If Christmas is hard work, it's probably because you're having lunch with somebody who's difficult.
! We've all got them, haven't we? In our families, we love them, at least we should, but they're difficult.
And the reason why you are in a difficult relationship with that someone, whoever he or she may be,
is because you've probably engaged in some sort of power struggle with them, or them with you.
It could be a spouse, it could be a parent-in-law, it could be a son or a daughter, it could be a parent, it could be a cousin.
Let me try and define what I mean by saying a power struggle.
A power struggle is when one person wants to change another person, and the other person doesn't want to be changed.
A power struggle is when one person wants to change another person, and the other person does not want to be changed.
And that explains
Many of the problems
Some of the problems that we have in human relationships
But let me tell you tonight
I think that that is one of the ways
Of understanding the problem that we have with God
And that's what I want to speak about
For the next few minutes
Let's bow our heads in prayer, let's pray
Dear God, we may well right now
May be in a power struggle with you
We may Lord want to change you
Into something that you are not
And you refuse the change
Because you are who you are
You are God
And actually Lord, your word teaches us
That you want us to change
That we might treat you properly
And so we pray that tonight
As a result of what we hear from your words tonight
You would help us to realise
That there is no better way to live
Than to be transformed by you
Through Jesus Christ our Lord
Amen
Now there is nothing more helpless is there
Than a newborn baby
You know what it is
Like, you don't feed them
And they don't get fed
You don't change them
And they stink
You don't move them
And a newborn baby just sits there
We species, we homo sapiens
We don't come out of the womb
And are we ready to go for a job
We don't
We are very dependent
On our parents
All we have is a scream
Or a cry
To get them to come
Come on man
They scream and they cry
Which makes what we read
In our last reading
A bit of a surprise
When you hear Herod's response
To the birth of this child
He hears that a baby has been born
King Herod does
A baby has been born in Bethlehem
And he and the whole area of Jerusalem
Are anxious
And they are disturbed
Can you just look there
It was the last week
That was read to us
They are anxious
And they are disturbed
Matthew chapter 2
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem
In Judea
During the time of King Herod
Magi from the east
Came to Jerusalem
And asked him
Where is the one who has been born
King of the Jews
We saw his star in the east
And have come to worship him
When King Herod heard this
He was disturbed
And all of Jerusalem with him
When he hears this phrase
The king of the Jews
He is disturbed
Now why?
Well the reason King Herod is disturbed
Is because that is his title
He is known as King of the Jews
That is the title
Of the Roman Empire
The Roman Senate
Gave to him
40 years back
King Herod is probably
In his 70s
At this point
And what you discover
As you read Matthew 2
And I'd love it
If you did go home
And read it
Is that there is a great clash
Between the two kings
King Herod
Who is 70 years old
And has built things
Like the temple
Right through to King Jesus
Who is probably two years old
And what I want to do
In this just short time
Is contrast it to kings
The Lord Jesus
If you read Matthew's Gospel
Is clearly the legitimate
King of kings
And Lord of lords
His credentials show that
Israel was a people
That was waiting
Just like you boys and girls
You're waiting aren't you
How many sleeps till Christmas?
Can anybody tell me?
How many?
Noah
Um
Two
Is it two?
Is that right?
Three
I think it's three
Is it?
Three
Never mind
Two or three
One of the
Is it?
But we wait
We wait
And we wait
Until Christmas
And we know what it's like
To wait
We're really looking forward to it
When you were children
You did didn't you?
And the nation of Israel
Has been waiting
For the saviour to come
It's been waiting
And waiting
For a long time
What we've done tonight
Is we've traced
The bible story
From Genesis
From that first promise
That they were given
In Genesis 3
That they were given a promise
That a redeemer king
Would come
Way back then
And that he would be
A human child of Eve
And then if you go forward
To Genesis 12
God promises
Out of all the nations
Of the world
A saviour king
Will be born
From one nation
The Jews
From one nation
A child of Abraham
And then you go
To the end of Genesis
Which is the first book
Of the bible
And God makes a promise
In that chapter
That of all the tribes
Of that nation
Israel
The saviour would come
From the tribe of Judah
So it narrows down
It starts that he would be
Human
It tells you he would be
From Israel
And then it tells you
He would be from
The tribe of Judah
And then you go
Further on in the Old Testament
To Samuel 7
And of all the families
In the tribe of Judah
Within the nation of Israel
From amongst all the nations
Of the world
God says
And they'll come
In the family line
Of King David
And then of all the women
To be born
He will be born
Of a virgin
Isaiah's son
And then of all the cities
And all the towns
In the tribe of Judah
And in the nation of Israel
Of all the nations
Of the world
He will be born
In the little town
Of Bethlehem
As promised in Micah 5
That was read
Until finally
You come
To Matthew
And the king comes
And he's born
And who's the one
Who tells you
But wise men
From the east
Outside of Israel
My point is this
Jesus ticks
All the boxes
He is the long
Awaited one
Herod on the other hand
Has got no credentials
To be who he is
He's not even
A full blooded Jew
He's not a son of David
He wasn't born
For a virgin
And he wasn't
Born in Bethlehem
He was just appointed
By the Romans
Now if you think
Tonight
You're a little bit
Insecure
As a human being
And who isn't
I certainly am
King Herod
Is Mr. Paranoia
His paranoia
Is so bad
He is vicious
The Jewish Roman historian
Josephus
Tells us
He was so insecure
Of losing his power
That he murdered
His favourite wife
You know a number of them
Somebody whispered
In his ear
For as long as she lives
He will not be saved
So he takes her out
And he then regretted it
For the rest of his life
That he killed
The very woman
That he loved
He was so desperate
To cling on to power
But it didn't end there
He had a bunch of sons
But he had three of them killed
He killed his own brother-in-law
He killed his mother-in-law
No jokes about that
He killed her
Because he feared
She would be a threat
To his kingdom
This is a nasty piece of work
Somebody said of King Herod
That it was safer
To be his pig
Than his son
And that's true
And if he didn't kill you
He'd marry him
To your family
Which was even worse
He was married
Ten times
And he married
The enemies
Of his
So that he could
Manipulate them
And bring them on side
He is a Saddam Hussein
Of the first century
Do you remember him?
He's gone now
Is he?
But do you remember
Saddam Hussein of Iraq
In his heyday?
There's one story
There of two of his
Sons-in-law
Who had betrayed him
And so they fled Iraq
And they came to the UK
I think
Anyway
Saddam Hussein
Sends a message
To these two sons
Sons-in-law
And says
Come back
All is forgiven
And those idiots
Go back to Iraq
And he kills them
On the airport runway
King Jesus
And Herod
Are two very very
Different types of king
Herod is so terrified
To lose his power
I mean the guy is 70
And he's so desperate
Not to lose his power
To this two year old
That he embarks
On a mass killing
In Bethlehem
Once he finds out
That the long awaited Messiah
Is to be born
In Bethlehem
In that town
This is what he says
Let me read to you
Chapter 2 verse 16
When Herod realised
That he'd been outwitted
By the Magi
The wise man
He was furious
And he gave orders
To kill all the boys
In Bethlehem
And his vicinity
Who were two years old
And under
In accordance with the time
He'd lurked from the Magi
Here is the butcher
Of Bethlehem
He spills the blood
Of how many
Little boys
We don't know exactly
But 50
60
Or 100
Are the best guesses
Now I think
As we read
About the massacre
Of those infants
We have real emotional
Connection with that
When we think about it
Do you remember
In 2012
The school killings
In the US
In Sandy Hook
A gunman
Goes into a school
And there are
28 deaths
20 of them
6 and 7 year olds
8 boys
12 girls
And as we read
About that
As we see those images
On TV screens
We remember that
We cannot know
What was going on
In the mind
Of the man
That killed those children
But we do know
What was going on
In the mind of Herod
In Bethlehem
That he was so desperate
Not to let anyone
Or anything
Take his power
Away from him
And it's so different
From King Jesus
King Jesus
Will go on to live
A life of 33 years
On this earth
Who went around
Doing good
If he wasn't
Healing and preaching
He was forgiving
And casting out demons
He was liberating
People from their sins
From their broken bodies
From their oppression
Under the reign of the evil
When he went around
Doing good
And when it came
To the appointed time
That God had him
And he chose
To be part of it
To die on the cross
They came to arrest him
Peter one of his sidecaps
Pulls out a sword
And he slices off
The ear
Of the servant
Of the high priest
Jesus looks at him
First of all
He picks up the ear
And heals the servant
Of the high priest
And then he says
Put the sword away
Don't you know
If I wanted to
If I wanted somebody
To protect me
I'd call on my father
In heaven
And he'd send
72,000 angels
To sort them out
They'd take care of me
He says
The Pontius Pilate
The Roman governor
Who's about to authorise
His execution
He says to Pilate
My kingdom is not
Of this world
The only blood
That Jesus spills
Is his own
The only blood
That Jesus spills
Is his own
Blood spilt
So that you and I
Could be forgiven
Once and for all
And that is the purpose
Of the death
Of Jesus
What is this
What is all this
Doing
As we read Matthew 2
What it does
Is the coming of Jesus
All of a sudden
Brings to the surface
A problem that we all have
That desperation
That we all have
To rule our lives
To say this is my life
And no one
Can tell me
How to live
That has been
On the lips
Of every person
In this building
Among the seven people
Seven billion people
Who live on this earth
And that is why
We have so much trouble
Isn't it
Because if I am God
How can you be God
If seven people
On earth
Are playing God
It causes a lot of trouble
C.S. Lewis
Who wrote Narnia
And he was an atheist
A well known atheist
He didn't believe in God
And he didn't think
Anybody else
Would believe in God
And then he became
A Christian
And he describes
How he too
Was in a power struggle
With God
And he wrote this
What mattered most of all
Was my deep seated
Hatred for authority
I want to live
My life
My way
Christianity
Placed at the centre
What seemed to me
To be the great
Interferer
Who is that?
God
That is how
C.S. Lewis saw God
As the great
Interferer
He said
What I wanted
More than anything else
Was somehow
Some area
However small
Of which
I could say
To all other beings
Including God
This is my business
And mine only
So
Surprise off
Does that sound
A little bit familiar?
There is a part of us
That connects with that
Isn't it?
Certainly in my life
I want to run my life
My way
And that is what
Herod is doing
And what he did
Was atrocious
It's a terrible thing
But he did it
With a certain
Flair
Rebellion to Christ
Might not always
Look as ugly
As that
As what Herod did
But it can be done
In other ways
Can't it?
What we do
To God
Is really
What we do
To other people
That we don't like
And our best strategy
Is this
We just ignore them
We don't invite them
We sidestep them
We avoid their calls
So if somebody invites you
To be their friend
In Facebook
You don't reject it
You just ignore it
And if those people
Happen to be
In your life
That you don't like
And you can't
Escape them
Well you tolerate them
You tolerate them
For say
A Christmas meal
You last the
Three or four hours
And then you get
Into your car
Say thank goodness
We don't have to see
Them again for another year
And then you move on
And you enjoy
Your life again
And that is how
We treat God
We are engaged
In a power struggle
With him
And he
Has been wanting
To change us
And we have been
Resisting his claim
On our life
And over the last year
In 2013
The chances are
If you have not
Given your life
To Christ
You have probably
Heard him
Tapping
On your door
It might be
A conversation
That you have
With someone
At work
Or a neighbour
That made you think
I wonder
It might be
That guilty conscience
That's just
Percolating
Beneath the surface
It may be
That something
Happened
And it made you
Want to thank God
But then you went
On to other things
And you're mindful
Of it
It may have been
The beauty of creation
And your breath
Was just taken away
By it
It may be
That something
Really horrible
Has happened this year
And God
Was kind of
Tapping on your door
Saying
It's time
We do business
But you've
Engaged
In a power struggle
And your strategy
Has been the most
Common strategy
In all of the world
Not the execution
Of boys under two
But just quietly
Quietly ignoring him
And God wants
To change you
And you don't
Want to be changed
And you are
Trying to change
God
To fit him
Into how you
Want him to be
So that
You don't have to
Treat him the way
That he deserves
A friend of mine
Started reading the Bible
And one of the things
That he realised
He said
Was that
He and God
Thought very differently
And he began to realise
That one of them
Had to change
Well you can guess
Who changed
Herod doesn't want
To be changed
Does he
Quite the opposite
He wants to change
Jesus from life
To death
But the Magi
From the East
They are a class act
Aren't they
They were wise men
Probably from Persia
And they've come
To worship Jesus
And we are reminded
In that
That Jesus is not
Just
For his people
For his own people
The Jews
He is actually
For all people
From everywhere
From all religions
Here are people
In this passage
From another part
Of the world
From another religion
Coming and doing
What God expects
Every human being
From every religion
To do
To come and bow
Before Jesus
If you want to
Worship God properly
You have to
Worship his son
And that is
Exactly what happened
We don't really
Know exactly
How God revealed
The truth to them
He used this star
To guide them
To the long
Awaited saviour
In Israel
And that is
Exactly what happens
But what makes
These magi wise
Is what makes
You and I wise
When you start
To give up
In that power
Struggle with God
And worship him
On his terms
It comes down to this
There are two people
That you can worship
You can either
Worship you
Or you can
Worship God
Those are your two options
You can worship
Your own version
Of God
But that is really
Just worshipping you
It's just a conversation
With yourself
And these magi
Worship someone
Who they've never
Worshipped before
They come to Jesus
And they worship him
As king
Of kings
He's called the Christ
What does the word
Christ mean
It's not a serenium
It's a title
Let's say your name
Is Carlos
And your job
Is a plumber
And your job description
Is to fix taps
Well let's apply that
Jesus
Jesus is his name
And his title
Is the Christ
And his job description
Is to rule the world
And everything in it
That is who Christ is
The magi
Magi from the east
They come
And they bow down
They worship
Because you can do
Nothing else
But worship
The one who is God
Become man
And in this story
They move from
Worshipping the stars
Probably
That was their world
To worshipping
The creator
Of the stars
The one who
Hang the moon
In its place
Now lies
In a manger
And will eventually
Hang on a cross
And rise to life
Look at chapter 2
Of Matthew
In verse 11
Just see that reading
In verse 11
When coming to the house
They saw the child
Of his mother Mary
And they bowed down
And worshipped him
That physical act
Of worshipping
Bowing
We don't bow
Do we
We don't
I have never had
Anyone bow down
Before me
If you know me
And I know
That I'm a sinner
Like you
It happens to the queen
Doesn't it
You know when people
Get their night church
But they don't
It's not really a bow
It's kind of a nod
Isn't it in some way
It's not a thought about him
But what these
Major are doing
In this context
They are saying
God
You are greater than me
You
Jesus
Are greater than me
You
Jesus
Get to set the agenda
For the rest of my life
Not me
And these wise men
They travel 500 miles
To worship Jesus
Herod and the rest of Jerusalem
Including the priests
Who should have known better
Can't even be bothered
To travel six miles
From Jerusalem to Bethlehem
You see
You cannot win
If you enter
Into a power struggle
With Jesus
You cannot
At this point
He's two years old
For goodness sake
And Herod
Cannot win
Herod is as stupid
As he is rebellious
He schemes
He plots
He plans
He lies
He does everything
He can to kill
This kid
But he can't do it
And if you read Matthew
Do you know who ends up
Dying in the chapter
It's not Jesus
Is it
It's Herod
When you get to the end
Of the story
It's Herod
Who drops his clans
And not Jesus
Because Jesus
Will only die
At a time
That God
Has determined
And Jesus affirms
And at every point
It is so clear
In this story
As you read
Even the earliest
Accounts of the gospel
The earliest chapters
Of the gospel
That God is in control
And God brings the Magi
From the east
To worship Jesus
And when Herod
Tries to kill Jesus
He brings dreams
Firstly to the Magi
Then to Joseph
To move them here
There and everywhere
It is a cat and mouse thing
A game of chess
And Herod is outsmarted
He is checkmated
Every time
Because if you enter
Into a power struggle
With God
You're not going to win
God wants His Son
To live a perfect life
To die on the cross
So that you and I
Can worship Him
That's why you were created
Have you ever wondered that?
Of course He has
Why were you created?
Have you ever wondered
What the meaning
Into life is?
Well I just told you
So that you could
Worship Him
It's very simple
And very straightforward
Jesus is saying
You're not called
Just to worship a baby
In a manger
He says
I'm no longer in the manger
But I've become a human
And I've stayed a human
And I'm calling you
To worship me
Not just as somebody
Who's hanging on a cross
Who died for your sins
And paid the price
Because that cross
Is now empty
And the price is paid
And you're not called
To worship somebody
Who's still dead
In a tomb
In Palestine
Because on the third day
I rose from that tomb
And that tomb
Was empty
You are called
Tonight
To worship Jesus
Who lived
Died
And rose again
And now is at the right hand
Of the Father
Where there is all authority
And power belongs to Him alone
And He gets to set the agenda
And I will say to you
There is no better way
To live
Than to have this
Great
Kind
Merciful
Savior
Of the world
On your side
So let me ask you
Tonight
As I finish
Are you still in a power struggle
With Jesus
Are you still trying to change
God
To fit your terms
Or are you prepared
To let Him speak
For who He is
And will you let Him
Change you
To receive Him
To worship Him
To enjoy His forgiveness
To know Him
As Father
And have Heaven
As your home
And have God's Spirit
Live in you
To live at peace
To be comfortable
In your own skin
Don't we want that?
Because the war
In your conscience
And in your heart
With God
Is over
Don't you want that?
The best part of you
Wants that
So the message
Of this Christmas
Is this
End the power struggle
With God
That is the message
Of Christmas
Tonight
You can say
Sorry to Him
To say
I was wrong
And it's not you
That need to change God
Actually it's me
He has the right
And He is good
To say thank you
For God's patience
With you
And for Christ's death
On the cross
It's to raise the white flag
Isn't it?
And to surrender to Him
And I know that's not easy
The message of Christmas
Is the best news
Of a King
Of God's King
Come to earth
To rescue
That is the message
Of Christmas
Let's pray
To ending the Holocaust