Inside Outside
Matthew • Sermon • Submitted
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· 2 viewsThe King grieves intentional blindness and declares the borders of the Kingdom to be open
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Date: 2022-05-22
Audience: Grass Valley Corps ONLINE
Title: Inside Outside
Text: Matthew 12:38-50
Proposition: You’re either in or you’re out
Purpose: Pay attention and get in the Kingdom!
Grace and peace.
Journey through Matthew’s biography of Jesus.
Section shares a series of disputes with the Pharisees – Group of religious lay leaders of the day.
Find Matthew chapter 12…
While you do, let me tell you about this podcast I listen to.
Science Vs.
Show takes an issue or idea, investigates it from every side they can and present the information. Then share their conclusion and all the citations so you can check their work.
Took on issue of a medical treatment. Doctor who first promoted it explained his reasons and the study that caught his attention and the other facts which led to him deciding to promote and use this treatment.
Then the team looked at that study and found that it had been reviewed and determined to be fraudulent.
Went back to doctor. He said, “Doesn’t matter. There are others.” And there were – about 75 of them. Most of which turned out to also have serous problems in the way they were done.
Which left very little evidence for the treatment.
Original doctor said it is obvious that there is a bias against the treatment.
New studies came out – larger, properly done. Showed no evidence for the treatment working at all. Probably doesn’t hurt, but pretty definitely doesn’t help.
Original doctor says it is obvious what’s going on: Giant conspiracy between Big Pharma and the medical community at large to keep this treatment out of the hands of common people. Says that there is no evidence the reporting team could produce which will convince him otherwise and that they are obviously brainwashed or hoodwinked by the conspiracy.
Listening, it was obvious to me that his pride won’t let him say that he might have been wrong or that he’d been fooled by that first, fraudulent study. He’d rather believe that dozens of researchers who checked the work were duped or dishonest and that thousands of people were somehow able to manufacture a giant conspiracy and keep it quiet than accept that he may have just been wrong.
Which reminded me a lot of the passage we’ve been working through. The Pharisees, rather than admit that they might have been wrong about some scripture interpretations, had gone beyond disagreeing with Jesus to calling him the devil to rejecting everything he had said or done and not even trying to evaluate it any more.
Look at Matthew 12, verse 38.
38 Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”[1]
First, any time Matthew records someone calling Jesus “teacher” you know they’re up to no good.
Second, and more importantly, let’s look at what they are asking for. A sign? What kind of sign?
Did you ever see that movie Bruce Almighty? Great film – if you get a chance, stream it! There’s one scene where Jim Carrey’s character is praying, “Please God, send me a sign,” and then he drives past a big, flashing CAUTION AHEAD sign. Then he’s like, “Really, God, send me a sign!” and then he gets cut off by a truck filled with road signs that say DANGER AHEAD. And he speeds around it and crashes into a pole. There’s more, but you get the point. Which is kind of funny, because the character still didn’t.
Just like the Pharisees, right? Remember what brought us to this point. Jesus has been teaching and fulfilling prophecies and performing miracles. He’s been so blatantly obvious about who and what he is that the average guy in the crowd is starting to ask questions like, “Hey, I think this guy might be the Messiah we’ve been waiting for. What do you think?”
But instead of seeing all that and asking themselves who Jesus could be, a lot of these so-called leaders were saying, “Hey, this guy isn’t exactly what we were expecting and he won’t do what we tell him, so we need to do something about him.” Which is what we’ve seen as we’ve been looking at this passage. They first decide they need to destroy Jesus, then they said that any miracles he did were the work of Satan and now they are asking for what, exactly?
A sign?
Jesus has already done the signs God said the promised King of Kings was going to do. But that somehow wasn’t good enough for these guys? What WAS going to be good enough?
Like that doctor who is only willing to believe in a study if it supports his position. It’s a foolish position to take, and Jesus calls them on it.
39 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.[2]
Jesus is foreshadowing his own death and resurrection here, but that’s not the main point of what he’s saying.
Nineveh was capital of Assyria – Assyrians were responsible for destruction of northern part of Israel and the ten northern tribes. They were particularly brutal in war and not much better at peace. And God sent Jonah to preach that they needed to get their lives in order because judgment was coming.
And they listened to him. And repented. And threw themselves on the mercy of God. Who blessed them and released them from his judgment.
And Jesus tells the people that Nineveh, who repented at Jonah’s word, will condemn them. Something greater than Jonah is speaking to them.
He goes on to give them another example.
42 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here. [3]
The Queen of Sheba heard about Solomon’s wisdom and thought she’d come check it out. In 1 Kings 10 we’re told
When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord, she came to test Solomon with hard questions.[4]
Why? Because she didn’t believe he could be all that and a bag of chips, the way she’d been told. But she talked to him and watched him and asked him questions. And after all that,
6 She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. 7 But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard.”[5]
She came and investigated. She found out that everything she’d been told was right – in fact, what she found was even greater than she’d been told! And so she believed.
The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law heard about Jesus. They came and investigated. They found that everything they’d been told was right – in fact, what they found was even greater than they’d been told! But admitting that would be hard on their pride. They’d have to acknowledge they’d been wrong about some things. But Jesus says that something greater than Solomon is there and if they fail to pay attention to it the Queen herself will stand and condemn them for their unbelief.
Now, I want to make a point here.
A lot of people think Jesus is being harsh with them.
I think that’s not it.
I think he’s being bold and strong and trying to get them to come around.
I think he’s trying to reach them, not condemn them.
Look at what he says and what he doesn’t. He doesn’t say that his opponents are wicked, but he does tell them that a wicked generation asks for what they just said they needed. He doesn’t tell them that he condemns them for what they are doing, but he does point out that they are falling short of these two examples of pagans coming to faith by what they saw and how this group now has an even better reason to turn to God than those people had.
Jesus is calling, will they answer?
And what happens if they don’t?
43 “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” [6]
Look, if you don’t declare your allegiance to God, if you don’t invite him in to fill your life, you’re just staying open for agents of the enemy to take over. And that always ends badly. Remember, you’re all in, one way or the other.
What did we say last week? It may be the devil and it may be the LORD, but you’ve gotta serve SOMEBODY. There is no in-between or neutral ground. You are part of the house and Kingdom of God, or you aren’t.
You are in God’s family, or you’re not.
46 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” [7]
Mark tells this story in his narrative too. There he points out that Jesus’ family is here to try to take him home, out of the public eye, because they believe he’s insane. Matthew isn’t concerned with that. He wants his audience to hear what Jesus says next as a conclusion to the whole dispute that’s been going on for the last two chapters.
46 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
48 He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” [8]
You may not realize it, but Jesus has just redefined the most important unit in his society. Family was EVERYTHING. And he’s just included everyone who accepts the Kingdom of God into his family.
The early church would emphasize that heavily in the first years after the resurrection. Most of the letters of the New Testament bring up the idea that those who are part of God’s Kingdom are FAMILY, just the same as if we’d been born to the same parents. That carried so much more meaning that we Western individualists give it. Family was EVERYTHING and if you were family you were bonded together, responsible for one another, and bound by honor to strive for the same goals.
Declaring allegiance to God’s Kingdom also meant the priorities of that Kingdom become the priorities you are supposed to hold as first in your life. But the whole Kingdom is also yours to lean on, draw on, and learn from. It’s about BELONGING.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul wrote:
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.[9]
When you are family, there may be disagreements, but there should be no divisions. And there aren’t, as long as you remember whose family we are part of and we focus on fulfilling his will.
When we accept a place in the Kingdom of God, we become agents of God, part of the family of God, and it is our responsibility to uphold the honor of God by doing the will of God.
What Jesus has been trying to call attention to throughout this whole passage is that we are either part of the Kingdom or we are not. He’s invited us in; he’s shown us that he has authority to do so; he’s offered us a place as brothers and sisters; he’s pointed out that we are choosing a side, even when we think we are refusing to choose; and he’s made an impassioned plea for us to choose to accept God’s offer.
Because of Christ, we can be ONE.
Ephesians 2:19
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household[10]
Would you rather remain a stranger or would you like to be a part of the House and Kingdom of God?
My plea to you is the same as the one Jesus made to the Pharisees: You’re either in or you’re out; pay attention and get into the Kingdom!
Don’t let your pride blind you to the reality. It’s okay what you’ve done, said, thought, or believed before. What matters is what you choose to do NOW and in the days to come.
Don’t wait, don’t leave your house empty! Come join our family today and for the rest of your days.
Let’s pray.
[1] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 12:38.
[2] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 12:39–41.
[3] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 12:42.
[4] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 1 Ki 10:1.
[5] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 1 Ki 10:6–7.
[6] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 12:43–45.
[7] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 12:46–47.
[8] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 12:46–50.
[9] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ga 3:26–28.
[10] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Eph 2:19.