Following the Way of Jesus Series on Matthew's Gospel
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God is with us! - And things begin to change!
God is with us! - And things begin to change!
Matthew 4:12-25
You cannot have a genuine encounter with God and remain the same. If God is with us then things begin to change!
Archbishop Fulton Sheen of New York was at a dinner party along with Richard Burton, a well-known Shakespearean actor. The host of the dinner party invited each of them to recite Psalm 23 for the audience. Cardinal Dolan writes the following about their recitation: “Richard Burton did so with the precision, the cadence, and drama one would expect from a Shakespearean actor, and the guests applauded vigorously.” Fulton Sheen then read the psalm with obvious devotion, meaning, and depth, and the guests remained in reverential silence. The host commented, “The actor knew the psalm, the preacher knew the Shepherd.”
Knowing the Shepherd; knowing God is more than merely knowing about Him.
John Wesley discovered this - born and brought up in a Church of England manse at Epworth, having godly parents in Samuel and Susannah Wesley and having gone through ordination and served as a missionary to the Indians in Georgia, USA, Wesley despaired of salvation - “I went to America to convert the Indians; but, oh, who shall convert me?” In May 24, 1738, John’s seeking for the grace of God ended in a meeting house on Aldersgate Street in London. He wrote in his journal that now-famous account of his conversion: “In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
Things changed for John the Baptist:
Notice I did not say “things begin to change for the better”! They will, in time and ultimately, but like for us all, life has its ups and downs
John’s star was waning after the heady days of the crowds gathering to hear him preach and the many who were baptised with a view to repentance for the forgiveness of sins. But now, as he knew himself, he “must decrease” as Jesus must “increase”. His time was coming to a close!
After years of faithful service of God in preparation for making a way for the Saviour, he ended up “in prison” for offending the king’s wife, and ultimately he would lose his head as a result of a rash promise at a birthday party. Things certainly changed for John, but ultimately only Heaven would be his compensation.
John’s fate made me reflect on the words of Jacques in Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” :
“ All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.
At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms;
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lin’d,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well sav’d, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”
Everything must change however God does not change!
God’s promises to us in Jesus do not change and so, however unfavourably or favourable your changes have been “You can endure change by pondering His permanence.” - Max Lucado
2. Things changed for Jesus:
“When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
John’s imprisonment was a sign-indictor to Jesus that His time of public ministry had dawned.
The “forerunner” had left the “stage” and now Jesus became centre-stage.
And all this was ordained by God who over 600 years before this had predicted it through “the prophet Isaiah”.
Notice:
(a). Jesus’ calling was to leave home - the loving and quiet confines of the domestic scene where his mother, brother and sisters all lived and manual the work setting in the carpenter’s shop, to which the family owed its livelihood and now he was out in the world, letting God’s light shne before men, bring hope and salvation to those “living in the land of the shadow of death.”
(b). Jesus’ calling was to preach - “From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
Meaning that His primary calling was not to heal not to minister to the needs of the poor or to work for social justice and reform.
His primary calling was to command people to get ready to encounter God, which as John the Baptist had said before Him, is possible through repentance - the turning around and chaning of one’s ways so that we can begin to walk with God as citizens of His Kingdom.
We must not think of repentance as merely a negative thing - yes there is a turning around; a leaving of the old ways but it is also imensely comforting - change is possible; you can begin again and you can entrust yourself into the loving arms of God.
As C.S Lewis once reminded us “God does not want something from us. He simply wants us”.
3. Things changed for the Disciples:
When “Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”
(a), They became followers of Jesus.
All of these men had wonderful encounters with God because they accepted the call to follow Jesus!
(i). Simon Peter:
Not that these were always comnfortable, as “Simon Peter” discovered when “One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.” (Luke 5:1-11). - Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”
Do you know that feeling? When God’s “great light” shines in us and searches our souls and troubles our conscience and reveals the true intent and motives of the heart?
I am “a sinful man” and like the tax colelctor in the Parable of Luke 18, we can only says “God have mercy on me a sinner.”
(ii). Andrew:
Andrew is one of the 4 most prominent Apostles among the 12 (see Mark 13:13; John 12:20-22) but less well known to readers of the Bible. He is only mentioned 12 times in the New Testament, and 4 of those times are simply lists of the 12 apostles. Like Peter he was a fisherman and he had earlier been a follower of John the Baptist (see John 1:35-42) .
Andrew was a God-fearing man (Grk: Andreas comes from aner or andros meaning manly or courageous man!) and indeed the Byzantine Church refer to Andrew as the “Protoklete” or “first called” suggesting he was the original disciple.
His 2 BIG moments in the gospel are when he brought the boy with “with five small barley loaves and two small fish” to Jesus as a response to Jesus’ command to feed the crowd, but his faith was not particularly hopeful when he remarked in qualifying his action “but how far will they go among so many?’” (John 6) and then perhpas the most significant fact about him recorded in the New Testament is that he was the first disciple to call Jesus “Messiah” - “Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.” —John 1:35–42 .
Eusebius of Caesarea reports that Origen informed him that he preched the gospel in Scythia, an ancient region in central Eurasia. And this tradition along with an account of his death is recorded of Andrew, in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs which says: “He preached the gospel to many Asiatic nations; but on his arrival at Edessa he was taken and crucified on a cross, the two ends of which were fixed transversely in the ground. Hence the derivation of the term, St. Andrew’s Cross.”
(iii) “James son of Zebedee and his brother John”
Of James and particularly of John there is much more to say but the chief characteristic of both is that these were close companions of Jesus, particualrly John who is described as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”!
However it had not always been thus, Mark tells us that to these two Jesus gave the name “Boanerges” which means “sons of thunder”(Mk 3:19) and the reasons appears to be that there was an occasion when Jesus and His disciples were traveling through Samaria on their way to Jerusalem, looking for a place of overnight hospitality but they experienced opposition from the villagers who had a long standing hatreed of the Jews. The text says, “When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, ‘Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?’” (Luke 9:54). Jesus rebuked the brothers, and they all went to another village.
James and John’s response to the Samaritans reveals a fervency, impetuosity, and anger that could properly be called “thunderous”—and we can be sure that there were other times when James and John lived up to their nickname but time with Jesus and the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit tempered and changed that. James was the first apostle to be killed (Acts 12:2), while John was the last to die of old age. John’s letters, written late in his life, hint that he still possessed a fervency of spirit, especially in his denunciations of apostates and deceivers (1 John 2:22; 2 John 7; 3 John 10). However, it is a fervency tempered by love with 1 John alone using the word “love” over 40 times. The “Son of Thunder” became the “Apostle of Love.”
Matthew may leave you with the impression that this was Jesus’ first encounter with these four men.
However, John recorded that some of the Twelve (at least Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael) had been with Jesus during his earlier ministry (John 1:35–51; 2:2, 12, 17; 3:22; 4:1–2, 27–33). Jesus had known his disciples for some time and had even seen them in ministry situations. Thus, their decision to follow him was not hastily made.
Jesus will not force himself on anyone. Your decision to follow Jesus must be freely and readilly given but once taken it will not be without cost but you can be vertain neither will it be without reward!
(b). They became fishers of men:
These men became “fishers of men” - a position of privilege requiring great skill and the qualities of patience; persistence; insight
Jesus used terminology that would inspire them because of its relationship to their life experience. These men knew how to fish—for fish. So they had some concept of the task to which he was calling them. However, Jesus would still need to transform them into fishers of men. And through His teaching He taught and trained them how to do this and his teaching continues to inspire and train us today.
They were to BE WITH JESUS and by being with Him they would BECOME LIKE JESUS and as a result they would DO WHAT JESUS DID! Catch precious souls in the net of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus wants them to be passionate for the things He was passionate for. As He said, “I have come to seek and to save that which was lost”(Luke 19:11) and that’s is what He calls us to do!
This is a reminder to us that Jesus primarily wants our companionship and commitment - Mark 3:14 says, “He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach.”
4. Things changed for the World!
“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.”
There is both a continuity and a discontinuity between the ministries of John and Jesus.
(a). Continuity - The Message was the same!
Matthew portrays Jesus as picking up the baton from John when he was imprisoned, Indeed he preached exactly the same message of repentance (4:17 cf. 3:2).
(b). Discontinuity - The Impact was different!
There is also a clear distinction between the ministries of John and Jesus. John himself described this distinction (Mtt 3:11–12). All John could do was to preach and baptise people in water but Jesus could preach and “baptise people in the Holy Spirit and fire”
This was the dawning of a new era for the world; the centuries-old fulfilment of prophecy (Isa. 9:61-9;Ezek 37 “valley of dry bones”), which prophesied that the northern country so trampled by pagan armies and living in gloomy, depressed darkness, will now enjoy the messianic light!
And when the “great light” shone in the “land of the shadow of death” great things began to happen.
The world was changing, from Galilee in the north with its 200+ villages, each with hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of people to Judah and Jerusalem in teh south, on a preaching tour that lasted several months and went s far north as Syria as as far East as “beyond the Jordan” as well as throughout Israel, “news about Him spread” and everyone wanted to see and meet him ad bring their needy to him for healing!
Preaching and healing and the deliverance, the power given specifically to combat the demonic powers of darkness (see Luke 9:1; 10:17–19; Acts 8:6–7; cf. Eph. 6:12). was on display here.
Peoples lives were turned around as they received “the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven” and that’s because when you encounter God in Jesus Christ - the promised child, the Messiah whose name will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace” whose reign on David’s throne in justice and righteousness would have no end had come and the world would never be the same again!
The healing and deliverance miracles were not an end in themselves, there purpose primarily was to attest to the authority of the messenger and his message, validating His claim to be the Messiah, and the message he preached - Hebrews 2:3-4 “after it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will”
John MacArthur points out that Jesus’ miracles “accomplished 4 things above and beyond the immediate and obvious benefit to those who were healed. First, they proved that He was divine, because no mere human being could do such things. “Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me,” Jesus told Philip; “otherwise believe on account of the works themselves” (John 14:11). Second, the wondrous healings showed that God is compassionate toward those who suffer. Third, the miracles showed that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah, because the Old Testament predicted that the Messiah would perform miracles. When John the Baptist was imprisoned and began to have doubts about Jesus’ messiahship, Jesus told John’s disciples, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them” (Matt. 11:4–5)... Fourth, the miracles proved that the coming kingdom was a reality, the wonders and signs being a foretaste of the marvelous realm God has in store for those who are His. “And Jesus was going about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of sickness” (Matt. 9:35). A short while later Jesus committed the same message and accompanying powers to His disciples: “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons; freely you received, freely give” (Matt. 10:7–8).”
The good news (Gospel) of His healing ministry is encapusalted in Matthew 8:17 where Isaiah 53:4 is quoted, indicating the Messiah-King’s healing is only an outward symbol of the inner healing based on forgiveness of sins, as at the cross He “took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows” so that “by His wounds you are healed”.
To encouter God in Jesus Christ means healing for your soul and ultimately in the “new heavens and the new earth “ for your body where there is no “sickness or pain” and a glofied body awaits you.
Conclusion, Challenge & Application:
Good news! - Today things can change for you!
We used to sing a hymn years ago - I have decided to follow Jesus. It has these great and chanllenging lines:
“I have decided to follow Jesus;...no turning back, no turning back.
Though none go with me, I still will follow;...no turning back, no turning back.
The world behind me, the cross before me;...no turning back, no turning back.”
I started with John Wesley and as we draw to a close let us hear from him again: “I want to know one thing, the way to heaven; how to land safe on that happy shore. God Himself has condescended to teach the way; for this end He came from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. Give me that book! At any price give me the Book of God!” ― John Wesley.
However let us also remember that there would be many of that "large crowd” who did not believe in Him.
They listened to what He said, watched what He did, and received temporary blessings.
But they did not accept the One who spoke and who healed, whose words and works not only give blessing but eternal life.
How tragic to come so close to the Saviour and not be saved!
Let us stand to make a decision to “follow Jesus” - perhaps for the first time or as a new determined resolve! Let us pray!