Authentic worship

The place of King Herod within the Christmas story is intertwined with the history of the Magi. The Lord used the Magi to reveal the birth of Jesus to outsiders from a faraway place. The response of the Magi was then authentic worship of Jesus as King and Messiah.

Matthew 2:7-8 (NIV) "Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

What we see from King Herod is false worship. Herod thought he could exploit these Magi and says in verse 8 that it is also his desire to worship Jesus.

King Herod was also seeking information about the location of Jesus. However, his motivation was not at all worship but to kill and destroy for his own power. The Magi were seeking Jesus in order to worship and come face-to-face with the One Who had been born a true king. Everything the Lord orchestrated led the Magi to a point of genuine and authentic worship.

Within the Christmas story we have two possibilities for all of us: phony worship or authentic worship. Authentic worship is recognizing Who God is and also allowing our lives to be changed to be lined up with His will. Worship is standing before God in both His holiness and His love and then surrendering our lives because we have been rescued from our sin.

We see in Romans 12 that worship is the transformation of our life in response to God's mercy: Romans 12:1-2 (NIV) "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Authentic worship is fully resting in the reality of God's mercy that we see in verse 1. Then, in view of God's loving mercy, genuine worship is offering our lives as living sacrifices. This is our act of authentic worship.

Then, verse 2 in Romans 12 describes further what that worship is not a life patterned after the world, but a life patterned after the will of God.

King Herod is the pattern of the world; the pursuit of power and selfish ambition. Nothing about what Herod the Great did was about authentic worship but it was ultimately about worship of himself, which is always the main offramp away from genuine worship.

Within the Christmas season, our focus should always be on authentic worship. We cannot get distracted away from the real reason for Christmas...to trust in Jesus Who has come into our lost world to rescue us from sin.