Plymothian

Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. ² “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

⁴ Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains.

⁹ “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰ At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹ and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹² Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³ but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Jesus’ Return

Jesus, I don’t care when you come back.  I have sat through many talks on Daniel and Revelation and the more I hear, the less I care.  You seem to tell us not to worry about it.  The temple would be destroyed, which it was in 70 A.D. and you left us to preach, which we do.  You will come back, but false Messiahs come and go.  They set up self-interested kingdoms in ways that you did not.  They are charlatans.  In the end you win.

It is like Paul in Philippians, when he says “to live is Christ and to die is gain.”  He doesn’t know whether it is better to stay on earth or die, as far as the plan for his life goes.  Of course, Jesus, it is better for the plan if you come back.  However, the people who reject you perish at that time.  It will seem just, but frankly, I would rather there was more time for us to find those who can be saved.  I would rather the whole world was better prepared before you come back.  I guess that is the point though, the world will not be prepared.  Your own disciples must be prepared, but in every age the impatient and the rebellious fall away.

Questions

1. What gives rise to the disciples’ questions?
2. What is the perousia?  How does it relate?
3. Why does Jesus answer the way he does?
4. Why does Jesus pass this message about the end times on to us?
5. What are your questions about the end of time?  Why do you have them?

¹³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. ^[14] [b]

¹⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.

¹⁶ “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ ¹⁷ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? ¹⁸ You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ ¹⁹ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰ Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. ²² And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

Dishonest Words

I am grateful for the few words that I needed to teach today.  I set the students tasks of reflection and focus upon God.  I had them talk to God directly.  They prayed.  I think sometimes as a professor we can pump ourselves up too much.  Sometimes we can speak too many words.  Sometimes we are dishonest, but at Moody that is rare, I think.  Professors say what they think and believe.

How honest are our words?  Do we embellish in some ways to make ourselves look better?  It is strange that the grandeur of words sometimes shows that we are compensating for something.

Questions

1. What were the Pharisees doing wrong?
2. What might have been their motives?
3. How do we do similar things today?
4. What are our motives?
5. How can we change our actions by addressing our motives?

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: ² “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³ So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. ⁴ They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

⁵ “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries^[a] wide and the tassels on their garments long; ⁶ they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; ⁷ they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

⁸ “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹ And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. ¹⁰ Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. ¹¹ The greatest among you will be your servant. ¹² For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Pharisees and Politicians

Dear Jesus, it’s easy to kiss a baby.  It’s easy to stand up and in an instant say the words that your audience wants to hear.  It’s easy to say a few reassuring words to your wife.  It’s easy to say that things will change.  It’s hard to impossible to maintain changes over time.  It’s impossible Jesus, for us to make ourselves pure on the inside so that we come to you blameless.  Jesus, you make us pure.  You clean us up.

Help us not to put on a show on the outside that is not sincere to the core.  Help us to notice when we are being false.  Make us aware of who we truly are, so that we might more fully depend on you.  Help our thoughts to be centered on you for your sake.  Right living begins with right actions. Right actions begin with right thinking.  Right thinking begins with right thinking about God (Thrasher).

Questions

1. What righteous things did Pharisees do?
2. Why were these actions pointless?
3. Do you think Jesus loved Pharisees?  Why did he speak to them so harshly?
4. How authentic are you with your family, friends and colleagues?
5. How does Jesus want to meet with you to change you?

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. ³⁵ One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^{[c] 38} This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^{[d] 40} All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

⁴¹ While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, ⁴² “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

“The son of David,” they replied.

⁴³ He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,

⁴⁵ If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” ⁴⁶ No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Jesus Shuts Up All His Opposition

Sometimes it’s best not to come to you and question you.  Sometimes it’s best just to listen.

15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax[a] to Caesar or not?”

18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

Jesus the Genius

Jesus, I knew your response was smart, but I didn’t see how smart until I read my commentary this morning.  It said how you asked them if they had a coin and in producing one they showed they used coins with Caesar’s head on them.  These coins would have had titles such as Son of God on them, referring to Caesar.  Although this was offensive to Jews, Jews used them.  In effect, you said, give Caesar’s filthy coinage back to Caesar.  In so doing, you showed no signs of telling people to stop paying their taxes which negated the threat to Rome.  Also, what you said sounded revolutionary.  It sounded like you wanted to get rid of Caesar’s filthy, blasphemous coins.  Genius.

You silenced the Herodians.  They were amazed.  I wish I had more brain.  Sometimes I feel like Winnie-the-Pooh and when I look inside my head I don’t see brain, but a bit of fluff that blew in there by mistake.  Someone said to me that I am unaware of how much I know and that I think my understanding is normal when it isn’t.  I would say that I am most keenly aware of what I don’t know rather than the little that I have gleaned.  If, like you, we were to use our brains more to their capacity, what kind of knowledge would we have.  Can the ability to respond like you did to the Herodians be learned?  Is it a gifting that we can not have.  I pray that through your Spirit you would educate us and prepare us so that we can talk boldly in public about eternal truths and absolute standards.  May we be loving and gentle and kind, but also bold and brilliant.

Questions:

1. Who questioned Jesus?
2. How did he respond?
3. What was the point of his response (clue:  the fact that this was the Herodians is significant)?
4. Who thinks they outsmart the faith today?
5. Are you familiar with smart Christian thinkers?  How can you develop your understanding?

Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. ³ He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

⁴ “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

⁵ “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. ⁶ The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. ⁷ The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

⁸ “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. ⁹ So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ ¹⁰ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹² He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

¹³ “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

¹⁴ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Few Are Chosen

Jesus, you invited Galilean Jews and Judean Jews to enter the Kingdom of God.  You wanted them to sit at the table, but they refused.  Then you came to those who were outcast and downtrodden and they responded.  I seem to take your message to very few people, but you took your message to the masses and invited anyone who would to come closer.  Those who loved the system they had created without you, did not come.  Those who had no system and who were desperate for positive changes, took you up on the offer.  To those who came in close and became disciples, you clothed them with garments of righteousness.  You gave them a new life to wear.  Of course, like Judas Iscariot, there were those who played the game; went along with the crowd.  They were exposed and thrown out.

Jesus, this life confuses me.  I want to be clothed in your righteousness, but I don’t know well how to live that out.  I have a lack of confidence and I would like you to give me an inner peace and a knowledge that I am truly welcome at your party.  I want an emotional assurance that I belong.  What is the path?  I guess it is you.  I will move in close to you each day.  I will nestle in your chest and then move forward in the strength of your acceptance.  I will experience you more as brother and friend as well as righteous king.  Jesus, hold me today.  Embolden me and carry me along as one who has been chosen to attend the banquet.

Questions

1. Who does the king invite to his banquet?
2. Who comes?
3. What does the parable mean?
4. Who does Jesus call in our days?
5. How do you know if you haven’t responded appropriately to God’s call?

³³ “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. ³⁴ When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

³⁵ “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. ³⁶ Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. ³⁷ Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

³⁸ “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ ³⁹ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

⁴⁰ “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

⁴¹ “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

⁴³ “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. ⁴⁴ Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”^[i]

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. ⁴⁶ They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

Jesus the Capstone

Jesus, I am a bit confused because I have always been taught that the passage means that you will come back after the last kingdom on earth has been established and you will smash that kingdom before you reign for 1000 years.  The book I read today says that the original audience would have understood that you were the rock setting up a new kingdom in their own time.  The kingdom that you would have smashed would have been the uneasy alliance in Jerusalem between the Pharisees and Sadducees. In each case you establish a rule by smashing kingdoms and the rock represents you and the kingdom that you establish.  I must say the idea that you would establish a kingdom at the time of speaking sounds like it falls in line with the parable that you had just told about the tenants.  The Pharisees and Sadducees would have been furious because you were both telling them they were responsible for the historical rejection of God’s prophets (most recently standing aside as John the Baptist was beheaded), and also that they would reject you, but that you would smash them like the stone does in Daniel 2.

What do you want to teach us today?  Is it that rejecting you is disasterous?  Is it that we can have a moral, self-serving faith that can get offensive and cruel when it comes to God speaking real truth?  I think it is both.  If we do not live lives of obedience to you, our lives will ultimately be disasters.

Questions

1. Which character represents God the Father in Jesus’ story?
2. Jesus’ hearers would have understood the story to relate to Daniel 2.  How does Daniel 2 help you relate to the story?
3. When in history do you think that the ‘rock’ crushes its opposition?
4. How do people today react to God’s prophets (people who teach the truth)?
5. Why would Jesus want us to know that opposition can be crushed.

Matthew 7:13-29 Part 2

1.  Who are the authorities in our culture?  When something needs explaining who comes on the news?
2. Who are some of the best known teachers on the radio or in the churches?  How do you rate Rob Bell, T.D. Jakes, or Bill Hybels?
3. How do you distinguish a good mentor or teacher from a poor one?

Read Matthew 7:13-29

1. How are false prophets described?  Does this seem overstated to you?
2. What kind of fruit might an unhealthy teacher produce?
3. Who were unhealthy teachers in Jesus’ time?
4. Why are trees thrown into the fire?

Jesus teaches us that there are people with dangerous motives who set themselves up as authorities in this life.  There are teachers who have a mask of kindness and benevolence but inside their motives are twisted.  The religious teachers of Jesus’ day had large sections of the Bible memorized, they were moral, and they were concerned about the future of Israel.  However, many of these teachers did not have a loving relationship with God and they did not teach others to have one.  The fruit that Jesus is looking for is not good behavior.

1. What title do those who do not enter the Kingdom of Heaven give Jesus?
2. What does this title mean?
3. How do the fake followers of Jesus make their case?
4. What is Jesus’ criterion for excluding fakes?  What is their punishment?
5. How does Jesus contrast those who accept the authority of his teaching with those who do not?

In Matthew 7:13-29 Jesus is giving a summary of the Sermon on the Mount.  The point is that those who are in the Kingdom of Heaven accept the absolute authority of Jesus.  Their lives are rooted in relationship with royalty – heaven’s royalty.  Jesus is ‘Lord’, but not in title only.  He must become the absolute dictator who is consulted in each area of life.  Those who die to the culture, or to their own selves, will reap stability and good fruit.  Most importantly the reward of establishing Jesus as the absolute authority is that you receive Jesus as the reward.  Chapters 8 and 9 of Matthew display practical proof that he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  He has the authority whether we like it or not.

• Do you know Jesus?
• Do you know how to cultivate a relationship?
• How does a person establish Jesus as the absolute authority in their life?