What Jesus Did

[Jesus continued talking to the crowds and his disciples:] "The greatest among you must be a servant. But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

—Matthew 23:11-12 NLT

Key Thought​

Humility is a greatly under-emphasized quality among humans. Some don't know what it means, don't know how to appreciate it, don't know how to love with it, and aren't all that sure they want to have it.

Culturally we're much more drawn to the...

 

[Jesus continued talking to the crowds and his disciples about the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees:] "They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.
"Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. They love to receive respectful...

 

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, "The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don't follow their example. For they don't practice what they teach."

—Matthew 23:1-3 NLT

Key Thought​

When leaders do what God has gifted them to do and when they teach the truth, we should obey it.

Jesus presented three essential principles in today's verses.

1. He...

 

Then, surrounded by the Pharisees, Jesus asked them a question: "What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?"

They replied, "He is the son of David."

Jesus responded, "Then why does David, speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit, call the Messiah 'my Lord'? For David said,

'The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit in the place of honor at my right hand
until I humble your enemies beneath your feet.'

Since David called the Messiah 'my Lord,' how can the Messiah be his son?"

No...

 

[After Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God, he continued:] "A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments."

—Matthew 22:39-40 NLT

Key Thought​

Jesus emphasized and displayed love. God uses it to describe his essential nature (1 John 4:16). The Holy Spirit pours it into our hearts (Romans 5:5) and produces it as they fruit of God's presence in your lives...

 

[A Pharisees asked Jesus:] "Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?"
Jesus replied, "'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment."


—Matthew 22:36-38 NLT

Key Thought​

Total love. That's what God wants. Anything less is not acceptable. Total love.

Total love is different from total obedience. While obedience is important and necessary, even if sometimes we...

 

But when the Pharisees heard that [Jesus] had silenced the Sadducees with his reply [about the resurrection], they met together to question him again. One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: ...

—Matthew 22:34-35 NLT

Key Thought​

We have a real sense of rivalry and pride playing into this situation. The Pharisees could gloat a moment at the Sadducees' inability to trip up Jesus. The Pharisees probably told themselves, "But we're better than...

 

[Jesus continued his reply to the Sadducees about the resurrection:] "But now, as to whether there will be a resurrection of the dead — haven't you ever read about this in the Scriptures? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' So he is the God of the living, not the dead."
When the crowds heard him, they were astounded at his teaching.


—Matthew 22:31-33 NLT

Key Thought​

Yahweh, the LORD God...

 

[Jesus continued his reply to the Sadducees about the resurrection:] "For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven."

—Matthew 22:30 NLT

Key Thought​

Jesus is emphatic that the Sadducees are wrong about the resurrection because they don't know Scripture and they don't know the power of God. Since they don't believe in the resurrection (Acts 23:7-8) and they want to trap Jesus, they conjure up a...

 

That same day Jesus was approached by some Sadducees — religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. They posed this question: "Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother's name.' Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children, so his brother married the widow. But the second brother also died, and the third brother married her. This...