HOLDING ON WHEN YOU SHOULD BE LETTING GO:
A COMMUNITY OF FEAR
Matthew 2.16-18
S: Community
C: A Fearful Community
Th: Advent
Pr: WE MUST PUT AN END TO SELF-SOVEREIGNTY.
TS: We will find in our study of Matthew 2 an example of a man who would not let go of his self-importance.
Type: Inductive
I. TROUBLE
II. INFORMATION
III. MADNESS
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Die to self-rule
• Embrace Jesus as Savior and Lord
Version: ESV
RMBC 10 December 06 AM
INTRODUCTION:
1. How are you responding to the Christmas season this year?
ILL Christmas (H)
Here are some ways that show that you just might not be responding to Christmas properly . . .
• If you turn on the lawn sprinklers on to keep carolers away.
• If you get your Christmas tree at a rest stop at night.
• If your favorite Christmas movie is Jurassic Park.
• If your best Christmas tradition involves a fire and reindeer meat.
• If your favorite pastime is putting defective bulbs in your neighbors’ string of Christmas lights.
• If your only holiday decoration is a rotting pumpkin.
• If you buy all of your Christmas gifts at a store that also sells gas.
• And finally, if you give fruitcake as a present (a very serious offense!).
Well, if any of these are true, I think it is safe to say that you need help!!!
We need to work on your Christmas spirit.
But there is an even more important question today…
2. More importantly, how are you responding to Jesus this year?
Lest we forget, Christmas is not about family and friends getting together, as great as that might be.
And Christmas is not about getting and receiving gifts, as fun as that might be.
Christmas is also not about cakes, cookies and candy, as filling as they might be.
Christmas is about Jesus, and unless we learn to respond to that joyfully and worshipfully, we are really missing the whole purpose of the celebration.
Happily…
3. Most of the Christmas story is celebrative.
It is neat to see that Jesus fulfilled the Scripture that was written years before His coming.
We marvel about the stories of angels appearing to Zechariah, Mary and Joseph.
The event of the angel host coming to the lowly shepherds must have been one of the greatest scenes in all of history.
The fact of God becoming man, appearing as a tiny baby, should fill us with joyful awe and bring us to our knees.
But note this…
4. Even this story, though, has a dark side.
Within the texts that we usually enjoy during the Christmas season, there is a singularly horrifying, brutal and tragic story.
The crime is so unspeakable, so heinous, that the details are hard to contemplate, much less describe.
It is an act centered around a man called Herod.
So…
5. We will find in our study of Matthew 2 an example of a man who would not let go of his self-importance.
With Rome’s permission, Herod was a self-proclaimed King of the Jews.
That was trouble right there, because Herod was not Jewish.
He was, instead, an Edomite, a descendant of Esau.
To make himself more acceptable to the Jews, he did marry a Jewess, but it had little effect to how the people felt about him.
This was despite the fact that Herod was clever.
He was a capable warrior, orator, and diplomat.
The people still felt ill will against him, even though during a time of severe economic hardship, he returned tax money to help the poor.
At another time, he also melted gold from the palace during a famine to buy food for the people.
They still felt the same way.
He built theaters, race tracks, other entertainment structures, but nevertheless, he was still despised.
He even began reconstruction of the Temple, and though it was greatly appreciated, he was still disliked.
It would have been extremely difficult for any man to be Rome’s representative and be appreciated, that is for sure.
But the real problem was Herod himself.
He was a cruel and merciless man, and was extremely jealous regarding competition for the throne.
This was seen over and over.
For instance, he had his wife’s brother, the current Jewish high priest, drowned.
He then pretended to weep at his funeral.
Later, he would have his wife killed, along with her mother.
Eventually, he was so concerned to lose his throne that he had three of his sons executed.
This was, in essence, a mad and evil man.
OUR STUDY:
So, as we come to today’s text, which has already been read, we see that there is…
I. TROUBLE
…afoot.
For…
6. When Herod hears of competition, he begins to plot.
When the wise men show up and ask where is the one that is born king of the Jews, they are asking a man who has been determined to keep his throne away from all usurpers, including the members of his family.
At this point, he has already killed two of his sons, and will have the other one killed after this event.
So, again, he is determined to have no challengers, and so his devious mind is at work as he misleads the wise men about his true intentions.
The irony of this is that he about seventy years old at this point in time.
He is close to death.
He is decrepit; his bowels are ulcerated, and he had difficulty breathing.
Yet, somehow, in his twisted mind, he thought he was still going to be living when this baby was old enough to be king.
You see…
7. Herod produces a community of fear.
There is no doubt that Herod was sitting on a political and religious powder keg.
Keeping rebellion at bay was probably on the agenda every day.
The text, though, does give us an interesting insight.
Jerusalem had good reason to feel troubled.
For whenever Herod was troubled, it meant trouble for the people.
His reign had never been one of peace.
Discontent seemed always to be the flavor of the city.
But to fulfill his plot, he needs…
II. INFORMATION
So he asks his religious leaders where this new king might be born.
This is a question of which they have no problem.
It is widely understood that the prophecy in Micah points to Bethlehem as the birthplace for the true king of the Jews.
So…
8. Herod learns of the Messiah’s birthplace.
What is interesting here is that he has the opportunity to do the right thing.
He can go and worship.
He can turn his whole life around by honoring what God is doing right in front of him.
For in a very real way, the magi’s stop in Jerusalem was God’s invitation to Herod.
Come and worship the true king.
Come and see, Immanuel, God in the flesh.
But Herod does not pursue it.
He refuses the short trip to Bethlehem.
And neither, we should note, do any of these theologically astute scholars.
So, here another irony is revealed.
Israel (the priests) rejects her Messiah, while Gentiles (the wise men) accept Him.
But as the wise men head off to Bethlehem…
9. Herod puts his scheme in place.
We know that Herod has no intention to bring any kind of respect, honor or homage to this newborn king.
His plan is to eliminate Him.
During the pilgrimage, though John is not nearly old enough to be Herod, he portrays him well with that evil laugh.
Every year, he gets that sinister aspect of Herod exactly right.
Herod is going to wait in Jerusalem for those wise men to return.
And then, he will put his evil scheme into place.
He will have that child killed as they make their long trip back to the east.
But as he waits and waits for the men to return, he does not know his plan is falling to pieces.
God, the Father, is intervening, protecting His plan to save the world.
(14) Now when they [the wise men] had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him."
There is an irony here we are to note…
10. Irony: Egypt is safer than Judea.
You see, there is one key event in the Old Testament that Genesis through Malachi is all about.
Do you know what it is?
If you are saying the “exodus,” you are exactly right.
Here we have Joseph fleeing to Egypt for protection, where in the Old Testament story, Egypt had been the place the Israelites needed saving from.
This time, though, the saving is needed from the…
III. MADNESS
…of Herod.
(16) Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. (17) Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:
(18) "A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted, because they are no more."
The Greek words are interesting here, for…
11. Herod is enraged at being mocked.
The ESV and the NIV uses the word “tricked,” while another translation (NLT) uses the word “outwitted.”
The KJV keeps the most literal meaning of “mock.”
The translation “trick” is a legitimate use, especially in this circumstance and probably is the best way to translate it, but Herod definitely takes it as a mocking.
This certainly was not the intention of the wise men.
They were simply being obedient to God.
They skipped Jerusalem on the return home because God told them to.
But Herod is enraged.
It is a very strong word.
In other words, he lost it.
He lost control.
He would have his revenge for being deceived so…
So Herod gets out his fingers and starts to calculate the age of this baby.
He probably adds some time, just in case the wise men miscalculated or deceived him on this point as well, for he is not going to take any chances.
He will kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem that are two or under.
In a population between 300 to 1000, this would probably be about ten to twelve babies.
This event is known as the slaughter of the innocents.
Herod performed an arrogant and vile act.
For he stupidly set himself against God’s anointed.
He sent Roman soldiers to murder innocent and precious babies.
Matthew quotes Jeremiah where he speaks of Ramah, the burial place of Rachel, just south of Bethlehem.
It was significant to Jeremiah because Ramah was the staging place for the Babylonian captivity.
Because of their sin, their idolatry and unfaithfulness, God allowed His people to be conquered by the Babylonians.
Their temple was destroyed, the land was pillaged and burned, and a large portion of the population was carried off into exile.
Ramah is the place where Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers organized them into caravans, put them into chains, and marched them off to Babylon.
At the place where Rachel was buried, Jeremiah says that Rachel is weeping for her children as they are lead off into captivity.
Matthew makes the connection with this story.
Rachel is once again weeping as the mothers of Bethlehem bitterly weep over the massacre of their children.
Rachel weeps as the mothers of Bethlehem suffer a profound grief as they helplessly stand by and watch their little ones murdered.
And Rachel weeps, as Jesus, like the Jewish nation before Him, is about to become an exile, a refugee, far from his home.
But the following verses in Jeremiah offer beautiful words of hope and promise.
He says…
There is hope for your future…
For we understand this tremendous and sobering truth, that the Christ of Christmas lived so that the Christ of Calvary might die.
APPLICATION:
12. Matthew wants us to understand the relationship of Jesus with the Old Testament.
Matthew sees Him as a type of Moses, the greatest of all the prophets, the key person to understand the Hebrew Scriptures.
Here are some of the parallels:
Joseph, the forerunner of Moses has dreams.
So does Joseph the father of Jesus.
Jacob goes to Egypt to be safe, to be with Joseph during the famine
So does Jesus go with Joseph to be safe.
Then both Moses and Jesus are rescued from murderous tyrants.
Then both Moses and Jesus come out of Egypt to fulfill the mission God gives them.
Matthew sees these parallels and does not want us to miss them.
Here is a truth that we need to remember…
13. The good news will always have enemies.
But we are not without hope…
ILL Hope (S)
When the Allied troops were making their way across Europe defeating Hitler’s forces, they came across a bombed out building that had this inscription scrawled on a basement wall:
"I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining.
I believe in love even when it is not shown.
And I believe in God even when He doesn’t speak."
And certainly, the mothers of Bethlehem would feel this way.
But, here is a story with stark contrasts:
• Stars and swords
• Majestic visitation versus twisted kingly agitation
• Mary rejoicing, Rachel weeping
• Children who die, a Child who escapes.
But even in the midst of all the sorrow, there is hope.
Because the Savior has invaded this earth, confronting the forces of evil.
He has come to defeat the Herods of this world.
This is a warning to us as well, that…
14. We must not be Herod.
I hope, that in one sense, you find that thought repulsive.
You say, “no way, I am not that kind of person.”
But the hard part of this is that in a real sense, Herod is a graphic representation of what all of us are, or have the potential to be.
We can be Herod.
How?
It happens in our heart.
Too often, we fight passionately for self-sovereignty and we will go to almost any length to retain our own crown.
We want self-rule.
We want to be masters of our own fate.
One commentator described it this way (Bruner):
“Herod lives, and he lives in us, tempting us ever and anew to doubt, hate, and resist the real king.”
You see, we are holding on when we should be letting go.
This means, then…
15. WE MUST PUT AN END TO SELF-SOVEREIGNTY.
It is a decision that is before us.
For, if Jesus is the Lord, then we are not.
It is time to truly worship, to let Him lead, to do what a sovereign does – rule.
Are you allowing Him to rule in your life?
For Further Study: Psalm 124; Jeremiah 3.15-17, 31.15-17; Hosea 11.1; Micah 5.2; Matthew 10.34; Revelation 21.1-7
COMMUNION:
When Matthew writes his gospel, he has a certain theme.
It is to write the history of Israel’s Messiah, the Messiah God sends and Israel rejects.
It is a sad story as we have observed today.
A slaughter of the innocents stands at the beginning.
A slaughter of the innocent John the Baptist stands in the middle.
Then the slaughter of the innocent One Himself, Jesus, is at the end.
In our story today, for Jesus to live, innocents must die.
But for all to live hereafter, the innocent Jesus must die.
You see, at Jesus’ death, He comes to take Herod out.
Yes, the literal Herod died, but the evil Herod within us rages on.
But in the end, Herod does not have his day.
Death does not have this day.
In fact, the whole reason behind Christmas was to overthrow the power of death and sin and hell.
So when death creeps up and attempts to grab us, the Christ of Christmas kicks death in the teeth and says, “You can’t keep that one. They’re mine.”
Can the Christ of Christmas say that about you?
You see, Christmas makes little sense if we are unwilling to acknowledge Him as our King.
So how does one become a subject of King Jesus?
By becoming a Christian; by putting your trust in Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.
That means turning away from our self-sovereignty.
Instead of being self-sufficient and self-confident, we rely on Jesus and what He has accomplished for us through His death and resurrection.
Friends, the greatest gift ever given was God the Father sending Jesus, God the Son, to be the Savior of all who trust in Him.
Have you received that gift?
You can, right where you are sitting.
With all our heads bowed, if you would like to receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior and Lord, would you pray this prayer after me?
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for invading this earth 2,000 years ago to defeat our fiercest enemy, eternal death.
I realize that I do things wrong and that I am a sinner.
I need a Savior.
Forgive my self-sovereignty.
Come and rule my life, today, tomorrow and every day after that.
Thank you for your promise that if we believe in You, that we will be saved and Yours for all eternity.
Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family, and I would love to have the opportunity to speak with you after the service.
As we come to the table now, those of us that know Jesus are invited to share in the elements of the table.
You do not have to be a member of this church to partake, but we do ask that you have a relationship with Jesus.
If you do not know Jesus, that is, you have not received Him as your Savior and Lord, you do not trust Him with your life, that is, you have not been changed by the message, just let the elements pass by.
Please wait until the time comes when you do have that personal relationship with the Lord Jesus.
We practice “communion” because we are to remember the death of the Lord Jesus.
We take the bread to remind us that it was by the body of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died in our place.
He became our substitute.
Being led in prayer by ____, let us take a moment and thank Him for being our sacrifice.
(Prayer)
The apostle Paul writes, "The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
We take the cup to remind us that it was by the blood of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died for our sins.
He became our sacrifice.
It is here we rejoice in the forgiveness we have received.
____ will now come and lead us in prayer.
Again, the apostle Paul writes, "In the same way, after supper he took the cup saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
1 Cor 15:57-58
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
BENEDICTION:
Let go of your self-rule…and allow the Christ of Christmas to accomplish what He intended for your own good, your salvation, and home of joy for all eternity.
Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to the good news and message of Jesus, to the only wise God, be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. Amen.
RESOURCES:
Sermoncentral:
Erickson, Dan The Man Who Hated Christmas
Golden, Jacob, Jr. The Slaughter of the Innocents
Morris, Kristopher The Holy Innocents
Mouser, William The Holy Innocents
Newland, Melvin Christmas – Do You Hear What I Hear?
Articles:
Middleton, J. Richard, “Let’s Put Herod Back into Christmas.” RH Newsletter, Fall 2003, p. 5
Zoba, Wendy Murray, “Mary Rejoicing, Rachel Weeping.” Christianity Today, December 8, 1997, p. 24-26.
Books:
Bruner, Frederick Dale. The Christbook: A Historical/Theological Commentary. Waco, TX: Word Publishing, 1987.
MacArthur, John, Jr. Matthew 1-7. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary. Chicago: Moody Press, 1985.
