Bible Study 10 10 2014

The Power of Jesus                                   Bible Study  October 10, 2014

In the past two months, we have been discussing how Jesus presented the life we should seek to live in the Kingdom of God.  He began in Matthew 5:17, “Repent…” and finished His Sermon on the Mount in 7:12 with the sum of the law- The Golden Rule.  He then went on to live what he taught, was hated by those in control of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, and those same people killed Him as he threatened their comfortable life.

The 7^th chapter finished with stating how the people listening to Jesus were “amazed’ with His teachings as He taught with ‘authority’.  Have you ever been amazed with a professor and how that person taught with great authority in his field of learning?  We must remember that Jesus taught with first knowledge of how and why the world was created.  Jesus was there in the beginning when God created the world.  Jesus is, in part, God, an element of the Trinity God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.  Three in One and at the same time, each One separate in Three.  This Trinity is a mystery that full understanding will come in our Resurrection.

Today we move into Chapter 8 and

see the Power of Jesus

Matthew 8: 5-17      The Faith of the Centurion        Lk 7:1-10

5  When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.

6  "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering."

7  Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."

8  The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

9  For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

10 When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.

11  I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

12  But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

13  Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour.

Commentary-
Verse 5&6-  Centurions were military officers in charge of about 100 men.  This was not small position.  He was a man of prestige and power. He represented the backbone, the very foundation of Roman Power.  Yet, this man comes to Jesus for help and addresses Jesus as ‘Lord’.  Capernaum was a town with an important Roman garrison.  The soldiers were likely gentile.  But, somehow, this leader knew the power of Jesus over his paralyzed man.  Too, the Centurion shows compassion for his servant.  It would have been easy to release the servant and find another servant.  So here is an important, unclean, Gentile, soldier showing compassion and respect for a servant,  and respect to the greatest Servant of all.

Verse 7  By saying He will go heal the Centurions son, Jesus shows disregard for the old Law of dealing with Gentiles.  No Jewish priest would have helped the Centurion because of restriction in the OT Law dealing with unclean Gentiles.

Verse 8/9  The  respectful and humble Centurion was clearly aware of the OT Law when he commented he was unworthy.  But, just look at his faith in Jesus!  He tells Jesus to just speak and the servant would be healed!!! 
Here is a man of great authority as presented in verse 9, a man that knows of the power of the spoken word.  No doubt, this Centurion understood the power of Jesus and the spoken word. 

We too must remember the power of speaking as seen in Genesis 1.   “And God said…”

Verse 10  Look at Jesus’ expressed astonishment and amazement as this is the same word used in our study last week in verse 7:28.  Then we have a major theme of Matthew in the comment by Jesus, “I tell you the truth.”  This is recorded 30 times in Matthew NIV.  Remember these words ‘amaze’ and ‘astonish’ we find in the NT, are very special.  It is words that mean to ‘see or hear the totally unexpected.  This is the only time we see the word used to describe Jesus’ reaction to someone he meets.

Remember too, the words “I tell you the truth’, when we read these words, we need to pay attention to what Jesus is about to say!

Verses 11&12  This is a reference to The Messianic Banquet prophesied in the Old Testament, Isaiah 15:6-9.  This is a way that the writer is connecting what the reader of Jesus’ day knew about the prophecy of the Old Testament.   The Messianic banquet was a union of the Jewish patriarchs of old (leaders of old) with the people of Israel present day, and the Gentiles from all corners of the earth.  The Jews thought they would be the only ones in attendance at this banquet.  Jesus with these two verses is expanding the attendance to the banquet.

This was a great shock to the Jews.  Admittance would be by faith, not just Jewish descendents of Abraham, the father of all Jews.

Verse 13.  Here we see the power of Jesus across distance.  Jesus heals the servant immediately even though the man is not in Jesus’ presence.  Again, this would be an amazing incident for the people of Jesus’ day.  But, we understand Jesus.

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I go to John 1: 1-3,14.  The Gospel of John 1 is so very powerful and shows us the power of Jesus in its greatest light!

The Gospel of John, Chapter 1
The Word Became Flesh

1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

2 He was with God in the beginning. 

3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The write John, a disciple of Jesus, had a unique position to know Jesus.  In this John shares with us great and important information about Jesus.

What, so very important an amazing do you read in verse 3 and verse 14. 

In understanding verse 3 and 14, Jesus was from the beginning and part of the creative force in the universe.  We should not be amazed at His ability to heal from a distance.

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You must understand here- The ‘Word’ referenced in verse 1, is identified to be Jesus in verse 14!
So, if Jesus created with His word, so to he could heal with His word. 

Thanks be to God

Bible Study 2014 10 10

The World is Upside Down                   Bible Study  October 10, 2014
     We need the teachings of Jesus to Turn Our Thinking Right-Side Up

1-               Last week we finished with “Do not worry…” and the words “Seek First the Kingdom…” Matthew 6:35.  These are powerful directive words from Jesus.  Jesus never told us anything that was not good for us. 

2-                Tonight, we come to the end of the Sermon on the Mount.  Just as everything we experience has a beginning and an end, so too the Sermon on the Mount.   This section of the Bible really begins with Matthew 5:17 and ends with Matthew 7 29.

3-               Out of this section of Matthew we must remember, Jesus began this teaching of how to live in the Kingdom with the word Repent, then gives us behaviors of living in the Kingdom, and sums up these behaviors in Chapter 7:12, the Golden Rule.

4-               In Ch 7, verse 28 we read the people were “amazed”.  Here in this lesson, we will learn of this verb “amazed” and what it means.

The Golden Rule:

Matthew

Ch 7: 12   So (meaning- therefore)  in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

1-              Jesus gave many behaviors for us to seek to accomplish in His first sermon to the people.  Then He gives the summary, a summary to catch all proper behaviors in the Kingdom.  In one sentence Jesus covers the entirety, the essence, the completeness of living in the Kingdom.

2-              This is called an ‘inclusio’ phrase, a bookend, a summary.  The Other bookend, is Matthew 5:17- “Repent…”

3-              The title "golden rule" traditionally comes from "the Roman Emperor Alexander Severus (A.D. 222-35), who, though not a Christian, was reputedly so impressed by the comprehensiveness of this maxim of Jesus . . . that he had it inscribed in gold on the wall of his chamber."  (Thomas Constable, Notes on Matthew)

4-              Jesus could have spoke for days giving hundreds of instructions on how to behave in the Kingdom.  In one sentence, He sums it up behavior in the Kingdom-, Perfectly, Completely, and totally Understandably.  This is the perfection we worship in the Jesus we know.

The Narrow and Wide Gates

13  "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

14  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

1-             Life is composed of many decisions we have to make.  There is always two choices in every decision we make.

2-             Do we take the easy way or the correct way; the narrow road less traveled or the road beat down by the many travelers;  the ‘straight and narrow’ and sometimes difficult that leads to eternal life  or the road filled with people always seeking the easy, fun, and  dangerous life that leads to self-destruction.

3-             In taking the Way of the Kingdom, the straight and narrow, we have the Sermon on the Mount to guide us.

4-             Notice the word ‘gate’ is the defining word here.  It may be a small gate, but Jesus controls the gate, His words here define our journey to and through the gate, and Jesus in His perfection opens the gate for us and will know us because of our Journey seeking the Kingdom.

False Prophets

15  "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.

16  By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?

21  "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

22  Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'

23  Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
Who are the false prophets of today?  How do we recognize them?  One sure way is when they say that have the real answers to your problems.  In reality, we find answers to our problems in the Gospels.

1-             Just as Jesus was obedient to God’s will, Jesus tells us that entrance to Heaven is accomplished by living in God’s will. 

2-             Jesus talked the talk of God’s will,  Walked the walk of God’s will, Suffered, Died, and was Glorified all because He lived what He taught and walked..

3-             When we stand before Jesus at our earthly death, the last words we want to hear from Him is “I never knew you.  Away from me…”

The Reaction of the Crowd at the Sermon on the Mount

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching  ,
29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

1-             The word “amazed”, the crowd was amazed.  In the Greek of Jesus’ day this had a strong sense.  What Jesus was saying was unheard of before Jesus came.  It was totally new.

2-             Not only were His words amazing, but so too His authority

3-             Jesus changed the world with His words and life, God verified His words and life by raising Him from the dead.  The people responded with believing. 

4-             How can we do any less than Jesus.  We must seek Him in Seeking the Kingdom by living in the ways He instructed..