Matthew: Jesus is All We Need

“Will Tuesday’s election change anything for you, or will it change everything for you?”  Now how you and I answer that question all depends on where you are putting your trust. If you are trusting in what man can do for you, then the outcome of this election may leave you a bit concerned about what the future holds.  But if you are trusting in what God has done for you in giving you Jesus, then you know that you have nothing to worry about.  You know that your future is secure no matter who is voted into power.  You know that you have nothing to fear because God is always looking out for you.  And you know that changing circumstances of the world can’t rattle you, because you have a Father who delights in you.

That’s what I love about Jesus.  When anyone comes to faith in Jesus, Jesus changes everything.  With Jesus we don’t have to worry about the future.  With Jesus we don’t have to worry about who’s in charge.  With Jesus we don’t have to fear evil.  And with Jesus we can have joy no matter what’s happening in our world.

That’s why it’s so exciting for me to lead us back into the Gospel of Matthew today.  For when Jesus arrived over 2000 years ago, he changed everything for you.  That’s why this gospel is called good news.  For in this Gospel God breaks into our world with the arrival of the King who brings the good news of the Kingdom. And we need this good news as much today as we ever have.   So as we return to the Gospel of Matthew today, we are going to re-examine the first three chapters we dug into earlier this year – and as we do, we are going to be reminded once again, that with the arrival of Jesus, Jesus is all we need.

So if you brought your Bible today, let me encourage you to find the Gospel of Matthew.  For as we re-examine chapters one through three, we’re going to be reminded of all we have with Jesus, so that we might have a secure hope, an unshakable confidence, real courage and a profound sense of joy no matter what takes place in the events to come. For in these chapters we are going to see four amazing truths that Jesus made possible by coming to be with us.  And the first of these truths is found in Matthew 1:1-17 and is this:

1. With Jesus you can have a place in God’s Story This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham. Matthew 1:1.   As Matthew introduces his Gospel account of Jesus, he wants to make sure we know three things:  First, that this gospel is going to focus on the story of Jesus, whose name literally means, “Yahweh saves.”  Matthew’s story of Jesus is the story of the Savior.  Second, Matthew wants us to see that Jesus is of the royal line of David and is the promised Messiah.  Jesus is the Promised King Israel’s been waiting for.  Matthew’s story of Jesus is the story of the King who ushers in the kingdom of God. And thirdly, this story connects Jesus to Abraham as the one who has come to fulfill the blessing promised to Abraham.  Matthew’s story of Jesus is the story of Abraham’s blessing to the Nations fulfilled in Him.  Each designation given by Matthew show us how Jesus is the focal point of God’s story.

But what makes these verses so great for us is all the people who follow in Jesus’ family tree.  In line of Jesus is David, the runt of the family, who was so insignificant, that his father neglected to present him to Solomon as the one who would be king.  Then there’s Manasseh, Israel’s most evil king, who led Israel into idol worship and who murdered countless innocents.  Then there’s Tamar, an Aramean seductress, Rahab, a Canaanite Prostitute, and Uriah’s wife (Bathsheba), a Hittite Adulterer.  In other words, God included a bunch morally questionable outsiders in the family line of Jesus.  Why?  Why did Matthew take the time to make sure we knew all who was in Jesus’ family tree? Why?

Matthew gave us this family tree to show us that anyone can find a place in God’s story. You see, too often we think that God is absent from the affairs of mankind. Too often, we forget that nothing happens in this world outside of His sovereign hand.  But then, when we read Jesus’ family tree, we are reminded that not only is God is actively involved in the affairs of mankind, but He chooses to include the least likely, the most despicable, the morally questionable in His great story of redemption.  So with the arrival of Jesus, Matthew announces the fulfillment of God’s promise to bless the nations. And that includes you and me and anyone who’s ever been overlooked, disgraced, shamed or excluded.  And that’s good news!  This is why Jesus changes everything.  For now no one is outside the scope of God’s mercy and grace found in Jesus.  And that’s good news for today!  Because no matter what happens on Tuesday, God’s story isn’t finished – it’s still going.  That means there is hope for the future.

That’s what Matthew’s gospel is all about.  It’s about a redeemer, God’s Son, Jesus, the King who has come into the world to bring you home to God.  He has come to forgive your sins, to wipe away your past, to give you a new life and connect you to God’s family. That’s the good news Matthew wants us to hear, and that’s the good news we get to bring a world looking for hope.  That’s one way Jesus changes everything.  Here’s the next way:

2.With Jesus you can know the presence of God That’s what we see in Matt 1:18-25 This is Matthew’s narrative of the birth of the King. This narrative begins with Joseph’s dilemma in discovering that his betrothed, Mary is found to be with child.  After discovering this, Joseph wants to do the right thing, so he resolves to divorce her quietly sparing her from public humiliation.  But then an angel of the Lord intervenes and speaks to him in a dream saying:  “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). Matthew 1:20-23

Now there is a tremendous wealth of truth about the identity of Jesus in this passage.  We are told that He is the Messiah, the promised King.  We are told that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, giving Jesus both a divine and human nature.  Which ensured that Jesus would live a sinless life, allowing him to become a perfect offering for our sin.

Then we are told that Joseph is to give him the name Jesus.  Which does two things: First, by naming him, Joseph legally connects Jesus to the line of David, qualifying Jesus to be the Messiah.  And two, by naming him Jesus, he bears the name “Yahweh saves,” revealing his  purpose as King:  Jesus will be the Savior King who will save His people from their sins.  And finally, we are told that his birth would be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy and would identify Jesus as Immanuel, which means God with us.

So with His birth, Jesus changes everything.  For now God has stepped into the realm of humanity and made Himself know to us.  He came to be our King and show us a new way of life in the kingdom of God.  He came to be like us in every way, but was without sin, so he could offer up Himself as our Savior to take away our sins.  So that now, anyone who trusts in Jesus can find forgiveness and a new life with God.

Jesus was born to die for you to make peace between you and God so you can know Him, enjoy Him, lean on Him, and be changed by Him so that no matter what happens in your world, you can have a confidence that He is with you to carry you through.  That’s the hope we have in Jesus.  There is never a moment He is not with us. And promises:  Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you! Hebrews 13:5

So then, no matter what happens on Tuesday, a month from now or even a year from now – God’s Not Going Anywhere!  Jesus came to die for you, so you never have to worry about tomorrow.  With Jesus you can know the presence of God with you every day.  And that’s good news.  That’s how Jesus changes everything. But there’s more. When we come to chapter 2 we learn this next truth that Jesus brings:

3.With Jesus you can have the protection of God That’s what we see in Matthew 2 In the beginning of Matthew 2, we have the story of the three wise men who came to Jerusalem looking to find the newborn king. Herod hears of their search and summons them to a secret meeting and then lies to them saying: “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” Now, the wise men did leave and find Jesus. And when they did they worshipped him with great joy. But then having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.  But the story of Herod’s evil doesn’t end there. Next we see an angel of the Lord warning Joseph in a dream to flee to Egypt because Herod wants to destroy Jesus.  So Joseph takes his family to Egypt until Herod dies. After he dies, an angel tells Joseph it’s safe to return to Israel.  So Joseph heads back, but upon hearing that Archelaus (who was just as evil as his father) was now ruling, Joseph is warned in dream, and so takes his family to live in Nazareth.

Now, when I preached on Joseph’s journey back in early March, our theme was: When God has other plans.  And we learned that sometimes God will change your plans to protect you because He has something better for you.  And little did we know at the time God was about to change all our plans for 2020 with this Pandemic.

But now as we look back at Matthew 2, we see another truth emerge for us from these two stories (and I have to give credit to Kent Romeis for this insight).  And here’s that truth:  God is always one step ahead of evil. 

I can’t think of a more timely truth for giving us perspective in the midst of the escalating evil in our culture. Never in our lifetimes have we experienced the break-down of law, the acceptance of immorality, the rise of gender confusion, the horror of partial birth abortion, the attack on religious freedom, and the hatred of those who claim to follow Jesus.  So this passage gives me hope: That with Jesus you don’t have to fear evil.  If God watched out for the Magi, if God watched over Joseph, then God will always have your back.

In fact, listen to the promise of God from Romans 8, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39

You see, with Jesus we have a God who is always for us, who will always love us no matter what evil stands against us. So yes, with Jesus you don’t have to fear evil.  Because nothing gets past God.  He watches over you day and night.  As the Psalmist wrote: The Lord watches over all who love him, Psalm 145:20  And He will allow nothing to ever separate you from His love.  That’s how Jesus changes everything.  With Jesus we never have to fear evil for God is always for us.  That’s the third truth we need to remember today.  And finally,

4.With Jesus you can enjoy the pleasure of God That’s what we see happening in Matthew 3. In Matthew 3, we are introduced to the forerunner of Jesus in John the Baptist. He’s preaching in the desert: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And then we see a constant stream of Jews were coming out into the desert to be baptized by him.  They’re responding to his message. For John’s listeners, the message of the kingdom was music to their ears.  To hear that the kingdom was at hand meant a time of peace and prosperity was coming; a time of joy and laughter, and everything good associated with it.

This was good news – the best news ever!  But for them to experience this good news, they needed to repent and be baptized.  They needed to agree with God that their sin was offensive to Him. They needed a change of heart.  And the only way they could show God their change of heart was to turn away from sin and turn to God by being baptized.

So when they did this, they showed God they were now ready to do His will.  And it was with this obedience that God was pleased. How do I know that?  Because that’s what we now see from the life of Jesus, as he comes on the scene and we read: Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 

But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him;  and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:13-17

Why was God pleased with Jesus?  Because Jesus did the Father’s will. Jesus didn’t have to do this.  Jesus had no sin.  We already know that.  But he did it anyway.  Why?  To show His Father that He was willing to do what God sent Him to do.  And then, at this very moment, God sent His Spirit to anoint Jesus as the Messiah. And what we have is one of the most profound and beautiful moments in the gospel – for here we hear the Father proclaiming His delight in His Son.  All because as Jesus will later say,  “The one who sent me is with me; He has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.” John 8:29

This is the wonder of what happens when you turn from your sin to trusting in Jesus.  When anyone does this not only does all heaven throw a party, but God is pleased.  That’s why this passage is so profound.  Because it tells us that with Jesus you can enjoy the pleasure of God.  That’s what a relationship with the Father is like.  When you willingly choose to do His will, the Father will always be pleased with you.  He will take great delight in you.

You see right now when our eyes are on the circumstances of the day, when our worries are wrapped up in the outcome of this election, when our fears are being tossed back and forth by the rising tide of evil and when our everyday way of life is being threatened by those who oppose us – take heart in what we have in Jesus!

• We don’t have to worry with Jesus, because we know that with Jesus, we have a place in God’s story. We have a purpose in the midst of this present darkness.  God leaves us here to show the world there is hope and that hope is in Jesus.
• We don’t have to go it alone, because with Jesus we are never alone. We have the presence of God to lean on, learn from and find confidence in, when everything around us is so uncertain. With Jesus we have the presence of God everyday.
• We don’t have to fear the growing evil in our world, because with Jesus we have the protection of our God who is always for us and who promises to always love us. With Jesus we have the protection of the Creator of the Universe who is not surprised by the evil that opposes us. And finally,
• We don’t have to be miserable in hard times, because with Jesus you can know the pleasure of God. For even in the smallest act of your obedience, your Father smiles in delight of your faith.

So yes, we don’t know what will happen in the next few days, weeks or months.  We don’t know if everything in our world will change over this election.  But we do know this…

With Jesus we have the peace of God

With Jesus we have the presence of God

With Jesus we have the protection of God

And with Jesus we have the pleasure of God

So don’t give a minute of your life to worry these next few days.

Put your confidence in the God who is always with you.

Find your courage in the God who is always for you.

And rest in His delight over you.

For with Jesus you really do have all you need.