LOJ #49: Overlooking Jesus
Andover Baptist Church-January 10th, 2010
Opening
A. Text for today is Matthew 11:15-24 and our sermon is titled
‘Overlooking Jesus’
B. Children’s Sermon(SLIDE)
1. Have Brian and Richard hide in the sanctuary (after
offering, in the front in funny poses)
2. Have the kids come forward to help me find them (I
can’t preach a sermon on sin without them in here)
3. When the kids find them I'll say, 'No silly that doesn't
look like Brian (to Richard) and that doesn't look like
Richard (to Brian)!
4. That was silly of me wasn't it? Why? Because three
should have been no reason that I didn't recognize both
Richard and Brian….did you know people do the same
thing with Jesus?
5. We know many of the things that Jesus said and
did….and some people still don't want to accept Him.
6. That's even more silly than me not acting like I don't see
Brian and Richard….I hope that you never overlook
Jesus like I did Richard and Brian.
C. Introduction
1. What are some things people overlook? (alarm clocks
speed limits, dentist appointments, toilet seats (face it
ladies it's not our job), tornado warnings, road signs)
2. What are some things people do not over look?(Smoke
detectors, chocking people, time clock, babies in the
backseat of cars, tornado sirens, volcanoes, nuclear
explosions, Facebook, Facebook, cell phone,
ambulances
3. At every single turn of daily life it seems as if we are
registering in our minds: this is important, this is not
important
4. We overlook a lot of things, even some things we
shouldn’t
5. One thing that most people say when they come to the
end of their life and they are looking back is that they would have focused more on the important things
6. Today Jesus looks in the face of people who have
watched Him perform miracle after miracle and have
listened to His teaching, but yet still were overlooking
Him
7. May I say today friends that you can overlook many
things with little consequence, yet to overlook Jesus has
consequences that stretch into eternity
8. As we watch His rebuke of these towns may we be
resolute that we never, ever get so complacent with the
things of this world that we in fact do the same thing
and overlook the one person that matters eternally: Jesus
Sermon
READ: Matthew 11:15 (Scripture slide)
"The one who has ears had better listen!"
A. Go around and look at everyone's ears: yep I do think He was
meaning you as well (BJ: well I guess it doesn't matter I can
see through to the other side)
B. Jesus said this as a verbal stop sign that what He is saying
should be listened to and headed
C. Simply put Jesus is telling them and us that we had best listen
to His message
1. The culture of Jesus’ day is very much like our own
2. God is still speaking and if you choose to ignore His
voice than you will face the consequences
D. Let’s see what all the fuss is about shall we
READ: Matthew 11:16-19 (Scripture slide)
"16 To what should I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to one another, 17 ‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance; we wailed in mourning, yet you did not weep.’18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”
A. 'compare this generation'
1. 'generation': 40 year span of people
2. Jews able to hear and understand Jesus message
B. Jesus’ compares them to children playing games
1. It would not surprise me if when saying this Jesus
looked around
2. Have the kids come forward againg
3. And noticed that children were playing their games in
the midst of the crowd, maybe off to the side and Jesus
as the Master teacher used them for a teaching moment
C. Significantly to Jesus’ point these children are playing games
1. These children are likely copying what they see in adults
a. Kids always seem to copycat what they see in the
culture (house, doctor, soldiers, in my parents day
they played caveman etc)
b. Funerals and weddings, as we have discussed
before, were huge social events in their
communities
c. So these kids are playing two separate games:
funeral and a wedding
2. I’m sure it was quite a spectacle (loud wailing
mimicking a funeral and lively dancing mimicking a
wedding celebration)
3. But it appears that some didn't want to play the right
game
a. You ever watched little children at play?
b. It’s not rare to see children bickering over how
they want the games to be played
c. There are some 30+ year olds I've played games
with that are the same way….Any of you ever
played Legalistic Uno…I have
d. Anyway in fact it appears as nothing could
please some of these whiney kids
4. Little did they know that they were acting more like the
adults were talking about than they realized
5. "As a rule man is a fool. When it's hot he wants it cool,
When it's cool he wants it hot always wanting what is
not!"
a. So it was with the generation of people Jesus
was dealing with when it came to the things of
God
b. And Jesus hit them right between the eyes with
this immaturity: no matter Who God sends to
spread His message the you, the world has a
problem with it
c. Like at a funeral the Jews of the day cried out for
God's help loudly and then when He sent His
very own Son they cried out against Him
D. The people of the day would rather whine that their game isn't
being played then to accept the great gift they could have in
Christ!
1. Maybe you've cried to God to help you and when help
came you yourself have cried out against it because you
too didn't like the answer
2. Excuses, excuses, excuses: everyone has one who
refuses to accept Christ….but not one of them is valid
3. And like these people Jesus was speaking too we to get
so wrapped playing silly games in this life that we forget
to worry about the one
E. The Generation didn’t want John and now they don’t want
Jesus
1. Jesus and John was a case in point in how people reject
God no matter what He does
a. You see people then, and today, want God to
dance to their tune, not vice versa
b. We have too many winey people in our churches
today that think church, God, Scripture and Jesus
are like Burger King: 'Have it your way'
c. Act you on an a religious assembly line: God,
yes, all powerful, yes, Sovereign no,
d. If you believe that: put a helmet on cuz you need
it
e. God is Who He is, who are we to tell Him to be
this and to be that…
2. John and Jesus had to distinct public personas:
a. John kept to himself out in the desert
1. People came to him
2. John came with the Law telling people to
repent (i.e. the funeral dirge)
3. Because he was a semi-recluse the Jews
claimed something was wrong with
him (literally he was possessed)
b. Then came Jesus the exact opposite
1. He came to everyone willingly
2. Didn't matter whether you were a
Pharisee, a tax collector or a woman with
loose morals….Jesus shut no one
out (i.e. the wedding celebration)
3. Well then He was too social so therefore
He was a drunk crosser
c. What was the real problem: Neither one fit what
they wanted from God!
3. Can you see all the people off to the side, the self
righteous, pointing fingers at Jesus in disgust: ‘Look at
Him. How horrible. Look at who He associates!’
a. The ironic thing was that the Father was looking
at them thinking the same thing!
b. Let me say that the people you stick your nose up
at in your life are likely the exact people Jesus
would go to lunch with, who He would hang
around the water cooler with, that He would seek
out
c. May we watch raising our own standards so high
that we end up excluding our own sinful selves
d. I'm gonna tell you something that is likely going
to hurt your feelings:
1. Jesus is too good to hang out with you
2. Jesus is too good to hang out with me
3. He is of a different stock
4. But praise the Lord He chose to anyway!
5. Maybe we need to be more like Him
F. ‘Wisdom is vindicated by her deeds’
1. ‘deeds’ = results
2. Was John possessed and crazy? Not in the least, his
actions turned people’s hearts back towards God and
3. Was Jesus a sinner? Never, His miracles proved that He
was the Holy Son of God
G. Who then are the winners here?
1. It’s the ones who accept Jesus and feast with Him
2. While those outside complain that God is not moving,
the very thing they need, salvation, is right before their
eyes
3. But they would rather play their petty games then be
saved
4. Light a match and then blow it out…..what they seek is
but a puff of smoke (no substance, no value) when they
could have had the light of life
5. I pray that is not you today
READ: Matthew 11:20 (Scripture slide)
"Then Jesus began to criticize openly the cities in which he had done many of his miracles, because they did not repent."
A. 'criticize openly'
1. Conveys a sense of anger with insults or justifiable
rebuke
2. Word for criticize same word used for what the thief on
the cross did to Jesus, used also in Mt 5:11 when Jesus
says we are blessed when people hurl insults at us
B. Why the criticism?
1. The majority of Jesus' miracles had been done in these
towns
2. These miracles were huge theological neon signs saying:
'God's Man Right Here'
3. God used miracles to show His working
Exodus 14:31"When Israel saw the great power that the Lord had exercised over the Egyptians, they feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses."
John 20:30, 31 "30 Now Jesus performed many other miraculous signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name."
4. Not only had Jesus done miracles, but He also taught in
their midst as well
5. They had seen His glory, His power and authority and
they stiffly refused to turn to God even in the face of
surety of Who Jesus is
Mt 9:34"But the Pharisees said, “By the ruler of demons he casts out demons.”
C. Because of this Jesus was about to verbally give them a lashing
READ: Matthew 11:21-24 (Scripture slide)
"21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you! 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be thrown down to Hades! For if the miracles done among you had been done in Sodom, it would have continued to this day. 24 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you!”
A. Showa map of the cities mentioned here
B. 'Woe'
1. Means ‘doom or pity (such as 'alas')
2. Not so much anger as a sorrowful countenance
3. Imagine if you had a lifesaving procedure and the ones
who need it the most reject it out right, this is what Jesus
is experiencing with these towns
C. 'Chorazin…Bethsaida…Capernaum'
1. Chorazin
a. Two miles NW of Capernaum (about an hour
walk)
b. Only mentioned here and once in Luke
c. Would have been small compared to Bethsaida
2. Bethsaida
a. Likely the home of Andrew, Peter and Philip
(John 1:44)
b. Fishing village on west side of Jordan as it
entered into the Sea of Galilee
c. In Luke 9:10 we are told that Jesus would
withdraw here for retreats
3. Capernaum
a. Jesus’ home base in northern Israel
b. Many miracles performed there (Centurions’
servant healed; paralytic healed; dead girl raised,
sick woman healed; blind and mute healed)
4. All of these cities were very close to one another and it
was very likely that citizens from each one were there
listening to Jesus condemn them
5. To the Jews these cities would have been considered
good, wholesome Jewish communities
D. 'Tyre…Sidon…region of Sodom'
1. These cities were the who's who of the bad city list
2. One large strike against them for the Jews is that they
were Gentile cities (non-Jewish)
3. Tyre and Sidon (Phoenician cities)
a. Near the heart of Baal worship in the Old
Testament
b. A whole chapter in Isaiah (23) rips Tyre for it’s
sinfulness
c. Their destruction is spoke of in Eze 26-28
4. Region of Sodom
a. This area would be the infamous home of both
Sodom and Gomorrah
b. Known for its utter sinfulness and for God’s
destruction (cf. Gen 19:1-29)
c. Literally a synonym for evil and sin
E. Jesus makes a striking revelation that would have offended
them to the core: It will be more bearable for those sinful
Gentile cities than for guys on judgment day
1. Jesus first contrasts the pagan cities of Tyre and Sidon
with Chorazin and Bethsaida
a. Jesus tells them that if He had done the miracles
He had done in Chorazin and Bethsaida they
would have repented and accepted Him
b. What miracles did Jesus do there? We have no
idea there is no record of them in the Gospels
1. When we think of the Gospels we
mistakenly see them as a complete
picture of what Jesus did
2. This is not true as Jesus did so much that
John the Apostle tells us in his book that
Jesus did so much it would be difficult to
write it all down
3. No the Gospels are just a sliver of what
He did
c. These miracles would have been so effective that
Tyre and Sidon would have repented in
‘sackcloth and ashes'
1. Not just regular repentance, but an
extreme act of turning to God
2. Sackcloth was a rough fabric made from
the short, course hairs of camels (like a
burlap sack)
3. You would wear this on your bear skin
(worse than those itchy sweaters your
grandmother used to give you for
Christmas)
4. Ashes were put on the face to bring
attention to the fact one was remorseful
and changing their ways
d. Because Tyre and Sidon did not get the full
revelation of God's Plan via Jesus, they would not
be held to the standard that Chorazin and
Bethsaida who had
1. This is why vs. 24 says it would be ‘more
tolerable’
2. From this verse we can see that there are
degrees of punishment in hell (just as
there are degrees of rewards in heaven)
3. Simply put it hell was going to be a lot
worse for those who reject Christ than for
those who never had the opportunity to
hear about Him
e. Let that be fair warning to all of you hear today
to realize that if you have not accepted Christ and
you die today your fate would be closer to the
residents of Chorazin and Bethsaida than to the
pagan cities of Tyre and Sidon
2. Next we have Capernaum vs. Sodom
a. Let me just stop and state here that to the Jews
saying their cities of Capernaum, Bethsaida and
Chorazin were going to get it worse on judgment
day than Sodom, Tyre and Sidon was like
someone telling us that Wichita, Andover and
Augusta were going to get a worse judgment than
L.A., New York City and Las Vegas
b. Sodom was so wicked God destroyed it and we
have, unfortunately, the word sodomy in our
vocabulary because of them
c. Yet Jesus has the audacity to say that while
Capernaum rejected Him, Sodom wouldn’t have
d. Why was Capernaum picked on so harshly?
1. We do not see any indication that they
did anything bad to Jesus per se, but they
just simply ignored His message. It was
2. Jesus had chosen it for His northern
headquarters