Title: Worship and Offerings
Contents
The text is Matthew 2:1-11.
When I was a young student, Christmas was a really exciting day. A Christmas mystery, a carol song, a caramel given by the church. When I prepared Christmas lights for the dawn song and lighted a candle in it, would it blow out in the wind or slip in the snow, I used to carry gifts from the families of the saints in sacks and carry them diligently. There were times when I was just happy.
Now, as the years pass, the excitement of Christmas is becoming indifferent, and it is engulfed by department stores, hotels, and nightclubs, and more and more churches are struggling with whether or not to sing a morning song. Nevertheless, our church is holding a morning song again this year. The morning hymn announcing the birth of the baby Jesus is ① the hymns of angels (Luke 2:8-14) ② the praises of the shepherds (Luke 2:15-20) ③ the worship of the wise men (Matthew 2:1 -11)
I pray that you will be filled with the blessings of the gospel by praising the Lord in your life through this morning song.
Today's text introduces three different categories of characters. One is the wise men, the other is King Herod, and finally the high priest and scribe. The wise men celebrated the birth of the baby Jesus with worship and offerings, King Herod tried to stop the birth of Jesus with rejection and murder, and the high priest and scribe were indifferent to the prophet's prophecy. From a spiritual point of view, we can say that the wise men of the East are people who have a living spirit, King Herod is a person who has a dead spirit, and the priests and scribes are people who are in poor spirit. How do you react to Christmas? Celebrating Christmas and preparing gifts is the image of a living Christian. The indifference of ‘I’m going to slip away one by one’ or ‘I’m busy..’ is an image of a person with a poor spirit. ‘Why are you bothering to sing early in the morning? I can’t even sleep..’ This is the image of a person whose spirit is dead. The spirit must live. “Lord! Save my spirit!”
Baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Micah 5:2 “Ephrathah, Bethlehem, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from ancient times and from the beginning.” We can see that Joseph went down from Galilee to Bethlehem's hometown with Mary. Why did you go to Bethlehem? Since Joseph the Carpenter is a descendant of David, King David went to Bethlehem, his hometown.
The king of Judea at that time was Herod the Great. Herod was born in 73 BC, became king of Judea by decision of the senate of the Roman Empire in 37 BC, and reigned for 34 years before dying around 4 BC. Herod was from Idumea, a descendant of Esau, but he built the temple in Jerusalem to win the favor of the Jews (John 2:20).
Let's give our best thanks. It is a necessary work of the church. You should. Let's start doing something precious for Christmas. “Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you and you may live long on the earth” (Ephesians 6:2-3). I bless you in the name of the Lord that you will be blessed with good health and long life on earth.