A Light to the World
Some folks have wondered why God chose Israel or the land of Canaan as the land that God planted his people.
Back in the book of Genesis God called Abraham to leave his homeland to go to the land of Canaan. Later God will lead Israel out of Egypt back to this land of promise.
Many people have wondered why God would be persistent and put these people into this land. Some say that God wanted to put Israel in a land that the Bible describes as a land flowing with Milk and Honey.
Milk and Honey was just a Hebraic way of calling it a land of the herd or flock and the land of agriculture.
That may be true to some extent but it is more than that. It is a deeper significance to this land.
We see this significance in Isaiah 49:6
Isaiah 49:6
God says to Isaiah "It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel ; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
From this passage we see that God wants Israel to be a LIGHT to the Nations so that God’s Salvation can reach to the ends of the Earth.
God wants Israel to hold out hope to all nations and be a beacon of light to all people.
Why this land? Why Canaan?
A little Geography will help make sense of this. In the ancient world there were two great empires. The Babylonian Empire was powerful and many people came there for spices. The spice routes of the East went through Babylon and had made the Babylonians rich. The main route that the spice trade went was through the King’s Highway.
The King’s Highway ran right through Western Canaan. Many would travel right through the land that would be called Israel.
Just south was another strong Kingdom called Egypt and Egypt was the bread basket of the world. Egypt and Babylon used the trade route of the King’s Highway every day. It is estimated that millions travelled through Canaan each year on this highway.
Canaan was very strategic in the ancient world and many wars were fought for its possession. Canaan would be under control by the Hittites, Babylonians, and Egypt many times and the possession of Canaan will shift back and forth from these three world powers.
It is believed that in the Valley of Megiddo in Canaan more battles were fought in this valley than any other place on earth.
To understand why this is true one would just have to look at the location of this valley and understand why so many people wanted to control it.
Now consider God’s reasons for putting Israel into this country. Pagan people that were very powerful would come in contact with the Israelite people and see God’s way of living.
They would see families that honored God and children that honored the parents.
These pagan societies around them were evil and had no regard for human life. Israel would be a shining light.
At times Israel did this task wonderfully but most of the time they were influenced by pagan nations.
They became as bad or worse as those around them.
The Jews of Jesus day understood that God had sent them into Exile because they did not fulfill their call to be a light to the nations.
Many Jews believed that Israel would not do the job God had given them until the Messiah came.
When the Messiah comes he would turn the hearts of the children to the parents to the children. The Messiah would bring a time of Restoration.
In the life of Jesus we would see this wish of God come true. Jesus would come and take on the role of Israel.
Jesus would do what Israel could not do. No place in the Bible does this theme come out more than the Gospel of Matthew.
Matthew presents Jesus as the Messiah but much more, taking on the vocation of Israel.
In Matthew’s Gospel we are introduced to Jesus as an infant going down into Egypt and being called out of Egypt just like Israel.
We see Jesus going into the wilderness for 40 days just like Israel was in the wilderness for 40 years. To make the matter clearer Jesus passes all the tests in the wilderness that Israel fails.
In Matthew 5 we see Jesus give his famed Sermon on the Mount. What makes this story interesting is that Jesus gives HIS LAW at a Mount. Remember that Moses received the Law of the OT at Mount Sinai. Now Jesus gives HIS law on a mount.
If you remember Moses give the Law at Mount Sinai and when he does he issues blessings and Curses.
Jesus issues his new Law and gives 8 blessings and later on in Matthew’s Gospel in Chapter 23 Jesus issues 8 Woes or Curses
These 8 Woes align with the 8 blessings of Matthew 5.
The first woe of Matthew 23 lines up with the 8th blessing of Matthew 5 in the Beatitudes. And then the woes work themselves backwards with all 8 blessings.
Matthew is painting a picture of covenant blessing and curses just like at Mount Sinai.
Also in Matthew’s Gospel there are five main teaching sections of Matthew’s Gospel. Each section finishes with ‘When Jesus had finished these words”
This five sections of teaching would be significant to any Jew because the Law of Moses was called the Pentateuch which is literally a five book Law. So five is significant and shows further the vocation of Jesus.
So what is the message? What is Matthew telling us in the Sermon on the Mount is that now God is going to accomplish what he always sought out to do.
God wants the light to come to the nations and it will be in Christ that this is accomplished.
Matthew 5: 14-17
14 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden ; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. 17 "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets ; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
Jesus makes it clear in this passage that His followers, the New Israel of the Church, will be the light that Israel was called to be. He goes further to tell us His mission is to fulfill the Law.
Remember the Law was put in place to create a nation that would be a light to the nations. Now Jesus has come to make that happen.
The disciples of Jesus will be a light to the world. We are called to fulfill this vocation of Israel
Through the Spirit of Christ we will be empowered to follow the Law of God that could not be done through the letter.
In Romans 7: 6 Paul will tell us how this will be accomplished.
Romans 7:6
6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
The Law could not accomplish in the flesh what Christ’s Law can accomplish by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus in Matthew chapters 5-7 will give a type of summation of what His Covenant will look like. It is a type of crux of all of Jesus teaching that we will see throughout His Ministry.
This morning I want to zero in on some teachings of Jesus that some say our impossible.
Some have said that these teachings only apply to the apostles or some have even made the ludicrous suggestion that Jesus is speaking in hyperbole and these teachings could never be carried out.
I will go so far as to suggest that this teaching makes up the heart of what Kingdom living is all about.
In Matthew 5-7 Christ uses the term Father 17 times.
That is a key to understanding this section. When you are going to be in God’s family, when you are going to bring God’s Kingdom to this world things are going to be different.
They will be so different that what Christ suggests here is totally the opposite of what you hear from people today that are outside the Kingdom.
Radical Kingdom living for Jesus and being a light to the world will cost. It will cost us more than we could ever imagine.
It will hard and it will fly in the face of everything that we thought before.
When I read this section of Scripture I always read it and almost cringe because it is so tough. As we read it this morning I want you to carefully consider this teaching.
Matthew 5: 38-48
38 "You have heard that it was said, 'AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.' 39 "But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 "If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. 41 "Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 "Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. 43 "You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' 44 "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven ; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 "For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have ? Do not even the tax collectors do the same ? 47 "If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same ? 48 "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
When we first look at this we say this is TOO tough, Jesus cant be serious. One will automatically look at Verse 48 and say You have to be perfect and they totally misunderstand what this word means. The word for Perfect in the Greek is TELOS
TELOS doesn’t mean that you have to be Perfect but it is most correctly translated at Complete our MATURE
In Ephesians 4 Paul is talking about the Ephesian Church growing up and Maturing in the faith.
He talks about the growing up and developing of the Church and uses the word MATURE-
We are to grow up into the image of Christ.
In this passage and in Ephesians the idea is ever present that when one is in God’s family we are to reach a level of Maturity – We are to grow up into the Maturity of the Father or His Completeness and Jesus His Son is the ultimate image.
Now we need to unpack each of these things that Jesus tells us about Kingdom living.
1) Jesus tells us not resist those that are evil to us.
If one slaps you on the right cheek turn to him the other also.
This image would be from the Roman Empire in which slapping one on the right cheek meant that you hit them with the back of your hand.
This was the ultimate sign of disrespect in the ancient world and Jesus tells us that we need to be willing to take abuse for His sake.
This doesn’t mean that we are to be pushovers and go around volunteering our cheek to be slapped but we do see this come true in the Passion narrative of Jesus. In the story of the crucifixion we see that the High Priest Temple guards strike Jesus on the cheek and Jesus questions why they do this.
Jesus does not resist but still questions why they do it.
We as Christians cannot in the cause of Christ strike back or try to settle the score.
Settling the score is common in our day and time but not with Christ. We cannot fight back with malice as those of the Kingdom.
Consider the persecution of the early Church. The Christians never fought back against the Romans.
Put your self back in time and think about what you would have done when the Romans showed up to take you to prison or kill you, most of us would have fought back. The early Christians heeded the teachings of Jesus and acted just like their MASTER.
Jesus the Master did just what He taught us to do. When he was hit in the face he did not retaliate but willfully gave up His life.
2) Jesus tells us in verse 40 of chapter 5 that if anyone wants to take your inner garment and sue you for it you are to give them your outer garment also.
This seems so bizare to us today. To have such a giving attitude that we would be willing to give to those that even mean to harm us. The context of this teaching of Jesus means that you have an attitude that is giving to those that mean you harm.
We see this specifically fulfilled by our Master in the Crucifixion account.
We see in Matthew 27 that Jesus is stripped of his garments and the soldiers cast lots for his garments.
Jesus willfully allows this to happen because Jesus gave up His life willfully.
He allowed the soldiers to take His garments.
Our master specifically models what He expects from us to love those that hate us so much we would give them more than what they ask for from us.
3) In verse 41 Jesus states that whoever would force you to go one mile, you should go with him two.
This refers to a Roman Law that allowed Roman soldiers to make an occupied Jew carry his pack for one mile. The Jews had put posts up one mile from their homes to tell them exactly where to stop.
No good Jew would walk one step further for a pagan Roman but now Jesus is saying something totally odd.
According to Jesus you are to go two miles and not just one.
That is exactly what Jesus did.
Jesus would be lead from the High Priests residence to the Praetorium and Pilate, to Herod and back, and then the path to the cross.
Jesus would willfully walk with these Roman soldiers and will go the extra mile to His death.
He literally takes the extra mile.
4) Jesus tells us in verse 44 that we must love our enemies. A radical concept of trying to love those that hate us.
We are to love our enemies so much that we are to pray for them.
On the cross, as He was crucified, Jesus prayed for those that crucified Him.
Jesus said, Father Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.
Jesus in his moment of pain and self giving thought about those that were killing him.
These pagan Romans and Jewish leaders that hated him so much, he asked for their forgiveness. Our master modeled perfectly how we should live.
So the Question comes UP – WHY????
WHY would you do this and why would Jesus do this?
Why does Jesus call us to do this? Why live like this in such an extreme manner?
SO THAT YOU CAN BE SONS OF OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN- THIS IS SPECIFICALLY WHAT JESUS CALLS US TO BE
IF WE ARE IN GOD’S FAMILY THEN WE WILL BEHAVE TOTALLY DIFFERENT BECAUSE WE WANT TO WIN PEOPLE TO CHRIST.
ALL OF THESE THINGS – IF WE BEHAVE THIS WAY, PEOPLE WILL LOOK AT US AND REALIZE THAT WE ARE GOD’S CHILDREN
In a World bent on destruction and violence we are called to be people of peace.
We will be people of peace but the world will hate us because of it.
If you act like Jesus calls you to act you will stick out like a sore thumb.
Consider Jesus – He was hated, He was killed.
In His death, he turned the other cheek, He prayed for those that persecuted and hated Him, He walked the extra mile with the hated Romans, he willingly gave up His inner and outer garment, and He willingly gave all, He gave His life for the life of the World.
What was the reaction of the people at the cross that watched Jesus through this whole thing? What did the Centurion say at the cross? When he saw all the events of the Cross the pagan centurion said,
Truly this man is the Son of God
This would be the same response many Romans would have to the Church. Christians would live in their communities, Churches would start to grow and people would notice that these Christians were different. They didn’t quarrel and act foolish, they loved so much that they would die for each other and even die for pagans.
This changed the world at that time and it could do it again.
Jesus calls us to be light in a dark time. We are living when Darkness is growing all around us and how much more do we need to act like children of God.
The challenge is before us, Kingdom living is tough, but it is something that God can accomplish In Christ and through His Spirit in our lives.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
The Good Shepherd A.M Sermon 9.19.10
As a child I had many interesting visits to people’s houses because my dad was a minister. Many times people would invite us over for Sunday dinner and usually the food selection of that meal was not extreme or exotic. I remember once going to a particular elderly couple’s house for Sunday dinner and the food selection was barbequed goat. I had never had goat and could tell my Dad’s facial expression that he had not either. He sternly let me know not to say anything or make any faces that looked contrary. I will never forget that while we were eating my younger brother really enjoyed his meal. He loved barbequed goat. What made things worse is the fact they had the window open and you could her the bleating of the other goats in the yard. I remember when the folks hosting us were not watching my dad would scoop some of his goat and put it in my brother’s plate. My brother would happily eat it up. I dutifully ate my goat but said nothing about my Dad emptying his plate in my brother’s plate when no one was watching because I knew that it would be instant death for me if I did.
SHEEP/GOATS
The Bible talks a little about goats and sheep and the fact that God would rather us behave like sheep than goats.
Matthew 25: 32-33
32 "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats ; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left
Jesus for some reason equates the evil people at the end of the age that will be judged with goats. The reason He does this the fact that goats gave shepherds fits in the ancient world.
If a goat got into a flock of sheep it would lead the sheep astray because a goat will not listen to a Shepherd.
Sheep are very dumb animals that are easily lead astray but goats are very stubborn and want to go on their own.
God wants people that are more like Sheep.
This theme is found in our OT and our NT. The Psalms teach that God was the Shepherd that lead Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness.
We see it in David the King as a Shepherd that took on Goliath. The king of Israel was supposed to be Shepherd.
We read this idea in the passage found in John 10
I want to look at this passage and read this passage as it would have been heard by its original audience.
Jesus the good Shepherd
John 10: 1-15
1 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. 2 "But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. 3 "To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 "When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 "A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers." 6 This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them. 7 So Jesus said to them again, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 "All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 "I am the door ; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy ; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 11 "I am the good shepherd ; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 "He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 "He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. 14 "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father ; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
In this passage we see Jesus use multiple images to describe His role as the Shepherd of Israel and ultimately the Good Shepherd of the world.
The image that Jesus paints for us is the idea of the sheep pen. From ancient sources we know that shepherds would put all their sheep into one giant pen.
So the picture you need to form in your mind is many shepherds bringing their flocks to one pen.
At night these shepherds would sleep at the entrance of the pen to protect their sheep.
In the morning the shepherds would walk out in different directions and call their sheep.
A fascinating thing would happen all of the sheep would find their shepherd by following the voice of the Shepherd.
Only the voice of their shepherd is what they would follow. It is said that a sheep would become so fixated on the voice of their shepherd that when a shepherd was killed in an accident they would have to slaughter the sheep because they would not follow anyone else.
Jesus says this specifically that the sheep do not hear the voice of a stranger.
Now think of Jesus words.
The sheep have bad eyesight but good hearing and can fixate on one voice. They hear the voice of the shepherd and they travel in one line single file to the shepherd.
A goat will not do this, a goat will wander off.
They say in the Middle East today you can go and find Bedouin Shepherds in Palestine and watch this very thing happen.
Much of the time of the Shepherd is spend chasing the goats and getting them in line because the sheep will inadvertently follow a goat into danger.
Jesus wants us to understand that he wants to be sheep that follow but more importantly to hear his voice.
1) We must get so in tune with Jesus’ teaching that He is who we follow.
How do we do this, read the Scripture.
Learn the Bible so much that Jesus teaching resonates in our ears.
The bible should shape every facet of our lives.
The government, the arts, sports, academics, our entire beings should be saturated in God’s word.
We should know God’s word so well that when we hear things contrary to God’s word we know it. When we hear false teaching, false teaching that comes from those in sheep’s clothing we will know it.
In Matthew 7:15 Jesus warns us:
"Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Jesus tells us to beware of those that would come into a flock, just like a fellow sheep and teach false doctrine.
A wolf was the biggest concern for a Shepherd and Jesus lets us know that He is the type of Shepherd that would lay down His life for His sheep.
He wants to keep his sheep pure and then turns around and appoints leaders such as apostles, elders, and evangelists to do the same. We are to be willing to do devote ourselves to digesting the Scripture to the point that we know when we hear Jesus voice over that of the spirit of this age.
Recently a friend of mine pointed out the way many people see the bible today. Many see the Bible as something that we use as a type of idol. Just put Bible verses on a T shirt or a building and it makes things okay. Those words are meant to be put into the practice and find their place in our hearts and minds.
My boss told me that his son had to miss Church last Sunday because he had a travel baseball game. He said he felt terrible the entire time he was there. Then he said the irony of the entire episode was that the other team had the Bible verse Philippians 4:13 on their jersey.
He thought it was funny that here we were playing a ball game in the middle of their worship service but everything is okay because we put a Bible verse on our jersey.
Something there just doesn’t compute, it doesn’t add up.
It basically shows the disconnect that has happened in our communities, the political correctness that is killing us – we need to hear the voice of our master of our shepherd.
We need to get back in touch with the Bible until is exudes out of every fiber of our being.
2) Jesus also tells us that a good Shepherd is willing to lay down his life for the Sheep.
This is the type of God that we serve.
One that created us in the first place but has also humbled Himself by taking on flesh and gave up His glory to enter into our fallen world and die for the very beings He created.
The very beings that rebelled against Him, He now willingly lays down His life for His sheep.
This is the type of God we serve, the type that will rigorously defend us.
We see this very image play out in the OT.
When Saul is King – Goliath and the Phillistines are challenging God’s people.
The book of Samuel tells us the that the King of Israel is supposed to be the shepherd of Israel but Saul is not acting like a shepherd.
Saul is so scared that he will not even go in the valley to confront Goliath. Saul is heads taller than all of the other Israelites but it too chicken to face Goliath.
1 Samuel 17 tells us that Saul is afraid of Goliath and it is into this situation a young shepherd boy walks.
In 1 Samuel 17 David stands before Saul and asks permission to fight Goliath. When Saul asks David what credentials he brings to this fight, David takes a shot at the king by explaining that as a shepherd he had protect his sheep.
David protected his sheep so much that when a lion and bear both attached his flock he went and hunted them down and killed them. Not only did David protect his flock but he went looking for a wild animal that just had the audacity to attack his flock.
This is the type of Shepherd that Jesus is. Jesus went into the wilderness and faced Satan in the Temptation on our behalf and then went outside the city walls of Jerusalem and took on the curse that we deserved.
Jesus went out and conquered the two enemies that were laying outside the sheep fold of sin and death and destroyed them.
As we work out this image of the shepherd I want to turn to a passage that is so often quoted but I want you to see if from the perspective of Jesus as our Good Shepherd.
Psalm 231 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures ; He leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He restores my soul ; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies ; You have anointed my head with oil ; My cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
There is so much meaning packed into this passage that we sometime miss what God is telling us.
1st of all we learn another attribute of God that comes out in the first verse.
3. God will supply all of our needs is we follow Him.This is not health and wealth Gospel but it means God will supply just enough.
Israel in the wilderness was lead by God and He gave them what they needed each day in the desert. Just enough Manna for that day. Not extra but just enough.
We are to rely on God to give us just what we need. We are told to seek His Kingdom First and all these things will be added to us. God will give us just what we need.
We think of extravagance in the West but in ancient Israel they just relied on God for daily sustenance and didn’t expect anything else. That is exactly what the shepherd provided for his sheep.
The sheep did not want because the shepherd lead them to what they needed, food and water.
Green Pastures:
When we read this passage we think about the green pasture land of Ireland. We think of a lush green field.
This would be in the arid land of Israel and there would be no green pastures like this for David’s sheep. Instead you witness a phenomenon in Israel that brings this about.
The land and terrain there would be rocky but imbedded in that rock would be dormant grasses. The warm moist air from the Mediterranean would blow across that rock and night and in the morning there would be enough moisture for this grass to sprout. By afternoon that grass is scorched.
The green pastures the Psalmist speaks of is just enough for the day. The shepherd will lead his flock to just enough grass for that day and you were not promised anything else. Just that day is all.
That is so hard for us to see things that way. To slow down and take things just one day at a time. We have people that plan out the next two years on their planner but God is saying slow down and depend on Him to provide one day at a time.
Still Waters:
Sheep had to drink twice per day or they would die.
In Israel there were types of water and some was good for drinking and some was very dangerous.
In a desert area water was important.
Sheep had to drink twice per day and a good shepherd had to know where to find good water.
In the desert one could find dry creek beds called wadis. In the winter wadis could flood quickly.
Melting snow or rain in the mountains to the North could cause a torrent of water to come flowing down a wadi. Many times a wadi would have pools of still water in the bottom but these were dangerous.
A good shepherd would find still water that was safe.
God wants us to trust in Him to take us where we need to go and to nourish our soul on the living water that Jesus provides.
Paths of righteousness – literally right paths, or straight paths – pathways the lead sheep away from danger and to water.
The right path was one that lead to the food and water and away from danger. One would find these sheep paths all over the hillside but a good shepherd knew how to pick the right path.
WE read in the New Testament that John the Baptist came to make the way straight for the coming Christ.
The Early Church in Acts was called the WAY
Jesus says that the path to everlasting life is straight and narrow.
We are called to a path and a journey. God has a plan for your life in that you follow him on that straight path. A path that leads to Him. We are always walking and our destination is Him.
Valley of the shadow of deathValley of the shadow of Darkness is literally what this says in Hebrews.
The Hebrew people called the shadow of Darkness the dusk of the evening when the sun would start to set and deep dark shadows would form in the valleys.
This was the most dangerous time for sheep. This would be the time that sheep, because of their poor eyesight would fall and into a crevice or hole. They would listen for their shepherd’s voice and walk blindly into danger.
An amazing thing would happen at this time. The shepherd knew the danger and it would be at this time the shepherd would stop leading the flock but walk amidst the flock.
The image David is giving us is that when things get tough and dangerous, God is closer to us than ever.
It is at times of agony and grief that God is at the closest.
Think about Israel’s history. When was God the closest? In the wilderness when things were tough.
40 years of wandering they meet God
Elijah 40 days of wilderness travel and meets God in a cave
Jesus goes to draw closer to God in the wilderness.
It is at the shadows of darkness that when things are dangerous and that is when God is closest to us.
Hebrews 4: 15
15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
Jesus is a Savior that has been there with us. He knows what it is like when things are tough and we are lonely. He suffered more than we could imagine and now sits at the right hand of God.
Our Shepherd knows what it is like and is among us wanting us to hear His voice.
The question is , Will we heed His voice? Will we turn to God and listen to His Word, His plan for our lives, His sustaining love that is going to take care of what we need.
Jesus the good shepherd is calling us will we listen?
Sunday, September 12, 2010
A Dangerous Baby AM Sermon 9/12/10
In the Roman Empire peace had been achieved. It was called the Pax Romana or the Peace of Rome. The Emperor was Augustus and he achieved this peace at a cost.
He had united a very diverse world had been united by the boot of the Roman army. This was peace at a cost.
Rome had promised peace, prosperity, and justice but this would be a Roman style of justice and peace. In other words you will accept the gods of Rome and the Emperor Rome as a god, if you did this then you could believe all you want to plus what Rome had to propose.
An example of this type of Roman peace can be found in Luke chapter 13. This story references an event in which the Roman Governor of Palestine suspected some Galileans of insurrection. He was so suspicious of them that he sent some Roman soldiers into the Temple while these Galileans were worshipping.
Imagine going to a place of worship and never suspecting any danger. These worshippers never suspected anything. They were in the act of offering their sacrifices at the altar in the Temple. The Roman soldiers come in and kill them in cold blood at the altar. The story is so gruesome and the Biblical account tells us that their blood mixed in with the blood of their sacrifice.
This was justice Roman style.
Rome was in charge and they would let you know. They would give you peace, justice, and happiness just as long as you went along with the program. Don’t even think about challenging that power.
There was only one Lord and that was Caesar and if you thought different a Roman legion might just show up on your front porch to remind you.
Now take your mind back to the 1st century. Go back to a time when Rome ruled Palestine and the Jews. Imagine a time when a puppet king named Herod was in charge.
He was really propped up by the Romans and worked for the Romans.
To make matters worse this so called King of the Jews named Herod was really from the area of Israel’ ancient foes of Edom and Moab.
The Edomites and the Moabites were connected with Jacob’s brother Esau. The descendents of Esau settled in Edom and Moab. To have a king that is an Edomite is unthinkable.
It is into this politically charged environment of Israel under the occupation of Rome and a corrupt puppet king will be born the most dangerous baby ever born.
Some of you have probably already figured out that I am talking about the birth of Jesus.
We have taken this story and domesticated it. We have made it less dangerous and romanticized it. I have no problem with have nostalgic feelings for the nativity story of Jesus but sometimes we tend to loose the apocalyptic aspect of Jesus’ birth.
In other words Jesus’ birth was something that would change the entire world. Authorities were going to be challenged.
At the time of Jesus’ birth Augustus Caesar was now 60 years old and the Empire had been ruled by decades of his rule that was championed as a peaceful one.
Herod would shake in his boots and the Romans would be put on warning that Caesar’s time was up and the true King of the world will rule.
The ancient prophecies of the Israelites were going to come true- NAMELY THAT THE KING OF THE FAMILY OF DAVID, THE KING OF THE JEWS, WILL BECOME THE KING OF ALL MEN. GOD WILL REIGN- GOD WILL COME AND RULE THIS WORLD AGAIN- JUST LIKE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE.
I. God’s King will bring Peace in the Person of Jesus Christ
This baby that will be born in Bethlehem will be the Prince of Peace –
The very bread of God that comes from heaven will be born in a place of Bread – Bethlehem literally means the house of Bread.
The Bread of Life will be born in the House of Bread - God’s very sustaining grace will be born in this little town of Bethlehem.
This was prophesied in the OT by the prophet Micah. Micah prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Micah’s passage is quoted in Matthew 2: 5-6.
Micah 5:2 says,
. 2 "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity."
This is a passage that many are familiar with. It is a passage that some have memorized but it is part of a passage. Many times when passages are quoted in the NT it is meant for one to know the context of the entire quote.
People fail to read the rest of this passage. Verse 5 of Micah chapter 5 tells us that the child that will be born will be Peace.
He will bring Peace – God’s peace- In Hebrew this is the word SHALOM - God’s shalom goes back to the Garden of Eden.
Sin destroyed God’s peace – it brought sin and division- it brought bloodshed- it brought war.
We just reflected yesterday on the 9 year anniversary of 9/11 yesterday. It should remind us that in this world right now we don’t have peace. We don’t have God’s peace because there are some out there that believe that in the name of religion it is okay to kill the infidel.
To some it is okay to fly planes into buildings and kill innocent people going to work to make a point. 3000 people either went to work, got on an airplane, or went to the Pentagon that day not suspecting anything. And before we know it our entire world is turned upside down.
This is the reality of a world where Satan has brought false teaching, hate, and bloodshed.
Mistrust of each other as humans has brought discord.
Jesus came to put it all back together. This baby that will be born in Bethlehem will bring God’s SHALOM – HIS PEACE TO THIS WORLD – A TIME WHEN NO MORE WARFARE WILL OCCUR.
James in James chapter 4 tells us that source of human conflict is lust and envy. When we want what others have and we envy people you want to do something about it.
That is the source of human warfare. People hate when they don’t have. It is easy to blame someone else for your problems.
Go back and look at the source for many of the wars fought in our century. The Germans were angry with France over the Treaty of Versailes at the end of WWI and blamed France for all of their economic woes before WWII as well as the Jews.
The Palestinians blame America for their plight. Ben Laden blames the US for the plight of Arab Muslims. Warfare can come from greed or the human tendency to blame others for your problems. It is an age old issue.
Jesus came to turn that all upside down, to bring God’s peace. The Kingdom of God breaks into this world and brings God’s promise of peace.
This is illustrated by the Garden and the sin of eating the fruit. The forbidden fruit is consumed by Adam and Eve and their eyes are opened to their nakedness.
Sin makes them want to hide from God.
Genesis 3:7 – tells us their eyes were opened – in other words INNOCENCE is LOST.
But Jesus comes to turn this upside down and change the situation. Jesus wants to open our eyes to a new reality.
A New KINGDOM is reigning, the way of war and hatred has ended. God’s peace is here to change things.
On the Emmaus Road story we see this illustrated to the eye opening truth of Jesus. Jesus makes a post resurrection appearance to two men on the road to Emmaus and shares in the Lord’s Supper with them.
In Luke 24: 31 Luke tells us that the men’s eyes were opened to the identity of Jesus when he breaks the bread. The same words used of Adam and Eve in the Garden is used of these two men. Adam and Eve eat in disobedience but the men on the Road to Emmaus eat in obedience. We see the contrast – Adam and Eve’s eyes are opened to evil and all the bad things that sin brings.
The men on the Road have their eyes opened to the new reality - a new Kingdom with a new King has come to town and His blessed SHALOM is now the reigning Paradigm.
The peace that Jesus will bring in His Kingdom is different from the Peace of Augustus Caesar. The only way that Caesar could bring peace is through military might, oppression, enslavement or just social programs.
Jesus will bring a peace that is everlasting that goes to the heart of the matter. As illustrated in the Beatitudes – Jesus will bring peace by changing people into peacemakers, and those that bring the love of God into this world.
The wise rule of God will begin by a new set of Kingdom people that will set up colonies that we call Churches all over Augustus Caesar’s Empire. This New Kingdom will start inconspicuously but will eventually bring about earth shattering real change.
Jesus brings Peace – which in a Jewish sense means that he is Putting things back together.
II. God’s King will bring Truth to this world
Many people will searching for truth in the time of Jesus just like they are today. So many people in our own time desire truth.
Just look at the politics of our time and we see this ground swell of people demanding truth out of our politicians and public officials. I think that the Tea Party Movement that we see today comes from that desire. People want to be told the truth. No one accepts a lie and just is okay with it.
If someone walked up to me and said I heard you had a baby how is the little girl doing? And I said, Great, she is really growing. And then you saw Allison and asked her the same, and she said, “What are you talking about? We didn’t have a baby?” Would you walk away from that conversation fulfilled?
Would you be okay with that talk and just say, “Well Chris’ view of the truth is one thing and Allison’s view of it is another”
You would say, “One of them is a liar” and that would be right
Today we see people that do this everyday in our public officials. We want to twist words not to offend.
One may say that Islam is a religion of peace and Americans have nothing to fear from Sharia Law. Sharia Law is the public governing Law of Islam. But we look at the Middle East today and I would challenge you to find one government in that area that is run by Sharia Law that enjoys freedom.
Name one country in the Middle East where Christians have freedom to worship how they want in a government under Sharia Law?
What our politicians tell us about a religion of peace and what we see in these countries are two different things.
It is not like we have examples to look at, consider Saudia Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Syria, and even Turkey. Christians in those countries would tell you that they don’t have freedom. Many cite Turkey as a moderate Muslim country but the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church would be quick to tell you that they have no freedom in Turkey to do as they like.
But we have and answer. The truth is here and the truth was born in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago. This truth will challenge the lies of this world. The lies of false religion and even the lies of our public officials.
To see how this truth challenged the powers of His day we must go to a strange place. That place is the OT and the book of Numbers.
If you remember back many years before Jesus- Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt. They came out and were traveling called the King’s Highway to get to the Promised Land. They came out and had to travel through areas of the kinspeople – I guess you call them their distant cousins – the Edomites and Moabites. The Israelites had just fought the Amorites and defeated them and the king of Moab was nervous about this tribe of people coming through his territory. He didn’t want to oppose Israel to their face so he hired a wise man named Balaam to curse them.
Many of you remember the story of Balaam and the talking donkey. The talking donkey incident happened while Balaam was no the way to curse Israel for this King of Moab.
God obviously was not going to allow this to happen. God prevented Balaam from cursing the Israelite people and instead God sent His Holy Spirit to inspire Balaam to issue a blessing on Israel. So instead of cursing Israel Balaam will bless Israel.
We pick up this story in Numbers and I want to focus on one particular blessing that Balaam issues upon Israel.
Numbers 24:17
17 "I see him, but not now ; I behold him, but not near ; A star shall come forth from Jacob, A scepter shall rise from Israel, And shall crush through the forehead of Moab, And tear down all the sons of Sheth.
This is the passage that the Jewish people developed the idea of the star of David. You see this star of David today on the flag of the modern Israelite state. We will see this idea of the Star from Jacob come back in the NT.
IN other words Balaam is prophesying that there is a King that will come from Israel and the sign of this coming King will be a STAR.
We need to remember where Balaam this soothsayer or wise man is from. He is from the land of Persia or near the Euphrates.
Fast forward to the NT. We meet some wise men from the EAST or it could be more understood as the area of Persia near the Euphrates. You have these wisemen that follow the start to Bethlehem. These wisemen understood this prophecy. Just as Balaam came from the East and made the prophecy over Israel we now have wisemen coming from the same area in fulfillment of this prophecy.
The message is clear – A KING is born and not just any king but THE KING. The king that would come from Israel.
We see the reaction of Herod to the visit of the Wise Men. The wise men come to Jerusalem to find the King of the Jews because they have seen is star. Herod calls together the religious leaders of the Jews to inquire about this birth.
Herod then discovers that a king is to be born in Bethlehem. They jewish leaders quote Micah 5 to the King. Herod has plenty to worried about. A king is being born in Bethlehem and it is prophesied that Moab and Edom will be crushed. Herod is an Edomite so he has plenty to be concerned about.
We have made Jesus birth such a benign and romantic event that we loose sight of the danger all around Him. Herod has all of the boys 2 years and younger killed in Bethlehem because he wants to kill the baby Jesus.
Herod understands more that some people that call themselves Christians today the idea of the Lordship of Jesus. Herod understands that Jesus is the ruler and King.
This goes back to our idea of Truth.
Earlier I talked about the conflict of truth in our culture.
We crave truth, we don’t like to be lied to.
Jesus was born into an Empire and world that didn’t know what the truth was.
The ultimate truth of the Romans was – YOU DO WHAT WE SAY OR WE WILL KILL YOU.
You see this conflict with Jesus and Pilate. When Jesus in His trial is standing before Pilate we see these two ideas come together.
In John 19 when Jesus stands before the representative of the Roman Empire in Pontius Pilate we see these kingdom’s collide. Pilate asks Jesus, ARE YOU THE KING?
Jesus’s reply and Pilate’s Response is telling:
John 18: 37-38
37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king ?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." 38 Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?"
It is amazing how these ideas of Jesus’ Kingship and Truth come together. Jesus came to embody Truth – Pilate embodies an Empire that rests on lies and non-truth.
These two kingdoms are colliding and Pilate knows the only power that he has over Jesus is death.
In Chapter 19 he will remind Jesus that he has the power to kill him. And Jesus then reminds Pilate of the reality. Pilate thinks he has the power of death over Jesus but Jesus tells Pilate in chapter 19
John 19:11
"You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above ;
The only power that the kingdoms of this earth have are given to them by God.
In Jesus we see a King, a true King that can bring the Peace of God to this world.
The Peace of God or SHALOM is a restorative Peace that puts things back together, that challenges evil and hatred and is willing to die to prove it.
The Truth of Jesus challenges the falsehoods of this world.
We are called as ambassadors of this kingdom. Our ultimate allegiance is not to a flag, a country, a college football team, a school, a job, a boss, our ultimate allegiance is to Christ and His kingdom.
We are called out to bring this message of Peace and Truth to a dying world.
This truth challenges all the lies of this world- The reality is Christ and His kingdom not all of the vain attempts of man.
He had united a very diverse world had been united by the boot of the Roman army. This was peace at a cost.
Rome had promised peace, prosperity, and justice but this would be a Roman style of justice and peace. In other words you will accept the gods of Rome and the Emperor Rome as a god, if you did this then you could believe all you want to plus what Rome had to propose.
An example of this type of Roman peace can be found in Luke chapter 13. This story references an event in which the Roman Governor of Palestine suspected some Galileans of insurrection. He was so suspicious of them that he sent some Roman soldiers into the Temple while these Galileans were worshipping.
Imagine going to a place of worship and never suspecting any danger. These worshippers never suspected anything. They were in the act of offering their sacrifices at the altar in the Temple. The Roman soldiers come in and kill them in cold blood at the altar. The story is so gruesome and the Biblical account tells us that their blood mixed in with the blood of their sacrifice.
This was justice Roman style.
Rome was in charge and they would let you know. They would give you peace, justice, and happiness just as long as you went along with the program. Don’t even think about challenging that power.
There was only one Lord and that was Caesar and if you thought different a Roman legion might just show up on your front porch to remind you.
Now take your mind back to the 1st century. Go back to a time when Rome ruled Palestine and the Jews. Imagine a time when a puppet king named Herod was in charge.
He was really propped up by the Romans and worked for the Romans.
To make matters worse this so called King of the Jews named Herod was really from the area of Israel’ ancient foes of Edom and Moab.
The Edomites and the Moabites were connected with Jacob’s brother Esau. The descendents of Esau settled in Edom and Moab. To have a king that is an Edomite is unthinkable.
It is into this politically charged environment of Israel under the occupation of Rome and a corrupt puppet king will be born the most dangerous baby ever born.
Some of you have probably already figured out that I am talking about the birth of Jesus.
We have taken this story and domesticated it. We have made it less dangerous and romanticized it. I have no problem with have nostalgic feelings for the nativity story of Jesus but sometimes we tend to loose the apocalyptic aspect of Jesus’ birth.
In other words Jesus’ birth was something that would change the entire world. Authorities were going to be challenged.
At the time of Jesus’ birth Augustus Caesar was now 60 years old and the Empire had been ruled by decades of his rule that was championed as a peaceful one.
Herod would shake in his boots and the Romans would be put on warning that Caesar’s time was up and the true King of the world will rule.
The ancient prophecies of the Israelites were going to come true- NAMELY THAT THE KING OF THE FAMILY OF DAVID, THE KING OF THE JEWS, WILL BECOME THE KING OF ALL MEN. GOD WILL REIGN- GOD WILL COME AND RULE THIS WORLD AGAIN- JUST LIKE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE.
I. God’s King will bring Peace in the Person of Jesus Christ
This baby that will be born in Bethlehem will be the Prince of Peace –
The very bread of God that comes from heaven will be born in a place of Bread – Bethlehem literally means the house of Bread.
The Bread of Life will be born in the House of Bread - God’s very sustaining grace will be born in this little town of Bethlehem.
This was prophesied in the OT by the prophet Micah. Micah prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Micah’s passage is quoted in Matthew 2: 5-6.
Micah 5:2 says,
. 2 "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity."
This is a passage that many are familiar with. It is a passage that some have memorized but it is part of a passage. Many times when passages are quoted in the NT it is meant for one to know the context of the entire quote.
People fail to read the rest of this passage. Verse 5 of Micah chapter 5 tells us that the child that will be born will be Peace.
He will bring Peace – God’s peace- In Hebrew this is the word SHALOM - God’s shalom goes back to the Garden of Eden.
Sin destroyed God’s peace – it brought sin and division- it brought bloodshed- it brought war.
We just reflected yesterday on the 9 year anniversary of 9/11 yesterday. It should remind us that in this world right now we don’t have peace. We don’t have God’s peace because there are some out there that believe that in the name of religion it is okay to kill the infidel.
To some it is okay to fly planes into buildings and kill innocent people going to work to make a point. 3000 people either went to work, got on an airplane, or went to the Pentagon that day not suspecting anything. And before we know it our entire world is turned upside down.
This is the reality of a world where Satan has brought false teaching, hate, and bloodshed.
Mistrust of each other as humans has brought discord.
Jesus came to put it all back together. This baby that will be born in Bethlehem will bring God’s SHALOM – HIS PEACE TO THIS WORLD – A TIME WHEN NO MORE WARFARE WILL OCCUR.
James in James chapter 4 tells us that source of human conflict is lust and envy. When we want what others have and we envy people you want to do something about it.
That is the source of human warfare. People hate when they don’t have. It is easy to blame someone else for your problems.
Go back and look at the source for many of the wars fought in our century. The Germans were angry with France over the Treaty of Versailes at the end of WWI and blamed France for all of their economic woes before WWII as well as the Jews.
The Palestinians blame America for their plight. Ben Laden blames the US for the plight of Arab Muslims. Warfare can come from greed or the human tendency to blame others for your problems. It is an age old issue.
Jesus came to turn that all upside down, to bring God’s peace. The Kingdom of God breaks into this world and brings God’s promise of peace.
This is illustrated by the Garden and the sin of eating the fruit. The forbidden fruit is consumed by Adam and Eve and their eyes are opened to their nakedness.
Sin makes them want to hide from God.
Genesis 3:7 – tells us their eyes were opened – in other words INNOCENCE is LOST.
But Jesus comes to turn this upside down and change the situation. Jesus wants to open our eyes to a new reality.
A New KINGDOM is reigning, the way of war and hatred has ended. God’s peace is here to change things.
On the Emmaus Road story we see this illustrated to the eye opening truth of Jesus. Jesus makes a post resurrection appearance to two men on the road to Emmaus and shares in the Lord’s Supper with them.
In Luke 24: 31 Luke tells us that the men’s eyes were opened to the identity of Jesus when he breaks the bread. The same words used of Adam and Eve in the Garden is used of these two men. Adam and Eve eat in disobedience but the men on the Road to Emmaus eat in obedience. We see the contrast – Adam and Eve’s eyes are opened to evil and all the bad things that sin brings.
The men on the Road have their eyes opened to the new reality - a new Kingdom with a new King has come to town and His blessed SHALOM is now the reigning Paradigm.
The peace that Jesus will bring in His Kingdom is different from the Peace of Augustus Caesar. The only way that Caesar could bring peace is through military might, oppression, enslavement or just social programs.
Jesus will bring a peace that is everlasting that goes to the heart of the matter. As illustrated in the Beatitudes – Jesus will bring peace by changing people into peacemakers, and those that bring the love of God into this world.
The wise rule of God will begin by a new set of Kingdom people that will set up colonies that we call Churches all over Augustus Caesar’s Empire. This New Kingdom will start inconspicuously but will eventually bring about earth shattering real change.
Jesus brings Peace – which in a Jewish sense means that he is Putting things back together.
II. God’s King will bring Truth to this world
Many people will searching for truth in the time of Jesus just like they are today. So many people in our own time desire truth.
Just look at the politics of our time and we see this ground swell of people demanding truth out of our politicians and public officials. I think that the Tea Party Movement that we see today comes from that desire. People want to be told the truth. No one accepts a lie and just is okay with it.
If someone walked up to me and said I heard you had a baby how is the little girl doing? And I said, Great, she is really growing. And then you saw Allison and asked her the same, and she said, “What are you talking about? We didn’t have a baby?” Would you walk away from that conversation fulfilled?
Would you be okay with that talk and just say, “Well Chris’ view of the truth is one thing and Allison’s view of it is another”
You would say, “One of them is a liar” and that would be right
Today we see people that do this everyday in our public officials. We want to twist words not to offend.
One may say that Islam is a religion of peace and Americans have nothing to fear from Sharia Law. Sharia Law is the public governing Law of Islam. But we look at the Middle East today and I would challenge you to find one government in that area that is run by Sharia Law that enjoys freedom.
Name one country in the Middle East where Christians have freedom to worship how they want in a government under Sharia Law?
What our politicians tell us about a religion of peace and what we see in these countries are two different things.
It is not like we have examples to look at, consider Saudia Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Syria, and even Turkey. Christians in those countries would tell you that they don’t have freedom. Many cite Turkey as a moderate Muslim country but the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church would be quick to tell you that they have no freedom in Turkey to do as they like.
But we have and answer. The truth is here and the truth was born in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago. This truth will challenge the lies of this world. The lies of false religion and even the lies of our public officials.
To see how this truth challenged the powers of His day we must go to a strange place. That place is the OT and the book of Numbers.
If you remember back many years before Jesus- Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt. They came out and were traveling called the King’s Highway to get to the Promised Land. They came out and had to travel through areas of the kinspeople – I guess you call them their distant cousins – the Edomites and Moabites. The Israelites had just fought the Amorites and defeated them and the king of Moab was nervous about this tribe of people coming through his territory. He didn’t want to oppose Israel to their face so he hired a wise man named Balaam to curse them.
Many of you remember the story of Balaam and the talking donkey. The talking donkey incident happened while Balaam was no the way to curse Israel for this King of Moab.
God obviously was not going to allow this to happen. God prevented Balaam from cursing the Israelite people and instead God sent His Holy Spirit to inspire Balaam to issue a blessing on Israel. So instead of cursing Israel Balaam will bless Israel.
We pick up this story in Numbers and I want to focus on one particular blessing that Balaam issues upon Israel.
Numbers 24:17
17 "I see him, but not now ; I behold him, but not near ; A star shall come forth from Jacob, A scepter shall rise from Israel, And shall crush through the forehead of Moab, And tear down all the sons of Sheth.
This is the passage that the Jewish people developed the idea of the star of David. You see this star of David today on the flag of the modern Israelite state. We will see this idea of the Star from Jacob come back in the NT.
IN other words Balaam is prophesying that there is a King that will come from Israel and the sign of this coming King will be a STAR.
We need to remember where Balaam this soothsayer or wise man is from. He is from the land of Persia or near the Euphrates.
Fast forward to the NT. We meet some wise men from the EAST or it could be more understood as the area of Persia near the Euphrates. You have these wisemen that follow the start to Bethlehem. These wisemen understood this prophecy. Just as Balaam came from the East and made the prophecy over Israel we now have wisemen coming from the same area in fulfillment of this prophecy.
The message is clear – A KING is born and not just any king but THE KING. The king that would come from Israel.
We see the reaction of Herod to the visit of the Wise Men. The wise men come to Jerusalem to find the King of the Jews because they have seen is star. Herod calls together the religious leaders of the Jews to inquire about this birth.
Herod then discovers that a king is to be born in Bethlehem. They jewish leaders quote Micah 5 to the King. Herod has plenty to worried about. A king is being born in Bethlehem and it is prophesied that Moab and Edom will be crushed. Herod is an Edomite so he has plenty to be concerned about.
We have made Jesus birth such a benign and romantic event that we loose sight of the danger all around Him. Herod has all of the boys 2 years and younger killed in Bethlehem because he wants to kill the baby Jesus.
Herod understands more that some people that call themselves Christians today the idea of the Lordship of Jesus. Herod understands that Jesus is the ruler and King.
This goes back to our idea of Truth.
Earlier I talked about the conflict of truth in our culture.
We crave truth, we don’t like to be lied to.
Jesus was born into an Empire and world that didn’t know what the truth was.
The ultimate truth of the Romans was – YOU DO WHAT WE SAY OR WE WILL KILL YOU.
You see this conflict with Jesus and Pilate. When Jesus in His trial is standing before Pilate we see these two ideas come together.
In John 19 when Jesus stands before the representative of the Roman Empire in Pontius Pilate we see these kingdom’s collide. Pilate asks Jesus, ARE YOU THE KING?
Jesus’s reply and Pilate’s Response is telling:
John 18: 37-38
37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king ?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." 38 Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?"
It is amazing how these ideas of Jesus’ Kingship and Truth come together. Jesus came to embody Truth – Pilate embodies an Empire that rests on lies and non-truth.
These two kingdoms are colliding and Pilate knows the only power that he has over Jesus is death.
In Chapter 19 he will remind Jesus that he has the power to kill him. And Jesus then reminds Pilate of the reality. Pilate thinks he has the power of death over Jesus but Jesus tells Pilate in chapter 19
John 19:11
"You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above ;
The only power that the kingdoms of this earth have are given to them by God.
In Jesus we see a King, a true King that can bring the Peace of God to this world.
The Peace of God or SHALOM is a restorative Peace that puts things back together, that challenges evil and hatred and is willing to die to prove it.
The Truth of Jesus challenges the falsehoods of this world.
We are called as ambassadors of this kingdom. Our ultimate allegiance is not to a flag, a country, a college football team, a school, a job, a boss, our ultimate allegiance is to Christ and His kingdom.
We are called out to bring this message of Peace and Truth to a dying world.
This truth challenges all the lies of this world- The reality is Christ and His kingdom not all of the vain attempts of man.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
The Root of Jesse Mimosa AM 9.5.10
We live in a world that if fallen and things sometimes just don’t seem right. That is obvious.
We see abject poverty and things that just make us scratch our head. As a kid my Dad listened to Jerry Clower a good bit and I remember vividly stories that Jerry Clower told about his cousin Marcel Ledbetter. Also, Clower was a football player in his earlier years and would weave in stories that had football themes. There was once such story that combined his cousin Marcel Ledbetter and football themes.
Jerry Clower always talked about how poor his cousin’s family was. He once told the story that Marcel Ledbetter was so poor that when they would just throw a bone out to his dogs in the backyard one of his dogs would signal fair catch on the bone as it came down into the yard.
I guess that is pretty poor.
We live in a world that is just out of joint, things seem strange. We see the poor, we see folks hate one another for no reason whatsoever. We see people’s life savings go up in smoke because so one on Wall Street was greedy and did things illegal with their money. We see people addicted to drugs, doing things that are just not right. And sometimes it seems that the people that are up to evil and don’t care about God seem to prosper. How do we wrap our minds around this? How do we deal with a world out of joint? What are we to think when we look at our little ones and think what type of future are they going to have in a world like this?
I will propose to you this morning that the Bible tells us that we should not be shocked. The Bible has prepared us for this reality. This is the reality of world held captive to sin, decay, and death.
In Colossians 1: 13 Paul compares and contrasts what he calls the DOMAIN OF DARKNESS and GOD’S KINGDOM OF HIS BELOVED SON
IN OUR WORLD WE LIVE IN A REALITY AND A CONFLICT BETWEEN TWO KINGDOMS- A KINGDOM OF DARKNESS AND THE KINGDOM OF JESUS CHRIST
THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS – sin, poverty, sin, hunger, addiction – hatred – it is all bred and developed in this kingdom.
Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Paul tells us that we are in an ultimate war against POWERS, WOLD FORCES OF DARKNESS, AND SPIRITUAL FORCES OF WICKEDNESS
THIS IS A SPIRITUAL BATTLE AND THE WORLD IS IN THE GRIP OF THESE DEMONIC FORCES OF DARKNESS. THIS WILL BE A STRUGGLE AND THIS MAY JUST BE A LIFE AND DEATH STRUGGLE
1 John 5:19 tells us that the ENTIRE WORLD LIVES IN THE POWER OF THE EVIL ONE
So as we look at a world we should realize that we should not be surprised that we see evil, we see things that are out of joint, we now see from Scripture that the entire world lies in the power of the evil one-
The Evil One – commands a force of darkness, a dominion of darkness, a force that is a worldwide – a force that is at present at command of the world.
That is a present condition. Things look bleak.
God created a beautiful world, a good Creation is what Genesis calls it. God called man his crowning creation by saying that the creation of man as VERY GOOD.
Imagine the pain of our Creator to see mankind rebel and Satan lead a rebellion against God.
God has a plan and a rescue operation- A plan that is a dangerous plan-
A plan that will be violently opposed.
You would not think that these worldwide forces of darkness would sit idly by and watch God inact his rescue operation. There will be violent opposition that will be involve human bloodshed and upheaval.
This morning we are going to look at this plan of God. We are going to talk about a Kingdom that God will establish on earth. A kingdom that will come in violent opposition to the Kingdom or Dominion of Darkness. God’s kingdom will come in power and will take on this kingdom of darkness.
The Kingdom of God is like a reverse screw. There was a Chrysler Car made in which the lug nuts had to be turned the opposite way for the lug nuts to be loosened. I could imagine trying to change a tire and learn that you had been tightening the lug nuts the entire time instead of loosening them. This is what the kingdom of God is like. It is the opposite of the world’s values. The values of the Bible is completely opposite many times to the values of the world.
The world tells you to go out and get yours, Scripture tells us that we are to care for others more than we care for ourselves.
The world tells us that we are to rely on strength and our own power. The Bible tells us that God’s strength is perfected in our weakness.
The world tells us that if you shoot me with a BB gun I will go and blast you with a 9 millimeter handgun. The Bible tells us to forgive those that hurt us and pray for our enemy.
The WORLD IS FLYING UPSIDE DOWN BUT GOD’S KINGDOM IS BREAKING IN TO TURN THINGS RIGHT SIDE UP.
THIS MORNING I WANT TO TOUCH ON A PART OF THE KINGDOM ANNOUNCEMENT OF GOD THAT IS NEGLECTED BUT IS A BIG PART OF OUR NT.
We are all familiar with the fact that God promised an everlasting kingdom from the House of David.
A descendent of David would sit on the throne of David forever.
What we don’t talk about much in our Churches is that many Jews before Jesus’ time and during Jesus’ day believed that God had not fulfilled his promise. Many believed that the Davidic line had been crushed or stamped out.
Many believed that David’s family had been snuffed out with no apparent heir to fulfill this promise. For God to hold true to His promise there would have to be a physical descendent of David, one from his family tree.
The passage in question that we will look at this morning is Isaiah 11. This passage predicts how David’s family will continue. Isaiah is an important book in our OT because so much of our NT uses the book of Isaiah.
This is one of the most used books of the OT used by the earliest Christians. An early Christian named Jerome once wrote a commentary on the book of Isaiah. Jerome took Isaiah so serious that to be ignorant of this book of the Bible is to be ignorant of Christ.
Isaiah writes in a time of great upheaval in Judah. During his time the kingdom of Israel is divided between the North and the South. He is ministering to the southern portion of Judah and during his lifetime the Northern tribes and the nation of Israel will be deported by Assyria.
This will be signs of things to come for Judah and eventually they will be taken off by Babylon.
Isaiah talks about things that are happening in his time but is also giving future prophecy that they will need during a tumultuous time in the nation of Israel.
Isaiah 11: 1-10
Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 3 And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear ; 4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth ; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. 5 Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist. 6 And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together ; And a little boy will lead them. 7 Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den. 9 They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea. 10 Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples ; And His resting place will be glorious.
Isaiah mentions the shoot of Jesse.
Jesse is the father of David. This is a prophecy about the Davidic line. Isaiah is talking about the image of the olive tree. In ancient Israel olive trees were very common. Some are over 1000 years old. When an olive tree no longer gives fruit it will be cut down to the root and then a shoot will grow from this root. This shoot is alive and will produce fruit.
This is what Isaiah is talking about. It appears that the Davidic line will get cut off. This will happen a little after 100 years after Isaiah prophesies this – it will appear Babylon has destroyed the Davidic line.
Babylon – Last chapter of 2 Kings – Zedekiah has all of his sons lined up in front of him and then they poke out Zedekiah’s life.
Zedekiah has an uncle named Jechoniah that had a son named Zerubabel.
Matthew’s gospel starts with the book of the genealogy of Jesus. This is very important and is sometimes overlooked but there is a surprise in this genealogy.
Matthew 1:1- David – verse 12 is the important part –
Matthew 1:12
12 After the deportation to Babylon : Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel.
We learn that the line is kept alive. The royal dynasty of David had been kept secret. After Jechoniah it is kept secret.
Verse 13 Zerubabbel – more than likely dies a violent death that Zechariah talks about being killed by the Persians. The Jews are returning to Israel from Exile and they want to keep secret the family of David’s line so that the Persians will not kill them.
The Davidic line has to go into hiding.
In Matthew 2 the word gets out to Herod that the Davidic line has continued and Herod has the innocent babies slaughtered because of this .
This royal kingdom of David is dangerous. Herod wants to kill the baby Jesus because He is the fulfillment of the promise made to David. We see Joseph is of a kingly line but he is working as a carpenter. He is not obviously out in the open about his royal blood but is living a life in a modest line of work.
Jesus the Davidic King comes from a line of David that was kept secret during the Babylonian exile. Now this has been made known and it is reason to rejoice.
The shoot of Jesse – the Son of David has been born and God’s kingdom is inbreaking.
In Isaiah 11 we see the idea of the Kingdom of God turning things back right again. Things will change. Odd things like a predator and prey will live together in harmony. God wants to reverse the Curse.
God wants to take what was once destroyed by sin, decay, and death and bring healing and life. The Kingdom is inbreaking- the kingdom is among us. For the longest the NIV has lead us to believe that the Kingdom of God is in us. People have read from this translation and even preached sermons that God’s Kingdom is in us, like some type of individualized, secret thing but it is only Biblical to see that God’s Kingdom is in our midst. God’s Kingdom is inbreaking and the world reacts violently. The stronghold of Satan is now being challenged.
It is a fact that the actions of Jesus were perceived as God’s Kingdom as coming into their midst.
This kingdom will be different than anything else the world has ever witnessed.
From this story we can see this illustrated.
1) Quiet – in breaking – it will not come with bells and whistles, not fireworks. God’s kingdom will come almost without one noticing. Consider Joseph- He is of the Davidic line, he is royalty but he works as a carpenter.
That tells us a lot about our own calling. We have no place for worldly ambition in the Kingdom. Jesus wants us to work in our lives and ply away understanding the God’s Kingdom is inbreaking and we are called to bring that Kingdom rule to the world.
1 Thessalonians 4:11
“make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need”
We are to work and live quiet lives, if possible, not calling attention to ourselves unnecessarily. We are to work hard at our jobs and show outsiders what Christian living is about-that we are working for Christ and not just for man.
Paul goes into even more detail about what Kingdom living looks like for families and for our work or trade.
Colossians 3:18-24
Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. 20 Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart. 22 Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
What if we were to put Paul’s message into 21st century and make it direct toward us? What would Paul tell us?
Personally, It may say,
Be the best father you can be for your daughters. Be the best teacher you can be, be the best football coach you can be, and study hard and work hard as an evangelist for Mimosa because you are working for Christ and not man.
It may say to our students in this church. When you go to school this week be the best student you can be for your teachers.
Be the best employee you can be for your boss. Live a quiet life. When people look at members from here we want them to see people that live in a way that baffles people.
Why do we do this – for God’s glory- for His kingdom. Just as it seemed the Davidic line was gone, but a shoot from Jesse sprung up, Joseph of Nazareth – the word Nazareth means root – Joseph is royalty but works quietly, Jesus has a trade until He is 30 and then ministers.
Once upon a time there was a good and kind king who had a great kingdom with many cities. In one distant city, some people took advantage of the freedom the king gave them and started doing evil. They profited by their evil and began to fear that the king would interfere and throw them in jail. Eventually these rebels seethed with hatred for the king. They convinced the city that everyone would be better off without the king, and the city declared its independence from the kingdom.
But soon, with everyone doing whatever they wanted, disorder reigned in the city. There was violence, hatred, lying, oppression, murder, rape, slaver and fear. The king thought: “What should I do? If I take my army and conquer the city by force, the people will fight against me, and I’ll have to kill so many of them, and the rest will only submit through fear or intimidation, which will make them hate me and all I stand for weven more. How does that help them – to be either dead or imprisoned or secretly seething with rage? But if I leave them alone, they’ll destroy each other, and it breaks my heart to think of the pain they’re causing and experiencing.”
So the king did something very surprising. He took off his robes and dressed in the rags of a homeless wanderer. Incognito, he entered the city and began living in a vacant lot near a garbage dump. He took up a trade – fixing broken pottery and furniture. Whenever people came to him, his kindness and goodness and fairness and respect were so striking that they would linger just to be in his presence. They would tell him their fears and questions, and ask his advice. He told them that the rebels had fooled them, that the true king had a better way to live, which exemplified and taught. One by one, then two by two, and then by the hundreds, people began to have confidence in him and live in his way.
Their influence spread to others, and the movement grew and grew until the whole city regretted its rebellion and wanted to return to the kingdom again. But, ashamed of their horrible mistake, they were afraid to approach the king, believing he would certainly destroy them for their rebellion. But the kin-in-disguise told them the good news: he himself was king, and he loved them. He held nothing against them, and welcomed them back into his kingdom, having accomplished by a gentle, subtle presence what never could have been accomplished through brute force.”
Our Master did just this. He came into our world and people didn’t recognize the very Creator of the Universe in their midst. He humbled Himself and drew people to him. He did even more by giving His own life.
He loved us so much that he gave His own life to provide a way. WE are called in response to give our lives.
Let us be challenged that when we go into the workplace, into school as students, in the home to raise our kids – It is all for God’s glory, It is all for His kingdom. We are the ambassadors of the Kingdom so let us behave like it.
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