Following Jesus For all The Right Reasons

I invite you to turn in the scriptures tonight to the first book of the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 2, Matthew chapter 2. We will read together tonight the first 12 verses. This is the word of the Lord, Matthew chapter 2, beginning at verse 1. This is God's word. 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 Haran 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. After listening to the king, they went on their way, and behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. Well, as I said this morning, I find this time of year somewhat challenging to preach because by and large the scriptures are not focused on the birth of Jesus Christ. Two out of the four gospels don't even address really and give us much of a birth narrative at all. Mark doesn't, and John takes an entirely different approach. All the Old Testament prophecies, if you're looking through the book of Isaiah that anticipate the coming and speak of the birth as we understand it, come in the darkest and the most obscure moments of their history. I went back and thought about preaching the Isaiah passages, and chapter 7 of Isaiah speaks about what we know as the virgin birth, And there's a whole bunch of discussion about that and how that was understood. But it comes in the midst of such a complex history that I'm not sure really anyone would want to hear about that at Christmas time, to be honest with you. It's challenging to preach. I've done it. And people gave me kind of a glazed over look before in my previous call. So I did learn something in my previous call. It doesn't mean that I won't do it at some point, but I understand the challenge of this. Even when you come to the New Testament, the revelation of Jesus is pushing us on a fast track to his death and his resurrection. So what emphasis do the scriptures give on the birth of Jesus? That's a fair question. We obviously have emphasis on the incarnation. We have emphasis on who this is that has come. The virgin birth, that's a very important doctrine to consider. that the messiah has come and he was conceived by the holy spirit we have emphasis on his mission remember uh you shall give him the name jesus for he will save his people from their sins in other words what we're getting uh at the at the the beginning of the presentation of jesus in the two gospels that address it what we're getting is the entire story and the program of his person and his work that is about to unfold and be presented to us in the scriptures in the gospels we get that whole work sort of encapsulated in the birth narrative so what we're being confronted with as we open the birth narrative what are we being confronted with what does the holy spirit want us to think about it's been fascinating to study mark's gospel and to consider the different responses that we've been seeing in mark's gospel it's amazing how much attention is given in the scriptures to response to jesus this presence on the earth this morning we looked at those who were following jesus for all the wrong reasons we looked at these followers of jesus we looked at jesus dealing with this we've looked at it before jesus people who wanted to follow jesus but then made excuses when he called them to deny themselves and take up their cross And it dawned on me, as it always does, that when we look at something like this, the birth narrative tonight in Matthew chapter 2, we have the same sort of emphasis right out of the gates on what we're doing with Jesus. What are you doing with Jesus? What is our response to His coming? Matthew 1 announced His mission. Matthew 1, and you remember, fitting everything that we've been considering for the past weeks. Think about Matthew 1 and the notorious sinners that are in that line. Think of the kinds of people who are in that line and the messy sins that are there. That tells us about his mission we've been considering. And so it challenges us as to what is our response. And I thought to myself how remarkable how much attention is given in both birth narratives to response. Even in Luke's Gospel, there's a little phrase that says that there was no room for him in the inn, and I thought that just captures his life, doesn't it? There's no room for him in the world. There hasn't been. And you really do learn a lot about who this is in light of responses. Think of how much more powerful responses shine when you're dealing with the Messiah as an infant. Think about that. He's in his most vulnerable state. He's an infant. Who sees his power? Who sees what he's able to do? Who can validate if this is the king? If you could find faith in Matthew chapters 1 and 2, you've got a really exciting narrative, right? You would have utmost hope presented to us if you could find faith. in him at his birth because that is absolutely humanly impossible you see any response to this would be a remarkable testimony of grace and gospel for if people would come to worship an infant in a manger what would that teach us about god's power to save what would that teach us about faith quite a bit actually more than maybe we realize conversely if people would take the pains to reject a harmless infant right as they see if people would take the pains to reject him and want to kill him what would that reveal about who he really is right i don't think too many of you had too many people coming after you or kings wanting to kill you at your birth right the birth narratives are challenging us with the fact that this child is the center of our existence he would grow in wisdom and in stature he he would live he would die he would rise again he is god's answer to the mess that we know of our lives everything is focused on his presence in this narrative everything is focused at his presence and it has brought response from everyone That's what we should see here. It has brought response everywhere. His presence on the scene of history demands a response for it was Simeon himself who prophetically said when he held the child in his arms, this child is destined for the fall and the rise of many in Israel. Imagine that, hearing that. His very presence would bring a response and tonight Matthew is taking us to the right one. And that's what I wanted to do with you tonight. I wanted to make sure we ended on a very positive note after being challenged this morning of the kind of response of following that pleases him. So that it would give us hope that he being the light of the world will draw his people to himself, will bring every last one of his people to himself, and they will praise, they will worship, they will adore him and believe in him as the Savior according to his mission Matthew 1 of for their of their sins he saved them from their sins so that's what I want to do tonight I want to reflect just for a moment on the different responses to his arrival with the goal of encouraging with the climax of this when the wise men come with the kind of response that the scriptures commend Matthew 1 we know the angel said to Mary you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins and then chapter 2 begins with this sort of string of events that we don't know a lot about it's purposely brief and intentionally brief without giving us a lot of detail all we read here is that after jesus was born in bethlehem in the days of herod the king behold wise men came from the east 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. To which you say, who in the world are these people? What is the star? This is all very confusing. There's just not much here. Who were these guys? How many sermons have you heard in the past of people trying to figure this out? How much speculation about the star? What is the Lord teaching us? What is his intention here? I'm going to come back to the wise men. But I believe what Matthew is doing here is providing us some major categories to think about response to his coming. In other words, at his birth, so that we would see the whole story of his life right here sort of encapsulated. You would see the whole story of responses to him. His whole mission set before you in the bigger picture of the whole salvation plan. His coming and his arrival on the scene of history demands a response. The whole world had to reckon with the coming of the Son of God. Everything that is here represented is capturing the responses of all of history to Him. It's capturing the responses of history to Him. There's a bigger cosmic story here. There's a greater story going on. This is Genesis 3 to Revelation 22, right now showing you the responses of history to His arrival. If you see that, and you can look in bigger picture terms, it's really encouraging. And it also helps us to understand the utter hatred that we can't figure out why everything is so backwards in this world. Why Muhammad could get that name more glory from the world than the name of Jesus right now. You'll understand it with this. That won't always be, of course. Every knee will bow and confess he's Lord. But it helps us to understand the responses of history. Why the conflict? You'll notice here that a contrast is made when you open up Matthew 2 that Jesus is the king of the Jews, and then it says that Herod is the king of the Jews. And if you think about the situation, it's a remarkable situation that these wise men are now running around Jesus' capital city saying, where's our king? And imagine what Herod's hearing. huh he knew about the prophecies of course he knew about the prophecies of the coming of the messiah and this tension sort of dominates the the section here between the true king and the false king who is the true king who is the one who is really the king of the jews herod was and and and i think we've gone through some of the history before herod was a a wicked leader herod was an awful man he was bloodthirsty he was said to have murdered his wife and his son herod was a tyrant but if you stand back from this and see and look at this from a historical perspective and look at this from the bigger picture of scripture biblically and theologically scripture everywhere shows us the demonic influence of the kings and the kingdoms of the world so that they were from the beginning taking a stand against the lord and against his anointed you have the climax of it here a climax in history with historical figures throughout history in the warfare that genesis presented to us from chapter 3 of the seat of the woman and the seat of the serpent the seat of satan and this and god's people who would bring about the messiah he would come from their line the seat of the woman it's the fulfillment here in matthew chapter two of psalm two why do the nations rage why do the people's plot a vain thing the kings of the earth the rulers of the earth take their stand against the lord and against his anointed they say let us break their bonds herod is that culmination in history of the ruler that is pictured throughout in opposition to the true king in opposition to the true king he shows us the devil's rage he shows us the devil's rage and the fierce warfare that's going on behind the scenes um throughout history revelation captures this whole thing in a snapshot that's the beauty of revelation if you think of revelation and the visions of revelation they're like giant snapshots here's the snapshot um the great sign appeared in heaven a woman clothed with the sun and with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of 12 stars she was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and agony of giving birth and another sign appeared in heaven behold a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and on his head seven diadems his tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth and the dragon here it is stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she bore her child, he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child who was to rule the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God in his throne. There's the whole story. That's the snapshot of Revelation. Well, here you see it in history coming to a head with his arrival on the scene of history. And the kind of response that we first see is the response from Herod and the Jews and Jerusalem, ironically, which is hatred for him. Hatred for him. They want to destroy him. They want to put him to death. You know, John made this point in 1 John that the whole world already lies under the sway of the evil one. And notice our text says, Jerusalem was troubled with Herod at his coming. Herod had achieved quite a bit in Israel. he had achieved the rebuilding of the kingdom he had built a magnificent kingdom in jerusalem he practiced the jewish religion he built them a luxurious palace with towers and he restored the sanctuary in the temple that hadn't been done since hagai's day it was a remarkable time in israel prayers were offered up we have them recorded by josephus thanking god for herod there's a reason the scriptures say don't put your trust in princes the people had come to trust in the wrong prince isn't it the case that people are always looking for a leader this is what we're going through right now we're going through it in our country we're all looking for a leader and it just changes daily doesn't it it's a mess who's going to lead us in the people's response you see the world's response to him i'm looking at this from the bigger picture heavenly picture his birth draws out the world's hatred his presence arouses hostility and resentment this is why jesus said to his own disciples you have to understand this if the world hates you know that it hated me before it hated you if you were of the world the world would love you as its own but because you're not of the world but i chose you out of the world therefore the world hates you don't you receive this response today don't you see the hatred don't we experience it how much antipathy and how much hatred is there for His name. Think about it. His name in the earth. It's sad. I said that false prophets who lead their people to kill other people get more respect in the world. That hatred has always been there. That hatred is there now. That hatred is alive and well. It will ultimately be put down. There's another kind of response here. it's the leader's response i call it spiritual apathy it's remarkable herod goes to them and asks where is the king of the jews to be born he goes to the leaders in israel did you notice that he goes to them he assembles together the scribes we've looked at who the scribes were from mark the scholars he ascribes together the chief priests and he gets them together and he goes to them he says listen where is the christ to be born can you tell me where the christ is to be born and they know the answer they quote scripture now this is a remarkable 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 his people what a great verse they're quoting it that's the point they know right where he is to be born they know exactly where he is to come what did they do with it wise men are running around jerusalem asking where is he we've seen the star that was loaded in history too balaam had made a prophecy about the star we've seen it so herod comes to the scribes and says where is he to be born everyone's saying he's come well he's in jerusalem you'd think they'd go right you think they would run to to bethlehem they knew the scriptures they were apathetic this was the fiercest opponents to jesus these types those in spiritual authority who had no interest in the christ i mean you go through the times of the reformation and look at what somebody like martin luther had to to deal with of pagan priests and what they're doing to the people and the sexual morality they had nothing to do with christ they persecuted the christ martin luther wrote a treatise one time and you know what he said in the middle of the treatise the pope kills christ oh that'd make us nervous to say anything like that today this is what happened at the time of the reformation this is what they saw in the leaders why well everything we learned this morning they were content in themselves this group represents all the spiritual indifference that an unbelief of people who have a knowledge of god who come to his worship but don't believe him this is the history of that culminating right here one pastor noted these were that these were always the last people to receive jesus jesus would say to them if pagans witnessed the signs and they heard my preaching as you have, they would have repented a long time ago in sackcloth and ashes. They didn't come. The prophets were clear when he came what he would do. He'd forgive sins. They were not interested. That's the apathy. You have hatred and then you just have apathy to him of millions of people who frequent the doors of churches and they're really not interested in following him. Now, pretty all-encompassing so far. You have hatred, you have apathy. Well, what do we have in the midst of all of this that's the shining moment tonight and that highlights the day? Well, you asked the question, who heard who came i had somebody say to me the other day something that i thought was really helpful when somebody has come to jesus you know what's happened in their life a taming of their life in other words they've been humbled you see a something about them they've been humbled because of their sin and there's something about them of their humility and their understanding of who they are. You see this in these people. Matthew has presented something wonderful. The Lord gives us something beautiful, and here it is. Following Him for all the right reasons are these wise men. The child has come with no outward pomp and no outward glory. There's no evidence in His human nature of that glory that he had with the father before the world was and he that he had come to save his people from their sins how does this begin we read immediately that these wise men come from the east most likely a group of them not just three there's probably a whole bunch of them who have come and the point is that the king has come and from the moment of his birth people are coming to Him. And unexpected people, people from the remotest ends of the earth, are coming to Jesus. The most unexpected people you would have never thought would come. The lowly. Not the scholars. Not the scribes. Not the Pharisees. There's almost a play here. I can't help but wonder, is there a play here on wise men by the Holy Spirit? They were wise men. Why were they wise? They didn't have much knowledge, did they? They didn't come close to the knowledge of the scribes, did they? A star had to guide them. The scribes knew where to go. These guys didn't. They didn't know much. Matthew's focused on a different kind of wisdom. All they knew was that the king of the Jews had been born, and they come. They're people from the east, and you stop and you say, well, these were not the people of God who had become the people of God already, way off getting a leading star. And the imagery is, with little knowledge, with little resource, they leave their homes, they leave everything from the east to embark on a long, arduous journey to him. they left everything one pastor said they left work, home, family to follow a star for many months they embarked on a perilous journey traveling most likely on lump foul smelling camels through alien lands bringing the most expensive gifts they could find who does that? that's what Jesus would stand back and say who does that? sounds like Abraham sounds a lot like Abraham's path of a man from way out in Ur of the Chaldeans who was called and came out. Leave your land. And there a star guides them. When Jesus called Levi as we looked at this morning and last time, remember the power of that? Levi, follow me. Up he comes. It wasn't Levi's ability to come. It was the call of Christ on their life, on his life. Do you see why the scene is beautiful? That call has come from Christ to them, the wise men. At his mere presence, look who's coming. Creation itself is leading them. Creation itself is doing his will. creation itself is leading these men to him people of his good pleasure are being summoned in the far regions of the earth and coming what is the lord showing immediately his presence brought in people with power that's how powerful this child was this king had subjects from the moment he came into this world and the response represents and this is the bigger picture again here's the encouragement tonight the response represents all who would ever come leaving all following by grace believing in his name and coming and worshiping the king they represent who you you it's a scene of faith it's a scene of everything the lord's after you say what is the lord after here it is you want to know you get it at the birth they've left all to follow their knees are on the ground bowing to him and what is the emphasis that they're doing worshiping worshiping not one act has been done by him yet not one work has been performed by him yet and look at the response. That's faith. What an encouragement. It represents that this king has his subjects. This king will have his people. And how wonderful it is when the scriptures commend that having not seen him, you what? Love him. You didn't do that. He did that. He brought you. And many of you know he carried you. What an encouragement. It represents what all the king would do and how wonderful to say tonight in an even bigger picture that this represents the Gentiles coming into the kingdom. These are your people. This is you. History waited for the door to be opened to the nations and Jesus' coming just opened it. Think of this prophecy from Haggai. For thus says the Lord of hosts, once more, and it's a little while, I'll shake heaven and earth, the sea and the dry land. I'll shake the nations and they shall come to the desire of all nations. And I will fill this temple with glory, says the Lord of hosts. Psalm 72, which is great. May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render tribute. May the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. May all the kings fall down before him. All nations serve him. For he, now think of everything we've been considering. For he delivers the needy when he calls. When he calls. the poor, and him who has no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence, he redeems their life. And precious is their blood in his sight. Long may he live. May gold of Sheba be given to him. May prayer be made for him continually and blessings invoked for him all the day. May there be abundance of grain in the land. On the tops of the mountains may it wave. May its fruit be like Lebanon and may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field. May his name endure forever and fame continue as long as the sun. May people be blessed in him. All nations call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. When Abraham looked up and saw all the stars in the heavens, you have the imagery in Scripture of all of those stars being brought to the star. It's Him. They will come from the remotest parts of the earth, Gentiles, Jews together, bowing and worshiping. Why have they come? To worship. He didn't come to make America great again. He came not as a political redeemer. He came to save His people from their sins. Does that mean so much to you now? These wise men represent throughout history His coming for nobodies, for sinners. From the down and outs from the east. The needy, the lowly, who by His powerful call respond, leaving, and have a life characterized by following. And do you follow tonight? If I were to ask the question, how do you know that I've followed and I've responded? The answer is easy. Those who come to worship do so with reverence and awe. Why do they want to worship? They're so thankful. Because they understand, here it is, the greatest gift is not what they're bringing to God. Sure, the wise men bring gifts of thanks. Their greatest gift is not what they're bringing to God. The greatest gift is what God just gave to them. He gave you His Son. And He's declared His love to you. That God could ever give the lowly the greatest gift of His Son wrapped in human nature, assuming our flesh, the Son of God who came for sinners. That was His gift to the world. His gift. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. I pray that all hear that powerful voice today. Get up and follow. In that winter, early 6 B.C., God broke into history. He invaded our world. took the form of a servant born in little insignificant Bethlehem among the animals in a feeding trough represented by all those Passover lambs that they were celebrating at the time. And behold, the Lamb of God had come to take away the sins of the world and to be your king. Have you worshipped the king? Well, that's why you're here tonight. You're here tonight to praise him for so great a salvation. Herod and the people were fools. That's what breaks our heart about these people. They're forfeiting and throwing out the greatest gift that God has ever given. But God, from the beginning, opened the doors to the Gentiles. Out of Zion, the Lord has registered His people. And to this season, we should join with the wise men from the East in worshiping and praising our King. Oh, let us worship the King. Let's pray together. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for your word tonight and thank you for encouraging us of your power to bring followers of your power to call and summon effectually and bring them from the remotest parts of the earth to the true king as we see these responses it helps us to understand the way that things are going right now in the earth but it will not always be this way jesus christ is the everlasting king who sits on the throne and one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that jesus is lord thank you that you've brought us to that knowledge and true faith in the day of salvation so that we will do it in glory worshiping and adoring you forever and ever bless your servants and encourage them tonight as they go out into another week in jesus name amen