Through the Bible - Genesis 11-13, Matthew 5
Good morning,
Many "modern day" evengelicals focus on the gospels for their evangelism and narrow their focus to Jesus healing and teaching, choosing not to deal as much with His preaching, which avoids some of the challenges of His ministry.
His disciples came from different backgrounds, some were fishermen, others, like Matthew were tax collectors. A fishermen could always return to His line of work if things didn't work out. A tax collector couldn't. Once he turned his back on the "government" he wouldn't be allowed into their circles. Matthew brought along with him his eye for detail and order. I hope that you'll see, and look for some of this as we go through the book of Matthew.
For today's verse we'll go to Matthew 4 where Jesus is beginning His ministry and gives us a summary, a kind of syllabus of what He will be doing.
Matt 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. NKJV
or from the NLT:
Matt 4:23 Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness.
John Piper writes, "One way to restate that verse would be to say that Jesus made it his ministry to preach the coming of the kingdom, teach the way of the kingdom, and demonstrate the purpose and power of the kingdom by healing the sick. Preaching, teaching, and healing."
It's interesting to note that the verse is basically repeated in Matt. 9:35. What we find in between are two major sections of his gospel. Chapters 5-7 give a collection of Jesus' teaching in the "Sermon on the Mount". Chapters 8 and 9 are mainly a collection of stories about His teaching ministry.
Piper continues," So what it appears we have is a five chapter unit designed by Matthew to present us first with some typical teaching of the Lord concerning the way of the kingdom, and second with some typical healings and miracles to demonstrate the power of the kingdom.
The value of seeing this is that it warns us against treating any little piece of this section in isolation. Matthew is the writer here and he is putting his material together in a particular way. He is the inspired apostle, and we should care about how he chose to put things together. That is the way he gets across his meaning"
The Jesus who teaches and heals is the same Jesus that teaches us about where our hearts and treasures are in the following chapters.
The Life Application Bible notes for verse 23 tell us that: Teaching shows us Jesus' concern for understanding; preaching shows His concern for commitment; and healing shows His concern for wholeness." The Gospel should do all of this for us, bring us understanding, commitment and wholeness.
May His Word bring these to your life today.
If you are reading through Matthew in the plan outlined above be prepared for the ride.
In Christ,
Mike
mikevw@bellsouth.net
Matt 4:18-5:1
The First Disciples
18 One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. 19 Jesus called out to them, "Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!" 20 And they left their nets at once and followed him.
21 A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets. And he called them to come, too. 22 They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind.
Crowds Follow Jesus
23 Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. 24 News about him spread as far as Syria, and people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon-possessed or epileptic or paralyzed—he healed them all. 25 Large crowds followed him wherever he went—people from Galilee, the Ten Towns, Jerusalem, from all over Judea, and from east of the Jordan River.
NLT
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