Only Six Miles Christmas series 2013 #1
Matthew 2:1-6
1st Dec 2013
Shell Point Baptist Church
ALL SERMONS IN CONDENSED FORM
How long would it take to walk six miles?
• If you/good shape/walk/couple of hours.
• Terrain/relatively flat/easily cover six miles/afternoon.
• That’s not much of a hike.
• Wanted/walk/Jerusalem/Bethlehem/only six miles
• Start/morning/be there/early afternoon.
The land of Israel is tiny compared to the United States.
• Whole country/8500 square miles/roughly/size New Jersey
• Bit smaller than Vermont.
• One/most important events took place six miles/Jerusalem.
• 2000 yrs.ago there was not much there.
Bethlehem was indeed a “little town” as described in the familiar Christmas carol by Phillips Brooks.
• Well-known/birthplace/King David
• Town itself was home to perhaps 200 permanent residents.
• Bethlehem close/Jerusalem/various inns/guesthouses were full of pilgrims making their way to and from Jerusalem
• Stay/way to various ancestral hometowns to pay the census tax required by Caesar Augustus (Luke 2:1-3).
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It was only six miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.
• Just hold this thought in your mind.
• Jerusalem/Bethlehem/next-door neighbors
• Jerusalen/large city—Bethlehem/tiny hamlet
• Bethlehem in that day/place you stayed/way to the big city
• Spent/night/Bethlehem/next day/walked six miles/Jerusalem.
• Six miles. That’s not very far.
Against that backdrop we read Matthew’s account of the coming of the Magi: (Matthew 2:1-6).
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So many questions come to mind when we read this:
• Who were the Magi? Where did they come from?
• How far did they journey? How many Magi came to Jerusalem?
• What was the “star” they saw in the east?
• How did they know what it meant? How did it lead them?
• Why did they come to worship the “king of the Jews"?
• Why was the whole city disturbed?
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Focus/just one question the text doesn’t entirely answer:
• Why didn’t the Jewish leaders go to Bethlehem?
• It was so close. Only six miles away.
• If they knew/Messiah was to be born there
• Why didn’t they go/check it out for themselves?
The Magi knew so little, came so far, and gave so much.
The teachers/law knew so much, were so near, and did so little.
• It was such a short journey/Only six miles.
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I’m preaching these words from Shell Point
• So I will state/matter/local terms.
• If Jesus came to Beaufort, would we go and see him?
If someone said Jesus was in Lobeco
• Would we stop what we were doing?
If Jesus showed up on Lady’s Island
• Would we go and greet him?
What if Jesus came to St.Helena/Hunting Island/Laural Bay
• Would we be too busy to go see him?
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Think of all that the teachers/law knew about/coming/Messiah:
He would be:
• Born of the Seed of the woman……Genesis 3:15
• Descendant of Shem………..Genesis 9:26.
• Of the seed of Abraham………Genesis 12:1-3
• Descendant of Isaac……….Genesis 22:18.
• Descendant of Jacob……..Genesis 28:14
• Tribe of Judah….Genesis 49:10.
• “Son of David."……2 Samuel 7:11,12,16
• Born of a virgin……Isaiah 7:14.
• Born in Bethlehem……..Micah 5:2.
We can summarize in five simple statements what the Jewish scholars knew about the Messiah:
1. He will be a Jew.
2. He will come from the tribe of Judah.
3. He will be a descendant of David.
4. He will be born in Bethlehem.
5. He will be born of a virgin.
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Who were these scribes and chief priests and teachers of the law that Herod consulted?
• Best and brightest minds of the day.
• Professional students/Torah of God,
• Studied OT day and night.
• Knew Word of God, loved it, revered it, learned it, debated it, studied it, and memorized it.
• Some memorized/first five books/Bible/Hebrew.
• Others memorized/Psalms/Hebrew.
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If they knew the truth, why didn’t they go to Bethlehem?
• When Herod asked where/Christ was to be born
• Immediately/religious leaders knew the answer
• Bethlehem of Judea because/prophet Micah had foretold some 700 years earlier.
• They knew it by heart.
• They didn’t have to look it up.
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Use/modern term, they didn’t have to use a lifeline or say,
• “Regis, let’s go 50/50 on that one.”
• I’m sure one of them must have smiled and said
• “I hope the king asks us a hard question next time."
• If they knew the truth, why didn’t they go to Bethlehem?
• Let me suggest three answers to that question.
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1. Their knowledge made them intellectually lazy.
Did you know it’s possible to know too much?
• You can study so long, compare so many opinions
• read so many books/debate so many ideas
• You never get around to making a commitment to anything.
You are “ever learning but never able to acknowledge the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7).
Knowledge is good but you’ve got to decide what you personally believe.
• It’s not enough to say, “I’ve studied religion.
• I know what the Hindus believe/Muslims believe
• I listen to all the experts, I’ve read the latest books
• I can intelligently discourse/merits/major denominations. Well and good.
• But of what use is your great knowledge if you never make a personal commitment?
• As long/Jesus/just/theory to you/he will be/no benefit/you personally.
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2. Their religion made them spiritually indifferent.
• Answering Herod’s question/playing/game/Bible Trivia where you know all the answers in advance.
• But religion, even good religion, even Bible-based religion, can deaden the heart and mind.
Easy to fall/trap/saying
• “I’m Baptist/Catholic/Lutheran/Presbyterian”
• “I’m Church of Christ” or “I’m Episcopalian,”
• As if going to heaven is determined by church affiliation.
• too easy for all of us to “play by the rules”
• Too easy to keep Christ at arm’s length.
• As long as Jesus is just a theory to us
• He will be of no benefit to us personally.
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3. Their background made them culturally arrogant.
• This may be a central reason. Think about it for a moment.
One day some strangers show up in your town, claiming to have seen a star in the east that led them in search of a baby born “king of the Jews.”
• What a bizarre story. And who are these guys anyway?
• How do we know they’re for real? Who sent them?
• Where did they come from? And what was this star?
• Where is it? Why can’t we see it?
Plus they look different. They talk different. They dress strange.
• Everything about them screams,
• “We’re not from around here.”
• No wonder the town was in an uproar.
• Strange doings in Jerusalem for sure.
• It’s always easy to discount people who aren’t like us.
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The heart is always the issue.
• If the heart is not right, no amount of religion can save it.
• If the heart is not right
• no amount of Bible knowledge can make up the difference.
In his commentary on this passage, John Calvin makes the same point:
It is truly an instance of base sluggishness, that not one of the Jews offers himself as an escort to those foreigners, to go and see the King who had been promised to their own nation.
• Sluggishness.
• That’s a fascinating way to put it.
• He also calls it “wicked ingratitude.”
• Perhaps they feared Herod’s anger if they went/the Magi. But so what?
• Such fear shows how far/Jews had sunk/spiritual bondage.
They were six miles from Jesus!
Six miles!
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• You could walk it in two or three hours easily.
• Suppose we emptied/church and went for a six-mile hike.
• Most of us could do it without any major problem.
But whether from fear or ingratitude or sluggishness or indifference, the Jewish leaders wouldn’t go six miles to see Jesus.
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Come, Thou long-expected Jesus ... Only six miles.
Born to set thy people free ... Only six miles.
O come, all ye faithful ... Only six miles.
O come, let us adore him ... Only six miles.
Six miles. And none of the scribes cared enough to go and check out the rumor that the long-awaited Messiah had been born.
• Six miles from:
• Jesus/salvation/forgiveness/eternal life.
• They were too busy studying/Bible to see for themselves.
It is possible to know a great deal and still miss the truth.
As I read Matthew 2, one fact strikes me above all others.
• Everybody involved had the same basic information.
• all knew a baby had been born in Bethlehem
• All knew who the baby was.
• Herod knew and tried to kill him
• scribes knew and ignored him
• Wise Men knew and worshipped him.
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Bible scholars knew the answer/question
• Knew/Messiah would be born in Bethlehem
• Their knowledge condemned them all the more because they did nothing about the truth they knew.
Let no one miss this solemn lesson: It is possible to know a great deal and still miss the truth.
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For all those who feel they are too busy to join the search for Jesus:
Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay.
But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.
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Jesus stands at the end of life’s road for all of us.
• No middle ground. To ignore him/same/to hate him
• Because you end up without him either way.
• ignore Jesus altogether means/live/if he doesn’t matter/all.
• But no one can ignore him forever.
• We all have an appointment with Christ sooner or later.
Jesus stands at the end of life’s road for all of us.
The ultimate question is not how someone else responds but how you respond to Jesus.
• That’s really the only thing that matters.
• Are you with Herod/with the scribes/with the Wise Men?
• Are you hostile to Jesus? Are you too busy to get involved?
• Are you coming to worship him as Savior and Lord?
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Jess Moody tells of meeting Rose Kennedy (mother of President John F. Kennedy) at a Bible study he was teaching.
• He challenged/hearers/make their hearts ready to meet the Lord
• Life/short for all of us/no one knows what/future may hold.
When the meeting was over, Rose Kennedy spoke to Jess Moody privately.
• “I’ve done what you were talking about tonight,”
• young bride/enamored/power of money/became selfish,
• living only for her own desires.
• She gave birth/beautiful baby girl/became apparent that something was wrong/her daughter.
• Medical tests revealed/born/severe mental retardation
• Institutionalized for her entire life.
• Devastated/news/Turned/enormous anger at God.
• “How could you have done this to us?”
• anger became/corrosive bitterness/drained every bit of joy from her life.
One night/scheduled to attend a social gathering.
• Decided/last minute not to go/realized her anger consumed her.
“Mrs. Kennedy/watching you/last few weeks/seen how angry you are.
• If you don’t do something, it’s going to ruin you.
• I think you should pray this prayer:
“O Lord, make my heart a manger where the Christ child can be born.”
“Make my heart a manger where the Christ child can be born.”
• She/so angry that she fired the maid/spot.
• That night she couldn’t sleep. Tossing and turning
• Couldn’t get/simple prayer out of her mind.
Finally, she knelt by her bed/act of deep surrender she prayed, “O Lord, make my heart a manger where the Christ child can be born.”
• In that moment/depth of the night/she cried out in anguish,
• God heard and answered her prayer.
• She thought “I’ve always been religious, you know.
• I’m a Catholic and I’ve always believed in Jesus……
• Love replaced the anger that had gripped her soul.
• Many of us need to pray that prayer today.
• Perhaps we’ve been religious/no doubt many do believe/ Jesus.
• that belief has never led/moment of personal commitment.
And it’s possible that in these days leading up to Christmas, anger, worry, fear, doubt, and other inner distractions are draining all the joy from your heart.
• So this is the invitation from the Lord to you.
• Open your heart.
• Let go of your doubts and fears.
• Give up your anger.
• Say farewell to your bitterness.
• Let go of the things that chain you to the past.
Say this prayer: “O Lord, make my heart a manger where the Christ child can be born.”
• Those words could change your life today.
• Christ never turns away from any heart that is open to him.
• Those who seek him will find him every time.
• May that be your experience during this Christmas season.
