June 27, 2021
Morning Service

Mat 9:1-8 So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city.  (2)  Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you."  (3)  And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, "This Man blasphemes!"  (4)  But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?  (5)  For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'?  (6)  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins"—then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  (7)  And he arose and departed to his house.  (8)  Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

            Jesus in verse 2 is able to “see their faith” which includes the ones who have brought this paralytic to be healed.  How did He see?  Was it a look in their eye or through their actions?  Perhaps it was from His ability to see the heart of man and He knew it that way; regardless I find that fascinating.  It makes me to wonder what He sees when I come to Him with a need in my life.  Does He see sincere faith or hopeful doubt in my face or in my heart?  I pray it is sincere faith.  The Hebrew writer encourages us to enter into God’s presence with a boldness that comes from faith in the One we come to.

 

  Heb. 10:19-23 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, (20) by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, (21) and having a High Priest over the house of God, (22) let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  (23)  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

            We are commanded to come in all “boldness” into His presence with a “true heart in full assurance of faith.”  It is impossible to please God without faith (Heb. 11:6), so as we come it must be believing that He is able to do even more than we are asking. Then we must “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”  Our confession of hope was made in our believing that Jesus is the Son of God.  This verse takes us right back to the idea of relationship over religion.  In a religion, you follow the rules of dos and don’ts diligently to create your own righteousness, so when you come in need you are asking for what you deserve or have earned; in essence you dictate the outcome by your faithfulness.  In our relationship with Jesus, it is all about Him and His faithfulness and His righteousness; not about me at all!  I come to Him in faith in not what I have done and deserve, but simply because I confess and believe He is the Son of God who takes away the sin of the world.  He invites me to come to Him as I would a good friend or my parents and openly and honestly pour out my heart to Him.  As the Roman writer quotes the OT said “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness (Rom. 4:3).”  It is not our actions that dictate our righteousness, but our faith in Jesus which comes from our relationship with Him.  Jesus is able to “see” your faith when you come before Him.

In this story because Jesus recognizes their faith and also to prove another point as well, He purposely chooses to grant the man forgiveness for his sins before He grants him the healing he obviously desires.    Towards the end of the Sermon on the Mount from chapter 7, Jesus encouraged us to be “fruit inspectors” as He said this:

Mat 7:16-18 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?  (17)  Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  (18)  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. (20) Therefore by their fruits your will know them.

            By using that manner of observation, inspecting His fruit, Jesus verifies to us the power of His words by His actions (fruits).  As Jesus tells the religious leaders, it is easy to “say” anything like “your sins are forgiven.”  I can say “I can play in the NBA” but as soon as you see me on the court you will know that it is not true.  Certainly the most difficult of these two acts is the healing of this man who could not walk and by doing it He proves that He is able to forgive sins as well. Jesus proves His words are true by his actions to build our faith in both areas.  As the disciples saw with their own eyes this man get up and walk home, their faith that Jesus could forgive sins also grew mightily.  Jesus also sets a precedent that our spiritual state is more important than our physical state.  He does not always grant us the physical healing we ask for, but He does always grant forgiveness for all who come with a sincere heart by faith.  He asks us to simply trust Him through both.  As we continue Jesus now calls Matthew to follow Him who seems an odd choice since he is a Jewish man who has chosen to work for the Roman government by collecting taxes.

  Mat 9:9 As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him.  

            In a single short verse, we see a young man chooses to give up everything to follow Jesus simply from an invitation.  The scriptures give us no back story on Matthew and what he had seen or heard of Jesus up to this point, but it seems obvious that this was not the first time he had seen Him.  This is where “The Chosen” excels in building a possible back story of what Matthew was experiencing when he was called to follow.  A Jewish tax collector was looked at as a traitor to his heritage by other Jews.  He had chosen to work for and with those who were oppressing his brothers and sisters.  He collected taxes and was allowed to “over charge” and keep that money for himself.  He was rich at the expense of those of his own nationality.  He used his abilities to benefit himself.  His family would disown him and his own people despised him.  He would be very rich, but at the expense of being hated and lonely.  He had come to the conclusion that riches were not what he was seeking for in this lifetime and when Jesus called he followed. An important point with Matthew’s story is highlighted by what Jesus reveals to us next.

Mat 9:10-13 Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.  (11)  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"  (12)  When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  (13)  But go and learn what this means: 'I DESIRE MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

            Jesus, by calling Matthew to follow and eating with these who are not religious people, shows that He is not looking to call the best, most talented, most religious to Him but He is looking for those who are willing to give up all to follow Him.  He uses a great example of a doctor being called to the sick to show that He “did not come to call the righteous (those who think they are already good enough), but the sinners (those who recognize their sin and their helplessness because of it) to repentance.  That is great news for all of us sinners; Jesus came to call us to repentance!  Our Sunday evening services are proving this to be true as well as Jerry and Andy have shared their stories that despite their sinfulness God faithfully called them to follow Him.  They like Matthew repented and faithfully followed.  Matthew’s call and later on the call of Saul of Tarsus shows that no one is beyond God’s reach if we are only willing surrender ourselves fully to Him yielding our will to His.  This includes you this morning; God is calling you to follow Him giving your all and He promises to be with you and use you to help build His kingdom.  What are you waiting for?

 

Heavenly Father, thank You for showing us Your power through the life of Jesus.  Thank You for showing us your love through calling each of us to follow.