12-30-23-ENG.

"Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? We ... have come to worship Him. "

Matthew 2:2
THE INCONVENIENCE OF WORSHIP

Read It: Matthew 2:1-6
Let's talk about the amazing magi for a few days. They were professional astronomers. But they were more than just stargazers, because when the star appeared they knew the true God was up to something. Maybe they knew the prophecy of Numbers 24:17: `A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel." A scepter means a king is coming. The magi must have been familiar with Israel's Scriptures because they knew the One they were looking for was "King of the Jews." So they set off on a journey that took well over a year, maybe as long as two years. No price was too high to find this King and worship Him. Now you can imagine the stir the magi made when they arrived in Jerusalem. These men were from the east. They were Gentiles, so they were not even the ones who were supposed to be expecting Jesus. King Herod got shook up. I guess so. If you are the king and some folk show up to worship another king born in your neighborhood and you don't even know who he is, you are going to be a little upset. So Herod called in the preachers. Now they knew the answer.

"Oh yeah, we know who they're talking about. He's just down the road in Bethlehem. Says right here in Micah 5:2." This shows that knowing the Bible and worshiping God aren't the same thing. These preachers knew the Bible, but they weren't even looking for Messiah. But some Gentiles living a thousand miles away spent a year or two searching for Him. See, knowing the Word of God does you little good until you give the God of the Word the worship He's due. These men had the right answers, but not the right worship. They didn't want to be inconvenienced. Jesus had been born down the street. By now He was almost two years old, still living in Bethlehem, but they hadn't even bothered to check it out. The only reason they brought it up was because Herod grilled them. If you haven't inconvenienced yourself to worship Jesus, you haven't worshiped yet. Think About It You'll know your worship is getting serious when neither the inconvenience nience nor the price of worship can stop you from worshiping God.