Matthew chapter 13:53-58 (continued)

“Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables that He departed from there.  When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, ‘Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary?

And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?’ So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.’ Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”

As we come to end of this chapter it has been a bit of journey to get through it. I remember as a kid when I first got into preaching that some of these passages would be covered in one sermon.  But now as the Lord expands my view of life and the world I find that there is so much information in one small passage as opposed to an entire chapter that it is impossible to cover very large portions of the Bible in sermons or lessons.

We have to take little bits and chew on them for a while. We learn to savor the scripture, get the full taste of the lesson and apply it to our lives.  Of course the application is what matters, it does not matter how much of the Bible we know, what is important is how much do we apply and allow the Holy Spirit to add to our person.

We are called to be more like Christ, thus we have to be less like us.  This is hard for us; we live in a world, even amongst churches, that glorifies the flesh and tells us that we are good.  All too often it is made out to be like Jesus came to top up our goodness as opposed to the fact that we are totally depraved and lack any goodness at all.  Thus the idea of the transformation we see in Romans 12:1-2 is that we simply stop being caterpillars and begin to be butterflies.

I will admit, my caterpillar is not dying well, it fights and squirms to the top and tries to stifle the butterfly in me.  It is a tiresome battle with the flesh, one must be constantly vigilant and I will confess that I envy, yes even in this I am failing, those who make the Christian walk look so easy and seem to have no trouble mirroring Jesus.  They always have a great spirits, full of grace and the right words.  In the meantime I fight to make sure my mind is on good things, I bite my tongue to not say the wrong thing and I find that grace and graciousness is far from me.

Jesus has just spent a long time teaching through parables and He has imparted to these 12 men and a few ladies who traveled with them the deepest riches of the kingdom of heaven. They are in awe of Him and now they have to be tempered. They have to understand that rejection is a harsh reality of this Christian life and the ministry. Those of us who are Bible students are in awe of the Bible as we begin to see things when we study them.

We get this idea that everyone will be just as awed as we are and we try to teach them and find that they either don’t get it or worse they don’t care. Those who know us best are often the first to reject us and as we can see from this lesson our families are the ones that are the hardest to win.  But don’t give up on them there is some good news at the end of this lesson; see you there in a few minutes…

Jesus Came to Teach in a Local Synagogue, Verse 54

Last year the folks from our church and I had the privilege of serving as counselors at the Billy Graham Festival of Hope here in Toronto.  Over 40,000 people showed up to hear the gospel and that reflects the kind of response that happens all across the world as they travel. This past weekend they were in Japan for a huge festival with thousands hearing the gospel.  But in our text, Jesus shows up in Nazareth— in his home town, and He attends the local synagogue where He teaches the Old Testament Scriptures to the people present and they are astonished.  They are at a loss to explain the wonders of His teaching and the power with which He does these mighty works.

They are blown away that He could have this kind of knowledge and command of the Scriptures. They knew him as a carpenter. He was not one of the learned classes. And in those days, heredity was important to your future; the carpenter’s son became a carpenter, the blacksmith’s son a blacksmith, and so on.  Jesus was not supposed to be a teacher of the Law, he was just a commoner.

Well this is our first lesson from Jesus for today. No matter what your heritage as far as pedigree and beginning, with the power of God you, too, can become an accomplished Bible teacher. In fact contrary to the spiritual leaders of the time that used biblical knowledge to keep the people down, Jesus used His knowledge to free people.  He explained the Bible to them so that they could understand it and apply it to themselves independent of the priest.

The entire goal of the New Testament church and the Bible is to encourage people to be “self-feeders” in the Scriptures. Read and study on your own. God is able to open your eyes and your hearts if it is your desire for Him to do so.  In Acts 17:11 we find that the Berean church were diligent students of the Old Testament—they searched the Scriptures.

As a pastor my goal would be to equip the people I serve to ready and study the Bible for them.  They should be so familiar with the Bible that it is as important to them as life and blood.  They should crave it and need it like water or food.

The problem is that these folks that Jesus taught that day still did not believe that He is who He said He is. They could not wrap their head and hearts around the fact that He is God in the flesh, Jesus the Christ—the Saviour of the world and their rightful King. Thus all they saw was a man who was out of His “element” as a teacher and they just wanted Him to be a carpenter.

Sadly this is how the world today still sees Jesus. They accept Him as a good man, a good teacher, a good example, a good legend and on and on they go. But they simply won’t accept Him as God. And here is that line in the sand that God draws, Jesus must be accepted as God, no lesser acceptance will be allowed by His Father.  Once you accept that He is God then all other supernatural possibilities become possible and we are no longer surprised at His wisdom and power; we stand in reverent awe of them.

Jesus Was Not an Only Child, Verse 55

There is teaching in one of the major religions of the world that teaches that Mary remained a virgin for the rest of her life.  Well this verse makes it clear that Mary had at least 4 other sons and 2 daughters.  The sons are listed here and we are told He had sisters. Thus this myth of Mary’s perpetual virginity is shot to pieces. Now let us move on from here and consider the idea of the perfect sibling.

Could you imagine living in a household where one of the siblings are perfect, literally? Well it is no secret in the Bible that Jesus’ own brother hated him and would rather he be dead; we find them in John 7 encouraging Him to go to Jerusalem even though they knew that the Jews wanted Him dead.  Jesus did not have a healthy home life yet He did okay.

Jesus’ own family did not accept Him as Lord.  We know of two of His brothers that came to salvation, James (Galatians 1:19) and Jude; Jude was also an author in the New Testament. James, Jesus’ brother was a leader in the church at Jerusalem. So we know for sure that some of Jesus’ earthly family came to salvation and since the records of women were not often recorded we can hope that his sisters saw the light as well as seeing that Mary was an adamant follower of her Son.

The lesson here is that most, if not all prophets, are despised by their families; the reason being is that they are acquainted with all of your flaws and failures. But often strangers give you more respect than your own people. Most pastors have a hard time serving in their home church, the one they grew up in—as sometimes a lot of harbored feelings, just like those that were held against Jesus can simply be walls to ministry work.

But if you live for the Lord and serve Him faithfully God will allow some of your family to grow to love and respect you.  The whole goal being of course is to point them to Jesus for salvation.

Unbelief, Verse 58

This is the biggest hindrance to the work that God does in and through us. We find a father struggling with his unbelief in Mark 9:23-24:

“And Jesus said to him, ‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.’ Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”

This is a real struggle for all of us in this life. We believe that Jesus is God. I do, we know that. I have trusted Him as my Savior and I am sure that He can do all things. My questions and the question that many have is this: “Will He do them for me?’

In Luke 17:5 the apostles begged Jesus to “increase their faith.” They understood that they could not do it on their own, so they needed a supernatural infusion of God’s faith to build them. How does God increase our faith? By putting us in positions where we have no choice but to trust Him. We are put in places where we simply have to be “still and know that He is God” (Psalm 46:10).

God put Israel between the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army so that they could see the salvation of the Lord.  He sold Joseph into slavery and put him in prison unjustly so that one day he could rule Egypt and deliver Israel from a famine. On and on we can go in the Bible with examples of what God does to increase faith, expand belief and grow our dependence on Him and Him only.

This is my cry and I hope that it is yours as well:

“I do believe; help my unbelief.”

If you truly cry this out brace yourself, God will show up and put you to task.  Hold on my dear friends, God will not fail you nor abandon you; He simply cannot.

“For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, ‘Fear not; I will help thee.’ (Isaiah 41:13).

Missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca

www.mississaugamissionarybc.com

 

Matthew chapter 13:31-33 (continued)

“Another parable He put forth to them, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.’ Another parable He spoke to them: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened’” (Matthew 13:31-33).

As we continue our study about the parables in this chapter we will see that Jesus used these parables to teach the truth about the kingdom of heaven to His disciples. These parables were meant to inform them about, and to help them to understand, the kingdom of heaven. They help us today as well.

Last time we looked at the Parable of the Wheat and Tares. It was a stark reminder to us that we engaged in a spiritual warfare that is much organized and is constantly working.  We have an enemy—the devil, who is constantly working to confuse us and to imitate the things of God so that we can be caught off guard.

It is essential as we see that last days approach at a rapid rate that we become more and more grounded in the truth of the scriptures. Read, study, apply, then read, study and apply some more. Keep doing this until Jesus comes to get us. The Bible, the word of God in print, is the only tool that we have as a weapon against the devil.

Everything that comes our way no matter how good it looks and feels must be weighed against the truths of the Holy Scriptures. God’s wisdom is there for us to have proper discernment and insight to the events of the world around us.

It is especially important in the world of Christendom. It is easy for people to have the actions of a believer without ever having been converted.

This is what the tares are; they are unconverted religious people who masquerade as Christians. They say and do the right things but they have never met Jesus. They have never repented of their sins, confessed their sinfulness, and put their complete trust in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.

Yet they attend church faithfully, tithe and even teach some of the classes. How can this be?  Satan is the master counterfeiter, he does not care if you go to hell, so if you have to look like a Christian as you are going to hell then so be it.

Today Jesus will offer some hope to those that are thinking that we are being defeated in the world around us. Every day we read of more and more attacks against Christians, against the freedom of speech that we have as citizens of free countries and it is easy to feel like Elijah and think that all is lost and that we are the only ones left. Be encouraged, God has never lost a battle and He is not about the start now.

The Mustard Seed, Verses 31-32

The mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds; yet it produces large trees. Jesus tells us in this parable that the mustard tree when it is grown is bigger that all the other herbs and that the birds of the air can nest in it. This is a picture we are told in verse 31 of the kingdom of heaven. So the kingdom of heaven here on earth will begin with a small “seed” but it will grow into a very large kingdom that people from all over can find homes and safety in.

Let us look at what the Lord has done over the past almost 2000 years since He has left to go and prepare a place for us. He left 11 apostles and when the Holy Spirit is sent on the day of Pentecost He finds a small group of people in the room waiting for His arrival in Acts 2.  With this small group God changed the world as they knew it.  From the dusty streets of Jerusalem, a city of about 11 square kilometers the gospel spread to the very palace of Caesar in Rome.

“All the saints greet you, but especially those from Caesar’s household” (Philippians 4:22).

The message went to Greece, to Ethiopia in Acts 8. Peter led the cause to the Gentiles in Acts 10 and we have the Gospel in just about every corner of the earth today. From a small seed planted by Jesus we have this global entity that has provided hope and peace for billions by simply preaching the cross of Jesus Christ.

There are Christians everywhere, in every sphere of life; God has infiltrated all of mankind with the Good News of the Risen Savior. Don’t be dismayed with a few bad reports and don’t be discouraged when we see our brothers and sisters who suffer and/or die because they refuse to deny the same of their Savior.

Their reward is great in the kingdom and we are to be excited that no matter what the devil tries he can’t makes the people of God keep quiet.  He can’t destroy the work that Jesus set in place; he can scare us a bit, he can make serving the Lord hurt and he can harm us but he cannot stop it, ever. Remember Matthew 16:18:

“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the forces of Hades will not overpower it.”

Please stop acting like if Satan has won. Chin up my brothers and sisters. Jesus cannot lose. Keep on serving the Lord and looking for his soon return. Once you see Him all fear will be gone and our faith will be sight. We will have that eternal smile that only Jesus can give and our enemies will simply fall away.

Leaven, Influence, Verse 33

When is the last time you baked something?  My wife and I do a lot of baking and one thing I know is that it does not take a lot of leaven (yeast) to make dough rise.  We often do very large batches of banana breads often 20 plus at a time; and compared to the amount of flour, sugar and other ingredients there is a very small amount of yeast needed to make it all work.

The kingdom of heaven has the same kind of influence—it is everywhere. Often one can’t see it but you can see its influence. Over the centuries the Lord’s churches have led the way in many areas like education and care.  Ministries like the ABA Disaster Relief, The Salvation Army, Samaritan’s Purse and a host of other ministries get to the areas hit by natural disasters first. They feed the hungry, cloth the naked and tend to the sick and injured.

The Lord’s churches led in education over the years so that people would be able to read the Bible for themselves. If one were to look at the history of Harvard University you would see that it was started founded by Christians who after reaching the New World wanted a place for education.

A man called Mr. Harvard gave about half of his estate, about $3000 (in our money) to erect the building. These people did not want to be illiterate or to leave their children illiterate so they built a school. The kingdom of heaven reached all the way from the little city of Jerusalem all across Europe and then across the Atlantic to be involved in education.

Likewise Yale and Princeton had similar beginnings to that of Harvard. The Bible was freely taught and the men and women who graduated were well-educated in the things of God.  Sadly these schools have gone far away from these foundations and have become some of the most atheistic schools in North America.

Go and read some of the statements written by the founding fathers of the USA and you will find men who although not Christian, they knew enough to know that you could not run a country without the Bible and God as the center of the nation.  Christianity is found everywhere and amongst all peoples.

The small little group that Jesus left have spread His Word and influence from generation to generation by word of mouth, by written word, by serving their fellow Man in countless ways and in understanding that the kingdom of heaven was all that mattered.  They were selfless and many were simple people who served a Super God who honored their sacrifices with great success.

Don’t ever think that the devil has won.  He has not and he will not, ever. Simply endure to end and you will see the salvation and power of the Lord. One day you will see that God has people everywhere, in every place from every country and city and town and language. Black people, white people, Asian and anything else under the sun, God has people there in that group. The little gospel from that Upper room in Jerusalem has spread all over the world.

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

 

Missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca

www.mississaugamissionarybc.com