Lacking Bread with Little Faith
Matthew: The King and His Kingdom • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 35:36
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· 7 viewsLittle faith forgets past provision; thus, discernment protects faith from corrupt teaching.
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Call to Worship
Call to Worship
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Adoration
Adoration
Confession
Confession
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
[S]eek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Message
Message
1 And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.
2 He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’
3 And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.
5 When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread.
6 Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
7 And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.”
8 But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread?
9 Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered?
10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered?
11 How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
12 Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
39 And after sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.
1 And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.
Blind unbelief demands more signs
Blind unbelief demands more signs
The religious leaders saw the signs by they reject them.
The Pharisees and Sadducees were two prominent sects within Judaism, and they hated each other.
Similar to Democrats and Republicans getting along over an issue.
They agreed that Jesus was a problem.
2 He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’
3 And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
Interpreting the sky without discerning the season.
Interpreting the sky without discerning the season.
Matthew Exegesis
The Pharisees and Sadducees are like meticulous meteorologists who can accurately predict weather patterns based on their careful observations
These men have their loves and loyalties shaped by their traditions.
Their traditions blind them to the reality standing before them.
4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.
This generation of religious leaders were no different from the people of Israel in the wilderness.
Recall that food has always been used by God as a test.
Adam and Eve in the garden (Genesis 3).
Israel in the wilderness wanderings (Pentateuch).
“They [Israel] kept some of the manna till the next day, fearing that there would not be enough manna; they did not trust Yahweh for their daily bread. Worse, instead of passing the test, Israel put Yahweh to the test. Instead of submitting to His trial, they try to put Him on trial, grumbling and quarreling and demanding a different menu.” —Leithart, Peter
7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
These people were no different from Israel of OLD.
Except now their traditions were blinding them to the glory that stood before them.
There is a major turning point here in Matthew’s gospel.
"God delights to increase the faith of His children. We ought, instead of wanting no trials before victory, no exercise for patience, to be willing to take them from God's hands as a means. Trials, obstacles, difficulties and sometimes defeats, are the very food of faith." —George Muller
5 When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread.
Matthew sets up the situation directly after telling us that Jesus fed the five thousand and then the four thousand.
The situation is: a lack of bread.
Little faith forgets past provision
Little faith forgets past provision
The disciples received past provision but forgot the significance.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
As Jesus taught them to pray, they must now live in light of the prayer.
“Give us the necessary bread for tomorrow.”
It’s easy to pray in a sacred way until there is no bread on the table.
Why are the disciples so dense?
It’s not so much a lack of knowledge as a lack of faith.
They had the right knowledge, they’ve seen Jesus provide abundantly for the masses.
It seems harsh that Jesus is upset that the disciples forgot to go to the store.
But not all forgetfulness is the same.
I can forget as an expression of the weakness of my human nature.
To forget is to be human.
But there is a kind of forgetfulness that is not neutral.
It’s a kind of forgetfulness that is actually an aspect of my fallen human nature.
6 Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Why would Jesus warn the disciples about “the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees?”
There was a tradition among the Jews that forbid Jews from buy “leaven” from gentiles.
If you buy leaven from a gentile, it might not be ceremonially clean.
Leaven from a gentle could contain “a mixture of two different kinds of grain and thus break the commandment.” (C. Quarles)
The disciples mistakenly thought Jesus meant literal leaven.
It’s likely that the disciples were hearing Jesus say something like,
“You know how the rule of not buying leaven from the gentiles, well I’m telling you that you shouldn’t buy leaven from the religious leaders.”
7 And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.”
This results in a panic from the disciples because they realize that they didn’t bring any bread with them.
They were thinking Jesus was bringing them His own form of purity codes for buying leaven.
The disciples reasoned,
“If we can’t get leaven from the religious leaders, because we should treat them like gentiles, who are we going to get bread from?”
“If we aren’t allowed to buy from them, then who can we get bread from?!”
They were concerned with how to get bread in this new system that Jesus is bringing.
Forgetfulness produces present anxiety.
Forgetfulness produces present anxiety.
They literally have the bread-maker in the boat with them.
You can perceive things all day long, but if you do not retain what has been gleaned it will short-circuit your life.
The disciples helped pass out the bread Jesus multiplied from His hand.
They helped pick up the twelve baskets, and the seven ginormous hampers.
But here they’re wondering about bread.
Do you see the silliness of what they are discussing?
Forgetful of the character of God.
The disciples saw the miracles, but immediately turned to their own situation and forgot the faithfulness of their Heavenly Father.
Example of an orphan living like an orphan.
In many homes that have went through the process of adoption it’s a common experience that the adopted child will continue to live as though nothing changed.
In one case I’ve heard, a child will steal food from the fridge after dinner.
The child is not hungry, they’ve been fed well.
But they’ll still steal food from the fridge.
What’s going on there?
That child believes that they will go hungry again and they doubt the character of their adopted parents.
Forgetfulness comes from unbelief.
Forgetfulness comes from unbelief.
The disciples forgetfulness here isn’t neutral.
Their forgetfulness springs from unbelief.
They forget because of their unbelief.
8 But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread?
9 Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered?
10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered?
11 How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
These questions are rhetorical.
The beauty of warnings.
God accomplishes His purposes through His means.
So if God is going to preserve one of His own, He often does it through warnings.
He accomplishes His purposes through the warnings themselves.
Discernment protects faith from corruption
Discernment protects faith from corruption
Discernment and faith go hand-in-hand.
Jesus’ goal is that disciples would see rightly and discern teaching.
6 Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Contrary to how Jesus speaks of leaven in Matthew 13:33, here leaven is clearly a negative thing.
Leaven was not taken from a little packet.
Leaven was taken from a small hunk of dough and kept for generations.
Every time dough was needed, a small portion was kept for the next time.
What exactly is “the leaven” Jesus refers to here?
12 Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Leaven can refer to teaching.
Matthew clearly means here that the leaven the religious leaders is their teaching.
Paul will pick up on Jesus’ use of leaven here as a way to speak of how false teaching spreads throughout a church.
7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?
8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you.
9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
And if you’re an insightful Bible reader, you’ll notice that Luke’s account actually says.
…he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
Leaven can also refer to living.
These two texts are not in contrast, instead they work in tandem.
The religious leaders taught in a such a way to add to the Word of God, but their lives were white-washed tombs.
2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, 3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.
Orthodoxy drives orthopraxy.
7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
True teaching always produces true living.
False teaching always creates false living.
What you believe drive how you live.
Application to all believers.
Expository Thoughts on Matthew Matthew 16:1–12: Enmity of the Scribes and Pharisees,—Christ’s Warning against Them
The Pharisees, we are frequently told in the Gospels, were self-righteous formalists. The Sadducees were sceptics, freethinkers, and half infidels. Yet even Peter, James, and John must beware of their doctrines! Truly the best and holiest of believers may well be on his guard!
He warns the disciples of falling prey to the teaching of the religious leaders.
"We should not shrink from opportunities where our faith may be tried. The more I am in a position to be tried in faith, the more I will have the opportunity of seeing God’s help and deliverance. Every fresh instance in which He helps and delivers me will increase my faith. The believer should not shrink from situations, positions, or circumstances in which his faith may be tried, but he should cheerfully embrace them as opportunities to see the hand of God stretched out in help and deliverance. Thus his faith will be strengthened." —George Muller
Discernment watches for subtle teaching.
Discernment watches for subtle teaching.
It will not be the large shifts that destroy most churches.
But the small incremental shifts that destroy the faith of the church.
Discernment examines for substance.
Discernment examines for substance.
3 As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine,4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.
Devoting oneself “to myths and endless genealogies” creates ideas which are “unrelated to reality” (Louw & Nida) or vain speculations.
So instead of the kind of genealogies that say… “Abraham begat Isaac…”
They were going on to things like…
“This angel descended from this heavenly figure, who came from this realm…”
These speculations do not accomplish the “stewardship” or “household management of God that is by faith.”
One way to understand if a person is wrapped about speculations is to examine the fruit of their lives.
5 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
Little faith forgets past provision; thus, discernment protects faith from corrupt teaching.
Little faith forgets past provision; thus, discernment protects faith from corrupt teaching.
