A Work In Progress

Matthew 2:19-23 — As we conclude our look at this passage today, we will look at why Matthew felt it important to point out the significance of Jesus and his family setting down in a town called Nazareth and why “it fulfilled what the prophets had said, ‘He will be called a Nazarene.’” When you look in the Old Testament you will not find that specific statement. Is this a biblical error on Matthew’s part? Nazareth was an insignificant town in the New Testament era and it certainly was more so in the Old Testament era. What was Matthew referring to when he writes this in his gospel? So let’s dig a little deeper as to why this was considered an important point to Matthew.

According to the footnote in my Chronological Life Application Study Bible, there is no specific statement in the Old Testament that says the Messiah will be called a Nazarene. It goes on to state that most scholars believe that Matthew is referring to Isaiah 11:1 where the Hebrew word for branch is similar to the Hebrew word for Nazareth. The Hebrew word for branch is “netzer” and in Isaiah 11:1 it says, “”Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.” So, again, if this is the case, Matthew is tying Jesus’ lineage back to David. King David, the most beloved of Israel’s rulers, was the stem of Jesse, his father. And it was from David’s lineage that God said that a king from his line would rule on David’s throne forever. So, ever trying to point out Jesus’ royal roots and his Messianic fulfillment, Matthew sees the significance of Jesus being from a town called Nazareth. Though it did not seem like it to many, Jesus was the branch of which Isaiah spoke. He was the promised Messiah. Although he was not born to kings and was raised in a small, out of the way, town, Matthew sees that it could not be any other way and was pointing that out to people.

Their expectations of the Messiah had strayed far from Scripture and, certainly, most Jews thought that a prophet who died on the cross, was from Nazareth of all places, could not be the Messiah. It kind of reminds you of Ted Mosby on the television show, How I Met Your Mother. He was forever in the show looking for that perfect girl and would end a relationship with any girl because they did not meet his ideal of his perfect girl. So, it was with the Jews, with the Messiah having been right in their midst and lived out His life according to the prophecies for the Messiah, they would not see Him because He did not fit their idealized Messiah. Their Messiah was the one with the best horse, the best armor, the best superhero powers who would vanquish their Roman overlords and re-establish the political kingdom of Israel. The idealized Messiah was not the Messiah of Scripture any longer. They had morphed Him into what they wanted Him to be and not the suffering servant that was to save man from his sin as the Scriptures state. Matthew was pointing out to the Jews that, regardless of what their idealized Messiah was, Jesus held true to all the prophecies of the Messiah. Matthew might as well be pointing that out to us today. Don’t we often in modern society morph Jesus into what we want Him to be rather than what Scripture says? We need reminders from Matthew and the other authors in the Bible of who Jesus really was. Matthew was a stickler for Scripture. He knew it well. We should too so that we will not be led astray by people’s idealized Jesuses. We may not be making the Messiah into a war hero who was to vanquish and occupying force today but there are those who twist the Jesus of Scripture into something that He is not (1) because they do not know or read the Bible and (2) they want to confuse people and use Jesus to meet their own political or social agendas. Let us be like Matthew who studied Scripture and recognized that Jesus was the Messiah. Let us study Scripture so we do not miss the truth that lies within its pages. Let us study Scripture so that we do not lead ourselves or others astray about what the Bible says. Let us study Scripture so that we can defend our faith in the face of false teachers and in the face of hatred of our faith. Yesterday, we wanted to be like Joseph. Today, let’s add Matthew to that list.

I think the second thing that Matthew was trying to do here by saying that Jesus was a Nazarene was to make a commentary about the perceptions of the day of Nazareth. Nazareth was a small town in the back waters of Galilee. For us folk who live in Spartanburg County, SC who can identify with this statement, it would be like being from Gaffney! If they would have had the term “redneck” back in Jesus’ day, that’s the label he would have been given because He was from Nazareth. Nazareth was no cultural center. It was the regional crossroads town for farmers and shepherds. It was a farming town. In Nazareth, there was a lot of hard working folks so there wasn’t a lot of sitting around having theological discussions or discussions of the politics of the day. They were just trying to feed their families and have enough left over to sell at market. It didn’t have the best reputation because it was just a hick town. I imagine people from Nazareth might have been regarded much the same was as “rednecks” are today. For whatever reason, people looked down on them. In fact, scripture records in John 1:46, Nathanael said of Jesus “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” The book of Isaiah 53 says that the Messiah would be despised and would not be attractive to people. It was prophesied in this scripture that the Jewish people would reject Him. Jesus, thus, knew of what it is like to be from the wrong side of the tracks. He knew what it was like to be rejected just because of who you were. Being from Nazareth growing up, people probably judged him as a hick, country boy with no education and as one not to be highly regarded. Thus, Jesus had humble beginnings just as Micah had predicted in Micah 5:2. Jesus was born humbly, lived humbly, and died humbly. If you feel like you are not enough, Jesus knows you. If you feel like your background prevents you from being an honored child of God, Jesus says you are wrong. He says I was born with no silver spoon in my mouth. He says I know you. If you think that your past keeps you from being in the fellowship of believers, think again. Jesus knows what it is like to feel rejected by the hypocrites of His day. Jesus says I know you. There is not one of us that is excluded from Jesus’ family just because of our past, our history, or where we are from, He says I know you and I can identify with you and I love you. Come, sit at my table.

We thank the Apostle Matthew for showing us that Jesus is the real Messiah of Scripture and helps us to see that fact even when we try to make Jesus into something that is different from what the Word says. Thank you Matthew for showing us that Jesus can make even what we consider insignificant and unwanted by human standards into something beautiful and special. Jesus is different from what we know and how we judge things and how we categorize things. He does not hold our past against us. Jesus knows your beginnings. Jesus knows your past. He knows where you from and everything you’ve done. When you come to Him with a repentant heart, He will make you into something beautiful and clean.

Matthew 2:19-23 — You know back in the 90’s there was a ad campaign and I cannot even remember the product but the jingle was “I want to be like Mike”. It featured Michael Jordon – the greatest basketball player the professional game of basketball has ever known. Michael worked hard at his game. And he wasn’t just a scoring machine. He was named several times the Defensive Player of the Year. He had a complete and well rounded game. He was simply the best all around basketballer around. It would be a high goal to be like Mike in anything endeavor. Focus, dedication, tenacity. We would do well to apply ourselves to our vocations the way Michael did.

But today, let’s talking about being like Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus. He is to me the Michael Jordan-esque find of dad. Yes, this message is mainly for dads but I think all can gain some insight from being like Joseph.

Again, here we see Joseph hearing from the Lord in a vision or dream telling him first that Herod The Great had died (4 BC) and second that his son, Archelaus, had been appointed leader of Judea and Samaria by Caesar Augustus. Archelaus was such an evil king that he had about 40 conspiriators killed you removed the Roman eagle from the archway of the temple. Later, he order the killing of 3,000 Jews in the temple during Passover who were protesting against him for having killed the teachers and others who had tried to remove the eagle. He was as bad or worse than his father when it came to ruthlessness. In these two visions, Joseph learned that He needed to return to Palestine but not to return to Bethlehem. There are several things that are striking here but for today we will look at Joseph again hearing from God. It’s like Joseph has a God hotline or something. The dude is connected. But what’s all the more striking is that we know of other biblical characters who fight with God about his commands (Job, Elijah, just to name two) but with Joseph we hear no argument.

Again in this passage as in earlier passages of the first two chapters, Joseph has been given commands from God through his angels and then without question Joseph follows those commands. I think that we can learn several things from these repeated visions of Joseph.

First, I think it a testament to Joseph faith. He was to me a man of great faith. He must have prayed frequently. He must have listened to and possibly read Scriptures repeatedly and often such that God’s Word was hidden in his heart. He must have viewed his life through the filter of how does what I do give God glory. He must have viewed his life through a God perspective. He must have made God a part of his 24/7/365 life. Without this constant focus on God, I think it would have been impossible for him to hear from God directly so frequently. We should do well to have this kind of God focus in our lives. So many of us compartmentalize our faith. We may focus on God on Sunday mornings but we put our faith back in the box and put it on the shelf in the garage until next Sunday. We, particularly as men, think of our workplace as completely separate from God. We do not bring God to work with us. On weekends, we do not make God part of our Saturdays either. Yet, on Sunday, we remember that we have our God box out in the garage, metaphorically speaking. We make demands on God when we do pray on those rare occasions. We do not pray seeking God’s will. We want God to give us what we want rather than us seeking to be compliant with God’s will. Maybe this is why Joseph heard so frequently from God and we don’t. We don’t have laser-like focus on God. We don’t see our lives through a God lens (we see through our own lenses). We do not see God as integrated into every aspect of our existence. Joseph did I bet and I bet this is part of the reason that God entrusted Him with raising Jesus. With us, God will entrust us with little if we seek His will only a little. He will entrust us with more of his kingdom when we trust Him completely and make him a part of everything we do – work, home, play.

Second, in Joseph’s compliance to the will of God, Joseph gave Jesus (even though He was the Son of God) and earthly example of a father who was compliant with God’s will. Surely, in His humanness, Jesus must of thought of his earthly father’s complete willingness to follow God’s commands when was in His ministry years. He probably thought fondly of his earthly dad when praying and communing with His Father in heaven. Joseph was a mighty human example to his earthly children. Not only did He raise the Son of God but Jesus’ little brother, James, went on to become a leader in the early church. Sure, Joseph knew Jesus would become something special but Joseph set the example of a godly man not only for Jesus’ sake but for his other children as well. We should dare to do so well as Joseph as earthly fathers. He was compliant with God at every turn that see of him in the Bible. We may not have the extreme faith of Joseph and we are not charged with raising the child Jesus but we do as fathers have the Word of God at our disposal. May we be like Joseph as much as we can. Let us set examples to our children that we follow the commands of God as laid out in His Word. Let us look back years later and see sons and daughters who do the same because of seeing us as dads following the Word of God even when it was painful to us. Let us be Joseph-like fathers who realize everything we do has a impact on our children and our children’s children. Let us demonstrate to them honest, humble men who are seeking after God’s own heart.

Father in heaven, help me to have the laser-focus on you that Joseph had. Help me to make you a part of everything I say and do. Help me to seek after you daily and by minute. Help me to demonstrate to my family that I am a dad who loves the Lord with all my mind, all my heart, all my soul, and all my strength. Help me to realize that they imitate what they see us as dads do. Let them see an humble servant of the Lord. Amen.

Matthew 2:13-18 — In church leadership, you often find that no matter how many times or how many different ways you communicate with people, some will say, “Well, I never heard about that!” Sometimes, you have just have to smile knowing that there was multiple printed references in the bulletin, announcements from the stage, churchwide emails and social media posts, personal emails from leaders and so on. Sometimes, people just zone out and ignore the information that is readily available. Much of it can be traced the cluttered media age in which we live. People often have now so much much information to deal with that they become numb to it all. They tune out. I think this concept can be as true with our relationships with God as it is with the flow of information in church.

Have you ever wondered why some people are so in tune with God and why others, maybe you and me, who have trouble hearing from God. We have a perfect example right here in this passage. Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, has now in this passage heard twice from God as it relates to his fatherhood and protection of the child Jesus. It is a reminder to us that divine guidance only can come through prepared hearts.

Although we do not hear anymore references to a living Joseph after Matthew 2, he is prevalent here in the first two chapters in Matthew. But the glimpse that we see of Joseph here is one of a devout believer in the God of Israel. He seems to be a man in tune with the Spirit of God. He hears from God when Mary’s life could have been in danger. He hears from God when young Jesus’ life could have been in danger. The fact that Joseph had these visions are obvious examples of a man that was a true believer in God. For him to hear from God in these direct ways, he must have been a person that lived out his faith everyday in every possible way. You wonder why Jesus was not born to a family of the religious elite in Jerusalem. I dare say that this is why. Joseph was probably one of the few people of the day that took his relationship with the Lord seriously and made it a part of his everyday life. When we are humbly submitted to the Lord and seeking Him in everything that we do, it is much easier to hear from the Lord. When the Lord is part of your every thought and every action, it is much easier to hear from the Lord. It is when we submit to the Lord in prayer and seek to be intimate with Him that we can hear from the Lord more readily. Intimate prayer with the Lord is more than prayer over a meal or talking to God while you are mowing grass or taking your morning commute. Intimate time with the Lord is when we seriously commit to paying attention to Him alone in prayer. It is similar to marriage in that we get out of it what we put into it. How much more intimate are our relationships with our spouses when we make time to give them our undivided attention. Husband who do not understand their wives often it is because they fail to truly spend time with them where they give them their undivided attention. The same is true for wives concerning their husbands. Based on the evidence of Joseph’s hearing from God, it is logical to believe that Joseph was amazingly devoted to His Lord.

If we are not hearing from the Lord, not getting guidance from Him, maybe it is because we are not intimate with the Lord. How is your prayer life? How much is God a part of your daily life? You hear is so many times from people. I say it myself sometimes. We say, why can’t I hear from the Lord on this issue. Why won’t God tell me what to do? I don’t understand why God will not give me guidance on this issue. You’ve said these things before. Haven’t you? I know I sure have. I think God speaks to us daily. It is a matter of whether we are listening or not. When we pray while we are doing chores, exercising, are we really listening? Do we really spend time with God giving him our undivided attention? We let the white noise of the world around get in the way all too often. We let life’s cares get in the way. We let ourselves get in the way. We let worry get in the way. We let bills get in the way. We let our responsibilities of life get in the way. We let ourselves and the things that are important to us get in the way. We try to be our own gods. We try to handle and manage our own affairs and we only go to God when we cannot do it ourselves. Have we ever tried truly submitting to the Lord? Have we let the Lord be the central focus of everything that we do. Do we make Him a part of our every move throughout the day? Do we think of how we react to everyday situations and how that reaction would or would not bring glory to God? Do we think of God being right there with us in everything we do? Only a prepared heart can hear what God has to say to us. Our hearts are prepared by being totally submitted to God. We seek His will and not our own. We treat God like He is the Creator of the Universe and the Master of All Things instead of like a last resort vending machine. Push a button and get what WE want from God. How wrong of a pecking order to we have when we demand things from God instead of listening to the Almighty God in submission to His Greatness. Maybe this is why we read of Joseph hearing from God so often.

Father, help us to clear out all the clutter of life and busy thoughts and focus on you. Help us to be intimate with you like Joseph. Help us to make you a part of everything we do. Help us to think of you every minute of everything we do. Help us to seek your will and not our own. Help us to recognize the order of things where you are first and we are something after that. Help us to put you first in our lives and not our spouses, jobs, children, our grown-up toys and hobbies. Help us to seek you daily and constantly. Help us to view life as to how everything we do should bring glory to you. Simply, Lord, help us to be more intimate with you such that we can recognize your voice and act upon what you guide us to do. Help us to have prepared hearts that are receptive and in tune with you. Amen.

Matthew 2:1-12 — The final verse of this passage tells us, “When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.” As we make the final blog entry for this passage, it reminds us of our own encounters with the King of Kings. From this verse, we can learn two things. Until we meet Jesus personally, we are searching and seeking and it is only after meeting Him that we can know God. And we cannot return unto the path which brought us here is the other.

Did you notice in this verse that the wise men were warned by God. These wise men are mentioned nowhere else in Scripture but after meeting, worshiping and bestowing gifts upon the child Jesus, they are able to hear directly from God. When this passage opens and from historical records, we know the magi were the academic class of the Babylonian and then Parthian empires. We know that they know of Scripture because of the legacy of Daniel. It is the legacy of Daniel and their study of Scripture that brings them into this scene in the Gospel of Matthew. They knew the prophecies of the Old Testament. They had all the book knowledge of Scripture, but they were still seeking. They were asking questions so that they could find the baby Jesus. They did not know how to find Him themselves. They were guided along the way. The seeds were planted in their lineage hundreds of years earlier. They had all the head knowledge of Scripture but yet they were still lost. It was not until they met Jesus for themselves that everything became clear. Their book knowledge became alive and real when they met Jesus. They understood what the Scriptures meant. They understood they were in the presence of the promised Messiah. God’s Word had come alive.

Is it not the same for us? We can be readers of the Bible without being saved. We can have all the book knowledge of Scripture that we need. We can see it is as an awesome collection of literature. We can discount the miracles as myth. We can discount Jesus as the Son of God and make Him in a radical rabbi martyr for the causes of the downtrodden. But it is not until we encounter Jesus on our knees seeking Him as our Savior that we truly understand and believe. It is only then that we begin to be more in tune with God through the workings of the Holy Spirit in our soul. We are finally able to clear through all the white noise of the idols in our lives and hear from God through the Holy Spirit. It was the same for the magi. After encountering Jesus and being moved by orchestra workings of God, they became believers, I think. They were able to hear from God when they were not able to before. The white noise of the idols in their lives was cleared away and they could hear from God.

What they heard from God was that they must not return to Jerusalem to see Herod. God likely warned them because He knew that Herod would most likely kill them for the information that they had. God had greater plans for them back home as new believers. Is this not true for us as well. After we have accepted Christ as our Savior, we cannot return to the path that brought us to the cross. We must go on a new path. We want to go on a new path. When I look back on the person I was before salvation, I don’t want to go back there. When I look at the person I was at salvation compared to the more mature Christian that I am now, I do not want to go back where I was. I think that this is the identifying mark of salvation compared to a spiritual warm fuzzy on a Sunday morning where you are emotionally moved by the music and the sermon. Being emotionally moved without life change is not salvation. When we encounter Jesus and we truly accept Him as our Savior, we know we are not the same anymore. We do, yes, have a couple of months of emotionally driven zealousness after salvation, but the fruit of salvation is when that wears off and we make both the mental and emotional choices to continue to follow Jesus and to make the tough choices about our lives and what needs to change and conform to the image of Christ. It is the Holy Spirit that spurs us to make the tough choices to change who we are. It is the Holy Spirit that changes us from the inside out in a painful and humbling process that takes a lifetime. That’s salvation. That’s turning away from my old life and seeking the new. That’s humbling desiring to be more and more like Jesus daily and acting on those ugly things about ourselves that the Holy Spirit reveals to us daily. A spiritual warm fuzzy may last a week or two and then we return to the route we came by. Same friends. Same playgrounds. Same behaviors. It is only through true salvation that we don’t see this Jesus thing as something restrictive but rather as a new way of life where everything is new. True salvation brings changes and we want the changes. True salvation shows us that the road we WERE on would have led us to destruction. True salvation shows what we have been saved from and why. We are changed forever. We cannot and do not want to go down the same old roads anymore. We are like the magi in that way. We leave after meeting Jesus and go on a new road, a different road, not the way we came.

This simple verse says volumes. We are changed by meeting Jesus. When we accept Him as our Savior we clear out all the clutter of the idols of our lives and we can begin to hear from God through the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that changes us from within to without, from the inside out. It is through the Holy Spirit that we change the roads that we are on. We no longer can ride the roads that we have been riding. We are changed. We want more out of life than our old life was giving us. We want to be changed. We want the new road, the different road, not the road that brought to the cross, but the new road behind the cross, in the shadow of the cross. Amen and Amen.

Matthew 2:1-12 — Again, as we pass through this passage of Scripture, Matthew 2:1-12, we know this story so well. There are not many of us in America that have not heard this story on television, film, and in countless nativity scenes or plays across the country over the years. We have heard the story and seen the scene so many time that we tend to gloss over the individual pieces of this passage. It’s kind of like driving to work in the morning. You’ve done it so many times that you forget the scenery. But let us refocus today and look at little closer at the scenery. Today, let’s look at the gifts given by the magi. They are not just cute things for our kids to carry in a nativity play. They signify the three aspects of who Jesus Christ really is.

First, he was brought gold. In the time that Jesus was born, it was common practice to give gifts of gold to the male sons of kings as it was a symbol of the future kingship of the son. So, the gold was to signify that the Magi saw Jesus as a king. Gold was difficult to mine in those days so it’s scarcity made it even more valuable in those days that it is today. Therefore, gold was often reserved for king’s palaces and places of worship. The gift itself would not have been lost on Matthew’s Jewish audience. They would thought more of it than we do when we watch a nativity play and being more interested in the fact that little Jimmy was the wise guy who gave the gift of gold and did so without knocking over the stage. The Jews would have recognized that the gift of gold was because the magi recognized Jesus as a king. A king is someone who has authority to rule and reign over a group of people. Jesus is just such a king. He is called the King of the Jews by the Magi (Matt. 2:2), and Jesus accepts that title in Matt. 27:11, “Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor questioned Him, saying, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’ And Jesus said to him, ‘It is as you say.’” Matt. 21:5 speaks of Jesus and says, “Behold your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey.” Remember, Jesus is King in that He rules and judges. “And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war,” (Rev. 19:11). The armies follow Him (Rev. 19:14). Jesus has complete authority over us and thus is rightfully our king. We are children of the one true king.

They also brought frankincense. Frankincense was once greatly valued throughout the Middle East, from Rome to India. It was very expensive and a gift having a wonderful fragrance. It was used for a variety of purposes such as incense (Ex. 30:34), medical treatment, and perfume (Song of Solomon 3:6; 4:14). We discover from the Bible that frankincense was used in worship. Thus, the presentation of this gift signifies the Magis belief that Jesus was a priest and had a priestly destiny. The priests were the ones in the Old Testament who offered sacrifices to God in order to cleanse of sin. Ultimately, all such priests were representations of Jesus who is the True Priest who offered Himself as a sacrifice (Eph. 5:2, Heb. 9:26-27, 10:12) by which He cleanses us of our sin (1 John 1:7). But, Jesus is called a priest after the order of Melchizedek. “Where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” (Heb. 6:20). Heb. 9:11 says, “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation.” As a priest, Jesus is our mediator between God and ourselves (1 Tim. 2:5). In the case of the priest, he delivers the sacrifices of people to God from bottom to top. So, Jesus is a prophet who delivers the Word of God to us, and He is also the priest who delivers His sacrifice on our behalf to God the father.

Myrrh was less expensive than frankincense, but was still highly valued. It is first mentioned in the Bible in Gen. 37:25, where it was being carried by camels on a caravan. Myrrh was used for a variety of purposes, such as: a perfume (Song of Solomon 3:6; 4:14), an anesthetic, burial embalming (John 19:39), as an ingredient in anointing oil, and to deodorize clothes. According to Esther 2:12, it was also a cosmetic used by women. John 19:39 records that myrrh was used in Jesus’ burial. This gift thus signifies was to be our sacrificial savior in that he makes us beautiful (cleansed of our sins) through his death on the cross. That it was used so often as a burial anointing gives us a glimpse of Jesus as prophet. Prophets were typically killed for bringing God’s messages to the people that they often did not want to hear. Jesus’ message that kingdom of God was at hand in Him was not popular. His message of disdain for the hypocrisy of man (all pious on the outside and evil on the inside) was not popular. His message of the redemption of sinners regardless of how bad you have been was not popular. His message about the things that we place value in here on earth meaning nothing in eternity was unsettling to say the least. The frankincense was a symbol of the sacrifice that Jesus would make to bring the message of God to man.

Priest, prophet, king. Jesus was all of these things. He is the only person in the Bible to whom all three of these offices can be ascribed. Some have been two of the three but none have been all three. Priest, prophet, king. Jesus is all three. He is the divine ruler of man. He has authority over all creation. He has authority over each and everyone of us, regardless of whether you believe in Him or not. He is a prophet that gives us words that we need to hear but may not necessarily like. Priest, He is, because he intercedes on our behalf with the Father in heaven. He can enter into the holy of holies and plead our case before the Father. He is the sacrifice before the Lord that makes us right with God. Priest, prophet, king. May Savior.

Sometimes, we need to stop and examine the scenery a little more closely to take in the true value of the scene. The nativity is not just a cute story. It is packed with power, symbolism and meaning. Let us not go through the motions of the nativity scene. Let us brew on it like coffee to get its full value, taste, and meaning. The gifts are more than just props for our kids to carry in a nativity play. They are gifts that signify the greatness of the one and only true king, priest, and prophet, Jesus Christ.

Matthew 2:1-12 — There is a movie from about a decade ago that is one of my guilty pleasures called Talledega Nights. In that movie there is a scene when Ricky Bobby’s wife gets tired of him praying about baby Jesus all the time. She said, “He did grow up you know!” But Ricky says, “I like baby Jesus the best!” One of the other characters in that scene says, “I like my Jesus coming down with eagles wings, and singin’ lead vocals for Lynyrd Skynyrd with like an angel band.”  I think that these sentiments expressed in one of the oddest dinner scenes in all of movie history though intended to just be silly does have pointed commentary on the way we treat Jesus today. And we have history on our side in that effort. Throughout the centuries, man has tried to make Jesus fit their needs. Just look back at the birth of Jesus.

Isn’t it amazing, when you think on this story, that it was foreigners from a foreign land that recognized the significance of what the star in the sky over Bethlehem meant while it was God’s chosen people who did not recognize who Jesus was. Think about it. The magi were academic types, well versed in the physical sciences and in philosophy. They were advisors to a king of a nation that worshiped idols to a false god. Yet, it was there knowledge of Jewish scripture and of the movements of the stars in the sky that led them to believe that the Jewish scriptures had been fulfilled – a king was to be born in Bethlehem. On the other hand, King Herod, ruler over Judea from 37BC to 4BC, was such a selfish man, he only saw this talk of a prophesied baby king as a threat to his rule, his power, his way of life. None of God’s people recognized that Jesus was the Messiah. The Jews wanted a warrior Messiah. They did not want a humbly born baby Messiah nor what He grew up to be. Don’t you find amazing parallels in today’s world because we lack knowledge of Scripture.

The magi knew that something of great significance was happening because they were well-versed in the Old Testament Scriptures. They knew the prophecies. It was they who understood what was going on. However, what was supposed to be God’s chosen people could not see the Messiah because He did not match their expectations. There expectations were, well, honestly not in line with Scripture. Are we not the same today? Do we not often make Jesus out to be what we want Him to be because it suits our needs. The Jews of the first century wanted a Jesus that would appear on the horizon one day that was, excuse my language, but a bad-ass Rambo kind of Messiah. They wanted their Messiah to be a Rambo like character who would single-handedly led a rebellion to overthrow the Roman occupying force. They wanted a warrior who would run the Romans out of Palestine and re-establish the Isrealite kingdom that had known such glory under David and Solomon. They had completely forgotten Scripture or twisted the words of Scripture to mean what they wanted it to mean. They wanted their plan and not necessarily God’s plan. They have suffered under first, Assyrian and Babylonian rule, then the Greeks under Alexander the Great and his successors, and then finally now the Romans. They wanted political freedom. They wanted freedom from foreign rule and excessive taxation. They wanted a warrior Messiah. They kind of had forgotten about the whole suffering servant prophecies who would redeem the hearts and souls of His people. That Messiah did not fit their agenda.

When you really think about this, it is not really all that different today is it? Today, we may think the opposite of Jesus. We do not want Him to be a warrior king to throw off our shackles of oppression as the Jews did, but, in effect, we are the same as first century Jews. We make Jesus into what we want Him to be also. In his article shared at http://www.churchleaders.com, entitled “Was Jesus Always Nice?”, John MacArthur says,

“Modern writers, agnostic academics and liberal theologians always stress the kindness and gentleness of Christ. Their Jesus—not the One found in Scripture, but the one concocted from their own imaginations and preferences—is effectively an ideological and theological pacifist. He preached only love and self-sacrifice, never judged or discriminated, and wasn’t dogmatic about the truth. In effect, the Jesus they’ve manufactured pleads, “Can’t we all just get along?” with people of all faiths.”

Because of lack of Scriptural knowledge, we want to make Jesus into this peace-loving beatnik, flower-child from the 1960’s. We want Jesus to be “peace-love-dove” that doesn’t care what you do and forgives it all. We do not know Scripture so this Jesus sells. There is no judgment in Jesus in today’s world. Certainly, yes, Jesus was compassionate. And, yes, He died for the forgiveness of our sins. But, He had great disdain for those who twisted God’s Word to their advantage. He had great disdain for those who acted piously but yet ignored God’s commands. He was not at all peace-love-dove when it came to the Pharisees. He laid the wood to them. This is definitely different from the anything-goes-Jesus-just-wants-me-to-be-happy Jesus of today. Jesus stood for the truth of God’s Word and would not relent from it. He said that not one iota of Scripture would pass away. God’s truth never changes and Jesus called people out on it! He would do the same thing if He was here today. He will do the same thing when He returns. He will say to some go away from me for I never knew you. We must understand Scripture so that we do not get swept away by those who twist Scripture to justify their behaviors or twist Scripture to align the church with the culture of the times. Jesus is the righteous judge not the hippy-dippy anything goes Jesus that soothes popular culture in the 21st century.

Often we ignore Scripture like King Herod today. Herod ignored Scripture because it was inconvenient to him. He was a sadistic, paranoid ruler who killed his sons and at least one of his wives to maintain his power and control of his throne. We often ignore Scripture when its convenient for us too. We rationalize away our behavior as this part of my life I get to keep for myself. Instead of twisting Scripture to make it say what we want it to say, we just plain out ignore it. Herod did it. So do we. The newborn baby Jesus was a threat to Herod’s lifestyle so he wanted to make Jesus go away. He murdered the baby boys in Bethlehem in that attempt. How often do we ignore Scripture in the process of getting what we want. How often do we rationalize way unrepentant practice of sinful behavior by politely ignoring those parts of the Bible. How often do we walk away from Scripture altogether and say there is no God just so we can live our lives the way we want to and hold on to those sins that we want to hold on to. How often do we ridicule the church because we are afraid of the truth of the Bible. Saying or acting like the Bible does not exist as the one source for the eternal truth of God that never changes does not mean that it is not that. Ignoring God’s eternal truth does not make it any less true and any less eternal. Standing in the middle of the interstate and saying that there are no cars will not make the cars go away. You will get hit!

The irony of the birth story of Jesus Christ was that it was the foreigners that knew Scripture better than God’s chosen people that recognized that the Messiah had been born in Bethlehem. The Jews were too busy making Jesus into who they wanted Him to be. The Jews were too busy figuring out how inconvenient Jesus was to their lifestyle and expectations. Are we not the same today? Let us be a people who understands Scripture thoroughly and is discerning about that which is not of God through that understanding. Help us not be be swayed by the culturalization of Jesus. Help us not to twist Jesus into what we want Him to be. Help us to not ignore the truth about Him. Help us not to ignore God’s eternal truths as revealed in Scripture. Help us to read it, learn it and know it and especially live out its truths. Help us to have the discernment to recognize the Messiah for who He is and what our relationship is to him. Amen and amen.

Matthew 2:1-12 — Are you all-in? Are you committed? These questions are often easy to answer when it comes our favorite football team.

How often do we seek Jesus? Here in the nativity story, we see these wise men traveling great distances to see Jesus and to bring gifts to Him. They traveled probably 500 miles to see Jesus. They may not sound like much to you and me in the 21st century where we can drive 500 miles in about 7 hours, maybe as long as 8 if you stop for food. In those days, travel by camel was maxed out at about 10 miles per day. So, it would have taken them about 50 days to reach Bethlehem from the time they set out. These guys really wanted to see Jesus.

The magi traveled great distances to see Jesus. How often do we put forth effort to see Jesus? We often expect Jesus to come looking for us and, yes, He pursues the lost sheep relentlessly, but how often do we really seek Him as His followers. We think God should explain Himself to us. We think He should prove who He is to us and give us gifts. Just think of how often we pray to Him in a selfish manner. Father, give me! Father, grant me! Father, this is what I need to happen! God, if you do this for me, I promise to do this for you! Should we not be seeking God’s will and not our own? We should be seeking to know what God wants us to do and not the other way around. We should be seeking to know Him more intimately. The wise men knew of the prophesied Messiah, but they went and sought Him out. They seeked and they found. It was not enough for them to just know of the Messiah. They wanted to see Him personally. How personal is our relationship with God? Do we seek Him? Do we seek to know His will for our lives?

These men undoubtedly sacrificed time to seek to be closer to the Messiah. How often do you and I sacrifice time for Jesus? How often do you and I prefer to sit safely in our pews or seats on Sunday morning and that’s it? How often do we what is necessary to seek to be closer to Jesus? We often participate in the ministry of Jesus only when its convenient to our schedules. I will serve on a ministry team as long as it does not interrupt my work schedule and my play time. We make excuses as to why we cannot serve. Sometimes we don’t make excuses at all. We just don’t show up. That service opportunity is just to inconvenient; it’s right in the middle of my Sunday afternoon nap time. That service opportunity is while I will be in Columbia for the Carolina game or I will be in Clemson to see the Tigers play. It’s summertime, we will be at Six Flags that day. We will be on vacation that day. Our time is often selfishly protected. Being there at church on Sunday is good enough. The magi thought enough of Jesus to drop what they were doing and travel 50 days to Bethlehem to meet the Messiah. Yet, we can’t break away from our TV set to help repair the bathroom of an old lady who cannot afford to fix it. Yet, working two services on Sunday so that those who come on our church campus can have an experience of worship that is seamless and all they have to worry about is worship. Two services? Be at church for more than 1 hour? Think about the time not just getting there but getting back home for the magi – 50 days up to Bethlehem and 50 days back. That was over three months! They wanted to see Jesus. They took the time. They made it a priority in their lives. Do we who know Jesus Christ as our Savior need to look at the magi for an example of willingness?

These men undoubtedly sacrificed resources to seek to be closer to the Messiah. How deep is our commitment to Jesus? How much of our resources are we willing to part with to be obedient to Him? The magi as important men in the Parthian empire most likely would have had a large entourage of servants with them to attend to their needs. For a journey of 50 days up and then 50 days back, they would have needed many supplies for the journey. It took some resource planning for sure even before they left home. They committed, most likely, some serious resources to make this journey. Why? They wanted to meet Jesus face to face. They wanted to see the Messiah. No matter the cost to them personally, they were committed to spend it. How often do you and I not even think of the church when we get our paychecks? How often is our generosity toward the cause of Christ not even in our budgets? How often do we make it an afterthought? How often to we not think about it at all until we feel guilty during the giving time during Sunday services? We crack open our wallet hoping that we have some cash left in there and pick out a $5 bill, a $10 bill, or maybe even a $20 bill. We put it in the offering plate and we feel good that we actually had some cash on us this Sunday. The magi committed major resources to meet the King of Kings. Why can’t you and I have that same level of financial commitment to ensure that the gospel is spread far and wide. We talk and sing about how there is a world in need out there but how much of my resources am I willing to commit to the cause of spreading the gospel far and wide. The magi thought Jesus was worth spending whatever resources were necessary so that they could meet Him. Just meet Him and honor Him. How bout you and me? Is Jesus worth obeying in my finances and giving generously to the local body of Christ or is Jesus just worth what I have left over in my wallet? I would like to think that you and I have magi-like willingness to commit our resources in a meaningful to be obedient to God’s Word.

Father, help us to see you and seek you and to do your will. Help us to not think so much about ourselves and what is convenient and easy for us. Help us to think of you first. Help us to put you first in everything we do. Help us to be willing to go the extra mile, the extra 500 miles, or whatever is necessary to seek your face. Help us to have magi-like commitment to seeking you and what you want us to do in obedience to you. Amen.

Matthew 2:1-12 — Today, we move into a rather busy passage about the visit of the wise men from the eastern lands. There is a lot of things to write about here so we will camp out for while in this passage. At first, when I read through this passage again, I was at a loss for what to write about. However, when you read and re-read a passage and not just gloss over to say that you have read it, the Holy Spirit will bring forth illumination. So, as we work through this, let us give praise to the power of the Holy Spirit that inspires and makes things known to us that we cannot see without his presence…

The first thing that comes to my heart and mind is the planting of evangelistic seeds. We have heard the story of the wise men so many times that sometimes we gloss over the significance of their presence in this story. Let’s think on this for a bit today. That these men were not from the people of Israel shows the power of God’s Word.

Not much else is known about these wise men other than their presence in the birth story of Jesus Christ. Why were they called wise men by Matthew? Many scholars believe that it was because they were of the order of the Maji in the Parthian empire (the empire that replaced Babylon as the major power in area that we now call Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia). The Maji were a priestly group who studied the stars, the earth, and all things physical of the earth. They were a class of people that were academics and were advisors to the king of their empire. So, to us, they would be like these think-tank kind of guys that are advisors to presidents and leaders of other countries. They were each kind of like a subject matter expert in the various areas of human life. The majic believed in a single god of the universe who expressed himself in the stars and in the world through how all these things related to each other. The movement of the stars in the sky and where they moved to was of great significance to them because certain shifts in the sky could mean great events were about to happen – information necessary to the Parthian emperor. Having said all that, then, what’s the connection to God’s Word?

If you remember correctly from reading the Old Testament, when Babylon conquered the southern kingdom of Israel in 586 BC, just about all of the Jews were deported from their homeland to Babylon. With them with the holy Scriptures of the Old Testament. As Jews assimilated themselves into Babylonian culture, they shared their faith and way of life with the Babylonians. It just happens when you mix people from different ethnic, social, and geographic backgrounds. One man distinguished himself in service within the Babylonian empire. His name was Daniel. During this time, Daniel served in prominent positions in the governments of several Babylonian and Parthian rulers, including Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius and Cyrus. When King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that troubled him in the second year of his reign, God revealed the meaning of the dream to Daniel in a night vision (Daniel 2:19). “Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts; and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon” (Daniel 2:48). There’s the connection!!!

Daniel most certainly would have had influence over the “thinkers”, the wise men, the advisory class of the emperor. I bet that he shared the Scriptures and his testimony with the maji. It is a pretty good bet that this academic group studied the Jewish scriptures thoroughly as they probably did the great literature of other societies. It was God’s Holy Word though that has the Holy Spirit hovering around it to illuminate and give understanding to its readers when their hearts are open to it. Over the almost 600 years between Daniel being in his position in the Babylonian empire and the birth of Jesus, these academics through those centuries probably became very familiar with the prophecies of the Old Testament. They knew God’s Word because of Daniel. Daniel, a faithful servant of the Lord, most assuredly shared his faith and God’s Word with the power elite of Babylon. Isn’t amazing when you see this connection. Six hundred years later, the wise men from the east appear in the birth story of Jesus Christ. This is evangelism bearing its fruit, my friends.

What can we learn from the maji crossing the horizon in this story? We learn that no matter where we are, no matter what we are doing, whether we are in captivity, whether we are living through oppression, whether we are just suffering through bad times, we are called to share our faith with others. We plant evangelical seeds. We may not always see the fruits of our evangelistic efforts. As a matter of fact, we most likely will not. We plant seeds anyway. We share our faith. We live out our faith no matter the place or the circumstances. Daniel most assuredly lived out his faith in the middle of what was a really low point in Jewish history. He was faithful to God even when he found himself in captivity. He lived out his faith in the middle of a nation that worshiped things other than the one true God. He shared his faith with those who held different beliefs from him. His legacy of sharing God’s Word lasted for centuries. He introduced the Scriptures to maji who by the time of Jesus knew them very well. So much so, that some of them were so moved by the star signifying the birth of Jesus that they followed it a great distance to meet the King who would change the world forever.

We are called to make disciples my friends. Just look at the results of Daniel’s faithful witness. We share the gospel. We share the change that God has wrought in our lives. We live out our faith in integrity so that people will be drawn to the Lord. We must be on-mission every day no matter what we are doing or what situation we find ourselves in. It is not optional. It is a command from Jesus Himself. Go. Make disciples. We share the faith. It is not up to us to see what God does with it, but He will do something with it. Some 600 years after Daniel, we see men seeking the young King Jesus. Our efforts in sharing the gospel bring glory to God. The seeds that you plant now may alter the path of a family, several generations of a family. That’s impact, my friends. God will use it to change generations of people!