Can You Handle God’s Marvelous Messiah!

 Can You Handle God’s Marvelous Messiah!

            29 Moving on from there, Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee. He went up on a mountain and sat there, 30 and large crowds came to him, including the lame, the blind, the crippled, those unable to speak, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he healed them. 31 So the crowd was amazed when they saw those unable to speak talking, the crippled restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they gave glory to the God of Israel.

            32 Jesus called his disciples and said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, otherwise they might collapse on the way.”

            33 The disciples said to him, “Where could we get enough bread in this desolate place to feed such a crowd?”  34 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked them.  “Seven,” they said, “and a few small fish.”

            35 After commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 37 They all ate and were satisfied. They collected the leftover pieces—seven large baskets full. 38 Now there were four thousand men who had eaten, besides women and children. 39 After dismissing the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.”  (Matthew 15:29-39 – CSB)

Getting a Handle on God’s Messiah!

Hallelujah to God’s Sent One – from Matt 15:29-39

            “Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…” Reading Matthew 15:29-39, you may think Matthew has lost track of what he has already written about Jesus. This text has a déjà vu ("already seen”) feel to it: masses coming to Jesus, His sitting on a hill, multitudes miraculously healed, and fed, His “not getting it” disciples, Him moving on…

            Why do we repeat stories? Could it be both emphasis via repetition, and the distinctions in the differences? Yes, Jesus is once again compassionately healing, feeding masses. But who, when, where? Evading political, and religious powers, Jesus is in heavily Gentile territory, giving even more of the children’s bread to the dogs (see 15:21-28). He is behaving – again – so much like God’s Messiah, that even these outsiders are “amazed”, and giving “glory to the God of Israel” (vs. 31; Isaiah 35:4-6). Circle the parts of this passage that Matthew has already written something like:

            “Moving on from there, Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee. He went up on a mountain and sat there, and large crowds came to him, including the lame, the blind, the crippled, those unable to speak, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he healed them. So the crowd was amazed when they saw those unable to speak talking, the crippled restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they gave glory to the God of Israel.

                Jesus called his disciples and said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, otherwise they might collapse on the way.”

                The disciples said to him, “Where could we get enough bread in this desolate place to feed such a crowd?”  “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked them.  “Seven,” they said, “and a few small fish.”

                After commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied. They collected the leftover pieces—seven large baskets full.  Now there were four thousand men who had eaten, besides women and children.  After dismissing the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.”  (Matthew 15:29-39 – CSB)

The Cast, Setting, Same/Differences:

Ø  Jesus, God’s Miraculous, Merciful-to-all Messiah (cf. 15:27, 28)

Ø  The Marveling, Mixed-Motive Outsiders of Decapolis (John 6:26-42)

Ø  The Needy, getting Mercy, Praising Israel’s God  (Is. 29:18-23; 35:4-7)

Ø  The Dull (less-compassionate?) Disciples (cf. 6:30; 8:25-27; 14:31)  

Points to Ponder, Praise to Give, Paths to Pursue:

v  Have you come to God’s Messiah, who came to us? (John 1:1-14)

v  Who will you bring to, put at Jesus’ feet? (Matt. 9:35-38; 28:18-20)

v  Have you started, or stopped, marveling, praising? (Rom. 11:33-36)

v  Does faith-filled compassion compel you? (Acts 6; 2 Corin. 5:14)

v  How many baskets will it take for you to believe? Cf. Matt. 16:8; 17:20

Don’t or Won’t See?

Don’t or Won’t See?
Being Spiritually Dull is Dangerous

Signs, Bread Aplenty! Beware Blinders & Busyness;
from Matthew 16:1-12

            Talk about missing the point! Jesus’ foes would not see, so they turned to testing Him to trap Him. Jesus’ disciples were slow to see, so they needed a wake-up rebuke and reminder. “Not getting it” often reveals intimate things about one’s heart. See if you can see what Matthew was showing us from these two related encounters with Jesus:

            “The Pharisees and Sadducees approached, and tested him, asking him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 He replied, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be good weather because the sky is red.’ 3 And in the morning, ‘Today will be stormy because the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to read the appearance of the sky, but you can’t read the signs of the times. 4 An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then he left them and went away.

            5 The disciples reached the other shore, and they had forgotten to take bread. 6 Then Jesus told them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”  7 They were discussing among themselves, “We didn’t bring any bread.”

            8 Aware of this, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves that you do not have bread? 9 Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand and how many baskets you collected? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand and how many large baskets you collected? 11 Why is it you don’t understand that when I told you, ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,’ it wasn’t about bread?” 12 Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the leaven in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”  (Matthew 16:1-12 – CSB)

Don’t or Won’t See? Doubt, Dullness is Dangerous

Unified Foes = Focused Fools. Testing isn’t Truth Seeking (vs. 1)

·         Strange Bedfellows are a Sign of ill motives, ungodly methods  

·         Demanding our terms is a damnable power play, control ploy

Beware Willful, Selective Hearing / Seeing  (vs. 2-4a)

·         Discerning the Physical, but Ignoring the Spiritual (cf. Rev. 16:9, 11)

·         Not a matter of IQ, but “I Will!” – the Proverbial “fool” (Psalm 14:1)

·         A sign of willfully wickedness, spiritual adultery  (Romans 1:18-24)

Jesus’  Resurrection is Ultimate Sign, Our Faith Focus (4b, cf. 12:39)

·         Grace: “none… but sign of Jonah.” WOW! The Greatest Sign

·         "If they do not listen to… the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'" Luke 16:31 (1 Corin. 15:1-9; Romans 1:4)

It’s Dangerous to be Spiritually Forgetful, or Dull (vs. 5-11)

·         They had one job! What’s yours? Distraction can lead to deception (Col 2:4-8)

·         Humbly hear Jesus: “O you of little faith… Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember… how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to understand…?” (vs. 8-11) OUCH!   

·         Set eyes on, look to Jesus (Col. 3:1-3; Heb. 12;1, 2; John 15:1-5)

Better a Late “Ah, Ha!”  than Never  (vs. 12; John 20:26-31)

·         Beware subtle, contaminating influence of self-righteous pride, or arrogant “liberty”

·         False Teachers tickle, and tempt us to turn from Jesus (2 Timothy 4; 2 Corinthians 11:1-4)

·         Let Jesus bring application to His Teachings (cf. Matt 7:21ff; James 1:22)

·         How are you testing God? What terms and conditions do you set for the Almighty?

·         What are you avoiding hearing, doing? Repent, re-love, re-do (Rev. 2:4, 5; 3:19, 20; John 13:17)

Good News in Which to Glory & Share

Good News in Which to Glory & Share
Ashamed of the Gospel? No Way!

KSD


What do the following things have in common: a bad haircut, engagement rings, facial blemishes, and a new grandchild?

Each sets off a powerful internal reaction either to gladly show and tell or to hide and avoid sharing. Engagement rings are proudly waved around and grand-kids boasted of freely. Not so much with pimples and butchered bangs. They are hidden and covered. Some things are gloried in while others can be embarrassments.

The gospel was Paul’s calling—God’s re-direct on his life. Saul had despised and rejected the good news, but now it was his life. He “saw the light” and was gloriously converted (Acts 9). He was eternally altered from Saul—a zealous defender of Judaism and Jesus-hater, to Paul—a teller and defender of God’s gospel of Jesus.

Paul tried repeatedly to go to Rome to share God’s good news wrapped up in Jesus. He longed to see more lost people found and believers edified. The gospel does both. Rome was the place of political, intellectual, and cultural prominence. The gospel would be seen by many sophisticates there as more Jewish mythical foolishness. Others would be saved.

Thus Paul wrote: “I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith’” (Romans 1:13-17–ESV).

We freely tell about things we’re confident of and that bring us joy. Topics that cause us ridicule or shame, we keep private, deny, or obscure. The gospel—God’s saving truth of salvation in His resurrected Son Jesus, is nothing to be ashamed of. It is good news we can glory in and should eagerly share. Take notes from Paul’s greeting to the church in Rome.

As we see from this text, there are many reasons to glory in God’s gospel. First, the gospel has power to save all who believe. It is divinely dynamic to rescue any who have faith in Jesus—Jew or Gentile. Be they religious or secular, worldly sophisticates or the simple, the gospel is God’s life-changing message.

By God’s powerful good news, the dead are made alive (Eph. 2:1), the condemned are rescued and declared righteous (Col. 1:13-16; Rom. 4), and hell-bound heathens (that would be everyone) become heaven-graced saints. God’s mighty arm is not too short to reach even the most lost person (Rom. 5:1-11; Is. 59:1).

Paul knew of the gospel’s power in his own life. The self-described “chief of sinners,” Paul was God’s Exhibit “A” of grace (1 Tim. 1:14-16). If God could change him, He could change anyone—me, you, or the hardest-of-hearts lost loved one (Rom. 10:8-13).

Ashamed of the gospel? Hardly! We can glory in it because it tells of God’s provision to save us from sin and condemnation. It unveils an alien righteousness from God (2 Cor. 5:21). Job asked, “How can we be right before God?” (Job 9:2). By faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection, a right standing with God is applied to us—Christ’s (2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 5:12-21). Because of Him, we “shall not pass unto judgment, but have eternal life” (John 3:16, 36; 5:24).

We can also glory in God’s gospel because it has the only proclamation that leads to salvation. It tells of righteousness from God applied to us by faith, not law (3:21-31; 6:22-23). This deliverance from deserved condemnation comes by faith in Christ (Gal. 2-4; Eph. 2:1-10).

Ask Martin Luther about its transforming power and message. That hopeless, miserable monk turned professor scoured the scriptures to learn how he could be right with God. In this passage he learned that anyone who is just before God has that hope only by believing the gospel—not through works (Rom. 1:17; Hab. 2:4; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38).

Paul made plans to persistently spread the gospel (1:1-13). Far from embarrassed, he purposefully and diligently shared it. Do you? Sharing the gospel is a glorious obligation. Are you obedient?

What does your gospel-sharing activity say about you? Is the gospel a source of shame or glory to you? Does its good news produce a joyous eagerness to tell others? Or do you stay quiet, seeking to save face? Do you treat God’s good news like a pimple or a prize?

Be confident of its power—God’s power, to change all who believe. If God has changed you, rejoice and unashamedly spread the good news!