In the gospel of Matthew, the Lord gave us a commandment to go make disciples. What have you done in the past five years towards fulfilling this commandment? One writer said the following on this question. “Sometimes we can get so caught up in doing that we forget what we are supposed to do. If you were in employed by a store who sold power-tools to craftsmen, you would want to sell tools that would benefit your customers, something that would help them produce their finest work. You would be wasting your time and theirs if you tried to sell them something inferior or something they would not use. Strange as it may seem, many Christians are busy doing everything except what they are called to do, that is, make disciples. The challenge from Scripture is not to get busy doing the Lord’s work. Start producing disciples for Christ.

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#S4-003: Kingdom First? Some Bible How To Illustrations [Podcast]

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The Gospel of Matthew: A Jewish Gospel

• Jewish prejudices were much in evidence in the first century.
• Gentiles were worse than dogs in the eyes of the average Israelite.
• There are a surprising number of Gentiles listed in the gospel of Matthew.
• This fact raises some questions when you read Matthew’s gospel.
• Matthews audience for his gospel is the Jewish believer.
• Questions like, why did Matthew write his gospel to the Jews and then turn around and sprinkle Gentiles all throughout?
• It is as if Matthew was trying to communicate something to the first-century Jewish believers of Jesus about their prejudices.

The Spirit of God Moves Upon the Gentiles

• If you recall in Acts 10, the Spirit of God powerfully came upon the Gentiles as Peter preached the Word to them.
• That action of the Spirit astonishes those who were with Peter.

Acts 10:45 (KJV) — 45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.

• The Greek word ‘astonished’ means utter amazement.
• It means to nearly lose one’s mental composure because of shock.
• In other words, these believers ‘blew a gasket’ when they heard other tongues come out of the mouth of these Gentiles.
• The saga continues into chapter eleven where Peter has to answer for his part of God’s doings.
• Now, this whole episode catalogs God’s doings.
• It’s His works, and it’s His power.

Peter in the Squeeze Box

• So, put yourself in Peter’s shoes for a moment.
• Here you are minding your business, and now you’re in a boiling pot of trouble because of something the Lord did.
• He didn’t ask your opinion about the matter; He just went ahead and did it.

Acts 11:1–4 (ESV) — 1 Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, 3 “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” 4 But Peter began and explained it to them in order:

• What was the result of Peter’s explanation?

Acts 11:18 (KJV) — 18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

• The point here is that we are in Acts eleven, about ten years after Jesus went back to heaven, and the Jewish believers of Jesus still don’t have a real clue that the message of the Kingdom of God was not just a Jewish message but a Gentile one also.
• Matthew tries to get this idea over to these relatively new Jewish believers of Jesus in his gospel.
• He does it in a couple of ways.

Matthew’s Gospel and Jewish Genealogies

• Jewish genealogies do not include women as a regular practice.
• But in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, contains four women.

Matthew 1:1–17 (ESV) — 1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah,

• The four women are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba, Uriah’s widow.
  • Tamar was from Canaan
  • Rahab was from Jericho in Canaan
  • Ruth was a Moabite.
  • Bathseba was in an inter-racially marriage to a Hittite.
• So, we have three Gentiles in this genealogy and a fourth who’s married to one.

Why Gentiles Are in the Genealogy

Matthew 28:18–19 (ESV) — 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

• Do you hear the emphasis?
• Go into all the world and make disciples.
• That’s Matthew’s message to his Jewish compatriots.
• He is saying to them, don’t stay stuck in your prejudices but go out beyond them and make disciples of all nations.
• ‘All nations’ means Gentile nations.
• The Greek word ‘nation’s is ‘ethnos.’
• It means a large group of people based on various cultural, physical, or geographical ties.
• So, Matthew drops a massive clue in his gospel breaking with standard genealogical tradition, emphasizing Gentiles in the lineage of Jesus.
• Matthew ends his gospel the same way he started it with an emphasis on the Kingdom of God as a domain for all people.
• So, the question remains: “What have you done to establish the Kingdom of God with your life as a follower of Jesus?”

Just Who Is Jesus to You?

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