Read the word.
Teach the word.
Preach the word.
- 1 Timothy 4:13
In Matthew 5, Jesus explains to His disciples what it looks like to follow Him as the King of the kingdom He has been talking about. He tells them what it will be like ministering with Him and ministering for Him in this kingdom. He clarifies what they might expect because His kingdom is unlike other kingdoms.
What is valued & rewarded in earthly kingdoms is not valued & rewarded in the kingdom of heaven. Being a disciple of Jesus will require some attitude adjustments as He draws His followers into deeper levels of discipleship. There are costs to being a part of this kingdom. Do you want to follow Him? Do you desire to get away with Jesus—to leave the multitudes and find a solitary place to spend with Him and learn from Him? Jesus wants to draw you into deeper levels of discipleship. He wants to release you from the way this world works and reveal His heart and the way His kingdom works.
In the Gospels, we read of all sorts of reasons people would follow Jesus. But one interesting aspect of the life & ministry of Jesus was that He often avoided large gatherings. He seemed to have no interest in attracting a large following just for the sake of having a large following.
Jesus was more concerned with making disciples. He was focused on individuals who would desire to learn from Him and choose to follow Him for the right reasons. Jesus often retreated from the multitudes when He could, and to those who would seek Him out, He would teach and instruct. To these individuals, He was constantly teaching about how His kingdom would look like and what it would mean to serve alongside Him. In these moments, He would draw His disciples in, explaining the cost of true discipleship. As is the case in Matthew 5, the beginning of what is commonly referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. The stone was not rolled away to let Jesus out. The stone was rolled away to let the disciples in and to see that He had risen. We read of the specific experience of three disciples who believed that Jesus rose from the dead in John 20. Each of them came to this as Jesus revealed it to them differently. John understood and believed with his head. Mary understood and believed with her heart. And Thomas understood and believed with his hands. Jesus loved each of them and met each of them right where they were and they all believed.
Jesus loves you as much as He loves them. And there is a special blessing for those of us who have not seen and yet still believe (John 20:29). This is a gift of faith to those who have not seen but have heard God’s word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). We have the word of the prophets made more certain (2 Peter 1:19). The angels long to look into these things (1 Peter 1:12). This is the word that we have the blessing to open week after week together and day after day individually with Him. These things were written to give you hope of the resurrection and to help you find faith in Him. He is the One who forgives you and loves you completely. He is the One who tells you the truth and gives you purpose. He is the One who was dead but is now alive forevermore!
If the Gospel of Jesus Christ were like any other biography, then the events we considered on Good Friday would be the final page. But the life of Jesus is anything but ordinary because He was the most extraordinary man who ever lived!
News of His body absent from the tomb didn’t bring immediate relief to His followers. They initially thought that someone had taken Jesus’ body. Their confusion slowly gave way to belief as He revealed Himself to them right where they were. On Easter Sunday, we considered how Jesus revealed Himself to three of His followers in John 20. In each instance, Jesus met them right where they were at—with their heat, their heart, and their hands—and they all saw, somehow and in some way, and believed. Of all the places that Jesus could have gone to call His apostles, He went to Galilee of the Gentiles and told fishermen to “Follow Me”. Galilee is not the place and fishermen are not the people you might expect God would select to change the world—and yet that is exactly the reason Jesus chose that place and those people!
God chooses the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chooses the common and discarded things of this world so that no one can boast before Him. Jesus took these forgettable men from a forgettable place and spent time with them. They listened to His preaching and teaching. They heeded His warnings and followed in His way. And in doing so, they were changed forever! Jesus can do the same with you! He has called you to be with Him, to learn of Him, and to learn from Him. Spend time with Him—listen to His preaching and teaching, heed His warnings and following in His way. Spend time benefitting from His leading according to the mighty working of the Holy Spirit. After spending time with Jesus, you will be different! Light and life will have come where there once was darkness and death!
As we continue our study of the life of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, we will see Him preaching, teaching, and warning—all according to the working of the Holy Spirit. And Jesus starts His earthly ministry in the unlikeliest of places—Nazareth and Galilee.
In the eyes of the religious elite of the day, these were not destinations to travel to or places to be proud of. And yet, these places were just right for Jesus to begin His public ministry and recruit His followers—for God uses the foolish, the forsaken, and the forgotten things to shame the strong and bring glory to Himself (1 Corinthians 1:27). Watch our study of Matthew 4:12-25 as we consider the beginnings of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Satan often turns times of testing into times of temptation by enticing us to take matters into our own hands and do the Lord’s work in our own way. But Jesus shows us how we can fight by faith to resist temptation.
To fight by faith we need the Holy Spirit, for we cannot rely on our strength alone to resist temptation. God promised that the Holy Spirit would bring back to remembrance all that He has said to us (John 14:26). The more you allow God to speak to you by reading His word, the more opportunity you give the Holy Spirit to bring back to remembrance all that He has said to you at just the right time in your time of need. That brings us to the next critical component in fighting by faith—the word of God. A specific scripture for a specific temptation is a wise way to fight by faith. The Lord is calling us to do the same. We can search the scriptures for something specific that applies to a trial or temptation so that when that trial or temptation comes, we are ready to fight by faith. Respond out loud if you have to! It might seem a little freaky, but that pales in comparison to how free you will be as you resist the devil. Finally, we need to take action when we fight by faith. James 4:7 says, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” When you face temptation, resist the devil, take your stand, and fight by faith!
In the book of Hebrews, we read that “…we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus was tempted in every way that we are tempted. In many ways, His temptations were much, much worse—and yet, He did not sin.
In Matthew 4, we read of three temptations Jesus faced and see Him emerge victorious and unstained by sin. But that does not mean He was unaffected by the human experience. His trial of temptation has a profound effect on His life and ministry. Watch our study of Matthew 4:1-11 as we consider how Jesus resisted temptation by fighting by faith and how His experience of being tempted affected His life and ministry. Thirty years of purposeful purity prepared John for one moment. The years of preparation poured over into preaching as he prepared the people for their Messiah. And the people responded—thousands came from all over to hear his preaching and recognized their sin and need for repentance.
The same happened to John when Jesus arrived. In the presence of the sinless Jesus, John could not compute how he would baptize Jesus. So John prevented it from happening (Matthew 3:14). The original word translated as ‘prevent’ means to utterly prohibit or forbid. From John’s perspective, Jesus’ request to be baptized is backward—if anyone needs baptizing between them, it's John. But Jesus put John’s mind at ease. He knew what John needed to hear—“Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:15) This was all that John ever wanted—righteousness. He wanted to prepare the way for the public, earthly ministry of The King of The Kingdom that was at hand. What better way to start than by being baptized? In doing so, Jesus acknowledged the ministry of John and publicly identified with sinful humanity, whom He came to save.
John the Baptist’s whole life and ministry was in preparation for the public ministry of Jesus—The Messiah. With each passing day of John’s life, he knew that Jesus would be coming at any moment. And so, he faithfully prepared the people to be prepared for the Lord’s arrival. The King of the kingdom that is at hand would be coming very soon!
And then…that day came. Watch our study in Matthew 3:13-17 as we paused and considered the significance of the Uncreated Creator not only visiting humanity in the frailty of humanity, but also beginning His earthly ministry. |
From Pastor Dom...When I first gave my life to Jesus, there were friends in my life who helped me to grow in my understanding of God, through His word, and for those friends Archives
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Strengthened by grace is the Bible Teaching ministry of Pastor Dominic Dinger.©2022 - All rights reserved.
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