Sermon Tone Analysis

Seeing is believing, right?

I mean… We’re from Missouri… The SHOW-ME state!

Well, actually… What we actually see and what we perceive are often different things.

This is because our eyes gather information, that information is sent to our brains, and then our brains create a perception based on what our eyes told the brain.

In other words, our brain can fill in gaps when there is incomplete information or filter out information that is always there.

For example.

Without looking down or crossing your eyes or anything… Do you see your nose?

You don’t see your nose… yet your nose is constantly in your field of vision.

What happens is… because your nose is always there, getting in the way of everything else, your brain filters the image of your nose.

Same concept for those that wear glasses.

Glasses frames are always in your field of vision… but your brain interprets them as noise that is in the way… so it gets filtered out.

We commonly refer to this kind of thing as… an illusion.

My eyes are playing tricks on me.

It’s actually your brain that is playing the trick… but, we call it… Eyes playing tricks on us.

It’s an illusion.

Here’s another illusion.

There are two different colored lines forming an X in this graphic?

Everybody see that?

Actually… both lines are exactly the same color… our brains just interpret the colors differently.

I’ve used this illustration before several years ago… but perhaps you remember it.

There’s a square labeled A… and a square labeled B. Square A is obviously much darker than square B. But if we draw a line between the squares, we find that both squares are actually the same color.

But even with that same-colored line connecting the squares, our brains still try to interpret a difference in color.

I first saw this illustration years ago… I’ve saw it many times… yet, it still messes with my head.

I could swear they are different colors.

If you were to pull this graphic up in a computer program… you’d be able to verify that they are indeed the same color.

But y’all believe me… right?

Ok… because if you don’t believe me, the rest of this sermon is ruined.

My point is this… Our minds can… and do lie to us.

We are a people that are prone to illusions.

And I want to suggest this morning that illusions also exist in the Christian’s life as well.

There are things that we tell ourselves about the Christian life… about what it means to be Christian… that are simply not accurate.

And we need some help to breakthrough those illusions.

And for that help, we’re going to be looking at Matthew chapter 16 this morning.

So, if you have your Bible, and I hope that you do, turn with me to Matthew chapter 16.

Just a quick warning while you’re turning there, there is A LOT in this chapter… and we’re not going to hit everything here.

I just want us to see how this flows together and see the issues that we tell ourselves and how to breakthrough them.

Begin reading with me in verse 1…

What’s interesting about the Pharisees and the Sadducees… in the first century, the Pharisees and Sadducees were on the opposite ends of the theological spectrum.

They didn’t like each other much.

The Sadducees tended to be the rich guys… they didn’t believe in resurrection, and only took the first 5 books of Moses seriously.

The Pharisees tended to be more middle-class, and very much believed in resurrection, and thought everything from Genesis to Malachi was authoritative.

But one thing they had in common… they hated Jesus.

So this is kind of a… the enemy of my enemy is my friend… kind of thing.

So they come to Jesus to try and trap him, and say… you’ve been doing some pretty cool stuff… tell you what… do something truly spectacular and we’ll believe that you are who you say you are… we’ll believe that you’re from God.

Jesus gets a little perturbed at this because He knows they’re not going to believe anyway.

So, Jesus says to them… Look guys… you know how to look at the sky and predict the weather… keep in mind that this is before the days of, hey google, what’s the weather today?

Reading the sky and the way the clouds moved was how they predicted what the weather was going to be like.

So Jesus says… You can read the sky… you understand that… but you don’t understand the more obvious thing… which is what I’ve been doing all around you.

And so, you’re not going to get anymore signs except one.

And the sign they’re going to get is the sign of Jonah.

That is a throwback reference to Matthew chapter 12 where Jesus says…

That’s the only sign you’re going to get Pharisees and Saducees!

Of course… it’s interesting that even after Jesus dies on the cross and is resurrected… the sign of Jonah… they still didn’t believe.

And we sit back as we read this passage and we think… What idiots!

I mean, with everything that Jesus did… wasn’t that enough for them?

But I wonder if we don’t fall into that same trap very often?

God… if you want me to do this… then I’m going to need you to do that for me.

God… if you do this for me, then I’ll know what I’m supposed to do.

God… if you’ll just do this for me… I’ll never ask you for anything again.

Sometimes we think… You know, I really have some doubts about my faith… but if God would just do something miraculous in my life… then I wouldn’t have doubts anymore.

Might I suggest that that’s an illusion… that if God would do something big enough, then everything would be better.

If God would do something big enough, then my strength in the faith would be bolstered.

That’s an illusion.

And it’s broken as we gather around this table.

You know what communion is… right?

It’s a reminder that the thing that we need the most has already been done for us.

What we need most is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ… and honestly… we need nothing else.

You don’t need God to do something bigger in your life… you don’t need miracles, and signs, and wonders.

What we need is faith in what’s already been done for us.

There’s a second illusion beginning in verse 5…

Of course… Jesus isn’t talking about lunch… he’s talking about the teachings of the Pharisees and the Saducees… right?

And in context, the yeast was the thing that didn’t belong around the Passover celebration.

When Darrell made this bread for us… no yeast was put into it.

Jesus is basically making a reference… just like yeast doesn’t belong in Passover bread… their teaching doesn’t belong in your life.

Their failure to recognize who Jesus is means that their teachings have no place in your life.

So, essentially, the problem here is that the disciples were so concerned about their lunch that they missed the teaching of Jesus.

Look at how Jesus responds… Verse 8…

The interaction basically went like this… Hey Jesus, we’re hungry but we forgot bread.

Jesus says yea… just don’t take any yeast from the Pharisees and Saducees.

Ok… We were just planning to go to the market for yeast, but sure… we won’t take any yeast from the Pharisees or Saducees.

And Jesus says… look… I’m not talking about bread.

Have y’all forgotten how often and how many people I’ve fed? No… this is a spiritual lesson…

And once again… we tend to read this interaction and say… how in the world could they miss what Jesus was actually saying?

But again… I want to suggest that there is an illusion here that we all fall for.

Not necessarily about lunch… because as you can tell… I’m pretty well fed.

I’m glad you didn’t laugh to hard about that.

Look… Can we just admit that we get way too caught up in our immediate needs and that sometimes, we’re so focused on what we think we need that we miss what Jesus is doing… and has done for us?

We focus on it so much that we take our immediate need and make that our primary need.

And what Jesus is teaching the disciples here is that their immediate need is not their primary need… their primary need is Jesus.

Your primary need is not the state of your marriage… it’s not your finances… it’s not your job… it’s not your health… it’s not your children’s safety… it’s not who the president of the United States is… your primary need is Jesus.

It’s so easy for us to look at the disciples and say… you guys are such morons… but we do exactly the same thing.

And once again… We come back to this table.

This table is a reminder of what Jesus has done for us and who we are in Jesus… this table is a foretaste of a banquet… it’s the symbol of a meal that is coming.

It’s a reminder that Jesus is our food and drink… that He and only He sustains us.

Jesus is our primary need.

And please don’t get me wrong.

I’m not saying that your marriage, your finances, your job, your health, your children… or any of that other stuff… I’m not saying that those things don’t matter.

What I’m saying is those things do not sustain you.

We come to this table to remind ourselves that Jesus… and only Jesus, is all the sustenance that we need.

As we approach this table later on… I pray that you’ll take all your worries and set them aside… and be reminded that Jesus is more than enough for every need in your life.