Jesus a Servant of God who showed us that Religion is about Rules, Relationship is about Restoration

Scene 1. When you set yourself up as superior to everyone else, you are very likely to get things horribly wrong.

Let’s look at some examples.

Stalin, who was he?

What is he infamous for?

Chairman Mou, who was he?

What was he infamous for?

Hitler, who was he?

What was he infamous for?

Pol Pot, who was he?

What was he infamous for?

Robert Mugabee, who was he?

What is he infamous for?

Richard Dawkins, who is he?

What is he infamous for?

The Pharisees, who were they?

What are they infamous for?

Scene 2. The superiority of the Pharisees resulted in great suffering and loss for the nation of Israel.

Jesus makes it very clear a number of times in this passage that their superiority and attitude would bring about great suffering.

Look at verse 36, on judgement day they would be held to account.

Look at verses 41-42.

Nineveh was synonymous with great wickedness and arrogance.

Yet the people of Nineveh will stand up on the day of judgement and condemn the generation that Jesus was speaking too.

Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah.

A prophet that many Jewish teachers didn’t like because his preaching showed up unrepentant Israel’s attitude towards God.

The northern Kingdom of Israel heard from prophet after prophet yet they continually rejected God and were destroyed.

Yet Nineveh, the great wicked city of Gentiles repented when just one prophet went to them from God.

And now Jesus compares the generation standing in front of him, not with Nineveh, but with the destroyed Northern Kingdom of Israel.

One greater than Jonah is standing right in front of these people and they refuse to accept his message!

Jesus uses another illustration.

This time referring to the Queen of the South.

Also known as the Queen of Sheba referred to in 1 Kings 10:1-9

Having heard of the fame of King Solomon she came with an enormous caravan and great wealth from the area somewhere across the shores of the Red Sea.

Literally in those days the ends of the earth.

Simply to gain from the wisdom of Solomon.

Wisdom she was willing to pay for!

And now, one greater than the greatest king of history stands in front of them.

And they refuse to accept him.

The superiority of the Pharisees and the people who follow them is to Jesus just like an evil spirit.

In Jewish understanding desert places were the haunt of evil spirits.

And seven fold was a traditional way to express severe punishment.

So when a spirit leaves a person and seeks a place to live and can’t find somewhere it will come back in force and finding its former home empty will invite the others in for a party.

The condition of the host will of course be sevenfold worse.

Jesus makes the point, which his hearers would have clearly understood, that they are just like this person; completely and severely under the control of evil spirits.

But what evidence do we have that the superiority of these people resulted in the suffering of Israel.

Less than 40 years after Jesus’ crucifixion and within a decade of when Matthew wrote, Jerusalem was laid waste by the Romans.

Israel effectively ceased to exist as a nation.

And throughout history Jews have had to deal with an incredible hostility.

Israel rejected her Messiah.

The people looked up to the Pharisees because of their zeal for the law.

And their zeal led them to see themselves as superior as able to keep all 613 rules and therefore be pleasing to God, all of their own efforts.

And in their superiority they missed the truth of who the Messiah really was.

They lost the opportunity to have the Messiah as their king.

They tried to do things their way.

And the result was destruction.

Scene 3. In contrast we see the description of Jesus as being the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 42:1-4

Isaiah 42:1–4 NLT

1 “Look at my servant, whom I strengthen. He is my chosen one, who pleases me. I have put my Spirit upon him. He will bring justice to the nations. 2 He will not shout or raise his voice in public. 3 He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle. He will bring justice to all who have been wronged. 4 He will not falter or lose heart until justice prevails throughout the earth. Even distant lands beyond the sea will wait for his instruction.”

The people were looking for a powerful, aggressive Messiah, one who would come with force to drive out the hated Roman occupiers.

But Jesus, while assertive, didn’t come with force.

He came with love and compassion and a call to be just.

He brought healing to the sick and the lame.

He brought deliverance to the possessed.

He brought hope to the helpless.

The Pharisees in contrast were aggressive to Jesus.

They refused to lift a hand to help the helpless lest they became unclean.

The sick and lame were seen as suffering for some sin they or their parents had committed.

The demon possessed were seen as victims of their own evil.

Aggression and force are marks of a life focussed on self righteousness and superiority

Humility and service are marks of a life focussed on Christ.

Is it any wonder why the world is in so much conflict.

In so many places so many leaders, wether we talk about Putin of Russia, Xi of China, The military Junta of Myamyar, the Ayatollas of Iran or the Imans of Palestine we see the same thing.

Self righteousness and superiority only ever lead to conflict, aggression and destruction.

Scene 4. We need to understand that Matthew grouped these accounts of the oppossition of the Pharasees together to demonstrate the abject failure of the people to listen to the testimony of the Holy Spirit about the authority of Christ.

Take a look at verses 30 to 32.

This passage discusses the infamous “unpardonable sin.”

The first question to be answered is,

“Why is blasphemy of the Son of Man pardonable, but not blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?”

The key seems to be in the title “Son of Man.”

It describes Jesus or Messiah in human terms;

He was a man.

Someone could consider who Jesus was and conclude He was no more than a human being.

However, if the Holy Spirit convicted a person of the fact that Jesus was more than a mere mortal, and this person refused to accept the ministry of the Holy Spirit, there would be no possible forgiveness.

That the sin against the Holy Spirit is called “blasphemy” implies a final and unalterable decision has been made.

The sin that is unforgivable is the stubborn refusal when the Holy Spirit convicts to accept the forgiveness Christ offers.

Particularly in reference to the leaders of Israel, Jesus had offered them all the proof that could be expected

The ministry of John,

The testimony of the Father,

The prophecies of the Old Testament.

His own testimony,

The miracles and the substantiation by the Holy Spirit.

They rejected all proofs regarding Jesus as Messiah.

Their hearts were closed. [1]

They were willing to declare the ministry of Jesus to be the work of Satan.

A very dangerous thing to do

No other proof would be given, their situation was irreversible.

Scene 5.

Legalism (1-8 & 9-14),

Dismissing the work of God as something evil (22-24)

And seeking to be entertained by God (38-40) are all things that show people are questioning Christ’s authority and denying the testimony of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s look at each one of these in turn.

In verses 1 to 8 and 9 to 14 we see two classic cases of legalism trying to cancel out grace.

Now these two situations need little explanation.

Jesus pretty much answers their questions.

But they provide a really good example of how interpreting God’s rules according to your own culture can lead to condemnation.

For the Pharisees the law of God had to be followed.

By following the law you proved your righteousness.

There was no room for grace.

But we need to be careful that we don’t make the same mistake.

I can certainly remember the days when it was considered wrong to dance.

If you danced with someone you might get to close to them and that might lead to sex and that would be immoral.

You see in our culture we have developed a legalism of guilt by association.

Now where the Bible is specific, there is no room for movement.

So if you are dancing with someone you are not married to then, you can’t allow the close contact to lead to anything else.

But if you are married to the person you are dancing with, best of luck to you!

In verses 22 to 24 we see a denial of the power of God.

They actually attributed a healing and associated exorcism to the power of Satan.

Now let’s be very clear about this one.

As soon as someone starts attributing the supernatural work of God to Satan.

Get as far away from them as you can.

They are on very dangerous ground.

Yes Satan can fake miracles.

Yes he can perform signs and wonders in order to deceive people.

But look carefully at the fruit of the life of the person performing these “miracles” and of those receiving them and that will be the proof of the source.

You know there is a modern version of this same sin.

Increasingly we are seeing some secular humanists describing religion as a great evil that needs to be removed from society.

They are calling something good, Christianity, something evil.

They desire that all traces of Christianity be removed from the public sphere.

In fact Richard Dawkins has been quoted as saying that he wants to see freedom from religion.

I fear that he is one of these people who have so hardened their hearts, that he is on this very dangerous ground.

Perhaps he has already crossed the line.

Or perhaps the sin of some Christian has so offended and hurt him that he has rejected the messanger with the message.

I have to leave that question in God’s hands, but please be very careful to not ascribe to Satan the work of God.

It is very dangerous ground to be on.

The last example in this passage of questioning the authority of Christ and denying the testimony of the Holy Spirit is that of wanting God to entertain you.

Look at verses 38 to 40.

God will not put on a miracle just because you want to see something interesting.

Just because you want to be entertained.

The Pharisees rejected what they saw and then asked for a “sign”.

They wanted a miracle that suited their agenda.

God will not work like that!

God is not like a genie in the bottle.

The resurrection of Christ is the only sign that you may be given.

It is enough to prove the claims of Jesus over our lives.

Anything else that God may choose to do is an act of grace, in order to show mercy and / or to demonstrate his power!

Scene 6. There are many things that can influence us to question the authority of Christ; instead we need to choose to act on his demands, because rejecting the testimony of the Holy Spirit about Christ’s Lordship over our life will result in judgement (46-50).

Our faith can be shaken by doubts.

We can be fed lies telling us that God doesn’t exist,

We are told that he didn’t create everything.

We can be encouraged to compromise our moral standards.

But at the end of the day, Jesus claims authority over every aspect of our lives.

He proved his authority by his resurrection.

And he simply asks of us that we respond in accordance with verse 50.

We are part of his family if we simply do as he asks of us!

Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1999). Nelson's new illustrated Bible commentary(Mt 12:31–32). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.

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