THE RULE OF GOD
OVERCOMES UNBELIEF
Matthew 16: 1-12
INTRODUCTION
The Bible is quite clear that faith is the only rational response to
the person and work of Jesus Christ. Unbelief is portrayed as the height
of folly and chief evidence of our rebellion towards God. Hebrews 11:6
says, "without faith it is impossible to please God." Romans
14: 23 says, " everything that does not come from faith is sin."
In Matthew 13:58 we are told that Jesus was not able to do many miracles
in Nazareth because of the unbelief of the residents of Jesus’ hometown.
Paul says in Eph. 2:8-9, "For it is by grace that you have been saved
through faith." In Romans 5: 1 he says, "Therefore, since we
have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ." Everywhere in the Bible we discover that God
is looking for people of faith and he is opposed to all who do not believe.
Most human beings have always claimed to have faith. It was true in Jesus’
day and it is true in our day. Yet, as we have seen in our study of Jesus’
life as recorded in the gospel of Matthew the claim to have faith is seldom
supported by how people live with God and one another. In some ways we
could almost describe the life and ministry of Jesus as a war against
unbelief. That is especially true in this short story in Matthew 16: 1-12.
If we will pay attention we will discover some of the characteristics
of unbelief but, more importantly, we will see how Jesus confronts and
overcomes unbelief.
MAIN POINT
Jesus overcomes human unbelief by
I. Resisting temptation himself (v.1)
Its been five weeks since we were last in Matthew and so let me give
us a quick review of what happened in chapter 15. At the beginning of
chapter 15 the religious teachers challenged Jesus’ lack of obedience
to their traditions. They were offended that he and his disciples did
not abide by the many rules and laws regarding "cleanliness"
that they imposed on the people. Jesus told these leaders that they were
hypocrites and that the religion that they taught was man-made. He told
all the people that their religious leaders were operating from a false
view of God and man. Human beings are rendered unfit for God not because
of the food they eat or the religious rituals they fail to perform but
by the evil things they do and say. He said that the reason humans say
and do evil things is because they love evil, because their hearts are
evil. The implication of his teaching is that what humans need are different
hearts, not cleaner hands or religious ritual.
As you can imagine this didn’t sit very well with the religious leaders
and so Jesus, to avoid more trouble leaves Israel and travels in non-Jewish
country for some time. While there with his disciples he heals and teaches
many non-Jewish people. One of his purposes is to prepare the disciples
to embrace the fact that God does not save people based upon their ethnic
identity or their religious performance but upon their faith in Christ.
At the beginning of chapter 16 Jesus and his disciples have returned to
Israel, to the region of Galilee again. But no sooner do they arrive then
Jesus is confronted by a coalition of religious opponents. When we read
that the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, we are not
at all amazed, unless we are very familiar with the Bible. Pharisees and
Sadducees were two different sects within Judaism. They were fierce opponents.
The Pharisees were the conservative religious element. They took the OT
literally. They believed in angels and heaven and hell and a final judgment
and the resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees, on the other hand, did
not believe in a literal interpretation of the OT. They did not believe
in heaven or hell or angels or the resurrection of the dead. They emphasized
the ethical dimensions of OT teaching and ignored all the supernatural
events, treating them as myths. However, these two opponents were united
in their opposition to Jesus. They came to test him by asking him for
a sign from heaven.
Now the word that is translated "to test" is used in Matthew
4 for Satan’s tempting of Jesus in the wilderness. In fact, several of
our English translations use "tempt" instead of "test"
in keeping with its use in Matthew 4. Matthew views this "test"
by the Pharisees and Sadducees as being Satanically inspired. Here we
see human beings openly cooperating with their master to try and defeat
Jesus by tempting or testing him. How are they/he seeking to destroy Jesus?
There are two ways that Satan, through these human instruments is seeking
to destroy Jesus. From Satan’s point of view it is the perfect trap because
whether Jesus performs a sign or not, he has him. First, they are trying
to discredit him in the eyes of the people. They are demanding that Jesus
perform a "sign from Heaven" like that done by Moses or Elijah.
Their line of reasoning goes like this. "Moses and Elijah were men
who asked God to perform mighty signs from heaven and God listened to
them and did as they asked. God sent 10 plagues upon Egypt and parted
the Red Sea in response to Moses’ request. God sent down fire from heaven
to burn up the sacrifice and the altar and the water when Elijah asked
in his great contest with the prophets of Baal. If God responded to the
prayers of these two mere men, surely he will do something at least as
spectacular for you, if you are the Messiah. So come on Jesus, put up
or shut up. If you are the Messiah, prove it by asking God to perform
a sign like he did for the prophets of old." The Pharisees and Sadducees
are confident that he is not the Messiah and so he will not give them
a sign from heaven. So they will be free to discredit him by telling the
people, "He’s not the Messiah. He can’t do what Moses and Elijah
did. He’s an imposter."
The second way Satan is trying to destroy him is by tempting him to use
his power in a way not sanctioned by God. If you’ll look back at Matthew
4 you will see that the three temptations there and this demand are very
similar. Each of these temptations seeks to get Jesus to not trust his
heavenly Father. Each time he is being asked to use his power to gain
something for himself in ways that God the Father does not approve of.
I know that most of us don’t really think that Jesus was tempted like
we are. Often when I am counseling people I will show them in the Scriptures
that we are to live like Jesus lived. People regularly tell me that I
can’t expect them to live like Jesus because he was the Son of God. The
implication being that he had resources not available to us. That is not
true. Jesus lived by faith just like we must live by faith. He resisted
sin in the same way we must resist sin. This is a perfect example of how
he did it.
We need to feel the humiliation that Jesus is enduring at this point.
They are mocking him, challenging him. They are doing to him what people
do to you all the time. "You never help around the house." "You’re
always late." "You’re a terrible driver." "You only
care about yourself. You never care about me." When people say these
things to you, what’s your immediate response? To defend yourself and
prove they are wrong. Or if you can’t prove them wrong then to prove that
they are no better by returning the accusations. This is what is happening
to Jesus. "You’ve claimed to be the Son of God. Well, we’re giving
you a chance to prove it. Call down fire from heaven. Demonstrate once
and for all that you are the Messiah. Hah, we thought as much. You’re
just an imposter or more likely an agent of Satan." Can’t you just
feel his desire to defend himself, to prove to these arrogant, hypocritical
people who he really is? With but a word he could bring down fire from
heaven and destroy them as God destroyed the sons of Aaron when they entered
the tabernacle with the wrong incense burning. But he doesn’t take matters
into his own hands. He knows that God is going to vindicate him. He knows
that after the suffering and the humiliation he will live in glory with
his father, surrounded by all those he has rescued from sin and death
because he obeyed his Father all the way to death on the cross.
In 1 Peter 2: 19-23 says, "How is it to your credit if you receive
a beating for doing wrong? But if you suffer for doing right, this is
commendable before God. To this you were called because Christ suffered
for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. He
committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. When they hurled
their insults at him he did not retaliate. When he suffered he made no
threats, instead he entrusted himself to him who judges justly."
Jesus overcomes our unbelief by believing the promises of God. He has
given us an example of living by faith that we are to follow.
Jesus overcomes human unbelief by
- Resisting temptation himself
- And by
II. Exposing hypocrisy and disloyalty (vv. 2-4)
Rather than giving into his desire to be vindicated he takes the opportunity
to expose the hypocrisy and lack of loyalty these men have to God. He
is not simply returning insult for insult here. Out of his love for obstinate
sinners, he is trying to get them to see their true condition and so fear
God. In these verses he is acting like a prosecuting attorney setting
forth the evidence for their guilt. He is seeking to answer the question,
why is it, if Jesus really is the Messiah, that tens of thousands of people
who witnessed his life and ministry first hand did not believe? First,
he proves that they have the ability to discern what is happening from
signs they can observe. He says that when they see a red sky in the evening
then they know that most likely the next day will be nice weather. They
also know that when the eastern sky is red, with lowering clouds in the
morning that most likely bad weather will come that day. In other words,
they have exercised their powers of observation, memory and logical deduction
to conclude that these "signs" point to either good or bad weather.
They have the ability to discern what is happening in the natural world
from the signs they see but they exhibit no ability to discern what is
going on in God’s kingdom. They care about the weather but they don’t
care about what God is doing in his Son.
Second, he proves that the reason they do not understand is not because
there are no signs. At the end of v. 3 he says they have failed to correctly
evaluate the "signs of the times." In other words there have
been numerous signs pointing to what God is doing in these "times"
through Jesus. These are people who are thoroughly familiar with the OT.
Repeatedly, Jesus has "fulfilled" the OT pictures and portraits
of the Messiah. Jesus is the embodiment of the entire OT revelation which
they pride themselves in knowing and yet they don’t see it. In addition,
Jesus has performed hundreds of miracles before their very eyes. He has
exhibited power over every aspect of the natural and supernatural world
in a fashion that only God could do and yet they do not discern the signs
of the times. In v. 4 Jesus confirms the sufficiency of the signs by saying
that the only sign that will be given to this generation is the sign of
Jonah. The sign of Jonah is Jonah. Just as Jonah "died" when
he was swallowed by the large fish and then was "resurrected"
three days later when he was vomited up on shore so will Jesus die and
rise again. Just as Jonah was the agent of salvation for the Ninevites
through coming to them and preaching, so Jesus is the agent of salvation
through his coming and preaching. They have been given a huge, neon sign
in the life and ministry of Jesus and yet they demand more evidence. They
claim they cannot see what is right before their eyes and in claiming
they cannot see they condemn themselves.
So why is it that they do not see and discern what is blazing before
their eyes? It is because they are evil and adulterous people. Now notice
that Jesus includes every human being that is living in this condemnation.
They are representative of the generation of human beings currently living
when Jesus was here. They are not more evil than everyone else; they are
an example of what is true of the entire generation of people living when
Jesus was on planet earth. Thus, we are to conclude that they are representative
of every human being that ever lived. All of us are evil and adulterous.
The evidence of our evil and adultery is that we refuse to discern what
is blazing in front of us and demand more evidence. We challenge Jesus
to prove he is worthy of our trust.
What we do is like saying to Barry Bonds, after he hit 71 home runs last
year, "I don’t believe you’re the greatest home run hitter in the
history of baseball. Give me a sign that you are the greatest." It’s
like saying to Michael Jordan after he single handedly won the 4th
game of the 1993 NBA championship series while he was sick with the flu,
"I don’t believe you’re the greatest player to ever play the game
of basketball. Give me some proof that you’re the greatest." It’s
like needing a kidney transplant and your sister volunteers to give you
one of hers. Then, after the surgery, you say to her, "I don’t believe
you really love me. Prove it." Jesus has given unmistakable evidence
of his authority and love and we refuse to believe and demand a sign.
We do this because we are evil and adulterous people. Our unwillingness
to give ourselves wholly to Jesus is not because we are unable to discern
evidence. It is not because we are unable to exercise faith. It is not
because we are unable to love. It is not because we are unable to obey.
We do not give ourselves to Jesus because we don’t want to. We don’t find
him attractive or impressive and we don’t want to be impressed by him.
We are far more drawn to other things and people. We love other gods,
gods of our own making. We are spiritual adulterers. We prefer the company
and benefits of false gods to the company and benefits of the only true
God. Look at the last sentence in v. 4. Jesus first exposes adultery and
then he forsakes or leaves behind those who refuse to embrace the glory
of Christ that is shining before them. He overcomes unbelief by proving
it exists and then leaving all who persist in it to perish, to live in
their own blindness forever, without the benefit of his salvation. He
will not be patient forever. He will not continue to allow himself to
be mocked forever. There is a day coming when he will leave all who refuse
to embrace him in a life void of all that is good.
Jesus overcomes human unbelief by
- Resisting temptation
- Exposing hypocrisy and infidelity
- And by
III. Rebuking willful ignorance (vv. 5-11)
The scene shifts now to Jesus and the disciples. They have left Galilee
again and have crossed over to the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.
When they arrive and unpack the boat they discover they did not bring
any bread with them. Just imagine with me what happened as they unpacked
their gear. Andrew says to his brother Peter, "So Peter, where did
you put the bread?" Peter responds, "I didn’t get any bread.
John was supposed to go buy some before we left." Andrew goes over
to John who is sitting and staring out at the water, "John, Peter
says you bought some bread, where is it? I thought I’d get a meal together
before we left the beach." John stares at Andrew and says, "I
never bought any bread. I was busy patching the hole in the boat. Go ask
Nathaniel." You get the picture? Pretty soon the twelve men are heatedly
discussing whose fault it is that they have no bread and wondering what
they are going to do for food as they are out in the middle of nowhere
and the closest village is several miles away. They are saying things
like, "How could you be so irresponsible?" "You never do
what you say you’re going to do." "You only care about yourself."
It is at this moment that Jesus gets their attention and says, "Watch
out and be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
Can’t you just picture them all looking at Jesus blankly and then going
back to their bickering only with the added controversy of speculating
at the meaning of what Jesus has said. "Now look what you did. You
got Jesus upset by your irresponsibility! You always forget to do what
you’re supposed to do." "Where are we going to find bread baked
by Pharisees and Sadducees out here?" "I didn’t know those guys
were into bread making." "I guess Jesus wants us to only eat
flat bread from now on." Why did Jesus pick this moment to warn them
of the dangers of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees? It is because
they, by their arguing over bread are proving that they are in agreement
with them. Jesus asks them two questions. First, he asks them why they
are arguing about not having any bread. Second, he asks them how is it
that they did not understand that he was not talking about the yeast that
is in bread but about the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. We
need to answer these two questions.
What does their worry about not having bread reveal about them? First,
it shows they have little faith, they do not understand who they are dealing
with. He asks them if they have forgotten the miracles of feeding the
5000 and the 4000. They are all the more culpable because they are in
the vicinity of where both feeding occurred. They should have remembered
his abundant provision and understood that he is the Messiah and that
he is going to provide for them. Their worry, their preoccupation with
bread, their bickering only shows there contempt for Jesus. It only proves
that they do not know whom they are dealing with. After all that he has
done, why in the world are they so upset?
"How is it that you do not understand that I was not talking to
you about bread?" What does there lack of understanding what he meant
by the "yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees" reveal about them?
The reason they did not understand that he was not talking about bread
is because they share the same nature as the Pharisees and Sadducees.
The reason Jesus told them to watch out and beware of the teaching of
the Pharisees and Sadducees is because they were acting as if they were
in agreement with them.
If you were to compare what Pharisees taught and what Sadducees taught,
you would see very little agreement between them. However, Jesus views
their teaching as unanimous. While the ways in which they expressed their
common viewpoint was different they both shared an erroneous view of man,
of God and of Jesus. They both believed and taught that men and women
are able to save themselves. Humans, with the right instructions are able
to do what is necessary to obtain salvation. God, while he disapproved
of certain kinds of behaviors was more than willing to accept those who
behaved correctly. The Pharisees and Sadducees taught that Jesus was a
nobody. They taught that you could ignore Jesus and get along with God
and have a fine life. He was not the Messiah and could do nothing for
you. The disciples, by their anxiety and bickering, were showing that
they agreed with Jesus’ opponents, he was a nobody and couldn’t save anyone.
They were proving that they believed they were able to provide for themselves
and capable of working their own salvation. They, even more than the Pharisees
and Sadducees should have known better. They have been given knowledge
that no one else had access to. So Jesus sternly rebukes their willful
ignorance at who they are and who he is.
Jesus overcomes human unbelief by
- Resisting temptation
- Exposing hypocrisy and infidelity
- Rebuking willful ignorance
- And by
IV. Giving understanding as a gift (vv. 8-12)
Notice that verse twelve begins with "then". Then they understood.
When did they understand? They understood only after Jesus graciously
rebuked them and got their attention. They did not figure this out by
themselves. This is the picture that is given over and over by Matthew.
These men were no different than the Pharisees and Sadducees. Their understanding
is a gift, it is not a natural ability. The other unique feature of verse
12 is that the word "understood" is different here than the
one Jesus used in vv. 9 and 11. This word for "understand" is
the same word that is used seven times back in chapter 13. It is the same
word that is used by Paul in Romans 3:11 which says, "There is no
one who understands, no one who seeks for God." It’s the same word
that Luke uses in two important passages. In Luke 18: 34 right after Jesus
tells the 12 disciples that he must be arrested and killed Luke says,
"The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden
from them and they did not know what he was talking about." Then
in Luke 24:45 we are told about these very same men when Jesus appeared
to them after his resurrection, "Then he opened their minds so they
could understand the Scriptures."
In Matthew, this word, "understand" is synonymous with faith.
It is not simply an intellectual understanding but understanding that
leads to love for and trust in what is understood. This is the understanding
you have when you walk in the door and smell your favorite meal cooking
and you are filled with joyful anticipation of eating. This is the understanding
of the parent whose heart is full of pride and joy in their child’s performance.
This is the understanding of the young man who delights to spend time
with his fiancé. This is the understanding of the child who loves
to snuggle next to her mom and dad when there is a thunderstorm outside.
When we ask how they came to understand we see that their understanding
is the result of God’s grace. Contrary to what they deserve and against
all expectation Jesus doesn’t reject them but rather warns and reminds
and stays with them, enabling them to understand and to bear fruit. He
doesn’t treat them as they deserve, as he treated the Pharisees and Sadducees
by leaving them. Rather he patiently rebukes and teaches them so that
they understand.
Over the past several years I have been told by a number of people that
I talk about sin too much. Today, again I have talked much about the stubbornness
of our hearts. There are three reasons why I talk so much about our sin.
The first reason is that this is what the text is about. If you don’t
like all this talk about sin then please tell me what this passage is
about. The chief reason I am committed to going through the Bible as it
is written is because then we are forced to deal with what the whole thing
says, not just our favorite parts. The second reason it is important to
talk about sin is because none of us really get it. We tend to think of
sin as simply doing bad things. But sin is far more evil than that. You
and I do evil because we are evil. We love to love everything and everyone
except for Jesus. We love to trust everything and everyone except for
Jesus. The third reason we must keep talking about our sin is because
if you don’t feel your helplessness you won’t understand or trust Christ
as you ought. Christ is your life, because without him you are dead. Jesus
is not simply an "add on" to your life, he is your life. You
will never know that as long as you continue to believe that God is obligated
to love you because of who you are or what you have done.
The Lord Jesus is being presented to you as a great and living Savior.
By his life and miracles, his death and resurrection, his teaching and
fulfilling all the OT Scriptures he has demonstrated that he is absolutely
unique and trustworthy. I command you today to not continue to persist
in your evil and adulterous ways. Do not continue to demand that he "prove"
himself to you. Do not keep worrying about bread and bickering with others
over whose fault it is you don’t have bread. Understand and remember that
this Jesus came from heaven to live as one of us and to suffer a horrible
death but to rise victorious over sin and death so that you can escape
God’s judgment and live a life full of true understanding and fruitfulness.
Confess your sins and cry out for mercy. Be not unbelieving but believing.
Jesus overcomes human unbelief by
- Resisting temptation himself
- Exposing hypocrisy and infidelity
- Rebuking willful ignorance
- Giving understanding as a gift
© Copyright
2002 John Swanson.
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