Not only can Christ heal the sick, calm the storm and cast out demons, but He can bring a person what they need most: forgiveness of sin! Here are my highlights from chapter 9:
1. Jesus Has Power Over Sin (1-8) – Sin is at the heart of the Gospel and can be forgiven – whoohoo! The Jews thought sin caused this man to be paralyzed. But all hardship, pain, etc. is result of sin in our world, not necessarily is it brought on by some specific sin. When Jesus said your sins are forgiven, He was claiming to be God (and is). And notice that they praised God as the source! If you are truly living a set-apart life, people will know it could only be from God (5:16).
2. The Gospel is for Sinners (9-17) – The Gospel is not for good people but bad people who know they are bad and come to God for forgiveness. Jesus asked Matthew to follow Him. He was offering a despised outcast forgiveness! As a result, Matthew invites Jesus in and, in a sense, is witnessing to all his sinner buddies! The Pharisees corner the disciples and Jesus steps in on their behalf. Religious ritual and routine have always been dangers to true Godliness.
3. Jesus’ Power Over Death (18-26) –Death is real, inevitable! God ministers equally to the ruler as well as the bleeding (outcast) woman showing His divine impartiality! (1 Cor. 1:26-28).
Faith is what counts!
4. Miracles (27-35) – These verses deal with power over physical evils and corruption that sin produces. Notice though that Jesus was concerned about their spiritual sight before He restored their physical sight (vs. 28-29). Our Lord is always more concerned about our deeper needs!
5. The Harvest and the Laborers (36-38) – This is a HUGE passage on mission. Up to now, the disciples have been trainees - Jesus has done all the ministry. Now, Jesus shows the reason and the need to begin involving the disciples. Jesus looked out and saw people who did not yet have a relationship with Him, and His heart was broken for them. He saw them as helpless & hopeless, unable to do anything about their lost condition. And not only that, but they had no one to lead them to find help! So He turns to His disciples and says: “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Basically He asks them to pray for workers to go help these lost people to come to know Him! Why? It’s hard to pray for God to send people without thinking of yourself as one of those people! Jesus ministered compassionately and tirelessly because He could see the ultimate consequences!
2 Cor. 5:11; 5 Thess. 1:7-9; 2 Pet. 3:9; John 3:17
SO WHAT?!
*What sins has God forgiven you of? Why not write out a list today of the things you’ve asked God to forgive you of. Then thank Him for His amazing forgiveness and burn the list (don’t start a fire) – because when God forgives, it’s a done deal!
*What breaks our hearts? For Jesus, it was the hell that people are headed to without Him! There are a lot of great causes in our world but no cause is greater than THE Cause of Knowing Jesus and Making Him Known! You & I have been given the greatest news and a great responsibility to communicate that news to others. Are you involved in this ministry? Say I go to the store and tell Drew to make his bed before I get back. Then I get back and I ask him if he made his bed. If he says, “No, but I took out the trash or no but I put the dishes away, or no but __________” – (you fill in the blank). It doesn’t matter what he did, he didn’t do the one thing I asked. Jesus, as He left this earth gave us one command: Make
Disciples. We can do a lot of other things that may seem good, but if we never do the one main thing He asked, we disobey our call! How are you involved in the process of Knowing Jesus and Making Him Known? Let’s be actively involved because Jesus is coming back soon!
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