Life to Its Fullest

Introduction

Matthew 4:17 NASB95

From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

In the movie “Bucket List,” Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman are two old men that are facing death. Jack is a millionaire, who has a lot of money, but has a list of things that he wants to do before dying. The movie is about crossing off the items on that bucket list.

If we were to ask anyone, we would all have an idea of a life lived to its fullest and a life that is just wasted. For some, having a boyfriend or girlfriend is their life ambition, a family, an exciting career, traveling, experiences like being in Times Square when the ball falls in New York City on December 31st.

If we want to live a life that is well lived there are some things that we must do so that at the end of our life we will not regret it.

Begin

The verse says that Jesus “began.” This word means:

“to initiate an action, process, or state of being,” Jesus begins His ministry.

William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 140.

There seems to a form of an outline that is seemed to be presented. Chapter 1 -4:16 present the person of Jesus. 4:17- 16:20 presents Jesus’ ministry and 16:21 unto the end of the gospel presents Jesus’ crucifixion and going to the right hand of the Father.

Literary Bridge

We find that Matthew, the evangelist, divides his work. The first part describes the Jesus as a person. Jesus is stated as being the son of David and son of Abraham. He is also the anointed one of God. Matthew presents Jesus’ ascendance, His miraculous birth, the Magi being taken to Jesus, Joseph and the family escaping to Egypt, and their return to explain how Jesus is from Bethlehem but grew up in Nazareth. Jesus is identified with John’s baptism of repentance and Jesus is tested. Jesus comes out of the testing proving that He is the true Son of God.

But now the story is going to shift from the person of Jesus to His ministry. The previous verses state that Jesus is in Capernaum.

Jesus began His ministry

It is hard to imagine that Jesus began ministering right at this moment. We know that in the Gospel of John that Jesus transformed the water into wine. This was done before John’s arrest. Remember that when Mary approached Jesus concerning the lack of wine, Jesus’ reply was that it was not His time. Contextually, Jesus is stating that this is not the time for Him to be giving the “new wine” of the New Covenant.” Jesus is going to establish the New Covenant and one of the aspects of the New Covenant is that there will be blessing of grain and new wine (Jer. 31:12).

While contextually, Jesus says that it is not His times, canonically it seems that Jesus is waiting for John to be arrested to start His ministry. Clearly, there is a moment that Jesus begins His ministry.

Our beginning

There is an application for us. There seems to be a time of preparation for Jesus’ ministry. We know that Jesus was a baby, He grew in hight, He had to be baptized and tested. These events seem to be leading Jesus to begin His ministry.

How about us? Are we preparing to be used of God?

Put into practice

Develop a knowledge of God through reading God’s Word, being discipled, attending church’s bible studies.

Develop the habit of saying no to sin.

Develop the habit of praying to God and asking Him to use you for His glory.

Preaching

Jesus is God. We know from Colossians 1:16 that Jesus created everything. We know from v. 17 that He holds everything together. Scientifically we know that everything we see is made up of molecules. These molecules are a combination of atamos. The molecules are held together by positive and negatives charges in the atoms. But where do the atoms get their charge? How do they keep their charge? Because Jesus sustains everything.

Jesus the creator and sustainer preached. Preach means “to declare publicly a message that was given” (BDAG 2000, 543). This is not a sermon, but rather is the simple process of delivering a message from one person to another. Jesus did not invent the message, rather He just had to deliver it.

Jesus preached

Jesus has infinite power, and Jesus did a lot of miracles. But what sums up Jesus’ ministry is His preaching. He could have done a million different things, but He chose to use preaching to define His ministry.

Jesus preached repentance

Jesus commanded His listeners to repent. This word is an present imperative. Today they were supposed to repent. Repent means to “change one’s mind, to feel remorseful, to convert” (BDAG 2000, 640). We are born enemies of God. We do not seek God because we are

The church should preach

The church, the members, can have a lot of ministries. I have heard of churches that dig wells for villages, open hospitals, provide dental care, care physically for orphans, have sports programs, give English classes. But all of those ministries should be secondary to the preaching of the Gospel. Churches, and therefore church members, should be known for being passionate about telling others about Jesus.

Focused

Jesus’ focus is on the Kingdom of Heaven. This term is used 32 times in the Gospel of Matthew. What is the Kingdom of Heave?

Theocratic reign

God is always reigning, but right now God allows Satan to have dominion in this earth. God will establish a kingdom that will begin with the Second Coming of Jesus and will extend into eternity.

Not the Garden

This is not taking things back to the garden of Eden. Rather, it is moving forward to something better. Adam and Eve were in a unconfirmed holy state, but believers hace Christ’s righteousness.

We can practice now

While we cannot bring in God’s kingdom, we can live daily acknowledging that God is sovereign over all.

Conclusion

You can only live a good life if you live for God.