2.21.25 5.18.2025 Conflict Amid the Call Matthew 9.1-17

Start:

Entice: Our gospel has been somewhat domesticated. Through thousands of years, by millions of disciples, the Church has dominated human culture and defined social structures. Which is ironic, because that is not how it all started! Jesus was thought a rebel and the message of the cross was understood to be a revolutionary and dangerous message. And that was the opinions of religious people!!

Jesus, who sought to know no-one except as neighbor had many adversaries. It was their choice, not His. 

Engage: Why the conflict? Jesus performed ministry in such a way that it challenged how people defined and described spiritual or religious individuals. Jesus ministered with high expectations and high grace. For Jesus, principles were as important as the rules, and hurting, sinful people needed to feel God’s saving grace. 

Expand: The environment should have favored what Jesus said and did. So, why the opposition? Many were heavily invested in the status quo.  In today’s text we see Scribes, Pharisees, and disciples of John the Baptist. These are “spiritual” people. They want to please God and they so badly misunderstood Jesus that they opposed Him. WHY? Clearly They didn’t want the kind of spiritual revolution inaugurated by Jesus. Even today the structures of the cultural church and society in general will work to keep ministry confined to acceptable ghettos of religious good deeds. Jesus liberates us so that we may offer the gospel to those who are impacted by the real consequences of sin: those who are crippled, outcast, or misunderstood.  Today we will look at several episodes from the life of Jesus that challenge us to serve as He served accepting and transcending the circumstances.

Excite: It does not matter where or when, because we are disciples ofJesus. . . .

Explore:

Real ministry will encounter opposition and conflict. 

Expand: Jesus does not really argue with those who object to what He does, He simply addresses objections to His ministry by engaging in acts of ministry. 

Body of Sermon: The first act is shown by an

1 Instinct for Service.

Matthew 9:1–8 ESV

1 And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. 2 And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” 3 And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” 4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” 7 And he rose and went home. 8 When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

This instinct for service looks to 

1.1 Meet ultimate needs.

The greatest human need is spiritual not physical wholeness. Forgiveness of sins. That should be our first instinct, to take a person’s “spiritual temperature.” 

Then we can work to 

1.2 Meet immediate needs.

What is most important is not always the most noticeable. Like Jesus we need to diagnose the real issue. What cripples a someone spiritually as well as what cripples a person physically. 

Which leads to the next act of ministry which is an

2 Invitation to Discipleship.

Matthew 9:9–13 ESV

9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. 10 And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

2.1 Call.

2.2 Conversations.

2.3 Compassion.

Finally, Jesus redefines the

3 Institutions of Spirituality .

Matthew 9:14–17 ESV

14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

Institutionalized spiritual practices can accelerate or impede growth. Jesus goes beyond the institutions of His religious upbringing by a change of focus. 

First,

3.1 Focus upon the Bridegroom.

A party for the present Lord…

Next, Jesus expects us to 

3.2 Focus on content not containers.

Wine not skins. Opportunities not obstacles. Inclusion not exclusion. The beverage not the bottle. 

Jesus understood that an eternal message will, throughout its history, be contained within, transform, and then transcend many containers. Our concern is for the unchanging wine, not the ever-evolving wineskins. 

When we are concerned about the message more than the means, when we can 

3.3 Focus on outcomes.

Everyone knew what happened when new wine exceeded the capacity or strength of a wineskin. It burst and erased both container and content. We must be concerned with the outcome. What is the desired end? How does the gospel have impact in any one or any number of containers? 

The historic church has spent a lot of time misunderstanding how the Gospel fits into cultural and social containers. We must never risk the gospel by using outdated containers, or by falling so deeply in love with the means that we compromise the message. 

Shut Down

We read and study the Gospels, I try and faithfully preach from them because the Christian faith has become domesticated.

By culture.

By power and money.

By the Church.

We like a Jesus we can control and a Message we can manipulate.

We read the Gospels because the Jesus we meet in them is no more impressed by our excuses or impediments than he was by those who questioned Him during His ministry.

We too will be questioned by enemies and friends. We will find allies and antagonists. We will need to choose how we will speak and live out our faith in ever-evolving contexts with constantly changing “wine-skins.” This is the life we have chosen.

Following Jesus means allowing Him to mold us more that friend, or foe, or curious onlooker. They are not the enemy. They need us to go beyond conflict to offer them the redeeming message of Jesus.