New Testament

I just love science fiction movies. A number of years ago one of them appeared with the title Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It was a great title for the story, and I was sure I remembered it in intricate detail until this week when I tried to think what the encounters of the three kinds were. Can you remember them?

Now this first story has to do with a Roman centurion, and since we’re talking about encounters, it’s the encounter of this man with Jesus Christ. We want to start by seeing what kind of a man he was. Well, first of all, we need to give attention to his calling.

Yesterday we looked at the first two characteristics of the man who encounters Jesus in Matthew 8.  Today we talk about the other two.
The third thing I want you to notice about him was his humility. A man who serves an occupying force might be the very opposite of humble.

Now on the other side of this encounter we have Jesus Christ. What do we say about him? Well, first of all, he was everything the centurion imagined he was and a great deal more besides. The centurion said to him, “You are able to speak the word, and if you speak it, it will be done because I understand authority.

Now, I’d like to apply this in a few ways. Jesus makes a contrast here between those who are not of Israel who will be present at the banquet and those who are of Israel but who will be excluded. The first principle that comes from it is this: It is possible to have many spiritual advantages and yet not be saved.

Now in our story of the paralytic we have a fourth reaction, and this is a bit further along that spectrum—from indifference, to rejection, to what we now find to be anger or offense at Jesus’ sayings. This is the first time in Matthew’s Gospel that we actually find opposition to Jesus.

So the scribes took offense at Jesus because he claimed to be able to forgive sins, which his healing of the man was meant to validate as true. There’s another question I want to ask about this story, and then after I ask it I want to apply all of this in a very personal way. The second question is this: Why did Jesus link this man’s physical suffering to his sin? 

There’s something else we do with our sin. We try to recognize it, but when we recognize it we try to blame it on someone else. We have different ways of doing that. We usually use the word determinism today to express what we do. That is to say, we try to explain why we are as we are by reference to something that is somebody else’s responsibility.

But I see something else in the story, and it’s this. It’s buried there just in a little sentence that Jesus says to the religious leaders. These teachers were not paralyzed, at least so far as one could see. They were the leaders; everybody looked up to them. But when Jesus knew their thoughts and spoke to them what is it that he said?

The next encounter of Jesus we are studying is with the Canaanite woman. Jesus is in the region of Tyre and Sidon, a Gentile area of the country. It’s significant to note at the very beginning that this is the only time in his entire life that he left Jewish territory for a Gentile land.

Yesterday we mentioned one way Jesus’ reaction to the woman has been understood.  Today we consider two other approaches.

In the latter part of the discussion about clean and unclean things from Matthew 15, Jesus went on to say that these Pharisees think that the way you get defiled is by touching things or by eating things. It’s not what you eat or what you touch that makes you dirty. What makes you dirty is your heart, because the thing that defiles a man or a woman is what comes out and not what goes in. 

The second thing is that in her faith she acknowledged her need. That is, she had her faith in Jesus and she knew that there wasn’t any use putting faith in herself, even to the point of being able to appeal to Jesus on the basis of something that she may have been. She uses that powerful word “mercy” in her first approach. “Lord, Son of David,” she says, “have mercy upon me!”

The third point of application in this story is a great encouragement for hurting people, especially those who know themselves to be unclean. You know I talk to a lot of people in the course of a year, and people are not always forthright about the things that are rankling deep in their heart.

In Matthew 19, verses 16 and following, we find the story about a rich young man who came to Jesus. And as we have looked at some of these encounters that Jesus had with various people, so far as we can tell every one of these individuals experienced spiritual changes for the better.

Now how do we look at this? I would like to look at it on the basis of three questions that are asked. The first question is the question the young man asked, and we find it in verse 16. He said to him, “Teacher,” addressing Jesus, “what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” Well that question is very similar to a question we find in the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel.

Yesterday I asked the question: “How would we deal with this rich young man if he were coming to us today?”
Well, let me suggest that most of us would reply inadequately, at least measured in the way Christ answered. We would say, I suppose, “Well, you have to admit that you’re a sinner, first of all.

That provoked a second question, which immediately followed Jesus’ comments about riches and how many rich people actually inherit salvation. Verse 25 tells us that the disciples “were greatly astonished and they asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’” Now what did they have in mind? Well, one thing they had in mind was that according to most Jewish theology, including in the teaching of the Old Testament, riches were an evidence of God’s blessing.

In this week’s lessons we look at one who when faced with the need to make a sacrifice for Christ, went away without salvation because he did not want to give up something he valued higher.

We are turning now to a very great story in Matthew’s Gospel, one recorded in chapter 26, from the very last week of Jesus’ ministry. What an important week that was. It was undoubtedly the most important week in all the long history of the world. We can think even in terms of other great weeks recorded in the Bible. There’s a great week at the very beginning in Genesis, the week of creation. In John’s Gospel there’s an emphasis upon the very first week of Jesus’ earthly ministry. John calls attention to what happened on all of the various days of that week. 

Now, as I said, when Jesus got there the first night they had a supper for him. He must have been tired. He was traveling. We learn from John that he came from the north, instead of passing directly south, which would have brought him to Jerusalem. In circling around he went down into the Jordan Valley as he was coming into or out of Jericho. He healed two blind men, and then from that point he made his way up a rather steep, tiring ascent to Bethany on the slope of the mountain just before you cross over into Jerusalem.

None of the friends or disciples of Jesus understood what was coming, and therefore there is a certain sense in which for all of these weeks leading up to the crucifixion, Jesus was bearing this great burden alone, with one exception. And that exception, if we’re to take his statement clearly that Mary did this in anticipation of his burial, was Mary herself.

Yesterday we concluded by asking whether, like Mary, we spend much time with Jesus and try to learn from him. You say, “How can I do that today? Jesus isn’t here. It was easy for Mary. There he was. All she had to do was go and sit at his feet and look up at his face.” Well, I don’t think that’s true. It is true that Jesus was there physically in her day, but he wasn’t always there, at least not always in Bethany.

Think of the first words of Judas and Mary that we find in the Gospels. The very first words of Judas are what we find here in this story. Judas is complaining. It says in Matthew 26 that it’s the disciples who were indignant about Mary’s use of the perfume, but we learn from the other Gospels that Judas is the one who actually expressed this objection. Judas asked, “Why didn’t you sell this and get the money and give it to the poor?”

I’d like you to turn to the twenty-sixth chapter of Matthew and give attention as we study Judas. In this Gospel he is mentioned early on where there’s a listing of the disciples, and then again later on when we’re told of his death in chapter 27. But there is no doubt that here in chapter 26 we are told the most about him.

Today we look at some of the spiritual advantages Judas had as one of Jesus’ disciples. Judas had a great advantage in that he actually knew Jesus personally. It’s true today we have the Scriptures, and I wouldn’t minimize that in any respect. It is through the written Word of God that the Holy Spirit operates to convert men and women.

In terms of Judas’ credible profession I think that it means that Judas was guilty of no outwardly immoral acts. Now there is an interesting little detail that John gives us in the twelfth chapter of John, verse six. John points out that Judas was treasurer of the company. John’s way of putting it is to say he kept the bag. That is, he carried the purse along with him.

Now it strikes me that there are a number of very important lessons in Judas’ situation and condition. Let me suggest them to you for your meditation. The first lesson, the obvious one, is this: It takes more than an example to be saved. Judas was not a saved man, and yet he had spent three years with the greatest example of godliness and purity and truth and holiness that any human being could possibly have. He had spent three years with the Son of God.

Are you really born again? I am convinced that there are many pastors who are not born again. One of the great sermons in America, perhaps second only to Jonathan Edwards’ sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” was preached here in Philadelphia by the Presbyterian minister named Gilbert Tennent. It was preached under the title, “The Dangers of an Unconverted Ministry.”

Theme: Jesus’ Two Trials
 
In this week’s lessons we look at Pilate’s role in Jesus’ crucifixion, and learn about our need as Christians to take a stand when righteousness is at stake.
 
Scripture: Matthew 27:11-26
 
Our study of the encounters that the Lord Jesus Christ had with the people of his day has lastly brought us to the story of the trial of Jesus conducted by the Roman governor Pilate. There were actually two trials.

Theme: God in the Dock
 
In this week’s lessons we look at Pilate’s role in Jesus’ crucifixion, and learn about our need as Christians to take a stand when righteousness is at stake.
 
Scripture: Matthew 27:11-26
 
I have titled this study “Jesus and Pilate: God in the Dock.” That word dock is a British term which refers to the box in which the accused stands during the conduct of his trial in a British court.

Theme: Pilate’s Examination
 
In this week’s lessons we look at Pilate’s role in Jesus’ crucifixion, and learn about our need as Christians to take a stand when righteousness is at stake.
 
Scripture: Matthew 27:11-26
 
The second thing about his conduct as the Gospels report it, in addition to his opening the case, is that he conducted the trial in a manner utterly above reproach. According to Roman law you first of all had to have an accusation.

Theme: God and Caesar 
 
In this week’s lessons we look at Pilate’s role in Jesus’ crucifixion, and learn about our need as Christians to take a stand when righteousness is at stake.
 
Scripture: Matthew 27:11-26
 
I suppose there are a lot of lessons at that point, but one obvious lesson is that we cannot stand in the great crises of life successfully and do the right thing apart from the help of God himself. You see, Pilate had everything going for him.

Theme: How to Stand Firm in a Crisis
 
In this week’s lessons we look at Pilate’s role in Jesus’ crucifixion, and learn about our need as Christians to take a stand when righteousness is at stake.
 
Scripture: Matthew 27:11-26
 
First of all, we have to be convinced that God is sovereign in human affairs.