Gospel process

Well, uh, good morning, One Hope Fort Mill. Uh, my name is, uh, Derek. I'm one of the elders here. Um, if you, if we haven't had a chance to meet, I hope we do. Um, you may not know, but Steven is what we would call bivocational. He has a real job. Not that pastoring isn't but um so um so the elders try and help out from time to time and carry some of the load for him. And so it's my privilege to be here today.

Our our text today in Matthew chapter 9 marks a bit of a transition in our journey through the Gospel of Matthew. I think it's important to remember that Matthew is not just stringing together a bunch of sort of random stories, but he is trying to construct some kind of larger narrative for us to read and he's telling us a story and he is trying to fit this all together. Uh ma Matthew's telling is organized around what we would call four discourses or extended teaching times. The first one was back in Matthew 5 through 7. It's what we know of as the sermon on the mount. The second one starts next week in chapter 10 as we transition. That's why we're transitioning into this next discourse. Then there's one in um chapters 12 and 13 and the final one in chapter 18 of Matthew. And um I'm really wanting to um dive into the arc of this and explain why all this is important, but I'm going to um restrain myself in order to avoid teaching a bonus sermon in the in the introduction. Nobody really enjoys the bonus sermon in the introduction other than the preacher who really likes those. But so I'm going to restrain myself and not teach the bonus sermon.

But there is this arc that Matthew's taking us through. Matthew 5 through 7 taught us a little bit about what it was like to have a heart of somebody that was in the kingdom of God. And then next week, he's going to start talking about the expansion of the kingdom of God, the sending of his people, and and the um the persecution and suffering that may come with that. So again, we're we're in the middle of this transition. Between these discourses are these narrative sections where he's talking about some of the things that Jesus and his disciples were doing and the travels they had and the people they met. Uh since um we finished the sermon on the mount until here, there's been a total of nine healings. And this has really been the bulk of this section of narrative between the first discourse and the second discourse. And we're going to cover the last four of those healings this week. Um let me say this again. Nine miracles. One of them um was uh uh the calming of the sea. Then the eight other eight are healings. I am including just so you know if you're counting I am including uh the casting out of demons as a special kind of healing. Just so you know how I'm accounting for those things because we have one of those today as well.

Uh the the text today finishes with a familiar but at least for me anyway seemed unexpected passage of scripture that we're going to look at at the end. Um, and as I studied, I became more and more convinced that this was not just random, but that Matthew is doing something pretty intentional at the end of this text, moving into uh the um the discourse that will begin next week. So again, as I said, we're going to be covering these last four healings in the narrative section. Um, but instead of looking at them sequentially, I'm going to try and make some observations that kind of go across all four of them, which is why I asked if Tyson would be willing to read the whole text for us, just so we have something other than just me. And I want to try again, I'm going to try and make some observations across all four of them simultaneously.

So, if you would, let me pray um for and with us as we uh then turn to our text and jump in. Father in heaven, we come to you this morning as your people acknowledging that we gather because of you and for you and really for no other reason. I I I think um even this text reminds us that it isn't so much that the gathering is that important but the sending as we leave that we gather for the purpose of meeting with you and being changed and then being sent. So it is my prayer that that is in fact true of us today. That we would find you here in the singing and the teaching in the fellowship and that in that we would be um prepared to encounter the steps that you have prepared for us to walk in in our uh days and weeks to come. So ultimately we we desire to make much of you and that uh in this encounter today we would be different in Jesus name. Amen.

Um so I'm calling this first section perception and I'm looking at three passages here in Matthew chapter 9 each uh beginning or containing this word behold. So and first is in verse 18. Behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, "My daughter has just died." The second in verse 20, it says, "And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for 12 years came up behind him and touching the fringe of his garment." And in verse 32, "And they were going away, behold, a demon-pressed man who was mute was brought to him."

So again, the obvious observation that I've made here is is that each of these little stories contains this word behold. Behold is an imperative command. And uh one of the things that I really like about Greek, um I'm far from a Greek scholar, so please don't assume I am, but um I'm I'm a rudimentary Greek user. But one of the things that I really like is that when we have imperative commands, there's actually a form of the verb. So it's obvious in in English in like in written English, we don't have that. We don't have a form of the verb that's specific to imperative to a command. So in written English, we usually have to use like an exclamation point or something to identify an imperative command. In spoken English, we have to do something with intonation or or or or our pacing of our speak in order to identify an imperative command. In Greek, we don't need to do that. In Greek, it's obvious the word behold here is one of these imperative commands.

So, Matthew is trying to get our attention. And um and as I said, the word behold in these three stories is just the imperative form of the verb to look or to see. It is sort of the difference between we we might say, "Hey, check this out. Look at this." Which would not be imperative. But if we were wanting somebody to look and take note, we'd say, "Hey, look at this. I need you to look at this." And that's what Matthew's saying. He's saying, "Look, there's something important here. I need you to see this. It's an imperative command. He's commanding us to look and to see." These beholds are actually on the pen of Matthew, not on the mouth of Jesus. Why does that matter? Well, in general, when Jesus is issuing commands, we'll have one later in the text where he says, "Pray," which is a command that was actually issued to the people that were there standing with him. But we infer that that's also to us, right? What's different here being on the pen is is that this is a command to the readers. This is a command directly to us as the readers of his text. He is saying, "Look, I have something to show you here. Behold."

So, I want to look at each of these individually. The first is a ruler who's likely a synagogue official. So, a Jewish leader of some authority who comes to Jesus because his daughter has just died. We don't really know anything else about him or anything about the man's story, but there is clearly a risk involved as a Jewish leader to come to Jesus and to ask him something. In fact, in the text, we heard it read that later on they the Pharisees are there going, "Look, his his healings aren't real. He's doing that by the power of Satan. There's there's something risky in this Jewish leader coming to Jesus." And I think it shows us at least sort of um the that he's breaking uh ranks with the Jewish leadership and that um he there's a risk in doing this and it likely shows the desperation that he's in or that the death of his daughter was what finally gave him the courage to step out in faith and to approach Jesus.

The second story is about a woman with a discharge of blood for 12 years. This discharge of blood under Jewish law would have made her ceremonially ceremonial ceremonially unclean. Uh during their monthly cycle, women were uh required to remain separate from everyone including their own husband and their family. And when complete, they would have to go through a final ritual cleansing in order to be readmitted to the family and the community. doesn't really seem fair under the best of circumstances. Although it occurs to me that some of you might think a few days apart from your family wasn't be the worst thing in the world. I don't know. I don't mean to assume. Um but this woman would have been unclean and separated from the community for 12 years. The physical and emotional toll that this would have taken on this woman, I think, is beyond measure. And her presence even in amongst this group. And to then reach out and touch the garment of a man would have made her subject to severe discipline. So you can sense the desperation that maybe this is her last chance.

And the last behold is a demon-pressed man who was brought to Jesus. And we've seen Jesus cast out demons before. But somehow Matthew here says, "Behold," there's one healing in this section of the text that doesn't use behold as its introduction and it begins in verse 27, "And Jesus passed on from there, two blind men following him." Then verse 29, then he touched their eyes saying, "According to your faith, be it done to you." Um, I haven't had a chance to talk to Matthew yet. Hope to someday. So, I don't know for sure, but there are a couple of things that I think are going on here. First is that the Old Testament attributes giving sight to God. Couple verses here. Exodus 4:11 it says, "Then the Lord said to him, who has made man's mouth, who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?" Psalm 146, "And the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down. The Lord loves the righteous." So there's something here I think that Matthew's pointing out that this work is exclusively a work of the Lord.

But the other thing that's somehow ironic to me is that Jesus does this to these men exactly what Matthew is asking of us to see, to look. It's almost as if he's asking us to stop being like the blind man and be like the seeing man. And notice that who is in front of us is Jesus the Lord. I think that what we're seeing in these stories is the first step on any journey to Jesus is to perceive who he truly is. He is loving and compassionate, gentle, kind to be sure. But he is also powerful enough to restore sight, which makes him divine, which then also makes him holy and just. To miss either of these is to misperceive him, is to not see him correctly.

Many like the kind and compassionate part and only like the powerful part so far as it serves them. It makes Jesus kind of a role model or even a genie in the bottle that we can go to when we need, hey, I need this. You're powerful enough. I don't really want to follow you, but I need you. But it also makes him dismissible when it's inconvenient. You may have heard us talk about or read about where there's so many people that are going through a season of what's called deconstruction of their faith where they're kind of picking it apart and then choosing the pieces that seem to make sense and then they're adding some additional elements. Maybe some some, you know, like meditation from Eastern mysticism or some karma or a sprinkle of paganism with crystals and psychics. And then maybe like members of my family, there's a healthy dose of politics that gets dipped in. And by the way, that's both ends. I'm not picking on one here. Both ends do this. In my family, I have both ends of this political spectrum where they've done this and created for themselves this God that they've shaped that matches who they want it to be.

Others will take uh the dos and don'ts of what they perceive Christianity to be about. And then they believe that somehow if they follow these, it positions them pretty well. They're better than most, increases the odds. But again, what do they misperceive? They misperceive Jesus as he's presented to us in scripture. Look and see who Jesus is. Again, as we transition to the next point, Matthew asks us to see like the people in these stories have come to understand who this man Jesus is, not just as a role model, not just as some sort of mystic, but to perceive him in all his fullness, the son of God, the promised son of man, the true and better Moses, the true and better David, the promised Messiah, the eternal king of the true and better kingdom.

Maybe they couldn't have verbalized all of that in that moment, but they perceived Jesus as somehow different. One who is better, one who is powerful, one who is able and worth the risk. As we grow in our faith, our understanding of our savior grows and we will perceive him more and more. One of my favorite verses in all of scripture comes from 2 Corinthians chapter 3. And it says this, "And we all with unveiled face, beholding, seeing the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is a spirit."

The second thing I see in common in these stories is a declaration, a declaration of faith. Back to 18 and 19, uh the leader says, "My daughter has just died, but you come and lay your hands on her, and she will live." And Jesus rose and followed them with his disciples. Verse 25. But when the crowd had been put aside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. Verse 21. For she the the bleeding woman said to herself, "If only I touch his garment, I will be made well." Jesus turned and seeing her said, "Take heart, daughter. Your touching of my garment has made you well. Is that what it says? It's not what it says. It says your faith has made you well. Verse 28. When he entered the house, the blind man came to him. Blind men came to him. And Jesus said, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" And they said to him, "Yes, Lord. and he touched their eyes saying according to your faith be it done to you and their eyes were opened.

Each of these people made some decision to move towards Christ because they believed he could help. While faith begins as a thought, it takes its fuller form and stepping into that thought in a proclamation. You see in these verses and others Jesus does not commend their words or their actions but their faith as evidenced by their words or actions. And the last verse here the blind man only says yes Lord. And Jesus says according to your faith. I think we intuitively understand that there is something more required than a mere intellectual ascent. And yeah, I know that this is Jesus. This whole Jesus thing, I get it. But somehow a more substantive commitment is required. We also understand that there's something, some understanding and not just blind followership that go together to express faith. Paul says it this way in Romans 10 verses 9 and 10. And he says, "Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, proclamation and believe in your heart that the God has raised from the dead, perception, you will be saved." For with a heart one believes and is justified, and with a mouth one confesses and is saved.

I remember my own conversion story as a freshman in high school. I was at a retreat. The speaker taught me things I at least it felt like I'd never heard before. That Jesus had died and rose again, not just as a demonstration of power and authority, but to actually accomplish something for me. To die in my place to take a penalty that I deserved and that I could know I was going to heaven by virtue of what he did rather than what I did. I felt my understanding shifting. All of those things that I had constructed in my own mind to that point were being challenged, torn down, and reconstructed. My perception changed. Then at the end of the message with every head bowed and every eye closed he asked for anyone who would like to to place their faith in Jesus to get begin their own journey by raising their hand. My hand was 100 pounds. It took everything in me to get that hand in the air. And somehow I knew this meant everything was changing. A change I hadn't come looking for that weekend. But with my dark declaration, I was transferring from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. I was no longer not a people as Peter pe as Peter says, but now a part of the people of God. Not because of what I had done. It was not the act itself, but an expression of the change that had just taken place in my heart and mind. It was a proclamation. I'm sorry, a declaration. I don't think there's a formula here. You must believe this and then then say this. It's not some sort of magical incantation incantation, but there's something more intuitive, something deeper, I think. And as we come to understand who Jesus is and then at the prompting of the Holy Spirit, are we willing to step into that to make some movement toward him with the declaration that work together as a full expression of faith?

This is in part what baptism is, right? A declaration of faith already formed. I think it has uh generally been my assumption that if you are coming to church, you've likely made that proclamation and that maybe this isn't fair of me to assume. And if you are here today and the Holy Spirit is working on you with every head bowed, every I'm just kidding. Um, I hope that maybe you might make uh the next step and make a declaration. And you're welcome to come see Pastor Steven or myself as we finish in a few minutes. I still have another point, so hang on. Or talk to your spouse or your parents. Again, it isn't magical, but it is an important next step, I think, as we declare ourselves to be a follower of Jesus.

Okay. The third thing I noticed in these healing stories is a proclamation. Verse 26, and the report of this went throughout the district. Verses 30 and 31. But Jesus sternly warned them, see that no one knows about it, but they went away and spread his fame through all throughout through all the district. Verse 33. And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke and the crowds marveled. Never has anything seen been seen like this in Israel. This was not a marketing campaign or an evangelistic crusade, but the people were so dumbfounded by what they had what had just taken place, they couldn't help but talk about it.

By the way, before we go on, I think I want to just talk for a second about when Jesus says, "Don't tell anybody." Why would he do that? It's a question. Seminary, we called it the messianic secret for whatever that's worth. What we called it, because this isn't the only place Jesus says this, don't tell anybody. Don't tell anybody this. Don't keep this to yourself, right? He tells a number of people that. And the general understanding, I think, is is that Jesus knows that as his fame grows, so will the heat from the establishment. So he's trying to take control of the message, if you will, in order to control the events and the timing as it all unfolds. But as we see in this story, experiencing something like this is difficult not to talk about.

There's an episode of The Big Bang Theory where one of the characters, Howard Wallowitz, returns from a trip to as an astronaut to space to the International Space Station. and he returns and he just can't stop talking about it. His wife and his friends get so tired of his inability to talk about anything else that he ends up in a diner in the middle of the night eating a slice of pie singing to himself rocket man. So, I'm not advocating that we become obnoxious with our message, that we alienate everyone around us. But there is something about coming to perceive Jesus as he truly is and making that declaration that should leave us wanting to proclaim. Three times in our text, a proclamation follows the declaration. It kind of should just happen that way as it outflows from our own experience.

I am by no means an evangelist of any kind. I think evangelists may be true evangelists may be the least common type of person in the church. And a couple of th a couple of things that I've noticed about every one of them I see is that their message the message no matter where they are in scripture the message boils down to the gospel. They can't see anything hardly except the gospel. And while I get this conceptually they can sort of feel a little like Howard Wallowitz. They can't hardly have a conversation about scripture without talking about the gospel. The second thing I've noticed about true evangelists is they are absolutely fearless. They will talk to anyone at any time. I think Steven actually has a little bit of this. He's he's shaking his head. But I'm the one that sat at the table with him as he prayed with and for servers. I'm the one that has sat here and listen to him for several years preach. And I'll tell you, his sermons never stray far from the gospel. We can't all be like him, but we can all learn from him and be challenged by him.

Which brings us to our final bit of text today, which I think is maybe familiar to many of us. And at first reading kind of feels like it lands here unexpectedly. But remember, as we've walked through this narrative that Matthew has constructed for us, we've seen Jesus reveal himself, his power and his authority, and the nature of his kingdom. And then beginning next week with chapter 10. I don't think I'm giving anything away. You You're actually allowed to read ahead. I invite you to read ahead. It is the Bible. He's going to send his disciples out two by two. So I think Matthew has laid for us the groundwork that is a proclamation that naturally follows from a change in perception that results in a declaration.

So looking together at these verses at the close of chapter nine and Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages teaching in the synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. And then he said to the disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send our laborers into the harvest.

As we close today, we're going to sing a couple of songs. And as we're singing, I'm going to invite you up to this table. It's a map of Fort Mill, which is by God's providence the place in which he has placed us here at One Hope. And on this table are a bunch of prayer cards. They include schools in the area, some nonprofits in the area, some ministries, and some prayer for neighborhood. Neighborhoods. Prayer for your neighborhood. Sorry, I was prepared before this senior moment. It is my hope that as we pray we might be moved to compassion to see the great need of our community. I think of Fort Mill where my wife and I have lived for nearly 30 years has a fatal flaw is that it wants to paint itself with this picture of niceness. Our neighborhoods are nice. Our schools are nice. Our downtown is nice. But it provides little room to see each other and our unvarnished true selves, like sheep without a shepherd. But it is here all around us. People who are lonely, struggling to find their way, pursuing a dream only to find out when they get there that it didn't provide the satisfaction they hoped, wondering whether it's worth going on. Depression, poverty, homelessness, broken relationships. It's all here. The harvest is plentiful.

So, we begin as Jesus commanded by praying. a command that Jesus issued directly to those present but again by inference to us. But here's the last thing. So next week he tell he tells he tells his disciples this week to pray and then what does he do next week? He sends them. So, I'm going to warn you as you pray, God may ask you to be the answer to your own prayer. Pray with me.

Father, it is my prayer that we would be people of your kingdom and that we would indeed see the people around us, the people in whom in whose midst you've placed us as sheep without a shepherd. And that we would be moved in the same way that you were moved to pray. And as you ask and as you enable to go, it is our desire to be faithful to the calling that you have given us to minister to the people of Fort Mill and the surrounding communities. And so it is my prayer that again you would give us the same vision that you have to see the people who are distressed and troubled like sheep without a shepherd and that you might move us out of our comfort zone to be willing to make a declaration of a faith that's already been formed in us in Jesus name. Amen.