Category: sermon

RESTORING CHRISTIAN RELATIONSHIPS

Matthew 18:15-22 NET.

¹⁵ “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault when the two of you are alone. If he listens to you, you have regained your brother. ¹⁶ But if he does not listen, take one or two others with you, so that at the testimony of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. ¹⁷ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. If he refuses to listen to the church, treat him like a Gentile or a tax collector. ¹⁸ “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven. ¹⁹ Again, I tell you the truth, if two of you on earth agree about whatever you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. ²⁰ For where two or three are assembled in my name, I am there among them.” ²¹ Then Peter came to him and said, “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother who sins against me? As many as seven times?” ²² Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, I tell you, but seventy-seven times!

We are continuing our study of the commands of Christ today, and we come to a passage that has been misunderstood, abused, and used to justify lots of wrong thinking and actions throughout the centuries. Usually, when we are studying a passage and trying to get to its meaning, one of the first things we should do is look at how the passage has been understood historically. But today’s passage might just be an exception to that rule because both Catholics and Protestants have used this text to justify their hierarchical ecclesiastical authority. That is not at all what Jesus or Matthew had in mind. Our own churches tend to use this passage to outline a method of church discipline, many including it as a proof-text in their bylaws. I suppose some of the principles this text teaches relate to church discipline, but the passage was not intended for that.

The context in which Jesus gives these words of instruction helps us to understand its purpose. Jesus had just interrupted the disciples’ argument over who was the greatest by bringing a little child and setting him by his side and telling them that this child was the greatest and that they should all welcome him. He warned them not to cause these little children to stumble. Then he told them a parable about one lost sheep, and how the owner leaves the 99 safe sheep and goes looking for the one lost sheep, to restore him to the fold. That is the context in which today’s text is found. Its purpose is not to establish who has authority in the church. Its purpose is not to outline a method of church discipline. The purpose of today’s instruction is to teach believers how to restore those who are straying away from the faith.

It is very easy for us to get caught up in the mechanics of today’s passage and lose sight of its objective. Jesus knew that there would be those who would become part of the Christian community and then would fall away for a variety of reasons. Jesus wanted to instruct his disciples on how they could win back the lost – to restore the lost sheep. Restoring Christian relationships is part of our job description as believers.

We don’t have a good track record of obeying Christ in this area. In fact, we tend to use this very text to drive sheep away from the fold instead of rescuing them. So, it is important for us to go back to today’s text to see what our Master commanded and conform our actions to his standards. Often, when someone walks away from the faith, we tend to think “good riddance” even if we do not say it. Jesus wants us to restore those who stray. But how do we do that?

First, always hope to restore (15-17).

In its context, the sin mentioned in verse 15 is the first step out of the protective pasture. It is the compromise that is often overlooked or ignored. But Jesus does not want us to ignore what is going on in the lives of our brothers and sisters. He wants us to value each other and the blessing of each other’s fellowship. He wants us to be sensitive to the very slightest move outside the boundaries of the family of God. He wants the members of the body of Christ to be always looking for ways to keep the body together. If one limb of the body gets out of joint, others are to immediately come to the rescue – setting it right again.

The first step in restoring is always to be a private matter, avoiding embarrassment and shame. It may be that I will find my suspicions unfounded and discover that the sheep is not straying after all. But if there is straying going on, it is best to correct it as quickly and quietly as possible. If I encounter reluctance to return, then I will want to get the help of one or two others who can assist me to restore my brother or sister. If that doesn’t work, I should get the assembly involved, because my straying friend needs to know how dangerous his or her choices are. Leaving the fellowship of other believers is not just a personal choice. It affects the whole body.

But what happens if the lost sheep refuses to return. This is where our Master tells us to treat them as an outsider – as a Gentile or tax collector. But does this mean formal ex-communication? So many interpret it that way. The book of Matthew has already shown us how Jesus himself treats Gentiles and tax collectors. He befriends them and welcomes them. So, for Jesus to tell his disciples to treat the straying sheep as one would a Gentile of tax collector is to say we will never lose hope that they might turn back to the faith. Always hope to restore the lost sheep. No one living is a lost cause. They might be outside the fellowship right now, but we have not given up hope for their return.

Second, always pray to restore (18-20).

Jesus talks about binding and loosing here. In the days of Christ on earth, people locked their doors by feeding a loop of fabric into the door and locking it with a key. This was called binding the door. The same key could untie the fabric and thus unlock the door. This was called loosing the door.

Jesus had previously told Peter that he had the keys to the kingdom and that he could bind and loose with those keys. We saw that prophecy fulfilled in the book of Acts as Peter was involved in welcoming the various ethnic groups into the kingdom. First, the Jews, then the Samaritans, then the Gentiles. Binding and loosing were what you did to a door. A bound door was a locked door. A loosed door was unlocked so you could enter through it. What Jesus told Peter was that he had the ability to give access to Christ’s kingdom. He had the power to unlock the door on both sides: the earth side and the heaven side. Heaven’s side would remain unlocked, but Peter could unlock the kingdom on Earth’s side.

Now, two chapters later, what Jesus promised Peter he also promises the rest of the disciples. They would also have the ministry of binding and loosing. They could grant access to the kingdom by preaching the gospel. But what happens if someone hears the gospel, becomes a part of a Christian fellowship, then walks away from that fellowship? Jesus tells us that we all have the keys. We can welcome the lost sheep back into the fold.

But what happens if we offer forgiveness and restoration, but the lost sheep refuse to come back? Then, Jesus tells us, we have the awesome weapon of gathering to pray for them. Jesus tells us that when we pray for the restoration of those who have walked away, he will be in our midst, and the Father in Heaven will be ready to answer our prayers. So, not only should we always hope to restore the lost, but we should also always be praying for them to be restored.

Brothers and sisters, we have a lot of people on our church prayer list, but you know that most of them are on the list because of some illness or injury or perhaps because they are grieving the loss of a loved one. There is certainly a need for us to keep praying for those folks. But today’s passage tells us of another group of people we should be interceding for in our prayer rooms. We need to be praying for those who were formerly members but who have gone away. Those people have made the worst decision that they could possibly have made. They have chosen to defect from God’s forever family. Restoring them needs to be a prayer priority for us.

Third, always forgive to restore (21-22).

Jesus has placed a powerful responsibility into our hands. He has given us the keys, but he knows that in our selfishness, we will be happy to stay safe and sound in the fold and keep the door securely locked so those who have strayed will never find their way back. We do that by refusing to forgive them. Peter revealed this tendency we have by suggesting to Jesus that there might be a limit to how many times one should forgive. Peter probably thought he was being magnanimous when he offered to forgive someone seven times. Based on a text in the Old Testament book of Amos (taken out of context), some Rabbi suggested that you could safely forgive a person three times but stop at four. Peter probably expected Jesus to commend him for being so generous. But Jesus said not just seven times but seventy-seven. Some versions translate the phrase as seventy times seven. Either way, Jesus’ point is that we should not set a limit. Our forgiveness is a way of always keeping the door unlocked. Our goal is not to punish the lost sheep but to restore them to the flock.

Now, we should reflect on the fact that there are some people who have left the fellowship. Jesus wants us not to give up on those people. He wants us to target them with our friendship. He wants us to make ourselves available to them. He wants us to let them know that we want them back. He wants us to seek to reconcile with them. He wants us to find others who can help us reach them. Even if they are determined to stay away from our meetings and refuse to acknowledge their previous commitment – he wants us to keep praying for them. He wants us to focus on them like the owner who left the ninety-nine to restore the one lost sheep.

But he knows we will be tempted to write them off. He knows we will be angered by their defection, and we will not want to forgive them. We will want to hold a grudge against them and stay as far away from them as possible. But he commands us to do the opposite. He commands us to take our time and focus our attention on these sinning brothers and sisters. He wants us to personally take the first step toward reconciling with them. He wants us to value the relationship enough that we ask the help of other Christians to mend the broken relationship. He wants us to focus our valuable prayer time on restoring Christian relationships. He wants us to take drastic measures to keep the door always unlocked so that the lost will know that should they seek to return, they will be welcomed back.

THE DAY IS COMING

Malachi 4:1-6 CSB.

¹ “For look, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and everyone who commits wickedness will become stubble. The coming day will consume them,” says the Lord of Armies, “not leaving them root or branches. ² But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and playfully jump like calves from the stall. ³ You will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing,” says the Lord of Armies. ⁴ “Remember the instruction of Moses my servant, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. ⁵ Look, I am going to send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. ⁶ And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

This final chapter in the Old Testament is a very important one because it hints at a lot of the themes that will be explained more clearly in the New Testament. There is at least a four-hundred-year gap between these last words of Malachi and the first words written by Matthew. Malachi is the last of the Old Testament prophets, and he predicts that another prophet is going to come, who will introduce Israel to its Messiah. That prophet was John the Baptist, who is called Elijah in today’s text.

The best way to understand the words in this chapter is to look at the context in which it was given. The prophecy of Malachi is presented like a court case in which God is the defendant. The people present their charges against God, and he responds to those charges.

The charge that chapter four addresses is found in 3:14. The people are saying that it is useless to serve God. They looked around at all the arrogant happy successful people who do not serve God and ask why they should obey him. In his defense, God tells the people that he has prepared a scroll and put the names of all the people who have respected and honored him on that scroll. He tells them that once more they will see that He makes a distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not.

It is in that context that we read the words of Malachi 4. Malachi tells them that …

The day is coming when the wicked will be destroyed (1).

Malachi was prophesying to a people who said that obeying God made no difference in their lives. They had looked around and noted that people all around them were rebelling against God and his law and God had done nothing about it. They concluded that it was useless to repent of their sins and obey God’s commands. But Malachi tells them not to give up on God yet. Just you wait because God’s is not finished yet. He has a day coming that will take care of the wicked once and for all.

Malachi describes how God will take care of the wicked. He pictures them as a forest that God is going to clear-cut and put in a furnace. They will be burned up, reduced to ashes. Nothing will survive that destruction. The fire will consume them – all of them – not leaving roots or branches.

Of course, Malachi is not the only Old Testament book to talk about the coming destruction of the wicked.

Genesis records the fact that God destroyed the ungodly with a flood, and the New Testament says he’s going to do it again – this time with fire. 2 Peter 3:7 speaks of “the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” Now, where did Peter get that idea? Malachi says the day is coming.

Zephaniah spoke of that day as well. He said “Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’s angry judgment. The whole earth will be consumed by his fiery wrath. Indeed, he will bring terrifying destruction on all who live on the earth” (Zephaniah 1:18).

The Old Testament poets looked forward to that coming day. The psalmist wrote, “May sinners disappear from the earth, and the wicked vanish!” (Psalm 104:35).

David, in one of his psalms, told the evil strong man that God was going to uproot him from the land of the living, and make him into a permanent heap of ruins (Psalm 52:5). David knew about that coming day.

Asaph was also aware of this reality. He said that God will destroy everyone who is unfaithful to him (Psalm 73:27). Asaph knew about that coming day.

Isaiah said that when God looks for his opponents, he will find them. Then he will reduce them to absolutely nothing (Isaiah 41:11-12). Isaiah knew about that coming day.

The New Testament affirms the same fact. John the Baptist warned sinners that “the ax is laid at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 3:10). John the Baptist knew about that coming day.

Jesus spoke of that same day when he warned that “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 7:19). He said we should fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in that fire (Matthew 10:28). Jesus knew about that coming day.

Paul called the ungodly “objects of wrath prepared for destruction” (Romans 9:22). He said that they will undergo the penalty of permanent destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:9). Paul knew about that coming day.

But unless we despair, we need to go on to talk about the rest of Malachi’s message. Destruction is not the only thing that will happen on that coming day.

The day is coming when the righteous will overcome (2-3).

The good news of Malachi 4 is that the same day that will bring the destruction of the ungodly will bring restoration, healing, and vindication for the godly. They will be restored by means of the resurrection. The New Testament tells us this. Jesus says that when he returns, he will raise the righteous dead and restore them to permanent life.

Malachi describes this event from a broader perspective. He uses the imagery of a “sun of righteousness” that shines on the dark world and heals it of all it imperfections. The wings of the sun are the rays it emits. The picture is that of a warm sun that comes out and cleans up all the impurities in the atmosphere.

Malachi also mentions the joy that the godly will have. He describes them as trampling on the ashes of all the destroyed enemies of God and playfully jumping like calves from the stall. The godly will be finally vindicated, and this world set right again.

So far, Malachi has told us about the bad news for God’s enemies. They will be destroyed on the coming day. He has also told us the good news about what awaits the godly. They will be restored, purified, and will experience joy. What next?

The day is coming, so get ready (4-6).

It will be 400 years before the world sees the first advent of Christ. We are still waiting for his second advent. What does Malachi tell us we need to do until then? First, there will be no more prophets until John the Baptist appears. So, Malachi directs the attention of his people back to the word of God they had already received through Moses. He tells them to remember what Moses taught them and not to stray away from it.

For you and me, we need to be careful not to stray from God’s revealed word as well. You cannot be obedient to God if you ignore his word. To get ready for God’s coming day, you need to choose to obey him this day.

Malachi’s second word of instruction is his prophecy that God is going to send Elijah to restore the hearts of the fathers to the children and restore the hearts of the children to the fathers. This means more than mending the generation gap. What Malachi is talking about is the responsibility that fathers have in raising their children according to the covenant, and the responsibility that children have in adopting the covenant and passing it on.

The purpose of John the Baptist’s ministry was to lead his nation to Christ as their Messiah. But it was supposed to be more than that. The whole nation should have repented and turned back to the covenant and welcomed Jesus as their king. They did not do that. Malachi warned that if Israel did not do that, God would strike the land with a curse. He did.

Now, what happened to the land of Israel in 70 AD is mostly lost to us. But we should learn the lesson from that historical event. The reason is that God has given us only one king. Any land that denies the right of King Jesus to rule over it will suffer the same curse.

Getting ready for the coming day means becoming a part of the coming kingdom. If you are not part of the kingdom now, you will not survive the coming day of destruction. God has always offered the world one choice with two possible destinations based on that choice.

Moses told his people “I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you. Therefore, choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Jesus told his listeners “”I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

John wrote “The one who has the Son has this eternal life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have this eternal life” (1 John 5:12).

Malachi predicted that a prophet in the spirit and power of Elijah was going to come and tell people who the Messiah is. John the Baptist was that prophet. John saw Jesus and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Getting ready for the coming day means becoming part of the kingdom of the coming king.

FELLOWSHIP FIGHTS

Luke 9:46-50 NET.

⁴⁶ Now an argument started among the disciples as to which of them might be the greatest. ⁴⁷ But when Jesus discerned their innermost thoughts, he took a child, had him stand by his side, ⁴⁸ and said to them, “Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me, for the one who is least among you all is the one who is great.” ⁴⁹ John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he is not a disciple along with us.” ⁵⁰ But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, for whoever is not against you is for you.”

Today’s passage begins by stating that an argument started among the disciples and that statement introduces today’s topic. Arguments keep starting among the disciples even after all these centuries. We were called together to follow Christ together, but things keep separating us and causing fights among the fellowship. Today’s passage identifies some of the things that tend to cause these fellowship fights. It is important for us to realize that Jesus not only knows about what causes fellowship fights, but he has also given us instruction that can help us prevent them. Let’s examine today’s text to see why fights happen among us, and what we can do about it.

First, fights develop among us because Pride turns fellowship into a hierarchy (46).

We read that the disciples were arguing among themselves because they wanted to establish who was the greatest. Why would the disciples choose to start fighting over that issue? It probably happened at that point because Jesus had recently taken three disciples onto a mountain, and they got to witness his transfiguration and hear the voice of God tell them to listen to him. When they came down from the mountain, the other disciples probably wondered why those three had been chosen to witness that miracle, and the rest had not been chosen. That question became an issue, and that issue became a controversy, and that controversy became an argument.

Jesus had wanted three disciples with him on the mountain because they needed to learn that God wanted all of them to focus on Christ. But the argument developed because the disciples took their eyes off Jesus and started asking who was greatest among themselves. History has shown that this same mistake happens repeatedly in the church. If two or three gather in Jesus’ name, before long they decide who is going to be their leader. They must set up a separate caste: a priest, an elder, a pastor.

It is human nature to organize and seek leadership. But it is also a problem in the church because who leads us is something that we are inclined to argue about. Jesus wanted to address that problem. He knew that whenever the issue of greatness enters the picture, pride comes with it. You cannot convince anyone that you are better than he is without boasting about yourself. The Bible tells us that God hates arrogant pride (Proverbs 8:13). It says that pride leads to disgrace (Proverbs 11:2). It leads to contention (Proverbs 13:10). It leads to destruction (Proverbs 16:18). It brings people down (Proverbs 29:23).

Jesus taught his disciples to humble themselves on several occasions. Once, he noted a Pharisee’s prayer – full of self-congratulations. He compared that prayer with that of a tax collector, who “stood far off and would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am!’” (Luke 18:14. Jesus said it was that humbled tax collector went down to his home justified – not the Pharisee. He said that everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.

On this occasion, Jesus used a mere child as an illustration. He had that child stand by his side in the position of honor. His point was that greatness in his kingdom is not measured the same way greatness in the world is. I wish that the church would get that point. But we are constantly forming hierarchies within our fellowships. The reformers criticized the Catholics for doing that, then they turned around and did the same thing. The Bible says that in Christ there “is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female — for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). He breaks down all the ethnic, socio-economic and gender distinctions. Everyone of us who is in Christ is like that little child – exalted to the right hand of the Savior by his grace alone. If we want to stop arguing in our fellowships, we need to humble ourselves.

Second, Jealousy turns fellowship into a competition (47-48).

Pride says I am greater than you, and you must acknowledge my greatness. Jealousy says you are greater than me and am determined to climb the ladder higher than you. It makes church fellowship a competition to see who can get higher up the food chain. Jesus recognized this tendency among his followers, so he showed them that Christian fellowship is not about that. He did it by showing them that child and telling them that their goal was to welcome him. That child was a nobody and that was the point. Church fellowship is not a competition in which we climb the ladder. It’s an opportunity to welcome all believers into the same body. We are all sheep in the same flock. We are all members of the same family. We don’t compete for our identity in Christ. We don’t earn it. We are chosen by grace.

To fully realize this fact is to stop trying to measure up to someone else’s status. It is to stop trying to gain a higher rank so that all the plebes under you will have to do what you want them to do. Jesus did not intend for Christian fellowship to be a competition. He gives us our one rank at the beginning of our Christian life, and we never outgrow that rank. Our salvation comes free and our status as children of God comes with it.

Another reason we should avoid jealousy and the competition mindset is that we don’t really know each other’s heart. We have had some heroes in our culture in the past few decades that have turned out to be less than admirable. People patterned themselves after those heroes and then were devastated when they discovered that their heroes had serious hidden flaws.

Finally, Intolerance turns fellowship into a cult (49-50).

In the last part of today’s text, the disciple John told Jesus that they had seen someone casting out demons in Jesus’ name and the tried to stop him. This was a manifestation of the final stage of fellowship fighting. When you declare that someone is not a Christian because that person does not do things the same way you do, you have ceased to be Christian yourself.  It is the cults who declare that every other person claiming to be a Christian is unsaved. That is intolerance, and Jesus warned his disciples not to be that way.

We have quite a few churches in the Delco area, and I have no doubt that that there are true believers in every one of them. No one must be just like us. We are not Christians because we follow a pattern.  We are Christians because we follow Christ. He did not choose twelve disciples who we just like each other. The twelve were remarkably different from each other.

Saying that, however, we must admit that we do need some work in this area. There are probably some people in our community who feel out of place in our churches and sometimes that is caused by our tendency to make judgments based on external things. The Bible does not say you have to be perfect to join a church, but we sometimes give people that impression. One of the purposes of the church is for us to help one another grow in grace. But we have been guilty in the past of not inviting people to church because we would be embarrassed to be seen with them.

A real Christian fellowship invites all because all need Jesus. Anyone who has repented of their sins and seeks to follow Jesus is welcome here. Each of us has some areas in his life that need work. The Holy Spirit is working on us all. But the temptation to turn people away because their experience with Christ is not the same as ours needs to be avoided.

There are lots of things that are worth fighting for as Christians. The Lordship of Christ is one of them. The authority of God’s word is another. Salvation by grace is another. But fellowship fights tend to break out among us for far lesser reasons. We need to learn the wisdom to avoid fighting over differences that do not ultimately matter. We need to stop being jealous of one another and welcome each other as equals in the same family. We need to humble ourselves and stop letting pride destroy our witness.

FATHER’S DAY JOY

Proverbs 23:22-25 NET.

²² Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old. ²³ Acquire truth and do not sell it — wisdom, and discipline, and understanding. ²⁴ The father of a righteous person will rejoice greatly; whoever fathers a wise child will have joy in him. ²⁵ May your father and your mother have joy; may she who bore you rejoice.

I wanted to talk about Father’s Day from a biblical perspective today, so I naturally went to the book of Proverbs. The book of Proverbs serves as an instruction manual for raising kids in God’s way. If we neglect the biblical wisdom literature, we are missing out on how to make decisions that reflect God’s plan for our life choices.

Today’s culture talks a lot about making personal life choices, but it does not emphasize the fact that God has given us revelation so that we can make the right choices. We talk about people’s right to choose, but we turn a blind eye when they make choices that bring suffering on them, their parents, and God himself.

We cannot avoid all suffering in life because some suffering will not be our fault. We learn that lesson from the book of Job. But we can avoid much suffering in life by following the wisdom guidelines that God gave us in the book of Proverbs.

All parents and children have a choice (22).

Children can choose to listen to their parent’s instruction and advice, or they can choose to despise their parents and disregard their advice. Parents can choose to speak into the lives of their children, or they can choose to let someone else take control of their education and their training. Both parents and children must make the right choice or else wisdom is not going to be passed on. 

To put it another way, both parents and children can undermine the wisdom education process. Children can choose not to listen, and parents can choose not to speak. By making those choices, we render null and void the promises of scripture regarding the benefits of wisdom.

The book of Proverbs urges us to “Listen, my child, to the instruction from your father, and do not forsake the teaching from your mother. For they will be like an elegant garland on your head, and like pendants around your neck” (1:8-9). We can choose to walk through life without that adornment if we want to, but if we make that choice, everything else we choose is going to be influenced. If we choose to be stupid, we will probably gain stupid friends. We will marry stupidly and raise our children in stupidity and do our jobs without wisdom and vote without wisdom and make thousands of wrong choices.

The fact that both parents and children must be involved in the wisdom education process means that bad choices will most likely produce more bad choices in the next generation. Wisdom is passed on but so is the lack of wisdom. That means that every person must come to grips with his or her own situation. Each person must ask whether he or she has learned wisdom, and if the answer to that question is no, then he or she must come to the scriptures to get it.

You don’t necessarily get this wisdom from Sunday School, and you don’t get it from Bible college or church camp or even listening to a preacher. God gave us his wisdom in his word, and we all must get it from there. But some children are very fortunate because their parents learn God’s wisdom from his word and choose to pass it on to their children. Those children are more likely to pass that wisdom on to their children, but not necessarily so. That’s why today’s text encourages children to listen and assumes that parents will be saying something worth listening to.

Father’s Day is not the same as Christmas Day. On Christmas day, we get our joy by seeing what our loved ones have given to us, as a sign of their appreciation. We may get gifts on Father’s Day too, but the joy that this passage speaks of is not the joy of gifts received.

Father’s Day joy comes from giving, not getting (23-24).

The command of today’s text is for the children to acquire something. Fathers will experience joy not when they acquire a new tie or handkerchief, but when their children acquire what they have passed on. No gift can take the place of a life molded and shaped.

Parents get joy when children get truth (23).

Our culture wants our children to learn all the facts. They want them to fill their minds with data and know history, math, and science and to learn all this knowledge. But modern society is afraid of that word truth. The word truth suggests that some things are true, and by admitting that these things are true then we are denying the truth of other things. Our culture wants us to affirm everyone’s beliefs as equal. We cannot allow our children to fall for that because it is a denial of truth.

We can teach our children to respect other people’s belief. We can even teach them the value of tolerating other people’s backgrounds and values and differences. But we cannot allow our children to be taught that truth is relative. We want our children to be able to make value judgments based on things that are surely true. We want them to acquire truth. There is no such thing as my truth and your truth. There is only God’s truth. He is the standard of what is true and what is false.

Ultimately, there is a standard of truth, and the Bible tells us who that standard is. Jesus Christ said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to Father except by me.” Anyone can speak the truth, but only Jesus is the Truth. Anyone can lead us the right way, but only Jesus is the Way. Anyone can enhance our life, but only Jesus Christ is the Life.

Parents get joy when children get wisdom (23).

Wisdom is not the same thing as knowledge. You know something when you can express a fact. But you are wise when can make the right choice. Wisdom is knowledge applied to a moral situation. Wisdom is the ability to look at a case study and determine what choices you should make ifd you are presented with a moral problem.

In Proverbs, we find that a wise person avoids taking advantage of others. A wise person stays away from sexual temptation. A wise person works hard and gains money honestly. A wise person stays committed even when it gets hard to be faithful.

When our children manifest this kind of moral integrity in their personal lives, that’s when we rejoice on Father’s Day and every day. We are proud of the choices they are making. We are not just proud because they look like us. We are proud because they make choices that reflect our commitment to doing God’s will.

Parents get joy when children get discipline (23).

Proverbs tells us “My child, do not despise discipline from the LORD, and do not loathe his rebuke. For the LORD disciplines those he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights” (3:11-12). Discipline is corrective. It comes from a heart of love that does not want harmful acts to become ingrained and produce failure in life.

It is gratitude that says “I used to act this way, but my parents taught me not to, and I love them for it. Sometimes it is the grace of God that we can point to as the reason we have not wasted our lives. Sometimes it is the love of faithful parents who would not tolerate our foolishness.

Parents get joy when children get understanding (23).

The Hebrew word בִּינָה means insight. It is understanding gained by obedience. Discipline is how you learn to not be disobedient. Understanding is how you learn to be obedient by discovering its benefits. Parents do not want to be harsh to their children. It gives them the most joy when their children willingly obey their instructions.

Parents get joy when children get righteousness (24).

In this context, a righteous person is a son or daughter who has learned to live right and have right relationships with others. Such a person is a joy to his or her parents.

But sometimes the Bible uses this word for the righteousness that is imputed to us by God’s grace when we put our faith in Christ. Truly wise parents will seek to impart righteous behavior to their children. But they will not stop there. Because all our righteousness is not enough in God’s sight. Even our attempts at being good are evil compared to God’s standard of holiness. That is why we all need Jesus Christ. If we really want to give our parents joy, we will accept God’s gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. A wise choice like that brings joy not just to our earthly fathers, but to our heavenly Father as well.

FIRST FISH

Matthew 17:24-27 NET

²⁴ After they arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Your teacher pays the double drachma tax, doesn’t he?” ²⁵ He said, “Yes.” When Peter came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do earthly kings collect tolls or taxes — from their sons or from foreigners?” ²⁶ After he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. ²⁷ But so that we don’t offend them, go to the lake and throw out a hook. Take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth, you will find a four drachma coin. Take that and give it to them for me and you.”

The first verse of today’s text is a good example of how hard it is to translate scripture. Translators want to convey the meaning of the text as they understand it, so they are often tempted to add words that are not in the original text, but they think those words are necessary to explain it.

For example, here is my more literal translation of verse 24:

Matthew 17:24 When they came to Capernaum, the double drachma collectors went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the double drachma?”

When Matthew wrote those words, everyone who read them knew that the double drachma (Greek δίδραχμα) was a toll levied on every Jewish male twenty years or older for the maintenance of the temple in Jerusalem. Matthew did not need to add the word temple or the word tax.

But our modern-day translators struggle with a dilemma. If they leave words like that out of their translation, they run the risk of not saying enough to convey the meaning intended by the original authors of scripture. But if they add too many words of explanation, they could be accused of not being true to what is there.

Since my translation is for my own personal enrichment, I don’t have to worry about adding words to it. I figure that the place to add words is in the exposition of the text, not the translation itself. I am telling you this because this kind of thing – the adding of words to the text to explain the meaning – is a characteristic of every Bible translation – even the ancient ones.

And that is not the only problem you will encounter as you read the text of an English translation. Sometimes you will encounter a word that claims to be a translation of a biblical word, but it is an interpretation – and possibly a wrong interpretation.

The fewer people we have in our churches that are trained in biblical languages, the more this is going to be a problem. Back when our denomination had bible colleges, our clergy had at least an introduction to Hebrew and Greek. That is not the case anymore.

The apostle Paul encouraged his trainee Timothy to make every effort to present himself before God as a proven worker who does not need to be ashamed, teaching the message of truth accurately (2 Timothy 2:15). We owe it to the next generation to give them preachers and teachers who can do that.

Now, let’s look at the message of today’s passage. The first thing we see is that Peter is certain that Jesus agreed with paying the temple tax (24-25a).

When the collectors asked Peter whether Jesus was for the tax, Peter immediately answered in the affirmative. This was, after all, the temple of God. Jesus had called God his Father. There was no doubt in Peter’s mind that Jesus was pro-God and therefore pro-temple. The temple tax was a duty that dated back to the Old Testament. Exodus 30:13-16 prescribes this tax as a ransom for each male Israelite and a memorial to make atonement for each life. A rich man was not to pay any more, and a poor man was not to pay any less. Peter had every reason to believe that Jesus intended to pay the double drachma and to affirm that he would.

But when Peter got back to his house and discussed his conversation, Jesus asked him to think about something. Jesus challenged Peter to think about who his master is (25b-26).

Jesus asked Peter whether earthly kings collect taxes from their own sons. Peter hadn’t been thinking in those terms. He was thinking that since Jesus was a Jewish male and a believer in God, he would most certainly want to contribute to the upkeep of the temple by paying the tax.

It was true that Jesus was a human being, born of the house of Israel, and that he was a believer in God. But Peter had been learning that Jesus was a lot more than that. Peter watched as Jesus performed miracles that no man had ever done. He had seen Jesus heal the sick, walk on water, multiply the bread and fish. He had witnessed Jesus raise the dead.

In fact, this chapter begins with the story of Jesus’ transfiguration. Jesus brought Peter – along with two other disciples – up to a high mountain and there the three of them saw a vision in which Jesus “was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. Then Moses and Elijah also appeared before them, talking with him.”

Peter – being Peter – immediately got the wrong idea. He thought that the three disciples were there because God wanted them to build three shelters so that they could listen to these three great heroes of the faith. They could take turns going from shelter to shelter to listen to what God wanted to reveal through these three heroes.

Suddenly, a cloud of bright light surrounded them, and they heard the voice of God in the cloud. God did not say “You’re right, Peter, each of these heroes of the faith are equal, and you should pay attention to each of them equally. No, God said “This is my one dear Son, in whom I take great delight. Listen to him!”

The message was clear. Jesus is unique among all the people who have ever lived because all other men are God’s servants, but Jesus is God’s one dear Son.

Now, notice how the question that Jesus asked Peter in today’s text relates to that event and that revelation. If the sons of the earthly kings are exempt from their taxes, how much more would God’s one dear Son be exempt from the taxes imposed for the sake of his temple.

What Jesus is establishing is that He had the right to exempt himself from the double drachma, and by extension, he had the right to exclude his disciples from that tax as well. The servants are obligated but the sons are free.

Now, notice something else very important is happening here. After establishing the justification for exempting himself and Peter from the tax, Jesus turns around and commands Peter to pay it.

Peter should pay the tax to not offend the collectors (27a).

The word offend is σκανδαλίζω – to put a trap in the way of someone. If people saw Jesus avoiding the double drachma tax it might lead them to think that the temple was unimportant. That might lead them to think that other things concerning God were unimportant as well. Even though he was free as the Son of God he submitted to God’s plan not to save himself but to save us.

So, having established that Peter should pay the tax, Jesus now commanded that he do so in an unusual miraculous way. He told Peter to go fishing – not with a net but with a hook.

Jesus told Peter the first fish would have the payment (27b).

He said “Go to the lake and throw out a hook. Take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth, you will find a four drachma coin. Take that and give it to them for me and you.”

Note how many miracles would have to happen for Peter to obey that command. Somebody had to lose a coin in the lake. That coin would have to be the exact denomination needed to pay the tax for two people. A fish had to catch that coin in his mouth, but not swallow it. The fish with the coin would have to go to the edge of the beach at the same time Peter went there to catch him. Peter would have to cast the hook in at just the right time to catch that fish. That fish would have to bite that hook at that instant.

Behind all these miracles is another miracle. Jesus had the supernatural omniscience to know that Peter would do all these things and catch that fish to pay that fee.

Matthew only tells this part of the story. We can only assume that Peter was obedient to his master and that all these miracles took place. Some have suggested that he didn’t do it, so the miracle didn’t happen. Some have suggested that the whole story is made up. But I submit to you that the same God who caused a great fish to swallow Jonah would have no problem causing a lesser fish to swallow a coin. There is a lesson here about who Jesus is and I think that lesson is obvious.

But there is also a lesson about who we are. Jesus had previously told his disciples that they needed to deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow him. Today’s story gives Peter an opportunity to do that. He could have told the tax collectors that he was a disciple of the Son of God, so they could go to someone else for their double drachma. But, instead, he submitted to the tax. Because Peter was obedient to Christ, Christ miraculously provided what he needed to pay the tax.

One implication from this story is that when you and I choose to be obedient to Christ, we open the door to his miraculous provision as well. Our master is watching to see if we are heading to the shed to get our fishing poles. He is watching to see if we will obey his commands in our everyday life. If we choose to disobey him, we have no reason to expect anything from him. But if we dare to obey him, we have every reason to expect miracles to happen.