Matt 11

Date: 16 January 2009

Bible (NT/OT):

Matt 11:1-25

Messengers from John the Baptist

11 When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities. 2 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?" 4 And Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me."
7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. 9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is he of whom it is written,
"'Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way before you.'

11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.
15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
16 "But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,
17 "'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.'
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 drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds."

Woe to Unrepentant Cities

20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. 21 "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works 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 on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you."

Come to Me, and I Will Give You Rest

25 At that time Jesus declared, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Ps 12:3-4

The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: 4 Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?

Sun Tzu:

“Assess the advantage in taking advice, then structure your forces accordingly, to supplement extraordinary tactics. Forces are to be structured strategically, based on what is advantageous”

The Intellectual Devotion:

Sparta was every bit as tough as depicted in the movie 300. Spartan babies were examined for weakness and if any defects were found they were thrown into a gorge. If a baby passed the first test the training was cruel and relentless prompting the saying, “For the Spartans, actual war was a holiday compared to their tough training.”

Events:

Had a great day with my beautiful wife and puppy dog yesterday. My PA took clinic so that I could come home and spend the day reading, writing and playing with my dog. Sadie and I went for a long run through McAlester Park. I have been running a lot in preparation for an Army PT test that I have to take before I deploy and my pace yesterday would have been good enough to max the test. Last night we watched Hitman (a pretty good movie) and I took a chess tutorial. I plan on playing a lot of chess during deployment and would like to get better.

Thoughts:

Bible

1. v2 "now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?" 4 And Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see" The first time that I read this, I asked myself, “Isn’t this John, the man that stood face to face with Jesus and professed to the people, ‘behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’? It most defiantly is, so how can this be? John, while a prophet, is still a man and as such is, like us, a victim of the fall of Adam. Further, he is not unlike many of the Old Testament prophets who when faced with challenges and adversity, waivered in their faith (remember Moses, Jonah, David). John was now in prison and would soon be executed by Herod. Like any of us, his faith may have wavered a bit. John, as the rest of the people in the Old Testament, knew God’s plan for redemption in part. He knew there was a promised messiah and King to come who would rescue Israel. But he may have rightly wondered why he was still sitting in that cold cell if Jesus really was the prophesied King (they were friends, even cousins; why had Jesus not rescued him?). Why had Jesus not demanded Johns release if he truly were the prophesied king? As John was like the Old Testament prophets, he was also much like Christians today tend to question their faith when faced with challenges and adversity. We tend to ask, “why did God let this happen?” However, unlike John, who had to send his disciples to Jesus for reassurance, we now have our reassurance at our fingertips. John had revelation in part (the Old Testament), but we now have revelation in full (the completed bible). When adversity came to John, he went to the source of his strength for reassurance. When adversity comes to us we must also go to the source of our strength for reassurance. We must remember the promises of Jesus and his finished work on the cross. In adversity, we must adjust our worldview and become a kingdom minded people. By kingdom minded, I mean, remembering this world is not our home and this body is but a shell for our eternal soul. Remembering that, because of the fall, we have been promised adversity in life and we must temporarily weather but, because of Christ’s death, we have been promised ultimate victory over this adversity.

2. v10 "This is he of whom it is written, "'Behold, I send my messenger before your face,who will prepare your way before you.'11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. Jesus maintains that John came in the spirit of Elijah (though not DNA of Elijah) to prepare the way for Christ. As great a man as John was, in our glorified state (in heaven) even the most carnal of Christians will be more knowledgeable than John, Love more deeply than David, and be more powerful than Elisha.

3. v7 "'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.' Absolutely love this verse! What a great picture of a culture who does not understand the taint of sin. Without a full understanding of sin we do not cry and we cannot therefore rejoice at the salvation of Christ. This is why all great (and true) revivals begin with the correct preaching of sin (example: Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”). Without such preaching, we do not understand that this fallen world is our temporary place of suffering (despite how good it may seem) not our eternal place of joy. It is impossible to treat someone who does not recognize their sickness and there is no joy in curing someone who does not realize what he has been cured from. If I told you that you had been exposed to Mononucleosis but fought it off on your own years ago (as 90% have) you would not rejoice. If I told you that your Mononucleosis caused a cancer and the only treatment was a bone marrow transplant that will kill the donor (let’s say your mother) and she willingly dies to save your life…how great the gratitude. Preachers in liberal congregations do not preach sin and hell for fear of offence, the result is a congregation that can neither morn their sin or rejoice over their salvation. Christian Preachers preach sin, condemnation, death and Hell; then give an actual reason or rejoicing, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

4. v24 But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades Not the friendly, all-accepting teddy bear in the sky the world would have us believe in.

5. I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Why am I a Calvinist? Because I believe in the Bible. I believe in the God that exists, not the God that I wish existed. It is not an easy doctrine to preach but if I am commanded to faithfully preach the word of God then I must. I was initially driven to Calvinism when I looked up the usage of the words choose and choice in the bible and found that every usage describes God’s choice of us not our choice of God. Simply stated, Calvinism teaches that all men are free to follow their will. The will of fallen man, however, will never lead him to a saving faith of Christ. Instead, fallen man will always willingly choose to glorify himself and flee from Christ’s lordship. Thus, all men are willing sinners and deserving of the wrath stored up for them. However, God out of love for a predetermined few has changed their hard hearts of stone into hearts of flesh that are no longer compelled to follow their own evil desires, instead these “regenerate” hearts then produce a spirit that willingly believes in Christ’s historic work and accepts his lordship. No one ever wanted to be a believer without first being drawn by the father; the very will to follow Christ indicates Gods inner working. Thus, no one ever wanted salvation but were denied because they were not chosen. Likewise, no one was ever saved without a faith in the historic work of Christ. All people acknowledge that God has something to do with our salvation but the Calvinist says that God has everything to do with our salvation. The purpose of our salvation is not our glory but God’s glory. By doing all of the work, God rightfully deserves all of the Glory. If salvation is our choice then we are sovereign and not God, thus when we stand before God in judgment then we do have something to boast about. The God that I serve, the God of the bible, will share his glory with no man. This is why he has these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;” This is a topic we will touch on again and again. The above is an adequate summary of the verse at hand.

6. The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: 4 Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us? My God is strong, as above, he will share his Glory with no man.

Sun Tzu:

1. Forces are to be structured strategically, based on what is advantageous” Every situation is different, there is no right answer all of the time. In Joe Poole’s book, “The tiger’s way,” he faults American forces for always playing by the book. Doctrine in war and otherwise must be flexible and allow for strategic innovation. Doctrine must not stifle ingenuity but encourage it. The private on the ground has the most intelligence and vested interest in doing things right, listen to him.