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How to Enter the Kingdom of GodUnderstanding the Messianic Program in Matthew 16
Get With the Program, Part 1 Matthew 16:1-23 Do you ever feel like you're out of step from the larger group? Like you're in an orchestra, but everyone is playing a different piece of music from you? Like a tourist in England who just can't understand why everyone is driving on the wrong side of the road? Like a basketball player who doesn't know what position he is or even what team he's on? If so, you need to get with the program. The Revelation of the Program of the Messiah - 16:1-28 Background: The third year of Jesus' ministry, the year of opposition (beginning in 15:1). First--year of obscurity; second--year of public favor. The opposition to Jesus has always existed, but began to grow among the Pharisees (12:14, 24, 38; 15:1, 12). Jesus' ministering among Gentiles (15:21 - Tyre & Sidon; 15:29 - Decapolis; 15:31 - "God of Israel"; 15:32 feeding 4,000 Gentiles). Jesus then briefly visits Magdala or Magadan (a Jewish area on western shore) and is confronted by the Pharisees & Sadducees. I. The Revelation of the Program of the Messiah - 16:1-28 A. The Rejection of the Messiah - 1-4B. The Withdrawal of the Messiah - 5-12 C. The Revelation of the Person of the Messiah - 13-17 D. The Revelation of the Community of the Messiah - 18-20 E. The Revelation of the Death & Resurrection of the Messiah - 21-23 F. The Revelation of how to join the Messiah's kingdom - 24-28 I. The Revelation of the Program of the Messiah - 16:1-28
Who is the Messiah? (The Jews lived under foreign rulers for centuries and held to the Messianic hope). By Jesus' time, there were many different opinions and beliefs about the Messiah, but the prevalent view was an earthly King who would overthrow the foreign rulers and restore the nation's independence and position as God's most favored nation. They were not looking for a Messiah who also held the offices of Prophet and Priest as Jesus did. Jesus knew this and that's why he often withdrew from the public and wanted His identity kept a secret (see Jn. 6:14-15). Mt. 1:1- "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham." Son of David - 2 Sam. 7:16; Son of Abraham - Gen. 12:2. Jesus is God's divinely accredited leader who will be given a transformed group of people who will become the members of God's new community. In Bible talk, Jesus is God's anointed King who will reign over the eternal Kingdom of God which will be made up of all those who willingly submit to God's rule. Application - Are you a part of that kingdom, that community? Have you willingly submitted to the rule of God in your life? Or are you living for yourself? This study will help us determine that. A. The Rejection of the Messiah - 1-4 Here we see the first united opposition against Jesus by the Pharisees and Sadducees. These two groups agreed on little, but they found common agreement in their rejection of Jesus.
V. 1 "a sign" - they asked for a heavenly sign while ignoring the signs around them (Mt. 11:1-6). V. 2 - they could discern the weather; "Red sky at morning, sailors take warning. Red sky at night, sailors delight." V. 3 - Signs of the times: testimony of John the Baptist, the teaching and miracles of Jesus, Daniel's prophecy of the 70 weeks (Dan. 9:20-27). V. 4 - Jesus rebuked them and reiterated the sign of Jonah (Mt. 12:38-45) and with that he left them. The Pharisees and Sadducees didn't believe in Jesus and these skeptical confrontations demonstrate that. They rejected the Messiah who stood right before them. In another confrontation in John 5:39-40, Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to me that you may have life." Application - What is your attitude toward Jesus? Are you looking for reasons to believe in Him or reasons to doubt? The Jewish leaders rejected the Messiah because His program conflicted with their concept of the messianic program. Jesus came to establish a spiritual kingdom and they were looking for a physical kingdom. We must also be careful to understand the times we live in lest we delude ourselves into a false expectation of Jesus' kingdom. What time is it? What is God's agenda in this time? This is the church age: God is gathering a people. The present world is corrupted by sin and is awaiting destruction by fire (2 Pet. 3:7). The church is not Israel. Israel was an earthly kingdom, the church is a heavenly kingdom. During this time we lay up treasures in Heaven, not here on Earth. C.I. Scofield said, "It may be safely said that the Judaizing of the Church (conforming to OT teaching) has done more to hinder her progress, pervert her mission, and destroy her spirituality than all other causes combined. Instead of pursuing her path of separation, persecution, poverty, and non-resistance she has used Jewish Scripture to justify her in lowering her purpose to the civilization of the world, the acquisition of wealth, the use of an imposing ritual, and the erection of magnificent church buildings." One frightening example is that of the early American colonialists. Some of these early colonialists were convinced that the church is the new Israel and inherited all the promises of an earthly kingdom. They saw America as the promised land and the Indians as the pagan enemies of God. They exterminated many tribes of Indians for the glory of God. This is a horrendous perversion of Christianity and illustrates why it is so important to understand the times we live in by a correct interpretation of Scripture. Understanding the times is foundational to Jesus' teaching on discipleship. B. The Withdrawal of the Messiah - 5-12 At the end of verse 4 we see the withdrawal of Jesus. Jesus refused their request for a sign. A not so famous preacher named Massimo said, "God doesn't condescend to the whims of the doubting heart." Another reason Jesus refused to grant them a sign is that He refused to assert His authority to bring people to faith in Himself. This is the same temptation Satan tried in the desert--to use His power for Himself. Jesus never used His power to promote Himself. That's what meekness is. He came meek and lowly as a lamb to the slaughter. V. 5 "the other side" - they departed the Jewish region once again. V. 6 "leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees" - Jesus warned His disciples not to accept the false views of the messianic program. They had to rid themselves of the false concepts in order to be ready for the true picture of the Messiah that He was about to teach them. Application - What false notions of the Messiah do you need to get rid of? We need to loosen our grip on our false expectations of the Savior. C. The Revelation of the Person of the Messiah - 13-17 V. 17 The revelation of Jesus' identity comes from God (see Mt. 11:25-27). D. The Revelation of the Community of the Messiah - 18-20 This is the first appearance of "church" in the Gospels (other two in Mt. 18). The church is made up of those who submit to God's kingly rule. V. 18 - Peter (petros); rock (petra). A boulder-like truth came out of the one who was called a small stone. "Gates of Hades" represents death. Death will not offensively or defensively defeat Christ's church in any way. V. 19 God's sovereignty and man's responsibility converge in the church's ministry of bringing others into the kingdom. Keys are symbols of authority and the church has authority to declare the judgment of heaven so long as such judgment is based on the principles of the Word of God. Application - Get with the program of Christ's church. How are you involved in Christ's church? Are you allowing God to use you in ministry through the church? V. 20 The messianic secret: until after the resurrection. If this news spread beforehand it would have interfered with His ministry of training the disciples as the Jews would have wanted to make Him their earthly king. Also, the disciples were not yet ready in their understanding of the Messiah to be able to accurately tell others about Him. Application - there is no Messianic secret today! We are to proclaim Christ to all. Are you seeking to share Christ with the people in your life? E. The Revelation of the Death & Resurrection of the Messiah - 21-23 This was not in the Jews' messianic program and came as an absolutely intolerable idea to the disciples. V. 23 "Satan" - Peter was not literally possessed but he was communicating the attitude of Satan. "You are an offense to Me" lit. - you are tempting me to sin. Application - Get with the program of Christ's sacrifice. Have you trusted in the cross of Christ for your salvation? In what way does your life reflect the centrality of the cross? F. The Revelation of how to join the Messiah's kingdom - 24-28 Get With the Program, Part 2 Finding Real Life Matthew 16:24-28 Why are extreme sports so popular among our generation today? People are seeking excitement. They want to feel alive. Extreme living according to this generation: You're never more alive than when you're staring death in the face. Extreme living according to God: You're never more alive than when you're losing your life for Christ's sake. F. The Revelation of how to join the Messiah's kingdom - 24-28. Do you want all you can get out of life? Are you the type who really wants to live life to the max? Do you like to live to the extreme? Well I say, go for it! Don't allow yourself to miss out on anything that God has to offer you. You were probably expecting me to say "You need to deprive yourself. You need to give up things for God that you really don't want to. You need to live a sad, boring, little Christian life." No way! Christ offers us something more exciting than an adrenaline rush because what He offers is lasting and addresses all of life. If you really want the best. If you really want it all, then pay attention to what Jesus teaches us in this passage about discipleship. Because you can only find real life as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. A disciple is simply a learner and a follower. A disciple asks, "What do you want me to know and what do you want me to do?" Now let's remind ourselves that the One who is giving us this lesson is the same One who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." He offers life because He is the source of life. "All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made" (John 1:3). He is the only One who has the authority to tell us where to find real life. Our text gives us four truths to finding real life. Let's read vs. 24. 1. The first truth to finding real life is to submit to the requirements of discipleship. Here are the terms for being a disciple of Jesus, God's Messiah. If you want real life, you want Jesus and if you want Jesus, you must come on His terms. Denying self is not self-deprivation or self-inflicted pain. Denying self means to forget yourself, to disown yourself, to disregard yourself. It means to get your attention off of yourself and your own ambitions, desires, and ideas. It has to do with denying your independence from God or your autonomy, your self-government. The heart of Satanism is to exalt self; doing whatever you want apart from God. The disciple of Jesus must conform himself to the will of God and that means denying self. Denying self also has to do with denying the sinful aspect of self - the flesh. Your flesh is corrupt. You cannot do anything good in your own flesh. You cannot save yourself. You cannot be righteous in your flesh. Your flesh cannot contribute anything to your redemption. You're condemned to eternal destruction and in your self can do nothing to change it. So you must look outside of yourself to the Savior. You must realize that you are spiritually bankrupt, spiritually dead. You must deny your sinful self. You must repent of your sins and follow Jesus. Paul wrote in Eph. 4:24, "and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth" (NAS). Denying self is the way into the kingdom and the way of life within the kingdom. Paul wrote in Gal. 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." "Take up your cross" - This does not mean bearing some common trial or hardship. It's not just putting up with a angry boss or having a physical handicap. What did the disciples think of when Jesus said this? They knew it was an instrument of execution. Not many years before this, 100 men had been crucified in the area. A century earlier, Alexander Janneus had crucified 800 Jewish rebels at Jerusalem, and after the revolt that followed the death of Herod the Great, 2,000 Jews were crucified by the Roman proconsul Varus. Many others were crucified during Jesus' lifetime. It was a common sight. When Jesus said, "take up your cross," the disciples pictured people carrying the cross beam of their execution stake. They were walking to their death. To follow Jesus means to follow Him even if it brings hardship and even death knowing that we are partakers of the suffering Christ endured for us (1 Pet. 4:12-14). "Follow Me" - This means we must imitate Jesus in loyal obedience. The Message reads, "Then Jesus went to work on His disciples. 'Anyone who intends to come with Me has to let Me lead. You're not in the driver's seat, I am. Don't run from suffering, embrace it. Follow Me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, My way, to finding yourself, your true self.' " Application - How can you apply this in your own life? How can you deny self in order to follow Christ if you're not saved? How about if you are saved? Discuss This call to discipleship is a recurring theme is Jesus' teaching. There are parallel passages of this text in Mk 8:34-38 and Lk 9:23-26. Similar teachings are found in Matt. 10:38-39; Lk 14:25-35; Lk 17:33; and Jn 12:25. So the first truth to finding real life is to submit to the requirements of discipleship. 2. The second truth to finding real life is understanding the reason for discipleship. Look at vv. 25-26. This paradox illustrates the previous principle. Life and soul are the same word in the Greek. It means self or the real you. In v. 25 I see two ways to apply this verse. 1. present application: (not exegetical) you will find life here. 2. Future application: (exegetical) you will find life in glory Amplified Bible: "For whoever is bent on saving his (temporal) life (his comfort and security here) shall lose it (eternal life); and whoever loses his life (his comfort and security here) for My sake shall find it (life everlasting). CHASING AFTER HAPPINESS
Are you looking for real life? Are you wanting thrills, romance, success? If you chase that, you will lose it all. You will open a smelly suitcase that you'll have to live with for eternity. If you reject discipleship, what you're really saying to God is, "I know this is your program, but I'm better than that. That may be for some people, but there's something bigger and more important in life to me, and I'd rather give myself to that." Well, Jesus goes along with that for a moment and says in v. 26 . . . . This is hyperbole, an extreme exaggeration. Let's follow the Lord's logic here. What do you consider life to be? Now assume that you could have that a million times over. Suppose you had everything you want. Suppose you had the whole world! What do you profit when in the process you lose your own soul, your life, your true self? "What will a man give in exchange" - There's no way to buy salvation, even if you possessed the whole world. Application - Are you willing to forfeit your soul for material things? Are you willing to forfeit your soul and eternal life for anything? Don't let anything stand between you and Christ! See Luke 14:25-33 - Make up your mind what you are living for. Do you trust Jesus enough to surrender your life to Him? Do you trust Him enough to follow Him even if it means suffering here on earth? Don't fall for the temporal, passing pleasures of this world. See 1 John 2:15-17. Matthew Henry said, "Many a one has ruined his eternal interests by his preposterous and inordinate care to secure and advance his temporal ones." We need an eternal perspective to find real life. So the second truth to finding real life is understanding the reason for discipleship. 3. The third truth to finding real life is to realize the reward for discipleship. Look at v. 27. Nothing goes unnoticed with God. Matthew Henry said, "The rewarding of men according to their works is deferred till that day. Here good and evil seem to be dispensed promiscuously; but in that day all will be set right." But keeping that day in view, we can remember the importance of following God's agenda, not ours. William McDonald said, "The only way to have a successful life is to project yourself forward to that glorious time, decide what will be really important then, and then go after that with all your strength." Application -- There's going to be a payday someday. Jesus will reward you "according to your works." Did you commit yourself and all your energies and resources to following Jesus? Or did you only serve yourself? So the third truth to finding real life is to realize the reward for discipleship. 4. The fourth truth to finding real life is to remember the royal source of discipleship. Look at v. 28. What does this mean? See ch. 17 and the transfiguration of Jesus. I believe Jesus gave His disciples this preview of His coming glory to encourage them in continuing in the real messianic program. Along with James, Peter and John were there and they both refer to it in their writings. In 2 Pet. 1:16-18 Peter says he was one of the "eyewitnesses of His majesty." John says in John 1:14 "we beheld His glory." We must remember that Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He has the absolute right to make demands of us and we have no right to refuse Him. His kingdom, His plan is the only one that matters and we need to get on with His program. So we've learned four truths to finding real life: 1. Submit to the requirements of discipleship, v. 24. 2. Understand the reason for discipleship, vv. 25-26. 3. Realize the reward for discipleship, v. 27. 4. Remember the royal source of discipleship, v. 28. Selected Bibliography Alexander, Joseph Addison. The Gospel According to Matthew. Charles Scribner and Company, 1860. Reprint, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1980. Barclay, William. The Gospel of Matthew, rev. ed. 2 vols. Philadelphia, Penn.: Westminster Press, 1975. Blomberg, Craig L. Matthew. NAC. Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman Press, 1992. Calvin, John. A Harmony of the Gospels: Mathew, Mark, and Luke. Translated by T.H.L. Parker. 2 vols. Calvin's Commentary, edited by David W. Torrance and Thomas F. Torrance. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972. Kaiser, Walter C. Jr. The Messiah in the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995. Ketcherside, W. Carl. The Kingdom of the Messiah. St. Loius, Mo.: Mission Messenger, 1957. Klappert, Berthold. "King, Kingdom." In The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Edited by Colin Brown, 2:372-390. Kligerman, Aaron Judah. Messianic Prophecy in the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1957. Lockyer, Herbert. All the Messianic Prophecies of the Bible. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1973. MacArthur, John. Matthew. 4 vols. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary. Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1988. McClain, Alva J. The Greatness of the Kingdom. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959. Reich, Max I. The Messianic Hope of Israel: Studies in Messianic Prophecy. Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1945. Showers, Rendald E. There Really Is A Difference! A Comparison of Covenant and Dispensational Theology. Bellmawr, N.J.: The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc., 1990. Spurgeon, Charles H. Spurgeon's Popular Exposition of Matthew. London: n.p., 1893. Reprint, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1962. Toussaint, Stanley D. Behold the King: A Study of Matthew. Portland, Oreg.: Multnomah Press, 1980. Zuck, Roy, ed. Vital Prophetic Issues: Examining Promises and Problems in Eschatology. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Resources, 1995. |
