The Grinch of Christmas

Matthew 2:1-9

The Grinch of Christmas

Over the past few years and with the help of movies, the Grinch has now become one of the most recognizable characters at Christmas.

Hopefully, you know the Doctor Seuss creation and the story associated with him. If not, a green hair hermit who hates Christmas robs Whoville from all of its Christmas decorations and presents. But has a heart change after the people of Whoville come together in a heartwarming ending.

Well, I would like to introduce to you the first real grinch of Christmas. And he is not a made up character. He was a real individual who was alive at that first Christmas. And he did everything he could to stop it.

Let us read his story, and what it means to us today.

(Read Scripture)

Herod’s story goes on from this passage. We read later in this chapter that he goes as far to send his army into Bethlehem to kill the little children who were there.

This horrible king felt his rule was threaten and he wanted to do everything he could to stop it.

Now at the end of the Dr. Seuss story, the grinch had a change of heart and came to love Christmas. But that isn’t how the story ends for Herod.

Instead, we find a man who went to his grave because he wanted to destroy Christmas. Well, in the words of Paul Harvey, we know the rest of the story.

Herod didn’t stop Christmas from coming. Jesus came into the world and paid the penalty for our sin. And he is coming again to be the king of the Jews, and also the king of this world.

Now what does this low point of the Christmas story mean to us? How does this apply to our life?

Herod didn’t want to let go of his throne

· Hearing the words that the king of the jews had been born was not what Herod was expecting from these wise men.

· This meant his authority, his rule would have to be surrendered.

· And instead of being happy about prophecy being fulfilled, he is bothered by it. The scripture says he was troubled.

· He enjoyed his position, he enjoyed his power, he enjoyed all the perks of being the king. And so, he is troubled of the news that the real king has been born.

· You see, Herod was not the real king of Israel. He was pretending to be king. He was not of the lineage of David.

· He comes to power with the help of the Romans. Who appoint him king. But he is not the real king.

· He sits on a throne that doesn’t belong to him.

· And in a way, he illustrates so many people.

· For in each person’s heart sits a throne. That is either occupied by someone pretending to be king, or the real king named Jesus.

· Now for so many, their hearts of troubled, because they don’t want to let go of the throne.

· They want to hold onto it. But just like Herod, you will not find peace in your life if you continue to claim the throne of your heart.

· It must be relinquished to the rightful king. The king you know that needs to be sitting on the throne.

· It needs to be relinquished to Jesus.

· Herod was troubled because he didn’t want to let go. And what we find is that all of Jerusalem was troubled because of Herod as well.

· You see, Herod’s sinful pride and unwillingness to let go, brought on more misery and stress on those living in Jerusalem.

· And in the same way, when you refuse to let go and let Jesus come in, those all around you suffer.

· Those who live in your home suffer because you don’t want Jesus to sit on the throne.

· It doesn’t matter if you are a husband, father, wife, mother, or child.

· If Christ doesn’t sit on the throne of your life, those around you suffer because of it.

· Don’t be so foolish to try to remain on the throne of your life, all it is, is trouble.

Herod pretended to care about the Lord

· Now this brings us to the second thing we find Herod doing. He begins to deceive the wisemen.

· He tells them to go and find the child and then come back to him to tell him where he is at so he can go and worship him.

· Herod is pretending that he cares, but in reality his heart is not about surrendering to the Lord.

· Now Herod really illustrates so many with these actions. He first tells the wisemen to go.

· He is not interested in going to find Jesus, but he has no problem with others going.

· In homes right now sit men and women, whose families went to church this morning but they stayed home. They refused to go.

· Because they do not want to seek for Jesus. Because if they seek, they must leave the throne. And that is the last thing they want to happen.

· If Herod left the throne and searched for Jesus, in his eyes, it would have made him vulnerable.

· So, he decided to remain right where he is at, to stay in his comfort.

· Oh, the mindset of Herod is prevalent today, and a person gives every excuse why they can’t come to the Lord.

· Why they can’t leave. They pretend to care about Jesus, but really it is fake.

· Perhaps that is you right now. You are sitting here in this room pretending to be a Christian.

· Pretending that you care. But you are not interested in really getting up from the throne.

· And while you may have us deceived, you do not deceive the Lord. For he knows your heart.

· Herod, pretended that he genuinely cared, but his heart was hard.

· And then we see the second thing, he tells these wisemen that he wants to come and worship the Lord.

· Now we know from this passage, that Herod didn’t want to worship Jesus, he wanted to destroy Jesus.

· So, what does he do? He lies to the wisemen about his heart.

· Let me ask you this question, did you come today to worship the Lord, or did you come to destroy him?

· Are you wanting to find Jesus in your life, or are you trying to snuff him out.

· You see, there are those who are seeking Jesus, but they are not seeking him with their heart.

· They are seeking the Lord for other intentions. And you know what, you will never find him if you are seeking with the wrong purpose.

· The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 29:13 “And ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all of your heart.”

· Listen you can’t come in with some fake worship and expect to find Jesus today. You will not find Jesus if only part of you is looking.

· The only way you will find Jesus is if you look with all of your heart.

· Herod, was not looking for Jesus with his heart. He was looking for Jesus with hatred.

· He wants to destroy Christ, so he doesn’t feel threatened anymore. He doesn’t want conviction.

· Listen, you might be here right now, and you have on the front, you have on the mask. You seem to have everyone fooled, but you won’t find Jesus with a half hearted attempt.

Herod died not understanding what Christmas was about.

· Now the rest of Herod’s story doesn’t get any better. It would have been wonderful to read that Herod recognized who the Lord was and relinquished his throne to him.

· But that isn’t how the story ends.

· Instead, we find that Herod is consumed with his pride, ego, and selfishness. And he sends his armies into Bethlehem to kill the children.

· And a great slaughter took place. Herod thought he won. He thought he had beaten God and had found his own way into heaven.

· But Herod was wrong. Herod had pretended to care about Jesus. He pretended in his desire to worship.

· But then came the day that he died.

· The Bible says in Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”

· Herod is not king today. But you know who is? Jesus.

· The throne of Herod has fallen, but the throne of Jesus is eternal.

· We look at the story and say, how can a man be so foolish to deny the Lord the throne? But yet everyday there are people who do that very thing.

· Who profess Jesus with their lips but deny him with their hearts.

· Herod was trying to rob the world of Christmas. His heart was like the Grinch to sizes to small.

· His life had been consumed by his own desires and greed. He wanted to stay on the throne.

· And by staying on the throne, everyone suffered.

· You are here today, and you, like Herod have sat on the throne of your life refusing to let go.

· And because of that, you have deceived people, you are not genuine in your worship, you have done horrible sin. Death is coming to your life.

· But that doesn’t have to be, if you would just realize what Christmas is really about.

· Realize that the gift of the king, is to provide you a life that has a relationship with the Heavenly Father, that has forgiven you of you sins, and now provides you a place in the kingdom of heaven.

· Herod is not in heaven, because he denied the king of kings the throne of his heart.

· And you might be here right now, heading that same direction. Instead of denying the Lord, instead of being troubled by the Lord. Why not accept the Lord and be redeemed.

· Be forgiven, be restored.

· Don’t be a Grinch this Christmas, how about letting the Lord into your heart where now your heart grows because of the joy of Jesus in your life.