Matthew 2:13–18Scripture
Matthew chapter 2 verse 13-18 says this. Now when they had departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeared. Now it's speaking of the wise men departing. They had come and they had met Jesus. They had given him gifts. And when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him." And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod.
This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my son." Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and all the region who were 2 years old or under.
Lord, we need you. Oh, we need you every hour. We need you. And he came. And he came. Emanuel, God with us.
It's interesting that sometimes God brings trouble just by him showing up.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 1:32
And often times when we see in Scripture whenever God shows up on the scene, he brings death to you, to your wants, to your desires.
Introduction
Your very life will be asked for whenever God shows up. This is crazy. Two years or older according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what the what's spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. Notice all of these prophetic utterances. Now we are in the third one. We read of one last week. We just read of one just in moments before in verses 13–15.
Now we're reading of another prophetic fulfillment by Jer Jeremiah. A voice was heard in Rama weeping and loud lamentation. Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted because they are no more. This was all prophesied. This was prophesied. And then next week we're going to hear of another fulfillment. So Jesus birth bought brought within years four prophetic fulfillments.
I'm not talking about that, but I just thought it would cool, so I thought I would throw that in there before my introduction. This is pretty amazing. This is pretty amazing. There is in this text, according to my study, there are dueling crowns here.
They're dueling crowns. There are two ways that two crowns that are present. There is the way of Herod or the way of Christ. And quite honestly, if you look at your life, you might be able to see both ways represented in your life. But we're to follow the way of Christ as believers. And so it is interesting and we should reflect often and we should reflect soberly.
What way are we following? What way are we walking in? It is amazing today though because there are people who declare that the way of Christ is actually the way of Herod.
We dress it up in such a fashion and we sing songs and we praise him around Herod's ways.
We then call it the way of Christ. We can see in here there are ways of Herod that in the church today we have declared are ways of Christ. This is problematic and we should not get it convoluted. They are not the same way.
There is only one way to salvation and it is Jesus Christ.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 4:49
So if in the church then we are getting Herod's ways confused with Christ's ways, we are going the wrong way as a fellowship.
And so then the Scripture then helps us be able to distinguish the difference between Herod's ways and Christ's ways. And we should pay attention. We should pay attention in this text. There are two kings, Herod and Jesus. There are two kings. There are very two very different crowns and two very different kingdoms represented.
Herod wears a crown of pride, of power, and of paranoia.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 5:44
You ever been paranoid? You ever been prideful? You ever been put wanting to be powerful above all other things?
Jesus bears a crown of humility, surrender and suffering.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 6:04
It is amazing today in the church because we say that if you come to Christ, you won't suffer. You won't have trouble. We won't surrender or retreat. We'll take the hill. We'll always win. We'll always persevere. Will always succeed.
Jesus lays down his life to redeem guilty sinners. Herod grasps for control by shedding life.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 6:36
There is a difference between these crowns and these kingdoms. There is a difference. And it is amazing because inside the walls of the church, I've heard whispers that God's crown is similar to Herod's crown and it is not at all.
These two crowns are confined to the passages of Scripture and they confront us even now. Let me ask you a question. Whose crown are you following? And you should think about it soberly. We would all answer well Christ's whose voice are you obeying? Matthew 21:13-18 reveals the conflict between man's crown and God's. Shows us that following the true king means walking a path that resists comfort, rejects empty religion.
Rests in God's providence and guidance and ultimately leads to a cross. Not just Christ's but your own.
That's the way of Christ. Death to you and your way. Life to God and his.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 8:08
That's the call. That's the call. And no wonder our altars are filled because we say that coming to Christ is life to your will and your way and death to God's.
We elevate self and we kill God and we call it Christ's way.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 8:40
And it's not. So, I wanted to talk to us and maybe give us some things to consider today. Maybe some commands that I think we extrapolate out here that if we're going to follow the way of Christ, there are some things that we should consider.
Point 1Refuse to settle into comfort
One, we should refuse to settle into comfort if we're going to follow the way of Christ. At the very beginning. Verse 13, rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there.
Listen, if you're a follower of Christ, you're going to live a life not full of comfort, but full of trouble.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 9:19
And notice the promises of those who follow the way of Christ. You will be persecuted. You will have trouble of every kind. Your life will be troubled. Rise, take your child and your mother and flee to Egypt. There's a choice you get to make when the call comes. The call will come. And when the call comes, there's a choice you get to make.
Will you remain where you are in comfort? Or will you heed the call and sacrifice your comfort? Will you refuse to settle for comfort and exchange it for the way of Christ? I because I'm here to promise you today the way of Christ is not full of comfort.
Jesus before this in verse 11 Jesus was just now just before this worshiped by the wise men. He received gold and frankincense and myrr. I actually thought about doing the sermon from gifts to the gallows because that's kind of way I look at my Christian life.
You get this beautiful gift and then you get introduced to the gallows of life and you're just trying not to get beheaded the rest of your life and pierced through the heart and killed off day by day.
He's killing your flesh off day by day. Can I get an amen up in here? He's coming after you. And it is a beautiful thing to receive a gift. But it is quite another thing to understand that on the opposite side of that gift here comes some trouble. And so the wise men had just given the gifts. The gifts symbolize kingship and divinity and death.
But immediately after this high moment of recognition comes a command to flee out of comfort because that's what God's called does.
That's what God's call does.
See the way of Herod fights and prioritizes comfort above all things. The way of Christ knows that comfort is not supreme above all things.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 11:44
Because God's will calls you out of comfort. Why? Because his ways are higher than our ways and command to flee.
The King of Kings is sent into hiding. And this is not failure.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 12:08
This is fulfillment. Jesus did not come to wear a crown of comfort. He came to serve and to obey and to ultimately die. This is not your home, folks. You should not be comfortable here. This is not your home, folks. You should not be comfortable where you are currently. Day by day, he is renewing you and making you new.
You should not feel comfortable where you are. He is taking you somewhere else. He is doing a work in you. Well, when is the time that I'm just going to be happy with where I'm at?
Good luck with that because the call is ever upward. There is no plateau to the Christian life.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 13:05
Can I get an amen? Once you get one thing licked, he's coming after another.
He does his best work in you when he kills your comfort.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 13:26
And he's coming to kill. He's coming to kill the parts of you that don't belong. He's coming to kill the parts of you that hurt yourself and other people. He's coming to kill the parts of you that you've fallen in love with. But you can only have one spouse and his name is Christ.
And there is no other.
Comfort, your comfort is not God's goal. You were not placed here to rule. You were placed here to serve.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 13:56
Jesus came to serve. He came to die. And if you're to follow him, you must pick up your cross and do the same.
Now, God saved Jesus because he had a plan for him and he had a purpose for him. And there was a calling and God saved Jesus from the hand of Herod so he'll save me. Talk to Jesus in 33 years. 31 to be precise because he's two here. You see about you ask him about the saving hand of God when it comes up against his purposes for Christ.
You ask him then and be careful to not create some theological position that if he calls me and he has a purpose for me and he has a plan for me that it will not cost me anything and I can live my whole Christian life and I will not have to pick up my cross because the Bible says you will at some point have to die.
It comes at a cost.
We get to see the fruit of who you truly are in the midst of your greatest trouble.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 15:32
Anybody can celebrate Jesus. Anybody can praise Jesus. Anybody can rejoice about Jesus.
Anybody can celebrate God when all things are going well. But what about when all hell breaks loose? Is he your Lord then?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 15:47
Do you show up then?
Do you praise him? Then is he everything then? What do people say about your God? Then Christ's kingdom demands that we suffer for the sake of others, not for the sake of self.
Salvation of one. Here's Herod. Here's Herod's Here's Herod's way of life. And sometimes we say in the church, this is God's way of living if you're a Christian. And it's not. It's Herod's way. It's not Christ's way. But here's Herod's way versus Christ's way. Here's Herod's way. Salvation of one, sacrificing all others. Listen, is this the descriptor of your prayer life?
Is a majority of your prayers save me or is a more majority of your prayers bring salvation to my home?
Let me ask you a question. What if salvation comes to your home by you not being saved, temporally?
Are you with me today? Track with me. This ain't going to get a bunch of amens and hallelujah, okay? Just not. But what if your death brings salvation to your home that your life never brings?
Well, salvation to me. I pray for me. I want healing for me. I want help for me. As long as you heal me, that's Herod's way. That's Herod's way. Oh, don't get it convoluted. Don't think that's God's way. That's Herod's way. It's amazing how many of our prayers are fair are framed by Herod's way, not Christ's way.
Because Christ's way is sacrificing one for the salvation of many.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 18:03
See, Christ's way changes our prayers. Oh, that does that mean, Sean, that we shouldn't ask to be healed? I didn't say that.
But I say your prayer should be framed, but thy will be done.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 18:26
Amen. Don't assume that your request is thy will.
Well, if I'm a believer, he will heal me. Okay. You have to do some serious calisthenics in Scripture, like jumping and leaping over the whole Bible to get there.
Are you with me? You knock yourself out on that and you continue to live in Herod's way and you pray according to Herod's way and you live your life and you go to church according to Herod's way.
And when you stand before him, see if that way saves you. Are you with me today? The Bible's pretty clear. There's only one way to salvation and it's through Jesus Christ. That's why the church has a responsibility to not get it convoluted because we are, I'm afraid, calling people to a way that is not Christ and they will be astounded when they stand before Jesus and he says, "Depart from me.
I don't know you." Because they followed Herod's way while the because and the church told them it was Christ's way. Are you with me today? Is this too much? I feel like either you want me to be dead or you're dead. I don't know what's going on here, but you're quiet up in here. Quiet and stressing a brother out.
Okay. Right.
We must be careful not to judge God's will by favorable results. Obedience may cost you your position, your safety, and your security.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 20:01
And it's amazing today because whenever we hear people talk about God's will, it I'm astounded how it is amazing that it seems like for every single person that's a Christian, God's will is always for favor favorable res results, awesome positions, always safety and security.
And they know that the evidence of the of them walking in God's God's will is that everything perfect happens for them. I'm afraid they don't know Christ at all. This is more than just being confused about God's will.
I feel many people in the church today are confused about God.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 20:57
It's troubling today. Are you following Christ? Are you settling into comfort?
Because if you're following Christ, comfort is not. It's not the way.
Point 2Reject the lie that proximity means protection
Okay. Number two, reject the lie. If you're going to follow Christ's way, you have to reject the lie that proximity means protection. Well, if I just draw closer to God, then he'll protect me. And the closer I am to him, the more protected I'll be. I'll be in under his umbrella of protection and nothing can get me. Verse 16. Then Herod sent and killed all the male children.
I'm pretty sure all of them were super close to Jesus. And proximity didn't save them at all. Matter of fact, proximity was the cause for their death. That's what the way of Christ will bring into your life. Can I get a glory? Glory. Hallelujah. And amen. Today we came to Echo Church and we realized that when God shows up, Emanuel, God with us, everybody dies.
Yay. Yay to that.
The best thing that could ever happen to you is death because life is found on the other side of it.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 22:18
A voice was heard in Rama weeping from all the death of those who were in close proximity to God. I would propose to you that the closer you get to the sun, the more stuff dies. I thank you for that. Actually, I don't even know how you knew that, but that's the closer you get to the sun, the more stuff burns away, like my kid's leg skin from camp.
It was funny. He went kayaking and he did put on sunscreen an hour after he had got onto the water. A little too late. A burrow. If you looked at his legs now, they literally are well, the whole layer of skin has peeled off.
Part of it because he's peeled it off. And part of it is because when he was lifting up chairs when we were packing up the car, it was so tender from being cooked that a layer just peeled off from the chair.
Just all the way up his shin. He said, "I'm out." I'd be out, too, brother. I'd be out, too.
But the closer you get to the sun, the more tender you become, the more stuff dies, you can't be in the presence of something of such radiance and not be affected by it.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 23:45
You can sunscreen yourself till you're blue in the face, but the closer you get to the sun, ain't even the highest sunscreen going to help you.
Well, I have 2,000 SPF. Get a foot away from the sun. You melted. It don't matter how high the SPS. What is it? FP F SPF is your SP poof. You know what I mean? You're gone. The closer you get to the sun, the poof evaporated.
Oh. Oh. To be closer to God. Some people are like, "When will the pain end?" Sean, I came to Christ and I thought this would get easier and it just keeps getting harder. And I rejoice in the car after I'm away from them. I'm not crazy. I don't do this in front of them, but I like I do like some people to like me.
I get in the car and I rejoice in front of Brooke and she's like, "Are you crazy?" And I'm like, the closer you get to God.
And the evidence of their trouble is proof that they're headed the right direction. Come on now. It's good. It's not good for them. It's good for me, though. I love it. I love what's happening to them. It happens to me, too. Be careful in the church to not say you want him to fall down and draw close to you because he evaporates anything in you that's not of him.
Yeah, it is amazing because we want to we want to soak in worship, but I'm afraid the worship we long for is the worship of Herod way and not Christ's way.
We need to reject the lie that proximity means protection because it does not. All of these children were in close proximity to God and they all died. Bethlehem was just miles from where Jesus had been. These families neared live near the Messiah yet their babies were not spared.
Proximity to Christ does not promise divine protection. Rachel is weeping while God is fulfilling prophecy.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 26:36
This is not a contradiction. It is a mystery of mercy. Amen. We discover rest not in the world's way but in God's word.
His ways are higher even when they cut deep.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 27:06
Some of you are near the things of God, near church, near Bible studies, near the people of faith.
But proximity is not your salvation. Nearness to the Messiah does not guarantee immunity from suffering.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 27:17
I propose it guarantees you will suffer just by his sheer presence. And
For those who are suffering, God sees you. God knows you. And God rules even in your sorrow.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 27:33
And that's what we can hope in. Some people want to preserve their life instead of have their life be planted. Some people preserve their lives like collectors items polished, untouched, sheathed from the world, safe, unused gifts in mint condition are mere collectibles.
I was thinking about Scrooge McDuck. That's the one who's like quack and jumps in his money, right? Is that right? And he has a vault of all this money. Never spends his money. It's a collectible. It's vaulted, used for nothing more than self-gratification and personal agilation.
But God calls you to be planted and broken open and made fruitful.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 28:43
He did not call you to preserve you. He called you to plant you. And death required so fruit can ensue and the harvest can come. Amen. Are you trusting nearness or walking in surrendered obedience?
Point 3Refuse to revel in recognition
Number three, if you're going to live in Christ's way, not Herod's way, you must refuse to rebel in recognition. This is a tough one right here. Oh man, this is so tough right here. I personally I've been in enough leadership positions, small and big, that one of the things I hate the most is having to write job descriptions for people and give people a title.
I hate it.
Nothing will corrupt a man quicker than a title.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 29:35
And nothing will corrupt a man quicker than a job description. Well, that wasn't on my JD, but is now. I just added it. Are you with me today? There is no JD when it comes to Christ. You're a servant of all. It means you do whatever he says to do. Yeah. Try telling Jesus that. Try telling God that.
Well, that it wasn't on my JD. You go a few steps down. People in a lower title, get them to do that.
Jesus took off his robe, set down his title, and washed feet. You too good for that?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 30:25
It's amazing because people are sometimes worse at this in church than they are at their job.
They want a title. I can't serve till you give me a title. You don't know Jesus. Because if you knew Jesus, you wouldn't stop serving because you have a lot to be grateful for with all he's done for you. And serving is just the natural outflow of grateful of a grateful heart that's been given all things through Christ Jesus.
I don't have to give you a title for you to serve. You'll find a place to serve.
Refuse to revel in recognition. It is not that recognition is bad. It's reveling in it is bad.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 31:18
Sometimes recognition comes to point you to the direction of your calling. So that you would be released to it. Okay, for a moment, let's pause for a moment.
Jesus does come to the baptism waters. The skies open and the spirit descends like a dove and God says, "This is my son and whom I'm well pleased." Recognition.
Notice the use here though of recognition was to release him to his calling. What would have happened if he stayed in the waters and reveled in the recognition like Herod?
Jesus is honored by wise men. But what follows that recognition? Here's what follows it. Obscurity, suffering, and exile. That's what followed Jesus after he was recognized because he was released into his purpose which was obscurity, suffering, and exile.
Well, I'm recognized. I'm pretty such muty. So now I'm going to be celebrated for the rest of my life. People are going to love me. Everybody's going to think the best of me. And I'm going to be elevated into the greatest positions of the church. Wrong. Wrong. Jesus is exiled. What happens after the air after the sky parts and the spirit descends like a dove and Jesus says, "This is my son in who I'm well pleased." He's sent up into the mountains to be tempted.
He suffers. He's exiled into the desert and he stays there night and day and is tempted by he's driven by the Holy Spirit into trouble.
The Bible doesn't say that as Christians you're a light of the world because he wants to he wants the light to be in a bunch of light.
The whole benefit of you being a light is that you go to darkness.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 33:34
So I might propose to you today that the simple idea that you are light of the world, a city on the hill that cannot be hidden is that he would the purpose of your life is to be sent into dark places of exile, places of suffering, places of trouble that you might be a brilliant light in that dark place.
And sometimes that dark place and that trouble shows up at your doorstep. That's right. You're not even sent to it. You be it's sent to you. And it's amazing because it often comes immediately after recognition. This is where prayers like this. God, don't you know that I've served you? God, don't you know what I've done for you? Don't you know that I have been faithful?
Don't you know that I have given everything? Don't you know the price that I've paid to walk with you and this is how you repay me? Yep. And oftentimes those prayers are birthed right after a moment of recognition that you hope to revel in and God hoped to release you to his purposes through.
And they are different. Oh man, prayers are fa are framed by reveling hearts. We get to see if you're reing in your recognition or if it's effectively releasing you to his purposes, which is often the dark places of the world that you could be a brilliant light in.
Which are you? The way of Christ is sent to dark places of trouble.
Do not despair when trouble shows up at your door. Rejoice because this is the time that the light may shine to the world.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 35:33
This is your opportunity to reveal your loyalty to Christ way.
Herod lived for applause and position. When he felt threatened, he lashed out in fury. If you choose to revel in your recognition, you will not be released to fulfill the role that recognition was meant to remind you of.
If recognition does not release you, it robs you of what God intended.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 36:08
Ain't it amazing that the very thing that was sent to release you can also rob you? Jesus though the true king chose humility. He embraced exile. He did not need men to crown him.
He came to carry a cross, not a crown. It's amazing because we who are unworthy want a crown and expect to carry no cross.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 36:34
Yet the one who was who merited a crown refused a crown and desired the cross.
What a reversal in the church today.
Point 4Rest in the God who rules over evil
Number four, if you want to walk in the way of Christ, and this is my final point, rest in the God who rules over evil.
This was to fulfill verse 151 17. This all this happened. All that happened this was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. God had already spoke this was going to happen. All the way down to the kids dying and weeping in the streets by the prophet Jeremiah. All the way down to Jesus being exiled. The one who should be celebrated is being cast out.
It had all been prophesied because God had a plan from the beginning. And you can rest in the God who rules over that plan and who rules over evil.
Twice in this short passage, we read that the tragedy and chaos were not random. They were fulfillment of prophecy. Like it or hate it, doesn't matter. It's facts. He had a plan. Fulfillment of prophecy, fulfillment of a plan, fulfillment of God's unshakable purpose.
God did not cause Herod's evil, but he was not absent from it.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 38:25
Even Herod's rage could not stop the promise. Good news, right? Even Rachel's weeping could not undo the word. Come on, prayer warriors. Come on. Because whether you think you're holy and perfect or not, there's going to be many times you're praying for something that does not line up with what God desires.
This is why when he taught us to pray, he said, "Pray, thy will be done." In other words, you don't know it, so ask for it. Move from declarative prayers to prayers of alignment. Are declarative prayers bad? No. But alignment's better, right? Are you with me today? Because he taught us how to pray this way, we are we know that we have in our hearts desires to follow Herod's way and not Christ's.
And so he teaches us to pray knowing that in advance. Out of Egypt I called my son. This echoes Israel's deliverance from slavery.
Jesus is the true and better Moses. He will lead his people out not from Pharaoh but from sin.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 40:03
His plan is unfolding even in pain. And I might add pain then becomes the catalyst for the delivery.
This is the God who rules over evil.
He is not reactive. He is sovereign. He is not confused.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 40:28
He is control. He is not moving through life and things are being revealed to him as they go. He already knew. He sent word by a prophet. Prophet declared it and he delivered on his promises because he's a God that knows in advance and is a part of that sovereign plan working out in life.
When sorrow strikes, do you rest in his sovereignty or do you rage like Herod?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 40:57
Which way do you follow? There are two kings. There are two crowns. There are two ways.
Herod builds his kingdom with blood, not his own. Jesus builds his kingdom by shedding his own blood to redeem others.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 41:11
Herod is terrified of losing control. Jesus willingly gives up his glory to gain us.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 41:20
One fights to keep the throne. One walks to the road. One walks the road to a cross. The crowns are still clashing today.
The question is not what happened in Bethlehem, but what is happening in your own heart?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 41:35
That's the question. We need to refuse to settle if we're going to follow Christ's way and not Herod's way. We need to refuse to settle into comfort. We need to reject the lie that proximity means protection. We need to refuse to rebel in recognition. And we need to rest in God and the God who rules over evil. Let me ask you some questions and maybe you can write them down to consider.
Whose crown are you chasing? Honestly. Honestly. Whose voice are you obeying?
Whose kingdom are you living for? Which way are you walking in? Herod's way or Christ's way?
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