A Messiah Who Cautions His Disciples About Spiritual Blindness
Text: Matt. 16:1-12
Introduction
1. Illustrations: Most products we purchase have labels warning about improper use. I found a great list of these kinds of warnings. Believe it or not, these are all real.
a. A label on a snow sled which says: "Beware: sled may develop high speed under certain snow conditions."
b. A fishing lure, with a warning that reads: harmful if swallowed.
c. A warning on an electric router made for carpenters cautions: “This product not intended for use as a dental drill.”
d. A warning label found on a baby stroller cautions the user to “Remove child before folding”
e. A container of underarm deodorant says, “Caution: Do not spray in eyes”
f. A cartridge for a laser printer warns, “Do not eat toner”
g. A cardboard car sunshield that keeps sun off the dashboard warns, “Do not drive with sunshield in place”
2. We can laugh about these, and think, who would be foolish enough to need such warnings?
a. But apparently someone did something goofy enough, or some lawyer, thinks somebody is, or will be, foolish enough, or should we say, stupid enough, to think about eating toner from a laser printer cartridge, or driving with the sunshade in place.
b. Thankfully, God gives us warnings that make much more sense.
3. He cautions us about:
a. Being spiritual thrill seekers
b. False Teaching
c. Being spiritually insensitive
1. Read Matt. 16:1-12
Proposition: God cautions us about taking our eyes off of Him.
Transition: First, the Lord cautions us...
I. About Being Spiritual Thrill Seekers (1-4).
A. The Only Sign
1. For some people the concept of "you wouldn't recognize a sign if it bit you" is very applicable.
2. Matthew tells us, "One day the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, demanding that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority."
a. The Pharisees and Sadducees were strange bed fellows indeed.
b. The Pharisees were legalistic separatists who demanded obedience to the traditions passed down by previous rabbis.
c. The Sadducees were rich aristocrats who rejected the traditions of the Pharisees.
d. They accept only the first five books of the Bible and denied the existence of angels, spirits, any afterlife, and the resurrection.
e. Above all they hated each other deeply.
f. The only one they hated more than each other was Jesus.
g. The only thing they agreed upon was wanting to get rid of Jesus.
3. They had seen the miracles of Jesus.
a. In John's Gospel he uses the Greek word for "sign" showing that these signs indeed pointed to Jesus divinity.
b. However, they wanted something more; something that was obviously from heaven.
c. Maybe something like fire coming down from heaven similar to Elijah on Mount Carmel.
d. They came acting sincere, but saw them for the hypocrites that they were (Horton, 337).
e. Asking for a sign after the Lord has already revealed himself is testing him.
f. This passage refers not to those who genuinely fear God yet ask for signs as an assurance of God's promise, but to those who seek grounds to disbelieve. (Keener).
4. Here is how Jesus responded to them. He said, “You know the saying, ‘Red sky at night means fair weather tomorrow; red sky in the morning means foul weather all day.’ You know how to interpret the weather signs in the sky, but you don’t know how to interpret the signs of the times!"
a. Jesus was clearly frustrated with them. In Mark's account of this text (Mk. 8:14) he uses the word that is translated "he sighed deeply in his spirit."
b. The word means "to experience an emotional state of both grief and discouragement (Louw and Nidda, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Symantic Domains).
c. He tells them that it is absurd that they can interpret signs telling them what the weather will be like for the day, but they cannot see the obvious signs in front of them, meaning Jesus himself.
5. Finally, he tells them, "Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign, but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah.”
a. The language here points to Jesus resurrection.
b. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days, so Jesus would be in the tomb for three days but would rise from the dead.
c. In doing so he would triumph over the forces of darkness and prove beyond a shadow of doubt that he is the Messiah (Horton, 339).
d. "The sign of Jonah" is not some kind of sign that Jonah brings. Rather, Jonah is the sign.
e. His appearance was the sign to the people of Nineveh that his message was from the God, who had rescued him from death.
f. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead will be the sign of judgment to the generation that hears his message (Wilkins, 555).
B. Chasing A Blessing
1. Illustration: Years ago when Tina and I were pastoring our first church, the Brownsville revival was at its height. The leaders of the revival were doing a national tour and a couple from the church took me with them to one of the meetings in our area. At the end of the service we were invited to the floor of this large arena to receive prayer. As I made my way to the floor, like many other people, I was following Pastor Kilpatrick around wanting him to pray for me. My thinking was that he had some special annointing and only his prayers would be good enough. Finally, the Lord spoke to me and said, "stand still and I will send someone to pray for you." I did as the Lord commanded me and shortly thereafter two men came up to me and started praying for me. The next thing I knew I was laying on the floor looking up at the ceiling after having been slain in the Spirit. The lesson I learned that night is that we have to seek God and not people.
2. Spiritual highs can become idols for us.
a. Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith...
b. There is nothing wrong with spiritual highs in and of themselves.
c. God has given us emotions and he uses our emotions to bless us.
d. However, if we get to the point where we are chasing spiritual highs rather than seeking Jesus we fall into sin.
3. We cannot look to people to fill our needs.
a. Philippians 4:19 (NLT)
And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
b. People cannot meet your needs.
c. The latest spiritual fad cannot meet your needs.
d. The latest and greatest TV evangelist cannot meet you needs.
e. Only Jesus can meet your needs.
4. We need to stop seeking spiritual highs and start seeking Jesus.
a. Jeremiah 29:13 (NLT)
If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.
b. Jesus is all the spiritual high you need.
c. He will meet your spiritual needs.
d. He will meet your physical needs.
e. He will meet your emotional needs.
f. He will meet your financial needs.
g. Look to Jesus and you will find what you need.
Transition: Jesus also cautions us...
II. About False Teaching (5-6).
A. Watch Out
1. We need to be cautious about the teaching we listen to.
a. Not everything teaching out there, as good as it may seem, is correct.
b. People can make it sound good, but remember that the devil can make things seem better than they really are in truth.
c. Teachings must be consistent with the Word of God.
2. We can see this in what happens next with Jesus warning to his disciples.
3. Matthew tells us, "Later, after they crossed to the other side of the lake, the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring any bread."
a. The disciples cross from the Jewish western side of the lake to the desolate eastern side which was inhabited by Gentiles and Jews of mixed parentage.
b. They then discovered that they had forgotten to take along any bread, and it would be difficult to find a Jewish baker on the other side of the lake (Horton, 339).
c. Jesus sees a teachable moment, and uses it to warn his disciples about the false teaching of the religious leaders of their day.
4. Jesus tells them, "Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
a. Yeast was an appropriate metaphor for something that spreads; today we might employ the negative image of cancer.
b. The disciples' passive unbelief suggests that the threat of Pharisaic leaven is closer to them than they would have guessed (Keener).
c. The idea of yeast is one of permeation, and often of evil. Here the yeast represents the false teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
d. They had misled the common people and had prevented many of them from coming to Jesus.
e. Obviously they were still a threat to the disciples or he wouldn't have warned them (Horton, 339).
B. Be Careful Out There
1. Illustration: One of my all-time favorite movie lines is from the movie The Witness. An old Amish man named Mr. Eli Lapp, looks at Harrison Ford's character and says, "Now you be careful out there among them English!"
2. The Bible warns us that the last days will be filled with false teaching.
a. 1 Timothy 4:1 (NLT)
Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons.
b. Teaching that will turn us from the truth.
c. Teaching that will encourage us to take the easy way out.
d. Teaching that turn our hearts from Jesus.
3. The Bible warns us about teachings that appeal to our sinful nature.
a. 2 Timothy 4:3 (NLT)
For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.
b. Teaching that say that right is wrong.
c. Teachings that say wrong is right.
d. Teachings that clearly contradict the teachings of the Bible.
4. The best way to protect ourselves is to know what the Bible teaches.
a. 2 Timothy 3:16 (NLT)
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
b. The Bible teaches us to do what is right.
c. The Bible corrects us when we do what is wrong.
d. The Bible shows what to do and what not to do.
e. The best protection against false teaching is more Bible study.
Transition: Jesus also cautions us...
III. About Being Spiritual Insensitive (7-12).
A. Don't You Understand
1. The next six verses seem to prove the point that the more the things change the more they stay the same.
2. Matthew tells us, "At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread."
a. As usual, the disciples didn't grasp what Jesus was saying.
b. They thought that Jesus was talking about bread, and totally missed the fact that he was talking about the false teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
c. His prior use of yeast in the parable of the mystery of the kingdom of heaven should have prepared the disciples to understand that he was using it metaphorically again, but they are so preoccupied with their physical needs that they overlook the direction of Jesus’ spiritual teaching.
d. Discipleship to Jesus implies that they should be spiritually sensitive to his teaching, for they have received spiritual eyes and ears for understanding.
e. Their lack of understanding implies that they are not acting like true disciples; instead, they are acting like the crowds, or worse yet, like the Pharisees and Sadducees, who demand spectacular signs (Wilkins, 556).
3. Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, “You have so little faith! Why are you arguing with each other about having no bread? Don’t you understand even yet? Don’t you remember the 5,000 I fed with five loaves, and the baskets of leftovers you picked up? Or the 4,000 I fed with seven loaves, and the large baskets of leftovers you picked up?"
a. Here he associates their lack of understanding with a lack of faith.
b. Sometimes lack of understanding and lack of faith go hand in hand.
c. If we had a stronger faith we would understand more of what God is trying to tell us, and if we had a better understanding we wouldn't waver so much in our faith.
d. Jesus points out their lack of general understanding on the one hand, and their short memories on the other.
e. First, Jesus is disappointed that they didn't grasp what he was saying.
f. Second, he dumbfounded that they had already forgotten that he had twice feed multitudes of people.
g. The had witnessed both of these miracles and yet they were concerned about food?
4. He tells them, "Why can’t you understand that I’m not talking about bread? So again I say, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’”
a. After the reminding them of what he had done recently, he then repeats his warning hoping that this time they would get it.
b. But Jesus patiently leads these fumbling disciples into the meaning that he intends them to understand.
c. Their openness to his teaching about the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees leads to their understanding the threat that these religious leaders are to Jesus and his mission (Wilkins, 556).
5. After this, Matthew tells us, "Then at last they understood that he wasn’t speaking about the yeast in bread, but about the deceptive teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
a. Now they understand that Jesus was talking figuratively about a spiritual matter.
b. He is saying that the evil, false teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees spreads quickly and affects a multitude of people.
c. He was telling them to stay away from them and to reject their false teaching.
d. He wants them to understand that just because a teaching sounds spiritual doesn't mean it is correct.
B. Spiritual Blindness
1. Illustration: On November 30, 1991 fierce winds from a freakish dust storm triggered a massive freeway pileup along Interstate 5 near Coalinga, California. At least 14 people died and dozens more were injured as topsoil whipped by 50 mile-per-hour winds reduced visibility to zero. The afternoon holocaust left a three-mile trail of twisted and burning vehicles, some stacked on top of one another 100 yards off the side of the freeway. Unable to see their way, dozens of motorists drove blindly ahead into disaster.
2. When we allow ourselves to become spiritually blind we are headed for disaster.
a. Isaiah 59:10 (NLT)
We grope like the blind along a wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. Even at brightest noontime, we stumble as though it were dark. Among the living, we are like the dead.
b. When we become spiritually blind we can no longer hear the Lord's voice.
c. When we become spiritually blind we can no longer see His truth.
d. When we become spiritually blind we are no longer sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
3. We live in a world of people who are spiritually blind.
a. 2 Corinthians 4:4 (NLT)
Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
b. They would rather do their own thing than to follow Jesus.
c. They would rather listen to their own voice than the Word of the living God.
d. They would rather depend on their own goodness than to accept the salvation offered to them in Christ.
4. The only cure for spiritual blindness is coming to Jesus.
a. Luke 4:18-19 (NLT)
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free,
19 and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”
b. Jesus has come to open the eyes of the blind.
c. Jesus has come so that we could see his truth.
d. Jesus has come so that we could receive his healing.
e. Jesus has come to save us from ourselves.
Conclusion
1. Jesus cautions us about:
a. Spiritual thrill seeking
b. False Teaching
c. Spiritual Insensitivity
2. What caution do you need to heed today?
3. Come to Jesus and live!
