This entire meeting is a service of worship. It isn’t an amusement park, a lecture hall, or choir practice. Worshipping the true God is the central duty of what it means to be a human. But when you worship the living God, you find that in offering Him your gifts of praise, thanks, and submission, He has preceded your gifts with the gracious gift of His covenant oath to defend and feed you.
Our worship service really is a holy gift exchange. Hanging onto the theme of Christmas like the ornament that got left out of the storage bin, we can immediately think of the Magi who “fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts (Mt. 2:11). But even the three kings who worshipped the Christ child in Bethlehem by bestowing their gifts, had first received gifts from God: ancient oracles, a guiding star, that star reappearing, and prophetic directions to seek the Newborn King in Bethlehem.
In worship, we bring ourselves before God, offering our hearts and hands, minds and motives, songs and our very selves. We give Him all our gifts. But like the Magi, while the Great King is pleased to receive gifts from these lesser kings, He’s still the Giver of all things. Even as the Magi rise from worshipping the Holy Child, God gives them a dream instructing them to give Herod the slip by taking the scenic route home.
The finale of our worship service is this feast which God gives unto you. But it’s also a feast where you offer your body to serve God. He gives Himself to us, we give ourselves unto Him. Like those kings of orient far, we bring our gifts to the King who first gave us Himself. And so we come and worship Him.
So come in faith and welcome to King Jesus…
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