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 27, 2013

Wednesday - Change It - Generosity in Resources

Becoming Like Family

We want to be a church known for generosity. Yesterday we saw two principles that a relationship with God teaches us about generosity, and we’ll see two more today. What we have is not as important as what we keep The third principle of stewardship has to do with attitude. This is a far more important consideration than how much money we happen to have. Stewardship has far more to do with faith than it does with money. How we look at what we have is far more important that how much we have. Peter Marshall, who was chaplain of the United States Senate for many years, shared this true story: There was a man who struggled to give even though he had a large income. He had long been taught to give 10% of his income away, which is called a tithe. The man said to Marshall, "I have a problem. I used to tithe regularly some years ago, but...but now...I am earning hundreds of thousands a year, and there is no way I can afford to give ten percent to the church." The chaplain said they should pray about it and led off, "Heavenly Father, I pray that you would reduce this man's income back to the place that he can afford to tithe.“ Like the senator, one of the biggest lies we tell ourselves is that we will begin to give more generously when we have a little bit more. This is simply not true, the day never comes. Jesus said that those who are faithful when they have a little will be faithful when they have a lot. The time to learn giving is when we have a little. It becomes increasingly difficult as our prosperity increases…remember those cords around our hearts. How much we give is not as important as how much we keep One day as Jesus sat in the temple with his disciples people came by with their offerings for the temple. Some of the people were quite rich, and they made sizeable donations. Among them was a poor widow who dropped in her gift of only a few pennies. Perhaps someone laughed…Jesus pointed out that this widow had actually given more than all the others. Seeing their surprise at his remark he explained that all the others given from their wealth. They still had lots left. But this woman had given out of her poverty. She had nothing left. In the eyes of God her gift amounted to more than theirs. God evaluates things differently from the way we do. In this matter of financial stewardship it is important for growing Christians to remember how much we hold back is far more important than how much we give. Once again the issue comes back to whether or not we will allow Jesus to free us from the power of money and are we willing to trust God. These same questions apply to how we use our time and how much of our time we are using to further God’s work around the world. How much time do we keep for ourselves and how much time do we give to God and those he loves? Think of a child's allowance. The parents don't really give a child money because he needs it. They provide everything he needs. And they don't ask him to give to charity, buy gifts for others, etc. because he has too much. They do it to teach him something, to shape and guide him for the future. Question: Based on these two stories, what do you think God is training people for? What's the end goal? 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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