The Man Who Would Be King.

Philippians 2:1–13 ESV

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a Word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen

Last Sunday’s Gospel text showed us Jesus’ lack of preoccupation with honor. In a culture that was focused on honor, Jesus did not care about it, did not need it, and did not seek it. In fact, the lack of healing in Nazareth was not because Jesus was either bound or punitive. The lack of faith in and honor to Christ by many of the residents of Nazareth did not weaken Him, for he was able to lay hands on a few and heal them. It just kept them from getting blessed when He was in their midst.

Today’s Gospel text takes us from Jesus to Herod. Jesus, the unrecognized King, and Herod, who was called a “king.” would eventually cross paths, but our text today shows how Herod, having heard of Jesus, but not having faith in Christ, looks for an alternative explanation for the things that he has heard. Not having the Word in him, Herod reaches outside the Word to explain something that required the presence of the Spirit to understand.

Herod’s Story

Eerdmans Bible Dictionary 2

Herod Antipas (ca.. 21 B.C.—A.D. 39), son of Herod the Great and his Samaritan wife Malthace, tetrarch of Galilee and Perea during the life of Jesus. He founded Tiberias as his capital city, in honor of the emperor who had bestowed on him the dynastic title Herod, by which he is designated in the New Testament. He became enamored of his niece Herodias, wife of his half-brother Herod II (called “Philip” in the New Testament), and married her, renouncing his first wife, daughter of the Nabatean king Aretas IV. This offended the Jews, and John the Baptist publicly renounced Antipas, who ordered his imprisonment (Matt. 14:3–5 par.); subsequently Antipas was manipulated into presenting the head of John as a favor to Herodias’ daughter Salome (vv. 6–11 par.).

Antipas, who viewed Jesus as a successor to the troublesome Baptist (Matt. 14:1–2 par.), may have considered a plot against him (Luke 13:31–33). Later, Pontius Pilate sent Jesus as a Galilean to Antipas for judgment, but the tetrarch returned him to Pilate for condemnation (23:7–12).

In A.D. 36 Aretas retaliated for the earlier humiliation of his daughter, defeating Antipas’ forces in a border skirmish. Tiberius dispatched Roman troops, but upon the emperor’s death the mission was abandoned. The successor, Caligula, installed Herodias’ brother Agrippa I as king over the territory of Philip, another son of Herod the Great (cf. Luke 3:1). The jealous Herodias convinced Antipas to seek similar treatment at Rome, but Agrippa accused him of being in league with the Parthians. For this Antipas, accompanied by Herodias, was exiled to Lyons in Gaul.

Herod was a man who wanted to be recognized and respected, but he really hadn’t done anything noteworthy - until he got married to his sister-in-law Herodias. As the text told us, she was married to his brother, Philip, until she wasn’t. We learn that John the Baptist declared God’s Law against this to Herod, and in response Herod arrested him. Based upon what happens later, I wonder if it wasn’t Herodias who instigated the arrest.

Herod Antipas was torn between respecting the Prophet and wanting to please his “wife.” He was torn between his desire to be rid of the convicting proclamations of John, and his desire to be respected by the citizens of Jerusalem. So he listened to John, and he listened to Herodias, and then, one night at a party, Herod got in over his head. Courtesy of Herodias’ daughter, the almost king could no longer hide behind the business of being “king.” She danced, he watched, and then she demanded the head of John.

While the guests of the banquet watched, Herod searched for a way out, but found that he could choose to do what was right, or choose to do what would entertain the crowd. He could apply John’s teachings, or apply a sword to his neck.

What would you do?

Actually, it really doesn’t matter, because that isn’t the point of this passage. The point of this passage isn’t John’s heroism, or Herod’s cowardice. The point is that Herod didn’t know Christ, and so he explained Christ’s power as being because He was actually John the Baptist come back from the grave and given special powers. Rather than accept Jesus’ testimony concerning Himself, and seeing the works as confirmation of Jesus’ message concerning the Kingdom of God, Herod chose a vague unscriptural concept that made John the Baptist a superbeing.

We have a clear revelation from God, but faith comes by hearing. If you refuse to hear, you won’t believe. Herod refused to hear and believe, preferring to hear and explain away. Many people today follow the same path. Rejecting the clear testimony of the Gospel, they create a different Jesus and proclaim a different gospel that is no gospel at all. Some of them are sitting right here, right now. Jude wrote about them, saying:

Jude 12–13 ESV

These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

They disrupt your Bible studies with the newest, latest heretical theories. They challenge the validity of the Divine Service and bring in innovations that take the focus away from Christ and place it upon us, then look surprised and hurt when they are challenged as to why they wish to do these things.

What they don’t understand is that we do what we do because it reflects our Bible-based, Christ-centered theology. We aren’t “chasing God” because He promised to come to us. We aren’t looking for God to do “a new thing” because We cling to “the faith once for all delivered to the saints.” We aren’t trying to make our worship familiar to the lost because in order to worship in spirit and in truth you must be born from above. We aren’t trying to give you a unique “spiritual” experience because “baptism now saves you!”

The Confessions that were published 500 years ago weren’t a new spiritual illumination, they were the tried and tested expositions of Scripture that followed the teachings of the Apostles. Whatever you want, God’s got it and He gives us everything that we need through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and virtue (). You don’t have to go somewhere to seek the Lord, for He told you:

John 12:32 ESV

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

I don’t need a miracle to get excited about Jesus. I get excited when I think about Jesus Christ and Him crucified -

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

I’m like the man who was in the Gadarenes, like the man born blind. I can’t keep it to myself! If you can keep the forgiveness of sins to yourself, you don’t understand what it means to be forgiven!

I’m like the man who was in the Gadarenes, like the man born blind. I can’t keep it to myself! If you can keep the forgiveness of sins to yourself, you don’t understand what it means to be forgiven!

Christ DIED FOR YOU! God tasted death FOR YOU!

Herod put John to death, and felt shame and regret.

Jesus died in your place, so that you could know - not feel, KNOW - the peace that passes all understanding.

k;lk

I’m traveling from place to place, and living in Gary IN because Jesus Christ is risen, and He told us to make disciples of nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything that He, Jesus, commanded.

Self-indulgence has nothing for me - Why seek ye the living among the dead?

Political power has nothing for me - why seek ye the living among the dead?

Money has no power over me - why seek ye the living among the dead?

The devil has no power over me - why seek you the living among the dead?

When you accept Jesus at His Word, and believe that His exceeding great and precious promises are yes and amen, then you will come boldly to the throne of grace, rather than trying to find another way.

When you repent and believe the Gospel, then you will know the truth, and it will make you free. So why seek ye the living among the dead?!?

So let the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

‘’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’