Jesus - THE Way (Matthew 21 - P 56)

Matthew 21: 23 - 46 needs to be read together because there is really no break in the verses.  The scene is set up in verse 23.  Jesus had gone to the temple area and was teaching there.  Enter the chief priests and elders who came to question Jesus' authority to teach.  The scene closes in verse 46 when these "leaders" of the Jews began to plot to arrest Jesus.  These verses contain the conversation that takes place during this encounter.

Read Matthew 21: 23 - 46

A few observations from these verses ...

Observation #1:  Jesus was a master of perfect timing.  It was not yet time for him to be taken away.  The week was not finished ... there were still some things to do ... it was not yet time for the sacrifice of the Passover lambs.  Therefore Jesus won't answer the chief priests question.  He deflects ... he takes their questions and turns them around.  What can we learn?  

GOD MAKES NO MISTAKES IN TIMING!

We must remind ourselves of that truth so often!  We wait for God to answer our prayers ... and those answers don't seem to come ... and we wonder ... sometimes we doubt that He has even heard.  When those doubts begin screaming in your own mind ... remember this truth.  Remember ... God makes no mistakes in timing.  The actress, Jeannette Clift George has a wonderful way with words.  She has written:

God's timing is perfect.  He is never late.  He misses a few good opportunities to be early, but He is never late. 

and ...

Patience wouldn't be such an awkward traveling companion if it would just move a little faster.

Are you willing to discipline yourself to wait God's timing ... to trust God's timing in your own life?

Observation #2:  When we refuse to look truth in the face because of our own posturing or politicizing, we end up looking a bit like fools.  We end up like these chief priests whose only answer to Jesus' question was "We don't know".  William Barclay wrote:

There is a grim warning here.  there is such a thing as the deliberately assumed ignorance of cowardice.  If we consult expediency rather than principle, our first question will be not 'What is the truth?' but 'What is it safe to say?; ... The deliberately assumed ignorance of fear and the cowardly silence of expediency are shameful things.  If we know the truth, we are under obligation to tell it, though the heavens should fall.

Do you speak truth?  Even when it is politically inopportune?  Even when it is unpopular?  

Observation #3:  I learn from the parable of the two sons the truth in a saying that I have heard all of my life.

ACTIONS  SPEAK  LOUDER  THAN  WORDS  

What you do ... is a louder commentary on what you believe than the words you say.  It is so with your children ... and it is so with your friends.  We all can talk a good talk ... however, the talk is only smoke screens if the actions do not follow the same trail.  

When your child or friend asks what you believe ... can your answer be:  "Watch me"?  If not, what needs to change ... right now?!  

Observation #4:  I learn from the parable of the tenants that rejection of Jesus will result in loss of my place in the kingdom of God.  It's that important.  It's that foundational.  Never loose sight of Jesus' words:

John 14:6  I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.

and from Hebrews 10: 19 - 23

And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven's most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.  By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.  And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God's house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him.  For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.  Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.

A. W. Tozer said:

Christ is not one of many ways to approach God, nor is he the best of several ways; he is the only way.

Do you accept Jesus as "THE Son of God"?  THE Way that allows you into the presence of God?  

Debbie Cissna penned the following lyrics ... let them give voice to your own prayer today:

Lord, I lay my heart before Your throne;

Lord, I bow my knee to you alone,

And thought I know I'm guilty,

You forgive my sin;

Cleanse me with your blood,

So I may enter in.

In Your presence,

that's where I want to be;

In Your presence for all eternity.

And though I know I'm guilty,

You forgive my sin;

Cleanse me with your blood,

So I may enter in

To Your presence,

To Your presence.