Walk Through the New Testaments: Matthew
Scripture Texts: Matthew 1:1; 2:1-2; 4:17; 9:27; 16:16; 28:18-20
Introduction.
Those who count noses in the world estimate there are about 2.3 billion professing Christians in the world. Of course, we recognize there is a big difference between professing Christians and practicing Christians. But for our purposes this evening we will go with 2.3 billion professing Christians.
Where did all these Christians come from? Where did this religion come from? Christianity burst on the scene around 30 AD seemingly out of nowhere, certainly in a no where place, a little subjugated backwater country of Palestine, under the domination of the great Roman empire.
400 years of silence, waiting in anticipation for God to fulfill His promises. Israel’s pivotal role in the great divine plan of salvation seemingly over and forgotten. And then in the fulness of time the silence is broken.
It all started with one person, a Jewish carpenter, the son of a carpenter, from a little town of Nazareth, about which it was condescendingly said, “can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
An itinerate preacher who began making radical claims that He was the Messiah, the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, the King of the Jews, and most radically of all, the Son of God. This new religion burst into history from the claims of one man, easily the most influential person to ever live in human history.
And the news about this man is recorded in a strange new form of literature called Gospels. Four Gospels revealing eye-witness accounts concerning the truth about Jesus. Each with a unique perspective filled with fresh insights into who this Jesus is. Each one painting a portrait from a slightly different angle, and together they give us the fulness of God’s personal revelation of His Son. Jesus’s glory is too great to be limited to one perspective.
We start this evening with the Gospel according to Matthew. He might be the most unlikely candidate, a bean-counting, tax-collecting, pencil-pushing bureaucrat. A Jew by birth, but a traitor by occupation, working for the Roman government.