meaningful for you as possible and I want to feel like I’m there with you with a little throwback. In full Romper Room fashion it’s like I can see Sarah Melita sitting right there, and the Erskine’s sitting right up there and Pastor Verlyn right there, no now he’s there, no wait he’s on the move again there, nevermind, Pastor Verlyn is in the building somewhere!
(As with last week’s b-side explanation, parents, you may need to explain Romper Room to your kids!)
But here is what I want you to know, as with last week when we looked at Mary and how her rejoicing was in God her Savior, my joy is in God my Savior and the times at which I feel most in Christ is when I am preaching the Word so thank you for indulging me in this way to continue to teach while in quarantine.
Transition:
Turn in your Bible with me to Matthew 2 starting at verse 1. As we continue in The Symphony of Christmas and as we look at the advent story through the lens of an agreement of sounds, sounds from the beginning of Scripture to the end of Scripture that sing the song of Christmas, we are in a movement that continues to add clarity to the symphony; it’s a flash forward if you will to when the Christ child is born, the response we will ultimately share together, the sound of worship.
Now singing during advent season is an interesting thing; as you look at the stage and the songs that are represented, Joy to the World, Hark the Herald Angel Sing, Silent Night, What Child is This, O Come O Come Emmanuel there is something unique about these songs and singing in this season. Consider this for a moment, this time of year, advent season, is the only time of year that the rest of the world sings the same songs we sing. The world doesn’t sing This is Amazing Grace any time of the year, but they sing Silent Night this time of year. They don’t sing Good, Good Father or How Great Thou Art but they sing The First Noel and Away in a Manger with Nat King Cole and Mariah Carey. They are listening to the songs that are the anthems of our worship often even performed by non-believing artists and in some sense, unbeknownst to them, they join with the worshiping community, they join with the chorus of the Christ-child coming in flesh.
What we see in this is an inescapable reality: The Sound of Worship Can’t Be Ignored.
We started our sermon this morning with a recording of my son Mateo and Caitie Dawson with a beautiful rendition of Christmas Hallelujah, a duet that was originally planned to be performed in person. Now the easiest thing would have been to scrap this portion of the service because of our quarantine, but as I heard the heart of my son to worship and as I spoke with Caitie about doing the duet this way, these two worshippers jumped at the opportunity because their hearts for worshiping the king of all glory, it demanded a response for them, it demanded, it compelled their worship to be heard.
As we look at our passage this morning the child waits in a lowly place in Bethlehem and there are those who are considering the worship of this king of the Jews; the wise men and Herod. For one it is a sound heard that must be stopped, but for the others, when they realize the reality of what the world will experience, it demands them as an audience, it compels their hearts to come and worship because as they hear the sound of this child, The Sound of Worship Can’t Be Ignored.
Passage: Matthew 2:1-12
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, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
Teaching:
In order to rightly understand this passage we have to understand worship and what it truly means. Worship, rightly defined for the Christian is an internal affection and an external expression. It shows both internally and externally what we value most in our lives, what captivates our hearts. To not have both is to truly have inauthentic worship. If we only have the external we are at risk of being aligned with the Pharisees in Jesus rebuke of them Matthew 15:8-9a (ESV) This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me.”
Conversely to say we have an internal affection with no visible expression, practically does not work. It is as though I were to love my wife, yet never share that reality with her.
As we consider this passage for the morning we see all of this bound up in the story of the wise men and Herod.
Move 1: The Sound of Worship Captures Attention
According to the text, the wise men come from the east to Jerusalem. Church tradition has the number at three corresponding to the number of gifts given, but in reality we have no real clue as to who these men were and we don’t exactly know where they came from, just that they were from the east. The importance of them being from the east is to lend the reader to the most important idea in that they certainly were not Jews and by all accounts were astronomists of some type.
But look at what happens in them and how and why they are brought to Jerusalem; first they saw his star. In the practice of their lives there was something particular to the season, similar to the sound of Christmas for people in our context, that pointed them to the reality of Jesus being born, it captured their attention. But even more than that they knew specifically what this pointed to, the birth of the King of the Jews. Now unless these were Jews which is unlikely, the most reasonable response here is that news has traveled to wherever they are that the birth of the King of the Jews was coming and this star, for them, was a sign of that reality; and this reality was something they could not ignore.
We see this later in Jesus’ adult life in the response of John the Baptist and the first disciples at the proclamation, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”
So they came to the place where the attention on this reality should have been so full and so rich and so powerful and they found nothing. They found fear; fear from Herod and fear from the Jews.
Friends as we find ourselves in the middle of a season in which the world unwittingly joins the worshiping community through our music, through our celebrations, it should point them here to the place where Jesus can be seen, can be found, can be worshipped; it should point them here to this place, it should point them to us. And as they are directed toward us, what will they find? Will they find us joyous or running scared from this child? When we sing O come let us adore him, the external expression of the internal affections of our hearts should be evident. They should find that when they encounter us that it is more than the songs we sing, it goes deeper.
Move 2: The Sound of Worship Requires Our Full Affection
As the news of the coming Messiah captures the attention of the wise men, notice exactly what is happening in their lives, it wasn’t enough for their attention to be directed toward this news; it moved in them for something more, something deeper.
Let’s be real if it was just about knowing about Jesus, if recognition of Jesus was all that was required of them, they could have done that from the east, they didn’t have to go to Jerusalem for that. They could have simply responded with “Oh cool, look a star, the king of the Jews must have been born. Now let’s look at that one that looks like a giant ladle in the sky and that one next to it that looks a little smaller.”
No it took more than just capturing their attention, the needle moved for them. The sound of worship was so compelling that it moved something within them to go to the place to search out the child, to find the people that could point them in the right direction and when they arrive look at their response, it is the same response we saw from the very mother they are in the presence of with this child, “10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.” Matthew 2:10-11a
Their attention was moved to affection. They heard the news, it captured their attention, then they experienced his presence and it required a response of affection. They couldn’t not fall down and worship him. They were compelled to take of their earthly treasures to say I will worship you with everything I have; gold, frankincense, myrrh, this is what the world sees as most valuable and I did to, but not anymore now that I’ve seen you Jesus. For these men nothing was off limits, not only did they travel most likely a considerable distance, their best treasures were not off limits, even the risk of not aligning themselves with a king and a people troubled by the presence of this child was worth it for them.
Jesus would later articulate this posture of full worship in Luke 10:27 (ESV) “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind”.
The wise men are embodying every part of this statement of Jesus, they are bringing themselves fully into worship with an internal affection that brings them to a full external expression of their heart devotion to Jesus Christ.
It didn’t matter the surroundings, it didn’t matter the location, it didn’t matter the space, all that mattered was Jesus.
Each of us needs to consider what we bring to this place with our own worship. We need to examine what has the deepest affections of our hearts and how we respond. Does the music need to be a certain way, does the room need to be a certain way, does everything need to be perfect, does the sound man have to be the Holy Spirit’s personal assistant to ensure your worship experience is everything you want? What is required of this place for you to worship with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your strength and all of your mind? The answer should be all I need is the captivating presence of Jesus Christ.
But that needs to continue when you leave this place, the sound of worship should ring outside of the walls of this church so much in our hearts that in our everyday life we are moved to worship, this was the witness of the church in the first century, Acts 2:46-47a (ESV) 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people.”
And it is in that full affection of worship that is accessible in the power of the Holy Spirit that you will not be left alone. There is an enemy who comes to try and silence our worship and he will often use the people and purposes of this world to silence the sound of worship and we have a responsibility to stop that.
Move 3: The Sound of Worship Calls for Our Protection
In this passage there is an enemy to the sound of worship, Herod and the religious leaders in Jerusalem. According to the text Herod was using the wise men and their worship for, at this point in the narrative, unknown sinister purposes. We would see later in the text that his purpose was to kill the Christ child, a contender in his mind to his reign as a vassal ruler in Judea.
As the wise men prepare for their journey home they are faced with a crisis according to the text; they are visited by an angel who informs them of Herod’s motives. At this point they have a decision, either continue back toward Jerusalem and keep their word to Herod or, what would be their ultimate decision, to go back to their homeland by another way in order to protect the child and the object of their worship.
This verse can be quickly overlooked but consider for a moment what this tells us about the wise men; worship was worth protecting. Their attention was captivated by the idea of this king of the Jews, once they entered his presence their affections were enlivened in a way that they would say there is nothing more valuable than this moment and when they know that something threatens their worship they were willing to do what was necessary to protect the object of their affection.
The same should be true for us friends. There are things in our lives that are demanding or affections but this time of year gives us a reset. As we hear the sound of worship that the world hears it should realign our affections and our external expressions.
Bottom Line: The Sound of Worship Can’t Be Ignored
Closing:
I’m going to ask the worship team to come back up and after, Pastor Verlyn will lead you in a benediction and as they get ready I want you to consider how this Christmas season, you can clear the way to hear the sound of worship as we prepare for our two part finale coming up this week, The Sound of Glory on Christmas Eve and The Sound of Victory next Sunday.
One of these songs we sing has a very familiar line…Let every heart prepare him room.
Is there room in your heart for Jesus? Is it too crowded in there? Advent season should be a fresh reminder that the affections of the things in this world don’t last, they aren’t worthy of your internal affections or your external expressions, but Jesus is, make room for him. How much room? All the room. This was the testimony of the wise men. Jesus got their attention, their affection and their protection in their hearts. During Christmas he has our attention and the world’s attention more so than any other time of year, he can’t be ignored right now, make it so that is true the rest of the year, make it a lifestyle, the sound of worship should be the sound ringing forth from our hearts.
And if you are listening to me right now and you haven’t experienced this yet, you haven’t submitted your life to Jesus Christ I want to thank you first and foremost for listening to me, that takes courage, but if you are honest with yourself, you realize that the things that have the affections of your heart, they let you down, they are not worthy of worship. Listen to the songs of the season, listen to their words and listen to the call of God who is calling to you today, it won’t go away The Sound of Worship Can’t Be Ignored.
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