Matthew 22:41-46 | Jeffrey Smith

[0:00] All right, I'm going to do my best David Vineyard impersonation here.! I got my digital device. Oh my goodness!! No more paper! How's everyone doing?

[0:12] Good. If you want to turn in your Bibles, we are in Matthew 22 this morning. And just in light of what Joe had mentioned regarding our brother, Frank passing away, that's a sad, sad thing.

[0:35] I didn't know if David was going to be here or not, so I did want to just share just a quick thought on Frank. There's just so many things to be said. I think Dave put it well.

[0:45] He was a celebrity, you know. I can still remember, like, my first impressions of Frank and just, like, this guy is incredibly sharp and just smart and engaging.

[0:59] And then as you get to know him, you're like, this guy just loves the Lord. And just seeing the impact he had on his family and just so many things. And we could go on and on, and I won't.

[1:13] But, you know, it reminded me of, there's a book I'm reading right now called The Hiding Place. It's a story of Corrie Ten Boom. Have you guys, anyone read it?

[1:26] Maybe I'm the last one to ever read it. So it's exciting to me. And in this story, if you don't know it, Corrie Ten Boom is this lady who lives in Holland during World War II.

[1:43] She lives with her dad, her sister, and a bunch of other people. But essentially, they're watchmakers that turn into folks that are helping hide Jews, essentially, from Nazi search.

[2:00] And so their home essentially becomes like the headquarters for all of these Jews that are coming through. And she's finding them ration cards. And it's not like she, like, did this intentionally.

[2:13] It's just the Lord used her like this. And it's an incredible story. And she talks about when she was younger, she had this fear of what would happen when her dad would die. And her dad was this just, like, godly, well-respected man.

[2:30] And you can see the parallels with a guy like Frank. And when she was younger, you know, she would get scared about that moment that he would die. And it said, in the book it says, Father sat down on the edge of the narrow bed.

[2:44] And, Corey, he began gently, when you and I go to Amsterdam, when do I give you your ticket? And this was when they would actually get on a train and they would go to Amsterdam to get some, you know, rare parts for their watchmaking business or watch repair business.

[3:03] And Corey sniffed a few times. And considering this, she says, why, just before we get on the train? And he says, exactly.

[3:17] And our wise Father in heaven, who knows when we're going to need things too, he also gives us our ticket then.

[3:28] Don't run out ahead of him, Corey. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need just in time.

[3:42] And the gist of that is, Corey's dad went on and he died when he was 84 years old in a Nazi prison. Corey's family, they were all taken into prison because of their offense of hiding Jews.

[4:02] And 10 days into it, harsh conditions, Corey's dad dies. And she recalls that moment that the Lord would give her the strength that she needed just when it was needed.

[4:14] And so that was going to be my encouragement to David, you know, and his family. That, you know, Frank is in heaven. That is a wonderful thing.

[4:26] I pray that he gives their family just the strength to be able to celebrate that, but also grieve in that, right? It's a balance there. And, you know, we know that Paul tells the church in Thessalonica and 1 Thessalonians, but we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

[4:50] We don't grieve the same way. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

[5:02] For we declare to you by a word from the Lord that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

[5:14] For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command and the voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God and the dead will rise with Christ first.

[5:27] Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words.

[5:43] It says, Grieve not as others do that have no hope. There will be grieving, but it's not the same because we do have the hope, the hope in the gospel, the hope in salvation, the hope in eternity with the Lord.

[5:58] So let's go ahead and open in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come to you and it's a mixed feeling, Lord. It's sad to think that our brother Frank is no longer sitting here in this, I think, third row.

[6:15] And, you know, the effect that his absence has on his family, Lord, and they're grieving and missing him as well.

[6:26] And if, you know, if David's watching, Lord, we would just want him to know that we love him and his family and want to support them. And it's a tough one.

[6:37] Lord, but there is also just this, like, hope that we have that Frank is with you because of the gospel, because of his faith and what your son did on the cross. And may we grieve with that understanding of the hope we have.

[6:55] Lord, I just pray that the day would just be made clear and would speak to our hearts, Lord, that we would walk away with a greater understanding of who you are and what that means for our own lives.

[7:10] In your son's name. Amen. Okay, so just quick recap. I am a very short-sighted person, so I'm always like, where are we at? What are we looking at here at the end of Matthew chapter 22?

[7:24] So, many would say that Matthew 22 and the end of it really concludes Israel's rejection of their king.

[7:36] The rejection of their king. In the beginning or midway part of chapter 21, Jesus is rejected by the chief priests. They challenge him, by what authority are you doing these things?

[7:51] And who gave you this authority? Was John's baptism from heaven or man? That was Jesus' response to that. Later in 22, Jesus was rejected by the Pharisees and Herodias, if I have that pronounced right.

[8:11] The Pharisees went and they plotted how to entangle him with words. Later in 22, Jesus is rejected by the Sadducees. So it went from chief priests to Pharisees, now the Sadducees.

[8:25] And they don't believe in the resurrection and they try to trap him with a question about a woman who's been widowed seven times over. And then again, David, I think, had this two weeks ago where the Pharisees try again and they begin to question him and test him.

[8:46] So this is, if you think about Jesus' ministry, right, he is towards the end of it. His ministry is kind of highlighted in this last three years.

[8:58] and, you know, he started with the declaration of his ministry and the start of it and, you know, Sermon on the Mount.

[9:09] And then the tides turn. And, especially amongst the religious leaders, they start to realize this guy is proclaiming to be something more and we don't like it and there's a reason why.

[9:26] I'm going to get to that. And so now the rejection happens. This is not the guy we want. So he's rejected by the chief priests, the Pharisees, the Sadducees. And now it's Jesus' turn.

[9:41] So they're being, they're questioning him. They're asking him how he has this authority and all these different things. Maybe we'll get them with this question or that. Okay, so let's read Matthew 22 verse 41 through 45.

[9:58] this is going to be a very straightforward interaction or question, but it's kind of confusing. Okay, so just hang with me here.

[10:11] So verse 41, it says, now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question. So he's been taking questions. Now it's my turn.

[10:21] saying, what do you think about the Christ? Simple question. What do you think about the Christ?

[10:34] Whose son is he? They said to him, the son of David. They're not wrong. He said to them, how is it then that David in the spirit calls him Lord?

[10:50] saying, this is a quote from Psalm 110, the Lord said to my Lord, sit it until I put your enemies under your feet.

[11:04] If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son? And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

[11:20] Okay, so consider what's happening here. On the surface, if you didn't know the context of this, you would think, okay, before Jesus presents this question to him, these religious leaders are bringing questions and challenges and hypothetical situations to him.

[11:40] Those are all fine things. There is, I actually like when, you know, it's an iron sharpening iron and someone's challenging someone and you're trying to think through, what does the Bible say about this?

[11:53] What is the truth here? And how does it address the question they're asking? Okay, but frankly, that's not what's happening.

[12:05] Okay? It's a beautiful thing to be questioning, to be growing in your faith and understanding what's happening, but that's not, that's not what the Pharisees and Sadducees and religious leaders are doing.

[12:19] Okay, we all know that. Have you ever had a conversation with someone and someone's asking you a question? You know there's a very different feeling between a genuinely curious question and then a question that has a much deeper rooted opinion or point to it.

[12:43] If I say, what do you mean by that? I'm like, oh, he's really wondering, what do I mean by that? If I say, and what do you mean by that? Like, okay, that second one, I can tell there's a little bit of a tone there.

[12:57] And so if you look at the questions that the Pharisees and Sadducees and leaders are bringing, we know that it's not a genuine, hey, if this person marries someone and he dies and then the brother comes along and marries, we know that that's not what they're asking.

[13:11] It's not a, this is a very realistic possible question. I wonder what the answer is. They're trying to trap him. They're trying to trap him and entangle him. And so it's now Jesus' turn to cut to the heart of the matter.

[13:30] And this time he asks a question. What is the question? I love it. I love it. What do you think about the Christ?

[13:42] What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he? The real matter isn't taxes. It isn't marriage in heaven. It's not what's the greatest of all these commandments.

[13:56] We love them so much. What's the best one? Pick your favorite. The heart of the issue is what do you think about Christ? this was the most this was a very pointed question to their theology and they gave a very typical answer.

[14:16] It was expected the way they responded. they say he is David's son. I'm going to get back to that and what that means.

[14:29] We're going to think about this in two parts. What is the question itself? This answer is a very interesting answer. There's a weird not a weird I don't know if I would have responded that way.

[14:41] The Lord did in a very unique way. It reminds you this question though it reminds you of when Jesus asked Peter who do the people say the son of man is?

[14:53] Who do you say that I am? Peter gave the correct response. You are the Christ the son of the living God. So this week I was in New York for work and I was meeting with several clients and I had a couple colleagues with me and I thought if you've ever been in New York it is one of the most diverse places you could ever see.

[15:18] I mean you're just looking around and there are people that look very different that are speaking different languages that are dressed very differently like it's just a hodgepodge of everyone from around the world.

[15:30] And so I thought what a there's not a better place to ask the question who is Christ? Who is the Christ? So can I pop up the first picture here.

[15:41] All right so this is me on the right a colleague on the left and the guy in the middle is my biggest client his name is Vadim and Vadim is a great guy we I mean we talk probably every other week and we've been talking for three years Vadim wanted to have a double date so Teresa and I went up in November and went out to dinner with him and his wife and saw a show and got a nice meal Vadim is interesting he's got a really interesting background he's 40 years old he is a Russian Jew it's kind of interesting so his family's from Russia he's Jewish he lives in New York he actually grew up in California and he married a girl with a similar background except she was raised partially in Slovenia so

[16:42] Russia Slovenia Jewish living in America everybody following this whole story and so I love picking Vadim's brain on just everything in the world I mean you think about the two biggest conflicts in this world Russia Ukraine and what's happening in Israel I'm like you got you got players in both games what do you think what's going on here so we're out to dinner and you know we're talking about everything I mean Vadim it's a great conversation and at one point I said Vadim as you know as a Jewish man I'm gonna I'm gonna give kind of a two part question here what's your opinion of God and who is Christ his answer kind of surprised me he said well I'm actually an atheist I said that's interesting so if you're an atheist but with a Jewish background how does that work and it really comes down to he is an ethnic

[17:48] Jew you know his family traces back to Israel he doesn't believe in God and as such doesn't practice the traditions of you know Judaism doesn't really practice the culture even and when I kind of went back to who is Christ I kept saying this is my icebreaker you know Easter we just had Easter like did you I know you probably don't celebrate anything but like what's your thought on Christ you know like trying to make it as not weird as possible and he said you know I think Jesus was a real person but I don't believe in God and so therefore I don't believe Jesus has any divine connection to God or being God's son and it's interesting because his family immigrated from Moscow when he was young because of communist Soviet Union oppression and because of the amount of oppression just for his like ethnic background they felt like they had to get out his dad is a brilliant mathematician and couldn't even get the appropriate job because of that they moved to

[19:06] San Francisco and he becomes a university professor that's the level of his intelligence but he couldn't get anything close to that in the Soviet Union at the time because of that oppression it also affected their belief and their practice of Jewish traditions and so they kind of got away from it well the interesting thing and this is kind of the conclusion of this part of the story but they have a kid they have a second kid on the way and his wife is wanting to pass on some type of Jewish tradition and so they're starting to look into that what does that mean what does it mean to be Jewish what do it's kind of an odd thing to celebrate say the Passover if you don't really believe that there was a God in that story who delivered your people so that was

[20:12] Vadim's story you can take that picture down I had one other conversation I'll just kind of briefly share with so I had a colleague of mine that was with me his name is Joe we'll call him Joe that's his real name and Joe is a 59 year old co-worker and we had a meeting if you've ever been to New York it's like a big peninsula and we had a meeting downtown and then we had a lunch meeting kind of in midtown so we had like a 45 minute walk and we were going to jump in a cab and I'm like it's a beautiful day you want to walk and he's like I would love to walk so we had like a 45 minute uninterrupted him and I just talking all the way up Manhattan and we have traveled together in the past so you know we have a good rapport built and I said Joe we just celebrated Easter what did you guys do Who do!

[21:11] and he said well let me tell you something he goes I was raised in Catholicism and at age 15 all of my former Catholics can fact check me on this what happens when you're 15 confirmation yes and he said at 15 I was told you are now a man you can make your own decisions and he is like all right I'm out and he left the Catholic church I don't know all the details from 15 to 22 but at 22 he entered AA so there were some challenges along the way there were some substance abuse challenges and so I said Joe who is Christ and he said I think Christ was a real person but I don't necessarily think he is the only way to heaven and he said I don't think Jesus says he's the only way to heaven he said

[22:12] I think he encourages us to follow him and I think that's a really good model for living and he said I don't think Jesus would be in support of how the church treats minority groups like the LGBT groups kind of gives you an idea of where Joe stands and we I talked to him about John 14 6 and explained Joe Jesus said I am the only way to get to heaven there's no one that gets to the father except through me he goes oh I didn't realize it said that at one point it was interesting he was like in Matthew 22 or Matthew 5 you know talking about the sermon on the!

[22:59] I'm like Joe you don't even know brother we're in the throes of Matthew right now so that was good and eventually you know when someone recognizes that Jesus is a real person you know you got him because you can just throw out the Lord liar lunatic if you don't know what that is you can just ask him hey do you think if Jesus says I'm the only way to get to heaven and I'm God's son do you think he was crazy no one wants to say Jesus is crazy do you think he was lying no one wants to call Jesus a liar well if he's not crazy and he's not lying he is who he says he is it's it's the logical conclusion if you're ever wondering and you're in the moment just think Lord liar lunatic all else those are someone and almost I rarely come across someone that says

[23:59] I don't think Jesus was a real historical figure and after I asked him that question he frankly didn't have a response it was very reminiscent of what you see in verse 46 the Pharisees and no one was able to answer him a word so that's a very powerful question we're going to at the very end of this I want to show just a quick clip of something pertaining!

[24:38] to that but when in doubt just come back to that whether you're like sharing the gospel with someone or you're checking your own self who is Christ that is the foundation of everything so let's just talk about the answer real quick the answer is interesting so they say the Pharisees say in verse 42 the son of David and he says to them and he said to them how is it then that David in the spirit calls him Lord saying the Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet so a couple interesting things so this comes from Psalm 110 which is like verbatim the Lord says to my Lord sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool and again this is written by David so here's the interesting thing did you know that this is the most quoted

[25:42] Old Testament chapter in the New Testament Psalm 110 I did not know that I'll be honest it was like vaguely familiar Psalm 110 it's quoted 27 times in some form in the New Testament verse 1 which is what Jesus is referring to here is quoted seven times in the New Testament okay so let me let me kind of just try to very clearly and plainly describe what Jesus is meaning by this so he is saying it this way and I'm going to kind of put it in a paraphrased way how could the Messiah be David's son if David inspired by the Holy Spirit calls him Lord so like why would David call his son Lord like in that time that would be a very odd thing to call your son

[26:52] Lord so why does Jesus why is he bringing up this point again it says the Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet the first Lord refers to God the Father the second Lord refers to Jesus Christ so God the father is addressing his son Jesus as Lord and is commanding him to sit at his right hand side like the most prominent place to sit so God okay you guys all with me so far so David is saying Lord said to my Lord so there's a couple things that are happening we're recognizing David is calling the Messiah Lord that's weird isn't that his son and God it's God saying to Jesus sit on my right side this almost everyone in this time looked at

[27:58] Psalm 110 as messianic meaning this was referring to the Messiah so it wasn't like he was having to convince these people like okay when it says Lord said to my Lord that's actually talking about this Messiah that's to come they all recognize that so there was this level of assumption and understanding that this is talking about the Messiah and if you need a quick refresher 2 Samuel 7 1 Chronicles 17 it's God's promise to David when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers I will rise up your offspring after you who shall come from your body and I will establish his kingdom and he shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever that's another way of saying David from your line the Messiah will come Isaiah 11 1 there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of

[29:00] Jesse and a branch from its root shall bear fruit they all were looking for this Messiah to come from the line of David but here's the key point you ready the key point was they were looking for a Messiah that was not only they were looking for a descendant of David almost in more of a human form a human delivery where Jesus is making the point that it is not only a descendant and a son of David it is also God's son and so how do you reconcile those two things it's the same person it's the same person and that was a tough pill for them to swallow they were thinking more about who's going to liberate them from

[30:05] Roman rule you know when Jesus comes in and they're saying you know Hosanna blessed be he who comes in the name of the Lord even the king of Israel they're looking for this powerful kingly messiah in a literal political sense who's going to deliver us from Rome and Jesus comes in to say that the messiah is not only going to be from the line of David but it is also God's son and therefore I am the fulfillment of that I am the messiah I am the son of it also reveals a bunch of other interesting things that the messiah the christ was alive during David's time he's like part of the the you know the trinity the you know he's part of God all those things would have been like tough things for them to like grapple with like we're thinking linearly like okay like

[31:10] Jesse David and so on down the line and eventually get to Jesus but to think like Jesus was part of God at the beginning it like really challenged everything that they were thinking time has gone much quicker than I thought I was going to okay does that make sense as far as David's point I'm sorry Jesus point in this is he's asking a question that gets to the heart of the issue I almost like title this message like the heart of the issue the heart of the issue is who is Christ for the religious leaders of the time they were looking for a physical deliverer and Jesus is saying it's not the way you think it is going to be from the line of David you're right you're not wrong in that answer but it is also God's son and

[32:13] I'm offering you a spiritual deliverance because I'm about to go die on the cross I'm about to give up my life to pay for your sin and by simply believing and trusting in that you are saved you are getting this liberation that you are thinking about but not in the same way it's much better this is eternal salvation okay just glass video I want to show just a quick video this is going to take a minute I think many of you may have heard about this maybe some of you saw it but there was a there was a guy named Wesley Huff that was interviewed by Joe Rogan on the Joe Rogan podcast if you don't know who Wesley Huff is!

[32:55] He is a Canadian apologist he's a biblical scholar he's got degrees in everything you can think of related to the Bible he's an expert in you know manuscripts and theology and he's very good in apologetics and defending the Bible and defending the Christian faith and so he's being interviewed by Joe Rogan and if you don't know who Joe Rogan is you're under a rock no I'm joking Joe Rogan is one of the most popular podcast hosts and his the amazing thing is his reach is incredible like the audience that he gets to I looked it up like this podcast alone reached 30 million people the Super Bowl I think it's like 130 million I think most like game sevens of like the World Series maybe get around 30 million this is incredible okay and after three hours they're going back and forth and this

[34:02] Wesley Huff guy is explaining the Bible and manuscripts and how it supports what we see today and the inerrancy of it and like Joe Rogan is just like what this is crazy and after three hours which is a long time you're like waiting for like come on baby give him the gospel like this is just such a key moment here and after three hours Wesley Huff asks Joe Rogan a very interesting question can we show the clip here what do you think of Jesus well it certainly seems like there's a lot of people that believe that there was this very exceptional human being that existed so the question is what does that mean does it mean he was the son of God does it mean he was just some completely unique human being that had this vision of humanity and spreading this ideology that would ultimately change the way human beings interact with each other forever so what is he the son of

[35:13] God well are we all but you have to submit to this concept that this guy was the child of God who came down to earth let himself be crucified came back from the dead explained a bunch of stuff for people and said all right see you want to come back if we get to a point where artificial reality is indiscernible from regular reality and Jesus chooses to come back at that moment boy that's the ultimate test of faith what do you think of Jesus well it certainly seems like there's a lot of people that after three hours and one of the most engaging conversations I've seen Wesley Huff a very smart guy could have said a lot of things he could have said give me your statement of what you believe give me the foundation for your faith and theology but I just love that he asked the question that

[36:17] Jesus asked what do you think of Christ because that is the most basic foundation thing foundational thing I mentioned this earlier but for the unbeliever it's it's a matter of life and death eternal life and death the answer to that question when you have an opportunity to talk to someone that you're like I don't think this person knows the Lord and you're thinking what do I say you could just say that what do you think about Christ it's a very polarizing question you'll get a lot of different answers you can even hear Joe Rogan's answer is a little wonky at the end but you'll get that a lot you get some off the wall ideas for the believer for yourself it is the foundation for our faith it's the foundation for what we stand for it's the foundation for what makes us a child when in doubt go back to the foundation go back to the question who is

[37:23] Christ I'll go ahead and close in prayer if the musicians want to come up Heavenly Father again it's it is just so good to be in your word and to to be studying to be just looking to see how how did you see the world how did how did you see what was most important Lord and just the example that you gave in this interaction with the Pharisees asking this simple question what do you think about the Christ what a powerful thing Lord and I just pray that each of us would be just asking ourselves that question as we go out from here this morning and through the week and the month and the rest of our life who you more Lord and learning more about your qualities that's a beautiful thing as we walk with you just getting to know you more

[38:25] Lord and as we're sharing that with others just starting with that very basic foundational question what do you think about the Christ Lord maybe we use that as an opportunity to share the gospel and share the good news in your son's name Amen