Matthew 66
(Chapter 16)
Be careful who you listen to
Matthew 16:1–12 (ESV)
1 And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.
2 He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’
3 And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.”So he left them and departed.
5 When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread.
6 Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
7 And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.”
8 But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread?
9 Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered?
10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered?
11 How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
12 Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Why as people do, we always want to make things so hard? Why are we always threatened by change? What is it that makes us attack things/people that are different than us, or do things we don’t understand?
We again see Jesus arguing with the religious, the rule keepers, the blessed ones!
· You know the ones
· They have it all together (who knows what it is, but they will tell you they have “it”)
· They have the perfect _________ (fill in the blank)
· And they want everyone to follow them (even if they're wrong)
· They don’t love people (they use them)
· They don’t seek holiness or righteousness
o They seek power and control
· And these are the ones Jesus is always having to deal with
And before we go any farther a point needs to be made
· In all of Jesus meekness, His mercy, and His grace
· He is not afraid to stand up to them
· To press into them (to stand His ground with them)
But He also knows when not to
· When to walk away
· He never lets them distract Him from His mission
· He deals with them, but never puts too much effort in it
· He concentrates on the ones that are ready and willing to follow
· We can all learn a lesson from this
o It’s a lesson I wish I would have learned early on in my ministry
· We never stop loving them, but we don’t let them suck the life and resources out of us either!
STAY ON MISSION!!!!
No let's get to it!
Bigger deal than you think!
1 And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.
· They came, together
· And does anyone in this room understand why that in and of itself is a big deal??
o They hated each other, more than republicans and democrats!
o They were on opposite ends of the spectrum on a lot of important issues
o And would fight every time they would come together
· So, the point being, for them to come together, and to come after Jesus, He was their common enemy!
o He threatened both of them
o His “NEW” way of thinking
o His “NEW” commandments
o It went against everything that they thought, taught and believed about what following God meant to them.
· It was Radical
· It was new
· It was extreme
· And it meant intruding on their way of life!
I wonder if there was not some disappointment in His voice
2 He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’
3 And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
· He was saying look right in front of you
· You’re not ignorant, you’re not uneducated
· You know what the books of the law say
o You know the signs of the coming Messiah
· And you can’t see it
o You're so blind with your self-interest
o Your pride
o Your arrogance
o You are so worried about the status quo
· You don't even see it!
So how many times has God wanted to say that to you??
· It’s all right there
· It’s in the front of the book (the new testament)
· I have given you all kinds of opportunities to learn it
o There are good churches all around you!
· My son, He taught it, He lived it out, His followers explained it well
· All you have to do is follow
o How to deal with your money, it’s in there
o Your marriage, yep there too
o Work, oh yea, it’s there
o The anxiety you're dealing with, He coved that too
o Your whole life, how to live it, it's right there!
o That Joy, that Peace, that Love your heart so desperately craves, it’s all right there!
· But your
o Self-interest
o Your pride
o Your arrogance
o Your rebellion
o Your sheer lack of effort
o It gets in the way of all I have for you
Jesus has no time for folks who will not get out of their own way!
4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So, He left them and departed.
· So, let’s talk about adulterous for a moment
· We aren’t talking about sex or even thoughts about sex
o Jesus forgave that and continues to forgive that
· No, we are talking about something much worse, Spiritual Adultery
o When we are deliberately unfaithful to God, Jesus
o When we are malicious in our intent toward Him
o Or to others about Him
· And this one thing has always been an issue with Jesus and the ruling religious leaderships!
· Again, blinded by their own need for power and authority they can’t get out of their own way!
Jonah
· Again, referring to the resurrection
· Jonah spent 3 days in the belly of the whale
· Jesus will spend 3 days in the tomb
· I think the hope here is to plant the seed
· Like us, there are some folks all we can do is plant the seed and let Jesus do His thing!
Thank you, Jesus, for the gentle reminder!
5 When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread.
6 Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
7 And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.”
· The reminder that the men that traveled with Jesus were just like us
· Here He is laying a little wisdom on them and they are wound up about bread!
· The bible is full of Reminders that Jesus used ordinary people to do extraordinary things!
o That we don’t have to have a Doctorate in theology to follow Jesus
o Or do amazing work for the kingdom
o That Jesus made it simple for us to follow
o And be effective, and useful!
o That He can take sinners like you and like me, and do mind-blowing work in us and through us!
From time to time we all need a push in the right direction!
8 But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread?
9 Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered?
10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered?
· Sometimes the best of us get a little off course
· We start to worry about the wrong things
· We forget the core of the mission and teaching
· We sometimes forget just how big Jesus is and what He can do
o We forget He is the creator of the universe
o The Alpha and Omega
o And we forget just how small we really are
· We worry about stuff He has already promised
· Or we worry about things out of our control
· And don’t forget to stay in your lane and never forget how big JESUS is!
We all have to beware of the “Pharisees” in our lives!
11 How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
· You want to know the beauty of being a new believer, the innocence.
o The child-like abandonment
o You’re not tainted by the religious rules, and politics of it all
o I think that is why Jesus says this!
Mark 10:15 (ESV)
15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
· The Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus' day wanted to shut down the new way of Jesus
· And so do the ones today
o They look different
o They aren’t in robes
o They don’t have entourages following them
o But they are still as destructive
· And just like in Jesus' day they think they are doing good
o They mix the old with the new
o They cherry-pick to get their point across
o They fight for what is “right”
o And most never see the damage that they do
So just like in Jesus' day, we need to beware of them
· They have traded their cool robes and funny hats for King James bibles and committees
o They have lots of meetings
o And create a lot of rules
o They worry about what the government is doing
o And forget about what Jesus did
· What did Jesus do?
o Let go of the rules
o And loved people
o He stood up for the poor
§ The downtrodden and demoralized
§ He forgave sinners and gave them tons of chances
o And He fought the religious
o And gave His life for our salvation
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