A Living Picture

David Poland

Matthew: Kingdom Authority • Sermon • Submitted 8 months ago • Presented 9 months ago

Matthew 26:17–30

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Sermon 84 in a series through the Gospel of Matthew

Notes

Transcript

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 24

Psalm 24 ESV

A Psalm of David. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory! Selah

Scripture Reading: Psalm 55:12-14

Psalm 55:12–14 ESV

For it is not an enemy who taunts me— then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me— then I could hide from him. But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked in the throng.

Sermon:

Well, good morning church.

I was glad when they said to me, let us go and worship in the house. Of the lord.

Well, as we continue our journey through the book of Matthew, for those of you who are counting, This is the 84th Sermon in the book of Matthew. Which is in some sense kind of ironic. When i brought to the elders the two books that we would do next after finishing Isaiah, The conversation went a little like this: “So i think we should do and I want to do a gospel, so, I think we should do Matthew or John.” The reason i picked those two is that Before i came the church went through, Mark. And i looked at Luke and I was like, well, if we do Luke, it'll probably be too long of a series because apply i want to do Luke and acts and that could be like, i don't know, Almost 100 sermons long. And here we are 84 weeks in the Matthew. Truly I've been blessed by it, i hope you have too.

But here, as we approach this passage. We come to what is in some respects one of the more important passages in Matthew. It's important because it gives to us, not just theological truth-- which all scripture does that. And not just because it gives us something to practically apply to our lives because I think if we're doing things right, all scripture has that as well. It's important because in this passage that we will be looking at the Lord will establish for us something that we as a church continue to this very day. We Will be reading and looking at rather. The Passover, the last passover and the institution by our lord and savior of Communion or the lord's supper. And in doing so, we are approaching a passage that is Full of depth and beauty.

But before we dive in, I want to start with a bit of a... and caveat's maybe not the exact right word… but some thought to guide our thoughts, just a little bit. As we approach this passage, my goal is NOT To clear up, or Define any of the difficulties and troubles possibly that can arise by the different ways that people look at communion. There's a time and a place for that. I don't think it's here right now. My goal is NOT to magnify and glorify how we do it and put down how other people do it. I don't think that's right here either. Rather my goal is for us to look at this passage and to ascertain and understand the beauty of the picture that we have been given by jesus.

I've called this sermon a living picture, and there's a lot of levels to this. Part of the reason it's a living picture is because as we read this text and as we study what we're going to read, It's a picture given to us. Jesus,in giving us communion, he'll be painting a picture but it's through his life through what he's doing, what we will be reading is truly a living picture. But we also should look at this and understand that communion is a living picture because it is a picture of what has been done and it gives us life. It's a living picture and then it's a life-giving picture to us. An ultimately as we think in ponder and read through what communion is, it's a living picture because it's a picture, that is in some sense, Growing and still alive. For, as we take communion. We become a part then of the picture and a part of what's going on. And so this picture is still growing and moving as it gives life to us as we experience the life-giving nature of what christ has given to his church.

So there's a lot we're going to have to unpack here and we're just going to, the goal again, is not to dive into theological debates, and understanding the nature of the bread and the cup and and all of those things. Those are all truly important and we'll talk about some of them on Thursday night at grace group. But the goal today, Is to stir in your heart, love and appreciation of the precious gift that we have been given by our savior. So with that being said, i'd like to just start by reading our passage for today.

Matthew 26:17–30 ESV

Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’ ” And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.” Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

These are the words of the lord for us this morning. Let's open with a word of prayer.

Dear Lord, We do thank you for today. Thank you for your grace and mercy, the kindness that you have shown us. Thank you for your son, Jesus christ, our lord and our savior. His body broken that we might be made whole. His blood shed that we might be washed whiter than snow. We are unworthy of such precious gifts, so we thank you. Humbly. We do pray that you would speak to our hearts this morning, and that you would stir up in us Love and affection towards you. Give us eyes to see what you have done. Give us ears to hear all that you have said. It's in jesus name that we pray. Amen. And amen.

Well, as i thought through this week of the idea of this passage being a picture communion, being a picture. And how do we figure this All out. I had a bit of an epiphany. And this probably falls into the sort of David's being probably too clever for his own good sort of thing. But I was thinking of this being a picture. But as i thought well what's the most famous picture I could think of and here's where I landed, and I can put it up here for you. It's the Mona Lisa.

Mona Lisa

And as I looked at this picture and as i pondered what we've been given in god's word, I started to think through how do we, as we look at any picture, Begin to understand and grasp and grapple with— truly Appreciating in some sense-- any picture. So here, just taking in this picture. We start we could look at the frame, right? There's something that's that's around the picture that sort of isolates the picture and gives us. I mean, as we look at a picture, a painting, like this. The context, it's sort of in there and it keeps it contained. I think that's important. There's also, as you look at the Mona Lisa here, there's a little bit of a background and i think that's important. But ultimately here, there's one subject of the painting. In the painting here, it's Mona Lisa. The thought though is that as we look at communion i think these same sort of three things will help us so we can start actually by asking. Okay, what is the frame Of this passage? Well, we find it in verses 17 through 19. One of the tricks that i think is important, if you hear a word repeated over and over again, it's probably important. Keep that in mind real quick as we read versus 17 through at 19.

Matthew 26:17–19 ESV

What frames this whole passage? and it's critical that we understand this. Is the idea of Passover.

The Frame: PASSOVER

Knowing that Matthew was written. Largely to Jewish readers, and Jewish believers. Ultimately, Matthew's Brothers, in a Ethnic sense. It's important to understand that Matthew couches The lord's supper and really All of these things in Passover.

And partly is because that's the time when this was taking place. Yes its true that it is Partly, because The historical fact is jesus was crucified at this time. And so just like we can sort of refer to times with general terms: Fall, spring but then we can also refer to general times with specific references. So we have “Christmas time”. Or thanksgiving. It's sort of a week long because we get break off from school and things like this. Right? This is labor day weekend. We can sort of define time by what events are happening around then. That's true here, but there's so much more going on in this passage.

As we think through what Passover was and what passover meant, we can't escape like ALL of the old testament history that brought us to this point. Passover originated with moses. All the way back to the plagues and God freeing his people. That's an important thought. Remember back — Pharaoh, His heart is hard. He will not let God's people go. So plague after plague after plague, god sends. Each time Pharaoh's heart getting more and more hardened. Simply he will not let god's people go. So ultimately God sends the final plague. The angel of death comes and kills all the firstborn of all the people in the land. All the people EXCEPT... Those who would Kill a lamb, paint its blood on their door posts as a sign to say: We are god’s people.

The fact that all of this is couched in the frame of Passover is important. It speaks to us and The meal HERE. What's going on is framed by this idea that this is the meal for god's people, to celebrate their life and being spared from wrath and judgment. It's framed in this idea that god will hear the cries of his people. He will save them, he will redeem them. It's couched in the thought that for those who are washed in a certain blood, there is hope. You will be passed over by wrath and judgment. These are important thoughts that frame the last supper in the passage, yes. but also the table as we come to it.

It celebrates the fact that we are hid in the grace of god. In particular for us, we are hid in the person and work of jesus christ. This starts and is what frames this whole meal. It's not by our own strength or might. The Passover was a time set aside. We sort of think maybe as the Passover as one meal, it was a week long thing. In our passage Matthew mentions the idea of “the first day of unleavened bread”, because there was purification that had to happen. Normally it was OK to have yeast in the house, but here you had to get it all out. There was cleansing and being right, so that you could Partake. And as we come to the table, it's important to understand. that ALL of that was done by christ. We celebrate the table a little differently. Because well, Passover is the frame. It's sort of what gets the heart and the mind.

Truly there's so much more going on here. This is just the short like “getting the picture in our mind” version of all of this. But one of the fundamental differences that we must cover here, is that Jesus takes care of it all. Even in our passage that's hinted at and pointed at. The disciples come to jesus. OK we know the whole “the son of man has no place to rest his head” but passover is coming and like, we gotta do that, so whats the plan Jesus?” and Jesus takes care of it. Just go, there's a man, it'll be taken care of. and when The disciples go it's just as jesus said. we gloss over this, because it is not as “incredible” as some other miracles, but this is Jesus working things for his people.

okay. We have a place. There was a man. He's letting us stay in his upper room. We're good to go here. because unlike the first passover, we are celebrating something just a little different. Understanding that Jesus is now the passover lamb. His blood is what cleanses and protects and keeps us. Its the frame, but the piucture inside is telling us something too… So that's what frames it, but let's get deeper. So then we can start thinking about. Well, what's the background right? If we just go back real quick and this picture. (MONA LISA SLIDE) The article that i… Borrowed… this picture from Was actually all about the background. I guess earlier this year. Some art history guy has decided that he has determined the exact location of where this picture was painted. And he did so by looking at… you guessed it! The background. So even in a picture like this, the background is important. So what's the background? As we understand the Passover, the lord's supper, it is betrayal.

The Background: BETRAYAL

We're here again. This was the main point last week is we looked at the betrayal of the chief priests and the Pharisees and Caiaphas and ultimately, the betrayal of Judas. But we're here again. Starting in verse 20

Matthew 26:20–21 ESV

When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”

So This is not light dinner conversation. This is not just chewing the fat with your friends because you're here enjoying Passover dinner. Jesus speaks to the heart of every single disciple. The passage continues:

Matthew 26:22–23 ESV

And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me.

We could sort of look at this and if we're not fully aware of the traditions and how things usually went, we might think that this is secret code for who Judas was. That only Judas would dip his hand in the bowl with jesus. In truth, All of them had dipped their hand in the bowl of jesus. It was sort of a common meal where all the dishes were shared and you would just reach in together. Ultimately by him saying “he who has dipped his hand in the dish” is basically doubling down that it was one of the 12. It's not just some hyperbolic “one of the disciples”, it's one of the 12 who are HERE. One of the closest. One of the most Dear and beloved will betray him. Skipping verse 24 we will come back to it. So verse 25

Matthew 26:25 ESV

Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.”

There's a lot of notes i'd like to make here. Because there's a lot going on in this thought of betrayal.

First we can see even here the difference between a true disciple And the betrayer. It is seen actually clearly in this passage. Jesus says, one of you will betray me. Look at the response of the disciples verse 22. “Is it I Lord”. His disciples know who he is. Call him by his rightful title. He's the lord. The king. The messiah. Judas' heart betrays him as he contemplates Betraying the savior. Because Judah's words are different. “Is it i.. RABBI”.

In all fairness, this is still a term of respect, but the only people in Matthew's gospel, who have called jesus a rabbi are NOT his disciples. In fact, it is usually the pharisees when confronting him. Judas is showing, that he doesn’t think he's the lord. he may be a rabbi, he may be a teacher, but not who Judas wanted. So we can start and see that even in the way he asked the question, he sorts to starts to justify his betrayal.

And so this is where verse 24 comes in. We skipped it but it's important

Matthew 26:24 ESV

The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”

Jesus is saying here two very important things. One: God has ordained what is about to happen. All of the things: the betrayal, the death, the crucifixion, the burial, and the resurrection of jesus christ. These have all been ordained by the sovereign lord, of heaven and earth. There is no escaping his sovereign will. What god has saidwill occur, will occur. What god has declared, is what will happen. There's no escaping the truth of God's sovereignty here. That's where jesus starts. The son of man goes as It is as it is written. The son of man is headed down the road that Well, with the prophets have been saying for thousands of years at this point. Since the snake crusher was promised in Genesis 3, since the picture of Abraham offering his Son Issac and the angel stopping his. Since the Law was written to show us who we needed, since Elijah and Elisha and going on. Jesus is now going to endure when Isaiah wrote, Hundreds of years before Jesus was even born, all of the beauty of Isaiah 53.

The chastisement that brought us. Peace is placed upon him yet. It was the will of the lord. It, please the lord to crush him. He was written of before. God sovereign hand is all over this. But this does not, and here is point 2, this does not excuse Judas and remove from him The responsibility for his own sinful thoughts and actions.

So verse 24, the son of man goes that is written for him. This is what is going to happen, but still woe to the man by whom the son of man has betrayed. So yes God is sovereign, but this does not get Judas off the hook for his sinful actions. So, part of the thought of the betrayal is seeing this, the god is still sovereign. He's ordained the ends, and the means. And jesus is willingly going down this path. It was written of him long before he was ever born. and the other part is this: Judas is still a vile betrayer. His heart is still turned against the lord.

So that is the first note, but there are more. and I think here we can focus a bit more on how this applies to us. this is, i think a bit more important for us practically speaking. Going back to verse 20

Matthew 26:20–22 ESV

When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?”

We pick on the disciples. A lot. And there's a whole lot that they don't get that, they don't understand. And partly... rather mostly... I think it's because they don't have the right viewpoint. Not in a way that they could change. Because of WHEN they live in the viewpoint that we have of all of history looking back and seeing the whole plan put together. They're stuck in the middle of it. So we can cut them some slack, and make this note, the most important things, those they do seem to get. Even here: This is what they do understand... They understand their own heart.

Jesus says, one of you will betray me, their initial thought: couldn't be me... Could it? There's there's no way that's me... Unless my sinful heart Rules the day again. Is it going to be me? Because, you know, i don't want to... but Is it going to be me? Ultimately Jesus knows their heart even better than they do and he truly knows who it is. But the lesson i think we need to see here is What jesus came and what we celebrate at the table is salvation for that sort of heart.

One of the commentators i was reading said this, and I think it is rather insightful for us. "They trusted.” he said “Their savior's word more than they trusted their own heart.” They think i'm not going to do it. There's no way i would do it. But if jesus said It, it must be true. I think that's important thought as WE come to the table. As we prepare our hearts, as we think, and understand what it means and what we're doing. We start and we frame it in the idea of the perfect gift the Passover. Lamb, we frame it in those things, but then we understand our own heart. And our own heart is why we desperately must come to the table. Because our heart Is often sinful and wicked. All of us here can proclaim like Paul does: “the very things i want to do. I do not do and the things i do not want to do. I find myself doing oh, what a wretched man and am i” And so if we look to our own heart and our own life and our own mind and our own ability for sustenance and we look to ourselves to make it through and push through all of these things, we find ourselves empty and wanting. but when we come to the table, we find all that gives us life. We come to the table To dine with our savior. Knowing that we come with a wicked heart and he replaces that with a loving heart. he takes our stone heart and HE replaces it with a Heart with his law written upon it. We come here and he empowers us to be able to live and serve and love him. This background's important. Perfectly because it gives us the picture of what our savior was facing. He knew what was coming and he did not shy away from it. But also partly because it shows us the nature of our own heart. And then we can move from the background to the real beauty.

Again to the visual aid.. And why is the Mona Lisa a famous picture? It's not the background. It's not because that's the world's nicest frame. Because the woman painted in the middle of it. The subject is the most important part and here, the subject is jesus.

the Subject: JESUS

Even as we've been painting this… Pun intended… picture. The frame of Passover points us to jesus because he is the passover lamb. He's what passover was pointing to. For all the time that they had Passover, it pointed to jesus, The background also points us to jesus. He's the one who is betrayed and the one who forgives Sinful betraying hearts. But ultimately, As we look through all of this, it's always all about jesus.

Matthew 26:26 ESV

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”

When we come to the table. We are celebrating nothing less than jesus christ. Bodily came to earth. We here Don't believe that the bread actually becomes his body. That doesn't happen. Rather as we celebrate this, we see the precious truth that his body truly was broken for us. He continues,

Matthew 26:27–28 ESV

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Now, we have to deal with: what is the new covenant? What's going on here? Here's the short, short, short version. Jeremiah talks about the new covenant specifically in Chapter 31. This is where we get passages like he will take our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh with his law, written upon it. There's something in there that we would call the “Immanuel principle”, Emmanuel means “god with us” it is the thought that he is truly god with us. There's a promise that we will be his people and he will be our god. Why? Because of jesus His blood poured out that washes us. We are now identified with that. We are now given access to the covenant, not through our own strength or might. But because of the work of christ, It's always the work of christ verse 29.

Matthew 26:29 ESV

I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

So HE is making a kingdom. HE is working this. He is doing this. The subject of what we're doing. It's not about us. Here's the beauty of communion. I've had... for a long part of my life… a very Strained relationship with communion. When Paul is writing about communion, and truly this is part of the reason we go to first corinthians 11, when we take communion here, usually… Because that passage is very important for me. I've had to wrestle through it in a lot of ways. For me, when Paul writes about those who've taken an unworthy manner have in fact drank judgment on themselves. I've wrestled with that for a long time in my life. There was a long time where i was afraid to take communion, it was judgment and dangerous, and i had a lot of incorrect thoughts. and so understanding this last point is, i think the cure to that. It's not about you. The subject of this table is not you. It's jesus. What he's done. What he's bought. What he's earned. And then, what he has given to us. He's purchased a people. His blood verse 28 “is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins”. Truly, for all who trust in him, find in him a perfect savior. For those who come to him in faith and repentance, they will have all of their sins washed whiter than snow. Your sins are forgiven not by your own work, but because you are washed in the blood of the lamb, that's the purpose of this picture.

As we take communion, it tells us. We are not good enough, praise the lord, we have a perfect savior, And that's what we get when we come to the table. Sure, There's a lot more we can talk about in regards to communion. Ultimately, Here's my heart. This passage. It's for your life and for your good. This table. For your life, and for your good. It should stir in our heart, praise and affection.

I anted to end on verse 30. There's a weight to this. truly it is what I call a hinge verse, it belongs to both this passage and the one to come. But i want to see something that i don't think we fully grasp when we come to the table all of the time. Here in context, Jesus is just predicted his death and betrayal. In one of the most somber and solemn moments of his ministry, one of his most Open and raw moments in this entire ministry, as he's having the last supper, with his disciples: one of you will betray me, one of you will break my heart and cause literally his body to be broken. In the midst of that, he's saying my body will be broken. This bread symbolizes my body broken for you, This cup represents my blood spilled that you may be washed whiter than snow. In what is the last moments before He will be arrested what does he do? Verse 30

Matthew 26:30 ESV

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

They sing praises. So yes, It's very solemn somber thing that we come when we come to the table, it is important. It's right that we prepare our hearts and minds that we ponder and contemplate. And think on these things it's important. But ultimately, Soli deo gloria, to God alone be the Glory! Let's pray.