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Join us every Sunday morning at 9 or 10:30 AM in the Maywood Center. Sermons & Bible Studies available online on any podcast platform or visit our YouTube channel "@flipsidechristianchurch"! Download our app at https://flipsidechristian.churchcenter.com/setup for more info about our church and ministries.
Flipside Christian Church
Madera Ranchos, CA
Matthew 22.
Matthew 22 is
in the middle of the of the Tuesday before
Friday's crucifixion and in your Bible.
If you go back to Matthew 21, verse
18 or so.
Somewhere around there, Matthew 21,
all the way through Matthew 25.
So all of those 21, two, three, four,
four, 25 all happen on Tuesday.
They all happen in one day.
The Tuesday before Friday's
crucifixion. So.
So what were the passage of Scripture
that we're in
is a day.
There's so much
that happens on this Tuesday.
And it really begins with Jesus
broaching the subject of his authority
and what we're in chapter 21.
And what we're going to see in
chapter 22 is four different groups
that challenge his authority.
And chapter 22,
he's going to silence them all,
and he's going to show them
and prove to them that he has authority
and the right to have authority
over everything and everyone.
And so here's the big idea for chapter 22.
Jesus alone has the authority
to define the kingdom,
to define truth, to define obedience,
and to define our relationship with God.
He alone has that authority.
As I was
thinking about this issue of authority,
as we get into chapter 22,
I started thinking about the way different
generations view authority
because every generation it changes.
We, each generation
and each individual chooses
what will be the authority in their lives
and what will be allowed
to have authority in their life.
And it's different for,
for for most people,
and it's certainly different
for each generation.
So I thought, let me just let me just
give you some symbols of authority.
Right.
What's that?
A symbol of police who have authority.
At least
they should do being on their generation.
They'll determine how much authority
you'll give them
about that judge who has what we.
Absolutely.
What about that doctor? He has what?
The doctors have authority, right?
By their training, by their expertise.
What about that military?
Certainly. Symbols of authority.
What about that?
It used to be a symbol of authority.
No, it still is.
It still is.
Depending on what part of you're part of.
What about that?
It's a coach.
Referee, a coach.
It was interesting.
At practice this last week,
there was a young man
I was trying to correct.
I'm the coach, he's the player.
And he started arguing with me about it.
And I said, listen,
you can argue all you want.
I'm right.
You're wrong.
The story I heard about that.
Yeah.
Meta verified,
you know, social media.
What about that million likes,
million views for some of us like that
has no authority in my life.
Others are. You like,
that's the authority.
And it changes generationally what
we what we allow to have
authority over us.
And so for, for the baby boomers,
those who are somewhere
between 62 and 80 years old,
there is a 40 in the position.
There's an authority in the hierarchy.
But that challenge by you, baby boomers is
or that authority by you
baby boomers is challenged a little bit.
So. So
for the baby boomer,
the older people authority still exists.
But authority comes not just from position
but from accomplishment as well.
And so you have to have a position,
but that a position,
you've got to be good at it.
So the successful business person
or the successful coach
or the decorated military leader.
So there's got to be the position
with the accomplishment
for the baby boom generation to say, yes,
they have authority over me
for the next generation.
Those 46 to 61 years old,
my generation is a bit more skeptical
about positions of authority
and hierarchies and institutions.
In other words,
we decide if you have the right
to have authority over us
and it will absolutely be challenged.
And so for the baby, for the Gen X
generation, competency
is more important than titles. And so so
we view it as you might be the boss,
but it doesn't mean you're right.
For the millennial generation,
those who are 35, 30 to 45 years old
or so,
the authority they allow to have over
them has to be based in relationship,
in authenticity, in transparency
and in participation.
Like I have to know who you are.
You can't be fake with me,
and you need to invite me
into this process so that I will allow you
to have authority over me.
For the Gen Z generation,
those who are 14 to 29 years old
or so pay attention now.
The authority
that you will allow to have over
you has to first of all be relatable.
They have to get you
and you have to get them.
There's there there's
got to be a platform
like you have to have it.
Not necessarily a title,
but you have to have a platform.
There has to be
peer validation,
like all of my tribe agrees,
and there has to be
some type of lived experience.
So I don't care about your title
as long as we have a relationship
and my tribe agrees and you have
some experience that I can relate to,
then you have the right
to have some authority in my life.
So for that generation,
the Gen Z generation 14 to 29 years old
influence becomes a symbol of authority,
not a position.
So if you have influence, that's why
influencers are so important
to this generation.
Do you follow
because they have influence now?
They have authority.
Doesn't matter.
Position, title, expertise.
They have influence.
For Gen Alpha.
Those who are 1 to
13 years old, the little ones
authority in their life has
been decentralized, and so there's not
a single authority in their life.
It's decentralized into multiple voices.
And so for them, it can be teachers,
it can be parents, it can be coaches,
it can also be YouTube.
It can also be TikTok,
and it can also be their friend.
And they all have equal say
in equal authority.
And so their response might be, well,
my teacher says this,
but YouTube says this and TikTok
says this, and my friend says that,
which is a very, very,
very scary proposition.
It's interesting to me to note,
in this world of social media
and influence, what just happened
to the court system with meta.
Meta was just slammed with an $18
billion judgment
against them meta being Facebook.
If some of you don't aren't aware,
that whole social media conglomerate
$18 billion penalty
because they know that their product
is harmful to people, especially children,
and so they've agreed to pay $18 billion
over ten years
and to some parameters around its use.
Now, you might think
$18 billion is a big judgment.
Last year alone,
the total revenue of meta was 200 billion.
And so it's less than 10% of one year's
total revenue paid out over ten years.
And what they've agreed to
is that it is unhealthy, unsafe and unwise
for children to spend more than two hours
a day on social media and to have any
access to it after midnight.
Please understand, my dear friends,
when a tech company agrees
and affirms that their product is harmful
more than two hours
a day, and any time after midnight,
parents better start waking up
when the tech company says
our product is harmful
for your kids,
and they say this is how bad it is.
The only reason they agreed
to two hours a day and after midnight,
because that's what they could get away
with.
So parents, we how you have to.
And I've been preaching this from the day
the whole thing broke.
Ever since social media started showing
up, I've been preaching parents in.
So few are we're willing
to pay attention to me.
If the tech company says
this is dangerous to your child,
why would any parent
allow them access to it?
That has become the authority
for a generation.
And the only way that the kids
are going to be protected from it,
if it's modeled to them by their parents.
And what we've done,
we've opened up
the the access to have authority
over our lives and over our children
by someone and something
who should never have authority.
And so Matthew 22
speaks of this very issue of authority,
and it gets very difficult for people
to give their allegiance to Christ
because he demands authority over
every area.
Is Jesus who says,
I have the authority to define reality.
Every generation
will decide what they will allow
to have authority over their lives.
Jesus settles the issue.
It says it resides in me.
That's what Matthew 22 is all about,
and that's why it's going
to hit so hard this morning.
Matthew 22
is this interaction Jesus has
with four different groups of people
and these debates that they that
they try to get him to go to get into.
And Matthew 22 is not about.
Jesus respecting Jesus teaching
because he's so profound.
It is about who he says he is.
Jesus has
identity, will determine his authority.
And at the end of Matthew 22, he's going
to ask the question, who do you say I am?
Because who you say am will determine
the authority that I have in your life.
And if you haven't guessed it yet,
I am the authority.
That's what it's going to say.
And so for some of us, it's
going to be very difficult to here.
But it will be good.
And we need to hear
we need to hear his words.
And so Matthew 22, let me, let me just
let me walk you through this
in the beginning of the chapter,
Jesus is going to say this.
Jesus has authority to
define how I enter the kingdom of God.
He has the authority to find how I enter.
This is how it reads.
And again,
Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying,
the kingdom of heaven may be compared
to a king who gave a wedding feast
for his son,
and sent his servants to call those
who were invited to the wedding feast,
but they would not come again.
He sent other servants, saying,
tell those who are invited, see,
I've prepared my dinner.
My oxen and my fat calves have been
slaughtered, and everything's ready.
Come to the wedding feast.
But they paid no attention and went off
one to his farm, another to his business,
while the rest seized his servants,
treated them shamefully, and killed them.
So this is what
the kingdom of heaven is like.
The King has made all the arrangements
for fellowship with him
and to celebrate his son.
And then he gave the invitation, come in
and celebrate this with me.
And the first invitation
went out to a bunch of people,
and it just simply says,
it just simply says they wouldn't come.
They were just uninterested.
Pay attention now.
This is the kingdom of heaven.
The invitation has gone out and there are
some people are just aren't interested.
But like neither hot nor cold,
there's like whatever,
you know, I know religious people,
whatever.
And so the King sends out
a second invitation, which was unheard of
in this culture.
If you turn down
the invitation of the King
the first time, he had probably put you
to death, at least throw you in jail.
So the fact that he offers a second
invitation is indication
that he is a kind, compassionate,
and gracious King to continue
inviting you into the King's
presence to celebrate his Son.
And so he gives a second invitation.
And to the second invitation
they paid no attention, and they went off
to do other things.
The second invitation goes out,
and they're not indifferent.
They just pay no attention.
They just make fun of it.
It's like a joke to them.
This whole religion thing,
this whole God thing, it's just a joke.
And others, it's not a joke.
They're just too busy.
I got my job, I got my career, we got our,
you know, our hobbies, we got travel,
but we got all this other stuff going.
We're just just.
We got other stuff to do.
Follow.
And there's another group.
The rest seized
those who were intriguing them
on behalf of the king
to celebrate his son.
The children shamefully and killed them.
They weren't indifferent.
They weren't busy.
They were hostile to it.
And so in response, verse seven,
the king was angry
and sent his troops and destroyed
those murderers and burned their city.
Then he said to his servants,
the wedding feast is ready.
But those invited were not worthy.
Go therefore to the main roads and invite
to the wedding as many as you find.
And those servants
went out into the roads, and gathered all
whom they found, both bad and good.
So the winning hall
was filled with guests.
He said, listen, I'm done. I'm starting.
I'm going to fight it
like you'll find anybody you can.
I don't care.
Good, bad and good, bad and ugly.
Get clean.
I don't care who to just get people to.
I just need people here
to celebrate my son.
And so they go out
and they make this invitation.
And I love that,
because this is what it tells me,
that we're invited into the fellowship
of the King to celebrate his son,
not based on who we are,
but based on the father's compassion
and his mercy
and his grace in the honor of his son.
This is a symbol.
This is a statement of God's grace
that his kingdom is filled with those
who are invited, not based on who
they are, but based on his graciousness
and his compassion and his goodness
and his mercy to celebrate His Son,
because His son is worthy
to be celebrated.
So that's the scene.
And all these people show up.
Now watch what happens.
But when the king came in
and looked at the guest,
he saw there a man who had no wedding
garment, and he said to him, friend,
how did you get in here
without a wedding garment?
And he was speechless.
Then the king said to the attendance,
bind him and buy
him hand and foot,
and cast him into outer darkness.
In that place there will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth,
for many are called, but fewer chosen.
So the King goes in the
in the celebration.
See these people celebrating his son,
and he sees one of them
that doesn't have wedding
clothes on. Now here's what's happening.
In that day, the King was responsible
to give his guests clothing appropriate
for the celebration, and especially these
are invited in the last minute.
They didn't have time to go home
and change it, put on black tie stuff.
And so the King was responsible
just to give them wedding garments so
that they were clothed in the appropriate
covering to celebrate the son.
Do you follow?
And he sees one in there
who got in, not being clothed
by the father's garments,
but in his own work.
And he says, you don't belong here.
All through
Scripture
when it talks about being clothed.
That's the biblical reference,
being clothed
in the righteousness of God,
not in our own work.
Go back to Isaiah 61.
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord.
My soul shall exalt in my God, for
he has what?
Clothe me with what
the garments of salvation.
And he's covered me
with the robe of righteousness.
And so the kingdom of God
is comprised of those that God has covered
with his righteousness, not our own work.
The Bible says in Second Corinthians
five, for our sake
he made him to be sin who knew no sin,
so that in him
we might become the righteousness of God,
clothed in his righteousness.
And the kingdom of God
is filled to those who,
by the grace of God,
have been invited into the fellowship
of the kingdom to celebrate the
son clothed in what God has done through
Jesus on the cross.
And there's this one person there
who came in on his own merit.
And the King says,
that's not how we do it.
You don't get in to my kingdom
based on how you've clothed yourself.
Do you follow?
And that person, now it's too late,
is thrown into outer darkness
where the weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Here's two responses.
When we try to get into the kingdom,
clothe
in our own effort and merit,
it doesn't work.
It's not how it's designed,
and there will be a day
when it's too late to be clothed
in the righteousness of Christ.
When you stand before him.
And there'll be two responses.
One is weeping.
There'll be people on the day
who will realize what a full life been.
What a fool I been.
I was too busy, I was indifferent,
I just didn't care enough.
What a fool!
I've denied his authority over my life.
And they'll weep in desperation
because they realized.
What?
What have I done?
But another group
will have gnashing their teeth.
That's a biblical way of saying they are
still vehemently demonically angry at God.
How dare you?
How could you do this to me?
What right do you have to assert
this kind of authority over my soul?
Can you imagine?
So Jesus says,
I have the authority to determine
how you enter my kingdom.
This by my righteousness,
not by your effort.
And then he says this
I have the authority
to determine what you owe the kingdom.
He says, I have the authority to determine
what's owed.
Verses 15 through 22.
Then the Pharisees went and plotted
how to entangle him in his words,
and they sent their disciples
to him, along
with the Herodians, saying, teacher,
we know that you are true
and teach the way of God truthfully,
and you do not care about anyone's
opinion, for
you are not swayed by appearances.
Tell us then, what do you think?
Is it lawful to be taxes to Caesar or not?
You're going to see four groups
in Matthew 22 the Pharisees,
the Herodians,
the Sadducees, and the lawyers.
And so this first two groups,
the Pharisees and the Herodians, come
to Jesus. And they think,
we don't like what you're saying.
What do you mean?
Our righteous work doesn't
get us into the king's banquet hall?
You're ridiculous. We are Jews.
We're God's chosen people,
and we're righteous religious people.
We deserve to get in.
He says, no, you don't.
And so they plot together
like we can't handle what he's saying.
We've got to kill him.
We got to discredit him and kill him.
And so the Pharisees and the Herodians
get together, and all the Pharisees
were the conservatives
of their of their day.
They believed
in the literacy of Scripture.
They were pro-Israel.
They were conservative in their living.
They were the conservative group.
The Herodians were fans of Herod,
who was a puppet king of Rome.
The Pharisees hated Rome.
The Herodians loved Rome.
And so now these two were diametrically
opposed
to each other,
have a common enemy and a common enemy.
It makes strange bedfellows.
So the Pharisees go to the Herodians.
The audience wanted to support Rome.
They didn't mind taxes.
And so they asked the question,
is it lawful to taxes to Caesar?
Because the Herodians think we got him.
If he says, no, it's not lawful,
it'll be taxes to Caesar.
Like the Pharisees say.
The zealots of the Pharisees
would say that if you pay taxes to Caesar,
you are sending Caesar to be your God.
It's idolatry,
like they were vehemently opposed to that.
So if Jesus says,
if Jesus says yes, pay taxes,
Caesar, he's denying
the sovereignty of God over Israel.
If he says no, don't pay taxes, Caesar.
Now he set himself up
against the government of Rome.
And so they they think we got him.
He's in a no win
situation. We're going to best him.
Well, we learned last week
that Jesus was the mover of mountains
who could take these incredible,
difficult mysteries and unravel them
and make them make sense.
And so his response,
he says, you think you got me?
Is it lawful?
They weren't talking about legal.
They were talking about
spiritually acceptable.
Is it okay because some believe
that by paying taxes, the Rome they were
they were acknowledging the
the lordship of Caesar over their lives.
It's an act of idolatry.
It's like you want to talk about that.
Okay.
So this way says Jesus
said, aware of their malice.
They started by flattery.
Look, we know you don't respect to people.
You know, you just you speak the truth.
You're you're so righteous and and
and you people can't win you over.
Well,
that's what they're trying to do. But.
And he calls them on it.
But you here
I see right through who you are.
Your flattery means nothing to me
to to think I'm so shallow that
I would give given over to your flattery.
It's ridiculous.
Aware of their mouth says.
Why are you putting me to the test,
you hypocrites?
Show me the coin for the tax.
And they brought him a denarius.
And Jesus said to them,
whose likeness is and inscription
is this they said, Caesar's.
Then he said to them,
therefore render to Caesar
the things that are Caesar's,
and the gods the things that are gods.
When they heard it, they marveled,
and they left him and went away.
Here's what he's saying. He's saying,
fine. You want to talk about taxes?
Bring me the coin.
The coin was a Daenerys coin.
And once a year,
every citizen of Roman Empire
had to pay a denarius
for the right to breathe Roman air.
And so he says, fine,
if that's the tax system we live in.
I didn't come to abolish the tax system.
I didn't come to remake the tax system.
If it's oppressive, whatever,
we're citizens, we got to pay our tax.
So says bring me the Daenerys.
So someone brought them a little coins,
a little silver coin, and he said,
who's image?
Caesar's? Because,
you know, like us, right?
Our money has the pictures of who on it.
Our presidents.
Same thing back then, he said, if it bears
Caesar's image, give it back to him.
Don't care if you like the taxes or not.
That's not the point.
The point is, you're a citizen
of this empire, so you pay your taxes.
But then he says this.
In essence,
he says, and whatever bears God's image
that belongs to God.
Go back to Genesis one chapter,
chapter one, verses 2020, 2627.
God says, let us make man in our image,
in the image of God,
let us make male and female.
What he's saying is this
taxes or taxes?
But you bear the image of God.
And so he says, I have the right
and the authority to define
what you owe the kingdom and what you owe
the kingdom, because you bear
the image of God is your very being.
Do you understand?
And they knew that they were bested.
They wanted to trap him.
He said, no, no, no, I'm going to,
I'm going to, I'm going to.
I don't want to talk
about governmental oversight.
I want to talk about God's rulership.
Human and human alone
bear the image of God.
Plants don't. And animals don't.
You and I are the only creatures made.
Angels don't.
The only creatures made
in the image of God as me and you.
And God says, if you.
Jesus says, if you bear his image,
every
selling, your being,
every decision, every move belongs to him.
You give it back.
Romans 12 one
I appeal to you there for brothers
and sisters, by the mercies of God,
to present your bodies
as a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual worship.
Your act of worship is not emotionalism.
It's not exuberance.
It is the giving of your whole self
to the God
who has authority over your life
because you bear his image.
Follow.
So Jesus says, listen,
I have the authority to determine who
and how you enter the kingdom,
and I have the authority over
what you owe the kingdom.
And then he says this I have the authority
to find what scriptures mean.
And so the next group, the Sadducees,
that same day, this is all on Tuesday,
the Sadducees came to him
who say there is no resurrection.
And they asked him a question, saying,
Teacher Moses said,
if a man dies having no children,
his brother must marry the widow
and raise up offspring from his brother.
Now there were seven brothers among us.
The first married and died
having no offspring left,
left his wife to his brother,
so the second and third
down to the seventh after them
all the woman died in the resurrection.
Therefore, of the seven
whose wife will she be?
For they all had her.
Here's what's going on. The Sadducees,
this other group of religious leaders,
they were the liberal group.
They didn't believe in miracles.
They didn't believe in resurrection.
They believed the science
only what could be proven scientifically.
They didn't believe all the scriptures.
They just believe the first five books
that we know them
Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, numbers, Deuteronomy.
And they were the liberal part
of this religious group.
And so they didn't believe
the resurrection.
So in order to trap Jesus,
they asked him a resurrection question,
hoping that he'll say, well, you're right.
I guess
resurrection doesn't make any sense.
You're right.
There is no resurrection, thereby
ruining everything that Jesus taught
about the resurrection
and the doctrine of Scripture,
about the resurrection.
So this is the question
according to their law
in the first five books of the Bible,
the leverage vow.
If a man marries a woman
and they don't have babies, then that
woman becomes the property of his brother
so that that family line can have babies.
If that one dies,
it goes to the next brother.
So they come up with this
stupid hypothetical.
Well, let's say that happened seven times
and she still doesn't have a baby.
Then she dies.
Now all seven husbands
and a woman are in the resurrection.
Whose wife is she?
They don't believe in the resurrection,
but they're trying to stick it to Jesus.
Do you see what I'm saying?
And so Jesus is like, you guys are idiots.
That's that's all.
I just like you
don't get a redefined scripture.
The doctrine of the resurrection has been
one of the most foundational doctrines
in all of Scripture,
from beginning to end.
You don't get to redefine it.
And so he says, your problem
is because you're you're ignorant
both to the Bible and to the power of God.
That's what he says, he says.
Jesus answered them, you are wrong.
He's not gentle with these guys
like your mom.
You don't argue with me all you want.
You're wrong.
Because you don't know neither
the scriptures nor the power of God.
For in the resurrection
they neither Mary nor a given a marriage.
But they're like angels in heaven.
And as for the resurrection of the dead,
have you not read what was said to you?
By God?
I am the God of Abraham and Isaac,
and of Jacob.
He's not the God of the dead,
but of the living. And the crowd heard it.
They were astonished as his teaching
he said, listen,
your problem is
because you don't understand the Bible.
You don't understand Scripture.
You don't know the power of God.
In the resurrection.
There is no marriage.
You're like the angels.
Please don't misunderstand.
We said he doesn't say we become angels.
Don't don't ever believe.
Well, they died because God needed
another angel that isn't so unbiblical.
It's not even funny.
God made angels. He made people.
People don't become angels when they die.
Do we understand that? Yeah.
We're like the angels in that
there's no more death
and there's no need to recreate anymore,
okay?
But there's no marriage in heaven.
Like there's no ceremonies in heaven.
Some of you are thinking
finally. And get out.
Don't get.
I mean,
it's like, just just put this straight.
The point is this.
God's not a dead god,
and his people aren't dead in a grave.
God said,
I am the God currently, right now
of Abraham, right now of Isaac,
right now of Jacob.
Right now. They're not dead.
They might pass from this earth,
but they're not dead. Why?
Because the doctrine of the resurrection
is one of the most foundational doctrines
in all of Scripture.
And just because
they didn't agree with it,
because they didn't like it,
because they didn't understand it, doesn't
mean that they get to redefine it.
And Jesus says,
I have authority to define what scriptures
mean.
That is still the case.
And just because we don't understand
or like what the Bible says,
doesn't mean we have the authority
to redefine what it means.
He has authority.
This is so important.
If it's true, it's not new.
If it's new, it's not true.
Don't let anybody redefine
what the Bible says.
All Scripture is breathe out
by God and profitable for teaching,
reproof, for correction,
and for training and righteousness.
I hear all the times, well, Jesus
never really spoke to that very thing.
Well, the Bible says that all scriptures
breathed out by God,
so it's all God's
Word with this Old Testament.
It doesn't matter
whether Paul said that Jesus said it.
Moses.
All scriptures breathed out by God.
We don't have the authority
to reinterpret Scripture
just because it doesn't fit our agenda
just says, look, I have the authority
to determine how you get into my kingdom.
I have the authority of what you owe
the kingdom, and I have the authority
to determine what scriptures mean.
And then he says, and I have the authority
to determine what matters most.
But when the Pharisees
heard that he had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a lawyer, asked him a question
to test him. Teacher, which is the
greatest commandment in the law?
And he said, you shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
with all your mind.
This is the greatest
and first commandment,
and the second is like it
you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
All these two commandments depend on.
On these two commandments
depend all the law and the prophets.
So now they get the lawyers involved
and, and and in their law
they had 613 commands of God,
365 negative ones, one negative command
for every day of the year.
You better not,
you better not, you better not.
And 248 positive ones.
You're better,
you're better, you're better.
So out of all those is
so which one is the greatest one?
And Jesus says, look,
let me take you back to what you believe
in the Old Testament.
Let me take you away.
Back then,
this has been God's standard from day one.
Deuteronomy six you shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart,
and with all your
soul, and with all your mind.
You've
made it into
something that was never intended to be.
You added all this stuff to it.
And not only that, back to Leviticus.
You shall not take vengeance
or bear grudge
against the sons of your own people.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
I'm the Lord.
I have authority you to find
what is the greatest and most important,
what's the priority?
And it's loving God
and love in other people.
That's where this whole thing,
this is what it's about,
is to love God completely
and love your neighbor rightly.
I have the authority to find
what matters most,
and all of the law and all the prophets.
Love the Lord
your God and love your neighbor.
Though
vertical
in the horizontal hangs on the cross
you follow.
This is what matters most.
Now, while the Pharisees
were gathered together,
Jesus asked them a question.
Well, let me say this when that
when the verse says, love the Lord
with our heart, soul and mind, like
the heart is the seat of emotion,
your soul,
all your, your, your, your, your desires.
But he says, your mind.
Love the Lord your God with all your mind.
This is the one that gets lost in people.
We think loving God has to do
with the emotion of it
and the experience of an expression of it,
and the command
is to also love God with your engage
your brain.
That's what the Scripture says.
Like in use this, use your intellect
over and over and over through Scripture.
Psalm one,
verse two, Psalm 119, verses 15 to 16.
Like, engage your brain.
Meditate, think about it, ponder it.
We must.
The disciple must engage their brain
in learning the Bible
and learning doctrine.
This is so important for us.
If you want to love more deeply,
you must know more fully.
Do you understand this?
The more you know
your spouse, the deeper your love can be.
It's the same thing with God.
You want to love God more.
Know him deeper.
Love him with your mind.
Study.
And then Jesus says, I have the
the authority to find who I am.
Now. While the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them a question.
He said, look, I'm not going to let
you ask me one more question.
You've changed my authority enough.
I have the authority. I am the authority.
So he asked them a question
what do you think about the Christ?
Whose son is he?
They said to him, the Son of David.
He said to them, how is it
then, that David, in the spirit of God,
calls
him Lord, saying, and then he quotes
Psalm 110, the Lord said to my Lord,
sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies under your feet.
If David if then David calls him Lord,
how is he his son?
And no one was able to answer him a word,
nor from that day
did anyone dare to ask him
any more questions.
He had just silenced them
all. Here's what he said.
He said, who's who's who is this Messiah?
They said, was this Son of David
all the Old Testament say that
they thought from the genealogy of David,
like he's going to come
from that genealogical line.
Jesus is saying, yes, but more than yes,
he is God.
Because how can David, who comes
before the Messiah, call
that Messiah Lord over him?
I am the Messiah, and I am before David.
I am,
and because I am,
I have authority over all things.
And they realize that their concept of the
Messiah was something the Messiah wasn't
there.
Realizing
now you're claiming to be that Messiah,
and so you're claiming that you are Lord
over all things.
You have authority over all things,
and that set them up.
They knew they couldn't
ask him any more questions,
and they knew they had to kill him.
Everything in Matthew 22 is designed
by Jesus to set the dominoes in place,
to challenge every structure,
every everything that they have set up
for their own authority
over their lives, to challenge
and to destroy and dismantle all of that
so that the dominoes will fall,
so they will become so our way.
They will petition Rome to kill him.
Because when Jesus asserts,
I am the authority over your life,
you're either going to submit to it
or you're going to crucify him.
And the same thing goes for us today.
Jesus has just asserted,
I have to determine how
you get into the kingdom and who gets in.
I have the authority
to determine what you owe the kingdom.
I have the authority to determine
what scriptures actually mean.
I have the authority to determine
what matters
most, and I have the authority
to determine who I am.
You're either going to submit to that,
or you're going to say, go away with you,
Christ.
The same thing.
We don't
get to decide who Jesus ought to be.
We must decide
whether we believe who he says he is.
Simon Peter finally got it.
You are the Christ,
the son of the living God.
Jesus said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
Nobody comes the father but through me.
You don't get to decide who you think
I am.
You have to respond to who I am.
See, Matthew 22 is not
a collection of debates that Jesus wins
because he's smarter than everybody else.
That's not what this is.
At every challenge, Jesus has demonstrated
that he has authority
over all things and all people.
That's what this is.
And the one who has been asked questions
now ask the question.
And the implication of that answer
has profound resonance.
See, here's
let me let me finish with this.
Here's what we have to understand.
Jesus is not asking
to have a place in my life.
Jesus has authority
to define every part of my life.
Jesus has not asked
to be a part of your world.
He has come and said,
I have authority over every portion of it.
And some of us today
as well,
many as we are, sit in this place.
Having given Jesus a place in my life,
and I have chosen the authority over
what places
Jesus will be, in what places he won't be.
And Jesus says, that is not who I am,
and that is not the way of the kingdom.
I'm not asking to be a part of your life
if you want to call yourself a disciple.
I'm demanding.
I have authority over every part of it.
So when it comes down to me
and your friend group, I win.
When it comes down to me
and your schedule, I win.
When it comes down to me and your money,
I win.
When it comes down to me and your goals,
I win.
When it comes down to me
and your embarrassment of me, I win.
That's what he's saying.
What do you think
Jesus would have said to those
after he said,
follow me in the New Testament?
What do you think Jesus would have said
to those if they said, you know what?
Yeah, like I want your salvation, but
I'm not going to do everything you say.
What do you think you would have said?
He would have said,
you're not my follower,
then.
You can't accept my salvation
and not follow everything I say.
You're not a follower.
And if that's what he would have said to
them, then guess what he says to us now.
So we have to answer the same question.
Who do you say Jesus is?
Is he the one you've looked for salvation?
And then you've determined
what else he gets to have say over?
Or are you one
who says he is Lord over all areas?
And I live in submission to him?
That's the question.
And I leave it
between you and the Holy Spirit
to answer that question.
And on those of us for whom conviction
needs to fall, I pray it falls hard,
and we repent
of how we've let Jesus be part of our life
and not Lord over at all.
I pray that conviction falls hard
not to break us,
but so that we're made new
and in repentance
we say, father, I'm sorry.
I give you my whole self.
All my allegiance is yours
above all things redirect.
And all of my life it's all yours.
I want you to pray with me.
Father, thank you
that your love is so profound.
Thank you for your mercy and your grace.
That is new for us every morning.
Thank you for your patience.
Thank you for your goodness.
And thank you for your authority.
I pray in this place
that we would humble ourselves,
that we would repent,
and that we would accept the authority
that you have over our lives.
Friends,
I want to invite you in this moment
to accept the authority
that Jesus has asserted.
And in repentance say, father,
I'm sorry I've made you a part of my life,
but you have not received
my full allegiance, and you deserve it.
So I submit all of my life to you. You.
I give you a thought.
I accept the authority of you
over my life.
Every part of it.
Every part of it.
Father, I honor your son.
Forgive me of my sin.
Give me an incredible disdain for my sin.
Give me an increased desire
to rid myself of it.
To choose a holy life, a righteous life.
And father, do what I cannot do in me,
which is to transform
me and make me new.
I give myself to you, and your name
I pray.
Amen.
Friends, listen.
I believe that some here
are repenting and in repentance.
I want to just encourage you.
Continue pressing into that.
Let the Holy Spirit
do what he wants to do.
And if any of you
want to pray with somebody,
just let us pray and agree with you
in this way
for your repentance, your renewal,
your rejuvenation, for God's hand
to be in there and on there, making things
new that have been dead and old.
Humble yourself.
Humble yourself.
Let's see.