“Now it Begins…” (Matthew 4:12-25)

This week we are preparing to spend time listening to the simple yet challenging words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 5-7, arguably his most famous teaching (what we call "The Sermon on the Mount").  This summer, if we are going to hear Jesus speak in his own voice, in a fresh way that penetrates our cultural conditioning, we will need to understand a few things before we begin.

The Nature of the Kingdom = "Good News!" (Matthew 4:12-16, 23-25)

Matthew’s narrative snippets are not as detailed as those of Mark or Luke and seem to be used primarily to frame five major discourses or sermons that some believe were intended to remind the reader of the five books of Moses. Daniel Wallace points out as much in his book Greek Grammar.

v. 12-16 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee.  And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
    the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people dwelling in darkness
    have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
    on them a light has dawned.”

v.23-25 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.      

This “kingdom of heaven” (or Kingdom of God in the other Gospels) was very good news for those who were oppressed--whether physically, politically, economically, spiritually or “E) All of the above”. This gospel of the kingdom was proclaimed to those who would have thought they were the least likely to receive it. The good news of a new kind of kingdom came to the poor, the sick, the outcasts, the powerless; to those who were outside the mainstream of Judaism…and even to Gentiles.  

A 19^th Century preacher, Charles Spurgeon summed up the uniqueness of this visitation,

The far-off ones were visited by him who gathers together the outcasts of Israel. Our Lord courts not those who glory in their light, but those who pine in their darkness: he comes with heavenly life, not to those who boast of their own life and energy, but to those who are under condemnation, and who feel the shades of death shutting them out from light and hope… What a mercy to know that to those who appear out of the reach of the usual means, to those who dwell “by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles,” Jesus comes with power to enlighten and quicken! If I feel myself to be an out-of-the-way sinner, Lord, come to me and cause me to know that “light is sprung up” even for me! (Charles H. Spurgeon, The King Has Come, 43)

So what was this message of good news? It is one that we often fail to consider to be positive.

The Message of the Kingdom =  “Repent” (Matthew 4:17)

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Many of us have heard the word “repent” but what does it mean to repent? It means more than to be sorry. It is not merely remorse, “Remorse sees the bitter end of sin; repentance breaks free from it. The result of sin brings remorse; a divinely commissioned call brings repentance.” (Kittel, 589) Repentance means more than a change of mind that produces a change in behavior. It really is a heart change involving a relational return to the Lord. “It echoes the OT prophets’ frequent summons to Israel to return to God, to abandon their rebellion, and come back into covenant-obedience.” (R. T. France, Matthew, 90) Repentance is a radical conversion…allowing God to remake, re-wire, re-program you on every level…in preparation for entering the kingdom/kingship of God.

The Sermon on the Mount that we will examine in the coming weeks will require us to take up the challenge of thinking differently and loving differently.

Jesus makes it clear that the kingdom of heaven is different from the status quo. No matter how hard we try, we cannot smuggle our worldly ways into the kingdom of heaven (Rev. 22:14-15) whether it is our ways of …

·         thinking—I deserve what is good, what is better than you, even what is the best.

·         loving—as long as you love me

·         forgiving—as long as you don’t do it again

·         giving—for recognition

·         fasting—to get what we want

·         worship—to feel we are better than others

·         trusting—to relax only when we have a surplus.

"Jesus calls for a decisive response to a new situation, the arrival in his ministry of the kingdom of heaven." (France, 103) This is the repentance that is needed. But there is more to the message of the kingdom. It is not merely a divine directive, but a relational invitation. 

The  Invitation of the King = “Follow me” (Matthew 4:18-19)

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them,

“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Is this not good news that Jesus invites people to follow him, to walk with him and learn from his life (words and works). This time will be life-changing and world-changing, valuable beyond imagination, but it will often be counterintuitive and difficult. Our decision to follow Jesus in discipleship will be tested. There is a cost to be counted, as we can see in Matthew 8:18-22. But we need to settle the question from the beginning—am I willing to follow Jesus wherever he leads me?

Will you join us in following Jesus into the kingdom of heaven…even here on earth?