Matthew 22:15-46, "Jesus Changes Things"

Jesus Changes Things

Living in the day to day, it is easy for eternal realities to seem so distant. One of our biggest challenges is getting caught between a decision that seems to benefit us immediately and a decision that will benefit us eternally.

In our passage, Jesus’ opponents ask Him three questions to trap Him in moral and religious dilemmas. After His profound answers to those three questions, Jesus asks them a question to help them see that He is the promised Messiah, the Lord, and the Son of God ().

Once we discover that Jesus is Lord, it changes the way we look at things. He is the one who designed our world the way and shows us how to understand our world. How does the Lordship of Christ change our understanding of our world?

1. The Lordship of Christ and the Government. Live as good citizens but remember you belong to God ()

a. Jesus changed the way we relate to the state when He brought us into His kingdom. We belong to two kingdoms.

b. Government is a gift for a well-ordered society ().

c. The limit of any government is the conscience of the individual before God ().

d. Jesus’ disciples contribute to creating a peaceful and just society ().

2. The Lordship of Christ and Marriage. Marriage and family are good things, not ultimate things ()

a. Jesus changed the way we relate to marriage when He purchased eternal life for us.

b. Marriage provides a picture for Jesus’ relationship with His Church ().

c. Even a “long” marriage is very short compared with eternity.

d. Compared with God, we are to “hate” even our families ().

e. Whether single, married, divorced or widowed, our calling is the same. Live to Christ whatever our situation ().

f. Marriage becomes stronger when Christ, not the marriage itself, is at the center.

3. The Lordship of Christ and Love. Agape (love) looks beyond self-interest ()

a. Jesus changed the way we relate to others by showing us true agape (love) ().

b. The Greeks identified four types of love. Philia, Eros, Storge, and Agape.

c. Our culture idolizes the first three without truly understanding or loving with agape, which we only learn from God.

Jesus is the Lord who loved us and shows us how to love wherever we go. As we demonstrate the love of Christ within our country, our marriages, our families, and neighborhoods we point our very lost culture to their ultimate hope – a relationship with Jesus Christ, which changes everything ().