Matthew Series, Week 39 - “Resolute Disciples”

 In my sophomore year of baseball we had the opportunity to play in an invitational Christian college tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In was a really fun experience, and the first time I saw Arizona. We had to make a stop at the Phoenix airport to pick up one of our teammates, and I remember circling before we landed, thinking, who would ever want to live in such brown place?

When we arrived in Tulsa, and started the the tournament, we won our first game. We then made our way to another game in progress, the winner of which we would play. Now you have to understand, this wasn’t just any tournament, we represented Christian colleges from all over the US. And when we sat down to watch this game, it was like watching a a rugby game. I can’t remember the names of the teams, but I do remember that one was out of Florida. The reason I remember that one is because they were memorable. The players were cussing everything in the world. Cussing the other team, the fans in the stands, and the umpires. Several times their players got up to brawl with the other team over minimal slights. But it wasn’t just the players, their coaches as well. In all my years of play I had never seen such bad behavior from an entire team, and I wasn’t the most even tempered player myself. 

We left early from that game and held a team meeting when we heard that they had won. After a long discussion, we decided to protest the game. In order to get to that game, we had to fundraise the money. Our school provided nothing for us; we had to earn every penny to go. But in that moment, we decided that it wasn’t worth it to play. The prize didn’t mean as much to us, as the statement that we were there to play as Christian brothers, honoring Jesus. 

We got a lot of angry comments from the other teams and coaches. One of our own teammates was so angered by our decision not to play, that he left the school the following year. Afterward, when the duo settled, we found out that the Florida school was so embarrassed by their teams representation, that they fired the coaching staff, and expelled several of the teams players. A thank you letter was sent to our coach from the tournaments organizers thanking us for taking an unpopular stance.

We could have played, and we could have won, but even if we beat the that team, it would have been a loss on their record, but not a challenge to their behavior. When our team took the stand to not play because they were not representing Christ, it did more than an “L” in their ledger. Because it said to the other schools, that a wins/loss record is nothing compared to our representation of Jesus.

And it’s this idea of taking a stand that leads us back to Matthew chapter 24, where we will be in verse 1. And as we open to Matthew 24, verse 1, let’s look at where we are so far in our final section of the Gospel of Matthew.

For the last five weeks we’ve been looking at Jesus’ authority and how, as disciples, we must submit to it. In the first four weeks of this final section of Matthew, we talked about how, as disciples, we are to be satisfied with what God gives us, seeking his will over our own, acting on his will in faith, all the while making sure that we are not trying to confine him to our limited understanding of what he can do. Taken all together, if we do not box God in, then what he desires will be what we desire, making it easy to do what he says, and be satisfied while doing it. This is what it means to live under Jesus’ authority.

But in our last week, we saw what it means to live outside of his authority. In the seven woes, we can see that to live under Jesus’ authority means to live for him. But to live outside of Jesus’ authority is to live for ourselves. Which sounds good, who wasn’t a teenager ready to live out from under their parent’s rule? Yet, just like every teenager learns that they had it better when they didn’t have to work or provide for themselves, it will eventually come to a point where those who live for their own authority will learn that it only leads to destruction.

It’s on the heels of this understanding that we come to Matthew chapter 24, and one of those passages that are so crammed packed with deep theology, that in our summer series we cannot hope to excavate everything that is there. Instead, like we do in these summer series, we are going to look at the over arching point of the passage.

So let’s read, Matthew chapter 24, starting in verse 1.

1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.

9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.

22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.

26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.

29 “Immediately after the distress of those days “‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Now if we were to read this section as a whole, we need to read all the way to the end of chapter 25. But that would be so overwhelming that we are stopping here, because, though the overarching thought goes all the way through chapter 25, there are three sub to this larger section of Scripture.

The first of these subparts are linked by Jesus’ words in verse 4, 25, and 32. So, for our first of these three subparts we are going to focus on these first 35 verses, to understand the point of Jesus’ first sub-thought. 

This whole section begins with what seems like the disciples boasting about the temple they are leaving. If you remember from last week, Jesus spoke of the desolation. God had made desolate the first temple due to Israel failing to hold their end of the covenant they made with God. This is why Jesus tells them that the second temple will also be destroyed. 

The disciples are understandably interested in when this will happen. Remember, at this point they’re still in the mistaken idea that Jesus has come to Jerusalem with the goal of re-establishing Israel as a great nation. So they want to know when they can expect Jesus to begin the uprising.

And, in an uncommon response, Jesus lays out the events that must occur before he will take his rightful place as the Davidic King. But we must not miss the reason for what Jesus says. That’s where verses 4, 25, and 32 come in. In these verses Jesus tells the disciples his purposes in telling them when the end and his return will occur. He says things like, “See that no one leads you astray (v.4)… See, I have told you beforehand (v.25)… From the fig tree learn its lesson…”

The purpose of Jesus laying out the events that proceed his full taking of the Davidic throne, is so that his disciples will not follow false prophets and messiahs, and that his disciples would know the signs that proceed his coming. So everything that Jesus presents here, isn’t to give us a moment-by-moment breakdown of everything that will happen, but rather the highlights. So let’s look at these highlights.

First, Jesus gives us three parts of the his return: events that proceed the end, events during the greatest tribulation of humanity, and finally his return. 

The proceeding events, will have people claiming to be the returned Jesus, but are not. We can see this happen all around us. In fact, years ago I did a study of people claiming to be the Messiah. Starting in the 1800s, a person claiming to be Jesus came on the scene roughly every dozen or so years. By the 1900s, that number went to 1 every 8 years. Today, there are handfuls of people around the world that currently led groups who claim to be some sort of reincarnate Jesus. A popular one is Vissarion in Russian who has gathered a large following. 

But false christs are just one sign. Wars, rumors of wars, famines, and earthquakes will also be in this stage of proceeding events. Another study I did found that, starting in the first century AD, a large scale war occurred roughly every 80 years. So at least one every century. But in the 1900s that number went down to 1 every 11 years. And since the turn of the 21st century, the world has seen nothing but war. Even now, there is a major war in Ukraine that is effecting the world, and there is a rumor of a war in Taiwan. 

Yet, all these things Jesus says are, “birth pains.” Just because we see them, just means we are getting closer. But added to these proceeding events is that Jesus’ disciples will have greater tribulation. The Church will see great betrayal, love in this world will grow cold. We are seeing these things as well. Too often we look to the western Church to see the things that effect us, but the world wide Church as seen greater persecution in the last fifty years. In Africa the Church is being persecuted like never before. We in the western Church are just now feeling it, but there’s more to come. We see love grow cold everywhere in our society, but it has been growing colder and colder for decades. 

But these are just the proceeding events, the event that seems to end these proceeding ones, is what Jesus tells us in verse 14, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Jesus’ Gospel will be witnessed to in every nation. That means that there will be a witness of the Gospel of Jesus in every corner of this world, to every people group, and once that happens we have moved from the proceeding events to the events of the greatest tribulation the world has ever seen.

There are two events that Jesus focuses on here, the first is the Abomination of Desolation, and the second are more false prophets and christs. 

The Abomination of Desolation comes from the Old Testament book of Daniel, chapters 9:27, 11:31, and 12:11. The temple that Jesus said would be torn down, will have a third one built in its place. This isn’t a temple that God decrees, because God no longer dwells in man built buildings, but rather in the lives of his disciples. This third temple will restore the sacrifices    of Israel’s covenant, But soon after, a person will enter the temple and proclaim their own deity to rival God’s. The sacrifices to the covenantal God of Israel will cease, and the world will turn to a new god to follow. 

It is here that the outflow of false prophets and false christs will explode exponentially. They will all be calling the people of the world to follow this false deity. And it will be a horrific time for those who call on the name of Jesus for salvation. 

But there is one more transitory event that happens. In verse 29, Jesus combines the end times language found against Israel in Isaiah’s thirteenth chapter, with the language in Isaiah’s thirty-fourth chapter, to let us know that his return will be a sign so massive, that all the earth will see it. What we see in our sky will have such a disturbance that if we’re not awake yet, this is our last opportunity to come out of our slumber. Jesus proceeds this last sign with some eerie words, “Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.”

The imagery of vultures at a corpse is to relay to us the death of this world. But it is also to remind us that when we see the vultures, we know what they are doing. And so, when we see these signs we know what is about to happen.

Finally Jesus returns, he gathers his people to himself, and begins his eternal rule. There is more that the Scriptures teach on this subject, but our goal in this summer series is to see how these moments we are given by way of the Holy Spirit’s direction, connect to the overarching themes of this particular Gospel. 

And we can see this in Jesus lesson of the fig tree. Jesus says, “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.”

Just as there are signs to know when seasons change, we must know and be ready and mindful of the signs that proceed the coming of Jesus. For almost 2,000 years the Church has been looking and waiting, and we can see that the signs that Jesus spoke of seem to be happening in our day. So what must we do?

Jesus tell us that he gives us the information so that we won’t be led astray. We won’t be people who follow false prophets, christs, or any other. That we will be his disciples, under his authority, seeking his will, satisfied with his purposes. 

This week I want to challenge you to first, not be afraid, that’s not the purpose that Jesus has for telling us what will happen at the end. Secondly, there’s a quote up on a wall of the church for the men. It reads, “Don’t pray for easy lives, pray to be stronger men.” I want to challenge you to have a paraphrase of this quote as your prayer this week. As you here about the wars, about the persecution, about the famines and earthquakes and problems of this world, pray this, “Lord, make me a stronger disciple.”

Our Lord could return soon, let us as his people pray for that day, let us be on the look out for what our Lord has said, and let us walk strong in his ways, that we may be gathered together with him on that greater and glorious day. Amen.

Matthew Series, Week 38 - “No Woe for Me”

 In our day there are warning labels on everything. That’s because people have used items improperly and so as to not get sued, companies place warning labels on things. There’s a warning on wheelbarrows, that they are not intended for highway use. Or strollers that say, remove child before folding. Or how about the warning on irons, that tell you to take the shirt off before ironing. Or one of my favorites, Once you use a thermometer rectally, you shouldn’t use it orally.

These warning labels are placed on those items most likely because someone did it, and now we have the label. Throughout the Scriptures, God gives us warnings as well. So if we are going to use what he gives us right, we better understand and take seriously his warnings. 

So it’s the warnings of God that bring us back to our Matthew series, where we’ll be looking at the whole of chapter 23. And as we open to Matthew 23:1, let's see where we are so far in the Gospel.

In the four previous weeks that we’ve been studying the last section of Matthew’s book, we have looked at what it means to follow Jesus’ authority. So far we have seen that following Jesus’ authority means that we are satisfied with what he gives us, we are seeking his will instead of our own, we’re acting upon his will which is our faith in action, and we are not trying to corner God into a box of our own making.

Jesus’ authority over our lives needs to be absolute, because when it’s not, it leads to us not experiencing God’s presence the way he intended.

In fact, we can see that kind of disciplinary action in Jesus’ words today. So let’s read together Matthew 23, starting in verse 1.

1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. [14 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely (Not all manuscripts have this verse).] 

15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.

16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ 19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!

33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.

37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Chapter 23 is bookend with references to the seat of Moses and the desolation of a house. These two ideas brought together point to the reality of how Israel has lost its way through their leaders. The religious leaders place themselves in the role of Moses’ authority, thinking they have the correct reading or interpretation of the Scriptures, but if they did, they would have embraced Jesus as the Messiah. Yet, because they reject him, their house will become desolate because they are being judged by God. 

Throughout the Old Testament, when God’s presence leaves the people of Israel because of their rebellion, God speaks of leaving both homes and the land desolate. Speaking in Isaiah 5:8 we read, “The Lord Almighty has declared in my hearing: ‘Surely the great houses will become desolate, the fine mansions left without occupants.’”

The prophet Jeremiah wrote that God said, “Take warning, Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you and make your land desolate so no one can live in it (6:8).”

The presence of God is walking with them at that very moment, calling his people to himself to turn away from sin, and to salvation. Yet because they have rejected him and sought to kill him, The presence of God is withdrawing from Israel and a new covenant will now be established with the nations through the cross and resurrection.

So Jesus’ words between the bookends are both a summary of God’s reason for the removal of his presence and a warning to his disciples. So let’s look at Jesus’ seven woes and see how each is a reason for judgment and a warning to the disciples.

In Jesus’ first woe he speaks of how the religious leaders cause barriers to the kingdom. They have become the guards to the Kingdom’s gates. They think that they have a right to decide who gets in, and who is left out. But we’re told by 1st John 2:1, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” It is not the religious leaders of Israel who decide which person enters the kingdom, its Jesus. And time and time again we have seen him call all people to himself.

This is a warning to Jesus’ disciples that we cannot be guards at God’s Kingdom gates. All who accept Jesus as Savior and Lord are welcome before the throne of God. The way a person smells, the way a person sings, the way a person acts, the way a person speaks, the wealth of a person, the clothes of a person, the skin color, none of those things are what separates us from God. And we who follow Jesus, must not put any stumbling block to salvation in front of people, except Jesus himself.

If people are not going to get in to God’s Kingdom, it’s going to be on the own personal rejection of Jesus’ message of unique access through him. It should not be because we have created theology or culture that is unbiblically closing the door for people to come to God.

The second woe speaks against the religious leaders that they seek disciples for themselves, not for the Kingdom. These religious leaders are building ministries where they are the focal point. Where they are more important to the spiritual lives of the people, than God himself. Paul corrects the Corinthian church when they tried to pull this idea of following humans instead of God. We read in 1st Corinthians 3:5-6, “5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.”

This is a warning to Jesus’ disciples to not seek to build our own little kingdoms within God’s. Jesus says that we shouldn’t be called Rabbi, or father, or instructors, because we have one Teacher, one Father, one Instructor. This is one of the reasons why I don’t like to be called pastor. As Jesus’ disciples, we are all on the same level, and we are all ministered by God himself. We might help each other in different ways, using the gifts God has given us, but we are to give glory back to God, both acknowledging his work and submitting to his authority in our lives.

In Jesus’ third woe, we see that the religious teachers are teaching people to trust in things and not God. They are teaching them to place their faith, not in the person of God, but in the gold. They are teaching the people to place their faith in their own acts of sacrifice, rather than God who forgives. This is why Paul says in 1st Corinthians 2:2 that, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

The warning to Jesus’ disciples is to not focus other’s faith into what we may have for them. No ministry, will save you. No project will bring about salvation. Faith in anything other than Jesus is no faith at all. No denomination, no global or local ministry confines God’s blessing. Only Christ is holds salvation, and we cannot point others to, anything other than Jesus, his sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead.

Following Jesus’ third woe, the fourth woe calls the religious leaders out on their desire to pick and choose what commands to obey from God. The religious leaders wanted people to obey what was the most profitable for them. Tithe’s, offerings, and other payments kept the money rolling in and helped the religious leaders live more than comfortable lives. But the poor were not being taken care of. The most vulnerable were left to the wayside. This is why in the opening to James’ letter, the first chapter ends with, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world (1:27).”

This is a warning to Jesus’ disciples to not seek after wealth. Too many people have a rightful problem with the modern Church, because there are too many millionaire pastors. Too many leaders of the Church who wear thousands of dollars worth of jewelry, or drive lavish vehicles. The world has a right to call us out, but Jesus did it first. We must seek to live as subtle lives as we can, especially us leaders. It’s one reason, I personally never took a raise, even going from youth pastor to leader pastor, because the church supplied my needs and there was no reason to add to it. It’s one reasons I was uncomfortable with the recent increase in my salary. If we are not taking care of the most vulnerable among us, while the least vulnerable have excess, then we are failing God’s call on the church.

Jesus’ next two woes parallel each other. Both deal with the religious leaders trying to look righteous on the outside, but embracing sin on the inside. The religious leaders had no problem talking the talk and walking the walk in front of others. Their facade of following God fooled everyone. Everyone, except God himself. Every generation thinks that if they put on a good outward look, then they’ll be fine, but just as God said to Samuel concerning David in 1st Samuel 16:7, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart…” God is speaking that to us today.

A disciple of Jesus needs to be seeking after God to clean up the inside, the place, as Jesus said early in Matthew (15:19), where evil comes out of. It’s good not to smoke, it’s good not to cuss, but those and so many other things are merely symptoms of deeper issues. Issues that God desires to deal with. But when we focus on the outward, without addressing the inward, we create legalistic communities, where everyone is trying to look good, but none are experiencing the grace of Jesus that transforms them.

The final woe deals with the thinking of the religious leaders believing they would have followed God in the past, if they were alive when the Old Testament prophets came. But they show they wouldn’t have followed then, because they aren’t following now. If they do not submit to God’s authority as he walks in front of them as Jesus, then they would never have followed the authority given to a human who spoke on behalf of God in the past. The Hebrew writer, in the opening to their letter writes, “1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs (1:1-4).” If a person cannot accept Jesus’ words on their own, then that person cannot accept anything else God has spoken. This is the epitome to why God’s presence was taken from Israel, they rejected not simply a Messiah, but God himself, come down to the earth.

Jesus is the full revelation of God, as disciples, we do not get to pick and choose what he says, as if he was a buffet for our liking. No, we are the children who’s parents place dinner in front of them that we must eat. To think we get to choose Jesus’ words, is to not seek the true and living God who provides salvation through none other than Jesus and his cross. 

This chapter can feel like Jesus is really sticking it to the religious leaders of his day, but we see the same things that Jesus spoke against them, festering within the world wide Church today. We must take the woes against the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, and stand against what led to those woes. The Church will endure, the people of God always endure, but our witness has been tarnished again and again, and we have seen church bodies fold again and again because God has removed his presence from them.

The seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3 is a cautionary example of God’s willingness to remove his witness from those body of believers that seek their own kingdom above his. So we must hold steadfast to seeking the will of God above our own. That we are seeking the work of the Holy Spirit to transform us into the image of Jesus. That we are good stewards of the blessings of God, seeking to both love him and the people around us. That we are not a clubhouse of people who look alike, but are a collection of flawed people seeking to share God’s grace with each other. 

My challenge this week is to review the seven woes, asking God to reveal if you have succumbed or are succumbing to one or more of these warnings. Ask that the Holy Spirit both to cleanse you of it, and confess it to a fellow believer that they may pray for you. The only way that we will build each other up in the Lord, is to stand with each other in our problems and extend grace to one another.

Let us be people who are willing to be corrected by God, so that we may fully experience his presence as he created us to. Amen.

Matthew Series, Week 37 - “Jesus Everything”

  One of the things I find frustrating when talking to people about topics that take a lot of thought, are the what ifs. Scenarios that are brought up that either are impossible, or so minute in their statistical probability, that their inclusion doesn’t help, but rather hinders the conversation. We all do these what if scenarios, and we start as children. 

“Daddy will the moon crash on us? No. But what if something hit it. No. What if something really big hit it. No. What if the sun hit it. Well if the sun hit it then we would have burned up from the nuclear reactions that are going off every second within the sun and at that point we wouldn’t care if the moon crashed down on us. But what if…” And it goes on and on and on. We create these what ifs and these scenarios so as to not either change our mind, or to try to win a losing argument.

And it’s these types of scenarios that bring us back to our Matthew series, where we’ll be picking it back up in Matthew chapter 22, starting verse 15. And as we go back to Matthew chapter 22, let’s look at where we are in this final section of this Gospel.

When we started this final section we talked about how the last fifth of the book focuses on Jesus’ authority. In the first week we saw how, as disciples, we need to be satisfied in whatever God decides to give us. This is because in his authority, God understands our needs in the moment and knows how to best meet that need. 

The week after that we saw how Jesus communicated that his disciples must seek God’s will over their own. This is because he has the authority over us, and he knows what will lead to our satisfaction. 

Then in our last week in Matthew, we looked at three parables that pointed us towards God’s call to have faith that is acted upon. We cannot merely say we follow Jesus, we have to do what he says. In this way, we submit to his authority, seeking his will, and in that will we will be satisfied. 

With that in our mind we can move into three questions that are presented to Jesus, and one that he presents to his questioners. Let’s read Matthew 22, starting in verse 15. And like before we’re going to look at each question on it’s own, and then connect them to the overall theme.

15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”

18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

This first question comes from a familiar source. The Pharisees are back, but this time their bringing with them the Herodians. This group is nothing like the Pharisees. The Pharisees are a religious sect of Judaism, the Herodians are a political group. The Pharisees have very little love for the Roman government, the Herodians back the Romans, because they back the Herodian dynasty. But what they do have in common is a desire to hold onto the power they have carved out for themselves. Remember, this happens after the Triumphal entry. There’s buzz in the streets that the Messiah has come to Jerusalem. And just like all of Jerusalem was troubled when Herod met the Magi back in chapter 2, the political and religious leadership is again disturbed. 

This is why the question is proposed to Jesus about taxes. The two groups represent the two sides of the argument. The Pharisees are against Rome, if Jesus takes their side, then the Herodians have a reason to call for Jesus’ arrest. This is because he is usurping the authority of the Roman government and in fact inciting rebellion. 

On the other side, the Herodians stand with Herod and Rome, and if Jesus takes their side, it will be a win for the Pharisees who can use this to turn people against Jesus, because he would be a Roman sympathizer. 

This is what humanity tries to do with God. “God are you on our side or their’s?” Notice the interaction in Joshua chapter five, between Joshua and the Angel of the Lord, “13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’ 14 ‘Neither,’ he replied, ‘but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.’ Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, ‘What message does my Lord have for his servant?’”  I like the ESV version, where the Angel of the Lord simply says, “No.”

In the American Civil War, it is said that Abraham Lincoln was asked if God was on their side, to which Lincoln replied, “My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.”

In Luke 13, where Jesus is asked about current events, he instead points the people to repentance, because his task wasn’t to engage in social commentary, but rather Gospel work.

So Jesus’ response here, is in keeping with God’s response to humanity. He takes a third option. God should get what is God’s, and Rome should get what is Rome’s. That means, Rome should get the taxes they require, because they in turn are placed by God for the protection of people and the punishment of the lawbreakers.  And what should God get? We’ll come to that a little later on.

So let’s move on to the second question.

23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

Here, a third group is presented to us, the Sadducees. If we had a comparison to make to a modern day group, they would be the liberal scholars of the late 1800s, or a parallel to modern Progressive Christianity. They don’t hold the Scriptures in high regard, they don’t believe what is written in the Scriptures, and they create their own god from an amalgamation of the Scriptures, pagan beliefs, and their own sinful desires. And so their question, like the one before it, is supposed to be a gotcha.

In their mind, they have come up with a scenario that would disprove the idea, that people are raised from the dead. Their scenario comes from a social safety net called the kinsmen redeemer. This was a way to make sure that women who’s husband died without producing a boy to take care of their mother, could continue to be supported.  

We see this in Genesis 38 with Judah and Tamar, and we see this in the book of Ruth with Ruth and Boaz. And we see the practice codify in Israel’s covenant in places like Deuteronomy 25:5-6, and to which God speaks of himself in the role of kinsmen redeemer when he brings Israel out of Egypt in the book of Exodus 6:6-7.

The Sadducees are using this idea to trap Jesus, because they think it’s a smart one. A modern day equivalent is what a philosophy professor will tell his philosophy 101 class to disprove God. You might have heard something like this, “Can God create a boulder so heavy, that he himself cannot move it?” It seems like a trap, either the boulder is too heavy and God is not all powerful to lift it. Or God can lift it and therefore is not all powerful to create something that is absolute. But like we’ve seen God do before, there’s a third option: God is logical and doesn’t play man’s illogical games.

So Jesus answers them, walking them through their logical fallacy. First, there is no marriage in heaven. What’s the point of marriage here? To procreate, doing so in a loving monogamous relationship. In heaven, there’s no need for either, so there’s no need for marriage. Jesus compares this with the angels. They don’t marry, because there’s no point to it, and believers will be, in this respect, like the angels. Side note, the Sadducees didn’t believe in angels either. 

The Sadducees thought they had it all figured out, but they were wrong.

Their carefully thought out trap, isn’t a trap at all, because they don’t know heavenly realities. But Jesus does. Why? Well, if we’ve been paying attention throughout Matthew’s book, we’d know that it’s because Jesus is God come down. Jesus then adds an interesting insight. This is why it’s so important to notice not just what God says, but how he says it.

Jesus says that God says of himself, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?” What Jesus is getting at, is that death to us and death to God are very different. To us, the death that we see around us in final, but to God, it’s not. True death is the lake of fire at the end of this sinful age. This is why back in Matthew 9, Jesus says of the little girl who everyone said was dead, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep (v.24).” The crowd laughed, because they know what dead looks like and that girl was dead. But those who trust in God are never truly dead, though their body dies. 

Jesus fully understands spiritual realities, while we don’t. This is why Paul states in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

And with Jesus’ response to the Sadducees, he silences another group.

Two questions for Jesus down, one more to go. Let’s read, continuing in verse 34.

34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

We know by looking at other Gospel accounts that this third question, though it comes from the Pharisees, is asked by someone truly wanting to understand. So though this question comes in the midst of people trying to trap Jesus, this particular question isn’t meant to. In fact, the question probably sprang from the first question. Remember, the first was about paying taxes. Jesus’ answer was clear that we are to pay takes because it’s right for Rome to receive what is needed to continue to function. But what about God? What is God’s that we are to give back to him?

This question, and Jesus following answer brings us full circle, and lets us know what it is that we are to give to God. And the answer is, everything. Our heart, where are emotions and loyalties lie. Our soul, all our abilities, gifts, and personality traits. Our mind, our cognitive abilities, thoughts and beliefs. Everything that we are, is to be given back to God, this is what it means to love God. Paul says it like this in Romans 12:1, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Giving ourselves to God, is worship to him, is how a disciple shows that they love him.

But that’s not it. God didn’t create us just to love him, he created us to love each other. To love God is to love the people around us. We can’t do one without the other. We can’t love God and not love people, and we cannot love people without loving God. If we think we’re able to, we are not truly loving the one side we think we are.

Jesus hangs upon this understanding of loving God and loving people, all the words of the Scriptures. We cannot hope to understand the words of God, if we do not understand the purpose of those words, which is to love him and love each other.

Before we move onto the final question, that Jesus presents, I want us to take a moment and notice one thing. Just as Jesus was tempted three times by satan in the wilderness, Jesus is again tempted three times. And just like the temptations, we can see an earthly kingdom temptation, a twisting of the Scriptures, and the Messiah’s role temptation. Satan wasn’t done trying to derail Jesus in the wilderness. He was there every step of the way at the heels of Jesus.

But Jesus’ has his own question to present, so let’s read it continuing in verse 41.

41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

“The son of David,” they replied.

43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, 44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’

45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.

This is an interesting question, because it seems to be straight forward at first. In fact in the opening of Matthew’s Gospel, this is the emphasis. Matthew is trying to help Jewish readers understand that no matter how you cut it, Jesus is a descendant of David, and so is a rightful son to sit on David’s throne. That’s important, because everyone understood that it would be a son of David who would be the Messiah. So the Pharisees’ answer is correct.

Yet, though Jesus is a son of David, we should know that he’s more. And if we don’t, here’s Jesus again trying to get us to see it. Jesus quotes, Psalm 110, a psalm about the Messiah. And as these groups are questioning Jesus’s authority and Messiahship, he gives them an opportunity to give their insights into a psalm that deals with the Messiah. But they can’t answer the question. Why? Because their understanding of the Messiah isn’t what God has intended. They had pieces, but not the whole picture. What they were missing was Jesus himself.

They were too busy trying to trick and trap Jesus, that they were missing the Messiah right in front of their faces. 

And this is what it comes down to. Our world is looking for hope, and there are pieces of hope all around. But real hope, is only found in Jesus. Our world is looking for peace through treaties and laws, but real peace is found in Jesus. Humanity is looking for love, joy, comfort, stability, in places like horoscopes, relationships, politicians, but everything that were looking for is only found in Jesus the Messiah. The God who came down to earth, who lived with his creation, died for their sin, and raised back to life. Unless we trust in and follow Jesus, we will never find what we’re looking for.

So if we call ourselves Christians, we must follow the will of God, because only there can we be satisfied. We need to stop playing what ifs, or trying to trick God and allow his word to stand. And we need to follow, trusting that he is right, even when we think he’s wrong. We need to submit, because in submitting to Jesus, will we finally find what we’re looking for.

My challenge for you this week then, is to take any questions, or doubts, or what if scenarios you have before God and talk with him about them. Say something like, “this is where I’m doubting, or this is where I’m questioning you God, show me the truth.” We can be just like the groups who questioned Jesus, because we want a way to not follow his authority, but Jesus has all the answers. When we come to realize that, then we will no longer search for answers outside of God, but will be satisfied with him alone.

Then we can sing the old hymn, “It once was busy planning, Now it's trustful prayer; It once was anxious caring, Now He has the care. It once was what I wanted, Now what Jesus says; It once was constant asking, Now it's ceaseless praise. All in all forever, Jesus will I sing. Everything in Jesus, and Jesus everything.”

Let us be a people who seek only for what Jesus has, so that the world may know that Jesus is everything. Amen.