We’re looking this week at how Jesus’ birth threatened powerful people.  Here’s the story:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

“‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” (…) And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

“A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”   (Matthew 2:1-8, 12-18 ESV)

Just like last week, you can see the story of Jesus’ birth was part of God’s big story throughout history.  There’ve been hints throughout time that these events would occur, even if people couldn’t see them in advance, many more could see them in retrospect.

We can see that from the beginning of his life…powerful people encountered Jesus and recognized who he was, even if they didn’t like it.

Here in this story we have two people, both claiming the title King of the Jews. Herod is a powerful man, but he’s a middle man.  The Romans are really in charge, but keep him as King of the local area because he’s useful to them, at least for now.

On the other side, the people under him allow him to rule because of fear.  They know he’s not a legitimate heir to the throne of Israel, even though he claims the title.

So Herod hangs on to power by removing any threat to his power.  He uses fear out of his own fear.  This is why he is so concerned by these wise men, who show up and say they’re looking for the King of the Jews.  Herod is King of the Jews!  Not by birthline or right of course, but because he got what he wanted, and has everyone afraid of him.  So if someone else claims to be the rightful King, and can claim the right bloodline, right town of birth, etc. that simply won’t do.  So instead of just telling them they’re crazy, and having this rumour get out of hand, Herod uses them.

We’ll talk more about that later…but suffice it to say he is manipulative, dangerous, uses people to keep himself in power, and moreover is illegitimate.

Question: A prophet 500 years before this happened said the Messiah would emerge as a light in “dark times.”  How was the era when Jesus came a dark time?  Are there similarities to our time?

Reminder: We have a great Christmas event coming December 14th, 2013: The Original Christmas Party.  Hope you’re coming!

Read the Bible in Sync Today

Ryan Sim - November 19, 2013

Tuesday - Study It - Grace - in Lifestyle

Becoming Like Family

This week we’re exploring how following Jesus impacts our lifestyle by one principle: grace. Grace is one of the most important, life-changing aspects of Christian story. Here’s how the Bible talks about grace: But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10 ESV) Here is an easy way to remember the meaning: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense A friend had a young child at home, and a baby on the way and his mother loved to help out by cleaning up the house. One particularly stressful time she was coming down to decompress the situation by cleaning up the house. My friend came home that day to find his wife madly cleaning up the house, before the mother in law arrived. She didn’t want her mother-in-law to see a messy house, even though she was there to clean it as a gift. We so often we think that we have to have cleaned up our lives before we can accept what God wants to give us. We don’t have to have sorted ourselves out before we can accept God’s free gift of forgiveness, his grace. When you ask someone why they don’t like Christianity…you’ll often hear “it’s just a bunch of rules.” I don’t need a book to tell me how to be a good person. If that was true, I wouldn’t want to be part of this religion either. But it’s not true…that’s the religion that Jesus came to get rid of, and not his hope for us. Here’s the version of Christianity that people are usually describing: Obey God’s laws God will accept you He’ll provide you with loving care He’ll give you a new status, as a servant of God. This is a law religion, the kind of thing the Pharisees liked to promote. Jesus didn’t have very nice things to say about that! The problem is – no one has ever obeyed God’s laws perfectly enough to earn God’s love. Actually, there was one person – Jesus. He knew our hopeless situation, and did something about it. Jesus was all about grace. This involves the same steps, but in a different order: God loves and accepts you…unconditionally God will provide you with loving care. He wants to be part of your life today, not some day in the future. God will give you a new status: Child of God adopted into his family You now return God’s favour with thanksgiving and living in his way. In grace…we are given God’s love, care and fatherhood as free gifts, even before having proven ourselves worthy, and that gives us a lot to live up to! Question: Where have you typically seen laws and rules in your faith? As the way to earn God’s love, or respond to it? Why? Reminder: Last week we talked about worship, and asked you to complete our online survey about worship here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8TS7K93 Reminder: Earlier in this series, we saw the importance of reading the Bible together in sync, so our new daily bible readings start today in our mobile app and web site.

From Series: "Becoming Like Family"

This series looks at becoming “like family” with others learning to follow Jesus. We're exploring how the church is not a building, institution or event, but a community of people. It's important that explore what church means as we prepare to launch a new church in Ajax in 2014.

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