Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: You.
[00:00:00] Speaker B: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to God. If you're ever in the Madison area, we'd love for you to stop by and study the Bible with us on Sundays at 05:00 p.m. Or Wednesdays at 07:00 p.m. If you have questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison church, you can find us online at Madison Church.
Be sure to subscribe to this podcast as well as our sermons. Podcast Madison Church of Christ Sermons thanks again for stopping by. I hope this study is a blessing to you.
[00:00:37] Speaker A: We're going to go ahead and get started. Would you bow with me in prayer, please?
Our Father in heaven, we thank you so much for all the blessings that you've given us. And Father, we know in previous weeks we've asked you for different things and you've granted healing and comfort to a lot of people that we have prayed for, and we thank you so much for that, Father. Father, we thank you for the healing you've provided to Ellie Bobo, and we pray that you will continue to heal her and give her a full measure of strength and a full measure of health. Father, we have many at this congregation and their friends and family that are being touched by cancer right now. Father, and we pray that you would heal these people as well and as they go through their different treatments. Father, we pray that you would make those treatments as gentle and as comfortable as possible by name. Father, we pray that you be with Sherry McCutcheon, Joe Dearing, Kay Dearing, and Kara Hargett. It's all these things we pray, father, in your son's name. Amen.
[00:01:51] Speaker C: Well, welcome, everyone. We're glad you're back this week.
I've enjoyed the quarter so far and I really appreciate the comments, the questions. I realize a lot of you are coming to me saying you skipped over my favorite verse. I've heard that from multiple people.
Speak up, bring those kind of things up, interject, and we'll spend the time on them. We were just talking prior to class about where we are, chapters eleven and twelve midway through the quarter. So even though we're skipping a lot of important content to get through it, we're going to have to keep some pace. But speak up. Don't let us skim through this. My hope, as I've mentioned before, is our perspective may be a little different, and we may have a little different appreciation for this time through Matthew. Hope we keep that for the next time through Matthew.
Thanks for our people that have been streaming online. I think we've had good participation there and glad to have you with us. So for a quick review, we talked through the first several chapters, really. Matthew talking to his primary audience, which is jewish, all the ways that this man, Jesus is qualified and legally has the authority to be the messiah through all the different ways he talked about. Then we go through a series of miracles which demonstrates his authority through his power and his deity. And last week we talked about sending out the twelve.
Remember that? We touched on the fact that when he called the Twelve, he called the Twelve what?
He called twelve disciples. And then what was different when the next time he referred to them, he sent them out with authority to represent him as apostles.
[00:03:54] Speaker A: Does anybody know what the word apostle means?
It's one who sent out. That's the literal translation, postal. That's the way I think. It's in the same root word as post. Like the post office. It's a postal. It's somebody who was sent out.
Yeah.
[00:04:19] Speaker C: We didn't have to go there.
So he sent out the twelve.
Who did he send them to? To start with? Very clearly you remember he sent them to the Jews. In fact, he said, don't go where?
To the gentile areas. So we talked about how that was an illustration and proof that God was faithful to his chosen people. Did it stay that way? Did that instruction stay fixed? No, we read multiple other verses in Matthew where that changes, in fact, that we're told to go and spread to all the nations.
I think that covers it.
Reading for next week.
Read ahead to chapter 13, although we're expecting to probably have to come back and catch some at twelve because I'm not sure we're going to get there tonight, but so be it. If you have your Bible open on up to chapter eleven just to highlight chapter eleven, we're coming off of the review we just did.
Maybe I'll remember to advance the charts this time where he spent all these early chapters convincing folks that Christ is the Messiah. Now our focus is going to shift as he's preaching and teaching and healing, reaching out to the public and the crowds.
We're going to get some of their reaction, their response to him. So these two chapters are a lot of that and multiple examples of that. Chapter eleven shows a few different type of negative responses. We're going to talk about a key one, which I don't want to go there until we read it and talk about it some, but some negative. And he ended both chapters with a very positive call or appeal. So I want us to notice that.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: I want to jump in here. This last bullet.
Chapter twelve, as Robert points out here, marks somewhat of a turning point in Jesus ministry. And I want us to touch on that tonight. And if we get sort of overcome by time or we forget it, please, somebody remind us about that, because it is really interesting to see how things change pretty quickly from chapter eleven into chapter twelve.
[00:06:55] Speaker C: So kind of a key turning point there.
[00:06:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:59] Speaker C: All right, open up to chapter eleven. I think it's very important that we read probably the first 19 verses. It's a little bit lengthy, but let's have this story and the flow of it in our minds as we begin to discuss it.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: Okay, so I'll read this so the people online can hear. When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities. Now, when John heard in prison about the deeds of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? And Jesus answered them, go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk. Lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up.
And the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me. As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John. What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind. What then? Did you go out to see a man dressed in soft clothing. Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in king's houses. What then? Did you go out to see a prophet? Yes, I tell you. And more than a prophet, this is he of whom it is written. Behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you. Truly I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear. But what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates. We played the flute for you and you did not dance. We sang a dirge and you did not mourn. For John came neither eating nor drinking. And they say he has a demon. The son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, look at him. A glutton and a drunkard. A friend of tax collectors and sinners. Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.
[00:09:15] Speaker C: Okay.
Though John's mentioned all throughout what we just read. It starts off with something I think that's pretty significant. And I'll just say up front, I want us to talk about a few things tonight, but I don't have the answers to the questions that I want us to consider and think about. But the first part of that, the first six verses.
What's going on there?
In simple terms, what happened?
[00:09:50] Speaker D: He's been in prison for a while, and he just wants confirmation that what he's enduring isn't for naughts.
[00:10:00] Speaker E: It.
[00:10:00] Speaker C: Very good.
[00:10:02] Speaker E: That might be the answer to my question. Because John baptized Jesus, so I thought he already knew.
[00:10:08] Speaker A: And that's also one of the things I wanted to bring up here. If you go back over in John chapter one, look at verses 35 and 36. This is after the baptism. And he is the one that told Andrew and John.
That's him.
So you're right. Clearly he knew.
So back to Robert's question, what's going on? What's different? And I'll even go further. What can we learn from that? From what's going on with John and.
[00:10:43] Speaker C: Julie really hit two pieces of what I wanted to mention quite well. But I want us to peel back a few layers, think about who John was before this time. What's his experiences, his ministry?
What all has he done?
Does it seem reasonable for him to be doubting? Here?
Share your thoughts. Not a right or wrong.
I spent a lot of time thinking about this, trying to rationalize in my own mind. And it even made me think, he's been preaching about Jesus coming. He's the forerunner.
He baptized Jesus and was there.
Here's where I get into some of the questions. He's there, we're told.
[00:11:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:38] Speaker C: Descends like a dove on him. Says what?
[00:11:46] Speaker A: You know, the one I just thought of, too, before he was he. He knew when Mary came into the presence of his mother, it said he left in the womb. So how does he go from, like, you're saying all that to asking, are you the one?
[00:12:04] Speaker E: All of the disciples seemed to. Even when they kind of grasped the son of God, they still didn't really understand the plan.
They didn't understand what type of a kingdom that it would be and that the people in the kingdom would still be persecuted.
[00:12:24] Speaker C: And you just touched on a whole lot of what the perspective I want us to get of know. Off the surface, it's hard to imagine John doing, experiencing all he did and being with Jesus and then at this point having doubt.
[00:12:42] Speaker E: How long had it been since that baptism?
[00:12:49] Speaker A: From the class I teach on the apostles. Depending on how you look at it, it was the barest minimum, 18 months, more likely around the three year mark.
[00:13:00] Speaker E: So it's been a while.
[00:13:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:02] Speaker F: And now he's in prison and it.
[00:13:06] Speaker E: Doesn'T seem unreasonable to me. Please tell me you're the one.
[00:13:11] Speaker A: As I think about it, he's got to know. I feel like I don't know for sure. He's got to know that in the coming days his head is going to be separated from his body and that's got to be weighing on him as well.
[00:13:22] Speaker F: Craig, to me, I view it as maybe a little bit differently, that it may be just discouragement because of this situation. I don't know that it goes as far as down. I mean, speculation on my part, but maybe discouragement is a better way to think about it from a perspective of I'm enduring this. I just need to be reminded that you're the one. And it also is interesting to me who he sent. It says he sent his disciples.
And I wonder if there's not at least part of that that says, hey, I'm trying to get you to understand who he is.
[00:14:01] Speaker A: You go see for that's a good.
[00:14:05] Speaker F: He, he says in a different place, I need to basically decrease and Jesus needs to.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: Not that what Robert is saying is wrong, not that what we're saying is right. I kind of tend to, let me say this. I hope it's more like what you're saying. I'm hoping he's sitting there and he's thinking, I've given my life. I'm about to give my life, but I've given my life to now, to this movement and to this man. And he's wanting that reassurance, saying is everything, I've done what it needed to be right?
Did I put my trust in the right hope? And I think, as Robert said, we're speculating now. It's not in scripture, but I hope it's more of that than doubting.
[00:15:02] Speaker C: And is it critical in any way to our salvation? No, I don't think so.
[00:15:06] Speaker E: In either way, it seems like whatever he's going through, his mind is justified because Jesus later on in the passage is complimenting him, saying there's no better person born and winning.
[00:15:16] Speaker C: That's right. He goes to great length and John.
[00:15:19] Speaker E: Probably doesn't hear that because he's been there for.
[00:15:23] Speaker C: Right.
[00:15:23] Speaker A: Yeah, that was one of the things I had written down here, and we're going to get into this in a little bit about the response. But was the response that Jesus gave them, was it a rebuke? Did he in any way rebuke John the Baptist for doing what he did?
All right, so let me ask another.
So we're talking about this, we're speculating about this, but what can we as Christians take away from this? And then I'll share sort of what I take away from it.
[00:15:52] Speaker E: Well, while we're speculating, can I.
[00:15:55] Speaker A: No, I always do that.
[00:15:58] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:15:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:58] Speaker E: I just wonder if part of Jesus response to the one sent back to John was a way of saying, you've done your part and I'm out here and this is all happening. For him to recognize that what he did was fulfilled his.
[00:16:20] Speaker A: That's certainly, I definitely think that's reasonable. I wish people online could have heard that. And I think it ties really well back into what Craig was. Know that back and forth really had a lot of meaning to the people in the back and forth, not necessarily Jesus and John the Baptist.
[00:16:39] Speaker C: Right.
[00:16:39] Speaker A: Because like you said, what does Jesus tell them? You go back and tell him what you have seen.
It's not the direct answer.
You go tell him what you've seen.
On to my next question. What can we as Christians take away from this?
Anybody? Not everybody at once.
[00:17:06] Speaker D: Look at the fruit, see what is happening as a way to determine if he really is the one or not.
[00:17:15] Speaker A: Yes. And that's actually something that gets said in a couple more verses. That's a very good point.
Any others?
[00:17:24] Speaker F: I think it's illustrated of the pattern that we see all through the Bible where God accomplishes his will every single time without fail, no matter. And he does not do it in a reactive way. I think we get that idea from the story of Jacob and Esau, and it's not true.
He knows, he directs and patterns things in ways that we don't even understand. And it always turn, turns out exactly as he.
[00:17:56] Speaker C: And how often are those ways? Like we would have likely executed it.
[00:18:06] Speaker A: Let me ask a different question.
If you had to describe John the Baptist, how would you describe him?
Anybody got a. What are you laughing at, Chris?
[00:18:19] Speaker F: Wild and woolly.
[00:18:20] Speaker A: Okay. I like that. Wild and woolly. In my mind, the phrase that I think of when I think of John the Baptist, he is the very definition of what I would call larger than life, right? Very, very important.
Very important historic figure in the Bible. I didn't want to say character. That's why I paused. Know it's something we've said. These aren't just, we say stories, they're real. But this really happened. Okay, so he was larger than life, but he was also what? He's a human, right?
And if John the Baptist, having seen what he had seen, having done what he had done, if he could have a moment where he says, either, is this all worth it? Or are you really the messiah? What does that say to us today? I'll tell you what it says to me. Let's be forgiving not only to each other, let's be forgiving of ourselves when we have weak moments, if we might doubt, or if we may get down in the dumps and think our situation isn't what we want it to be. That's part of the human experience. Okay. That's what I take away from it is that John the Baptist who in just a couple of verses, Jesus is going to say, there's never been anybody better than John the Baptist. And yet he still struggled with that.
[00:19:48] Speaker C: Any thoughts?
[00:19:52] Speaker E: Jesus tells his disciples that John is Elijah. What's to come? But what Elijah do? Immediately after he had the confrontation with the prophets of bail on Mount Carmel and he killed 450 of them. Then he ran away and scared to death and said, hey, I'm the only one left.
Just another example of a strong person.
[00:20:28] Speaker A: It's a very good example.
[00:20:29] Speaker E: Yes, that's a great connection too, because the Malachi passage that he about the forerunner and it refers back to Elijah.
[00:20:40] Speaker A: Really good thoughts. Yeah.
[00:20:43] Speaker E: Robert touched on a few minutes ago that how many of us would have had this all figured out, that it was going to happen like this? The Bible tells us that had the forces of evil known, they would not have crucified the Lord. So I don't think John even saw that he was going to do it that way.
I'm sure you could read some more prophecies about King coming forward and reading the victory.
He even saw it coming this way.
[00:21:14] Speaker C: I think you're right.
And I think that affected while he is sitting in prison wondering why isn't he coming and getting me out of here?
Lots of things he could be thinking, which back to the application of us today. It's real easy to dwell on self and why is all this happening to me? But this is a great example. And even the thoughts that have been shared here about the possibilities of the way God worked this out, that we can't necessarily see every step of the way, but we do need to think about those things that we have seen and that we have experienced to get us through when we do have those moments and we have to help each other do that as well.
Any other thoughts?
Good discussion.
We needed a whole class period for that.
[00:22:12] Speaker A: Well, I'm cool. We can stay here if we need to. I want to go into looking at Jesus response. Does anything strike you about Jesus response?
Anything interesting there?
Right.
Robert's, I think, going to point some of this out a little bit later, but something I've been saying for years, I want to do a class on this, but if you went through the New Testament and you look at the number of times that Jesus has answered a question, it's very few times that he answers back. What does he normally do? He normally asks another question. Were you the one that said it?
I heard somebody, David said it. What did you say, David? He asked a question.
Mean, think about that. A little mean. Think about the question that John the Baptist is asking here, right? He's asking, are you the one? Are you the messiah? And Jesus doesn't come right out and say yes. Right.
How does that make y'all feel? What do you think about that? Does that seem strange?
[00:23:31] Speaker E: It causes you to think rather than just take an answer as is. It's like there's the evidence.
I'll ask you a question.
[00:23:40] Speaker F: You think about it.
[00:23:41] Speaker A: And you, you know, you guys have heard me say this over and over at different points in time, different people in the congregation have said things to me, and this is one that Craig introduced me to or not introduced me to. He reminded me of a few years ago. And that's Philippians 212 that ends with, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
I think as I read that in some sense, Jesus there, by answering the way he did, I'm trying to think of a way to put it. He's not letting John the Baptist off the hook, right?
He's going to say, you've been there, you've seen, know these people have seen it, you know, but he's not gonna just outright tell him yes. And like you guys, if you get a chance and you're interested in it, do go back and go through scripture and look at every place that Jesus has answered or ask a question and how few times he ever just says, here's the answer to me.
[00:24:48] Speaker F: He's acting like a parent that is taking a child and saying, you have to make this faith that I taught you your own.
[00:24:57] Speaker A: Make it your own.
[00:24:58] Speaker C: Yeah.
With our children in our family and with those. I think we need to remember that and use that example when we study with others.
[00:25:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:09] Speaker C: For someone to come to that conclusion on their own rather than to be told, here's the answer right here.
How much more meaningful is that?
[00:25:24] Speaker A: I agree completely. No, you didn't. He's making the point I wanted to make. And that is when we went on some of the stateside campaigns from here, and we would go, and I'm trying to think of some of the people that we studied with, but I was amazed the first time I did that.
Just going in sort of more to be an observer at the way the effective people that were doing personal evangelism, that's the way they did it. And the other thing that they were very comfortable with was silence. Right. I mean, especially when you get down to the plan of salvation and the role of baptism and somebody asks you something, they ask you a very pointed question about their salvation, and the person says, well, let's turn to this verse, and I want you to read that out loud. And they read that out loud, and then it's just silence. And it feels like minutes of silence until the person says, either I didn't do that or I need to do that. And that is so much more powerful than you saying you need to do that. And this is what's right. And I think that's a big point here that we're both trying to make. And I would say as we're out in the community and people are talking to us and we're having conversations, if they ask you things don't necessarily feel like you've got to answer. I mean, perfectly good answers. Well, what does the Bible say about that?
You want to look at that together, right. There's nothing wrong with that. You don't have to always give an answer.
[00:27:11] Speaker C: Okay. You want to transition now to the next part of that same set of scripture. He responded to John. Now he starts responding to the crowds around him.
[00:27:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:21] Speaker C: And how does he respond?
Verse seven.
In fact, he asked the same question three times, didn't he? With a bit of a somewhat rhetorical, that may not be the right word answer to the question. When he said that, what did you go out there to see?
He asked that three times.
And what he proposed as a. Did you go see this kind of minimal.
No, you didn't. Did you go see a prophet?
Greater than a prophet? And then he spends quite a few verses here talking about John standing, this guy who people may have thought was struggling or doubting or that. So any thoughts or questions on how he responded to the crowd?
[00:28:29] Speaker D: I think he's chastising them a little bit because they didn't recognize they. Of all the audience, they should have known that a forehorner was coming.
It's almost like the Pharisees disqualified him from being that. From the very get go. From what we know about how they treated him, they didn't even consider John in that.
[00:28:52] Speaker C: So why they went out there to see something, but sort of sounds like they went out there to see what they had in their mind. They were expecting to see right now.
[00:29:08] Speaker D: They could stop it.
[00:29:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:29:13] Speaker E: That'S a great thing between John and Jesus. They both came in ways that nobody expected them to.
I think that's part of God's way.
[00:29:23] Speaker C: Of kind of playing.
That's another point. They both came in ways that the crowds in the public didn't expect.
[00:29:34] Speaker E: But they still fulfilled the prophecy.
[00:29:37] Speaker C: Yes, absolutely.
What else did you want to get to?
[00:29:44] Speaker A: Well, I think the next section is kind of interesting to. It's as Robert said, we start to see a change a bit in the way Jesus is interacting with the crowd, right. So he's had this discussion with the disciples of John. Then he says some really great things about John the Baptist. And then starting about 16, he starts to kind of, I guess, at least in my mind, kind of turn on the crowd a little bit here, right. I mean, he says, but what shall I compare this. But to what shall I compare this generation? And he goes into his analogy there. And the one that's almost kind of funny to me is verses 18 and 19. And what is he saying there? He said, john was out there in the wilderness.
He wasn't eating and he wasn't drinking. And what did you all say about him? You all said he was crazy. You said he had a says. And then the son of man came eating and drinking. And what do you say about him? You say he's a glutton and a drunkard. So what's he saying to the crowd there?
Yeah. You don't like it either way. Back to what we were saying. Neither one of us. Back to your point. Neither one of us was what you expected, and you don't like either one of us. Right.
And this section, Robert, as we were studying this, Robert and I were talking mean even as I read it, right. I'm going to read this kind of.
We're just. Because we're reading it right. But when he was saying some of these things, how do you think he was saying it? Was it sort of, uh. For John came neither eating nor drinking. And they say he has a demon. The son of man came eating and drinking and they say, look at him. A glutton and a drunkard. Do you think he said it that way?
No, that's not how he said it. That's not how he said it. And then the next section when we get into the unrepentant cities.
[00:31:57] Speaker D: Whoo.
[00:31:58] Speaker A: We.
That's pretty big deal there, isn't it?
I mean, look at the cities he names off there. He starts out with Karazin and I think Robert's got it here on one of the bullets. We don't know a whole lot about that, but we do know something about Bethsaida. And at least three of the apostles were from Bethsaida. So that was kind of personal. Right. What does he say there again? If I were reading it, I would say, for if the mighty works done in you had been done entire and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. It's probably not the way he said it. It's probably more of a, hey, you know Bethsaida or what was it? Do you know Tyre and Sidon? Do you know them? Do you know what happened to them?
If they had seen what was going on, they would have repented.
It's a little bit different, right?
So this was probably very personal. Is anybody here from Mississippi?
Okay. So one of the things I say, this is a joke, but I say this and it hurts people's feelings, which is why I like doing it.
I grew up in Tennessee and I tell people that if you grew up in Tennessee and you graduated from college, you don't move to Alabama.
And see Craig sort of shakes his head. And then I said, that's all right. That's just like in Alabama. If you graduate from college, you don't move to Mississippi.
But it's kind of a personal attack, right? It didn't make you feel good, did it? No, it doesn't.
It made me feel wonderful when you.
[00:33:46] Speaker C: Told me that it was Kentucky.
[00:33:47] Speaker A: I don't the maximum damage.
That's my motto.
But what I'm saying is this was a very personal call out to these. And we also get down in there, he calls out Sodom now. Right? Sodom and Gomorrah is something that happened.
And I'm going to make a guess here at least 4000 years ago, if not more. Is that about right, Craig? You're our biblical archaeologist from today, probably 4000 years ago, and we're still talking about it. Right. Even people who aren't Christians know what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah. And then he mentions Tyre and Sidon. And. Do you want to say anything about that, Craig? He did a wonderful class about Tyre and Sidon. What happened there in Tyre and Sidon?
[00:34:38] Speaker F: Well, David, it so happens I have my choice.
So the interesting thing about Tyre in particular is that it was supposed to be part of the inheritance of Asher, okay? And it was one of those cities that was never really acquired by that tribe and was still left on the table, so to speak. And there's a quote by W. B. Fleming, if I can find it here.
He said, it seemed ever the fate of the phoenician cities to be between the upper and the nether millstone. In other words, they were always being ground.
It was a place. Tire, in particular, was a place of great wealth. It consists of an island city and a mainland city. And it was always being attacked and paying tribute and all that kind of stuff. It turns out that Solomon actually fed them for a number of years.
And the Hiram I, the king of Tyre at that time, was a contemporary of David and Solomon. And when Omri came into the kingdom of the northern kingdom after the split, he wound up marrying his son, Ahab, wound up marrying Jezebel, and that started the path down to worship of Baal from there on. And then in 332 BC, Alexander the Great came in and finally destroyed the island city by building a berm that went all the way out in the sea. And if you look at the geography of the city, the island city and the old maps is separate. There's a waterway between it. You go look at Google Maps today and you see this big peninsula that goes out there, and it's from all the material that Alexander the Great dumped in the sea, and it ruined the seaport and all that kind of thing.
[00:36:35] Speaker A: So it's total destruction.
[00:36:36] Speaker F: Total destruction.
[00:36:37] Speaker A: Total destruction. Same with Sodom. Right. And then what does verse 24 say? But I tell you, it's going to be more tolerable on the judgment for those people than it is you.
That's a little bit more pointed than a joke about going to college and moving to another state.
We can laugh one off. That other one's a little bit harder to laugh off. I mean, agree or disagree there.
And let me ask you another question.
How does that picture of something that Jesus said, how does that contrast, at least in your mind, with what I'm going to call pop culture Jesus.
Anybody have any thoughts there?
Does it seem there are consequences? Right.
[00:37:38] Speaker D: Pop culture Jesus sometimes just talks about him being loved. It's all going to be good.
[00:37:50] Speaker C: It's serious and it's fairly discreet way or the other. And it brings to mind a week or two weeks ago when we talked about, he's training, instructing the apostles before they go out. And he talks about the divisions and the destruction that will happen, the divisions in families with very close relationships. So those choices are important. They're going to be hard, and it matters.
[00:38:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:24] Speaker E: One thing that strikes me in here, I guess you kind of look at this. He first talks about John, how great John was, and then he gets into what some people would call this tirade almost.
But in the middle of it, he talks about what's really important. And the whole book of Matthew is about this. When he says, he talks about how great John the Baptist is, but then he comes back and says, but I tell you that whoever's least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
[00:38:55] Speaker A: Right.
[00:38:55] Speaker E: Of course. John started out preaching the kingdom is at hand. Jesus called the kingdom is at hand. He mentioned the kingdom all through the sermon on the mount. And it's kind of like, that's kind of the center of what he's really concerned about here. And he's not happy that they're not getting understanding the kingdom.
[00:39:18] Speaker C: I agree, and that's a very good point. And the next chapter reiterates that message.
Underneath these examples.
[00:39:29] Speaker A: We can try and finish out twelve here. We got about four minutes. I mean, again, to me I would say not 1211.
I meant finish eleven.
[00:39:40] Speaker C: I'm sorry, I can't talk that fast.
[00:39:42] Speaker A: I'm sorry.
[00:39:44] Speaker C: Let's finish out eleven. We've talked about those responses. Remember we said these two chapters are the public's responses to the apostles and to Jesus's teaching. So we've seen some negative ones here.
[00:39:57] Speaker A: Right.
[00:39:58] Speaker C: But we also mentioned these two chapters. Both end with a positive appeal. So why don't we read that and end with that?
[00:40:07] Speaker A: So again, to set the stage, we've kind of talked it to death, but I want to set it again. I liked your word there, Larry. Jesus has kind of gone on this tirade. It was personal.
Some of the people he was talking know, he mentions Capernaum. Remember a couple of weeks ago? Where did he spend a lot of his time in?
He's, you know, very personal sort of tirade that he's gone on here. And then he ends it with at that time, Jesus declared, I thank you, Father, lord of heaven and earth. That you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding. And revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my father. And no one knows the son except the father. And no one knows the father except the son. In anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden. And I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and lowly in heart. And you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
So like Robert was saying, he's kind of turned a corner there, right? So he's done the tirade, and then he says a prayer there. And then he delivers the whole, come unto me, and I will give you rest. Now, interestingly, as I read that, who do you think it was really burning up in verse 25 there? Just hang with us for one more second, because what's the next jab he got in there, who really probably hated the phrase from the wise and understanding Pharisees and the scribes.
They probably really didn't like that. And if you guys will go ahead and start reading chapter twelve. And I really want to encourage you all to do that. Okay? Read this on your own. Start reading chapter twelve and see where it starts and ended.
[00:42:09] Speaker C: On that positive note, back to what Larry said. What's important, the crux of this message, I think it comes out there and who the message is for and appeals to. And we're going to see that in chapter twelve as well. It's the meek, the lowly and hard. It's not those that think they have arrived and think they know what's coming and what to do. It's those that are hurting and in need.
Thanks for being here. Thanks for sharing. It made the class very enjoyable for me. And I hope you guys got something out of it. So we'll see you next week.
