Friends Church Sermons

Pastor Matt continues his series on developing family ministry within our homes by exploring the concept of being Adopted into God's family.

CS Lewis in his classic book The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe tells the story of the Gospel in a child’s novel. There is a moment in his first book when the children in the story are confronted with the reality of the kingship of Jesus – Aslan the Lion is the picture he uses for Jesus. “Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion"..."Safe?" said Mr Beaver ..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.” We want Jesus to be safe – in fact we want following Him to be safe and easy. We want heaven with little or no inconvenience to our lives. But this is a false view of religion and life. Faith that is meaningful is never easy and rarely safe. Two weeks ago we looked at the middle verses of chapter 10 and discovered the hard road that Jesus calls His disciples to walk. He gives them warnings of what life will look like – sheep among wolves etc. He t

We left off in our study of Matthew 2 weeks ago as Jesus gives His now empowered Apostles the directive to go and share the Gospel that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. This next piece is vital to our understanding of following Jesus as King and Rabbi. This is the part that most of the time we minimize or put in small print. There is a cost to following Jesus – the very idea that following Jesus is easy or safe disregards both the direct teaching of Jesus and the history of those who have followed Him. Ten of the twelve apostles who are being sent out in this moment will lose their lives for following Jesus.

Never more than on a day like today, when our celebration of the birth of Christ falls on our Sabbath day, do I want to have something profound to say to you. A pastor should rise to the occasion and share something powerfully moving that would make this day more special. Well I don’t have anything flashy for your this morning – in fact what I want to share with you is as simple a message as I know how to give.

Chapter 10 marks a major shift in Matthews gospel. Up to this point Jesus has been on His own teaching the people. He has gathered followers who have become disciples (Hebrew = Talmid “wise student”, Greek = Mathetes “one learning under the instruction of a master”). To this point Matthew indicates that Jesus disciples have taken the role of student as they have watched, listened, and learned in the school of Beth Midrash. In verse 1-2 something very important happens. Jesus summons His disciples (students) and He gave them authority (this is of vital importance). Matthew describes it as authority to over the demonic world, over disease and sickness. But this authority goes deeper and would have been better understood in the context in which it is written. The word authority is the Greek word Exousia and it means “the power to act”. In the Rabbinic tradition there is a concept that is very important for disciples and it is known as S’mikhah. It is the laying on of hands. The New Testament is full of examples

We were looking at the miracles of Jesus that begin in chapter 8. Matthew joins these miracles together in groups of three to make several points. The first group of three was to define Jesus authority to teach – His miracles are punctuation and proof that He is not some fly by night Rabbi. The second group of three serves to prove His divinity and therefore His right to redefine their understanding of truth – a truth that He says cannot be patched into the Pharisees teachings but must be substituted for them. This third set of miracles I believe serves another function – to draw us to the heart, the mind, and the mission of the Rabbi.

Join Pastor Matt as he begins a sermon series about Family Ministry. "Why Family Ministry? Part 1" establishes a foundation and definition for family ministry, while investigating the need for the American Family to practice generational discipleship.

As we come to Matthew 9 once again we see Matthew present Jesus miracles in a set of three scenes. It started in chapter 8 – 3 scenes demonstrating the outcast and Jesus ability to heal physical disease – then 3 scenes demonstrating his authority over the men, the natural, and the supernatural world. With each set of 3 scenes Matthew is bringing his readers to understand a higher level of Jesus authority – now he brings them to a deeper message and a deeper healing- see if you catch it. Matthew 9:1-17 Jesus crosses back over the Sea of Galilee from the decopolis (area of the Gaddarenes) to Capernuum where He has made His home – probably in the house of Peter. Somewhere in the village He has gathered a large following who are filling the house while He is teaching. He is once again sitting in the seat of the Rabbi in Beth Midrash teaching His disciples while the crowd watches on. In the crowd are some of the local Scribes and Pharisees who have come to listen to this new Rabbi.

The second set of miracles in Matthew chapter 8 deals with Jesus authority over men, over nature, and over the supernatural but tells a deeper story of discipleship and peace.

. This section on the Beatitudes lays out for Jesus Talmidim (Disciples) how counter cultural their lives must be if they are going to follow this new Rabbi. Eight inner characteristics are on display that will set them both apart from and even against the cultural tide. The explain the key function of a disciple – INFLUENCE. It’s interesting to continue to read on – because Jesus goes from Blessed to Persecuted. In fact He ties the two together closely.

This morning we come to the conclusion of Jesus sermon on the mount. Throughout this sermon we find Jesus sharing the truth that the Rabbis of the people have led them to wrong conclusions about life, about living, about God, and about each other. The defining moment comes when Jesus says to them “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees you will not enter the kingdom of God.” Now Jesus presses home his teaching by saying to each person seated with Him “you have a choice to make”. I have laid out the differences between what I am teaching and what the Pharisees have taught you. Now it’s time to choose: Throughout scripture we have been faced with the choice to follow God or not: Adam and Eve made that choice first. Deut 30:19-20; Josh 24:13-15; 1 kings 18:21; Jer 21:8. Into each life a choice falls – “who do you say that I am?”

Wars, recessions, terrorism, crime, violence, drugs, natural disasters, cancer, sickness, pain, suffering; it’s a dangerous, unpredictable, and broken world we live in. The news is full of dark frightening stories or mayhem and misdeeds. Not a very hopeful way to begin a sermon ehh? I want you to know however that the world that Jesus is speaking into is not much different than ours. Oh the news spreads in a different way but the people sitting on this mount with Jesus knew the same fears and troubles that you face every day.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is an anchor scripture for a model of Family Discipleship. Listen as Pastor Matt unfolds an ancient biblical model for spiritual leadership in the home and how to partner with the local church.

Today I want to look at this passage as I believe Matthew wrote it – and Jesus preached it – as part of a whole. The purpose of Jesus sermon is not to give instruction on giving or praying or fasting though He does all three. The purpose is to establish the deeper understanding of the Torah and the heart of God to His disciples. Notice that verse 1 stands in stark contrast to what Jesus has already said – in this conflict we see the heart of Jesus teaching here. In the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches this new inner way of life and faith through the Beatitudes. He continues by saying, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven”. Now look at verse 1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before me to be noticed by them…”.

To understand the fullness of what Jesus teaches next we must again return to the context of the teaching. Jesus is sitting on the mountain as a Rabbi – a teacher – surrounded by His Talmid (disciples). He is instructing them in a new way of interpreting the scriptures that they have been taught all their lives. He starts with an extraordinary claim “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees you will not enter the kingdom of heaven”. The message – your rabbi’s are wrong. They are wrong about blessings, they are wrong about the law, they are wrong about prayer and fasting, they are wrong about security, and they are wrong about their role in the preservation of society. “Do not judge lest you be judged.” This is perhaps one of the most misunderstood teachings of Jesus in all of scripture. Partially that is because of the pendulum effect. You have to understand the context – the Pharisees had set themselves up to be the judges of all men. They set the standards (faulty) and they were t

… Matthew does not write necessarily in a chronological order with perfect transitions … some believe that the Sermon on the Mount is actually a compilation of sermons/talks of Jesus all rolled into one … others believe that the SOM was actually like an inaugural address … either way, Matthew captures this sermon in a bit of a patchy way … o We go from an image of Salt & Light, right to a profound statement in V. 17 about the Law …

The wilderness of Judea is a hot, barren 600 square mile stretch of land that extends from the Dead Sea almost to Jerusalem. To see it today is to see it when Jesus walked there – very little has changed. It is still sand and broken stone. It was out into this wilderness that the Spirit led Jesus for 40 days. A proving ground if you will for the newly crowned King not so different from the proving ground all Israel faced for 40 years in its earlier history. Here in the wilderness Jesus found strength from a time of fasting and undisturbed fellowship with the Father before He began his earthly ministry. Undisturbed at least by man – someone else was waiting for Him in the desert

We concluded chapter 4 last week by looking with Ray Vanderlaan at what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Remember that being a disciple (Talmid) is not about knowing what the Rabbi knows but instead a Talmid wants to become what the Rabbi is. It’s not by accident that Matthew begins his section on the teachings of Jesus on the heals of his call to His talmid (disciples). What follows is Jesus teaching His talmid who He is and how they are to become like Him. As we read these verses I want you to understand that they are not just a series of nice ideas – they are the lessons of a Rabbi to His talmid about becoming like Him.

Who do you say that I am? This verse defines the heart of the Gospel of Matthew and it’s the most important question you will ever answer in your life. All eternity and even life today hinges on your understanding of who Jesus is. Matthew establishes in the first four chapters Jesus preparation to be King of Israel. If you remember back a couple of weeks Matthew has established in the first 2 Chapters Jesus right to be king both through his lineage and through the fulfillment of prophecy. Chapter 3 pushes further to announce his coronation. Chapter 3 begins with the voice of one crying in the wilderness – the herald of God – in the form of a man named John.

Who do you say that I am? Jesus asked that question of His disciples and He would ask it of every one of us. Your eternity rests on the answer. Your life rests on the answer. Read Matthew 2 – Stay with me on in this long passage I was tempted to take this is smaller pieces in several sermons but I have come to believe that Matthew moves quickly through this for a reason. The big picture is lost when we divide this passage into smaller pieces. There are certainly truths to be learned but we miss what Matthew is presenting to us. You see in chapter 2 Matthew presents Jesus right to be Israel’s King through 4 places and 4 prophecies. We can find here also 4 eternal promises.