We all have a choice. We face it every single day. We face it in every situation. In every relationship. In every community in which we are part of. In every place of study or work or worship. Will we embrace cowardice, comfort or be Christlike?
We're working through Matthew at the moment on Sunday mornings and preparing the sermon series is proving challenging. It challenges our church culture, our family culture and my personal culture. It continually calls me to see my cowardice and turn from it, to see my overwhelming attachment to my comfort and disavow it and my aversion to true Christlikeness and repent of it.
My cowardice is confronted as in chapter 4 Christ leaves the Judean desert when John the Baptist is arrested and goes to Galilee, not because he wants a lakeside country retreat but to go into the heart of darkness. To go to the place knows little of God his promises and his covenants. To go to a people who need to hear the gospel. Will I carry to gospel deliberately into the darkest places spiritually? As i look at an area where so few know the gospel what will I do about it. Jesus preaches and proclaims the kingdom come and repentance needed not in the safety of a church building but beside a lake, on a mountainside, wherever the people are. Will I? Or will I cower in the church preaching boldly but to those who already have the light?
Secondly it confronts my comfort. I like knowing what is coming and when it is coming. I like having a certain shape to my day. I like to avoid what I don't like - be that avocado's or antagonism from those who don't like Christianity or are offended by what the Bible says about sin or sexuality or identity. Jesus is continually leaving his comfort behind, from the moment he leaves the splendour and glories of heaven to the moment he embraces the cross. Will I? Where are the places God wants to discomfort me in my ministry both within the church and without?
Thirdly it challenges my Christlikeness. In short I've been reminded again and again that Jesus is Holy. He is Immanuel - God with us and that means he is thrice holy - Holy, Holy, Holy. He is the one who fulfils all righteousness. He is the one who fights Satan, who resists temptation because he is Holy. And the call to his people, to me, is to repent of my sin and trust in his holiness on my behalf, yes, and the wonder of that must never grow old because that's what causes love and devotion to well up in our hearts. But his call is also to be Holy, that is why he preaches the beatitudes, the household rules of the family of God. And I am reminded that my version of holiness is all too often maxed out at a slightly better than average niceness. But Jesus is Holy for me and calls me to be holy after him as his follower.
Showing posts with label matthew. Show all posts
Showing posts with label matthew. Show all posts
Thursday, 17 May 2018
Monday, 9 July 2012
Matthew 9:36-10:15 Jesus Lord of the Harvest
Here are the notes and discussion questions from last nights LightHouse:
1. What is the gospel?
2. What is compassion? What are we to show compassion for and why?
We all know that the gospel is good news and yet we find evangelism hard. Do I have to say something or is simply living a good life enough? What do I say to someone who asks what happens if they don’t believe? Is it loving or necessary to talk about sin and hell?
1. Catching compassion
‘Speed of the leader speed of the team’ it’s one of those phrases used in our society isn’t it, **what does it mean?
But it is also a phrase that is true in the bible. When Joshua dies Israel enters the spiritual dark ages without his leadership, until God raises up judges who rescue Israel and lead them to God, but then that judge dies Israel fall back until again they cry out for rescue and God sends another leader and so on. We see it again in Kings, godly kings lead Israel to faithfulness and evil kings lead Israel to wickedness and idolatry.
Again and again the bible describes Israel as being like sheep and its leaders as shepherds, the shepherd’s job is to guard and lead the sheep. As Jesus sees the crowd **how does he react to them(36)? “he had compassion on them” Jesus is deeply moved by the state of the people **why? “because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” They aren’t being guided to God or protected and kept. But Jesus doesn’t just pick this farming imagery out of the air.
Turn to Ezekiel 34:1-6 God speaks against Israel’s leaders who don’t care for the sheep but themselves, who haven’t healed or strengthened the sick and who have failed to seek the lost. So (7-13)God is against the shepherds, God will judge and hold them accountable. But wonderfully God also promises that he himself will be his peoples shepherd, he will seek and rescue the lost, he will heal the sick and provide.
As Jesus uses that phrase sheep without a shepherd he is comparing the religious leaders of his day with those of Ezekiel’s day. Just as in Ezekiel’s day they have not sought the lost, just look back at 9v3 where they are horrified at Jesus forgiving sins, or 9v11 where they are appalled at Jesus welcoming Matthew, or v34 where they accuse him of being demon possessed. Jesus comes as the shepherd with God’s compassion for the lost sheep and his desire to shepherd and tend Israel on his heart, and Israel’s leaders reject him.
It isn’t the first time that Jesus has been spoken of as a shepherd, 2:6 “But you Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.” Notice the connection between kingship and being a shepherd. God’s king was to be like a shepherd in his care of his people. 26:31 as Jesus predicts Peter’s denial he quotes Zechariah “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.” Jesus is the Shepherd King who will be struck, the shepherd whose compassion for his people and desire to see the lost found will ultimately lead him to the cross.
Jesus here sees Israel’s need, they need Jesus as shepherd because they are lost and wandering and in danger.
But (37)there is a second problem **what is it? “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” Here is the second problem Israel need to know about Jesus, in order to do that workers need to go out into the field and work. The religious leaders won’t point to Jesus in fact they oppose him and Jesus can’t reach everybody himself. Just look at v35 where has Jesus been? "all the towns and villages...” But that is just Galilee and there are hundreds more where he has not been so there need to be more people to tell about Jesus or they never will hear about Jesus.
Do you see how Jesus sees Israel? They are not spiritually ok, they are not nice people and therefore safe, they desperately need to hear about him, they desperately need telling that the shepherd king has come just as God promised.
How do we see our nation? How do we see our neighbourhood or village? Or friends? Do we share Jesus compassion? Are we moved by their need of Jesus? We need to see as Jesus sees – sheep without a shepherd, people in desperate need of hearing the gospel. Not swallow the lie of our multicultural society that there is no truth and everyone will be ok in the end.
Only if we see people as they really are in all their need will we be filled with compassion for them. If we think they are ok then we won’t feel compassion for them. The harvest is ready but we won’t go out with the good news instead we will make excuses not to go. We are to share God’s compassion for the lost.
2. Compassion that compels
But notice that Jesus doesn’t just feel bad and lament the situation he finds himself in. He is not like so many people today who see the images on their news screens of disaster and devastation and feel bad say ‘oh that’s horrible’ and then turn over to be entertained on a different channel instead. Jesus compassion moves him to action, he does three things, **what is the first one (v38)?
a. Prayer
Jesus tells his disciples to pray. A right response to realising the spiritual need of people to hear about Jesus is first and foremost to ask God to send out workers. The order is important, Jesus isn’t saying do nothing as we’ll see but he is saying we must bring that need to God. Compassion drives us to pray. Now we know that God shares our concern and compassion, in fact as we pray we are simply showing that we share his concern and compassion for the lost.
It is not that we pray and then do nothing but that we do nothing without prayer. And notice **what we are to pray for? Workers, we are to pray for people not programmes, it is people who tell others about Jesus. Prayer must be our first resort and reaction. Compassion leads us to pray to God whose heart beats in love for the lost, to ask him to send out workers.
I think sometimes we don’t pray because we aren’t convinced prayer works. Have you ever stopped and thought about how utterly amazing it is that the gospel got from Matthew 9 to here, to you? Have you thought about how utterly unlikely it is and how God has worked so you have heard the gospel? The twelve go out across Galilee, then after Jesus resurrection at Pentecost the Holy Spirit’s empowered preaching sees the church grow, that early church continues its mission driven out by persecution. Then down through the centuries thousands have given their lives to pass on the good news of Jesus to others who in turn passed it on. Then you think of the work of the reformation, of men like Wycliffe to translate the bible into a language even the plough boy could understand, then others who gave their life to stand for the gospel in Britain. It is utterly astounding that the good news of Jesus goes from Matthew 9 and 12 men in Galilee to us today and across the world. And what is the one constant, it is prayer. God does above and beyond what we can possibly imagine as he spreads his gospel through his people, some significant enough in the worlds eyes to be recorded in history but millions who quietly took their stand, passed on the gospel and went home to glory. That ought to fuel our praying. Prayer is key to the spread of the gospel.
b. Appointed to proclaim
**What happens next? (1-8)Jesus appoints and authorises the Apostles to be the very workers that he has told them to pray for. In a very real sense they are the answer to their own prayers. They are to go to the lost sheep and tell them about Jesus, that the shepherd king has come (7)to tell them the kingdom is near because the king is here. And they are to do all the signs that Jesus has been doing as proof, not to point to themselves but to authenticate their words which point to Jesus.
That poses a question doesn’t it, is that the norm? Should we be healing, casting out demons etc... as we share the gospel? As we read that didn’t you think that would make it more effective? Wouldn’t more people listen? Lets deal with the last question first we’ve seen in Matthew gospel that the miracles are witnesses to the truth of who Jesus is and that sometimes they are a distraction to people who want miracles not the message.
We also need to recognise that this, in Matthew 10, is a significant in-breaking moment for the kingdom, this is the initial proclamation to a people who have been waiting for the Messiah and it is fulfilling bible promises to people who are looking for these signs. The Apostles are also foundational to the church, it is their words we have in scripture their testimony and witness. We do not have modern day apostles in this sense.
Biblically just as there is heightened opposition to Jesus so around Jesus ministry there is a heightened sense of the miraculous. Reading the Old Testament simply makes you more astounded at the sheer amount of miraculous activity that Jesus does and authorizes. In Jesus ministry something unique is happening. Even in Acts the miraculous seems to tail off, in letters to the churches Paul, Peter, James and John do not seem to expect the same level of miracles.
Now miracles do happen and it is right for us to pray for them, but we ought not to expect them on this scale, and they are not necessary to authenticate the gospel for us.
And the big point is that the miracles always point to Jesus that is their purpose to proclaim that the shepherd king is here to the lost sheep of Israel.
c. Pattern of proclamation
Jesus also gives a pattern of ministry. **What reaction are the Apostles to expect? Acceptance or rejection and they are to respect such reactions though they are aware of the fearful results of them(15). They are not to keep on hammering away at those who reject the good news until they accept it they are to move on.
But it also sets a pattern of provision. Where the good news about Jesus is welcomed those who welcome it are to provide for those preaching the gospel, hence the apostles not taking provisions. It is right that we who have heard the good news and responded to it provide for those who work to preach the gospel, we do so to free them up to proclaim Jesus well.
Jesus compassion for the lost sheep leads him to multiply ministers and to prepare the harvesters. He equips and trains his disciples to reach the lost. Because understanding the gospel, its need and its consequences produces compassion which compels us to pray and to proclaim.
1. What dulls our sense of compassion and urgency about sharing the gospel?
2. Are we to proclaim the gospel in word or deed? Why?
3. “I work hard to pay the minister to do the work of proclamation, he is the professional, so that I don’t have to.” What would you say to someone who said this?
1. What is the gospel?
2. What is compassion? What are we to show compassion for and why?
We all know that the gospel is good news and yet we find evangelism hard. Do I have to say something or is simply living a good life enough? What do I say to someone who asks what happens if they don’t believe? Is it loving or necessary to talk about sin and hell?
1. Catching compassion
‘Speed of the leader speed of the team’ it’s one of those phrases used in our society isn’t it, **what does it mean?
But it is also a phrase that is true in the bible. When Joshua dies Israel enters the spiritual dark ages without his leadership, until God raises up judges who rescue Israel and lead them to God, but then that judge dies Israel fall back until again they cry out for rescue and God sends another leader and so on. We see it again in Kings, godly kings lead Israel to faithfulness and evil kings lead Israel to wickedness and idolatry.
Again and again the bible describes Israel as being like sheep and its leaders as shepherds, the shepherd’s job is to guard and lead the sheep. As Jesus sees the crowd **how does he react to them(36)? “he had compassion on them” Jesus is deeply moved by the state of the people **why? “because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” They aren’t being guided to God or protected and kept. But Jesus doesn’t just pick this farming imagery out of the air.
Turn to Ezekiel 34:1-6 God speaks against Israel’s leaders who don’t care for the sheep but themselves, who haven’t healed or strengthened the sick and who have failed to seek the lost. So (7-13)God is against the shepherds, God will judge and hold them accountable. But wonderfully God also promises that he himself will be his peoples shepherd, he will seek and rescue the lost, he will heal the sick and provide.
As Jesus uses that phrase sheep without a shepherd he is comparing the religious leaders of his day with those of Ezekiel’s day. Just as in Ezekiel’s day they have not sought the lost, just look back at 9v3 where they are horrified at Jesus forgiving sins, or 9v11 where they are appalled at Jesus welcoming Matthew, or v34 where they accuse him of being demon possessed. Jesus comes as the shepherd with God’s compassion for the lost sheep and his desire to shepherd and tend Israel on his heart, and Israel’s leaders reject him.
It isn’t the first time that Jesus has been spoken of as a shepherd, 2:6 “But you Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.” Notice the connection between kingship and being a shepherd. God’s king was to be like a shepherd in his care of his people. 26:31 as Jesus predicts Peter’s denial he quotes Zechariah “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.” Jesus is the Shepherd King who will be struck, the shepherd whose compassion for his people and desire to see the lost found will ultimately lead him to the cross.
Jesus here sees Israel’s need, they need Jesus as shepherd because they are lost and wandering and in danger.
But (37)there is a second problem **what is it? “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” Here is the second problem Israel need to know about Jesus, in order to do that workers need to go out into the field and work. The religious leaders won’t point to Jesus in fact they oppose him and Jesus can’t reach everybody himself. Just look at v35 where has Jesus been? "all the towns and villages...” But that is just Galilee and there are hundreds more where he has not been so there need to be more people to tell about Jesus or they never will hear about Jesus.
Do you see how Jesus sees Israel? They are not spiritually ok, they are not nice people and therefore safe, they desperately need to hear about him, they desperately need telling that the shepherd king has come just as God promised.
How do we see our nation? How do we see our neighbourhood or village? Or friends? Do we share Jesus compassion? Are we moved by their need of Jesus? We need to see as Jesus sees – sheep without a shepherd, people in desperate need of hearing the gospel. Not swallow the lie of our multicultural society that there is no truth and everyone will be ok in the end.
Only if we see people as they really are in all their need will we be filled with compassion for them. If we think they are ok then we won’t feel compassion for them. The harvest is ready but we won’t go out with the good news instead we will make excuses not to go. We are to share God’s compassion for the lost.
2. Compassion that compels
But notice that Jesus doesn’t just feel bad and lament the situation he finds himself in. He is not like so many people today who see the images on their news screens of disaster and devastation and feel bad say ‘oh that’s horrible’ and then turn over to be entertained on a different channel instead. Jesus compassion moves him to action, he does three things, **what is the first one (v38)?
a. Prayer
Jesus tells his disciples to pray. A right response to realising the spiritual need of people to hear about Jesus is first and foremost to ask God to send out workers. The order is important, Jesus isn’t saying do nothing as we’ll see but he is saying we must bring that need to God. Compassion drives us to pray. Now we know that God shares our concern and compassion, in fact as we pray we are simply showing that we share his concern and compassion for the lost.
It is not that we pray and then do nothing but that we do nothing without prayer. And notice **what we are to pray for? Workers, we are to pray for people not programmes, it is people who tell others about Jesus. Prayer must be our first resort and reaction. Compassion leads us to pray to God whose heart beats in love for the lost, to ask him to send out workers.
I think sometimes we don’t pray because we aren’t convinced prayer works. Have you ever stopped and thought about how utterly amazing it is that the gospel got from Matthew 9 to here, to you? Have you thought about how utterly unlikely it is and how God has worked so you have heard the gospel? The twelve go out across Galilee, then after Jesus resurrection at Pentecost the Holy Spirit’s empowered preaching sees the church grow, that early church continues its mission driven out by persecution. Then down through the centuries thousands have given their lives to pass on the good news of Jesus to others who in turn passed it on. Then you think of the work of the reformation, of men like Wycliffe to translate the bible into a language even the plough boy could understand, then others who gave their life to stand for the gospel in Britain. It is utterly astounding that the good news of Jesus goes from Matthew 9 and 12 men in Galilee to us today and across the world. And what is the one constant, it is prayer. God does above and beyond what we can possibly imagine as he spreads his gospel through his people, some significant enough in the worlds eyes to be recorded in history but millions who quietly took their stand, passed on the gospel and went home to glory. That ought to fuel our praying. Prayer is key to the spread of the gospel.
b. Appointed to proclaim
**What happens next? (1-8)Jesus appoints and authorises the Apostles to be the very workers that he has told them to pray for. In a very real sense they are the answer to their own prayers. They are to go to the lost sheep and tell them about Jesus, that the shepherd king has come (7)to tell them the kingdom is near because the king is here. And they are to do all the signs that Jesus has been doing as proof, not to point to themselves but to authenticate their words which point to Jesus.
That poses a question doesn’t it, is that the norm? Should we be healing, casting out demons etc... as we share the gospel? As we read that didn’t you think that would make it more effective? Wouldn’t more people listen? Lets deal with the last question first we’ve seen in Matthew gospel that the miracles are witnesses to the truth of who Jesus is and that sometimes they are a distraction to people who want miracles not the message.
We also need to recognise that this, in Matthew 10, is a significant in-breaking moment for the kingdom, this is the initial proclamation to a people who have been waiting for the Messiah and it is fulfilling bible promises to people who are looking for these signs. The Apostles are also foundational to the church, it is their words we have in scripture their testimony and witness. We do not have modern day apostles in this sense.
Biblically just as there is heightened opposition to Jesus so around Jesus ministry there is a heightened sense of the miraculous. Reading the Old Testament simply makes you more astounded at the sheer amount of miraculous activity that Jesus does and authorizes. In Jesus ministry something unique is happening. Even in Acts the miraculous seems to tail off, in letters to the churches Paul, Peter, James and John do not seem to expect the same level of miracles.
Now miracles do happen and it is right for us to pray for them, but we ought not to expect them on this scale, and they are not necessary to authenticate the gospel for us.
And the big point is that the miracles always point to Jesus that is their purpose to proclaim that the shepherd king is here to the lost sheep of Israel.
c. Pattern of proclamation
Jesus also gives a pattern of ministry. **What reaction are the Apostles to expect? Acceptance or rejection and they are to respect such reactions though they are aware of the fearful results of them(15). They are not to keep on hammering away at those who reject the good news until they accept it they are to move on.
But it also sets a pattern of provision. Where the good news about Jesus is welcomed those who welcome it are to provide for those preaching the gospel, hence the apostles not taking provisions. It is right that we who have heard the good news and responded to it provide for those who work to preach the gospel, we do so to free them up to proclaim Jesus well.
Jesus compassion for the lost sheep leads him to multiply ministers and to prepare the harvesters. He equips and trains his disciples to reach the lost. Because understanding the gospel, its need and its consequences produces compassion which compels us to pray and to proclaim.
1. What dulls our sense of compassion and urgency about sharing the gospel?
2. Are we to proclaim the gospel in word or deed? Why?
3. “I work hard to pay the minister to do the work of proclamation, he is the professional, so that I don’t have to.” What would you say to someone who said this?
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
Dealing radically with sin
How radically should we deal with sin? Does it differ from person to person? Is it about tolerances? Is it about what 'my problem' is or about what someone elses 'problem' is? Are certain mediums more sinful than others? Is there a danger that in radically dealing with sin we isolate ourselves from culture and being able to engage with those around us?
"If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell." Matthew 5:29-30
Jesus is radical about sin and when you read that passage carefully there are no *'s or other marks directing you to a foot note where Jesus adds the small print of 'except if it would impinge upon your cultural relevance'. Jesus is just radical about sin - get rid of it, cut it out, tear it out, throw it away! You can't get more radical than that.
So why do we struggle so much to do that? Why do we find ourselves arguing what is ok for me might not be for someone else, Jesus doesn't seem to make allowances for tolerances. And I don't think the tolerances argument washes anyway you can build up tolerance levels of all sorts of harmful things, it is the same to blasphemy or pornography or whatever, what is happening as you become tolerant of something is that your heart becomes calloused.
Another common argument is that the medium matters, so books are not viewed as being as sinful as films or material over the internet. Books are designed to create images in our heads to create emotive responses to the words you are reading, that is no different than a film or internet sight which simply provides you with someelses take on those words. Yet often we read things we would never watch. With all of them Jesus call is cut it out, tear it out, throw it away.
Sin is sin. It maybe couched in terms of romantic fiction, or thriller, or Rom Com, or in the latest video game release. But we need to call sin sin and rediscover the horror of sin so that we see why it is that Jesus is so stark in his warning, why there is no small print and no shades of grey. Why do we want there to be? Because sin is attractive, it is tempting - that is the point after all. But it is deadly and we ought to treat it as such, to label something as sin is to designate it as harmful as if it carried the warning symbol for radioactive waste, we wouldn't play with that because of the consequences. God is not a cosmic killjoy, he is our loving heavenly father who has seen firsthand the damage, destruction, decay and desecration sin causes. It is love that leads him to say rip it out, tear it out, throw it away.
"If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell." Matthew 5:29-30
Jesus is radical about sin and when you read that passage carefully there are no *'s or other marks directing you to a foot note where Jesus adds the small print of 'except if it would impinge upon your cultural relevance'. Jesus is just radical about sin - get rid of it, cut it out, tear it out, throw it away! You can't get more radical than that.
So why do we struggle so much to do that? Why do we find ourselves arguing what is ok for me might not be for someone else, Jesus doesn't seem to make allowances for tolerances. And I don't think the tolerances argument washes anyway you can build up tolerance levels of all sorts of harmful things, it is the same to blasphemy or pornography or whatever, what is happening as you become tolerant of something is that your heart becomes calloused.
Another common argument is that the medium matters, so books are not viewed as being as sinful as films or material over the internet. Books are designed to create images in our heads to create emotive responses to the words you are reading, that is no different than a film or internet sight which simply provides you with someelses take on those words. Yet often we read things we would never watch. With all of them Jesus call is cut it out, tear it out, throw it away.
Sin is sin. It maybe couched in terms of romantic fiction, or thriller, or Rom Com, or in the latest video game release. But we need to call sin sin and rediscover the horror of sin so that we see why it is that Jesus is so stark in his warning, why there is no small print and no shades of grey. Why do we want there to be? Because sin is attractive, it is tempting - that is the point after all. But it is deadly and we ought to treat it as such, to label something as sin is to designate it as harmful as if it carried the warning symbol for radioactive waste, we wouldn't play with that because of the consequences. God is not a cosmic killjoy, he is our loving heavenly father who has seen firsthand the damage, destruction, decay and desecration sin causes. It is love that leads him to say rip it out, tear it out, throw it away.
Monday, 16 April 2012
Returning to the Mountain
Over the coming weeks at LightHouse we are going to be looking at Matthew 7-10 and Jesus final teaching during the Sermon on the Mount and his actions and teaching afterwards. But you can’t just jump straight into the Sermon on the Mount without first of all getting the context of what has happened before, we need to review the first 4 chapters so that we understand fully what Jesus is teaching. Otherwise the danger is we’ll miss key emphasises and themes.
It’s a bit like Star Wars. As children we only had episodes 4-6 and in them Darth Vadar was the arch baddie, we knew something had gone on before episode 4 but the details were sketchy. But when you watch episodes 1-3 and then watch 4-6 again you have a different take on Darth Vadar. You understand how he came to be like he was, you understand the tragedy, the conflicting loyalties, the influences and stresses that led him to become who he was. In short you watch the film and relate to his character differently.
Far more importantly the danger is that we do the same with Matthew’s gospel if we just dive into the beatitudes, we need to get the context. Matthew writes his gospel for a number of reasons but here are three of them: he writes so that Jewish Christians are secure in their discipleship of Jesus despite the hostility of their fellow Jews, so that they can answer Jewish objections by pointing objectors to Christ as the fulfilment of God’s promises and the Old Testament, and so that God’s people know how to live counter culturally.
If you were writing a book how would you begin? Some begin Once upon a time, with a cliffhanger, or at the end and show you the sequence of events leading up to it, others with a mystery and then unravel it.
You wouldn’t start with a genealogy would you? But Matthew does and the question is why? Because it reveals that Jesus is a descendant of Abraham, a Jew one of the chosen people of God, and he is in the line of David, he is in the line of God’s promised forever king(2 Sam 7:16).
As Matthew records Jesus birth you notice another theme - prophecy fulfilled. Jesus is born of a virgin(1:22), in Bethlehem(2:6), flees to Egypt(2:15) in a time of crisis(2:18) and returns to live in Nazareth(2:23). Jesus isn’t only in the line of Abraham and David but in him the words of God’s through his prophets are fulfilled.
Then in(ch3) John the Baptist, the one sent to tell people God’s kingdom is about to come, recognises who Jesus is and at his baptism God the Father and God the Spirit recognise God the Son. And then Jesus, God’s Son in whom he is well pleased, goes into the desert just as Israel did, but unlike Israel his concern is to do the Father’s will, he resists temptation proving that he is the true Son of God, he is the Messiah. And then in (ch4) he begins his ministry by declaring “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come.”
Jesus is God’s promised long awaited king and in him God’s kingdom draws alongside. It is not a spatial or geographic kingdom but it is dynamic and active, it’s wherever his people will accept his kingship and live under his rule.
Matthew 1-4 show us that Jesus is the Messiah, in the line of Abraham, and David, God’s Son speaking God’s word and in him the kingdom of God draws near! (4:25)We see “Large crowds… followed him.” It looks like the kingdom is growing but Matthew sees a distinction, he sees two groups. 5:1 “Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.” What are the two groups? Who does Jesus teach?
There are the curious crowd drawn by miracles and the chatter about Jesus, and the disciples, those committed to following him. Jesus sees the crowd but teaches his disciples. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus teaches his people what it means to follow him, the marks of discipleship, characteristics of citizens of the kingdom. It is not a universal kingdom, you cannot come anyway you like, it is not an easy kingdom to join and it is radically counter cultural.
It’s a bit like Star Wars. As children we only had episodes 4-6 and in them Darth Vadar was the arch baddie, we knew something had gone on before episode 4 but the details were sketchy. But when you watch episodes 1-3 and then watch 4-6 again you have a different take on Darth Vadar. You understand how he came to be like he was, you understand the tragedy, the conflicting loyalties, the influences and stresses that led him to become who he was. In short you watch the film and relate to his character differently.
Far more importantly the danger is that we do the same with Matthew’s gospel if we just dive into the beatitudes, we need to get the context. Matthew writes his gospel for a number of reasons but here are three of them: he writes so that Jewish Christians are secure in their discipleship of Jesus despite the hostility of their fellow Jews, so that they can answer Jewish objections by pointing objectors to Christ as the fulfilment of God’s promises and the Old Testament, and so that God’s people know how to live counter culturally.
If you were writing a book how would you begin? Some begin Once upon a time, with a cliffhanger, or at the end and show you the sequence of events leading up to it, others with a mystery and then unravel it.
You wouldn’t start with a genealogy would you? But Matthew does and the question is why? Because it reveals that Jesus is a descendant of Abraham, a Jew one of the chosen people of God, and he is in the line of David, he is in the line of God’s promised forever king(2 Sam 7:16).
As Matthew records Jesus birth you notice another theme - prophecy fulfilled. Jesus is born of a virgin(1:22), in Bethlehem(2:6), flees to Egypt(2:15) in a time of crisis(2:18) and returns to live in Nazareth(2:23). Jesus isn’t only in the line of Abraham and David but in him the words of God’s through his prophets are fulfilled.
Then in(ch3) John the Baptist, the one sent to tell people God’s kingdom is about to come, recognises who Jesus is and at his baptism God the Father and God the Spirit recognise God the Son. And then Jesus, God’s Son in whom he is well pleased, goes into the desert just as Israel did, but unlike Israel his concern is to do the Father’s will, he resists temptation proving that he is the true Son of God, he is the Messiah. And then in (ch4) he begins his ministry by declaring “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come.”
Jesus is God’s promised long awaited king and in him God’s kingdom draws alongside. It is not a spatial or geographic kingdom but it is dynamic and active, it’s wherever his people will accept his kingship and live under his rule.
Matthew 1-4 show us that Jesus is the Messiah, in the line of Abraham, and David, God’s Son speaking God’s word and in him the kingdom of God draws near! (4:25)We see “Large crowds… followed him.” It looks like the kingdom is growing but Matthew sees a distinction, he sees two groups. 5:1 “Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.” What are the two groups? Who does Jesus teach?
There are the curious crowd drawn by miracles and the chatter about Jesus, and the disciples, those committed to following him. Jesus sees the crowd but teaches his disciples. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus teaches his people what it means to follow him, the marks of discipleship, characteristics of citizens of the kingdom. It is not a universal kingdom, you cannot come anyway you like, it is not an easy kingdom to join and it is radically counter cultural.
Monday, 20 December 2010
Matthew 1:18-25 A Strange way to provide a Saviour
5 days 12 hours and it will be Christmas day, of course you’d rather your children didn’t come bouncing in at midnight. The advent calendars, those exquisite mechanisms of torture for children visualise the waiting is nearly finished.
Someone said these words: "If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well. If it is worth having, it is worth waiting for. If it is worth attaining, it is worth fighting for. If it is worth experiencing, it is worth putting aside time for."
We’re used to waiting; some things are worth the wait: your wedding day, the birth of your children, others maybe not: the iPhone 4, the latest box office release, any game Ipswich are involved in on TV.
I wonder if you spotted the people waiting in our reading. There’s Joseph, he’s betrothed to Mary, it’s not like our engagement to break it required a divorce. He’s been waiting for the wedding day when the bomb shell hits – Mary is pregnant. And his instant assumption isn’t that this is the son of God, his instant assumption is unfaithfulness, so he plans to divorce her quietly. All that waiting for nothing, or so he thinks until a spectacular intervention convinces him otherwise.
But Joseph isn’t the only one waiting. Israel had been waiting, if you’ve got a bible you’ll notice a long list of names(1-17) that stretches back centuries, all waiting. The question as Matthew opens his gospel is what have they been waiting for and has it been worth it?
We see what they have been waiting for in the two names given to Jesus as the angel reveals to Joseph that his waiting has been worth it because he has a part to play in the most important moment in history.
Waiting for forgiveness
How do you get forgiveness? When we’ve done something wrong we say sorry, we may follow it up, or accompany, the apology with a bunch of flowers or a meal. When Lucy and I had our first big argument she rang me to apologise and say she’d bought all the things for a romantic meal to apologise, but there was a problem, it was the play off semi-final. Later that evening the scene was set; romantic candlelit steak dinner, the background music not Celine Dionne or even John Secada, but Ipswich versus Sheffield United.
But what about if you have offended God?
You see that’s what Israel have been waiting for. Look at (21)what name is the son to be given? Jesus, why? “Because he will save his people from their sins.”
I wonder what you think of when you hear that word, sin. We tend to think of bad people – the man who stabbed the police officers this week, or the bomber in Sweden. But the angel doesn’t say Jesus has come for bad people but for all Israel, good and bad people, religious and irreligious. Because sin isn’t doing bad things it is simply saying no to God.
God as creator deserves to be listened to, he determines what is right and wrong, sin is when we dethrone God as ruler of our lives and decide we’ll decide right and wrong for ourselves. The by-product of sin is seen in a world in chaos, where Mr Assange decides it’s right for him to leak as many wiki documents as he likes, while governments decide it isn’t, where North Korea decides it’s right for them to fire on South Korea, where someone decides it’s right to strap explosives to themselves and detonate it in a busy street, where we each think we can determine right and wrong according to our own thinking.
It sets us on a collision course with others, but most importantly with God. God isn’t indifferent to our rebellion he cares passionately about it and will one day hold us accountable for it.
Jesus comes to save us from our sin, to deliver us from our greatest danger, judgement from God.
There are lots of ways we try to earn forgiveness from others; meals, flowers, being good, making it up to them, promising we’ll never do it again etc... But God’s forgiveness is a gift, he sends Jesus to save us because we can’t save ourselves, Jesus comes to pay the price for our rebellion against God and is judged guilty instead of us, and we’re given the gift of his perfect record. He comes to the cradle to go to the cross.
Are you still waiting for forgiveness? Do you feel guilty for things said or done? Can you see in your life how destructive determining right and wrong for yourself has been? Jesus is born so that we can be forgiven, don’t wait for forgiveness he has come so you can know forgiveness now.
Waiting for friendship
Have you ever had a wait that has ended in a surprise so much better than what you were waiting for? For my thirtieth birthday Lucy threw a surprise party. Normally I’d like to think I’m pretty good at picking up clues about what’s going on. But I was so clueless I hadn’t even changed out of the clothes I’d spent all day gardening in. That surprise was so much better than just another birthday.
Joseph in these verses experiences lows and highs, at the start he’s waiting expectantly for his wedding day, then he realises Mary is pregnant, then he’s told that this baby is “from the Holy Spirit”. It’s tempting to think how gullible Joseph was believing in a virgin birth – but if God exists, if he created the world in all its variety and incredibly finely tuned balance, well if God is God then a virgin birth is child’s play. You can imagine Joseph is a bit shell-shocked but there is more to come – not only will this baby end the wait for forgiveness but he will end the wait for people to know God.
Look at (23)the angel says Jesus will be called Immanuel; it means God with us. He’s not just a saviour, Jesus is God in flesh, this is what Isaiah promised hundreds of years earlier, it’s what Israel have been waiting for, what the world has been waiting for.
Sin separates us from God, but now in this baby God is coming to us. We can’t get to God so the almighty creator puts on his creation. Jesus is God made man; he feels hungry, thirsty, weeps, mourns at the death of a friend, gets angry, knows the burden of too much to do and not enough time to do it in.
And yet as God made man he heals the sick, casts out demons, walks on water, feeds thousands with one packed lunch, calms the storm and raises the dead. He is the creator walking among his creation, getting to know them, laughing with Peter and James and John, smiling at his friends fears, challenging them to faith, forgiving sin.
Jesus is God come to restore us to friendship with him.
Who is the most famous person you have ever met? What about the most famous person you count as a friend?
Matthew is saying something astonishing, in Jesus we don’t just know about God we can know God. He is God with us, not just when things are going well but all the time, he becomes someone you can talk to – that’s what prayer is, who you can listen to – that’s what the bible is for, and who you can trust in.
What are you waiting for this Christmas? The great news is that the waiting is over. We can be forgiven, but more than that we can know God, enter into a relationship with him because Jesus makes this possible.
What are you waiting for? Christmas reminds us the wait is over.
Someone said these words: "If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well. If it is worth having, it is worth waiting for. If it is worth attaining, it is worth fighting for. If it is worth experiencing, it is worth putting aside time for."
We’re used to waiting; some things are worth the wait: your wedding day, the birth of your children, others maybe not: the iPhone 4, the latest box office release, any game Ipswich are involved in on TV.
I wonder if you spotted the people waiting in our reading. There’s Joseph, he’s betrothed to Mary, it’s not like our engagement to break it required a divorce. He’s been waiting for the wedding day when the bomb shell hits – Mary is pregnant. And his instant assumption isn’t that this is the son of God, his instant assumption is unfaithfulness, so he plans to divorce her quietly. All that waiting for nothing, or so he thinks until a spectacular intervention convinces him otherwise.
But Joseph isn’t the only one waiting. Israel had been waiting, if you’ve got a bible you’ll notice a long list of names(1-17) that stretches back centuries, all waiting. The question as Matthew opens his gospel is what have they been waiting for and has it been worth it?
We see what they have been waiting for in the two names given to Jesus as the angel reveals to Joseph that his waiting has been worth it because he has a part to play in the most important moment in history.
Waiting for forgiveness
How do you get forgiveness? When we’ve done something wrong we say sorry, we may follow it up, or accompany, the apology with a bunch of flowers or a meal. When Lucy and I had our first big argument she rang me to apologise and say she’d bought all the things for a romantic meal to apologise, but there was a problem, it was the play off semi-final. Later that evening the scene was set; romantic candlelit steak dinner, the background music not Celine Dionne or even John Secada, but Ipswich versus Sheffield United.
But what about if you have offended God?
You see that’s what Israel have been waiting for. Look at (21)what name is the son to be given? Jesus, why? “Because he will save his people from their sins.”
I wonder what you think of when you hear that word, sin. We tend to think of bad people – the man who stabbed the police officers this week, or the bomber in Sweden. But the angel doesn’t say Jesus has come for bad people but for all Israel, good and bad people, religious and irreligious. Because sin isn’t doing bad things it is simply saying no to God.
God as creator deserves to be listened to, he determines what is right and wrong, sin is when we dethrone God as ruler of our lives and decide we’ll decide right and wrong for ourselves. The by-product of sin is seen in a world in chaos, where Mr Assange decides it’s right for him to leak as many wiki documents as he likes, while governments decide it isn’t, where North Korea decides it’s right for them to fire on South Korea, where someone decides it’s right to strap explosives to themselves and detonate it in a busy street, where we each think we can determine right and wrong according to our own thinking.
It sets us on a collision course with others, but most importantly with God. God isn’t indifferent to our rebellion he cares passionately about it and will one day hold us accountable for it.
Jesus comes to save us from our sin, to deliver us from our greatest danger, judgement from God.
There are lots of ways we try to earn forgiveness from others; meals, flowers, being good, making it up to them, promising we’ll never do it again etc... But God’s forgiveness is a gift, he sends Jesus to save us because we can’t save ourselves, Jesus comes to pay the price for our rebellion against God and is judged guilty instead of us, and we’re given the gift of his perfect record. He comes to the cradle to go to the cross.
Are you still waiting for forgiveness? Do you feel guilty for things said or done? Can you see in your life how destructive determining right and wrong for yourself has been? Jesus is born so that we can be forgiven, don’t wait for forgiveness he has come so you can know forgiveness now.
Waiting for friendship
Have you ever had a wait that has ended in a surprise so much better than what you were waiting for? For my thirtieth birthday Lucy threw a surprise party. Normally I’d like to think I’m pretty good at picking up clues about what’s going on. But I was so clueless I hadn’t even changed out of the clothes I’d spent all day gardening in. That surprise was so much better than just another birthday.
Joseph in these verses experiences lows and highs, at the start he’s waiting expectantly for his wedding day, then he realises Mary is pregnant, then he’s told that this baby is “from the Holy Spirit”. It’s tempting to think how gullible Joseph was believing in a virgin birth – but if God exists, if he created the world in all its variety and incredibly finely tuned balance, well if God is God then a virgin birth is child’s play. You can imagine Joseph is a bit shell-shocked but there is more to come – not only will this baby end the wait for forgiveness but he will end the wait for people to know God.
Look at (23)the angel says Jesus will be called Immanuel; it means God with us. He’s not just a saviour, Jesus is God in flesh, this is what Isaiah promised hundreds of years earlier, it’s what Israel have been waiting for, what the world has been waiting for.
Sin separates us from God, but now in this baby God is coming to us. We can’t get to God so the almighty creator puts on his creation. Jesus is God made man; he feels hungry, thirsty, weeps, mourns at the death of a friend, gets angry, knows the burden of too much to do and not enough time to do it in.
And yet as God made man he heals the sick, casts out demons, walks on water, feeds thousands with one packed lunch, calms the storm and raises the dead. He is the creator walking among his creation, getting to know them, laughing with Peter and James and John, smiling at his friends fears, challenging them to faith, forgiving sin.
Jesus is God come to restore us to friendship with him.
Who is the most famous person you have ever met? What about the most famous person you count as a friend?
Matthew is saying something astonishing, in Jesus we don’t just know about God we can know God. He is God with us, not just when things are going well but all the time, he becomes someone you can talk to – that’s what prayer is, who you can listen to – that’s what the bible is for, and who you can trust in.
What are you waiting for this Christmas? The great news is that the waiting is over. We can be forgiven, but more than that we can know God, enter into a relationship with him because Jesus makes this possible.
What are you waiting for? Christmas reminds us the wait is over.
Monday, 13 December 2010
Matthew 1:1-17 A Strange way to start a book
Who or what are the three most significant people or events in your life? It may be meeting someone who became a close friend, or someone who moulded your whole future, inspiring you to do something, or someone who challenged you and led you to believe in Jesus. Maybe a relationship, maybe the birth of a child, maybe a job, a chance meeting?
Matthew’s gospel opens in an odd way, at least according to our way of thinking, I’ve never come across a novel or even a biography that opens with a long genealogy. But Matthew by firmly rooting Jesus in history and as he does so he ties him in with 3 significant people and events in Israel’s history, can you spot the 2 key characters? There was no bold print, or underline at the time Matthew wrote so he used repetition, who are the repeated characters? Abraham and David. They were the two key characters in Jewish history and were characters to whom God gave great promises. What is the key event that is mentioned? The exile, Israel and Judah being taken captive into Babylon.
Genealogy means beginning or origin, it’s the same phrase used in Gen 2:4, and Matthew’s point is that this is a new beginning. In Jesus God is doing something new and stunning. But Matthew doesn’t say scrap history and start afresh from here, instead he provides this new beginnings Old Testament roots, this new beginning fulfils all the promises and hopes and dreams scattered throughout the Old Testament, this is the climax to which everything has been leading – Jesus Christ the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.
1. The Son of Promise
What is Abraham famous for? God called him and gave him 4 promises.
"1The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
2“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
4So Abram went, as the LORD had told him"
God makes four promises to Abraham; People, Place, Protection, and Programme. And the promises centre on the coming of a son. Abraham does have a son but just one, then Isaac has two sons and slowly the promise of a people is realised, they are given a land, though it is not as it should be and they are given great protection but forfeit God’s love, and the programme of being a blessing to all nations, well look at the genealogy.
Tamar and Rahab are Canaanites, Ruth is a Moabitess, and Bathsheba is a Hittite, even in Jesus bloodline there are glimpse of all nations coming to trust God and being blessed. But they are ones and twos not the thousands, the nations that the prophets pictured. And as Matthew opens Israel are still expectantly waiting the coming of a son who will fulfil these promises.
Matthew says Jesus is “the son of Abraham” – watch this space, read this account because Jesus is one to watch, he is the Son of promise, the one through whom all nations will be blessed.
Having started his gospel that way Matthew ends it by recording Jesus words immediately before his ascension “go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...” Jesus is the Son, what are the disciples to do with that knowledge? Go tell everyone – all nations - they can know God.
It is because Jesus is the Son of Abraham that you and I are here this morning, because he calls the nations.
2. The King of Promise
Who is the second character emphasized? David. Jesus is the Son of David, David is the King Israel looked back longingly to but again he is a key character with a promise. A promise that a Son would come from David’s line who would rule his people from his throne forever. Solomon is David’s son yet despite a promising beginning his reign descends into idol worship and division, and Matthew gives us some of the kings in that line in this genealogy and some are good but some are bad, some follow God but some worship idols, and as you read the list you find yourself asking the question where is the promised king whose throne would last forever?
Where is God’s forever King, when is he going to keep his promise?
Then Matthew starts his gospel with these words “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the Son of David...” Jesus is that King! The Son of David born in Judah’s line, Jesus is the King. Matthew nails his colours to the mast with his 8th word of his gospel “Messiah” – God’s anointed one.
Jesus kingship is a key idea in Matthew, 10 times in Matthew he is referred to as the Son of David, it is what the blind men call him in ch 9, the question the people ask in ch12, it’s what the Canaanite woman cries out ch15, what the crowds cry at his triumphal entry into Jerusalem and what the children cry in the temple. To be the Son of David was to be the Messiah.
Lots of people ask why Matthew has stylised his genealogy, v17 makes much of their being how many generations in each block? 14. In Jewish writing each consonant was prescribed a number: D was 4, V was 6, DVD = 14. Again Matthew is using a Jewish way of emphasising that Jesus is the Son of David, that he is the Messiah – God’s promised King bringing about God’s kingdom.
And throughout the gospel we see people either bowing the knee, accepting his rule and entering the kingdom or rejecting him and going to war with God’s king and God’s kingdom.
3. The end of the Exile
One historical event is emphasized here what is it? The exile, when Israel are expelled from God’s place because of their refusal to live as his saved people.
Exile is a theme that runs throughout the bible. When Adam and Eve rebel against God in the Garden what happens? They are driven out of God’s presence because of their rebellion against God. When Cain kills Abel he is driven out from God’s presence, when the people rebel at Babel they are scattered by God’s judgement. And at the exile Israel, God’s people in God’s place who reject God’s rule are driven out from his place and scattered, but the prophets promise a glorious return.
As Matthew opens Israel are back in the land but it is as an occupied nation, the temple is not the glorious vision of Ezekiel, the nations haven’t flocked to worship God, and Israel continue to struggle to serve God.
Jesus is the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, but he will also end the exile, he comes to gather the scattered and provide them with a new way of relating to God, it’s a new beginning, a new covenant. And in the early chapters Jesus collects disciples like a magnet collects metal, crowds flock to see and hear him. Jesus gathers Gentiles, women, children, fishermen, tax collectors, sinners and rebels along with those who are just ordinary good people but who recognise that they are still living in exile from God. That their refusal to live life with loving God with all their heart and being has left them in spiritual exile. And they glimpse in Jesus the end of that exile, that in him Son of Promise, King of promise, the exile is ended and they can know God in a whole new way. Sin forgiven and relationship entered.
Sin separates us from God it sends us into exile. We were made for relationship with God but our refusal to acknowledge him as creator and Lord means we’re exiled. Jesus comes to end that exile.
Do you ever feel a bit apologetic for mentioning Jesus at Christmas, for challenging people about the real meaning of Christmas? Matthew is so captivated by what he has discovered about Jesus that he will discomfort the Jews, he will challenge their understanding of the bible, centuries of tradition, as he proclaims Jesus is the Son of promise, the King of promise and the only way to end our exile from God. We have to tell others the exile is ended Jesus is the way back to God.
What did this news stir Matthew to do – to tell others not because of guilty or out of a grudging sense of duty but because this is the greatest news ever! All God’s promises are fulfilled and there is a new way of relating to God! Let’s call others to come and join us as we praise God for sending Jesus.
Matthew’s gospel opens in an odd way, at least according to our way of thinking, I’ve never come across a novel or even a biography that opens with a long genealogy. But Matthew by firmly rooting Jesus in history and as he does so he ties him in with 3 significant people and events in Israel’s history, can you spot the 2 key characters? There was no bold print, or underline at the time Matthew wrote so he used repetition, who are the repeated characters? Abraham and David. They were the two key characters in Jewish history and were characters to whom God gave great promises. What is the key event that is mentioned? The exile, Israel and Judah being taken captive into Babylon.
Genealogy means beginning or origin, it’s the same phrase used in Gen 2:4, and Matthew’s point is that this is a new beginning. In Jesus God is doing something new and stunning. But Matthew doesn’t say scrap history and start afresh from here, instead he provides this new beginnings Old Testament roots, this new beginning fulfils all the promises and hopes and dreams scattered throughout the Old Testament, this is the climax to which everything has been leading – Jesus Christ the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.
1. The Son of Promise
What is Abraham famous for? God called him and gave him 4 promises.
"1The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
2“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
4So Abram went, as the LORD had told him"
God makes four promises to Abraham; People, Place, Protection, and Programme. And the promises centre on the coming of a son. Abraham does have a son but just one, then Isaac has two sons and slowly the promise of a people is realised, they are given a land, though it is not as it should be and they are given great protection but forfeit God’s love, and the programme of being a blessing to all nations, well look at the genealogy.
Tamar and Rahab are Canaanites, Ruth is a Moabitess, and Bathsheba is a Hittite, even in Jesus bloodline there are glimpse of all nations coming to trust God and being blessed. But they are ones and twos not the thousands, the nations that the prophets pictured. And as Matthew opens Israel are still expectantly waiting the coming of a son who will fulfil these promises.
Matthew says Jesus is “the son of Abraham” – watch this space, read this account because Jesus is one to watch, he is the Son of promise, the one through whom all nations will be blessed.
Having started his gospel that way Matthew ends it by recording Jesus words immediately before his ascension “go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...” Jesus is the Son, what are the disciples to do with that knowledge? Go tell everyone – all nations - they can know God.
It is because Jesus is the Son of Abraham that you and I are here this morning, because he calls the nations.
2. The King of Promise
Who is the second character emphasized? David. Jesus is the Son of David, David is the King Israel looked back longingly to but again he is a key character with a promise. A promise that a Son would come from David’s line who would rule his people from his throne forever. Solomon is David’s son yet despite a promising beginning his reign descends into idol worship and division, and Matthew gives us some of the kings in that line in this genealogy and some are good but some are bad, some follow God but some worship idols, and as you read the list you find yourself asking the question where is the promised king whose throne would last forever?
Where is God’s forever King, when is he going to keep his promise?
Then Matthew starts his gospel with these words “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the Son of David...” Jesus is that King! The Son of David born in Judah’s line, Jesus is the King. Matthew nails his colours to the mast with his 8th word of his gospel “Messiah” – God’s anointed one.
Jesus kingship is a key idea in Matthew, 10 times in Matthew he is referred to as the Son of David, it is what the blind men call him in ch 9, the question the people ask in ch12, it’s what the Canaanite woman cries out ch15, what the crowds cry at his triumphal entry into Jerusalem and what the children cry in the temple. To be the Son of David was to be the Messiah.
Lots of people ask why Matthew has stylised his genealogy, v17 makes much of their being how many generations in each block? 14. In Jewish writing each consonant was prescribed a number: D was 4, V was 6, DVD = 14. Again Matthew is using a Jewish way of emphasising that Jesus is the Son of David, that he is the Messiah – God’s promised King bringing about God’s kingdom.
And throughout the gospel we see people either bowing the knee, accepting his rule and entering the kingdom or rejecting him and going to war with God’s king and God’s kingdom.
3. The end of the Exile
One historical event is emphasized here what is it? The exile, when Israel are expelled from God’s place because of their refusal to live as his saved people.
Exile is a theme that runs throughout the bible. When Adam and Eve rebel against God in the Garden what happens? They are driven out of God’s presence because of their rebellion against God. When Cain kills Abel he is driven out from God’s presence, when the people rebel at Babel they are scattered by God’s judgement. And at the exile Israel, God’s people in God’s place who reject God’s rule are driven out from his place and scattered, but the prophets promise a glorious return.
As Matthew opens Israel are back in the land but it is as an occupied nation, the temple is not the glorious vision of Ezekiel, the nations haven’t flocked to worship God, and Israel continue to struggle to serve God.
Jesus is the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, but he will also end the exile, he comes to gather the scattered and provide them with a new way of relating to God, it’s a new beginning, a new covenant. And in the early chapters Jesus collects disciples like a magnet collects metal, crowds flock to see and hear him. Jesus gathers Gentiles, women, children, fishermen, tax collectors, sinners and rebels along with those who are just ordinary good people but who recognise that they are still living in exile from God. That their refusal to live life with loving God with all their heart and being has left them in spiritual exile. And they glimpse in Jesus the end of that exile, that in him Son of Promise, King of promise, the exile is ended and they can know God in a whole new way. Sin forgiven and relationship entered.
Sin separates us from God it sends us into exile. We were made for relationship with God but our refusal to acknowledge him as creator and Lord means we’re exiled. Jesus comes to end that exile.
Do you ever feel a bit apologetic for mentioning Jesus at Christmas, for challenging people about the real meaning of Christmas? Matthew is so captivated by what he has discovered about Jesus that he will discomfort the Jews, he will challenge their understanding of the bible, centuries of tradition, as he proclaims Jesus is the Son of promise, the King of promise and the only way to end our exile from God. We have to tell others the exile is ended Jesus is the way back to God.
What did this news stir Matthew to do – to tell others not because of guilty or out of a grudging sense of duty but because this is the greatest news ever! All God’s promises are fulfilled and there is a new way of relating to God! Let’s call others to come and join us as we praise God for sending Jesus.
Monday, 22 November 2010
Matthew 6:5-15 A New Relationship with Prayer
What makes praying difficult? What questions do you have about prayer?
Our natural desire to pray comes from the way we were made, but our struggles with prayer come from the fall.
Here again Jesus is explaining kingdom distinctive. Prayer for the believer is to be different from the prayers of the religious(5) and the irreligious(7). The religious pray for others to see them and praise them, the pagans pray babbling, a word that takes us back to Genesis 11 where God confuses the language of men, where there is confusion, noise and misunderstanding of one another and about God. Don’t be like that when you pray. The idol worshipper had elaborate rituals, chants and incantations which could go on for hours and had to be used in certain ways with certain words. That was the way to ensure that whichever god they were worshipping would hear them. Don’t be like that Jesus says God knows what you need, you don’t need to convince him and present a 94 page dossier to twist his arm.
But the disciples prayer is to be different it is to be distinctive because it is relational and it is reliant.
1. Relational and reverent
One word is repeated over and over again in Matthew 6 what is it? “Father”, and notice how it permeates this section here (2x v6, 8, 9, 14, 15).
Prayer is not about our relationship with others, it is not meant to be about gaining a reputation with those around us, or their praise or respect. Prayer is us communicating with God. Pray is not about our relationship with men but with God.
Jewish culture had an exceptionally high view of God, something our culture does not share. The intimacy of this prayer would have stood out, for the disciples it would have been amazing because it addresses God using a term of intimacy. Father – it is not overly familiar and it is not formal.
When God revealed himself to Abraham it was as ‘El Shaddai’, ‘God Almighty’. When he revealed himself to Moses at the burning bush it was as ‘Yahweh’ or the ‘Lord’.
But in every example we have of Jesus prayers recorded for us in the gospels Jesus addresses God as ‘Father’. The only exception is his prayer from the cross, his cry “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me” which is a direct quotation from Psalm 22. Everywhere else he prays “Father” even in the Garden as he battles temptation and to obey God’s will. Jesus relationship with God is intimate, he addresses God as Father because he is his perfect Son as God said “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Yet now as Jesus teaches his disciples about how prayer is transformed in his kingdom he tells them that they too can share in that intimacy, that they too can address God as he does, that they too share in his relationship with the Father. The disciple prays knowing that they will be welcomed, that they are coming before their loving heavenly Father.
We do not come to God fearfully, we come to our Father knowing we will be welcomed because access does not depend on our performance but on what Jesus has done for us. Every time we pray we ought to be amazed again at the access we have to God.
But whilst it is relational it is also reverent. The address “Father” is not overly familiar but is familial, and notice how the prayer begins, what are the first lines? “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name...” The Disciples prayer is neither distant from God nor dismissive of God, the disciple knows exactly who it is that they are praying to, that it is God almighty, that it is the Lord, that it is the holy one who is sovereign and is deservingly worshipped day and night by a heavenly host, the one who one day will be worshipped by everyone and everything. Distinctive disciple prayer is relational and reverent. Indeed its reverence makes its access and intimacy all the more amazing.
And the relationally reverent nature of prayer is seen in what the disciple prays for. What are the first three petitions of this prayer concerned with? They are taken up with God; they are concerned for God’s glory, God’s kingdom and God’s will.
The disciples prayer is relational and reflects that relationship. God is the believers greatest treasure and the family values mark how they live and what they pray for. Prayer for the believer is about knowing God, about being his people, about the spread of the kingdom they are part of and living out for God’s glory in their lives.
But something is glaringly absent from Jesus teaching on prayer; he does not console us with the difficult nature of prayer, he does not warn the disciples of its hardships and the struggle they will have with prayer, indeed the bible does not seem to anywhere. And that is odd because it warns us about our struggle with temptation, with sin, with each other, with powers and principalities, with Satan but it doesn’t seem to indicate prayer will be a struggle! It warns us of all the other struggles and difficulties we will face but not about a struggle to pray. Could it be that we have made something a struggle which is not meant to be.
Could it be that we worry too much about how we pray and what we ask for when what we are meant to do in prayer is simply respond to God, reflect on God and seek God? To come to God our Father as his children.
2. Reliant and real
How do children and adults approach things differently? Children trust, adults tend to cynicism, children ask for help they are not afraid to say they can’t adults tend to want to do to solve to be independent. Children are grateful when someone does it for them as adults we can resent it.
Kingdom prayer is distinctive because it is reliant, it is God’s children coming to their loving heavenly father who knows what they need. Prayer involves acknowledging that we are not in control of our lives but that our Father is. That reality is what underpins prayer, there are three things that this prayer highlights we are to pray for and notice the reality of each of them – they are not particularly pious they are real world requests but they also reflect the disciples reliance on God for everything.
a. Physical need (11)- In Jesus day a days labour earned a days wage and that wage paid for a days food, in such a society Jesus point is simply isn’t it. The disciple is to pray for their needs, reliant on God for food every day.
What is our problem with that? We aren’t. Our problem is that it isn’t that simple for us, or at least it doesn’t seem to be, we aren’t paid daily and our wage buys much more than just our bread, and we are removed from that reliance on God. Or are we? It’s interesting how often we pray for people to get a job, yet once we get it act as if we provide. We need to recognise that actually God provides for us – we may be one or two steps removed from the process but God has given us our food sufficient for today. We are still reliant on God even for the basics.
b. Forgiveness(12) – What word is used here to described sin? “debt”, its the idea that sin is a debt we owe God which we cannot pay. The foundation of our even being able to address God as Father is that God has provided for us a way for the debt to be paid not by us because we can’t but by Jesus. Such a prayer strips us of self righteousness and reminds us of our dependence on God and of the thankfulness that should mark our living, seen in grace experienced overflowing to others in our forgiveness of them(14-15).
c. Protection(13) – The disciple lives life aware that they are in the kingdom but living out that reality in a world that is opposed to the kingdom. Engaged in a battle dependent on God. Disciples are to pray to God to protect them from falling into the devils schemes and traps, to help them fight sin, because on their own they will fail.
Do you see the reliance of the disciple and the reality of what they pray for? The disciples praying is distinctive it is relational, it is reverent, it is reliant and it is real. It is driven not by guilt, not by fear, not by habit, not by earning favour, but by their knowledge and experience of God as their good father and their desire to know God.
It is in contrast to the hypocrite who has no interest in knowing and relying on God and in contrast to the pagan who has no real idea of who it is he is praying to.
(2 min in groups) What stops us praying?
e.g.s Independence, Busyness
How does this passage challenge those?
Our natural desire to pray comes from the way we were made, but our struggles with prayer come from the fall.
Here again Jesus is explaining kingdom distinctive. Prayer for the believer is to be different from the prayers of the religious(5) and the irreligious(7). The religious pray for others to see them and praise them, the pagans pray babbling, a word that takes us back to Genesis 11 where God confuses the language of men, where there is confusion, noise and misunderstanding of one another and about God. Don’t be like that when you pray. The idol worshipper had elaborate rituals, chants and incantations which could go on for hours and had to be used in certain ways with certain words. That was the way to ensure that whichever god they were worshipping would hear them. Don’t be like that Jesus says God knows what you need, you don’t need to convince him and present a 94 page dossier to twist his arm.
But the disciples prayer is to be different it is to be distinctive because it is relational and it is reliant.
1. Relational and reverent
One word is repeated over and over again in Matthew 6 what is it? “Father”, and notice how it permeates this section here (2x v6, 8, 9, 14, 15).
Prayer is not about our relationship with others, it is not meant to be about gaining a reputation with those around us, or their praise or respect. Prayer is us communicating with God. Pray is not about our relationship with men but with God.
Jewish culture had an exceptionally high view of God, something our culture does not share. The intimacy of this prayer would have stood out, for the disciples it would have been amazing because it addresses God using a term of intimacy. Father – it is not overly familiar and it is not formal.
When God revealed himself to Abraham it was as ‘El Shaddai’, ‘God Almighty’. When he revealed himself to Moses at the burning bush it was as ‘Yahweh’ or the ‘Lord’.
But in every example we have of Jesus prayers recorded for us in the gospels Jesus addresses God as ‘Father’. The only exception is his prayer from the cross, his cry “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me” which is a direct quotation from Psalm 22. Everywhere else he prays “Father” even in the Garden as he battles temptation and to obey God’s will. Jesus relationship with God is intimate, he addresses God as Father because he is his perfect Son as God said “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Yet now as Jesus teaches his disciples about how prayer is transformed in his kingdom he tells them that they too can share in that intimacy, that they too can address God as he does, that they too share in his relationship with the Father. The disciple prays knowing that they will be welcomed, that they are coming before their loving heavenly Father.
We do not come to God fearfully, we come to our Father knowing we will be welcomed because access does not depend on our performance but on what Jesus has done for us. Every time we pray we ought to be amazed again at the access we have to God.
But whilst it is relational it is also reverent. The address “Father” is not overly familiar but is familial, and notice how the prayer begins, what are the first lines? “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name...” The Disciples prayer is neither distant from God nor dismissive of God, the disciple knows exactly who it is that they are praying to, that it is God almighty, that it is the Lord, that it is the holy one who is sovereign and is deservingly worshipped day and night by a heavenly host, the one who one day will be worshipped by everyone and everything. Distinctive disciple prayer is relational and reverent. Indeed its reverence makes its access and intimacy all the more amazing.
And the relationally reverent nature of prayer is seen in what the disciple prays for. What are the first three petitions of this prayer concerned with? They are taken up with God; they are concerned for God’s glory, God’s kingdom and God’s will.
The disciples prayer is relational and reflects that relationship. God is the believers greatest treasure and the family values mark how they live and what they pray for. Prayer for the believer is about knowing God, about being his people, about the spread of the kingdom they are part of and living out for God’s glory in their lives.
But something is glaringly absent from Jesus teaching on prayer; he does not console us with the difficult nature of prayer, he does not warn the disciples of its hardships and the struggle they will have with prayer, indeed the bible does not seem to anywhere. And that is odd because it warns us about our struggle with temptation, with sin, with each other, with powers and principalities, with Satan but it doesn’t seem to indicate prayer will be a struggle! It warns us of all the other struggles and difficulties we will face but not about a struggle to pray. Could it be that we have made something a struggle which is not meant to be.
Could it be that we worry too much about how we pray and what we ask for when what we are meant to do in prayer is simply respond to God, reflect on God and seek God? To come to God our Father as his children.
2. Reliant and real
How do children and adults approach things differently? Children trust, adults tend to cynicism, children ask for help they are not afraid to say they can’t adults tend to want to do to solve to be independent. Children are grateful when someone does it for them as adults we can resent it.
Kingdom prayer is distinctive because it is reliant, it is God’s children coming to their loving heavenly father who knows what they need. Prayer involves acknowledging that we are not in control of our lives but that our Father is. That reality is what underpins prayer, there are three things that this prayer highlights we are to pray for and notice the reality of each of them – they are not particularly pious they are real world requests but they also reflect the disciples reliance on God for everything.
a. Physical need (11)- In Jesus day a days labour earned a days wage and that wage paid for a days food, in such a society Jesus point is simply isn’t it. The disciple is to pray for their needs, reliant on God for food every day.
What is our problem with that? We aren’t. Our problem is that it isn’t that simple for us, or at least it doesn’t seem to be, we aren’t paid daily and our wage buys much more than just our bread, and we are removed from that reliance on God. Or are we? It’s interesting how often we pray for people to get a job, yet once we get it act as if we provide. We need to recognise that actually God provides for us – we may be one or two steps removed from the process but God has given us our food sufficient for today. We are still reliant on God even for the basics.
b. Forgiveness(12) – What word is used here to described sin? “debt”, its the idea that sin is a debt we owe God which we cannot pay. The foundation of our even being able to address God as Father is that God has provided for us a way for the debt to be paid not by us because we can’t but by Jesus. Such a prayer strips us of self righteousness and reminds us of our dependence on God and of the thankfulness that should mark our living, seen in grace experienced overflowing to others in our forgiveness of them(14-15).
c. Protection(13) – The disciple lives life aware that they are in the kingdom but living out that reality in a world that is opposed to the kingdom. Engaged in a battle dependent on God. Disciples are to pray to God to protect them from falling into the devils schemes and traps, to help them fight sin, because on their own they will fail.
Do you see the reliance of the disciple and the reality of what they pray for? The disciples praying is distinctive it is relational, it is reverent, it is reliant and it is real. It is driven not by guilt, not by fear, not by habit, not by earning favour, but by their knowledge and experience of God as their good father and their desire to know God.
It is in contrast to the hypocrite who has no interest in knowing and relying on God and in contrast to the pagan who has no real idea of who it is he is praying to.
(2 min in groups) What stops us praying?
e.g.s Independence, Busyness
How does this passage challenge those?
Monday, 2 November 2009
Matthew 5:17-20 - ‘The King and the Law.’
This is the outline we worked to at last nights LightHouse:
1. Jesus is the scripture fulfilled
Prophecy
History
Genealogy
Cult
2. Be Hungry for an inside out righteousness
“Legalism is appealing for two reasons; First it makes holiness manageable. A heart wholly devoted to God is a tough demand but a list of ten rules I can cope with… Secondly legalism makes holiness an achievement on our part...” T Chester
a. How should this Jesus teaching shape our attitude and understanding of the Old Testament?
b. ‘The Pharisees are our greatest danger’ Do you agree with this statement, why?
c. How can we increase our appetite for righteousness?
1. Jesus is the scripture fulfilled
Prophecy
History
Genealogy
Cult
2. Be Hungry for an inside out righteousness
“Legalism is appealing for two reasons; First it makes holiness manageable. A heart wholly devoted to God is a tough demand but a list of ten rules I can cope with… Secondly legalism makes holiness an achievement on our part...” T Chester
a. How should this Jesus teaching shape our attitude and understanding of the Old Testament?
b. ‘The Pharisees are our greatest danger’ Do you agree with this statement, why?
c. How can we increase our appetite for righteousness?
Friday, 30 October 2009
Matthew 5:13-16 The King's ambassadors
Here's the outline of last Sunday nights talk at LightHouse:
The King’s people are marked by:
Recap on previous weeks.
1. You are distinctive - so be what you are
Lev 2:13 “Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.”
Num 18:19 “Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings the Israelites present to the LORD I give to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the LORD for both you and your offspring.”
2 Chronicles 13:5 “Don't you know that the LORD, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?”
2. You are Distinctive – Light up the Darkness
“Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the LORD rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.
Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Isaiah 60:1-3
The 3 challenges
1. Am I distinctive?
2. Am I prepares for people's reactions
3. Do I live by grace not performance?
a. In what areas can we be distinctive? Why do we struggle with it?
b. How should we react to persecution and rejection?
c. How can we and why should we keep coming back to the gospel?
The King’s people are marked by:
Recap on previous weeks.
1. You are distinctive - so be what you are
Lev 2:13 “Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.”
Num 18:19 “Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings the Israelites present to the LORD I give to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the LORD for both you and your offspring.”
2 Chronicles 13:5 “Don't you know that the LORD, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?”
2. You are Distinctive – Light up the Darkness
“Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the LORD rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.
Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Isaiah 60:1-3
The 3 challenges
1. Am I distinctive?
2. Am I prepares for people's reactions
3. Do I live by grace not performance?
a. In what areas can we be distinctive? Why do we struggle with it?
b. How should we react to persecution and rejection?
c. How can we and why should we keep coming back to the gospel?
Sunday, 11 October 2009
Matthew 5:4-6 ‘Marks of the Kings People: they know their God and show it
Here's the outline for tonights talk:
The King’s people are marked by:
1. Active Compassion
The difference between pity and mercy
Micah 6:8
What will compassion mean for us?
2. Holy Focus
Heart
Pure
Psalm 24:3-4
What do I think about when my mind is in neutral?
What do I long for more than anything else?
To what do I give my allegiance and how is that seen?
What prompts me to serve others?
3. Reconciled Reconcilers
The Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9)
Isaiah 52:7
“Peace be with you!” (John 20)
What are the twin dangers with the beatitudes?
a. What will being actively compassionate mean for us?
b. How should we help one another to be pure in heart?
c. How can we act as peacemakers now?
The King’s people are marked by:
1. Active Compassion
The difference between pity and mercy
Micah 6:8
What will compassion mean for us?
2. Holy Focus
Heart
Pure
Psalm 24:3-4
What do I think about when my mind is in neutral?
What do I long for more than anything else?
To what do I give my allegiance and how is that seen?
What prompts me to serve others?
3. Reconciled Reconcilers
The Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9)
Isaiah 52:7
“Peace be with you!” (John 20)
What are the twin dangers with the beatitudes?
a. What will being actively compassionate mean for us?
b. How should we help one another to be pure in heart?
c. How can we act as peacemakers now?
Sunday, 4 October 2009
LightHouse Matthew 5:4-6
Here's the talk outline and the questions we'll be using as we look at Matthew 5v4-6.
Matthew 5:4-6 ‘Marks of the Kings People: they recognise their need of grace.’
What would you include in the job spec for a pastor?
1. A Right Perspective on Sin
Isaiah 61
John 11:35
Luke 19:41-44
Hebrews 5:7
2. A Focus on Edification not Self Justification
What does the word meek mean?
Zephaniah 3:12
Psalm 37:11
Philippians 2:5-11
3. A Growing Longing for Righteousness
Psalm 42:2
Psalm 107:9
Isaiah 55:1
What is righteousness?
For Discussion
a. Do we mourn over our sin? Why or why not? Is there such a thing as an unhealthy mourning over sin?
b. How will being meek bring us into conflict with a materialistic world?
c. How will hungering and thirsting after righteousness be seen? How will it be satisfied
Matthew 5:4-6 ‘Marks of the Kings People: they recognise their need of grace.’
What would you include in the job spec for a pastor?
1. A Right Perspective on Sin
Isaiah 61
John 11:35
Luke 19:41-44
Hebrews 5:7
2. A Focus on Edification not Self Justification
What does the word meek mean?
Zephaniah 3:12
Psalm 37:11
Philippians 2:5-11
3. A Growing Longing for Righteousness
Psalm 42:2
Psalm 107:9
Isaiah 55:1
What is righteousness?
For Discussion
a. Do we mourn over our sin? Why or why not? Is there such a thing as an unhealthy mourning over sin?
b. How will being meek bring us into conflict with a materialistic world?
c. How will hungering and thirsting after righteousness be seen? How will it be satisfied
Sunday, 27 September 2009
LightHouse
At 7.30pm tonight we are holding our first evening gathering called LightHouse in Haxey. Here's the basis of the overview sheet of the talk we'll be giving out to help people follow, and with 3 questions at the bottom for them to think and pray through.
Matthew 5:1-3 ‘Marks of the Kings People: they have nothing to offer God.’
What does the word “Blessed…” mean?
1. The Coming of the Kingdom
- Matthew 1-4 a crucial context
- Descendant of Adam, Abraham, David
- Son of God - who pleases his Father
- Teaching for the kingdom citizens with the crowd listening in
2. A Kingdom of Dependents? (3)
- The only entrance requirement is crawling to Christ
- who are the poor in Spirit
Isaiah 66:2
Psalm 34:6
Isaiah 61:1
- the now and not yet of the kingdom
a. What are the implications for us of the first beatitude?
b. How is it counter-cultural?
c. What is the comfort for the disciple, what should this look like lived out?
Matthew 5:1-3 ‘Marks of the Kings People: they have nothing to offer God.’
What does the word “Blessed…” mean?
1. The Coming of the Kingdom
- Matthew 1-4 a crucial context
- Descendant of Adam, Abraham, David
- Son of God - who pleases his Father
- Teaching for the kingdom citizens with the crowd listening in
2. A Kingdom of Dependents? (3)
- The only entrance requirement is crawling to Christ
- who are the poor in Spirit
Isaiah 66:2
Psalm 34:6
Isaiah 61:1
- the now and not yet of the kingdom
a. What are the implications for us of the first beatitude?
b. How is it counter-cultural?
c. What is the comfort for the disciple, what should this look like lived out?
Monday, 6 April 2009
Religious exclusivity
We were looking at Matthew 21:12-19 yesterday and it is a striking passage. As “Jesus entered the temple courts”(12) the King is coming to his house. It’s a fulfilment of Malachi 3:1 where the people of Israel are asking where is the God of Justice and God’s answer is; “Then the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple…” And what does he find? Jesus finds that there is a gulf between God’s expectations and the Jerusalem reality.
It’s a bit like the Queen returning to Buckingham Palace expecting tea in the gardens only to find a car boot sale in full swing. Things are not as they should be.
Jesus stands in the courtyard of the Gentiles and the expectation is that it should be a place of prayer. That doesn’t mean a nice quiet meditative space with just the right ambiance. It means a place where Gentile God fearers can come and call on God. Jesus expects to find a place where the nations can come, where they can see God worshipped rightly, where they are welcomed and where they can enjoy relationship with God. That’s what the quotation from Isaiah 56 tells us(13).
Isaiah 56 is a call for Israel to worship God rightly and for Gentiles to be able to do likewise, for all those who choose to follow God to be able to do so. But the reality Jesus finds is a million miles away from that. He finds dove sellers and money changes clogging up the court of the Gentiles, it is more like a market than a place of prayer. And Jesus rebukes them in the words of Jeremiah, partially because of the oppression of the poor that is going on but mainly because the temple has once again become the sole preserve of the Jews.
Jeremiah rebuked the people of his day from the gate of the temple for trusting in the temple for their security. Their reasoning went like this we have the temple therefore we enjoy God’s favour. They gave no thought to living rightly or to obeying God. The temple which was meant to be a place of inclusiveness and a place the nations were drawn to became a symbol of Jewish elitism, exclusivity and discrimination and an idol in itself. So much so that God removed it.
God is disappointed with the worship he finds in the temple. Jesus anger is because it has become once again a symbol of elitism and religious rigmarole rather than a place where true worship takes place. Jesus anger shows us the gap between God’s expectation and reality.
What counts is relationship not religion. That’s what the temple was designed for, it was to be a place of access, it was to be a place the nations looked to, flocked to when they realised the goodness of God and instead it had become the very opposite.
Do you see the gulf between Jesus expectations and the worshipping reality? I wonder what would Jesus say about our worship? What would Jesus say to our churches, if he walked in through that door what emotions would we see cross his face? Would he find religious rigmarole, would he find us going through the motions?
What about in terms of those we exclude? Are we as inclusive with the gospel as he is? Do we welcome everyone, do we take the gospel to everyone? Or are there people we right off, does the way we do worship exclude some just as the Jews were doing? It may not be Gentiles but have we in Britain made it the gospel of the middle class for the middle class? Have we abandoned sharing the gospel with those of other faiths? Who do we exclude by the way we deliver the gospel, by the way we conduct our worship, by our venues?
Easter is about inclusion, it is about the possibility of salvation for the world. Do we dare limit who we take the gospel too?
It’s a bit like the Queen returning to Buckingham Palace expecting tea in the gardens only to find a car boot sale in full swing. Things are not as they should be.
Jesus stands in the courtyard of the Gentiles and the expectation is that it should be a place of prayer. That doesn’t mean a nice quiet meditative space with just the right ambiance. It means a place where Gentile God fearers can come and call on God. Jesus expects to find a place where the nations can come, where they can see God worshipped rightly, where they are welcomed and where they can enjoy relationship with God. That’s what the quotation from Isaiah 56 tells us(13).
Isaiah 56 is a call for Israel to worship God rightly and for Gentiles to be able to do likewise, for all those who choose to follow God to be able to do so. But the reality Jesus finds is a million miles away from that. He finds dove sellers and money changes clogging up the court of the Gentiles, it is more like a market than a place of prayer. And Jesus rebukes them in the words of Jeremiah, partially because of the oppression of the poor that is going on but mainly because the temple has once again become the sole preserve of the Jews.
Jeremiah rebuked the people of his day from the gate of the temple for trusting in the temple for their security. Their reasoning went like this we have the temple therefore we enjoy God’s favour. They gave no thought to living rightly or to obeying God. The temple which was meant to be a place of inclusiveness and a place the nations were drawn to became a symbol of Jewish elitism, exclusivity and discrimination and an idol in itself. So much so that God removed it.
God is disappointed with the worship he finds in the temple. Jesus anger is because it has become once again a symbol of elitism and religious rigmarole rather than a place where true worship takes place. Jesus anger shows us the gap between God’s expectation and reality.
What counts is relationship not religion. That’s what the temple was designed for, it was to be a place of access, it was to be a place the nations looked to, flocked to when they realised the goodness of God and instead it had become the very opposite.
Do you see the gulf between Jesus expectations and the worshipping reality? I wonder what would Jesus say about our worship? What would Jesus say to our churches, if he walked in through that door what emotions would we see cross his face? Would he find religious rigmarole, would he find us going through the motions?
What about in terms of those we exclude? Are we as inclusive with the gospel as he is? Do we welcome everyone, do we take the gospel to everyone? Or are there people we right off, does the way we do worship exclude some just as the Jews were doing? It may not be Gentiles but have we in Britain made it the gospel of the middle class for the middle class? Have we abandoned sharing the gospel with those of other faiths? Who do we exclude by the way we deliver the gospel, by the way we conduct our worship, by our venues?
Easter is about inclusion, it is about the possibility of salvation for the world. Do we dare limit who we take the gospel too?
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