This sermon (2nd Sunday after Christmas) was delivered to St Oswald’s in Maybole,
Ayrshire, Scotland on the 4th January 2015 by Gordon McCulloch
(a Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries).
ntroduction
My sermon two weeks ago came to an abrupt end as there was just so much to say; and during that sermon I made some profound statements which need further explanation, non more so than referring to the fact that we need a little fear in our lives to keep us close to the Lord who loves us.
Now the word fear here is maybe the wrong term, maybe I should have used the word respect, or reverence, or great awe because 2nd Timothy 1 verse 7 tells us that "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind".
So the fear which I spoke therefore is not this type of fear, but a fear more akin to humility, a fear that results in strength and power, and I can show you this by contrast, by examining a man consumed with fear that originates from weakness; and how the fruits of this fear are rotten to the core, leaving a wake of hurt and destruction for those who come into contact with this type of selfish ambition.
The man I refer to is of course Herod the Great, ... and despite the fact that he had everything going for him, ... he was not content in himself, in fact ... the fear in him continually told him he was in need, and totally insecure.
Herod was born into a well-connected family, and Herod himself was destined for a life of power. At 25, he became the governor of Galilee, a position supported, and probably appointed by the Romans in an attempt to control the unsettled Jews, ... because Herod was the man to control them through fear and intimidation.
Herod was also known as the ... “King of the Jews”, a titled he loved, but it was a title the Jews themselves hated, because Herod was anything but religious, ... Herod bowed to no one, ... he was King, and no one had any right to challenge him. In reality, he was weaker that the weak, ... displaying the following characteristics of weakness: ... ...
1. Preoccupation with Power.
The first characteristic was his pre-occupation with power. Have you noticed that some people who are weak, are totally obsessed with power; ... the wee man syndrome springs to mind, ... they do not seek power because they are strong, they seek power to support themselves, ... and Herod is the perfect example, Herod was addicted to power.
Herod could also be described as able, cunning, and cruel. Herod was extremely capable as a ruler: his first achievements was to wipe out several bands of guerrillas who were terrorizing the countryside, and his second was by using subtle diplomacy, ... to make peace with many hostile factions.
Herod was also very cunning, ... for he arranged all his relationships as conduits of power, and his craftiness had no bounds as he had a morbid distrust of anyone who might take his throne from him, and so he was also a very cruel man, ... and brutally removed anyone who got in his way. Over the years he killed many people, including his brother-in-law, his mother-in-law, two of his sons, his wife and many leading rabbis. He murdered to stay in power. ... Human life meant absolutely nothing to him, and his genocide grew in proportion to the amount of power he possessed.
2. Preoccupation with Possessions.
The second characteristic of weakness that is displayed in Herod is his pre-occupied with possessions, ... as he wanted to own everything; ... for example, ... and this is quite a feat, ... he built entire cities with state of the art architecture.
He also built 7 palaces and 7 theatres'; one of which seated 9,500 people, that is nearly three times the population of Maybole. ... ... He also built stadiums for sporting events, stadiums larger than Hampden Park in Glasgow. ... His most famous and ambitious project was the expansion of the Second Temple in Jerusalem which was not completed until 20 years after his death.
3. Preoccupation with Paranoia.
Yet with all this success, we see another trait of weakness and that was his Paranoia; ... he was beset with paranoia ever since an enemy poisoned his father, ... so he went to great lengths to protect himself; commissioning thousands of slaves to build over 10 emergency fortresses, all heavily armed and well provisioned, and anyone with a plot to dethrone Him was eliminated.
In many ways his reign was a remarkable feat of achievement, and he did reign for over 40 years as a tyrant, ... but his reign came to an abrupt end when he clashed with another king, ... a king who was also called, "The King of the Jews". ... ... ...
And this is where we pick up the story, at the end of his 40 odd year of reign where he is slowly, and painfully dying, ... when three strangers from the East visit him with a strange question that shook him to his core. Matthew 2:2 says bluntly: “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”.
Can you see the context now in which this question was asked because this question totally enraged him because he himself was the King of the Jews. He wasn’t born the King, he had to fight and kill to gain and keep that title, but now these three men were asking so see the true king of the Jews.
Matthew 2:3 says that, “When Herod heard this he was disturbed and ... all Jerusalem with him", and that is because all Jerusalem did not know what this idiot was going to do next; and the word idiot is used here in its truest sense, the ID being the animal / survival part of the brain.
Herod did what Herod did best, he devised a cunning plan to get rid of this new king before he took hold, but without drawing any attention. So Herod, ... remember he was able, cunning, and cruel, ... knew that somewhere in the ancient oracles was the prediction of where this king was to be born. So he must have called all his advisors to find out if where, and Matthew 2: verses 5 and 6 goes onto say, “In Bethlehem in Judea ... for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel”.
So Herod enraged; ... craftily calls the three wise men and says in verses 7 and 8, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him”. And we all know what he is doing here, he is trying to root out the child so he can have him killed.
The wise men then follow the Star to the place where Jesus was staying; and here they offered him the expensive gifts of Gold Frankincense and Myrrh , ... and worshipped him as the true King. ... Then with their crusade now complete, they decided to return home, but verse 12 tells us that “Having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another route".
And so Herod's cunning plan failed, ... his paranoia told him the wise men tricked him, concealing the identity of the true king, ... as so he lashed out with raged, ... he was the Hitler or Stalin of his day, he ordered the cold-blooded murder of all male children of less than two years of age. ..., ...
What a horrible King, what a tyrant ... but it is now worth looking at these two Kings to see how they compare; because they were the complete opposite of each other in every sense. Herod was old, but well seasoned, ... he was a dictator obsessed with power, possessions, and paranoia, ... and he was supported by a large armies under his control. ... The other king on the other hand was, ... well he was an infant, ... but he had an almighty Father in heaven who watched over him.
King Herod represents the popular perspective on power, in fact the way many people today think on power, by taking it from others , by bullying and intimidating and extortion; normally in a subtle manner. King Jesus had a simpler, but more radical approach, he drew the power from his father when ever he needed it, and then used it to help or serve others. ...
And it is not until you compare these two together, we wonder how can this be. These two are poles apart: Herod being mighty and strong and powerful; the other is an infant. But we know who won, and the one who won is still the King of the Jews to this day, in fact he is very much more than that. Who then is the one with power, ... who is the true king of the Jews?
Well both kings had power, one created it for himself through cruelty, keeping this power for himself. The other drew this power from his father, and then pass this power onto others who needed it through love. One was a oppressor, driven by fear from his own weaknesses, the other was a servant, driven by the love and respect for others. One manipulated, bullied, slandered, deceived, and schemed; ... the other encouraged, healed, taught, blessed and loved.
Herod in Us.
And from this we see that the name Herod the Great is really an oxymoron, because he was anything but great in himself. Yes he was rich in what the world considers valuable, but he was totally bankrupt as a human being; ... all his power and money was worth nothing as he lay rotting in his deathbed.
And we all like that conclusion, but remember there are a little of Herod in us all, ... if we are honest. Given the right situation, every one of us is capable of acting as Herod would to get us what we want. Ok we are nowhere as bad or evil as Herod, nor are we ever likely to be so, ... ... but in the same vain we are not like Jesus either, not yet anyway, as the Lord is still working in us. ... Don't worry though, because we worship Jesus we are well passed the half way divide, ... we are more like Him than Herod.
But remember, we are talking about two extreme Kings here, where the main difference from what I have been able to put together is that Herod fed of the fear he inflicted on others, ... and the more power he had, the more he inflicted on others; ... and we have all witnessed people like this, ... people we go to lengths to avoid.
Jesus on the other hand, seams to be empowered by giving to those in need, or those who genuinely asked for help, and we know that Jesus received his power from God in proportion to how much he gave.
How do we receive this power from heaven, well to find out we have to jump to the end of Jesus' life, and we read in the great commission in Matthew 10:7 which says "And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. ... Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: ... freely ye have received, freely give".
Which means that instead of looking for ways to rule or lord it over others, we are to look for ways to serve others; ... and not to focus on what we can own or want so that we can boast, ... no, we are to focus on what we can give instead. ... Yes we do our best, but we have not arrived, and if you feel bad about this, ... then do not worry, but take assurance that you are following the true king or you would not be feeling bad; ... and feeling bad is evidence that he is working in you.
I made a very strong accusation earlier, I said that, "we are not like Herod, ... but we are not like Jesus either", and that statement is true, ... but statement bothers me, ... because Jesus later taught an important lesson on how we could bring honour to him in a hard-hitting passage, Matthew 25:40, says “Whatever you did for one of the least … you did it unto me”.
Jesus is saying that if we want to worship and honour Him, and receive power from heaven then, ... then we better do some thing for the forgotten people, or the poor of our society. Those who are in prison, those who are hungry, the sick and the poor, widows and orphans, and any other individual that truly needs our help. ... I am not saying help those who demand it or manipulate us, ... but those who genuinely need it in order to survive.
When we serve people like this, we are actually serving the true King of the Jews, that is Jesus himself, and doing so, we too will also be able to draw power from our Father in heaven; and if we are not doing this at the moment, ... that is what we are to aspired too, ... and although this is easy to say, I for one find this a very intimidating and dauntless challenge, ... but facing that challenge is what draws us closer to the lord, ... and also it draws him closer to us, ... and that is how we secure his power, ... and that is what we have been asked to do ... and that is the type of challenges we have in our Map program, our Mission Action Plan, ... and that is why we are trying to meet them.
There is so much in the bible to learn from, and there is so much to say on this subject, but we will stop here and continue with the other points at a later day. Let us now have a short prayer.
Let us pray
Father we thank you for Jesus, we thank you he died to make us sons and daughters of your, whom you love.
Father we thank you that we do not aspire to be like Herod, ... rather you have shown us the way in Jesus your son, the way to the true source of power, and how you want it to be used.
Father, enable us to draw from this power as Jesus did, and teach us how to use it wisely.
Father enable us to identify and help others as you command. Give us the resources, the enthusiasm, ... and the time and ability to carry out your wishes; and Father please open doors where we will be welcome to administer in your almighty name to.
Father we ask in Jesus name, Amen.
Note to the reader:
If you have been blessed by this sermon, or any of my sermons, I would be greatly honoured to receive an e-mail from you saying so; I like so many others need encouragement.
I often feel that to deliver a sermon one time to my congregation is such a waste; where as many more could be blessed by its message, after all, it is not for my glory but for his. I would therefore like my sermons to bless more people, preferably internationally and not only in a small part, of a small country called Scotland.
Simply let me know where you are in the world … and any other information you may want to share or be prayed for. I would also take it as a compliment for you to use my sermons in order to bless others in his almighty name. I do not even need acknowledged, but he does, and I will receive a blessing directly from him.
Thank you for taking the time to read, and I wish you "all the best" as we say in Scotland … and I pray that your endeavours in the Lord are equally blessed. Yours in Christ, Gordon McCulloch, Scotland.
Compiled By: Gordon McCulloch (Worship Leader),
St Oswalds Episcopal Church,
Maybole. Ayrshire.
Scotland. UK
KA19 8KF
gccmcculloch @ aol.com
or E-Mail me through Sermon Central
