Tag: Discipleship

The Greatness of Suffering and Service

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

The Greatness of Suffering and Service

Matthew 20:20-28

As Jesus continues to approach Jerusalem (see Matt. 20:17), the disciples are anticipating Jesus coming into His kingdom. Indeed, arriving in Jerusalem in Matthew 21, Jesus will openly accept praise as the Messianic King by His triumphal entry into the city on a donkey (Matt. 21:9). Yet, despite His repeated teachings about the true nature of His kingdom, even those closest to Him failed to understand it. Jesus had just predicted to His disciples His suffering, death, and resurrection that was coming in Jerusalem. Then, shockingly in the very next event, we see James and John, two of Jesus’ closest disciples, coming with their mother to ask for places of power and honor with Jesus in His kingdom.

What the disciples didn’t yet fully understand was that the Savior’s pathway to greatness wouldn’t follow the course they expected. They didn’t know that greatness in His kingdom led first through the path of service, suffering, and sacrifice. They could not yet comprehend that the way to His glorious crown required a stop first at the gruesome cross. They didn’t understand then that this was how true “greatness” in His kingdom would be accomplished.

And even we, today, easily forget it. We live in an ambitious and competitive world. The way up to prominence in the world is often by trampling over lesser people as we scramble to the top. Greatness is measured by how many serve you and look up to you. We celebrate those who are the best, fastest, smartest, strongest, mightiest, loveliest, and richest. Even in our Christian circles we are often captivated by celebrity preachers, musicians, and leaders. Many bask in the limelight of those who appear to have extraordinary gifts and influence.  

Yet in our text today, Jesus will make it clear that the road to greatness in Jesus’ kingdom is not the way of the world but through following His own example of humble, sacrificial service.

Our story begins with …

1. The Disciples’ Ambitious Request (Matt. 20:20-21)

20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. 21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.” (Matt. 20:19-21).

Zebedee’s sons are James and John (Matt. 4:21). They come to Jesus with their mother. Comparing the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection accounts in Matthew, Mark, and John, many scholars have concluded that the mother of Zebedee’s sons (Matt. 27:65) is the woman named Salome (Mark 15:40) and the Lord’s “mother’s sister” (John 19:25). If this is true, it would mean that she was Jesus’ aunt through Mary, and James and John were Jesus’ cousins. This might partly explain why Jesus entrusted the care of His mother Mary to John as He hung dying on the cross (John 19:27). Mary was John’s relative.

Salome had a great faith in Jesus and was clearly devoted to Him. She was among those women who followed Jesus and served Him in His earthly ministry and who watched after Jesus’ crucifixion to see where He was buried (Matt. 27:55-56). She was also among those women who came early on the Sunday of His resurrection to His tomb (Mark 16:1). She believed that He was the Messiah King and that His kingdom was about to be realized. And as a mother who is proud of her sons, she was eager for James and John to be appointed to places of honor in that kingdom.

Now we shouldn’t think that this was just their mother’s idea. I don’t picture James and John behind their mother, shaking their heads in embarrassment at her request. In Matthew 27:22, Jesus addresses His comments directly to James and John. He knew it was their request, not just their mother’s. Perhaps they thought they would more likely get a positive answer from Jesus if they put their request in the mouth of their sweet mother who was so devoted to Jesus.

We also must not think that only James and John had this ambition for first place in the kingdom. This was not the first time that the question of “greatness” came up among the disciples. Recall that in Matthew 18, the disciples had asked Jesus, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (Matt. 18:1). Mark tells us that on the way they had been arguing among themselves about who would be the greatest (Mark 9:34). Do you remember what Jesus did then? Jesus placed a small child before them and said, “whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:4).

All the disciples seemed obsessed with the ambition for greatness. Matthew 20:24 tells us, “And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers.” The ten were not offended at the two brothers’ lack of humility; they were indignant because they wanted those honored places. Luke tells us that even on the night of the Passover, after Jesus had instituted the Lord’s Supper and told them that His betrayer was there at the table with them, again they fought with each other about who was greatest.

Is it wrong to want to be great in the kingdom of heaven? Jesus has clearly taught us to “seek first the kingdom of God” (Matt. 6:33). He taught us to “… lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…” (Matt. 6:20). When Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell all his possessions, give them to the poor, and come follow Him, He promised him “treasure in heaven” (Matt. 19:21). In Matthew 19:28, Jesus had already promised His disciples prominent places of authority in the kingdom, saying, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

The real problem with the disciples was not that they desired to be great in the kingdom. Their first problem was that they misunderstood the nature of the kingdom of heaven. They were still thinking of earthly rewards, while Jesus spoke of heavenly rewards. They were seeking power and honor for themselves, and that’s not what the kingdom of heaven is all about. And this led to their second problem—they were seeking for greatness in the wrong way. If you seek an earthly reward you will pursue it in earthly ways. But if you seek a heavenly reward, you will pursue it in godly ways. If you seek a selfish reward, you will pursue it in selfish ways. But if you seek a godly reward, you will see it in godly ways.

So, Jesus has to correct James and John for their wrong thinking about the kingdom and how to pursue it. They wanted the crowns but didn’t understand the cross. They wanted the glory but had not counted the cost.

Jesus therefore teaches them …

2. The Lord’s Arduous Requirement (Matt. 20:22-23)

In Matthew 20:22, Jesus answered the two brothers and said, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?“

James and John did not know what it would mean for them to sit at His right and left hand in the kingdom. If they really knew what it would require, they might not have asked. Jesus asks them, “Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” Drinking the cup is a figure of speech that represents a taking a portion or experiencing something. The Old Testament often uses the cup to represent suffering or judgment. David writes in Psalm 11, “Upon the wicked He will rain coals; Fire and brimstone and a burning wind Shall be the portion of their cup.” (Psalm 11:6).  Psalm 75 says,

7 But God is the Judge: He puts down one, And exalts another. 8 For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, And the wine is red; It is fully mixed, and He pours it out; Surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth Drain and drink down. (Psalm 75:7-8).

Isaiah prophesies, “Awake, awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, You who have drunk at the hand of the LORD The cup of His fury; You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, And drained it out.” (Isaiah 51:17).

For Jesus, the cup represented His suffering and death. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus would pray, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matt. 26:39). And as Peter tried to fight back at Jesus’ arrest, the Lord told him, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?” (John 18:11).

In our context here in Matthew 20, Jesus has just for the third time predicted His suffering and crucifixion that awaits Him in Jerusalem. He just told them He would die on a cross. And now He asks them, “Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” (Matt. 20:22). He is asking if they are willing and able to die as well.

Do you think they understood now? Nope. Listen to their hasty response, “They said to Him, ‘We are able.’” (Matt. 20:22). Because they were selfishly ambitious, they were overly confident in themselves. They were ready to agree to anything to get those honored seats next to Jesus.

Knowing that they still did not understand what they were agreeing to, Jesus answered them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with” (Matt. 20:23). And drink that cup of suffering and death, they did. James was the first of the apostles to be martyred. Under the direction of Herod Agrippa, James was arrested and put to death. You can read the story in Acts 12. John suffered greatly for His Lord. He was persecuted and exiled to the island of Patmos, which was frequently used by the Romans to punish criminals. James and John drank from His cup.

But even still, Jesus makes it clear that He cannot promise them the places of honor. He says, “but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father” (Matt. 20:23). Honor and authority are not rewarded to us in this life. They are rewards in heaven, prepared by the Father for those who love Him.

These brothers thought that greatness meant being above others in position. They wanted to turn the twelve into “the two and their ten subordinates.”[i] So Jesus needed to teach them again the true nature of His kingdom, what greatness really means, and how to get there.

That is what we see next. Jesus teaches …

3. The Kingdom’s Absolute Reversal (Matt. 20:25-28)

Matthew writes, “But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you.” (Matt. 20:25-26a). Jesus says that they are not to be like the “rulers of the Gentiles”—in other words, they are not to seek greatness like unbelievers do.

Greatness in the kingdom of heaven does not at all look like greatness in the world. The world seizes positions of authority and then dominates those under them. In this world the poor serve the rich, and the weak serve the strong. It’s a “top-to-bottom” hierarchy of power, and the only way to climb up the ladder is by trampling those under you and ruthlessly crawling over those above you. People desire positions of authority because of the benefits that it will bring to themselves: recognition, social status, promotion, financial benefits, power, superiority, and influence. They are in it for themselves. Even the leaders of Israel in the time of Ezekiel were like this. Ezekiel 34 says,

  1 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD to the shepherds: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? 3 You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them.” (Ezek. 34:1-4).

How do you know if your attitude is too much like the world? Ask yourself: Do I need to be the one in control? Do I need to be the center of attention? Do I need to have it my way? Do I need to win? How do I feel when others treat me like a slave? Am I offended when I get ignored or passed over?

Jesus says to those who enter the kingdom of heaven, “Yet it shall not be so among you” (Matt. 20:26). They must have a different path to greatness than the rest of the world. That different path is, “… but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave.” (Matt. 20:26-27). In other words, the path to greatness isn’t looking out for yourself; the path to greatness is looking out for others. It’s exactly what Jesus has been trying to teach the disciples: that the first will be last and the last will be first (Matt. 19:30; 20:16).

If you want to be great you must be what? A servant. If you want to be first you must be what? A slave. The lower you become, the higher you will be. In Jesus’ kingdom, greatness is not measure by how many people serve you, but by how you serve other people. Jesus Himself is our example. Remember what Jesus did for His disciples on the night He was betrayed? John 13 tells us,

1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, (John 13:1-3).

Think about that. Jesus knew He had come from God and was going to God. He knew He had been with the Father from all eternity (John 1:1-3). He knew He was equal with God (Phil. 2:6). He knew He would sit at the right hand of the Father with all authority given to Him in heaven and earth (Matt. 28:18). Yet, He took the form of a slave and …

 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. (John 13:4-5).

He took the lowly place of a slave and He served them. When He was through,  Jesus placed His garments on again, sat down, and said to His disciples,

“Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them” (John 13:12-17).

Jesus is our example of humble service. Our role models are not the rulers of the world but Jesus Himself–Jesus, who humbled Himself as a slave. Jesus, who said, “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:28). The word “serve” in that verse is the Greek word diakoneo. It is the verb form of the word “deacon”. In the church, a deacon is not a position of authority; it is a position of service. One preacher commented, “Every time a person becomes a deacon they ought to go home and say, ‘I got demoted today, they made me a deacon.’”[ii]

Jesus’ ultimate act of service for others was “to give His life a ransom for many.” Jesus knew He came to serve and to give His life up on the cross to pay the ransom for us. Because of our sin we owed a debt to God that we could not pay. We were slaves of sin (Rom. 6:6). We were condemned sinners (John 3:18) as children of wrath (Eph. 2:1). But while we were still sinners Jesus died for us (Rom. 5:8). He redeemed us with His own blood (Eph. 1:7; Matt. 26:28; Acts 20:28; 1 Tim. 2:6; Tit. 2:14; Heb. 9:12’ 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10; Rev. 5:9). This is why He willingly went to the cross and died. He gave His life to ransom yours. There is no greater love than what Jesus showed in dying for us (John 15:13). If Christ has so loved us, shouldn’t we also love one another the same way (1 John 4:11)?

Jesus, in His service, suffering, and death, He not only redeemed us, He set the example for us. It’s not those who act high and mighty who are great. It’s the servant. How do you know you have the heart of a servant? How do you react when someone treats you like one? How do you feel when you give and help and labor, but nobody seems to notice or say “thank you”? In Luke 17, Jesus taught His disciples saying,

7 “And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? 8 But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? 9 Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. 10 So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.'” (Luke 17:7-10).

A servant isn’t supposed to look out for his own needs. A servant is supposed to look after the needs of his master. Servants cook the food for their masters. Servants clean the house for their masters. Servants wash the clothes for their masters. Servants plow the fields for their masters. Servants pick the weeds for their masters. And servants don’t look for a “thank you”. They don’t do it for the applause. They don’t expect recognition.

Jesus we must servants to others. We should be looking out for the interests of others, as if they were our masters. As if they were our Lord. That’s the way it is to work in Christian families, Paul says, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord” (Eph. 5:22); “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,” (Eph. 5:25); “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” (Eph. 6:1). It’s to be that way in our work also. Paul writes to slaves, to serve their masters, “with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men,” (Eph. 6:7).  And to all he writes, “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Col. 3:17). We serve one another because in doing so we are serving the Lord.

And we are being like our Lord. Paul puts it this way in Philippians 2,

3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, (Phil. 2:3-5).

The Christian’s ambition is not to gain authority over others but to serve others. It is not to be high and mighty but low and weak. It is not characterized by haughtiness but humbleness. It means suffering, service, and sacrifice.

As we close today, I want you to consider three things. One, have I trusted in Christ to pay the ransom for my sin? If not, repent and believe in Him today. Come, and He will give you life—eternal life. Two, consider how you can follow the example of Jesus in serving others. Let’s serve each other in the church, especially in ways that will not gain us recognition from others but only rewards from God. Three, consider how you will follow Jesus in suffering and sacrifice. If we are following His example, we will also drink that cup. Greatness is the kingdom is found in following Jesus in suffering and service.

———————————————————

[i] Greg Allen, With Jesus on the Road to Greatness, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2008/011308.htm

[ii] Rory Mosley, The Christian Ambition (Matthew 20:17-28), https://fbcspur.org/christian-ambition-matthew-2017-28/  

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The Necessity of the Cross, Part 2

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

The Necessity of the Cross, Part 2

Matthew 16:24-27

We come today to the end of Matthew 16. This chapter records a truly pivotal point in the account of our Lord’s earthly ministry. Simon Peter had declared the fundamental truth about the identity of Jesus, confessing, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). Jesus confirmed his confession, saying, “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 16:17). This led to Jesus declaring to Simon, “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” Matt. 16:18). Thus we saw in Matthew 16:18-20 the church’s foundation, builder, victory, and authority.

Matthew then tells us that Jesus gave His disciples the most shocking news: “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.” (Matt. 16:21). Jesus taught that the cross was a divine necessity. He “must” suffer, be killed, and rise again. It was the Father’s set purpose for Him.

Yet, due to their mistaken expectations, the disciples struggled to understand this truth. Peter even found the idea so intolerable that he dared to pull Jesus aside to rebuke Him. Like the devil, Peter offered Christ the crown without the cross, success without sacrifice, promises without pain. But Jesus rejected the devil’s way and man’s way, and He chose instead God’s way (Matt. 16:23)—the way of the cross. The cross was necessary because it was the will of the Father. It was necessary to save sinners. It was necessary to build His church. It was necessary to purify His bride. It was necessary for the fulfillment of the kingdom of heaven. It was necessary for the glory of God. Thus, Jesus was laser-focused on going to the cross.

And it was then that Jesus turned to His bewildered disciples and called them to do the same, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24). If they wanted to follow Him, they also would need to go the way of the cross. The way of the cross was necessary for Jesus, and it is necessary for His disciples. And His disciples include not just the twelve. It is “anyone desires to come after” Jesus. “Not only is Jesus Himself determined to go forward in a path which leads to suffering and death, undeterred by Peter’s remonstrance, and not only must His twelve disciples be willing to follow in such a path, but this holds true of any and every one who wishes to be his follower at all.”[1]

What does it look like to come after Him—to follow Him? What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? That is what Jesus teaches us in this passage today. Jesus is not so much teaching us the conditions of salvation, but the consequences of salvation. He is telling us the cost that comes when you are a disciple of Jesus. We know that the whole New Testament declares that we are saved by God’s grace through believing in Jesus. Christ has paid in full the debt of our sins on the cross, and He is alive today to give forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all who believe in Him. Salvation is the gift of God. Redemption is free to us because Christ paid for it with His own blood on the cross. In that sense, being a disciple of Jesus costs us nothing. We do not deserve it, and we cannot earn it. We simply receive it as a gift by the open hand of faith. But in another sense, being a disciple costs us everything. We receive it freely, but it comes with consequences.

Have you ever talked with unbelievers about Christ, explained the gospel message, and urged them to trust Christ to receive God’s gift of salvation—only to have them turn it down? And in their case, it wasn’t because they didn’t understand the truth of the gospel message. It wasn’t because they had some intellectual questions or doubts. It wasn’t because they experienced bad things from the church. No. For them, they didn’t believe in Christ because they knew where following Christ would lead, and they didn’t want to go there. They knew that if they believed in Jesus Christ—because Jesus is Lord, and He is Holy—He would lead them to give up things in their life that they wanted to keep, to change in ways they wouldn’t want to, or to suffer things they wished to avoid. And therefore, they considered the cost too great. Like the rich young ruler, they walked away from the treasure of Christ to hold onto the trinkets of this world.

In this morning’s passage, Jesus confronts us with the cost of being His disciple. Those who wish to follow Him must follow Him by way of the cross. Jesus teaches us of the necessity of the cross. The way of discipleship is the way of the cross. In Matthew 16:24 we will see three demands of discipleship, what it will cost to come after Jesus. Then in Matthew 16:25-27 we will see three reasons for discipleship, why it will be worth it to follow Jesus.

First, we see …

1. The Demands of Discipleship (Matt. 16:24)

Having rebuked Peter for trying to dissuade Him from the cross, in Matthew 16:24, Jesus turned and spoke to all the disciples, saying, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” The demands of discipleship are for “anyone” who “desires to come after Me.” The word “desires” means more than is wishful. It is determined and constant exercise of the will.[2] The following demands of discipleship are not optional for disciples. They are for all who are willing to come and follow Jesus.

The first demand is …

A. Deny Yourself

Jesus says, ““If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…” (Matt. 16:24). The word “deny” is a very strong one. It means to completely renounce or utterly disown. It’s the same word that describes Peter denying that he even knew Jesus after His arrest (Matt. 26:34,75). When Jesus says that we must deny ourselves, He isn’t simply speaking of a minor act of denying ourselves something that we want—like a bowl of ice-cream after dinner.[3] Nor is He saying to merely deny some portion, fault, habit, desire, or outward practice.[4] He is speaking of nothing less than utterly to deny and renounce our very “selves”.

To deny yourself means that you are done with yourself. You are done with your ways and your wants. Your thoughts, your ambitions, and your feelings all take second place to Jesus. You have surrendered your will to Jesus. What matters now is not yourself, because you have denied yourself. What matters now is the One whom you follow.[5]

This demand from Jesus is completely opposite to the ideology that our modern culture promotes. The progressive philosophy is that the “self” is the highest possible authority—higher than science, logic, social benefit, and even God. People insist they can determine their own reality and if you hinder them, or even disagree, they condemn you for violating their “self”. Self-worship is the wellspring of the immorality, corruption, and decadence that plague our world.

In a world dominated by self-preservation, self-esteem, self-congratulation, and self-promotion, Jesus demands that we deny ourselves. The world says, “Affirm yourself”, but Jesus says, “Deny yourself”. You can either affirm yourself and deny Jesus, or you can affirm Jesus and deny yourself.[6]      

The first demand of discipleship is to deny yourself. The second is …

B. Take Up Your Cross

Jesus said, “let him … take up his cross.” (Matt 16:24). When a person took up a cross in Jesus’ day, that meant only one thing. It meant that person was going to their death. Crucifixion was a common form of capital punishment in the Roman empire. Many Jews had seen hundreds of people crucified. The condemned were, in an act of public humiliation, made to carry their own cross to the place of execution. Many times, people verbally abused and assaulted the cross-bearers along the way. Jesus started out carrying His cross to Golgotha (John 19:17).

So what does Jesus mean when He says to take up your cross? To take up your cross is to go to your death. It means you are like a condemned man on his way to execution. You are willing to suffer every humiliation, insult, and abuse for the name of Jesus Christ. It would means we deny ourselves even to the point of death—just as Jesus did for us. Peter later writes about suffering for Christ, “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.” (1 Pet. 2:21). To take up your cross means, as Paul wrote, “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14). For he said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20).

Sometimes, when you hear people say, “This is my cross to bear,” they are talking about their health, their spouse, their children, or some kind burden they face. These things may be real challenges in a Christian’s life, but they are not crosses. One pastor writes, “Circumstances may be painful like a cross, and they may be a burden like a cross, but they themselves are not crosses, for a cross is something that is to be picked up willingly. A cross is something that requires us to deny our way of doing things and to choose God’s way of doing things. It is saying no to our stubborn will and surrendering to God’s sovereign will. Tough circumstances provide plenty of opportunities to pick up our cross, but the circumstance itself is not a cross, it’s only an opportunity to choose one.”[7]

Dr. P.P. Job (1945-2012) was known as the “Billy Graham of India.” He faced severe persecution for preaching Christ. Hindu militants in India failed in an attempt on Job’s life in 1999, but in June of that year they killed his 21-year old son, Michael, by running him down with a car near the medical school where he was studying to become a doctor. In his book, Why God, Why?, Dr. Job tells this story of taking up the cross:

About 150 years ago, there was a great revival in Wales, England.  As a result of this, many missionaries came from England to northeast India to spread the Gospel.  The region was known as Assam and comprised hundreds of tribes.  The tribal communities were quite primitive and aggressive.  The tribesmen were also called head-hunters because of a social custom which required the male members of the community to collect as many heads as possible.  A man’s strength and ability to protect his wife was assessed by the number of heads he had collected.  Therefore, a youth of marriageable age would try and collect as many heads as possible and hang them on the walls of his house.  The more heads a man had, the more eligible he was considered.  Into this hostile and aggressive community, came a group of Welsh missionaries spreading the message of love, peace, and hope of Jesus Christ.  Naturally, they were not welcomed.  One Welsh missionary finally succeeded in converting a man, his wife, and two children.  This man’s faith proved contagious and many villagers began to accept Christianity.  Angry, the village chief summoned all the villagers.  He then called the family who had first converted to renounce their faith in public or face execution.  Moved by the Holy Spirit, the man sung his reply, “I have decided to follow Jesus.  No turning back.”

     Enraged at the refusal of the man, the chief ordered his archers to arrow down the two children.  As both boys lay twitching on the floor, the chief asked, “Will you deny your faith?  You have lost both your children.  You will lose your wife too.”

     But the man replied, again singing, “Though none go with me, still I will follow.  No turning back.”

     The chief was beside himself with fury and ordered his wife to be arrowed down.  In a moment she joined her two children in death.  Now he asked for the last time, “I will give you one more opportunity to deny your faith and live.”

     In the face of death the man sung, “The cross before me, the world behind me. No turning back.  No turning back.”[8]

This is the demand of discipleship. Deny yourself, take up your cross, and …

C. Follow Jesus

To come after Jesus, to be His disciple means following Him. This means that we must imitate Him. We must go where He goes, and act as He acts, and walk as He walked. It means that we must obey His commands, and keep faithful to His instructions. If Jesus is your Lord, you do what He says.

Disciples of Jesus follow Jesus. And where is Jesus going? The way of the cross. The way of self-denial, suffering, and death. You cannot follow Jesus without going the way of the cross. Paul wrote, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” (2 Tim. 3:12). Discipleship demands that you deny yourself and be willing even to die for the sake of obedience to Christ.

Obviously, that means that if the day comes that you must suffer or die for Christ, you need not think something went wrong but know that it is the way of following Christ. We need to remove from our thinking the idea that if we are obeying Christ, everything will go smoothly. Following Christ comes with cost.

At this point you might be thinking, “Wow! Those are some pretty strong demands of discipleship. If this is what it means to be a follower of Jesus, why would anyone want to?”

So next, Jesus tells us why being His disciple is worth denying yourself, taking up your cross, and following Him. 

2. The Reasons for Discipleship (Matt. 16:25-27)

In the next three verses, Jesus gives us three reasons why you should accept these demands and follow Him on the way of the cross. You can recognize these reasons in the text because they all start with the word “for”. The first reason is …

A. Your life depends on it (Matt. 16:25)

Jesus says in Matthew 16:25, “For whoever desires to save his life will loose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” The contrast here is between your temporary life on this earth and your eternal life in the kingdom of heaven. If you try to save your life by living for yourself and for your own goals or desires, you will end up losing it in eternity. But if you lose your life for Jesus, if you deny yourself and follow Christ, you will find it in eternity.

The bible give us many examples of this spiritual principle. In Luke 16, Jesus tells the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man lived for Himself upon the earth. He “was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day” (Luke 16:19). Though he had an abundance, he was wicked and ignored the poor, sick beggar at his gate. And where did it land him? It landed him in torment in Hades (Luke 16:23). Contrast him with another rich man in Luke 19 named Zacchaeus (Luke 19:2). When Jesus came to his house, Zacchaeus was transformed by faith in Christ, saying, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” (Luke 19:8). He lost his life. And Jesus said about him, “Today salvation has come to this house … for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:9-10).

The rich young ruler came to Jesus, seeking eternal life. When Jesus told him that it would cost him his life and his riches to follow him, “he went away sorrowful” and refused to follow Jesus (Matt. 19:22). For all we know, he saved his life upon the earth, with earthly goods and treasures, but he lost it in eternity. Contrast this with Moses. Hebrews 11 says, “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.” (Heb. 11:24-26). Moses lost his life upon the earth, but he gained his life in eternity. In Matthew 17, at the transfiguration, we find that Moses is alive and with Jesus.

Why should you deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus? First, because your life depends on it. Second, because …

B. Your soul is precious (Matt. 16:26)

“For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt. 16:26).

These are rhetorical questions. They are left unanswered because the answers are so obvious. What good is it if you gain the whole world and yet forfeit your soul? The answer is, “No good at all!” You could gain everything, you could have more money, wealth and power than any other human being who has ever lived, and it means absolutely nothing if you lose your life or your soul in the process. And then, what can you give in exchange for your soul? Nothing! Nothing is as valuable as your soul.

Think about King Solomon as he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. He was extremely rich. He was very intelligent. Nothing ever got in the way of his pursuits. He pursued every pleasure (Ecc. 2:1-2), alcohol (Ecc. 2:3), material wealth (Ecc. 2:4-8a), entertainment (Ecc. 2:8b), and sexual pleasure (Ecc. 2:8c). He said, “Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure” (Ecc. 2:10). And in the end, he concluded, “indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.” (Ecc. 2:11). This is what Jesus is saying. The whole world is not enough to exchange for your soul.

Why should you deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus? First, because your life depends on it. Second, because your soul is precious. And third, because …

C. The reward is priceless (Matt. 16:27)

“For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.” (Matt. 16:27). When Christ returns, there will be a judgment. He will reward each person according to what he has done. You will be judged on how you lived your life, whether you lived for self or lived for God.

When Christ returns, the time of suffering for His followers will be over. All those who followed Christ in the way of the cross will now follow Him into glory. In this life, they carried their cross. In eternity, they wear a crown. Colossians 3 says,

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory (Col. 3:1-4).

Yes, obedience to Christ may cost you everything, even your own life, but on the day of judgment, you will have no regrets. Throughout eternity, you’ll never regret having joyfully taken up your cross to follow Christ. Every ounce of suffering will be well worth it and more.

Jesus even gives Peter, James, and John a glimpse of that glory six days later in the transfiguration, letting them see clearly that all of His promises are true. I believe that’s what Jesus means when He says in Matthew 16:28, “Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

Jesus is real. He really came. He really died for sinners. He really rose again. He really is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He really will come again to judge the world. Every knee will bow before Him. And this same Jesus gives eternal life to all who believe in Him. The bible says we have all sinned and rebelled against our Maker, and consequently, we stand condemned before God. But Christ paid our sin debt in full at the cross. Will you repent and believe in Jesus Christ who lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and rose from the dead on the third day? God will credit Christ’s perfect righteousness to you. His death will atone for your sins. You will be forgiven, redeemed, adopted, and born-again as a child of God and heir of eternal life. That is a glorious invitation.

Come to Jesus for eternal life. You can receive it freely by faith. Come to Jesus because your life depends on it, your soul is most precious, and the reward is priceless. Come, realizing it will demand from you everything, even your own life. Yet with Christ, it is worth it all. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Rom. 8:18). “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,” (2 Cor. 4:17). Jesus said, “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.” (Matt. 5:12).

————————————————-

[1] John A. Broadus, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, American Commentary on the New Testament (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1886), 365.

[2] Vincent and Vines Word Studies quoted on Precept Austin Matthew Commentary, https://www.preceptaustin.org/matthew-16-commentary#16:24

[3] Greg Allen, Come Along – and Don’t Forget Your Cross!, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2007/070807.htm

[4] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961), 643.

[5] Steve Brandon, You Must Take Up Your Cross, https://sermons.rvbc.cc/sermons/2004-016

[6] Ray Fowler, True Discipleship, https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/true-discipleship/

[7] Josh Black, Salvation and Abundant Life Through Cross-Bearing,  https://www.firstfreewichita.org/download/455

[8] Leon Stier, Hymns, https://emailmeditations.com/2014/08/23/499-the-story-behind-the-song-i-have-decided-to-follow-jesus/

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The Necessity of the Cross, Part 1

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The Necessity of the Cross, Part 1

Matthew 16:20-23

Over the last few weeks we have been taking a close look at a central passage in Matthew 16. Jesus took His disciples away from the Jewish crowds in Galilee to the mostly Gentile area of Caesarea Philippi (Matt. 16:13). There Jesus questioned them about His identity, “But who do you say that I am?” (Matt. 16:15). Simon Peter spoke up for the group and confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). That Jesus is “the Christ” means He is the fulfillment of God’s promise to send a Savior, an anointed King in the line of David who would reign forever. That Jesus is “the Son of God” means that He is divine, having the very nature and essence of God Himself. Jesus blessed Peter and his confession, saying “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 16:17).

Then Jesus told Simon, “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” Matt. 16:18). And we spent three weeks examining the church that Jesus builds—its foundation, builder, victory, and authority. Peter and the other apostles believed that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God. And based on the reality of Jesus’ identity—the truth that God revealed and they confessed—Jesus will build His victorious and powerful church.

But as great and true as that confession was, Jesus’ disciples did not really know what all that meant. They understood that Jesus was the Christ, but they did not understand what it meant for Him to be the Christ. They knew His identity but they did not know His mission.

Matthew 16:20 says, “Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.” Why did Jesus tell His disciples not to tell anyone? Well, for one, the disciples were not ready. They did not understand all they needed to about Jesus Christ and His mission to save sinners. That would not become clear to them until after Jesus’ resurrection. In our text, Peter, who had just confessed that Jesus is the Christ, would rebuke the Lord as He predicted His suffering and death. And later, when Jesus is arrested, Peter will deny the Lord.

They were not ready because they did not understand the gospel message was about Christ saving sinner through His death and resurrection. And they were not ready because the Holy Spirit had not been given to empower them to be His witnesses. So it was not yet the time to widely proclaim the Jesus is the Christ.

Secondly, it was not yet time to proclaim Jesus is the Christ because the people held to unrealistic and unbiblical expectations about Christ. The Jews expected the Messiah immediately to be a conquering ruler. They expected Him to save the nation of Israel from their oppressors. After Jesus fed the five thousand, the people tried to take Him by force to make Him king (John 6:15). If Jesus had played into these popular expectations it would have been an obstacle to the one thing He came to do: to save His people from their sins by dying on the cross.

Expectations affect what you hear. Peter and the other apostles, like most of the Jews, had a certain expectation of the Messiah. In the words of the prophets:

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” (Jer. 23:5-6).

“He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked” (Isa. 11:4).

“Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” (Isa. 9:7).

“He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth. Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him, And His enemies will lick the dust.” (Psa. 72:8-9).

These are all true prophecies of the Messiah. They speak of Christ’s second coming and the consummation of His kingdom, not His first coming and the commencement of His kingdom. But this is what they expected from the Christ. So, when Jesus says that Peter is right and He is God’s promised Messiah, Peter hears, “I’m about to bring down Caesar, overthrow Rome, and establish my own throne with the twelve of you at my side.” Rather than hearing what Jesus said about Himself, Peter heard what he expected Jesus to say.

Because of these misunderstandings and wrong expectations, the time was not right to tell everyone that Jesus is the Christ. It’s altogether different for us. We live on the other side of the cross. We have a risen Savior. We have been empowered by the Holy Spirit of God to be His witnesses. Jesus has commissioned His church to preach the gospel to all nations. Before the cross, the disciples were to tell no one. After the cross, we must tell everyone.

So, Jesus now teaches His disciples the necessity of the cross.

1. The Necessity of Christ’s Cross (Matt. 16:20-21)

In our passage, Jesus for the first time tells His disciples plainly what awaited Him in Jerusalem. Matthew tells us that, “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day” (Matt. 16:21). Here, Jesus speaks plainly about His suffering, death, and resurrection. The fact that Jesus mentions the three groups of the elders, chief priests, and scribes is quite intentional. These three groups made up a court who would declare Jesus guilty of blasphemy and hand Him over to Rome with the charge of treason. So, Jesus wasn’t simply suggesting some kind of violent mob attack but a judicial rejection where they would find Him guilty and sentenced Him to death.

We have seen Jesus hint at His death before in Matthew’s Gospel. In Matthew 9:15, when asked why His disciples didn’t fast, He said, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.” It was a veiled allusion to His death. In Matthew 12, when the Pharisees demand a sign from Jesus, He says, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matt. 12:39-40). He told them the same thing in Matthew 16:4.

The difference now is that Jesus speaks about these things clearly and “openly” (Mark 8:32) to the disciples. From this point on, Jesus will teach these things repeatedly to His disciples (Matt. 17:9, 22-23; 20:18-19; 26:2, 12,31). He is preparing them for these things by teaching them the necessity of the cross.

Jesus teaches that “He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day” (Matt. 16:21). The word “must” (dei) shows that what Jesus describes was a necessity. It absolutely had to happen, for it was the very reason He had come to earth as a Man (Matt. 1:21; 20:28; Mark 10:45; Luke 19:10). There was a divinely-appointed inevitability about the things that Jesus had said were about to occur to Himself. Jesus’ rejection, suffering, and death occurred “by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). How we should praise our Father for such a faithful Savior! Jesus suffered these things because, in the wise decree of the Father, and in His mercy toward us, they “must” happen. They must happen to save sinners.

Jesus knew the necessity of the cross. It was the Father’s divinely appointed purpose for Him. Because of this, Jesus also shunned anything that would dare to divert Him from that divine purpose. As we see in our text, Peter tried to deter Jesus from the cross.

So next we see…   

2. The Misunderstanding of Christ’s Cross (Matt. 16:22-23)

Matthew 16:22 says, “Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”” Why did Peter take it upon himself to rebuke the Lord? Peter had no doubt been thinking himself very important since the Lord had just given him a great word of blessing for the confession he had just made. Jesus had called him Peter, the rock, saying “on this rock I will build My church” (Matt. 16:18). Jesus had just said He would give Peter “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 16:19). Now Peter heard Jesus talking about suffering and death. To him, it didn’t compute. It made no sense. And so, he dared to take the Lord aside as if to privately correct Him. He told Him, “Far be it from You, Lord . . .”; or more literally, “God have mercy to You, Lord!” Peter thought that it could not have possibly been God’s will for Jesus to die. And then, he used the strongest negative possible in the original language so as to say, “In no way shall such a thing be to You!“

In Peter’s mind, what Jesus said was incompatible with Him being the Christ. In Peter’s understanding, the Messiah doesn’t suffer and die but lives and conquers. Death doesn’t fit Peter’s expectation of the Messiah. Peter and the other disciples were following Jesus, believing Him to be the promised Messiah who would conquer, judge, and reign. I’m sure Peter thought it would be glorious, and as His closest followers, they would share in His glory. So, when Jesus announces His own death, what does that mean for Peter? What will become of those who follow Jesus? Think about it. Whenever someone proclaims himself as a rival king and then is killed by the reigning king or government, they typically don’t say to that dead leader’s followers, “Now you go about your way and be happy. We know you weren’t responsible for that man’s rebellion against the king.” No, they kill his followers too.

And maybe that’s why Peter and the other disciples missed what Jesus said about the resurrection. Again, it did not compute in their minds. Mark 9:10 tells us that another time, after Jesus mentioned to them that He would rise from the dead, the disciples “kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.” You see, people rising from the dead wasn’t more common in the first century than it is today. So, when they heard Jesus say he would rise from the dead, they didn’t just say, “Right. Of course.” Rather, they thought, “He obviously doesn’t mean that in any literal way. What does he mean by that?” And they didn’t bring it up. So Peter dismissed Jesus’ predicted death, missed His predicted resurrection, and probably feared for his own life.

Look at how Jesus responded to Peter’s rebuke. Matthew 16:23 says, “But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.’” I can’t imagine what a horrifying blow that must have been to poor Peter. To have heard such powerful words of rebuke from His beloved Lord—especially after he had just been told that he spoke a confession about Jesus that was the very revelation from the Father! I don’t believe that Jesus meant to say that Peter was Satan. But I do believe that Jesus knew Peter was being used by Satan at that moment. And Jesus spoke directly and sharply to the one who was seeking to tempt Him through Peter.

The devil had tempted Jesus in a similar way in Matthew 4. There, the devil took Jesus up to an exceedingly high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and—in the most outrageous act of blasphemy imaginable—said to his own divine Creator, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me” (Matt. 4:8-9). It was an offer of “instant kingship”—”instant Messianic rule”. The devil was offering Jesus all the kingdoms of the world without ever having to go to the cross—if He would just bow down and worship the devil. Satan’s temptation, in short, was: get the crown without going the way of the cross.

And do you remember our Lord’s response to the tempter at that time? He said, “Get behind Me, Satan!” (Matt. 4:10; marginal reading). He told the devil to get out of His way and take his proper place out behind Him. And now, as Peter strongly suggests to the Lord that these things would never happen to Him, Jesus turns and says the same words to Peter: “Get behind Me, Satan!” Peter understood that Jesus was the Messiah. But he did not yet understand what kind of Messiah Jesus was. Jesus did not come as a political Messiah to deliver the Jews from their bondage to Rome. No, Jesus came as a suffering Messiah to deliver us from our bondage to sin.

Jesus put His finger on the motives that drove Peter as well saying, “You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Peter had put his agenda before Jesus’ agenda. He didn’t have the thoughts of God, but the thoughts of men. At this moment, Peter was more concerned about his own comfort and plans than he was God’s plan of redemption. To unredeemed men, the message of the cross is utter foolishness. It doesn’t make sense that the King of kings would come to suffer and die. And yet, Jesus here shows His devotion to the Father by the fact that the devil’s alternatives to the cross are an “offense” to Him.

The devil is still using this same tactic today. He still peddles his falsehoods in Christ’s church. He seeks to downplay the seriousness of sin, telling people that it is your right to just be yourself and to “love” whom you desire, calling murder reproductive healthcare, destroying God-ordained gender roles, and telling many other lies. He tries to get Christians to soften the offense of the cross, to abandon the doctrine of Christ’s substitutionary atonement, and to doubt God’s inspired word.

Jesus was committed to the divine necessity of the cross. He shunned the world’s praise to die on the cross being despised and rejected by men. He utterly rejected the devil’s alternatives to the cross. He set Himself resolutely to go to Jerusalem and to death on the cross. Jesus, “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Heb. 12:2). Jesus rejected the devil’s way and man’s way, and He chose instead God’s way—the way of the cross. And it was then that He turned to His followers and called them to do the same, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24). We will look at this verse and those that follow it more closely next time. But let me just remind you, the way of the cross was necessary for Jesus, and it is necessary for us.

That is why we come to the Lord’s Table today. By it, we remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for our sins on the cross. His body was broken, His blood poured out. He suffered and died in our place for our sin. Jesus came to save sinners. He came to give His life as a ransom for us—for all who believe in Him. Do you believe today that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God? Do you believe that He died as a sinless lamb on the cross for the forgiveness of your sin? Do you believe that He rose from the dead on the third day and lives forever to save those who believe in Him?

When we eat the bread representing His body and drink the cup representing His blood, we do so, remembering Him and believing these things. We do so, knowing that by faith we are united to Him in His death and resurrection, “knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” (Rom. 6:6). “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.” (Rom. 6:10). So, as we partake of the Lord’s Supper, we “reckon [ourselves] to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 611).  

 

 

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Walking on Water, Part 2

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

Walking on Water, Part 2

Matthew 14:22-36

Matthew’s theme is that Jesus is the Messiah-King. As He walked this earth, our Lord’s message was, “Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” The subject of Jesus’ teaching was the kingdom of God. And in all of His preaching, He clearly showed Himself to be the long-awaited Messiah-King who fulfilled the prophecies of scripture. He had sent His apostles out to proclaim that same message of the kingdom and confirmed the gospel with miracles, signs, and wonders. He had compassion on the people, healed their diseases, and freed many from demonic possession. And yet, He had to rebuke the very places where He had taught and worked (Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum), because they would not repent at His teaching (Matt. 11:20-24). The religious leaders of the day resisted His teaching, demanded signs from Him (Matt. 12:38), and sought to kill Him (Matt. 12:14). Even His own family (Matt. 12:46-50) and the people of His hometown resisted and rejected Him (Matt. 13:53-58). King Herod reacted to news about Jesus with misunderstanding and superstition (Matt. 14:1-2). The multitudes that He fed misunderstood His mission—forcing Him to separate Himself from them because they sought to make Him into their earthly provider (John 6:15). Even Jesus’ own disciples failed to recognize Him as He walked out to them on the sea—fearing that He was a ghost (Matt. 14:26).

Remember, in this section of Matthew, that Jesus, having taught about the kingdom of heaven, is now concentrating on training His disciples in kingdom ministry. In the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus taught them that He is the Lord, the Messiah-King, who is able to work through them to do kingdom ministry when they trust in Him. But did they learn the lesson? Immediately after Jesus used them to feed the multitude, He sent them across the lake against a windstorm. And so, in our last lesson, we saw …

1. The disciple’s problem (Matt. 14:22-24)

They found themselves at their wits’ end without Jesus. Jesus deliberately sent them off on a journey that He knew would prove very frustrating to them, which would drain them of all their own personal resources. He did this so He could then illustrate to them—and to us—that He is far above those things that frustrate us. Jesus is building their faith in Him.

Then we saw…

2. Jesus’ presence (Matt. 14:25-27)

Finally, after they strained at the oars for hours against the wind, Jesus comes to them, walking on the water. The disciples are terrified. They think Jesus is a ghost, But Jesus comes saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I: do not be afraid.” (Matt. 14:27), revealing Himself to be Lord and Savior, the One who is above all their frustrations and fears. “What a profound lesson about God’s protecting love, when without human resource, when there is no way, He makes the storm His path to save His own.”[1]

Now when Mark and John wrote about this in their Gospels, the Holy Spirit led them to end the story with Jesus entering the boat and the disciples’ amazement. But Matthew goes on to tell us about something else that happened before then because the disciples need to learn what God can do through them when they trust in Jesus.

Which brings us to…

3. Jesus’ provision (Matt. 14:28-32)

Matthew tells us that Peter said, “Lord, if it is You . . .” What was Peter doing here? Was Peter doubtful? He and the rest of the disciples were certainly terrified. They were seeing a man walking on the water, after all. He looked like the Lord, He spoke like the Lord. Maybe, Peter thought, there was one way to be sure it was Jesus, and that was by walking on water to Him at His command. And so, Peter said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” (Matt. 14:28).

Peter certainly was impulsive, but I believe it was an impulse prompted by faith in Jesus. Peter was not putting Jesus to the test, something we are told not to do (Matt. 4:7). Jesus’ presence in the storm emboldened Peter to exercise a fearless faith. Peter overcame his fear and attempted the impossible.

As a commercial fisherman, Peter had spent a lot of time in boats out at sea. He knew how impossible it was to walk on the sea. I’m sure he knew better than to try stepping out of the boat unless Jesus commanded him to do so! And so, the Lord said, “Come” (Matt. 14:29), and Peter threw one leg over and onto the water, then the other, and soon he was walking on the water toward Jesus. Can you imagine the faith it took for Peter to step out of the boat? Can you imagine what he must have been thinking when he first touched his foot to the water and then put the rest of his weight onto it?

We may be tempted to criticize Peter a bit for his lack of faith as we see what happens next, but it’s important to point out that at least he got out of the boat! That took more faith than most of us would exercise. Most of us would stay in the boat and wait for Jesus to come to us! When Jesus says, “Come,” you’d better come. In Peter’s case, he was safer out on the water with Jesus than in the boat without Him.

Peter is an encouragement to me because we often find him saying or doing big, bold things for Jesus, and then immediately messing up right after. Peter walks on water with Jesus, then he sinks and needs to be saved. Peter makes the great confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt. 16:16). Then when Jesus explained His impending suffering and death, Peter rebuked the Lord, speaking the words of Satan, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” (Matt. 16:22). At the last supper, Peter pledged to Jesus, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” (Matt. 26:35). And we all know how that ended—with Peter in bitter tears after denying three times that he even knew Jesus (Matt. 26:75). Peter is a great encouragement for imperfect believers like you and me who sincerely want to follow Jesus but who are constantly falling flat on our faces. God used Peter. He can use us as well.

Now, as long as Peter’s eyes were fixed on Jesus, he did fine. He walked on water. But the fact is that Peter turned his gaze from Jesus. Matthew 14:30 says, “But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!’” The moment he began to focus on the wind that was blowing, and on the waves that were thrashing around him—in other words, the moment he focused on his circumstances rather than on Him who walked above them all—Peter began to sink.

And so, he does the only thing he can do. He prayed a simple prayer, but a great prayer. He cried out, “Lord, save me!” And Jesus does! “And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him,” before he sank down beneath the surface of the waves. Then Jesus said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matt. 14:31). “You of little faith” is only one word in the Greek: “Little-faith.” It’s like a nickname. Jesus called Peter “Little-Faith.” “Little-faith, why did you doubt?” He was not rebuking Peter for attempting too much, but for trusting too little.

One of the details that I love the most about this story is found in the fact that Matthew tells us that “they” got back to the boat (Matt. 14:32). Jesus didn’t just leave Peter in the water, nor did Jesus walk back to the boat, dragging Peter under the water behind Him. I believe that Jesus raised Peter up and they walked together. Then, as soon as our Lord and Peter got back into the boat, Matthew tells us “the wind ceased” (Matt. 14:32). Once again, Jesus confirmed to them who He is—that He is the Lord who has authority over even the winds and the sea.

Ray Fowler points out some lessons we can learn from Peter here.[2] First, there is the lesson of faith. When you trust Jesus, God can do through you the most amazing and marvelous things. Then, there is the lesson of focus. Faith is keeping your eyes on Jesus. It’s not easy to keep your eyes on Jesus in the middle of the night, when the raging storm of fear threatens to overwhelm you. But don’t lose your focus! Keep your eyes on Jesus, not on your problems. And then thirdly, there is the lesson of forgiveness. God loves and forgives you even when you fail. Even when you lose faith, even when you lose focus, you just need to call out: “Lord, save me!”, and Jesus is right there to help you back into the boat.

The main point of the whole episode comes now at the end …

3. The disciple’s praise (Matt. 14:33)

Matthew 14:33 says, “Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Truly, You are the Son of God’” Matthew DOESN’T say “They thanked Him saying, ‘We would have died without You.’” Matthew says they “worshiped Him.” Though they had a long way to go in their spiritual understanding, the disciples were growing in their faith in the Lord. And so, for the first time in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus’ disciples confess that He is the Son of God. Their worship is joined to their confession.

Jesus is the promised Messiah-King and the disciples recognize and declare His deity. There is no other way possible that Jesus could have done what He did—walking on the sea, saving Peter, and calming the storm. It was not only a demonstration of His divine power, but also of His divine love and care for the disciples. The proper response to Jesus is to worship Him.

Let’s remember who Jesus is and worship Him. Let’s remember that, in our times of frustration, in our times of fear, and even in our times of weak faith, He is the Son of God. He is in control of all of life’s circumstances. He comes to us walking on the water. Let’s listen to His voice, lovingly, compassionately calling out to us in those tough times—in the times of frustration, or fear, or weak faith—and saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I: do not be afraid.” Let’s be very sure that we keep our focus on this One who walks above it all.

As we do, we will be ‘walking on the water’ with Him.

Finally, Matthew concludes this section with a summary Jesus’ …

5. Ministry to the people (Matt. 14:34-36)

34 When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, 36 and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well. (Matt. 14:34-36).

Jesus has just taught His disciples a lesson about His divine nature, His awesome power, and His saving love. He is training them to trust Him. Now He teaches them another faith lesson. He demonstrates, again, His kingdom ministry to which He calls them. These verses not only give us the assurance that Jesus lovingly and graciously rewards any expression of faith that is placed on Him, but it also teach us what we who have placed our faith in Him for salvation should do to draw others to Him as Savior.

The people of Gennesaret took four simple actions that become a pattern for us in kingdom ministry.[3] First, they recognized Jesus. They recognized Him and His power to transform lives. Kingdom ministry begins with recognizing Jesus for who He is. Do we truly believe that Jesus is the only hope for men and women who are broken and ruined by sin?

Second, they sent out the word about Jesus. Once the men of Gennesaret recognized that it was this miracle-working Jesus who had stepped onto their shore, “they sent out into all that surrounding region” with the news of His arrival (Matt. 14:35). They spread the news. Nobody had to compel them to spread the word. It is the natural response of those who believe in the power of Jesus.

Then third, they brought needy people to Jesus. The people of Gennesaret sent out into all that surrounding region, and “brought to Him all who were sick” (Matt. 14:35). In other words, they sought out and brought those to Jesus who could not have brought themselves to Him—those who “had it bad”. It was a tremendous act of love and mercy for them to bring the needy. And as a result, Jesus graciously gave them what they needed.

The people of Gennesaret recognized Jesus when He came, spread the news about Him throughout the surrounding region, and then took the initiative to bring helpless people to Him.

Then finally, they plead with Jesus. Matthew tells us that those who brought the needy to Jesus “begged Him that they [that is, the people in need] might only touch the hem of His garment.” They probably got that idea from when Jesus healed the woman with the flow of blood who touched His garment in Matthew 9. Jesus told her, “your faith has made you well” (Matt. 9:22). Jesus didn’t have a magic robe that healed people when they touched it. Jesus responded to their faith with His mercy and compassion and made them perfectly well. He saved them thoroughly.

This highlights one of the most important things we can do for the needy people we bring to Jesus—to plead with Jesus on their behalf. Are you praying to Jesus, pleading with Him to save that family member or friend who is sick with sin? Recognize the power and compassion of Jesus to save them. Spread the news about Jesus. Bring the needy to Him. And plead with Jesus on their behalf. What a lesson in kingdom ministry!

Jesus is Lord, the Son of God, who walks on the sea above all our frustrations, fears, and failures. Have you come to Him for salvation? Do you worship Him? Are you bringing others to Him?

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[1] John MacArthur, Worship the Son of God, Part 2, https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/2310/worshiping-the-son-of-god-part-2

[2] Ray Fowler, https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/when-the-going-gets-tough/

[3] Greg Allen, Bringing People to Jesus, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2007/031107.htm

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Jesus Feeds the 5000

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

Jesus Feeds the 5000

Matthew 14:13-21

Today, in our study of the Gospel of Matthew, we come to a very familiar story, the feeding of the five thousand. Many of us have heard this story read and taught since we were children. The downside of being so familiar with this passage is that we might be tempted to rush past it, thinking, “Yeah, I got it, nothing new here.” But what if you read this miracle story as if you were hearing it for the very first time? Instead of skimming over the words, your eyes would be glued to the page. Instead of dispassion, there might be exhilaration. You would be amazed at the compassion and power of Jesus. You might react like those men in the Gospel of John who saw this miraculous sign firsthand and said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world” (John 6:14).

The feeding of the five thousand is arguably one of the most important miracles Jesus ever worked. Other than the resurrection of Christ, this is conceivably the most famous miracle in the New Testament. It is the one miracle Jesus worked that all four Gospel writers—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—chose to include in their accounts.

Each of the Gospel writers emphasizes different aspects of the story. Mark’s account demonstrates the compassion of Jesus. He begins with, “And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd…” (Mark 6:34). Luke uses this miracle to set up the great question from Jesus about His identity. His account concludes, “So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them. And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”” (Luke 9:17-18). John moves from this miraculous sign to Jesus’ declaration that He is the bread of life, the Son of God “who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:33). One reason the Holy Spirit ensured that this story is recorded four times is that it affirms to us that Jesus Christ is the Son of God in human flesh and the Savior of the world. He is the One we must trust for salvation.

Now, what about Matthew? What is his emphasis? To begin with, we must remember the theme of the Gospel of Matthew. His is the Gospel of the Kingdom. He presents Jesus as the Messianic King who comes in fulfillment of the prophecies of scripture to save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:23). Matthew wants us to think of the kingdom of Israel while he explains the kingdom of heaven.[1] In Matthew 13, Jesus taught His disciples the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven in parables. Now, in chapters 14-17, Jesus gives His disciples on-the-job training in the work of the kingdom. This section is like Jesus’ kingdom boot camp. And the feeding of the five thousand is their first training session.

Matthew particularly shows how Jesus purposefully involved His disciples in this miracle. When the disciples want to send the crowd away, Jesus tells them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” (Matt. 14:16). Jesus uses what the disciples have—five loaves and two fish (Matt. 14:17). He gives it to the disciples, the disciples give it to the people (Matt. 14:19), and the disciples take up twelve baskets of leftovers (Matt. 14:20). Matthew clearly makes the point that the ministry of the kingdom is a mission that Jesus wants to do with His disciples, and that their ministry is completely dependent on Him.

The structure of Matthew’s text suggests that his emphasis is on Jesus’ conversation with His disciples. Matthew begins with a transitional statement linking this event to the death of John the Baptist (Matt. 14:13a). Then he reports how the multitudes followed Jesus, and He showed compassion on them and healed them (Matt. 14:13b-14). The central part of the passage is Jesus’ interchange with the disciples (Matt. 14:15-18), followed by the miracle of the feeding (Matt. 14:19-20). The passage closes with a report of the magnitude of the miracle (Matt. 14:21).[2]

Following this structure as our outline, first we see…

1. Matthew’s Transition – Jesus withdraws with His disciples (Matt. 14:13)

Matthew 14:13 is a transition verse. The disciples of John the Baptist had come to Jesus and reported the news—not only of Herod’s murder of John but also of Herod’s fearful attitude toward Jesus as well. So, Matthew transitions, “When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities.” (Matt. 14:13). We will notice as we study the next few chapters that, from this point on in Matthew’s Gospel, although crowds still follow Jesus, His ministry becomes less and less public. More than once, we will read that Jesus departed or withdrew (Matt. 14:13; 15:21, 29; 16:13). Mark 6:31 records that on this occasion, Jesus said, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”

Going forward, Jesus will direct much of His attention to the personal training of His disciples. Jesus didn’t withdraw to a deserted place because He feared Herod. No, He went there to spend time with the twelve—to refresh, teach, and train them. They needed to be prepared for kingdom ministry and to be ready to give their lives for it just as John the Baptist had done.

Here’s a good place to make a simple application. If we are going to be involved in kingdom ministry, we must spend time with Jesus, learning, loving, praying, and fellowshipping with our Savior. Do you spend time alone with King Jesus daily? Do you gather weekly with His church to worship and be equipped for kingdom service? One of my favorite times each week each Sunday I get here to my study around four in the morning to spend time with the Lord preparing for our corporate worship and praying for you.

If I had been one of the disciples, I’m sure I would have looked forward to spending some alone-time with Jesus. Instead, I imagine that the disciples were sadly surprised to land in a deserted place only to find a multitude of people had followed them on foot around the lake. So much for a quiet time of rest!

We have seen Matthew’s transition as Jesus departs to be alone with His disciples. Next, we see…

2. Jesus’ Compassion – Jesus heals the sick (Matt. 14:14)

Matthew 14:14 says, “And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.” (Matt. 14:14). Jesus was not bothered by the crowd. When He saw them, He didn’t resent them—far from it! Rather, “He was moved with compassion for them.” The word for “compassion” is very expressive. It means that Jesus’ whole being was stirred to its most profound depth for these people.

Mark and Luke both tell us that because Jesus had compassion for them, He spent the day teaching them about the kingdom of God (Mark 6:34; Luke 9:11). Matthew stresses Jesus’ compassion in healing those who were sick. Jesus cared about people’s needs—their spiritual needs and their physical needs. MacArthur points out that “Jesus postponed His rest, His privacy, His time alone with the disciples, and even His time with His Father in order to meet the needs of those helpless people who suffered.”[3]

As we said before, the healing ministry of Jesus was a sign to all that He was the Messiah and the fulfillment of scripture (Matt. 8:16-17; 12:15-21). And His healing ministry demonstrated His compassion. Jesus extended mercy to the hurting then, and He continues to do so today. Regardless of what state or situation you may find yourself in today, Jesus is moved with compassion and will extend mercy to you if you will receive it. You can bring your troubles to Him, and you will find sympathy, compassion, mercy, and love that heals your deepest hurts.

So, we learn about Jesus’ compassion. Next, we also learn that Jesus wants to show His compassion and mercy through His disciples.

So, next we see the …

3. Disciple’s Situation – Jesus involves them (Matt. 14:15-18)

Matthew 14:15 tells us the crowd’s situation and what Jesus’ disciples propose to do about it, “When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.” The disciples saw the situation. They are in a deserted place, the people have no food, and it’s getting late. What they did not see is that the solution was right there with them, full of compassion, and ready to act. Did you notice the contrast between Jesus’ attitude toward the multitude and that of the disciples? Jesus welcomed them, but the disciples said to Jesus, “Send them away”. It may be that the disciples were just being practical about how to meet the needs of the crowd, but given the situation, I think they wanted a break. My guess is that they viewed the crowd as an annoying problem rather than, like Jesus did, people who needed compassion. So, the disciples give Jesus some advice, “Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.”

But Jesus does not take their advice. By the way, God never needs our advice. He knows all things and is Lord over all. We know that Jesus had the power to feed all the people without any help from the disciples. He could have called down manna from heaven like Yahweh did for Israel in the wilderness. He could have spoken the word and had a loaf of bread appear in each person’s hand. He could have called angels to distribute food to the crowd. Yet, Jesus does none of those things. Jesus surely knew what He was going to do. But His disciples don’t. And Jesus wants to involve His disciples in this miracle.

So, Matthew 14:16 says, “But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”” The emphasis in the Greek is on YOU—the disciples. Jesus challenged both the compassion and the faith of the disciples.

The disciples recognized the need. They understood what Jesus was asking them to do. But to them, it seemed impossible. But instead of saying, “Okay Jesus, show us how,” the disciples immediately start raising objections. They don’t have the resources to feed such a crowd. They say to Jesus, “We have here only five loaves and two fish” (Matt. 14:17). It was enough perhaps to satisfy the hunger of a little boy, but certainly not enough to feed a multitude of thousands of people. The situation was humanly impossible. In and of themselves, they couldn’t even begin to accomplish what Jesus was proposing. The disciples were focused on their insufficiency rather than trusting in their Master’s sufficiency. They overlooked the power of Jesus to do the impossible.

Isn’t it easy for us to do that as well? God calls us to do something big, like reach our community for Christ, and we get all hung up because we are looking at the obstacles instead of the mission. Remember, when God asks you to do something, He can do it through you! Otherwise, He would not have asked you.[4]

So, what do you do when God asks you to do something that is clearly beyond your means? In Matthew 14:18, Jesus says, “Bring them here to Me.” Bring what you have to Jesus. They had a meager five loves and two fish. Notice that Jesus didn’t ask them to produce what they didn’t have. He asked them to give Him what they do have. How many times have we made up excuses about what we don’t have, and we fail to offer to Jesus what we do have? “If I just had more money, I’d give regularly to the church!” “If I just had the gift of evangelism, I’d witness more!” “If I just had the ability that others have, I’d serve the Lord.” “If I just …”! Listen, the Lord doesn’t use what you don’t have. He uses the inadequate things you have when you yield them to Him.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, nothing good will ever come from anything we can do apart from Jesus. Jesus Himself said, “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). But nothing will be impossible if we take stock of what little resources we have, and then humbly, personally, relationally obey Jesus’ command, “Bring them here to Me.”[5]

That is the disciple’s situation. Now we see …

4. God’s Provision – Jesus feeds the multitude (Matt. 14:19-20)

Look at what Jesus does. Matthew 14;19-20 says,

19 Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. 20 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained.

First, Jesus had the multitudes sit down. Mark tells us that they sat in ranks, in hundreds and fifties (Mark 6:40). Second, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them. He gave thanks to God for His provision—even if that provision seemed small and insignificant in human eyes. With God’s blessing, even the insufficient becomes sufficient. And third, He broke and gave the loaves. He divided it up and distributed it through His disciples.

Just think of that! They were the very ones who were complaining that all this was impossible. Now Jesus uses them to feed the multitude. I have no doubt but that, as they distributed the increasingly multiplied food, their sense of wonder and awe over Jesus multiplied as well. And as a result, everyone had a feast—both literally and spiritually. Jesus provided all that they needed—and more!

Did you notice how many leftovers they gathered up after everyone was satisfied? Twelve baskets full. Remember, there are 12 disciples. So, what’s happened here? They take the five loaves and two fish that Jesus blessed, broke, and gave. The disciples take their basket with portions that Jesus broke and they go around and feed this mass of humanity. When they’re done feeding everyone and the disciples return, their baskets are still full! They had more food at the end than they had at the beginning!

Why are there twelve baskets full? In the Old Testament, the number twelve is most associated with the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel. Matthew is giving evidence that Jesus has come as the promised Messiah-King of Israel. Jesus is setting up a new Israel, a new kingdom, with these twelve disciples. As Messiah, Jesus is able to meet all the needs of the nation. Just as God provided manna for twelve tribes of Israel in the wilderness, even so, Jesus provides for His people in the wilderness.

But there’s more than that going on here. Think about where “bread” has been mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew so far. In Matthew 4, Jesus went out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Matt. 4:1). And what did the devil say to Him? “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread” (Matt. 4:3). Jesus wouldn’t do that because He lived in obedience to the word of God (Matt. 4:4) and didn’t have to prove who He was to Satan.

But Jesus does give evidence that He is the Son of God to His disciples. And one of the ways He proves it is when He makes bread right there in the wilderness where there is no bread. Jesus would not do what the devil tells Him to do, but, in His compassion, Jesus does provide bread to feed a hungry crowd. And in doing so, He proves that He is the Son of God.

This crowd came seeking Jesus, following Him into the wilderness and He fed them. What did Jesus teach in the Sermon on the Mount? “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled” (Matt. 5:6). They hungered after the Lord and He filled them. He satisfied them. The bread was a physical manifestation of His spiritual provision.

In Matthew 6:11, Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Why? Because through Jesus, your Heavenly Father provides bread—everything that you need for life and godliness. He is the provider of bread. We are to ask God for it and look to Him to provide.

Jesus satisfies completely and abundantly. The people leave fuller than a Thanksgiving dinner. And Jesus leaves twelve baskets full of bread for His disciples. There are a lot of parallels between the feeding of the five thousand and Psalm 23 in the Old Testament – you know, the Psalm that begins, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want,” (Psa. 23:1). In Psalm 23, David describes the Lord as His shepherd who guides him, leads him to rest, lays him down in green pastures, and provides for all his needs until his cup runs over. And that’s exactly what Jesus does for the people here in Matthew 14. He has compassion on them because they are like sheep without a shepherd (Mark 6:34). He guides them, teaches them, sits them down in the green grass, and provides for their needs until the baskets overflow.

Thus, we see God’s provision. Then finally we see the…

5. Miracle’s Conclusion – Jesus fed 5000+ (Matt. 14:21)

In Matthew 14:21, we read, “Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.” This is the first we hear of the massive number of the multitude. Now, if you had not heard this story over and over again since you were little, you would surely be thinking, “What! Are you kidding me? That really happened?” Listen! What Matthew wants us to do is to stand in awe of Jesus. This is a man who takes five loaves and two fish and feeds 5000 hungry men plus women and children!

Here’s the point that Matthew wants us to see: Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah-King, who is the Lord, our compassionate shepherd who shows mercy and provides salvation. And Jesus wants to use His disciples, and us, in the ministry of the kingdom. The lingering question is: Will we? Will we see the ministry of the kingdom as something Jesus wants to do through us? Will we take the message of Jesus, the Bread of Life, to a world that is starving for truth? I know, the mission is overwhelming. I know, the opposition is mounting. I know, our resources seem meager. I know, our little church appears insignificant to this world. But Jesus is with us! And with Christ, nothing is impossible. He commands, “You give them the gospel!” And He says about our meager abilities, “Bring them here to me!”  

So, in closing, what is God asking you to do these days? Has God laid a certain ministry idea upon your heart? Is He calling you to a closer walk with Him? Is He calling you to serve, or get involved, or be a member in this church? What needs is He showing you that need to be filled? How might God use you to fill those needs?

The disciples with their bread and fish were greatly used by the Lord. Before He could use them, however, they had to be placed in His hands. There are people here today who need to place their lives in the hands of the Master. Some need to come to Jesus for salvation. He died in your place to forgive the debt of your sin. He was raised to give you a new life. Repent and believe on Jesus today. Jesus works through His saved disciples to save the world. Come to Him, believe on Him, abide in Him, serve in Him, love in Him, do everything in Christ so that all the glory is to Him. What an awesome, compassionate Savior is Jesus!

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[1] Peter Krol, The Feeding of 5,000 According to Matthew, https://www.knowableword.com/2014/01/20/the-feeding-of-5000-according-to-matthew/ accessed 07/23/2024.

[2] Allen Ross, The Feeding Of The Five Thousand (Matthew 14:13-21), https://bible.org/seriespage/21-feeding-five-thousand-matthew-1413-21 accessed 07/23/2024.

[3] John MacArthur, MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Matthew, Moody Publishers, Chicago, p. 428.

[4] Ray Fowler, Give It to God, https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/give-it-to-god/ accessed 07/26/2024.

[5] Greg Allen, Bring It to Jesus, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2007/021807.htm accessed 07/26/2024.

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The Parable of the Dragnet

parables-of-the-kingdom

The Parable of the Dragnet

Matthew 13:47-52

In our verse-by-verse exposition of the Gospel of Matthew, we have been studying the kingdom parables that Jesus taught in Matthew 13. Each of these parables unveils profound truth concerning the “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 13:11)—truth about the beginning of the kingdom on earth, its obstacles, its spread, its immeasurable value, and its consummation in the final judgment. The Kingdom of Heaven is defined as the rule and reign of the Lord Jesus over His people. For now, that is an invisible, internal kingdom. Jesus rules over our hearts. When the Lord returns, it will be a visible, physical kingdom too.

Today, we come to the parable of the Dragnet. What in the world is a dragnet? When you hear that word, maybe some of you immediately think of the old television police show. One famous phrase from Dragnet is, “The stories you are about to see are true.” And I can tell you this about what Jesus teaches us today, “the parable you are about to see is true.” In this parable, Jesus portrays a principle of the kingdom of heaven that is absolutely true and worthy of our attention. Another famous phrase that Sergeant Friday would often say is, “Just the facts, ma’am.” Today we are going to look at the facts from the One who knows, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus teaches His disciples some truths concerning the judgment of men and the proclamation of the gospel.

1. The Parable of the Dragnet (Matt. 13:47-50).

A. The Picture of the Judgment (Matt. 13:47-48).

Again, Jesus uses a parable, a common story with a spiritual truth. This particular parable was indeed common to the disciples. After all, at least four of them had been professional fishermen and many of the others had grown up around the fishing industry in Galilee.

In Galilee, there were three common types of fishing. First was the simple hook and line. Peter used this method in Matthew 17:24-27 to catch a fish with a coin in its mouth that he used to pay taxes. Second was the one-man casting net. A man would wade out into the shallow water and hand cast this net over schools of small fish. Third was the large “dragnet” or seine that hangs vertically in the water with its bottom edge held down by weights and its top edge buoyed by floats. It could be pulled between two boats or anchored to the shore on one end so a single boat could pull it to surround the fish. Some of these nets were very large and would drift for hours catching all kinds of fish.

The purpose of the dragnet was to draw everything that came into its sphere, pull it all to the surface or the shore, and allow the fishermen to empty its contents into the boat or onto the beach and pick through it all—selecting the best and most profitable fish, and discarding the rest. We can only imagine what types of things would be caught in a large dragnet. Weeds, refuse, small and large fish, good and bad fish. Jesus said it “… gathered some of every kind.” Anything in the path of the net would eventually be caught and gathered by the fishermen.

We see a couple of examples of this kind of fishing in the Gospels. In Luke 5, Jesus taught the crowds from Simon Peter’s boat. After He was finished, He told Peter to let down his net for a catch. And when Peter and his co-workers did so, Luke tells us, “they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink” (Luke 5:6-7). We have a similar story at the end of the Gospel of John after Jesus had risen from the dead. He stood on the shore and told Peter and his fishing partners to cast their net out at a certain spot. When they did, “they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish” (John 21:6). Eventually, the disciples came to the shore, “dragging the net with fish” (John 21:8). The Lord had made a fire and invited them to bring some of the fish they caught; and we’re told that “Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken” (John 21:11).

Jesus says in Matthew 13:48, “when [the dragnet] was full, they drew” it “to shore” and the fishermen “… sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away.” The bad fish are those that couldn’t be used either because they were unclean or not suitable for market.

So first, Jesus tells the parable of the net. The kingdom of heaven is like a net catching fish in a lake. When the net is full, the fishermen collect the good fish in baskets and throw the bad fish away. What does this parable teach us?

B. The Principle of the Judgment (Matt. 13:49).

Jesus doesn’t leave us wondering what this parable means, He explains it clearly. Jesus compares the “dragnet” to the judgment by saying “So it will be at the end of the age…” Jesus specifically tells us this parable is about the end of the age. There is coming a time “at the end of the age” when all men, will be separated and judged.

Earlier in this chapter, the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares symbolized believers and unbelievers living alongside each other in the world and their separation and judgment at the end of the age. There are quite a few similarities between the parable of the weeds and the parable of the dragnet. In Matthew 13:41-43, Jesus explained the parable of the wheat and tares…

41 “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 “and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! (Matt. 13:41-43).

That parable focused more on the co-existing of the good and evil in this present world, whereas the parable of the dragnet focuses more on the separation of the good and evil at the end of the age.

As in the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, “The angels”, God’s agents of justice, “will come forth.” Their task will be to “separate the wicked from among the just” (Matt. 13:49). Notice in both these parables the role of the angels in separating the wicked from the righteous at the end of the age.

This agrees with Jesus’ other teachings in the gospel of Matthew. In Matthew 24:31, Jesus teaches that when the Son of Man comes on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, “… He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Angels also appear in Jesus’ teaching about the sheep and goat judgment in Matthew 25. There, He said, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.” (Matt. 25:31-32).

Listen to John MacArthur’s words as he describes the judgment using Jesus’ metaphor of the dragnet:

Men move about within that net as if they were forever free. It may touch them from time to time, as it were startling them. But they swim quickly away, thinking they have escaped, not realizing that they are completely and inescapably encompassed in God’s sovereign plan. The Invisible web of God’s judgment encroaches on every human being just as that of the dragnet encroaches on the fish. Most men do not perceive the kingdom, and they do not see God working in the world. They may be briefly moved by the grace of the gospel or frightened by the threat of judgment; but they soon return to their old ways of thinking and living, oblivious to the things of eternity. But when man’s day is over and Christ returns to set up His glorious kingdom, then judgment will come.[1]

This kingdom ‘dragnet’ would not only draw people from all people groups around the world; but it would also draw both the faithful and the faithless, both the just and the wicked. And Jesus is teaching us that not all who appear to embrace His kingdom will truly have a part in it. He warns that at the end of the age—just after He returns to this earth to assume the full possession of His kingdom—He will separate out from it those who do not belong in it.

C. The Peril of the Judgment (Matt. 13:50).

In Matthew 13:50, Jesus says that the “wicked” will be “cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” I think it’s very instructive that, in this parable, the Lord doesn’t tell us about the destiny of those who are His “just” ones. In the parable of the wheat and the tares, He does tell us about their destiny. He tells us that, on that great day when He returns to this earth and commences His earthly reign with the great “separation”, then “the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt. 13:43). But there is no such joyful note here in this parable.[2] Instead, Jesus ends with the dreadful warning that the angels “will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 13:49-50).

“Wailing” suggests anguish. Hell is a place of conscious torment. And I believe that one of the greatest aspects of that torment will be an eternal separation from the God who made us for Himself and loved us, but whom we refused. The wicked did not want to bow to Him or serve Him or even know Him. And then—to their eternal anguish—they will have what they wanted.

The phrase “gnashing of teeth” describes intense hatred and malice. King David wrote of how the wicked “plots against the just and gnashes at him with his teeth” (Psa. 37:12) and of how ungodly mockers at feasts “gnashed at me with their teeth” (Psa. 35:16). Jeremiah wrote in Lamentations of how the enemies of Israel “have opened their mouth against you; they hiss and gnash their teeth” (Lam. 2:16). And in the book of Acts, after Stephen preached to the Jewish leaders—just before they rose up and stoned him to death—we’re told that “they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth” (Acts 7:54). Hell is a place of eternal torment for those who hated our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

We find similar imagery in the book of Revelation at the end of the New Testament where we read: “Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:14-15)

The biblical doctrine of hell is hard for many people to accept. However, if we are to be true to God’s Word, we must accept its reality. The teachings about judgment in Scripture are essential. If there is no judgment, then there is no need for salvation. If there is no final judgment, then many of the wicked in this life would get away with their wickedness. If there is no moral reckoning, then God is unjust. But God’s kingdom is a kingdom of justice, and so, yes, there is a day of judgment coming.[3]

Hell is not a mythical place. Jesus spoke more about hell than any other prophet or apostle. He constantly emphasized the reality of eternal punishment. And He used horribly graphic terms to describe it. There is a reason. It’s because He is the Savior of mankind who will also one day come as the Judge of all the earth. He loves people more than they could ever know and does not wish for them to suffer eternal punishment. Therefore, He tells the horrible facts about it because He does not want people to experience it and has come to save them from it.

When people die, or when the Lord returns, they do not go out into nothingness or cease to exist. God will “separate” the wicked from the righteous and “cast them into the furnace of fire.” Jesus Himself knows those who are truly His within His dragnet. And on the great day of judgment when the angels pull the dragnet to shore, the Lord will see to it that the wicked are separated from the righteous—both to the praise of His grace, and to the glory of His justice.

The Bible teaches that the Lord has no pleasure in the destruction of wicked people. In Ezekiel 18:23, the Lord asks, “Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die and not that he should turn from his ways and live?” 2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is … longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” Luke 19:41 records how Jesus wept over Jerusalem because the people would not repent. Our Lord is a good and merciful Savior. And when the final judgment comes, no one who heard His gospel will be able to say that He did not give them ample opportunity to believe it and trust in Him. No one under the influence of His “gospel dragnet” will be able to have an excuse for not knowing Him and trusting Him as they should. In fact, Mt.25:41 tells us hell was not created for men but was “prepared for the devil and his angels.”     

Jesus’ teaching in the parable of the dragnet is clear. It is a warning that judgment is coming. Those who have rejected Christ and His kingdom will be separated out of it and sent away to eternal torment.

Jesus has just shared all seven of these parables of the kingdom. Now he encourages the disciples to teach these parables to others. So He teaches them …

2. The Parable of the Householder (vv. 51-52).

A. Have you understood? (Matt. 13:51)

In Matthew 13:51, Jesus asked His disciples, “Have you understood all these things?” The word “understand” means “put together”. We could say that He was asking them, “Have you put all the pieces of these things together so that you now comprehend them?” Remember the parables are designed both to conceal and reveal. The parables are meant to conceal the truth from those whose hearts are hardened towards God. And they are meant to reveal spiritual truth to those whose hearts are open towards God.

“Have you understood all these things?” That’s a good question for us. Do we have an understanding, have we put together these vital truths of the kingdom and the judgment? The truths Jesus teaches in these parables disclose God’s program for history and eternity.

Do we really believe what the parable of the sower teaches—that we come into the kingdom by hearing and receiving the message of the gospel so that it produces fruit in us? Do we believe that even though we live alongside unbelievers like wheat and tares in a field, that there is a time coming when we will be separated? Do we believe that the kingdom, even though it appears small and insignificant like a mustard seed, will ultimately permeate and rule over the whole world? Do we believe that the kingdom is a treasure worth more than everything else in life? Do we really believe that judgment is coming, that hell is real, and that the kingdom of heaven is glorious?

The disciples answered, “Yes, Lord.” Though their understanding was far from perfect they understood what they could at the time. They accepted the things they understood and they were eager to understand more. The truths about the kingdom that Jesus teaches in these parables are meant to be received by eager, hungry learners who love Jesus Christ, have ears to hear Him, and a heart to go forward and follow Him. They are for those whose heart cry is “Thy kingdom come!” Apart from Jesus Christ, the truths in these parables cannot be understood. But through an authentic relationship with Him by faith, they can be.[4] In Matthew 13:12, Jesus said, “For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have an abundance.”

So we respond to the parables of the kingdom by being eager learners, disciples who want to hear and understand.

B. Then be like good householders (Matt. 13:52)

Finally, in Matthew 13:52 Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

This verse is like a mini-parable that sums up the disciples’ responsibility concerning all the other parables. The word “scribe” means “one who writes.” In those days the term referred to a student and teacher of the law. The word “instructed” is the verb form of the word disciple. Under Jesus’ teaching, the disciples were becoming scribes—students and teachers of the truths of God’s kingdom.

Jesus implies an expectation of us regarding the mysteries of the kingdom. We aren’t supposed to sit passively and receive information about the kingdom—as if the Lord wants to merely pour knowledge into empty heads. Rather, we are to grow. We are to be scribes and disciples—astutely trained scholars in the school of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, who work hard at understanding and applying the kingdom truths He imparts to us.

Jesus said such a scribe was to be like a “householder.” This literally means the “house-master”. He was the manager of a household, or a family, or a large estate. He would maintain supplies of food and clothing and use them wisely. He was responsible for making sure that everything in the treasure-store was well-stocked; so that when anything was needed for the provision of each member of the household, and for the smooth operation of the house, it was provided.

The “householder” or head of the house would “bring out of his treasure [storehouse] things old and new.” They were to “bring out” the truth, which means to “cast forth.” They were not to keep the truth of the kingdom to themselves. They were to bring it out and cast it forth. In other words, one of the distinguishing marks of a true disciple of the kingdom is that they share the treasure. They share the truth of the kingdom, the word of God.

The disciples, later, as they became apostles would dispense both “new and old” revelation. In other words, both the Old Testament and the New Testament are important. They are both the word of God. The older teachings about God and the kingdom are still valuable and true. But now we must add to them these newer teachings about the kingdom.

The newer teachings do not replace the old teachings. Rather the new teachings complete them and fulfill them. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17: “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” A teacher of the law who only knows the Old Testament can only teach the law. But those who know the New Testament also teach faith in Christ and God’s grace given to us in his Son Jesus.

We read in 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

God has given you everything you need in His word to teach others about the kingdom and to reach others for Jesus Christ. All Scripture is useful for teaching, both the old and the new. The new completes the old. So, we focus on Jesus and His teachings about the kingdom.

Jesus is coming again. When He comes, this world will end. God’s great dragnet will sweep through the earth and no one will escape. All people, great and small, will stand before the throne and be judged according to their works. The punishment for the wicked will be serious and severe. Those who have rejected Jesus Christ will experience eternal pain, mourning, and regret. Only those whose names are found written in the Lamb’s book of life will be saved.

And so, now is the time to make your decision about Jesus. It will be too late after you die or after Jesus returns. Now is the time for salvation. When Jesus returns, that will be the time for judgment. Because God will make the division then, you must make your decision now.

Have you trusted Jesus for salvation? If not, I urge you, I encourage you, I invite you, I welcome you – come to Jesus today. He loves you. He died for you. He is waiting for you. What are you waiting for?

And to us who already belong to Christ, are you telling others about Him?

I remember another phrase from the show, Dragnet. Sargent Friday would say, “We were working the day watch.”

There’s a whole mass of humanity all over the world moving toward judgment. God has placed this church here to be a lighthouse, a rescue operation to get the word out about the kingdom of heaven, about eternity, about heaven and hell, but most importantly to get the word out about the Savior, Jesus Christ. Are you working the day watch?

The church is not a country club where you come to socialize, pay a few dues, and leave. We are not a performing arts center where talented people do their thing up on stage and the congregation applauds and nods approvingly and leaves unaffected. We’re the body of Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit and commissioned to proclaim to our world that Jesus saves.

The stakes are high. It’s not just life and death, it’s eternal life and eternal death that hangs in the balance. We have the treasure, the good news of the kingdom of heaven—the word of God. We have the Savior Jesus Christ. We have the Holy Spirit to empower us. We are His church. Let’s bring the treasure of the gospel to everyone.

————————————————————————

[1] John MacArthur, New Testament Commentary—Matthew, p. 395.

[2] Greg Allen, Bad Fish in the Dragnet – Matthew 13:47-50, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2006/120306.htm

[3] Ray Fowler, The Parable of the Net, https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/parable-of-the-net/

[4] Greg Allen, Students of the Kingdom – Matthew 13:51-52, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2007/010707.htm

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Jesus, the Dividing Line, Part 2

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

Jesus, the Dividing Line, Part 2

Matthew 10:32-42

Last time in our study of Matthew 10, we began to look at verses 32-42. There, we saw that as Jesus gave instructions to His disciples, He told them, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” (Matt. 10:34). By that, Jesus meant that the result of His coming would be division. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a sword that cuts humanity in two. Everyone in the human race falls on one side or the other with Jesus. Either we are with Him, or we are against Him (Matt. 12:30).

Jesus made some astounding statements in this passage. Think about what Jesus is claiming about Himself. Jesus claims that God is His Father; making Himself to be God’s unique Son! He claims to have authority over the eternal destiny of people. He claims to have come to earth for a specific purpose, implying His pre-existence. He demands to be loved by His followers more than anyone or anything else. He claims that life itself hinges on Him.

What kind of man claims to be the unique Son of God who pre-existed, and who has come into this world in the fulfillment of a predetermined purpose? What kind of man says heaven and hell hinge on confessing or denying Him? What kind of man would think Himself worthy of supreme love? Who is this man that makes Himself the hinge-point of life itself?

Only the Son of God, the promised Messiah and King, could make claims like this and prove it by exercising authority over all things! Only the Lord Jesus Christ could have the authority to demand so much of us. All of heaven and earth centers on Him. Jesus is the dividing line. And last time we saw in Matthew 10:32-33 that …

1. Jesus is the dividing line in heaven (Matt. 10:32-33).

Your eternal destiny depends completely on your relationship with Jesus. Those who confess Jesus on earth, He will confess before His Father in heaven. Those who reject and deny Jesus on earth, He will deny before His Father. He is the dividing line in heaven. There are not many ways to heaven—only one: the Lord Jesus Christ. No one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).

We also saw in Matthew 10:34-36 that …

2. Jesus is the dividing line on earth (Matt. 10:34-36).

When we follow Jesus, it often will divide us from those who do not follow Jesus—not because we do not still love them but because we love Jesus and they do not. The gospel frequently divides families and friends. Those who do not believe will sometimes fervently oppose the gospel, Christians, church, and everything that has to do with Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “… light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” (John 3:19-20). Jesus is the dividing line on earth.

Today, we see two more areas that Jesus divides. He is the dividing line of our affections, and He is the dividing line of our actions.[1]

So, in Matthew 10:37-39 we see that …

3. Jesus is the dividing line of our affections (Matt. 10:37-39)

Jesus demands our ultimate affections. We must love Jesus more than our closest family relationships and we must love Jesus more than even ourselves.

A. We must love Jesus more than family

First, we must love Jesus more than family. Jesus says, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matt. 10:37). This is a very high demand of love!

Do you love your family? I hope so. You should. Out of all your earthly relationships, your family should have the strongest bond we can imagine. And yet as important as family relationships are in the Bible, Jesus says He must come first. Jesus isn’t saying you should love your family less. He is saying you should love Him more.

In Luke 14, Jesus said, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). Now, hopefully, you are not thinking to yourself, “Well what do you know? I’ve been obeying the Bible all along! I can’t stand my family!” Jesus isn’t commanding us to “hate” our family members, He is commanding us to love Him more. When we are forced into a position where we must choose between following Jesus or appeasing the objections of our family, we must choose Jesus every time. Our love for Him must be so complete and supreme that it makes any other love look like “hate” even the natural love we would feel toward our father and mother, wife or husband, or son and daughter.

We saw in Matthew 8 that man came to Jesus wanting to be one of His disciples. But He told Jesus, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father” (Matt. 8:21). The man felt a tie to his father that was stronger than his tie to Jesus. And Jesus said something that, to those who place family above all else, sounds unspeakable! He said, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead” (Matt. 8:22). Jesus was, in effect, telling the man, “Until you make your love for your father second to your love for Me, you cannot be a follower of Mine. I am the Lord of life! Your father and your family may object, but You follow Me, and let those who do not follow after life take care of lesser things!” Loving Jesus comes first above all else.

Jesus says that those who love a family member more than Him are not worthy of Him. The idea here is that they do not deserve to belong to Him and be honored by Him. To belong to Christ is a privilege so precious that no other relationship can compare. It is a duty so imperative that no other duty is more important.

C.T. Studd was a missionary to China in the late 1800’s. When he was engaged to be married, he was worried that he and his fiancée, Priscilla, might become too preoccupied with each other and that they would lose sight of Jesus in the process. So, he wrote a little poem for Priscilla and asked her to recite it every day:

“Jesus, I love Thee, Thou art to me,
Dearer than Charlie ever could be.”[2]

Jesus is the dividing line of our affections. We must love Jesus more than father, mother, husband, wife, son or daughter. He demands to be first in our lives, above our own comfort and peace, above our most cherished human relationships.

It seems like a lot to ask. But remember who demands this of us. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God who left the tranquility and glory of heaven to come to earth in the likeness of sinful flesh. He is the Savior who bore our sins in His own body on the cross. He suffered and died for us. He loved obedience to His Father more than His own life.

When we see who He is and how much He has loved us, is it unreasonable that He would ask that we love Him in the same way? How could we not follow such a Savior, and give Him first place in our heart’s love?

B. We must love Jesus more than self

Secondly, we must love Jesus more than self. Jesus says in Matthew 10:38, “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:38) Jesus will teach His disciples again in Matthew 16:24, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” In that context, Jesus had just taught His disciples “that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day” (Matt. 16:21). He was describing His death on the cross. Taking up a cross meant death and that’s the way Jesus means for us to understand these words.

To take up your cross means you deny yourself. It means to give up your life. It literally means you are willing to die for Jesus. Whoever does not take up their own cross—that is, the instrument of their own death to self—and follow after Him, then they are not worthy of Him. A love for self, a love for one’s own life, is the hardest love of all for sinful people to place into the hand of Jesus. And yet, Jesus demands to be loved by us even more than we love our own lives. And our decision to place our love for Him over our love for our own lives is the most determinative decision we will ever make.

The sword of division cuts deep. It not only runs through families, it runs through your very self, where Jesus becomes more important to you than your own desires, comforts, and concerns.

Look at what Jesus says in Matthew 10:39, “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” This phrase is the most repeated teaching of Jesus in the Gospels. It is recorded six times on different occasions. In Matthew 16, when Peter tried to convince Jesus that He would not suffer the cross, we read,

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels and then He will reward each according to his works.” (Matthew 16:24-27).

In Luke 9, when Jesus warned them clearly that He was going to go to the cross, He told them,

“The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.” Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:22-26).

In Luke 17, in teaching His disciples about what would happen in the end times, Jesus told them,

In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. (Luke 17:31-33).

And in John 12, just before He went to the cross, Jesus said,

The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor. (John 12:23-26).

Jesus meant for this truth to sink into our hearts deeply. Our love for Him must be above our love for our own lives. If we are made to choose between denying Him and living, or confessing Him and dying, we are to choose to love Him and die. It also means you are willing to die to a thousand little selfish choices every day. When you have a choice between doing what Jesus wants and doing what you want, the way of the cross chooses Jesus.

There is a paradox here where Jesus plays with the words “lose” and “find.” The person who finds his life is the person who clings to their own desires, their own rights, their own goals in life. They put other things before God and try to craft their own life in their own way without a thought of God. The paradox here is that even if they succeed in gaining that life that they wanted, they end up losing their life in the process.

On the other hand, when you lose your life for Jesus’ sake, you will find it. When you give your life to Jesus and you let Him lead and guide you, when you sacrifice yourself for God and other people, when you choose to give rather than receive, to serve rather than be served, you find true life. If you seek to find your own life here apart from Jesus, you will lose out on eternal life with God. If you lose your life for Jesus here on earth, you will live with God forever.

Jesus is the dividing line of our affections. And finally in Matthew 10:40-42 …

4. Jesus is the dividing line of our actions (Matt. 10:40-42)

There are two key words in these verses that close Jesus’ message to His disciples. They are the repeated words “receive” and “reward”. The first word, “receive”, conveys the idea of receiving someone kindly, to welcome them or support them. And in this context, it speaks of kindly receiving, welcoming, or providing hospitality to those whom Jesus sends as His ambassadors into this world. The word “reward” means the fruit naturally resulting from toils and endeavors.

These words give us two key themes. In these final verses, Jesus tells us that He will reward those who receive His followers, and He will reward those who serve His followers.

First …

A. Jesus will reward those who receive His followers

Look at Matthew 10:40, “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”

Jesus is telling us something very important about Himself in this verse, and we need to take the time to consider it. As tells those He is about to send that He Himself was sent. He was sent to this earth by God the Father. He did not come on His own initiative and authority but came in His Father’s name and in His Father’s will.

As Jesus walked upon this earth, He made it very clear that He came as One sent by the Father to do the Father’s will. He said in John 4:34, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” He testified in John 6:38, “For I have come down from heaven, not do do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” He said in John 5, “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me” (John 5:30), and “the works which the Father has given Me to finish – the very works that I do – bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me” (John 5:36-37). He said in John 7:16, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.” He said in John 8:18, “I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.“

Jesus does nothing apart from the will of His Father. He doesn’t even send out workers except under His Father’s authority. And so, when He sends out workers in His name to proclaim His gospel they truly go out in the authority of the One who sent Jesus. Just before He went to the cross for us, Jesus prayed to His Father and said, “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world” (John 17:18). And after He rose from the dead, He appeared to His disciples and said, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21). Here in Matthew 10:40, Jesus lets His ambassadors know that whoever receives them, receives Him and also receives the Father who sent Him.

Then Jesus says in Matthew 10:41, “He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.” The phrase “in the name of . . .” is a phrase that basically means, “in the authority and stature of . . .” In other words, to receive a prophet “in the name of a prophet” means to receive a prophet as truly a prophet sent from God with a message from God to His people with all the authority that comes with being a prophet. To receive a righteous man “in the name of a righteous man” means to receive him as a man whom God accepts, and who reverences God and truly puts God’s word into practice into his life. And to receive a disciple “in the name of a disciple“, even a very humble and seemingly insignificant disciple, is to receive him or her as someone who is greatly loved by the Lord Jesus Christ and is destined to share in His eternal glory.

Jesus will reward those who receive His followers. In the original context here, those who received His followers were those who welcomed them and their message. They were those who provided hospitality and support. They will receive the same reward as the prophet. There’s a story from the Old Testament that illustrates this. Elijah was prophesying against the evil northern kingdom of Israel, and against the ungodly king Ahab. God led him to prophesy that there would be no rain on the land for three and a half years. And during this drought, God allowed Elijah’s needs to be met through a poor widow. In 1 Kings 17:8-16, we read,

Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.” And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” So she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die” (1 Kings 17:8-12).

This widow had suffered under the drought, and now had next to nothing. In fact, she was gathering sticks to build a last fire; then she and her son would cook and eat their last meal. She fully expected to die afterward; but the prophet encouraged her to trust God and give him some of what she had.

And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth.'” So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke by Elijah (1 Kings 17:13-16).

God gave this poor woman the very same care that He gave to His prophet.

Jesus is letting us know that when we stand to the aid of the one He sent—faithfully receiving them and welcoming them as God’s servants to us and embracing their ministry as God’s gift to us, standing with them in support of their ministry—we will also share in their reward.

What a marvelous promise this is! Dear brother or sister in Christ: you may not feel as if you are important in the work of the kingdom of Jesus. You may not be in the spotlight. Your support of the ministry of God’s kingdom may be behind the scenes. But Jesus shows here how important you are to Him! If you genuinely receive those Jesus has sent, and give yourself to the support of the work of the kingdom that they perform, you will share in their reward together with them!

B. Jesus will reward those who serve His followers

Jesus says in Matthew 10:42, “And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.” Jesus will reward those who receive His followers, and Jesus will reward those who serve His followers. Look at the person He promises will be rewarded. He says, “whoever“. That means that it doesn’t matter who you are—if you show an act of kindness and support to even the least of one of His disciples, He greatly values it. He rewards it.

Second, look at the act. He speaks of an act that is very simple: just the giving of a cup of cold water. This means that it doesn’t take much to be richly rewarded by our Savior, just a willingness to meet the simple needs of His disciples. A cup of cold water, as Spurgeon said, may contain a warm sea of love; and Jesus sees it and rewards it.

And third, look at the certainty of the reward. Jesus goes to great lengths to express it. He says, “assuredly, I say to you . . .” which is the way He often stressed the deep truth and certainty of something He was about to say. He says that not only would the reward be given but He promises that it will not be lost![3]

Our Lord is letting us know that each of us has a valued part to play in His kingdom work. Even if we are on the receiving end of that work, we have a part to play in it. Jesus lets us know that, when we receive those He sends, we receive Him. He lets us know that when we participate in the work of those He sends, we share in their reward. And He lets us know that when we do something for them in His name—even something that seems very forgettable—He never forgets it.

And that’s because whatever you do for one of Jesus’ followers, you are also doing for Jesus. Jesus will say later on in Matthew 25:40: “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” (Matthew 25:40)

Jesus is the dividing line in heaven and on earth. He is the supreme object of affection, and He is the ultimate measure of your actions.

Earlier I shared with you a poem that C.T. Studd wrote for his fiancée. In closing I would like to share another poem C.T. Studd wrote. This is the one that he is most famous for:

Only one life, ’twill soon be past.
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Very simple, yet very profound, and absolutely true. Jesus is the supreme object of affection, and he is the ultimate measure of everything you do in life. He is the dividing line in heaven and on earth.

Have you received Him?  

————————————————————-

[1] Ray Fowler, Jesus and Division, https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/jesus-and-division/. I adapted Fowler’s outline and drew from some of his points in this sermon.

[2] Quoted by Ray Fowler, Jesus and Division, https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/jesus-and-division/

[3] Greg Allen, A Blessed Welcome, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2006/030506.htm#f4

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Lord of the Harvest

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

Lord of the Harvest

Matthew 9:35-38

This morning’s passage in Matthew 9 serves as a summary and transition. It concludes the miracle stories that demonstrate Jesus’ authority in Matthew 8 and 9, and it prepares for the sending out of the apostles in Matthew 10.

Remember that after Jesus preached the Sermon on The Mount in Galilee, He went down from the mountain into the region around the city of Capernaum, and performed many astonishing miracles there. He cleansed the leper and healed sick people. He gave sight to the blind and voice to the mute. He raised the dead. He commanded the waves and the wind. And He cast out demons. In all of it, He was proving that He was the Son of God in human flesh; and that, in Him, the Kingdom of God had come in fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures.

In between sets of miracles in these chapters, Matthew presented dialogues that Jesus had with various people about discipleship. The first dialogue was with two would-be disciples and focused on the cost of discipleship. The second dialogue was with the Pharisees and focused on who Jesus calls as disciples, that Jesus calls sinners, not those who think they are righteous. The third dialogue was with some of John the Baptist’s disciples and focused on leaving the old behind, that everything changed when Jesus came.[1]

After all the teaching Jesus had done and all the miracles He performed, in Matthew 9:34, the Pharisees didn’t know what to do with Jesus. They couldn’t deny His miracles. So, they chose instead to say, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.” A blasphemous accusation. But Jesus gave the perfect response. He answers His critics by going about all of the cities and villages of Galilee teaching, preaching, and performing even more miracles.

We are going to look at this short passage in three sections. Jesus’ ministry, His compassion, and His call. Because this section serves as a transition from Jesus’ ministry to the ministry of His disciples, it calls us to consider how we will apply what we learn. Jesus ministered to people. What is your ministry? Jesus demonstrated deep compassion. What compassion do you show? Jesus calls disciples to respond to the need. How are you responding?

1. Jesus’ Ministry (Matt. 9:35)

Matthew 9:35 says, “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” This summary statement is almost identical to Matthew 4:23. These two summaries bookend this section of Matthew and they highlight the threefold ministry of Jesus: teaching, preaching, and healing. Matthew 5-7 presented the teaching and proclamation of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 8-9 demonstrated Jesus’ healing ministry. Matthew has shown that both Jesus’ authority in teaching and His authority to do miracles could only have come from God Himself.

Matthew 4:23 said that Jesus was going about “in all Galilee,” and now Matthew 9:35 says that Jesus was going about “all the cities and villages.” “Galilee” signifies the general area covered, while “all the cities and villages” demonstrates the scope of Jesus’ ministry. The area of Galilee was about 40 miles wide and 70 miles long. Josephus, a Jewish historian of the first century, tells us that there were around 200 cities and villages in that region with a total population of about 3 million people. Jesus went where people lived and worked. He didn’t just wait for people to come to Him, He went to them.

And what did Jesus do? Teaching, Proclaiming, and Healing. Notice that Jesus ministered to the whole person. He ministered to the ‘mind’ by teaching them, to the ‘will’ by preaching to them, and to the ‘body’ by healing them.

First, He taught them. We’re told that He was “teaching in their synagogues“. “Teaching” means providing systematic instruction. He taught them in “their synagogues“, which was the place in which the teaching from the scriptures occurred. The Jews came to the synagogue to hear the scripture read and have it explained to them. As a visiting Rabbi, Jesus would probably be invited to teach the scriptures. We see an example of this in Luke 4 when Jesus returned to Nazareth, entered the Synagogue on the Sabbath, stood and read from the prophet Isaiah, then sat down to explain what He read and how it was fulfilled in Him.

What kind of things did Jesus teach? My suspicion is that He taught many of the very same things that He taught in the Sermon on The Mount. There, Jesus explained the scriptures in light of the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. By teaching the scripture, Jesus was able to show the people the true spiritual nature of the Kingdom of Heaven and its fulfillment in Him.

The second part of Jesus’ ministry was preaching the gospel of the kingdom. “Preaching” means proclaiming in the manner of a herald. The word “gospel” (euangelion; from which we get the word “evangel”) means “good news”.  And so, Jesus – the King – was preaching the good news of the kingdom. He was telling people that His kingdom has come; and that He was offering it to all who would receive it; and that it was all wrapped up in Him as the promised King! All of this emphasizes the greatness of the theme of Jesus’ preaching. He went out to proclaim it to those who needed to hear this good news; and urged them to respond to it.[2]

Thirdly, Jesus’ ministry involved healing. He was “healing every sickness and every disease among the people”. In other words, He ministered to the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of people. We have already seen examples of this in the nine specific miracles recorded in Matthew 8-9.  Jesus’ healing ministry was a visible sign that the words Jesus was teaching were truth and the kingdom Jesus was preaching had come.

As we’ve seen, the response to Jesus’ ministry was mixed. Some, like Matthew, believed and followed. Most were amazed at all He did and said, but it made no lasting difference in their lives. And, like the Pharisees, rejected Him openly and spoke against Him. But the responses did not deter Jesus from fulfilling the ministry that God had for Him on earth. He taught in the synagogues, proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom, and healed every kind of disease and sickness throughout all of Galilee. There would be no excuse for these people not to know that the Messiah had come, for He was in their midst.

2. Jesus’ Compassion (Matt. 9:36)

Matthew 9:35 tells us about Jesus’ ministry and Matthew 9:36 tells us about His motivation. “36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” The feelings that arose in Jesus as He saw the people were strong. The word translated here “moved with compassion” is the strongest word available to describe His feeling. The word is actually a reference to His stomach, bowels, and kidneys. We might say it hit Him in the pit of His stomach. It was a “gut-level” compassion.[3] The only times this word is used in the New Testament is with reference to Jesus—either to describe His own attitude toward the needs of people or to describe compassion in one of His parables.[4] That is the way that Jesus felt for the multitudes. A feeling much stronger than just a casual feeling of feeling “sorry for them.” Jesus felt for them, and He felt it physically in the pit of His stomach. He felt so much for them that it hurt and His spirit was not at rest because of what He saw.

Why such a strong feeling? Because, as Jesus describes it, the people were in a desperate condition. Our text describes them as “weary and scattered.” The NASB has “distressed and dispirited.” The ESV says, “harassed and helpless.” It literally means “torn and thrown down.”[5] The first word (esklmenoi) means “being flayed” or “having the skin torn” as might happen to a sheep wandering among the thorns and sharp rocks or having its hide torn by a wild beast. The second word (rhiptō) means to be thrown down prone and helpless,” as would an exhausted sheep or a person who had suffered a mortal wound.

They were “like sheep having no shepherd.” They were entrapped in a system led by the Scribes and Pharisees that had abused the Mosaic Law and left them wounded and wandering. Those who were supposed to be leading them were not leading them to God, for they were instead wolves leading them away from the true and proper worship of God. These sheep had no shepherd, and so had become battered, bruised, confused, and disheartened.

When lacking God-appointed leaders, God’s people in the Old Testament often appear as sheep without a shepherd (Num 27:17; 1 Kings 22:17; 2 Chron 18:16). The shepherds of Israel, their religious and civil rulers, had long neglected the flock entrusted to them by God. Ezekiel 34 depicts God’s sheep as neglected, maimed, and scattered. Nobody seemed to care. The chapter goes on to say that the Lord Himself would seek out His sheep, to care for them and bring them back. The Lord Himself would shepherd the flock. Matthew’s Gospel proclaims that the Shepherd of Israel has come! What God was planning has come to pass in Jesus Christ.[6]

Jesus said in John 10,

7 … “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief does not come except to steal, to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” (John 10:7-11).

Jesus had great compassion on them in their helpless state. This is why He traveled throughout their cities and villages ministering to them—teaching them the truth of the Scriptures, proclaiming to them the good news of the kingdom of God, and healing them from every sickness and disease. The kingdom of God was at hand, the Messiah was present to redeem them from their sins.

If today, it is you who feel like the multitudes in Matthew 9, “weary and scattered,” torn and thrown down by sin and false religion, then to you, Jesus says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28). Come to Jesus. He is full of compassion. He sees your wretched condition. He feels your pain. He is able to save you from sin and all its consequences because He is the Lord, the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep. He gave up His life on the cross and took it up again in His resurrection. His death atoned for sin, and His resurrection conquered death—once for all. Repent and believe in Him today. He will set you free and give you life, eternal life.

And for those of us who have been saved, what does this verse say to us? It speaks to us about how we see people and feel about their condition. What do you feel when you see people trapped in sin? What goes through your mind when you see people suffering from the immorality of our society? Is your heart full of self-righteousness and condemnation like the Pharisees? Or is it full of compassion like Jesus? Jesus was moved with compassion and if we are His, so should we. Jesus did not see helpless sinners as the enemy and neither should we. We should see them as helpless sheep who need the Good Shepherd.

People need the Savior. They need the Lord Jesus, which leads us to the third and final section of this passage:

3. Jesus’ Call (Matt. 9:37-38)

37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Matt. 9:37-38).

Jesus wanted His disciples to see the needs of the multitudes. They were sheep without a shepherd, and they needed to be led and guided. Shifting the metaphor from flock to field, Jesus now envisions a vast crop of ripe grain in need of harvesters.[7] There was a plentiful harvest, and there were few workers to bring it in. Jesus wants the disciples to recognize the need for workers.

Why does Jesus talk about a harvest? John MacArthur points out that in the Old Testament, the harvest is a picture of judgment.[8] Isaiah prophesies about judgments saying, gra“It shall be as when the harvester gathers the grain, And reaps the heads with his arm; It shall be as he who gathers heads of in … In the day you will make your plant to grow, And in the morning you will make your seed to flourish; But the harvest will be a heap of ruins In the day of grief and desperate sorrow.” (Isa. 17:5, 11). And the prophet Joel says, “12 Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. 13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; For the winepress is full, The vats overflow–For their wickedness is great. 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.” (Joel 3:12-14). In Matthew 3, John the Baptist used this same picture to speak of Christ, “His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matt. 3:12). In Matthew 13, Jesus uses this picture of judgment in the parable of the wheat and the tares, “Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ …Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.” (Matt. 13:40 NKJV).”

So MacArthur says that Jesus sees the final judgment and calls laborers because the time is short, the need is great, and the consequences are eternal. “He preached to them and He healed them, because of His compassion, their condition, and the ultimate consummation.”[9]

This is no time to be idle. If we love Jesus and His kingdom’s cause, we should all be gripped with a sense of the urgency of the work that lies before us. As we see people around us every day, every one of these people is headed for judgment. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians,

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men … (2 Cor. 5:10-11).

But at the same time, passages like John 4:35-36 support the idea of the harvest being souls. “35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.”

Jesus sees the field white for harvest. It’s so ripe that the laborers must move quickly to harvest it. And yet, the laborers are too few. And what Jesus wants for these poor, lost, needy people is laborers who will go out and labor in the field! The harvest is plentiful. Even in a day such as ours, a day of secularism that seeks to push Jesus’ kingdom agenda off onto the sidelines as “irrelevant”, even now, the harvest is plentiful. The potential for the cause of Jesus’ kingdom is great. The problem is never that the work ceases to be a relevant work. The problem is always that the workers are too few! If we would have Jesus’ compassion for the lost and needy people around us, then we would want what He wants for them – laborers![10]

We see a lost and dying world that is entrapped in sin and the people in it are bruised and battered by sin and its effects. They are confused and lost without hope. The majority of them will die in that condition, but there are some who are responding to God’s call and workers are needed to lead them to Jesus Christ. That’s why Jesus said, “Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Matt. 9:38).

You might have expected Jesus to say, “So then; get out there into the field and start harvesting!” But that is not what He says. Instead, He calls us to pray. He says, “Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” This suggests the great scope of the work—the harvest field is great. Multiple thousands of people die every day without ever hearing about Christ. That is unacceptable. And you and I can make a difference. We can pray. We must pray. We must pray for our missionaries. We must pray for the nations. We must pray for God to send more workers into the world to spread the gospel.

Each of us is limited and can only touch so many lives. But Jesus wants us to be concerned with everyone—the whole field. So, when there are areas we cannot be personally involved in, yet see the need, we can still be involved by asking the Lord to send others. Most of our missions praying is directly along those lines. We pray for countries and people that need to be taught the Word of God and hear the gospel, and as we do God sends His workers there. We pray for His workers to go into the harvest.

In the original language, Jesus calls us to pray that laborers will be “cast out” or “thrown out” into the harvest. And this suggests to us a sense of urgency in the work. So we must pray because it is Lord’s work and it must be done in His way and in His timing and not ours. No one is fit to do the Lord’s work until they have sought Him first.

The opportunities are vast, for the harvest is plentiful, but to be used by the Lord you have to first see the need and have the compassion of Christ for sinners. Second, beseech the Lord for workers to meet those needs, and then third, do whatever the Lord wants you to do.

The Lord’s call to us is to pray with faith and trust in Him, to pray that workers will be sent out into the harvest. But then, you probably know what will happen if you begin to faithfully pray that the Lord would send workers out into His harvest. It might not be too long before your commitment to pray that prayer has changed you and has even prepared you for the harvest work that God has uniquely called you to! You too might soon hear His call to go!

As we look upon the lost and needy people of this world, may we go to them as Jesus went, serve them as Jesus served, see them as Jesus saw, feel toward them as Jesus felt, know about them what Jesus knew, want for them what Jesus wanted, and then pray for them as Jesus commanded.

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[1] Ray Fowler, Praying for More Workers. https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/praying-for-more-workers/

[2] Greg Allen, The Compassionate Shepherd. https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2005/111305.htm

[3] Craig Blomberg, Matthew, vol. 22, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 166.

[4] Greg Allen, ibid.

[5] Craig Blomberg, Matthew, vol. 22, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 166.

[6] Michael Green, The Message of Matthew: The Kingdom of Heaven, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 128.

[7] Craig Blomberg, Matthew, vol. 22, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 167.

[8] John MacArthur, The Harvest and the Laborers. https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/2269

[9] MacArthur, ibid.

[10] Allen, ibid.

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Old Fasting and New Feasting

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

Old Fasting and New Feasting

Matthew 9:14-17

The Gospel of Matthew presents Jesus’ person and ministry in contrast to the scribes and the Pharisaic Judaism of His day.[1] Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount was full of contrasts between the traditional teaching of the scribes and what Jesus taught. Theirs was a religion of external conformity and ritual. Jesus demanded an internal righteousness free from hypocrisy. At the end of the Sermon, Matthew records, “And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” (Matt. 7:28-29).

Not only was Jesus’ teaching different from others, but what He did was different also. In Matthew 8 and 9, we see Jesus demonstrating His authority by His miraculous signs. Matthew has shown that Jesus has power over sickness and disease, over nature, evil spirits, and sins. Both by His teaching and His miracles, Matthew has shown that Jesus is very different from what people had known or expected. And the more Jesus says and does, the more that contrast surfaces. And the more obvious that contrast becomes, the greater the opposition to Jesus grows.

When Jesus forgave the sins of the paralytic, they accused Him of blasphemy. When Jesus feasted with tax collectors and sinners, the Pharisees complained that He associated with the wrong kind of people. They were scandalized by what Jesus said and did. Jesus replied, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” (Matt. 9:12). The Pharisees thought they were well, that they were righteous. But Jesus diagnosed their malady when He told them to go and learn what the scripture means when God says, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” (Matt. 9:13). They knew religious formality, but they were strangers to mercy which is the very heart of God.

Today we see another discipleship dialogue in Matthew 9:14-17 that further explores this contrast between religious formality and a real relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Today’s passage begins with a question about fasting, specifically, why don’t Jesus’ disciples fast? And although Jesus’ answer includes fasting, Jesus uses this particular question to teach us a much broader truth: that everything changed when Jesus came.[2]

1. The Question: Why don’t your disciples fast? (Matt. 9:14)

Jesus and His disciples had just come from the feast in Matthew’s house; and this seems to have occurred on a day when the disciples of John, and the Pharisees likewise, thought they ought to fast (Mark 2:18). Here they were all fasting, and the disciples of Jesus were feasting![3]

Look at the question in Matthew 9:14: “Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?”” It might seem surprising to see the disciples of John on the same side as the Pharisees in criticizing Jesus. Why do I say that? Clearly, John was no favorite of the Pharisees, for he had sternly castigated the Pharisees calling them a ” Brood of vipers!” (Matt. 3:7), commanding them to ” bear fruits worthy of repentance,” (Matt. 3:8), and not to think they were safe from judgment because they had Abraham as their physical father (Matt. 3:9).

Remember from Matthew 4:12, that John the Baptist had been put in prison. But there were still many who considered themselves disciples of John and continued in his teachings. Unlike the Pharisees who usually questioned Jesus to accuse Him, theirs seems to be a legitimate question. Yet it also reveals their lack of understanding of the person and work of Jesus. Even though John’s ministry prepared the way for Jesus’ ministry, and they both preached “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matt. 3:2; 4:17), John’s ministry was in some ways quite different from that of Jesus. John lived an austere lifestyle out in the wilderness, subsisting on “locusts and wild honey” (Matt. 3:4). Jesus Himself alludes to that difference in Matthew 11, declaring, “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.” (Matt. 11:18-19).

This contrast is behind their question about fasting. We talked about what the bible teaches about fasting when we studied how Jesus instructed His disciples to fast in Matthew 6. Recall that the Law of Moses only commanded one regular fast: on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:29, 31; Lev 23:26–32; Nu 29:7–11). But people also fasted as an expression of sorrow, mourning, and grieving either for a loss in your life or for repentance of sin. It was usually associated with prayer and sometimes the whole nation would fast and pray together.

The Pharisees in Jesus’ time made fasting a formal ritual. Many of them fasted twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, like clockwork. They considered this to be a religious act of outward piety, and they often went to great lengths to make sure that other people knew they were fasting. Jesus taught His disciples not to fast “like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting” (Matt. 6:16). Instead He said, “when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting” (Matt. 6:17-18). Jesus’ disciples were not fasting in this passage, but even if they did fast, no one should have even noticed. Jesus taught that fasting is not a formal ritual or mechanical routine to follow merely on fixed days. Fasting is a response of a heart that is humbled, grieving, and repentant. Fasting is not a means by which to get God’s attention, fasting is evidence that God has your attention.[4]

Here we find that John the Baptist’s followers practiced fasting, too. Remember that John preached a message of repentance in preparation for the coming of Christ. Fasting would be a natural expression of repentance for their sins in preparation for Christ.

And so here we have two different groups, each fasting for different reasons, but they both had something in common. They were fasting, while Jesus’ disciples were not. And John’s disciples wanted to know why.

That’s the question, now…

2. The Answer: Jesus’ coming calls for celebration (Matt. 9:15)

As He often did, Jesus answered their question with a question in order to make a point. Look Matthew 9:15, “And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?”” (Matt. 9:15).

The answer to Jesus’ rhetorical question is obvious. The friends (or literally sons of the bridegroom) can’t mourn when the groom is with them. A wedding is a time of feasting and joy. It’s a time of celebration. It’s a time to gather family and friends. It’s a time to fill yourselves with food and wine. It’s a time for music and dancing. Fasting is a time for sorrow and self-denial. There is a time to fast and a time to feast, and the wedding celebration is a time to feast. It wouldn’t make any sense to fast and mourn while the bridegroom is right there. It would be totally inappropriate.

So, what was Jesus saying by all this? Jesus is saying that He is the bridegroom! He is the one that Israel has been waiting for all these years. So yes, it made sense to fast before, when they were waiting for Him and preparing for His coming, but now that Jesus has come, everything changes! The bridegroom is here! This is a time to rejoice!

In the Old Testament, the imagery of the bridegroom or husband was used of God in relation to Israel. In Isaiah 62:5, the Lord says, “For as a young man marries a virgin, So shall your sons marry you; And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So shall your God rejoice over you.” Isaiah 54:5 says, “For your Maker is your husband, The LORD of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.” In Hosea, the Lord says, “I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD.” (Hos. 2:19-20). In the New Testament, the imagery of the bridegroom and bride it is used of Jesus in relation to the church (2 Cor. 11:2; Rev. 19:7; 21:2).

John the Baptist himself pointed to Jesus as the bridegroom. In John 3 he says,

28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ 29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:28-30).

John rejoiced as a friend of the bridegroom. His disciples should have followed his example and turned to follow Jesus. The bride belongs to the bridegroom. Matthew shows that Jesus is the bridegroom who is “with them” (Matt. 9:15). He is Emmanuel, God with Us (Matt. 1:23). This was not a time for fasting because the bridegroom was present. How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while He is with them? And the answer is: they cannot, so long as they have Him with them.

That’s why Jesus goes on to say in the rest of Matthew 9:15, “But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

Jesus is speaking here of His death. When Jesus says that the bridegroom will be “taken away from them,” he uses the same word found in Isaiah 53:8 which also speaks of Jesus’ death: “By oppression and judgment He was taken away.” (Isaiah 53:8 NASB) The disciples are rejoicing in His presence now, but the day will come when He is taken from them, and then they will mourn His absence. Then they will fast.

On the night He was betrayed, Jesus told His disciples,

16 “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.” … 20 “Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.” (John 16:16, 20).

Jesus is speaking about the period between His death and His resurrection, then, indeed, they shall fast, and no one will need to tell them to do so.[5] Does fasting apply to us today? We know that Jesus is with us today through the presence of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, but we still long for His appearing. And so, fasting may be appropriate as an expression of our longing and desire. But our fasting is different than the fasting of the followers of John and the Pharisees. We no longer fast in mourning, waiting for the Savior to come. We fast in anticipation, waiting for our Savior to return.

Everything changed when Jesus came. The Old Testament laws no longer applied in the same way. The Jewish ceremonies and sacrifices were fulfilled in Christ’s death on the cross. All the Old Testament looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. And now the Messiah had come! You can’t just keep on living as if Jesus never came. Let there be joy!

Let me ask you. Is your life characterized by joy because Jesus is with you?

3. The Illustrations: The old is incompatible with the new (Matt. 9:16-17)

Jesus says, “No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Matt. 9:16-17).

Jesus uses two matching illustrations here to make the same point: the old is incompatible with the new.

A. The illustration of the unshrunk cloth (Matt. 9:16)

First, he uses the illustration of the unshrunk cloth. Most of our clothing today comes preshrunk, but it was different back in Jesus’ time. Most of the garments were made of wool or linen which tend to shrink when they get wet. So, if you had an older garment that had been washed multiple times, it would already have shrunk as far as it was going to shrink. If you got a hole in that garment, and you sewed a patch of unshrunk cloth over the hole, the patch will shrink. And when it does, it will tear away from the unshrunk cloth and make an even bigger hole in the garment. What is Jesus saying here? The old is incompatible with the new. No one would sew a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. It wouldn’t make sense. Lenski comments, “To preserve the old by attaching a little of the new is worse than useless. Discard the old entirely and accept the new completely. Not a new patch but a new robe.”[6]

Jesus did not come to just patch up Pharisaical Judaism. He did not come just to reform their formal religion. He did not come to fix the Old Covenant. He came to inaugurate the New Covenant.

What Jesus brings is new. And it is incompatible with the old. Jesus did not come to just patch up the self-righteous religion of the Pharisees. He did not come to patch up the fasting of John’s disciples. Likewise, Jesus did not come to just patch up your old life. He did not come to reform your religious practices. Jesus came to give you new life, a new birth, to make you a new creation.  

B. The illustration of the wineskins (Matt. 9:17).

The second illustration has to do with wineskins. Here Jesus is talking about the goatskin containers that people used to hold water or wine in those days. When these wineskins were new, they were flexible and still had the ability to stretch. So, if you had a new wineskin, and you filled it with new wine that was still fermenting and still expanding, no problem. You could fill it right up, and the skin would expand right along with the wine. But you can only stretch goatskin so far. As the skins got older and all stretched out, they became more brittle. So if you took an old wineskin and filled it with new wine, as the wine expanded it would burst the wineskin and you would lose both the skin and the wine as well.

This illustration makes a similar point to the first. The old is incompatible with the new. As God said through the prophet Jeremiah:

31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah– 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

God said, “the days are coming … when I will make a new covenant.” Jesus is saying, “The time has come.” God’s new covenant is a covenant He made through His Son, Jesus. It is a new covenant in Jesus’ blood. Jesus died for our sins on the cross, and everyone who puts their faith in Him will be saved.

And the new is incompatible with the old. The book of Hebrews says the old covenant is “obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” (Hebrews 8:13). In fact, the whole book of Hebrews explains how everything has changed now that Jesus has come. And not only how everything has changed but how everything has changed for the better, that Jesus and His new covenant is better. That is its major theme. And it is also the theme of these two parables or illustrations. The old is incompatible with the new. It’s time to leave the old behind.

Jesus finishes by saying, “But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Matthew 9:17b).

Reformation of Pharisaical Judaism would not work. Jesus had the authority to forgive sin based on mercy and grace. That could not be contained by the self-righteous works system of Pharisaical Judaism. A new container had to be developed to hold Jesus’ teaching about the regenerated heart of a forgiven sinner.[7]

They would have to let go of their old covenant. They would have to leave their old traditions. They would have to follow Christ alone.

When Jesus comes, everything changes. This is true both historically and personally. Historically, we no longer approach God through the feasts and sacrifices of the Old Testament. All of that was fulfilled when Jesus came. Now we approach God only through his Son. That’s historically.

But then personally, when Jesus comes into your life, everything also changes. First, there is the change that only God can bring. No amount of self-effort, self-change, or self-reformation will make your life adequate to accommodate Christ. God must bring a change in you first. That’s why Jesus said, “You must be born again.” (John 3:7) You must become a new person. And that happens when you put your faith and trust in Jesus as your Savior. The Bible says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

You cannot come to Christ and keep living the same life you lived before Christ. A true Christian cannot be satisfied with the empty ritualism of man-centered religion. He must have the life of Christ. A sinner can be reasonably happy in his or her sin. But a true believer will never be happy in their sin. As a Christian sin will only make you miserable. The good news is that God doesn’t leave you in your sin, because the old is incompatible with the new. And so, Christ will change your life.

In closing, let me ask you this morning. Are there ways that you think or things in your life that are incompatible with Christ? Are you resisting Christ and resisting the changes He is trying to bring in your life? Resisting Christ is like that patch of unshrunk cloth tearing at the patterns of your old life. When you become a Christian, you can’t hold on to your old practices and sinful habits without doing serious damage to your life.

Jesus wants to lead you into new ways of living. He wants you to grow in your faith and in your knowledge of God. He wants you to know the joy of Christian fellowship and service. He wants to fill your life with His goodness and love. Trying to restrain Christ in your life is like the old wineskins bursting from the fullness of the new wine. We need to let Jesus do His work in us through the Holy Spirit to make us new vessels for His glory. Will you let Christ change you today?

————————————————————-

[1] Richard Caldwell, Why the Difference? Notes from the sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEwSOKizwiw. I adapted ideas for this introduction from Caldwell’s notes.

[2] Ray Fowler, Leaving the Old Behind. https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/leaving-the-old-behind/  

[3] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961), 367.

[4] Rory Mosley, Jesus Vs. Sinners – part 2 (Matthew 9:14-17). https://fbcspur.org/jesus-vs-sinners-part-2-matthew-914-17/  

[5] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961), 368.

[6] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961), 369.

[7] Scott L. Harris, He Came For Sinners – Matthew 9:9-17. https://www.gracebibleny.org/he_came_for_sinners_matthew_9_9_17  

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Jesus Came for Sinners

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

Jesus Came for Sinners

Matthew 9:9-13

In our verse-by-verse study of the Gospel of Matthew, we have seen that Matthew’s theme is that Jesus is the promised Messiah-King. In every narrative, every teaching of Jesus Matthew is continually stressing that point. In Matthew 8 and 9, we find that Matthew has carefully selected events in the life of Jesus without much concern for the chronological sequence of the stories. Instead, we find that Matthew is carefully building a case that Jesus demonstrates authority in areas that only God has authority, thereby demonstrating that Jesus must in fact be God in human flesh. These different areas of authority build in significance.

In Matthew 8, we saw Jesus healing a leper with a touch, a paralyzed boy with just a command without even seeing him, and Peter’s mother-in-law from a fever. Matthew then tells us that Jesus was healing every disease brought to Him and casting out demons as well. Jesus has authority over sickness and disease. Then Jesus demonstrated authority over nature itself by stopping the wind and calming the sea with a simple command. Next, Matthew showed that Jesus has power over the supernatural when He cast out a legion of demons from two men. Jesus has authority over sickness, disease, nature, and the supernatural. And then last week, we saw that Jesus has the authority to forgive sin. This power is of the greatest significance because sin is the root of all mankind’s problems, and more than anything else, people need their sins forgiven.

Recall that after Matthew showed the first three miracles of healing in Matthew 8, he presented Jesus’ dialogues with two would-be disciples where Jesus explained the cost of following Him. Now, after the second set of three miracles, Matthew again narrates two dialogues with Jesus focusing on discipleship. We will look at the first of these today and the second next Sunday. Today’s passage is also the second of three controversy stories that open up Matthew 9. Last time, some scribes thought Jesus was blaspheming when He forgave sins. In this week’s passage, the Pharisees accuse Jesus of eating with tax collectors and sinners.

There is also a similar theme between last week’s passage and our one today. Last week’s passage (Matthew 9:1-8) was about Jesus’ power to forgive sin. Today’s passage (Matthew 9:9-13) is about Jesus calling sinners. Let’s look at these verses in three sections today: 1) Jesus called sinners (Matt. 9:9); 2) Jesus associated with sinners (Matt. 9:10-11); and 3) Jesus came to heal sinners (Matt. 9:12-13).[1]

1. Jesus Called Sinners (Matt. 9:9)

Matthew gives us the setting in verse 9: “As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office.” Matthew places this story right after Jesus proved something very important. He had proven that He had the authority to forgive sins. And right after Jesus demonstrated His authority to forgive sin, what does Matthew show Jesus does next? He demonstrates His mission by calling sinners to follow Him.

Matthew doesn’t tell us how much time passed, but that Jesus “passed on from there,” in Capernaum, His home base. Mark informs us that Jesus “went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.” (Mark 2:13). Then, returning from the lake, Jesus passed by Matthew’s tax booth (Mark 2:14).

This story is especially significant because Matthew is the writer of this Gospel account. Many people in the Bible had two names. And so, when Mark and Luke wrote of his ministry as an apostle, they called him “Matthew”, but when they told the story of his being called while a tax collector, they chose to refer to him by his lesser-known name “Levi” (Mark 2:13-17; Luke 5:27-32). Maybe they chose to do this out of respect for his apostolic ministry and from a desire to protect his ministry from the scandal of his dubious past. But Matthew himself had no such hesitancy. In telling his own story of his sordid past, he calls himself “Matthew”. In fact, even when he included his name in the list of apostles in Matthew 10:3, he identified himself with his sin calling himself, “Matthew the tax collector“.[2]

A tax collector, in Jesus’ day, was a Jewish man who collected taxes from his own Jewish kinsmen on behalf of the Gentile Roman government. He made his living by collecting not only the required revenue appointed by the Roman government but by also collecting a percentage above that required amount as his own cut.

Most Jews considered a tax collector a traitor to his own people. He was a sell-out to an occupying Gentile government. And he was doubly despised by his fellow Jews; because he not only collected taxes from his own people for the Roman occupiers, but also because collection of that tax was characterized by greed, extortion, deceit, bullying, and oppression. There was no such thing as an honest tax collector in that system. Other Jews considered tax collectors to be the worst of sinners in the same category as harlots, drunkards, and thieves. A tax collector was not permitted to serve as a witness in a court of law. Any money that came from him was to be considered “defiled”.

Someone has once said, “The church is the only fellowship in the world where the one requirement for membership is the unworthiness of the candidate.”1 The Holy Spirit has chosen to include this story in the Bible because it has great lessons to teach us about how merciful and loving our wonderful Savior is to those sinners that the world despises the most and considers the most unworthy.[3]

Where was Matthew when Jesus called him? He was “sitting at the tax office” (Matt. 9:9). Jesus didn’t wait until after Matthew changed his life and left the tax booth to call him. That’s the way that Jesus calls sinners—He calls them while they are still sinners. In fact, Paul writes in Romans 5, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8). Do you know that that’s why our Savior Himself said He came? Jesus said about another tax collector, Zacchaeus, ” for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Jesus doesn’t sit around and wait for the lost to come to Him, He seeks them and saves them.

Look at Jesus’ call to Matthew: “… And He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’” Matthew doesn’t tell us how much he knew about Jesus before He called him to follow. As we already saw, Jesus had done outstanding miracles in Capernaum and had regularly taught the word of God there. Surely Matthew knew all this. Still, it must have come as a shock to both Matthew and all those who were there that day that Jesus not only talked with him, but called him to be a disciple. “Follow Me” is the same call to discipleship that Jesus gave to the fishermen, Peter and Andrew, in Matthew 4:19.  

How does Matthew respond? “… So he arose and followed Him” (Matt. 9:9). He left the tax collector’s booth. There was no going back for Matthew. The Gospel of Luke tells us he “left all” to follow Jesus (Luke 5:28). He left a cushy job that made him wealthy. He left his life of sin and stealing. He left all this and more to follow Jesus.

Listen, Jesus calls you as you are, but He doesn’t leave you as you are. He calls you while you are still in your sin, but He also calls you out of your sin. He calls you to follow Him, to be His disciple, to walk as He walked, and to live as He lived. This is the Christian life—following Jesus.

So first, Jesus calls sinners, and second,

2. Jesus Associates with Sinners (Matt. 9:10-11)

Matthew left his wicked profession behind, rose up, and followed Jesus. And next, he tells us, “Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples” (Matt. 9:10). When Mark tells this story, he lets us know that this was Matthew’s own house that Jesus went to. It must have been a very large house, considering that “many tax collectors and sinners” came and joined Jesus and His disciples at the meal. And Luke tells us even more – letting us know that Matthew was putting on a great feast in Jesus’ honor (Luke 5:29).

Matthew had found the Savior; and I believe he wanted to have a bunch of his former friends over to meet Jesus and be introduced to the Savior too! When one hopeless and needy sinner discovers the mercy of the Savior, he wants to share that mercy with other hopeless and needy sinners!

It’s important to understand what Matthew means by the word ‘sinners’ here. He’s not saying that some people are sinners and some people are not. The Bible is clear that we are all sinners. But the Jewish people used this word for those people whom they felt were the very worst of sinners –tax collectors, thieves, drunkards, and prostitutes. They called them ‘sinners,’ because they felt that those sins were so much worse than their own sins.

Now some people read  passages like this one and use them to excuse sin. They say this passage shows that Jesus doesn’t care how you live. He accepts you as you are, and fellowships with you—sin and all. And then they say we also should accept people just as they are, without saying anything about their sin. After all, isn’t that what Jesus did? But we already saw from Matthew 9:9 that Jesus calls you as you are but he doesn’t leave you as you are. And Jesus will say that He came to bring sinners to repentance, not just to leave them in their sin.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians about not associating with people who professed to be believers but were continuing to live immoral lives. He tells them: “I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.” (1 Cor. 5:9-10). We shouldn’t be surprised when unbelievers are living immoral lives. They’re not believers! But true Christians are not to continue to live immoral lives.

Jesus shows us that we don’t avoid sinners who need Christ. Jesus didn’t avoid lost sinners, and neither should we.

Why did sinful people seem to flock to Jesus? For one thing, He loved them. He never condoned their sin, but they knew that He loved them. They knew they needed forgiveness. They knew that Jesus could forgive their sins. I believe they felt that Jesus looked past what they were right then, and saw them for what He had come to save them to be in glory.

Now, contrast this with the attitude of the Pharisees. They were the religious leaders of the day. From the outside, no one looked more righteous than a Pharisee. One thing I can assure you is that the tax collectors and sinners weren’t flocking to the homes of the Pharisees! The name Pharisee itself comes from a Hebrew word that means to separate. They separated themselves from any who were not as religious as they were. The Pharisees did their best to avoid ‘sinners’. In fact, one of their sayings was this: “Keep far from an evil neighbor and do not associate with the wicked.” (Aboth 1:7).[4] These Pharisees objected to Jesus’ disciples having dinner with such riff-raff. Matthew 9:11 tells us, “And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, ‘Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’” The way their question is phrased suggests that they viewed this as Jesus’ habit.[5] The Pharisees are probably a little jealous that instead of choosing to dine with them, Jesus chose to dine with the tax collectors and sinners.

Notice that the Pharisees don’t complain to Jesus directly but to His disciples. They don’t seem interested in getting an answer, they just want to undermine Jesus with His disciples. They call Jesus “your Teacher”. The title “teacher” meant much more than just someone who passes knowledge and information on to students. It referred to someone who also taught by example! Jesus once told His disciples, “You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am;” and then He told them, “. . . I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you” (John 13:13, 15). The Pharisees were complaining to Jesus’ disciples that their “Teacher” was setting an unspeakable example to them – eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners!

Jesus did set an example for His followers. Jesus’ close association with sinners is meant to be our example to follow. We are to love the poor, needy, despised sinners of this world so much that we welcome them into our presence so that they’ll know that they are loved. How else will they come to know Christ and follow Him?

We have seen that Jesus called sinners, He associated with sinners, and thirdly,

3. Jesus Came for Sinners (Matt. 9:12-13)

Matthew 9:12-13 says, “When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Jesus responds to the Pharisees’ criticism with three brief, striking statements, each of which highlights the fact that Jesus came for sinners.

First of all, Jesus tells them: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” (Matt. 9:12).

Could you imagine going to a doctor and complaining to him, “Listen, Doc. I don’t care too much for the kind of people you associate with. You always seem to be around sick people!” What a ridiculous statement! Who else would you expect a doctor to be associated with? In the same way, who else would you expect the Savior of sinners to be associated with than sinners who need to be saved? Jesus is saying, “Who else would you have me go to?”

If you think you are well, you probably are not going to seek help from a doctor. Medicine is for the sick, not the healthy. How many of you would go to a doctor and say, “Doc, I feel really healthy. Please give me a full course of chemotherapy.” Of course, you wouldn’t say that unless you knew you had cancer and it was the only treatment that would cure you! Jesus is saying to the Pharisees, “You don’t think you are sick, so you won’t come to me for healing. These ‘sinners’ know they are sick, and so I go to them.”

Jesus invites us to see Him as our spiritual physician. He does not set up an office and wait for people to come to Him. He makes house calls. Indeed, sometimes He walks up to people in the street and says, “I know you are sick; I have come to heal you.”[6]

Second, Jesus communicated from the scriptures that it was God’s purpose to be merciful to sinners. He quoted the words of God to them from the Old Testament prophecy of Hosea 6:6. He said (Matt. 9:13), “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’“.

Despite all their study of the scriptures, the Pharisees had obviously failed to ever understand God’s message. God’s message is all about redemption, not destruction. Even when you read those difficult passages of God’s judgment in the Old Testament, God gives them because He is calling men to repentance so that they won’t be ultimately judged. God is a God of great compassion, great mercy. And yet the Pharisees didn’t get that at all.

By quoting this verse, Jesus wasn’t saying that God did not require a sacrifice for sin. Clearly, the Old Testament teaches that He does. In fact, those sacrifices required by the law of Moses pictured for us the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. In His mercy, God gave the sacrifice of His own Son for sinners. In quoting this verse, Jesus is teaching that the sacrifice was all about mercy!

God doesn’t want mercy instead of sacrifice and obedience. Rather He wants mercy along with sacrifice and obedience. Jesus is saying that because God is merciful towards us, we also ought to be merciful to others.

And finally, Jesus communicates that He came for sinners by giving a clear affirmation of His own mission. He says plainly, “For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Matt. 9:13). Jesus is not saying that the Pharisees were “righteous”, but that they saw themselves as “righteous”. Those who don’t see themselves as needy sinners have no interest in a Savior. They’re like the false believers in the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3:17, saying of themselves, “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing“, not knowing that, in reality, they are “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked“.

The Pharisees completely misunderstood Jesus’ mission. They thought that they were already righteous, so they didn’t need a Savior. They thought the Messiah would come to reward them for their righteousness, not call them to repent of their sinfulness. “Jesus did not come to this earth to write ‘A+’ on the moral report cards of all the good boys and girls. He came to call sinners, to invite the bad boys and girls to His gospel feast.”[7]

It wasn’t for the righteous that Christ relinquished His glory and stepped out of heaven. It wasn’t for the righteous that Christ suffered the temptation of Satan. It wasn’t for the righteous that Christ endured the hostility of man. It wasn’t for the righteous that Christ submitted to death on the cross. The righteous didn’t need it.

Christ came for sinners. Christ suffered for sinners. Christ endured for sinners. Christ died for sinners. Paul wrote, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” (1 Tim. 1:15).

This is good news for us because the Bible tells us there is no one righteous. We read in Romans 3: “There is none righteous, no, not one … for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:10,23). We all have sinned. We all fall short of God’s glory. But praise God! Jesus came for sinners. The only qualification you need for Jesus to call you is that you are a sinner. Jesus came to call sinners because there is no one else to call.[8]

Jesus called sinners; He associated with sinners; and He came to save sinners.

What can we take to heart from this passage today?

Jesus can save anyone. It doesn’t matter how badly you’ve sinned against God or failed other people in your life. You do not need to get your life together before coming to Jesus. Jesus calls sinners, so if you’re a sinner, you qualify. The one who knows he is the worst sinner is the very best candidate for salvation.

You must acknowledge your sinfulness. Jesus did not come to call the righteous or those who think they are righteous. You must confess your sin to God. You must know that God is a holy God and you are condemned as a sinner. If you think for one minute that you are able to make yourself look good before God through good works or religious rituals, you are badly mistaken. No one looked better on the outside than a Pharisee, and Jesus condemned their self-righteousness. Jesus saves sinners but He rejects the self-righteous.

Finally, this passage has something to say to those who are followers of Jesus. We should be merciful to sinners, even as God was merciful to us. All of us are just beggars telling other beggars where to find bread. Jesus saved you not so that you would think you are better than others, but so that you would be merciful to others in their sin and point them to Christ who can save them from their sin.

 

[1] Ray Fowler, Calling Sinners. https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/calling-sinners/. I adapted Fowler’s outline and drew from some of his points in developing this sermon.

[2] Greg Allen, The Teacher of Mercy. https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2005/100205.htm#f1

[3] Allen, ibid.

[4] Quoted by Ray Fowler, ibid.

[5] Daniel M. Doriani, Matthew & 2, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, vol. 1, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2008), 381.

[6] Daniel M. Doriani, ibid, 386.

[7] Daniel M. Doriani, ibid.

[8] Daniel M. Doriani, ibid, 387.

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