Matthew Part 6

Intro:

Recap

Birth of a king

Route of king

Telling of a king

Coronation of a king

Test of a king

And now Jesus is going to begin His earthly ministry

Matthew 4:12–25 NIV

12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali—14 to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: 15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” 17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him. 21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. 23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.

We’ve gone from Jesus’ baptism to His test and now His earthly ministry

There’s probably some sort of chronological gap that’s taken place between where we left off in v.11 to where we arrive in v 12.

Here we see that John the baptist has been put in prison which we will hear more about in chapter 14

but because of this threat and danger Jesus moves to Galilee

And although John has been arrested we will see that there is still no loss of excitement for the thrust of John’s message.

So there’s a transition here

obviously a physical one

but also, as Jesus moves from Nazareth to Galilee He is also moving into His earthly ministry

and how does His earthly ministry begin? By Jesus preaching the same message as John the Baptist

We talked about this specific message back in week 3 of this series so we won’t spend anymore time on it’s meaning here

But it is likely that this isn’t the only thing Jesus is saying as He preaches but here Matthew adds nothing more

So, yes, Jesus will offer much more than John, but, in Matthew’s view, nothing less.

Here is where I would encourage us this morning

As believers we are called to spread the kingdom of God

To share with others the good news of the gospel

You don’t have to be a theologian to do that

You don’t have to go to seminary, be a pastor or elder

Our first step in spreading the kingdom of God is living it out ourselves

The second is sharing it as simply as Jesus puts it here.

Repent:

You are a sinner and there’s nothing you can do on your own to save yourself

You need a Savior

Repent, turn away from you sin

For the kingdom of Heaven:

There is a King in Heaven who loves you and has taken on your sins

Has paid the price that you could not afford so that you don’t have to

Because of that, you have been invited into the kingdom, under the Lordship of Jesus Christ

Has come near:

You have been invited into a relationship

The heart of the king is not religion, it’s not rules, it’s a relationship

The King wants a relationship with you and He has made himself available to us. He has come near

That’s it. You don’t have to explain details of calvinism and arminianism. You don’t have to unravel the complexity of your eschatological view.

You can simply share the good news of our King

It’s what we are called to do. If we are to become more like Jesus it’s what we will do

It starts with you.

Parents, share it with your kids.

Bosses, share it with your employees

Coworkers, share it with your other coworkers

Brothers, sisters, share it with your family

Then we see Jesus begin to call His disciples

So if you are unfamiliar with this idea it was a pretty common practice

Men who had were knowledgable, often powerful and influential would call on other men to be their disciples

These men would then follow their teacher around and try to learn as much from them as they could in hopes to become like them one day and possibly do the same for someone else.

The same is happening here.

Now there are a few things we can learn from the kingdom of God from this interaction with Jesus’ first disciples

Kingdom is about character

isn’t concerned with your credentials but rather, your character

It doesn’t look at what man has or has accomplished it looks at the heart.

Usually when men would call upon disciples they chose the best of the best

The brightest of the brightest because these men would become a representation of you

So if you’re disciples didn’t live how they should that might mean they’ve learned that from their teacher

If you’re disciples didn’t know the things they were supposed to know that may mean they have a bad teacher

But here, Jesus doesn’t go out and choose what we would consider the best and brightest. He chooses fishermen.

He was able to see their hearts, their character, their passion for people

The kingdom prioritizes the heart over everything else

Kingdom is disruptive

The call to live as Christ has called us to live often happens when you least expect it

The call to do kingdom works, often happens when you don’t believe that you are ready

The call to kingdom work will often call you out of what you are comfortable with into the uncomfortable

The call to kingdom call us out of what we know into what we don’t. Faith

These men were doing what they always have done. Fishing. It was something they loved, something they knew, something they were comfortable and I would imagine that they last thing they expected that day was for the King to walk by and say “follow me”

It’s often abrupt, disruptive, unexpected

Kingdom is urgent

We don’t have time to play games

There are lives at stake

There are families at stake

Our community is at stake

Our world is at stake

And so the kingdom doesn’t need people who sit on their hands and wait until it’s too late

The kingdom needs people who are ready to fight, who are ready to charge hell with a water pistol knowing that “If the King is for me then who can be against me.” I’ve got the King of the world on my side and there’s nothing that anyone can do to shake that

Right now we have brothers and sisters in Afghanistan who are truly under persecution

Who right now probably as we speak are trying to decide whether they will continue to follow Jesus or die.

I read an article where a man of one of the underground churches there said that they completely anticipated to meet Jesus face to face in the coming weeks or even days.

He said, “I can’t wait” “But until then I will serve Him gladly.

Now how is that possible? Because a man like that truly understands the kingdom of God. He may not be able to make sense of it all but He knows that this world (kingdom) has nothing to offer and to serve the one true King is worth it all, even his life.

The kingdom call is urgent guys, we don’t have time to waste.

Look at how these disciples responded

Matthew 4:20 NIV

20 At once they left their nets and followed him.

Matthew 4:22 NIV

22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

It was immediate, without hesitation.

Kingdom is urgent

Then we close out chapter 4 with Verses 23-25

Matthew 4:23 NIV

23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

To lump this into one idea, you can think of this as Matthew giving His readers the King’s credentials.

Here is what King Jesus did

He taught in Synagogues (churches)

He would proclaim the good news of the kingdom

That phrase good news is where we get the word “gospel” from

So notice that Jesus is preaching the gospel before the cross has even happened

How can He do that?

Well He’s preaching kingdom

Yes, the cross is a big part of that

But what the cross represents in it’s broadest form, salvation

kingdom preaches, yes salvation, but also much more

It preaches protection, security, governing authority, right living, relational responsibility and the list goes on

So, Jesus is here preaching the kingdom. Yes salvation, even though they didn’t know yet how it would specifically happen, but even bigger than just “hey you’re a sinner and now your saved but truly how to acquire the life and purpose God has intended for you.

That’s what the kingdom is about

So we see Him teaching, preaching and we also see Him....

Healing

I believe the healing/miracles are significant for a few reasons

#1 It shows the divinity of our King

He was doing things that no mere man could do

#2 It shows His compassion for people

People were brought to Him sick and in pain and so He healed them because He was compassionate for them

#3 It confirms once again His right to kingship

Many OT prophesies foretold that the Messiah would come with many signs and miracles.

#4 (and perhaps most evident here in Matthew) These miracles proved that the coming kingdom was a reality

The wonders and signs performed serve as a foretaste to what the fully established kingdom of God looks like

What is shown here in these verses is kingdom in action

I believe it’s a taste of what the kingdom is and looks like

I also believe it’s a picture of what the church should look like

As a church we are called to do these same things.... teach, preach, and heal

Teaching is done to help understanding

If we are standing on our theological high horses unwilling to teach what we may deem as simple truths of the gospel then we have failed as a church

Preaching is done to proclaim and challenge

If we are unwilling to make a stand for the gospel even if it is unpopular or countercultural than we have failed as a church

Healing is done to make right was has been made wrong

If we are unwilling to have enough faith that God can do things that we can not than we have failed as a church

Healing may not always look like making sick people healed, lame people walk, and blind people see (although I believe if God wanted to do that through us He absolutely could)

But I do believe that it always looks like making lost people found, hurting people healed, sad people joyful, angry people content, lonely people connected, dead people alive

If we are doing those things than we have succeeded as a church

Because that’s what the kingdom looks like

So let’s be a church (a people) who look more and more like the kingdom of God every day

Teaching

preaching

healing

Just like Jesus did

pray