Sermon Tone Analysis

December 2, 2007

 

Introduction:

It is the Christmas season.

I like Christmas and this season.

You know what I would love?

I would love to have a new truck.

I would like to have one of those GPS’s for my car.

I would love to have a new deer rifle.

I want a new DVD player from Clearplay.

I want some more fishing gear.

A nail gun would be nice too.

Just in case you wanted to know what I want for Christmas – there is my list - my partial list that is.

There are a whole lot of other things that I feel a desire for – time, money, vacations, accomplishments, recognition, success…  And it just seems that the Christmas season brings all that stuff to the surface.

All the ads.

All the sales.

All the marketing.

I can’t help but want a lot of stuff.

Don’t we all have a lot of wants?

Who here does not have wants?

Maybe it is health, a fresh start, a spouse, a job, something for your kids, a new house, pay off debt, a new toy – we all have wants.

Our hearts are full of desire.

They are.

We cannot deny it.

We want.

Our souls desire.

I love Christmas but Christmas can be a tragic experience.

The tragedy of Christmas is not in receiving the gifts you want.

I hope we all receive some nice gifts this Christmas.

The tragedy of Christmas is believing that getting the things we want or the circumstances we desire will answer the longing of our hearts and souls.

We could get everything on our wish lists, everything, just as we want it and we would still find ourselves empty, still longing if we are outside of Jesus Christ.

Satisfaction has never been found in abundance or health or riches.

You cannot find that for which your soul longs unless you look to Jesus.

That is the glory of the Christmas message.

Jesus Christ is the gift for whom we all long.

He is on top of all our wish lists, the wish list of our souls.

The question is will we see Him for who He is or will we be distracted by our inferior desires and then left empty.

Jesus is every thing we have ever needed and everything we have ever truly wanted.

He alone satisfies our souls.

He is on the throne of God and he alone secures the promises of God.

He alone is worthy to follow and worship.

We do not need to look any further for which our soul longs than Jesus.

I.

That is exactly what Matthew points out when he begins his gospel.

A.

Matthew

1. “At the time Christ was born, Israel had been under Roman domination for some sixty years.

One of the worst aspects of Roman oppression was the system of taxation, which was methodical, relentless, and ruthless.

Two basic taxes were levied-the toll tax, which was comparable to the modern income tax, and the ground tax, a property and land tax.

Roman senators and various other high-ranking officials would buy from the central government at public auction the right of collecting the toll taxes in a given country, province, or region at a fixed rate for a period of five years.

Whatever was collected above that amount was kept as profit.

Those who held such taxing rights were called /publicani/.

The /publicani/ would hire others, usually citizens of the country being taxed, to do the actual collecting.

Those collectors had somewhat the same arrangement with the /publicani/ that the /publicani/ had with Rome.

Whatever they managed to collect above the amount demanded by the /publicani/ they kept as their own profit.

Both the /publicani/ and the tax-gatherers, therefore, had strong motivation to exact and collect as much tax as possible-knowing they were backed by the full authority, including the military authority, of Rome.

The tax-gatherers (Greek /telōnēs/) quite naturally were hated by their own people, not only as extortioners but as traitors.

In Israel they were ranked with the lowest of human society-sinners, prostitutes, and Gentiles (Matt.

9:10–11; 18:17; 21:31–32;Mark 2:15–16;Luke 5:30; etc.).

Matthew, who was also called Levi, was a tax-gatherer when Jesus called him to be one of the twelve disciples (Matt.

9:9; Mark 2:14).

We have little idea as to what sort of person Matthew was before Jesus called him.

It is doubtful that he was very religious, because tax-gatherers were ostracized, practically if not officially, from many synagogues and sometimes even from the Temple.

It was no doubt partly for that reason that Matthew so quickly responded to Jesus’ invitation and that so many other tax-gatherers were attracted to Him (Matt.

9:9–10; 11:19; Luke 15:1).

It was rare that they were accepted and befriended by a fellow Jew, especially by a rabbi, or teacher, such as Jesus.”[1]

2. On that day when Matthew was sitting at his tax booth collecting money to satisfy his wants, Jesus came by and said to Matthew, “Follow me.”

It was as if Jesus were saying, “I am everything you want.

Leave all this and follow me.”

Matthew left everything and got up and followed Jesus.

Do you know where they ended up?

They ended up at Matthew’s house where Matthew made a great feast.

Guess who came.

A whole bunch of Matthew’s friends, none other than the tax collectors association.

They all had one big party with Jesus.

Jesus loved Matthew.

He was rejected and he was a traitor but Jesus loved him.

Matthew never turned back.

He followed Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

3.

After Jesus ascended to heaven, Matthew, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote this gospel.

It was some time around AD 50 to AD 70.

It was definitely before the destruction of the temple in AD 70.

Matthew wrote this gospel to a Jewish audience in order to communicate the truth that Jesus is everything anyone could ever want, especially the Jew.

He is the King and the Savior, the only one who can satisfy our souls.

Matthew found his life and his joy in Christ and Christ alone, the King of the Jews.

In following Jesus Christ, Matthew went in to Ethiopia and Egypt sharing this gospel and seeing many converted to Christianity.

The king of Egypt ordered his servants to kill Matthew because of his evangelizing and one of the kings servants came to Matthew and killed him with a spear.

Matthew lived and died for Jesus Christ because in Christ he found everything for which his soul longed.

Matthew begins his declaration of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1:1, /The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

// //ESV/

 

II.

Matthew begins his declaration with a clear proclamation that Jesus is everything we could ever want.

He alone can satisfy our souls.

He alone can give eternal life.

He alone is King and Savior.

We do not need to look any further.

A. Jesus is the son of David, the rightful king.

1. Around sixteen times in Matthew we will read the phrase, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet.”

We will see over 90 OT quotations.

Much of what the prophets were prophesying and so much of what the OT was pointing to was to a coming King.

2. Listen to what the prophet Nathan said to King David in II Samuel 7, “I [God] will establish the throne of his [your son] forever….Your kingdom shall be made sure forever.”