The Chronicles of Christmas: A Chronicle of Rejection

Text: Matthew 2:3-8, 16-18

Theme: Herod is an example of those through the centuries who have missed the grandeur of Christ's birth and have rejected His authority in their lives.

Date: 12/08/2019 File Name: Chronicle_of_Christmas_2019_02.wpd Sermon ID:

In the 1940's a Swiss watch was the most prestigious, and best-built timepiece in the world, and Switzerland was the world’s leader in watchmaking, and had been for 400 years. In the late 50's, Peter Petroff, the man who invented the digital watch, presented his ideas to the leaders of the Swiss watch industry. The digital display watch was the newest way to tell time in 500 years. The Swiss rejected his idea outright because they believed that they had the best watches and the best watchmakers. Their attitude was, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The Swiss watch industry failed to see the enormous market potential of the new watch. Petroff sold the idea to Pulsar which was later bought out by Seiko.

In 1940 the Swiss watch industry employed over 80,000 people. In 1970 there were 1,600 Swiss watch manufacturers. Today there are only abut 600 Swiss watch manufacturers which employ only about 58,000 workers.

In 1940 eighty percent of the watches sold in the world came from Switzerland, and were mechanical watches. Today eighty percent of the watches sold around the world are digital. The leaders of the Swiss watch industry rejected an innovative idea. In doing so they lost a market.

Why do I tell you this story? To illustrate that rejection of an idea can sometimes be costly.

King Herod is an example of those individuals through the centuries who have missed the grandeur of Christ's birth and have rejected His authority in their lives. In rejecting Christ, they have forfeited their eternity with God in Heaven.

There are billions and billions of people in this world who know that something unusual happened at Bethlehem, but they have no idea what it means. Regrettably there are millions in our own society who have the knowledge of the Christmas story and enjoy the Christmas traditions which surround that story, but who choose to reject the very person whom the stories and traditions are about.

King Herod was an interesting person. He was a ruthless warrior, an astute businessman, and ambitious builder, a cunning opportunist, paranoid beyond reason, and an egotist prone to outbursts which frequently turned violent. His family life was characterized by bitter feuds and murder. Upon his personal orders, Herod had his wife and three of his sons executed. The Roman Emperor Augustus quipped, that it was safer to be Herod's pig than Herod's son. He clutched power and carefully annihilated all threats to his power and dominion in Judea.

We should not be surprised, therefore, that his jealous paranoia should flare when the Magi's entourage entered Jerusalem seeking the new born King of the Jews. The phrase he was disturbed testifies to his anxiety. The word disturbed means to agitate, to cause one inward commotion, take away his calmness of mind, to disquiet, to make restless, to stir up, to strike one's spirit with fear and dread. It was a word used to describe the shaking of the ground during an earthquake.

What does Herod do with the news that a new king of Israel has been born in his realm? He calls a religious cabinet meeting to find out where the new King would be born. In vs. 4 he asked the religious leaders "... where the Christ was to be born." The verb asked represents a continuous activity. From the moment he called the religious leaders together he was constantly on their case, repeatedly in their face, "Have you discovered where yet." "When will you be able to tell me something." "I need and answer and I need it today!"

Once he found out that Bethlehem in Judea was the place, his skill at underhanded schemes took over. He shrewdly gathered all the facts and sent the wise men to Bethlehem with instructions to inform him exactly where the child was so he could join them in worship of the new king. As the wise men road out of sight, he must have stroked his chin and smiled to himself. He would tolerate no rivals. He was sure that his ingenious plan would work as so many others had.

But Herod's solution to his problem left out God, and no equation in life is ever solved apart from God. To reject the Lord is to close the door on hope. As we examine Herod's chronicle of rejection, we must ask what lay at the heart of his decision.

I. HEROD REJECTED CHRIST BECAUSE OF FEAR

1. phobias dominate our society and exert a paralyzing influence on the mind

a. a phobia is a persistent abnormal and irrational fear of something that compels one to avoid the thing feared

2. much of Herod's rejection was rooted in selfish fear

a. when he heard the term king he thought immediately about an earthly king

3. consequently, his egotistical defenses went up

a. such fear bolts the door against faith

b. it recoils from the light of truth

A. AN AWESOME FEAR OF GOD MUST DRIVE US TO ACCEPT GOD, NOT REJECT HIM

Psalm 40:3 "He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD."

ILLUS. Richard Halverson, chaplain to the United States Senate, once said, "Men who fear God face life fearlessly. Men who do not fear God end up fearing everything."

1. this was Herod

a. he did not fear God and wound up being paranoid of everyone and everything around him

b. he trusted no one but himself

c. Herod feared anyone who threatened his temporal throne; but he failed to fear the One whose throne was eternal

2. in Herod we see the person who refuses to fear God or bow before His awesome might

a. this is the person who shakes his fist in God's face and cries out, "God. Who do you think your are? God?"

3. they have a fear of having their life influenced or controlled by anything or anyone other than themselves-including God

II. HEROD REJECTED CHRIST BECAUSE OF UNCERTAINTY

1. some people will miss heaven because of fear

2. others will miss heaven simply because they are unsure what to do with this person called Jesus

a. though uncertainty as to where Christ fits into you life may seem like a legitimate reason to wait in your decision to follow him, it is actually a very subtle form of rejection

1 Peter 2:6-7 "For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone," (OT quotes from Isa. 28:16 & Ps. 118:22-23)

ILLUS. There is an old Jewish legend that tells about the riddle of the missing corner stone. The temple of Solomon was under construction. AN the stones that went into its building were precut in the quarry some distance away. Practically all the stones were identical-all being of the same size and shape. But one day a stone was found different from all the rest, and the builders said, "There is no place for this stone. There must be a mistake." So they rolled it to the edge of the cliff and tumbled it down into the Kedron Valley below the temple area.

As the years of construction went by the builders were finally ready for the chief corner-stone; so they sent down the order for it. They were told, "You must have it there; we sent it to you long ago." Their search proved fruitless. And then an old workman said, "/ remember now. There was a stone different from the rest and we thought there was no place for it and tumbled it down to the valley below." The legend says they went down into the Kedron Valley and there they found the stone, now covered by lichens and debris ~ the very stone the builders rejected. So now they had to hoist it to the top of the cliff, then back to the platform and put it into place. It fit perfectly.

3. every Jew knew that story and knew what Peter meant when he said, "This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner."

a. the builders rejected the stone originally because they were uncertain where it fit into the plans of the Temple

b. but the stone the builders rejected had become the head stone of the corner.

A. HEROD WAS UNCERTAIN WHERE CHRIST FIT INTO HIS LIFE SO HE REJECTED HIM

1. to go to Bethlehem and worship the Lord did not fit into his plans

2. to turn over his throne to this young child when he came of age certainly did not fit into Herod's plans

3. they only thing Herod was certain of was that he wanted no part in this child's life and he was going to make sure that this child had no part in his life

a. with that decision, soldiers were dispatched to Bethlehem to take care of the problem

4. Herod's uncertainty is reminiscent of so many in our own community who examine the gospel claims, but are uncertain about the consequences and so continually put a decision for Christ off

a. some even let their uncertainty grow into open hostility toward the things of God

ILLUS. Aaron Burr was the third Vice President of the United States serving under Thomas Jefferson. He was reared in a godly home and frequently admonished to accept Christ by his grandfather, Jonathan Edwards. But Aaron was stubborn and uncertain that Christ fit into his plans for life. Burr did achieve a measure of political success, but he was also involved in continuous strife most of his life. Toward the end of his life he confided to a group of friends, "Sixty years ago I told God that if He would let me alone, I would let Him alone, and God has not bothered about me since."

III. HEROD REJECTED CHRIST BECAUSE OF PRIDE

1. the roots of fear and uncertainty were mingled with the roots of pride in Herod's chronicle of rejection

2. Herod had no intention of bowing his knee before a mere child whom he considered to be a pretender to the throne of Israel

a. pride would simply not allow it

A. PRIDE PROMPTS A PERSON TO THINK HE IS BEYOND NEED, ESPECIALLY SPIRITUAL NEED

1. pride always lifts self up and gazes down at others a. Herod felt secure in his presumption of superiority

2. the problem with looking down at others in an indignant air of superiority is that we cannot see what is above

3. Herod lived a life of luxury

4. he possessed power and prestige

a. none of these were to be given up—even for the long awaited Messiah!

b. that's the part that has always intrigued me in the story of Herod

1) in our passage Herod is very intuitive in his understanding and grasp of the situation

2) after he has called all his religious advisors together, the bible says, "he demanded of them where the Christ [Messiah] should be born."

c. Herod understands that this king of the Jews the wise men are searching for is the Messiah

d. He understands that his birth and the place of birth are the answers to fulfilled prophecy

e. and still he chooses the actions he does

5. what did this baby in Bethlehem have to offer him?

a. pride distorted Herod's vision

b. it hindered his perspective

c. it ultimately blinded his heart to truth so that the eyes of his soul were useless

6. fundamentally, it was pride which kept Herod from worshiping the new born King

a. when it comes right down to it, pride is what will keep most people out of Heaven

ILLUS. C.S. Lewis writes in his book Mere Christianity, "There is one vice of which no men in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. . . There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others. The vice I am talking of is.

b. it is such an evil vice, Lewis writes, that no man who is proud can know God

Proverbs 16:5 "Every one [that is] proud in heart [is] an abomination to the LORD:"

ILLUS. In the year 1829, a Philadelphia man named George Wilson robbed the U. S. mails, killing someone in the process. Wilson was arrested, brought to trial, found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged. Some friends intervened in his behalf and were finally able to obtain a pardon for him from President Andrew Jackson. But, when he was informed of this, George Wilson—in his pride—refused to accept the pardon! The sheriff was unwilling to enact the sentence for how could he hang a pardoned man? An appeal was sent to President Jackson. The perplexed President turned to the United States Supreme Court to decide the case. Chief Justice Marshall ruled that a pardon is a piece of paper, the value of which depends on its acceptance by the person implicated. It is hard to imagine that a person under the sentence of death would refuse to accept a pardon, but if it is refused, it is then not a pardon. George Wilson must be hanged. So George Wilson was executed, although his pardon lay on the sheriffs desk.

Is pride, or uncertainty or fear keeping you from accepting the gift of salvation by refusing the pardon thereby offered.