How Jesus Lived: Jesus Preached & Demonstrated the Kingdom of God
Pastor Fletcher preaches from Matthew 9:35-38. Discussion points: Jesus came to teach us that none of us are as good as we think we are and we need heart renewal, Jesus feels compassion for us rather than distain or revulsion, the harvest for the kingdom is ready all around us.
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Scripture reader: [Matthew 9:35-38] And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Preacher: All right, let's start things off with this message by playing a little game. We're gonna play who am I? OK? I'm gonna describe someone and I want you to maybe tell me who it is after that, OK? So don't, don't holler out, I'll give you a chance at the end. So, this person I'm thinking of is famous. Everyone in this room will know this person. This person is a fashion icon. This person is a um. a lover of cigars. This is a person who owns a NASCAR team, who is, a fierce competitor, and maybe even a gambler. This is also a person who played professional baseball. Who is it? We, we had a few Michael Jordans, OK? But if you didn't know it was Michael Jordan. I don't blame you, because how do you explain Michael Jordan without the word basketball? OK. Now, if I just said, this person is the most famous basketball player of all time, everybody would have said, Michael Jordan. Everybody would have known.
That's a little bit how I have felt like this series has been, cause we've been talking about how Jesus lived, and we've gone through all these things that Jesus did. Jesus lived simply, Jesus loved sinners, Jesus prayed, Jesus fasted, Jesus feasted. But look, that could be true of almost anyone. That could be true of so many people. But what is most core to who Jesus was and what he did? What was his mission? Why was he here? You cannot describe who Jesus was and is without talking about the fact that Jesus came to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom. And to demonstrate that gospel of the kingdom. Jesus proclaimed and demonstrated the gospel of the kingdom.
This is such a summary passage. What we just read here, we read like 3 verses, 4 verses, and they are a summary passage for like the entire ministry of Jesus. 3 years that he lived before Jesus' ministry until he was the age of 30, he lived as a relatively unknown carpenter in a relatively unknown town of Nazareth. He's just a blue collar guy living his life. But then for the last 3 years of his life, what did he do? This is what the the verse says, it says, and Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and affliction. So friends, if you're here this morning, and you want to know Jesus more. Maybe you even want to know the very heart of Christ. I pray that you do.
I think that this passage is key for us. Today we're getting this look into the holy places of who Jesus is. What were Jesus's priorities? What was his ministry all about? I have 3 points for us today, 3 points. The first is the mission of Jesus. The second is the heart of Jesus, and the third is the commission of Jesus. The mission, the heart and the commission of Jesus.
First, what is the mission of Jesus? Verse 35, and Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their Synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. This is what his ministry looks like, 3 different parts, basically. He traveled, he was an itinerant, he was an itinerant rabbi. He went from town to town, village to village, constantly traveling. With his disciples. And what did he do when he go into the village? He would proclaim the gospel of the kingdom, and then what would he do? He would, he would perform miracles. Healing every type of affliction and disease.
So, a few questions arise from this. First, what is this gospel of the kingdom? What was it that Jesus was teaching? And second, why was he healing and doing these miracles? What do they have to do with one another? Why is he doing this? So first, what is the gospel of the kingdom? Many people in the world, in fact, maybe you've had some conversations like this. I had a conversation with like this just recently where you ask someone, who do you think Jesus is or was? And they respond by saying, a good teacher. Many of our secular friends would admit that Jesus is a good teacher. Very few people, unless they were just ardent atheists, would deny the existence that Jesus was a man who walked the earth and around the time that we say he did. Almost all historians universally agree on that, that there was a Jesus. And when you ask who was that Jesus, they almost always respond, he was a good teacher.
And this is where I like to get him though. OK, here's your question. OK, what did he teach? Cause if you ask them what they teach, they're going to betray the fact that they have no idea what they're talking about in their response, because they're almost always going to say, Jesus taught us how to be good people. It's like, well, you don't know what you're talking about. OK, why don't I share with you what Jesus taught? Because if I share with you what he taught, you might not think he was that much of a good teacher anymore. Because you're kind of betraying the fact that you don't believe what he taught.
Jesus did not come to teach us to be good people. He came to teach us that none of us are as good as what we think we are. And that every person needs a new heart. That we need to be remade by God himself. You see, Jesus came to teach what he calls the gospel of the kingdom. Now, let's break that down a little bit. The gospel, gospel is just a fancy word for good news. Jesus came to teach good news. Good news is not a moral imperative. Good news is not saying, here's how you be a good people. Let me, let me put it to you like this. Hey guys, I have good news for you. You better get your act straight. That first part of the sentence doesn't go with the second part of the sentence. Good news is something that has already happened, and that we're being told about. And so Jesus came to proclaim the good news of the kingdom.
Now, when we talk about the good news of the kingdom, I think that we need to just kinda understand the storyline of the Bible, because you can't understand the what the good news of the kingdom is without the storyline of the Bible. And to help me with that, I, there's actually a gospel, the Bible project on YouTube, if you've never. Checked out the Bible project. They have great videos. I recommend checking out the Bible project. Great way to learn more. The Bible project has a great video on the kingdom of God, and so I would recommend that. I actually kinda stole a lot of their ideas and made my own slides, OK? So I'm giving credit where credit is due, but we, we have some slides here that I'm gonna share with you.
So, to understand the, the gospel of the kingdom, you have to understand the entire storyline. So, When we think about the gospel, when we think about who God is and what heaven and earth are, we usually think about heaven and earth being two separate places. I have a slide for that. There we go. We think about heaven being kinda out there and earth being here. But the story of the Bible describes it a lot more than that. It says in four different acts that this is the whole story of the Bible. First is in creation. Creation was this place when God originally created the earth, where in the Garden of Eden, God walked with man, that he was present. It was the place where heaven and earth overlapped, where the kingdom of heaven was fully on earth and it was. Good. But what happened? There was rebellion, and the fall of man came, and what happened is sin separated heaven from earth or the kingdom of God from the kingdom of man or the kingdom of earth. And because we chose to sin, this king those kingdoms were separated, but this is the exact problem that Jesus came to repair, because when Jesus came to earth, what he was doing, he, Jesus, being fully God and fully man, is able to bridge the gap, and he came and the scriptures say in John chapter one that he tabernacled among us.
Now when we think about the word tabernacle, we might think about the temple or the place where God dwells. But Jesus being God Himself came and dwelt among us, bringing The kingdom of heaven to the earth. And when he died on the cross, he paid for our penalty for sin, and he's risen from the dead, so that we might be able to bridge the gap of sin and be able to be made new into the kingdom of heaven and live in the kingdom of heaven. If you've trusted Christ, you are still on the kingdom of earth, but you're also in the kingdom of heaven. And one day we wait until Christ will come again, and we have restoration, and on that day Jesus will bring the kingdom of heaven down from the sky, and it will fill the entire earth.
The the the language in Revelation is really vivid. I can't wait to do a series on Revelation one of these days when I get brave enough. I need, I need to be over 40 to do that series. And he's gonna fill the earth with heaven once again, that the kingdom of God will be established here in full. So the gospel of the kingdom is the good news that Jesus has come. To reconnect us to God, to restore our relationships with God. He came to re-establish the kingdom of God on earth. This is what he was going from town to town declaring.
But he's also doing this other thing. What's he doing? He's healing people when he goes from town to town. Now what do we make of Jesus' healing of people? for my entire life, this is the way that I've understand it, that Jesus was going from town to town, kinda like a traveling magician, performing miracles, so that you might believe that he really is God. These are like magic tricks, and if he's doing the right magic tricks, we will look at him and say, oh, that must be God. Have you thought about it that way? That's how most of us think about miracles, that he's proving himself to be God. But look, friends, I went to Branson, Missouri when I was a kid. And the magic tricks that I saw at that magic show were more impressive than Jesus' magic tricks. to an extent, the dude made a helicopter appear on stage, guys, like right before my eyes. It was amazing. I mean, if Jesus is just here to perform magic tricks, why doesn't he just like fly around and shoot lasers from his eyes? Because that would be convincing. I would be in, you know, like I don't think anybody would deny that he was God if he started doing that.
There's more to Jesus' miracles than being mere magic tricks though. These, these miracles are demonstrating the kingdom of God on earth. So what he's doing with each of the miracles is it's like he's reversing the curse in each of these segments, because the kingdom of God is a place where there is no pain. Where there is no disease, where there are no tears, where there is no sadness, where God makes the sad things come untrue, and where he reigns and rules. The Kingdom of God is where people don't go hungry. Where disease is healed, where at his touch, the demons flee, the kingdom of God. It's where he is reigning and ruling, where creation is no longer subject to sin, and where most importantly, the wine does not run out.
So with these teachings and these demonstrations, it's as if Jesus is invading the kingdom of earth with the Kingdom of God. So we have this miracles where Jesus is he's he's just showing what the kingdom of heaven looks like on the kingdom of earth. And every time he performs one of these miracles, it's like he's demonstrating more what the kingdom of heaven is all about. Every healing of every disease and affliction is pointing forward toward the greater deliverance that he would achieve through his cross and resurrection. So that's the mission of Jesus. That's what he came to do.
Now let's talk about his heart because I I think that a lot of times we can think about Jesus' mission as like his duty, like something he had to do. But let's talk about his heart for just a moment, because right after this, it says, when he saw the crowds, verse number 2, when the heart of Jesus, when he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. So Jesus looked at the crowds, and what did he feel? He saw all of these people, and what did he feel? Did he feel revulsion? Because of their heinous sins. Did he feel anger because their rebellion against him? Did he feel shame because of the way in which he had they had failed him? No, it says that Jesus felt compassion. That he looked on our sin, our wickedness, our rebellion, our selfishness, and he didn't feel shame. He didn't feel anger, he didn't feel revulsion, he didn't feel disgust, all the things that we think God feels with us.
What did he feel? He felt compassion. Because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Sheep are useful animals. They provide wool, but they're completely useless on their own. Like who's ever seen a wild sheep? I don't even think those exist. Sheep need a shepherd. And if you have a shepherd, you have sheep by themselves, without a shepherd, they are prone to get into all kinds of trouble. When Jesus looks at Somerville, Massachusetts, what does he see? Sheep without a shepherd. He sees people. Who are helpless to help themselves, but harassed by sin and selfishness. He sees a culture whose highest moral imperative is individualism. You do you. Being the highest standard that we have. Find your truth, sheep without a shepherd. Follow your heart, sheep without a shepherd, finding your own way. Everyone is trying to find their own way as a sheep without a shepherd.
And what's it doing to us? You would think that the, the claim is that it's bringing more and more freedom. But it's actually creating more and more anxiety and hurt. Exhaustion. Lack of direction. And when Jesus looks at Somerville, Massachusetts, how does he fail? How does he feel? That's what he sees, he sees sheep without a shepherd. But when he looks at us, how does he feel? Now this is the part where a more fundamentalist preacher would probably say, anger. He feels angry because there are a lot of things represented in this city and promoted by this city that are not for God. There's a lot of things that go on here that are very different from the way that the Bible describes flourishing in life. And some of that is true for those who are who never trust Christ, there is a holy anger that awaits. But right now, I believe that when Jesus looks at our city, He sees sheep without a shepherd. And he feels compassion. He feels pity. He sees people harassed by worry and anxiety, helpless to fix what's wrong in their hearts on their own.
And friends, if you're trusting in Christ as your savior, hear this, that he wants to be your shepherd. He wants to help you. He wants to love you. He wants to guide you. He wants to protect you. And friend, if you were here and you found yourself to this church service, and you don't necessarily believe in Jesus, let me just give you an invitation that The sheep pen isn't full. That he wants to be your shepherd as well. That he would love for you to follow his guidance, that you were invited to this party. He's a good shepherd. Amen. And he leads and cares for us. So that's the mission of Jesus and the heart of Jesus.
So what about the commission of Jesus? When he looks out and he sees the sheep without a shepherd, what does he say and what does he do? Where does he leave us? He sees these sheep, he feels compassion, and then he immediately switches illustrations and goes to an agrarian illustration. OK, this is a farming illustration that Jesus has for us. Verse 37, when he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
Now, I assume, given that we're in Somerville, Massachusetts, that very few of us are farmers here this morning. Any farmers in the crowd? OK, I waited long enough for you to raise your hand. I grew up, I grew up between a cotton field and a, and a corn field, that, and a rice, it was rice for the first half of my life. and so I grew up around the farms, and I get that, but I decided to, maybe put this in terms that you could understand. And so let's talk about apple picking for a few moments. It's apple picking season. Let me tell you something though, there's nothing I hate more in life than apple picking. It is the worst activity. Why in the world would I ever go and pay someone money to do their job? Like, did you know that there are pre-picked apples at the grocery store, and they're cheaper? Like, guys, apple picking not where it's at. I'm in it for the cider doughnuts. Amen. Yeah, let's go, cider doughnuts, sign me up. I'll eat a dozen right now. Let's have a men's fellowship this afternoon, scratch the pumpkin throwing, we're doing cider doughnuts, eat off, OK? But apple picking is terrible.
Anyways, some members, I digress, some members here, actually, it's Julian and Aaron who were doing the thing this afternoon at their house. They have an apple tree. And a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that they were giving away apples by the bucketful. Just like buckets of apples. Who else would like a bucket of apples, please? Because one apple tree produces like 200 or more apples. Just pounds and pounds, like 50, 100 pounds of apples. One apple tree. Now, I, have been dragged to go apple picking many times in my life, and most often I've been dragged to Honeypot Hill orchards. Anybody ever been there? Yeah, OK, we, we've been to Honeypot Hill. So this week in preparation for this illustration, I decided, why don't I try giving them a call. So I called Honeypot Hill Orchards and waited on hold for a moment, and then someone answered and I said, hey, I have the most random question that you're gonna get today. How many apple trees do you have? And she said, oh 37,000. I was like, well, that was easy. Yeah, 30, actually it was 35,000. I just looked down. 35,000 on 75 acres.
And I was like, well, thank you. That, that answered the question quite easily. She's like, yeah, we're a really small orchard. We're small fries. Like they're orchards, they're 10 times larger than us. And I, she said, you're in luck, you're talking to one of the owners today. So I was like, OK, well, I'm gonna press my luck a little bit. how many apples do you get every year? And she was like, well, I've never even thought about it. So she did a little back in the napkin math, and I'm like, while she's doing this, I'm like kind of like trashing apple picking, you know, like just like, you know, you got the job because like people come and pay you to like pick it for you. You're not like employing people to do. She's like, ha ha, OK. And, in their small fries farm or orchard, they have 9 million apples a year. 9 million apples across 75 acres. It's not even that big.
And so when Jesus says, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. I just imagine him looking out at Honeypot Hill Orchard. And seeing all 9 million apples, and then looking around at a group like us. And saying, I don't think we can make this happen. That's what I would say. I don't think that given that we'd get the apples off the tree in enough time, friends. 9 million apples. And so what does he say? He doesn't say, so you better get out there and get to work. You know, in the next chapter, he does commission his disciples to go out there and and to work on his behalf. But he doesn't say go out there and get after it. He says, pray to the Lord of the harvest, that he would send workers into the field.
And friends, I think that when God looks at Somerville, Massachusetts, or when he looks at the Boston area, what he sees is the harvest is plentiful. Sure, there are those who are against God, but friends, I, God's people are out there. There are people, in fact, this is the longing of all of our hearts. We know this, that the longing of every human heart is to know God and to be connected with Him. And so he's saying the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Pray to the Lord of the harvest. Friends, God wants good for us. He wants us to reach people. He, he sees Boston, he sees Somerville, and he sees sheep without a shepherd. He knows that the harvest is plentiful. And the question is, will we trust him to pray earnestly and to allow him to use us?
I just wanna pray for a moment before I introduce communion. I want you to close your eyes and and think about this. Think about your workplace or your neighborhood. Your friend group, and now hear the words of Jesus. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Could there be a harvest that God is calling you toward? You're not gonna get there by being angry. You're not gonna get there by being contrarian. But by following the ways of Jesus, with compassion and love and care. By proclaiming his gospel. And and praying that he would do a work in their lives.
Would you pray to the Lord of the harvest? OK, first, Pray this and say, God, I pray that you would bring workers into your field. And secondly, say, here I am. Send me if you want me. Use me however you will. Would you submit your life to Him? God, you are my shepherd. I have everything I need. I will follow you wherever you lead. Your presence is all I want. And so God, we We ask that you would use us. God, we pray for a harvest for City on a Hill Somerville, and for all the other gospel preaching churches in the city. God, we pray that this harvest that is plentiful, that is just sitting out there. God, would you allow us to reap some of the rewards of this. And God, as we do the the work of planting and God, you, you grow it, you grow the seeds and we don't know how it works, and God, sometimes we look at our friends and we think it's gonna take 200 conversations. But God, we pray that you would do a miracle, that you would bring your kingdom as it is in heaven on earth, in heaven, on in Boston. God, would you care for us? Would you help us? Would you send us? Amen.
On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and he tore it, and he said, this is my body broken for you. And he took a cup and he said, this is my blood shed for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And so each week we participate in a sacred meal, and we're reminded that Jesus Jesus is present with us, that he does not leave us or forsake us, that he never commissions us to go without him, that he commissions us to go with him. That he is taking the kingdom of heaven into earth. And so each week we participate in this meal and we're reminded of of his sacrifice on our behalf. So would we stand, and I'll pray for us one more time as we prepare our hearts to receive this meal.
God, we, we come to you now and we, we say your presence is enough for us. That you sustain us, you fulfill us. Would you help us to set our gaze on things above and to see the way that you feel about us. As we come here, help us to know that you feel compassion for us, and, and God, as you choose to let us share in that compassion for others, we will be faithful. Jesus, we thank you for the gospel of Christ. And we pray now that as we finish in worship, that our worship would be true to you, and that we'd be giving our lives to you today. Christ, you are such a friend. Such a faithful presence in our lives, and we ask these things in Christ's name, Amen.