Upside Down Kingdom: Mission & Message | Matthew 3-7 | Introduction
UPSIDE DOWN KINGDOM | Mission & Message | Matthew 3-7 | Introduction
The way we think about our lives and our world needs to change. We live believing we are the kings of our little kingdoms, and the world and everyone in it is created to serve us. Challenges arrive when all our little kingdoms begin to collide with one another. Individually this creates personal and relational conflicts. Corporately this can create cultural battles, national strife, and even international wars. These flash points remind us there are bigger kingdoms than our own and hopeful reveal we have a distorted view of self, others, and God. Our distortion of our understanding of Kingdom requires a reorientation back to what is true:
God is the King & The World is His Kingdom
God’s word, the Bible, begins announcing the King and His Kingdom. Genesis 1:1 | In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. By speaking creation into existence God created a kingdom; a kingdom where He is King over everything and worthy to receive all glory, honor, and worship of that which He created. He makes men and women in His image to dwell with Him in a garden to managing and enjoy His creation as representative of His kingdom for His glory and our joy. There is one King and one kingdom. The King is good, and the kingdom is paradise.
Quickly a second kingdom emerges. A kingdom of darkness and death, dishonoring the king and denigrating His creation. This kingdom is founded on lies from satan claiming the King is not good and paradise would be better with humanity (not God) as the ultimate authority. Rebellion begins; mercy and sacrifice are given, followed by exile. God’s perfect kingdom cannot remain good if evil is allowed to remain. From this time forward another voice will challenge God’s authority in peoples’ lives. Humanity is divided between those who listen to, obey, and honor God as the King, and those who submit to the voice of the enemy who tells us we can be our own kings and queens. Two kingdoms, each calling out for the allegiance of God’s people.
Populations increase, so do laws, taxes, and authorities, apart from the guiding voice of God. Manmade governments take many forms as kingdoms both divide and multiply. Religions are created around idols and ideologies as people seek meaning in an increasingly intimidating and chaotic world. Hostilities rise internally, externally wars break out, exploitation of the weak, and corruption is consistent throughout history, only the names and faces change as each successive generation choses the lie of “man’s” kingdom rather than the truth of God’s kingdom.
God, the King, has a political agenda for the world. He begins with redeeming a man, Abraham, who He blesses with a family. God promises, in Gen 12, this family will turn into a nation who will be a blessing to the world and will be distinct from the world. This family is eventually enslaved by Egypt, the world’s most powerful Kingdom. Kingdoms collide as God systematically tears down each of Egypt’s idols in the process of freeing His people, Israel. Led by Moses, and then Joshua, as God’s representatives, Israel is to live, govern, and worship as an alternative kingdom from all the other kingdoms of the world who follow their own self will. Israel is to worship God as King and reflect His character and will.
When Joshua passes, Israel loses their distinctiveness and succumbs to the sins of neighboring nations descending into chaos and debauchery.
Judges 21:25 | In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. After 400 years of kingdom chaos the people cry out to Samuel, a prophet, for a king.
1 Samuel 8:5-7 | Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.
Samuel goes on to warn the people these kings will draft your sons for their wars and tax your resources for their plans and legacies. Saul, David, Solomon successively rule over God’s people, not perfectly, but well. Within a few generations wicked kings rise up and the kingdom is torn asunder, God’s people are again enslaved and exiled. They are brought back to Jerusalem, rebuild the temple and waiting for the great and awesome day of the Lord. (Malachi 4:5) Greek and Roman kings’ rule over Israel, God is silent and hope fades. As the New Testament narrative begins, God’s people are under subjugation from a foreign pagan nation, the dictatorship of Herod an unstable and unfaithful king, paying exorbitant taxes used to fund their own oppression. Israel is divided by culture, religion, and politics waiting for salvation and deliverance from oppressive kingdoms He promised but has not yet fulfilled. It is a dark time, but the King is coming.
The Gospels Proclaim Jesus Christ the King
The New Testaments opens with four distinct yet harmonious “gospel” accounts of Jesus. Gospels are not a modern biography providing every historical detail we may want, but they provide us with the insight we need. Gospel is a political term meaning “Good News” reserved for major military victories or the birth/coronation of an emperor or king. The gospels exist to display the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ, the God-Man, savior-King of His people, and living Lord of all creation. Each Gospel account has a distinct purpose or emphasis:
Mark’s Purpose – Mark 1:14-15 | Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
The kingdom is a hand because the king is present. Repentance is turning from man’s kingdom (Rome) and believing Jesus is King.
John’s Purpose - John 20:30-31 | Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Believing Jesus is the divine King, Son of God, and pledging allegiance to him brings life because this King and His kingdom is the source of all life.
Luke’s Purpose – Luke 1:4 | that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.
Matthew’s Purpose - Matthew 26:56a | “But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Matthew wants people to know the King God has promised across generations throughout the Hebrew scriptures (our Old Testament) has arrived in Jesus.
Matthew was likely writing at the early church in Antioch which included many Jewish Christians. As a Jew writing for Jews, Matthew is constantly echoing back to the Old Testament to show Jesus is THE long-awaited King and THE savior of the King’s chosen people, Israel, which has been promised for generations. Antioch also has a large gentile population so Matthew all about unpacking what it means morally and spiritually to be part of the kingdom of God. He opens with a genealogy tracing Jesus family line starting from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, though King David and ends with the Great Commission to go into the world making disciples and baptizing new citizens in the Kingdom of God and teaching them to observe all Jesus commanded a disciple to do and be. For anyone to be able to work towards this end they would need to have an accurate and robust account of what Jesus actually taught.
A full 60% of Matthew’s gospel is the teaching words of Jesus. He breaks down Jesus’ teaching into five distinct sections including, ethics, discipleship and mission, the kingdom of heaven, the church, and the end times, each ending with “and when Jesus finished these sayings”. Each section includes a sermon or discourse of teaching from Jesus preceded by a narrative about Jesus. The narratives are important because they answer the question of the King’s identity; Jesus is THE King, while the teaching discourses unpack the implications and instructions necessary for the citizens of the kingdom to live serving the King.
Matthew | About the Author
Who was Matthew? When studying Matthew’s gospel of Jesus you do not learn very much about Matthew because he was not interested in the church to knowing more about him, he wanted people to know Jesus, follow Jesus, and worship Jesus. Jesus is the unrivaled hero of the Bible so when we look at who Matthew was, it is through the lens of who Jesus is and what he accomplished in Matthew’s life.
Matthew was a man living for, and serving, the kingdom of the world and himself. He was a Jewish man collecting taxes from Jews in Israel to give to the Roman government. Hs role was not your typical IRS cog in a bureaucratic machine type of occupation. Roman taxes were collected by agents who bid for the rights to collect taxes in a certain city or region, like a franchise. They would pay the Roman’s what they bid and collect more to cover their own salaries and lifestyle. These agents regularly collected significantly more than was required or would seem reasonable. More than just bureaucratic authority, tax collectors had the force of Roman soldiers behind them. With responsibility over a powerless population, tax collection functioned like the mob, or a drug cartel, with the tax collectors living luxurious lives at the expense of a fearful people around them.
Usually, tax collectors were foreigners who were loyal to Rome and dispassionate to the plight of the people they were extorting. However, there were also Jewish tax collectors, like Zacchaeus and Matthew, who were met by Jewish society with great distain. These men were collaborators with the oppressors, traitors to the kingdom of Israel. They were instruments of both economic and social slavery, and they personal profited from this systemic oppression. Think of high-level drug dealers in any city who take money, resources, and life from a community and exchange it for addiction, slavery, and death. That is how Tax collectors were perceived. Religious Pharisees saw them as unclean for dealing with gentiles and consorting with prostitutes, so they were excluded from the religious life in the synagogues and temple.
It is believed Matthew was a Levite meaning his family extremely religious and he would have grown up with an intimate knowledge of Jewish theology and traditions, yet he chose to serve the king of pagan Rome rather than the Creator King of the Bible. Matthew was like a pastor’s kid turned drug dealer.
Luke 5:27-32 | After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Jesus Saw. Jesus Called.
Jesus meets Matthew in the outskirts of Capernaum. He was sitting, manning his station likely near the water or on the border of the territory so he could collect excise tax from weary travelers entering the kingdom of Herod Antipas or from hard fishermen just coming off the sea of Galilee. The tax booth is where all people in the realm are to humble themselves and submit to the kingdoms of man. It is here where Jesus comes in direct contact with an agent of the wicked king in Israel who is under the “king of kings” of the known world Caesar.
Those around Matthew live in equal parts fear and distain of this man because of who he is and the kingdom he represents. Jesus sees this man who is an enemy of God and His people, who has great worldly wealth and authority. How does Jesus respond? He does not bow in submission or fear. But he also does not reject with distain. Because of who Jesus is and the kingdom He represents, Jesus is able to clearly call him and says “Follow me. Renounce your allegiance to your king Herod, to your Caesar, and come follow me THE King.”
Matthew Left Everything and Followed Jesus.
Until this meeting Matthew likely knew OF Jesus who had been traveling in the area, preaching, and performing miracles, recently healing a man who had been paralyzed. However, Matthew but didn’t KNOW Jesus. Given a direct command by Jesus “to follow” results in Matthew’s complete and immediate obedience. This is AMAZING! Jesus has not done ANYHING for Matthew. He does not offer him a better position, more money or opportunity. For Matthew’s part, He is not carefully deciding between a successful corporation and an unproven but promising start up. Jesus does not look like a King, but He possess authority and promises new life in His words. Matthew’s obedience is as miraculous as any healing Jesus preforms in the Gospels. Jesus commands a paralytic to rise up and walk and he does. Jesus commands a man paralyzed by sin following the wrong king to follow Him and he does. Jesus is the King with authority over our broken bodies and our broken souls.
There no trial run or probationary period only an absolute finality to Matthew following Jesus. Matthew’s gospel does not mention this, but both Luke and Mark are clear he was “leaving everything”. Matthew’s position could and would be quickly filled by Rome. More than just leaving a lucrative job he was leaving THE structure of power and oppression of man’s kingdoms renouncing his favored status among kings and giving his allegiance to Jesus as the King who stands in opposition to all other kingdoms. If following Jesus did not work out fisherman could always go back to their boats. But when you follow a man claiming to be King and the Son of God you cannot go back to working for Herod Antipas whose father killed all the male children in Jesus hometown in an effort to prevent Jesus from growing up and gaining influence. Jews would not have him because he had spent his life’s work extorting them. Once he rose and followed, the only choice for the rest of his life would be to continue to follow Jesus wherever it led and whatever the cost. Jesus is the King Matthew was created to follow and following led him to joy.
Matthew Celebrated and Brought Others to Jesus.
Matthew’s gesture of leaving his tax booth and following Jesus was not made with grim submission or resignation like someone who knows he’s doing the right thing but is grieved by the cost. He wasn’t begrudgingly, “Ok Jesus you’re right I’m hurting my neighbor, I guess I’ll stop or wait till you leave to go back to what I am doing.” No, Matthew celebrates!
Luke and Mark mention Matthew made a GREAT FEAST in his own house. He follows Jesus and his response is not “Lord Jesus, can you bless me?” it is “Lord Jesus, let me honor you!” Jesus is the guest of honor. Matthew is excited for his new life, but he’s more excited for his new king and he wants to share with everyone he knows. With Jesus and His disciples present, Matthew is celebrating becoming a disciple himself with the only crew he’s known, one as disreputable as he is. Matthew does not cut off his old friend and associates from the party or limit it to Jesus’ disciples. He invites them and brings them in to share in his joy and meet his King.
Not everyone is excited about Matthew’s quick conversion. The participants are joyfully and restfully reclining at the table with Jesus while the opponents of Jesus are on the outside looking in. Pharisees could not understand why Jesus would commune with “Sinners”. The Pharisees are not asking the disciples a question they’re leveling a charge against Jesus. Pharisees are not as spiritually healthy as they think. They did not understand the importance of the nature of Jesus mission. They expected a messiah who would crush sinners and pat the “righteous” on the back. They cannot fathom a messiah who eats and drinks with those representing the kingdom who is oppressing Israel while calling the “righteous” religious people hypocrites.
The Pharisees did not realize or did not believe their self-righteous religious kingdom is just as offensive to God’s kingdom as Caesar and Herod’s kingdoms are. The religious need to follow King Jesus just as much as a traitorous tax collector or prostitutes do.
Sermon Series
We can study Matthew’s gospel learning a lot about Jesus while not recognizing our need for Jesus. We could think we could think we are following Jesus because we are at a celebration with people who Jesus has saved. We could think we could welcome at the party even though we do not actually know the guest of honor. Being around people who are being healed does not save any more than wondering the halls of a hospital makes one well. We need humility to confess we need to be made well by the Great Physician who is merciful to heal and make us whole.
The broad goals for this series are the same for every series. That we would have the target of our affections, hope, and worship moved from the things of this world to the Creator of this world who reveals Himself through the scripture and most clearly in the person and work of His Son Jesus Christ. Additionally, as disciples of Jesus who are called to go into the world to make more disciples, we do seek to faithfully engage with a world opposed to the God of the Bible.
Specifically, we hope this series helps those who know Jesus grow as disciples in three ways:
Increase our Biblical Literacy – In Upside Down Kingdom, we will look at Matthew Chapters 3-7. These chapters included the beginning of Jesus’ Mission and His world changing Message, the Sermon on the Mount.
Adopt a Christ-Centered understanding of the Bible – Matthew’s Gospel is the pivot point in the Biblical Narrative that is all about Jesus.
Deepen our Gospel Fluency – We see how our individual lives, and the lives of those around us whom we are called to reach with the gospel, interact with Jesus’ mission and message so we can more readily apply the gospel to every person, situation, and every area of life. How does Matthew give us greater confidence in the work of God on our behalf? What does it tell us about how we are to respond to the Gospel?
Lastly, we know the Gospel radically changes the lives of individuals as lives are turned “upside down” but are really returned to their proper orientation with Jesus as King of His, our, and every Kingdom. Because of its metanarrative nature of the Gospel, all who hear it must respond either by receiving it as true and glorious or rejecting it favor of a lesser story. As such this series is also explicitly evangelistic. Our hope is those who do not know the mission and message of Jesus would hear and understand the Christian worldview. That they would reflect on their own lives in light of who Jesus is, and then respond to the offer of life with God in Christ leading to a lifelong reorientation to simply Trust Jesus now and into eternity.
The way we think about our lives and our world needs to change. We live believing we are the kings of our little kingdoms, and the world and everyone in it is created to serve us. Challenges arrive when all our little kingdoms begin to collide with one another. Individually this creates personal and relational conflicts. Corporately this can create cultural battles, national strife, and even international wars. These flash points remind us there are bigger kingdoms than our own and hopeful reveal we have a distorted view of self, others, and God. Our distortion of our understanding of Kingdom requires a reorientation back to what is true:
God is the King & The World is His Kingdom
God’s word, the Bible, begins announcing the King and His Kingdom. Genesis 1:1 | In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. By speaking creation into existence God created a kingdom; a kingdom where He is King over everything and worthy to receive all glory, honor, and worship of that which He created. He makes men and women in His image to dwell with Him in a garden to managing and enjoy His creation as representative of His kingdom for His glory and our joy. There is one King and one kingdom. The King is good, and the kingdom is paradise.
Quickly a second kingdom emerges. A kingdom of darkness and death, dishonoring the king and denigrating His creation. This kingdom is founded on lies from satan claiming the King is not good and paradise would be better with humanity (not God) as the ultimate authority. Rebellion begins; mercy and sacrifice are given, followed by exile. God’s perfect kingdom cannot remain good if evil is allowed to remain. From this time forward another voice will challenge God’s authority in peoples’ lives. Humanity is divided between those who listen to, obey, and honor God as the King, and those who submit to the voice of the enemy who tells us we can be our own kings and queens. Two kingdoms, each calling out for the allegiance of God’s people.
Populations increase, so do laws, taxes, and authorities, apart from the guiding voice of God. Manmade governments take many forms as kingdoms both divide and multiply. Religions are created around idols and ideologies as people seek meaning in an increasingly intimidating and chaotic world. Hostilities rise internally, externally wars break out, exploitation of the weak, and corruption is consistent throughout history, only the names and faces change as each successive generation choses the lie of “man’s” kingdom rather than the truth of God’s kingdom.
God, the King, has a political agenda for the world. He begins with redeeming a man, Abraham, who He blesses with a family. God promises, in Gen 12, this family will turn into a nation who will be a blessing to the world and will be distinct from the world. This family is eventually enslaved by Egypt, the world’s most powerful Kingdom. Kingdoms collide as God systematically tears down each of Egypt’s idols in the process of freeing His people, Israel. Led by Moses, and then Joshua, as God’s representatives, Israel is to live, govern, and worship as an alternative kingdom from all the other kingdoms of the world who follow their own self will. Israel is to worship God as King and reflect His character and will.
When Joshua passes, Israel loses their distinctiveness and succumbs to the sins of neighboring nations descending into chaos and debauchery.
Judges 21:25 | In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. After 400 years of kingdom chaos the people cry out to Samuel, a prophet, for a king.
1 Samuel 8:5-7 | Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.
Samuel goes on to warn the people these kings will draft your sons for their wars and tax your resources for their plans and legacies. Saul, David, Solomon successively rule over God’s people, not perfectly, but well. Within a few generations wicked kings rise up and the kingdom is torn asunder, God’s people are again enslaved and exiled. They are brought back to Jerusalem, rebuild the temple and waiting for the great and awesome day of the Lord. (Malachi 4:5) Greek and Roman kings’ rule over Israel, God is silent and hope fades. As the New Testament narrative begins, God’s people are under subjugation from a foreign pagan nation, the dictatorship of Herod an unstable and unfaithful king, paying exorbitant taxes used to fund their own oppression. Israel is divided by culture, religion, and politics waiting for salvation and deliverance from oppressive kingdoms He promised but has not yet fulfilled. It is a dark time, but the King is coming.
The Gospels Proclaim Jesus Christ the King
The New Testaments opens with four distinct yet harmonious “gospel” accounts of Jesus. Gospels are not a modern biography providing every historical detail we may want, but they provide us with the insight we need. Gospel is a political term meaning “Good News” reserved for major military victories or the birth/coronation of an emperor or king. The gospels exist to display the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ, the God-Man, savior-King of His people, and living Lord of all creation. Each Gospel account has a distinct purpose or emphasis:
Mark’s Purpose – Mark 1:14-15 | Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
The kingdom is a hand because the king is present. Repentance is turning from man’s kingdom (Rome) and believing Jesus is King.
John’s Purpose - John 20:30-31 | Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Believing Jesus is the divine King, Son of God, and pledging allegiance to him brings life because this King and His kingdom is the source of all life.
Luke’s Purpose – Luke 1:4 | that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.
Matthew’s Purpose - Matthew 26:56a | “But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Matthew wants people to know the King God has promised across generations throughout the Hebrew scriptures (our Old Testament) has arrived in Jesus.
Matthew was likely writing at the early church in Antioch which included many Jewish Christians. As a Jew writing for Jews, Matthew is constantly echoing back to the Old Testament to show Jesus is THE long-awaited King and THE savior of the King’s chosen people, Israel, which has been promised for generations. Antioch also has a large gentile population so Matthew all about unpacking what it means morally and spiritually to be part of the kingdom of God. He opens with a genealogy tracing Jesus family line starting from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, though King David and ends with the Great Commission to go into the world making disciples and baptizing new citizens in the Kingdom of God and teaching them to observe all Jesus commanded a disciple to do and be. For anyone to be able to work towards this end they would need to have an accurate and robust account of what Jesus actually taught.
A full 60% of Matthew’s gospel is the teaching words of Jesus. He breaks down Jesus’ teaching into five distinct sections including, ethics, discipleship and mission, the kingdom of heaven, the church, and the end times, each ending with “and when Jesus finished these sayings”. Each section includes a sermon or discourse of teaching from Jesus preceded by a narrative about Jesus. The narratives are important because they answer the question of the King’s identity; Jesus is THE King, while the teaching discourses unpack the implications and instructions necessary for the citizens of the kingdom to live serving the King.
Matthew | About the Author
Who was Matthew? When studying Matthew’s gospel of Jesus you do not learn very much about Matthew because he was not interested in the church to knowing more about him, he wanted people to know Jesus, follow Jesus, and worship Jesus. Jesus is the unrivaled hero of the Bible so when we look at who Matthew was, it is through the lens of who Jesus is and what he accomplished in Matthew’s life.
Matthew was a man living for, and serving, the kingdom of the world and himself. He was a Jewish man collecting taxes from Jews in Israel to give to the Roman government. Hs role was not your typical IRS cog in a bureaucratic machine type of occupation. Roman taxes were collected by agents who bid for the rights to collect taxes in a certain city or region, like a franchise. They would pay the Roman’s what they bid and collect more to cover their own salaries and lifestyle. These agents regularly collected significantly more than was required or would seem reasonable. More than just bureaucratic authority, tax collectors had the force of Roman soldiers behind them. With responsibility over a powerless population, tax collection functioned like the mob, or a drug cartel, with the tax collectors living luxurious lives at the expense of a fearful people around them.
Usually, tax collectors were foreigners who were loyal to Rome and dispassionate to the plight of the people they were extorting. However, there were also Jewish tax collectors, like Zacchaeus and Matthew, who were met by Jewish society with great distain. These men were collaborators with the oppressors, traitors to the kingdom of Israel. They were instruments of both economic and social slavery, and they personal profited from this systemic oppression. Think of high-level drug dealers in any city who take money, resources, and life from a community and exchange it for addiction, slavery, and death. That is how Tax collectors were perceived. Religious Pharisees saw them as unclean for dealing with gentiles and consorting with prostitutes, so they were excluded from the religious life in the synagogues and temple.
It is believed Matthew was a Levite meaning his family extremely religious and he would have grown up with an intimate knowledge of Jewish theology and traditions, yet he chose to serve the king of pagan Rome rather than the Creator King of the Bible. Matthew was like a pastor’s kid turned drug dealer.
Luke 5:27-32 | After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Jesus Saw. Jesus Called.
Jesus meets Matthew in the outskirts of Capernaum. He was sitting, manning his station likely near the water or on the border of the territory so he could collect excise tax from weary travelers entering the kingdom of Herod Antipas or from hard fishermen just coming off the sea of Galilee. The tax booth is where all people in the realm are to humble themselves and submit to the kingdoms of man. It is here where Jesus comes in direct contact with an agent of the wicked king in Israel who is under the “king of kings” of the known world Caesar.
Those around Matthew live in equal parts fear and distain of this man because of who he is and the kingdom he represents. Jesus sees this man who is an enemy of God and His people, who has great worldly wealth and authority. How does Jesus respond? He does not bow in submission or fear. But he also does not reject with distain. Because of who Jesus is and the kingdom He represents, Jesus is able to clearly call him and says “Follow me. Renounce your allegiance to your king Herod, to your Caesar, and come follow me THE King.”
Matthew Left Everything and Followed Jesus.
Until this meeting Matthew likely knew OF Jesus who had been traveling in the area, preaching, and performing miracles, recently healing a man who had been paralyzed. However, Matthew but didn’t KNOW Jesus. Given a direct command by Jesus “to follow” results in Matthew’s complete and immediate obedience. This is AMAZING! Jesus has not done ANYHING for Matthew. He does not offer him a better position, more money or opportunity. For Matthew’s part, He is not carefully deciding between a successful corporation and an unproven but promising start up. Jesus does not look like a King, but He possess authority and promises new life in His words. Matthew’s obedience is as miraculous as any healing Jesus preforms in the Gospels. Jesus commands a paralytic to rise up and walk and he does. Jesus commands a man paralyzed by sin following the wrong king to follow Him and he does. Jesus is the King with authority over our broken bodies and our broken souls.
There no trial run or probationary period only an absolute finality to Matthew following Jesus. Matthew’s gospel does not mention this, but both Luke and Mark are clear he was “leaving everything”. Matthew’s position could and would be quickly filled by Rome. More than just leaving a lucrative job he was leaving THE structure of power and oppression of man’s kingdoms renouncing his favored status among kings and giving his allegiance to Jesus as the King who stands in opposition to all other kingdoms. If following Jesus did not work out fisherman could always go back to their boats. But when you follow a man claiming to be King and the Son of God you cannot go back to working for Herod Antipas whose father killed all the male children in Jesus hometown in an effort to prevent Jesus from growing up and gaining influence. Jews would not have him because he had spent his life’s work extorting them. Once he rose and followed, the only choice for the rest of his life would be to continue to follow Jesus wherever it led and whatever the cost. Jesus is the King Matthew was created to follow and following led him to joy.
Matthew Celebrated and Brought Others to Jesus.
Matthew’s gesture of leaving his tax booth and following Jesus was not made with grim submission or resignation like someone who knows he’s doing the right thing but is grieved by the cost. He wasn’t begrudgingly, “Ok Jesus you’re right I’m hurting my neighbor, I guess I’ll stop or wait till you leave to go back to what I am doing.” No, Matthew celebrates!
Luke and Mark mention Matthew made a GREAT FEAST in his own house. He follows Jesus and his response is not “Lord Jesus, can you bless me?” it is “Lord Jesus, let me honor you!” Jesus is the guest of honor. Matthew is excited for his new life, but he’s more excited for his new king and he wants to share with everyone he knows. With Jesus and His disciples present, Matthew is celebrating becoming a disciple himself with the only crew he’s known, one as disreputable as he is. Matthew does not cut off his old friend and associates from the party or limit it to Jesus’ disciples. He invites them and brings them in to share in his joy and meet his King.
Not everyone is excited about Matthew’s quick conversion. The participants are joyfully and restfully reclining at the table with Jesus while the opponents of Jesus are on the outside looking in. Pharisees could not understand why Jesus would commune with “Sinners”. The Pharisees are not asking the disciples a question they’re leveling a charge against Jesus. Pharisees are not as spiritually healthy as they think. They did not understand the importance of the nature of Jesus mission. They expected a messiah who would crush sinners and pat the “righteous” on the back. They cannot fathom a messiah who eats and drinks with those representing the kingdom who is oppressing Israel while calling the “righteous” religious people hypocrites.
The Pharisees did not realize or did not believe their self-righteous religious kingdom is just as offensive to God’s kingdom as Caesar and Herod’s kingdoms are. The religious need to follow King Jesus just as much as a traitorous tax collector or prostitutes do.
Sermon Series
We can study Matthew’s gospel learning a lot about Jesus while not recognizing our need for Jesus. We could think we could think we are following Jesus because we are at a celebration with people who Jesus has saved. We could think we could welcome at the party even though we do not actually know the guest of honor. Being around people who are being healed does not save any more than wondering the halls of a hospital makes one well. We need humility to confess we need to be made well by the Great Physician who is merciful to heal and make us whole.
The broad goals for this series are the same for every series. That we would have the target of our affections, hope, and worship moved from the things of this world to the Creator of this world who reveals Himself through the scripture and most clearly in the person and work of His Son Jesus Christ. Additionally, as disciples of Jesus who are called to go into the world to make more disciples, we do seek to faithfully engage with a world opposed to the God of the Bible.
Specifically, we hope this series helps those who know Jesus grow as disciples in three ways:
Increase our Biblical Literacy – In Upside Down Kingdom, we will look at Matthew Chapters 3-7. These chapters included the beginning of Jesus’ Mission and His world changing Message, the Sermon on the Mount.
Adopt a Christ-Centered understanding of the Bible – Matthew’s Gospel is the pivot point in the Biblical Narrative that is all about Jesus.
Deepen our Gospel Fluency – We see how our individual lives, and the lives of those around us whom we are called to reach with the gospel, interact with Jesus’ mission and message so we can more readily apply the gospel to every person, situation, and every area of life. How does Matthew give us greater confidence in the work of God on our behalf? What does it tell us about how we are to respond to the Gospel?
Lastly, we know the Gospel radically changes the lives of individuals as lives are turned “upside down” but are really returned to their proper orientation with Jesus as King of His, our, and every Kingdom. Because of its metanarrative nature of the Gospel, all who hear it must respond either by receiving it as true and glorious or rejecting it favor of a lesser story. As such this series is also explicitly evangelistic. Our hope is those who do not know the mission and message of Jesus would hear and understand the Christian worldview. That they would reflect on their own lives in light of who Jesus is, and then respond to the offer of life with God in Christ leading to a lifelong reorientation to simply Trust Jesus now and into eternity.
Recent
Upside Down Kingdom: Mission & Message | Week 4 | Message on the Mount | Matthew 5:1-12
February 2nd, 2025
Upside Down Kingdom: Mission & Message | Week 3 | Mission Launch | Matthew 4:12-25:11
January 26th, 2025
Joshua 24 | Victories, Choices, and Lasting Legacies
January 22nd, 2025
Upside Down Kingdom: Mission & Message | Week 2 | Kingdom Coronation & Conflict | Matthew 3:13-4:11
January 21st, 2025
Deuteronomy 8 | Wilderness, Want, and the Pursuit of God's Provision
January 14th, 2025
Archive
2025
January
Numbers 23 | God is Never NeutralUpside Down Kingdom: Mission & Message | Matthew 3-7 | IntroductionUpside Down Kingdom: Mission & Message | Week 1 | Preparing for the King | Matthew 3:1-12Deuteronomy 8 | Wilderness, Want, and the Pursuit of God's ProvisionUpside Down Kingdom: Mission & Message | Week 2 | Kingdom Coronation & Conflict | Matthew 3:13-4:11Joshua 24 | Victories, Choices, and Lasting LegaciesUpside Down Kingdom: Mission & Message | Week 3 | Mission Launch | Matthew 4:12-25:11
2024
October
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