Seeing The Forest In Matthew

Good morning to all of you.

For those of you who don't know me, I'm Samir Massou.

I'm one of the professors at Trinity and a member of Christ the King and a former elder.

I was thinking this morning, which is more important, to see the trees or to see the forest?

Do you start with the big and go down to the small or do you do the reverse?

And I decided in my case I have no choice.

If the elders said to me, Samir, you have two whole years to speak on Matthew.

You can preach on Matthew for the next hundred lectures, next hundred Sundays.

We would look at every tree.

We would look at every plant.

We would look at every verse.

Every paragraph.

Every section.

And we'll try to see the forest.

We'll try to see all the trees.

But they didn't give me two years.

They only gave me today.

So, we're going to be like a helicopter hovering over the trees, trying to see what the big picture is.

We are in the Gospel of Matthew.

And there are some really important themes in Matthew.

One of them you should be noticing by now.

That Matthew often points out that Jesus fulfills the Old Testament scriptures.

He uses about 14 passages that have this introduction.

This happened that scriptures may be fulfilled.

Or this happens as the prophet Jeremiah said.

Or as Isaiah said.

I listed several of them here.

Not the whole list.

But several of them.

Just to remind you that that is indeed a very important theme in Matthew.

That God's plan is being fulfilled.

But there is a second theme.

And instead of telling you now what that theme is, I'm just going to wait to the end.

See if you can put one and one together and figure out what's going on.

So, we're going to look at a theme and ask ourselves at the end.

So, what was that all about?

Okay.

That theme can be seen in six places.

And if you look at the back of your bulletin, I gave you a fairly specific outline.

And let's begin with Matthew chapter 1, verse 5.

Matthew 1:5

Matthew 1, 5.

What I want you to do here is to notice two specific names in this passage.

Rahab and Ruth.

You may remember Rahab from Jericho, from the book of Joshua.

And the siege of Jericho.

And Ruth, of course, is the Moabite woman who is discussed in the book of Ruth.

The important thing to notice is that he is giving us the genealogy of King David.

And everywhere else, he only mentions the father.

But at this point, he also decides to mention the mother.

So, why does he mention the mother?

Because one mother is Rahab and the other mother is Ruth.

Rahab was a Canaanite.

Ruth was a Moabite.

In other words, neither one of them was Jewish.

They were non-Jews.

So, realizing that David is their descendant, what he is clearly saying is that even King David is not 100% Jewish.

Even King David has Gentile blood in him.

Race issues are very important in all cultures.

And this past year, we have been going through a lot of racial issues in this country.

And we need to move on with racial issues.

We need to treat each other as brothers, as family, rather than divide and separate and discriminate and things like that.

But, I am Lebanese.

So, I ask my daughter, who is only half Lebanese, what does she think?

Does she think she is an Arab?

Or does she see herself as an American?

How does she see herself?

Or maybe she sees herself as an American Arab?

Or as an Arab American?

For my son, it doesn't seem to matter that much difference.

But for her, it seems to matter a lot.

So, I ask her, when it comes to ISIS, for example, how do you perceive ISIS?

Do you perceive ISIS just as an American who is angry at a group of people who are martyring Christians?

Or do you see ISIS as an Arab?

When I look at ISIS, because I'm an Arab, and because ISIS are Arabs, I look at it differently than she does.

And so, there was, as you know very well, last century, a horrible evil man by the name of Hitler,

Hitler, who thought, absolutely wrongly, that some races are better than other races,

and that, in his case, if you were blonde hair, blue eyes, Aryan, then you were the supreme race.

And that other people, it's okay to kill and send to Auschwitz and Dachau and concentration camps.

And he had three groups of people at the bottom of the list.

The Jews, the gypsies, and the Arabs.

Had he won World War II, I may not even be here.

But Hitler was advocating racial superiority, and we're better than everybody else,

and we're the superior race, and all of you are inferior.

And I think God, in his own sense of humor, decided to humiliate Hitler in public,

in front of the whole world.

And so, in the Berlin Olympics, who was the great American athlete?

Jesse Owen.

And he was an African American, and he is supposed to be inferior to these Aryans.

But God showed that that's a lot of nonsense.

Racial superiority is a lot of nonsense.

It would be easy for somebody to say, we are Jews.

We have the prophets.

We have the Torah.

We have the temple.

We have Moses.

We have all of these things.

And look at our great King David, the greatest king in Israel's history.

And you look at this passage, and guess what?

Rahab is not Jewish, and Ruth is not Jewish.

God is saying, even the greatest Jewish king is not completely Jewish.

Even the greatest Jewish king has Gentile blood in him.

So, don't go around championing racial superiority.

The second passage, Matthew 2, verse 1.

Matthew 2:1

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judah, 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 we have come to worship him.

Wise men, Magi from the east, saw the star and followed it,

and come to King Herod, who is an Edomian,

and they asked, Where is he born King of the Jews?

Wise men from the east, non-Jews,

Gentile wise men are asking King Herod,

Where is he born King of the Jews?

Hold on here just for a minute.

I want to show you some contrast

to help you appreciate what's going on in Matthew.

Turn to the Gospel of Mark,

to the incident, chapter 4,

where Jesus calms the storm.

So, Jesus was asleep.

There is a horrible storm.

The boat is about to sink.

The disciples are about to die.

So, in Mark 4, 38,

Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.

The disciples woke him and said to him,

Teacher, don't you care if we drown?

He got up, rebuked the wind,

and said to the waves,

Quiet, be still.

Then the wind died down,

and it was completely calm.

He said to his disciples,

Why are you so afraid?

Do you still have no faith?

That's not a compliment, by the way.

They were terrified and asked each other,

Who is this?

Even the wind and the waves obey him.

Who is asking this question?

Not Sanhedrin,

not Pharisees,

not outsiders,

not some tourists from Egypt.

Jesus' own disciples are asking,

Who is this man that even the wind and the sea obey him?

The irony of it is that they are Jesus' disciples.

They're not some, you know,

Rabbi Gamaliel disciples.

They are Jesus' disciples,

and they still,

after this time that they have spent with him,

approximately a year,

are still wondering,

Who is this guy?

Jesus' own disciples don't know who he is.

Haven't figured him out yet.

And Jesus later on,

just for fun,

asks them,

Who do people say I am?

Ah, you're John the Baptist,

you're this, you're that.

And then he drops the hammer.

Who do you say I am?

Well, there,

the Holy Spirit helped them out.

Here they have no idea.

You are the Christ,

the Son of the living God.

Here,

they're still asking,

Who is this guy?

Go back to Matthew.

The disciples have no idea who Jesus is.

Who in the Gospel of Matthew

is the first group of people

to know who Jesus is?

Gentiles.

Wise men from the East

know Jesus,

know the identity of Jesus,

the position of Jesus,

the rank of Jesus,

better than Jesus' own disciples.

It'd be embarrassing if my,

you know,

if somebody I completely don't know

knows more about my family

than my own children.

That'd be embarrassing.

Wise men from the East,

Gentiles are the first to recognize

who Jesus is.

And so,

and so,

we move to chapter 2,

verse 13.

After the Magi come and visit Jesus,

and give him their gifts,

they return,

they return,

and then in verse 13,

chapter 2, 13,

when they had gone,

an angel of the Lord

appeared to Joseph

in a dream.

Get up,

he said,

take the child

and his mother

and escape to Egypt.

Stay there

until I tell you,

for Herod is going to search

for the child

to kill him.

Jesus' life

is in danger.

It is not time

for Jesus

to die.

It's too early.

It's not the right time.

He will die,

but not now.

But Herod,

fearing competition,

Jesus is the king of the Jews,

wants to eliminate competition

and secure his position.

So,

what he wants to do

is to kill Jesus.

So,

Jesus' life

is being threatened

by a murderer

who wants to kill him.

Of course,

the issue is,

Jesus needs to hide.

But where should he hide?

Where should he hide?

I was thinking of

several places in the Bible

where people hide.

There's a famous passage

from Jeremiah,

Jeremiah 7 · chapter mention

chapter 7.

You may not know

that it is from

Jeremiah, chapter 7,

Jeremiah 7 · chapter mention

but you've heard

the passage.

The prophet Jeremiah

asks the evil leaders,

has this house

which is called

by my name

become a den of robbers

in your sight?

Has this house

which is called

by my name

become a den

of robbers?

What do robbers

do in caves

or in dens?

They hide

so as not to get caught.

so there were

all these evil people

who were disobeying God

and wanted to hide

so that God

wouldn't catch them

and others wouldn't see

that they are evil men

and be safe.

And of all the places

they decided to hide,

they decided to hide

in the temple.

So,

Jesus could have hidden

in the temple.

Earlier,

when another king's life

was in danger,

the high priest Jehoiada

takes the young prince

and hides him

in the temple

for seven years

where the evil queen

Athaliah

could not kill him.

so he is hidden

in the temple

for seven years

and not found

and was safe.

So,

if I were Joseph,

I would have gone

to a godly high priest

and say,

look,

this is Messiah.

He wants to kill him.

Can you hide him?

But he doesn't.

Where else could you hide?

Well,

David was part

of the court of Saul

until Saul

became very jealous

of David

and people would say

Saul killed his thousand

but David killed

his ten thousand

and David was young

and Saul was getting older

and David was popular

and Saul was less popular

and so jealousy set in

and Saul decided

to kill David.

So,

where does David hide?

in the Judean wilderness

and you can read

several fugitive psalms

in which David wrote

while he was a fugitive

hiding from Saul

trying not to be captured.

Then we have

a repetition of this

with Absalom,

David's son

who becomes king

and wants to kill his father

and David hides

in the Judean wilderness

and you know

what was so well hid

in the Judean wilderness

that for two thousand years

nobody found it.

Two thousand years

and nobody found it.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

in the caves

just above the Dead Sea.

So,

Jesus could have been hid

in the Judean wilderness

for two thousand years

and he wouldn't have been caught.

But where does he hide?

In Egypt.

Think about that.

Of all the places

in this world,

where does Jesus

find refuge?

In a Gentile

country.

country.

Gentiles

provide David

safety.

Safety.

Moving on.

Chapter 8.

Chapter 8,

verse 5.

When Jesus

had entered

Capernaum,

a centurion,

that's a Roman soldier,

a captain of a company,

a centurion

came to him

asking for help.

Lord,

he said,

my servant

lies at home

paralyzed

and in terrible suffering.

Jesus said to him,

I'll go and heal him.

The centurion

replied,

Lord,

I don't deserve

to have you

under my roof,

but just say the word

and my servant

will be healed.

For I myself

am a man

under authority

with soldiers

under me.

I tell this one

go and he goes

and this one

come and he comes.

I say to my servant,

do this

and he does it.

Look at verse 10.

When Jesus

heard this,

he was astonished.

Only two places

in the Gospel

of Matthew

where it says

Jesus was astonished.

When Jesus

heard this,

he was astonished

and he said

to those

following him,

I tell you

the truth.

I have not found

anyone in Israel

with such

great faith.

Who is the person

who

in all of Israel

had the greatest

faith

that Jesus

ever saw?

A Roman

centurion.

A Roman

centurion.

I would have thought

that the disciples

would have the greatest

amount of faith.

They don't.

Maybe

Nicodemus.

No.

Of all the people

who had the greatest

faith,

of all the people,

the one who had

the greatest faith

was a Roman

centurion.

I understand

what he's talking

about

because I served

in the army

for two years

during the Vietnam

era.

I was working

on my PhD

at the time

and so

I was drafted

into the army.

They made us

take exams

and I was the only one

with close to a PhD

and all the other

students

were just graduating

from high school

so they would score

and then suddenly

it would curve

and shoot up

and my score

would be here

and their score

would be here

which it should

since I had about

four years,

five years more education

than they did

and the people said

but you know

you should become

a captain

in the army

not a private

and if you're a private

you have to salute

everybody

you have to do push-ups

if the drill sergeant

is mad at you

you have to do

all of these things

and then they put

this idea

in my mind

become a helicopter pilot

you will start

as a captain

wow

and then he said

you know what you can do

as a captain

you can go back

to basic training camp

and make the drill sergeant

who harassed you so much

salute you all day long

and I thought

to myself

sweet revenge

I'd make him do

as many push-ups

as he made me do

push-ups

in the army

if a captain

gives you an order

you don't do this

you do not do

what I'm going to do next

I'll say

oh sir

you give me an order

did you go to West Point

no you didn't go

to West Point

oh so you went

to an inferior

military school

what was your GPA

what was your grade

point average

did you graduate

in the top third

middle third

or lower third

lower third

so you're an inferior

student

you know

are you in good

physical condition

no you're not

I'm in better

good physical condition

than you

ah

well

based on this data

I'm not going

to do anything

you know

go back to school

get in shape

improve your IQ

and then I'll think

about obeying you

you think it works

like that in the army

you think so

what matters

is the rank

not the person

and so the Roman

centurion says

I give orders

and they obey

I don't have to be there

I give orders

they obey

Jesus guess what

you give orders

the sickness

will obey

you've got power

you can do it

you don't have to be there

when Eisenhower

launched

D-Day

did he have to be

on the beach

no he didn't

he could launch it

from his headquarters

you don't have to be there

but you have the power

you order it

and nature will obey

and Jesus says

I've never seen

anybody in Israel

with so much faith

the person

with the most faith

in Israel

is a Roman soldier

a Gentile

and then a couple more

take a look

at Matthew 28

Matthew 28

this is

the famous

great commission passage

in verse 18

Jesus says

then Jesus came to them

and said

all authority

in heaven

and on earth

have been given to me

therefore go

and make disciples

of all nations

baptizing them

in the name of the Father

and the Son

and of the Holy Spirit

and teaching them

to obey everything

I have commanded you

and surely

I am with you

always

to the very end

of the age

look what the

great commission is

it is not

go

to every Jewish

village

and make a disciple

it is not

go to every Jewish

town

and make disciples

it is not

go to every Jewish

city

and make disciples

it is what

go to the whole

world

the gospel

of Matthew

begins

with the world

the wise men

coming to Jesus

it ends

with Jesus

going

to the whole world

they come

to him

he goes

to them

what does

Jesus want

he wants

disciples

from the whole

world

to put it

in different

words

he wants

Gentile

disciples

he wants

not just

from a small

circle

just from

one family

or just

from one tribe

or just

from one

nationality

or just

one ethnic

group

he wants

disciples

from the whole

world

and then

Matthew 21

which is a

famous parable

of Jesus

in which

Jesus

is

describing

God's

frustrations

with Israel

he sends

them

his words

prophets

with prophets

so they

beat one

they curse

the other

one

they kill

the third

one

so he

sends them

more prophets

and they

mistreat them

as well

just the same

and then he

says

I'm going to

send them

my son

they will

respect my

son

my son

is not

just another

prophet

my son

is my

son

prophets

are here

and he

is here

this is

the last

ultimatum

and what

do they

do

they take

him

and crucify

him

and then

Jesus

says

what do

you think

is going

to happen

with this

kind of

situation

turn to

Matthew

21

33

Matthew

21

starting

with

verse

42

Jesus

said to

them

have you

never read

in the

scriptures

the stone

the builders

rejected

has become

the capstone

the Lord

has done

this

and it

is marvelous

in our

eyes

so if

Israel

keeps

determined

to reject

God

therefore

I tell

you

that the

kingdom

of God

will be

taken away

from you

and given

to people

who will

produce

its food

you don't

want it

I'll give

it to

somebody

else

and the

somebody

else

are the

Gentiles

if you

have been

listening

there is

a word

that I

used

several

times

actually

every time

we looked

at this

passage

I used

that word

it's the

word

Gentile

I want

you to

remember

we have

four

gospels

one of

them

is written

by Luke

another one

is written

by Matthew

when we

think of

the gospel

of Luke

it is the

gospel

to the

Gentiles

it is

written

to a

Greek

person

by the

name

of

Theophilus

and it

is designed

to help

Gentiles

convert

so in

our own

minds

we have

this

dichotomy

Luke

is for

the Gentiles

and Matthew

is for

the Jews

well that

is true

in many

cases

but not

in every

case

even in

this gospel

which is

written

for Jews

the

concern

is with

the Gentiles

I can

understand

it

if Luke

is concerned

for Gentiles

I mean

that would

be natural

but a

Jew

like Matthew

records

that God

is concerned

with the

Gentiles

Matthew

is concerned

with the

other

group

which now

brings me

to the

application

who

in our

case

is the

other

group

who

in our

case

is the

other

group

who

in our

case

are

those

who

are

not

in

our

small

group

inner

circle

this

congregation

whom

does God

want us

to go

to

when he

says

go to

the

ends

of the

world

where

should we

go

first

I am

sure

because

when I

was an

elder

we

talked

about

this

often

I am

sure

that we

were going

to have

a

family

night

and

we

affirm

our

commitment

as a

church

our

mission

our

goals

our

values

we

do

not

want

to be

a

private

club

an

inclusive

society

a

closed

door

that

unless

you're

in it

you can't

join it

we

want

the

door

to be

open

we

want

to

go

out

we

want

God

to do

his

will

in

Kenosha

whether

it

is

tutoring

little

children

or

witnessing

I don't

know

we'd

have to

ask

ourselves

where

where do

we go

who are

the other

group

other than

us

and so

what can

you do

you can

think

about

that

ask

yourself

whom

do I

have

burden

for

other

than

my

immediate

family

of

course

I

have

a

burden

for

my

son

of

course

I

have

a

burden

for

my

daughter

of

course

I

have

a

burden

for

my

grandchildren

that

just

seems

natural

I mean

it doesn't

take extra special

measure to have

burden for

one's family

but anybody

else

do I have

any students

in my case

that I have

a special

burden for

yes

and some

of them

I know

very well

and some

of them

I hardly

know at

all

but I

have

a burden

for them

and I

I try

to befriend

them

and talk

to them

and reach

out to

them

and in

my case

I have

15 weeks

to do it

and I see

them three

times every

week

and I am

an authority

figure

you don't

accept the

Lord

you don't

pass this

class

not really

not really

I have

students

God

wants me

to reach

I have

relatives

God

wants me

to reach

there may

be people

in Kenosha

that God

wants me

to reach

and the

same

to Christ

the King

so ask

yourself

for whom

do I have

burdens

who are

the others

outside

of my

inner

small

inner

circle

and the

second

thing

is

you know

stop

the elders

or some

leaders

in the

church

and say

what can

we do

with this

fit

in terms

of the

larger

ministry

of our

church

what do

we want

to focus

on

knowing

that we

cannot do

everything

let's at

least do

something

and let's

arrive at

a

consensus

that that's

where we

want to

head

so what's

the second

tree

tree

in Matthew

the first

tree

God is

fulfilling

his promises

to the

prophets

the second

tree

God is

concerned

about

taking the

gospel

to the

Gentiles

to the

whole

world

not just

us

but the

whole

world

let's

have a

word of

prayer

Lord

Father

thank you

for these

dear

brothers

and sisters

who are

here

thank you

for placing

us in a

family that

is really

special

with many

with maybe

even so

many godly

people who

love you

and care

about you

thank you

for our

desire

to reach

out

give strength

and wisdom

to our

desire

give

an

obedient

heart

and a

caring

heart

and may

you guide

us

the elders

the congregation

as a whole

as we

reflect

about

our

mission

and what

you would

want us

to be

and do

I ask

you these

things

Lord

Father

in Jesus

precious

name

Amen

I

.

Amen

Amen