Matthew 17:22-23, “The Shortest Sermons Are the Most Powerful”
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Spring time is here. Birds are returning to their nests. Seeds long dormant are bursting forth to new life. Jesus told us to look to the birds and the flowers to know God’s love for us. Very small things can be very powerful lessons for living.
Today, we have come to one of the shortest sermons Jesus ever preached. But it is powerful.
The Sermon
The Sermon
Matthew 17:22-23
The historical fact of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is central to our faith. It is central in our creeds. From the Apostles Creed:
“He (Jesus) suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.”
Jesus made it clear from the beginning of His public ministry that His death and resurrection was at the heart and purpose of His mission. Our passage today in Matthew 17 is a summary of a message He had been preaching all along.
The Apostle Peter makes Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection the focus of all his evangelistic preaching (Acts 2, 3, 4).
“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—
this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
The Apostle Paul says the cross and resurrection are the core of his message as he spreads the gospel around the Roman Empire.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
Paul says this is of first importance. Before I tell you anything else, you need to understand this…Why is the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus the central message of our faith?
The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Reveal the Glory of God in His Love
The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Reveal the Glory of God in His Love
God demands justice. Every human sin is an injustice commited against God and others. But God is rich in mercy, and even before humans had fallen into sin, He had a plan to save humanity. God had promised to send a Messiah, an anointed deliverer, a priest-king, whose greatest glory would be to lay down his life for us. We read about Him in the prophet Isaiah.
Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall be exalted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
This was God’s plan.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief;
God’s plan was a king who would conquer through love, a priest who would offer His own body as the atoning sacrifice for sin.
The exaltation of the Messiah, His moment of glory, was to suffer and die for the sins of His people. Jesus says this is how He viewed His own death on the cross.
And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
The crucifixion was Jesus’ moment of glory. Like a seed that dies in the ground before it produces new fruitful life, Jesus’ death for our sins was the necessary act for His life to be multiplied in us.
This is the love of God. Every other god demands its worshippers offer the proper sacrifice to be accepted, our God revealed His love by offering Himself as a sacrifice for us when we were still unacceptable.
Every other king pass laws to demand tribute payment from his subjects. In Jesus Christ, God took on flesh to pay for our sin, to redeem us, when we could not pay the debt. In fact, Jesus Christ became sin for us in order to put sin to death in His body to free us and grant us a righteous life.
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Again, this demonstrates the glory of God in His love.
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
So, the death of Jesus redeems us, frees, us, atones for our sin. But that death would be meaningless if not for the resurrection.
It would have been just another tragic death of a good man. But Jesus’ death is made significant by His resurrection. His resurrection was vindication from God the Father that His obedient sacrifice was acceptable. More than that, His resurrection demonstrates the completed work of Christ on the cross. He had demonstrated the love of God in a complete way. In addition, He now has power over death, and He had earned His authority to reign.
Going back to the prophecy of Isaiah, He connects the suffering of Messiah with His completion of God’s will and His resurrected life.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Other prophecies come in the psalms:
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
The love of God the Father for God the Son meant that He bore the pain along with Him, just as any father who loves his suffering child would. So, it was the Father’s pleasure to free the Son from death and restore their pleasure in life. And this is the love they share with us. Though we each will walk through death, if we are united to Christ by faith, His death is our death to sin, and His resurrection is our new life in Him. We can share in this path of life, this joy, these pleasures forevermore when we are united to Jesus by faith.
The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Are the Core of the Christian Life
The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Are the Core of the Christian Life
The way of the cross is the model for the Christian life.
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
Our life, real life connecting soul and body, does not come from food, drink, clothing, family, houses and land. Our life comes from union with Christ. To pick up our cross is to die to our own life, our own priorities, agenda, desires, so that we can be raised with Christ, let Jesus live His life in us.
As Christ has died and been raised, when we are united with Christ by faith, even if we die, we too will be raised. So we are willing to sacrifice so that others will live. We are willing to give generously. We are willing to go the extra mile to serve others. We are willing even to be hated, mistreated, insulted, and misrepresented knowing that Jesus endured all these things for our sake, and if He lives in us, we can endure them for His sake and the sake of others.
All the good things people associate with what it means to live like a Christian only come from dying to self and the resurrected Christ living His life in us. Christianity is not about attending church on Sunday, even Easter Sunday. It’s not about doing good things to make God and our family happy. Christianity is knowing Christ, so deeply and intimately, that we are becoming one, and He is living His life of love and power in us.
It comes at a great cost. We give up our lives to God in Christ. Why? We have a great promise. This is the promise.
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Whenever I am sensing my need, the shortest sermon is the most powerful for me. Jesus Christ was delivered into the hands of men and they killed him, and he was raised on the third day. This fact is the glory of God in His love for me. So what can man do to me? What can I do to overcome the love of God for me in Christ? It’s all been done. This is now my new life,
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Whatever we need comes to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Do you need to know forgiveness or grant forgiveness? Allow the forgiveness of God that is yours in the death of Jesus to be your forgiveness for yourself or someone else.
Do you need power to overcome a besetting sin? Allow the death of Jesus to be your death to sin and His resurrected life to be your power over sin.
Do you need to know comfort and strength to endure suffering? Look to Jesus who suffered for you. He is suffering with you. And His resurrection is your hope that you too will be raised to new life.
Do you need to overcome a hard heart or cynicism? Allow the love of God for you in Christ, who laid down His life to make you, an enemy of God, His friend and beloved child, to break your heart and soften it to Him.
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