Matthew 22:23-46 Kingdom Passion: I have a question?

Intro:

I have a question for you? Depending on how you hear this and what the context is can really determine the next little bit of your life. Now because Katie has the unique ability to make all things beautiful, she's never asked me how she looks in something and my reply not be either, "Stunning" or "Beautiful" she is a lily among brambles to me. I pray for the Lord to increase this heart in me everyday, being that we are still in the newlywed faze.

However, I am known to share my opinions freely on food. I can't hide them on my face. This is where I get this question: Katie will make something and she will ask, "What do you think?" It doesn't matter what I say, she can see if on my face. Since we are still in the newlywed faze, I figure I will just be honest. Most of what Katie makes is great. If she's baking, it will be amazing. In our home school, we were trying to do food from around the world. There was an Ethiopian soup she made. It smelled good. It was full of spice and flavor but then they had you add peanut butter. It turned from an interesting dish to one that rings of infamy in our home. I didn't answer that day verbally. When Katie asks this question, it is an honest one but one where too much of an answer isn't always helpful.

Another time someone has said, "I have a question for you" and that is when I was in basic training. The drill sergeant would note something that was wrong that could only be fixed with push-ups and mountain climbers. Him saying, "I have a question, what do you think" was rhetorical. You aren't meant to answer. If anyone did, we were all blessed with more push-ups and mountain climbers.

There is another time when someone says, "I have a question. What do you think..." This is given in the context of being a Christian. These types of questions are the best. Sometimes, people will ask it in a way that isn't completely genuine but I enjoy spiritual conversations of any type. Usually though, this question is done more in the context of a genuine question.

Today, we will see some questions directed to Jesus. Then we will see Jesus ask some questions. These are going to teach us to build our life on the foundation of Jesus.

FCF: Jesus shows the Sadducees and Pharisees issue do not rightly understand the Word. They do not believe in the Word of God or the power of God. As the religious leaders failed to see the Scriptures rightly, we too fail when we do not view Scripture through Christological lenses.

AT: There are so many things trying to capture your attention. The way you view your life and how you live is under assault of the enemy. Today, I want you to see how to build your life on the sure foundation given in Scripture. In a world with tons of questions and no answers, I want you to see how the Christian worldview alone answers the questions of life.

Big Idea: Build your life on the foundation of Jesus.

or

A right view of the word gives us a right view of the Word.

1. What do you think about the afterlife? Matthew 22:23-33

2. What do you think about the commandments, which is the greatest? Matthew 22:34-40

3. Whose son is the Messiah? (Matt 22:41-46)

1. What do you think about the afterlife? Matthew 22:23-33

(Mk 12.18-27; Lk 20.27-40)

Matthew 22:23-29

Sadducees rejected the afterlife.

Pharisees did not they leaned heavy on two

Isaiah 26:19 (ESV)Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.

Daniel 12:2 (ESV)And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Sadducees bring up the Levirate marriage in Gen 38:8 and what we see play out in Ruth with the goel kinsman-redeemer. There is a play on words in v. 24 - raise up is resurrected that Jesus uses in v. 30.

Hypothetical story meant to target Jesus and prove the Sadducee way.

Matthew 22:29-30

Jesus' reply to the Sadducees counters their incorrect belief in the resurrection and angels.

Acts 23:8 (ESV) For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.

The Afterlife:

We will not be married but we will know one another.

We will not be constrained by the power of sin.

We will love without reserve.

Being like the angles is not that we are angles. Jesus has a resurrected body. His body, like that of angles is a body but is not constrained to the many limits of our own.

Matthew 22:31-33

Jesus quotes the Pentateuch, which the Sadducees valued more than the rest of the OT.

Whereas the Pharisees believed the Bible to be the words of God, the Sadducees believed the OT, specifically the Pentateuch to be Word of God. They rejected the oral tradition.

Exodus 3:6 (ESV)And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

For us today:

The existence of mystery (not knowing everything about future events and heaven) does not negate the reality of eternity.

We must have a correct view of life and that includes prioritizing the afterlife.

Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

John 11:25 (ESV)Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,

We do not have Sadducees today, they really fell out of existence after the destruction of the Temple in AD 70. However, we do have groups of people who have a type of Sadducees, that is those emphasizing the natural world, rejecting the spiritual world and like the Sadducees who rejected the spirituality of the Pharisees, modern day Sadducees are those who are the ruling elites of the day.

I'm not naming specific names or groups but rather I'll point to some of their foundational beliefs (presuppositional beliefs). Some people call these worldviews, some think that is too simplistic of a term. Generalizations and stereotypes always breakdown but they are helpful at times. Alright, enough of the disclosures, let's move on to these areas that will surely generate some emails. Ha!

Worldviews:

Naturalists

Everything comes through evolutionary means without God directing all areas of life.

You live, you die, and you never come back.

General teaching in schools and society.

Most uncommon view at funerals.

Hedonists

Hedonism "The ethical theory that identifies the good with happiness and understands happiness as the presence of pleasure and the absence of pain." C. Stephen Evans, Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 51.

Nihilists

Nihilism. "In general, the complete rejection of (and in the extreme, the destruction of) beliefs and values associated with moral and traditional social structures. Philosophically, nihilism represents an attitude of total skepticism regarding objective truth claims. Nihilism views knowledge as dependent on sensory experience alone, so that moral and theological claims are meaningless." Stanley Grenz, David Guretzki, and Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 84.

YOLO/Eeyores

YOLO - You Only Live Once Chronic dysthymia or Eeyore syndrome - Depressed, nothing good, hopeless.

Hedonism and the YOLO crowd say seek pleasure and happiness because this is the meaning of life. Naturalism and Nihilism are sad friends who find no meaning and purpose in life. This group are the pleasure seeking but never happy Eeyores.

Application: How to build your life on Jesus.

We serve the God of heaven and earth. He is the God of the living. If you are a believer, your story is that of the Bible. Your God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the God of David, of Moses, of Elijah. This is the God we serve. Instead of cowering in fear, look to this Lord with great confidence.

If you are a senior saint, if you have more time behind you and less time before you hear these words: As God rescued Israel from Egypt and as he lead them by a pillar of fire at night and a cloud by day, and as he lead them across the Red Sea, and as he was with David as he hid in the wilderness when his enemies were chasing him, he will be with you too. As Israel came upon the Promised Land after wandering in the desert for 40 years, Caleb requested the hill country at the age of 85. He requested the place of the fortified cities and the land of giants because he knew the Lord would be with him. The Lord is not calling you to take homes in Over the Rhine, he is calling you to use your life with a sure hope of the resurrection. You have nothing to lose.

If you do not find yourself in that category, I want to encourage you to find your happiness in the God of the living. You will be challenged to find your happiness and purpose in your job, in your hobbies, you will be challenged to define your life based upon worldly standards of success. Reject these categories and find your happiness in Jesus. This world will never give you happiness or wholeness.

Happiness that lasts is impossible to find in this life apart from knowing the Lord. Ecclesiastes 3:11 (ESV)He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

Notice the first question from the Westminster Catechism: Westminster Assembly, The Westminster Confession of Faith: Edinburgh Edition (Philadelphia: William S. Young, 1851), 387.

Question. 1. What is the chief end of man?

Answer. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.

If the Sadducees read the Bible rightly, they would know that eternal life is real but that is also part of the problem which is why we need Jesus. It is why the message of the gospel is the real need for people today and of all time. The gospel tells a better story. It starts with God, making you in his image. He made you to know him and live with him. However, Adam and Eve, our first parents rejected God's ways. We have followed in their footsteps of rejection of God's good plan for us. But God being God has written a better story than naturalism or nihilism because of Jesus.

Colossians 1:15 (ESV)He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 (ESV)For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (ESV)Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Jesus came and lived the life we could not live and died the death paying a price we could not pay so we can have the life God always intended. Your life is valuable not because it is a surprise billions of years in the making like the naturalists say but because God who sees billions of years and laughs, has made you in his image, set an eternal purpose in your heart by which you can NEVER be satisfied in this life until you are restored to him. Your eternal and global purpose remain the difference is, he guarantees its success not because of you but because of his Son Jesus.

This is the power of God in the truth of the resurrection. He is the God not of the dead but of the living. Turn to him and be alive.

The Sadducees are stopped in their tracks. The people were amazed at his teaching and his insight into biblical truth. Luke's account of this is remarkable: Luke 20:39 (ESV) Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” We would say, Well done.... well done Jesus.

The Pharisees take the next turn to trap Jesus. They huddle up and they ask the next question.

2. What do you think about the commandments, which is the greatest? Matthew 22:34-40

(Mk 12.28-34; Lk 10.25-28)

Jesus quotes:

Deuteronomy 6:5 (ESV)You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Leviticus 19:18 (ESV)You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

These are summaries of the two tables of the Law:

Commandments 1-4 relate to God, commandments 4-10 serve to show us how to relate to one another. Command 5 serves as a hinge between the two sides.

Have no other gods before me.

Do not make idols

Do not take the Lord's name in vain.

Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy

Honor your father and mother

Do not commit murder

Do not commit adultery

Do not steal

Do not bear false witness

Do not covet

The first:

Heart, mind, and soul are not independent categories but aim at our whole being.

"Jesus adds the word “mind” in quoting the text to make sure a Greek audience would understand that this is what is conveyed by the Hebrew word for heart. We should not think that merely intellectual pursuits are equivalent to loving God. According to the context, loving God has to do with fearing him, obeying his commands, and passing on his instructions to another generation." (Peter J. Gentry and Stephen J. Wellum, God’s Kingdom through God’s Covenants: A Concise Biblical Theology (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015), 175.)

The second:

A form of the Golden rule in Matthew 7:12. "The Golden Rule was not invented by Jesus; it is found in many forms in highly diverse settings. About A.D. 20, Rabbi Hillel, challenged by a Gentile to summarize the law in the short time the Gentile could stand on one leg, reportedly responded, “What is hateful to you, do not do to anyone else. This is the whole law; all the rest is commentary. Go and learn it”. Apparently only Jesus phrased the rule positively." (D. A. Carson, “Matthew,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 187.)

Depend - hang on or suspended on

"The entire biblical revelation demands heart religion marked by total allegiance to God, loving him and loving one’s neighbor. Without these two commandments the Bible is sterile." Carson, “Matthew,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 465.

Worldviews

Legalists/Catholics, Indy-Fundy

There is no formula, there is no equation where we can earn our way to God. We cannot do what is required. We need Jesus. This worldview says - try harder. The gospel says it is already done.

There are three modern day examples of how these verses are used incorrectly, egregiously, and wickedly. These verses, specifically the second has been weaponized. Here are three examples:

1. The first is in secularism sometimes called secular humanism. Derived from a word that means simply “belonging to this age,” or “worldly,” secularism is more specifically the belief system that denies the reality of God, religion and the supernatural order and hence maintains that reality entails only this natural world. Secular humanism in turn promotes and glorifies the human creature to the exclusion and denial of the Creator.

One example is in Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas all have billboards with this Bible verse on them, though as it appears in Mark's gospel. However, it is used in support for abortion. The sign reads, "Need an abortion? California is ready to help." Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these. Mark 12:31

2. The second is a type of nationalistic priority. People have co-opted these verses to reject any public policy to allow for immigration. There are people who say to love our nearest neighbor means we must close the border to any immigrants.

3. The third use is recently when people said the application of this verse and the barrier of your obedience to Jesus was whether you took the COVID-19 vaccine or not. If you did not take it, then you were not loving your neighbor.

Application: How to build your life on Jesus.

I want to be very clear each of these examples is wrong. Let me tell you what these verses actually mean in these situations. We can phrase it like this, If I am to love my neighbor as myself, then:

I will love the aborted baby, the abortion doctor, and the mother who signed the death warrant of her child.

I will love the immigrant whether he has papers or not.

I will love you if you have a mask, hate masks, have the vax, or if you don't.

I am concerned for all of us that we can too quickly see the second commandment as the greatest one. Too quickly, we prioritize living in this world instead of recognizing that we are citizens of heaven. The gospel says Christ's kingdom is not of this world. My primary relationship is first to God and then to man because I can only see man rightly when I see them as God sees them.

I want to challenge all of us, let us prioritize our relationship to Christ and live that others might be related to him as well. We cannot earn our way to eternity, we are brought there by the blood of Jesus.

This brings us to the final questioned answered in this section:

3. Whose son is the Messiah? (Matt 22:41-46)

(Mk 12.35-37; Lk 20.41-44)

Matt 22:43

"In the Spirit"

BFM 2000, Article I: The Scriptures: The nature of Scripture is one that is divinely inspired. The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.

Matt 22:45-46

Son of God - eternality of God "15. Extracts from the ‘Refutation and Defence’ ‘For never was there a time when God was not a father.’ And this he acknowledges in what follows, ‘that Christ is for ever, being Word and Wisdom and Power. For it is not to be supposed that God, having at first no such issue, afterwards begat a Son, but that the Son has His being not of Himself but of the Father.’ And a little way on he adds on the same subject, ‘But being the brightness of light eternal, certainly He is Himself eternal; for as the light exists always, it is evident that the brightness must exist always as well. For it is by the fact of its shining that the existence of light is perceived, and there cannot be light that does not give light. For let us come back to our examples. If there is sun, there is sunlight, there is day. If there is none of these things, it is quite impossible for there to be sun. If then the sun were eternal, the day also would be unceasing. But in fact, as that is not so, the day begins and ceases with the sun. But God is light eternal, never beginning nor ceasing. The brightness then lies before Him eternally, and is with Him without beginning and ever-begotten, shining in His Presence, being that Wisdom which said, “I was that wherein he rejoiced, and daily I was glad in his presence at all times” (Prov. 8:30).’ And again after a little he resumes the same subject with the words, ‘The Father then being eternal, the Son is eternal, being Light of Light: for if there is a parent there is also a child. But if there were not a child, how and of whom can there be a parent? But there are both, and that eternally.’ Then again he adds, ‘God then being light, Christ is brightness; and being Spirit, for “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24),—in like manner Christ is called the breath, for He is the “breath of the power of God” (Wisd. 7:25).’ And again, to quote the second book, he says, ‘But only the Son, who always is with the Father and is filled of Him that IS, Himself also IS from the Father.’" (Athanasius of Alexandria, “On the Opinion of Dionysius,” in St. Athanasius: Select Works and Letters, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, trans. Archibald T. Robertson, vol. 4, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1892), 182.)

Application: How to build your life on Jesus.

You may be tempted look to other saviours. You may look to different things to save you. You may turn to alcohol or drugs to save you from your struggles. You may try to numb your pain or still your fear through some type of intoxication.

Maybe when you get mad or angry you turn to a familiar sin. You may turn to pornography or maybe some type of retail shopping. You turn to these sins and you feel helpless. You don't know if things will ever change. Maybe this is you or maybe it is your spouse. Look at what it says, the Lord, that is Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father and has his enemies under his feet. Jesus defeated sin and death. He did not die so you would be enslaved to sin but that you would be set free from the bondage of sin. Do not minimize Jesus. He is not some weak sandal wearing Jewish rabbi. He is the king of Kings. He is seated at the right hand of the Father and he is coming again. This Jesus is the one who has set you free from sin. Just come to him, confess your sins to him. Find another Christian and confess your sins to one another and find freedom for your soul.

There are others who do are more blatant in their disregard for Jesus:

Jewish

I used this with a Jewish guy. He studied at a Rabbinical school but he did not continue in the role. He was very intelligent and devout. It was this verse, but in Psalms 110 that stopped him in his tracks. He did not trust Christ but it allowed me to share the story of Jesus with him and why the incarnation of the Son of God is necessary.

Jehovah's Witness, Mormon, Islam

Jehovah's witnesses believe God the Father created God the Son as the archangel Michael. They believe Jesus is not God and not eternal.

Mormon's have a slightly different view. Unlike the JW, they do not change the meaning/translation of the Bible, they add various other books to their corpus of Scripture. They say God the Father is the ruler of this universe. Jesus is one of his many sons. Satan is another spiritual child, of which we are too. They have the wrong God.

Islam is the same. While revering the Bible, they regard it as corrupt and revere the Koran. Muslims believe Jesus is a prophet, was born of a virgin but is not God. He did not die for sin.

Judaism says one day the Messiah will come. The gospel says, "Repent for the Messiah has come. He has died and rose again." Jews had the signs for the Messiah but missed him. Mormons and JWs manipulate the Word and miss the Messiah.

Islam minimizes the Messiah and looks to another.

Only Christianity gets Jesus the Messiah.

These questions thus far have helped us understand who Jesus is, who he is not, but there is one question that is not answered yet. It is one we all must answer.

4. The unanswered question: What do you think about the Christ? (Matthew 22:42)

Resurrection and life Death Death matter because of his life Eternal - this question stands and we must all ask it.

Everyone answers this question but there is only one way to answer it right. You must come to Jesus on his terms. You must build your life on him.

Conclusion: What is your answer?