Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/gecn/sermons/81379/whose-son-is-the-christ/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Good morning, we're reading from Matthew 22, starting at verse 15, and Jesus is in the temple teaching.

[0:29] And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances.

[0:47] Tell us then what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.

[1:04] And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, Whose likeness and inscription is this? They said, Caesar's. Then he said to them, Therefore, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.

[1:22] When they heard it, they marveled, and they left him and went away. The same day, Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection.

[1:35] And they asked him a question, saying, Teacher, Moses said, If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.

[1:48] Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no children, left his wife to his brother. So too the second, and the third down to the seventh.

[2:01] After them all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her. But Jesus answered them, You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.

[2:18] For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what is said to you by God?

[2:33] I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not God of the dead, but of the living. And when the crowds heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.

[2:48] But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.

[3:00] Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.

[3:12] This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it. You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depends all the law and the prophets.

[3:27] Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?

[3:39] They said to him, The son of David. He said to them, How is it then that David, in the spirit, calls him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.

[3:59] If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son? And no one was able to answer him a word, Nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

[4:12] Good morning, dear church. Welcome again to anyone visiting.

[4:27] My name's Sam, And we'll be spending some time thinking about God's word for the next half an hour or so. And also welcome to anyone who's returning after time away.

[4:38] Jacob and Annabelle and David and Alison. Welcome back. How about we pray now and ask God for help. Psalm 27.

[4:53] The Lord is my light and salvation. The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Our Father, we ask this morning that we would not just come away with more knowledge, but come away having met your son in these pages.

[5:13] Now that's what we need, and that's what we ask in his name. Amen. A teacher of a Grace Kids class asked their young kids, what's brown furry with a bushy tail that makes good socks?

[5:39] A child raises their hand and says, I think the answer you want is Jesus. But it sounds like a possum to me. We half laugh and roll our eyes, because often it's the right answer.

[5:58] The kids may not understand why, but they picked up that if you say Jesus, you're really wrong. But as we get older and turn into primary school kids, teenagers, adults, do we get past this answer?

[6:16] Does this answer become too basic, too simplistic, too naive to deal with all of our grown-up needs?

[6:27] Most of us this morning come with questions we want answered, our problems and needs we'd like solved, niggles that are defining and disturbing us.

[6:41] It might be work situations, uncertain work, not enough, too much, difficult relationships, marital problems, whether to get married, when to get married, raising kids, feeling stagnant and wanting to grow as a Christian.

[7:00] All good questions. And taking a guess, most of us think the answers to lots of these questions can be found in the Bible, in the book we're reading this morning.

[7:14] So what questions will we ask of this book? And is it possible that we could miss big, life-giving answers by starting with lesser questions?

[7:26] The most surprising thing I've found in thinking about this passage for the last few weeks is the bad guys get their answers from the same place we do.

[7:41] So this morning, the question is not where we get our answers from, that's a legit one, but what question to ask? The bad guys were students of Scripture like us this morning, but not asking the best question.

[8:05] They passed up the invitation to the feast, failed, even refused, remained silent to ask the question that would bring life.

[8:16] What should we ask of this book? Up to the setting in your bulletin, verse 15. Have your Bibles open. It's the Tuesday before Good Friday in the temple courts of Jerusalem.

[8:34] Jesus has just spoken three parables of the Jewish leaders. In the first, they are the son who says one thing and does another. In the second, tenants of a vineyard who kill the owner's servants and eventually the owner's son.

[8:50] in the third, those in the first round of invites, the privileged, but who ignore or kill the messenger. And so, verse 15 reads, then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words.

[9:09] The set of three questions that follows is not just what happens next, it is what the Jewish leaders do in response, which is to trap Jesus or attempt to trap Jesus in his words.

[9:25] Thinking back a few years ago to the 2022 federal election, Scott Morrison was asked if he knew the price of bread and a rat test, I think.

[9:37] Not how to grow the economy or how to ensure the country is defended, but the price of a loaf of bread. And the question wasn't neutral, was it?

[9:49] It didn't come from an open-minded journalist humbly seeking the best leader. They'd already decided. So the question was a trap, a gotcha. Gotcha questions miss the point though, don't they?

[10:03] These three gotcha questions from Jewish teachers missed something too. What's missed is the question Jesus asks at the very end.

[10:15] So what should we ask of this book? Have you ever been in the hot seat recently facing a loaded question?

[10:28] Can you stay cool and treat the person with dignity and still get your point across? This week we've been reminded sadly how the world reacts to disagreement on charged topics and even capital T truth.

[10:46] Well, unlike us who flounder and the world that tears itself apart, Jesus' answers show perfect command. Direct but never losing his cool.

[10:57] Sharper than glass but not abrasive. wisdom from outside this world. In his answers giving much more than is deserved and never arguing for the sake of a win or his reputation before others.

[11:13] His answers hint at the question not asked his identity who he is. so for us this morning I hope we simply can meet him in these pages and then you can decide what you think of him.

[11:28] Do you trust him? Do you dare to follow him? And for those who know him already can we trust him and live for him into another week?

[11:42] So verse 16 getting into the passage now. The first gotcha attempt. So verse 16 the Pharisees team up with the Herodians Jewish supporters of Herod usually not the best friends and the Pharisees begin by sending in their disciple to do their dirty work.

[12:02] Now skipping ahead to verse 17 the gotcha question it reads is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? At the time in Judea every person Jew included paid a tax to Caesar.

[12:18] Paying tax to a foreign ruler in their own backyard was a sore point. Was it lawful meant what do the scriptures say?

[12:29] What does God expect? Can we be loyal servants to God and pay taxes? In many ways and in other circumstances it was a genuine dilemma for the Jew.

[12:42] yet beneath the surface was a trap designed to expose Jesus as either a traitor or a rebel. Verse 18 shows their intent was malicious deadly.

[12:59] Anyway Jesus evades the trap and answers the dilemma. In verse 18 Jesus says you hypocrites why put me to the test?

[13:11] Show me the coin for the tax and just like that they brought him a denarius. It seems finding a denarius in the temple is easy.

[13:26] Remember too the day before Jesus has already found the temple overrun with markets? The question has a veneer of integrity but it seems behind the scenes the Jewish leaders have no problem with the temple using and even benefiting from Roman coin.

[13:48] So Jesus' answer in verse 21 render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. Meaning if you use and benefit from Rome's currency pay for it.

[14:04] We probably don't feel the full weight of this answer and that's because we don't feel the split loyalty between God and government that was felt by our Jews.

[14:18] There are exceptions where for us where governments play God deciding for example when life begins and ends but by and large our experience is that government is not God it's a servant of God but this separation is a historical abnormality the Jews had kings and a ruling class who were supposed to lead the people in religion Rome had Caesars who called themselves gods what we take as normal today isn't normal an elder put me on to Jordan Peterson commenting on Jesus answer in which he says it's miraculous himself not a believer in miracles because he sees wisdom in Jesus answer that's historically out of this world who is this person under the surface there's also a deeper biblical reason for

[15:25] Jesus answer remember Genesis 12 God establishes a nation and later a kingdom from Abraham's descendants the whole reason for this nation though was to give birth to the Christ the Christ had come and so there was no need to shore up Judea to return to the days of David's kingdom there's probably much more we could say about this question but we'll move on to the second gotcha attempt from verse 23 gotcha attempt to verse 23 that same day this time it's the Sadducees turn who denied the resurrection and to understand the question we do need to take in verse 24 in the mosaic law there was a provision for when a man died leaving no children it was possible for the dead man's brother presumably unmarried to marry the widow have kids and carry on the family name strange to us but I think it was sort of a kind provision in those days given the importance of offspring the gotcha question though verse 24 to 28 let's read it teacher

[16:52] Moses said if a man dies having no children his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother now there were seven brothers among us the first married and died and having no offspring left his wife to his brother so too the second and third down to the seventh after them all the woman died in the resurrection therefore of the seven whose wife shall she be so which will it be Jesus seven potential husbands in heaven and all of them brothers or some other way to decide which one is the husband or perhaps this dilemma shows that this resurrection life after death thing isn't a thing at all which one Jesus got you there it's a highly improbable situation isn't it

[17:56] I think they're quite proud of the way they've structured their question but it all shows the intent to trip Jesus up and Jesus shows there are two problems verse 29 they don't know the scriptures nor God's power they don't know the power of God because verse 30 in the resurrection that is in the new state of existence a resurrection brings is a complete upgrade and in this upgrade Jesus says there will be no office of births deaths or marriages no marriage because there'll be no births and no births because there'll be no death the Sadducees don't appreciate the power of God as an aside to the married among us

[18:58] Jesus does not say relationship will end Paul rejoices! The apostle Paul rejoices over the thought that he will stand shoulder to shoulder in heaven with those he has toiled over spent countless hours pouring hours into in this life why not to a similar joy for spouses who have helped each other get there the second problem in their question is they don't know the scriptures verse 32 let's read it again verse 32 I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob he is not the God of the dead but of the living I suspect without Jesus interpretation we may read this verse quite a few times and not reach the conclusion

[20:01] Jesus does Jesus shows us though that Abraham Isaac and Jacob's earthly life may have finished many years ago but God's relationship with them holds good I am not I was I am the God of Abraham one of the elders pointed out to me another significant word and that's of he is the God of Abraham Abraham still is God's even though his earthly life is finished he belongs to God and this God plays for keeps the relationship we have with God will last as long as he does death is no full stop such clarity in so few words

[21:07] I think that's another surprising thing is that Jesus really uses very few words to get his point across so few words that we can only aspire to and what about the grace and goodness of his answers giving far more than these hostile questions deserve got your attempt three in verse 33 the crowds astonished and we learn in verse 34 Jesus answer had silenced the Sadducees so word gets back to the Pharisees they gather and send in an expert in the law for one last go verse 36 reads teacher which is the greatest commandment in the law perhaps the tests lay in choosing one commandment and downplaying others leaving a soft spot exposed to attack

[22:13] Jesus answers from verse 37 and he said said to him you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind!

[22:30] God is the! Isn't that the case for us too? Things are rarely at peace in our own relationships if we have not grasped how worthy God is of our love and devotion simply for who he is.

[22:54] In a book Marriage Matters Beth and I have dipped into and previously with our small group many years ago the author says marriage problems or any relationship problem is firstly a God problem.

[23:09] He recalls a time when he lashed out at his wife verbally because this is the author because she was late to pick up the kids because she was out with friends and so there was some sort of miscommunication.

[23:24] this then limited his Bible study prep time and so he became angry and he reflects on the incident and says what I was really loving in that time was the approval of my Bible study group and so he concludes that all our problems are worship problems or what we love the first and the greatest and this then leads into a two for one deal not just one commandment but two verse 39 you shall love your neighbor as yourself so taken together without love for God and neighbor every other act of obedience is not obedience verse 40 says on these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets the answer brings into focus what's lacking in their own observance of the law and in each of us who can follow this law who has clean hands and a pure heart all the mind all the heart all the soul psalm 27 not us but the lord of glory all their study of scripture the pharisees that is their time and efforts pouring over the words did not yield this love or rightly convict them that like us they need heart surgery the constant reminder of the old testament was circumcise your hearts you need a new one so the solution for the pharisees is the same for us come to jesus he gives you his perfect obedience and a new heart as a gift the question jesus asks verse 41 now while the pharisees were gathered together jesus asked them a question saying what do you think about the christ whose son is he as teachers of scripture what should have been foremost in their minds as students of scripture this morning what should be foremost in our minds well jesus has to tell them and maybe he has to remind us too this morning whose son is the christ occasionally instead of using the word christ i'm going to use the phrase god's forever king verse 42 they answer the son of david and 2 samuel 7 does promise that god's forever king would come from david so their answer is correct but not complete because go down to verse 45 it's the last thing jesus says and jesus is still pressing the question yes he's the son of david but he's more than that and jesus answers for them by going to psalm 110 a psalm written by david himself about god's forever king and the quotation shows three things about the forever king he's lord he sits and he's one all three suggest he's greater than just david's human son with the implication that if david recognized this then you too you

[27:25] teachers of the law should recognize this as well the first one he's lord his answer starts with a question in verse 43 how is it then that david in the spirit calls him lord dads call their sons by all sorts of nicknames buddy mate champ junior pup scoundrel mischief maker oy you but lord any dads dare to do that here whose son is david's lord well the word lord is most often used of god here's one example from psalm 8 oh yahweh our lord how majestic is your name in all the earth yahweh!

[28:25] god lord all divine names let's keep reading verse in verse 44 it's about to get wonderfully weird david overhears a conversation in which yahweh that's the first lord mentioned speaks to david's lord the lord yahweh said to my lord david's lord two divine persons talking well what does yahweh say to david's lord he sits he tells him to sit and that probably doesn't strike you as it probably strikes you as something fairly normal something my wife has told me that i'm doing too much of at the moment but take note of where he's sitting it makes all the difference sit at my right hand sitting next to yahweh in heaven who does that for a!

[29:38] For a comparison remember how careful the high priest had to be going into the temple once per year one for many he would symbolically take the people into God's presence at high risk to himself but only in a limited way due to their sin in the real deal not just the earthly copy in heaven not just where God's presence was modelled but where God dwelled verse 44 this was a hold on to your seat moment for me Yahweh says to David's Lord sit down and I'll add from Hebrews stay forever not just David's son or descendant is he the last little point is he's won King David provided rest from Israel's enemies for a time even then as great as it was it wasn't the real more ancient enemy sin and death

[30:46] King David's Lord has won and even sin and death will be his foot cushion or footstool all three taken together show the great King David looked forward to God's forever king who turned out to be God the son and Jesus shows the Pharisees should take should follow David's lead in verse 46 the last verse they dare not ask more questions silence silence as Emma pointed out in the kids talk and if you're new to all this this morning you're visiting you might not know what questions to ask or even where to start don't stop asking questions we've seen how patient and gracious Jesus is in his answers the question though is sort of left hanging

[31:52] Jesus last words to them are is a question whose son we do have a fairly good idea of what it is Jesus is alluding to but we don't have to go too far into Matthew to find an explicit answer flick back to Matthew 3 Matthew chapter 3 verse 16 and 17 and when Jesus was baptized immediately he went up from the water and behold the heavens were opened to him and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him and behold a voice from heaven said this is my beloved son with whom

[32:54] I'm well pleased whose son is the Christ he's the divine son who personally joined himself to human flesh God and man in the same person the same person through whom the universe was made is the one giving the answers and asking the question we too should ask!

[33:21] Let's pause for a bit before we go into some more application what's been your take on the Pharisees we've been looking at the Pharisees for the last few weeks and Jesus interaction with them in stories it's good to have a villain isn't it someone to point the finger someone to create a bit of comfortable distance for us Matthew 16 6 Jesus says to his disciples beware of the leaven of the Pharisees we're his disciples too so I take it on notice from Jesus that we should be wary of the leaven of the Pharisees if not a problem today then maybe in the future leaven or yeast as the bread makers among us know has a transforming effect but it happens imperceptibly sometimes without us realising hence

[34:28] Jesus warning lots of ways we can be leavened but what have we seen in this passage well I think in each question that is asked by the Pharisees and the question Jesus asks scripture is the starting point the bad guys although they made a few additions and omissions share with us where we get our answers from so where did things go wrong Jesus in John 5 speaking of the Pharisees says you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life they were teachers students scribes of the Old Testament those who Romans 2 took pride in being a guide to the blind a light to those in darkness a teacher of children but did not teach themselves grace kids teachers ministry leaders small group leaders people who preach even

[35:31] John 5 39 continues it is they this book the Bible that bear witness about me yet you refuse to come to me for life we can get answers from the right place but not go to whom the scriptures point Jesus the son of God this is the last heading in your outlines I'm partway through reading a book by Dan Hames it's not a not a household name and he's the book is a biography of a 5th century Christian Cyril of Alexandria but in the book Dan weaves in his own story into the debates of the time centred on who is Jesus and whose son is he the same questions we've been looking at this morning was he just a man invisibly assisted by

[36:39] God so God wouldn't have to get his hands dirty or God himself joined to human flesh and Dan relates his coming of age to having this question answered growing up Dan thought Jesus was something of what God is like he wondered if there was a different God behind the one he saw in Jesus in youth group years he saw the experience of other youth and thought he was missing something some ecstatic experience that he didn't have at university he told a friend I believe in God but I don't know how Jesus fits in well the truth that changed things for Dan and the truth that Matthew in his gospel points to the truth Cyril defended is this the man Jesus who we've thought about this morning is the same person as God the son and as

[37:40] I close I'll finish with a thought bubble to take away if Jesus is God the son then what we see in Jesus is what God is like which means Jesus is bigger than we think fullness of God dwells bodily Colossians 2 9 wisdom that pierces using just a few words words that heal bring life and forgive sin Dan says he's even so big he sets the questions we should ask while it's a Sunday school answer it's not the ABC he's the alpha and omega the first and last the beginning and end are you asking the question he said

[38:40] Dan's thought bubble doesn't stop there he says that he's good he gives more than these questions deserve doesn't he and he gives us more than we deserve he he's good what do you think about him do you trust him do you dare follow him and if you know him will you follow him into another week you!

[39:16]  you! you! you! you! you