Matt 2, Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:6 ‘AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH,
ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH;
FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER
WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.’”
Matt. 2:7 Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.” 9 After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way.
We began to look at some characteristics of true worshipers, or lovesick lovers, last week. The first one that we looked at was that worshipers see things that other people simply don’t see. They are always discovering Christ in new ways.
The second thing I see in this story is that lovesick lovers say things others just aren’t willing to say. As these magi come to Jerusalem, the wording in the verses above indicates that they were going around asking the question of everyone they met where the Christ was so they could go and worship him. It says in verse three that when Herod heard about what the magi were asking, he and all Jerusalem with him were troubled. Obviously, the inquiry and conversation of the Magi wasn’t exactly stirring up joyful responses from the people, yet they just couldn’t seem to keep their mouth shut about Jesus.
True worshipers are like that; they are just too in live just to keep their mouths shut about Jesus, even in the most public places. What is bubbling up in their heart simply keeps coming up out of their mouth, because that’s the way lovers are. They can’t stop talking about the one they love, even though everybody around them gets tired of hearing about it.
Look at these verses in song of Solomon chapter 1. “Draw me after you and let us run together! The king has brought me into his chambers.” “We will rejoice in you and be glad; We will extol your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you.”
When you fall in love with Jesus and live in His presence, the fullness of joy simply manifests itself through your lips. You don’t have to be told by others to talk to people about Jesus; instead, you usually have others trying to stop you from talking about Jesus so much. You, also, are not greatly concerned that your exuberance of love is being expressed out of place or to the wrong person. People loving you back is not what you’re after if you are a lovesick lover: just extolling Him is the consuming passion of your life, and you want everybody, everywhere to know about Him.