Astonished

Good morning church! Go ahead and grab your Bible’s a flip on over to Matthew 7. We are wrapping up our sermon series on Kingdom People, and just like the title of my sermon, you might be astonished that we’ve made it to the end. In all sincerity, church I am thankful and a little bit amazed that we are here. This is a big deal for me personally—I’ve never preached a whole sermon series, or at least the overwhelming majority of it. I’ve loved it and look forward to where we go from here.

Speaking of, before we jump into our last sermon of this series let me go ahead and chart a path for you of where we’re going. Next week we will kick off a series on 1 Peter. As Will and I talked through what’s ahead of us as a church, as a community, and as a country, we felt like the Lord led us to 1 Peter. Yes, we as a church walked through this book about 7 years ago, but there’s some relevant truths for us to consider as we step into the coming months.

The next 90 days also are the busiest days for me as a farmer. So we’re going to have a little more rotation in the pulpit than we have had the past 7 months. I’ll preach as often as I can, but we’ll have some help from guys who have all been here before. One of the things I’m most excited about is that in 2 weeks Frank Lowen is going to preach for us. Frank approached me at the beginning of the year to ask if he could preach one Sunday. Church, our desire it to be people who train up and equip the next generation of pastors, missionaries, church planters, deacons, SS teachers—the church. If we stay inside these four walls and aren’t reaching others with the gospel then we have failed! And to have a guy who’s been here for 4-5 years and have this desire is I think something we should really celebrate and look forward to.

The other thing I love about having some other guys come in and help fill the gap is that this reminds us that we aren’t built around a person or personality, but around the Word himself, first and foremost, and secondly, a genuine love for one another. So I have high hopes and expectations from what the Lord will do with Liberty through the book of 1 Peter. Would you join me in making it a priority to grow in your love for The Word and one another as we kick off a new series next week?

Now, let’s get back to the end of our current series and look at the very last two verses of Matthew 7:28-29 and see if we can’t make this one sentence go the full 40 minutes.

Matthew 7:28–29 ESV

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

This is the Word of the Lord. Let’s pray.

This week was Sawyer’s 5th birthday and we went down and watched a Sod Poodles game. They had a big celebration for the 4th that night and launched a bunch of fireworks after the game. I’m pretty sure we convinced him that this was for his birthday and not the 4th of July, but I’m not positive.

Fireworks are really cool to watch. Yes, I know there are some people in this room who see fireworks as literally just lighting dollar bills on fire, but you got to admit that it’s hard to beat a good firework show.

The best part of these fireworks on Wednesday night was watching Sawyer’s reaction to them. When a whole bunch of bigs ones went off he just smiled and started to clap. We didn’t have to coach him or tell him what to do. It was just his natural, joyous, childlike response. A big ole cheesy grin and a clap. The boy was truly astonished at what he was watching. He marveled at the bright lights and loud pops like even those grown up dads in the room that deep down find good firework shows pretty cool.

As a dad who was raised to have the sentiment that there are better ways to find entertainment and make your dollars last longer than 3 seconds, it brought a lot joy to my heart to watch my son respond like that. So do you know what we did? We went and bought some fireworks and shot em all off on Friday night. As a matter of fact, when we were headed home from watching the firework show in town on the 4th you could see that a whole bunch of people had pulled up at 1045 at night to buy more or maybe some fireworks! Was it because they hadn’t bought any yet? Yeah possibly. Or was it because they had just watched a firework show and this was their natural response? I think that’s probably more likely the case. Most likely, those people responded by buying fireworks because of the astonishment of what they had just seen and experienced. And that really is what the crux of this passage is. Church the main point of this sentence and these last two verses is this: Kingdom People are astonished.

The right reaction of a kingdom person is astonishment. But astonished at what? We’re going to look at 3 things that Kingdom People are astonished by: 1) Kingdom People are astonished by the teachings of Jesus, 2) Kingdom People are astonished by the person of Jesus, and 3) Kingdom People are astonished at the response. Let’s look at the first thing that astonished the crowd and should astonish us.

Kingdom People are astonished by the teachings of Jesus.

Matthew writes the the crowds were astonished at Jesus’ teaching in verse 28. Now obviously this is a reference to the Sermon on the Mount that we just spent the past 26 or so weeks studying, but what is so astonishing about the Sermon on the Mount? What’s astonishing about the Sermon on the Mount is that it shows what his Kingdom is like because it tells us what Kingdom People are like.

Isn’t that that what we’ve spent half of this year looking at? The purpose of this series has been to show what the lifestyle of those who are truly Kingdom People looks like. It doesn’t mean they do it perfectly, but it does mean that they are doing it progressively. They are growing in these things. So let’s just take a few minutes and run back through what Jesus calls Kingdom People to be.

Going back to the beginning, we see that Kingdom People hate their sin. They see that they have been full of it and because of that, they’re poor spirit. They’re poor in spirit and that causes them to mourn over their state. They long to be controlled and led by someone other than themselves—in other words they are meek. They hunger & thirst for righteousness because they know that in their own nature that’s not who they are, but it’s who they were created to be. They are people who extend mercy because they have received mercy. They are pure in heart because they’ve been given a new heart, and they live as peacemakers because of the one who made peace with them. In doing all of these things they will be persecuted for righteousness sake. Yet, in the midst of that, they are are the salt of the earth that preserves what is good and flavors the things of life. They are the light of the world that brings light into darkness. They don’t seek to become those things. They are those things because of their new nature and their new heart. They follow the one came to fulfill the law and the profits, and they live out of a righteousness given to them that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. And because that is true, they aren’t people who are marked by anger or murder, but instead they are people who seek to make peace. They work to be reconciled to their brothers and their sisters—they’re peacemakers. They aren’t people who lust after other people, but they are so satisfied with their love of Jesus in the person of Jesus that they don’t need anything else. They don’t divorce their spouses, but remain faithful in their marriage. They keep their words and don’t make promises that they can’t keep. They aren’t people who retaliate or fight back, but instead they turn the other cheek when other people reviled them. They give when other people take from them; they give generously; they don’t refuse. They don’t just go 1 mile, but they go with them two or 3 miles, and they love their enemies. They pray for them that God would restore and redeem them, and they greet those who are against them just like those who love them. When Kingdom People do these things they show that they are perfect like their heavenly father is perfect.

Then when it comes to their religion Kingdom People don’t live to show other people how righteous they are. Instead they act in secret and they give in a way that reflects the way their Father gave to them. Kingdom People are marked by prayer because they long to spend time with the one that they are praying to, and when they pray it’s not marked by selfish ambition or vain conceit, but they desire for their father to come; for his kingdom to be established and his will to be done and for him to receive glory. The request Kingdom People make are marked by the basic needs of what it takes to live life.

Because Kingdom People hunger for more they fast—fasting is a normal, regular rhythm of kingdom people because they long for things that this life does not have.

Kingdom People don’t seek treasure on earth, but instead they store treasure in heaven because they serve one master, the true master, and He is their father. Because he is their Father they love him and trust him. They’re not anxious about the things of this earth. They live in a unique but real relationship to him. They see that he provides for the lilies of the valley and the birds of the air and they know that He sees them as more valuable than them. So they don’t have to be anxious, but can trust him to provide for them.

Kingdom People’s relationship with their Father doesn’t just affect them though; it affects how they relate to others. They don’t judge other people with the finality that their father will ultimately judge with. Instead kingdom, people seek to get rid of the sin in their own life before they turn to be a peacemaker or mercy extender to those around them.

Kingdom people are marked by a continual asking and seeking and knocking for the things of the kingdom of God, for a relationship with their father to know who he is, and what he has for them, and to live as he has called them to live. They trust in their asking and in their seeking, and they’re knocking that their father will provide.

Kingdom people because their eyes are not focused inward, but outward and upward, because they love God and love others more than they love themselves they begin to fulfill the law and prophets.

Kingdom people, then look to enter through the narrow gate and walk the narrow path that their Lord has called them to. They are aware of wolves and sheep clothing and are careful the teaching they listen to bears good fruit. They don’t have a false confession and they don’t live by false works, but instead they hear the words of Jesus and they respond in obedience because of their love for him & relationship with him. In doing so they prove that their house is built on the solid rock of Jesus and are able to withstand whatever storms that will come.

Now, you hear all that and go, yes I know. We’ve spent half a year on it. But imagine for just a second if you encountered this person. How truly astonishing would this be? Someone who doesn’t get angry but makes things right? Someone who doesn’t retaliate but actually gives more? Someone who treasures heaven more than he treasures earth? It would be an astonishing encounter!

Church, the point of all of this is this is supposed to describe us. If you say Christ is Lord then you are to be growing in these things. You are to be bearing this kind of fruit. So let me ask you the question, do the characteristics found in the SM describe you? Are you actively growing in these areas and pursuing this life of obedience? But it’s not just about you as an individual. As John Stott said,

Too often the church has turned away from this challenge and sunk into a conformist respectability. At such times it is almost indistinguishable from the world, it has lost its saltiness, its light is extinguished and it repels all idealists. For it gives no evidence that it is God’s new society which is tasting already the joys and powers of the age to come. Only when the Christian community lives by Christ’s manifesto will the world be attracted and God be glorified. So when Jesus calls us to himself, it is to this that he calls us. -John Stott

The question is Liberty, does this describe us? Can you imagine what it would be like to encounter a community of people who fully and truly lived this out? It would be nothing short of astonishing! But do you know what’s more astonishing than a community of people who lived this out or even the Sermon itself? The person who gave taught the Sermon on the Mount. That’s our second point:

Kingdom People are astounded at the person of Jesus.

The question that our 2 verses force us to ask is this: What exactly do these teachings show us about Jesus? Matthew. 7:28-29

Matthew 7:28–29 ESV

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

Our text today and the SM show us that Jesus taught with a unique authority. Now we know what authority is, and that’s not necessarily always a good thing. I farm and have a group of guys that work for me. I have authority to hire and fire them. I have authority to ask them to do different jobs on the farm.

I am a dad, so I have authority over the lives of my children in which I seek to influence how and why they behave the way they do. I am a pastor that stands up here and points to one who is a greater authority. But what’s different between yours and my authority over the different things in our lives and the authority that Jesus shows throughout the Sermon on the Mount?

We have examined the teachings of Jesus on a very fast fly by today, but what we haven’t looked at yet or really all that much throughout studying his teachings is Jesus himself. You see this sermon—not the one I’m preaching but the one that Jesus preached—doesn’t just reveal a wise, ethical, highly moral person. Matthew, the author of the book, and Jesus himself make some pretty authoritative claims.

Go back to the beginning. Jesus is an uneducated, common man who has recruited a group of men to follow him and is now sitting down to teach as if he were someone who had the right or ability to do that. Just Jesus was doing what he was doing is showing he believes he has some sort of authority.

Then, to start off his whole sermon, he states what makes one blessed. Who, but God has the right to determine what makes one blessed or not? Then he says that that he has come to fulfill the law & prophets. Do you realize what claim he is making? He is saying I am the one that will not only keep the law perfectly, but also that I am the one who has come to fulfill all prophecy. Just at the beginning of his sermon Jesus is claiming messianic responsibility. He doesn’t stop there, then he determines who will be great & least in the kingdom of heaven and follows that with the statement determining the requirements for entrance into the kingdom. Then after that he moves to totally destroy the historical instruction of the Scribes and Pharisees interpretation of the Old Testament and says that his interpretation is based off of what he says. All through chapter 5 we saw Jesus say, “You have heard it said, but I say…” “The Scribes and Pharisees claimed no authority of their own. They saw their duty in terms of remaining true to the tradition they had received. So they were experts in the past, delving into commentaries, searching for precedents, claiming the support of famous names among the rabbis. Their only authority lay in the authorities they were constantly quoting”. But Jesus was saying that his authority came from something different.

Next he shows his authority over the religious pillars of their day—giving, prayer, and fasting—and reconstructs what has been their traditional MO for living in a relationship with God! We could keep going through chapter 6, but for the sake of time lets jump to chapter 7. In it we see that Jesus has the authority to be the final judge who will either say depart from me or welcome into my presence. Jesus regarded obeying him as Lord and doing the Father’s will as equivalents, so he was putting himself on a level with God. All these words that he’s just said, the entirety of this sermon, is the word of God himself, not just of some other prophet or teacher. Zoom out from the SM and you’ll see in the next few chapters that Jesus has the authority to forgive sin, the authority to heal, and authority to enable those who are his disciples to carry out his work. But at the very end of the book of Matthew what does Jesus say? Matthew 28:18

Matthew 28:18 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

What is one of the underlying themes of the Sermon on the Mount and the entirety of the book of Matthew? That all authority belongs to Jesus! This begs the question of us who has authority in your life? This has really been the question from the beginning. Eve in the Garden back in Genesis 3 all of the sudden determined for herself what was good. Adam stood by and decided that the Word of God wasn’t all that important. What’s one little bite?

When you look at your life are you determining what will make you blessed? Are you determining what makes one great? Are you determining what is actually essential to be Kingdom People? Do you think that it’s ok to live out parts of the SM but others are just too hard? Sure I won’t get a divorce, but don’t ask me to be reconciled to pursue reconciliation with someone who’s made me angry? Sure I’ll keep my word, but don’t ask me to love and serve my enemies? When you encounter others do you decide to just write them off? What’s one little bite, right?

When we look at the Sermon on the Mount what we see is the authority of the King. Here is this nobody from Nazareth who makes some astonishing claims. Kingdom People see that, and submit to him.

But there’s one more observation from this passage today. We’ve looked at the teachings of Jesus and the authority of Jesus, but what about the crowd? The third point to day is this:

Kingdom People are astonished at the response.

Jesus has withdrawn from the crowd to teach his disciples, but as he’s preached this the crowd begins to show up and hear what he has to say. They listen to the whole thing and they marvel at what they’ve heard. Great sermon, Jesus! Man, that one was really convicting. But then they have an incredible opportunity when he’s done. They don’t stand and sing a song. They don’t observe the Lord’s Supper—that wasn’t a thing yet. They don’t slip out quietly and quickly so they don’t have to talk to anyone. Maybe they stood up and talked to the people next to them for a second. That could be possible. No, look with me to the next verse. Matthew 8:1

Matthew 8:1 ESV

When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.

Here they are having heard the greatest sermon ever preached and they have the opportunity to go back down the mountain and follow Jesus! Many of them do. Maybe all of them—I don’t know. Maybe some did slip out the back and go back to work. But I think it’s interesting to follow the crowd. I hope you’ve got your Bible’s handy because we’re going to flip through it quickly. If you just turn the page over to Matthew 9:8 guess what the crowd does? They see Jesus heal someone and forgive him of his sins and their response is fear and worship because of the authority God had given to a man. What a right response for following Jesus, right?

Ok look towards the end of Matthew 9 in verse 33. Jesus casts out a demon and the crowds marveled—at what he had done. Then a few chapters later in Matthew 14 Jesus learns of the execution of his cousin, John the Baptist. In mourning he gets on a boat to withdraw and be alone. But guess what the crowds do. Matthew 14:13 “Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.” These people leave their towns and walk around the lake to go find him. They must have traveled a long ways because they were in a desolate place. They fiercely pursued after Jesus.

One chapter over in Matthew 15:30 you see the crowds trusting Jesus. “And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them,”

In Matthew 20:29 the crowds try to protect Jesus from 2 nobody blind beggars to keep him focused on his mission, but Jesus stops and heals them anyway. Then the 2 blind men join the crowd following Jesus into Matthew 21:8-9 where we see,

Matthew 21:8–9 ESV

Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Then they listen to his teaching on the resurrection and have the exact same response as they did to the sermon on the Mount. Matthew 22:33 “And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.” We have immediate following. We have fear and worship. We have marveling and chasing after him. We have trusting him to fix the problems of others. We have protecting him from others. We have palm branches and worship. And then what do we have in Matthew 26:47?

Matthew 26:47 ESV

While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people.

Swords and clubs. Then in Matthew 27:20-23

Matthew 27:20–23 ESV

Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”

We’ve gone from astonishment to abandonment, from marvel to murder. What in the world could cause this? Jesus wasn’t who they wanted him to be, so they rejected his teaching and they rejected him.

Don’t you see that we do the exact same thing when we hear the words of Jesus, yet don’t obey? We say we like this part of your word, but not that part? We’ll give you authority over this part of my life, but ain’t no way I’m letting that go! You either submit to the authority and teachings of Jesus or you reject the authority and teachings of Jesus. There is no middle ground. One of my favorite quotes by Abraham Kuyper, “There is not a single square inch of which the Christ, who alone is sovereign, does not declare, ‘That is mine!’”

When you don’t live in a relationship with Jesus and submit to him it sure might look like you follow him. It sure might look like you respond in fear and worship. You might be happy to trust him with healing the things that are broken. You might even pave the way for others to hear Hosannah in the highest! But if you aren’t living entirely under the authority of Jesus then ultimately you have just joined the crowd in abandoning him.

So what’s astonishing about this? What’s marvelous about this? What’s astonishing about this isn’t the crowds response; it isn’t your or my response. Our response is actually common. This is what all men have done for all of time. At one point or another they have rejected the authority and teachings of Jesus and in doing so they’ve rejected the person of Jesus.

What’s astonishing about all of this is Jesus’ response. Here we have the God-man who came from Heaven to earth. Matthew 5:17 ““Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” He’s not just any other man, he came from somewhere to do something. As Charles Wesley wrote,

He left His Father’s throne above, So free, so infinite His grace; Emptied Himself of all but love, And bled for Adam’s helpless race; ‘Tis mercy all, immense and free; For, o my God, it found out me.

He saw we couldn’t keep the commands of God because we didn’t even understand them. So he taught them, and then he lived them. What we’ve spent the past 25 weeks covering and seeking to understand what it means to be a Kingdom Person Jesus actually did all of those things perfectly. He lived the life that we were supposed to live. Then he was abandoned by all—even those closest to him, even by his very Father. Yet,

Silent as he stood accused, beaten, mocked and scorned, bowing to the Father’s will he took a crown of thorns.

Jesus was the true and only Kingdom Person, yet having lived the life we were supposed to live he then died the death that we deserved to die. He absorbed the wrath and punishment of the Father that everyone who rejected and abandoned him really deserved. He made the atonement for all of our sins. In doing so he made a way for those who have rejected him to now submit to him and his authority and his teachings; to surrender their lives to him because he surrendered his life for us.

Amazing love! how can it be That Thou, my God, should die for me?

That’s the cry of a Kingdom Person. Kingdom people are astonished at the response. They’re astonished that they could reject and abandon the one who came for him, but more than that, they’re astonished that He did come for them.

So here’s the ultimate question for you: are you truly astonished? Not in a way that goes, wow, what incredibly hard teachings. Not in a way that says, wow, what incredibly great man. Not in a way that says I’ll follow part of your instructions, but not all of them. Not in a way that declares that I’ll be like the crowd. But is astonished in a way that sings,

And can it be that I should gain An int’rest in the Savior’s blood? Died he for me, who caused His pain? For me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! how can it be That Thou, my God, should die for me?

It’s astonishing what Jesus did for us. And in doing so, he made a way for us to live out all that he calls us to in the Sermon on the Mount. So what will your astonishment look like? Trust, obedience, and submission, or crucify him?

We’re going to transition into a time of response. Music team you guys can go ahead and make your way up here. Here in just a second I’m going to pray for us and then we’ll stand and sing 3 verses of the song Behold the Lamb and then we’ll observe the Lord’s Supper. On the night Jesus was betrayed he gave The Lord’s Supper to his disciples as a way to remember the things we’ve looked at this morning. Because it was given to his disciples it shows that this is only for those who have submitted to his teachings and authority and are living in a relationship with him. If that’s not you, then I ask that you do 1 of 2 things in the next couple minutes. Either acknowledge your contribution to the cross and repent and submit to him. Or let the plate pass. There’s some strong warnings in 1 Cor. for those who take this in an unworthy manner.

But for those of you who have submitted to him and are trusting and obeying him, we sing this song in faith and astonishment beholding him, remembering him, and worshipping him. So let’s pray, and then respond as necessary.