Sunday, September 30, 2007

How Could He Explain to Us His Kingdom?

“I Will Open My Mouth in Parables”

(Matthew 13:24-43, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, September 30, 2007)

Matthew 13:24-43 24 He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?' 28 He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' So the servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' 29 But he said, 'No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'" 31 He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." 33 He told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened." 34 All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. 35 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world." 36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." 37 He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Introduction – The King of Afghanistan

We are so used to hearing the parables of Jesus that we can easily lose sight of how surprising they were. His parables were largely about one subject, the kingdom of heaven. There is a great variety in these parables because the kingdom of heaven is a large topic, and also one that was hard for the people of Jesus’ day (and maybe for the people of any day) to understand.

When we think of a kingdom we think of a monarch ruling over a particular territory. Even among the kingdoms of this world, not all of them are easily understood. I was reading an account recently of the death of the king of Afghanistan. I was not aware that Afghanistan had any kind of king. He was removed in the early seventies, but managed to live relatively quietly during three very tumultuous decades. He came to his position of authority at about the same time that Franklin Roosevelt and Adolph Hitler came onto the world scene, and lived into his nineties. To live that long is always impressive, but to do so in a land where life expectancy is in the forties and where possible political leaders were being eliminated by the Russians and the Taliban is really shocking. In any case, to the people of Afghanistan he was known as a king and even honored with the title “Father.” When he died at such an old age he seemed to be a large-than-life hero to many, yet his detractors could also be found.

A kingdom like his is full of mysteries and seeming contradictions. To understand it requires serious consideration and investigation. While it may be difficult to sort through such matters among the kingdoms of this world, how much more difficult is it for us to understand the kingdom that Jesus speaks of in Matthew 13? Consider these facts. The Son of God became man in order to establish His reign in some way in what He refers to as the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God. He came to Israel, His Old Testament nation which was at that time under the control of the Roman Empire. He spoke of His kingdom as being in some way already here, though He seemed to have no political power, and had no particular platform for establishing any civil regime. He came working miracles as signs of His kingdom, and teaching with authority about His reign. It was clear from His words that His kingdom would stretch far beyond the borders of Israel. It also seemed that His kingdom would last beyond His days somehow, and that He would continue to reign forever, certainly eclipsing the grandeur of any human empire, including the Romans. Is it any surprise, given all these amazing things that He taught in an unusual way about this unexpected thing called the kingdom of heaven? His message was beyond their understanding and expectations.

A Man and His Field (24-30)

Instead of a political manifesto, or a theological treatise, we are given here three brief stories about His kingdom. The first one is unusual, since all the details seem to have a meaning. Most of the parables are not that way, and we have to be careful not to over-analyze them by assigning speculative interpretations to specifics that may just be a part of a story. The first parable is an exception, since the Lord tells us what the details mean.

In this story we are given a farming parable from the common experience of His contemporaries. We have a man who is the master of the house, a field where he does his work (apparently through servants), good seed that he plants, and weeds that are planted by an enemy. Everything is growing and it becomes clear that in the place where we are expecting only good crops that there are plants that at least appear to be weeds growing up there as well. The question that the servants of the man ask is this: Should we gather the weeds now? The answer is no. The reason is that in gathering the weeds they might hurt the wheat. This must mean that either the workers might mistake some wheat for weeds, or that the process of pulling out the weeds before the appropriate time will disturb the growth of the wheat. The master of the house assures his servants that a harvest time is coming in due course. There will be appointed reapers at that time, the weeds will be burned, and the wheat will be safely gathered into the master’s barn. In the meantime, the best course is to let both the wheat and the weeds grow. The fact that there are both wheat and weeds in the place where we only expected crops is apparently known to the master, and we need to let that matter rest. Amazingly, this is a story about the kingdom of heaven! Before we get to hear the details about what it means, we hear two other brief parables about this great kingdom.

A Grain of Mustard Seed (31-32)

In the first of these we are directed to the mustard seed, which is very small, and to the bush that comes from that small seed which is very large – even a tree where birds can make their nests. We are told that this has something to do with the kingdom of heaven. Here we do not have to work through the details, but as with most parables, we are supposed to get the main point. That point is that though the kingdom of heaven may seem to have a very small beginning, when it is fully grown it will be larger than anyone might imagine. Certainly this is the case with Jesus’ ministry, which seemed to end with a king dying on a cross and His disciples scattered in fear. Yet from that small number of unlikely apostles, a kingdom was inaugurated based on the death, resurrection, and current reign of the very one who had been crucified.

Leaven in Three Measures of Flour (33)

The final story tells us more about God’s kingdom. Here we have a woman who hides a leavening agent in three measures of flour. Perhaps she mixed the leaven into the flour as we would expect if she were preparing dough in order to bake bread, or perhaps she just decided to hide the leaven in the flour storage area and then went away for some time. That possibility would have made some people who were listening smile, even if they did not understand the point of the parable. The flour barrel was a bad place to hide leaven. But as we smile, maybe we are able to let our hearts and minds be filled with something about the kingdom of heaven from this verse. The growth of this kingdom is mysterious. Somehow our hands are involved, but when all is done, we will be shocked about how some of the small ways that God used us had an amazing impact that we never counted on. Do not underestimate God, His great plan, and even your part in that plan as He builds His kingdom.

The Parable Teller (34-35, 36-43)

Before we come back to the more detailed parable about the weeds and the wheat, we are again brought to think about the reason that Jesus teaches in parables. Here we have a quote from a psalm that reassures us that this method was not some miscalculation on the part of the Lord, but was a sign of the Messiah coming which the Scriptures had foretold. Just as surely as He would open the eyes of the blind, He would come teaching in parables, and would somehow reveal things using not the language of an advertising campaign, but the mystery of speech that seems to conceal a point as much as reveal it. Yet he clearly revealed the meaning to His disciples.

Remember the man and His field? Jesus is the man, and He uses the Messianic title Son of Man to refer to Himself. The field is the world. This is where the kingdom of heaven is being planted and is growing. It is the environment within which the church is being built through the Lord’s good work. The good seed are the children of the kingdom. They are in the world and the church now. They will be in God’s kingdom forever. The weeds are the sons of the evil one. They also are in the world and even at times in the church. The devil is at work disturbing us through the placement of weeds that trouble the kingdom. We must not be too hasty today in identifying weeds, because it is not yet the time for that final judgment, and if we try to do today what is to be done by others at a future point, we may inadvertently trouble the church ourselves. A harvest time is coming. That will be the end of the age, and angels will do the harvesting perfectly on that day, according to the Lord’s eternal plan. Then the sons of the evil one will be cast into hell, and the children of the kingdom will be glorious in heaven.

Brothers and sisters, never dismiss Christ and His church as a failure. Do not be fooled as you see her divisions or as you face your own disappointments. Do not think that our king has abdicated his position, or gone into exile. He is alive. He has taught us about the nature and progress of His reign in parables. While His kingdom may be ridiculed and rejected by many, it will one day be both victorious and glorious. Prefer Him above every dazzling substitute. He is the Lord of heaven and earth; the Lord of the harvest today, and the Lord of the judgment to come.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. Why would God permit an enemy to sow weeds in his field?

2. We know that the field is the world. Where is the church in the parable, since it is a parable of the kingdom of heaven and is teaching us about the church?

3. What are the lessons that we can learn from the two briefer parables in this passage?

4. What does it mean that “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father?”

Sunday, September 23, 2007

For You I'd Wait 'Til Kingdom Come

“A Parable of the Word of the Kingdom”

(Matthew 13:1-23, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, September 23, 2007)

Matthew 13:1-23 1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear." 10 Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" 11 And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: "' You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. 15 For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.' 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. 18 "Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."

Introduction – Thy Kingdom Come

Jesus tells His disciples that this parable is about the word of the Kingdom. More specifically, I think that this story about seed and soils is about the wrenching and surprising way that God brings the Kingdom on earth through His Word and Spirit. As we read the parable, we naturally wonder about our own place in the Kingdom.

Many people pray the words, “Thy Kingdom Come” every week, or even every day, but the final coming of God’s Kingdom can seem so far away from us, and we wonder if we are going to be there. The British band Coldplay has a song with the line “For you I’d wait ‘til kingdom come.” The song was originally written for Johnny Cash to sing, but he died before he was able to perform it. That’s an interesting irony. Do we have the strength that we need even to live and to make it into God’s kingdom?

The Coldplay song is about the love of two people, and the faithfulness of one who will be willing to wait forever for the other. I am sure it must touch the hearts of those who desperately love someone who is far way. I think of the many young wives and girlfriends who are faithfully waiting for their soldier husbands or boyfriends to return from overseas. Many tears have been shed listening to that one song as girls sing those words alone at night “For you I’d wait ‘til kingdom come.” Sometimes the man may not make it home. It is also sadly possible that while the girl may be faithfully waiting for her man, he may not have remained faithful to her. These kind of fears bring tears. She has committed herself to someone forever. Will he be committed to her? Perhaps you can understand that sentiment that says, “I will be faithful ‘til kingdom come.” Is there a God who is waiting for you? Will you be there when His kingdom fully comes? Even your most powerful love for someone may fade. Will God love you forever?

A Parable for the Crowd

A kingdom is coming. The fulfillment of that kingdom involves the promise of one man. Jesus tells one of his most famous stories about getting into the kingdom in this passage. It is a story about a farmer who is planting seed. He has no machine that does the work for him. He moves his hand bank and forth and scatters the seed on the soil.

There are four soils in the story, and only one of them will yield good, healthy, delicious fruit. The first three soils fail. The hard-packed earth of the path won’t yield fruit. The birds will devour the seed. The rocky ground and the thorny soil will fail. Seedlings in one will be scorched by the sun and will die for look of roots. The plants in the other will be choked out by the thorny weeds. Only the good soil will bear fruit, and it will bring a good harvest.

This is the story that Jesus told the crowds. It was memorable, using the language of the work that they knew. But what did it mean? The words he spoke were almost frightening. Even though we are talking only about seeds and plants, they were devoured, scorched, and choked. Amazingly no explanation is given to the crowds.

Why Parables?

This seems to surprise even Jesus disciples. Jesus has been performing great signs of His Kingdom, but who can understand this story? After His talk, when everyone is walking away from this great prophet wondering why He told a story about a farmer and seed, His disciplines plainly ask Him the obvious question. “Why do you speak to them in parables.” Parables make a spiritual point using images or illustrations. Prophets like Isaiah occasionally spoke in parables, but they explained the point to their hearers. The crowd here is given no explanation.

When Jesus’ disciples ask why He teaches this way, He says that He is concealing His message on purpose. He tells them that He is not revealing everything to the crowds, because the revelation of the meaning has not been given to them. In general, when the word of the kingdom is preached, there are some few that will have ears to hear and they will be given a super abundance. Others will have no ears to hear, and they will lose everything. As if to display that fact, that day some were given nothing but stories without explanations. Only the disciples were told more, until a later day when the disciples would preach the word plainly. Even then, not everyone would hear with their hearts and believe. Of course that’s what the parable is about after all. The kingdom comes to you through hearing.

Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah from the sixth chapter when the prophet is brought up into heaven and given his mission by God. The Lord tells Isaiah that people will not listen. The time of the Old Testament is beginning to come to a close in Isaiah’s day. In Jesus’ day the door is about to be finally shut on one way of God dealing with His people, and a new and greater door will be opened through the death and resurrection of the Son of God. The closing of the Old Testament door was necessary in order for the opening of the better New Testament door, not only for Jews but for all of mankind. It still seemed like a horrible thing for Israel to be judged by God for her sin, yet it was necessary in order for the new day to begin. One day the time for this entire world will be brought to a close. At that time I am sure there will be many who will be crying out to God “Why?” But no answer will be necessary. The Lord will simply make the fullness of His Kingdom come (not just the seed or some of the fruit). The Lord will bring the better thing He has planned in the return of His Son and the resurrection of the dead.

Jesus spoke in parables, and though many were confused by this, His promise of a coming kingdom was entirely reliable. We need to trust Him on this. God is working out a very big plan. The timing of when we have ears to hear is in that big plan. Still the story he told is troubling, since we are told what it means. What soil are you?

A Parable for the Disciples

The story has to do with the disciples’ preaching of the kingdom that will begin after the death of our faithful warrior who defeats sin and death for us on the cross. Concerning the seed along the path, there are those who will hear the word of the kingdom, but they will not understand it, the devil will snatch up that word and devour it before they have a chance to think about it again. For the seed on rocky ground, there will be a quick and joyful response to the word of the kingdom, but there will be no real root in the heart, and trouble and persecution will come as a horrible shock, and they will not yield fruit. Concerning the seed among thorns, there are those who will be so caught up in the matters of life that they will not be able to grow from hearing the word. Their spiritual life is choked out by other pressing matters. But the kingdom will move forward in some, like plants growing well in good soil. They will hear the word and understand it and bear fruit according to God’s good plan.

What is this good fruit that some will have? They will have ears that hear, hearts that believe, lips that confess, lives that are used wonderfully by the Lord, suffering that will somehow be endured, faith that will be worked out in love, and hope that will persevere, hope in a coming Kingdom that is here in your hearing now.

Any faithfulness that we have to God and His Kingdom will be an extension of the divine faithfulness of our Savior who went to war for us and died for us. Wonder of wonders, our great soldier did not remain in the grave, but he rose again and from heaven he consoles and empowers us by His Spirit. He gives us gifts from a far country. He grants us heavenly ears, so that we can hear, and renewed hearts so that we can love. Trust Him. He suffered for you. He has entered into His glory. Be faithful and loving, for He is faithful. He is coming back for you. How can you wait for Him until the Kingdom comes more fully? Care for the younger believers as spiritual fathers and mothers care for their children. Be willing to receive care from others, to hear God’s word and to grow.

“For you I’ll wait ‘til kingdom come. Until my days, my days are done. So you'll come and set me free, I know you’ll wait. You’ll wait for me.” Our man does not lie. He has won the victory for you with His own blood. He will never die again, and He will not cheat on you. He is coming back for you. He loves you.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. What could the crowds have understood about the parable if Christ gave no explanation? Could they have understood it accurately with a general knowledge of the Scriptures and an awareness of the ministry of Jesus?

2. Why did Jesus teach in parables? What are some of the positive aspects of this method? How does it reflect the judgment of God against Israel?

3. In what way had Israel become like the nations around them? In what sense is the church like God’s Israel now?

4. What is the meaning of the four different soils in the parable? Are we a mixture of these? What is Christian fruitfulness?

Monday, September 17, 2007

The Miracle Worker

“The Sign of Jonah”

(Matthew 12:22-50, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, September 16, 2007)

Matthew 12:22-50 22 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, "Can this be the Son of David?" 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons." 25 Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26 And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. 30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. 33 "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." 38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you." 39 But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. 43 "When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation." 46 While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. 47 48 But he replied to the man who told him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" 49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

Introduction – The Miracle Worker

In 1882 a nineteen-month old child contracted a devastating fever which almost took her life. While she survived, she was left blind, deaf, and mute. Until she was seven years old she lived in a condition that she later described as “being at sea in a dense fog.” In 1887 her parents hired a teacher, Annie Sullivan from the Perkins Institute for the Blind, to work with their daughter Helen. The child at first only responded with rage to the efforts of her teacher to help her to connect language in the form of signed letters, with the senses that she did possess. Then at the turning point of her life, young Helen Keller was able to connect the feeling of water with the signed word that Annie was teaching her.

The concept of language had finally registered in her heart and she ran to a nearby tree and eagerly received the signs for the letters of a second word, and then on to the step of her front porch to have the letters “S T E P” signed into her hand. In the movie dramatization of her story known as “The Miracle Worker,” Annie Sullivan yells for Mr. and Mrs. Keller to come out of their home to show them what has happened with their daughter, and as the young girl is embraced by her parents, she learns the words “Mother” and “Papa.”

Helen Keller went on to learn how to speak. By touching Annie’s mouth and throat, Helen eventually learned how to use her own voice. After seven lessons she was able to say her first sentence: “I am not dumb now.” Helen went on to learn not only English, but also French, German, Greek, and Latin in Braille. Annie Sullivan died in 1936, Helen lived for 32 years more, dying in 1968, at the age of 88. She is one of the most well-known women of the twentieth century, and the story of her progress has been a tremendous inspiration to many people. It is the story of a long battle against overwhelming odds over the course of many years, a battle that required much perseverance, and that ultimately had a remarkable ending.

In startling contrast to this account, a blind and mute man was brought to the Son of God so many years ago and without any trumpets, and seemingly with absolutely no effort, Jesus Christ healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. The story of Helen Keller is very inspiring, yet at least in some way we can relate to it. The story of Matthew 12 is simply miraculous. It is supernatural. It’s a story of a different world, of a new kingdom. The people who were there did not know what to do with it. They said, “This couldn’t be the Son of David, could it?” The Greek construction that they used anticipates a “No” answer to that question. It was just too hard to believe that the Messianic King was right there.

What is the difference between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan?

Not everyone was thrilled about what they saw. All of them had to question the source of this miracle. It was undeniable that something supernatural had occurred. The Pharisees claimed that the power that Jesus possessed came from the Kingdom of darkness. They gave the credit to Satan or Beelzebul, a name that seems to have come from a God of the Philistines. Perhaps meaning something like “the Lord of the flies,” the name was eventually used in Hebrew literature as an alternative designation for the devil.

The Bible tells us that there are two kingdoms all around us. (Read Ephesians 2:1-10). We were once following the prince of the air, Paul says in the Ephesians. He is now at work in what he calls the “sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” This is the kingdom of darkness. By the mercy and love of God we have now been made alive to a new and different kingdom. We have been saved through our union with Christ in His death and resurrection, and God has “seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Even while we live here on this earth with everyone else, we are now a part of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Since it was acknowledged that the man that Jesus healed was under some kind of horrible demonic oppression, the Pharisees and scribes were very ready to conclude that Jesus must be from the kingdom of the demons, and that it was from the highest authority among that dark realm that Christ had accomplished this healing. Jesus answers this charge by saying that the overturning of demonic oppression cannot come from the kingdom of demons. Instead it is by the Spirit of God that demons are defeated, and the amazing recapturing of territory that had been in the hands of an enemy is a sign that the kingdom of God has come upon you. There are certain things that can only happen through the power of God, and the defeat of Satan’s kingdom is clearly one of these things. There are two Kingdoms that are at war with each other. The coming of Christ and His striking ministry of miracles is nothing short of an overturning of the Kingdom of Satan and an establishment of the Kingdom of God.

The idea of war may seem appealing to some as long as no one has to die, but that is not the way it usually works. The horrifying truth of how the kingdom of God needed to be established was with the death of the hero of the Kingdom. We turn away in horror at that thought. It can’t be that this would be necessary, could it? Jesus himself said, “Father, if there is any other way, take this cup from me.” But there was no other way, and the Kingdom came through the death of the Son of God.

How do we display the signs of the Kingdom that we belong to?

Given that there are two kingdoms, one of Satan, and one of God, it is a very important question as to what kingdom a person belongs to. We are either with Jesus, or not with Jesus. Calling the work of the Spirit the work of the devil is not a good indication of our natural right to be children of God. The tree is known by its fruit, and we should be showing forth the fruit of God’s kingdom in our lives if we believe that we are in the Lord’s household.

Consider your own life. From the reality of your heart; you think, you speak, and you live. This is a very frightening thought. I remember the first time I read through the New Testament and I came to Matthew 12:36. The idea that I would be accountable to God for careless words was more than I could bear. This should lead us to a certain desperation. There seems to be ample evidence that by all rights we (along with all the Pharisees, and all humanity [save One] should belong to the kingdom of Satan. Is there a way out of this, at least some way to get to neutral ground? Yet this passage excludes all neutral ground, and neutrality would not help us. Somehow we need to die to sin and a new life must come, a life of true righteousness. By our own words we will only be condemned.

How is it that bad people can end up in the Kingdom of God?

The only way for a man who has spoken idle words of sin and judgment to be judged acceptable in the sight of God is through the cross. There the sinless One who had nothing of the Kingdom of Satan in Him, took our foul sins upon Himself. We have been marked as those who are cleansed by the blood of Christ, as brothers of Jesus through faith in His Word. In Him we celebrate that our sins have been forgiven, and that our hearts have been cleansed.

The Pharisees and scribes wanted a sign from Jesus that day. Jesus eventually gave the greatest of all signs – the sign of Jonah. Jonah was in the belly of a sea creature, and then came up from that grave in something of a resurrection. How can there be hope for the condemned? Someone greater than Jonah is here, someone greater than Solomon is here even now. Your hope for life can never come from cleaning up your act and defeating your “demons.” Your hope can only come by your identification with the resurrected Lord of the church. His resurrection from the dead was the ultimate miracle from another world. This is what we need in order to take away our blindness and to enable us to sing the praises of God as those who are dumb no more.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. Why were the Pharisees so sure that Jesus was an agent of Satan?

2. What does it mean to speak against the Holy Spirit? Have we done this? What are the consequences of this?

3. Why is God right to judge our careless words? What would He find if He were to judge our words?

4. What is the point of the story about the demons that repossess a man, and about the true brothers and mother of Jesus at the end of chapter twelve?

Sunday, September 09, 2007

A Bruised Reed....

“Hope and Rest in the Name of Jesus”

(Matthew 12:1-21, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, September 9, 2007)

Matthew 12:1-21 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath." 3 He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7 And if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath." 9 He went on from there and entered their synagogue. 10 And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"- so that they might accuse him. 11 He said to them, "Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." 13 Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. 15 Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all 16 and ordered them not to make him known. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: 18 "Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. 19 He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; 20 a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; 21 and in his name the Gentiles will hope."

Introduction

When was the last time that you saw a story of great mercy that really moved you? We ought to be impressed when we see anything close to mercy. Mercy should be more impressive to us then mere words, however correct the words appear to be. September 5th was the tenth anniversary of the death of an Albanian nun who captured the interest of the world. Why were so many people attracted to this little woman who worked for over 40 years in the slums of Calcutta? It was not her theology. It was her mercy.

I recently watched a video of a striking episode of some wild animals that probably displays instinct rather than mercy. It was still very moving because it captured behavior that seems so much like compassion. The video began with a contest between a leopard and a baboon. The leopard won, but as she was carrying away her kill, something surprising climbed out of the fur of the baboon. It was a one-day old baby baboon. Instead of killing the baby as a predator might have, the leopard’s maternal instinct took over. She dropped her kill (the adult baboon), and spent the rest of the night focusing all of her attention upon the helpless baby, protecting it from other dangerous predators in the jungle, and cuddling it in a high safe branch of a tree. It was very moving to watch. It touches our hearts to see something that looks like sensitivity. In fact, if we have no heart for mercy, there is something wrong with us – something that needs correction. The cure for this ailment may be a fresh consideration of Christ.

The story of God’s plan as told in the Bible makes no sense to me without the mercy of God. Mercy is one of God’s essential character qualities together with His justice. His justice rightly demands that evil be punished. Nonetheless, if God had no desire to display the greatness of His mercy, there would have been no point to the birth of Jesus. In fact there would have been no point to creation, the fall, the Old Testament sacrificial system, and so many other things if God was not intent on displaying His tremendous love. Therefore it is not surprising that when the Son of God comes in person, one of the main things that we see in action through His ministry is divine mercy.

Plucking Grain to Eat on the Sabbath

The Pharisees seemed to have a problem with this. At least we can say that they were offended when Jesus chose mercy above blind obedience to the strange rules of their tradition. The battleground was often the fourth commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

The disciples were hungry. They were plucking the heads of grain in the fields and eating them. The traditions of the Pharisees, designed to make sure that you did not even come close to working on the Sabbath, prohibited this plucking of grain, because they feared that it was too close to harvesting, and thus might be thought of as working on the Sabbath. For us it would be like a hungry band of friends taking a Sunday afternoon walk through a generous man’s apple orchard, and picking a fresh apple from a low-lying branch with the owner’s permission. The Pharisee was quick to call that sin and to condemn it. Jesus said it was hunger, and eventually would point them to the higher demands of the law – that the follower of God must imitate God’s kind heart and Jesus’ ministry of restoration.

First Jesus points to two episodes from the Old Testament to challenge their wrong understanding of the Sabbath law. He says David and his followers were hungry when they were running away from Saul, and because they were hungry they did something that did not appear at first glance to be lawful. They ate food that only priests were supposed to eat. They, like Jesus’ disciples, were on a kingdom mission and there was a special need, and they were guiltless in what they did. A second example: The priests themselves do their work on the Sabbath day, and obviously God is fine with their seeming violation of the Sabbath law, since He is the author of their priestly duties. Jesus could have approached His critique of the Pharisaic position from many angles. He seems to first draw attention to the nature of His mission. This is something like a king’s mission – like David and his men. This is something like a priest’s holy work that is being done. Jesus is preaching the Kingdom of God and is preparing to do His great work as our High Priest. He will offer up the sacrifice for sin at just the right time. Let the men eat. There is something greater than the temple here. There is someone more wonderful than thousands of bulls and goats offered in sacrifices here. Jesus our King and Priest has come. He is the Lord of the Sabbath.

Why couldn’t the Pharisees see this? They did not have an eye for the mercy of God. We don’t want to miss this and end up on the side of the Pharisees in this debate. They did not see the good thing that God desired, and they condemned the guiltless. Understand something essential about the God that we worship. He desires mercy.

Healing a Broken Man on the Sabbath

Jesus then goes into a synagogue and heals a man who had a “withered hand.” Once again the Pharisees had interpreted healing as “work,” and therefore they taught that it was prohibited on the Sabbath. They felt strongly enough about this to try to set up this incident as a trap. But they are caught in their own trap. They are exposed as people who cannot be amazed at the power of Jesus. They are exposed as people who cannot love God’s kindness to this man because it comes on the wrong day. They are exposed as people who do not understand Sabbath at all.

God created the heavens and the earth in six days, and he rested on the seventh day. This is how the Sabbath came to be. The Sabbath is the day of perfection and of the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God. When someone goes to heaven they enter the Sabbath rest of God in a new way. Especially when the resurrection comes, all that was wrong in us will be made right. All that was hurt will be healed. Yet the wounds of Christ that He suffered on the cross for us will still appear in heaven testifying to the sacrifice by which we have been made whole.

There is something not right about a hand that is twisted or lifeless. This is not a life-threatening problem. It’s just not right. We all have things like that. Don’t despair if something about you is not quite right. The great Sabbath day of resurrection is coming. But the man with the withered hand did not have to wait for the Lord to come again in order for his hand to be made right. The Lord of the Sabbath was there in the synagogue that day. He did a heavenly sign, a sign of something that needed the touch of mercy and restoration. It was a good thing, and it is lawful to do a good thing, even on the Sabbath. People are of more value than sheep, and you would help a sheep who feel in a pit on the Sabbath day. Surely it is right to restore a man.

Jesus can heal things about people that are not quite right. He can even heal an angry heart. That means that there is plenty of hope for Pharisees too. Remember that many of these same Pharisees plotting to kill Jesus end up in the church before long. Imagine the mercy of someone who would save people who were conspiring to kill him. Who would do that? This is what Jesus did.

My Servant Whom I Have Chosen

From this point we see the Lord of the Sabbath moving out and bringing healing to many people who were following him. The Bible says that he healed them all. How do we understand it? He is God. He is mercy. He is Sabbath restoration. The way that Matthew wants us to understand it is by seeing Jesus as the fulfillment of Isaiah 42:3. Jesus quietly and boldly does what He does because He is the chosen servant of God. He does what He does because He is the long-expected Messiah. “A bruised reed, he will not break.” The word translated “bruised” means battered or broken in pieces. He will not break something even though it is already very broken. He will not remove the flame from something when it doesn’t even seem to have any flame left at all, just a little bit of smoke.

Jesus will restore. He will do Sabbath with people’s lives. He will take what is broken and make it strong. He will take what is clearly extinguished and give it the flame of life again. He will take someone who is without merit, and grant worth to him simply through his sovereign mercy. Even angry Pharisees elected by God will somehow be given hearts that are alive. They will be brought into the fold of the church and will be considered a part of the King’s team. In this Jesus, even the Gentiles will hope. What a merciful Savior! There is hope for the most broken reed because of Him. No matter how broken and lifeless you feel today, put your hope in Jesus name.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. What are some of the reasons why the Pharisees may have spoken up against the disciples that day?

2. Why did Jesus use those two illustrations from Scripture to make His point before He spoke about mercy?

3. Why didn’t Jesus just avoid controversy in the synagogue, and heal the man on another day?

4. What are some of the ways that God “speaks” to us about mercy through natural revelation?