The Messiah Under Attack
Matthew - People of the Last Days • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
*
*
Are you coming to wedding banquet of the son?
Are you coming to wedding banquet of the son?
The gravity of the invitation is missed… this is a beautiful picture of the kingdom of heaven...
Jesus had spoken of this wedding feast...
15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
Isaiah had prophecied about his feast...
6 On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines. 7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.
Will people come?
Will you come?
Excuses come… farm, business… Matthew 13:22 “22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.” Matthew 24:38 “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;”
Matthew 19:29 “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.”
Others continue the abuse of the parable in chapter 21, so...
7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come.
But this is a great feast, so more are invited… Matthew 22:9-10 “9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.”
Such a splendid feast that you need the right dress… Matthew 22:11-13 “11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless. 13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”
So, here is Jesus’ point… Matthew 22:14
14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
If the people of Israel rejoiced at their calling - the chosen nation - If the leaders of Israel rejoiced at their calling… Jesus says it is not enough.
There would be a remant, an Israel within Israel, who were chosen… these are the ones that would make it to the feast.
The people around Jesus should be thinking to themselves, “Am I one of the few chosen?” And from what Jesus has already said, how they responded to John the Baptist and subsequently, how they respond to Jesus would be the determining factor.
Had they listened to these prophets? Had they repented of sin? Had they submitted to Jesus as King? Had they believed the message that has been preached to them?
Failure to respond would mean “no soup for you” / No feast for you!
It would mean judgement!
Have you listened to these prophets? have repented of sin? Have you submitted to Jesus as King? Have you believed the message that has been preached to you about the Messiah, Jesus?
NEEDTOBREATHE
“‘Cause I am yours, and you will always be mine.
It seems like madness, I’m invited to the table by your side.”
Are you coming to the wedding banquet of the Son?
Attacks thwarted with truth
Attacks thwarted with truth
The Attack - coins
Matthew 22:15–17 “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?””
Herodians and Pharisees were not on the same team, normally adversaries, but here with Jesus, they have a common enemy.
If Yes… Herodians would be happy, but some Jewish people would not, saying it contradicted worship of God.
If No…he would come under scrutiny from Rome because of the Herodians.
But Jesus uses the image on the coin to thwart the trap… give it back to the one whose image it bears… Caesar.
The crowd is amazed, but the most startling challenge comes in the words I skipped… “to God what is God’s.”
What bears the image of God? We do.
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
If we bear the image of God, then Jesus says give to God what is God’s… we must give ourselves to God. He is our creator, our Lord, our God and Saviour. It is right for Christians to call all people to worship God, to give themselves to him and for him above all else.
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
What does this look like in your life… as you work, raise children, care for grandchildren, serve neighbours, love spouses, go to endless medical appointments, among God’s people… What does it look like for you to give to God what is God’s?
Attack - Marriage at the resurrection
Sadducees… attack Jesus because he preached the kingdom coming, like Daniel (Daniel 12:2 “2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.”)
But of course Sadducees have excluded that part of scriptures!
So, Jesus addresses them with two responses...
They don’t know the scriptures...
They don’t know the power of God...
“neither marry nor be given in marriage… like the angels” (ESV Study Bible Notes) means living without an exclusive lifelong marriage commitment to one person. This teaching might at first seem discouraging to married couples who are deeply in love with each other in this life, but surely people will know their loved ones in heaven (cf. 8:11; Luke 9:30, 33), and the joy and love of close relationships in heaven will be more rather than less than it is here on earth. Jesus’ reference to “the power of God” could suggest that God is able to establish relationships of even deeper friendship, joy, and love in the life to come. God has not revealed anything more about this, though Scripture indicates that the eternal glories awaiting the redeemed will be more splendid than anyone can begin to ask or think (cf. 1 Cor. 2:9; Eph. 3:20).
“I am the God of Abraham… He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” Exodus 3:6 “6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.” He spoke of the partriarchs as if they were still alive… and how could God’s promise cease at death? He always had in mind to raise the dead!
power… Deuteronomy 32:39 “39 “See now that I myself am he! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand.”
Attack - the greatest commandment
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. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,