Week 5

Monday, January 27

Matthew 21:1-27 

Commentary

Jesus entered Jerusalem on the day we call Palm Sunday. This is the Sunday that started Jesus’ last week. It was the week of the Passover, so Israelites (as well as Gentiles who followed Judaism) were coming into Jerusalem from all over Israel and the Roman Empire. Jesus, in fulfillment of the Zechariah 9:9-10, tells his disciples to bring him a young donkey on which he would ride into town. Jesus comes in great humility, obeying his Father and fulfilling the promises of the Scriptures. Jesus is welcomed by a makeshift red carpet and exclamations that the Son of David is coming. The disciples and crowd recognize Jesus is there fulfilling the prophesy of Zechariah, but the town as a whole is stirred up and scandalized.

Jesus then enters the temple, chasing out those who made the court of Gentiles, the only place Gentiles could be in the temple, into a place to price gouge travelers on animal sacrifices to bring to the priests. The impaired and the children in the temple are excited about Jesus, while the religious elites were appalled by Jesus’ bold actions and bold claims. After this, Jesus finds a fig tree with leaves but no fruit to eat. He curses the tree and it withers. Mark’s account of this story (Mark 11) helps us see that Jesus curses the fig tree because, like Israel, the tree had the appearance of being fruitful externally, but inwardly had no fruit. The religious leaders of Israel emphasized what was done externally, but neglected inward love of and reliance on God. Matthew uses this story to again emphasize the importance of faith in our prayer – God will provide for us and enable us to serve him if we ask for his help, even in seemingly impossible circumstances.

Finally, we see the religious leaders confronting Jesus about what authority gives him the right to do and say such incredible things. Jesus answers their question with a question about John the Baptist’s ministry and they are stuck between a rock and a hard place with their possible responses. They didn’t want to learn more about Jesus to obey and worship him, they simply wanted to trick him into saying something scandalous or blasphemous enough that they could have him arrested. Jesus, of course, escapes this trap, but not because he wants to save his life, but because he is waiting for the right time to lay it down to pay for the sins of his people.

Application/Discussion

1. We saw Jesus angry at those who used the temple to make money and fill the Gentiles place of worship with animals and he pursued justice by throwing them out of the temple. Is this righteously angry, justice pursuing Jesus consistent with how Jesus is normally talked about? Why is reading all of the Scriptures important for helping us see the full character of Jesus?

2. Do you believe Jesus is who he claimed to be? If so, does your life reflect that belief? Are you obedient, worshipful, and evangelistic?

Points of Prayer

1. Thank God for sending Jesus as the ultimate and final sacrifice for our sins.

2. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s help in loving the lost in your community and for God to lead them to church.

3. Pray for the lost throughout the nations to be reached with missionaries and God’s Word.

Going Deeper

A lot of people over-emphasize God’s love while underplaying his justice and wrath against sin. This message from R. C. Sproul is helpful in seeing how God’s attributes (justice, love, holiness, etc.) work together in perfect harmony rather than in opposition to each other: 

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwRChlTpji0&t=327s

These sermon series by Tim Keller explores the attributes of God more thoroughly: 

• https://gospelinlife.com/series/the-attributes-of-god

Tuesday, January 28

Matthew 21:28-22:14

Commentary

In today’s reading, Jesus tells two parables condemning Israel as a whole, but particularly the religious leaders, for failing to believe in Christ. In the first parable, the son who initially refuses to work but eventually does work represents the “sinners” of Israel, the prostitutes, tax collectors, drunks, and so on who did initially live in sin, but turned to God when they heard John the Baptist preaching about Jesus. The second son, who says he will work but never does, represents the scribes and Pharisees, who claimed to follow God but never did in their hearts. The religious leaders did not believe John when he preached about Jesus or Jesus himself.

The second parable has Israel as a vineyard. The master of the vineyard, God, sent servants to gather fruit from the tenants again and again, but every time they killed the servants. The tenants are the Israelites, who never consistently listened to the prophets, and the servants are the prophets, who gave God’s message to Israel.  Finally, the master sends his own son because surely they would listen to the son of their master, but the tenants killed the son as well. This is referring to Jesus’ death, brought about by the Israelites insisting that Pontius Pilate should crucify Jesus. Jesus asked the religious leaders what they thought the master should do with these tenants, and they reply with a hearty declaration that the tenants should be killed and the vineyard should be given to other tenants who would produce fruit for the vineyard owner.

The third parable is about a wedding feast that none of the invited guests want to go to, despite everything being prepared for them and them being invited. Like in the last parable, the wedding guests kill the servants of the king, and verse 7 describes the king’s wrath burning hot against them. Then, the king sends the servants to invite anyone who will show up. Someone tries to sneak in to the wedding without an invitation and he is thrown out. The parable melts away as the intruder is thrown to what is essentially Hell.

The truths of these parables come to light in the ministry of Jesus – the religious leaders are rejected by Jesus and the humble, needy people who ask for Jesus’ mercy, the “sinners” and undesirables of Israel, those willing to give up status and power and wealth to follow Jesus, and even Gentiles are the ones who become the sons and daughters of God. The key here is that those who are given the vineyard to work are those who will be fruitful. Salvation doesn’t automatically apply to everyone who’s not a Pharisee or to those who have a hard time, we must individually come to God, asking for forgiveness for our sins and desiring to serve and honor him. If you haven’t done this yet, why delay? Today can be your day of salvation, God is always ready to receive the repentant as new sons and daughters.

Application/Discussion

1. Matthew’s gospel has mentioned the importance of being fruitful many times. Are there specific places in your life where you’ve become more fruitful since starting this book?

Points of Prayer

1. Thank God for sending Jesus to be our perfect Savior and show his mercy to us, despite the abundance of our sin and the weakness.

2. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s help in being fruitful in your character and service to God. Mention specific ways you can be more fruitful, such as having more patience, being joyful in serving in the church nursery, and so on.

3. Pray for one lost person you know who is pursuing self-righteousness, such as through Mormonism or Islam, rather than Christ’s righteousness.

Wednesday, January 29

Matthew 22:15-45

Commentary

In today’s passage, the Pharisees and Sadducees try, unsuccessfully, to entrap Jesus in several ways. First, the Pharisees ask him about whether the Jews should pay taxes to Rome, lacing the question with insincere flattery. Jesus’ answer is very straightforward – the government makes the money, therefore when the government is asking for some of that money, we should comply, just as we should give to God what belongs to him (our lives, our worship, etc.). If Jesus required the Jews to pay taxes to the godless, oppressive, and greedy government of Rome, there’s not many good excuses we will find to not pay taxes to our government.

The Sadducees ask Jesus a trick question about marriage and heaven. The Sadducees, a smaller sect of religious elites, did not actually believe in a resurrected life in heaven and thus asked a question intended to show that the idea of heaven is rather silly. Their question comes down to this – if a woman marries multiple times due to the death of her current husband, who will she be married to in heaven? Jesus condemns them with his answer and says that like the angels, humans are not married in heaven. (This is hard for me to swallow, honestly, but when we are in heaven, we will be so joyful and so busy worshipping that we won’t notice!) Jesus also makes clear that there is indeed a resurrection because God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – these men are still alive and worshipping God in heaven.

One of the Pharisees asks Jesus about which is the greatest commandment. This was a common question for great teachers of the day, but Jesus gives an unconventional answer by giving two commandments rather than one and emphasizing that the Law and the Prophets, meaning Old Testament as a whole, are built on the principles of loving God and loving fellow man.

Finally, Jesus asks the Pharisees a question: Is the Christ the Son of David? The Pharisees already know that Jesus has been called the Son of David and did not correct or rebuke those who said it. They also know Jesus is doing and saying things, and being commended, as if he is the Christ. As R. T. France explains, “It is not likely then that these verses are meant to undermine that whole argument. Rather the point is that the Messiah is more than merely a son of David, as is shown by David’s words in Ps. 110:1.”^[1] Jesus was a descendant of David by blood, but he also existed eternally before David was born. Jesus is the great heir of the Davidic kingship, yet David bows to and worships Jesus. Jesus truly is the Christ, simultaneously the Son of David and the Son of God. Rejoice that he has come to save us!

Application/Discussion

1. In our reading today, what stood out to you, surprised you, or enlightened you the most?

Points of Prayer

1. Thank God for the work of Christ.

2. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s help in learning and growing in the Lord.

3. Pray for your government and leaders to be good protectors of its people, good stewards of its resources, and promote peace for the gospel to spread.

4. Pray for the salvation of some of your country, state, and/or community’s leaders by name.

Going Deeper

Theologian Vern Poythress wrote an excellent exposition on the great commandments in this article:

https://frame-poythress.org/the-greatest-commandment-the-very-heart-of-the-matter/

Thursday, January 30

Matthew 23:1-39

Commentary

This chapter is Jesus’ condemnation of the scribes and Pharisees for their self-righteous, false religion. Jesus says they teach what they are not willing to live out, do their good deeds for the praise of men, lead people away from God rather than to him, prize money over the things of God (even the altar in the temple!), keep up with ceremonial duties but neglect their moral duties, worry over the externals while they are inwardly (spiritually) dead, and, like their fathers before them, hate and persecute God’s prophets (including Jesus).

While Jesus spoke harshly against the scribes and Pharisees, his harsh words were still, in a way, kind. They needed such an intense rebuke because the path they were following to get to God was so incredibly wrong. As pastor-counselor Jay Adams said, Matthew 23 “is a fearful chapter that speaks of an encounter that had to occur. When people oppose the Lord Jesus Christ and the truth of God, the church must be warned about them… [Jesus] exposed errorists [those in error] for what they were. But then, out of concern for them, He made one last very powerful appeal to them to repent. He unveiled His loving heart to their wicked hearts, showing them their fearful future unless they repented.”^[2]

When Jesus said he longed to gather the Jews but they weren’t willing, he seems to suggest that his desires are limited by human choice. However, we must remember that Jesus also said that “many are called, but few are chosen” (22:14, ESV). Jesus is not lamenting his powerlessness but emphasizing the extent of Israel’s sinfulness. Charles Spurgeon wisely explained, “It is the will of God that saves, it is the will of man that damns. Jerusalem stands and is preserved by the grace and favor of the Most High, but Jerusalem is burnt, and her stones are cast down, through the transgression and iniquity of men who provoked the justice of God.”[3]

Its easy for us to look down on the scribes and Pharisees. We should, at least in condemning how they led themselves and others away from God. However, we should also be mindful that we can fall prey to the same attitude ourselves – we can become self-righteous ourselves when we criticize others but forget our own flaws. As Spurgeon said, “Brother, if any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him, for you are worse than he thinks you to be..”[4] We should remember that only God’s grace and mercy helps us resist sin and we, like Jesus, should seek the good of the lost in our lives by warning them about their sin and telling them of God’s loving, open arms for the repentant.

Application/Discussion

1. When you read the Bible, do you tend to see yourselves only in the “good guys,” or do you also see yourself in figures like the Pharisees? How does the Bible’s honesty about the flaws of both the righteous and the wicked inform how we think of our own sinfulness?

2. How can we avoid the self-righteous, spiritually unaware “religion” of the Pharisees?

Points of Prayer

1. Thank God for the warnings he gives in his Word and for Jesus paying for our sins by his death.

2. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s help in living godly, obedient lives while trusting in Jesus’ righteousness alone to save you.

3. Pray for you and your church family to be humble, loving, and inviting to the lost.

Friday, January 31

Matthew 24:1-35

Commentary

This passage is known as the Olivet Discourse because it is the discourse (extended teaching) Jesus gave on the Mount of Olives. It is difficult to fully understand and even biblical scholars don’t have a unanimous interpretation of every detail here. However, there are two incredibly important details that shed light on Jesus’ discourse here and its meaning. First, Jesus says only the Father knows the day and hour of the end of the world (v36) and Jesus says “Therefore,” meaning because of everything he just said, we should be “awake,” always ready for the Lord’s return (v42-44). These are two key details in eschatology, the study of what the Bible says about the end times, that Christians often miss or downplay. When reading passages like this, we should remember that although the Bible does give some details about signs of the end, nobody can predict when the last day will be. The point of the Bible’s details about the end times is not for us to figure out charts and maps that tell us exactly when the end will be and everything that will detail. We are given these warnings about the end times so that we will always be ready for the Lord to return, living obediently and joyfully, being good stewards of what God has given us, and sharing the gospel with everyone we can before its too late for them to repent.

We also need to be mindful of the context in which Jesus gave this sermon on the end times – he was answering the disciples’ questions about when the temple would be destroyed. We should view at least part of what Jesus says, then, as referring to when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD. The temple was destroyed by Rome in response to Jewish rebellion and that destruction certainly would have seemed world-ending to those watching God’s special city being attacked and his temple razed. What Jesus describes in this chapter relates to the time from the destruction of the temple and onwards. The Bible teaches that the time from Jesus’ life onwards is the “last days” and that, as Jesus says here, there are many anti-christs, those who oppose God and his church (1 John 2:18). Many people have outright claimed to be Christ, both before and after Jesus’ lifetime, and many more have opposed the church in a significant way, such as those who started false religions.

Jesus’ warnings in this chapter should help us remember that we are never guaranteed the next moment. We should treasure every breath and every opportunity, using everything God gives us to serve him and make the most out of the lives he has blessed us with.

Application/Discussion

1. How does the bleak scene painted in this chapter impact your desire to evangelize the lost around you?

2. How can you be a better steward of what God has given you (time, money, skills, relationships, etc.) this week?

Points of Prayer

1. Thank God for being our refuge in every circumstance and praise him for his inevitable victory over sin and evil.

2. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s help in being a faithful steward of what God has given you.

3. Pray for the lost in your community and that God will help you and your church reach them.

Going Deeper

This article from Midwestern Seminary’s Center for Biblical Studies gives a helpful introduction to the Olivet Discourse: https://cbs.mbts.edu/2018/05/08/jesus-and-the-future-an-introduction-to-the-olivet-discourse/

Saturday, February 1

Matthew 25:1-30 

Commentary

In today’s reading, Jesus continues teaching about the judgement day with two parables. We need to note again that Jesus tells us why he is telling these parables – so that we remember to always be ready for his return and work faithfully to honor him until he returns (v13, 26).

The first parable is harder to understand than the second. The bridegroom is a common way to refer to Jesus, as the church (all of God’s saved people) is his bride. The ten virgins (young, unmarried women) are invited to the wedding and would be part of the wedding, but they don’t know when the bridegroom is coming to get them. Half of the young ladies prepare to wait a longer time for the bridegroom by having enough oil for light, while the other half do prepare to wait, assuming the bridegroom will come before they run out of oil. The connection this has to believers is that, since we don’t know when Jesus will return for us, we should both always be ready and be prepared to wait. The point of Jesus’ teachings on the end times is not for believers to stop daily life and service to the Lord to stare at the sky and wait for Jesus to come back. We should be serving God with the time we have, keeping in mind that we never know when that time will be over.

The second parable helps us see this point with greater clarity. A master goes away on a trip and before leaving, gives his servants different amounts of talents (currency). All the servants but the last invest their talents and are praised by the master when he returns because they were wise stewards of the talents. The last servant does not with his talent so that he does not lose it, but he is scolded. What’s the point? Whatever God gives us, whether skills or money or charisma or whatever else, we should be using it for his glory. If you can sing well, use your voice to worship and lead others to worship. If you have plenty of money, give it away generously for gospel-centered purposes. If you have children, love them and teach them to love and serve God. We never know when our master will come to get us, but until he does, we do know we are called to serve him with everything we have and everything we are.

Application/Discussion

1. What do you have in your life that you can use to serve God? Think of your skills, relationships, place of work, etc.

2. Do you think about Jesus’ return often? What do you feel like and think about after reading passages like the ones we’ve read today and yesterday?

Points of Prayer

1. Thank God that he is sending Jesus to rescue us and bring us into the new creation one day.

2. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s help in being a faithful steward of what God has given you.

3. Pray for three lost people you know by name.

Going Deeper

The Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics can help you learn more about being a good steward and honoring God in your work: https://tifwe.org/

Sunday, February 2

Matthew 25:31-46

Commentary

Today’s reading talks about the final judgement, the event Jesus has been preparing us for in the last couple chapters. This is not a parable, but it does use metaphorical language, describing the redeemed as sheep and the wicked as goats. The King, of course, is Jesus, who will appear as the great and final judge in the end. Those who have known and loved Christ are the sheep and they are admitted into heaven.

Jesus says that the redeemed have served him as they served their fellow man. Jesus isn’t saying he disguises himself as random people to pull a “What Would You Do?” on those who claim to be believers. Instead, he means that as believers obey Jesus by serving others, their service is ultimately done for him and his glory, not simply to meet an earthly need. Jesus condemns the wicked for never serving him in this way. Even the good deeds done by the lost are not done for God’s glory, and, of course, can never save. We are not saved by our works – in fact, our works condemn us because more often than not, they are sinful. However, when we come to know Christ, we are then called, in response to and gratitude for his forgiving love, to serve him through our good works.

Application/Discussion

1. How are you loving and serving others? What service opportunities has God placed in your life? If you’re not sure how you can be serving, ask the pastors at church.

2. In the end, there are two types of people – sheep and goats. Which group are you in? How do you know? If you are not sure, pray for God’s forgiveness and help today and follow up with your church leaders.

3. How do the lessons and parables we’ve read about the end times the last couple days encourage you in your daily walk with Christ?

Points of Prayer

1. Thank God for sending Jesus to be our sacrificial lamb so that we can be forgiven and brought into God’s flock.

2. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s help in loving and serving those around you, especially in sharing the gospel.

3. Pray for your pastors to lead with love, integrity, humility, and conviction as they shepherd your church.

Going Deeper

This sermon by Tim Keller details the good and bad news that come with the Bible’s teaching on the final judgement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFLGkIAJjiY

 

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^[1] Richard T. France, “Matthew,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 933.

^[2] Jay E. Adams, The Gospels of Matthew and Mark, The Christian Counselor’s Commentary (Cordova, TN: Institute for Nouthetic Studies, 2020), 175.

[3] Charles Spurgeon, “I Would, But Ye Would Not,” Sermon 2381, accessed on spurgeongems.org, first paragraph of sermon.

[4] Charles Spurgeon, “David Dancing Before the Lord Because Of His Election,” Sermon 2031, accessed on spurgeongems.org, under point III.