Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev19960901.htm

MATTHEW: JESUS AS ISRAEL'S MESSIAH AND HIS MESSIANIC KINGDOM
Part X. Christ's Messianic Kingdom Postponed
C. Missing God's Blessings In Leadership By Living For This Life Above God's Will
(Matthew 14:1-21)
  1. Introduction
    1. When God calls people to leadership in a family or church, that one has the option of overseeing through appealing to the lusts of the eyes, the flesh and the pride of life in the world system or of heeding the will of God by faith and seeing his influence extend into the age to come, 1 John 2:15-17.
    2. This critical contrast in oversight is tragically illustrated in the life of Herod Antipas in Matthew 14:1-21:
  2. Missing God's Blessings In Leadership By Living For This Life Above God's Will, Matthew 14:1-21.
    1. Herod the Tetrarch heard of Jesus' fame and concluded that he was being punished by God's having raised John from the dead and doing miracles through Jesus, Mtt. 14:1-2.
    2. He came to this conclusion because of a difficult decision he made in favor of leading by this world's standards rather than by doing God's will as recorded in Mtt. 14:3-12:
      1. Herod the Tetrarch had imprisoned John the Baptizer to control his criticism of his marriage to his brother's wife, for that criticism undermined his credibility to his Jewish constituency that observed the Mo saic Law that John used for his criticism, Mtt. 14:3-4.
      2. He had also imprisoned him to satiate his wife, Herodias, who was infuriated at John's public criticism of her adulterous sin with Herod Antipas, Mtt. 14:3.
      3. One day Herod Antipas had Herodias' daughter, Salome dance before Herod Antipas at a large feast.
      4. Since Salome was a friend of Livia, the Roman Emperor's wife, and had used that influence to hinder Herod Antipas from gaining rule over all of Palestine, Herod Antipas was especially concerned about making friends with Salome to gain her support and influence with Rome for his own advancement, cf. Harold Hoehner, Herod Antipas, p. 27!
      5. When Herod publicly tried to befriend Salome by rewarding her for her dance with anything she wanted, up to half of his kingdom, and Salome followed her mother, Herodias' wish in asking for the head of John th e Baptizer on a banquet food charger, Herod was up a tight tree, Mtt. 14:6-8:
        1. Yet, to let John die would make things rough with his constituency who viewed John as a prophet, 5.
        2. However, to deny Salome her request would have cost him face before the guests and enraged Salome before the guests, leading to dangerous repercussions from Rome via Salome's close ties and influence with the Emperor's wife! (Ibid., Ho ehner)
      6. Herod chose to depend on the earthly powers at his disposal, having John put to death to earn the blessing of Salome and her mother, Mtt. 14:9-11,
    3. In making this decision in keeping with the world system, Herod made a fitful mistake eternally, 14:12-21:
      1. In contrast to Herod's atrocious martyrdom of John the Baptizer, Jesus is seen withdrawing into a wilderness place to edify His disciples after John's demise, Mtt. 14:12-13a.
      2. In that move, the crowds, deprived of John's presence and feeling leaderless, followed Jesus in droves, and Jesus sensed their shepherdlessness deeply, Mtt. 14:13b-14.
      3. His compassion resulted in the famous feeding of the five thousand, Mtt. 14:15-21.
      4. This feeding demonstrated that Jesus was the Messiah, the King of Israel to come as follows:
        1. Moses had predicted that Messiah would come in the same kind of ministry as he had, Dt. 18:18-19.
        2. Like Moses, Jesus fed the people of Israel in the wilderness miraculously with bread from God when he fed these five thousand with the five loaves and two fishes. In fact, the Jews recognized it and considered that Jesus must be the P rophet predicted by Moses, cf. Jn. 6:14.
      5. Thus, in deciding to kill John to further his political cause, Herod closed the door to joining with Jesus to rule in the eternal kingdom to come! He really blew it by choosing the world's way over faith!
Lesson: When tempted to promote our influence in leadership in a marriage, family, church, business, etc. as assigned by God, if we choose to go the world's way of promoting the lusts of the eyes, the flesh and the pride of life, we may temporarily gain but eternally blunder. If we choose to go God's way by faith, we may temporarily lose, but in eternity gain great influence, 1 John 2:17. Go God's way!!