The Perplexed Prophet

The PerPlexed Prophet

• The Master’s method applied in our life, brings security and peace
• Authenticity in leadership should be what people crave
• The perspective that God gives us forever alters our reality

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

Speaker 1 0:04

[inaudible]

Speaker 2 0:04

welcome to the church at suncoast. Our Sunday morning worship starts at 11:00 AM Sunday school at 10:00 AM and Wednesday fellowship at 5:30 PM. And now sit back, relax, and let's meditate on the word of God.

Speaker 1 0:26

[inaudible]

Speaker 3 0:28

so two weeks ago we finished up Matthew Chapter 10, and Matthew Chapter 10 , um , was Jesus instructing to his disciples , um, telling them , um, giving them comfort, giving them assurance as they go out. Uh , but in chapter 11, we see a shift. We , she of see a shift in his ministry from what he , um , did with his disciples. Um, we see, we're going to see in verse one , uh, just , uh, what he gives them and tells them to do from here. Um , and we'd want to look over across that verse verse. In chapter 11, we shift into four different sections. Uh, Matthew chapter 11 has , um, those four sections. In the four sections, we're going to look at deals and we're going to talk about today , um, the prophet and his disciples. Um, then in verses 16 to 20, we look at the unreasonable ness of the age, the age that they were living in, what he tells them about this age. You're gonna find that. And after , um, after this week , um, and then you look into the third part, the non repentance of the cities, the ones that he has been into, and Jesus will tell them that the miracles and the things that he's done , um, has not seen a change in the people in the cities that they did, that he had done all the good works that he had, he had done, hadn't changed them. And then we're gonna Finish Up Matthew Chapter 11, looking at the , uh, description of the kingdom and how he relates it to Babes. And we'll find that as we look into chapter 11. So in chapter , uh , as we open the book of Matthew and Verse One of Chapter 11, it says, and it came to pass when Jesus had made an end to the commanding his 12 disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. So , uh , in this first verse of Chapter 11, he's finished with the instructing where these men ready. No , they weren't ready, but he sent them out any way he told them to . He gave them a what? He instructed them and he sent them out. You know, and we, we are in the same boat at times where Jesus tells us, instructs us, and you know, gives us a command to go somewhere to do something. We're not prepared, but either way, Jesus, I don't want to overlook this, that Jesus sends them out anyway . He trust them, even though, you know, he knows that there are going to be issues throughout their journey. In verse two of Chapter 11, he then begins his discussion with John the Baptist disciples. And we need to know a few things before we look into this. So John The baptist, we know from chapters hence, or chapters before , um, you know, preached in the , the , in the Wilderness, preached repentance, preached, turning it in and find it . And the Messiah is coming and in , uh, in the middle of his ministry, we know that Jesus comes and he wants to be baptized. And, and we know the story of John John the Baptist telling him I died not worthy to be baptized. I'm not worthy to baptize you. And we find at the end that Jesus is, that God comes from down from heaven and says, this is my beloved son who I'm well-pleased and that store kind of ends. And we kind of don't hear much from John the Baptist until now. John the Baptist was thrown in prison because of his , um , stance to the king. The king had married someone that he had divorced his wife and married someone , um, from the , that was, had a husband already. So he , um, married , uh, he married one of his, one within his kingdom. And John the Baptist totally took a hard stance to that and was thrown in prison for that. So as we look at this story, John the Baptist is sitting in prison and we know that , um, in , in very short period of time , um, he will be beheaded. Um, as we look at it though, John the Baptist has some real questions and some real had a really important question asks Jesus. And we need to understand what that question is really all about because it really centers on what a lot of Jews at this time faced in the same way. Okay ? So as we look at verse two, he says, now when John Heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another? Okay. So his question to Jesus as , as I said, was a question that many Jews faced. Um, what they he is referencing is when Jesus opened the scrolls, he opened the book and read from the book of Isaiah. And when he read that book, there are two sections of the scripture. Uh, the first section talks about what the Messiah would do. And Jesus read off to the con, to the group where John the Baptist was, and he told of the miracles and things that the Messiah would do. And after he promptly closed the book. And that was the end of that. So when John the Baptist sitting in prison and having a lot of time to think on things, came to his disciples, came to him from verse two and said, are you the one? Are you the Messiah or shall we look for another? Okay, his question was, and where he comes from is that every king of Israel said he was the messiah. Every king that came, you know, and had power called himself the Messiah and then would die and then another would come. So John the Baptist had a real question. He was perplexed by this. Um, this wound to thinking because he did not think of both sections being separate. He thought section one would be coming and then section two would come right after that. Section two of Isaiah talks about how the Messiah will one day come back and bring judgment upon the earth. And that is what, not only John the baptist, but all Jews considered. They thought it was immediate. And we know it's not immediate. We know that one day he will come back, he will bring judgment upon this earth and he will , um, glorify , um, those that have accepted him. And so in from, from verse Chapter Two, Verse Two, he tells him this question in verse two and three in verse four, Jesus answered and said Unto Him, go and show John again those things which you do hear and see. And he did not tell him , um , to explain the whole thing again. He didn't tell him to explain that he had a , a plan in mind. He had a purpose of, of coming back again. He came to tell him the very same thing. And it's the very same thing that, that we see throughout his ministry. In verse five, the blind received their sight in the lame walk in the leopards or cleanse and the deaf hear the dead are raised up in the poor. Have the gospel preached to them. So through this , um, he's telling him again and in at times we all need to hear this again. What, what he truly does, what he truly does in our life, what he truly does. Um, in our family and our friends, people that have been affected by , um , things and Jesus has healed them. Jesus has , um, brought them in to , um, he has , uh, done these things and he, John the Baptist , um, in hearing this , um , I believe we don't get word that of a response from John The baptist, but hearing it again and hearing that all of these things that Jesus has done, I think he wanted to reiterate to John just what he means, what he's meaning to do and what he plans on doing. So as we work into that, his authentic authenticity was the important thing. He was authentic. He was real. Um, so as we look at that from verse five and six, and he says in verse six, and blessed at this, he, whosoever shall not be offended by me. Okay. So this was Jesus' answer to John that you see what I've done. You see who I am and you've seen from God and he's saying, continue on, continue to, to whatever you do throughout the rest of your life to believe that I am the Messiah. Um , I was watching an episode of Pawn Stars just a couple of weeks ago, and , um , I was watching it where the , uh , young kid, it was a young man. Um, he had a babe roof . He thought to be an authentic , um, real , uh, baseball card from when they bruv played for the red sox . Um, it , it had , he said he found it from a , in a shed of the House that he had just purchased. Um, and he knew the value. He knew what he could be. Um, and so he told the Pawn Stars, I want $65,000 for this. Okay, this can pay off a lot of things. And he was getting excited. He was , um , very , um, you know, looking forward to their response. And so they brought in this , uh, card valuer , um , expert, and he looked at the card . He said, wow, this, this is incredible. I mean, you've got a gym , you know, a very , um, you know , and he's looking through the whole thing. And then he stopped. He said all of the good things. And then he said, well, the color is not right. It doesn't have that green kind of coloring that it would have had. And he said this with Carter's not, not knowing the value. So the literally valueless and the man was very, you know, he's taken back by, he said, but he said, I understand. I mean, this was a shot in the dark, but at times we do the same thing. We, we think we have the right method. We think we have got all figured out and we, we think we know who Jesus really is. But sometimes , um, sometimes we can even catch ourselves, you know, looking at that card and saying, I, I think I know what God is all about and not have that down. You know, we, he has , um, his, his plan for us and he has our , his method that he will works in our lives. And he is the true authentic. Often he has the trout , the authenticity. So , um , in verse seven , um, we see a d a d parting from the disciples. The disciples leave. And in verse seven, it says, and as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitude concerning John, what went you to see out in the wilderness to see a reed shaken them with the wind, but what he what? But what when he out for to see a man clothed and soft, Raymond , behold they, they that wear soft clothing are in King's houses. But what went he out for to see a prophet ? Yay . I say unto you, and more than a prophet for he is he, for this is he of whom it is written. Behold, I send my messenger before that face, which shall prepared thy way, which are prepared the way before the John the baptist. He's telling us in verses seven through 10, he's telling us that John the Baptist was real. He was authentic. He came with one purpose and one mindset, not one mindset was to usher in the Messiah to tell of who is coming next. And he did not wear , um , the king's clothes. He didn't come to you and find outfits. We know John The baptist. He was rugged. He was a man's man. And more than anything else, more than all of that, he told the people what they needed to hear. Okay. He was direct. He didn't beat around the bush. He went straight for what the people needed to hear. Okay. And in our world today, in 2019, are we really craving that kind of message? Are we craving men that are authentic, people that are, are , are willing to tell the truth, no matter the cost and that, and John the Baptist was in that same mold. Um, people knew where he was. The people knew he was in prison. They knew he was all in on Jesus' ministry. He didn't , they knew he was authentic. And in our world, that's the same thing we should be craving for. So , um, in saying that we need someone that isn't afraid to tell us the word from God. Um , there's a story for Fritz Kreisler, Fritz Chrysler , he was a violinist in , uh, eastern Europe a couple of, maybe a century ago. And he went to a music store and for his Chrysler had his violin and brought it to the music store to have it fixed. And when he got in there, the man was just amazed. This was a man that knew his violin and said, this is a Fritz Chrysler Violin. The man said, of course. Yeah, this is it. And he was like, I'll be right back. Walked back into his room quickly and called the police, called the police. And when he came back out, you know , talked a little bit more about the violin. And as the police came, you know, the police were ready to arrest this man. And Fritz Chrysler said, hold on, you know, I had , this is my violin. And they're like, no, sir, you're , you're, you're wildly mistaken. Okay . And he continued on, you know , [inaudible] that man, they were putting him in handcuffs and he told them, please let me, let me hold the violin for a second. Play this thing. Okay. And when he did the smooth tones and the things that, that they heard told them, this was Fritz Chrysler . And when we look at John The baptist, when we look at his story, this was a man that was authentic. This was a man that was , um, had the true message of God and was not afraid to share it. And that is what John The baptist, Jesus is saying. John lived his love for another by his zeal for his god, that his disciples needed to do what they are known for doing as well. And what they can only do. Jesus said, I'm in a scripture by this. Will all men know you're my disciples if you have love for one another. And no man exemplified that more than John the baptist. He was. He's telling him and building him up in this way to the people. So we finished in verse 11 verse 11 is a key change into this. He says, verily I send to you, among them that are born of a woman, they are not risen, a greater than John the baptist, not with Stanley . He is least in the Kingdom of Heaven, is greater than He. So he , he tells him at the end, this man is truly authentic. He's, he's one of my followers. But even John the Baptist knows, he knows that. Um, he knows that in the Kingdom of Heaven, there is no rank and filing system there. Everyone is equal. And he knows John the Baptist knows this as well. Jeez . Provides perspective to the crowd about a prophet. He is not to be put on a pedestal. Okay. When they're looking at Jesus and they're looking at the John the baptist, many in that crowd could, you know, had that belief that John the Baptist and Jesus had an equal standing and Jesus was correcting them in verse 11 and telling them that everyone in the kingdom has the same. And , and there was no ranking system. John the Baptist was used by God, but in the eyes of God, his life was no more important than any of his followers. So when we look at that and we think about perspective, okay , um, the story co goes to please his father. I'm a went out for track and he was not the best miler. He didn't have the best times, but got on the team and was excited. Okay. His , his father was a great miler, one of the best track stars of his in his time. Um, the very first race was a two man race and I don't like those kinds of things, but , um, my kids loved them when I, when I w when I coached track, they loved to face each other and see who's who is better. Okay. And so in this story, he was badly beaten. He B he faced the best miler in the school. Okay . Best the one of the best in the, in the school. So , um, he wrote to his dad and he said, you will be happy to know dad. I ran against the best miler and he came in second to last and I came in right after him. So you see in that story , um, he , he came in second while the other one of course came in first. But in perspective he was wanting to share with his dad. He wanted his dad to be pleased with him and , and, and perspective in our life , um, has to come from our understanding of who we are in Christ, who we are , um, makes all of the difference. Um , so the three points I had, if you've got that , um, the first one is that the master's method, understanding the master's method applied in our life, brings security and peace. Um , I'm, I'm fairly certain after hearing it a second term now Jesus sharing with them a second time, it really brought John the Baptist a lot of security and peace. Understanding that Jesus is the Messiah. I don't need to look anywhere else. And his understanding changed once he had heard it again. Sometimes we need to hear things again. We need to hear the message that he brings us. The second point is that the authenticity and leadership should be what people crave. When we see , um, our leadership, when we see people that are under under the pulpit pray that they have that authenticity and sharing the message of God that not being afraid to share the truths and the wonder of description because it is a wonderful message. And the last point is that the perspective that God gives us forever alters our reality. It never once we have who we are in Christ , who gives us that perspective and we centralize it on that , on that we are able to find , um, what we need. W who, who we are as a Christian comes from what he gives us, what he provides. Let's pray. Well , we thank you for the day you've given us. We thank you for , um, the, the wonder that, that, that, that John the Baptist could question Jesus and the would give an answer. Jesus would , would provide. Gee , John the Baptist with an answer. And we thank you for , um, for your love for us that you, that you work with us and that you continually tell us who you are and who we are , um, matches exactly what that , what , who you are. And we , uh,

Speaker 1 21:09

we pray that you give us a good day in your , in the rest of time we have [inaudible] .