Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

Paul has explained to his friends in Philippi about his imprisonment in Rome and how two possible paths were ahead of him. One was that he would become a martyr and the other was that he would be released and be able to resume his apostolic activities. While he was imprisoned, many of his thoughts were on the churches he had founded and among them were his friends in the church in Philippi. As far as his friends were concerned, he wanted them to live in a certain way, whatever would happen in his situation. That way was connected to the gospel of Christ. The gospel of Christ What do we understand by this phrase? The first detail I would mentions is that it  belongs to Christ . He is the one who decided what would be in the gospel. Although some have tried, no one can add anything to the gospel that Jesus did not say should be part of it, neither can anyone take anything away from it. The gospel is not primarily the possession of a church or of an individual which can be adju...

Questions are usually important because they are a way of getting information. Questions are also a way of revealing our hearts and of indicating what we think of a situation. And that was the case in connection with the questions and answers given on this day in the last week of the life of Jesus. They reveal what his opponents thought, and they reveal what Jesus thought. Spurgeon, in a sermon on this passage, pointed out that the same three types of question are asked today. The question asked by the Pharisees and Herodians is similar to discussions connected to the relationship between church and state; the question of the Sadducees is like many comments made concerning what takes place in the eternal state; and the question about the greatest commandment reminds people of pointless questions asked in theological discussions. In response to those questions, the important question is the one that Jesus asked the Pharisees about himself. As we observe the approach of those asking...

Philippians has been called the ‘Epistle of Joy’ because of the number of times Paul refers to the topic of rejoicing. Although he was in a difficult and uncertain situation due to his imprisonment in Rome, he wanted to inform his friends that he was still a happy man. Moreover, he wanted them to know the reasons why he was a happy man and in this set of verses from his letter he mentions some of them. We might be surprised at what Paul mentions, but if we are, we need to ask some questions about ourselves. The reasons why Paul was a happy man are connected to Jesus. It was in Christ that the apostle found his joy. In order to understand Paul’s particular reasons, we should remind ourselves that he was due to face a trial in the imperial court that would decide whether or not he lived or died. He refers to this set of outcomes when he mentions that his appearance there might result in a death sentence being pronounced against him. Although that negative verdict was possible, and a...

Jesus continues to confront the chief priests and Pharisees about their opposition to his kingdom. In the parable of the tenants, he speaks about how they responded to him and the in the parable of the wedding feast he describes how people will respond to the message of the kingdom delivered by his servants. The Parable of the Tenants (Matthew 21:33-45) In this parable, Jesus speaks about a vineyard, its tenants, a series of servants sent by the owner of the vineyard, and the son of the vineyard owner. It is not difficult for us to work out who is being depicted here. The owner is God the Father, the vineyard is Israel, the tenants are the Israelites, the servants are the prophets, and the Son is Jesus. What is said about them? Regarding God the Father, he created a vineyard with all that was necessary for it to be a fruitful place. He did not relinquish ownership of the vineyard, which is a reminder that it never belonged to the tenants, the Israelites. The vineyard was alw...

Matthew continues with his record of the activities of Jesus during the last week of his life. We have already seen what happened on the first day of the week when he rode into Jerusalem on the back of the borrowed donkey. Now we move on to the Monday with regard to what happened in the temple, although Matthew does not indicate that there is a gap between verses 11 and 12. But Mark tells us that the cleansing of the temple occurred on the day after the arrival of Jesus in the city. The explanation of the barren fig tree was given on the Tuesday, as was the interaction with the religious leaders in the temple. Matthew groups together several events and parables and discourses that indicate that Jesus has arrived in the city as a Judge, although the Jewish leaders, and eventually the people, do not realise this and are determined to resist him. Jesus Cleanses the Temple This is the second occasion when Jesus cleared the temple of bad practices – the previous occasion occurred at t...

We now enter the account of the final week of the life of Jesus and yet there is still almost a fourth of the Gospel of Matthew still to read. All the Gospels give a large amount of their accounts to telling what occurred during this final week, a reminder that it contains events crucial to how we should understand the mission of Jesus. This day is celebrated in the Christian Year as Palm Sunday. In the week of the time, it was the day after the Sabbath and so the first day of a new week. But what the people were expecting to happen as they anticipated the Passover and what they received were two different things because it was clearly a day of surprises. Matthew does not say where Jesus had come from. We know that Bethany and Bethphage were near each other. John tells that on the previous day Jesus had been anointed with oil by Mary, which means he had spent the Sabbath at Bethany with his friends there. This was the last ‘first day of the week’ of the old order. When the nex...