Metz 07/01/18

The Lord’s Supper

Before we partake of the Lord’s Supper together, I’d like to look at Titus 3:4-7 on the screen.

First of all let’s make the point that these verses are one big long sentence in the original language. The phrase I’ve highlighted in yellow--he saved us--is the main verb in this lengthy sentence.1 And all the rest of the words on the slide explain and amplify the idea that ‘he saved us.’

Now the verb translated saved in this passage and others in the New Testament means not only to rescue from danger but also to rescue from judgement. 2 So he saved us, he rescued us from danger, he rescued us from judgment.

Look at how the one big long sentence starts: But when the goodness and lovingkindness of God our Savior appeared. Now we could suggest that these characteristics--goodness and lovingkindness-- were characteristics that filled God’s heart when he moved to save us. Other translations say God was kind and l oving (and the word loving or lovingkindness is the Greek word philanthropia from which we get philanthropy--the desire to promote the welfare of others)…it was kindness and love, a desire to promote the welfare of others that filled God’s heart when he saved us.

Immediately after the words ‘he saved us’ you can see the two words ‘not because’. What follows ‘not because,’ is not why God saved us…. not because of the works done by us in righteousness. So God didn’t save us because of what we do, the good works we do that we think might prove to God that we are good people worth his attention. No it was according to his own mercy.

1 Lea, T. D., & Griffin, H. P. (1992). 1, 2 Timothy, Titus (Vol. 34, p. 321). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.2 Hughes, R. K., & Chapell, B. (2000). 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus: to guard the deposit (p. 361). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

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{This morning in our time in Matthew, two blind men will cry out “Have mercy on us Son of David!” We’ll explain the “Son of David” part when we get to it but these blind men had nothing to commend themselves to God but their dire need. You and I are more like those blind men than we know. Before we came to Christ we had nothing to commend us to God but our dire need for mercy.}

{If you want to preach the gospel to yourself regularly, celebrate your unworthiness and neediness for that’s really what you and I brought to God when he saved us.}

Now our one big long sentence moves to ‘how’ he saved us….by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

He cleansed us with a rebirth and a renewal….a rebirth and a renewal by the Holy Spirit…whom he poured out on us richly….I take that to mean that we were ‘inundated with the Spirit’…’flooded with the Spirit,’ ….deluged…swamped….overrun with the Spirit. {Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born again!”….that’s what we’re talking about here. }

How did God save us? literally, “through the washing…the spiritual cleansing… that produces rebirth and renewal by the [operation of] the Holy Spirit”).3

Well what’s next in our one big long sentence? Next we move to the words ‘so that’….here is the purpose for God saving us….or here is the reason that God saved us or the outcome of God saving us…so that… being justified by his grace…justified means being declared innocent …being declared innocent by God’s grace…. we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

He saved us to become heirs…..heirs of God…according to the hope of eternal life.

Well that’s an amazing one big long sentence isn’t it?

So that when you and I explain our eternal status, God gets the credit, and we get the blessing.4

Our salvation depends solely and completely on God’s grace, displayed in “his mercy,” revealed and achieved by his Son, Jesus Christ, and applied to humankind by the Holy Spirit.5

Would the men come forward?

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 3 Hughes, R. K., & Chapell, B. (2000). 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus: to guard the deposit (p. 362). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.4 Hughes, R. K., & Chapell, B. (2000). 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus: to guard the deposit (p. 361). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.5 Lea, T. D., & Griffin, H. P. (1992). 1, 2 Timothy, Titus (Vol. 34, p. 322). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

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25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Who is this Jesus?Matthew 9:27–10:6

The gospels were written so that we might see who Jesus really is. And having seen who he really is, we might have affections for him. And having affections for him we might choose to follow him and live under his Lordship. The gospel writers have a clear purpose--they write so that we might take up our cross and follow Jesus. Just as tadpoles morph into frogs and caterpillars morph into butterflies, it’s God’s intent that having believed in Jesus and his work on the cross for our sins, we might morph into fully devoted disciples of Christ. Who wants to remain a tadpole or a caterpillar forever anyway? We continue in Matthew’s gospel this morning. And we bring chapter 9 to a close and we briefly dip our feet into chapter 10. Here’s a slide which serves to orient us.

As you can see on the slide, Matthew organizes his gospel with alternating ‘teaching’ sections and ‘story’ sections…teaching…story….teaching…story… And so the rhythm of Matthew’s gospel is that we hear Jesus teach and we, along with the crowd say, “Boy does he teach with authority” And then we see him heal lepers and raise people from the dead and do other miracles and we say, “Wow does he heal with authority.” And it’s as if Matthew continually serves the ball into our court and it’s up to us to respond. Will we return his serve or not?

Throughout the gospel story we are beckoned to see him for who he really is and then fall in line and follow him as his disciples.

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Getting almost a two chapter running start on our passage this morning ………….reviewing quickly Matthew 8 and the portion up to our passage this morning that leads us to the end of chapter 9 ……..in chapter 8, Jesus touched a leper and healed him, Jesus spoke words and healed a centurion’s servant who was paralyzed, Jesus caused a fever in Peter’s mother-in-law to “Vamanos!,” Jesus rebuked a raging storm on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus healed two men with demons. And then in chapter 9, Jesus forgave a paralytic and healed him, Jesus raised a little girl from the dead and Jesus healed a woman with an issue of blood. Do we need more miracles to validate who this Jesus really is? Matthew has a few more for us.

We pick up in verse 27….

27 And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud,“Have mercy on us, Son of David.”

Now here’s an amazing case where “two blind men see what Israel’s leadership failed to see.”6 They call Jesus, “Son of David.” And that’s no insignificant title. It’s a Jewish messianic title. The term ‘son’ just indicates that Jesus is a descendent of David. So these blind men out in the margin of society, these blind men who really have no platform from which to share the truth, cry aloud to Jesus “Have mercy on us Messiah.”

Did the people around them listen? Probably not….they considered the source.

It just so happens that the “giving of sight to the blind (was) a distinctly messianic blessing which heralded the arrival of God’s kingdom…in other words when we see blind men receiving their sight, that means the kingdom of God has arrived. Isaiah 29:18, Isaiah 35:5, and Isaiah 42:7 tell us as much.7

Listen to these verses from Isaiah 35: 4-6 describing the arrival of the Messiah

4  Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not!

Behold, your God will come with vengeance,

with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

5  Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

6  then shall the lame man leap like a deer (Acts 3:8 walking and leaping and praising God) and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.

For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;

6 Chouinard7 Chouinard

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As we said, when eyes begin to be opened and ears begin to be unstopped, the Messiah is present.

(But there’s something else that makes this healing special. … In Jesus’ ministry there are more miracles where sight is restored than any other category. Again evidence that the kingdom of God has come in the ministry of Jesus)8

Well verse 28 would seem to tell us that Jesus ignored the blind men and he entered the house (Was it his own? Some think so. Or was it just one that he used for ministry? Was it Peter’s?9 Again we don’t know). Well that doesn’t stop the blind men. They walk right in there after him. I find that a bit humorous. These blind men are persistent. They are single-minded. They’re on a mission and it doesn’t matter where Jesus is going---they are following him…they may not have known that they entered a house. They’re in pursuit of the Son of David and nobody is going to get in their way.

Jesus asked them, “Did you just walk in my house without knocking?” ….no Jesus asked, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

{In many of the healing miracles, faith has been emphasized. The leper had faith, Matthew 8:1-4. The centurion had faith, Matthew 8:5-13. Those that brought the paralytic to Jesus had faith, Matthew 9:2. The woman with the issue of blood had faith. The father whose little girl had died had faith. And now Jesus asks the blind men if they have faith.10}

Faith is critical. But does it matter that we have lots of faith or enough faith? I think we get in trouble when we go down that road. Yes Jesus complimented the centurion for his great faith but there’s no indication that the centurion’s great faith caused the healing of his servant. The point is that God looks for faith in his people.

“Do you believe that I am able to do this?” We shouldn’t miss the point that because the men are blind they haven’t seen anything that Jesus has done. They’ve had to depend on what people told them and they do believe. 11 They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” 29 Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.”

We should probably understand “According to your faith”….in the sense of ‘since you have faith’ rather than…. “Since you have great faith or in proportion to your faith.” Jesus is just saying, “Since you believe, you have your request”12

“(Faith) is the conducting link between man’s emptiness and God’s fullness….Faith is the bucket let down into the fountain of God’s grace, without which man could never draw water of life

8 Morris9 MacArthur10 Morris11 Morris12 Bruner as quoted in Morris

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from the wells of salvation. For the wells are deep, and of himself man has nothing to draw with.”13

30 And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about it.”

Don’t miss those words ‘sternly warned’. Jesus was deeply serious about this: See that no one knows about this. “Got it guys?... Don’t talk about what happened. Don’t spread the word.” “The word could almost carry the idea of a scolding”14

But though Jesus commanded them firmly, verse 31, it seems that the men’s joy at what had happened was too great for them to keep quiet. They spread his fame through all that district.

These two men had faith but they lacked obedience.15 Welcome to humanity. Aren’t we sometimes like that? Again why didn’t Jesus want the word to spread about his miracle working? He didn’t want to be primarily known as a miracle worker for He came to seek and save those who were lost. He knew that his miracles would overshadow his teaching in the eyes of needy people.

32 As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to him. It’s kind of like a doctor’s office…one man goes out, the next man goes in….This man was mute, he couldn’t speak; he may well have been deaf as well.16 33 And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke.

Notice how different this miracle is than all the others. There is no request for healing; at least Matthew doesn’t record one. Nor is there any description of what Jesus did. We don’t really know if Jesus performed the healing or not, though it seems from the context that he did. It seems that Matthew wants to focus our attention elsewhere, to the reaction of those who saw the miracle. Look at the rest of verse 33.

And the crowds marveled…they were greatly amazed, they were astounded…they were overcome with awe17… saying, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel.” 34 But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”

The crowds response, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel” is a fitting summary of Jesus’ unprecedented work.”18 The crowds are right! “Never was anything like this seen in Israel”

13 Trench, “The Miracles of our Lord” as quoted by MacArthur14 MacArthur15 Morris16 Morris17 MacArthur18 Chouinard

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But the Pharisees, verse 34--who appear here for the first time as a group in opposition to Jesus19…this is a turning point--the Pharisees provide a negative assessment of Jesus’ work: “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.” “These wonderful things Jesus does”, they say,” he does by the devil.”

{Later in Matthew, in a similar setting, Jesus will demonstrate both the absurdity of their charge, the absurdity of the words “He casts our demons by the prince of Demons” and secondly the eternal consequences of their evaluation.}20

And lest we lose the big picture about what Jesus is doing, we run across another ‘summary’ verse in verse 35…

35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.

This summary verse here in chapter 9, is almost identical the summary verse back in chapter 4. Let me put Matthew 4:23 on the screen….

The word in yellow show up in Matthew 9:35

So what are we to make of the fact that Matthew 9:35 is almost identical to 4:23? Well we could say that the two verses are like bookends that set off the material in the chapters between them.

First is the bookend--Matthew 4:23

19 Chouinard20 Chouinard

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Then in Matthew 5-7, Jesus is the authoritative Messiah in word in the Sermon on the Mount, Then in Matthew 8-9, he is the Messiah at work in the miracle storiesThen the bookend--Matthew 9:35

Well in verse 36, we see for the first time the “response that most often described Jesus’ heart when he encountered crowds of people.”21 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

“Life was difficult in the first century. Galilee was a busy place, a troubled place. Roman soldiers were everywhere and some of them were very cruel. Rich people were trapped by greed. Jesus saw oppressive taxation. He saw many Jews resenting living in an occupied country, eaten up by anger, bitterness and hatred. He saw men treating women poorly because there was an easy divorce culture. He saw families breaking up. He saw children suffering. He saw self-righteousness among the religious. He saw suffering wherever he went.”22

When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless…they were literally torn and thrown down23…they were mangled and thrown down to the ground…

They were harassed….: ‘troubled’, ‘worried’, ‘bewildered’ … ‘confused’ or ‘upset’24

They were helpless…. ‘dejected’25 , ‘miserable’26 ‘defeated’ or ‘vulnerable’.27

{I can still remember one night at Texas A&M before I had trusted Christ, sitting on the floor of my bathroom in the dorm….you’re going to be tempted to laugh at this next picture but don’t…But I was drunk and howling like a dog…. I was harassed….bewildered…lost. I was helpless…miserable and dejected….I remember that moment as clear as day.}

Well when Jesus saw the crowds harassed and helpless……he didn’t respond with righteous indignation…. “That’s what happens to sinners!” …he didn’t respond with “It serves them right!”

21ESV22 Christopher Ash, “Commission of Compassion” Sermon on Gospel Coalition web-site, 12/16/ 200823 Blomberg24 Handbook25 AT, NJB, Brc26 PHillips27 Handbook

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But he did respond with a very strong word… a physical word…His gut was moved. He felt really deeply about the sad condition of those he saw….he was moved with compassion.

The imagery of ‘sheep without a shepherd’ is used several times in the Old Testament28 And most often the shepherd is the king, the leader, the prince and the people are the sheep….Consider the language of Ezekiel 34 for example:

2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered…

And then in verse 23…..23 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.

So the Shepherds were the leaders of Israel. And David was the gold standard as a shepherd. BUT the son of David, the descendent of David, Jesus the Messiah would be the ultimate shepherd who would protect the sheep and guide them. Didn’t Jesus identify himself in John 10 as the Good Shepherd?29

Well in verses 37-38, the metaphor abruptly changes from ‘shepherding’ to a ‘great harvest’.

Now a great harvest is a picture of opportunity, isn’t it? What a great mission field is out there! What a large number of men, women and children need to be won for the kingdom of God

Let me just read verse 37….37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few….we might expect Jesus to say… “I need you to volunteer”… “and I need you to persuade others to volunteer….let’s get as many as we can to sign up”

{I heard that in the early 20th century, there was a time when the only people who would volunteer for overseas missionary work were single women. They would parody Isaiah’s

28 Num. 27:16-17; 1 Kings 22:17; 1 Chron. 18:16; Jer. 50:6; Ezek. 34:1-16; Zech. 11:1529 John 10:14

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response in Isaiah 6…you know where Isaiah said, “Here am I, send me”? Well they would say it “Here am I, send my sister”. The only ones with guts to go were the single women.}30

But Jesus didn’t say that in verse 38. The response that Jesus asks for is not that we would volunteer but that we should pray earnestly that the Lord of the harvest would send out laborers into his harvest.

Now why is that?

The harvest is plentifulThe workers are few.Why is prayer to the LordThe very thing we should do?

Why is prayer the very thing we should do? “Because if we volunteer it becomes our project. We take the initiative. We go. We harvest. We take the credit.”

But the harvest is not our project. There is a Lord of the harvest….the harvest is his project. The harvest is his.The workers are his.The field is his. And in the end….. the glory will be his.

The question is not, “Are people willing to volunteer?” But, “Can we discern that the strong arm of the Lord of the harvest is sending them?” It’s his call that counts more than our willingness to volunteer.31

When I began to study this passage, I thought to himself “This is a really an important prayer that I almost never pray.” How about you? How often do you pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest?”

But then I was reminded of the Operation World cards we used in the worship service several years back. We systematically week by week prayed through the countries of the world and asked God to send out workers into those countries. I’m wondering if we need to go through that again. Because as we pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his

30 Story by Christopher Ash, “Commission of Compassion” Sermon on Gospel Coalition web-site, 12/16/ 200831 These words are almost entirely from the sermon by Christopher Ash, “Commission of Compassion” Sermon on Gospel Coalition web-site, 12/16/ 2008

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harvest, we line up with the things that are on God’s heart. And if he puts his strong hand on us, “I want you to go”, we’re much more likely to be willing don’t you think?” 32

The harvest is plentiful. “ (And)….No longer can the concern for the multitudes be Jesus’ alone; the disciples must also identify personally with the plight of the crowds.”33

Well in answer to the prayer for the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field (the last verse of chapter 9), Jesus calls his twelve disciples to him and sends them into the harvest (Matthew 10:1)

10 And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. 2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. 5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

On the back of your sermon notes you’ll see a list of the 12 disciples from each of the four gospels. (There is not a complete list of disciples/apostles in the book of John)

On the front , you’ll see seven facts about the 12 disciples/apostles. Let me read a few of these:34 1, 2, 3, and 6. I’ll let you read the remaining later.

1. Matthew organizes the list in pairs (which is most easily seen in the original language). Jesus sent them out two by two (Mark 6:7)

2. Within the Twelve is a recognizable division into three groups of four. The first name in each group remains the same in all the lists. (The first, fifth, and ninth place is occupied, respectively by Peter, Philip, and James of Alpaeus). The order of the rest of the names varies.

3. The first group of four is composed of two pairs of brothers (Peter and Andrew, James and John). The four were commonly called the ‘inner circle’. However on some significant occasions only Peter, James and John accompanied Jesus.

32 Christopher Ash33 Chouinard34 Wilkins, page 387-388

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4. Peter heads all lists and is often the spokesman for the disciples. During the early days of the church he fulfills Jesus’ prediction that he will play a foundational role as the rock of the church.

5. The twelve are normally mentioned as a group, with only occasional focus on individuals

6. The Twelve display a remarkable personal diversity, which may have been part of the reason for their effectiveness in reaching Israel. Peter, Andrew, James and John were fishermen. Matthew was a hated tax collector. Simon the zealot had been a zealous revolutionary willing to die for the cause of liberating Israel from Rome. “At any other occasion these men might have been ready to stick a knife into each other, but here they are all part of one group around Jesus.

7. Judas Iscariot is always listed last. Iscariot most likely describes Judas’ place of origin, since his father was describe as ‘Simon Iscariot’ (John 6:71)

Let us pray. _______________

We have the privilege this morning of witnessing as Jotham and Maria Van der Decker dedicate their little one, Chloe Hope Van Der Decker, to the Lord. These are exciting times for Jotham and Maria given they have reached their 75% support level and will be headed to Papua New Guinea soon. We’ll be commissioning them next week.

A few introductory thoughts before we begin.

In the life of the church, baby dedications have been around a long time. We might quickly say in passing that the biblical example of having baby dedications is a bit tenuous. Some argue that Hannah in 1 Samuel 1 dedicated her son Samuel to the Lord and she may have but that was in response to a vow she had made to the Lord AND after it was over she left her-probably-three-year-old-Samuel at the tabernacle. We don’t want Jotham and Maria to leave Chloe behind with us. Or maybe some of us do? Others suggest that Joseph and Mary dedicated Jesus to the Lord at 40 days. It is true that Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the temple at 40 days but that was to offer a sacrifice for Mary’s purification according to the Law of Moses.

But having said all that, we love to support what God is doing in the lives of parents as they raise up their children and so it seems fitting--whenever parents want to--to give them an opportunity to publically dedicate their children to the Lord. (And at one level, what we will do this morning is really a “parent dedication”)

Finally what does it mean that Jotham and Maria are dedicating little Chloe to the Lord? What they are doing has nothing to do with Chloe’s salvation. Someday down the line we pray that Chloe may put her faith in Christ and become a follower of Jesus. But this morning their recognizing that Chloe ultimately

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really belongs to the Lord--that she is His. They’re acknowledging that they want to raise Chloe in a way that points to Jesus as the all-sufficient treasure. And by inviting us to join them this morning, they are asking us to join them prayerfully and practically in pointing Chloe to the Lord all the days of her life.

May I invite Jotham and Maria and the Harding family up?

Jotham and Maria, we’re glad you’ve come to dedicate Chloe to the Lord.

A couple of scriptures….

Deuteronomy 6:4–7 4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

And then Ephesians 6:4…4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Jotham and Maria, a few questions for you…

• Do you promise, by the grace of God, to give Chloe the spiritual, emotional and physical care she needs? Respond by saying, “We promise”

• Will you be faithful to one another, as parents, and to Chloe and her siblings as Christ is faithful to his church? Respond by saying “Yes, we will”

• Will you faithfully live out the gospel message before Chloe and lead her towards faith in Jesus? Respond by saying, “Yes, we will”

•Do you promise to flee from idols and put God first in your hearts and home? Respond by praying, “We promise”

• By the power of the Holy Spirit, will you discipline and instruct Chloe in the way of the Lord? Respond by saying, “We will”

Would you pray your prayer of dedication to the Lord?

{Jotham and Maria pray their prayer of dedication to the Lord. Other Hardings join in}

And now for the congregation…

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Would you stand for the benediction?

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