Source: https://freshread.wordpress.com/2014/03/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 13:07:33+00:00

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I have been preaching and teaching on Matthew’s account of the life of Jesus. It is clear that the New Testament holds that Jesus did many miracles.
In fact, without the miracle of Jesus being raised from the dead, there would be no Christian message.
For 250 years people have quoted a Scottish philosopher David Hume who said that is not reasonable to believe that something contrary to the very regular rules of nature could ever happen. This was even the substance of a lecture by a philosopher at the University of Wisconsin. He said it is just as logical to believe in space aliens.
Why should we believe that Jesus was raised?
We have the additional evidence that the resurrection of Jesus was predicted before it happened, by hundreds of years. We have the evidence and testimony of the church through the ages of the power of the Gospel. We have the attraction of Jesus himself across time and geography.
Is the world impersonal, self-creating and limited to the laws of matter and energy so that when we die out there will be nothing at all?
Or, is the world the work of a personal Creator who brought life into existence and brought Jesus to life and can bring new life to all?
The second major discourse in Matthew is to the Apostles, who are called and sent with this challenge in Matthew 10. The connection to ministry today is interesting. Craig Blomberg makes the suggestion that v. 16 marks a pivot between the immediate calling the 12 had to go to the “lost sheep of Israel (v. 6), and their later ministry. Note that v. 17 refers to local councils, synagogues and also governors and kings (i.e. Gentiles). It makes sense that v. 1-15 is an initial ministry directed to the children of Israel, but the second half is more general.
One result of that is the mission to the “lost children of Israel” appears in both parts (v. 6 and v. 23) – so that will continue to the end. The ministry of signs and wonders is found in the first part (v. 1, 7), so it is a good question what role healing might have in our time.
Can we pull out applications to ministry today? Why not, every one else writes church leadership books, why not Jesus by way of Matthew?
Christian ministry is a call to continue Jesus’ work (compare 9:35-38 to 10:1, 7,8). One is called by Christ, and is not self-appointed to this role. Note v. 8 calls them to do works he as done in chapters 8 and 9: Healing 8:16; 9:35; Raising the Dead 9:18ff; Leprosy 8:1; Demonic 8:16, 28ff.
Ministry is free – v. 8b – the “blessing” freely received is freely passed on, to be received or to be rejected. So what about giving, tithing, salaries and budgets? I guess that we in paid ministry should be glad of the gifts we receive, not proud of the salary we deserve. I once saw a signboard with a list of prices for services offered by the church – like the one behind the counter at McDonald’s!
Expect opposition – v 16-23 shows opposition from religious and civil authorities and family. We face this with shrewdness and innocence. Most of the church in history experienced this as reality not mere theory.
As with Jesus, so with us v. 24, 25. How Jesus is treated, so we will be treated. In the NT, he was crucified and the church was persecuted. In a post-Christian culture, this will be challenging. We will need to be heavenly minded to endure – see v. 28.
to Confess or Reject v. 32, 33 – Letting your light shine has high stakes.
Whom to love most. v. 34-39 – family, self or the Lord.
The idea seemed to be: ” That is odd.” I am not sure why. John is probably the most popular gospel among Evangelical Christians, and Luke has more with human interest and social compassion, Mark is very action oriented. Matthew seems to be the “eh” gospel these days.
From my reading it appears that Matthew was for a long time the most read gospel. It is the most complete of the synoptics – it has both discourse and narrative. Yet, while Mark is shorter overall, what Mark includes is given more detail. Matthew does not mention the lowering of the paralytic through the roof (9:1-9), nor does he mention the fuller sequence of events when the synagogue ruler approaches Jesus about his daughter (10:18ff). So Matthew was a thorough-going editor who left a lot of snips on the floor by his desk.
Also, Matthew is very missional. I noted this here. The thread of Mission is woven though the whole book. So with all the talk of the missional church, we would well to re-read Matthew to follow his story line and emphasis.
Nope, Jesus meant Matthew. Keep reading and he may call after you!
Passion and Mission (chapters 26-28).
I have found Craig Blomberg helpful for this. Now what I am noticing in the text is the overlap of the threads. While concluding his authoritative teaching (Sermon on the Mount) for example, the text moves towards decision, and in the miracle stories on Matthew 8 and 9 there are sections on discipleship (8:18-22; 9:9-13; 9:14-17) which points to the section on Mission in the following chapters.
I find this overlapping of the “threads” typical of Matthew so far.
The Romans were outsiders. They worshiped other gods – such as Jupiter and Mercury. The Romans were also conquerors. Israel did not have its freedom. Instead the armies of Rome held them as captives. Citizens of Israel did not have a say in their government. They were told what to do. They were told what taxes to pay. This was enforced by soldiers.
Another time, when Jesus went to the town of Capernaum he met another outsider. This man was a Roman soldier. He was a man in charge of a group of about 100 soldiers. This centurion was an outsider. Normally, a Jewish man would have nothing to do with a Roman Soldier.
This is the first amazing thing. Jesus was willing to go to outsiders. He was willing to help this Roman soldier who had a sick servant. He could have said, “I will not do anything for you!” but he was willing to go.
Then a second thing happened. The Roman soldier said that Jesus did not need to come. He took a lesson from his own life and applied it to Jesus. He said that as a soldier he understood authority. When he commanded something to be done, it was done. If I say ‘do this’ it will be done. So if Jesus simply commanded it, his servant would be healed.
This was amazing even to Jesus. He said that he never saw faith like that among his own people. His people had the bible and the history of God’s mighty acts. They knew about Abraham, Moses and David. They knew about the Exodus from Egypt. They knew about the power of Elijah to bring fire from heaven. But they did not believe the way this Roman soldier believed.
Sometimes outsiders do the Lord’s work. He took the persecutor of the church, Saul, and made him the planter of churches, and changed his name to Paul. He used Jethro to give some leadership advice to Moses. He used Cyrus to restore Israel to its land.
Jesus said, to the man, “Go, let it be done just as you believed it would” and at that moment the servant was healed.
The Outsider was right. I sometimes see people think that they need to use special words or rituals to have power in prayer. I have seen people say that you have to express a lot of emotions and you have to shout. Jesus simply commanded, and it was done.

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