The Message of Matthew

Psalm of the day: Psalm 90

Scripture Reading: Psalm 2:7-9 (Forrest)

Sermon

GMC! I was Glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord!

FCF/Intro: So today is a fun day, it is an exciting day, and in some ways it is a scary day. We are starting a new series. Moving from the prophecy of the OT in the book of Isaiah, to a Gospel in the NT that tells us specifics about the one whom all of Isaiah’s prophecies were about!

I had a bit of an epiphany, if someone were to come to just last weeks and this weeks sermons, they would probably come to a very wrong conclusion about how we usually do sermons here, because like last week, my goal is to look at the book as a whole, so today we are looking, in some respects at the whole book of Matthew, but if you really want to turn your bibles to somewhere, I would recommend Matthew 28.

But before we dive in, as always, lets begin with a word of prayer.

PRAY

So today my goal is to help us understand what I call the “melodic line”, but let me explain what I mean by “melodic line”… Indiana Jones theme.

But today, unlike last week, we do not have the benefit of an entire series through the book of Matthew to help us understand. So I want to help us with another tool that WE can use to help determine the melodic line: Tips and tails.

If we start with the very tip (which we will fully dive into next week...) we would read this:

Matthew 1:1 ESV

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

SO this is a book of Jesus Christ. part of the melodic line is that we are going to be introduced to Jesus, but we need to understand the Jesus we are being introduced to, he is Jesus Christ.

Many of us hear this and think that is his name. First name Jesus last name Christ. but this is not the case., Directly translated Christ would be “anointed one” or even more to the point, King. SO this is a book about king jesus. but not just generic king jesus, king jesus son of David.

and when we think of David we should immediately think back to the convent God made with David that there would be a descendant of his who would sit on the throne forever. So there is anticipation, is this the forever king promised David? Matthew will tell us surely that he is.

but he is not just son of David, he is also son of Abraham. the OTHER person that God made covenant with, this time to make into a great nation that will be a blessing to the whole earth.

so just in one sort verse, that we might often skip over, we see that Matthew wants us to see that this is about Jesus, Jesus who is King, and the king who will be a blessing to the whole earth.

And to triple down on this thought we are introduced quickly to some people from around the proverbial whole earth when the wise men come.

Matthew 2:1–2 ESV

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

SO the tip of the book, the opening is showing us that this is going to be the book on King Jesus, the king of the whole world that is due all honor and worship. that's how the tip handles what I would call the melodic line, but to help us see this more clearly lets look a the tail. Again I said you can turn to Chapter 28, this is not a full look at chapter 28 that is a LOOOOONG time from today, but the same thoughts are said in a beautiful way in what we would call the great commission, and it is through that lenses I would like to look a the book of Matthew.

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

there are three ALL statements here that are worth looking at, if you are cheater and want to fill out the rest of your outline it will be really easy now, because these all statements (of which there are three in this passage) are the highlight of the melodic line. , but i will warn you now, the last one might trip you up...

and we open on jesus making a strikingly bold claim, that he has ALL AUTHORITY.

Jesus has ALL AUTHORITY

We have all heard the great commission before, and many of us take these thoughts for granted, but lets just think about how bold this statement is. First think about your ow life, is there even a place where you can say you have ALL authority.

Family?

Church?

Work?

But he is not claiming authority in personal spheres. he is claiming ALL authority in heaven and earth. and can I confess: I believe him.

this becomes the ultimate question: do you believe the truth claims of Jesus. WE live in a world that does not. Maybe you have seen the licensee plate driving around. it says, (and I think the people that have these think they are soo clever) COEXIST. and while I think we should coexist if that means that we will not go around killing each other. I cannot coexist if that means I have to believe that they are just as right as Jesus is. Because here jesus is saying I have all authority, I share it none. i am King, I am only King. I am the way the truth the life.

and this is a claim that Matthew seeks to back up. As we go through Matthew one of the things we have to understand is that this is a defense, he is making the case for believing the claims of Jesus over and against any other claim that would be set against him. It is not believe jesus, or something else, the message of Matthew is believe in Jesus ALONE, because he has all authority.

and much like the chair that you are sitting on that are stable and trustworthy because of the four legs that are holing it up, there is a fourfold nature to the argument that Matthew makes.

leg one is FULFILLMENT. more than any other New Testament writer Matthew takes us to the Old Testament. He shows us that Jesus can make these claims because he is the one that all of the words of God were pointing to. chapters 2-3 and the birth of Jesus are rife with this thought: this append to fulfill what was written: here or there. but then over and over again Matthew tells us to look at Jesus, then look to the Old testament. He can make bold claims because he is the fulfillment.

the second leg is teaching. Matthew has written his whole book based around five what we would call discourses. There is the sermon on the mount, the longest uninterpreted portion of Jesus teaching there is a sections of parable discourse where Jesus teaches. five times Matthew breaks into powerful and important times when Jesu would teach. his teachings back up his claim to all authority.

Third is his character. Here in Matthew we will meet King Jesus the perfect, compassionate, passionate, wise, loving, stern yet kind savior of the world. His perfect character is on display.

and Finally we have the miracles. Have you ever wondered why we have miracles in the bible? is it for us to say: wow, this is cool? a little bit. Is it to draw a crowd? no, in fact, he flees the crowds that start to gather because of the miracles. fundamentally the miracles show us who jesus is. He will feed thousands, to show that he is the king who provides, he will calm the storm to show he has authority over creation he will heal the parasitic and the blind and deaf to show his authority over that realm too. as some free advice when you are about any miracle of Jesus ask: what does this teach me about HIM? His miracles show us who he was, he is the one with all authority. that is the jesus we will discover in Matthew.

and he is the Jesus who saves ALL NATIONS.

Jesus saves ALL NATIONS

We are called, by the one with whom all authority has already been granted to go and take the message of this king to all nations.

COMMERCIAL FOR FAULT LINES

Romans 1:16 ESV

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

And this thought will permeate all of Matthew, we saw it in the foreign wise me coming at his birth, we will see it when he interacts with the Samaritans, as he goes about his business, even in his crucifixion. Matthew tells us that there was a plaque above his head that said here is Jesus, king of the Jews, but John tells us this thought was written in Aramaic, Greek and Latin. The message was for the whole world. again we will see that some will reject this, to their detriment, for there is no other name by which men can be saved, but the message of Matthew is the message of Christ is far racing. it extends to all nations.

but there is one more thought, and that is what do we do with this king, the one what saves the whole world: we owe him ALL ALLEGIANCE

Jesus demands ALL ALLEGIANCE

one we are to be his disciples, that is what is made around the whole world, Disciples, followers of Christ. More than any political party, more than any national allegiance we are followers of Christ, we are his disciples, but then note the last all phrase, teaching them to observe ALL that i commended. Two thoughts as we end. one. we are to do ALL that he commanded. Matthew does not leave room for us to halfway follow Jesus. it is Matthew that has the terrifying thought in the sermon on the mount: Matthew 7:21-23

Matthew 7:21–23 ESV

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

we must follow him completely, as he says in Matthew 8 with the thought that the dead can bury the dead. we must observe ALL that he has COMMANDED

and that is the second major thought here. We are going to come face to face with king jesus. and we must make a decision: as we see him are we willing to do ALL that he commands. Will we give up our life, we will give him all allegiance, forsaking all others will we follow him, love him, serve him He has all authority, he saves all nations, will you give him all allegiance.

Lets pray.