Preparing for Jesus’ Return (Matthew 25:1-13)

The disciples had asked Jesus when they should expect His return and the end of the age. Jesus answered that it was impossible to predict, even for Him! So instead of speculation, Jesus encouraged preparation. Jesus’ famous parable of the ten virgins teaches us to get ready ASAP–before it’s too late. At Calvary, we’re learning to…

“Live The Cross-Shaped Life” – Cruciformity is learning to embody the self-sacrificial love of King Jesus, which God always deserves and honors.

God doesn’t always make things easy for His people, but He always makes it worth it. The living, breathing proof of this is Jesus. Everything about Jesus is humble self-sacrifice from birth to death, but God brought Him back to life and crowned Him King of kings. That’s cruciformity, and we’re learning His cross-shaped story as we preach through the Gospel according to Matthew.

We’re also learning cruciformity in the beatitudes, the cross-shaped attitudes of God’s kingdom people. We’ve been memorizing these beatitudes this year, and we are now on the final one:

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:10 NIV)

I’ve heard people say something like “You must be doing something right if you’re being persecuted.” That is not true at all! Just because you’re being persecuted doesn’t mean you’re in the right. The beatitude does not merely say “blessed are those who are persecuted;” it says “blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness.” Being persecuted because of righteousness is a blessed state, but persecution in itself doesn’t mean anything! You might be persecuted just because you’re acting like a jerk or because you committed a sinful crime! But if your life is increasingly lining up with the righteousness of Christ as revealed in Scripture, and you’re persecuted because of THAT, then you’re blessed. Peter, reflecting back on Jesus’ words, expanded the thought in his first letter to the churches: “If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.” (1 Peter 4:14-16)

Today, we’ll look at the first of three parables Jesus told in Matthew 25 and then draw out three lessons on preparing for Jesus’ return.

The Parable

Jesus’ parable is brilliant as always. He will use a common, everyday thing–lamp oil–to teach truths of infinite importance–preparing wisely for His return.

#1 The Preparation (25:1-4)

1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.”

The virgins are young women who are part of a Jewish wedding party. They’re bridesmaids. Jesus doesn’t go into much detail regarding the wedding because He doesn’t need to. That’s not the point because His focus will be on the character of the bridesmaids. The bridesmaids are waiting, likely with the bride, for the bridegroom, who would have been bringing the rest of the wedding party. Once the bridegroom met the bride and her bridesmaids they would all travel through the streets of town in a processional until they reached the groom’s house for a celebration.

2 “Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.”

They needed their own lamps because the wedding would have happened in the evening. Why? Because everyone worked during daylight, dinner and especially feasts were after sunset. This is no small thing. There were no streetlights in ancient Israel. Everyone would need to provide their own source of light for the evening processional; therefore, each bridesmaid would need to grab some extra oil, just in case it was needed. The five wise bridesmaids prepared extra oil, but the five foolish ones did not.

In today’s terms, think of it like charging a phone. Have you ever headed out for a long day and forgot to charge your phone the night before? You can see the battery percentage ticking down, and so you try your best to conserve the battery. But you don’t take as many photos as you like or message as many people as you like. Maybe you were smart enough to bring a charger; maybe not!

#2 The Wait (25:5)

5 “The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.”

Last week, we studied two other parables Jesus told about the timing of His return. In the parable of the unsuspecting homeowner, Jesus compared his return to how a thief shows up in the middle of the night in total surprise. In the parable of the wise and wicked servants, the master entrusted servants with tasks and then returned surprisingly early only to find one servant doing what he had been told and the other in total disobedience.

In this parable, the bridegroom does not come as a total surprise. Neither does he return surprisingly early. Instead, he returns surprisingly late, and, because he took so long, the bridesmaids had fallen asleep, and the oil in their lamps would have run out.

#3 The Return (25:6-7)

6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ 7 Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.”

That’s way past my bedtime. Midnight is quite late to get the party started. No wonder they had already fallen asleep. By that time, their lamps had been burning for several hours and would have completely burnt out. But the party would just be getting started, and they need more oil for the rest of the evening! Fortunately, the wise bridesmaids have prepared for the groom’s return! They fill their lamps with oil and are ready to join the wedding processional. But the foolish bridesmaids are in trouble…

#4 The Request (25:8-9)

8 “The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ 9 ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’”

Naturally, the foolish bridesmaids ask the wise bridesmaids for some oil. Kind of like when you have a group of people with phones running out of battery but only one charger! Ah! But who should get the oil? The ones who were smart enough to prepare! Who should get first dibs on the phone charger? The one who was smart enough to prepare!

Now, you might say, “That’s not nice! They should have shared their oil!” But the facts of the story are the facts. The oil cannot be shared otherwise no one goes to the wedding. And the point of this story isn’t sharing; Jesus tells tons of other parables about sharing. In fact, he’ll tell one at the end of this chapter! But this parable is about personally and wisely getting ready for Jesus’ return! Because the foolish bridesmaids did not get ready, they’re in trouble…

#5 The Consequences (25:10-13)

10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. 11 Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’ 12 But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’”

Jewish wedding feasts could last for days. No expense would be spared. The groom and his family would do their best to impress. Eating, drinking, singing, and dancing. A great celebration of God’s gift of marriage. This is what the wise bridesmaids were privileged to experience. But the foolish bridesmaids were left out.

In an actual Jewish wedding, the five foolish bridesmaids might be scolded and shamed, but they would probably be allowed into the party. The twist in Jesus’ parable is that, if you are not prepared when He returns, there will be no opportunity to repent and commit to Him. But the once-included bridesmaids are now nothing but wedding crashers because they did not get ready wisely. The groom answered the cries to be let in with, “I don’t know you!” Can you imagine the regret??? “If only!!!”

13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”

Have you ever had a fear of missing out on something, so you always stay in touch with your family or your friends or the news or your hobbies. The one thing you definitely do not want to miss out on is the return of Christ. Are you ready? Here’s three lessons we need to know about preparing for Christ’s return…

The Lessons

#1 The crucified and risen King Jesus will return to celebrate with His people and exclude those who are not.

Celebration sounds fantastic! Imagine living in the world after Jesus has made all things new! No more sin or death or trials or temptations. Only worship and holiness and love and peace.

Celebration sounds fantastic, but exclusion does not! This may sound harsh. It may sound too harsh to be the Jesus you think you know. Maybe you think that Jesus should just forgive everyone whether or not they’ve believed and repented. You can think that if you want, but that’s simply not what Jesus Himself says. To the unprepared, He says, “I don’t know you.”

Jesus will tell two more parables in Matthew 25 that further clarify what it looks like to live wisely in preparation for His return, but He’s really been teaching His disciples this all along in Matthew: deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him. Love God with all that you are. Love your neighbor as yourself. And make more disciples!

#2 Getting ready for Jesus is a small thing compared to the consequences of failing to prepare.

Bringing extra oil might have been a bit of a pain and an expense…but it would have been worth it compared to the consequences of being excluded from the party! Jesus said it like this earlier in the Gospel of Matthew:

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26)

Self-denial and self-sacrifice for God’s glory and others’ good are not easy. Losing your life and your pride for Jesus is not easy. But it’s worth it! That’s THE question:

WOULD YOU RATHER surrender your life to Jesus now and enjoy Him forever OR live for yourself now and experience God’s wrath forever?

It’s obvious right? Don’t be foolish; the answer is clear. If you have questions or doubts, reach out for help. There’s a pattern where teenagers and young adults go and do their thing, but once they have kids, they start to take their faith more seriously. If that’s what you did, praise God! But if you’re a teen or young adult, don’t foolishly put off Christ because you foolishly believe enjoying your teens or your 20s is better. Jesus could return before you turn 18 or 21 or 25. Enjoying Jesus forever will be infinitely better than squeezing out meaningless fun in your youth. Get ready now.

There’s a pattern in our consumer culture where we spend our time and money on temporary fun and stuff rather than the eternal kingdom of heaven. But at any moment, Christ’s return can turn that momentary buzz of entertainment and materialism into a hangover from hell in hell. Enjoying Jesus forever will be infinitely better than obsessively upgrading your phone or car or home or squandering your retirement with leisure. Get ready for Jesus now.

Praise God! Those who have been baptized are proclaiming their readiness for Jesus! They are saying in their baptism that they trust and love Jesus for the forgiveness of their sin and that they are living a new life for Him by the Holy Spirit. Are you ready? Get ready!

#3 We cannot make others get ready for Jesus, but we can invite and warn.

It’s profoundly humbling and even terrifying for parents of children both young and old to know that they cannot make their child turn from their sin and love Jesus. The same is true for all of your family members, friends, coworkers, classmates, neighbors, and every person around the world. We cannot force anyone to get ready for Jesus because that is ultimately a matter of the heart–something between them and God. This is why the gathering of the church for worship of and learning from Jesus is so important. These gatherings ought to keep us focused on Christ, constantly preparing for His return:

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

One of the first steps away from Jesus is stepping away from His church. His churches ought to be the place where His love and truth are constantly shared. We need to be “spurred”–warned, and we need to be “encouraged”–invited. Why? Because “the Day”–Christ’s return–is approaching! Therefore, we must remain committed and focused and prepared to the end of the age. And then our invitations and warnings to Christlikeness overflow in evangelism to all the other people we want to see prepared for Jesus–from family and friends to neighbors and strangers. Do you live an inviting life and a warning life? Because we all need to keep getting ready for Jesus.

Questions for Reflection and/or Discussion

#1 Do you think Jesus is coming very soon or is He, in your opinion, still a long way off? Either way, what is Jesus teaching us to do in this parable?

#2 Would you rather surrender your life to Jesus now and enjoy Him forever or live for yourself now and suffer God’s wrath forever? Don’t be foolish; the answer is clear. If you have questions or doubts, reach out for help.

#3 Why is it sometimes hard to invite someone to Christ and warn them about unbelief when the consequences are eternal? Ask God for opportunities, compassion, boldness, and clarity to share Christ.

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King Jesus on the End of the Age, Part 2 (Matthew 24:32-51)

Think about all the ways people approach the end of the world. On one end of the spectrum, you have the “preppers.” The reality TV show Doomsday Preppers highlights the lengths some will go to prepare for end-of-the-world scenarios. They build amazing bunkers and stockpile supplies to survive. Some might not go quite that far but still have gold hidden away.

Then you have the predictors. These people obsess over the details of the future. Christian predictors are constantly trying to connect the dots between biblical prophecy and current events in the hopes of figuring out when Jesus will return. I used to be one of these. I read the Left Behind books in middle school and later witnessed 9/11 and the war on terror. I couldn’t help but be fascinated by how all these things MIGHT fit together.

But then on the other end of the spectrum you have the “preoccupied.” These are people who do not know about Christ’s return or those who willfully choose to ignore it and so are preoccupied with their own lives, going on like business as usual. They will all be in for a shock someday, unless they are told by God’s people, by us, about the future return of the crucified and risen King Jesus.

When Jesus talks about the end of the age, while He warns us against being preoccupied, He also doesn’t call us to preppers or predictors. In the first half of Matthew 24, Jesus taught about the future…what the disciples can expect to happen. He also taught about His return…and how it will be sudden, obvious, and decisive in judging God’s enemies and saving God’s people. For the next chapter and a half, Jesus talks less about the details of the future and more about getting ready for it. First, let’s remember our focus as a church right now: At Calvary, we’re learning to…

“Live The Cross-Shaped Life” – Cruciformity is learning to embody the self-sacrificial love of King Jesus, which God always deserves and honors.

We’re also learning cruciformity in the beatitudes, the cross-shaped attitudes of God’s kingdom people. We’ve been memorizing these beatitudes this year, and we are now on the final one:

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:10 NIV)

“Blessed are those who are persecuted” might be the craziest beatitude yet! We love comfort. We love freedom. We love to be liked. But persecution? Who would call that a blessed state to be in? Jesus would, and He has His reasons, which we’ll look more closely at in coming weeks.

Four Lessons on Jesus’ Second Coming

#1 Jesus’ return is near, requiring hope. (24:32-35)

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

Just as a budding tree in the springtime signals that summer is near, the presence of “all these things” signals that Jesus’ coming is near. What are “all these things?” The birth pains from the first half of the chapter: false christs, wars and disasters, persecution, deception and immorality.

That first generation lived to see the first birth pains and even the destruction of Jerusalem, which was horrible yet not unparalleled. Every generation since then would experience varying degrees of birth pains, which signals that Jesus’ return is near! But how near exactly? In the rest of the chapter, Jesus prepares His disciples to stay faithful amidst the birth pains even if His coming seems far away. But here’s the takeaway: No matter how bad things get and no matter how long it seems to take, the sure and certain hope is that Jesus will return. Jesus’ promises will outlast the world itself! That’s why we never need to doubt if things get bad or if it seems to take so long. Jesus can be trusted.

Because “all these things” have already occurred, that means Jesus could return at any moment. The term theologians use to describe this is “imminent.” There is nothing that needs to happen before Jesus returns, so His return is imminent. That is an awesome thought that totally impacts how I live today, as we’ll see in the rest of the chapter.

#2 Jesus’ return is unpredictable, requiring alertness. (24:36-42)

36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

Jesus’s admission that even He does not know the timing of His return reminds us that He is just as human as He is God. We might sometimes falsely picture Jesus as being a sort of superhuman who looked human but really wasn’t…more God than man. The Gospels also tell us that Jesus, in His human nature, grew up physically and mentally. The Gospels tell us that, in His human nature, He wept, hungered, tired, and died.

The Bible clearly teaches the doctrine of the Incarnation, that Jesus the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, is fully God in every way, He also added to Himself a fully human nature. This is hard to understand no doubt, but it is the conclusion that all Christians throughout history have come to based on the biblical evidence. This central doctrine was clearly communicated 1,500 years ago by a church council.

“We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable soul and body; consubstantial with us according to the manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin…to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person…” (The Chalcedonian Creed, 451 AD)

The idea is that the one person Jesus has two natures through which He works. These two natures remain separate from one another but are linked in the one Person. We don’t understand how this works, but it best summarizes the biblical evidence.

In the case of Matthew 24:36, it appears that Jesus, in His humble human nature, does not work through His divine nature by which He would know the day and hour of His return. In doing so, He puts Himself in our boat, in a sense. Jesus the Son has to have a similar kind of trust in the Father’s plan that we do! Wow!

37 “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. 42 Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”

When God flooded the world in Genesis 6, everyone except Noah’s family was swept away in the flood that they didn’t even see coming. They were going about everyday tasks in total rebellion against God and were ignorant to His coming judgment. Jesus says it’ll be the same when He returns. People will be going about everyday tasks, and Jesus will suddenly return to judge His enemies and save His people. At the flood, Noah and His family were saved from God’s wrath because they were, by grace through faith, in the ark. At Christ’s return, God’s people will be saved from God’s wrath because they are, by grace through faith, in Christ.

Don’t fall asleep! Don’t be lulled to sleep by the mundane and ordinary things of life. Eat, drink, date, marry…for the glory of God! The birth pains, though scary might stir us awake; but the ordinary things, though comforting, may lull us to sleep! Don’t let it happen to you. God and His people are at war with the evil spiritual forces of this world, and Jesus’ final invasion could come at any moment. Jesus will actually tell a memorable parable about falling asleep in the next chapter. We’ll look at it next week.

#3 Jesus’ return will be unexpected, requiring readiness. (24:43-44)

43 “But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

How ready are you for a home invader at night? I have some friends who were awoken in the middle of the night by lots of strange noises downstairs. They were like, “Someone is totally in the house.” The power had gone out, and the baby started crying in the bedroom next door. Mom went in to try to comfort and quiet the baby, and my friend wasn’t exactly able to face an intruder though. Only in his PJs and with nothing for self-defense, he went downstairs, only to find that the Roomba–the automated vacuum cleaner–had glitched when the power went out. While it was only a false alarm, I can guarantee he’ll be more ready should it ever happen again. We never know if/when emergencies will happen, so we must be prepared.

Jesus compares that idea to His return. But what does preparation for the Surprising Second Coming look like? Building and stocking a bunker for the apocalypse? Buying gold and putting it under your mattress? No! Being ready for Jesus’ return means turning from sin, trusting Him for forgiveness, and being made right with God! No bunker or stash can save from God’s wrath. Only by grace through faith in Christ, and He is glad to give grace! Plus, live your life like He could return at any moment. That’s what Jesus gets at with His next point…

#4 Jesus’ return will be decisive, requiring faithfulness. (24:45-51)

45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.”

This illustration goes another step further than the previous one. Jesus not only wants to be alert and ready for Him, but He wants us to work for Him while we wait. In the parable Jesus tells, He wants the servant to be faithful to His mission as preparation for His return. It’s not about preparing for disaster or predicting the moment of return. It’s about faithfulness.

One theologian puts it like this:“the correctness of one’s eschatology is ultimately a matter of your ethics, not your speculation.” (David Turner) Don’t be so obsessed with the signs surrounding Jesus’ return that you become distracted from the mission He has given or, worse, deceived by those who claim to know the details. It’s big business in Christian circles to overly focus on the end times, to attempt to predict events, etc.

Instead focus on being faithful to what Jesus wants from us. What does Jesus want? He’s been telling us all along in the Gospel of Matthew.

Consider the beatitudes, beginning with “Blessed are the poor in spirit” and ending with “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Consider what He called the Greatest Commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and all of your soul and all of your strength and all of your mind.
Consider what He called the Second Commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Consider His final command, what we call the Great Commission: “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

These are the kinds of things Jesus calls His servants to be faithful in.

48 “But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

While we shouldn’t overly obsess over the details surrounding Christ’s return, we also shouldn’t assume that, because He’s taking so long, it doesn’t matter, He doesn’t care what we do! Preppers and predictors might obsess with the details of Christ’s return, but many reject or at least ignore the idea of Christ’s return altogether! As you can see from Jesus’ parable, this leads to all sorts of sin…abuses of power, self-indulgence, sin of every kind, and the consequences are severe: God’s eternal wrath!

Watching out for the return of Christ has a purifying and focusing effect on our souls. Are we delighted with the fact that Jesus could come back at any moment? Or would we be embarrassed if He came back right now? Or would we be bummed to miss out on something else going on? The book of Revelation ends with a prayer: “Come, Lord Jesus.” I want to be able to pray that prayer with all my soul.

19th century preacher John Broaddus said. “If the Son Himself, does not know the time of the coming, how cheerfully should we, His followers rest in ignorance that cannot be removed, trusting in all things to our heavenly Father’s wisdom and goodness? Striving to obey His clearly revealed will and leaning on His goodness for support?” Can you “rest in ignorance” of the timing of Christ’s return while still being faithful to His call?

This world will go from bad to worse, and, in the end, Jesus will defeat and judge evil and save and restore His people. In the meantime, let’s live for Jesus like He’s coming back today…because He might.

Questions for Reflection and/or Discussion

When you think about the imminent return of Christ, does it scare you or comfort you? Why/why not? Trust in Jesus because He can save no matter how scary things get.
Why are attempts to predict the timing of Christ’s return by analyzing signs of the age counterproductive to the kind of obedience He wants from us in the here and now?
Why is ignoring the reality of Jesus’ return a deadly error?
What does it look like in your life to get ready for Christ’s return? What specific commands of Jesus should you heed today in preparation for His return?
What can you do to help others get ready for Christ’s return?

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King Jesus on the End of the Age, Part 1 (Matthew 24:1-31)

Many are obsessed with the end of the world. For some, it’s a source of fascination, almost a type of entertainment. For some, it creates fear and worry. However, some prefer to ignore the thought altogether and pretend like everything will keep going just as it has always been. But Jesus taught that it’s not so much the world that will end but the age. What does Jesus teach about the end of the age? How should we approach that truth? How should we live in light of it? For the next five weeks or so, Lord willing, we’ll look at Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 24-25 to answer these questions. But first let’s review: At Calvary, we’re learning to…

“Live The Cross-Shaped Life” – Cruciformity is learning to embody the self-sacrificial love of King Jesus, which God always deserves and honors.

We’re also learning cruciformity in the beatitudes, the cross-shaped attitudes of God’s kingdom people. We’ve been memorizing these beatitudes this year, and we are now on the eighth and final one:

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3-9 NIV)

1) Jesus Predicts the Temple’s Destruction (24:1-2)

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

Jesus had just pronounced judgment on the Temple and its religious system for failing to live up to God’s standard, but the disciples are still enamored by it. The Temple was undoubtedly a fixture in their spiritual and cultural lives, so they attempt to remind Jesus of its impressiveness. But Jesus was not impressed.

For ancient peoples, the end of their temple is the end of the world because their temples were the centers and microcosms of their world. This was even true for the Jews. The Temple in Jerusalem was both the center of their world as well as a microcosm of it. So Jesus’ prediction of the Temple’s coming destruction prompts:

2) The Disciples’ Threefold Question (24:3)

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

The disciples ask about three separate yet connected events:

When will the Temple be destroyed?
What is the sign of Christ’s return?
What is the sign of the end of the age?

In the disciples’ mind all three of these would happen at the same time. Temple destroyed, Jesus returns, end of the age–new heavens and new earth! But Jesus doesn’t answer their question about the “when” with exact timing or dating. Instead He focuses on describing the future in a way that prepares them for it. One theologian wrote about this chapter that “Jesus makes no attempt to gratify mere curiosity here; instead, His aim is practical and ethical.” I picture Jesus here as a dad taking his kids on a long road trip. The kids keep asking, “Are we there yet?”, but dad is more focused on making sure the kids are well-fed, well-behaved, and well-pottied along the way. One of Jesus’ key points throughout this chapter is that, while we should be eager for His return, we should be patiently obedient to His mission. In other words, it may not come as quickly as we’d like! And it hasn’t!

Christian brothers and sisters disagree on how to interpret the details of this section.

Some Christians think that most or all of these predictions were fulfilled 40 years after Jesus’ life, when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed. These views are called the preterist or partial preterist views. Preterist means “past,” meaning that most or all of these prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus’ immediate future, which would be our past.
Some Christians think that most or all of these predictions will be fulfilled in the end times. This is called the futurist view, meaning that many of these prophecies have not been fully fulfilled. Calvary Church holds the futurist view, understanding that our brothers and sisters in Christ who hold preterist views do so in good conscience. In order to be a member of Calvary, you need not be in full agreement with the futurist view, but you should be able to submit to the view for the sake of church unity.

3) Signs of the Beginning of the End (24:4-14)

Jesus begins his long answer predicting types of events that will occur but NOT as signs of the end but rather only the beginning of the end. These events, as you’ll see, have been prominent ever since Christ’s first coming until today!

-False Christs

4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.”

The disciples are eager to know the details surrounding Jesus’ return, even though they still don’t have the full picture in mind! This will make them vulnerable to deception. So Jesus warns His followers to watch out for false Christs. There have been many false Christs throughout the centuries. A famous example even in our day is Vernon Wayne Howell, also known as David Koresh, who started the Branch Davidian cult claiming to be the end-time Christ but in fact only caused horrible violence and death Waco, Texas, in 1993. Jesus will tell us later in this chapter what the sign of His coming will be.

–War and Disaster

6 “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.”

Wars and natural disasters have been happening ever since the fall, and it will only get worse like birth pains. Just like an expecting mother could begin contracting days before she actually goes into labor. Do you know anyone who had a false alarm with contractions and went into the hospital well before they were actually in labor? We did that at least once. I mean Emily, my wife, did that at least once. I was definitely not in labor. Like contractions lead up to birth, as the end draws nearer, these events will increase in intensity and frequency.

–Persecution

9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.”

Jesus also warns His followers about persecution. Jesus’ very first disciples, the ones who heard this teaching out loud, were all persecuted and nearly all of them were put to death, according to church tradition. And throughout history, Jesus’ followers have continued to face all kinds of persecution, from marginalization and discrimination to mob violence and government execution.

Surely I won’t have to face persecution like that. Being put to death? Maybe, maybe not. The potential always exists. Following Jesus is costly. Helping others follow Jesus even moreso. At the very least, we might be laughed at, left out, and marginalized because we want to share the Jesus of the Bible with everyone. Frankly, just because you and I might never be persecuted like this, we must know and pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ in other parts of the world. If you’d like to learn more about persecuted believers and churches throughout the rest of the world, visit…

Persecution.com

We have brothers and sisters in Christ that we may not know right now but will spend eternity with who face persecution. They gather with the church in secret because if their neighbors find out they could be ostracized, if their employer finds out they could be fired, and if their police find out they could be arrested and worse!

–Deception & Immorality

10 “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

Another birth pain is a decrease of faith and love and an increase in deception and immorality. False prophets will deceive. A false prophet is anyone who distorts God’s Word, which would obviously harm people’s trust and love for God. Again, this is something that’s been going on since the time of Jesus’ first disciples. In Revelation 2-3, Jesus rebuked churches for tolerating false prophets and immorality and for letting their love grow cold. Ever since, churches all over the world and even entire regions of churches have seen godly faith and love grow and die out. Europe, for example, has experienced several waves of this. The United States has as well. Jesus’ challenge to followers here is to stand firm in faith and love in Christ until the end of the age.

–Gospel Advance

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

But all of these birth pains cannot stop the most important mission God has for His people in this age: Preach the Gospel to all nations, making disciples of all nations. This is why we remind ourselves of Jesus’ Great Commission (Matthew 28). Despite the distractions and difficulties of the birth pains, the mission goes forward to al people through God’s people. If you’d like to know and pray more about the nations that still need to hear the good news about Jesus, visit…

JoshuaProject.net

This website tracks the 3.4 billion people in over 7,000 people groups who have not heard the Gospel yet. An important aspect of our missions partner strategy is reaching unreached people. Over one-third of our partners are directly involved in reaching unreached people groups with the Gospel.

4) Temple Desolation and Unparalleled Suffering (24:15-21)

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

Here, Jesus quotes from the Old Testament prophet Daniel, who foretold of a tragedy that would take place: “the abomination that causes desolation” in the Temple (9:27, 11:31 12:11).

Most Jews held that this prophecy was fulfilled in 167 B.C. when a Greek king Antiochus Epiphanes invaded the Temple and sacrificed a pig on the altar to desecrate the Temple.
Some Christians see this prophecy as being fulfilled in 70 A.D. when Rome besieged Jerusalem and destroyed the city and the Temple. This was a truly awful time, just as described. Ancient historians record that almost all of the Jews in Jerusalem were enslaved or killed. Pretty close to unprecedented suffering.
Other Christians see only a partial fulfillment here and suggest that the Temple might be rebuilt, leading to another desolation and even more suffering.

Wherever you land on the timing, Jesus’ main point is to show that the Temple will be destroyed in a time of unparalleled suffering.

5) The Glorious Coming of the Son of Man (24:22-31)

22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time. 26 So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.”

Jesus predicted a time of historic suffering as God judges unrepentant humanity, but God will bring it to an end out of love for His people…not because they ought not suffer (suffering is a part of the call to follow Jesus!)…but because all humanity would perish if God allowed the present age to continue to its own self-destruction. So Jesus is coming back!

But His return will not be secret! When Jesus returns, it will not be as a baby in a manger but like lightning in the sky! When Jesus returns, He won’t be hidden away in a Galilean village but will be as visible as vultures hovering over their meal. One theologian puts it like this: “The coming of the Son of Man will not have taken at all if it is not visible to all.” When Jesus returns, no one will wonder if Jesus had returned. It will be obvious! So don’t worry about missing it! Don’t be so obsessed with the signs surrounding Jesus’ return that you become distracted from the mission He has given or, worse, deceived by those who claim to know the details. It’s big business in Christian circles to overly focus on the end times, to attempt to predict events, etc.

29 “Immediately after the distress of those days ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ 30 Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”

Jesus is not talking about birth pains but about His actual return. The disciples had asked for a sign of His coming and the end of the age, but Jesus didn’t give a separate sign. The sign of His coming is His coming! In other words, there will not be some special sign before His return.

In the Gospels, Jesus often calls Himself the Son of Man. He doesn’t call Himself the Son of God (which we might expect). Only spiritual beings do that, mostly demons, but, at His baptism and transfiguration, God Himself, with a voice from heaven, will call Jesus His Son. Jesus doesn’t even call Himself Messiah or Christ. The author and the disciple Peter will do that. Jesus loves “Son of Man,” and it’s a title He gets from Daniel 7.

Here’s what happens in Daniel 7. Daniel, a Jew who is in captivity in Babylon, has a dream about four cruel and ugly monsters who rule the earth, one after another. Then God comes down as a great cosmic judge and condemns these monsters to death. But then another being comes into the dream–“one like a son of man coming on the clouds,” and God gave this “son of man” authority to rule the world forever and ever. Later, we learn that the four monsters represent historic human empires: Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. Then we learn that this figure represents a new and holy kind of kingdom, one that honors God. Unlike the cruel and ugly monsters, the “son of man” bore God’s image and represented God perfectly, so God saw fit to make Him King.

So that’s why Jesus uses the title “Son of Man” for Himself. He’s the new and better kingdom, holy and approved by God, and Jesus’ epic return will be the final victory for God, the final judgment for sinners, and the final salvation for His people. Did you catch that? The coming of the Son of Man will include a gathering of all of His people. He will forget no one. Dead or alive, on this continent or another, on the top of a mountain or at the bottom of an ocean, He will gather them all to Himself. We’ll continue in this next week, but here’s the big takeaway I hope you have today:

Application: Trust and follow the true Jesus whatever the cost.

Do not have worry over the birth pains Jesus described or over the end-of-the-world scenarios depicted by our culture. In the biblical story, the world does not end but is renewed. The world does not end but only this age of Satan, sin, and death! God has total power over everything in His creation, including His enemies ruining His creation. And He will win. He has already given us a taste of victory in the physical resurrection of Jesus and in the spiritual transformation of our hearts. So instead of fearing the future, trust Him.

At the same time, we must be on the lookout for supposedly “good news,” even in Christian circles, that doesn’t include the cross-shaped King who calls us to cross-shaped living. Look out for politicians, romantic partners, teachers, authors, coaches, friends, leaders, speakers, and pastors who claim to offer something from God but fail to teach and model the Jesus of the Bible. Their influence and power will be impressive but deceptive because it is not a power that comes from God.

The best way to spot counterfeits (false Christ, false prophets) is to know the real deal really well–in this case, the real Messiah really well. This has been the aim of Jesus’ teaching with His disciples throughout Matthew’s Gospel. He’s been teaching His disciples who He is, what He’s all about, and what it means to follow Him. He’s the Son of God, the crucified and risen King Jesus, who calls His disciples to also live in humble, self-sacrificial love for the glory of God and good of others. The more we know Him, the more we can spot and avoid impostors. And the more we know Him, the more we can follow Him whatever the cost.

Questions for Reflection and/or Discussion

Does end-of-the-world talk frighten you, fascinate you, or both? How can Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 24 put undue fear or fixation in proper perspective?
Have you been living oblivious to the fact that Christ will one day physically return to save His people and judge those who are not? How does Matthew 24 correct this thinking?
How will Christ’s future coming impact how you live today?

Bible Jesus jesus-christ messiah psalms

The True Authority of King Jesus (Matthew 22:41-46)

The most important question in the universe might be: “Who is Jesus?” The second most important question might be: “Who is Jesus TO YOU?” We imagine we can put Jesus in a box and keep His power over us contained to whatever we imagine Him to be.

Some think He’s a dangerous myth, created by evil, powerful people to control others.
Some think He’s a helpful myth, created by naive, well-meaning people to encourage good behavior.
Some think He’s a good example and teacher, who shows us how to live good lives.
Some think He’s a helper and encourager, whose sole purpose is to give me comfort when my life gets bad.

Jesus Himself brings up the provocative and life-altering question of “Who is He?” at the end of Matthew 22, and He is eager for each of us to respond rightly. Quick review: We’re learning to…

“Live The Cross-Shaped Life” – Cruciformity is learning to embody the self-sacrificial love of King Jesus, which God always deserves and honors.

We’re also learning cruciformity in the beatitudes, the cross-shaped attitudes of God’s kingdom people. We’re memorizing and living all eight beatitudes this year; we’re on the seventh:

Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9 NIV)

Jesus is the only trueborn Son of God, as is traditionally celebrated at Christmastime, but, in the Bible, you can metaphorically become someone’s son if you have a special relationship with someone and live like them. Those who believe in Jesus are “adopted” children of God, who made a way for us to have peace with Him through the sacrificial death of Jesus. When we make peace, we act like God, and we will be called His children! When you show humility and self-control in a tense conflict, when you share so the needy can flourish, when you encourage the discouraged, you will be called a child of God.

Let’s review where we are in the Gospel of Matthew. The first 20 chapters described key moments in the first 33 years of Jesus’ life. The last 8 chapters describe 8 days in His life, culminating in His crucifixion and resurrection.

On a Sunday, the first of those 8 days, Jesus entered Jerusalem to the praise of the crowds.
On Monday, He cleansed the temple of sinful practices and healed the hurting and taught about the kingdom of God.
On Tuesday, the religious leaders began questioning His authority to do these things, so Jesus told them three parables warning them not to reject Him. But the religious leaders hated Him all the more and asked Jesus a series of three questions to trap Him and get Him to say something unpopular so that the crowds would turn against Him: questions about controversial topics like taxes, marriage at the resurrection, or even the greatest commandment.

After skillfully passing these tests for the glory of God, Jesus would ask a series of questions. But Jesus won’t ask these questions in order to trap the religious leaders, like they had to Him. When Jesus gets the chance to ask His own questions, He’ll challenge them to rethink the identity and authority of the Messiah, whom they were in the process of rejecting! At first, these questions might seem obscure, irrelevant to our situation, maybe even a bit nitpicky, but I hope you see their profound significance for all of life for all of us.

Question #1: Whose son is the Messiah? (22:41-42)

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

First, Jesus questions the theology of the Pharisees. “Whose son is the Messiah?” To be “a son” in the ancient world and in Scripture was not simply to be a descendant. It also meant to be like someone–not just a physical look-alike but also a character look-alike. That’s why Jesus-followers can graciously be called sons of God–because Jesus-followers develop God-like character qualities, such as peacemaking

For the Messiah to be the “son of David” means that He would act like David and do David-like things…like conquering Israel’s enemies and establishing peace in Israel and inheriting God’s covenant with David to rule faithfully and have His throne established by God Himself. If the Messiah was the “son” of David, then the Messiah would, in a sense, be subordinate to David, constrained by David’s direction and example to do things like David did. This was not a super controversial question. Pretty much everyone believed the Messiah would be the Son of David, and so the Jewish religious leaders imagined that they had the messiah in a box…he would be like David–a worldly warrior-king.

But if the Messiah is more than just David’s son, He would be free to set His own agenda under God’s ultimate authority. This is the direction Jesus’ next question is heading. He is trying to destroy the box they have Him in by appealing to an authority they should have respected: God’s very own Word.

Question #2: Who is David’s Lord? (22:43-44)

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

Quick but important side note: When Jesus says that David was “speaking by the Spirit,” He is hinting at a very important belief all Christians have: that the Bible is the very Word of God. In fact, it’s one of our core beliefs:

The Bible is God’s trustworthy message for all people.

The Bible was written by human beings, but it is not simply human. God’s Spirit moved human authors to write the very words He wanted them to write! The Spirit didn’t override each human author. They still write from their unique perspective, but God guided those authors to give us the words He wanted us to have. This was a very important truth for Jesus. In fact, His entire line of questioning assumes that, when David wrote, he was writing under the inspiration of the Spirit.

Now let’s look into the question itself that Jesus is asking. Jesus noticed something interesting about the first verse of Psalm 110.

Psalm 110

1 The LORD says to my lord:

“Sit at my right hand

until I make your enemies

a footstool for your feet.”

David describes how THE LORD (in the original Hebrew of Psalm 110, “LORD” translates Yahweh, the personal name of Israel’s God) spoke to his lord (in the original Hebrew, “lord” translates adoni, the generic term for lord or master.) In the Old Testament, David and other important figures were often called “lord,” “adoni.” But in Psalm 110, this very interesting thing happens where David steps out of his role as adoni and bestows that title upon some mysterious third party.

Yahweh tells David’s lord that He is going to make His enemies a footstool for his feet. What’s the deal with that? King Tut who reigned in Egypt about 300 years before David was buried with a ceremonial footstool that depicted enemies he conquered. The enemies are on their knees, with hands tied behind their backs and leashes around their necks. The Psalm goes on to describe thow God conquers the enemies of David’s lord.

2 The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying,

“Rule in the midst of your enemies!”

3 Your troops will be willing

on your day of battle.

Arrayed in holy splendor,

your young men will come to you

like dew from the morning’s womb.

These verses describe the army of David’s lord. The troops offer themselves willingly, and they are clad not in military gear but “holy splendor.” This is a very DIFFERENT kind of army from the ones David led.

4 The LORD has sworn

and will not change his mind:

“You are a priest forever,

in the order of Melchizedek.”

In Old Testament Israel, the kingly line (Judah) and the priestly line (Levi) were separated almost as if to form a balance of power among the human leaders God established. The kings represented God to the people by enforcing God’s law, and the priests represented the people to God by praying for and offering sacrifices on their behalf to God. Different men for different jobs. But Melchizedek, who lived in the time of Abraham, predated the nation of Israel and was both a king and priest of God in Salem, the city that would later become Jerusalem! This new figure, David’s lord, is still yet different from Melchizedek because He is priest FOREVER!

5 The Lord is at your right hand;

he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.

6 He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead

and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.

7 He will drink from a brook along the way,

and so he will lift his head high.

The Lord here is a reference to God (Adonai not adoni), but now He’s at the right hand of David’s lord, waging war against their enemies together. Both in the first verse and throughout the rest of Psalm 110, David’s lord is clearly greater than David. That’s the heart of Jesus’ case, and He sums it up with a final question:

Question #3: How can the Messiah be both David’s son and Lord? (22:45-46)

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

This is a brilliant question. How can someone be both a son and a lord? Sons cannot be lords to their fathers…unless they had a dual identity. The religious leaders were outmatched. They can’t answer the question, and, even if they could, they wouldn’t because their hearts are hard.

Even though no one–not even Jesus–answers the questions out loud, the implication is clear. Matthew’s been giving us the answers all along! Now, we know from our reading of Matthew that Jesus is the Messiah, Son of David, Son of God (Matthew told us early in His Gospel and Peter confessed it in chapter 16). Jesus is implying that, because David called his son his lord (adoni), the Messiah reigns over David! Jesus is the son of David, but He’s also the Lord of David! So this teaching is reinforcing Jesus’ authority over even David, which further bolsters the judgments he has been and will be handing out as King of kings.

Answering Jesus’ Big Question

#1 Jesus is the fully divine Son of God, Second Person of the Trinity.

Jesus is the Son of God. There is NO HUMAN BEING WHO COULD BE CONSIDERED DAVID’S LORD. No mere human fits the description of this psalm. David was a man after God’s own heart, and chosen by God, yet this psalm doesn’t even apply to him! “Sitting at God’s right hand forever?” Never! This brings to a mind an essential Christian truth about God: the Trinity. That there is one God, one Divine Being, who exists in Three Equally Powerful and Eternal Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are used to the existence of multiple beings. There are many human beings, canine beings, feline beings, etc. And we are used to each instance of those beings existing in one person. Keith, a human; Bingo, a dog; Garfield, a cat. But the Bible teaches that there is only one instance of a divine being: God. And God exists in Three Persons! Wow! It’s hard to understand based on our experience, but it is not a silly contradiction. Jesus is one Person of the Divine Being. But that’s not all He is.

#2 Jesus is the fully human Son of David, God’s promised Savior and King.

This second aspect of Jesus’ identity is that He is also human. This is what Christians traditionally celebrate at Christ, another essential Christian truth about God: the Incarnation. The Second Person of the Trinity, the eternal Son of God, did not relinquish His divine nature but took upon Himself a human nature! Jesus is one person with two natures: divine and human! Wow! What self-sacrificial love! He did this to come to earth to save us from our sin by suffering and dying in our place on the cross, to take God’s wrath for us, to provide forgiveness for us, to give us a new life and a great hope! He did conquer our enemies–not human enemies but our greatest enemies–Satan, sin, and death. And He was given authority as King over the universe, His people, and our very lives, which brings me to a final point:

#3 Jesus is worthy of our worship and obedience.

What Jesus deserved from the Jewish religious and from all of us is submission. That submission looks like repentance, stopping living our own way and following His ways, turning our minds from pride and selfishness and toward humility and self-sacrificial love. Start crying out to Him, “King Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner, and help me follow You for the rest of my life.” and be baptized!

For those of us that are praying that prayer everyday, an important next step is to proclaim Jesus as Lord to all around us. As you self-sacrificially love people, ask them provocative questions about who they think Jesus is and share the difference Jesus has made in your attitude and character as you submit to His authority.

Questions for Reflection and/or Discussion

Based on your understanding of the Bible, how would you answer Jesus’ questions: Whose son is the Messiah? Who is David’s Lord? How can the Messiah be both David’s son and Lord? (If you’re not sure, who could you ask for help? Ask them!)
What does it mean to say that Jesus is fully God and fully human? Why is this a vital truth for us to understand?
What difference has Jesus’ identity and authority made in your life? What difference will He make from now on?

Bible christianity faith Jesus matthew

Harsh and Heartbroken King Jesus (Matthew 23)

This year at Calvary, we’re learning to…

“Live The Cross-Shaped Life” – Cruciformity is learning to embody the self-sacrificial love of King Jesus, which God always deserves and honors.

We’re also learning cruciformity in the beatitudes, the cross-shaped attitudes of God’s kingdom people. We’ll be memorizing all eight beatitudes this year; we’re on the seventh:

Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9 NIV)

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about the call to be peacemakers is that peace with others is not in our control alone. We can be peaceful toward others, but they may not be peaceful toward us. That’s why the Apostle Paul says in Romans 12:18, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

A great example of this is today’s sermon text in Matthew 23. Jesus will say some incredibly harsh things toward hypocritical religious leaders, but it is in response to their attempts to discredit Him publicly…so they could assassinate Him. Even after all the harsh things He says, He still holds out the olive branch. He longs for peace with the very people who will kill Him. Let’s get into it.

Jesus’ Warning about Hypocritical Leaders (23:1-12)

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

Jesus is going to talk about hypocrisy here, but first things first: don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. The hypocrisy of religious leaders is a huge problem, but their hypocrisy does not necessarily discredit the truth of God’s Word! You can’t disregard the mail just because the mailman turns out to be a criminal! Jesus even says so!

The phrase “tie up heavy, cumbersome loads” is similar to the power Jesus gave to His disciples in Matthew 16 and 18: “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.” To bind something is to make it legally binding. It’s speaking authoritatively and expecting people to obey. In the disciples’ case, Jesus gave them the authority to proclaim His identity as Christ and to disciple one another for God’s glory and others’ good. But the Pharisees abused their authority by adding burdensome rules to God’s Law. Why would they do that? For their own glory…

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

We tend to think of hypocrites as people who say one thing and do another. But we get that idea from how Jesus uses it in the Gospels. Hypocrites in the Greco-Roman world were simply actors in the theater. No negative connotation at all. But Jesus applied the term to the Jewish religious leaders of His day because they were “actors” in terms of their spirituality. They treated their faith like a stage and lived for human applause rather than divine approval. But that’s not how God’s kingdom works…

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

In the kingdom of heaven, God’s people do teach and lead one another, but it is not done for worldly reward or human recognition. We disciple one another as humble servants of God toward one another, seeking first and foremost to be discipled ourselves in His ways.

Jesus Himself has clearly already practiced what He preached through the Gospel of Matthew. By the end of the story, Jesus will do everything He can to lighten the load for His disciples by forgiving their sin and giving them the Spirit who empowers them to obey with transformed hearts. In His own words, Jesus “came not to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

Jesus’ Charges against Hypocritical Leaders

These charges, which Jesus sets forth like a prosecutor in a court of justice, take the form of 7 “woes.” “Woe” is a term used to lament and/or denounce someone because of impending doom. It means something like “How unfortunate!” The New Living Translation uses “what sorrow awaits!” The Old Testament prophets used “woe” quite a bit when they denounced Israel for rebelling against God, so Jesus speaks as the last of a long line of prophets to Israel’s leaders. In the New Testament, the only other substantial use of “woe” is in the book of Revelation, which we’ve just finished in our church-wide New Testament plan. The woes show up when God is pouring out judgment after judgment on unrepentant humanity. In Matthew 23, the “woes” are for the hypocritical religious leaders who have systematically rejected King Jesus.

You can almost see these 7 woes as the opposites of the 8 beatitudes from Matthew 5. If the beatitudes are the “do’s,” the “woes” are the “do not’s” for Jesus’ disciple-makers. These are not merely the historical sins of hypocritical Jewish religious leaders. In other words, there is something here to learn for all of Jesus’ disciples and disciple-makers: pastors, parents, students reaching out to friends at school, neighbors reaching out to neighbors, coworkers reaching out to coworkers, church members discipling one another.

#1 Keeping people from heaven. (23:13)

13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

Their teaching saves no one, not even themselves. Why? Because they reject Jesus who holds the keys to heaven through His cross and His cross-shaped way of life. Without His forgiveness and the humility needed to truly ask for it, there is no getting into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is the Door to the kingdom of heaven–not politics, not self-expression, not morality, not even religious activity; we MUST submit to the crucified and risen King Jesus! Because the hypocritical religious leaders rejected Jesus, they and their disciples are heading somewhere else…

#2 Making disciples for hell. (23:15)

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

Their teaching transforms no one for God’s glory, and in fact pushes them towards hell! If a disciple-maker is proud, their disciples will be proud. If a disciple-maker is selfish, their disciples will be selfish. If a disciple-maker idolizes attention or entertainment or politics or money, their disciples will worship attention or entertainment or politics or money. Disciples like that belong not to God’s kingdom but to hell. Fellow disciple-makers, may God keep watch over us and may we keep watch over ourselves and one another so that we follow Jesus and not the way to hell.

#3 Willfully blind to foolish practices. (23:16-22)

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

These hypocritical religious leaders created this whole system of vows with layers and loopholes, which amounted to spiritually crossing your fingers when you made a promise to God or someone else! Absolute foolishness! Jesus had already denounced taking oaths in Matthew 5, but He revisits here as yet another example of their hypocrisy.

We may not have silly systems of oaths, but we remain blind to foolish practices in our everyday lives. Consider how we compartmentalize things. We live one way in our church gatherings, another way at home, another way at school or work, another way in our leisure time. For many of us, it’s almost like we forget that Jesus even exists when we leave church or hang out with friends or spend money or get on our smartphones. That kind of spiritual absent-mindedness is just as foolish as the oath system of the Pharisees!

#4 Ignoring what’s most important. (23:23-24)

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

The Old Testament commanded all Israelites to give 10% of their economic production to support the ministry and mission of the Temple. The Pharisees took this so seriously on the one hand that they “tithed” from the herb garden! But on the other hand, they ignored more important parts of the law which included treating people with justly and mercifully and being faithful to God!

Jesus compares this to the ridiculously stupid act of straining a gnat out of your drink but forgetting to take the camel out. Gnats and camels were both ritually unclean animals–one the smallest, the other the biggest. You should really take both out, but one is bigger than the other! This would be akin to Christians making sure they tithe on every last penny of income but then harboring envy or lust or bitterness in the heart! Tithe on every penny AND love God supremely and your neighbor as yourself!

#5 Focusing on behavior rather than the heart. (23:25-26)

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

Jesus had already confronted this fault in the Pharisees back in Matthew 15:18-19: “But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart comes evil thoughts…” Jesus got this truth from an Old Testament proverb: “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Prov 4:23) This is an important concept for every disciple and disciple-maker to understand. God wants and deserves external righteousness but only the kind that comes from a new heart, humbled and grounded and purified in Christ. Heart work, through meditating on God’s Word, praying for God’s glory and will, and accountability with the church family, should be the focus of disciple-making efforts!

#6 Masking sin with performance. (23:27-28)

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

This charge is similar to the previous. The focus is on the external–not the internal. In this case, hypocritical religious leaders are going out of their way to look good on the outside! Touching a grave made the Jew ceremonially unclean, so tombs were painted white so they could be easily spotted and avoided. The hypocritical leaders adopted public personas that impressed many but masked a heart unfaithful to God. This was evidenced by the fact that they wanted Jesus dead…

#7 Persecuting God’s messengers. (23:29-32)

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

Jesus’ seventh charge against the hypocritical religious leaders plays off the tombs He described in the previous woe. They decorate the tombs of martyrs and claim that, had they lived in the days of their ancestors, they would have done better! Wrong! The same sinful heart that was in their ancestors was still in them. We all have this tendency to think we would have been better than our ancestors. I used to think that, if I lived in Nazi Germany, I wouldn’t have gone along with the Holocaust! But if you’ve ever studied the Holocaust, you’d know the terrifying truth that most Germans were a lot like you and me and still went along with it! It is only sinful pride that says that places us above our ancestors and allows us to ignore the sin and sinful tendencies of our hearts. Jesus called out the Pharisees and challenged them to finish what their ancestors started–referring to His own death as the culmination of persecution! True disciples, on the other hand, are the persecuted–not the persecutors.

Jesus’ Verdict on Hypocritical Leaders (23:33-36)

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

Because their hypocrisy has culminated even in the murder of God’s messengers, they will get what they deserve from God. They come from a long line of persecutors. Abel was the first innocent murdered in the Old Testament (Genesis 4), and Zechariah of Berekiah was the last (2 Chronicles 24:20-22). These hypocritical religious leaders would persecute Jesus and His disciples after Him, and, unless they repent, they would get what they deserve–God’s eternal wrath.

Jesus’ Lament over Hypocritical Leaders (23:37-39)

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

You typically wouldn’t hear something like this from a judge after they announce a criminal verdict. But Jesus is no ordinary Judge. He is heartbroken. You can hear it in His words. He wants to bring all these rebels under His right and good rule, like a mother hen gathers all of her baby chicks. What a tender and humble image! Jesus loves the very people He’s rebuking. He loves the people who will kill Him. He longs for reconciliation and for peace.

When we look at Jesus’ sorrow for hypocritical religious leaders, how can we who call ourselves Christians–followers of Jesus–ever justify hatred or bitterness toward our enemies? How can we not have Jesus’ heart, which is far more sad than mad at those who resist God’s rule? HEAVENLY FATHER, keep us so far from the hypocrisy of Pharisees and so close to the compassion of Your Son, our King, Jesus.

Questions for Reflection and/or Discussion

How would Jesus respond to someone who struggles to trust God due to the hypocrisy of His people?
Which of the “woes” comes the closest to rebuking your own faults? How can you change that as a one of Jesus’s disciples and disciple-makers?
Jesus was heartbroken over the religious hypocrites of His day, whom He justly condemned for rejecting Him and His way. How does this influence the way you view people with whom you have conflict?

The Only Wise King (Matthew 22:15-40)

Who’s the wisest person you know? Whoever it is, Jesus is wiser. Today, we’re going to look at three tests Jesus passed in order to prove it. But first, this year at Calvary, we’re learning to…

“Live The Cross-Shaped Life” – Cruciformity is learning to embody the self-sacrificial love of King Jesus, which God always deserves and honors.

We’re also learning cruciformity in the beatitudes, the cross-shaped attitudes of God’s kingdom people. We’ll be memorizing all eight beatitudes this year; we’re all the way up to the seventh:

Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9 NIV)

God’s peace is not only the absence of conflict but flourishing relationships with God and one another. Worldly peace is peace-and-quiet in a home, but God’s peace is growing, Christ-centered family relationships full of humility, honesty, love, and joy. Worldly peace is the surrender of Hamas and a ceasefire in Gaza, but God’s peace is Israelis and Palestinains submitting to Jesus as Lord and looking for ways to bless one another. You can see the opportunity here. In a world full of people with spiritual turmoil, relational dysfunction, and societal division, one of the great gifts God’s people have to offer the world is His peace. Peacemakers. But it all starts with a right relationship with Him, submitting to Him, which not all do…

Back to Matthew: the religious leaders refused to recognize Jesus’ authority to rule and teach and heal and receive praise in the Temple, so Jesus told 3 parables about the religious leaders’ rejection of Jesus. They knew He was calling them out, so they tried to trap Jesus publicly with debates, yet Jesus’ superior wisdom shines through…

Big Idea: Jesus is wiser and says we should put God first.

Test #1: Paying The Roman Imperial Tax (22:15-22)

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

The Pharisees and Herodians were cultural enemies. The Pharisees were anti-Rome. The Herodians were pro-Rome. The Pharisees respected Jewish Scripture and tradition. The Herodians followed Jewish tradition only when convenient. But both groups could agree on this: Jesus had to die. The Pharisees and Herodians have been plotting Jesus’ death together since Matthew 12:14 (see Mark 3:6). They don’t really mean all the compliments they are giving Jesus. This is pure flattery. They are setting Him up to catch him in a trap.

What’s the trap? A lose-lose question. The Roman imperial tax was money that non-Romans had to pay to support the empire. It was how Rome forced the people it conquered to pay for their own oppression. Needless to say, this tax was hotly debated, hated by Pharisees and embraced by Herodians. If He agreed with the Herodians that Jews should pay taxes to Caesar, those who hated Rome might turn against him. If He agreed with the Pharisees that Jews shouldn’t pay taxes to Caesar, those who supported Rome might turn Him into the Roman authorities. But Jesus is wiser.

18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” 21 “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” 22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

Our money often bears the image of people, usually presidents, and ancient Roman coins bore the images of Caesar. Here’s one such coin from the time period. This denarius has the face of the sitting Emperor Tiberius with the inscription “Tiberius Caesar, son of the Divine Augustus.” That’s right. The Roman Empire elevated its emperors to divine status. The chief religion of ancient Rome was the worship of its leaders and the state.

Genesis 1 teaches that we are all made in the image of God. And the point Jesus is making is that, because the coin is made in Caesar’s image, Caesar should get the money, but, because we are all made in God’s image, God should get us! Jesus is wiser and says we should put God first.

Test #2: Resurrection “Problems” (22:23-33)

23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him.”

The biblical background to the story is from Deuteronomy 25. God gave Moses a law that, if a man died without leaving children to his wife, his brother should marry her to give her an heir. While very strange to us today, this law served an important practical purpose to provide widows with children, to protect family land, and to carry on family heritage.

25 “Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

Like the Pharisees and Herodians, the Sadducees weren’t being honest with Jesus either, and He knew it. Here they are, asking Jesus about the resurrection, but Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection, which is what made them “sad, you see.”. The resurrection is the great hope for all Christians, and we believe in the resurrection because Jesus rose first, about 2,000 years ago. But this story is an attempt to make the resurrection look silly. If a woman was married seven different times, and they were all resurrected in the future, whose wife would she be?

The Sadducees attempt to use an argument called a reductio ad absurdum (Latin “reduction to absurdity”). That’s a kind of argumentation where you show that someone else’s argument, if brought to its logical conclusion, is ridiculous. For example, if the earth was flat, people would fall off the edge. Jesus used a similar argument against worry in Matthew 6:27: Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” The Sadducees use this “reduction to absurdity” to trap Jesus in a “gotcha” moment. They imagine a scenario where, through a series of tragedies, a woman has seven husbands throughout the course of her life. When they are resurrected in the new heavens and earth, won’t that be awkward? Not only awkward but totally wrong and sinful? The Scriptures forbid polygamy and incest.

The resurrection is actually a central belief for Jesus and for everyone who follows Jesus because it is the God-given destiny of cross-shaped people! So it’s really important that Jesus is able to solve this riddle. But Jesus is wiser! He gives a two-part response. Here’s the first…

29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.”

According to Jesus, there won’t be marriage in heaven! So the problem the Sadducees created is not a real problem. But let’s be honest. This teaching can be discouraging, even devastating for people. You mean our marriages won’t continue in eternity? What about my family and kids? Will we not even know each other? If we do know each other, why won’t we love each other?

A couple quick but important thoughts: First, Jesus never said that we won’t know each other or love each other. He is talking about the institution of marriage. Second, heaven will be way better than anything we could imagine, and, if it’s better than marriage, then I can’t wait! What could be better than a joyful, lifelong marriage? What about perfect, eternal friendship with every Christ-follower from all places and all times??? This is one reason why “acting like family” is so important for God’s church…we will be family in eternity. God’s power is great enough to surpass all we can imagine.

Jesus addresses the fact of the resurrection in the second part of His answer..

31 “But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” 33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

Jesus quotes from Exodus 3:6, where God told Moses at the burning bush, “I AM the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” God didn’t say, “I WAS the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” He said, “He IS their God,” which implies they still exist and will rise again! Jesus Himself will of course be resurrected at the end of this week, and so He will cling to the great promise of our Mighty God! Jesus is wiser and says we should put God first.

Test #3: The Greatest Commandment(s) (22:34-39)

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

The “books of Moses,”also known as the “books of the law,” are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. It’s these books that contain all the commandments…and according to the teachers of the law, there are 613 commandments: 365 “do not’s” and 248 “do’s”! That’s a lot. How many of you have ever felt like your brain gets full? Like around exam time at school, a big project at work, or a complex issue at home. It’s like you just can’t remember anything else? It’s hard to remember the whole Bible too. I mean it’s a huge book. We spend our whole lives in patient and persistent study and still have things to learn. God has done so much for us and expects a lot from us too, but Jesus is able to boil it all down….

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.”

First, Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:4, which was a foundational commandment for the Jews. Faithful Jews would recite this commandment every morning and every evening. Most would totally agree with Jesus’ answer here. It’s a way to say, “Love God with everything you are!” But Jesus is wiser and adds one more…

39 “And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

The expert in the law asked Jesus for the greatest commandment, but Jesus gave him TWO. He adds Leviticus 19:18: “Love your neighbor as yourself”–which means, “Hey you, you know how you want to be loved, love others that way!” You want to eat when you’re hungry? Feed the hungry. You want healthy friendships? Befriend the lonely. You want forgiveness from sin and new life in the Spirit? Share the good news of Jesus with others.

Both the Greatest Commandment and the Second Commandment are important. Some might only care about people but care little for the Creator and Redeemer. Years ago, I met a very nice man named Scott who lived and served in a rough part of Detroit. Interestingly, he had been born in Israel and was raised Jewish but was no longer practicing. We were talking about Jesus and got on the topic of this very passage. He said that he really liked the second commandment but not the first. What’s that mean? He really wanted to love people, but he did not want to believe in God, let alone love Him.

Some only care about God (or at least say they do) but lack compassion for those made in His image. We read the book of Jonah in our church Old Testament plan today. In chapter 1, Jonah ran away from God’s call to be His messenger to the wicked city of Nineveh. In chapter 4, Jonah told God why he ran: “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.” ‭‭(Jonah‬ ‭4‬:‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬) Jonah’s reluctance to share God’s great love with Nineveh is a great challenge to me. If I really believed in this God, why wouldn’t I share Him at every opportunity? How much must I hate the people around me to withhold such glory from them? Lord, make me Your messenger to gladly share Your grace, which I gladly receive, with others.

If you truly love God, you’ll love those He loves. And if you truly love people, you’ll love the One who created us, the Only One who can save us! Jesus is wiser and says we should put God first…and others second!

Lessons

#1 Jesus is the wise King. Will you listen to Him? (1 Peter 3:15a)

The Pharisees, Sadducees, and experts in the law were more interested in getting mic-drop moments than in worshiping the Maker of heaven and earth, the Savior of our souls, and the King of all kings. They were more interested in staying in control of their own lives than they were in submitting to Jesus. God-in-the-flesh was right there in front of them, healing with great power, teaching with great wisdom, and they were blind to Him! I pray that you are not!

15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord… (1 Peter 3:15a)

Every human being has the duty and privilege to joyfully submit to Jesus as King. This is where true wisdom starts. This is not some blind leap of faith nor is Jesus undeserving! Jesus has proven Himself to be wise and good and true over and over again. These three “tests” from the religious leaders during Holy Week are only the tip of the iceberg. Matthew’s overarching story is meant to show the how and why Jesus deserves to be everyone’s king. Have you embraced Him as your king???

#2 Get ready to talk about Him and His ways. (1 Peter 3:15-16)

Jesus envisions that His disciples will follow in His footsteps. As He was tested and proved wise in teaching the truth about God’s greatness and goodness, His followers would be tested as well.

Our world of course struggles with truth-speaking because it does not submit to God. People are worried primarily with optics–with how things look– rather than doing the right and good thing. A few weeks ago, when officials at prominent universities were asked by Congress if it was against their school’s codes of conduct to call for the genocide of Jews, they said it depended on the context and would have to be reviewed through a process. That mindset right there is a Pharisaical concern with legal and social opinions–rather than the opinion of God.

15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. (1 Peter 3:15-16)

Before we throw any stones at Ivy League presidents, how often do we fail to submit to Jesus’ opinion of our own lives? Where are we failing to apply His truth in self-denying, self-sacrificing ways to our own attitudes and behaviors? Who have we failed to share the good news of Jesus with for fear of rejection, awkwardness, etc.?

What are you doing to prepare yourself to speak with Christlike wisdom and courage?

Gathering regularly, at least weekly for worshiping and learning from Jesus and in small groups
LIFEgroup this winter in which we’ll engage pressing political issues of our day with the grace and truth of Scripture.
Your daily habits, your ongoing relationships, the tone and content of your conversations.

Questions for Reflection and/or Discussion

If a coin belongs to Caesar because it has his image, what has God’s image and belongs to Him? (hint: Genesis 1:26-27) What is Jesus calling all people to do and what will that look like in your life?
How important do you think belief in resurrection was to Jesus at this moment, the week of His crucifixion? How important is belief in resurrection to you? Why do you believe that God can raise the dead?
Why does Jesus give two commandments when asked for one? Why would it be hard to love your neighbor as yourself if you don’t first love God? Why would it be incomplete to love God but not love your neighbor as yourself? What are some practical ways to love God supremely and love people sacrificially this week?
At what points in your life are you most resisting Jesus’ wisdom? Where is that foolishness coming from? What do you need to do to seek and submit to Jesus’ wisdom for your life every day?
What kinds of questions will you be asked about your Christ-centered hope and way of life? How can you get prepared to answer those questions in a way that honors Christ?

Kingdoms Collide (Matthew 21:23-46)

“Accepting Jesus into your heart” is a phrase often used to describe becoming a Christian. I question the clarity of that word though. In my personal opinion, the word “accepting” makes it sound too easy. Like accepting a Christmas gift from a loved one or accepting a new friend into your life. Those metaphors are way too convenient to describe what actually following Jesus is like. Actually following Jesus is submission. It’s the total surrender of every area of our lives to Jesus’ rightful authority as the crucified and risen King. Not following Jesus is rebellion.

This year at Calvary, we’re learning to…

“Live The Cross-Shaped Life” – Cruciformity is learning to embody the self-sacrificial love of King Jesus, which God always deserves and honors.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9 NIV)

Blessed are the peacemakers. Christians get to not only have peace with God but also to make peace with others. We’ll talk more about this kind of peace and the opportunity we have to make it in the next few weeks, but I want to point out that, though Christ Himself was a peacemaker, He faced a ton of hate, especially during Holy Week.

THE STORY

During Holy Week, the kingdoms of God and of this world collided. (21:23-27)

Over the next few months, we’re studying Holy Week…Jesus’ week in Jerusalem that culminates in His crucifixion and resurrection. Matthew tells the story of Holy Week in chapters 21-28. 8 chapters for 8 days. Jesus entered Jerusalem on a Sunday. Then, on Monday, he cast out the money-changers and those selling sacrificial animals from the temple, and began to heal the hurting and teach people about God. It’s in response to all of this that the religious come to Jesus. Peace is not possible when the kingdom of this world collides with the kingdom of God.

23 Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”

The temple leaders are essentially asking Jesus, “Who do you think you are? What gives you the right to do all these things? Who died and made You king?” Their question is about authority. The temple leaders had always been in charge, but here comes Jesus, who’s demanding and making change for God’s glory and others’ good. Many still question Jesus’ authority today. Some trust other authorities such as science and reason. “If it can’t be observed and tested by the scientific method, then I don’t buy it.” Others trust personal experience and opinion. “The most important truth to me is my truth.” Still others might trust the opinions of others…whatever their friends, family, or favorite public personality says. But we trust in King Jesus.

24 Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?” They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

Now, Jesus has been clear throughout His ministry that He represents God, so He doesn’t even answer their question. In fact, John the Baptist, who came before Jesus, also claimed to represent God and then endorsed Jesus. So if the temple leaders can’t come to terms with John the Baptist, they’ll never submit to Jesus. And they don’t. The temple leaders chose to play dumb rather than discredit the popular John the Baptist…let alone submit to Christ’s authority.

Jesus now tells three parables to rebuke the religious leaders for their rebellion against God. We’ll look at the first two this week and the third next week

Parable #1: The Obedient and Disobedient Sons (21:28-31a)

28 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ 29 ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. 30 Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. 31a Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered.

The point of the parable is clear: Actions speak louder than words. The religious leaders themselves acknowledge this! So Jesus teaches a cross-shaped lesson and wants the religious leaders to embrace it…

A Cross-Shaped Lesson: The “bigger sinners” actually repented. (21:31b-32)

31b Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.”

When tax collectors heard John the Baptist’s message of repentance–that they should not take more taxes than necessary–they repented! When the prostitutes heard John’s message of repentance–that they should turn from sexual sin–they repented! When the religious leaders heard John’s message of repentance–that they should teach and embody the ways of God–they rejected it! When the religious leaders saw the transformation of tax collectors and prostitutes into disciples, they still rejected it! That’s not to say that every tax collector and prostitute repented and followed Jesus, but it was a surprisingly large amount compared to how few religious leaders are following Jesus. Yet Jesus still left the door open for the religious leaders to come in. He wants them to!

I’m concerned about all the people who might be paying lip service to God today. A lot of people might say, “I believe in God,” or even “I believe in Jesus,” but true repentance is shown through action. Accepting Jesus is submitting to Him and His ways. It’s not paying Jesus lip service, over-promising and then under-delivering. True, saving faith requires us to give up our own authority and recognize Christ’s. That may sound difficult, but it’s easy for those who recognize His worth! The tax collectors and prostitutes that Jesus reached out to recognize Jesus’ worth and authority; do we?

Parable #2: The Rebellious Tenants (21:33-41)

33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.”

Jesus appears to base this parable on a passage from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah:

“I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit…The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.” (Isaiah 5:1-7)

Isaiah used the vineyard as a metaphor for God’s people Israel. The vineyard was supposed to produce good fruit for the one who planted, cultivated, and protected it. In Isaiah, the good fruit was justice and righteousness. Justice and righteousness are a way of summarizing obedience to all of God’s law, which Jesus would summarize as “loving God with all of your heart and mind and soul and strength” and “loving your neighbor as yourself.” Right relationships with God and people.

But Jesus adds a twist to His parable. His vineyard has tenants, who are to serve the owner of the vineyard by harvesting the fruit. The tenants, as we’ll see, are Israel’s leaders, and they should be working toward good fruit: justice and righteousness, loving God supremely and loving others as yourself. But, according to Jesus’ parable, the religious leaders are NOT doing their job…

35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.”

If the tenants are Israel’s leaders, then the servants are God’s prophets, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, even John the Baptist, those whom God sent to warn of judgment and call to repentance. But each of the prophets were rejected. The owner then sent his very own son, who is Jesus. Jesus is not merely God’s representative but God-in-the flesh, the second Person of the Trinity who added to His divine nature a human nature in order to carry out God’s plan. But the wicked spiritual leaders of Israel not only rejected Him…they would kill Him! And there would be consequences for that:

40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? 41 He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

From this parable, Jesus highlighted…

Two Surprising, Cross-Shaped Reversals (21:42-46)

#1 The rejected Son will be vindicated.

Don’t you love a good plot twist? It’s a tiny hobbit who throws the evil, magical ring into the volcano. Darth Vader is Luke’s father?!?! If George Bailey was never born, life wouldn’t have been so wonderful. Cruciformity is like a plot twist. A reversal. And Jesus is the first one…

42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

The first surprising, cross-shaped reversal is that the very One who was rejected would be victorious, would be enthroned. Jesus quoted from Psalm 118:22-23 about the rejected stone that becomes a cornerstone. In Israel, people built with stone much more often than wood. Builders would pick the best stones to build with, and they’d pick the very best stone to be the cornerstone. But, in the biblical metaphor, the “experts” discarded the stone because it looked unimpressive and useless.

It would be like using a small stone in a construction project. From an expert’s perspective, it’s useless; from God’s perspective, it’s essential. The spiritual leaders looked at Jesus and judged Him unimpressive. He was too, I don’t know, poor in spirit, meek, hungry-for righteousness, pure in heart, etc. But God saw Jesus and miraculously made Him King of kings.

#2 The fruitless will be traded for the fruitful.

43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

Here’s the second reversal: the ones who rejected Jesus will lose their authority and be judged and the authority they once had will be given to others…to those who do produce kingdom fruit: justice and righteousness…loving God and loving people. The “people who will produce kingdom fruit” are His disciples, His church, a mixture of both Jews and Gentiles who take submission to Jesus seriously and help each follow all of His ways.

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

Again, the religious leaders are motivated by love for wealth, honor, and power…not by a sincere desire to know and follow God. They know what Jesus is saying and look for a way to silence him.

THE APPLICATIONS

#1 Whether God accepts you depends on whether you submit to Jesus.

My hope is that you’d follow Jesus because you’ve seen who He is and what He’s like and what He’s all about. Unlike the chief priests and Pharisees who rejected Him. We might not be like those Jewish religious leaders, whose wealth and honor was threatened by Jesus. But the authority of Jesus threatens us in other ways.

Jesus threatens our rule over our own lives, our homes, our businesses, our ministries, our churches, our governments, etc. But those who never really ours to begin with. We’re all just tenants, renters, put in charge of things, yes, but only under the rule of the crucified and King Jesus. Jesus is not optional; He’s essential to every single one of us. Noone survives God’s just wrath for sin apart from forgiveness found in Christ. Noone knows exactly how to live a life that matters, that honors our Maker apart from Christ.

We’re welcoming four new church members today. They have, in their own way, surrendered themselves to Jesus and been accepted by Him! At some point in the past, they began asking for the mercy and forgiveness of Jesus who died for their sin. And they continue to live in allegiance to Him, not perfection, but continually coming back to Him when they fail. Read their stories and get to know them. And if you need help and prayer to begin your walk of submission to Christ, please reach out to us.

#2 The church’s submission to Jesus produces the fruit of obedience.

As churches learn to truly submit themselves to Jesus, we do produce fruit for Him, the fruit of justice and righteousness, love for God, love for others. Calvary Church is far from perfect, but we are growing in this! Thanks to God’s provision and your generous donations of time, talent, treasure, and testimony…

Our core ministries–like worship gatherings, LIFEgroups, kids and students ministries–are able to be fully staffed and supported in order to make disciples.
Our missional partners continue to receive support for malign disciples all over the world.
The benevolent fund meets needs in our church.
The pantry ministry meets needs in our church and community.
People who are connected through LIFEgroups and other means look out for each other in times of crisis.
Ruth Rose leads members to look in after housebound and hurting members.
People help one another with home and auto repair.

This is all only a result of learning from Jesus, not merely accepting Him but submitting to Him.

Questions for Reflection and/or Discussion

Why were the Jewish religious leaders unwilling to submit to Jesus’ authority? What areas of your life have you had the most difficulty submitting to Jesus?
How does the parable of the two sons challenge you spiritually?
How does the parable of the rebellious tenants challenge you spiritually?
Have you ever accepted Jesus into your heart? In what ways has that been reflected in how you actually live your life for Jesus?

Cross-Shaped Leadership (Matthew 20:17-34)

This year at Calvary, we’re learning to…

“Live The Cross-Shaped Life” – Cruciformity is learning to embody the self-sacrificial love of King Jesus, which God always deserves and honors.

We’re also learning cruciformity in the beatitudes, the cross-shaped attitudes of God’s kingdom people. We’re memorizing all eight beatitudes this year; here’s the sixth one:

Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they will see God. (Matthew 5:8 NIV)

Over the past few weeks in Matthew, we’ve heard teaching from Jesus that has confronted and purified the sinful ways we normally think. He’s purified our sinful views of marriage, divorce, singleness, and money and reoriented them according to His self-sacrificial love. Then He told a parable about an employer who decided to pay all employees the exact same wage even though they worked very different amounts of hours. This parable purifies our hearts of any sinful entitlement we might feel toward God because of things we have given up for Him. Thus, Jesus keeps purifying those He has already purified. A life following Jesus is just one gigantic learning process. And the learning process continues in Matthew 20…

1) A Prediction for Jesus: His Cruciform Path (20:17-19)

(MAP) Jesus will continue his journey from Capernaum, where His early ministry was centered, to Jerusalem passing through Jericho and the surrounding region as well see by the end of thai passage. It’s important to see that He is committed to going to Jerusalem, even though He has twice prophesied that He would be killed there. Here’s Jesus’ third prediction:

17 Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, 18 “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19 and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”

Jesus’ third and final prediction of His death and resurrection includes a few new, important details. This is the first time He mentions that the Jewish leaders will turn Him in to the Gentile authorities–the Romans–for execution by crucifixion.

Why do the Gospels include Jesus’ three predictions? First, the predictions serve as a reminder for disciples then and now, that when it happens, it’s all part of God’s plan. In Isaiah, for example, God declares His actions ahead of time to demonstrate His sovereign power over all things. So, when we read these predictions in the Gospels, we should grow in our confidence that God is in control over all things…cancer, unemployment, disaster, death, and the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.

Second, these predictions are not simply a divine “flex.” They also reveal the self-sacrificial path Jesus will walk to obey God and to save sinners, the cross-shaped nature of the Messiah. So, when reading these predictions, we should be humbled by God’s great love for us in Christ and commit to following His example with self-sacrificial love. But that’s a hard pill to swallow given this next prediction Jesus makes…

2) A Prediction for James and John: Their Cruciform Path (20:20-23)

20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. 21 “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

Zebedee’s sons are James and John, two of Jesus’ disciples. Their mother Salome was probably sister to Mary, Jesus’ mother, thus making her Jesus’ aunt and her sons Jesus’ cousins. So, Aunt Salome and cousins James and John are together making a request of Jesus. And Jesus said, “What do you want?” He’ll ask that question later in the next story too.

In Matthew 19, Jesus had already promised His twelve disciples that, because they had left everything to follow Him even while most rejected Him, they would rule over Israel one day. So Salome and James and John are asking for even greater honor in addition to the honor Jesus had already promised. I guess being one of the Twelve to rule one day was not enough. They wanted to rank first and second among the Twelve, but here’s Jesus’ answer:

22 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they answered. 23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

Jesus predicts that they would suffer. The cup that Jesus refers to refers to suffering. It’s a metaphor from the Old Testament…the cup of God’s wrath. Jesus would willingly “drink God’s wrath” on the cross, and He predicted that James and John would share in His suffering.

One theologian (D.A. Carson) said that to ask to reign with Jesus is to ask to suffer with Him. To ask God for worldly wealth and honor, you’re also asking for temptation, stress, disappointment, and strife. To ask God for great kingdom usefulness is to ask for great personal suffering. Another theologian commenting on this text said, “We know not what we ask, when we ask for the glory of wearing a crown but ask not for the strength to bear the cross on our way to it.” (Matthew Henry) James was the first of the Twelve to die a martyr’s death (beheaded by Herod (Acts 12:2)). John would be the last of the Twelve to die, according to church tradition, after years of persecution and exile. What about you? What are you suffering, what will you suffer, as you follow Jesus? Given our relative freedom and prosperity today, most of us most likely will not suffer like James or John or Jesus. But we must not shy away from the sacrifices required to meet the needs of others, such as “widows and orphans.” And we must not shy away from the sacrifices required to remain unpolluted by the world, both of which we read about in James in our New Testament plan this morning.

Here’s the thing: ultimately, exaltation would not be up to Jesus. That was up to God the Father. Jesus Himself would be exalted by the Father, so His followers would too.

3) A Lesson for Disciples: Those who serve others are the greats in God’s eyes. (20:24-26)

24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant…”

In the Greco-Roman world, a servant (Gr. diakonos; it’s where we get the words deacon and deaconess from) is simply someone who performs work for someone else. They might be free. They might have some rights. They might have some property. But they must obey the orders of the one they serve. So Jesus is flipping the whole idea of leadership on its head. His followers will not lead like ones giving out orders; they will lead like servants! They will exist not to take care of themselves and boss people around. Jesus’ followers will exist to put others before themselves and meet their needs.

When we select leaders in our church, the first question we ask is not how educated, skillful, or experienced they are. We look for Christlike servant hearts. Are they humbly following Jesus? Are they humbly serving others? Obviously we need elders who can teach the Bible, finance team members who are good at math, and facilities team members who can swing a hammer. But those are not the most important qualifications. Christlikeness is. In fact, we try to get in the habit of calling church leaders “servant leaders” because service to God and others should characterize their lives.

By the way, Jesus is not being anti-authority; He’s redefining authority. Authority is about self-sacrificial service! This is what cruciformity looks like for disciples of Jesus who would take on the mantle of leadership at home, at church, at work, at school, in the community, nationally or globally. It’s a call to embody the self-sacrificial love for King Jesus, which is where He goes next.

4) A Lesson about Jesus: He is the Lowliest and the Greatest as the sacrifice for sinners. (20:27-28)

27 “…and whoever wants to be first must be your slave, 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

To further drive home the point, Jesus hints at just how low He goes. He, who is the First, is not merely a servant but a slave (Gr. doulos). In the Greco-Roman world, a slave is a servant that is totally owned by another person. They have no rights, they have no property. They have become property. The object lesson of the child from previous chapters lines up here with the object lesson of a slave and perhaps more so. It was unthinkable for a doulos to be first! But that’s Jesus. Was Jesus ever a literal slave? No. It’s a metaphor. The closest thing we can imagine to Jesus, who is God, becoming a human and then going all the way to the cross, is becoming a slave ourselves.

When Jesus went to the cross, He paid the price to forgive sin. He offered Himself as a substitute, the ransom payment, so that those who believe in Him and ask for mercy might be forgiven. Accept Him! Ask for His mercy, like in this next story. You see, Jesus’ humility not only shows up at the cross but on the way to it. Check out what happens next.

5) An Example in Jesus: He has time for the lowly. (20:29-34)

29 As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30 Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” 31 The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

Nobody was willing to stop and listen to these blind men. Jesus was leading a large crowd to Jerusalem! It’s revolution time! It would be like a politician leading one of those million man marches in Washington D.C. and a homeless person follows the crowd asking the leader for help. Any one of us would be like, “Shut up! There’s no time for you!” But Jesus had time for Salome, and He has time for these blind men…

32 Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 33 “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.” 34 Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.

Think of all that’s going on: Jesus has a huge and mistaken crowd trying to get Him to Jerusalem to be king, when He’s actually on His way to Jerusalem to be betrayed and rejected and tortured and crucified. And yet Jesus has time for these poor, blind men. “What do you want me to do for you?” They’ve begged for His mercy, and now they’ll get it. As only Jesus can do, He healed them on the spot at will, and they followed Him.

What has Jesus done for you? Most of us aren’t physically blind, but we are all born spiritually blind. We’re not as bad as we can be, but we’re nowhere good enough for God, and we don’t even realize it! What we need is to be cured of our spiritual blindness so that we can ask for God’s mercy, be forgiven because of the ransom Jesus paid on the cross, and begin the lifelong process of becoming like Jesus. If we call out to God, He will take time for us if we call out to Him.

The words of the blind men are great words to memorize and to pray every day. “Lord, have mercy on me…a sinner.” This is a humbling prayer, and it’s one we need to pray every day. Let me invite you right now to pray that prayer with me right now. Let’s think of all the ways we’ve sinned against God, the ways we’ve put other things before Him, the ways we’ve put ourselves before others, and let’s ask for His mercy. Don’t pray it if you don’t mean it but if you do, pray “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner” out loud with me: “Lord…have mercy on me…a sinner.” If that’s the first time you’ve ever prayed a prayer like that and meant it…welcome to the kingdom of heaven. Keep following Him with us.

And when our hearts get to the spot where we’re humbly asking for God’s mercy, we are becoming one of the poor-in-spirit who inherit the kingdom of heaven, you’re becoming one of the lowly of this world who are the greatest in God’s! As we grow in Christ, we grow not only in our dedication to God but also in our concern for others. We become more like Jesus.

We make time for our family members, for that friend, that classmate, that co-worker, that stranger, that lost or hurting person. We make time to share all this good news about who Jesus is and what He’s done. We make time to meet their needs.
I’m so grateful for our missional partners who, in becoming more like Jesus, make time for the lost and the hurting, the persecuted and the unreached. In fact, they not only make time for them but have dedicated their lives to going after them! Some of us need to go and the rest of us can send them with prayer and funding.
If you have questions, need help, need prayer, I urge you to reach out to us if we haven’t already been reaching out to you. Know that between all of us in the body of Christ, we have time for you. At least we better, because Jesus had time for us.

Questions for Reflection and/or Discussion

Jesus understood the price He’d have to pay. James and John did not. What will you need to sacrifice as you follow Jesus?
What is Jesus’ definition of leadership? How does that differ from worldly definitions?
Remember that Jesus “came to serve and give His life as a ransom for many” and take some time to praise and thank Him for that right now.
Considering that He’s bought you with His own blood, how can you follow His servant-hearted example today?

A Different Kind of King (Matthew 21:1-22)

The first 20 chapters of the Gospel of Matthew cover the first 33 years of Jesus life, 18 of those covering His three-year ministry. The last 8 chapters of Matthew cover about 8 days–the week in Jerusalem culminating in His death and resurrection. The story slows down to show Jesus–who He is and what He’s all about–coming into conflict with the kingdom of this world. We’ll be studying these 8 chapters all the way to Easter at the end of March where Jesus is officially “crowned king.” This year at Calvary, we’re learning to…

“Live The Cross-Shaped Life” – Cruciformity is learning to embody the self-sacrificial love of King Jesus, which God always deserves and honors.

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5:3-9 NIV)

Today we are going to look at three scenes from the first couple of days Jesus spends in Jerusalem during the week of His death and resurrection. Each scene will come with a lesson for us.

1) The ‘Triumphal’ Entry: King Jesus is humble. (21:1-11)

1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: 5 “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.

Jesus had predicted three times that He would go to Jerusalem and die. If I knew that I was going to die in a certain town–let’s say Grand Haven–guess what? I’d never go to Grand Haven. I’d go around it every time I needed to go south. I wouldn’t care about the fireworks, the musical fountain, the boardwalk, the Pronto Pups. If you were in the North Ottawa County Hospital, tough luck. I’m not coming to visit you. I might die there! Jesus knew He was going to die in Jerusalem and still went straight there…for the glory of God and the salvation of sinners!

Notice how Jesus has full control over His final week in Jerusalem. He takes the initiative here by sending for a colt to ride into the city. This whole week is happening with His permission. He’s going to be betrayed, arrested, abused, mocked, and crucified…He’s going to seem powerless…but He is in ultimate control of this situation.

Matthew quotes an Old Testament prophecy from Zechariah 9:9, where the prophet introduces God’s chosen king, riding into Jerusalem on a colt–as opposed to a warhorse or chariot, bringing an end to war and freedom for captives. This is like the president-elect arriving at the inauguration in an old clunker! Jesus didn’t just happen to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt; He CHOSE it. Jesus intends to display Himself as God’s chosen king, but He’s not going to operate in the way everyone expected. Remember from last week, just a few verses earlier…Matthew 20:28…Jesus said that he “came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.” He’s in total control, AND He’s totally humble.

8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” 10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

This scene is what we traditionally call the triumphal entry and Palm Sunday. They roll out the red carpet for Jesus. His reputation has preceded Him and He’s riding on a colt, which lines up with the prophecy from Zechariah 9:9! The people know Jesus has come to save them, so they lay out their garments and wave branches to symbolize reverence for royalty. They shout “Hosanna,” which means “Save us!” or “Salvation!” They call Jesus “the Son of David,” recognizing His connection to famous King David, to whom God promised an eternal throne for his heir. They sing lines from Psalm 118:25, 26, which was a song about God’s miraculous deliverance from enemies. Everything’s adding up for the people…the Messiah, the Savior, God’s chosen king to restore His kingdom is here! No wonder the people are getting excited.

But they are incredibly mistaken. In Matthew 16, Jesus asked His disciples about the popular opinions of who He was. Most people said Jesus was a prophet, but Peter famously answered correctly, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!” But the crowds still misunderstood Jesus. If they only ever think of Jesus as the Son of David and as a prophet, they don’t know Jesus! He was the promised Son of David and the Final Prophet of God. But He is so much more, as Matthew has been trying to tell us. He is God-with-us, the crucified and risen King of all.

Lesson: Make sure you worship a cross-shaped King.

If you’re only excited about Jesus because of His power and His victory but not because of His humble and loving self-sacrifice. It is possible to worship a false version of Jesus. A Jesus of warm fuzzies, a Jesus of political victory, a Jesus of self-affirmation, a Jesus of prosperity, pride, and power. But those would all be false. Jesus is a humble and holy, just and merciful King. Make sure you worship Jesus as revealed in the Scriptures and not the Jesus our sinful hearts might wish for.

2) The Temple: King Jesus confronts and serves. (21:12-17)

12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” 14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.

Throughout the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus has been “driving out” demons, but now he’s driving out the people who have turned temple worship into a profitable business. Jesus quotes two Old Testament passages in order to explain why He was doing what He was doing:

First, Jesus quotes “My house will be called a house of prayer” from Isaiah 56:7. According to this passage in Isaiah, the Temple was to be a place where any repentant person could come and meet God in prayer and worship. Isaiah 56 specifically describes two groups of marginalized people–foreigners and eunuchs–who, although they might think they are excluded from God’s family and plan, are, in reality, more than welcome at God’s Temple. A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL NATIONS. The point is that God’s people don’t exist merely to keep God to themselves but to share Him with others, to invite others to submit, to pray, to learn from Him! This, by the way, is so very close to what we mean when we say that we want to be “a church for the community, an indispensable asset in the spiritual and cultural renewal of the greater Muskegon area.”

Second, Jesus quotes “a den of robbers” from Jeremiah 7:11. In the context of Jeremiah 7, the prophet Jeremiah is rebuking people who use the temple system to dishonor God and hurt other people. This is what Jesus is accusing the temple leaders of too. It’s like a bait-and-switch from hell. This temple promises an encounter with the Creator and Redeemer, but you actually just get ripped off and led astray. No real worship, no real ministry is going on…just money-making.

But notice that Jesus is not merely confronting the evil in the Temple, He also begins to fulfill the Temple’s purpose. He’s healing people! According to Lev 21:18, the blind and the lame were not allowed in the temple, not because God did not care about Israelites with disabilities but because the disabilities clashed symbolically with the life-giving temple of God. In fact, He did and provided ways for them to be cared for and made clean. But, in the Temple, Jesus accepted AND healed them! Not only was He kept ceremonially clean in their company, He made them clean! He’s making a way for people to come to God.

That’s what makes something as public and intense as the temple-cleansing cross-shaped. He was putting Himself at great risk and pouring Himself for God’s glory and others’ good.

15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. 16 “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, ‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?” 17 And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

The Temple leaders were upset at what children said about Jesus, so they gave Him a chance to set things right. But Jesus says that the children are right. He quotes from Psalm 8:2, which describes the praise God receives from children. God absolutely deserved praise in that moment because of what He was doing through Christ! In fact, Christ Himself deserved praise as God-in-the-flesh! Jesus never praises Himself in the Gospels, but He does accept praise, which, if undeserved, is wrong. Humble and lowly Jesus received praise because God Himself deemed Jesus worthy. Ironically, the children understood Jesus better than the “experts!” The pride of the temple leaders blinded them from seeing God’s Son in front of their faces, and they fought to defend their sinful form of Temple worship.

Lesson: Make sure you worship in a cross-shaped way.

If you think of Jesus as having come to make your life easier right away, you’re not thinking right. He has come to deliver us at the end of all things from sin and death and destruction and despair. And hope for His salvation leaks into the present so that we can have joy now. But that does not mean things are easy or good at the moment.

For those who have it bad right now, Jesus wants to teach dependence on God. If you’re battling chronic pain or a serious illness, if you’re celebrating the holidays without your loved one for the first time or the fiftieth time, if you can’t find the right job to make ends meet, if you’re struggling to find a partner or to love the spouse God has given you, the challenge is to pray, to cry out to God with increasing dependence on Him and Him alone.

For those who have it good right now, Jesus wants to teach self-denial and self-sacrifice so that you still depend on God! If you’ve been blessed by God–health and home, family and friends–it’s time to be a blessing.

3) The Fig Tree: King Jesus produces fruit. (21:18-22)

18 Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered. 20 When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.

What a strange scene! Jesus killed a tree for not having fruit? What’s up with that? Is Jesus just hangry? Fig trees typically bear fruit as soon as the leaves come out, but since this fig tree-in-leaf has no fruit, it’s false advertising. All leaf and no fruit. It’s an object lesson, an acted-out parable.

As an example, we’re reading Ezekiel right now in our churchwide Old Testament plan, which contains several acted-out parables. Here’s one really tough one: God told Ezekiel that He would take away Ezekiel’s beloved wife but that Ezekiel the prophet must not mourn her death. How awful! But then God tells Ezekiel to tell Israel that they too will lose the Temple and the holy city to enemies because of their sin and yet they will not mourn their sin (Ezekiel (24:15-27). That’s a powerful object lesson!

What’s the point of the fruitless and withered fig tree? The scene of the fruitless fig tree follows the scene of Jesus cleansing the temple to teach us that Jesus will judge that which promises fruit but has none. That’s the temple. It was supposed to bear fruit of worship to God and ministry to people. But it had none, Jesus judged it. Jesus takes the opportunity to teach a lesson…

21 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

This teaching about faith and prayer comes on the heels of the lesson about the fruitless fig tree and the fruitless temple. True faith and prayer–which were absent in the Temple–are keys to bearing fruit for the kingdom of God! When Jesus refers to “this mountain,” He is probably referring to the temple mount in Jerusalem and to its coming judgment. God would judge the temple and allow Rome to destroy it about 40 years later. If that’s the context, the prayer Jesus is talking about here is specifically referring to the end of the old age and the beginning of the new.

Jesus’ promise of “if you believe, you will receive what you ask for in prayer” is not a blank check. Jesus is NOT saying that if you have enough faith you can get whatever you want. Jesus’ idea of faith includes the ideas of humility and repentance, submission to God’s will and commitment to His cause. This promise is not a blank check but an invitation to get in sync with what God wants, cry out for it, and submit to His will. So what is God’s will for His disciples? We can learn God’s will from all of the teachings in Matthew, but let’s consider today’s three scenes. The crowds wanted someone to take away every problem, but Jesus and His disciples must be willing to suffer. The temple rulers were desperate for money and honor, but Jesus’ disciples are to be desperate for the glory of God. The temple rulers callously excluded certain groups, but Jesus’ disciples are to lead all people in worship to God.

Lesson: Make sure you worship!

Church member Linda Heimforth recently sent me a quotation from a book she’s reading with her LIFEgroup on prayer. The quotation is from Watchman Nee, a Chinese evangelist and pastor who was arrested by the atheist Chinese Community Party at 49 and spent the rest of his life–20 years–in prison. This quote comes from a sermon he preached in a Chinese church during WW2.

“The measure of the power of the church today determines the measure of the manifestation of the power of God…This can be likened to the flow of water in one’s house. Though the water company’s tank is huge, its flow is limited to the diameter of the water pipe in one’s own house. If a person wishes to have more flow of water, he will need to enlarge his water pipe. Today the degree of manifestation of God’s power is governed by the capacity of the church.” (Watchman Nee, The Prayer Ministry of the Church)

Will a hungry world come to us and find no fruit? Will the Calvary Church family be yet another fruitless spiritual community–like the Temple community– judged and cursed by Jesus? Or will a lost and hurting world come and find spiritual nourishment among us? Will we be a church full of faith and prayer in our community, lifting up the glory and way of Jesus in our midst? It won’t come naturally! It must come supernaturally!

You know what ultimately doesn’t matter for the fruitfulness of a church? The number of people. The size of the budget. The vision of the leadership. The beauty of the building. The vibes of the preaching and music. Ultimately, none of that matters apart from the power of God, which is only accessed through humble prayer to and loyal learning from Jesus. That is what enables fruitfulness. Nothing else. So here’s my hope as a pastor:

Keep gathering with your church out of humility before Christ and hunger for His teaching.
Join our church-wide Bible plan when it begins January 1, and use that time to learn from and cry out to Jesus in prayer. There will be two plans–one with shorter passages, one with longer passages, or you could participate in both.
Pray with your LIFEgroup. When it’s time to pray, volunteer to do so. When others pray, pray with them. When you leave, keep praying with them.
If you want to begin your walk with Jesus or need help in some way, let us know! Jesus made a way for all sinners to be forgiven and made right with God when He died for our sin on the cross. You can worship God and enjoy Him forever, thanks to Jesus. Don’t ignore Him.

Questions for Reflection and/or Discussion

Are people typically drawn to humble leaders? Why/why not? Why might Jesus’ humility be difficult for some to accept and embrace? How difficult has it been for you?
In what ways was the temple system wandering from God’s purpose in Jesus’ day? In what ways might Christians churches wander from God’s purpose? How can we get back?
What does a “fruitless” Christian or church look like? What do “fruitful” ones look like? How are biblical prayer and worship connected to spiritual fruitfulness?

The Cross-Shaped Life and Wealth (Matthew 19:13-30)

Money. Everyone needs it, and everyone wants more! I mean, who would turn money? Money is useful and fun and reassuring, isn’t it? It can buy us pleasure and status and comfort and convenience.

I used to hate shopping. When I was a kid, I remember my mom dragging me to the store for like back-to-school shopping or something, and I just hated it. As I got older, I prided myself in being non-materialistic because I hated shopping. But then Amazon came along. Ever heard of it? Thanks to Amazon, I discovered that I didn’t hate shopping; I just hated walking! Amazon allows me to indulge my extreme materialism and unchecked consumerism in the comfort and convenience of my own home. I can remember at least four purchases that I made in the past six months that I have used either once or zero times!!! Maybe some of you have a streak of shopaholic in you too.

I am pretty embarrassed by my impulse buys, but I am proud that I’m becoming a saver. Saving up for emergencies, for retirement, for the kids’ college expenses. Not gonna lie. I confess there are times where my soul is comforted and satisfied by cash in the accounts and a high ROI–return on investment. Maybe you’re a super-saver too.

Even if you don’t have much money at all, you might default to one of those to a shopaholic or a super-saver when you do have some. But what if wealth is dangerous? What if wealth could actually keep you away from Jesus? It would be worth losing money then if it meant gaining Jesus. It is, in fact, worth losing EVERYTHING in order to gain Jesus. That’s what we’ll learn from Jesus today. First, let’s review…

“Live The Cross-Shaped Life” – Cruciformity is learning to embody the self-sacrificial love of King Jesus, which God always deserves and honors.

We’re also learning cruciformity in the beatitudes, the cross-shaped attitudes of God’s kingdom people. We’ll be memorizing all eight beatitudes this year, but here’s the sixth one:

Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they will see God. (Matthew 5:8 NIV)

Last week, in the first half of Matthew 19, Jesus called for purity of heart in regards to singleness, marriage, and divorce in the cross-shaped kingdom of God. Today, in the second half of Matthew, Jesus will call for purity of heart regarding wealth in order to “see God.”

#1 A Vital Reminder: The world’s lowly are God’s greatest–the lowly-greats. (19:13-15)

13 Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. 14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

In Jesus’ day, children had low status in their culture. Therefore, they were the perfect object lessons for citizens of the kingdom of heaven! In Matthew 18:4, Jesus taught that all of His followers must take the humble status of children in order to be His followers and that if they did God would consider them the greatest in His kingdom. No expectation for power or honor or wealth! And so if Jesus’ disciples voluntarily lowered themselves to a similar position, God would take care of them because He considered them the greatest.

Note the next would-be kingdom citizen responds to Jesus’ teaching…

#2 The Rich Man’s Question: How can I live forever? (19:16-17)

16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” 17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

The man wants eternal life. Who wouldn’t? The Bible teaches that every human being has a beginning–conception, but it also teaches that every human being has no end. Even when the body dies, the soul lives on, and the body will be resurrected, and every human being will continue to exist either in eternal life or eternal death. Forever. And ever and ever and ever and ever. If that’s true, nothing could be more important than figuring out how to live forever and not die forever! The man comes up to Jesus and asks what good thing he can do so that God will allow him to live forever. Wouldn’t you want to know that???

18 “Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, “ ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’” 20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

Jesus lists five of the Ten Commandments (#6 murder, #7 adultery, #8 stealing, #9 false testimony, #5 father and mother) and adds what He will later call the Second Most Important Commandment. Each of these has to do with our relationships with one another. But Jesus leaves out the first four commandments and the tenth one? Those deal with the worship of God (idolatry and Sabbath) and the affections of the heart (coveting).

Jesus doesn’t rebuke the man for lying about his obedience. Apparently, he has kept all of those ethical commands. This guy hasn’t stolen any of his wealth, and perhaps he’s even been generous to a degree. But he still has an awareness that he’s missing something, falling short somehow of what God really deserves. Jesus knows it too, so He will press into the one thing this man lacks…

#3 Jesus’ Answer: Leave everything and follow Me. (18:21-22)

21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

When He called His twelve disciples, they left their things behind. Jesus’ call here echoes that. Jesus is calling for this man to give up everything keeping him from becoming a full-time learner in the school of King Jesus. Jesus is calling for wholehearted obedience to those first four commandments beginning with number one: You shall serve no other gods before Me. The rich young man is worshiping another god, and its name is Wealth. It’s not just about religious duties and good morals; it’s about humble worship! Because he is unwilling to humbly attach himself to Jesus in faith, he walks away without knowing the love and hope and joy of the kingdom of heaven.

By the way, if you want to know how to live forever, here’s the answer! It’s not about hosting an estate sale to literally sell everything you own; it’s about humbly, wholeheartedly committing yourself to Jesus to learn from Him.

#4 Jesus’ Teaching: The Danger of Wealth and the Power of God (19:23-26)

23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

In that day, the camel was the largest everyday animal, and the eye of the needle was the smallest opening. Jesus is saying that it’s impossible for a wealthy person to enter the kingdom of heaven. That is what makes wealth so dangerous! It keeps people out of the kingdom of heaven! How so? Let me point out a couple reasons from the Scriptures.

A) Wealth creates a false sense of security. (Proverbs 18:10-11)

The name of the LORD is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it a wall too high to scale. (Proverbs 18:10-11)

Notice the contrast between these two proverbs. The righteous are truly safe when they trust in the LORD, but the wealthy are only protected from every harm by their wealth in their imagination. No amount of income, savings, or assets is large enough to save you from death and God’s judgment. Only the forgiveness and righteousness of Jesus provides that kind of safety.

B) Wealth creates sinful pride. (Proverbs 30:8-9)

“Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.” (Proverbs 30:8-9)

Nobody wants to be poor, but what is our reasoning? Poverty can be difficult, stressful, and embarrassing. Those are probably the reasons we typically want to avoid it. But notice the proverbs’ rationale. Poverty is bad not simply because it’s hard but because it creates a temptation to covet someone else’s wealth and steal and dishonor the God we love.

And everyone wants to be rich, but have we considered its dangers? We may forget where it came from and grow proud and self-satisfied. With accounts compounding with interest and Amazon boxes showing up to the door every day, we can totally forget about how desperately we need God for life and redemption and hope!

In fact, wealth can have such a strong grip on our souls, that God has to intervene with a miracle to save the wealthy…

25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” 26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

The disciples recognize that, if it’s that hard for a wealthy person to be saved, what hope does anyone have? The Jews in Jesus’ day (and even people today) saw wealth as a sign of God’s approval. “If you’re rich, you must be righteous.” (Which is a lie, by the way!) Therefore, they were shocked that, if it’s impossible for even those blessed of God to be saved, who has any hope.

Now, Jesus has been teaching against the false view that worldly success and victory are always signs of God’s blessing, yet the disciples are still stuck in that mindset. However, Jesus doesn’t rebuke them now. Instead, He simply explains that salvation is always only possible through God anyways. Apart from Him, we have no hope.

With this glimmer of hope then, the disciples ask another question…if the wealthy can be saved by the miraculous grace of God, what’s the point of giving up everything and following Him?

#5 A Familiar Conclusion: Following Jesus is cross-shaped. (19:27-30)

27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” 28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

This is yet another example of cruciformity! Jesus promises his disciples that they will definitely be rewarded. Peter, James, John, and the others really did leave everything–families, jobs, homes, etc–behind in order to follow Jesus. They gave up far more than any of us have. You see, they risked so much for Jesus when they followed Him, while most of Israel rejected Jesus as the Messiah. So Jesus promises that a day will come when they too would receive authority from Him to rule over their nation!

29 “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”

Again, cruciformity! Jesus calls His followers to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and leave everything to follow Him, but He promises that all will be repaid…not even just in eternity…but with glimpses in the here and now.

The specific example Jesus uses is family relationships with its economic benefits. In the ancient world, family was everything.

It was your tie to the past. Everyone knew their family history and it gave them a special sense of significance, like you were carrying on the story of your ancestors.
It was your anchor in the present. People relied on their family for everything…food, housing, social status.
It was your hope for the future. Every young man would one day take over dad’s business and be able to make a living. Every young woman would be married to a family with similar social standing for lifelong support.

So while we today might romanticize about “being out on your own,” leaving family in the ancient world was a very scary thought.

How can they possibly get these things back IN THIS LIFE? Well, there is a sense in which following Jesus means you have a new family. Even if you have to leave your family behind, you have a new family in Christ–the Church–who will walk with you. That new family will even help to care for your needs. In the early church, for example, there came this moment in the book of Acts where no one in the church needed anything because they each sacrificially shared what they had with each other. What a beautiful picture. This is what we mean by “act like family.”

The Lesson: Jesus makes it worth losing everything for Him.

What kinds of things can we lose for Jesus and it will still be worth it?

Treasure

We can give our money and possessions. There are some false teachings out there that if you give money, God will make you rich. That’s a lie. That’s not what Jesus teaches here. But He does teach that God will take care of you. Jesus knows that His people, the ones who truly follow Him, will take care of each other if they voluntarily or involuntarily give up what they have in order to follow Him.

And imagine what possessions look like in the new heavens and new earth. The biblical imagery is amazing. Gold will be a building material. They’ll make structures and roadways out of the stuff. Poverty will only be a memory.

But maybe you’re not hanging on to treasure in this life. What else can we lose for Christ?

Time

Another thing we can sacrifice to Jesus is time. Time learning from Him, serving others, reaching out to the hurting, etc. But we’re so busy, and we always feel like we’re running out of time…

Only so much time as a young person.
Only so much with your kids or grandkids.
Only so much time left with a spouse.
Only so much time with mom and dad.
Only so much time left after retirement.

Are the people of God really running out of time? No! That’s a lie. Those who in Christ literally have forever to enjoy God, one another, and His renewed creation. Giving your time now for the sake of eternity is nothing. Do you really believe that?

Talent

When I’m good at something, I want it to benefit me and I want to be compensated and recognized for it. But what if I gave it up for God’s glory and others’ good? Jesus taught that good things done in secret will be recognized by God. That’s the shout-out I want someday. “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Testimony

Sharing your testimony about what God has done for you in Christ can be costly. Talking about your sin can be humbling, even humiliating. And praising God in front of someone else, even by praying or singing, can be scary. Baptism is an amazing moment that every disciple of Jesus gets to publicly testify to God’s grace. But it’s all worth it when we publicly give glory to God because He says that He will recognize us if we recognize Him.

Relationships

Following Jesus can cost you relationships. It may mean leaving other relationships behind if they are a source of temptation. It may mean being rejected by hostile family members. But, just as Jesus taught in verse 29, those who leave friends and family to follow Jesus will be surrounded with a new family now and FOREVER.

Ego

This may be a bit abstract, but we can leave our ego to follow Jesus. Maybe God has called you to work a certain not-your-dream-job right now or to be a stay-at-home mom or something else. And you feel this pressure to do something “better,” something that will impress…the world. Don’t worry about impressing anyone other than God!

Or maybe you do take a lot of pride in some aspect of your life? In Philippians 3, Paul explained that he had taken a lot of pride in his Jewish heritage, training, and lifestyle. Yet, when he met Jesus, the crucified and risen King, he counted it all as loss, as garbage compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. And it was only sharing in the sufferings of Christ through repentance and obedience that He was able to share in Christ’s life forever. It is worth every sacrifice to know Jesus and belong to His kingdom forever.

Questions for Reflection and/or Discussion

What’s the difference in status between the little children and the rich young man? What’s the difference in how they respond to Jesus? What does that teach you about following Him?
How has wealth and/or the lack thereof harmed your soul? What’s better: losing everything and gaining Jesus or keep what you have and leaving Jesus? What would it look like practically in your life if you really believed it?
What kinds of self-sacrifices do you make for Jesus’ sake? What kinds of self-sacrifices should you start making for Jesus’ sake?