Category: Matthew

Matthew 18:15-20 – A Grace Place?

Grace place—that is why some churches say they abstain from church discipline—they want to be a place of grace. Imagine that you have cancer and pleading with doctor after doctor to remove it to hear, “We don’t do scalpels here. They hurt. They’re not loving.” The last description you would give of such a doctor is gracious.

Church discipline is about love. When discipline is absent we wave with a smile to our brothers as they tread the path to hell. Abstaining from discipline for fear of offending your brother is like not yelling at your kids when they are playing in the street, because yelling might scar their little souls. Cars kill bodies. Sin kills the soul. Better to offend someone into heaven than nice them into hell. Church discipline loves—everyone. It loves:

  • The sinner, by seeking their repentance and restoration.
  • The church, by seeking her purity and protection from the leaven of sin (1 Corinthians 5:6-13).
  • The world, by seeking to guard the church’s testimony and witness to the transforming gospel of Christ.
  • God, as we act in obedience and for His glory.

When leaders and churches ignore church discipline, they are loving. They are loving themselves. They are concerned for their jobs, their reputation, their number, their offerings. A failure to do discipline reveals idols.

Jesus spoke the words in Matthew 18. Jesus commanded discipline to be done. And Jesus promises He is with us when we obey this command (Matthew 18:20). This is the ultimate reason to faithfully do church discipline. Because to do so is to stand with Jesus. And no one loves like Jesus.

“By abstaining from church discipline… we claim we love better than God loves.” —Jonathan Leeman

Matthew 18:1-14 – Childlike, not Childish

Scripture holds up being childlike, not childish. The disciples are behaving like children here, but in all the wrong ways. Mark tells us that the disciples had been arguing about who was the greatest, and that they were reluctant to tell Jesus what the issue was. I’m sure if we had a transcript it would read as follows:

“I’m taller.”

“Me first.”

“Oh, yeah well…”

“Nuh-uh!”

There is a way we should be like children, but it should lead to us growing up. “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation (1 Peter 2:2).” In Ephesians 4:12-13 Paul tells us that Jesus gifts His church with shepherds “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” There is a way in which the child of God should be childlike, but the result should be not a resembling of Benjamin Button, but of Jesus Christ.

Jesus says we must become like a child to even enter the kingdom, and then He says that the greatest only go deeper in this childlikeness. In what way are we to be childlike? Note that we are to humble ourselves to become like a child, we are not told to be humble like a child. Children can be as pompous as an adult. The humbling is in becoming like a child. In a sermon on Mark 10:13-16, B.B. Warfield says, “Childlikeness is one thing; that by which the state is attained is another.” Humility is a road, but a road to where? Warfield deals with the various options, arguing against simplicity, trustfulness, innocence, and humility. Ultimately taking his cues from Mark 10:15 he argues for dependence; “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child cannot enter it.” The kingdom is to be received, and that like a child. The childlikeness we are to have is in relation to our receiving.

Children are altogether dependent on another. This is why it is so humbling to become one. Kingdom greatness isn’t achieved by the ambitiously accomplished, but the desperately dependent. Cool big varsity kids won’t get to play the kingdom game. They won’t even ride the pine. They will be thrown into outer darkness. The kingdom is for “little ones”. And the greatest, go deep in their dependence.

Because of the fall, man is a vacuum in a dirty world. He can only suck in dirt. Thus his desperation. If man is to be “converted” from a vacuum to a water hose, dispensing water instead of sucking dirt, the water must come from an outside source. Thus his dependance. The greatest, those who disperse the most water, are the biggest consumers of grace. They pump out what they are chugging down. They know the true of the vine taught in John 15, that it is by abiding in Christ that they bear much fruit. They humbly admit any greatness they posses is not their own, but Christ’s.

Matthew 17:24-27 & No Taxation because of Representation

Matthew 17:24-27, this text isn’t about taxes. Trying to make it so is like trying to help out your friend who recently bought a classic car, which is complete and in running condition, but dissembled into many pieces, by giving him your son’s Lego car instruction booklet. Sure, there is correspondence, both have a steering wheel, wheels, a windshield and so on, but that classic car won’t be going anywhere because of your help. Sure, we have taxes here, but trying to make this text about civil taxes removes all its go power. Make this about civil taxes and you’ll have to push your little Lego car to make it run.

The glory of this text is not about how you relate to Caesar, but how you relate to God in Jesus Christ. The tax collected here was not one Matthew would have formerly gathered. This tax was not used to fund Rome. Whereas you would be unpatriotic for being a tax collector, paying this tax was a patriotic act. Whereas being a tax collector indicated the idolatry of mammon, paying this tax could be an act of worship of the one true God. This tax was collected to upkeep the temple. This tax has more in common with a church offering than a state tax.

The temple is Jesus’ Father’s house (Luke 2:49, John 2:17). Jesus is under no obligation to pay this tax. Jesus is free from this tax because He is the Son. We are free because in the Son, we are sons (Galatians 3:26).

Our country was birthed crying, “No taxation without representation.” We are reborn rejoicing, “No taxation because of representation.” Jesus is the true Son, representing those chosen by the Father in the Son, to be adopted as sons. He takes our sin, we receive His righteousness. We are free. This isn’t freedom from a tyrannical Caesar. This is freedom in becoming a Son of the King; a generous King who gives His only begotten Son to make us sons. The Son was taxed, meaning He was put under the heaviest of strains, paying our ransom, so that we might be free. And “if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:36).”

Matthew 17:14-23 & A Check that Clears

Gardner’s Bookstore in Tulsa boasts being the largest used bookstore in Oklahoma with over 23,000 square feet packed with books. When I would browse the religion section looking for a jewel in a mountain of straw my frustration would be alleviated by humorously observing two of the titles that most populated those shelves. There were regularly at least half a dozen copies of Joel Osteen’s Your Best Life Now, and Bruce Wilkinson’s The Prayer of Jabez each.

People generally discard user’s manuals, especially if those manuals prove faulty. A lot of people bought these books hoping they were true. I speculate that a lot of people sold them having found they were false. The prosperity premise may not necessarily be rejected, this just wasn’t the right how to for them. “This plastic must be old; run a different card and I can stil have the goodies, right?” The results are diabolical. They think they took God’s check to the bank and it failed to clear. Keep the major premise and you can only come to two conclusions. God has limited funds, or you’ve irritated Him such that He put a hold on that check. You can only doubt God, either as regards His funds or His love. Either this isn’t by grace, or there just isn’t that much of it. Here is a text that is meant to bolster faith but when the prosperity wolves finish chewing on this bone it leads only to doubt. That is unless the manual worked for you, but then the results are still diabolical, for you are worshipping mammon and using God instead of worshipping God and using mammon. Doubt is still the end result, for your faith is in a different God.

Why is it a faith issue for the disciples to fail to drive out this demon? In Matthew 10:1 Jesus gives them “authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal ever disease and affliction.” Jesus says they have little faith, but it is not themselves they are doubting. They are dumbfounded as to why they can’t handle this (v. 19). They are doubting Jesus. Faith is anchored in the word of Christ, not the abilities of self (Romans 10:17). What is being bolstered by this promise then is not faith to move whatever mountain you desire, but faith to move whatever mountain Christ has commanded. To properly appropriate this promise you need to ask yourself not, “What mountain do I want to move,” but, “What mountain have we, the church, been commanded to move.”

What mountain can we move in faith?

“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:18-20).’”

Jesus had just gone up a mountain and glory was breaking through while the disciples were powerless below. Christ has ascended higher into greater glory, powerlessness should doubly not be our state.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight (Acts 1:8-9).”

Matthew 17:1-13 & No Gory, No Glory

We want the figure of a god, without the diet and exercise. When it comes to our salvation, to being godlike, we want to do it on our own, and we don’t want to do that much. We want glory, with none of the pain. We are spiritually health conscious in a way, but we want a quick, easy, and cheap fix. Gives us a pill, give us a surgery. What we will not do is really sweat or really work. We will not sacrifice our diet of sin. The diet of religion is both lazy and sinful seeking less than perfection. It is lazy because it seeks less than perfection. It is sinful because it seeks less than perfection. Its seeks to enjoy sin with minimal consequence. It does not truly seek to be holy as God is holy.

Physically, in our age of dieting, many try to delude themselves. Its funny how many articles are written as if it is some secret that diet and exercise are the key to health. There is only one way for health to get deep into your bones. It takes work. Our spiritual health likewise involves work. Paul tells us to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).” But be careful. Our salvation is something we work out, it is not something we work for. No drug we manufacture can bring about our salvation, and all our work, even our best work is also futile. We’re not simply spiritually flabby. We’re dead. We couldn’t sweat enough “good,” we couldn’t bleed enough “payment” even if we wanted to. Any sweat is already only our due, and all our blood is the debt we already owe. We need unequaled and unobligated sweat and blood.

Our salvation is no sweat-less labor; no bloodless surgery. A laparoscopic procedure won’t suffice. Flesh must be rent wide open. Blood must be spilt. To give the dead life, The Life must die. Then, and only then, do our eating habits change, for we have an appetite for the Bread of life. Then, and only then, do our work habits change, for we love to do good works unto God’s glory through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because of the fall there is only one way to glory, and that is through the gory. For us to go up, God must descend, further down than any.

The transfiguration is framed by a lot of cross talk (Matthew 16:21-28; 17:9, 12, 22-23). Jesus tells the disciples not to tell anyone this vision until after He is resurrected. The glory light they have seen will only be properly understood when illuminated by a dark cross. The transfiguration is not so much a flashback to Jesus’ eternal glory, as it is a flash-forward to his resurrection glory, and the cross comes first. No gory, no glory. He takes our part, that we may take His.

“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” -Philippians 2:8-11

Matthew 16:21-28 & Satanic Vandalism

The disciples have received a canvas and they recognize the silhouette. “That’s the king,” they confess. Now Jesus wants to make the silhouette a portrait; He wants to fill in the lines. Peter has received revelation from the Father that Jesus is the Christ, now He is receiving further revelation as to what that means from the Christ. Jesus tells them, “You see a crown, but do you notice its thorns? You see a throne, but do you see that a cross undergirds it?”

Peter is ready to receive the canvas and its silhouette, but he wants to paint a mustache over God’s Mona Lisa. He thinks he can improve upon God’s masterpiece. Peter has the right picture. He has been given a paint by numbers sheet. Number 2 is royal blue, and number 1 is supposed to be blood red. Peter wants to improvise. No longer content to be the disciple he wants to be the rabbi. He decides everything should be royal blue. But Jesus says red is a “must.” The masterpiece of God’s kingdom has a lot of blood red in it, and Jesus tells His disciples that no one else can paint it. He must bleed to paint this glory.

Trying to paint over the cross and keep the Christ is satanic vandalism. In the wilderness Satan tried to offer Jesus the world without the cross. Peter is acting here as Satan’s disciple, not Jesus’. Many have tried to keep the glory without the gory, but the paint won’t stick. Blood red is the primer for Jesus’ work of new creation.

Now let me fill in some lines. Some act like they keep the cross, but they hollow it out, and then cover it with precious metal. No more blood. Many that deny that Jesus was paying the penalty for sins in the place of sinners to reconcile them to God will affirm many other truths about the cross, but the paint wont stick. Deny ransom, deny propitiation, deny substitution, and whatever cross you may embrace, it ain’t Jesus’. The cross is the crux, and the crux of the cross is penal substitutionary atonement. This is crucial to God’s masterpiece.

If a child were to paint over a revered piece of artwork in a museum with their crayons, this is one time when daddy and mommy would’t praise their creativity. When an aspiring adult artist does this, it isn’t ignorant creativity, its damnable vandalism. Don’t expect the Father’s accolades when you try to paint by different numbers. This is an instance where creativity is best termed heresy.

Matthew 16:13-20 & Damnation by Imagination

When asked who people say Jesus is, the disciples only give the “good answers.” They don’t include the bad ones; they don’t mention the Pharisees’ blasphemous accusations of Jesus’ casting out demons by Beelzebul. Yet, none of the “good answers” are good enough. You can’t get partial credit on this test. This is a true or false question. Jesus is a prophet, but saying He is Elijah or Jeremiah doesn’t count for even 33%. The crowds are in awe of Jesus, and they flunk. “Who do you say Jesus is?” This is the one question test that everyone either eternally passes or fails.

There is a contrast here, but not between the crowd’s awe-filled speculations and the Pharisees’ jealously-filled accusations; it is between the crowd’s opinions and the disciples’ confession. It does not matter how great you think Jesus is, if you think Him to be less than He is. Drop Him the slightest notch and you will find yourself falling endlessly into a bottomless pit.

Imagine you are talking on the phone with your wife. You use the most flowery language to express your endearment to her, you press the limits of poetry to convey her beauty, but you do this using another woman’s name and attributes. It matters not how highly you praise her blond hair when it’s brown. Think Jesus less than He is, and He is not flattered.

Do you believe in Jesus, or do you believe in the Jesus you believe in? An imaginary Jesus produces only imaginary salvation. This ain’t Peter Pan; just because you believe it don’t make it fly. We do not preach faith in faith. We do not preach, “believe and you can fly.” We do not preach, “believe and you will be saved.” We preach Christ and Him crucified. We preach, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!”

“Oh, I believe in the Jesus of the Bible. I believe that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Ok, let me push a bit. What does that mean? If you can’t fill in the lines, you’re still trying to fly using your own magic fairy dust.

If you rebut that Peter didn’t understand everything his confession meant I would retort, “You can be confused with Peter, but can you understand with him?” Sure, Peter didn’t understand everything this meant, but he did understand truth as to what it meant, and this truth was being given to him by Jesus’ Father. The confession that saves is a confession that is understood, and it is understood because it is revealed by the Father. Any thing less than this, is at best, damning.

Matthew 16:1-12 – Don’t Ride with Stupid

You’re riding in the back. Driving the car is a politician. Acting as navigator and “back-seat driver,” annoying the politician thoroughly, is an intellectual. They hate each other. You are on the interstate heading from San Antonio desiring to reach Corpus Christi. Just outside of San Antonio you see the typical green sign with white lettering that reads, “Corpus Christi – 137 miles.” Signs update you of the closing distance at several intervals. As you get closer you see a sign that reads, “Corpus Christi, Exit I-37, right lane, 3 miles.” Shortly, more signs read the same, except the numbers slowly countdown, “2, 1, ¾, ½, ¼.” Surprisingly, your seemingly competent driver and navigator pass the exit and continue south on I-69 towards “Nowhere, TX” missing Corpus Christi – “the body of Christ.” You ask, “What are you doing? You missed your exit.” “No we did not, we haven’t seen any signs.” “What! There have been plenty, they are green and white along the side of the road!” The politician exclaims, “I hate green signs and pay no attention to them. I’m looking for a sign in the heavens.” “I do not agree with you about the green,” interrupts the intellectual, “I hate signs with white lettering, but you are right on one count, I too am looking for a sign in the heavens.”

You are riding with a Sadducee and a Pharisee. Although they hate each other, there is a deep kind of stupid that unites them. Discontent that heaven has come down, they want an aerial banner to give them driving directions. With their arrogant noses turned up, they look only to the heavens – this is a deadly way to drive.

Like a wise parent Jesus tells us, “Don’t ride with stupid. They can’t get you to Corpus Christi, the body of the Christ. They always take a wrong turn.” This isn’t judgmental arrogance, its recognizing danger. It is recognizing the fool of Proverbs and avoiding him as instructed.

The Pharisees can interpret the sky regarding weather, but their spiritual barometers are broke. They don’t sense the force heaven is exerting downward. They don’t realize the sky is falling. There are signs, “signs of the times,” Jesus calls them, but they are blind to the green and white that the Authority has posted. They don’t want to bow to the authority, they want to be the authority. They want to be the teachers and make Jesus wear the dunce hat.

It does not matter if you turn up the volume for the deaf, or get a bigger screen for the blind. To believe, man needs not a miracle on the outside, but on the inside. Say you are a morning person and your spouse is not. You want them to know the glory and joy of a fresh bright morning. So you turn the lights on and commence whistling a tune. This unleashes their fury. You reason, “They love the day, so more light will make them love the morning.” To the previous day’s exercise you add throwing open the room darkening shades to let the blazing morning sun burst in. There is more light, but you discover you can’t make a morning person by more light. More light only exacerbates the problem.

There must be light within as well as without. Fallen man does not need new signs, he needs a new heart.

This is why we should avoid Pharisees and Saducees, for if the blind lead the blind, they never reach Corpus Christi, they will never confess, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Matthew 15:29-39 – Healing in the Hands of the King

We have seen many healing summaries like the one in vv. 29-31, and Jesus just fed the 5,000 in the previous chapter, so why revisit these themes? The greatest danger we face every Sunday is not a failure to learn something new, but a failure to remember something old. As Luther said, the gospel must be beat into our heads continually. We must visit the same themes again and again because we forget. There is a feast for us here too. The feast we must partake of daily; God’s miracle Manna for us in our wilderness.

Yet, there is something distinct about this summary, and the feeding of the four thousand. Jesus has left the area of Tyre and Sidon and headed back to Galilee (Matthew 15:21, 29); so He has withdrawn from Gentile country, right? The acute reader among Matthew’s original audience would ask which side of Galilee Jesus is on. Mark informs us that He is in the region of the Decapolis. The Decapolis was a league of hellenized cities that were predominately southeast of Galilee. Jesus is still in Gentile country. Matthew brings this out when He says this crowd, “glorified the God of Israel.” The messianic feast is for the Gentiles too (Matthew 8:11). The kingdom has dawned, and its salvation is sweeping up the Gentiles too.

So these healings and the feeding are to be linked with the healing of the Gentile woman in Matthew 15:21-28. She came to Jesus crying out for the “Son of David,” to have mercy. She bowed before Him and called Him “Lord”. Why would a Canaanite woman come to a Jewish King – for healing? When the Jewish Messiah came, Isaiah foretold the effects of His rule:

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert (Isaiah 35:5-6).

Adam was a king under God. He was given dominion over the earth. He was told in Genesis 2:15 to work and keep (guard). Because of Adam’s presence the garden was to be safe and flourish. But Adam didn’t protect the garden. He let the dragon in. Now everything, instead of flourishing, is wilting. Because of Adam’s sin we are not safe, we are under the dragon’s sway. Because of Adam’s sin, we are not flourishing, all of creation is in a state of chaos.

But Jesus comes as the second Adam (Romans 5:14, 17). As Adam’s disobedience resulted in de-creation, Jesus’ obedience results in new creation. All things are put under His feet. He is undoing the curse and putting all things right. Jesus comes into our wilderness, and instead of making food for Himself, becomes God’s miracle Manna for us. The desert is blooming! Things are again becoming safe. Things are flourishing. Even death itself is working backwards.

In The Lord of the Rings, Aaragon the long awaited king saves Minias Tirith, the great city of men. The salvation he brings the city comes because he chose a deadly path. He does not look like a king, he has lived as a wanderer. How was the city to know their king? It was said, “The hands of the King are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known.”

When black breath blows
and death’s shadow grows
and all lights pass,
come athelas!
come athelas!
Life to the dying
In the king’s hand lying!

Our King came disguised. He rode a donkey, not a mighty stead. He took the deadliest road, defeated the dragon, and conquered death. How are we healed? From where does our healing come? It is in the hands of the King. Those hands had to become incarnate. They had to take on flesh, be pierced, and let blood. Blood so precious, it is making all safe. Blood full of life causing all to flourish.

Matthew 15:21-28 & The Grace of Hunger

A father might be delighted or annoyed by his child’s persistent cries. You are at task and single focus is necessitated. You have explained this once to your son. Shortly “dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad…” are said in rhythm with a drumbeat of taps on your back. No emergency need be declared, and they do not want you, they just want some of your stuff and they want it now.

“Let’s play Nerf guns,” they later beg. And it is clear it’s not playing Nerf guns that they want, but playing Nerf guns with dad. You draw them out. You say no, but in such a way and in such a tone that they get what is happening. They persist and cry out, “please, please, pleeeeease?” The child wants their father, and the father wants to give himself, so what is a father doing in such instances? He is soaking in the moment, and heightening their hunger to maximize their shared joy at his yes. Which one is closer to what Jesus is doing in this text? I believe the point of this text isn’t simply that Jesus answers the humble, persistent cries of Gentiles, but that He loves to do so.

Jesus intensifies the hunger of this “dog,” so that she might rejoice all the more in the “crumb” that she receives from her “master’s table.” While this woman is shown the depth of her need and the extent of her unworthiness she is receiving God-glorifying backdoor grace that sees Jesus as her only hope, and keeps her coming back.

Jesus is glorified in our hunger as well as our satisfaction. Jesus is glorified in our groans as as well as our “ahhhs.” He is glorified when we long for Him in the valley of the shadow of death as well as when we rejoice that our cups run over. Whatever drives you to Jesus, whatever makes you grasp for Him more vehemently, whatever turns your casual prayers into earnest screams – is grace! So if you are crying out for the salvation of the Lord, keep crying out. When you sense your need, cry out. When He is silent, cry out. When conviction lays you prostrate before Him, keep crying out all the more. He is magnifying His name in you. He is increasing your hunger to maximize your shared joy at His yes.