Matthew C. Mitchell's Blog, page 43

“The Coming of the Son of Man” [Matt's Messages]

“The Coming of the Son of Man”
Following Jesus - The Gospel of Matthew
November 17, 2019 :: Matthew 24:15-35

We are following Jesus through the Gospel of Matthew, and we’ve reached that Crucial Holy Passion Week where everything in the book comes to a head.

Jesus has come to Jerusalem, locked horns with and denounced the religious leaders, and has predicted the destruction of the city and the temple. Their house will be left desolate.

And in chapters 24 and 25, Jesus is teaching about that coming judgment of Israel and about His own return.

So, right now, we are learning together about the End Times.

And as I said last week, that can be both exciting and confusing.

It’s exciting because this is Jesus’ own teaching about Jesus’ own return.

And that so incredibly important!

But it’s also often confusing because it can be very complex and complicated, and Christians have often disagreed about the details.

Faithful Bible-believing Christians are all agreed that Jesus is coming back. That Jesus is really coming back, personally, the same Jesus Who left, in the same resurrected body. And that His return will change everything.

But faithful Bible-believing Christians have also not always agreed on all of the details of how and especially when that will happen.

There are actually many many different views out there and different positions.

And I’ve been trying to study a bunch of them.

And I respect those who hold all of these different positions.

I have the greatest respect for those who taught me to love and read and believe and trust my Bible and yet have a different position on these things than I have come to personally myself.

There is lots of room here for disagreement and for helping each other to see what each other sees and to sharpen one another.

So let me ask you: Have I lost you already?

I may have already confused you last week in my teaching.

And/or you may already disagree with me on my interpretation, and that’s okay.

If I haven’t lost you yet, I’ll probably lose you today!

There are a lot of details, and it can get confusing really fast. And every view, every position, has its strengths and its weaknesses. It’s hard to keep these things straight.

I confess that I may not have all of this right.

I’m doing my very best, but I come in a spirit of deep humility.

I have confidence in Jesus’ words, but that doesn’t mean that I understand them all.

When we come to passages like this one, we need to put on our thinking caps and have patience with one another.

Last week, I said that there would be two principles that guide our study of Matthew 24 and 25.

One is that we will always focus on application. Jesus is always focused on our hearts, is He not?

When Jesus teaches on eschatology, He means for it to change our hearts and to direct our lives.

This is not just information about what will happen in Jerusalem in the first century and what will happen when Jesus comes back.

This is the information we need to know about those things so that we live the way our King wants us to live while we wait for the consummation of His kingdom.

So last week, we learned that while we wait for the King’s return we are not to be fooled, not to be scared, and to not let our hearts grow cold.

How did you do?

How did you do at that this last week?

Did you let yourself be swayed by false teaching and start to swerve?

Did you get alarmed by world events and start to get alarmed?

Did you allow yourself to grow indifferent to spiritual things?

Or did you stay close to Jesus and grow in your love for Him?

Did you boldly share the gospel of the kingdom while you wait for the King?

Here’s how we will know if we have really received this teaching in Matthew 24 and 25–if we live differently because we have studied it.

If we go on doing the same old same old, we are wasting our time studying eschatology. ...

The second key thing we are going to do as we study Matthew 24 and 25 is keep our eyes on the ball.

How many times have I said that as we’ve studied Matthew?!

Matthew is a theological biography of Jesus Christ.

And the key question that should always be at the back of our minds as we study Matthew is, “Who is Jesus?”

Because Matthew is keen to show us!

That’s the number one thing that He’s up to–“Who is Jesus?”

So here is my title for today’s message. It goes right along with that.

“The Coming of the Son of Man”

Those words appear in verse 27.

And similar words show up in verse 30.

“The Coming of the Son of Man.”

In Greek, it is “hay parousia tou huiou tou anthropou.”

“The coming of the Son of Man.”

Who is this Son of Man?

That’s Jesus. We’ve seen again and again in the Gospel of Matthew that “Son of Man” is Jesus’ favorite name for Himself.

Do a search on it this afternoon on your Bible app. Search “Son of Man” in your Bible and see how Jesus loves to use this self-designation.

Jesus used it when He asked Peter and the disciples that mega-question in chapter 16, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” “Who do you say I am?” And the right answer was, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

And He’s used it again and again to talk about Himself in relation to the End Times.

In chapter 13, Jesus said the Son of Man would send out His angels to “weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.”

In chapter 16, He said the “Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.”

In chapter 19, He said, that “at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, [His disciples] will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

And now in chapters 24 and 25, Jesus is teaching more about that coming of the Son of Man. And that’s Him!

What His coming will be like, and how to think about it and how to prepare for it.

And what good news it is.

The coming of the Son of Man is good news for you and me if we are followers of Jesus Christ.

This morning, I have four points of good news to apply to our lives because the Son of Man is coming.

But first, we have to complete the “Birth Pains.”

Do you remember the “Birth Pains” of verses 4 through 14?

Jesus was describing these difficult things that had to happen before His return.

He likened them to labor pains.

Very painful, right Moms?
Birth pains tell you that something big is coming.
Something joyful!
It’s inevitable and on the way.
But first it hurts.

But birth pains also don’t tell you exactly when something is going to happen.

They can come and go in frequency and intensity.

I think that verses 4 through 26 of chapter 24 describe the period of these birth pains.

And then verses 27 through 31 tell us about the Coming of the Son of Man.

So last week, we only made it up though verse 14. To get all the way up to the Coming of the Son of Man, we have to complete the Birth Pains.

Including one of the most painful birth pains there ever would be–the destruction of the temple in the year 70 AD.

Remember the context for this prophecy. In verse 1, Jesus was walking away from the temple, and His disciples try to get Him to stay and pay attention to the temple and its glorious gold-covered buildings.

But Jesus responded in verse 2, “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be throne down.”

Total destruction is coming to the temple.

And hearing that rocks the disciples’ world, so they come privately to Jesus on the Mount of Olives, so that this is often called the Olivet Discourse, the Mount of Olives Teaching on the End Times.

And they ask (v.3), “Tell us when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

And in their minds, all 3 of those things were probably the same thing.

But we know now that they are actually separated in time.

And Jesus knew that, too.

So what was Jesus answer? What did Jesus tell them was when the temple would be destroyed? Or what were the signs of His coming and the end of the age?

I think that most of us decided last week that Jesus did not directly answer their questions in verses 4 through 14.

Jesus doesn’t always tell us what we want to know.

He does tell us what we need to know.

Jesus told them about the birth pains. About these difficult things that will happen from that moment until Jesus comes back.

About deceivers and false Christs and false prophets.
And wars and rumors of wars.
And famines and earthquakes.
And persecution and hatred.
And apostasy and increase in wickedness.
And cold cold hearts.

Birth pains.

Now, last week, I said that there are basically three different approaches to interpreting the fulfillment of the events prophesied in Matthew 24 and 25.

On the one side are those people who think that almost all of this stuff has already happened. It’s over. That approach is called the past approach, or the fancy name for it is the “preterist” approach. And it’s been popular at various times in church history.

On the other side are those people who think that almost everything in Matthew 24 and 25 is still future, hasn’t happened yet. The fancy name is “futurist” for that approach. And futurism has been very popular in the last 150 years especially here in America. I was taught it, and you’ve all heard it taught at some point.

And then everybody else is somewhere in the messy middle. It’s not as clean as either of these two ends (and I’m not sure it even has a name), but somewhere in here is where I land on a number of these things. To me, some things have already happened and some things have not.

I think that verses 4 through 14 are on both sides at the same time! The birth pains are things that have happened, are happening right now, and will happen until the return of Christ. That was last week.

Now, it might surprise you to learn that I think that verses 15 through 21 are actually things that have already happened. I’m “preterist” on the next paragraph.

The next paragraph (vv.15-21) is full of things that were future when Jesus predicted them during Crucial Week, but they were then fulfilled in the first century so now they are past. Look at verse 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–then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now–and never to be equaled again.”

Now, I was taught by faithful, Bible-believing Christians that all of those things have not yet happened.

And that’s a valid and faithful interpretation of this passage. Many solid Bible teachers believe it, and it might be true. It was certainly all future when Jesus taught it.

But I think that Jesus is answering the first part of the disciples’ question here.

He’s telling them when the temple will be destroyed.

Jesus is prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD.

Look again at verse 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–then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”

What is this “abomination that causes desolation?” More woodenly translated, “The abomination of desolation.”

Where do those words come from?

They come from the Old Testament prophetic book of Daniel.

“The abomination of desolation” was predicted by the prophet Daniel. Daniel uses these exact words in chapter 9, verse 17, chapter 11, verse 31, and chapter 12, verse 11. Look them up this afternoon.

And the Jews who had read the book of Daniel (let the reader of Daniel understand, the Jews) had been looking for this abomination since Daniel had predicted it.

And they had already experienced foretastes of it between Daniel and Jesus.

There was a man named Antiochus IV Epiphanes who was the Seleucid ruler of Israel in 167 BC–that’s after Alexander the Greek and before Rome took over. (If you are one who studies Daniel, that’s the belly and thighs of bronze in his statue vision.)

And this man, Antiochus IV, was evil.

He went into the post-exilic temple and had an altar to Zeus constructed and then sacrificed pigs on it! And he made it illegal to practice Judaism. Circumcision, Sabbath, priesthood. All of those things were outlawed under Antiochus Epiphanes. May his name rot.

And there was an uprising against him by the Maccabees, and the eventual victory they had is celebrated yearly at the Festival of Lights also called Hanukkah. This happened in the time between your Old Testament and your new.

Antiochus Epiphanes was a manifestation of the abomination of desolation.

And yet he was just a foreshadowing.

So in the first century, after Jesus in the mid-sixties, the Jews tried to rebel against Rome.

And Rome sent armies led by General Titus to put down the rebellion.

And the armies surrounded Jerusalem and laid siege.

And then they marched into town. Titus and his generals marched into the temple.

And they walked into the Holy Place. These Roman generals marching around inside the temple.

And then they set fire to it.

And then they went after the gold.

The gold melted in the fire, and so it was everywhere. It was in the cracks between the rocks.

Remember how big those rocks were? Big as boxcars.

So what did they do? The Romans started uprooting and overturning all of those huge stones in the burned-out temple to retrieve the gold.

So that when they were done, there was nothing left of the temple!

Not just no gold left, but no temple left!

What did Jesus say in verse 3? “Not one stone left on another.”

What did He say last chapter? “Your house will be left desolate.”

The abomination of desolation.

In verse 16, Jesus told the disciples that when they saw these things unfolding before their eyes, they should run for the hills!

“...then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”

Run and don’t stop!

“Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.”

And here’s something amazing:

They did that.

This is exactly what they did. They obeyed Jesus.

The Christian historian Eusbeius says when the Christians saw the Roman armies gathering around Jerusalem, they got out of town.

Many of them fled to a place named Pella across the Jordan River.

So when Jerusalem fell, most of the Christians had escaped.

They believed Jesus’ teaching and got out of Dodge.

But the destruction was terrible.

It was worse that 586 BC when Nebuchadnezzar sacked the city and destroyed Solomon’s temple and dragged Daniel into exile.

It was worse than 167 BC when Antiochus Epiphanes sacrificed a pig on the altar.

Jesus says that it was the single worst thing to ever happen in Jerusalem.

“For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now–and never to be equaled again.” ...

Now, those are big words, and I know that it’s hard to see them as describing something that’s already happened back in the first century.

I have great sympathy for those who think they must be pointing at some Great Tribulation in the future. I used to think so myself.

And it’s even possible that it might be both/and. That these words was initially fulfilled in the first century, and they will be even more fulfilled in the future. There are hints at that in Daniel 9, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and Revelation 13.

What we need to understand is just how devastating it was in Jerusalem in the first century.

Josephus says that 97,000 Jews were enslaved.

And he says that 1.1 million Jews were killed right there in the city.

Unspeakable horrors and atrocities were committed.

It was a slaughter. And it was total destruction.

Not just of the temple, but of the people.

And for density and concentrated desolation, there has never been anything like it.

It was the absolute worst of the Birth Pains.

Now, I told you that there would be good news. I’ll bet you’re ready for it by now. I am.

Here’s the good news in verse 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.”

I’m not sure if the “those days” in verse 22 are just verses 15 through 21 or if they are verses 4 through 21. Both make sense in this context.

I think, they might be 4 through 21, all of the Birth Pains. If the Birth Pains had not been cut short, then everybody would die. I know that’s true for women giving birth, right?

Here’s the good news. The Coming of the Son of Man will be:

#1. GRACIOUS.

Not everyone will experience this devastating judgment.

Everyone deserves it, but not everyone will experience it.

Because God is gracious.

And because He loves His people. Jesus says, “For the sake of the elect.”

Who don’t deserve it, but are His chosen people.

That’s grace.

When we read verses 15 through 21, we are supposed to tremble.

Tremble at God’s justice being meted out on Israel who had rejected Him.

And tremble at God’s grace being lavished on His people who do not deserve it.

This is Thanksgiving Season. And one of the things we should be the most grateful for is that the Lord does not treat us as our sins deserve. Amen?

We deserve what Jerusalem got!

We deserve the treatment the temple received!

But for our sake (we’re the elect, those who believe in Jesus) those days were shortened.

It will not get as bad as it could get.

That’s grace. That’s amazing grace! How sweet the sound! Amen?

V.23

“At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect–if that were possible.”

Notice what that means.

Can the elect be fully deceived?

No! Because of God’s grace, those who are truly His own children, though often confused, will not be ultimately misled. He’s so gracious!

Verses 23-26 are a lot like verses 4 and 5 that we looked at last week.

Jesus doesn’t want His disciples to be snookered by false Christs and false teachers even if they can do miracles, and some of them apparently can.

V.25 “See, I have told you ahead of time. [He’s a prophet. Keep your eye on the ball! It’s all about Him. V.26] ‘So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.”

Number two. The Coming of the Son of Man will be:

#2. OBVIOUS.

Don’t believe it if some person says, “Hey, come over here. He’s over here.”

There are lots of people who want to convince you they have the secret of Jesus. Just come over to their side and pay your $19.99.

Jesus says that His return will not be hidden or missed.

It will be as public as it gets.

“For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”

The whole world will see it!

“Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.”

Obvious! Impossible to miss.

As obvious as carrion is to a vulture.

Or as obvious to us that there is a carcass because we see the vultures in the sky.

You can’t miss it. Don’t worry! Don’t fret! Don’t think you’ve missed it.

When Jesus comes back, it will be unmistakable.

And when Jesus comes back, it will be:

#3. GLORIOUS.

Verse 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.' ‘At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 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.”

Now, believe it or not, there are some faithful Bible-believing Christians who put that paragraph (vv.29-31) in the “past” category.

They don’t think it describes the Return of Jesus.

They still expect the Return of Jesus just like you and I do, but they don’t think that those verses are talking about that.

I think they are wrong.

I think that this is obviously future, and it is the return of Jesus. The coming of the Son of Man.

I believe that the “those days” in verse 29, refer to the whole period of the Birth Pains from verse 4 through verse 26, including but not limited to the Biggest Birth Pain of the Destruction of the Temple in 70AD.

So when Jesus says, “Immediately after the distress of those days...” He means the distress, the tribulation, of the whole period (vv.4-26).

After all of the Birth Pains have finally been completed, then the Son of Man will come.

And what a day that will be!

Heavenly signs. Earth-shattering signs. 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.”

I don’t know if that’s literal. I think it probably is.

This will be the most momentous event since the crucifixion and resurrection!

And the whole creation will be in upheaval over it.

V.30 “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky...”

I think that means that Jesus Himself will appear. Perhaps with great unfurling banner for all to read “King of Kings and Lord of Lords!”

“...and all the nations of the earth will mourn.”

Why? Why will they cry?

Because they have rejected Him.

Everyone who does not belong to Jesus will realize what they have missed.

“They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.”

That’s also a fulfillment of Daniel. Daniel chapter 7.

Listen to Daniel 7:13&14. Written more than 500 years before Jesus was born.

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”

The Son of Man will be given this great authority from the Ancient of Days and then come down here, riding on the clouds, and begin His reign.

Not just with a sign in the heavens. But with a trumpet call. V.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.”

I think that’s what we often call "the Rapture."

Our drawing up to be with Him forever.

Just like it says in 1 Thessalonians 4.

To meet Him in the air and be with Him forever.

The Coming of the Son of Man will be glorious!

I can’t hardly wait. How about you?

Are you ready?

Because it’s going to be wonderful for all of the elect. For all of God’s chosen people.

It’s going to be wonderful!

But it will be terrible for those who are outside.

It will be terrible for the unbelievers.

It will be awful for those who have not trusted in Jesus as their Savior and their Lord.

Verse 30 says all the nations of the earth will mourn. (Zech 12.)

O friend, I don’t want that to be you.

Repent now while you still can.

Or you will mourn when Jesus returns.

Almost there. One more point of good news, and then we’ll sing and go home.

The Coming of the Son of Man Will Be:

#4. SOON AND SURE.

(I couldn’t think of another word that rhymed with glorious.)

Verse 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. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

Now, some people see Israel in the fig tree. And that’s possible.

Israel is likened to a fig tree elsewhere in the Bible. I think we saw that back in chapter 21 when Jesus cursed that fig tree.

So some Bible-believing Christians think that the restoration of the nation of Israel might be a sign that the fig tree is putting out leaves again. That’s possible.

But I think it’s just an illustration of how to think about all of these things. I think Jesus simply means that when you see a fig tree or any tree beginning to sprout leaves, you know that Summer is coming.

You don’t know when. You know it’s Spring right now. But you know that Summer is just around the corner.

Summer is closer if there are figs, but you don’t know exactly when Summer will arrive.

It’s the same thing when the leaves fall, right? You know that Winter is coming. We can feel it. But you don’t know when the heavy snows will come and stay.

It’s like the Birth Pains. You know that the baby is coming. It’s obvious that the baby is coming. But you still don’t know when.

Jesus says (v.33), “Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.”

I think he means all of the things in verses 4 through 26, the things leading up to the Coming of the Son of Man.

When you see all of that, including the destruction of the temple, then you know it’s near. Or that could be translated, “you know that He is near, right at the door.”

Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King.

But soon on His time table. Not ours. We’re going to be hearing this again and again as we follow Jesus through the rest of Matthew 24 and 25.

Soon and very soon, but not on our time table. On His time table.

And so we must wait expectantly and patiently! We’re going to see that again and again. Expectantly and patiently at the same time.

In verse 34 he says, “I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.”

There I think He means the same thing by “all these things” as He did by “all these things” in the previous verse. All of verses 4 through 26. Everything before the Coming of the Son of Man in verses 27-31.

Because that’s exactly what happened. Everything in verses 4 through 26 happened between AD 30 and AD 70.

So all of the signs that the disciples asked for and that Jesus was willing to give at that time have occurred.

These prophecies of Jesus have come to pass.

And that means that all of the prophecies He has made that are still to come WILL COME TO PASS.

And nothing will stop them.

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

Keep your eye on the ball.

Notice whose words have this ultimate authority.

“My words!”

Jesus’ words will never pass away.

The Coming of the Son of Man is Soon and It’s SURE.

It’s certain and guaranteed.

Nothing can or will stop Him from coming in all of His glory and power and take us to be with Him forever.

Soon and Sure.

Do you believe that?

This should change how we live in the here and now.

If you know that Jesus’ return more certain than the sun will come up tomorrow, how should that effect how you live tomorrow when the sun comes up?

You and I should be living unshakable lives.

I don’t know about you, but I’m easily shakable.

It doesn’t take much to get me worried and insecure and anxious.

And everybody in my life suffers for it.

Jesus is speaking this to me this morning.

“Matthew, did I predict the desolation of Jerusalem and the temple?”

Yes.

“Did it happen?”

Yes.

“Not one stone?”

Not one stone.

“What are you worried about, Matthew?

Are you worried that the Son of Man will not come on the clouds and defeat all of His enemies with power and glory and send His angels with loud trumpet call and gather you, rescue you from wherever you are even Pennsylvania?

What are you worried about, Matthew?”

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away!”


***
Previous Messages in This Series:

01. The Genealogy of Jesus
02. The Birth of Jesus Christ
03. The Search for Jesus Christ
04. The Baptism of Jesus
05. The Temptation of Jesus
06. Following Jesus
07. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount
08. The Good Life (Part One)
09. The Good Life (Part Two)
10. You Are The...
11. Jesus and the First 2/3 of the Bible
12. But I Tell You
13. But I Tell You (2)
14. But I Tell You (3)
15. In Secret
16. Choose Wisely
17. Seek First His Kingdom
18. Generous
19. These Words of Mine
20. When He Saw the Crowds
21. When He Came Down from the Mountainside
22. Follow Me
23. Our Greatest Problem
24. Who Does He Think He Is?
25. Special Agents
26. Sheep Among Wolves
27. What To Expect On Your Mission
28. Are You the One?
29. Come to Me
30. The King of Rest
31. So Thankful!
32. Overflow
33. This Wicked Generation
34. Get It?
35. What Is Really Going On Here?
36. Baptizing the Disciples
37. The Treasure of the Kingdom
38. Living the Last Beatitude
39. Five Loaves, Two Fish, and Jesus
40. It Is I.
41. Worthless Worship
42. Great Faith in a Great God
43. The Pharisees and Sadducees
44. The Question and the Promise
45. Take Up His Cross
46. Like the Sun
47. Seed-Sized Faith
48. These Little Ones
49. If Your Brother Sins Against You
50. The Lord of Marriage
51. Drop Everything
52. First and Last
53. The Suffering Serving Son of Man
54. Shouting for the Son of David
55. Expecting Fruit
56. Come to the Wedding Banquet
57. Whose Image?
58. Acing the Test
59. What Do You Think About the Christ?
60. How Not To be A Leader
61. Malignant Religion
62. Fakes and Snakes
63. Birth Pains

“Birth Pains” [Matt's Messages]

“Birth Pains”
Following Jesus - The Gospel of Matthew
November 10, 2019 :: Matthew 24:1-14

We have followed Jesus all the way through the Gospel of Matthew to that last Crucial Week in Jerusalem.

We have followed Jesus as He rode into town on Sunday hailed as the Messiah.

We have followed Jesus as He tossed the tables in the temple.

We have followed Jesus as He tussled with the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, the scribes and anybody else who wanted to challenge His authority.

Jesus was left standing, and they were left speechless.

But Jesus was not speechless.

In chapter 23, Jesus denounced the seemingly upright teachers of the Law and the Pharisees for really being fake and wrong and evil. “Hypocrites, blind guides, and snakes.”

“Woe” to them He said.

Jesus has pronounced woe upon them and upon Jerusalem. The exact opposite of flourishing.

In fact, He has pronounced judgment.

At the very end of chapter 23, Jesus said, “Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Right there, Jesus predicted both judgment upon Israel, Jerusalem, and their temple, as well as, His own return.

And that’s exactly what chapters 24 and 25 are all about.

Judgment upon Israel and the return of Jesus Christ.

Now whenever you get to talking about the return of Christ, things get both exciting and confusing.

Prophecy is very exciting because you are studying very important things that are still to come.

But it’s also very complex. There are a lot of details in prophecy that can be difficult to organize and harmonize.

And Christians, followers of Jesus Christ, have disagreed with each other throughout the history of the church on exactly how those details work together.

The main outline is clear. Jesus is coming back. He is really coming back! He is coming back personally, the same Jesus. And bodily, in His new resurrected body. And gloriously, as Judge and King.

But the timing of that return?

And the timing of the events around that return have been hotly debated by faithful, Bible-believing Christians for the last 2,000 years.

I must tell you that I do not plan to solve those debates this Sunday or any Sunday in the next few weeks!

But I do plan to lead us through Jesus’ longest teaching on eschatology, on the end times, in Matthew chapters 24 and 25.

I don’t have the last word on these words, but I believe every last word of them, and they are some of the most important last words on last things.

This is Jesus’ own teaching on Jesus’ own return!

We have studied this teaching before when we did the Gospel of Mark back in 2006 [and a re-visit on 2009] and when we did the Gospel of Luke back in 2011, but this is the first time for me to take you all the way straight through Matthew 24 and 25.

I think it’s going to take us up to Christmastime, at least. We’ll take a break when we get up close to Christmas to celebrate the holiday.

I’m no expert on prophecy, but I’ve been studying really hard to prepare for this part of the Gospel of Matthew. I’ve read several books this year to get my mind and heart set to lead you through this.

And this week, I’ve holed myself up with books from faithful pastors and great Bible scholars with names like D.A. Carson, Warren Wiersbe, David Jeremiah, Paul Feinberg, Dwight Pentecost, John Walvoord, George Ladd, Michale Wilkins, Grant Osborne, Craig Keener, F.F. Bruce, Robert Gundry, Lou Barbieri, Douglas Moo, Gleason Archer, Charles Quarles, R.T. France, Douglas O’Donnell, and Andreas Kostenberger.

You might have heard of some of them, and others not.

It’s amazing to me how much they disagree.

Again, they all believe the Bible. They all believe in the return of Christ. They all believe in Matthew 24 and 25.

But they don’t put all of the details together in the same way.

On one side, a number of people think that almost all of Matthew 24 has already happened in the past. It’s already been fulfilled.

And over on the other side, a whole bunch of people think that almost all of Matthew 24 is still to happen in the future.

And my take is that the truth is somewhere in the messy middle.

Jesus is teaching about things that have happened, are happening, and will happen.

As we go through it, I’ll try to show you what I mean.

Today, I just want to read and study the first 14 verses. Matthew 24:1-14. We’re just going to dip our toes into the water today.

But before we read it, I want to tell give you the two most important principles that will focus our time together over the next few weeks.

Neither should be very surprising, but they are still easily missed.

First, we will keep our eyes on the ball.

This is still the Gospel of Matthew. This is not just a teaching on the return of Christ. This is a teaching by Christ about Christ.

“Who is Jesus?”

Keep asking that question as we read.

And the second key principle is that when Jesus teaches on the end times, He is primarily interested in application.

Jesus does not tell us everything we want Him to tell us.

Jesus tells us everything we need Him to tell us, and He is focused on our hearts and lives.

Eschatology exists to change us.

Jesus’ teaching on His return is always meant to get our hearts in a certain place, to transform our hearts, and have to lives that flow out of those changed hearts.

He is not just interested in giving us information.

He interested in our transformation.

He doesn’t just want us to know what’s going to happen.

He’s going to tell us how to live because it’s going to happen!

So even if we get confused over some of the details (And we probably will! We definitely will!), the application of this teaching can still change our hearts and lives.

Matthew 24, verse 1.

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

It seems that Jesus is leaving the temple in judgment.

He has said that their house will be left desolate, and you won’t see Him again until His blessed return.

He has turned His back on the temple and is walking away.

But His disciples don’t want Him to walk away.

They are in awe of the temple. They come up to Him and point out the buildings.

And they were pretty amazing buildings!

Remember, this is the temple that was rebuilt by Herod the Great. Took him like 40 years. And it was pretty amazing.

The Jewish historian Josephus described the temple like this:

“The exterior of the building wanted nothing that could be astound either mind or eye. For, being covered on all sides with massive plates of gold, the sun was no sooner up than it radiated so fiery a flash that persons straining to look at it were compelled to avert their eyes, as from solar rays. To approaching strangers, it appeared from a distance like a snow-clad mountain; for all that was not overlaid with gold was of purest white. From its summit protruded sharp golden spikes to prevent birds from settling upon and polluting the roof. Some of the stones in the building were forty-five cubits in length, five in height, and six in breadth.” (Quoted in Jesus and the Future by Kosteberger et all, pg. 34).

I'm not good at math, but I think that’s sixty-seven feet long, twelve feet high, and eighteen feet wide. 

Stones that big. Bigger than a boxcar!

And gold everywhere.

Most of these disciples were from Galilee in the North. They had never seen anything like it.

They were Gomer Pyle in New York City.

“Shazam. Well, golly!”

And Jesus is walking away from it all.

“Jesus, are you sure you want to walk away from this glorious building?”

“You were just cleansing it a few days ago and saying how it should be used!”

“And now you’re turning your back on it?”

And Jesus says, “Do you see all these things?” Yeah. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

Total destruction.

The temple took up one sixty of the land mass of old Jerusalem.

It was a wonder of the ancient world. The outer dimensions would cover twelve football fields.

Scholars estimate that up to 75,000 people could be accommodated in just the Court of the Gentiles!  That’s 5 times the size of the Bryce Jordan Center just in the front court.

And Jesus says that it’s all coming down.

You know the Western Wall, the Wailing Wall? That was part of a retaining wall on the outskirts of Herod’s temple. It wasn’t really part of the temple proper.

It was all coming down according to Jesus.

Now, that’s a prediction of the future.

At least, it was future when Jesus said it.

He is a prophet. And a prophet like no other.

He is the prophet foretold in Deuteronomy 18.

He knows the future, and when He says that something is going to happen, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.

Like the fig tree withering.

And like the temple being torn down.

So, His disciples want to know more.

They are probably devastated by this prediction. They wanted the Messiah to protect the temple and to kick out the Romans.

But here this Person Whom they believe is the Messiah is now predicting the destruction of their beloved temple.

This probably seems like the end of the world to them.

Like just about nothing worse could ever happen.

So they are looking for more details. V.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?’”

Now, we don’t know what they understood and what they didn’t.

They probably thought that all of that was the same thing.

The destruction of the temple, the coming of Christ, and the end of the age.

We know now that they are related things but not the same.

And Jesus knew that then, of course, as well.

And, like I said, Jesus doesn’t always tell us what we want to know.

He tells us what we need to know.

And He tells us what a difference that should make in our life.

So, I haven’t told you the title of today’s message yet.

Here it is: “Birth Pains.”

I get it from verse 8 where Jesus says, “All these are the beginning of birth pains.”

Labor pains.

Anybody here ever experienced labor pains?

I have not.

But I’ve seen people have them.

Jesus is going to list several things that are going to happen in the world and to the disciples.

And He’s going to call them “birth pains.”

What’s the deal with birth pains?

Birth pains tell you that something big is happening.

Something big is coming.

And they hurt. They are painful.

They are not happy pleasant things. They are travail.

The King James calls them "sorrows."

But you know that they are sorrows that lead to joys, right?

When all goes well, after all of that pain, you get to hold a little baby.

Birth pains tell you that something big is happening. It’s definitely happening.

They are painful, but after the pain, you have incredible joy.

But one more thing. They don’t tell you when the baby is actually going to come.

They tell you that it’s going to come. It’s inevitable.

But not when.

Anybody here have false labor?

Anybody here have labor pains one day, and you think, “Here we go,” but then the next day there were almost none?

What’s the record in here? Anybody have in labor here for 24 hours?

The presence of birth pains tells you that you’re in the last days of your pregnancy, but not much more when it comes to timing.

And Jesus says, that’s what these things in verses 4 through 14 are like.

Birth pains.

And He also tells us how we should live while we’re living in the time of labor.

I’ve got three. Here’s the first one.

#1. DON’T BE FOOLED.   V.4

“Jesus answered: ‘Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ, 'and will deceive many.”

They asked Him about timing and signs, and He says, “Don’t be deceived. Don’t be misled. Don’t be led astray.”

For many people come claiming to be authorized by Jesus or even to be Jesus Himself and will deceive many.

Has that happened?

Yes, that happened in the first century.

And it has happened every century since.

They have names like Sun Yung Moon and David Koresh and Jim Jones. And they are sneaky and don’t always look like bad people.

This week I read a National Geographic article from 2017 about 5 people who believe that they are in some way Jesus Christ Himself.

And they have followers!

People believe that.

Of course, it doesn’t have to be that blatant.

There are plenty of false teacher out there who speak in the name of the Lord, but are really leading people astray.

The word for “deceive” here in verse 4 and verse 5 is “planao” from which we get our word planets. Wandering stars so to speak.

They go off of the track.

Jesus is warning His followers to not let anyone get them off track.

Are you in danger of getting off track?

We all are if we don’t watch out. You see that warning in verse 4, “Watch out!”

Are you watching out?

I think a lot of people don’t pay enough attention to what they are being taught.

And that’s even by me.

Don’t just swallow everything I say. I’m just a man.

Read your Bible. Check what I say against that.

Remember the Bereans? They were noble because they fact-checked the Apostle Paul!

If you have to fact-check Paul, you better fact-check Pastor Matt!

Christians need to develop discernment because there is a lot of false teaching out there.

Is that sign of the end times?

Yes! It’s a birth pain.

It doesn’t tell us that the end is here, but it does say that the end is coming. V.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.”

#2. DON’T BE SCARED.

Don’t be fooled, and don’t be scared.

You’re going to hear about wars and rumors of wars, but don’t be alarmed.

I don’t know about you, but that’s the exact opposite of what I would do if I heard about war or a rumor of a war.

I would get scared.

But Jesus says, “Don’t be scared.”

And specifically, “Don’t be scared that this war means that the return of Christ is here.”

No, it’s just a birth pain.

It means that return is coming, but what does verse 6 say, “but the end is still to come.”

I think that we get that wrong. We hear about these kind of things, and we say, “Well, Jesus must be returning real soon. Those are signs of His soon return.”

But Jesus is saying the exact opposite. He’s saying, “When you hear about these things, don’t get upset. It doesn’t mean it’s the end.”

King James, “The end is not yet.”

I almost titled this message, “The end is not yet.” v.7

“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.”

All of those things happened in the first century.

And they have all been happening every century since.

Does that mean that Jesus is coming back soon?

Everything means that Jesus is coming back soon!

{Depends on what you mean by “soon.”}

Yes, He’s coming back. And soon. There are labor pains going on.

But you can’t tell from the labor pains exactly how close we are.

Ever since Jesus came back from the dead, the last days have begun. But we don’t know if we are living in the last of the last days.

“All these are the beginning of birth pains.”

So don’t be scared.

I think that’s the opposite of what we normally think when we think about the End Times.

Do the End Times scare you?

Jesus says, “See to it that you are not alarmed.”

They shouldn’t scare us.

Jesus provides this teaching, not to scare us, but to encourage us!

The End Times should bring us hope.
Prophecy should produce in us peace.
Eschatology should give us joy.

Because Jesus wins!

And because we win with Jesus!

Don’t be scared.

It’s so easy to look out on this world and be scared.

There is a lot of trouble in this world. Yes.

Jesus said it would be so.

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

We have nothing to fear!

At the end of all these birth pains is a glorious joy!

That far outweighs all of the trouble.

Verse 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.”

Yes, it’s going to be hard.

There will be trouble. Persecution. Tribulation. Trials. Executions. Hatred.

We just last week prayed for the persecuted church.

That could be us.

Jesus says to be ready for it.

Why?

Don’t miss this. Eyes on the ball.

Why would we be hated by all the nations?

Why would Christians be hated by different people groups?

What’s he say in verse 9?

“Because of me.”

Remember that Jesus is worth any persecution we might suffer.

“Because of me.”

V.10 “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.”

What does this sound like?

This sounds like the New Testament to me.

And it also sounds like today.

These the birth pains. They were true in the first century, and they have been true every century since.

Josephus here chronicles all of them.

And so does our social media feeds today.

Many are turning away from the faith.

This Summer, a former pastor named Joshua Harris announced that he no longer is a follower of Jesus Christ.

I loved his books and have put them in our library and put them in the hands of many of our graduates on Graduation Sunday.

But no longer. He has turned away from the faith. Hopefully, he’ll come back. Let's pray for that.

But we shouldn’t be surprised that people apostasize. Jesus said it would happen right here in Matthew 24.

And professing Christians at each other’s throats.

And false prophets, false teachers in churches, on the radio, in books, on TV, on the internet.

But this is not reason to be scared. It’s a reason to be wary, to watch out, to be discerning, but not to run away.

Instead, run to Jesus.  V.12

“Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

Number three and last:

#3. DON’T GROW COLD.

The answer to all of this apostasy and false teaching is to run towards Jesus, run towards good teaching, run in faith, and keep loving Him.

The answer to all of this falling away is to stand firm.

Do you see how Jesus is focused our hearts?

Has He answered their question?

I don’t think so.

Not yet, anyway.

He hasn’t told them when or what signs.

Instead, He’s told them how to live during the labor pains of the whole world.

Don’t Be Fooled.
Don’t Be Scared.

And don’t let your heart get cold.

Keep your heart warm towards the Lord.

Keep pursuing Him.

Keep praying. Keep meeting with Him. Keep focusing on Him. Keep trusting in Him.

That’s what genuine believers do.

“[H]e who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

Not because He earned His salvation, but because He had real faith and real faith keeps trusting in the Lord.

Stand firm to the end.

Either to the end of your life or to the return of Christ whichever comes first!

Because Jesus wins!

V.14 “And this gospel [this good news] of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

Not yet!

But someday when the Lord decides that the preaching of the gospel has been heard in the whole world, then the end will come.

But for now, it’s birth pains.

Someday the Great Commission will be fulfilled.

There’s a promise here that the Great Commission to go to all the nations–all those nations that hate us because of Jesus–all the nations will hear that Jesus Christ is King and then end will come.

Now, I think a case can be made that this also happened in the first century with the preaching of Paul. And that it’s been happening every century since.

But Jesus says that one day it will all be over.

So we need to hang on for that day.

Stand firm.

Preach the gospel!  Take that good news to this needy world.

This week!

Stand firm and stay warm.

In Christ.

While we wait for His return.


***
Previous Messages in This Series:

01. The Genealogy of Jesus
02. The Birth of Jesus Christ
03. The Search for Jesus Christ
04. The Baptism of Jesus
05. The Temptation of Jesus
06. Following Jesus
07. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount
08. The Good Life (Part One)
09. The Good Life (Part Two)
10. You Are The...
11. Jesus and the First 2/3 of the Bible
12. But I Tell You
13. But I Tell You (2)
14. But I Tell You (3)
15. In Secret
16. Choose Wisely
17. Seek First His Kingdom
18. Generous
19. These Words of Mine
20. When He Saw the Crowds
21. When He Came Down from the Mountainside
22. Follow Me
23. Our Greatest Problem
24. Who Does He Think He Is?
25. Special Agents
26. Sheep Among Wolves
27. What To Expect On Your Mission
28. Are You the One?
29. Come to Me
30. The King of Rest
31. So Thankful!
32. Overflow
33. This Wicked Generation
34. Get It?
35. What Is Really Going On Here?
36. Baptizing the Disciples
37. The Treasure of the Kingdom
38. Living the Last Beatitude
39. Five Loaves, Two Fish, and Jesus
40. It Is I.
41. Worthless Worship
42. Great Faith in a Great God
43. The Pharisees and Sadducees
44. The Question and the Promise
45. Take Up His Cross
46. Like the Sun
47. Seed-Sized Faith
48. These Little Ones
49. If Your Brother Sins Against You
50. The Lord of Marriage
51. Drop Everything
52. First and Last
53. The Suffering Serving Son of Man
54. Shouting for the Son of David
55. Expecting Fruit
56. Come to the Wedding Banquet
57. Whose Image?
58. Acing the Test
59. What Do You Think About the Christ?
60. How Not To be A Leader
61. Malignant Religion
62. Fakes and Snakes

"Fakes and Snakes" [Matt's Messages]

“Fakes and Snakes”
Following Jesus - The Gospel of Matthew
November 3, 2019 :: Matthew 32:25-39

I like the fact that even though Thanksgiving and Christmas are approaching, we are at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, looking together at the events of that crucial last week that we often call Holy Week.

It’s a little strange to be studying these events at this time of year, but I think it’s good for us.

There is never a bad time to read any part of the Bible. You don’t have to wait for the approach of a certain holiday to do read any particular part of the Bible. It’s all relevant, all the time.

And sometimes you see things and hear things and feel things when you are studying it at an unfamiliar time, a less than usual time.

And honestly, this part of Scripture shows us what we should be thankful for and what Christmas was all about.

So, we’re nearing the end of this theological biography of Jesus Christ.

For 22 chapters and running, Matthew has been telling us and showing us Who Jesus is and what Jesus wants for us and from us.

Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, the King. And Jesus wants us to follow Him.

But there were a group of Jewish Religious leaders who DID NOT WANT people to follow Jesus.

They were called the “teachers of the law and the “Pharisees.”

There were other groups against Him, too, but the spotlight is on them.

When Jesus came riding in on a donkey on that Triumphal Sunday, these guys became indignant that He got so much praise. I’m sure they hated it when He tossed the tables in the temple on Monday.

And then they confronted Him on Tuesday with questions meant to demean and belittle Him and trick Him. Questions meant to stop Him and get Him in trouble with the people and with the Romans.

But Jesus had some questions for them. And when He was done, they were silenced. They hated that!

And they hated Him.

That same day, Tuesday, recounted in Matthew chapter 23, King Jesus began to denounce them in front of the crowd.

He said that they were terrible leaders. They preached but didn’t practice what they preached. They piled on heavy burdens but didn’t lift a finger to help. They loved honor but never humbled themselves.

And therefore Jesus pronounced upon them woe.

Do you remember this?

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees!”

He says it seven times.

This is so devastating.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees!”

We learned last week that a “woe” is the opposite of “blessed.”

It’s the opposite of what we saw back in the Beatitudes.

It’s the opposite of flourishing.

It’s withering. It’s shriveling. It’s dying. It’s wasting away.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees!”

That word “woe” combines condemnation, denunciation, regret, sorrow, lament, and heavy warning into one little syllable.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees!”

Last week, we studied the first four of the seven woes.

Now this week, we’ll look at the last three woes and then the pronouncement of judgment that they have earned.

Jesus calls them names.

He feels so strongly about their awfulness that He uses this kind of name-calling language to make clear what these people are and where they are headed.

Last week, we saw two main names: Hypocrites and Blind Guides.

Hypocrites were play-actors. They pretended to be something that they were not.

And these religious leaders were experts at that.

They were imposters. Pretending to have a relationship with God, but it was all staged and phony.

Jesus is going to call them out for that some more in the last three woes.

And He also said that they were blind guides.

They didn’t know the right way. They didn’t know what they were talking about, but that didn’t stop them from leading other people in the wrong direction.

They were the spiritually blind leading the spiritually blind.

The wrong leading the wrong the wrong way.

We said that “Hypocrites and Blind Guides” could be restated as “The Fake and the Wrong.”

But in verse 33, Jesus adds another name to call them:

Serpents.

Jesus says, “You snakes! You brood of vipers.”

Poisonous, evil, like the devil in the Garden.

Those are strong words!

At the risk of being too cute for so serious a passage, I have titled this message, “Fakes and Snakes” because I couldn’t get it out of my head. It just summed up the passage so well.

These leaders were, according to the Lord Jesus, fakes and snakes.

Pretending to have something they did not.

And having something evil within, namely unbelief and rejection of Jesus.

These are some of the most solemn and serious words ever uttered.

I would have hated to be present when Jesus said them, and even worse for them to be said over me.

Let’s learn from them. V.25 The fifth woe.

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

You see how He’s still talking about hypocrisy?

He uses that image of the cup and dish again that He used back in chapter 15 when He was pointing out the errors of the Pharisees.

They liked to clean the outside of the cup, but not the inside.

Why?

Because it looks good! Right?

I mean, who doesn’t like to look good on the outside?

We all do!

We all want to be thought of as good.

Perceived as having it together.

We all want a good reputation.

So we clean up the outside.

But Jesus says that these guys only cleaned the outside and didn’t clean the inside.

And He’s not talking about the tableware. He’s talking about the heart.

They were fakes.

And that just steams Him.

Remember the Sermon on the Mount?

How the Kingdom of Heaven is upside-down, and it’s also what?

Inside-out.

Jesus wants us to be whole people. The same on the inside as on the outside.

We saw it again and again in the Sermon on the Mount.

But the Pharisees weren’t listening.

It’s not that they were outside-in. Thinking that if they just did the outer conformity stuff, somehow it would get inside of them and change them. (Some of them might have thought that.) But it doesn’t work that way.

But they weren’t outside-in.

They were outside-only.

They were making a good show, but they were fake.

Their insides were v.25, “full of greed and self-indulgence.”

Do you know anybody like that?

Beware of religious leaders like that.

They appear on the outside to be godly, but those who know them truly know that they are actually full of greed and self-indulgence.

Not that they were tempted to greed and self-indulgence.

We are all that.

And not that they had occasionally given in to the temptation of greed and self-indulgence.

They were nurturing greed and self-indulgence.

They were filled with it.

And they pretended that all was well.

It was obvious to Jesus! But they were putting on a show.

In verse 26, Jesus says, “Blind Pharisee!”  There’s that “blind” theme again.

Wrong!

Wrong answer!

This is spiritually wrongheaded.

It’s wrong to get all cleaned up and nice on the outside but not tend to the reality of the inside.

He goes on and gives an even more pungent illustration. V.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 dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

That’s worse than a cup or a dish, isn’t it?

In this sixth woe, Jesus references the whitewashed tombs.

Why would you whitewash a tomb?

Do you know what the Mosaic Law said would happen if you stepped on a grave?

You would be considered unclean for seven days.

Dalton and Peter mow the church cemetery. If that was in place today, they’d be unclean all summer long!

So you whitewash the tombs so people will steer clear. It’s like putting up caution tape. Don’t walk here.

And the tombs, the monuments, the mausoleums look all nice when they get whitewashed like that.

They look beautiful in their own way.

But don’t let that beauty fool you; what’s inside is dead.

Jesus says that these scribes and Pharisees were dead on the inside.

Hypocrisy and wickedness.

Now, it’s not wrong to be clean on the outside.

It’s not wrong to attend to the externals.

But it is wrong to attend to the externals and ignore the more important internals.

I don’t think we realize how fooled we might be by the Pharisees.

They were the clean-living people.

The teachers of the law were the ones who knew their Bible.

The ones that preached their Bible.

They built their lives around the Bible.

On the outside, they looked good!

They tithed.
They behaved.
They followed the law.
They were the leaders.

But on the inside (and it always comes out, in the end you know where the graves are, you know where the bodies are buried, on the inside) they were dead.

Are you dead on the inside?

Are you just faking it?

I hope not.

There have been times in my life, when I have flirted with this temptation.

It’s hard being pastor sometimes because it’s almost like I’m paid to be a Christian.

At least, I’m paid to be an example of a Christian.

So the temptation is there to just put on a show for public consumption.

But on the inside to indulge in whatever.

But I want to be real.

#1. GET REAL.

Jesus tells these fakes to get real. V.26 again.

“First clean the inside of the cup and dish...”

Get real.

Allow Jesus to cleanse you from the inside out.

Attend to the inner you.

I think a lot of people don’t give much thought to their hearts.

But King Jesus wants our hearts and wants to cleanse our hearts and change our hearts.

So we need to attend to our hearts.

We need to think about our motives.
We need to think about our desires.
We need to evaluate our affections and loyalties.

We need to ask ourselves regularly who or what am I worshiping in this moment?

And get real about the answer.

You see how Jesus feels about pretend religion.

He thinks it’s malignant.

We don’t have to be dead on the inside.

The Holy Spirit is in the business of imparting new life on the inside!

But we need to get real about our need for Him.

And stop our hypocrisy.

Jesus hates hypocrisy.

In the seventh and last woe, Jesus says that these leaders were lying not only to others but lying to themselves. V.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. And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets” (vv. 29-31).

“You are lying to the world and to yourself.”

And Jesus can see it.

He builds off of the key word “tombs.”

These tombs might have been whitewashed or not but they were set up by the scribes and the Pharisees to honor the prophets of old.

Jeremiah. Isaiah. Daniel. Not Elijah as he was never buried. But Elisha and all those other prophets of old.

So many of them had been killed. Why?

Because the people didn’t want to hear their message!

So these folks, Jesus’ contemporaries, were putting up monuments for those old prophets, and naively telling themselves that they would never do anything like the thumbs-down kings and queens like Ahab and Jezebel.

And at the very same time, be acting just like them.

Jesus says, “Get real.”

“Come on. You need to know yourself better than that.”

“You’re the children of those who murdered the prophets. You’re just like them.”

Get real.

And then Jesus drops the boom. V.32

“Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!”

“Go ahead.”

With His sad sarcasm and biting irony, Jesus tells them to go ahead and finish the job.

“It’s all been adding up. Go ahead and let it boil over.” v.33

“‘You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? [There is not escape for the unrepentant.] Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. [The first Christian missionaries.] And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel [in the book of Genesis] to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. [In the last book of the history of Israel, 2 Chronicles]. I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.”

It’s all been building up, and now it’s going to boil over.

Within 40 years, within a generation, Jerusalem will be devastated and the temple will be destroyed.

Because these people and the people following them would refuse to listen and would reject King Jesus and His emissaries.

“Snakes! Brood of vipers!”

Full of evil and wickedness.

John the Baptist called them snakes way back in chapter 3.

Now His cousin Jesus does, too.

And slithering in the background is the serpent of Genesis 3.

Because, on the whole, they would not get real, and they would not repent, there would be no escape.

#2. GET RIGHTEOUS.

Jesus is warning them to repent.

With each successive woe, Jesus has been warning them the un-flourishing to come.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees!”

“Hypocrites...Blind guides...snakes and vipers.”

“Woe to you!”

And He knows that, on the whole, they will not repent.

They will not get righteous.

They will not turn from their path.

He knows.

And He weeps. V.37

“O 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, but you were not willing.”

Don’t let that be said of you.

If they were willing, then Jesus would gather them up and forgive them and take them under His wings.

Jesus as a mother hen!

Think about that shelter!

Think about that compassion, that tenderness, that safety.

And remember to keep your eye on the ball.

This is the Gospel of Matthew after all.

Look who Jesus think He is.

Jesus thinks that He’s big enough and strong enough to shelter Jerusalem under His wings.

He doesn’t say that God has wanted to do that. He says that He has wanted to.

But He also says that they were not willing.

“Not willing” to get righteous–not externally through observing the Law–but internally by repenting of sin and trusting the Savior.

Those are some very sad words, “but you were not willing.”

Don’t let that be said of you. Instead:

#3. RECEIVE JESUS.

If you have not, now’s the time.

Because there is no way of escape for those who refuse Him.

Jerusalem learned that message the hard way. V.38

“Look, your house is left to you desolate.”

Judgment is coming. Like the fig tree all withered.

The house is left empty, destroyed, abandoned.

The house might be the house of Israel.
The house might be the city of Jerusalem, its capital.
The house might be the temple itself.

I think it’s actually all three.

But the temple stands for the whole.

And I think Jesus is saying that, in judgment, the glory is leaving the temple.

That God is leaving His home.

And in the first verse of the next chapter (and remember, Matthew didn’t put any chapter divisions in there), Jesus turns His back on and walks out of the temple.

“Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'”

Keep your eye on the ball.

See those little pronouns?

“[Y]ou will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'

They sang those words from Psalm 118 when Jesus came riding into town, and He is saying that they will sing them again when He returns.

Many will have to say those words through gritted teeth.

Grudgingly acknowledging that Jesus Christ is Lord.

But every mouth will confess it.

The question is will we confess it with joy and gladness and faith?

These people did not.

They were fakes and they were snakes.

And they rejected their King.

The Apostle John told the sad story this way. He said that Jesus “came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”

Their house was left desolate.

But we don’t have to follow their fate.

John went on to say “Yet to all who received [Jesus], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God...”

To those who received Jesus, to those who were willing, there is not condemnation but salvation in His name.

To all who receive Him and say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” and recognize Jesus as the Lord, Jesus gives salvation.


***
Previous Messages in This Series:
01. The Genealogy of Jesus
02. The Birth of Jesus Christ
03. The Search for Jesus Christ
04. The Baptism of Jesus
05. The Temptation of Jesus
06. Following Jesus
07. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount
08. The Good Life (Part One)
09. The Good Life (Part Two)
10. You Are The...
11. Jesus and the First 2/3 of the Bible
12. But I Tell You
13. But I Tell You (2)
14. But I Tell You (3)
15. In Secret
16. Choose Wisely
17. Seek First His Kingdom
18. Generous
19. These Words of Mine
20. When He Saw the Crowds
21. When He Came Down from the Mountainside
22. Follow Me
23. Our Greatest Problem
24. Who Does He Think He Is?
25. Special Agents
26. Sheep Among Wolves
27. What To Expect On Your Mission
28. Are You the One?
29. Come to Me
30. The King of Rest
31. So Thankful!
32. Overflow
33. This Wicked Generation
34. Get It?
35. What Is Really Going On Here?
36. Baptizing the Disciples
37. The Treasure of the Kingdom
38. Living the Last Beatitude
39. Five Loaves, Two Fish, and Jesus
40. It Is I.
41. Worthless Worship
42. Great Faith in a Great God
43. The Pharisees and Sadducees
44. The Question and the Promise
45. Take Up His Cross
46. Like the Sun
47. Seed-Sized Faith
48. These Little Ones
49. If Your Brother Sins Against You
50. The Lord of Marriage
51. Drop Everything
52. First and Last
53. The Suffering Serving Son of Man
54. Shouting for the Son of David
55. Expecting Fruit
56. Come to the Wedding Banquet
57. Whose Image?
58. Acing the Test
59. What Do You Think About the Christ?
60. How Not To be A Leader
61. Malignant Religion

"Malignant Religion" [Matt's Messages]

“Malignant Religion”
Following Jesus - The Gospel of Matthew
October 27, 2019 :: Matthew 23:13-24

We have reached one of the heaviest parts of the Gospel of Matthew.

It’s that last fateful week that we’re calling Crucial Week, the week that Jesus will be crucified, and we’ve reached the last large block of Jesus’ teaching, Matthew chapters 23, 24, and 25.

Jesus has silenced His opponents’ questions with His superior questions, and now He has begun to warn the crowds and His disciples about the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees.

We saw in the first 12 verses that Jesus has gotten very serious about how dangerous these religious leaders really were.

They were terrible leaders. Just awful.

They preached but didn’t practice what they preached. They piled on heavy burdens but didn’t lift a finger to help. They loved honor but never humbled themselves.

They were just awful.

And now Jesus is going to pronounce woe upon them.

Woe.

Seven times Jesus will say, “Woe to you.”

“Woe to you.”

And He’ll give 7 reasons why this woe should be pronounced on these men.

It is devastating.

I’m glad I wasn’t there, and I would hate for Jesus to say these words of woe over me.

The word “woe” is word that combines condemnation, denunciation, regret, sorrow, lament, and heavy warning into one little syllable.

“Woe.”

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees.”

“Woe to you.”

These “woes” are the exact opposite of the “blessings” of the beatitudes.

Remember the beatitudes from the first part of the Sermon on the Mount?

They opened the first major block of Jesus’ teaching.  “Makarios.” “Blessed. Good for you. Way to go! Way to be! Good on ya!”

These seven woes now open the last major block of Jesus’ teaching.

“Woe to you. Bad for you. Sad for you. Alas! Terrible way to go. Yuck.”

Do you remember the word that we used to sum up the beatitudes?

It was the beautiful word “flourishing.”

A word of life and joy and thriving.

What is the opposite of “flourishing?”

Because that’s the idea of “woe.”

It’s withering. It’s dying. It’s being destroyed. It’s shriveling up.

It’s cancer.

It’s a malignancy.

These religious leaders were practicing a “Malignant Religion.”

A malignant religiosity. A malignant spirituality.

And Jesus was calling them out for it!

If you want to know what really makes Jesus mad, it’s bad religion.

It’s religiosity.

Jesus hates all sin and death.

But He saves some of His heaviest words for very religious people.

These were the church people!

These were the most cleaned up, buttoned up, church-ed up people.

They might not have seemed bad to us. They were all wearing white hats!

But this is what Jesus had to say them:

“Woe to you.”

He does not take a perverse pleasure in speaking like this. He doesn’t do it to get His kicks or to score rhetorical points with His sick burns.

We’ll see, probably next week, how He ends by just about weeping over them.

But He tells it like it is.

And it is heavy.

And there is no getting around that.

We shouldn’t try to get around this.

This is God’s Word for us.

There are seven woes in Matthew 23. We’re just going to look at the first 4 this morning. Lord-willing, we’ll do the last 3 and finish the chapter next week.

But before we look at the first one, I want us to think a little bit more about how Jesus understood this malignancy of their religion.

Jesus calls them names.

He has two names that He calls them in the first four woes.

He says these things over and over again.

It’s these two: “Hypocrites” and “Blind Guides” (or “blind fools,” “blind men”).

Do you know what a hypocrite is?

It originally meant a “play actor.” An actor on the stage. Somebody who wore a mask and pretended to be someone that they were not.

So we would say, “A Fake.”

A spiritual or religious hypocrite is someone who preaches one thing and practices another. Like Jesus said in verse 3.

It’s someone who pretends to be spiritual, but aren’t really.

It’s not necessarily someone who pretends they are perfect, just that they pretend that they are real when they are not.

They pretend to have something, but they don’t have it.

They are one thing on the outside, but a totally different thing on the inside.

They are not “whole.” They are fake.

And the blindness here is not physical blindness.

There’s nothing shameful about being physically blind. That’s just a malady, a hard thing to live with in our broken world.

No, this blindness in verses 16, 17, 19, and 24 is spiritual blindness.

And that’s not just a malady, that’s a malignancy.

That’s an ignorance. A willful ignorance.

These people are getting called out for their spiritual blindness because they are responsible for it.

And worse than just being culpable for being spiritually blind, these men are blind but leading other people!

I read on Facebook this week, that a hunter got lost in the woods overnight near here.

How scary that must have been!

I heard they found him, praise the Lord.

But what if that guy or someone like him while being completely lost was arrogantly, presumptuously giving other lost people directions? “Oh yeah. Follow me.”

The lost leading the lost.

Here’s word to sum up the blind guides.

They are just plain “wrong.”

They are fake and they are wrong.

And they are the wrong leading the wrong the wrong way.

They don’t know what they are talking about, but they aren’t going to let that stop them.

They are fake, and they are the wrong leading the wrong the wrong way.

Do you see why Jesus gets so serious with these people?

I think it’s important for us to hear these words as words of warning for us.

We do not want to go there.

We do not want Jesus to say these things to us or about us.

I don’t believe He is.

I don’t think this is how He see us. We are not the scribes and the Pharisees. I hope.

But I don’t want ever to get close.

I don’t want a malignant religion.

I don’t want to be fake or wrong or lead other people into wrongness.

These folks were living the opposite of the Sermon on the Mount.

They were building their house on the sand.

And they were in for a big crash.

Woe number one. Verse 13.

“‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites [you fakes]! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.”

That’s a picture of malignant religion, is it not?

Do you see the picture?

In this metaphor, there is a great big door to the kingdom of heaven, Jesus’ favorite thing to talk about.

There is this great big door to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Who is the King of the Kingdom of Heaven?

Jesus is King.

[And apparently, Kanye says, “Amen!”]

But in this metaphor, these guys are standing in front of the door to the kingdom of heaven, and they are slamming it in people’s faces.

How do they do that?

They are saying to people, “Don’t follow Jesus. He is not the king.”

“You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.”

That’s just fake and wrong.

It’s fake that they are pretending to know the way to kingdom of heaven, when it’s obvious they don’t.

And it’s wrong because they are misleading people away from the kingdom of heaven, and towards the kingdom of hell.

Look at verse 15. Second woe.

“‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.”

These people were proselytizing.

But they were not evangelizing.

They were making converts, but not disciples of King Jesus.

They were making disciples of themselves.

They were teaching them a false gospel of a false kingdom.

It was a false gospel of works.

You had to do, do, do and perform, perform, perform to earn your way to God.

But that’s not how it works.

500 years ago Martin Luther rediscovered that that’s not how it works.

And woe to anyone who says that it is.

The false gospel leads to a false kingdom, the kingdom of hell.

Here’s the opposite, and it’s what we should do.

#1. ENTER THE KINGDOM AND INVITE OTHERS TO ENTER THE KINGDOM. 

Follow King Jesus.

Put your faith in King Jesus.

And tell other people about King Jesus.

King Jesus is where the life is!

There are a lot false gospels circulating out there.

Cults, other world religions, and false teaching about Christianity.

And other stories the world gives us like atheism.

Anything that says that Jesus is not the king, and that we shouldn’t drop everything and follow Him, and that we have to add our good works to earn our way–those kind of false gospels lead to a false kingdom.

Instead, we need to enter into the real kingdom by faith.

And we need to hold out the kingdom to others.

Come on in!

Have you come to trust in King Jesus as your King and Rescuer?

You need a king.

You need a rescuer.

Don’t listen to the Pharisees. Jesus is the real deal and He’s worth it all.

Let’s listen to the third woe. He breaks out the word “blind” now. V.16

“‘Woe to you, blind guides! You say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' You blind fools [That’s a strong word. We get our word ‘moron’ from that Greek word!] Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.' You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.  And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it.”

You see where He’s going with this?

The Pharisees were blind guides that were looking for loopholes.

In fact, they had come up with a bunch of them.

If you swore by the temple, you didn’t have to keep your vow.

But if you swore by the gold of the temple, then you did.

I don’t pretend to understand the rationale.

Jesus says that it wasn’t a good rationale anyway.

They had come up with this elaborate system to make it sound like they were promising something, but then not actually [because of the fine print, not actually] have to keep their promises.

This sounds like the Sermon the Mount, doesn’t it?

Matthew 23 is the Bizzaro World Sermon on the Mount. It’s what happens when you do the exact opposite of what King Jesus says to do.

King Jesus says, “Let your yes be yes and your no be no” (Matthew 5:37).

King Jesus says, “Keep your promises.”

#2. KEEP YOUR PROMISES.

Anything else is fake and wrong.

If you feel the need to break a promise, ask to be released from it.

Ask to be released from your obligation.

But don’t say, “I had my fingers crossed the whole time.”

Some promises are conditional.

They are only to be kept if certain conditions are met.

But if those conditions are met, don’t say, ‘Well, we didn’t pinky swear.”

“Yeah, I shook hands on that, but I never signed anything.”

King Jesus kept His promises, and so His followers should, too.

Do you need to hear that?

Sometimes we want to wiggle out of our word.

The Pharisees in their fakery had made it an art form!

I have the privilege of heading up the Search Team for the next Allegheny District Superintendent.

And one of the things I’m trying really hard to do is not to promise anything to anybody in the process that I can’t deliver.

I was involved in a search process for another position about 15 years ago, and I made the mistake of leading someone to believe that they were going to get something that I couldn’t fulfill.

And I had to apologize to this person who was a friend of a friend, and I still feel shame over the situation when I think about it. Her name is a cautionary tale to me.

King Jesus kept His promises, and He pronounces woe on those who try to lie their way out of them and lead others to do the same.

Because King Jesus is listening. Look at what He says in verse 21 again.

“And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it [Who’s that? It’s God!]. And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it. [That’s God, too!]”

And Jesus is God, as well.

You open up the Book of Revelation, and you realize that the Lamb is now also seated on the throne, and Jesus is the Lamb.

So when you make a promise as someone who bears the name of Christ, He hears that promise and it reflects on Him if you don’t keep it.

In the fourth woe, Jesus combines both the “hypocrite” and the “blind guides.” v.23

“‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices–mint, dill and cummin. 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. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”

Both fake and wrong!

They were fakes because they tithed on everything, not just what the had to, but on everything.

But they didn’t care about justice, mercy, and faithfulness!

Remember “Corban?” That was their way of getting out of helping their parents because they had dedicated their money to the temple?

They looked all spiritual and were unloving at the same time!

“Let’s see here. It’s time for church. Let’s get out our tithe. Get the scale. We need to take 10% of this mint that we grew. We need to 10% of this dill we grew. We need to 10% of this cummin.”

“What, should we help this person who has been beaten on the side of the road. No? We’re busy. We’re getting to worship today!”

We call that majoring on the minors.

That’s caring about the wrong things.

Or the right things but caring too much.

And not caring about the big things.

Tithing is fine.

But the question is, do I love justice?

Do I love mercy?

Do I love faithfulness?

Am I real on the inside or am I just keeping up appearances?

These guys were such fakes!

They weren’t real where it counted.

Verse 23 reminds me of Micah 6:

“With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? [The Pharisees would say, “Yes!” but Micah says....] He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

#3. MAJOR ON THE MAJORS.

Get your priorities right.

Don’t take your cues from these religious Pharisees.

They were so concerned with their rule making and rule keeping, they missed loving people and loving God.

They had the wrong priorities.

They had the wrong focus.

And they were the wrong leading the wrong in the wrong way.

I love the word play of Jesus in verse 24, but I’d hate for it to be said of me.

“You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”

The picture is ridiculous.

Jesus says that these guys will use a cloth to strain out the tiniest little bug out of their  drink. You wouldn’t want to get a bug in your drink, or if you drink it, you would be unclean.

I don’t want a bug in my drink, do you?

More protein, right guys?

Yuck!

So, there’s nothing wrong with trying to strain out the gnat.

But Jesus says the same guys have let a camel into their cups!

They sweated the small stuff, and they ignored the big stuff.

That’s exactly wrong.

And everybody pays for it.

This is no small mistake.

It brings a word of denunciation and woe.

Don’t major on the minors, and minor on the majors!

That’s malignant religion!

It leads to un-flourishing, withering, hurting people and hurting yourself.

Instead, love and pursue justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

King Jesus did!

And He invites us to follow Him.


***

Previous Messages in This Series:
01. The Genealogy of Jesus
02. The Birth of Jesus Christ
03. The Search for Jesus Christ
04. The Baptism of Jesus
05. The Temptation of Jesus
06. Following Jesus
07. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount
08. The Good Life (Part One)
09. The Good Life (Part Two)
10. You Are The...
11. Jesus and the First 2/3 of the Bible
12. But I Tell You
13. But I Tell You (2)
14. But I Tell You (3)
15. In Secret
16. Choose Wisely
17. Seek First His Kingdom
18. Generous
19. These Words of Mine
20. When He Saw the Crowds
21. When He Came Down from the Mountainside
22. Follow Me
23. Our Greatest Problem
24. Who Does He Think He Is?
25. Special Agents
26. Sheep Among Wolves
27. What To Expect On Your Mission
28. Are You the One?
29. Come to Me
30. The King of Rest
31. So Thankful!
32. Overflow
33. This Wicked Generation
34. Get It?
35. What Is Really Going On Here?
36. Baptizing the Disciples
37. The Treasure of the Kingdom
38. Living the Last Beatitude
39. Five Loaves, Two Fish, and Jesus
40. It Is I.
41. Worthless Worship
42. Great Faith in a Great God
43. The Pharisees and Sadducees
44. The Question and the Promise
45. Take Up His Cross
46. Like the Sun
47. Seed-Sized Faith
48. These Little Ones
49. If Your Brother Sins Against You
50. The Lord of Marriage
51. Drop Everything
52. First and Last
53. The Suffering Serving Son of Man
54. Shouting for the Son of David
55. Expecting Fruit
56. Come to the Wedding Banquet
57. Whose Image?
58. Acing the Test
59. What Do You Think About the Christ?
60. How Not To be A Leader

“Great Are the Works of the Lord!” [Matt's Messages]

“Great Are the Works of the Lord!”
Celebration Sunday 2019
October 20, 2019 :: Psalm 111

I fully intended to go back to Matthew 23 this morning. That’s what I said we’re were doing last Sunday, and what I studied all week, and what I woke up even yesterday morning still planning to preach on today. 

I had thought that the message of “woe” that Jesus has for the scribes and the Pharisees was a little bit of a strange fit for Celebration Sunday and all that we have planned to praise God for today, but I didn’t have any other idea, and we had just gotten back into Matthew together last week! So I assumed it was Matthew 23.

But yesterday morning, I made my coffee and opened my Bible to read the very next thing in the Psalms. (You know I’ve been studying the Psalms all year long.) And the very next Psalm was Psalm 111. And I read it, and I said, “Thank you, Father. That’s it. Right there. That’s what we’re supposed to look at tomorrow at church.”

So, I switched gears, studied Psalm 111, and got ready to share it with you.

Psalm 111 is hymn of praise to a faithful God Who does great works.

So it’s perfect for us to study together on Celebration Sunday.

When we celebrate the great works God has done in our church over these last 127 years.

You need to know that, in the Hebrew, Psalm 111 is written as an acrostic poem.

That means it follows the Hebrew alphabet.

After the Hallelujah of verse 1, each line for all 22 lines, starts with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

Aleph, beth, gimel, daleth, and so forth.

If it was in English, it would be the ABC’s of praising God for His great works.

The author of this song has taken great care to thoughtfully compose it. There is order and intentionality and a lot of careful thought put into this sacred composition.

And behind that insightful author stands the Holy Spirit Who inspired the whole thing and gives to us today a song that we can sing and pray and use to guide our thoughts about the Lord.

Psalm 111 is a gift from God to use to shape our relationship with Him.

In just a few minutes, we’re going to take our annual church family photo,

We’ve been doing that for the last 20 years. You can see them all hanging in the hallway down from the ladies’ room across from the Prayer Room. Check ‘em out!

What’s bittersweet for Heather and me this year is that we have no kids in the one from 1999, and then we basically added one child each year through 2004, and they grew and grew and grew, but now in 2019, we are starting to have pictures with one less kid. We’re down to 3 in this year’s picture because Robin has moved out of state. I wonder how many we’ll have next year?

I love this tradition we have had for the last two decades because it not only reminds us who we are but whose we are. We stop and thank God for what He has done in our midst each year.

I love seeing the new people. If you are new, you are invited up here to get your picture taken with the rest of us. If this is your first Sunday, we want you up here!

On Celebration Sunday, we snap a picture, and we say, “Praise God for His faithfulness to Lanse Free Church for all of these years! He has done great things.”

Well, Psalm 111 is not a snapshot. It’s a song.

But it does the same thing. It’s a song about how the LORD has done great things.

Verse two begins, “Great are the works of the LORD,” and I think that makes a fitting title for the whole Psalm.

“Great Are the Works Of the Lord.”

I want to make three points of application as we work our way down through this Psalm together. Three things that we should do because we’ve read Psalm 111 and got it into our hearts.

#1. PRAISE THE LORD IN PUBLIC!

Listen again to verse 1.

“Praise the LORD. I will extol the LORD with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly.”

We don’t know who wrote this Psalm. It might have been David, but it doesn’t say.

Whoever it was was not afraid or ashamed to get up in the council of the upright and in the assembly and praise the Lord.

“Hallelujah!” he says.

And he declares his intention to “extol the LORD.”

Which means to give thanks to the Lord.

To say how awesome the Lord is.

To recount the ways in which God is worthy.

And he declares that he’s going to do this v.1 “with all my heart.”

He’s not going hold anything back.
He’s not going to worry about respectability.
He’s not going to worry what others think of him.
He’s just going to praise the Lord.

And he’s going to do it in public!

“I will extol the LORD with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly.”

In our age and terms, that means “I’m going to get up and praise the Lord at church.”

Not just in private.
Not just out on his own.
Not just out in the woods somewhere.

But with other people.

He’s going to say, “All glory be to Christ our King.”

And I think this is here as a model prayer for you and me.

We’re not just supposed to say, “Oh, that’s interesting. I’m glad to hear that this guy gave praise to God at church.”

We’re supposed to do what he did and give praise to God in public.

The “council of the upright” might be a more intimate group. It might be a Link Group or a Sunday School Class or a Bible Study or a Prayer Meeting.

But “in the assembly?” That’s probably everybody. All of the people of God gathered together in public to praise God.

And this guy says, “I’m going to praise God there!”

Are you willing to praise God in public?

You are here, I know. And that’s a good thing.

Are you praising God in public? Or are you just letting others do it for you?

Are you willing to stand up and to speak up and extol the LORD?

Let me ask you this question...if you are doing it, are you doing it with all of your heart?

What are you holding back?

The Lord wants us to not be afraid or ashamed to praise Him before others.

And here’s what we’re supposed to praise Him for. V.2

“Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them.”

#2. PONDER THE WORKS OF THE LORD.

That means to “study them,” to search them out.

To turn them over and over again in your mind.

To think in your heart about the works of the Lord.

The psalmist says that those who delight in the works of the Lord ponder them.

I don’t think we can do that too much.

I don’t think we can ponder on what God has done too much.

I think, instead we do too little pondering on the works of the Lord.

When was the last time you sat down and made a mental list of all of the things the Lord has done for you recently?

We’re coming up on November and Thanksgiving season. That’s a great time to pause and ponder what God has done. Count your many blessings.

The psalmist says that God’s works, God’s deeds are great.

And he has some more adjectives to describe these words.

Alec Motyer says that this psalm is a “running rhapsody of Yahweh and his works.”

V.3 “Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever.”

They are not just great. They are glorious and majestic.

They are exalted deeds. They are above other deeds.

What has God done that is glorious and majestic?

How about creation? I’ll bet the psalmist was thinking about Genesis 1.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Wow! That’s quite a deed, isn’t it?

That’s glorious and majestic.

Think about everything that has been made. Everything in the known universe, and everything that we’re still discovering!

God made it all.

I think that’s glorious and majestic!

“And his righteousness endures forever.”

That’s a key word in this psalm. “Forever.” It shows up in some form in verse 3, verse 5, verse 8, verse 9, and verse 10.

This is a forever God.

What He does stands firm.

Here it’s His righteousness that is forever.

Friends, that is good news right there.

You do not want a god who is righteous today and potentially unrighteous tomorrow or a thousand years from now.

The only kind of a god who is fully trustworthy is One Whose righteousness is forever.

Ponder that.

That means He never sins.
He never makes mistakes.
He is never imperfect or at a loss.

He never does anything wrong.
He never leads anyone astray.

“There is of shadow of turning in Him.”

Praise God!

Everybody else will fail you.

I will fail you.

Whenever Pastor Appreciation Month rolls around, I feel great appreciation for the church family.

But I often think about my pastoral failures. Where I didn’t match up.

I think about some of the people whose pictures are on the wall across from the Prayer Room and who aren’t here today because I disappointed them in some way.

Everybody else will fail you on some level.

But not God.

“His righteousness endures forever.”

In verse 4, I think the psalmist turns from Genesis to Exodus. V.4

“He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and compassionate.”

Those last words are an echo of Exodus 34 when the LORD passed before Moses in the cleft of the rock. Remember that? What did the LORD say?

“The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness..”

God does all of these great works, not because we deserve it! But because He is gracious and compassionate.

He shows mercy to us.

That’s why these good gifts come to us.

And they are wonders.

I think the psalmist was probably thinking about the miracles God did when He rescued His people from Egypt.

The plagues, the Red Sea, all of the miracles in the desert. Wonders!

And the psalmist says, “Ponder that!”

Remember that.

Go back over it again and again so that God gets the glory and the credit.

Do you know what is the most repeated command in the Old Testament?

Anybody know?

“Remember.”

Remember.

That’s why we’ve set aside today to celebrate. To remember what God has done.

This church was founded in 1892.

And it was re-founded in 1965 by those 7 members who decided to keep the doors open.

That was almost 55 years ago.

And look at us today. Ponder that.

Remember that.

“He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and compassionate.”

One thing I’m especially grateful for this year, looking back, are all of the faithful women of this church throughout its 127 year history.

You might have noticed the display up in the foyer of women from across the EFCA who have had a historic role in shaping who we are and being used by the Lord in mighty ways.

That is a smaller replica of a display that was set up at EFCA One, the national conference, back in June.

Some of those women are familiar to us here.

Especially Elizabeth Anderson who was one of our missionaries for several decades.

We’re going to leave up the display for the next month leading up to the Ladies Tea with Jan Cone.

But the faithful women weren’t just out there, they have also been here all along.

6 of the 7 re-founding members of this church were women!

And I’ve had the privilege of knowing 4 of them.

Yesterday, I went through my files and made a list of faithful women of this church that I have had the honor of leading their funerals over the last two decades.

Here are some of their names:

Mabel Carlson
Marie Benton
Marie Wertz
Betty Pritts
Norma Dobash
Ann Kyler
Ann Neidrick
Dora Hampton
Brenda Plisco
Beatrice Johnson
Carolyn Dobo
Mary Shimmel

That’s just a few of them.

This church has been blessed with wonderful faithful godly women.

And there are many in this room right now.

I won’t embarrass them by calling out their names.

But we do ponder what God has done.

We recognize this as God’s gift to our church.

And we remember.

“He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and compassionate.” v.5

“He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever.”

Now, we’re moving from Exodus into Numbers.

He’s talking about the manna, isn’t he?

How the Lord provided food for them in the wilderness.

In the desert!

Every morning, there it is. We’re not sure what it is. “Manna” means “What is it?”

But it was good and nourishing. It was daily bread.

This is why we pray before meals and give thanks for our daily bread.

Because this meal is a gift from God.

This meal is one of His works.

Think about that. Ponder that.

Have you ever thought about what it takes to get a meal on the table?

I often say that Heather is a miracle-worker for what she cooks up for us and puts on the table.

But the ultimate miracle-worker is God because that little meal is one of His great works.

Every single little meal is one of God’s great works.

Ponder that. Remember that.

And ponder this. God “remembers his covenant forever.”

There’s our word “forever” again.

A covenant is basically a set of promises.

So this is saying that God is a promise keeper, and He always will be.

God always keeps His promises. Forever!

The psalmist was probably thinking about the Abrahamic Covenant.

But we also know about the New Covenant, don’t we? In Jesus’ blood.

We’re getting close to that in the Gospel of Matthew.

I’m so glad that the LORD remembers His covenant forever, aren’t you?

Ponder that for a second.

What if God forgot?

What if God forgot His promises?

“Oh yeah, I meant to do that. I did say I would. But no, I forgot. Sorry.”

How terrible would that be?!

Do you see what we’re doing here?

We’re just going back over what God has done. Rehearsing it.

And pondering it in our hearts.

So that praise comes out of our mouths. V.6

“He has shown his people the power of his works, giving them the lands of other nations.”

He’s gone from Exodus to Joshua, hasn’t he?

God has promised His people this land, and He gave His people this land.

He remembers His promises and displaces the Canaanites. V.7

“The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy.”

So they are not just great, and glorious and majestic and gracious and compassionate and powerful.

They are faithful and just.

And His “precepts” or principles or laws “are trustworthy.”

What the Lord tells us to do is not reckless or guesswork.

It is trustworthy and true.

That’s why the Psalmist in Psalm 1 delights “in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

Because everything God tells us to do is trustworthy and true. V.8

“They are steadfast for ever and ever, done in faithfulness and uprightness.”

There isn’t not just forever, but for ever and ever!

God’s steadfastness is unchanging, it never gives up, it’s not fickle, it’s not limited.

And the second part of that line says that His precepts are done in faithfulness and uprightness.

Now, that might mean that we are supposed to do them in faithfulness and uprightness, and that would be right and good.

But it might also mean that God keeps His own precepts in faithfulness and uprightness. That’s a concept to ponder, isn’t it?

And verse 9 brings it home. The grandest work of God to ponder. V.9

“He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever–holy and awesome is his name.”

Redemption is freedom for a price.

Freedom for a price.

For the psalmist, that redemption was death of the firstborn and the Red Sea Rescue and the sacrificial system.

But for Christians, we know what the real and true redemption is.

It’s the blood of Jesus Christ.

It’s the Cross of Christ.

That’s where the Abrahamic Covenant was brought to fulfillment.

And that’s where the New Covenant was brought to fulfillment.

The Cross is where the eternal covenant was brought to fulfillment (Hebrews 13:20).

Ponder that!

Ponder what happened at the Cross!

Our church is not about our church.

Our church is about the gospel.
Our church is about the Cross.
Our church is about Jesus Christ.

“Holy and awesome is his name.”

Have you trusted in Jesus Christ as your own Lord and Savior?

As your own King and Rescuer?

Jesus has provided the ultimate redemption through His blood.

And He has come back to life to give life to all who will trust in Him.

“Holy and awesome is his name.”

In the last verse of this song, the psalmist urges all of us to do the next logical thing.

If we have truly pondered Who this God is and What great works this God has done, then we will choose to fear and follow Him.

#3. FEAR THE LORD AND FOLLOW HIS PRECEPTS. V.10

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.”

There’s a choice out there.

It’s the choice we learned about back in Psalm 1 at Family Bible Week.

Do we turn right or turn left?

Do we take the path of righteousness or the path of wickedness?

It all comes down to our hearts.

Do we fear the LORD or do we despise Him?

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.

It’s the beginning of living skillfully and rightly in God’s world.

And it’s the beginning of following God’s ways.

There is so much blessing there!

I wish I had time to take you Psalm 112.

Read it this afternoon!

This next Psalm is the sister psalm to Psalm 111.

It begins where our Psalm leaves off.

It’s all about the blessing of being that man or that woman who does verse 10 who fears the Lord and follows His precepts.

Read it this afternoon and see if you don’t want follow the Lord just because you did!

I want that blessing for me.

And I want it for you.

And I want it for all of Lanse Free Church.

Let’s choose today to humble ourselves in the fear of the Lord and follow His precepts.

The psalm ends where it begins and goes from 1 to infinity.

“To him belongs eternal praise.”

Forever praise.

Praise unending.

“Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
And all I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness
Lord unto me”

“To him belongs eternal praise.”

Searching for a New Allegheny District Superintendent

It's my privilege to serve as the chairman of the search team for the next Allegheny District Superintendent of the EFCA. 

After months of praying, listening, and preparing, our team has officially begun seeking qualified candidates for the fifth Allegheny District Superintendent.

The full announcement of this search is available on the district website.

We've also posted a four page profile of the opportunity and directions for applying. I'm thankful for the district-wide research and in-depth writing help of NL Moore and Associates in the preparation of this profile. We couldn't have done it without them.

If you know someone who might be a good fit for this important but unique role, I'd love to hear about it.

I look forward to helping to find and welcome my new pastor. Please pray that the Lord would lead us to the right person for the job!

"How (NOT) to be a Leader" [Matt's Messages]

“How (Not) to Be a Leader”
Following Jesus - The Gospel of Matthew
October 13, 2019 :: Matthew 23:1-12

The Gospel of Matthew is a theological biography of the Lord Jesus Christ.

For 22 chapters (sixty sermons) now, Matthew has been keeping His eye on the ball and showing us the answer to the question, “Who is Jesus?”

I won’t remind you of all of the things Matthew has shown us about the identity of Jesus. We don’t have time to review them all.

I will remind you that we’ve reached the last big section of the book.

We’ve reached what we are calling “Crucial Week.” Often also called “Holy Week” or “Passion Week.” It’s that fateful crucial last week of Jesus’ earthly ministry before His sacrificial crucifixion and victorious resurrection.

From Sunday when He rode into town to Monday when He cursed the fig tree and cleansed the temple to Tuesday when He clashed with the Jewish Religious Leaders who wanted to know by what authority He was doing all of this.

We’ve been walking with Jesus step by step through Crucial Week.

We’re still on Tuesday.

When we left off last time, Jesus had silenced the Pharisees.

He had answered all of their questions with His superior questions, and then He had asked a question of His own, a riddle.

“What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”

And the answer was stunning. The Christ is the son of David, but He is also the Lord of David, and even more, He’s the Son of God and the Lord of All!

And it was like Jesus just dropped the mic right there.

The Bible says, “No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.”

Jesus was the last man standing.

I kind of wish that was the end of the book.

I wish everyone said, “Oh, Jesus is the Christ, and He has answered all of his opponents, and He is the son of David, and the Lord of David, and the Son of God, and my Lord, too!”

But that’s not what everybody said.

These folks who can’t answer Him are going to come roaring back by the weekend.

But before all of that happens, Jesus opens His mouth and begins to condemn them.

They are silent, but Jesus is not.

If you have one of those Bibles were the words of Jesus are printed in red, the next 3 chapters just bleed.

Chapters 23, 24, and 25 are the last major block of teaching in the Gospel of Matthew.

We’ve said before that there are five major blocks of teaching:

1. The Sermon on the Mount
2. The Teaching on Missions
3. The Parables of the Kingdom
4. The Teaching on the Way to Jerusalem

And now the fifth and final major teaching on judgment and the return of Christ.

It’s often called the “Olivet Discourse” because a good bit of it was taught while Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives.

I have to tell you that the next three chapters are going to get heavy at times.

Jesus speaks of judgment.
Jesus speaks of condemnation.

Jesus uses heavy and sharp words.

He even uses name-calling. Next week, we’ll see that Jesus calls the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, “Blind guides,” (that’s a sick burn), “hypocrites,” and even “snakes.”

Chapter 23 is a powerful chapter full of strong words from the lips of the Lord Jesus.

They are right words.
Good words.
Righteous words.

But heavy and pointed and piercing.

We’ll see in verse 1 that they are aimed at the crowds and at His disciples.

The crowds to warn them of what is to come in Israel because of these leaders who have done such an awful job.

And the disciples to warn them to not follow the example set by the Pharisees.

We’re going to take our time working our way through this section because it is often overlooked and because God gave it to us for good reasons.

One of the reasons is so that we don’t copy their mistakes.

So that we don’t give in to the same errors.

As they say today, “You don’t want to be that guy.”

You don’t want to be like the Pharisees and the teachers of the law that Jesus rips into here.

So here’s the title I picked for this message:

“How (NOT) to be a Leader”

Looking at how these people behaved who were in spiritual leadership in Israel, I think we can learn some valuable lessons about what not to do when we ourselves are in leadership today.

So, in one sense, we’re learning what went wrong in Israel.

And we’re finding out why Jesus says that judgment is coming soon.

But as we hear Jesus explaining all of what they did so wrong, we should be able to flip that over and see how we could be doing things right instead.

Almost everybody is a leader in some area of life.

Matthew 23 definitely applies to pastors and church leaders.

I feel it when I read this. This applies to me. “Don’t be like this, Matt.”

“See how Jesus feels about this sort of thing? Run the other way!”

But just about everybody is a leader in some area of life, even if you aren’t a church leader.

Husbands are supposed to lead their wives.
Moms and Dads are supposed to lead their children.
Teachers, coaches, supervisors, employers all lead people.
Team captains, study group leaders, line-leaders at school.

Just about everybody is a leader in some area of life.

The question is “Are we good leaders...or not?”

These people had been awful leaders.

And Jesus minces no words in saying so.

Matthew chapter 23, verse 1.

“Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: ‘The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.”

Here’s number one. What not to do.

#1. PREACH, BUT DON’T PRACTICE.

Be all talk and no walk.

In the old King James Version, Jesus says, “They say and do not.”

“They do not practice what they preach.”

Now Jesus begins by saying that in verse 2 that the “teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.”

That means they sit in the place of authority. And it was their job to interpret the Law of Moses for the people of God.

We might say, “They had the pulpit.”

And Jesus says, “So you must obey them and do everything they tell you.”

Now, He could be sarcastic here.

A lot of good Bible scholars say that Jesus is rolling His eyes here. “Well, they’re in the seat of Moses, so you gotta do everything they say!”

But it’s all wink, wink, nudge, nudge because He’s going to take issue in this chapter with so many things that they say!

That’s possible. Sarcasm is possible.

I think it just means that they are in authority, and when they correctly interpret the Law of Moses, the people need to follow it.

When they are right, they are right.

Just because they get it wrong so often in their own lives doesn’t invalidate the Law of Moses. It was still in place.
But, Jesus also says that we should not do what they do.

Because they preach, but they don’t practice what they preach.

And that’s a bad idea.

Everybody knows that’s a bad idea.

Nobody teaches leaders to say one thing and do another right in front of their followers.

It ruins morale and sends very mixed messages.

Have you ever known a leader who says, “You’ve got to become a good listener.” but they are terrible listeners themselves?

“Calm down!” he yelled. Right?

“Listen to me!” he talks over her. Right?

What areas of your life are tempted to preach one thing and turn around and do another?

You know one of the worst for me has been the times when I have found myself gossiping.

I mean, I’m the guy that wrote the book, right?

And then I hear it coming out of my mouth.

Don’t think about other people and their hypocrisy right now. That’s easy.

What’s yours?

When the kids were little, I was complaining about how they were so rude. They weren’t saying “please and thank you” nearly enough.

And my loving wife said, “The reason is that you almost never say ‘please or thank you’ yourself.”

Ouch. I needed to hear that.

The Pharisees loved to say what everybody ought to do, but then they didn’t do it themselves.

Don’t be that guy.

It’s not wrong to preach. I’m doing it right now!

But it is wrong to say and not do yourself.

One of the things they teach us at seminary is to preach the sermon to yourself first.

And the same is true for parents, coaches, supervisors–whatever area of life you are in charge in.

We must practice what we preach.

Jesus did, right?

Jesus didn’t ask things of His followers that He was unwilling to do Himself.

In fact, He always did more than He expected from them.

Even something as simple as proclaiming out on social media what everybody ought to do, but then not following through and doing it yourself.

Don’t be that guy. Preach, but practice it, too.

In verse 4, Jesus takes it another step further. V.4

“They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.”

#2. PILE IT ON, BUT DON’T HELP.

Jesus says that these teachers of the law and the Pharisees “tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders.”

I don’t think He means literally.

I think He means all of those extra external traditions that they had come up with.

They piled those on to the backs (so to speak) of the people of Israel.

Remember the hand-washings from chapter 15?

These guys loved their extra and external traditions.

They loved to pile them on.

Jesus is going to get more specific as the chapter rolls out.

They love their rules. They love to pile them on.

But (v.4) “they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.”

They give you lots of work, but they don’t help.

That’s terrible leadership, and everybody knows it.

Of course, a leader can’t do everything, and followers are supposed to do stuff.

But if a leader isn’t willing to help his followers get the work done, they are not good leaders.

And how much worse is it if the things they are piling on are wrong and bad themselves?!

Is this how Jesus operates?

What a contrast with Matthew 11:28.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (vv.28-30).

He has a yoke.
He has a burden.

And honestly, it sometimes seems heavy.

But it’s not really. It’s easy and it’s light.

And Jesus helps us to carry it!

We are yoked with Him, and He pulls the greater weight.

So this is a great leadership principle.

If you have to pile it on, make sure you are willing to lift a finger.

I love that phrase from Jesus, “lift a finger.” That’s the least you can do.

Moms, Dads, are you lifting a finger? Are you helping with the pile?

Employers, supervisors? Are you helping with the pile? Or are you just piling it on?

That’s how NOT to be a leader.

There’s one more for this morning. It’s number three. What not to do.

#3. PURSUE HONOR, BUT DON’T HUMBLE YOURSELF.

There’s a mistake.

Jesus says that the teachers of the law and the Pharisees loved to be seen and to be honored. V.5

“Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'”

It’s look right into their hearts.

Their hearts are proud, and they love the attention.

Verse 5 is the opposite of what Jesus said to do in the Sermon on the Mount right?

He warned us that this was a tendency to avoid. Matthew 6.

He said, “Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

Giving. Praying. Fasting.

If you do that so that you will be seen by others as pious and spiritual, you have your reward. That’s it. That’s all you get.

But Jesus said if you do it in secret, “Your heavenly Father Who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

Not these guys.

What are phylacteries. Do you know?

In the Torah, the Lord tells the people to put the word of God on their hands and foreheads, so they these guys did it literally.

And some Jews do it still today.

They had little boxes with Scripture verses in them, and they tied them onto their left arm and their foreheads.

Now, I’m not sure that it was ever supposed to be literal.

But these guys make their phylacteries wide.

They get the XXL size Scripture boxes so you can’t miss them.

And the tassels from Numbers 15 that they were supposed to put on the corners of their garment, they get the longest ones they could fine. Dragging on the ground.

The modern equivalent might be carrying around the biggest old Bible you could find.

“Do you see my Bible?”

Or posting on social media how spiritual you are!

To impress people with your piety and spirituality.

“Oh that person must be close to God!”

And just eating up “the likes and shares and favorites and follows.”

Look how they love it.

“[T]hey love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'”

Now, it’s not necessarily wrong to pursue honor.

But these guys want it more than they want God.

In fact, they want to take the place of God. V.8

“But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ.”

I don’t think that Jesus is saying it’s wrong to be called “Rabbi” in every situation. Just like it’s not wrong to call your dad “father” or your teacher “Teacher.”

Or your pastor, “Pastor.”

Notice the logic of each of the prohibitions. In each situation, the person being called by this title is taking the place of the Lord. Do you see that?

“But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' [Hebrew for “Great One” for you have only one Master...And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is [where?] in heaven. Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ.”

The point is not necessarily what title but what position those people are taking in other people’s lives.

The Pharisees wanted to usurp the rightful position of God in people’s lives.

They wanted to be the authority.
They wanted to be exalted.
They wanted to be honored.
They wanted to be lifted up.

Grabbing all of the attention so that these disciples were their disciples.

Fame and honor was their goal.

In fact, they would have never said it, but they basically wanted to take the place of God.

God will not stand for it.

He will not share His glory with another. V.11

“The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

God will humble the proud.

That’s one of the reasons why judgment is going to roll down on Jerusalem.

Because of the overweening pride of their spiritual leaders.

They pursued honor, but they did not humble themselves.

So God will see to it that they are humbled.

The same is true for leaders in God’s church today.

If pastors like myself pursue honor but don’t humble ourselves, God will discipline us. “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled.”

If church leaders chase after fame and honor and making a name for ourselves (and it’s a real temptation in the church world), that’s all the reward we’ll get.

“The Reverend Doctor Matthew Mitchell. Oooh. Ahhh.” [ Dr. Fathead is more like it.]

But “whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

It’s not wrong to be exalted.
It’s not wrong to be up there.
It’s wrong to try to put yourself up there.

Climb the ladder.
Send out the press release.
Retweet yourself.
“Check me out!”

So many leaders try to exalt themselves on the back of their followers instead of stooping to serve their followers.

“Whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Do you believe that?

Four years ago yesterday, Blair Murray died.

He was a great example of Christian leader who served other people instead of expecting them to serve him.

At his funeral, I preached on Mark 10:43-45.

“[W]hoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Blair was a great servant, and he was following the example of the greatest servant, the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death–even death on a cross!

[and whoever humbles himself will be exalted!]

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

That’s how to be a leader!

Let us follow Him.

***
Previous Messages in This Series:
01. The Genealogy of Jesus
02. The Birth of Jesus Christ
03. The Search for Jesus Christ
04. The Baptism of Jesus
05. The Temptation of Jesus
06. Following Jesus
07. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount
08. The Good Life (Part One)
09. The Good Life (Part Two)
10. You Are The...
11. Jesus and the First 2/3 of the Bible
12. But I Tell You
13. But I Tell You (2)
14. But I Tell You (3)
15. In Secret
16. Choose Wisely
17. Seek First His Kingdom
18. Generous
19. These Words of Mine
20. When He Saw the Crowds
21. When He Came Down from the Mountainside
22. Follow Me
23. Our Greatest Problem
24. Who Does He Think He Is?
25. Special Agents
26. Sheep Among Wolves
27. What To Expect On Your Mission
28. Are You the One?
29. Come to Me
30. The King of Rest
31. So Thankful!
32. Overflow
33. This Wicked Generation
34. Get It?
35. What Is Really Going On Here?
36. Baptizing the Disciples
37. The Treasure of the Kingdom
38. Living the Last Beatitude
39. Five Loaves, Two Fish, and Jesus
40. It Is I.
41. Worthless Worship
42. Great Faith in a Great God
43. The Pharisees and Sadducees
44. The Question and the Promise
45. Take Up His Cross
46. Like the Sun
47. Seed-Sized Faith
48. These Little Ones
49. If Your Brother Sins Against You
50. The Lord of Marriage
51. Drop Everything
52. First and Last
53. The Suffering Serving Son of Man
54. Shouting for the Son of David
55. Expecting Fruit
56. Come to the Wedding Banquet
57. Whose Image?
58. Acing the Test59. What Do You Think About the Christ?

"Anxiety: Knowing God's Peace" by Paul Tautges [Review]

My friend Paul knows anxiety.

He has lived with crippling anxiety that has at times been debilitating.

Paul also knows Jesus and has met Him in the midst of his anxiousness.

In his new devotional book (just released today!), Paul leads readers on a 31 day journey through (not around) anxiety into peace. His short daily readings are carefully written, encouraging yet realistic, and saturated with Scripture.

Paul offers no silver bullets (rats!) but also no false assurances that will leave readers disappointed. Instead, he gently points anxious people to the Person and promises of God.

I was encouraged to see how much attention Paul gave to the bodily dimension of anxiety. He recognizes the complex interplay between body and spirit, and while focusing on the soul does not discount the physical. He is open to the judicious use of medicine.

The point of the book is to know peace through knowing Christ, and that comes through on every page. It will reward reading and re-reading. Paul Tautges can be a faithful companion on this journey as he has walked the path himself. Recommended.

"What Do You Think About the Christ?" [Matt's Messages]

“What Do You Think About the Christ?”
Following Jesus - The Gospel of Matthew
September 21, 2019 :: Matthew 22:41-46

It is Tuesday of Jesus’ Crucial Week. Tuesday of Holy Week or Passion Week, the week in which Jesus Christ was crucified.

And for the last chapter and half, Jesus has been tussling with the Jewish religious leaders.

They don’t want Him to be king, so they have been trying to trap Him with trick questions.

But Jesus has not only answered their questions perfectly, but turned their questions back on them.

Everybody has been astonished at His answers and confounded by His returning questions.

And in today’s passage (verse 41 through 46), Jesus asks one more big question to finish them off.

Here’s the title for today’s message:

“What Do You Think About the Christ?”

As near as I can tell, Jesus is standing in the temple courts, and He’s straight up asking the authorities what they think about the Messiah.

The Gospel of Matthew is a theological biography of Jesus of Nazareth.

And we have seen again and again and again that the chief question that Matthew is trying to answer by giving us this book is “Who Is Jesus?”

We keep saying, “Keep your eye on the ball.”

I almost titled this message, “Keep your eye on the ball.”

Of course, that could be the title of most of these messages.

“Keep your eye on the ball.”

And what is the ball?

Who is Jesus?

And now, Jesus is bringing the identity of the Messiah (in Greek “Christos”), the Christ, right down to center stage in the temple courts.

“What do you think about the Christ?”

That’s the first question that Jesus asks in a series of leading questions, leading them to...silence. V.46 says that “No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.”

This was a “mic drop moment.”

Where Jesus was the last man standing.

All because He asked them what they thought about Psalm 110.

This is going to be a two-finger sermon.

Do you know that point in a sermon when the preacher says, “Keep your finger in that text and turn with me over to this text?”

This is one of those sermons.

You’re going to want to put one finger in Matthew 22 and another finger or a bookmark or whatever in Psalm 110.

If Psalm 110 was a website, you’d find hypertext links to it throughout the New Testament.

By one count, it is linked to 37 different places in the New Testament. Sometimes a full quote, sometimes just an allusion.

But it’s the New Testament’s favorite Psalm–all of the authors love to refer back to Psalm 110 because they saw the Messiah in it, and they saw Who the Messiah is.

And so did Jesus.

So put a finger in both of those: Matthew 22 and Psalm 110. And we will probably flip a few other places as we go.

Because Jesus leads the Pharisees in a little Bible study.

Let’s read the first verse and the first and second question in the second verse.

“While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, ‘What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?’”

How you answer that question makes all of the difference both now and forever.

What do you think about the Christ?

What do you think about the Messiah?

If you get that question wrong, there are major consequences to suffer.

And if you answer that question correctly, there are major blessings to be enjoyed.

It’s a very important question.

“What do you think about the Christ?”

We’re going to think in terms of four correct answers to that question from this passage.

“What do you think about the Christ?”

Specifically, Jesus asks the Pharisees, “Whose son is he?”

“Whose son is the Christ?”

What is their answer? V.42

“‘The son of David,’ they replied.”

Is that right?

Yes, it is.

Point number one:

 #1. THE SON OF DAVID.

The Messiah is the Son of David.

The Christ was to come from the lineage of King David.

The Pharisees are quite right.

We can see that in many places in the Old Testament. A ruler was promised to come from the tribe of Judah. David came from the tribe of Judah.

David was promised an eternal dynasty of kings in 2 Samuel 7.

And for years, Israel looked for one of David’s sons to fulfill all of the promises that were given to David.

It kind of looked like Solomon might, but then he disappointed.

And then his son disappointed.
And then his son disappointed.
And then his son disappointed.
And then his son disappointed.

Remember the Books of Kings?

But still the promises remained.

And the prophets foretold of the restoration of David’s kingship in the Christ to come.

Remember the branch from the stump of Jesse in Isaiah 11?

Remember the promise to the little town of Bethlehem in Micah 5?

Remember all of those psalms that talked about the Davidic king in terms that were too big to be fulfilled in any of the sons of David that have come so far?

The elders just studied Psalm 2 in our monthly elders’ meeting. Read Psalm 2 some time to get a glimpse of the Messiah to come.

And how He will be the Son of David.

Now, turn to Matthew chapter 1, verse 1.

Do you remember what pains Matthew took to tell us whose son Jesus is?

Matthew 1:1, “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David...”

Do you see the link?

The Pharisees correctly say that the Christ is the Son of David, and Matthew has shown us that Jesus is the Son of David.

Now, I’m not very good at math, but I think that means that Jesus is the Christ.

They’re not going to be happy about that.

Here’s the application for us though:

God always keeps His promises.

And that means that I can trust Him.

Jesus will never disappoint.

He is the fulfillment of all of God’s promises.

They are all “yes” in Him.

If we hold on in faith, we will see that all of God’s promises are fulfilled in Jesus.

Because He is the Son of David.

What promises are you hanging onto today?

Do you know the promises of God?

I don’t know how people get through their days without the promises!

Yes, we often have to wait.

They had to wait for Jesus to come. Many thousands of years.

And we are still waiting for Jesus to come again. A couple thousand years.

But we can see that God always keeps His promises because He promised a Messiah from the line of David, and Jesus is a Messiah from the line of David.

Now that would be enough for us live a week on if we meditate on it, but Jesus doesn’t stop there.

In fact, Jesus introduces some cognitive dissonance at this point. Verse 43.

Jesus has asked whose son is the Christ, and the Pharisees have correctly answered, “The Son of David,” but in verse 43:

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

Now that’s a lot of people being referred to and it’s important to get all of the persons straight. Who’s talking and who’s talking about whom.

And Jesus is taking them back to Psalm 110.

Do you have Psalm 110? Keep a finger in Matthew 22, but look at Psalm 110.

I think that Jesus is pointing out something the Pharisees had never seen when they studied Psalm 110.

Do you have that experience reading the Bible?

You’ve read this story a thousand times, and you never saw this detail?

Psalm 110 is clearly messianic.

It’s clearly about the Messiah to come.

I don’t know how you can read it any other way.

It may have been read originally to refer to Solomon and to the other Davidic kings.

I think you can read it in a certain way if you get into the shoes of an Old Testament reader and see it as being in some ways about David’s son and sons to come.

But, but the shoes here are just too big for any of those guys to fill.

Heather and I were talking about this last night.

Whenever you read Psalm 110, especially after reading the New Testament, it’s impossible to not see the Christ in this psalm.

And the Pharisees thought of it as a Messianic Psalm themselves.

Most Jewish interpreters of that era read it as a prophetic oracular psalm speaking of the Messiah to come.

Let me read it to you:

“Of David. A psalm. The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’ The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies. Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth. The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.’ The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth He will drink from a brook beside the way; therefore he will lift up his head.” (NIV 1984)

Wow. What a prophetic psalm!

Now, here’s what Jesus points out to the Pharisees.

Who wrote this psalm?

What does the superscription say in verse 1?

“Of David.”

King David wrote this psalm.

Jesus says, “David, speaking by the Spirit” wrote Psalm 110.

And we all know that Psalm 110 is talking about the Messiah.

So, whose son is he?

Look at verse 1 again and see who is talking.

David says, “The LORD (that’s Yahweh, that’s God, that’s the covenant Lord of Israel, the LORD) says to “my Lord.”

My overlord.

Who is he talking about?

That’s the Messiah.

David says that God is talking to the Messiah who we thought was supposed to be David’s son, but is apparently David’s Lord?!

#2. THE LORD OF DAVID.

This is hard for them to understand. Jesus asks (other finger), Matthew 22, verse 45:

“If then David calls him 'Lord,' how can he be his son?’”

Now, to understand how confusing this was for them, you have to understand how they thought about the relationship between fathers and sons.

They thought that fathers were always greater than sons.

Sons come from fathers so they achieve their greatness through them.

And you fathers are all like, “Yeah.” looking down the row.

“Are you listening?”

In their mindset, the sons may achieve amazing greatness, but the fathers can always take some credit for that just by being the head of the line.

It’s not our notion.

I don’t tell my three awesome sons that they derive their greatness from me.

They would just laugh anyway.

But that’s how these folks thought.

And but Jesus is blowing their minds.

He is saying, notice who wrote Psalm 110.

It was great David.

And we know that he was talking about his son the Messiah.

That’s right. The Messiah is David’s son.

But David thought that the Messiah was going to be greater even than him.

And that he couldn’t take credit for it.

That David himself would call this Messiah his Lord.

Younger in age but superior in rank.

And that idea left the Pharisees speechless.

This Messiah was to be great David’s greater Son.

So much that David would have to bow before Him.

They are really not going to like this.

Because it means that they are going to have to bow before Jesus.

Jesus is clearly claiming to be the Messiah.

The ride in on the donkey on Palm Sunday made that obvious.

And so He is clearly claiming to be greater than David.

Descended from David but dominating David.

And I would argue, not just dominating but divine.

Look at what God told David’s Lord in verse 44 of Matthew 22 or verse 1 of Psalm 110.

“Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”

Come over here, and sit here. Right here. Right next to me.

At the place of power.
At the place of honor.
At the place of majesty.
At the place of authority.

“Sit at my right hand,” says Yahweh.

Whom would Yahweh say that to?

Whom does God talk to like that?

I guess He might use that kind of language in a qualified foreshadowing way to talk about the King of Israel, maybe.

But the author of Hebrews says He doesn’t even talk like that to the angels. Hebrews quotes Psalm 110 and says, “To which of the angels did God ever say, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’?” Answer, “None of them.”

This is how God talks to God.

This is how God the Father talks to God the Son.

The Messiah is:

#3. THE SON OF GOD.

He’s not just the Son of David.

And not even just the Lord of David.

He is the Son of the living God.

“Sit at my right hand.”

Wow. Just wow.

Do search in your Bible app this afternoon on the words, “right hand,” and look at all of the references in the New Testament.

The New Testament authors recognized the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of Psalm 110 verse 1.

On the day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter closed his sermon with Psalm 110.

He said, “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’ Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.’"

Keep your eye on the ball.

This is Who Jesus is.

And this should shape every second our lives.

The Apostle Paul says that it should affect what we think about every day.

Colossians 4 verses 1-2.

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

Hebrews 12:2 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and [what?] sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Fix your eyes on Jesus.

This is Who Jesus is.

He is the Son of God!

That’s what Christians believe.

We aren’t just following some guy.

Certainly not just some dead guy from long ago.

We are following the risen and ascended Son of God who is seated at the right hand of God.

And that means that He is:

#4. THE LORD OF ALL.

“Sit at my right hand” when?

“Until I put your enemies under your feet.”

Psalm 110 promises the ultimate victory of the Messiah over all of His enemies.

The LORD is going to do it.

He will use methods and means. He will use His people, the church. He will use the Cross and the Resurrection.

And He will use His Spirit.

And He will bring justice and final judgment.

All of His enemies will ultimately fail.

Read Psalm 110 and have your imagination lit on fire.

I’m not sure what all of the phrases mean, but I can tell that they are good!

V.2 The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies. Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth.

V.5 The Lord is at your right hand [I think that means the Father will be at the right hand of the Son, meaning that He will sustain Him]; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.

Read Revelation 19 to see how this is finally fulfilled.

“He will drink from a brook beside the way; therefore he will lift up his head.”

And be refreshed. And enjoy His victory and vindication.

The Son of God will win over all.

He will be victorious.
He will be undefeated.
He will be vindicated.
He will reign and rule for ever and ever and ever. Amen.

In the Ancient Near East, when a king won a battle, He would often put his foot on the neck of the king he just defeated.

The ultimate flex.

The ultimate in photo-ops.

Proving symbolically that He ruled over His enemy.

In Psalm 110, the LORD says the David’s Lord that one day every enemy of His will be His footstool.

The Messiah will be Lord of all.

Interestingly, He does this by being a priest and offering a special sacrifice.

Jesus doesn’t go into it in Matthew 22, so we won’t linger there.

But Psalm 110 says this Davidic Ruler will not just be a king but king/priest, a royal priest in the order of Melchizedek. Remember him?

He was the king/priest of Salem a foreshadowing of how someone could be both king and priest at the same time.

Like Jesus.

And the sacrifice of King Jesus was the sacrifice of Himself.

Jesus is Lord of all and He is the Savior of all who will put their faith in Him.

Have you trusted in Jesus as the Christ?

Keep your eye on the ball. This is Who He is!

Have you put your faith in the Son of David, the Lord of David, the Son of God, and the Lord of All?

Because this is Who He is. And this is what is going to happen.

“Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”

Satan, sin, and even death.

Paul quotes Psalm 110 in 1 Corinthians 15 when he talks about the resurrection.

He says “For [Christ] must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he ‘has put everything under his feet.’”

It’s already happened in the Cross and one day, it will happen fully and finally and forever.

Because Jesus Christ is Lord.

That’s what we should think of the Christ.


***


Previous Messages in This Series: 01. The Genealogy of Jesus
02. The Birth of Jesus Christ
03. The Search for Jesus Christ
04. The Baptism of Jesus
05. The Temptation of Jesus
06. Following Jesus
07. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount
08. The Good Life (Part One)
09. The Good Life (Part Two)
10. You Are The...
11. Jesus and the First 2/3 of the Bible
12. But I Tell You
13. But I Tell You (2)
14. But I Tell You (3)
15. In Secret
16. Choose Wisely
17. Seek First His Kingdom
18. Generous
19. These Words of Mine
20. When He Saw the Crowds
21. When He Came Down from the Mountainside
22. Follow Me
23. Our Greatest Problem
24. Who Does He Think He Is?
25. Special Agents
26. Sheep Among Wolves
27. What To Expect On Your Mission
28. Are You the One?
29. Come to Me
30. The King of Rest
31. So Thankful!
32. Overflow
33. This Wicked Generation
34. Get It?
35. What Is Really Going On Here?
36. Baptizing the Disciples
37. The Treasure of the Kingdom
38. Living the Last Beatitude
39. Five Loaves, Two Fish, and Jesus
40. It Is I.
41. Worthless Worship
42. Great Faith in a Great God
43. The Pharisees and Sadducees
44. The Question and the Promise
45. Take Up His Cross
46. Like the Sun
47. Seed-Sized Faith
48. These Little Ones
49. If Your Brother Sins Against You
50. The Lord of Marriage
51. Drop Everything
52. First and Last
53. The Suffering Serving Son of Man
54. Shouting for the Son of David
55. Expecting Fruit
56. Come to the Wedding Banquet
57. Whose Image?
58. Acing the Test

"J-Curve" by Paul Miller

This morning I finished reading J-Curve  by Paul Miller. It was one of the most profound things I've absorbed in the last several years. Highly recommended.