INTRODUCTION
• Have you ever been criticized before for something you did that was different than what others were doing?
• Have you ever faced criticism when you have led ministries within the church?
• You are not alone; even Jesus was criticized in about every direction.
• Today we will begin a five-week series entitled "Criticizing Jesus- The Words of Jesus."
• This five-week series will look at the criticisms Jesus faced during his ministry.
• What does each criticism reveal about Jesus's" character, priorities, authority, and mission?
• A survey of the Gospels will show you that Jesus took a lot of criticism: from Pharisees, scribes, Herodians, Romans, and even from members of his own family.
• Some of the criticism was surprisingly harsh, and yet He kept preaching and teaching the kingdom and being obedient to God.
• Each criticism of Jesus gives us a unique perspective on his life and ministry.
• First, it shows us how his contemporaries viewed Him: they seemed either afraid of the consequences of his teachings or angry with Him over His teachings.
• Second, we are given an opportunity to learn more about Jesus, both from what they were criticizing and how He responded to the criticism.
• The title of the message today is JOY, surprisingly, not CRITICISM! 😀
• The reason for the title is when Jesus was confronted with criticism, Jesus went to the heart of the criticism.
• Sometimes in life, we face legitimate reasons to be criticized; other times, the critic is the issue.
• Of course, with Jesus, the critic was ALWAYS the issue!
• Today you can open your bible to Matthew 9:14-17.
• I will read the passage.
Matthew 9:14–17 (NET 2nd ed.)
14 Then John’s disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don’t fast?”
15 Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot mourn while the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and then they will fast.
16 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment because the patch will pull away from the garment and the tear will be worse.
17 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the skins burst and the wine is spilled out and the skins are destroyed. Instead they put new wine into new wineskins and both are preserved.”
SERMON
I. Go with the flow?
• This last controversy recorded in this period of Jesus's Galilean ministry bears evidence that the roots of this criticism flowed from something that happened just before this event.
• This criticism seems to have its roots in the time Jesus went into the home of Matthew right after Jesus called Matthew to follow Him.
• The Pharisees criticized Jesus for eating at the home of a tax collector and all of his sinner friends.
• Jews are not supposed to do that and should not hang out with traitorous tax collectors.
• Jesus was able to shut the Pharisees down, so the Pharisees did something you do when it gets handed to you; you look for allies.
• They found some with of all people, the disciples of John the Baptist.
• The Pharisees had attempted to set John and his disciples against Jesus; however, John had unapologetically proclaimed in John 3:25-ff that Jesus must increase and he decrease.
• John was the one who was making the path for Jesus!
• Why would the disciples of John ask this question?
• John the Baptist was now in prison.
• Some of his faithful disciples were still taking the time to comfort John while he was in prison and continue carrying out his slowly dying ministry.
• Some of John's followers were still seeking to keep John'sJohn's ministry going even after John's death. (Matthew 14:12; Acts 19:1-6.
• This is the backdrop of the criticism Jesus faced.
• The Pharisees seemed to have some success with the disciples of John concerning their criticism of Jesus.
• Look at verse 14.
Matthew 9:14 (NET 2nd ed.)
14 Then John’s disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don’t fast?”
• John the Baptist was known for a strict, ascetic lifestyle (Matthew 3:4), so his disciples were also most likely strict in their self-discipline.
• When they observed Jesus and his disciples, they thought they saw a group of people without self-control.
• They asked him, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?"
• It's worth noting that at this moment, at least, the disciples of John the Baptist identify more strongly with the Pharisees than with the followers of Jesus.
• So this is their criticism: "We are fasting, and you are not."
• Fasting was and still is an essential part of Judaism.
• Jewish people fast each year on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:27).
• During the time of Jesus, it was common practice for observant Jews to fast two days a week: Mondays and Thursdays.
• The fast would go from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., after which one was allowed to eat food (William Barclay, The Gospel of Mark, The Daily Study Bible [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975], 58–59).
• But it appears that on the commonly expected days of religious observant fasting, Jesus and his disciples did not fast.
• Jesus, why are you not going with the flow?
• As we go through the series, it's important not to turn Jesus's critics into a straw man.
• They were doing what was the culturally expected behavior for the observant believer.
• Think: what culturally accepted practice today would Jesus abstain from?
• Would you criticize Him for it?
• Sometimes you will have to decide whether or not to go with the flow.
• Jesus could have avoided a lot of criticism had He simply done things the way everyone else did them.
• Does going with the flow bring joy?
• In verse 15, Jesus shares an important principle we need to grasp that affects our joy in life.
Matthew 9:15 (NET 2nd ed.)
15 Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot mourn while the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and then they will fast.
II. Understand the context of life.
• John the Baptist's followers were in mourning, and they were vulnerable.
• The Pharisees picked an excellent time to play on their emotions.
• The disciples of John were in mourning because John was in prison.
• Because of their deep grief, they fasted while Jesus ate and spent time with the sinners.
• When Jesus answers John's disciples, He does it out of gentleness; Jesus knew these men were not seeking to trap Him or to try to make Jesus look bad; they were seeking honest answers.
• These followers were misled.
• His response is quite telling.
• First, he doesn't deny that they're right: his disciples are not fasting.
• Instead, he says, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?" (Matthew 9:15).
• "Aren't we supposed to be having a celebration?"
• In Jewish culture at the time, the wedding was the celebration of a lifetime.
• The couple would not leave after the ceremony for a honeymoon; instead, there would be a weeklong festival at their home.
• It was so important that the rabbis had made an official ruling that "all in attendance on the bridegroom are relieved of all religious observances which would lessen their joy" (Barclay, The Gospel of Mark, 59).
• Jesus's response to the criticism is to inform John's disciples that the event of a lifetime is present with them, and just as when two people get married, and everyone pauses from their everyday routines (including spiritual disciplines), so too when people are around Jesus, they just want to celebrate.
• The Jewish wedding was probably the most joyful of celebrations in their difficult lives.
• Have you ever envisioned Jesus as the life of the party?
• Or following Jesus as a life of continual joy, akin to a weeklong festival?
• Only instead of a week, it is a lifetime of joy.
• That'sJohn's what Jesus offers to those who follow him, which isn't flippantly offered.
• It isn't hidden under a table for no one to see—it's right there.
• The disciples of John and the Pharisees saw it and were confused.
• And Jesus didn't hide it in his response; he highlighted it.
• It is important to note, of course, that fasting, mourning, and longing for Jesus's return became part of his followers' practice after his ascension, as Jesus predicted in verse 15.
• Do you want joy? It is found in Jesus!
• Jesus does say there will be a time for mourning at the end of verse 15.
• This is the first public allusion to His death and departure,
• In John 3:14 in His conversation with Nicodemus, He privately alludes to His upcoming death on a cross.
• I wonder how HIS disciples felt about the statement at the end of verse 15?
• Did they feel the chill running up their spine when they heard this, or were they so lost in the moment, the comment went over their heads?
• Jesus's answer in verse 15 would hit home hard with John's disciples because Joh had called Jesus the bridegroom and he himself a friend of the bridegroom.
• Joy can be found in understanding the context of life.
• Who are you following, and where will you go?
• Too many Christians live their lives in perpetual mourning.
• Honestly, as was the case with John'sJohn's disciples, it may seem with good reason.
• One has to decide life; who are or what will you allow to steal your joy in Jesus?
• There will be times of sorrow, but there is joy in the mourning with Jesus.
• DO NOT LET ANYTHING OR ANYONE STEAL YOUR JOY; YOU BELONG TO JESUS.
• DO NOT LET SATAN WIN NO MATTER WHAT FORM HE SHOWS UP IN!
• Jesus continues in verses 16-17.
Matthew 9:16–17 (NET 2nd ed.)
16 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment because the patch will pull away from the garment and the tear will be worse.
17 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the skins burst and the wine is spilled out and the skins are destroyed. Instead they put new wine into new wineskins and both are preserved.”
III. A key component to joy.
• Jesus concludes His answer to the criticism by offering three figures of speech to make a point.
• First, by speaking of patching an old garment.
• Let's look at these figures of speech from the concept of the old and new life.
• The first illustration drives home the point that when you try to patch your old life with some pieces of the new, the old life will be torn worse than before the patch.
• In computer programing and security, they use patches to fix security leaks and other issues; however, with garments putting a new piece of cloth on an old garment will not do the trick.
• Too many people seek to patch the pain of their life.
• No joy is found in doing that, only more pain.
• Even with software, after so many patches, you need a complete update of the OS.
• Jesus goes on to compare the life of following him to new wine.
• "Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved" (Matthew 9:17).
• In this second response to the critics, Jesus pleads for flexibility.
• Today, wine comes in glass bottles (or cardboard boxes!).
• It is pressurized and sealed.
• Back in the time of Jesus, it came in bags of leather. ( Drank out of the neck of the animal skin and tied the legs so it could be carried like a backpack.)
• When they put it in the wineskin, it was still young wine with active yeast and ongoing fermentation, which means gas was being created and expansion was occurring.
• If they put that into a hardened, rigid leather skin, the bag would break as the gas forces expanded, and all would be lost.
• So new wine is put in new wineskin because it is more pliable.
• Jesus appeals: "What you are seeing is new wine, so have the flexibility to accept these followers of mine and their unorthodox practices."
• In our day and age, when habits so quickly become traditions, and traditions become pillars of faith, it's worth asking: Which part of this story do we identify with the most?
• John's followers and the Pharisees were trying to stuff new life into old skins.
• That will eventually blow up one's life in not such a good way.
• Jesus concludes by saying new wine needs to go into new skins.
• Your new life cannot go into your old life; your new life needs to be put into new life; that is where true joy is experienced, not by trying to patch the old with the new, nor by trying to live the new through the old!
CONCLUSION
• Life with Jesus is a life of joy!
› Our application for today is: Following Jesus is such a new lifestyle that the old models don't fit—and this is cause for celebration.
