“Your King Comes To You” [Matt's Messages]

“Your King Comes To You”

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

Palm Sunday :: March 29, 2026

Matthew 21:1-11 & Zechariah 9:9

King Jesus has a plan to go public in a big way.

For three years, Jesus has been in the public eye, but He has been somewhat secretive about His full royal identity.

He has taught up and down the Judean and Galilean hillsides, with unmatched authority. He has done many miracles which were sign-posts of His divinity. He has clashed with the Jewish religious authorities.  

But He has also been, at times, somewhat “cagey” about Who He truly is. Not because He’s lying about Who He is, but because He wants people to figure it out for themselves, to not get or spread the wrong idea, and to wait for just the right moment to go public in the biggest way.

And that moment is right now.

Jesus has set His face like flint and led His disciples right up to Jerusalem as so many other Jews were gathering in that capitol city (often called “Zion” for the little mountain it’s seated on) for the coming feast of Passover–that yearly festival commemorating Israel’s rescue from Egypt. When God saved them from Pharaoh. Fifteen hundred years before, when the LORD killed all the firstborn of all their enemies but passed over all the firstborn of Israel whose doorways were marked by the blood of the lamb.

Jesus has a plan to go public this day in a big way.

This is clear by this little mission He sends these two disciples on. Look at verse 1.

“As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away’” (vv.1-3).

Interesting, huh?! I don’t know if this is His supernatural foreknowledge at work or if He has secretly prearranged this in a more natural way, but Jesus clearly has a plan that He is putting into action. These two guys are to go to the next village on their way up to Jerusalem, and there will be two donkeys. One will be female, a mother. And the other will be her male child, a colt. 

Mark and Luke tell us that the younger donkey had never been sat upon. Good thing his momma’s with him to calm him down. We don’t need a bucking bronco donkey for this event! 

But the Lord does “need” these two donkeys. He’s got to have them. He’s requisitioning them. He’s “the Lord,” and He needs them for what He is about to do.

The two disciples are to untie the two donkeys and bring them to Jesus because He’s going to ride them into town.

This is the big reveal! This is the moment when Jesus goes public in the biggest way. And He has carefully chosen His ride. 

And it’s not a mighty warhorse.

And it’s not a chariot.

And it’s not a tank or fighter jet or an aircraft carrier.

It’s a little donkey.

Why?

Well, it’s important to understand that kings did ride donkeys. Donkeys can be regal. They can be royal. 

Sometimes we get the idea that no king in his right mind would ever ride a donkey. But many kings did ride donkeys in those days, and there are several examples of donkey-riding kings in the Old Testament.

King David rode a mule (the offspring of a donkey), and he specifically put his son Solomon on his own mule to ride into town when Solomon assumed his position as the successor to the king (see 1 Kings 3:33, 38, 44).

But you did not ride a donkey into town if you were coming in war. You rode a donkey into town if you were coming in peace. You rode a donkey into town to mark–not your pretension and power and battle-readiness but–your gentleness and humility and peace.

And Jesus did it because He wanted to set off all of their alarm bells that He was the Messiah that they were waiting for. Jesus did this on purpose, and Matthew understood that. Matthew understood why Jesus was doing it this way. Look at verse 4.

“This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: ‘Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'”

There’s our sermon title for today, “Your King Comes to You.”

Jesus was clearly claiming to be their king.

And He arranged for this donkey ride to ring that prophetic bell.

“See Who I am? I’m the king that was predicted in Zechariah chapter 9!”

Now, Matthew doesn’t quote the whole verse. Mark and Luke don’t quote Zechariah at all. Matthew and John both point out the obvious connections with Zechariah chapter 9.

If you have your finger there, let’s turn back and look at it real quick. Zechariah 9:9.

You understand that the whole Bible is hypertexted, right? Your whole Bible is tied together in an intricate web of interconnections. We’ve seen that in the Book of Hebrews as the author has made so many of his points from the Old Testament.

Matthew, the gospel-writer, loves the word “fulfill.” It’s almost His favorite word (after “Jesus”) because he loves to show how Jesus fulfills the promises and predictions and patterns of the Old Testament. 

Here, it’s the prophecy of Zechariah. I’ve never yet preached from Zechariah in three decades of preaching God’s Word. One of these days, we’ll study the whole thing together. 

And when we do, hold onto your hats, it’s a wild ride! You thought Daniel was wild and crazy? So is Zechariah! It’s like the Book of Revelation for the Old Testament.

And it’s full of Jesus! Zechariah was written about 500 years after King David and 500 years before King Jesus. Also somewhere between the timing of Daniel and the timing of Esther that we studied last year. 

I did a little dive into Zechariah this week, and it is wild. Interestingly, after the Psalms it’s probably the Old Testament book most referenced in the Passion Week narratives. Up there with Isaiah 53. 

I won’t try to explain all of Zechariah, but there are many prophecies in Zechariah that had not yet come to pass. And one of them is this prophecy in chapter 9 to the people of Jerusalem that their king would come to them, and this king appears to be the Jewish Messiah. The king of all kings. The king who is going to solve everything and fix everything. The king whose rule will “extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth” (Zechariah 9:10).

Look at Zechariah 9:9.

“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

For five hundred years, the Jewish people have read that prophecy and waited for its fulfillment. For five hundred years–years when the Jews were under the thumb of Persia and Greece and now Rome–they have read and re-read Zechariah and longed for it to come true.

And now Jesus is pulling this little stunt with the donkeys, and Matthew knows what is going down.

Now, notice that Matthew doesn’t quote the whole verse. If you toggle between the two passages, you’ll notice that Matthew leaves out some of the words from Zechariah 9:9. 

That’s not because he doesn’t believe the whole thing. He just doesn’t think he needs to quote the whole thing to get across his point. Matthew is counting on his readers to “double-click” (so to speak) on his quotation and go back and study the whole thing in context.

“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

One thing we immediately notice is the call to rejoice and shout. Matthew just includes that the Daughter of Zion should see her king coming. But the fuller passage in Zechariah says how Jerusalem should feel about it and react to it.

“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!”

Get loud!

Raise your voice!

Make some noise!

This is worth celebrating. Your king is here. Your king has come to you. That’s not something to yawn at. This is what you’ve been waiting for.

Was that part of the prophecy fulfilled on Palm Sunday?

Oh yes, it was. Turn back to Matthew 21. Look verse 6.

“The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.

A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Hosanna in the highest!’” (vv.6-9).

They got loud. They could see what was happening. As Jesus sat on that little donkey with the makeshift saddle of his disciples’ cloaks, the people pretty quickly figured out what was going on and they rolled out the red carpet. Actually the green carpet!

They put their cloaks down to symbolize their submission and their honor to the coming king and then cut palm branches (hence Palm Sunday) to spread them on the road as a natural royal green carpet.

It says “a very large crowd.” Can you guess how many people? Conservative estimates are that Jerusalem had about 70,000 people living in it at that time. But this is Passover. And you know what happens to State College on game day? You know how it balloons? Scholars estimate that Jerusalem would balloon to at least 250,000 people during Passover. We don’t know how many saw Jesus coming, but it wasn’t just little crowd. It was huge.

“Hey! Look that’s Jesus, and look what He’s riding. He’s riding a little donkey. And there’s it’s momma. Hey! You know what this means? That’s Zechariah 9:9 right there. You know Who He’s saying He is? He’s saying that He’s the rightful king. He’s Great David’s Greatest Son. And here He comes!"

And the crowd grows. It becomes a parade. Some ahead of him. Some behind him. Nobody worried about the Romans and what they think.

And everybody shouting!

“Hosanna!” That word literally means “Save!” or “Save us! or “He will save us!”

And it seems to have become a word that just is an exclamation of praise. Praise to the Son of David.

Praise “in the highest.” Meaning, the most praise? Or maybe, “Let the angels praise Him!”

“Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” That’s a quote from Psalm 118 which we double-clicked on a few years ago on another Palm Sunday. 

Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest!

They shouted. They rejoiced.

And Jesus...took it.

One of the most amazing things about this, to me, is how Jesus doesn’t stop them. He doesn’t shut them down or try to re-direct them. He doesn’t point them to someone else. He just sits there on the little donkey, swaying back and forth, riding forth into Jerusalem while these people shout praises at Him!

Because He knows that they are right.

They are not over the top.

They are not inappropriate.

They are appropriate! 

Jesus is the King!

And He’s okay with everyone knowing it.

This is King Jesus’ plan to go public in a big way!

And it shook the city. I don’t know how many people were there for the triumphal entry, but soon everybody heard what had happened. Look at verse 10.

“When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?’ The crowds answered, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee’” (vv.10-11).

“Who is this?” That’s the question! What do you think of their answer? 

It’s not bad, but it’s not enough is it?  Yes, Jesus is a prophet, but He is so much more. The crowds shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David” is much better. Because He wasn’t just a prophet. He was the coming king. 

“See, your king comes to you.”

What kind of a king is He?

Jesus is obviously a different kind of king than we are used to, and He was a different kind of king than they were used, too.

Let’s turn back to Zechariah 9 to see what it says this king would be like.

I see three adjectives. Two of which Matthew skipped over when he copied  verse 9 into his book.

The first one is:

#1. RIGHTEOUS.

“See, your king comes to you, righteous...”

What does that mean?

That means that He is right. “Righteous” means that this king does what is right and what is good. It means that he is just. He loves justice. He loves what is right. And He is characterized by this. He doesn’t just do the right thing sometimes, when it benefits Him. He does the right thing all the time and never anything but the right thing!

He never does the wrong thing. Can you imagine?

This is very different from the rulers that Israel had known. Even the greatest of them, kings like David and Solomon had massive failings in righteousness. They did not always do what is right. They did not always do what was good. They did not always do what was just.

And we see it today with those who rule over us. And in us when we have dominion over others. We fail to exercise righteousness.

But not this King! He is righteous.

King Solomon wrote a song about Him. Psalm 72. You might want to read it this afternoon.

I’m sure that on some level he wanted it to be true of himself, but he clearly failed to live up to it. Psalm 72 begins:

“Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness. He will judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice. The mountains will bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness. He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor. He will endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through all generations.  He will be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth. In his days the righteous will flourish; prosperity will abound till the moon is no more. He will rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth” (Psalm 72:1-8).

Wow! And if you look down at verse 10, you’ll see some very similar words to describe the King Zechariah expects to come.

He is righteous!

And that gives us a model to follow. We should be righteous, too, and as far as it depends upon us to work towards righteousness in our society. Do the right thing!

But it also gives us hope because we will so often fail to do the right thing. But there is One who will not fail to be righteous. And He has come...and He is coming again.

Now, that He is righteous is very important for the next adjective.

#2. SAVING.

“See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation...”

That’s how the old NIV puts it. Along with the ESV and the KJV. The NASB say, “endowed with salvation.” 

But some translations like the CSB and the updated NIV have “victorious.” “Your king comes to you, righteous and victorious...”

The idea is that this king has won a great battle to save His people. Or even perhaps has been saved in battle Himself. Perhaps the battle was not going His way, and then He won after all.

This might be one of the reasons why Matthew doesn’t include that line in his quotation because, on Palm Sunday, Jesus still had His greatest battle in front of Him. Not sure.

Either way, it’s true of Him. Jesus brings salvation! This king is a saving king. Saving His people from their greatest enemies.

Now, one of the reasons why the people got excited was because a bunch of them thought that the Messiah when He came was going to overthrow their Roman oppressors.

He was going to storm in and kick out Pontius Pilate and all of Caesar’s other cronies and send them packing back to Italy where they belonged. But that’s not the kind of king that came that day. He didn’t come in on a military mount. He came in on donkey. 

But He still came to save. He came to save His people from their greatest enemies. From sin, and self, and Satan. And to do that, He had to be righteous, and He had to be this next word:

#3. HUMBLE.

The old NIV has “gentle.”

The new NIV has “lowly” like the old KJV.

The ESV and CSB have “humble.”

Your king comes to you...humble.

The Hebrew word in Zechariah is “ani” which can mean “poor” or even “afflicted.”

It’s not the kind of word you might expect to describe a king!

Especially a king whose coming is good news.

Who gets excited about their “poor king” coming?

“Oh, our poor king.”

“Oh, here comes our ‘afflicted’ king.”

“Here comes our lowly king.”

“Here comes our gentle king.”

Who gets excited about gentle kings?!

Christians, that’s who. Because we know that down is the way up in God’s world. We know that suffering is the path to glory. We know that the one who wants to be first must be last and take the place of servant. We know that gentleness is true strength. That’s why we get excited about a king riding a little donkey.

Zechariah says, “See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

He’s the long-expected king, but He’s probably not like the king you expect. (Even though you should.)

This king is humble.

Have you ever read the book Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund? It came out about 6 years ago, and we gave a copy to everybody who was in the church at that time. I highly recommend it as a study of the heart of Jesus. 

He that’s who said He is at heart. When He invited us to Himself, He said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29).

That’s the kind of king we really need.

And, praise God, that’s kind of king He really is.

So how do we apply this to our lives? Let me suggest three quick ways from these scriptures.

– RECEIVE YOUR KING!

Remember, the whole city was abuzz with the question, “Who is this?” And a bunch of them got it wrong. Some of them got partial credit with, “the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee” (Matthew 21:11). But a bunch of them decided, in the end, that Jesus wasn’t even worth listening to.

By the end of the week, the crowds weren’t shouting “Hosanna!” They were shouting “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” And they did.

This same week that they put down the branches, Jesus was betrayed,  mocked, flogged, and crucified. They put a crown of thorns on His head and whipped Him red. 

“Hail, King of the Jews!”

They didn’t receive their king. We must or else. Who do you think Jesus is? Is He righteous, and saving, and humble? 

Is He your king? Do you act like it? Do you lay down the Green Carpet for Him and do what your king says? I’m amazed at how often I see people claim Jesus is their king but act the exact opposite of Him. And the exact opposite of how our king tells us how to live. And I’m ashamed of how often that has been true of me.

Is He your king or isn’t He? Make up your mind. 

It says, “See, your king.” See Him! Recognize Him. Receive your king and rejoice that He has come.

– RAISE HIS PRAISE!

That’s the second application. The very thing that Zechariah told Jerusalem to do, we should, too.

Rejoice greatly! Shout!

What do you shout for?  We shout all the time when we are happy about things. Go to a sporting event. And you’ll hear people shouting all the time. One of these softball girls hits a dinger. Haley W. hits a dinger over the fence, whoo! We shout for joy.

We need to do that about our king! 

Let’s shout “Hosanna” together. We’ve sung it already. But we should shout it, too. Let’s do it this way. I want you to pick two numbers between 1 and 10. Okay? Like 2 and 7 and or 4 and 9. Can you do that? Got them? Now, I’m going to count to 11, and when I hit your numbers, I want you to shout “Hosanna!” which means, “He will save us!” “Praise the Savior!” And when we get to 11, we’re all going to show “Hosanna in the Highest!”

And I don’t want any mumbling, okay? You don’t have to shout as loud as you can, because we are inside. You don’t have to scream.

But this is our king. Righteous, saving, humble. Amen? Here we go:

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10!  “Hosanna in the Highest!”

Raise His praise. And not just here on Sunday mornings in this room. Every single day be grateful this is your king. That He has come and is coming again.

“We will feast in the house of Zion.

We will sing with our hearts restored.

He has done great things, we will say together.

We will feast and weep no more.”

- Sandra McCracken

Come, Lord Jesus!

And last, but not least:

– REMEMBER HIS SACRIFICE.

Our righteous king brought us salvation by being humble.

That donkey ride was not just to get attention.

That donkey ride was not just ringing a bell of fulfillment.

That donkey ride was showing us how He was going to save His people.

He was going to be humble, gentle, lowly, poor, afflicted.

He was going to take the last place.

He was going to take the nails.

He was going to be pierced for our transgressions (see Isaiah 53:6). 

He was going to be crushed for our iniquities.

He was going to take our punishment.

And die.

And we are called to remember that every single day.

And especially this week.

In Zechariah chapter 12, there is another prophecy that the Apostle John recognized as all about Jesus (see John 19:37 and Revelation 1:7).

Through the prophet, the LORD says, “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son” (Zechariah 12:10).

This same king who came so gently on Sunday, would be pierced for us on Friday.

Our righteous king brought us salvation by being humble.

Remember His sacrifice for you and me. 

***

Previous Messages on Palm Sunday

“Blessed Is He Who Comes In the Name of the LORD!” - Psalm 118 - March 25, 2018

"The Son of the Sick King" - Psalm 41 - April 14, 2019

"Shouting for the Son of David" - Matthew20:29-21:17 - July 14, 2019

“For You” - Luke 22:14-20 - April 2, 2023

"The Hour Has Come" - John 12:12-26 - April 28, 2024

Read More

“The Son of Man” [Matt's Messages]

“The Son of Man”

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

April 6, 2025 :: Matthew 20:17-28

What was Jesus’ favorite name for Himself?

In this passage, Jesus uses His favorite title for Himself to teach us about Himself.

What was Jesus’ favorite appellation for Himself?

“The Son of Man.”

You might have guessed “The Son of God” which He surely was. But that’s what others called Him. Like His Father. And like the Roman Centurion at his crucifixion.

Jesus likes to use this phrase for Himself, “The Son of Man.” And I think He liked it for various reasons. One was its ambiguity and the mystery.  It could just mean someone who was a human. A son of man is himself a man, and He was that! 

But there’s obviously more to it. Israelite believers who had read the Book of Daniel may have interpreted this title, “Son of Man,” as a name for the coming Messiah.

Remember how “Son of Man” shows up in the central vision in the Book of Daniel, chapter 7? The last chapter in Aramaic and the first vision of the wiseman Daniel himself. Listen again to Daniel chapter 7, verses 13 and 14. It’s in the vision of the Ancient of Days. Keep your eyes on the Ancient of Days. 

Daniel writes, “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”

Wow! That’s the Son of Man! The Son of Man is the King of Kingdoms!

He is human, yes. But so much more! He is a human who rides on the clouds! He is a human who can approach the Ancient of Days without fear and trepidation. He is a son of man who is welcome in the presence of the Ancient of Days and given the kingdom of kingdoms! Which He then shares with His people!

And that’s how Jesus saw Himself! In Matthew chapter 19 (the chapter right before this one), Jesus said this. Look at chapter 19, verse 28 & 29. 

“Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.”

The Son of Man coming in glory and sitting on His glorious throne and giving away glorious gifts! That’s the Son of Man!

But that’s not all that the Son of Man is. That’s not all that the Son of Man is going to do. It turns out that the Son of Man is going to be very different than many people expected.

Jesus is often different than we expect, is He not? You could never predict Jesus. The more you get to know Him and become like Him, the more He makes sense to you, but He’s definitely counter-intuitive and counter-cultural.

We’ve seen that again and again, haven’t we? For example, when Jesus describes His kingdom. What is the kingdom of kingdoms actually like? Read the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-8.

It’s upside-down and inside-out. The opposite of what we’d ever predict.

Blessed are the meek?

Blessed are the poor in spirit?

Blessed are the persecuted?

Love your enemies?

Do not judge?

Pray in secret?

It’s upside-down and inside-out.

In fact, what does Jesus say in verse 30? Chapter 19, verse 30, right after that prediction of the glorious coming, the glorious throne, the glorious kingdom?

“But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”

It’s not just an upside-down kingdom. It’s a back-to-front kingdom. It’s a last-to-first kingdom. In Jesus’ kingdom, the last will be first and the first will be last.

And that goes for Him, as well! In today’s passage (Matthew 20:17-28), Jesus shows us how He Himself will live out this first and last theology.

The Son of Man will not just come in kingdom glory. 

He will first come in suffering service.

I only have two points this morning, and they are both things you would never expect the Son of Man to do if all you had was Daniel 7.

Here’s the first one:

#1. THE SON OF MAN CAME TO SUFFER.

I know that we’re used to that idea, but the disciples sure weren’t.

"The Son of Man comes in glory! He rides the clouds! He sits on a glorious throne! He doesn’t come to suffer?!"

But that’s exactly what Jesus predicts in Matthew chapter 20. Look at verse 17. 

“Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!’” (Matt. 20:17-19).

Isn’t it amazing that Jesus knows exactly what is going to happen to Him? Jesus is on His way up to Jerusalem. He’s almost there!

We know what’s going to happen in Jerusalem. We just studied the Gospel of John last year.

And Jesus knows what is going to happen in Jerusalem. He pulls His followers aside on the road, and He tells them so that they are prepared!

“We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man [“The Son of Man, that’s Me.”] will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified” (vv.17-18).

Listen to those verbs:

Be betrayed.

Condemned to death.

Turned over to Pilate and the Romans.

Mocked.

Flogged.

Crucified.

The Son of Man was going to be:

Mocked. Flogged. Crucified.

Mocked. Flogged. Crucified.

Mocked. Flogged. Crucified.

Jesus knew what was coming.

In fact, He chose it!

Praise the Lord for verse 19, and “On the third day he will be raised to life!” Jesus knew that, too. He knew that suffering was the true path to glory. He knew about His resurrection. That the last will be first. 

But He also knew about the Cross. Mocked. Flogged. Crucified. Jesus took the last place to get the first place. Mocked. Flogged. Crucified.

As we enter Passion Week next Sunday just think of those 3 words from Jesus’ lips. What He knew was coming. The Son of Man would be mocked, flogged, crucified.

What’s really sad about verse 20 is that they clearly were not listening. I know because of what James and John do. They bring their Mom to Jesus to try get to be first in the kingdom. They are clearly not paying attention. Verse 20.

“Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. [This ought to be good.] ‘What is it you want?’ he asked. She said, ‘Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.’”

What do you think of that request? Well, it’s great that she and they believe in the kingdom. Many people then did not believe that Jesus was the coming king. And many people today still do not believe that Jesus is the coming king. They got that right. They believed what He said in chapter 19, verse 28.

“By the way, you mentioned twelve thrones. I was just wondering if my two sons could be on the thrones immediately to your right and to your left. What do you say?”

[By the way, it’s possible that James and John were actually half-cousins of Jesus and this woman named “Salome” was Jesus’ aunt. It’s not at all for sure as the Bible never comes out and says it, but if you follow the names and relationships in the gospels, it’s definitely possible. So this could be Jesus’ Jewish aunt trying to get some special favors in.]

"So what do you say, Jesus? I mean everybody’s got to have a right hand man!" V.22. Truer words were never spoken.

“‘You don't know what you are asking,’ Jesus said to them. ‘Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?’” Stop there for a second.

These folks have no clue. Jesus just said that He was going to be mocked, flogged, crucified. And they’re like, “Yeah, whatever, sure. But can we be glorified? We want to be first in the kingdom!”

And Jesus says, “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” 

What do you think is in that cup? I believe they think that cup is the cup of victory. “Can you drink from the cup of glory that I drink from?” “Sure! Hand it over.” v.22 “‘We can,’ they answered.” “I’ll drink to that!”

But it’s not the cup of glory. It’s not the cup of victory. It’s the cup of death. It’s the cup of God’s wrath. It’s the cup of suffering. When Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, He asked His Father if there is any way that this cup could be taken away from Him (cf. Matthew 26:39)! And they say that the could drink it with Him.

“You don’t know what you’re asking.” This cup is the cup of being mocked, flogged, and crucified. And even more, bearing the just wrath of God. That’s what the Son of Man is going to do. The Son of Man Came to Suffer.

So we shouldn’t be surprised if we have to follow in His footsteps. V.23

“Jesus said to them, ‘You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.’”

That’s another surprise. Jesus says that they will drink, to some small degree, from His cup. They too will suffer. Not exactly like He did. But kind of like He did.

The Sons of Zebedee? James will be killed by Herod in Acts chapter 12. Killed by a sword. John will be exiled to the island of Patmos. The Sons of Zebedee will suffer for Jesus’ sake.

And we, too, should not be surprised when are called to suffer for Him, as well. Because that’s the path that Jesus took. Suffering is the path to glory. Why would we think that we would get there without any pain?

But they all did. All of the disciples thought this way. V.24

“When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 

[They weren’t more godly, they were jealous. “Hey, you’re trying to take our place! We want to be first.”]

 

Jesus called them together and said, [No way, guys.] ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave–just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

#2. THE SON OF MAN CAME TO SERVE.

They all want to be first. And Jesus says, “No, no, no. You want to be last. Don’t be like the world. The pagans want to be lords and authorities and little potentates. They want to be kings! But my kingdom is upside-down. If you want to be great, you must be a servant. If you want to be first, you must be last. You must be a slave.”

Jesus says, “Don’t be like them. Be like Me!” 

How counter-cultural. How counter-intuitive. Nothing has changed. The world still clamors to be first. Nobody runs to the back of the line. Nobody lives to die to self and deny themselves. Everybody loves to live for their selves.

Think about it. What is the number one thing the world tells you today:

“Be yourself.”

“Trust yourself.”

“Love yourself.”

Jesus says, “Die to self.”

And serve others.

Now, of course, this doesn’t mean that someone who is in authority no longer exercises authority. Jesus has all authority and exercises it. But He does so as a servant. He is the prime example of serving others, putting them before Himself. And His Crosswork is the prime example of His Servanthood. His suffering was His way of serving.

Verse 28 is so wonderful! One of my favorite lines of Scripture.

Serve others, “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

I’ll say it this way: The Son of Man from Daniel 7 is also the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53.

He is worthy of the crown because He drank from the cup.

One of the reasons why Son of Man was welcome in the presence of the Ancient of Days was because He had suffered for His people! Because He  had given His life as a ransom FOR many.

That means “in place of” many.

A ransom is a price paid for someone’s freedom.

On the Cross, Jesus was paying the price of freedom from sin and guilt and shame.

Isaiah 53:12 says that the Suffering Servant will be rewarded “because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

Jesus is “riffing on” that language. He’s alluding to Isaiah 53 and saying that He will fulfill it. The Son of Man came to serve.

And so, we who follow Him, should choose to serve, as well.

Are you a servant? Would that appellation be appropriate for you? Would it go on your business card? Would that fit on your social media bio? And nobody would laugh? “Matt Mitchell, servant.” I want it to.

When was the last time you put somebody ahead of yourself, and you didn’t do it to manipulate them? When was the last time you took the last place because you were following Jesus?

The Son of Man deserved to be served, but instead He served. How much more should we serve the people around us?

How could you quietly up your servant quotient today, this week?

At work?

At home?

In the neighborhood?

At church?

Today is our quarterly church family meeting. Does anybody remember what I said at our last quarterly church family meeting as my vision for 2025? I don’t expect anybody to remember!

But what I said was my vision for 2025 was “Serving the King.”

Serving. This year, we have a number of things planned that call us to serve others:

We are planning to serve the people of Hazard Kentucky who were severely affected by flooding a few years ago by sending an 11 member ministry teams in July.

We are planning to serve our neighbors with the first full year of the Lanse Free Fridge. It’s been used left and right.

We are serving our community through a Egg Hunt outreach–maybe the Pavilion will be done in time to use it to serve the community that day, too!

We have an exciting proposal to lay out today in our meeting in how to serve the people of Malawi in a new way.

Our church is full of servants who follow their King’s example! 

I am so proud to pastor this church because so many of you put other people ahead of yourselves.

The Deaconnesses, the Facilities Team, the Elders, the Missions Ministry Team. Jenni, Jordyn, Cindy! Ladies Fellowship Group. The Hospitality Team that prepped everything for the meal we’re about to enjoy.

All of those Kids Bible Class teachers! Because we have grown in here, the classes have grown back there. And it’s hard to keep up. There were 20 kids back there, and for those long Daniel sermons! Thank you, KBC servants, for serving our kids.

Thank you for applying this teaching to yourself? For being different from the world. 

“Not so with you...whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave...” 

Just like the Son of Man did. 

The Son of Man? The One rides the clouds? He gave His life as a ransom for many. Even though we don’t didn’t deserve it! Even though he knew what we were like. We were “completely known.” He was eyes-wide-open about who we are and what we are.

But He still went to the Cross for us.

Mocked. Flogged. Crucified.

Mocked. Flogged. Crucified.

Mocked. Flogged. Crucified.

Completely known and yet completely loved! We are covered by our Savior’s blood. The Son of Man suffered for us.

Have you put your faith and trust in what He did for you? How He suffered for you? How He paid the ransom to set you free from sin and death and Hell?! He drank the cup of suffering so that we would not have to. His suffering was serving us. His suffering was saving us.

The Son of Man came to save. And (v.19), on the third day He was raised to life! He didn’t stay dead. (Spoiler alert for the next couple of weeks.) He came back to life and will never die.

And He’s coming again. “[A]t a time known only to God” the Son of Man will return (Matthew 24:44). 

During Passion Week, Jesus will use this name for Himself over and over again, “The Son of Man...the Son of Man...the Son of Man.”

And He will emphasize again that He will be betrayed and suffer (Matthew 26:45).

But also that He will return.

In fact, at His trial, right before He went to the Cross, they were asking Him if He was the Messiah the Son of God, and He answered, “Yes, it is as you say...But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matt. 26:63-64).

He came to suffer.

He came to serve.

He came to save.

And He’s coming again to receive and reign over the Kingdom of Kingdoms.

May He get all of the glory He deserves. 

***

Astute readers will recognize how much of this week’s message was adapted from “The Suffering Serving Son of Man” which I originally preached on July 7, 2019. I’m grateful for the opportunity to share it again.

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“We Saw His Star” [Matt's Messages]

“We Saw His Star”

The Bright Star of Bethlehem

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

December 22, 2024 :: Matthew 2:1-12

Last Sunday, we started a very short sermon series called “The Bright Star of Bethlehem.”

We turned way back to the Book of Numbers and studied that enigmatic prophecy, where under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the pagan prophet Balaam squinted down the corridors of time and saw the coming of a Star.

Balaam said, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.”

And we said that that star and that scepter were symbols of a king who was to come. And we said that, in the first instance, that king was probably named David. Balaam saw the coming of King David. That’s one of the reasons, I think, why the symbol on the flag of the nation of Israel is called “The Star of David.” David was the Star. He came, he conquered, he ruled. He shined. He fulfilled the ancient prophecy.

But! We also said that King David’s kingdom came to an end. King David’s enemies were subdued but not ultimately destroyed. King David himself did not shine for long.

So we wondered together with the ancient Israelites and with Christians throughout the centuries if there wasn’t still something more to come, someone more to come to fill up that prophecy to the brim and then overflow as “far as the curse is found.”

Last week, we hypothesized that ultimately Jesus was the Star. We know that He is the Light of the World. We’ve heard that already this morning (see John 8:12).

We know that King David was “a type” of Christ. King David was a pattern, an illustration, a pictorial shadow of the King of Kings to come. Everything that King David did that was good was a foretaste of the Messiah to come. And even most things that happened to King David were also a foretaste of what the Messiah would experience, even in his betrayal and suffering.

You can’t read 1 and 2 Samuel or David’s Psalms without getting glimpses of the Christ to come. Great David’s Greatest Son was still to come. And He would take up and fulfill all of what David was supposed to be and do. Including being born in the birth-town of King David himself.  A little place called Bethlehem. You may have heard of it. You may have sung about it this morning. A sleepy little village about 6 miles south of Jerusalem.

That’s where the first star was born. I got a message from Bonnie this week that called David the “Under-Star.” I love that. That’s exactly right, Bonnie. The Under-Star was born in Bethlehem. Where do you think the Upper Star, the Star of Stars, would be born?

And how do you think His birth would be marked? It would only be fitting for the birth of this Star to be heralded by a star-star, up in the heavens. And that’s exactly what happened. Let’s look at Matthew chapter 2, starting in verse 1.

This story takes place about 1,500 years after last week’s story with the talking donkey and everything.

And some time (we’re not sure exactly how long but some time has elapsed) since the events of Matthew chapter 1 which the kids acted out for us this morning. Matthew chapter 2, verse 1.

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him’” (vv.1-2).

I lifted the title for this message from verse two, “We Saw His Star.”

Who is the “We” in verse 2? Last week, we had the word “I.” “I see him, but not yet.” That “I” was Balaam a pagan prophet, magi-ician, soothsayer from the East, perhaps Persia or Babylon. Somewhere out towards the Euphrates River.

Who is the “We” in verse 2? It’s these people called the “Magi.” The King James calls them, “wise men.” And we just don’t know that much about them. These strange men come onto the scene here in Matthew 2 and then go off of the scene in Matthew 2, and they are never heard from ever again! Who were these mystery men?

We don’t really know. A couple of centuries earlier, there were a group of Medes who were priests called “the Magi,” and they apparently claimed some ability to interpret dreams and that sort of thing. We would have called them “magicians.” The Greek word “magus” is used of a sorcerer in the book of Acts. And, in fact, we get our English word “magic” from the word “Magi” here. I tend to think that they were from Babylon (perhaps like Balaam) and were related to the magicians and astrologers mentioned in the book of Daniel. The Greek Translation of the Old Testament uses the word “magi” there.

 

And they may have been royalty or connected to royalty because, as we’ll soon see, they bring expensive royal gifts with them. But that’s getting ahead of the story. It’s possible that they were kings or coming on behalf of kings. We don’t know.

There’s a lot we don’t know in this story! In fact, I’ve got only two points this morning, and our ignorance is a major part of the first one.

His star is:

#1. A STAR OF WONDER.

Meaning both a mystery and a miracle.

What kind of a star was this? We don’t know! There have been so many attempts to explain this star in history. Some people think it’s a conjunction of stars. Some people think it’s a supernova. I read a bunch of theories this week, and I don’t know that much about astronomy to evaluate their claims.

One really interesting one was that this star was a comet. And I read about this scholar, Colin R. Nicholl, who is strong on both the New Testament and on astronomy who makes a complicated argument for that position and how a comet would fit all of the descriptions here in Matthew 2. 

I don’t know. And I don’t know how these guys knew that this star belonged to the king of the Jews! Look at verse 2 again.

“Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

How did they know that this was his star?

I don’t know. I don’t know who these guys are. I don’t know what exactly they saw. And I don’t know why they knew it pointed to the King of Jews. All I know is that it happened. And that it makes all of the difference for you and me.

That’s mystery for you. How well do you do with mystery? How do you handle not knowing something that you wished that you knew? Mystery can be very unsatisfying. Wanting to know something is like an itch. And you want it to be scratched.

But there are many things in the Bible and in life that we do not know.

And we are not going to know, in this life. And that just has to be okay. We just have to live with the itch. The Bible says, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law” (Deut. 29:29).

The key is know which is which. Which things are we supposed to know and to follow and which things are secret, mysteries, just for God to know, and for us to trust? What do you wish you knew right now and you just have to hand it over to Him again? And wonder.

It’s okay to wonder. I love how the Snack and Yack kids are encouraged to “wonder” things each Sunday. What do you wonder? It’s okay to wonder. But it’s not okay to demand to know things that God has not revealed.

My best guess is that these men had heard about Numbers chapter 24, verse 17. Perhaps 600 years before this event, during the Babylonian exile, the Prophet Daniel and his friends had told the “wise men of Babylon” about Balaam seeing the star.

“A star will come out of Jacob!” 

And when a mysterious star arose that they could make neither heads nor tails of, they headed West to see if this star was that star.

Who knows? Not me! Perhaps the Lord told them directly what it meant. I don’t know. Any way about it, they were right. They had seen HIS STAR. 

A star of wonder. And not just wondrous mystery but wondrous miracle. Only God can make this happen! Only God is powerful enough to move the  heavens to declare the birth of this King. This star makes us marvel! Because even the Magi know that the point of this star is not the star itself but that the point of this star is what the star is pointing at. The king of the Jews.

These pagans, these Gentiles have traveled far following this star to see the real Star of Bethlehem.

They came to Jerusalem, and asked King Herod, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?”

Now, who is this Herod person? He calls himself “The King of the Jews,” but he is not a descendent of David. He is actually a descendent, get this, of Esau, of Edom. He is an Idumean king who has been put in charge by the Roman Empire.

And he is evil. He’s like Pharaoh-level-bad. He’s called “Herod the Great,” but not because he was great, but because he was the Herod that all of the other Herods came from. He did great building programs like fixing up the temple. But he was truly evil. Greatly evil. He killed his wife and some of his children when they crossed or threatened him. 

Herod would do anything to hold onto power. But the Magi don’t know that yet. So they come with their question, and Herod is very upset by their questions. Look at verse 3.

“When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.”

I never made this connection until this week, but as a descendent of Edom, he might of should have been worried about Numbers chapter 24, verse 18. The very next verse in Balaam’s prophecy. Remember that from last week?

“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the sons of Sheth. Edom will be conquered; Seir, his enemy, will be conquered, but Israel will grow strong. A ruler will come out of Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city” (Num. 24:17-19).

Now, if you belong to Moab and you are Ruth, you are safe and welcomed into the covenant community. But if you are a part of Edom and fighting against the people of God or oppressing the people of God? I would watch out for that scepter that is coming to conquer Edom! I would watch out for that ruler to come out of Jacob. I would look over my shoulder if I heard that that a star had risen out of Jacob.

“When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.”

 

“A king? I’m the king. Ain’t nobody else gonna be the king.”

But he’s no dummy. He needs better intel. So he calls in the Jewish religious leaders for intelligence briefing. Verse 4.

“When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.”

What’s the answer to that one? Everybody should have known the answer to that one. It was much clearer than the star question. Bethlehem. How do you know? Just because David was? Yes, and also because of Micah chapter 5. Look at our verse 5.

“‘In Bethlehem in Judea,’ they replied, ‘for this is what the prophet has written:  'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'”

“Out of you will come a ruler.” A scepter, a star, from Bethlehem.

Now, we know that it took a lot of doing to get Jesus born in Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph weren’t born there, but the Lord moved things around to get them there for the birth of Mary’s child. Miraculously. Wondrously.

And then He sent a star to lead the Magi there. So, Herod now knows that there is a star and that the Messiah (the Christ, the Upper Star) was supposed to be born in Bethlehem.

What does he do? More conspiracy. Verse 7.

“Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared [He’s going to do some math.]. He sent them [the Magi] to Bethlehem and said, ‘Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him’” (vv.7-8).

Which is, of course, a bald-faced lie. But they don’t know that yet either. 

It’s interesting that he doesn’t go himself or send some soldiers. He wants to gather more intel on the threat first before sending in his incursion. But he senses what’s at stake.

Isn’t it interesting that nobody else goes either? Nobody seems all that excited about the King of the Jews except for these Gentiles! And this evil king who has sent them on a man-hunt. Or a baby-hunt as the case may be. V.9

“After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.”

And to me that’s just amazing, too. It shows up again? And it goes ahead of them? And it stops? Who ever heard of a star that stops?!

The astronomers I read about this week have explanations of how that could be a comet, and they might be right. I’m not smart enough to tell. But I just shake my head in wonder. It sounds like a miracle to me. Like the pillar of fire in the book of Exodus.

Of course, it’s just as wondrous if the Lord arranges it all to happen this way right to point out where Jesus lay. Any way about it, it’s wondrous!

Mysterious and miraculous, heavenly GPS. “Here! Right here! Look here! Drop a pin. You have arrived at your destination.” Verse 10.

“When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.”

They were deliriously happy! They were crying and jumping up and down and dancing. This. Was. It! The point of the star was the Star the star was pointing at. And here He is. Verse 11.

“On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.”

Number two. His star was...

#2. A STAR OF WORSHIP.

These men bow down. These men worship the little one.

Now, we don’t know if that was worship as in, they knew that He was the Son of God and God the Son. Probably they didn’t. They just knew He was special special special. He was a Star! And they responded accordingly.

Many people have noted that it says, “to the house” so this may have been some time after Jesus’ birth, up to two years later. They are no longer in the stable. They’ve moved into a house of some kind. But He’s still very young, and He’s with His Mom. And He’s being worshiped. Not just with faces to the ground, but with expensive gifts.

“Gold, incense, myrrh.”

This is probably where some people got the idea that there were three Magi. Because there are three gifts. But we don’t know how many Magi brought these three gifts. Could have been two. Could have been two hundred. We don’t know. Another thing we don’t know. 

And where the star went. We don’t know! The star is done with its job in verse 10. And it doesn’t get mentioned again in Matthew. And it’s not in Mark, Luke, or John. And this star doesn’t get mentioned again in the rest of the Bible. It doesn’t matter! It’s done its job. The star was not the point!

The point of the star was the Star the star was pointing at.

And that’s Jesus.

And He is worthy of worship.

He’s worthy of this gold. All the gold. He’s worthy of all of the gold.

He’s worthy of the incense. Not just a treasure but used at the altar of sacrifice.

He’s worthy of myrrh. I think we just read about myrrh and aloes, 75 pounds of it which they anointed His body with about 30 years later. We said that it was worthy of a king.

Jesus is worthy.

In Psalm 72, King Solomon predicts how the Messiah will be recognized. He says, “The kings of Tarshish and of distant shores will bring tribute to him; the kings of Sheba and Seba will present him gifts. All kings will bow down to him and all nations will serve him” (Ps. 72:10-11).

Because He’s not just going to be the King of Jews but the King of the Gentiles, too. The King of the Whole Wide World!

This star revealed more than just the geo-location of Jesus. It also revealed what was going on in people’s hearts. It revealed that these Magi could value Jesus’ worth. It also revealed what was in Herod’s heart, which was great hate of Jesus and love for himself. Look at verse 12

“And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.”

They are let into the secret that we all know. Herod cannot be trusted. He’s out to kill Jesus. The rest of the chapter tells the story how an angel told Joseph to take His family and escape to Egypt. They will be refugees there until Herod dies. Herod figures out that the Magi aren’t coming back, and so he decides its time to act. He sends a kill-team to Bethlehem and puts his star-math to work. He has them kill all the boys in that area that are two years old and under. How many boys here are two years old or younger? It’s ugly. It’s evil. 

It’s also a fulfillment of prophecy. Remember the book of Jeremiah from 2022 and 2023? It’s in there. Rachel weeping for her children.

Herod is so much like Pharaoh, killing innocent little Jewish boys. A star had risen in the heavens and led to Jesus, and Herod’s response was not worship of Jesus! But worship of Herod’s self at any cost. Instead of bowing down and giving up his crown, Herod sent assassins to cut the Star down. And he failed.

But one day one of Herod’s sons (Herod Antipas) would stand in judgment over Jesus and with Pontius Pilate send Jesus to his execution on the Cross.

Where He would fulfill His name given in Matthew chapter 1. Jesus “because he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).

And then He’ll come back to life to give us “the light of life.” Because He is the Light of the World. Worthy of all of worship. And revealing whether or not we worship Him.

You know, the people I wonder about the most in this story are not the Magi or King Herod, as interesting as they are. I keep wondering about all of the other people in Jerusalem who heard about all of this and didn’t go to see for themselves. They didn’t care. They were apathetic.

Verse 3 says that the whole city of Jerusalem was “disturbed” with Herod. They were all stirred up.

Now, maybe they didn’t hear the whole story. Maybe they were upset Herod was upset. And when Herod gets upset, bad things happen. But the Magi had ridden into town (I don’t know if they had donkeys or camels or what, it doesn’t say), and they had asked around.

“Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

And everybody else just yawns.

How about you and me? Where are our hearts today? Are we worshiping the One who had His own star? 

You might say, “Well, I’m not running around murdering kids!”

Good. But are you bowing before the Lord? Are you giving yourself over to wonder at and worship of the Lord Jesus? Because there is no “being on the fence” with this One. He doesn’t allow it. You are either with Him or against Him.

Are you bowing down?

Are you giving to Him in offering?

Do you value Him above your earthly treasures?

Do you follow Him and do what He says?

Do you believe that He is everything that He claimed to be?

I do!

I believe that Jesus is the beautiful Bright Star of Bethlehem.

And He shines on.

And He will shine on forever.

***

Messages in This Series:

01. "I See Him, But Not Yet" - Numbers 24:17

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“What God Has Joined Together" [Matt's Messages]

“What God Has Joined Together”

Marriage - God’s Divine Design

February 18, 2024 :: Matthew 19:1-12

“What God Has Joined Together.”

Those words are how our Lord Jesus describes marriage in Matthew chapter 19, verse 6.

The chief reason for our detour into the Gospel of Matthew this morning is that a number of you have asked me to share more about what we had studied last week at the EFCA Theology Conference in the Chicagoland area.

The theme of the national theology conference was “Marriage: God’s Divine Design – Protology/Teleology, Anthropology, Hamartiology, Soteriology, Ecclesiology, and Eschatology.” Three guesses who came up with that subtitle, and the first two don’t count! Yes, it was Greg Strand! Typically big words and typically rich and robust theology. 

At the conference, Isaac and I listened to six major lectures on the theology of marriage and a number of breakout workshops, as well. I’m so thankful to belong to an association of churches that takes sound biblical theology so seriously.

And what an important topic for today, is it not? Just as Keith Hurley is teaching the teens about these things at “Chasing Love” on Sunday evenings, our theology of marriage touches all of us in some way in today’s culture. There is a lot of confusion about marriage, not just out in society but within the church, as well. The whole first lecture at the conference by a Christian sociologist from Grove City College was all about the state of marriage, changes and challenges, how we’ve gotten to where we are. [All of the messages are now online.]

And as we’ve been focusing here this month on LOVE, especially God’s love, vast as the ocean, and our being God’s people exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit, the first aspect of which is LOVE as Joel taught us last Sunday, it seemed to me like it might be good for us to meditate on marriage today.

 

“What God Has Joined Together.”

There are many married people in this room. Some of you have been married for a long long time. Heather and I are coming up on 30 years this June. We’ve celebrated a lot of Valentine’s Days together. Some of you have seen many more! I think the Kepharts have been married for 66 years! There are also many unmarried people in this room. Some of you have recently had to bury a spouse. Some of you had to do that years ago. Some of you have been divorced. Some of you have never married. Some of you will soon marry--Reece and Hannah!. Some of you will never marry. Some of you will marry down the line. I doubt that anybody coming to Snack and Yack today with Heather and me is engaged yet!

We’re all in different places, but we all need to have a good theology of marriage in place no matter where we are at in life. 

And Matthew 19 is a great place to start building one.  Matthew 19 marks the beginning of a new section in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus has finished teaching in Galilee in the north and is now headed south towards Jerusalem. It’s a little bit further into the story than we are right now in the Gospel of John. And on His way to Jerusalem, Jesus runs into some Pharisees, and they have a test for Jesus on His theology of marriage. How do you think that’s going to go?

Here’s a life-hack for you. A pro-tip for living: Never try to lay a trap for Jesus. 

Unless you like falling into your own traps! Let me read the first two verses.

“When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.”

Jesus is marching towards Jerusalem. You and I know what is going to happen there. And Jesus knows what’s going to happen there. It’s what we focus on this time of year. Jesus is headed towards the Cross. He’s going to be abandoned there as He pays for our sins, but right now the crowds are still following Him and He’s healing the sick among them.

And then in verse 3, some Pharisees come, and they see the good work that Jesus is doing, and they see how the crowds are following Him, and they are convinced by His words that He is the Messiah, and they bow before Him and lead the nation to follow Him themselves.

Just kidding. LOL. That’s not at all what they do! That’s what they should do, but it’s not what they do. No, they come to Jesus and try to trap Him. V.3

“Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?’”

“Let’s give Jesus a theological test and see if He passes.” They are not sincere. They are not asking this question to find out the truth. They have an agenda with this question. They want to trap Jesus.

How does that work? Well, there was a big debate during this time about the theology of divorce. There were two major schools of thought. The school of Rabbi Shammai and the school of Rabbi Hillel. We learned about this in the third main message at the conference from the author of this book: Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage: Critical Questions and Answers.

Rabbi Shammai said that God requires divorce only in the case of adultery. But Rabbi Hillel said that God allows divorce any time a man is unhappy with his wife. Even if she burns dinner or her eyebrows get too bushy. And the Pharisees think that they can trap Jesus with this question: Which side are you on?”

“If you side with Rabbi Hillel, and anything goes, doesn’t that contradict what you said at the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:32? And where does it all end?

But if you side with Rabbi Shammai (and I think that’s what they really hope He will do), then you might get into trouble with Herod Antipas.”

Do you remember Herod Antipas from when we studied this gospel together? John the Baptist (Notorious JTB) told “King” Herod Antipas that his divorce and remarriage to his former sister-in-law Herodias was not lawful. Do you remember what happened to John the Baptist because of that? Prison first. And then off with his head. That’s what happens if you side with Rabbi Shammai in those days.

They think they’ve got Jesus. Maybe they’ve even stumped Him. Can Jesus answer this stumper of a question?  What do you think?

The last time I preached this passage, I titled my sermon, “The Lord of Marriage.” Because Jesus does not just have a theology of marriage; His theology flows from His own authority. He is Lord over marriage. 

The Pharisees obviously don’t recognize this or they wouldn’t be asking the question this way, but that’s their mistake. Jesus pushes back. V.4

“‘Haven't you read,’ he replied, ‘that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.’”

It’s always a sick burn when Jesus says, “Haven’t you read your Bibles?” They think they have Him stumped, and Jesus says, “I think the answer to that one is on the first page of your Bible. Haven’t you read it? I think you’re missing the point. Let’s go back and look.”

And Jesus leads them on a Bible study of Genesis 1 and 2. And that’s what we did at the conference in the second major message. The speaker, a former professor at Trinity, started in Genesis and took us all the way to Revelation, seeing what the Bible says about marriage from cover to cover.

It’s always smart to start at the very beginning. It’s a very good place to start. Jesus was saying that they are starting in the wrong place with their questions.  We’ll see that they are starting with Deuteronomy 24, but Jesus says, “You’ve got to go back further than that or you’ll be missing the point.”

And speaking of points, I have three points of application for today’s message.

Here’s the first:

#1. TRUST THE DESIGNER TO DEFINE MARRIAGE.

That was the title of our conference, “Marriage: God’s Divine Design.” Look at v.4 again.

“‘Haven't you read,’ he replied, ‘that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one.” 

Marriage is God’s idea. He designed it. It’s not something that we came up with. It came from (v.4), “the Creator.” The Designer. The Original Lord of Marriage. Marriage is God’s idea, and so we should get our ideas of what marriage should be from Him.  Make sense?

Obviously, this flies in the face of so much of our modern culture, including among professing Christians. We want to define marriage our own way. We want to do what we want to do with it. And we figure that God (if He exists) just has to be okay with that.

But that’s exactly wrong. He is the Lord of Marriage. We need to listen to Him.

Marriage, for Christians, is a matter of discipleship.

This passage (vv.4-6) is very relevant to a whole host of contemporary issues and questions. It addresses marriage and also divorce. It also addresses same-sex marriage and transgenderism, doesn’t it? It has implications for LGBTQ.

Because Jesus says (v.4) that Genesis 1 says that humans are made male and female. Two biological sexes. Different and complementary. Male and female, not interchangeable. Not changeable. And that it was good. It was beautiful. It was God’s good design.

And here’s what marriage is. Jesus says that Genesis 2 says that a man (1 man, this passage addresses bigamy and polygamy, as well, a man) will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife (1 biological woman), and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one.

So here’s God’s math for marriage: One plus one equals one. One man and one woman come together to be one flesh. One new thing: a married couple. That’s the design.

Do not believe it if people tell you that Jesus never said anything about same-sex marriage.

Jesus said, “I agree with Genesis.”

The Creator has designed marriage, and it is good. In fact, it’s beautiful. God designed marriage to be a thing of beauty. Every faithful marriage is a gorgeous glorious thing for the whole world to behold!

In fact, the Apostle Paul quotes this same passage of Genesis and says that every marriage is designed to be a beautiful picture of the relationship between Jesus Christ and His church! Read Ephesians 5 this afternoon.

The final main message at the conference was about that. There was a married couple who shared together on stage how they tried to live out Ephesians 5 in their own gospel-shaped marriage every day so that Jesus got the glory.

And that’s happening in every faithful Christian marriage in this room right now. The marriages here are a thing of beauty that sing about Christ’s love for His bride and His bride’s love for Him.

Well done, you. Keep it up! Don’t stop now. If you're engaged or believe you should be, jump into marriage live this thing of beauty! Be a picture of Christ and His bride that sings!

Trust the Designer to Define Marriage and believe that it is good and beautiful and sacred.

Which also means that abuse within marriage is a terrible, ugly, anti-picture of the gospel. Our fourth main message was all about that, by a Christian counselor who works with victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse. It was probably the most painful and sickening message at the conference. It was also a compelling Bible study of the book of Genesis which does not shy away from recounting ugly intimate partner abuse and how antithetical that is to God’s good design.

If you are abusing your spouse, you are defying God’s good design for marriage.

And if you are being abused, that’s not the way it’s supposed to be, and you don’t just have to take it. Get to safety. Find help. There was whole session on responding wisely to domestic abuse, and we are committed here to doing that as a church. Because God’s good design is on the line.

Jesus taught, “[A]t the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one.”

Trust the Designer to Define Marriage.

By the way, this passage also addresses co-habitation, doesn’t it? Living together as if you are married when you are not married. We talked about this recently in John chapter 4 with the woman at the well. It's one of the things I'm most concerned about as a pastor as even many professing Christians are falling into this sinful error.

Living together as if you are married when you are not married is not how God designed the one-flesh relationship.

The one flesh relationship is for a husband and a wife. Two people who have de-prioritized all other loyalties and then re-prioritized each other as their number one loyalty on earth so that they have actually formed a new entity, a new family, a new unity. “So they are no longer two, but one.”

That’s what marriage is, and it’s where sex belongs. “One flesh” means more than just sex, but it doesn’t mean less. Two bodies coming together in sexual intimacy is for marriage, by God’s design.

When God made our bodies, He made them for sex. He didn’t make Adam and Eve and then say, “Oh no, what are they doing?!”  No, Genesis says that after He made them male and female, “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28 NIVO). He knew what He was doing when He made us sexual creatures.  But He gave us the gift of sex to be enjoyed within the covenant of marriage.

Trust the Designer. He knows best!

I know it doesn’t always seem that way.

I do know that some people have same-sex attraction–persistent, unsought same-sex attraction. And they want to marry somebody of the same sex, and it seems like that would be really good to them. But that’s not how the Creator designed marriage. That’s not what marriage is. And the Lord of Marriage is calling us as His people to trust Him to do things His way and be blessed.

And I also know that some people suffer from gender dysphoria. They feel great unease about their own bodies. They would rather be the other sex than what they were given when they were conceived. I empathize with that pain. It must be very great, and I don’t pretend to know the half of it. It’s part of the brokenness of our world. But I do know that my Creator is good and His design for creation is good. And I know that I can trust Him.

And I know that some people are simply wary of marriage. They think it’s just a piece of paper. They have seen the ravages of divorce. They want to make sure that this person they want to be with is the “right person,” and so they want to test drive the relationship and live like they’re married before they are married just to make sure. And there are, unfortunately in some cases, financial benefits to living together instead of getting married. But that’s not how God designed it. That’s going against the grain of the universe. As is polygamy. And, as we’ll see, as is divorce in general.

Jesus is asking us to trust the Designer of Marriage and do it His way.

If you are living together like you are married and you are not married, the Lord of marriage is calling you to repent and to either to marry or to separate. To follow Jesus and do marriage His way.

One of you asked me after the conference if pastors in the EFCA were open to performing or blessing same-sex “weddings.” And the answer is no. And that if we did, we would lose our standing as pastors in the EFCA as would any EFCA church that went down that road.

In June of 2017 the national conference of the EFCA affirmed a resolution that says, “The Evangelical Free Church of America affirms that God created human beings uniquely in His image as male and female, and He has designed marriage to be a covenantal relationship between one man and one woman.” Sounds like Genesis. Sounds like Jesus.

And that was affirmed unanimously. For which I’m grateful. But I’m also grateful that at that very same conference, we followed that unanimous affirmation of God’s good design for marriage, by spending three hours in training each other how to love and serve and care for and relate to people with same-sex attraction and gender dysphoria.

Because we have been so loved, we are called to love. There are probably people several people in this room that experience same-sex attraction. I’m so glad you’re here. There may be a few of you who experience gender dysphoria. I’m so glad you’re here. I’m glad that we have a single-use restroom back that hallway over there so that everyone can feel comfortable and go to the bathroom in peace. I’m sure that if someone who is trans* or queer or non-binary (or de-transitioning) comes respectfully into our meeting, checking things out, that you all will show the love of Jesus to them with sweet hospitality.

Because we are trying, in God’s power, “to be God’s people in this place, live His goodness, share His grace, proclaim God’s mercy through His Son, be His love to everyone.” (Charles F. Brown)

Without compromise to His truth.

The Lord is calling us to trust the Designer to define marriage.

We don’t look to society to define marriage.

We don’t look to the US government to define marriage.

We don’t look to the Supreme Court to define marriage.

They are all going to do what they are going to do. But we, as Christians, are called to do what the Lord Jesus says we should do.

Now, your struggle with defining marriage might be different from what we’ve talked about already today. I don’t know what everybody here is tempted to do with marriage. But left to our devices, we will always come up with a design flaw, and we need to go back to the drawing board and follow the original design as best we can.

Again, in Matthew 19, the main issue was divorce. And here’s what the designer of marriage said about that. Look at verse 6.

“Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

Application point number two (and,, don't worry, they will get shorter as we get towards the end of this message):

#2. DON’T RUSH TO AMPUTATE WHAT THE LORD HAS STITCHED.

“[W]hat God has joined together, let man not separate.’” What has God joined together? He calls it “one flesh.” Now, that’s just a metaphor, but what a picture that is! It’s like one man surgically sewn together with one woman to form a new unity. And after the surgery heals, there’s just one entity there.

And Who is the surgeon? “What GOD has joined together.” Marriage is not just something that two people do to themselves. It’s not even just something that the state does to two people. Jesus says that God puts people together into marriages. So we should be very careful about pulling them apart!

Do you see how this answers the Pharisees’ question? They wanted to know when it was okay to divorce. Jesus says, “Divorce?! Uh. That’s never ‘okay.’ That’s never best. That’s never good. Divorce wasn’t the idea. Divorce wasn’t the design, the intention from the start.”

Don’t do that if you can at all help it. Don’t just amputate what the Lord has stitched together.

Now, I know that this is a painful subject for many us in this room.

We have all been touched by divorce in our families, and many of you have experienced divorces personally. It has come closer in our extended family in recent months than ever before. I know this is painful. For some of you, it’s painful because you didn’t want it, but it happened to you anyway. For some of you, it’s painful because you know you did it wrong, and you feel the weight of that. For some of you, most of you who have been divorced, you feel some degree of shame. Even if you didn’t do anything shameful in the whole process, you still feel shame put on you by others. Even what I’ve said so far this morning might seem to pile it on further.

There is confusion and hurt. When you let someone into your life so that they get all the way to “one-flesh,” and then that relationship breaks and becomes jagged, it’s got to hurt. Being in conflict and estranged and eventually divided from the person who was the closest person to you has got to have lingering effects.

I know that divorces are painful. And so does the Lord.

And divorce, even sinful divorce, is not the unforgivable sin. And not all divorces are sinful (at least on one side) as we’ll see in verse 9. But Jesus is saying that divorce should be avoided if at all possible. We should be extremely reluctant to divorce because what God has joined together is something we should not separate. Marriage wasn’t designed to be temporary. It was supposed to be dissolved only by death.

So the Pharisees have a comeback. They don’t realize that they have already lost. They whip out Deuteronomy 24:1, and think they have answered Jesus. V.7

“‘Why then,’ they asked, ‘did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?’ [Huh, Jesus? Riddle me that! Answer that one!]

Jesus replied, [You numbskulls] ‘Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.”

Notice that word “permitted.”

Here’s where Jesus differs from Rabbi Shammai. Shammai thought that if there was adultery, then God required a divorce. “No,” Jesus says, “God through Moses permitted a divorce in those cases because of hard hearts, but He didn’t command them.” You don’t have to divorce even when there has been sexual immorality. That’s not the way it was is in the beginning. The design was for permanence. Marriage was built to last.

Yes, we messed it all up. Hard hearts. Lots of sin. Lots of covenant breaking. Yes, divorce got allowed. (Even polygamy gets allowed for a time.) But that wasn’t the design. Don’t rush out and get a divorce! Make every effort you can to salvage that thing. 

I know that’s not what the world says. The world rushes to divorce. And so do many professing Christians. And again, there are solid reasons to divorce, as we’ll see in verse 9. And if you have divorced for the wrong reasons, there is plenty grace at the Cross for all repentant sinners.

But the Lord of Marriage says, “Don’t rush to amputate what I have sewn together.”

Divorce should be a last resort. If possible, if the conditions are right including the appropriate repentance, then lean towards forgiveness. Because, verse 9: “I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

Now, you hear the exception there. And there is at least one other exception that Paul lays out in 1 Corinthians 7, abandonment by an unbelieving spouse. There may be more exceptions when the covenant is broken beyond repair.

But the emphasis here is not on the exception of sexual immorality, the Greek is “porneia” from which we get our word “porn” and it means various kinds of covenant-breaking sexual unfaithfulness.

The emphasis isn’t on the exception. It’s on the fact that if you divorce and remarry for the wrong reasons, you are committing adultery, breaking the 7th commandment. You’re badly amputating what the Lord has sewn together. 

And notice by Whose word this is. V.9 “I tell you...” Don’t miss that! That’s super important. Jesus is laying down the law here Himself. Jesus is the Lord of Marriage! And He’s saying, “Don’t do it. Don’t divorce for the wrong reasons. What God has joined together, let man not separate.”

Now, there is an exception here. And it’s a true one. If one spouse falls into marital unfaithfulness (porneia), they are, in that moment, ripping up the surgery themselves and defacing the one-flesh  relationship.  If your spouse has done that to you, you are permitted by the Lord of Marriage to divorce them.

Permitted, not commanded! I’d still say, “Make every effort. Even when it doesn’t feel like it.” Because we know that our marriages are pictures of Christ and the Church. And if we can salvage them, they can still be wonderfully beautiful pictures of Christ and the Church! We should be extremely reluctant to throw away any pictures of Christ and the Church.

But it is permitted, especially if an offending spouse is unrepentant. If they are amputating what the Lord has stitched together, you certainly don’t have to pretend that all is well. But the Lord of Marriage wants us to do everything on our end to uphold it.

Now, the disciples overreact to what Jesus has just taught. V.10

“The disciples said to him, ‘If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.’”

I’m pretty sure that was the Apostle Peter! Sounds like him, doesn’t it? Peter was married already. He knew that marriage was a lot of work. And now Jesus says that it’s “for better, for worse, and for keeps?” 

You might feel trapped in a marriage if it’s for life. A life sentence.

What’s fascinating is that even though that’s a rash overreaction, Jesus basically says, “Yeah, that’s right for some people.” For some people it is better to not marry. V.11

“Jesus replied, ‘Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. [There’s three kinds.] For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage [or became eunuchs] because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.’”

So, surprisingly, our last application point is:

#3. SERIOUSLY CONSIDER CELIBACY FOR THE KINGDOM.

Ironically, the Lord of Marriage says that marriage is not for everyone. Some people are (at least for a time and some for a lifetime) called to celibate singleness. 

And that’s not strange. We think that’s so strange. We think that’s so hard.

“Celibacy is so hard!”

But Jesus says, “Marriage is hard. Celibacy is just a different kind of hard.”

You know what’s hard?

Being born an eunuch. Being celibate because your body came out that way. Being celibate because somebody did that to you. It’s actually much easier to choose to live the celibate lifestyle than to have forced on you.

But what if you choose it for the kingdom? Isn’t that quite a phrase in verse 12, “because of the kingdom of heaven?!” Last time I preached this passage, I was really struck by this quote from Pastor Douglas O’Donnell.

He said, “The kingdom of heaven is so important that it should seem perfectly normal if someone would want to give up marriage for it.”

The remaining major message at the theology conference was by a pastor who has been a single man for his whole life. And he said that there are a bunch of reasons why it can be advantageous for the kingdom for Christians to stay single, at least for a time, and for some a life-time.

And if you are called to that, embrace it. Jesus says, “The one who can accept this should accept this.” 

And those of us who are married should celebrate those who are single right now for the kingdom. I think, all to often, we’ve treated singles as second-class kingdom citizens. But that’s totally wrong. The Apostle Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 7, as well. Single Christians are first class kingdom citizens if they are living for the Lord. And this church has an awesome history of having wonderful single people in it serving the Lord.

There are many right here in this room today. If you are single right now and serving the Lord, thank you.

Thank you for being celibate.

Thank you for being devoted.

Thank you for using your singleness for the Kingdom.

You are living something beautiful, as well.

You know who you are like? You’re like the Apostle Paul. 

And you’re like the Lord Jesus Christ. Because ironically, the Lord of Marriage never got married Himself.

Or perhaps it’s better to say, He’s still engaged to be married to the Church His Bride, and we await the Wedding Supper of the Lamb when all earthly marriages will be over and we all will have in full what they all pointed to in part, the relationship between the Lord of Marriage and His Church.

What God will join together for eternity.

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