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LOVE OF POWER/POWER OF LOVE
Matthew 2
The Christmas story is full of contrasts, extremes.
Royalty - stables
Gold, rich gifts - poverty
The purest person every born - in
the filthiest place imaginable.
The starkest contrast of all is the difference between
King Herod and Jesus Christ.
Herod is the epitome of what is wrong in your heart
and mine. He is the clearest expression of the sin in each
of us.
Christ is pure. The baby born in Bethlehem would never
sin. He would become everything God had in mind when he
said: "Now I'll make a man!" He is the highest expression
of all that is good.
King Herod was the finished product of the love of power.
Jesus Christ is the perfect example and the only source of
the power of love.
The potential for both is offered to you and me. Christ-
mas calls us-to face that.
LOVE OF POWER
King Herod, like many people today, believed life is
measured by power. The original sin in Eden was in answer
to the question, "Who's in charge?" This sin affects how
we do business and how we treat our families. It permeates
2
all politics, both national and religious. The degree to
which we lust for power will determine how much sin we will
commit to attain it.
Herod had longed to be king. He went to Rome and bought
the kingship of Judea. He had to spend three years in war
to take his kingdom. He ruled about 35 years. He was known
as Herod and Great - a great ruler in keeping order - a great
builder whose work included the building of the temple in
Jerusalem - a great manager who at one time actually used
his own resources to help the Jewish people in a famine.
These good things he did to keep his power.
But he did other things to protect his throne, too.
Like murder. He murdered his wife, his mother, and three
of his own sons.
Yet strangely enough, for religious reasons he refused
to eat pork. This prompted Ceasar Augustus to remark it
was safer to be Herod's pig than Herod's so ...
LOVE OF POWER/POWER OF LOVE
Matthew 2
The Christmas story is full of contrasts, extremes.
Royalty - stables
Gold, rich gifts - poverty
The purest person every born - in
the filthiest place imaginable.
The starkest contrast of all is the difference between
King Herod and Jesus Christ.
Herod is the epitome of what is wrong in your heart
and mine. He is the clearest expression of the sin in each
of us.
Christ is pure. The baby born in Bethlehem would never
sin. He would become everything God had in mind when he
said: "Now I'll make a man!" He is the highest expression
of all that is good.
King Herod was the finished product of the love of power.
Jesus Christ is the perfect example and the only source of
the power of love.
The potential for both is offered to you and me. Christ-
mas calls us-to face that.
LOVE OF POWER
King Herod, like many people today, believed life is
measured by power. The original sin in Eden was in answer
to the question, "Who's in charge?" This sin affects how
we do business and how we treat our families. It permeates
2
all politics, both national and religious. The degree to
which we lust for power will determine how much sin we will
commit to attain it.
Herod had longed to be king. He went to Rome and bought
the kingship of Judea. He had to spend three years in war
to take his kingdom. He ruled about 35 years. He was known
as Herod and Great - a great ruler in keeping order - a great
builder whose work included the building of the temple in
Jerusalem - a great manager who at one time actually used
his own resources to help the Jewish people in a famine.
These good things he did to keep his power.
But he did other things to protect his throne, too.
Like murder. He murdered his wife, his mother, and three
of his own sons.
Yet strangely enough, for religious reasons he refused
to eat pork. This prompted Ceasar Augustus to remark it
was safer to be Herod's pig than Herod's so ...
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