"Are You the One?" Matthew 11a_Jul 7 2024
God With Us - Discovering the Gospel of Matthew • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 4 viewsHow should Christians handle going through tough times?
Notes
Transcript
Greeting and Scripture Reading
Greeting and Scripture Reading
Matt 11
If you’re going through struggles right now - my prayer is that today’s message will encourage you
When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities. Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
(pray…)
If you remember - out all four gospels:
Mark is the most dramatic
Luke is the most thematic
John is the most theological
Matthew is considered to be the most structured
Each Gospel account is written by a different author and originally addressed to a different audience
Matthew: “The Gospel of the Messiah”
Mostly written to: Jewish audience
To prove Jesus was the Messiah who was promised to come
The overarching theme comes to us from Chapter 1: God With Us - our series
So far: We’ve seen Jesus begin his ministry - and talk about his kingdom - and preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”
John the Baptist preached the same thing
In fact, he stood up to the Pharisees because of Jesus
John prepared the way for Jesus as the Messiah
This is the same John the Baptist who earlier said: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.'
Then he said: I baptize you (the people) with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.
And when Jesus wanted John to baptize him, he tried to prevent it and said: I am the one who needs to be baptized by you...so why are you coming to me?”
And now - he’s questioning if Jesus is even the Messiah
Where is John right now at this point in the story?
Prison
Remember - After his temptation in the wilderness, Jesus heard that John was arrested
Now, here we are in Matthew 11 and it says that while John was in prison, he sent his own disciples to find out who Jesus was
John is asking, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
“Are you really the Messiah, or shall we consider another candidate?
What is going on here?
It’s sort of like my wife saying, “If you can’t fix it, maybe we should call an expert.”
“Maybe you should step aside and let someone who knows what they’re doing!”
Of all people - why would John question Jesus like this?
Part of the answer is to figure out what John is really asking
I think the 2nd verse is important - that it reminds us that John was still in prison - the writer of Matthew purposefully mentioned it
He couldn’t just walk up to Jesus and ask him
He was stuck behind bars
He was dealing with his current circumstances - and his circumstances were affecting him
John is really asking:
“Here I am stuck in prison - my freedom has been taken away by the authorities.”
“I thought you were going to stand up against the authorities!”
Remember, that was the pre-conceived notion the Jews had regarding their coming Messiah
Notice also that verse 2 says that John heard about the deeds of Jesus
John knew full well the deeds that Jesus did - his disciples informed him
Jesus’ basic reply was: “And here are the results of those deeds, John”
John was saying: “Hey, that’s great and all, but what about me? I’m stuck in prison!”
As great as John was, I think it’s clear: he had a misunderstanding about what Jesus was all about
I don’t want us to miss this - I want to make sure we all have a clear understanding what Jesus is all about
We have a duty to understand the biblical Jesus - not world’s version of Jesus
The problem with John was the problem with the other disciples, and the other Jews, and everyone else - they all had pre-conceived ideas of who Jesus was supposed to be
When we take our eyes off of the Lord - and focus on our circumstances - we begin to change who God is in our minds
Can we please just let God be God?
Can we please just trust that God knows what he's doing?
Do you remember the last question the disciples asked before Jesus ascended into heaven?
Jesus lived with his disciples for three years - he died on a cross - and rose from the grave
And now he’s about to make his ascension to heaven - and this is what his disciples ask him:
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
They just didn’t get it
I don’t think they fully understood, until they were visited by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost
They thought Jesus would establish his throne over Israel and deliver them from Rome
Jesus was establishing his kingdom over the entire universe
Go back in your mind with me - in Matthew - all the times, so far, Jesus mentions his “kingdom”
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness”
And on and on...
But here’s the problem - the kingdom of God is invisible to this world
No one can actually see his kingdom because we physically live in the world
And we are part of this invisible kingdom
You ask: “Whose job is it to make it visible?”
You are!
The purpose of the church is to make the kingdom of heaven/God visible
Period
In a nutshell - that’s the purpose of the church
We do that in many ways
We glorify Christ
We preach his Word and obey his commandments
We show love and compassion
We preach the gospel and make disciples
This is what the Church ought to do
These are the ways in which we participate in God’s kingdom this side of heaven
Both John the Baptist and the disciples of Jesus were more focused on their current circumstances, than they were the true kingdom of God
We cannot allow ourselves to be more focused on our circumstances than what Jesus has called us to do
John’s circumstances were clouding his faith
Do your circumstances ever cloud your faith?
Better question: Is your faith strong enough to weather your circumstances?
A lot of times, we ask God to deliver us from our circumstances - we should be praying more often: “Lord Jesus, help me through my circumstances!”
Jesus was getting John to see the bigger picture - and our faith should make us see the bigger picture
The Jews were oppressed by Rome - Rome tolerated Israel - and they allowed them some autonomy - but it was far from the glory days
John heard about the deeds of “the Christ” - but it didn’t sit well with him - because he longed for the good ol’ days of King David
John, and the Jews, and the disciples were looking for a perfect David to restore Israel - and put Rome to shame
Not only that, but the Jewish people were under the spiritual rule of some of the most crooked, and corrupt group of hypocrites in all of history
There were:
The Pharisees
The Chief Priests
The Sadducees
The Scribes
The Herodians
All were clambering for power - and all of them had to be cunning under the watchful eye of Rome
They were experts in political correctness as far as Rome was concerned
All John could think of:
I’m in prison
Take your throne and avenge us!
John heard about the deeds of Jesus and it didn’t sit right
The deeds he heard about didn’t seem to fit for someone who was going to restore Israel back to its glory days
John was a prophet - so he wanted to get it right
He said:
Look, are you the guy?
I need to know - are you the one?
Tell me now
I got my two disciples - and we’re poised to look for the real Messiah if that’s not you
We need you to take over Rome
Jesus’ response was:
Yeah, let’s talk about the results of my deeds so far -
I cured blind people - (I demonstrated love & compassion)
I made lame people actually walk (I demonstrated love & compassion)
I cured leprosy - leprosy, John - I cured it by touching them
Oh, and then I rose dead people to life - they were dead - now they’re alive
I also preached the gospel to poor people - not to the elite - but to poor people (this was also love & compassion)
I love that Jesus inserted the preaching of the gospel into that list
It’s a lesson to people who are convinced it’s all about just showing love - without preaching the gospel
It’s also a lesson to those who think it’s all about preaching the gospel with no love
It’s as if, Jesus was saying:
John, are you willing to suffer in prison for my sake?
He didn’t say it - but it’s almost like Jesus could have said:
John are you willing to be beheaded for my sake?
Imagine if Jesus asked that of you:
Are you willing to suffer for my sake?
Do you love me enough to suffer for me?
Do you have the faith to trust me in order to go through what you’re going through?
Or more simply - maybe Jesus is asking you:
Are you willing to make my kingdom visible to the world, through your circumstances?
Are you willing to focus on me, instead of your circumstances?
Instead of asking “why” God has you going through all the stuff you’re going through - ask him “what”
What do I need to learn through my situation right now?
What do I need to do next to serve you?
Then ask him “who”
Who can I comfort who shares my struggles?
Who can I show love and compassion?
Who can I share the gospel with?
John brought up the deeds of Jesus, as a critique of what he thought Jesus was supposed to be
And Jesus gave his answer
He ended his answer in verse 6: “And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
Illustration
Illustration
This is what I was dealing with at 23 years old
I had a spiritual crises of my own
I was dealing with a lot of doubt and confusion
On top of that, I was very concerned about my crisis- it was based on some of the things Jesus himself had said
I thought there was something wrong with me
I was reading through the gospels and I actually got offended at the very words, and sometimes the actions of Jesus:
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect”
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”
And - being angry with your brother is equivalent to murder?
I had an existential crisis in my life because I didn’t understand what Jesus was saying
More accurately, I didn’t understand him
If you apply everything Jesus said to a worldly context, it gets all weird
In context, much of what Jesus said, was about his spiritual kingdom
He was using his very life to teach them spiritual truths
And that’s why in Matthew 11:6, he told John’s disciples, “And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
He was telling John, “I did these things to illustrate my kingdom - you will be blessed if you understand that and you’re not offended. You will be blessed if you believe.”
The four Gospels were written for our benefit - that we also believe
They teach us about the kingdom of heaven and how the church needs to make that kingdom visible
How We Should Understand Jesus
How We Should Understand Jesus
Some of you might identify with the crisis I went through
When your reading your Bible and you read something you don’t understand -
Pray about it
Then make a line next to it
When the day comes you have a fuller understanding of it, make that line into a cross
Pray over Scripture - tell the Lord you don’t understand - but keep reading - and keep praying
Some of you are being tested because of your circumstances
Isn't it usually our circumstances which usually tests our faith?
If God was real – he could save me from my troubles
I think that's what John was essentially saying
If God was truly God – he could end all this suffering
If God is a God of love – why is there so much pain & suffering in the world?
People indite God – they blame him – they've allowed a chip on their shoulder
But it's a little hard to do that – Christianity is the only religion – where God himself suffered
Not only did Jesus suffer on the cross and suffer humiliation – he suffered in order to save us
Skip down to verse 12
Jesus turns to the crowds and talks about John the Baptist - he even seems to elevate him:
From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,
This is a Rabbinic expression – it means: an analogy is about to happen
“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, “ ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’
This is what Jesus was saying: You all have different expectations – and you're never satisfied with anything
‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’
That's what our world has become today!
Our world is only satisfied in itself
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”
When you suffer – you basically have two choices
1. Withdraw from God & possibly get mad at him
2. Cry out to God and find every reason to increase your faith
Most people chose #1 – but it gets them nowhere
God doesn't automatically end affliction in our lives – neither did he do it in Bible times
Can I say this? We have no right to blame God for our suffering – because of what Jesus did for us on the cross
I could spend weeks talking about why there is suffering in our world
Ultimately, we go through pain & suffering because there is evil in the world - and evil exists because sin entered our world
I want you to see the eternal hope we have
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
But this hope is only for the believer...
Your afflictions are meant to drive you closer to God
Afflictions are bad - but God’s kindness leads us to repentance - and that repentance leads us to being reconciled with God
If your in a crisis right now, please know: God came down to Earth – humbled himself in all humility in a man's body – was humiliated and tortured, and died on the cross
He suffered for your redemption
And we share in that suffering – so that we can share in his glory
But...your afflictions are only “light” and “momentary” if you place your faith in him
As we close, I wish I could tell everyone that Christians are not called to suffer afflictions
I don’t know of a single Bible verse that promises every person deliverance from suffering on Earth
I don’t have time to go into it, but I believe our suffering on Earth will play a big part in our eternal character and glorification in heaven
My encourage you to walk closely with the Lord - and try to avoid bringing on your own version of suffering
God does protect us when we are walking with him
When we glean only from his field
But sometimes he allows afflictions when we are in his will - but those afflictions are meant for his glory
There is a difference: worldly suffering vs. godly suffering
For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
(Pray…)
Communion
Communion
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.