Jesus the Fallen King

 Matthew 27:32-66
 

Last week Carl went over the many times the Jewish leaders broke their own laws in order to have Jesus put to death by the Romans. Today we will continue in our series in Matthew titled Jesus, King of Kings. Picking up where Carl left off in Matthew chapter 27 verse 32, we read:
 
As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). – Matthew 27:32-33
 
This event is recorded in the Gospel of John as:
 
Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle. – John 19:17-18
 
The event is recorded in Luke as follows:
 
As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. – Luke 23:26
 
And finally, the event is Mark is recorded as:
 
A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. – Mark 15:21

Are You the King

Matthew 27:1-31

Welcome! It feels great to be able to stand up here and deliver a message here in our building. But at the same time, I am even more thankful for all of you, whether you are on Zoom or in person, that you have remained faithful to God and have continued to fellowship as a part of this body despite all of the challenges, inconveniences, and trials that this past year has brought. It has been roughly a full year since the pandemic affected us here in South Carolina to the point that we began to meet online. Many things have changed in our lives and in our society, but God never changes. Politicians, employers, and even those close to us personally may disappoint, fail, and even betray us, but God remains faithful, and His promises are sure.

 
We are rapidly approaching the end of the Book of Matthew, and we will finish on Easter Sunday, two weeks from now. Because Easter is almost upon us, I want to recommend a video/podcast that I feel did an exceptionally good job discussing the evidence for the resurrection of Christ. I will include a link in the message transcript (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8nksgZerZE) but you can also easily find it by searching in YouTube or your favorite podcast app for “Mike Winger” and clicking on the recent title, dated March 17, “Teen Atheist Becomes Christian Because of this Evidence.” The format is a discussion between Pastor Mike Winger and what I think is a high-school student in Belgium named Mario who became a Christian after studying the Bible along with apologetic materials from Mike and others. He wrote a paper for school in which he defended the resurrection, and the discussion deals with how to help you answer common objections to the historicity of the resurrection and gives many categories of evidence for it. Beyond this, the faith of Mario and the gentle spirit and practical advice of Mike Winger are just super encouraging. I do not make recommendations like this often, but in this case, I feel confident that if you listen to it you will come away strengthened in your faith.

Doubters and Deniers

 Matthew 26:31-75
 

On July 19, 64AD, the city of Rome caught fire, and the fires burned for 3 days and nights. As soon as they’d get the fire put out in one place, it would spread to another only to reignite where they has just been fighting the fire. Rumors swirled about how the fire started. Many blamed the deranged Emperor Nero. He liked to build things to bring more honor to himself; many thought he started the fires to get rid of buildings he didn’t like so that he could rebuild them. In an effort to save his own life, Nero blamed the Christians. They were already distrusted within the city of Rome and therefore became an easy scapegoat. The citizens of Rome did not understand Christianity and many of their practices. For example, they thought the Lord’s Supper was cannibalistic. Even the holy kiss was misunderstood as a public sign of other gross practices they assumed were part of Christianity. As a result, persecution came easily. This time however, they got very “creative,” shall we say, with their physical persecution. Nero himself helped with the persecution. Along with having Paul beheaded, Nero would roll Christians in pitch and use them as torches around his garden. He would sew them into animal skins and turn hunting dogs loose on them. Crucifixion, racking, hanging all became more and more common forms of persecution. Shortly after this started, Peter wrote his first epistle, encouraging the believers to stand firm in their faith in the face of the trials. Where did he learn this bold confidence? Wasn’t he the one that swore to a measly servant girl that he wasn’t a follower of Jesus?
 
Let’s pray and find out.

Anointed and Betrayed

Matthew 26:1-30
 

Last time in our study of Matthew we wrapped up the Olivet Discourse with the last parable that Jesus told during his life on earth, the story about the separation of the sheep and the goats, a description of the last judgment. The sheep are welcomed into the kingdom, and the goats are sent away to eternal punishment. People have had questions about the meaning of this story probably ever since it was told, since on its surface it appears to indicate that each person’s eternal destiny is solely dependent on what good deeds they do during their lifetime. However, we have so much other New Testament teaching that confirms that salvation is not through good works, but only by grace, through faith, a gift from God that we receive without deserving it. So we can understand that the good deeds mentioned in the parable – feeding the hungry and being kind to strangers, prisoners, and the poor – are practical actions that spring from true faith and gratefulness to God. In the story they are described as being done unconsciously, a reflection of a sheep’s real identity, not in an effort to earn the favor of the King.
 
You may recall back in chapter 10 where Jesus was talking about salvation and rewards in a similar way, at the end of his second discourse:
 
 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward. – Matthew 10:39-42
 
Finding one’s life in this context implies determining one’s own destiny, being in control and striving for personal benefit. That approach, which rejects God, will end in eternal death. In contrast, losing one’s life – probably not literally, but in submission to God – will result in eternal life with him. Welcoming a disciple of Jesus is the same as welcoming him and his Father, who sent him. Good deeds, even something as simple as giving a cup of refreshing water, will be rewarded, but notice the element of faith here. Welcoming a prophet as a prophet and a righteous person as a righteous person requires acknowledging the source of their truth and righteousness, namely God himself. The reward then is fellowship with the true God, through a revelation of who he is and what he has done for each of us.

Sitting on HIs Glorious Throne

 Matthew 25:31-46
 

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. – Matthew 25:31
 
Why is Jesus talking about this issue? I think it stems from the question back in Matthew 24:3 in which the disciples asked, “what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” So, it seems as if Jesus is still answering their question. To my knowledge Jesus is only going to return once. Once he is here, he will reign for a thousand years.
 
The first time that Jesus came, he came as a lamb to be slaughtered. He was born in a barn with no glory. He was born to two parents who were simple. They did not have much and they did not look like much. As a young man he worked as a carpenter. He probably had to deal with customer service issues. Like me, in my business, he probably did not just have one boss, he had many bosses to please. I bet there was messiness involved. Before he started his travelling missionary work, he was baptized by a man who wore clothes made out of camel hair, and he ate locusts...with a touch of honey. He gathered 12 men who were ordinary and unschooled as it says in Acts 4:13. That does not sound too much like a glorious entourage for a king. He was not like charismatic evangelists of our time, waiting for people to come to him at his event. In Luke 19:10 Jesus said that he was going be the one to do the seeking. In Matthew 20, some of his disciples were jockeying for a better position in the group. He corrected their mindset by saying, “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28) Later, Judas betrayed Jesus to be arrested by the Romans. Instead of demonstrating his glory, power and authority, he said, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” (Matthew 26:53-54). None of these things seem to portray a king who has glory. Well, where I come from, we had a saying. “You ain't seen nothin’ yet.”

Journeys to the Kingdom

 Matthew 25:1-30

Good morning! Today we continue our series in Matthew, looking at the first part of Chapter 25. I have entitled the message “Journeys to the Kingdom,” but perhaps a better title might be “Journeys Illustrating the Kingdom,” as our passage today focuses on two parables that each involve journeys. But before we look at our passage, I think it is helpful to recall the context, which we have explored over the past two weeks in Matthew 24.
 
These two chapters, Matthew 24 and Matthew 25, are known as the Olivet Discourse, because Jesus told them to His disciples while sitting at the Mount of Olives. Jesus begins by telling them that a time will come when the Temple will be destroyed. His disciples ask Him when this will be, and what will be the signs of His coming and of the end of the age.
 
Jesus gives them signs, but also warns them that before He comes, deceivers will come who claim to be Him, and they should be careful not to fall for them. He also tells them that as for the day and hour of when these things will happen, nobody knows except God the Father. He warns them to keep watch, because His coming will be sudden and not when people expect Him. He ends Chapter 24 by warning that some will be like servants put in charge of a master’s household who, thinking they have plenty of time, chooses to live evilly and wildly. This person, Jesus says, will be caught in the midst of his disobedience and “assigned a place with hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Keeping Watch

 
Matthew 24:36-51
 

Are you keeping watch for the end of the age? What does this even mean? As John pointed out last Sunday, the disciples were wondering this, as they asked Jesus in verse 2 of Matthew 24, “What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” They knew that Jesus would be bringing in his kingdom in a more complete way. They suspected that the world as they knew it would change dramatically. Would that happen now or at some point in the future? How would they know what to expect? Jesus had just given them the shocking news that their beloved and honored temple would be destroyed; maybe he would explain the complete picture of what was to happen.
 
Jesus does give them a vivid warning that it will be a tough time, but that he will return to “gather his elect.” All the peoples of the earth would “see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.” When the temple was completely destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. no doubt many Christians wondered if Jesus would return right then. This surely was one of the signs of his coming, the “abomination that causes desolation” prophesied by Daniel more than 600 years earlier.
 
But John also pointed out in his message last week that Biblical prophecy is usually fulfilled in multiple ways, in the near term and also in the end times. We have to be very careful with definitive interpretations that associate prophetic elements with current events, in an attempt to predict the end of the world. But people have been trying to do this ever since Jesus returned to heaven. Many times entire communities have stopped their normal activities and just waited, convinced that Jesus was about to return at any moment. Is that what it means to “keep watch”? We will see from today’s passage that the answer is no. We pick up Jesus’ discourse again in the middle of Matthew 24:

Mourning When the King Returns

 Matthew 24:1-35
 

Good morning! As we move into chapter 24 in the book of Matthew, let’s look back and get a glimpse of where we are in Jesus’ life on earth.
 
It is now the middle of the Passion Week, only days from Jesus’ crucifixion and death. Jesus has been in Jerusalem during the day and staying a few miles to the east in Bethany each night.
 
On Sunday, the first day, of the Passion Week, Jesus was ushered into the city riding on a donkey’s colt as the people laid cloaks and palm branches before him all the while shouting “Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!”
 
Then, Jesus entered the temple courts and cleared the corrupt money changers and those buying and selling there. This week, I happened to read the account of these events in Mark’s gospel. There it says that Jesus also prevented anyone from carrying merchandise through the temple courts. It seems in addition to the money changers and buyers and sellers, other people were using the temple courts not as a place of worship but a short cut carrying whatever goods they needed to transport directly through the temple courts. The focus of many people in the temple courts was not on God but on themselves.
 
Each subsequent day, Jesus was in the temple courts teaching and being questioned. The events of the Passion Week are jam packed. It is still only Monday or Tuesday as we reach Matthew 24. The questions to trap Him, the parables He told, the repeated astonishment of the crowds, the seven woes, all these events happened in the course of one or at most two days.

Woe to You Hypocrites

 Matthew 23:1-39
 

Today we continue our series in Matthew titled Jesus King of Kings. As John, Tim and Carl have stated Jesus is in the last week before His Crucifixion. Last week Carl explained the difference of the Herodians and the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
 
As I prepared for today’s message I wondered “What the difference between the teachers of the law, the scribes, and the Rabbi’s were and how they and Synagogues and the Sanhedrin originated?”. So, today’s message is going to touch on the answer to this question. Before we get into that let us pray and ask the Lord to open our hearts to what He wants us to learn and apply from His word in these passages from Matthew chapter 23.

Traps

 Matthew 22:15-46
 

Welcome! Today we continue our series into the book of Matthew, now looking at the last week before the crucifixion. There is a lot to talk about in today’s passage, but I think it helps to understand the context with a quick review of some things we have looked at in the last two weeks.
 
Recall that Jesus has been teaching the crowds, who by and large love Him (even hailing Him as the Messiah as He rode into Jerusalem). He has also been opposing the religious leadership, even cleansing the temple of their excessive-money-making exchanges. He has also embarrassed them in public debate, pointed out their hypocrisy, and generally won decisively against them in the “court of public opinion” which was really an honor-shame contest. The religious leadership resents Jesus, hates Him, is jealous of Him, and fear for their future if He continues to grow in popularity.