The Prophet

 Matthew 11:1-30

Good morning! We are underway in our new series from the book of Matthew. We picked up last week in at the end of Matthew 9. There, Jesus exhorted his disciples to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers because the harvest was plentiful but the workers few. Then, directly at the beginning of chapter 10, Jesus called his twelve disciples and sent them out to do miracles and preach that the kingdom of heaven is near.

 

Jesus gave them instructions on what to do and told them of the challenges they would face both in those days and in days to come. Jesus’ words do not gloss over or cover up difficulties. Jesus’ words ring true. There will be difficulties, yes, but we should take heart because He has overcome the world. And there is great reward in following Jesus.

 

That is a quick intro, and it brings us to the immediate continuation of events in chapter 11. Let us pray and jump in.

 

Lord Jesus, speak to us from Your Word. Give us eyes to see and hearts to retain the good news. I pray for each soul who will hear this message. Guide us to Yourself and what You have prepared for each individual. Glorify Your Name we pray. Amen.

 

Working for the King

 Matthew 9:35-10:42

There have been many times when I have taken my kids to work with me while doing lawn care. My kids have never said anything to me like, “Daddy, I really like picking up sticks. It’s one of my favorite hobbies.” They did not go with me because they were into sticks. They went with me because they were into their dad. They wanted to spend time with me. Of course, not all of these excursions were voluntary. They did not always have completely pure motives. I do pay them for working, at least when they got older. Sometimes I would say there was no choice. They had to go even though they wanted to stay home. They claimed that they had more important things to do like petting the cat or performing some kind of ground breaking science experiment (not on the cat).

Somewhere in those experiences lies a good reason why we work for the king. There may be certain things that we are not quite into yet. But that will come in time. Right now, the question you can probably ask is, “Do I want to be with the king?” In John 5:17, “Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.’” Do you want to join him in working?

Song of Praise

 2 Samuel 22:1-51

 

Today we come to the end of our message series on the life of David, and next week we will start on the second half of Matthew’s gospel, which will take us until next Easter. At this juncture, therefore, we will be turning our attention from David to the Son of David, the promised descendent who would fulfill the prophecy of David’s throne lasting forever. You may recall back in 2 Samuel 7, when David wanted to build a temple, that God told him that his son would be the one to do that, but that God would also establish his house or his lineage. The Lord stated it clearly: “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” The Jewish people who recognized Jesus as the Messiah referred to him as the Son of David, for example during the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when people shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” It was an important part of where he had come from, who he was, and how he was identified. And we, too, as believers, have been brought into that eternal House of David that God promised to establish and sustain.

 

As he wrote his account, Matthew was careful to point out how Jesus fulfilled so many Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah. Jesus is the eternal, perfect king that David could never be. As we have studied the life of David, especially the latter part here in 2 Samuel, we have seen just how human he was. His sin with Bathsheba was not the solitary wrong thing that he did, though it was an indication of the lust that was in his heart at times. He certainly made mistakes in raising his children, resulting in much conflict and heartache. That seems to have been the focus of the last several messages in our series. And yet we know that his heart was continually turning to God in repentance, love, and worship. He was indeed “a man after God’s own heart” who recognized his need for forgiveness and grace.

Securing Peace

 2 Samuel 20:23-21:22 

Finally, this week, we come beyond the consequences of David’s sin.  However, today we will see some of the consequences of Saul’s sin.  The first portion of chapter 21 covers this sad situation, and I would like to give a word of caution to those who may have younger listeners.  The Bible does not conceal what happened.  It does not glorify wrong, nor does it hide the consequences of evil.  I have shared a couple of times in this series that we should be aware that sin is bad, and we should seek to stay far from it.  Again, I can say the same in light of this passage.

 

Before we move into chapter 21, I will reread the last few verses of chapter 20.  As you likely remember, the conspiracy of Absalom against his father David has ended.  David has been restored in Jerusalem as the king over all the tribes, over the whole nation of Israel.  As such, he has a number of officials in his government.

 

With that rather brief introduction, let’s pray and jump right in.

 

Lord Jesus, speak to us from Your Word we pray.  Please connect what we read today with our own lives.  Help us to walk in the light as You are in the light.  We pray in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

 

Joab was over Israel's entire army; Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites; Adoniram was in charge of forced labor; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder;  Sheva was secretary; Zadok and Abiathar were priests; and Ira the Jairite was David's priest. – 2 Samuel 20:23-26

 

Before looking at individuals, let’s consider the roles of David’s officials.  The first two are military positions.  Due to the nature of the region in which Israel is placed, we see a great deal of conflict among the nations there.  Then, we have the leader of forced labor.  During David’s time, there was unprecedented prosperity for the kingdom of Israel ultimately setting up Solomon as the wealthiest man who ever lived.  As a result of the military conquests, there were conscripted workers from among the defeated nations who in turn were put to work on public works.  Then, we have two administrative roles, recorder, and secretary.  Then, we come to the chief priests of the nation as well as David’s own priest.  Israel was a nation created by God and as such, the nation has a priesthood also established by God.