Jesus and His World: Gentiles

[00:00:00] Let's pray. [00:00:02] Lord, we thank you for coming into the world and coming to the whole world for allowing the light of the gospel to shine not only among the jews, but among the gentiles as well. Thank you, lord, for not just being a king of the jews, but lord, king of us all. Lord, in you all the families on the earth are blessed. [00:00:31] In you we have the fulfillment of all the promises from the past. In you we now have your word continued to be proclaimed in this world, and your spirit working, making it effectual unto our salvation, indeed ours, is a great joy. You have blessed us in so many ways, and we ask for your blessing. Now again, as we come to the reading and preaching of your word, we pray this in jesus name, our savior. Amen. [00:01:04] Let's turn to matthew, chapter two. Remain standing if you're able, and let's read a little bit here. [00:01:14] Matthew, chapter two, verses 13 through 15. [00:01:34] Through 15. [00:01:36] Now, 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. [00:02:06] May god be praised. Please be seated. [00:02:24] Well, as I mentioned last week, right now we're focusing on a topical theme about jesus and his world. We're looking at the different groups and peoples that the gospel writers tell us about. [00:02:42] As jesus comes into this world, we remember, of course, some very important things about jesus, who he is right. [00:02:51] Our jesus is the eternally begotten son of god, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the father. Right. He is distinct from the father. He is of god, of light, but he is also god of god, very light, of very light. [00:03:11] This jesus, this eternal one, our god, took on human flesh and came into this world, our world, a world with institutions and buildings and streets and names. Last time we thought about the genealogy at the beginning of matthew, and we thought about the romans and the government and the empire in which the jews were living at that time. [00:03:43] Today we think about the gentiles more broadly, gentiles being non jews. We think about this world of the gentiles that jesus entered into, with a particular focus on egypt. This morning we've seen the gentiles in the romans and in the genealogy as well, with ruth and rahab, we see them under the pressures of this world, enslaved to sin. But we also see in some ways that the gentiles are a refuge for the people of god, which is strange to think, because often israel is supposed to be the place of refuge, of salvation, of hope. But there are times throughout the history of israel where god's people have found safety outside of god's people, outside of his special covenantal people. [00:04:38] Rahab, for example, who's mentioned in the genealogies, housed the spies before they entered into canaan. And ruth as well, remember that she was from the land of moab and that naomi and her family came out of israel during a famine and lived with the moabites. Ruth married into this family and ultimately became a protection not only and help not only in moab, but in israel as well, when she became part of the covenant family of god. [00:05:08] Today we have another example, and a really striking example, too. Egypt. [00:05:14] Egypt may be the last place you might think if you know a little bit about the history of god's people, a strange place for god's people to find refuge and protection. It's a great irony that god's people, that jesus, the son of god, would need to go to egypt in the early days of his life to find protection and refuge. [00:05:40] Why is that? Why is that surprising or ironic? [00:05:45] One is that we most frequently remember egypt in the scriptures as the great enslaver of god's people, a house of bondage, a place that ends up standing in the scriptures, often as a metaphor for sin, for death, for slavery. [00:06:02] That place, egypt, and at the time of moses, was a place that celebrated the passions of the flesh. It was fully dedicated as a culture and as a civilization, to glorying in the things of this world, wealth and power, military might, and many other things. [00:06:22] It was filled with idolatry, idols of creation, birds, reptiles, all kinds of things. And the idols of man, turning pharaoh and others into gods themselves, worshipped, idolized. [00:06:40] This was not a good place, a happy place, a righteous place, but it is a place where god's people found themselves. [00:06:51] And in exodus chapter one, which, if you'd like to turn with me, I'll read from there. We read about what happened at this particular moment in history. [00:07:10] Exodus, chapter one, I'd like to read beginning at verse eight and read through verse 20. Chapter 22. [00:07:19] That would be fun. Another day. Verse 22. [00:07:26] Now there arose a new king over egypt who did not know joseph, and he said to his people, behold, the people of israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them lest they multiply. And if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land. Therefore, they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with very heavy or with heavy burdens. They built for pharaoh, store cities, pytham and ramses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the egypts were in dread of the people of israel. So they ruthlessly made the people of israel work as slaves. And they made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. And all their work, they ruthlessly made them work as slaves. Then the king of egypt said to the hebrew midwives, one of whom was named shifra and the other named pua, when you serve as midwife to the hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him. If it is a daughter, she shall live. But the midwives feared god and did not do as the king of egypt commanded them. But let the male children live. So the king of egypt called the midwives and said to them, why have you done this? And let the male children live. The midwife said to pharaoh, because the hebrew women are not like the egyptian women. For they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them. So god dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives feared god, he gave them families. Then pharaoh commanded all the people. Every son that is born to the hebrews you shall cast into the nile. But you shall let every daughter live. [00:09:18] So pharaoh, already a taskmaster, dealing ruthlessly with the people of god, enslaving them, continues to fear them. The people of god continue to multiply and spread despite the oppression. A theme that will happen throughout the history of the world. [00:09:38] Pharaoh, not knowing this or recognizing this, and in the pride of his heart, comes up with a plan. He is going to instruct the hebrew midwives to kill the baby boys. These are likely egyptian women that are midwives to the hebrews. As it says here, these egyptian women feared the lord and say, no, we're not going to do it. We're not going to do it. Pharaoh thwarted, then commands all the people, all of his people, not just the midwives, that every son that is born of the hebrews, you shall cast into the nile. [00:10:20] The nile, which is this river of life. Right? The reason egypt was the breadbasket to the roman world. The nile, which provided their great wealth and culture, a nile which in many ways was worshipped and served here. Instead of bringing life, it was a marker and to be a cause of death. [00:10:47] But as we think about this, let's observe the mighty hand of god. [00:10:55] In the first place, god moves in the hearts of these egyptian women to bring salvation, not just to many, many children, but to moses, first through the hebrew midwives. And then, as we continued, if we were to continue, to read to pharaoh's own daughter. In verse five, we read that the daughter of pharaoh came to bathe at the river. While her young women walked beside the river. She saw a basket, or the basket among the reeds and sent her servant women, and she took it. [00:11:27] We skipped a little bit there, right. [00:11:30] Moses was placed in a basket, put on the river and then found by pharaoh's daughter. [00:11:37] Right? [00:11:38] Not on accident. She goes and she collects the child. [00:11:43] She is told in verse six, this is one of the hebrews children. [00:11:49] And then what does the daughter of pharaoh do? Slay the child, cast it back into the river? No. [00:11:58] She says she calls a nurse and pays the nurse, who ends up being moses's mom. [00:12:08] Amazing, right? God working in the heart of the egyptian people to save and not only many children, but this child and even a mother's broken heart. [00:12:21] An amazing thing. [00:12:23] Later, of course, in the life of israel, god's mighty hand, orchestrating all of these events, brings moses out of the house of egypt to save his people, to become a mediator, to establish for himself a mighty nation, a people of god. [00:12:42] Well, now, if you would turn with me to another passage, a passage that matthew refers to in hosea. Hosea, chapter eleven. [00:13:08] As we think about the mighty hand of the lord and his work and his sovereignty, his use of the gentile nations in the salvation of his people. Even as some of these same people are seeking to destroy our salvation and our hope, god is using them. And he establishes a people in hosea, chapter eleven. [00:13:34] Listen to god's word. This is what matthew quotes. The first verse. He says, when israel was a child, I loved him, and out of egypt I called my son. [00:13:46] But then the history continues. Verse two. We read, the more they were called, the more they went away. They kept sacrificing to the baals and burning offerings to idols. Yet it was I who taught ephraim, joseph's son, to walk. [00:14:04] I took them, the people of ephraim, up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of kindness and with bands of love. And I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them. [00:14:21] They shall not return to the land of egypt, but assyria shall be their king because they have refused to turn to me. The sword shall rage against their cities, consume the bars of their gates, and devour them because of their own counsels. My people are bent on turning away from me. And though they call out to the most high, I shall not raise them up at all. [00:14:42] How can I give up on you, o ephraim? How can I hand you over, o israel? How can I make you like admah? How can I treat you like zeboim? My heart recoils within me. My compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my burning anger. I will not again destroy ephraim, for I am god and not a man, the holy one in your midst. I will not come in wrath. They shall go after the lord. He will roar like a lion when he roars. His children shall come trembling from the west. They shall come trembling like birds from egypt and like doves from the land of assyria. And I will return them to their homes, declares the lord. [00:15:23] Ephraim has surrounded me with lies and the house of israel with deceit, but judah still walks with god, and he is faithful to the holy one. [00:15:32] Well, we'll stop there. [00:15:35] So what's hosea saying in chapter eleven here? What is god saying through his prophet? Well, he's speaking in a particular time and place of israel's history, just as matthew is addressing a particular time and place in israel's history and this particular moment, god is recognizing the fact that although he has called ephraim, joseph israel out of egypt, although he has called his people out of egypt, as he calls them, they disobey. And instead of clinging to him, instead of calling him and loving him, though he has led them with the cords of kindness and the bands of love, they won't stop worshipping the bales. They won't stop giving themselves over to idolatry. And he promises a punishment to come, a discipline for his people in which they will not return to egypt. But assyria will be their king. A people will rise up against them and destroy them and scatter them into the gentile nations. And that's what happens in the history of god's people. Because of their rebellion, because of their breaking the covenant that he made through the mediator moses, who was called out of egypt because they broke that covenant, they will face discipline. [00:17:01] But god doesn't stop there, does he? [00:17:04] He says in this amazing way. My heart recoils within me, he's like, as a father, right, disciplining his children and saying, I don't like doing this. [00:17:16] I don't want to be doing this. [00:17:20] And I will love you. [00:17:22] I will restore you. You will come trembling like birds from egypt, like doves from the land of assyria, and he will call them back and he will restore them. [00:17:36] And so there is this hope, this future hope, that god is going to bring discipline on his people. That discipline will not last forever. And he will establish something new. He will again come to them in his kindness and his love. And if we were to read other passages in scripture, we would see that this love would be established in a new covenant. And through a messiah, an anointed one that is greater than moses, as greater a difference as there is between a servant and a son. The author to hebrews says, so, again, going back to my point at the beginning, we see god's mighty hand working in all of this, orchestrating all of these things, bringing about a salvation through his people in the midst of a gentile world, sometimes using the gentiles despite themselves, sometimes bringing salvation to the gentiles out of his great love for them. [00:18:43] So what do we see when we come to matthew and these events that he is recording for us there in chapter two? [00:18:51] Well, we see that in many ways, israel is not yet the land it is supposed to be. It is not yet this people that has fully given themselves over in heart and mind and soul to the lord. [00:19:07] Instead, what do we see? We see their leader herod doing exactly the same thing pharaoh did to his own people. [00:19:19] Pharaoh, from one sort of very twisted perspective, you can almost understand as a political move why he did what he did right. He feared this people growing strong underneath him. [00:19:33] Herod, these are his people that excuse this reason is taken away. It makes what he does all the worse, even as he has people, gentiles, who we'll think about later, the magi, these prophesyers, star watchers, right? These pagan people coming from outside of israel, telling him that they have seen this star that is predicting and showing a new king has been born. Instead of jumping up and down and saying, all right, the messiah is here, things are in motion. He says, kill them all. [00:20:14] Can you believe it? [00:20:17] And so what does god do with this mormon? As israel is so plunged and so wicked and so depraved, he sends his son to egypt? [00:20:31] And of course, how does he do this? As we continue to marvel at the mighty hand of god's salvation, what does he do? He does it before herod kills. Joseph is not responding in the moment, right? He's not hearing the guards knocking on the doors and saying, we got to get out of here. [00:20:51] What happens? [00:20:53] 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. [00:21:12] Tonight, we'll think more about herod and the herodians and all of that. [00:21:19] But for right now, just notice again how god is the one who is bringing about this salvation, and he's doing it through the gentiles. [00:21:30] So what are some of the things that this teaches us? That this teaches us one is that, as the scriptures say, all of us have broken the law in our need of salvation. [00:21:43] It's not just the jews. It's not just the gentiles. It's all of us. As paul says in romans, all have fallen sin and fallen short of the glory of god. [00:21:55] We see the wickedness that is rampant throughout the world and in all of our hearts. And biology does not save us. [00:22:04] It doesn't save us. [00:22:07] Culture does not save us. Civilization does not save us. Wealth or fame, power, armies, these do not save us from our sin. [00:22:20] And that happens wherever we are and wherever we live. What we see in these events is that the whole world, which, you know, includes you, needs salvation. [00:22:34] We're born in brokenness. We're born in corruption. And the wickedness of men goes to great, great degrees. [00:22:45] Evil, terrible, despicable things. And it's not just in the hearts of the worst people. It's in our hearts as well. [00:22:55] Paul says of himself that he's the chiefs of sinners. And I don't think he's just playing exaggeration games or trying to make a point. [00:23:05] He really looks in his heart, and he sees the potential there that there is for sin. He looks in his own heart, and he recognizes how far he would go and even has gone in disobedience to the lord. [00:23:23] When we read this story, it might be nice to think of ourselves as joseph's ready and receptive to hear god's word. [00:23:31] But in another scenario, we might just as easily be a herod or a pharaoh. And indeed, we have been, if we're honest with ourselves, doing wicked, terrible things that go against the word of god, his salvation, and his desire to bring people, even ourselves, into life. How many times have we resisted the lord? How many times have we remained in bondage? Have we remained in our sin and said, no, I want to be here, and I'll do wicked things to remain here and to have what I have and hold on to my idols. [00:24:08] Brothers and sisters, this is what we need. Saving from god by his grace saves us. And in amazing ways, he saves us, even using us. [00:24:23] He brings his seed out of the line of abraham, out of the line of david. But that seed is supported and born in a world that goes beyond that israelite family. [00:24:35] The seed of abraham, the seed of david, lived in a world of culture and language and roads and countries and empires, and all of these things that god also used to bring about salvation. [00:24:51] And then on top of that, if we can keep piling up things to praise god for not only do gentiles get the benefit of being part of god's saving acts, they get this greater joy of actually being saved themselves. [00:25:09] The bible tells us that jesus's first mission was to the house of israel. You might remember when he first sent out his disciples. He says in matthew ten, verses five and six, go nowhere among the gentiles and enter no town of the samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep, the house of israel. [00:25:30] That was jesus's starting place. That was his first mission. The first item on his to do list, so to speak, was go to the house of israel. And we see that paralleled here in matthew ten as he sends out his disciples. [00:25:46] But as time goes on and as israel rejects god's salvation, we see more and more the gentiles are hearing the word, including in the gospels. You might remember the cyrophoenician woman, not a jew, who seeks the crumbs of salvation from the table of the lord, begging the lord to cast a demon out of her daughter. [00:26:13] A heartbreaking thing. And an amazing story about faith, looking to the lord and his grace. And she says, I don't need everything, just the crumbs, and that will be more than enough. [00:26:27] Or the roman centurion. [00:26:29] The roman centurion, right, who asks jesus to heal his son. And jesus says, I will come. I will heal him. [00:26:42] This grace going to the gentiles begins to sort of seep out in the land of israel. And by the time you get to the end of matthew, what do you have? [00:26:52] All authority in heaven on earth is given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. And he sends out his apostles and disciples, not saying, don't go to these places, but go to these places. Go all over the world. [00:27:12] And that's what happens here. All of it being foreshadowed right at the very beginning, jesus born in the house, coming to the house of israel, to bethlehem, right. But then very quickly to egypt. This prepares us to understand his mission, to see how god is working in the world, all of these things from the past being fulfilled here at the moment of jesus's birth and ultimately becoming your and my hope of salvation. [00:27:47] Mark 14 nine says, the gospel would be proclaimed in all the world. [00:27:52] In matthew 811, jesus says, I will tell you, many will come from the east and the west and recline at table with abraham and isaac and jacob in the kingdom of heaven. [00:28:04] Ephesians tells us that in his body he broke down the dividing wall of hostility that was between jew and gentile. [00:28:16] Jesus came into this world and he took on flesh so that this problem of our sin, so that the problem of the curse that spread across the whole world would be solved, so that salvation and healing would be able to come to all the nations. [00:28:38] Paul says in romans seven four that we have died to the law through the body of christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in the incarnation of jesus and his subsequent work, his life, his death, his resurrection, his ascension. God has given a hope to the whole world. [00:29:03] Let's praise him for it. Let's live in light of it. Let's marvel at the way in which he synthesizes and moves all of these things together. [00:29:15] Let's express with joy the salvation that we ourselves have received. And let's continue to go into the nations proclaiming god's word and letting that light be known everywhere. [00:29:29] Let's pray. [00:29:32] Our lord god, what a good news you have proclaimed to us this morning. [00:29:38] Lord, what a joy it is to recognize that jesus came into a world that was filled with gentiles, like many of us who needed desperately salvation, who needed to belong to the promises of abraham, isaac and jacob, who needed saving from our sins, our demons, our idolatries. [00:30:02] Lord, in jesus christ, you have broken the power of sin. You have called us out of egypt, called us out of bondage. You have called us, and you have brought us out of the dominion of darkness, as you say in your word, into the kingdom of your beloved son. [00:30:23] And how pleasurable it is to be here, to be your adopted children, to have the promises of your inheritance and the gifts of your fatherly care. [00:30:35] Lord, your mighty hand has worked a great work of salvation, and we give you praise. [00:30:43] You have fulfilled the promises and the prophecies of the old testament. You have proclaimed them and made them sure and steadfast in jesus christ. [00:30:54] We look to him and to no other. Indeed, we do not look for any other, only for him and his return. Lord, help us to keep our eyes fixed on him. To live as your children and as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Let us not fear the powers of this world, but instead led. Lord, let us see the ways in which you are using this world, sometimes even despite ourselves, to bring the gospel of salvation all over the place. [00:31:27] Lord, we ask for your blessing in these things. We ask that you would reassure us and give us joy in them. And we pray this in jesus name. Amen.