The Submissive & Sovereign Christ

There’s an old hymn that says:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

We’ve been reminded lately in the gospel of Matthew that people often let us down.

The disciples couldn’t understand a basic teaching on false doctrine. They thought Jesus was talking about food in chapter 16.

Peter tried to get Jesus to circumvent the cross twice in chapters 16 & 17. Jesus had to strongly rebuke Him.

The disciples couldn’t help a poor man whose son was possessed with a violent demon in chapter 17. Jesus called them faithless and perverse.

People will let us down. Even those people who are closest to God will let us down.

For that reason, our eyes are to be upon Jesus.

The Bible is about Jesus. So many people make the mistake of believing the Bible is about themselves. So when they read the bible they read it with their mind focused on self.

That’s the wrong way to read the bible. We read the Bible to learn about Jesus. In learning about Jesus we learn about ourselves.

We learn about the love of Jesus- I need to love.

We learn about the forgiveness of Jesus- I need to forgive.

We learn about the obedience of Jesus- I need to obey.

We learn about the power of Jesus- I’m weak.

We learn about the compassion of Jesus- I’m indifferent.

Learning about Jesus reveals that we are in need of forgiveness of sin and Divine empowerment to live the way He lived.

This morning I want to show you three things about Jesus from this text:

The Obedience of Jesus (22-23)

The Humility of Jesus (24-27)

The Sovereignty of Jesus (27)

1. The obedience of Jesus (22-23).

A. The conversation of the cross.

Jesus is blunt with the disciples.

He started this conversation with them in 16:21- He must go to Jerusalem.

He took Peter, James and John up the mountain.

He returned and cleaned up a mess the nine disciples had made.

He then returns to the conversation of the cross.

In 16:21 Jesus spoke of the necessity of the cross- He MUST go to Jerusalem, suffer, die and resurrect. Salvation depends on this.

In 17:22 He speaks of the certainty of the cross. The Son of Man SHALL...

There is no talking Jesus out of this.

Jesus mentioned the cross again in 17:12.

Three times in a short period of time Jesus talks about the cross.

Why?

1. Perhaps so the disciples would understand it. They seemed to dismiss it when He talked about it.

2. Perhaps so they would know that He was not taken by surprise when He is crucified.

3. Perhaps because it was always on His mind.

There is a principle for us:

Jesus spoke often about the cross, we should as well.

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners! (1 Timothy 1:15).

We speak about the cross often because in the cross there is:

Forgiveness

Hope

Grace

Victory over death

B. The commitment to the cross.

Jesus words were not the result of Him merely knowing the future. The cross was His idea.

In eternity past Christ ordained the cross. The Bible says Jesus is the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8).

This wasn’t the High priest’s plan.

This wasn’t Pilate’s plan.

This was God’s plan.

Acts 2:23 says of Jesus “Him being delivered by the determinate counsel of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain”.

God ordained how His people would be saved and His method was the cross.

Jesus life was not taken, it was given. Given by Jesus Himself. If anyone could have escaped the cross it would have been Jesus. But Jesus voluntarily laid down His life for the sins of the world.

We don’t willingly do things that cause us pain or suffering.

We don’t even willingly drive into traffic jams. We take the detours.

Our GPS will even warn us that traffic is slow ahead or there is an accident. It will then offer a detour. It gives us a way to circumvent the discomfort of traffic.

Christ willingly walks into pain and suffering we could not even imagine.

The Bible says in Philippians 2 that Jesus humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

Obedient unto death!

We never even think of that!

The Doctor tells us to be obedient unto life:

If you don’t get your blood sugar under control…

If you don’t have this operation…

If you don’t make some lifestyle changes…

Our concern is to be obedient unto life.

Jesus was obedient unto death. That’s how committed Jesus was to bringing glory to God by our salvation.

C. The concern of the disciples.

They were exceeding sorry. They were greatly grieved.

Peter didn’t tell Jesus to stop talking like that this time.

It was starting to sink in.

I don’t know if you’ve ever had to accept the fact that someone you love is going to die soon, but it isn’t easy.

Some people refuse to accept it.

Some people refuse to think about it.

Some people get angry.

Some just grieve.

Mark 9:32 says they were afraid to ask Jesus to explain any further.

It’s difficult to speak with someone about their death. When we are with someone who is about to die we don’t normally talk about their death.

The disciples quietly grieved over Jesus’ commitment to the cross.

2. The Humility of Jesus (24-27).

A. A question is asked.

The disciples travel back to Capernaum- Peter’s hometown.

They were probably staying in Peter’s house. A tax collector comes to Peter and reminds him that Jesus has not paid the Temple tax.

“Does your Master not pay tribute?”

This was a Jewish tax. Wasn’t enforced by the Romans. It was for the purpose of the Temple.

Exodus 30:11-16 said every Jewish male over 20 had to pay this annual tax.

Maybe they thought Jesus disagreed with paying this tax. He disagreed with the religious leaders on other things.

The fact is, Jesus hadn’t paid the tax. But neither had Peter.

Peter quickly answered that his Master did indeed pay taxes. He had probably seen Jesus pay taxes before.

But neither of them had paid this tax.

Jesus could have made a case for not paying this tax:

The Temple would be unnecessary in just a few months. Christ would die, veil would split.

The temple would be destroyed in AD 70. Jesus warned them about this (Matthew 24).

He is God. God isn’t obligated to pay taxes. He owns it all.

B. Jesus answers the question.

When Peter arrives, he doesn’t even get a chance to ask Jesus about it.

The bible says Jesus starts talking to Peter first. Jesus asks Peter a couple of questions:

Who do the kings of the earth take taxes from?

Do they require taxes from their own children or from strangers?

Kings were supported by the taxes of the people. They had far more power than Presidents do. They didn’t require their own children to pay the taxes. They were exempt because they were part of the royal family.

Peter answered Jesus “From strangers.”

Jesus said, “Then the children are free.”

The Temple is Jesus Father’s House. Jesus is the Son of God. If the tax is given to God, then surely the Son of God is exempt from the tax.

C. Jesus humbles Himself.

We wish Jesus would stop there!

“I’m a child of God! I’m free!”

But He doesn’t.

He says, “Lest we should offend them.”

Jesus humbles Himself and pays a Temple tax so that it doesn’t cause unnecessary conflict. Jesus doesn’t want to spend His time arguing about taxes.

We have an old saying in the USA

The only thing you can be sure of is death and taxes!

Jesus submitted Himself to both.

It seems that this was a problem with early believers. Paul had to write about this issue in Romans 13:6-7

For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

It’s a sin to not pay your taxes.

It’s a sin to work under the table.

Christ humbled Himself, paid taxes and He was not obligated to. We are obligated to. We certainly should do it.

3. The Soverignty of Jesus (27).

A. A moment of sovereignty.

We have seen Jesus submit Himself to death.

We have seen Jesus submit Himself to taxes.

Jesus is about to show us that His submission is voluntary. The truth is all of creation must submit to Him.

We’ve seen the wind obey Him.

We’ve seen the waves obey him.

We’ve seen the weather obey Him.

Now we are going to see the fish obey Him.

Jesus tells Peter to go fishing.

With a hook. Only time in NT we see this.

Makes it more difficult. With a net you catch a lot of fish and have a better chance of catching a fish with money its mouth.

Peter has one chance.

We might could understand if Jesus said go get one oyster and there was a pearl in it. But what are the chances a fish will have a coin in its mouth?

Remember, this one coin is going to have to be enough to pay for taxes for two people. The coin was called a stater.

Someone has to lose a slater in the water.

A fish has to come by and scoop it up in its mouth.

That same fish has to bite the hook of Peter.

This is a statistical impossibility.

I’ve caught a lot of fish. I’ve never caught one with money in its mouth.

Notice it says the first fish. This makes it even more difficult!

Peter takes off fishing. You don’t have to tell him twice.

He catches a fish. It has a coin in its mouth. The coin is the exact amount needed to pay taxes for Peter and Jesus.

He handed it to the tax collector.

The tax collector said, “There’s something fishy going on here.” That part is not true, but the rest is.

Why did Jesus do it this way?

To show He is sovereign!

To show He is all powerful!

Yes He submitted Himself to death!

Yes He submitted Himself to taxes.

But don’t take that for weakness. He is sovereign over everything, even the fish in the sea.

B. A miraculous story.

I know some of you may not believe this story. It is an odd one. But there have been some odd things found inside fish. I did a little research. I’ll share two stories with you.

Ricky Shipman lost his wallet in 1972 on a beach in North Carolina. Eleven years later he got a call from a restaurant owner in South Carolina. The owners friend was cleaning a Spanish Mackerel and found Mr. Shipmans drivers license inside of it.

Andrew Cheatle thought his cellphone was lost forever after it slipped from his pocket on a beach and washed out to sea. A week later, however, Cheatle received a call from fisherman Glen Kerley saying he had retrieved the phone from the stomach of a 25-pound cod.

He removed the SIM card and was able to contact the owner of the phone. It was a Nokia and surprisingly after it dried out it started working again.

Those are odd stories, but Peter’s is a God story.

I bet you have some of those. There are times when God provides for you in ways that surprise you.

One of the good things about not having a lot of money is it gives God the opportune it to shine in your everyday life.

It’s hard to thank God for daily bread if you haven’t had to pray for daily bread.

Peter didn’t have the money to pay his taxes but God paid them for him.

Peter’s story was a coin in a fish’s mouth.

Maybe yours is:

Money in a pants pocket that had been there for a while.

A refund you didn’t know you were getting.

A stranger who showed up at just the right time when you were stranded on the side of the road.

One of my favorite stories is a friend who promised his daughter he’d buy her a coke after softball practice. His wife called and told him to pick up a bell pepper on the way home. He didn’t have enough money for a bell pepper and a coke. When he was walking across the parking lot he saw a bell pepper. He picked it up and bought a coke!

The providence God is meant to glorify the Lord and bless us.

Jesus is sovereign. He is working all things together for our good and His glory.

The obedience of Jesus

The humility of Jesus

The Sovereignty of Jesus