A few years ago, a major Multinational company was looking for a new Marketing Director.
After much advertising and many applications, three candidates entered the final selection process: A mathematician, a statistician and a lawyer.
The first to be invited in for the final interview was the mathematician and the Managing Director asked him a simple question: What is 2+2. The mathematician was surprised, thought about it for a bit, wondered if it might be a trick question and then simply answered 4.
The Managing Director looked at the Board, shook his head and thanked him for coming, but he wasn’t the candidate they were looking for.
The statistician was the next in and the Managing Director asked him too the simple question: What is 2+2. He paused, thought about it for a bit and then replied that statistically it was a number between 3 and 5. The Managing Director smiled and Board were quite impressed. The candidate was thanked and ushered out.
The last candidate, the lawyer was then invited in to the interview and the Managing Director asked him too the simple question: What is 2+2. Without batting an eyelid he replied: “What do you want it to be?” He was promptly hired on the spot.
We might call it creative accounting – sometimes things don’t always add up.
Sometimes Sermons don’t Add Up! They typically teach based on misconceptions.
Matthew 11.2-6 – John’s imprisonment and question
Matthew 11.7-15
Misconceptions of this passage
1. Standing Against Our Enemies
A. Satan – 1 Peter 5.8
B. Our flesh (sin nature) – 1 Corinthians 9.27
When do we need to practice aggressive faith?
When experiencing difficult days
We must not quit when things become difficult, we must rise up and conquer in Jesus name. We are soldiers in the army of the Lord.
2. The Kingdom Suffers Violence.
a. There are 2 opinions here:
1) Those that received the message of the Kingdom were violently treated in persecutions.
2) The description of those desiring all that God & heaven has for them.
b. Luke 16:16 "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. (NIV)
3. Jesus is telling us about the attitudes of those that heard John's preaching.
a. Since John began to preach "the kingdom of God" the response had been a violent one by those who were opposed to it, & by those who were enthusiastic about his preaching. Those who were touched by his message violently, enthusiastically seized it & wouldn’t let it go.
b. Their response to the message was so passionate, it's compared to violence
Let’s Look Deeper
Micah 2.12-13
12I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob;
I will gather the remnant of Israel;
I will set them together
like sheep in a fold,
like a flock in its pasture,
a noisy multitude of men.
13 He who opens the breach goes up before them;
they break through and pass the gate,
going out by it.
Their king passes on before them,
the LORD at their head.
I. The Role of the Shepherd (Psalm 23)
Philip Keller was a sheep rancher. In his book, "A Shepherd Looks at the Twenty-third Psalm," he says that sheep they require more attention than any other livestock. They just can’t take care of themselves.
Unless their shepherd makes them move on, sheep will actually ruin a pasture, eating every blade of grass, until finally a fertile pasture is nothing but barren soil. Sheep are near-sighted & very stubborn, but easily frightened. An entire flock can be stampeded by a jack rabbit.
They have little means of defense. They’re timid, feeble creatures. Their only recourse is to run if no shepherd is there to protect them. Sheep have no homing instincts. A dog, horse, cat, or a bird can find its way home, but when a sheep gets lost, it’s a goner unless someone rescues it.
So the over-riding principle of Psalm 23 is that sheep can’t make it without a shepherd.
Feed – makes me lie down in green pastures
Lead
To places of food and (still) waters
Places of rest – This is a picture of shepherds settling their sheep in the night and the ensuing morning
Protect
Predators (David – lion/bear – giant)
Night Time Vulnerability – Needed a good wall of protection – makeshift rock wall on side of mountain
The next morning he would make a hole/breach in the wall and lead the sheep out; he steps through the “gate” and the sheep follow closely behind him
The sheep have been penned up all night and are anxious to get out of their quarters – they push and shove in their excitement further breaching the gate in their excitement to get to pasture
They final burst out into open spaces to follow the shepherd
Care for –
Anoints head with oil – medicine
Seeks when lost (Luke 15)
I love Phillip Keller’s details about a “cast-down” sheep and what the shepherd does to get him back on his feet. “When sheep lay on their back, gas begins to collect in their stomach. It hardens the stomach, cuts off the air passage and they suffocate. Not only that, their legs go numb in that position. They need a shepherd to restore them. When a shepherd restores a cast down sheep, it doesn’t just happen immediately. It takes time. The shepherd lovingly massages the four legs to get some circulation back. Then he begins to talk in a reassuring tone to the sheep, "You’re going to make it." Then he gently turns the sheep over and lifts it up because it cannot stand up on its own. He’ll hold the animal there while the sheep begins to get some equilibrium. The blood begins to flow in the legs again and it begins to get some stability. When the shepherd is sure that the sheep can stand on its own, then the shepherd will lovingly have the sheep follow him home.”
What a picture! When you’re on your back and the emotional pain of guilt, grief or grudges are overwhelming you, will you remember that the Lord is your Shepherd? He lovingly comes with tender hands and reassuring words, picks us up and sets us up straight until we can get on our feet again and then says, “Okay, now follow Me home."
In Micah 2.12-13 – King and Breach-Maker are the same – Messiah
David Flusser found that in Rabbinic literature the King and Breach-Maker were two different people – King = Messiah, branch/son of David but the Breach-Maker was Elijah
Yeshua (Jesus) adjusts Micah 2.12-13 to tie in John the Baptist (Elijah) with him
The Rabbinic interpretation – Kingdom was breaking forth, not suffering violence
People of the kingdom are Breaking OUT of captivity, not suffering violence
Luke 16.16 (parallel passage)
"The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it.
Two simultaneous things are happening:
Kingdom of God is breaking into the world as water through a broken dam
Individuals within the Kingdom are finding Freedom/Liberty
II. The Breach-maker is John the Baptist – he makes the breach and goes through first – he makes the way (Matthew 11.12)
A. He is in the Role of Elijah of Malachi 3.1 and 4.5-6
1 "Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.
5 "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 6And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction."
B. Yeshua (Jesus) is the King who follows John through the Breach, Leading his Sheep
III. Yeshua (Jesus) and the Kingdom of Heaven/God
A. The Kingdom is Yeshua’s (Jesus’) Movement (see the work of David Flusser)
John Hess Yoder writes in Leadership magazine: While serving as a missionary in Laos, I discovered an illustration of the kingdom of God. Before the colonialists imposed national boundaries, the kings of Laos and Vietnam reached an agreement on taxation in the border areas. Those who ate short-grain rice, built their houses on stilts, and decorated them with Indian-style serpents were considered Laotians. On the other hand, those who ate long-grain rice, built their houses on the ground, and decorated them with Chinese-style dragons were considered Vietnamese. The exact location of a person’s home was not what determined his or her nationality. Instead, each person belonged to the kingdom whose cultural values he or she exhibited. So it is with us: we live in the world, but as part of God’s kingdom, we are to live according to his kingdom’s standards and values.
B. Events Regarding the Kingdom of Heaven
He called his disciples in the days of John
Since then his kingdom is breaking out
It is not just futuristic – it is here now
Conclusion
At a Farmer’s Market, there was a covey of quail walking around a pole. They had strings attached to their legs and walked in circles hour after hour. A customer purchased the birds and then cut the strings off their legs, giving them their freedom. Yet, in spite of the strings being cut, they continued to walk around the pole in the same circles. They did not know they were free and could go in a new direction. The man had to chase them away from the pole before they understood that they were free.
• Yeshua (Jesus) is King
He has been our Redeemer/Savior
He is Lord and King
• He has the power to break open:
Prison Walls of sin
Egyptian/Babylonian Captivities
• Someone prepares the way for him
John the Baptist
We today – Matthew 28.18-20
• Once the breach is open we follow him to great rewards
He leads
We MUST follow
