First and Last in the Kingdom

Matthew 19:16-20:16
 

Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is do to get eternal life?”
only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”
“Which ones?” the man inquired. Jesus replied, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’” – Matthew 19:16-19

Family Matters

 Matthew 19:1-15

Welcome! Today we continue our series into the book of Matthew. Today we are looking at Matthew Chapter 19, beginning with verse 1.
 
When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” – Matthew 19:1-3

When Others Sin

 Matthew 18:15-35

 

Today we continue our study of Matthew in the middle of chapter 18. Our series title highlights Jesus as the King of Kings, and much of this book is devoted to describing and demonstrating the unusual nature of his kingdom. As John mentioned last Sunday, this chapter begins the fourth discourse, a sizable chunk of Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom, in contrast to the stories about what he did as he traveled around with his disciples and lived out kingdom realities by ministering to the needs of people.
 
This discourse is sometimes referred to as the Discourse on the Church, since Jesus addresses the ways in which his followers should relate to each other. The word “church” appears for the second time in Matthew, after 16:18 where Jesus tells Peter that “on this rock I will build my church.” The Greek word is ekklesia, and these are the only two places in any of the gospels that this word appears, though it appears over 100 times elsewhere in the New Testament.
 
Ekklesia originally referred to a political assembly in the Greek system of democracy. It literally means “the called-out ones,” a civil body of elected members. The disciples at this stage would probably have had a vague understanding that Jesus was referring to some sort of body that he would be the head of, extending beyond them to encompass all of his faithful followers. The ekklesia would be the universal church that Jesus would establish and lead. This word would also come to refer to a local congregation of believers.

Children and the Kingdom

Matthew 17:14-18:14

 

Of course, we are continuing on in our series on the book of Matthew titled “Jesus, King of Kings.” Today’s message spans Matthew 17:14 through 18:14. Before we go into the passage, I just want to remind you briefly about the passage which preceded this one.
 
The first half of Matthew 17 tells the account of the transfiguration. Jesus climbed up a high mountain together with Peter, James, and John, but not any of the other disciples. Once they reached the top, Jesus was transfigured or transformed before their eyes. His face shone like the sun. His clothes became as a bright white light. Then, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus. Peter not knowing what else to do said some funny things. God spoke audibly declaring loud and clear, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” Peter, James and John immediately fell face down on the ground. Jesus came and touched them. When they looked up from the ground, the moment had passed. They saw only Jesus.
 
As they returned down the mountain, Jesus told them not to tell anyone what they had seen until He had been raised from the dead. They talked on for a bit, approaching a large group of people waiting on them. Perhaps even with Peter, James and John still seeing spots.
 
Let’s pray, and then we will pick up the action in Matthew 17:14.

Messiah

Matthew 16:13-17:13
 

As we pick back up in Matthew 16, Jesus ministry is beginning to wind down.  Most Bible historians and those who study the time line of the Bible believe that the point we are at in Matthew’s gospel would have been only about 6 months prior to Jesus’s death.  He has been teaching and training the disciples, but He is about to give them one more exam.  This exam would show them that they still do not really have it all figured out yet.  They do not yet have the whole story down. 

Kingdom Illustration: Bread

 Matthew 15:21-16:12

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.”  Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”  He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”  The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.  He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”  “Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”  Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour. – Matthew 15:21-28
 
The Canaanite woman came to Jesus asking for mercy.  There is nothing wrong in coming to Jesus with requests.  Matter of fact, in James 4:6 we are told, “let your requests be made known to God.”  But the context of those requests must be done in thanksgiving.  She must have known that Jesus had some kind of great authority and power.  You typically do not beg for mercy from someone that is weaker than you or has less authority than you.  I think that this was one of the things that constituted her “great faith”.  She was in a desperate situation, a situation that she did not have any control over.  Have you ever been in a situation like that?  Can you imagine what it would be like to enter their home?  It would have been chaos.  It probably felt like a hopeless warzone.  And it would have been hopeless without Jesus. 

Defilers and the Kingdom

 Matthew 15:1-20

 

The past couple of weeks have been an important time to consider the nature of political power in our nation. As a democracy we say that this power should reside with the people – each individual having an equal say in choosing who the leaders will be at all levels. But we have all seen how some votes matter more than others. It’s a complicated, messy business, where the ideals of equality and freedom do not work out the way they should. The leaders in a democracy are not always accountable to the people. Important, balanced information may not be readily available for making good decisions. So much happens behind the scenes that we never really hear the truth about. And would-be leaders on all sides often try to assume more power than they should, aided by efforts to make their opponents look bad.

 

The King is in Control

 Matthew 14:13-36
 

I feel very blessed to have the honor of teaching on this passage. It is a super encouraging and even fun passage. I like the title, the King is in control. That is what we will be reminded of today. Jesus is Lord overall.
 
Before I jump into today’s passage, I would like to offer an observation about chiasms. Carl has used this recurring structure in scripture to draw us to the central point in both books and individual chapters. A few weeks ago, when he introduced this chiastic structure with respect to the book of Matthew, I was prompted to think about God’s affinity for chiastic structure. When I say God’s affinity, I just mean that God likes chiasms. It is kind of “how He rolls.”
 
I never heard the word chiasm before Carl shared the concept, but I do remember seeing the idea highlighted years ago with respect to human beings as the pinnacle of all of creation. Most people in our culture tend not to see what is in the middle as being the most important. We tend to think of whatever is at the extreme, the biggest or strongest or fastest, as being the most important.
 
Think of pictures from the Hubble space telescope. We are just awed by the magnitude of the universe and the galaxies and nebulae and other things that I don’t even know the names for.  Going the other way though, it is possible to go just as small on a logarithmic scale getting down to subatomic particles like quarks and neutrinos. I’m not going to go into all the math and 10 to the power of positive whatever and 10 to the power of the minus whatever. If that sort of thing is interesting to you, there are many resources that can get into the details at many different levels.
 
The long story short is that human beings are essentially at the logarithmic midpoint of the sizes of creation between the largest thing (the whole universe) and the smallest subatomic building blocks. God’s most amazing creative work, that which He made in His own image, is placed in the middle of the size spectrum of the universe. For me, that is just another way of relating to chiastic structure and thinking, “Yep, God really digs it.” He really does like to put the important stuff, the boom, in the middle.
 
Let’s pray and jump into today’s passage.
 
Lord God, teach us from Your Word today. We need Your insights and understanding. We love You. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.
 

Opposition to the King

Matthew 13:53-14:12
 

Welcome! We are continuing our study of the Gospel of Matthew. Three weeks ago, I spoke on Matthew 12:38-50 and I described something I called the “Boom.” Both Tim, two weeks ago, and Fred, last week, made reference to my description. In my message, I told you that you would hear the “Boom” over the following two weeks, that is, in the passages that Tim and Fred have discussed with you.
 
In preparation for their messages, both of them asked me what I thought the “Boom” was. I confess that I was pretty coy, not really giving them an answer. I really wanted them to depend on the Lord, not me, and to be honest, I was still formulating ideas myself.
 
So, if you have been on these Zoom calls over the past two weeks, or if you have been reading the transcripts or watching the archived recordings, I have a question for you. What is the Boom? What do you think it is?
 

Kingdom Secrets: Reaping

 Matthew 13:24-52

Good Morning Saints!

 

Welcome back to the second half of what Carl called two Sundays ago the boom in the chiastic structure of the book of Matthew. As you recall Carl pointed out how the series of ideas in the first half of the book of Matthew are reflected in the second half in reverse order. This chiastic structure reinforces important points and creates a particular focus on the midpoint of the chiasm, the very center of the text and its key theme.

 

So, last week Tim shared the first half of the midpoint Boom in chapter 13 verses 1 through 23. That half of the boom contained the parable of the sower and the seed. Jesus explained that the seed represented the message of the kingdom. This parable focused more on the four different types of soil that the seed fell on and how the soil represented the four different attitudes of the hearts of the people that heard the message of the Kingdom. Some fell along the path soil and the Satan came and snatched it away. Some fell on rocky ground and it was received with joy but it had no root so it withered and died and some fell among the thorns and the worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth came and choked it out. Finally, some fell on good soil and it yielded thirty, sixty and a hundred fold.