Daily Bible Reading - Matthew 12 thru Matthew 13:43

Hello, and welcome to the Westside churches. Special Monday morning coffee podcast on this podcast, our preacher mark Robert will help you get your week started. Right? We look back at yesterday's sermon so that we can think through it further and better work the applications into our daily lives. Mark we'll then look forward into this week's Bible reading so that we can know what to expect and watch for. And he may have some extra bonus thought from time to time. So grab a cup of coffee as we start the week together on Monday morning coffee with mark.

Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to the Monday morning coffee podcast for October the 18th. I'm mark. I've got coffee. I've got my Bible open to Matthew chapter 12, and I'm ready to talk to you about daily Bible reading. Now you may be thinking, wait, where's the review of yesterday sermons, but of course I was not at Westside yesterday. I did have the privilege of preaching in Conway, Arkansas, but I can't review those lessons. I'm certain that max and John and Jonathan did a great job and I look forward to listening to their material, but I can't say a whole lot about those sermons until I have listened to them. So let's just dive directly into daily Bible reading. We're spending the year with Jesus in the gospel of Matthew. Let's do that. Let's talk about our Bible reading in Matthew's gospel for this week on Monday, we will read about the controversy on the Sabbath with Jesus's disciples, plucking grain, and then Jesus healing, a man with a withered hand, all of this revolves on the concept of Jesus authority. And as we're going to see beginning verse 18, what kind of Messiah is Jesus? That's what needs to be focused on carefully here. Now, as you read this today, verses one to 21, Matthew chapter 12, 1 21. There's always discussion about this controversy in the wheat field, because the Pharisees verse to say, Hey, your guys are sending, they're doing what's wrong. And of course they're not sending Jesus. Would've told them to stop it. If they were there's no sin going on here, what is happening is they're violating Pharisaical rules and regulations. All those traditions of men, they probably would have said that they were unlawfully, reaping and threshing, and maybe even preparing a meal. Remember in chapter 11, we read this last week. Jesus says, take my yoke upon you for my yoke is easy. And my burden is light Matthew, 1130. And now we get a story illustrating the heavy burden of therapy ism. That's the connection here. And Jesus says you people have completely missed the point of the law now because he cites David who ate the showbread. Some have thought that somehow this sanctioned some kind of situation ethics, and we get all kinds of stuff like human need takes precedence over ceremonial, technicalities. What a bunch of foolishness. That's not what's going on here at all. For one thing, the disciples aren't starving to death. It's not like they're going to die if they don't eat this wheat. And the other thing that has to be asked is, well, where are you going with that? What sin couldn't be justified under some sort of all I needed to do that. Jesus has no part of any kind of situation ethics. One scholar even said there would be little force in an argument, which simply asserts that if the law has been broken, once it can be broken again, can we really imagine Jesus arguing David sand? So it's okay that my guys sin that's outrageous. And that isn't what Jesus says at all. In fact, I'm intrigued as I've now taught this episode a couple of times in Mark's gospel and then also in Luke's gospel, I've done more reading. I've never really been completely happy with how I've worked with all of that. One scholar suggested that it's entirely possible that David consulted with Abby eighth or the priest, and that God told Abby eighth are to give them the bread and thus it wasn't wrong at all that it was right for David. I'm intrigued by that possibility. And I'm also kind of intrigued with how this is lining up with my preaching in Samuel, that I'm doing at west side. And this is going to line up very well with what I'm going to be preaching this coming Sunday, when we do some sermon on the Mount stuff, and we talk about the judgmental spirit of Matthew chapter seven, that's what the Pharisees have going here in. Jesus says that's just completely out of place. Now verses five and six are only in Matthew and Matthew records that to show what the authority of Jesus, just as God exempts the priests from Sabbath law. So Jesus can exempt his men, his disciples, if he needs to, if he decides to, but even more look at verse seven, if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. You would not have condemned. The guiltless notice the disciples are not doing wrong. This is a quote, verse seven is a quote of Hosea chapter six. And we just need to be careful. Jesus says when we have some sort of interpretation of God's word that leads to harsh and condemning and judgmental kinds of things that may very well be completely missing the point because verse eight, the son of man is the Lord of the Sabbath. This is about Jesus and about his authority, which he then demonstrates in verses nine to 13, nine to 14. I'm sorry, where he heals the man with the withered hand. And please notice the question that Jesus asked verse 12, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath? Is that what the Sabbath is all about? Is it permissible to do something good on this date? He's pushing his enemies to consider is the Sabbath for doing of good or is it for doing of evil, but for them it's the doing of evil verse 14. They're all mad about Jesus healing, this fella. And they're mad about Jesus' disciples plucking grain, but that doesn't keep them verse 14, their rules and regulations. Don't keep them from using the Sabbath to plot and murder. What hypocrisy, how ridiculous this really is. And that brings us then, wow, what's going on on Monday's reading? Huh? That brings us into this quotation beginning verse 18 out of Isaiah 42, where Jesus is seen as the suffering servant, who is gentle. That is what Isaiah 42 is about the gentle servant and particularly verse 21, the servant of God who brings in the Gentiles. And while the Jews were certainly ready for a rough and tumble military Messiah, leading them into battle, they do not seem to be ready for a Messiah who is gentle and has compassion on the weak and is interested. Yeah, he's interested in even Gentiles being part of the kingdom of God on Tuesday. Then we read Matthew chapter 12 verses 22 to 37. And once again, it's about the authority of Jesus. By what authority is Jesus casting out demons? What does this mean? Jesus says, it means the kingdom of God. Verse 28 is come. It means I'm stronger than the devil. And of course, people always ask about the unforgivable sin verse 31. And so I always want to say a word of assurance. What is this unforgivable sin? It is those who willfully reject the truth, who choose to ignore the evidence in front of them. The hardened heart can't be forgiven because of the kind of hardened heart that we're seeing right here, where these Pharisees attribute Jesus, his exorcisms, his power over the devil that say, oh, you're doing that by the power of the devil. Jesus says, that's just nonsense. He doesn't even make any sense. Verse 25, a kingdom divided against itself can't even stand. Why would I be doing that? If I'm of the devil, that's just foolishness. And it just shows how determined they are not to believe in Jesus. They are certain that he can't be the Messiah and they are not going to ask him for the forgiveness of their sands. That's why, that's why they can't be forgiven that section on Tuesday. We'll close with a section here about fruit, the tree, good fruit. Good. And what Jesus is doing is calling on the Pharisees to be consistent. If he's good, then he than he is good. How can he be good, be bad when he's doing this good thing, casting out demons, Wednesdays reading is Matthew chapter 12, verses 38 to 15. Let me get a sip of coffee here. I'm drinking today out of a very nice travel mug that the fellows company makes it's white and the interior of it is ceramic line. And I really, really like that. Some travel mugs are steel or they're plastic. And you just taste that in your coffee. This is a wonderful mug and an amazing how much a nice mug can make for a nice cup of coffee. So verses 38 to 50, discuss the sign of Jonah just as Jonah verse 40 was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish. So will the son of man be three days and three nights in the hearts of men, no signs are going to be given. Jesus says, but the sign of Jonah and a, what is that? Probably Jonah is the sign, not the preaching of Jonah, but Jonah himself, but people of, none of us found out his story and his unlikely deliverance made him a sign in the same way. Jesus will be delivered from death in a, in a much greater way. And so he becomes a sign. Jesus's resurrection becomes the ultimate, the consummate sign that his message is from God. And I should add here that some have tried to make this into a very literal 72 hours. Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights. And then they want to apply that timing to the resurrection. And then they want to back that out and end up with some sort of Wednesday crucifixion so they can have Jesus resurrected on the Sabbath. And th that's very convoluted and difficult. We don't use time that way. No one says I'll be there in two days. Meaning start the clock 48 hours from now. I'm going to be there now. Jesus speaking, accommodatingly just, as we do, the Bible uses terminology like that. Extra four in verse 16, several places use day in the accommodative sense. Like we use it as well. Then Jesus says some things beginning, verse 43 about unclean spirits. And I wish I knew more about unclean spirits. He says, when they go out of a person, they pass through water, waterless places seeking rest. And, and I'm not sure about the association there of demons with the desert. There's so much about demons and demon possession. We just don't know. But one scholar noted that if we are shows, associate God with all that is good, then, then where we deem is naturally be in a barren desolate, dry place, like, like the desert, a place where death does dominates and is so much a part of that, of that land. So maybe that's the connection that Jesus is making there. Let's think about Thursday and what Jesus wants to say in parables, beginning Matthew chapter 13, the great chapter of parables. Now this is where I'm really grateful for the podcast because I get the opportunity to develop a lot more material in our daily Bible reading than I would in just passing on a Sunday. If I was making mention of this in a sermon or especially even on Wednesday night in the Bible talk chapter 13 of Matthew is the great chapter of parables. It is the first time that we come to Jesus. Favorite way of teaching, where he is teaching in parables. And the term parable itself is a Greek word, translating a Hebrew word, which has a wide variety of different meanings. It can be a word, picture, a proverb, an allegory, a riddle in Hebrews nine, nine. It's used and translated as the word symbolic. But here, these are stories that are taken from common life that illustrate much deeper truths about the kingdom and about what disciples need to know about the kingdom as a good general guideline, to keep us from making way more out of a parable than we ought to. And there's always somebody who's going to allegorize every little detail of everything in a parable. I think a good principle is that there's usually about one principle. One idea for each main character in the story may be the, solar's not a great illustration of that because there are four soils and one solar, but that will kind of work out for most of our parables. And in some ways, sower, the parable of the sower is actually kind of a three point in three character. Parable, you have the solar yeah, bad ground and you have good ground. So maybe three points is what we're looking for there. But generally speaking, look for how many characters are in the parable and then try to get a general truth. We have to be careful not to be hyper-specific about these things, get a general truth to match the number of characters. And so on Thursday, we're going to read 23 verses here, which begins with Jesus, teaching the parable of the sower. And then of course for Matthew, this is so important. Beginning verse 10, the disciples come and they say, Hey, what's the deal about this? Why are you teaching in parables? What's going on? And Jesus appears to say, Hey, I'm doing that because I don't want people to understand which causes us to scratch our heads and think I'm not sure. I understand that. I thought Jesus wants for people to get the message of the kingdom. Now this is a little bit longer in Mark's gospel and in Luke's gospel. Uh, so kind of different for Matthew to be a little tighter and more concise than mark and Luke are. But what Matthew is clearly pushing or reporting that Jesus is saying that parable separate. They, they act as a sifter. They act as a way for him to determine spiritual interest. Some people listen to Jesus, teach and about all they get out of that is a farm story because they don't care. They're not really seeking the truth. They're not really seeking the Messiah. Other people stand around afterwards and say there was more to that than just farming. And so verse 10, they come to him and say, why do you speak to them in parables? There are people who say, I want to know more Jesus, that wasn't just about a sower in some seed. Was it? Tell me what you mean by that. This is a very powerful application. Even in our daily Bible, reading you, just reading the Bible to be reading the Bible, check the little Bosch snap, the Bible shut and just move on. Or are we trying to say, I want to know the will of God talk two weeks ago about consulting. God's will we talk about that with David? He sends for the[inaudible]. He asks, God, should I do this? Should I do that? We don't consult God in the same way that David did, but we consult God through his word. Are you doing that? Are we reading the word of God? And then trying to think more deeply about that. Trying to think more comprehensively about the message of the kingdom and about what God is doing, what Jesus is doing, what's happening in this tax. So then of course, when people asked Jesus, Hey, tell me what you meant by that. She just does not say, I don't want you to know it's a secret. If you don't know the secret handshake, if you can't say the secret password, we're not going to let you in the club. No, Jesus is glad to tell people the gospel trues who want to know them. And so he interprets the parable of the sower in verses 18 to 23, which tells us that the word of God affects people differently based on their heart. And there's even going to be some who look like genuine disciples, but they end up being, for example, so involved in the world that they don't make much of a crop. And there's going to be some that when there's persecution, they can't hang around. That causes them to will, but there are going to be good people, good hearts who will take the word of God in. They're going to listen to the word of God. They're going to think on the word of God. They're going to pursue the word of God. And then they're going to act on the word of God and bear fruit verse 23, that's you and me. We need to be that kind of person. In fact, I trust that someone who's listening to a podcast about daily Bible reading is that kind of person let's pursue the word of God. Let's pursue Jesus. Jesus. What did you mean by that? I want to know more so that I can consult the word of God so that I can know God's will for my life. So let's talk more about parables in Matthew chapter 13. Friday's Bible reading is Matthew 13, 24 to 43. Let me have a little bit more coffee here. And let's talk about these parables that Jesus tells in this section of Matthew 13, that begins with the parable of the tares. I'm really unhappy with the ESV here because it calls all the parable of the weeds. And the whole point of this parable, the key to this parable is the kind of weed that the enemy sows, if a particular weed known as that tear T a R E or a Darnell, and that kind of weed looks just like wheat, at least at first. And that's the whole point here is that the disciples are, are actually the harvesters. Can't tell the difference between the tares and the wheat between the good and the bad. And I think what Jesus is doing here, as he continues to talk about the kingdom of heaven, verse 24, as he saying the kingdom is going to come, despite the fact that some won't receive it, he just told the parable, the sower, some people have bad hearts not going to do much for them, but you know, the kingdom is still going to come, but maybe some people would think that that would cause immediate judgment. The end of all things, God bringing down the curtain on human history. Jesus says, no, there's going to be a period of time here going to be a period of time. During that time, there's going to be true disciples and there's going to be false disciples. And it'll explain that in verses 36 to 43, this becomes a very old Testament D section here where Jesus is using figures matter used of God like harvester, that kind of thing. And this really becomes a parable of judgment where Jesus talks about how eventually that kind of final judgment will come and the wheat and the tears will be separated in between the explanation. Of course, there is this parable of the mustard seed in the 11, and there, Jesus talks about how mustard seeds planted. You get this big old tree out of that and birds come and sit in it. And that may be an old Testament reference in the old Testament, Daniel chapter four, and as eco 17, verse 22 birds are often portrayed as coming to the kingdom representing Gentiles. I don't think it's pushing too much here to say that the idea is from a small beginning, the kingdom grows very large, including two Gentiles. And again, Jesus may be trying to correct some misconceptions about the kingdom because the Jews thought the kingdom would be this glorious, huge, immediate thing as they kicked the Romans out of Palestine. And once again had a king to sit on the throne of David who going to be amazing and glorious, and Jesus says, it's going to start really small and humble. It's going to be in some ways, almost an unseen thing, like a woman verse 33, putting 11 in a bunch of dough until that bread rises. That's a very surprising figure by the way, 11 in the Bible almost always represents evil, but it clearly, of course not do so here in this parable that Jesus is telling. So maybe mustard seed suggest big growth while the yeast suggests almost silent transformation. Then Matthew records for, she's saying more about why he's telling parables, and there's a quotation in verse 35 of Psalm 78, and that is a Psalm of ASAP. And if you read Psalm 78, it's a history Psalm, what what's, what's going on there? Why is Jesus quoting that? How is he applying that to himself? Well, ASAP says that when you have faith in God and you see the history of what God has done, that reveals God's work in, Jesus says in the same way, if you'll listen to me with faith, I'm revealing, God's work. And then of course, Jesus does explain the parable of the terrors and how all of that's going to work. Some very old Testament language there a little bit there out of Daniel in verse 43, probably an illusion in verse 43 to Daniel chapter 12 and verse three. So there is our Bible reading from Matthew chapter 13. I really want to get to the end of this chapter, but I'm looking at my schedule here and I got to quit. I'm at verse 43, and that is the reading for Friday. Thank you so much for listening to the Monday morning coffee podcast. We appreciate the kind words of encouragement and the nice attaboys that we've gotten from a number of folks who are enjoying the podcast. If you are enjoying this podcast, we'd love for you to share this with a friend, encourage someone else to be involved in daily Bible reading and listen to this podcast so that we can integrate that into our lives. So it can be a big part of who we are because we're understanding the word of God. And then we're able to do the word of God. Bible reading has to become Bible living, and we would love for you to follow subscribe rate and give a review on iTunes or whatever app you're listening on that would really help the show out. We'd like for this podcast to grow and be an encouragement to more people to read the Bible. So, well, how about a last sip of coffee until next time? May your coffee be delightful? May your Monday be short and may the Lord be with you today all day. I'll see you next week.

Thanks for listening to the west side church, your price podcast. Monday morning coffee with Mark Barr, more information about west side. You can connect with us through our website, just[inaudible] dot com and our Facebook page. Our music is from upbeat.io. That's upbeat with two P U D B B E a T, where creators can get free music. Please share our podcast with others. And we look forward to seeing you again with a cup of coffee, of course, on next Monday,

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