The Big Picture of the Savior

This morning, I was more drawn to a summary of the next few paragraphs that end Matthew 4 than to focus on any one of them. It is like watching God set the scene for the next three years of Jesus’ life and ministry, along with his training of the Twelve. 

First, I love the way Matthew regularly refers to prophecy. In this case, “that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled”, meaning that Jesus was the light of the world the prophets had spoken about. He is still the light of the world today, and we who believe in him are the light of the world in him, branches of light shining from the vine of Christ. 

Second, this has really been settling in for me, that Jesus’ message was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Some people downplay repentance in the mistaken idea that it is a “good work” that can’t be added to faith. However, when the proclamation of the gospel is, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” our faith says, “I believe I need to repent and trust in Jesus in order to enter the kingdom”, and so “the obedience of faith” does so! 

Third, Matthew doesn’t speak of Jesus’ first encounter with Peter and Andrew, and James and John, so we are picking up after they had already spend some time with him in what is sometimes called the “Come and See” phase of discipleship. After some weeks or months of getting to know Jesus, they had returned to their careers as fishermen, and now Jesus finds them and calls them to “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”. Peter and Andrew “Immediately they left their nets and followed him,” and James and John, “Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” They left their possessions, they left their livelihood, and they left their family to follow Christ. And they did so… IMMEDIATELY! 

One of the biggest conflicts in church life for me has been dealing with professing Christians who are not willing to leave their “nets” (possessions) to follow Jesus, they are not willing to leave their “boats” (livelihood plans) to follow Christ, and they are not willing to leave their “father” (parents, family, friends) to follow the Savior. What is particularly sad about watching people forsake Jesus (while maintaining good church appearances) is that the family members and friends they follow instead never see someone truly living by faith so they can hear the “good news of the kingdom” and know what it looks like to have eternal life. 

Fourth, Matthew then adds a note that we must factor in to every scene that follows throughout the rest of the gospels, that everywhere Jesus went, and in every town or place he did ministry, he was “proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom”. As I have seen a few times recently, “the gospel” of North American Christianity is not “the gospel of the kingdom” as Jesus taught it. It is the individualistic invite-Jesus-into-your-heart message that makes it sound like Jesus comes to us instead of us being “delivered out of the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.” Because this view of the gospel is so me-centered, people find it easy to make a profession of “accepting Christ” into their lives without actually leaving their lives of sin and entering Jesus’ kingdom! They also find it easy to walk away when it is no longer helping the me-centered person feel satisfied in their flesh. 

Fifth, we can’t get past this reality that everywhere Jesus went he was “healing every disease and every affliction among the people.” Peter would say in his Day of Pentecost sermon that Jesus was “a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know”. That was the purpose of the signs then, to attest to Israel that Jesus was the Messiah God had promised. I believe that God can and will do this whenever he pleases, but I do not believe it is an on-demand thing. And it definitely does not belong in money-making religious ventures that give Christianity a bad name. 

At the end of Matthew 4, I find it interesting that we go from this brief description (3 paragraphs) of Jesus starting his ministry, and then we move into the 3 chapters of the Sermon on the Mount. Since the Beatitudes Jesus uses to introduce that message are so familiar to me, I am curious how God will lead me through this section so I am called to put it into practice in Higher-and-Deeper ways. I trust he still has some surprises for how he will apply this to my life! 

For today, I know that I truly want to be a disciple who follows Christ in everything, who keeps learning to fish for men by faith even when sight is a bit discouraging, who proclaims the “good news of the kingdom” no matter what hateful laws governments make to stop us, and who lives as the light of the world and the salt of the earth that Jesus is just about to talk about. And all while knowing that the days are growing dark and short until the return of our Savior, and I want people to hear about my Savior by whatever means we have at our disposal to share the good news.

 

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)