Category: Matthew

Superglue not Necessary Unless (Matthew 23:37-24:2)

This text is like superglue (if needed). But it isn’t like the covert superglue project of a son glueing two things together that shouldn’t be, say a forehead and a flashlight. No, this is the mature parental glueing together of something the clumsy child has broken.

It doesn’t take superglue to hold the end of chapter 23 with the beginning of chapter 24. It just takes clumsy foolishness to break them apart. Jesus’ lament is snuggled nicely in the midst of judgment speak; it’s cozily at home. Curse and lament, “woe,” and “o,” tenderness and wrath, these two do go together.

How? Theologians have long spoken of two wills (some even mention three) in God using a variety of labels. You may hear them mention God’s secret and revealed will, or His will of command and will of decree. They might speak of his sovereign will and moral will, or his efficient and permissive will. Still others prefer the terms decretive and preceptive will. That there are so many terms says both that there is something there, and that that something is complex.

Let’s simplify by analogy. Can you have two wills? Have you ever had to go to the dentist? Have you ever wanted ice cream and to exercise? Better, have you ever wanted ice cream and to lose weight? As far as I am concerned, both exercise and ice cream are good desires. The trick is to will them in the right proportion.

Can God have two wills? Look no further than the cross. When sinful men crucified our Lord they were violating the will of God, and yet, they were carrying it out. We mustn’t think of God’s will(s) like our going to the dentist, “I guess I have to. I want to, but I don’t want to.” The ice cream illustration is better. Ice cream is so good, illustrations become superior to other illustrations by the mention of it. A person might desire ice cream, and desire to exercise; and these desires can harmonize perfectly. Perhaps the exercise is so intense, a high number of calories must be consumed.

In God, mercy and wrath meet perfectly. It takes no superglue for these to go together. They meet in this goal, the glory of God. Jesus wills to save and He wills to damn and He does neither with a grimace. “Our God is in the heavens, he does all that he pleases (Psalm 115:3).” The will of God is always done with pleasure, because the Father delights to make much of the Son and the Son of the Father and the Spirit of them both. And this is what everything that God wills in every way is ultimately about. If you make God supremely about you, you will hollow out words like election, and sovereignty to put these two together. If you realize the cross (John 17:1, 4-5), and all creation (Romans 11:33-36) is ultimately about the glory of God, you will see that these harmonize perfectly.

If you can’t bear this, remember this, Jesus deals out nothing that He hasn’t borne. He deals out wrath, for His glory in the damnation of sinners, and He bears that wrath for His glory in the salvation of sinners.

Purifying a Fount by a Fount (Matthew 23:13-36)

Pharisees prioritize outards over innards. They fret more over an external behavioral scab than an internal existential cancer. They have ornate solid silver water bottles without a speck of tarnish on them that they have polished to a mirror shine, yet the inside is a cesspool. They only care to be seen drinking from such a bottle. They are a book wishing to be judged only by the cover.

The point isn’t about their cups and plates, if it were they would only redouble their efforts and scour all the more. The point is that they are the bottle.

The heart is the fount. All of our behavior flows out of it. You can’t purify a fountain by going down stream and laboring endlessly at gathering buckets of water, purifying them, and then dumping them back in the stream. This is what all attempts at moralism, behavioralism, and self-salvation are. If you try to cap off the flow of wickedness in one area of your life be assured pressure will build and the pipe will burst elsewhere, or more likely, in the same already compromised spot, causing greater damage. The hearts gotta flow. If it is pumping life is coming out. If you try to pump good into it, you only increase the pressure and that inflow is still filtered through your poisonous heart and thus contaminated. All self-righteousness is like trying to clean an already dirty house with a vacuum filled to the brim with refuse that has a gaping hole in the bag. All our work only adds to the mess.

And yet, our only hope for our innards is on the outside, but further out that the surface of your skin. Our hope is all the way up in the highest heaven, and yet is in flesh; Heaven enfleshed. Our salvation is achieved by someone behaving perfectly—for us—from a pure heart. There is a purifying Fount. There is a stream, that when it flows into your heart, purifies. The Outside comes in, and purifies from the inside out.

No, Brutus Really Is an Honorable Man! (Matthew 23:1-12)

Does Jesus really mean for His disciples to do “whatever (23:3)” the scribes and Pharisees tell them?

Jesus says they’re hypocrites (23:3), so do whatever they tell you.

Jesus here says their hypocrisy isn’t the variety that teaches good but lives bad; but the kind that teaches bad and lives worse (23:4), and to do whatever they tell you.

Jesus says that they lay heavy burdens on people, but do whatever they tell you (23:4).

Jesus says they do their acts to be seen by others (23:5-7), yet, do whatever they tell you.

Jesus says “but you (23:8),” contrasting His disciples with the scribes and Pharisees, yet they must do whatever the Pharisees tell them.

Jesus says they are blind guides (23:16-17), yet do whatever they tell you.

Jesus, six times tells his disciples, “You have heard that it was said [by the Pharisees], but I say unto you… (Matthew 5:21-48),” contrasting His teaching with theirs; still, they are to do whatever the Pharisees tell them.

Jesus says to beware of their leaven, their teaching (Matthew 16:6, 12), but to do whatever they tell you.

Jesus says the kingdom is being taken from them (Matthew 21:43), but to do whatever they tell you.

Jesus says that the Pharisees (John 5:37-40) don’t have God’s word abiding in them, that they search it, but are really clueless as to what it really is about, yet, they are to do whatever the scribes tell them.

Jesus asks the Pharisees again and again, “Have you not read? (Matthew 12:3; 19:14; 21:16, 42),” still, they are to do whatever the those  Pharisees tell them.

Jesus, has just been addressed as “Teacher,” three times by the Pharisees and Sadducees with a smirk, but His credentials were authenticated while theirs were ridiculed (22:15-46); still, do whatever they tell you.

Jesus goes on to pronounce seven severe woes of judgment on them (23:16-37), but do whatever they tell you.

Yeah. Ok. Whatever! and Marc Antony really meant that Brutus is an honorable man.

Monotone Jesus was not, biting irony and sarcasm He knew. Don’t read Jesus as woodenly as the Pharisees read Deuteronomy 6:8 and make your phylacteries broad. Oh how pious you are; not even Jesus can tell a joke in your presence. Just to be clear, that was sarcasm.

No Partial Credit (Matthew 23:41-46)

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.  —A.W. Tozer

You can think high thoughts of Jesus and descend into the lowest hell. Jesus asks these Jewish leaders what they think about the Christ. They’re Jews, of course they believe in the Christ, right? Well, they believe in a Christ. A Christ that is a composite of the parts of the Bible that they like, and their own ideas, which is really to say a Christ of their own ideas. What they really believe in is not Christ, but themselves. Technically though, they get the question right, insofar as they answer. The Christ definitely is the son of David; but while He is not less than that He is also infinitely more. You don’t get partial credit on this test, and this is the test. It matters not how else you may succeed in life, if you flub this question you fail life.

Satan is perfectly content for you to believe 99% truth if he can get you to believe a 1% damnable lie. Satan is fine with your squeaky clean morally upright life, as long as he can get you to believe something along the lines of what a Mormon, or a Jehovah’s Witness, or a Pharisee does concerning Jesus. Have you ever considered how orthodox many heretics are except for that one thing? Study church history. Study the heresies that the church most violently fought against. The key battles were concerning the person and nature of Jesus Christ. This isn’t an academic, technical, or scholarly conundrum.  This isn’t a boggling question for theologians. Satan knows this. What do you think about the Christ? What you think about Him is revealed by the answer to another question: Whose son is He? We have no reason to flunk this test other than that we are willfully, sinfully, defiantly ignorant. Jesus has given us the answer.

Christ says that he is ‘humble and meek’ and we believe Him; not noticing that, if He were merely a man, humility and meekness are the very last characteristics we could attribute to some of His sayings.

I am trying to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.  —C.S. Lewis

Get Drunk and Love (Matthew 22:34-40)

When it comes to gods, deep down everyone is a monotheist. There can be only one. Either God is God, or the individual. All of life is love. Love is constantly being expressed. Man cannot not love. Every bit of existence we have is spent loving, worshipping, something. Yet, fallen men cannot love. In loving themselves, they hate love (John 3:19-20). Men hate light because they love darkness, which is another way of saying that they hate love.

By God’s common grace, and because man is made in God’s image, there is a muted echo of love that the unbeliever may hear and that may resound off and through the unbeliever, but it is always second-hand, always an echo and never the original tune. It is always muted, never amplified. It is always a first-grade crush on your married teacher, never marriage consummated and well aged like a vintage wine. It is like saying that you have tasted wine when a drop, a single drop, fell into your full glass of water. The world’s concept of love is diluted. You could never get intoxicated on it.

Jesus extends the cup of the new covenant, the intoxicating, behavior altering wine of His blood, that we might know love and love. If fallen man loves to hate love, how can he ever love love? Let me give you two answers, which are two ways of saying the same thing: covenant and a heart transplant. Listen carefully to the command, “love the Lord your God.” The context for this command is Deuteronomy, redemption, salvation. God, not because of anything Israel has done, calls a people unto Himself. He enters into covenant with them. And His covenant love gives His people a new heart (Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 31:31, 33; Ezekiel 36:26-27). A heart that loves Him, that loves His Son, that loves His law, that loves others, that loves His creation—that loves, really loves.

No Mere Resurrection (Matthew 22:23-33)

We are all born Sadducees denying the Resurrection. Dead men don’t believe in the Life. The Sadducees want to discredit Jesus and they don’t believe in resurrection. They want to make Jesus look foolish for believing in resurrection. They want belief in resurrection to look stupid and thus for Jesus to look stupid. They just don’t realize how synonymous their goals are. “I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).” One way Jesus could have replied to their inquisition was, “I move that we suspend this debate for a few days. Then I will present you with conclusive evidence.”

Just as the previous passage in Matthew wasn’t about taxes, this one is not about mere resurrection. It isn’t about simply learning that there won’t be marriage in heaven or that when God enters into covenant relationship with someone, that covenant is forever, therefore the person God is in covenant must be forever (Matthew 12:32). There is no such thing as mere resurrection unto life. There is the Son’s resurrection, and those who are immersed into it. All resurrection is about Jesus. Scripture is God speaking, to you (Matthew 22:31). Here God is saying, “See my Son? He is never discredited. Resurrection is true. Learn this in My Son.” If you are a slow student, don’t worry. God will repeat Himself loudly when the next week begins on Easter morn. “[Jesus] was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 1:4).

We are born dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1). We are born dead men who try to discredit the Life. We are Sadducees who try to murder the Life. The dead cannot ultimately murder the Life, but the Life can raise the dead. The Life died that the dead might live. This is because His death was ours and His resurrection is ours. You will be as resurrected as Jesus is, for His resurrection is yours.

Taxing Nails (Matthew 22:15-22)

Thinking that this text is about taxes is like thinking that the point of building a house is driving nails. The government may spend taxes that way (“Hey we bought an outrageous surplus of nails here… hmmm… what to do? Houses!”), but the Holy Spirit does not inspire texts that way. We can learn about taxes from this text. In fact, everything that the New Testament teaches us about relating to government (i.e. Romans 13:1-7) is contained within Jesus’ response, but taxes are not the point. Taxes are the road, not the destination. What is the aim? What was the Pharisees’ aim? They wanted to entangle Jesus in His words. They do want to drive nails—in Jesus’ coffin. They want to discredit Jesus. Their questions are the hammers.

The Holy Spirit, in contrast, wants to glorify Jesus. He has the easy task. He just has to open blind eyes; “Look, there He is!” When the Pharisees test Jesus, it is like a distance jumper saying he will test the vastness of the Grand Canyon by his jumping skills. You have to foolishly think you are some kind of greatness to test Jesus. When man tests Jesus, man always fails. Jesus’ answer is brilliant and wonderful. They ask about giving taxes, He tells them to render. Don’t just give, give back to Ceasar what is his. Pause. Read slowly. Give Ceasar what is his. Do not render Caesar what is not his. The coin used for the poll tax had an image of Tiberius with the inscription, “Tiberius Ceasar, Son of the Divine Augustus.” Divinity is not Caesar’s. He is not due worship. Pay Caesar taxes, not homage.

The Pharisees fail, and yet, Jesus is going to the cross. Nails will be driven into His hands and feet, but He is using them, the rulers of this world, as His hammers. Foolish hammer. He thinks he wields himself. They kill, God raises, Jesus rules. Every time—they look stupid and Jesus looks glorious. We can give Ceasar taxes, because we know the risen King of kings who is Lord over them all. In giving Ceasar his due as an act of obedience to God, we give to God his due as the Sovereign Lord of all.

Jesus does not tax His subjects. He was taxed for them, by God, bearing the wrath they deserve. He payed our debt and rendered our due. True, he demands we die, but so that we might live. We must repent, but in repentance we turn from poison to elixir. We turn from darkness to light. We turn from death to life. Jesus does not tax; His yoke is easy and His burden is light. In Jesus we have been given a ruler none of us deserve; a King who serves, a Ruler who heals, a Conqueror who delivers, a Lord who gives. This frees you to give. Even taxes. Jesus is so great, you can pay taxes to pagan kings as an act of worshipping Him. Render Him His due.

I Want to Eat, Just Not with You (Matthew 22:1-15)

It’s not the idea of a feast we reject; it’s the Host. But the Host is also the fare. When He says, “Eat my flesh and drink my blood,” we lose our appetite. Still, the idea of a feast, we love. Adam had no problem with the garden. He just wanted to be God too. Fallen man would rather be miserable in sin, than joyful in God.

This parable makes you see the folly of sin, and specifically the sin of unbelief in the gospel. To reject the gospel of the kingdom is to reject an eternal royal wedding feast. “How can they reject the feast?” we cry. But we are them. When you know the human condition you are not puzzled that many refuse, nor by the intensity of the refusal. You are flabbergasted that any come at all.

Here is a parable chock-full of human response—some are apathetic, others persecute, one presumes, and the unexpected feast—and Jesus explains it all by saying many are called but few are chosen. Jesus explains human responses by divine election.

Election does not keep people out of the feast who want in, it brings people in to the feast who would never come.

Explaining Viticulture with Masonry

Jesus explains the vineyard by taking us to the stone quarry. He illustrates viticulture with masonry. It’s when you go to the construction site, that the farm is made sense of. When we turn from green living vines to cold hard stone, we understand the judgment that comes against the Jewish leaders. You cannot be fruitful unless you have a massive stone in your garden.

The leaders abuse everything that is “His,” that is, the owner’s. They withhold “his fruit,” beat, kill, and stone “his servants,” and murder “his son,” because they want “his (now the son’s) inheritance.” Indeed the only thing they can do is abuse “his” stuff, because all that they have has been given to them. Sin is always stealing. The sinner always has to borrow to rebel. How does masonry explain this? Let me illustrate it like this, as characters in a story, all that the tenants have is given to them by the author. If Jesus doesn’t think it up, it does not exist. Likewise, God is the author of the story we find ourselves in. If He does not speak it, it simply isn’t. All that is, is through and for the Son (Colossians 1:15-20). The leaders want to keep the stuff in the story, and murder the Author. They want to remain part of the cabinet while assassinating the president. They want to reject the Cornerstone, of all that is, expecting all to still stand so that they can have it for themselves. They are just like Adam. We are just like them. We all want to be God, so God must die.

This is the insanity of sin. As Francis Schaffer said, we are trying to plant both feet firmly in mid air. We want the lamp to put out light, but hate the idea of plugging it in. When you rebel against light what else can you expect but darkness? When you hate the God of all wisdom, folly is your lot. When you rebel against life, there is only death. We are worse than physicists who reject the existence of atoms, or carpenters who reject wood. We want all that is His without the Him, but without the Him there is nothing. Jesus is the foundation to everything. Build all you want in the make-believe world of sin, but it won’t stand. Reject Jesus and you will find nothing under your feet, only a bottomless pit. The Pharisees want the castle while rejecting the only foundation that can support it. You cannot have the kingdom while rejecting the King. God’s reign of salvation has come in Jesus. He is its Cornerstone. This is God’s doing. May it be marvelous in our eyes.

This Is Not a Clashing of Zax (Matthew 21:23-32)

You’re the general manager of a restaurant that is a national chain. Soon you’re to open for dinner, so you gather the staff to speak to them. A call briefly diverts you. When you return a mystery man is rearranging the furniture, telling the employees to take certain things down and throw them in the dumpster, while instructing them as to how things will be done from now on. You run up interrogating, “Who do you think you are? By what authority do you do these things?”

This is what the Jewish leaders are doing here. They do not realize that the Owner is in the house. They are getting themselves fired.

Why did I identify you with these corrupt managers? If you read this text and identify with Jesus as a rebel bucking corrupt authority you need to realize this—you are not Jesus. If you are shouting “Yeah, boo authority,” you are just like the high priests. Don’t identify with Jesus as a rebel against authority. Identify yourself with the leaders as rebels against the supreme authority. Jesus isn’t a rebel for you to identify with. He is a King for you to submit to. Jesus isn’t subverting their authority, He is saying He trumps it. He is showing that the authorities have no authority over Him.

Two parties have clashed rejecting the authorities of one another. This is not a meeting of a south-going Zax meeting a north-going Zax. This isn’t the meeting of two equally stubborn creatures. The crucial issue here is who has the authority. That is whose rejection matters. If an officer pulls you over and starts to give you a ticket it does you no good to say, “I reject that badge, toodeloo.” Likewise, when you reject Jesus, you’re not the one in authority. Worse yet, the one rejected, is King, so your crime becomes treason. Even worse still, He is the King of kings; there is no higher court of appeal.

Repent, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.