MPC, 18th May 2003.Matthew 3:1-4:11 - "Testing Time"
Phil Campbell MPC, 18th May 2003.
If you've ever wandered round the Ikea furniture showroom over at Springwood, (and let me thank from the bottom of my heart Gary and Peter and Liam and Mark who have got the gift of actually assembling Ikea furniture and helped out with the new chairs for the back room here) - but if you've ever walked round the showroom you'll know how proud Ikea are of the testing process. That they submit their designs to. But every design has been tested to the point of failure.
And so there in the Springwood showroom in a Perspex display cabinet, there's an Ikea chair, under a huge pneumatic arm. Which goes up then down then up then down. Bending the chair frame. Once every two seconds. 8 hours a day. Every day. Testing it under load. To show you as you walk around Ikea that this stuff is built to last. Even if it is impossible to assemble once you get it home!
This morning as we look at Matthew's gospel, there's a lot of testing going on. Testing of the people of Israel. Who pride themselves as being the people of God. Testing of Jesus. In the first half of chapter 4. In his 40 days in the wilderness. Testing, probing, pushing. Over and over again. In a way that's going to take us all the way back to the Old Testament. To the time when it all began.
If you've been part of the growth groups doing the Matthew studies, you'll know Matthew is complex. Although Louise says to me, Matthew's simple, and I'm just making Matthew complex.
But you get the sense reading Matthew's gospel, don't you, that there's something going on just below the surface. That as he strings together the account of what Jesus is doing, he's weaving into it a thread of Old Testament passages. That aren't just there for the sake of interest. But to fill us in... on the significance of Jesus and what he's doing.
And again, can I suggest an important rule as we read, is we need to see what Matthew is saying to Israel... before we think through what he's saying to us. Because we're looking at the end of an era here in Matthew. And the start of a new one. And we need to see what he's saying to Israel that's failing under test. Before we apply it to us.
So first, let's take a look at Israel under test. Israel, the one puny little nation among all the nations that God chose for his very own. That God redeemed, that he brought out of slavery in Egypt, to their own little strip of real estate they called the promised land. That God called to be his people. Separate and distinct. trusting him. And obeying the law that he gave them through Moses.
But there's the test. Are they going to trust God. Or aren't they? Are they going to live lives of obedience based on faith? Or do their own thing?
Deuteronomy chapter 8 is the transcript a speech by Moses. Their leader. With a reminder of the past. And a warning for their future, as they came into the promised land.
And it's worth flipping back to. He's talking to Israel. Who have just spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness because of their disobedience to God. They came out of slavery in Egypt. And time after time ignored God's commands. So Moses says this. He says remember the lessons you've learned.
He says, Deuteronomy 8:1,
Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers. Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Tough lesson. Wandering in the desert for 40 years. And a test. To see whether they wanted to keep God's commands or not. Before they came into the promised land. To see whether they realised there was more to life than materialism. That life as the people of God meant trusting the word of God.
And now, if you ride the roller coaster with me, after their 40 years in the desert and with the words of Moses firmly in their minds, Israel comes into the promised land. And lives there for hundreds of years. Enjoy God's blessing.
And yet at the same time, pushing the limits. Flirting with idolatry. And instead of wanting to be different to the nations around them, wanting to be the same.
And so after warning them time and time again, Israel is crushed. And sent into exile. Scattered like dust. Around the nations of the middle east and Asia minor. Mainly in Babylon.
But even then with a promise in mind. That I don't mind repeating. A promise from the end of the same speech by Moses in Deuteronomy. That even if they do find themselves scattered for their disobedience, God will always bring them home. If they humble their hearts.
Your parents ever say that to you? Mine did. No matter what you do you can always come home.
God puts it this way. Deuteronomy 30 verse 1 to 3:
When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.
It's never too late to come home. And if you want to find blessing, says God, if things have gone disastrously wrong and you want to find blessing again, then take the lesson to heart. And turn back to me. Not just in a glib way. But heart and soul.
And Israel after their exile comes straggling back to their broken down city, and they patch up their broken down temple, and they go back to their old ways of ignoring God. All over again. And the Romans come, and they put puppet King Herod in charge; and you'd look at Israel and you'd say, where's the blessing? Where's the great kingdom of God we've been hearing about? Where's the justice that's meant to flow out like a river, the righteousness they wrote Psalms about?
And you get Malachi. At the tail end of the Old Testament. Who says this.
Turn back with me. Because it's just a few pages back from the start of Matthew. Malachi 4.
Played a great party game a few weeks back. You sit in a circle, you're given the title of a book. And you've got to write your own last sentence for the book, and they all get read out along with the genuine last sentence, and everyone has to pick which ending is real.
Well, who would have thought the Old Testament would end like this?
"Surely, the day is coming", Malachi 4 verse 1, "it will burn like a furnace." He's talking to Israel after the exile, they're saying God should step in and help us out. And Malachi says, if you're not careful God's going to step in and wipe you out instead.
All the arrogant and every evildoer, he says, will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire, says the Lord almighty. And there'll be nothing left.
But for you who revere my name, says God, it's healing time.
For you who revere my name, there'll be rejoicing. Like calves let out of the stall. Free at last.
So remember the laws I gave Moses when you were first coming into the land. Before it's too late.
Pick up in verse 5. God says, see, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers... or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.
Elijah. The great prophet of Israel in the past who marched around in an animal skin coat with the hair on it and said, make up your mind who you'll serve. He'll be back. And at that point the people of Israel will have to make up their minds. It's the ultimate test. It's make or break time. They can go either way.
So with that in mind, meet John the Baptist.
Now when you hear of an old time comedian in a bowler hat with a little moustache, you think of Charlie Chaplain.
When you think of a coonskin cap if you were a child of the 60s and you watched too much TV you'll think of Daniel Boone.
If you think of an English Prime Minister chewing on a fat cigar, it's Sir Winston Churchhill.
When you hear of a prophet in the wilderness in camel's hair, you're meant to think, here's the new Elijah. Here's the one the prophets were talking about. It's John the Baptist. The prophet like Elijah. To say again to Israel what always needed to be said. And what God always promised.
Last call. If you turn back to me heart and soul, I'll bless you again. Just like the beginning. Make up your minds.
Watch it unfold. Matthew 3 verse 1. In those days, John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, repent - for the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Matthew says, here's the one the prophets were talking about. The prophet Isaiah. In chapter 40. Malachi as well. Here's the one, verse 4, wearing camel's hair clothes like Elijah. Living on the interesting high protein diet of locusts and wild honey in the wilderness; wandering like Israel did before they took the land. And saying to the people turn back. Turn back the clock. And start again. turn back to God heart and soul. Because the Kingdom is near.
And you'll notice they do. People from Jerusalem, people from all over Judea, Israelites from all over the place. Verse 6, confessing their sins, they're washed by John in the Jordan river.
Except for some.
And if you'd been there, if you'd been an average Israelite at the time, maybe you'd be surprised. Because here come the guys you've been brought up to respect. I guess in the context these days of every second Priest you read about in the newspaper being a child molester, it's not so surprising. But it's the Pharisees and the Saduccees coming towards him in verse 7. Hard to say if they're coming to be baptised or just coming to watch what's going on. But either way, John launches a huge tirade.
Because even though the Pharisees and the Sadduccees are meticulously religious, even though the Pharisees and the Sadduccees are the time who can trace their religious pedigrees to an archbishop and are born in the right families and are meticulous about keeping the rules, the problem is they've convinced themselves that everything is quite okay between Israel and God. And that they were somehow unassailable. Because they've got the right pedigree.
So when John sees many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he's baptizing, he says to them you pack of snakes. Verse 7. "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."
The sign of repentance is fruit of repentance. Repentance doesn't just mean saying how sorry you're feeling. It means changing what you're doing. So proud they can trace their family line back to Abraham. God can do that with a rock.
The point is, Israel's like a fruit tree; and it's been a long time since there's been any fruit. Which means it's getting very close to pruning time. Ready for the big heap in the backyard that you used to be able to burn on the end of a Saturday afternoon of gardening before the anti-pollution legislation said we weren't allowed to. Just like Malachi said. When the new Elijah comes to make things ready for the Lord, it's turn or burn time.
And being a religious heavyweight doesn't guarantee anything. Verse 11, John says, "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
There's going to be a separation. It's not just a matter of being a descendant of Abraham, an Israelite. He'll baptise with the Holy Spirit. If you're hungry for righteousness. And he'll baptise with fire. If you're not. He'll bring the wheat into the barn. He'll burn the chaff of Israel on the fire. In other words, it's time for a whole new start. With new ground rules.
And the test for Israel is, which way are they going to go. Repent, with all their heart and soul? Or say I'm a Pharisee and I'm okay?
At which point Jesus turns up. Interesting. John doesn't want to baptise the Pharisees because there's no fruit of repentance. And he doesn't want to baptise Jesus for the opposite reason. He says, you should baptise me.
Always confusing, isn't it? Was confusing for John. Why Jesus would come and ask to be baptised as a sign of repentance. Because of all the people in the world, he's the last one you'd expect to front up. The one and only person who's lived in perfect submission to God. Which we'll see even more clearly in a moment.
But he insists. He comes from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptised, verse 13, but John tries to deter him. Verse 14. And Jesus says, do it. Let it be so, verse 15, because it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. And John finally consents.
So why's he doing it?
I want to suggest there's a reason. And that is, under the surface Matthew's been preparing it. Like these days they can X-Ray paintings by the old masters like Rembrandt, and they can often see a picture beneath the picture. One picture painted over the top of another. The underlying picture Matthew's painting looks like this. That here in the person of Jesus, is at last the true Israel. Here's what the people of God should look like.
It's an Israel of one.
And Matthew's been painting the picture since chapter 2. Where Jesus comes out of Egypt. And Matthew joins the dots. Just like Israel came out of Egypt back at the start. Jesus is doing what Israel is doing. More to the point, what Israel's meant to do.
So if Israel is meant to turn back to God heart and soul, Jesus is up for it. I mean, he doesn't make it to the front of the queue, he's got to come all the way down from Galilee. But in a sense, that's exactly where he'd be. Because Jesus is going to show and Jesus is going to be... exactly what Israel was always meant to be.
God says back in Deuteronomy chapter 30, if Israel wants to be blessed again, they need to come back to me from the Exile ready to serve me heart and soul. And then I'll circumcise their hearts, change them by my Spirit... so they can serve me heart and soul.
John's saying, do it. Repent and be baptised. And Jesus says, baptise me. Because I'm here to be what Israel is meant to be.
And John baptises him. And the Spirit comes on him. And the voice from heaven says, this is my son whom I love... with Him I am well pleased.
Here at last. God's son. In the water up to his knees. Right to the heart, pleasing to God. Which means, it's time for the devil to put him to the test.
And Jesus is going to demonstrate what it means to be a true son of God. In a way Israel's never quite achieved.
Remember Israel under test? We saw at the start. 40 years. Wandering in the wilderness with a lesson to learn.
Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Jesus hasn't got time to do 40 years in the wilderness. But he's going to do 40 days. Being tempted the NIV says, but it's the Greek word for tested... being tested by the devil.
And for 40 days and 40 nights, he fasts. And the tempter comes to him. A little bit maybe like Eddie McGuire when he's trying to talk you into taking a guess at the million dollar question instead of taking the cheque for half a million. Probing. Looking for a weak spot.
Saying, take the easy way. Saying, are you sure you're looking after yourself?
Saying make some food out of the stones.
But Jesus wants to make very clear he's learning the lesson that Israel never learned. See, they were in the wilderness, they were hungry back in the book of Exodus, and they complained against God.
And so he quotes from Deuteronomy 8. "Man does not live by bread alone. But by every word that comes from the mouth of God."
He's saying I'm happy to take God at his word. More than that, he's saying, where Israel failed in the past, I'm going to hang in. And be faithful. Where time after time, Israel failed under test, where they didn't trust the word of their God... I will.
And test after test, the answer's the same.
Take yourself to the top of the temple. And put on a show. Throw yourself off and have the angels save you just before you hit. Sort of angel bungy jumping. Impress everybody.
Or better still, says the Devil, let me show you all the kingdoms of the world where I'm in charge. They're yours. If you bow down and worship me.
Take the easy way. Take the splendour. Take it all.
And where Israel spent their history bowing to the gods of all the nations and caught up in idolatry, Jesus says, no way. Because it's written... Worship the Lord Your God and serve Him only."
Absolutely determined. To honour God. Even if it's going to involved the cross as the way to glory. Rather than a free ride from Satan.
And so the devil gives leaves him. And angels attend to him. Not in the foolish test of having thrown himself down from the temple. But in recognition that at last there's an Israel that's passed the test. And remained faithful.
Now by the end of all that you could well be left scratching your head and saying, okay, we've seen Israel fail the test in the Old Testament, we've seen John the Baptist tell them it's their last chance... we've seen Jesus pass the test where Israel failed it. But so what? I mean, what's all that got to do with me?
And I guess at one level we could say, there's a simple message I guess that we need to be less like the Pharisees and Saduccees. You don't need your theology degree to see that sort of religious self confidence just isn't welcome in God's kingdom. If it's not backed up by the fruit of true repentance. Which I guess means anyone who wants to hide behind the veneer of religion while they abuse children, or who try to protect institutions like the church by trying to hide problems - or even who think they've got the foot in the door because their uncle was once an elder in the church in a small town in South Australia... anyone like that is just as unwelcome in the kingdom today.
Because for Israel, the way back to God's blessing is with a contrite heart. Backed up by a contrite life. And religious pride, pride of pedigree, has got no place in that.
Less like the Pharisees and the Sadducees. More like Jesus. Who we'll see as Matthew unfolds the gospel, stands alone as the one who is faithful. Who against all the testing of the devil, says I'm going to keep trusting my father's word. No matter what. Who fulfils what Israel never could. And ultimately says in the Sermon on the Mount, if you're not satisfied with how things are, if you can see through your own religious pretensions and you know you come up empty, come with me. Because old Israel has failed the test. And it's time for something new. If you're looking for something like that, you need to keep reading in Matthew. Because the answers are all here. And we'll see more next week.