There’s no doubt that Matthew 16:13-20 is one of the key texts of the New Testament for so many reasons. In it, we find that Jesus challenged his disciples with two urgent questions and then three follow up statements all of which were designed to bring the 12 to a point where they were put ‘on the spot’ in relation to Jesus’ identity and then also about their own task in the world as the foundation of the church Jesus came to build.
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There are many who presume or assume that Jesus never stood for much, and that he endorsed social developments or changes that we think of! However in Matthew 16:1-12, this is proved to be false. Here, Jesus spoke out strongly both to his disciples about the influence of the Jewish religious leaders, and he also spoke strongly to them! We would do well to hear what he had to say, so that we are well warned and carefully and rightly directed!
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• The Jesus who stands for many causes…
• This Jesus who ‘never criticized anyone’
• After the feeding of the 4,000, Jesus spoke out!
• See in this text that Jesus had to …
Unbelief – not due to a lack of evidence!
He gets us! Make sure you get Him!
The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is one of the most amazing sections of the Scriptures. Thought it has been widely misunderstood and misinterpreted, it means one of the longest sections we have of Jesus’ teaching, especially concerning the way the citizens of the Kingdom of God ought to live. Matthew 5:1-12 is no exception, and in this message (preached by Keith Bell), this demand upon us, as His disciples, becomes clear.
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INTRODUCTION
Unedifying approaches
The structure of Matthew
The structure of the
Sermon on the Mount
PROPOSITION
Jesus’ aim for His disciples is that they be fully trained as citizens of the
Kingdom of Heaven.
Let’s see how He sets about accomplishing His aim.
I START THINKING AS CITIZENS OF HEAVEN
II ONLY ONE INSTRUCTOR
III JESUS’ EXPECTATIONS
SO WHAT
CONCLUSION
REFLECTION: How I will respond to this message
It’s somewhat of an oddity that Matthew records the feeding of the 4,000 in Matthew 15.29-39 so soon after the feeding of the 5,000 in Matthew 14:13-21. But the two incidents are not the same. Matthew wasn’t confused and wrote down the same incident twice. Each of the ‘feeding miracles’ have their own contexts and particulars, so they were certainly different in his mind and in the mind of Jesus! Even so, it sowrth noting that the two miracles – though essentially the same – have their own purpose in Jesus’ ministry.
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• Didn’t we just cover this text??
• This miracle follows the Canaanite woman’s faith
• Where this miracle takes place…Gentile territory
• See in this text how we are told about …
The physical needs are most felt…
The spiritual needs are more urgent!
It’s interesting to note how matthew has recorded the meeting between Jesus and the woman from Canaan directly after his comments relating to who is ‘clean or unclean’ and who is ‘defiled or undefiled’…because this woman was most certianly ‘unclean’ as well as ‘defiled’ in the eyes of the Pharisees and even in the eyes of the disciples who just wanted to shoo her away. But not Jesus. Even though it appeared that he wasn’t listening to her, he was, and he gave her what she asked for…and more!
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• Jesus in an unusual place meeting an unusual person
• A turning point in Matthew’s gospel
• This woman – a real ‘outsider’
• See how we are told about their conversation …
Saving faith in surprising places…
Outsiders are more than welcome…!
As soon as Jesus was back in the midst of the Jewish people, the Scribes and Pharisees questioned him about his lack of enforcement of the traditions around hand washing. Rather than explain himself directly, Jesus in turn, responded with questions as to why the Pharisees and Scribes failed to comply with God’s commandments about honouring their parents, so that they might escape the full force of their responsibilities. He also went on to explain that external hand washing (as well as any kind of food) does nothing to deal with the problem of our sinful hearts, reminding them that only a complete transformation from within, from the heart, is what God ultimately requires.
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• From miracles and action to debate
• Hand washing?
• Was Jesus a traditionalist just for the sake of it?
• See how the text tells us about traditions, and …
Traditions and us!
Caring more about the externals than the internals…
After Jesus fed the 5,000 with bread and fish, he proceeded to perform another miracle. This one, however was not on land, but at sea, and it was not in the day, but in the dark, and it was not done before the eyes of the crowds, but for his disciples alone. After sending away the crowds, Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, after also sending away his disciples in a boat to cross the lake. In the middle of the night, when the disciples had found the crossing hard going, Jesus came to them and gave them assurance of his person and power. Disciples who feel as though that they have been abandoned by Jesus, need to think through who it was that Jesus was praying for up there on the mountain, and that there is no barrier to his coming to his disciples in their hour of need.
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• ‘Born to be at sea’…
• Following on from the feeding of the 5,000
• A miracle on land, now one on water!
• See how the text tells us about …
Life lesson 101…
Your times are in His hands.
After Jesus received the news of John’s death, he withdrew from public appearances to go away to a lonely place with disciples for some rest and prayer. However, according to Matthew 14:13-21, the crowds twigged where he would be and soon were there too. Jesus, however, as a true Shepherd of the sheep, put their needs before his own and had compassion upon them, even providing them with a free meal. All this happened far away from the eyes of the religious leaders and rulers, but not was not hidden from the eyes of his watching disciples who were taught a number of lessons.
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• A text we know well…
• From John back to Jesus…
• Just one year left for Jesus to live!
• See how the text tells us about …
His ability. Our problem.
‘You give them something to eat!’
After Jesus was rejected by the people of Nazareth, the text of Matthew 14:1-12 shifts to focus our attention on what was happening in the mind and heart of King Herod. Having heard about the miracles and ministry of Jesus, Herod, prompted by his guilty conscience, wrongly assumed that Jesus was John the Baptist ‘raised from the dead’. To fill in why Herod thought this, Matthew then explains for his readers how it was that John’s life ended in martyrdom – ultimately because of a partying King who made an dangerously open-ended promise to a dancing girl.
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• A sad text!
• From Jesus to John…
• Which King Herod is this?
• See how the text tells us about …
Herod’s conscience and yours
The cross – the cure for all sin and guilt!
There’s no doubt that Jesus was a popular among the people of Israel for a time. But not so among the people of Nazareth, his hometown. We read in Matthew 13:53-58 that they rejected His word and even rejected Him. It was by no means a ‘happy homecoming’ for Jesus. And so the question is ‘why?’. Why did the people of Nazareth turn their backs on Jesus and reject Him and His message? Hardness of heart has a lot to do with it – something that we must always pray that God would keep us from.
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• Our new series
• Resistance becoming hostility
• Jesus’ experience in his home town
• See how the text tells us about …
Good and bad news from the prophet Isaiah!
The challenge to those who do and don’t believe!