Matthew 2:3

If Christmas is hard work, it's probably because you're having lunch with somebody who's difficult.

! We've all got them, haven't we? In our families, we love them, at least we should, but they're difficult.

And the reason why you are in a difficult relationship with that someone, whoever he or she may be,

is because you've probably engaged in some sort of power struggle with them, or them with you.

It could be a spouse, it could be a parent-in-law, it could be a son or a daughter, it could be a parent, it could be a cousin.

Let me try and define what I mean by saying a power struggle.

A power struggle is when one person wants to change another person, and the other person doesn't want to be changed.

A power struggle is when one person wants to change another person, and the other person does not want to be changed.

And that explains

Many of the problems

Some of the problems that we have in human relationships

But let me tell you tonight

I think that that is one of the ways

Of understanding the problem that we have with God

And that's what I want to speak about

For the next few minutes

Let's bow our heads in prayer, let's pray

Dear God, we may well right now

May be in a power struggle with you

We may Lord want to change you

Into something that you are not

And you refuse the change

Because you are who you are

You are God

And actually Lord, your word teaches us

That you want us to change

That we might treat you properly

And so we pray that tonight

As a result of what we hear from your words tonight

You would help us to realise

That there is no better way to live

Than to be transformed by you

Through Jesus Christ our Lord

Amen

Now there is nothing more helpless is there

Than a newborn baby

You know what it is

Like, you don't feed them

And they don't get fed

You don't change them

And they stink

You don't move them

And a newborn baby just sits there

We species, we homo sapiens

We don't come out of the womb

And are we ready to go for a job

We don't

We are very dependent

On our parents

All we have is a scream

Or a cry

To get them to come

Come on man

They scream and they cry

Which makes what we read

In our last reading

A bit of a surprise

When you hear Herod's response

To the birth of this child

He hears that a baby has been born

King Herod does

A baby has been born in Bethlehem

And he and the whole area of Jerusalem

Are anxious

And they are disturbed

Can you just look there

It was the last week

That was read to us

They are anxious

And they are disturbed

Matthew chapter 2

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem

In Judea

During the time of King Herod

Magi from the east

Came to Jerusalem

And asked him

Where is the one who has been born

King of the Jews

We saw his star in the east

And have come to worship him

When King Herod heard this

He was disturbed

And all of Jerusalem with him

When he hears this phrase

The king of the Jews

He is disturbed

Now why?

Well the reason King Herod is disturbed

Is because that is his title

He is known as King of the Jews

That is the title

Of the Roman Empire

The Roman Senate

Gave to him

40 years back

King Herod is probably

In his 70s

At this point

And what you discover

As you read Matthew 2

And I'd love it

If you did go home

And read it

Is that there is a great clash

Between the two kings

King Herod

Who is 70 years old

And has built things

Like the temple

Right through to King Jesus

Who is probably two years old

And what I want to do

In this just short time

Is contrast it to kings

The Lord Jesus

If you read Matthew's Gospel

Is clearly the legitimate

King of kings

And Lord of lords

His credentials show that

Israel was a people

That was waiting

Just like you boys and girls

You're waiting aren't you

How many sleeps till Christmas?

Can anybody tell me?

How many?

Noah

Um

Two

Is it two?

Is that right?

Three

I think it's three

Is it?

Three

Never mind

Two or three

One of the

One of the

Is it?

But we wait

We wait

And we wait

And we wait

Until Christmas

And we know what it's like

To wait

We're really looking forward to it

When you were children

You did didn't you?

And the nation of Israel

Has been waiting

For the saviour to come

It's been waiting

And waiting

And waiting

For a long time

What we've done tonight

Is we've traced

The bible story

From Genesis

From that first promise

That they were given

In Genesis 3

That they were given a promise

That a redeemer king

Would come

Way back then

And that he would be

A human child of Eve

And then if you go forward

To Genesis 12

God promises

Out of all the nations

Of the world

A saviour king

Will be born

From one nation

The Jews

From one nation

A child of Abraham

And then you go

To the end of Genesis

Which is the first book

Of the bible

And God makes a promise

In that chapter

That of all the tribes

Of that nation

Israel

The saviour would come

From the tribe of Judah

So it narrows down

It starts that he would be

Human

It tells you he would be

From Israel

And then it tells you

He would be from

The tribe of Judah

And then you go

Further on in the Old Testament

To Samuel 7

And of all the families

In the tribe of Judah

Within the nation of Israel

From amongst all the nations

Of the world

God says

And they'll come

In the family line

Of King David

And then of all the women

To be born

He will be born

Of a virgin

Isaiah's son

And then of all the cities

And all the towns

In the tribe of Judah

And in the nation of Israel

Of all the nations

Of the world

He will be born

In the little town

Of Bethlehem

As promised in Micah 5

That was read

Until finally

You come

To Matthew

And the king comes

And he's born

And who's the one

Who tells you

But wise men

From the east

Outside of Israel

My point is this

Jesus ticks

All the boxes

He is the long

Awaited one

Herod on the other hand

Has got no credentials

To be who he is

He's not even

A full blooded Jew

He's not a son of David

He wasn't born

For a virgin

And he wasn't

Born in Bethlehem

He was just appointed

By the Romans

Now if you think

Tonight

You're a little bit

Insecure

As a human being

And who isn't

I certainly am

King Herod

Is Mr. Paranoia

His paranoia

Is so bad

He is vicious

The Jewish Roman historian

Josephus

Tells us

He was so insecure

Of losing his power

That he murdered

His favourite wife

You know a number of them

Somebody whispered

In his ear

For as long as she lives

He will not be saved

So he takes her out

And he then regretted it

For the rest of his life

That he killed

The very woman

That he loved

He was so desperate

To cling on to power

But it didn't end there

He had a bunch of sons

But he had three of them killed

He killed his own brother-in-law

He killed his mother-in-law

No jokes about that

He killed her

Because he feared

She would be a threat

To his kingdom

This is a nasty piece of work

Somebody said of King Herod

That it was safer

To be his pig

Than his son

And that's true

And if he didn't kill you

He'd marry him

To your family

Which was even worse

He was married

Ten times

And he married

The enemies

Of his

So that he could

Manipulate them

And bring them on side

He is a Saddam Hussein

Of the first century

Do you remember him?

He's gone now

Is he?

But do you remember

Saddam Hussein of Iraq

In his heyday?

There's one story

There of two of his

Sons-in-law

Who had betrayed him

And so they fled Iraq

And they came to the UK

I think

Anyway

Saddam Hussein

Sends a message

To these two sons

Sons-in-law

And says

Come back

All is forgiven

And those idiots

Go back to Iraq

And he kills them

On the airport runway

King Jesus

And Herod

Are two very very

Different types of king

Herod is so terrified

To lose his power

I mean the guy is 70

And he's so desperate

Not to lose his power

To this two year old

That he embarks

On a mass killing

In Bethlehem

Once he finds out

That the long awaited Messiah

Is to be born

In Bethlehem

In that town

This is what he says

Let me read to you

Chapter 2 verse 16

When Herod realised

That he'd been outwitted

By the Magi

The wise man

He was furious

And he gave orders

To kill all the boys

In Bethlehem

And his vicinity

Who were two years old

And under

In accordance with the time

He'd lurked from the Magi

Here is the butcher

Of Bethlehem

He spills the blood

Of how many

Little boys

We don't know exactly

But 50

60

Or 100

Are the best guesses

Now I think

As we read

About the massacre

Of those infants

We have real emotional

Connection with that

When we think about it

Do you remember

In 2012

The school killings

In the US

In Sandy Hook

A gunman

Goes into a school

And there are

28 deaths

20 of them

6 and 7 year olds

8 boys

12 girls

And as we read

About that

As we see those images

On TV screens

We remember that

We cannot know

What was going on

In the mind

Of the man

That killed those children

But we do know

What was going on

In the mind of Herod

In Bethlehem

That he was so desperate

Not to let anyone

Or anything

Take his power

Away from him

And it's so different

From King Jesus

King Jesus

Will go on to live

A life of 33 years

On this earth

Who went around

Doing good

If he wasn't

Healing and preaching

He was forgiving

And casting out demons

He was liberating

People from their sins

From their broken bodies

From their oppression

Under the reign of the evil

When he went around

Doing good

And when it came

To the appointed time

That God had him

And he chose

To be part of it

To die on the cross

They came to arrest him

Peter one of his sidecaps

Pulls out a sword

And he slices off

The ear

Of the servant

Of the high priest

Jesus looks at him

First of all

He picks up the ear

And heals the servant

Of the high priest

And then he says

Put the sword away

Don't you know

If I wanted to

If I wanted somebody

To protect me

I'd call on my father

In heaven

And he'd send

72,000 angels

To sort them out

They'd take care of me

He says

The Pontius Pilate

The Roman governor

Who's about to authorise

His execution

He says to Pilate

My kingdom is not

Of this world

The only blood

That Jesus spills

Is his own

The only blood

That Jesus spills

Is his own

Blood spilt

So that you and I

Could be forgiven

Once and for all

And that is the purpose

Of the death

Of Jesus

What is this

What is all this

Doing

As we read Matthew 2

What it does

Is the coming of Jesus

All of a sudden

Brings to the surface

A problem that we all have

That desperation

That we all have

To rule our lives

To say this is my life

And no one

Can tell me

How to live

That has been

On the lips

Of every person

In this building

Among the seven people

Seven billion people

Who live on this earth

And that is why

We have so much trouble

Isn't it

Because if I am God

How can you be God

If seven people

On earth

Are playing God

It causes a lot of trouble

C.S. Lewis

Who wrote Narnia

And he was an atheist

A well known atheist

He didn't believe in God

And he didn't think

Anybody else

Would believe in God

And then he became

A Christian

And he describes

How he too

Was in a power struggle

With God

And he wrote this

What mattered most of all

Was my deep seated

Hatred for authority

I want to live

My life

My way

Christianity

Placed at the centre

What seemed to me

To be the great

Interferer

Who is that?

God

That is how

C.S. Lewis saw God

As the great

Interferer

He said

What I wanted

More than anything else

Was somehow

Some area

However small

Of which

I could say

To all other beings

Including God

This is my business

And mine only

So

Surprise off

Does that sound

A little bit familiar?

There is a part of us

That connects with that

Isn't it?

Certainly in my life

I want to run my life

My way

And that is what

Herod is doing

And what he did

Was atrocious

It's a terrible thing

But he did it

With a certain

Flair

Rebellion to Christ

Might not always

Look as ugly

As that

As what Herod did

But it can be done

In other ways

Can't it?

What we do

To God

Is really

What we do

To other people

That we don't like

And our best strategy

Is this

We just ignore them

We don't invite them

We sidestep them

We avoid their calls

So if somebody invites you

To be their friend

In Facebook

You don't reject it

You just ignore it

And if those people

Happen to be

In your life

That you don't like

And you can't

Escape them

Well you tolerate them

You tolerate them

For say

A Christmas meal

You last the

Three or four hours

And then you get

Into your car

Say thank goodness

We don't have to see

Them again for another year

And then you move on

And you enjoy

Your life again

And that is how

We treat God

We are engaged

In a power struggle

With him

And he

Has been wanting

To change us

And we have been

Resisting his claim

On our life

And over the last year

In 2013

The chances are

If you have not

Given your life

To Christ

You have probably

Heard him

Tapping

On your door

It might be

A conversation

That you have

With someone

At work

Or a neighbour

That made you think

I wonder

It might be

That guilty conscience

That's just

Percolating

Beneath the surface

It may be

That something

Happened

And it made you

Want to thank God

But then you went

On to other things

And you're mindful

Of it

It may have been

The beauty of creation

And your breath

Was just taken away

By it

It may be

That something

Really horrible

Has happened this year

And God

Was kind of

Tapping on your door

Saying

It's time

We do business

But you've

Engaged

In a power struggle

And your strategy

Has been the most

Common strategy

In all of the world

Not the execution

Of boys under two

But just quietly

Quietly ignoring him

And God wants

To change you

And you don't

Want to be changed

And you are

Trying to change

God

To fit him

Into how you

Want him to be

So that

You don't have to

Treat him the way

That he deserves

A friend of mine

Started reading the Bible

And one of the things

That he realised

He said

Was that

He and God

Thought very differently

And he began to realise

That one of them

Had to change

Well you can guess

Who changed

Herod doesn't want

To be changed

Does he

Quite the opposite

He wants to change

Jesus from life

To death

But the Magi

From the East

They are a class act

Aren't they

They were wise men

Probably from Persia

And they've come

To worship Jesus

And we are reminded

In that

That Jesus is not

Just

For his people

For his own people

The Jews

He is actually

For all people

From everywhere

From all religions

Here are people

In this passage

From another part

Of the world

From another religion

Coming and doing

What God expects

Every human being

From every religion

To do

To come and bow

Before Jesus

If you want to

Worship God properly

You have to

Worship his son

And that is

Exactly what happened

We don't really

Know exactly

How God revealed

The truth to them

He used this star

To guide them

To the long

Awaited saviour

In Israel

And that is

Exactly what happens

But what makes

These magi wise

Is what makes

You and I wise

When you start

To give up

In that power

Struggle with God

And worship him

On his terms

It comes down to this

There are two people

That you can worship

You can either

Worship you

Or you can

Worship God

Those are your two options

You can worship

Your own version

Of God

But that is really

Just worshipping you

It's just a conversation

With yourself

And these magi

Worship someone

Who they've never

Worshipped before

They come to Jesus

And they worship him

As king

Of kings

He's called the Christ

What does the word

Christ mean

It's not a serenium

It's a title

Let's say your name

Is Carlos

And your job

Is a plumber

And your job description

Is to fix taps

Well let's apply that

Jesus

Jesus is his name

And his title

Is the Christ

And his job description

Is to rule the world

And everything in it

That is who Christ is

The magi

Magi from the east

They come

And they bow down

They worship

Because you can do

Nothing else

But worship

The one who is God

Become man

And in this story

They move from

Worshipping the stars

Probably

That was their world

To worshipping

The creator

Of the stars

The one who

Hang the moon

In its place

Now lies

In a manger

And will eventually

Hang on a cross

And rise to life

Look at chapter 2

Of Matthew

In verse 11

Just see that reading

In verse 11

When coming to the house

They saw the child

Of his mother Mary

And they bowed down

And worshipped him

That physical act

Of worshipping

Bowing

We don't bow

Do we

We don't

I have never had

Anyone bow down

Before me

If you know me

And I know

That I'm a sinner

Like you

It happens to the queen

Doesn't it

You know when people

Get their night church

But they don't

It's not really a bow

It's kind of a nod

Isn't it in some way

It's not a thought about him

But what these

Major are doing

In this context

They are saying

God

You are greater than me

You

Jesus

Are greater than me

You

Jesus

Get to set the agenda

For the rest of my life

Not me

And these wise men

They travel 500 miles

To worship Jesus

Herod and the rest of Jerusalem

Including the priests

Who should have known better

Can't even be bothered

To travel six miles

From Jerusalem to Bethlehem

You see

You cannot win

If you enter

Into a power struggle

With Jesus

You cannot

At this point

He's two years old

For goodness sake

And Herod

Cannot win

Herod is as stupid

As he is rebellious

He schemes

He plots

He plans

He lies

He does everything

He can to kill

This kid

But he can't do it

And if you read Matthew

Do you know who ends up

Dying in the chapter

It's not Jesus

Is it

It's Herod

When you get to the end

Of the story

It's Herod

Who drops his clans

And not Jesus

Because Jesus

Will only die

At a time

That God

Has determined

And Jesus affirms

And at every point

It is so clear

In this story

As you read

Even the earliest

Accounts of the gospel

The earliest chapters

Of the gospel

That God is in control

And God brings the Magi

From the east

To worship Jesus

And when Herod

Tries to kill Jesus

He brings dreams

Firstly to the Magi

Then to Joseph

To move them here

There and everywhere

It is a cat and mouse thing

A game of chess

And Herod is outsmarted

He is checkmated

Every time

Because if you enter

Into a power struggle

With God

You're not going to win

God wants His Son

To live a perfect life

To die on the cross

So that you and I

Can worship Him

That's why you were created

Have you ever wondered that?

Of course He has

Why were you created?

Have you ever wondered

What the meaning

Into life is?

Well I just told you

So that you could

Worship Him

It's very simple

And very straightforward

Jesus is saying

You're not called

Just to worship a baby

In a manger

He says

I'm no longer in the manger

But I've become a human

And I've stayed a human

And I'm calling you

To worship me

Not just as somebody

Who's hanging on a cross

Who died for your sins

And paid the price

Because that cross

Is now empty

And the price is paid

And you're not called

To worship somebody

Who's still dead

In a tomb

In Palestine

Because on the third day

I rose from that tomb

And that tomb

Was empty

You are called

Tonight

To worship Jesus

Who lived

Died

And rose again

And now is at the right hand

Of the Father

Where there is all authority

And power belongs to Him alone

And He gets to set the agenda

And I will say to you

There is no better way

To live

Than to have this

Great

Kind

Merciful

Savior

Of the world

On your side

So let me ask you

Tonight

As I finish

Are you still in a power struggle

With Jesus

Are you still trying to change

God

To fit your terms

Or are you prepared

To let Him speak

For who He is

And will you let Him

Change you

To receive Him

To worship Him

To enjoy His forgiveness

To know Him

As Father

And have Heaven

As your home

And have God's Spirit

Live in you

To live at peace

To be comfortable

In your own skin

Don't we want that?

Because the war

In your conscience

And in your heart

With God

Is over

Don't you want that?

The best part of you

Wants that

So the message

Of this Christmas

Is this

End the power struggle

With God

That is the message

Of Christmas

Tonight

You can say

Sorry to Him

To say

I was wrong

And it's not you

That need to change God

Actually it's me

He has the right

And He is good

To say thank you

For God's patience

With you

And for Christ's death

On the cross

It's to raise the white flag

Isn't it?

And to surrender to Him

And I know that's not easy

The message of Christmas

Is the best news

Of a King

Of God's King

Come to earth

To rescue

That is the message

Of Christmas

Let's pray

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