Christ's Aroma (Fostoria Baptist)

What does it mean to serve one another? Is it all about holding down a title and faithfully serving in a particular role? Highly unlikely. Is it all about meeting the tangible and physical needs? Most certainly. Yet there is a service of one another that is deeper than that. 

"Who then is the greatest?" Perhaps that question is the greatest blunder of them all, but I appreciate that it allows us to see Jesus' teaching on greatness and how it very much differs from that of the world. 

Nine disciples could not heal a man with a seizure disorder. Jesus announces then that he will suffer and die, and the disciples continue to misunderstand. Peter stumbles with his words about a temple tax. These are the last two episodes of the three episodes that lead into the fourth discourse (Mt. 18:1-19:2) that show the disciples' need to learn about the humility therein mentioned. 

Nine disciples cannot heal a boy. Another prediction of Jesus' suffering and death. Peter blunders when it comes to Jesus' obligation to the Father and the temple. It's three simple episodes that show Christ's determination to suffer while the disciples still grapple with understanding all leading into the fourth discourse. This is the first of those episodes.  

Confusion. Nay, bewilderment. This is the word that best describes the disciples as their Master talks about suffering before his glory is revealed. Will the transfiguration begin to help them understand? 

The first sermon on the transfiguration that focuses on the glory of Jesus revealed within it. 

The disciples know who Jesus is. They have rightly identified him as the Messiah. Now it is time for them to understand what that means. 

When we look at the world around us, we can find many things that can make us tired and weary, but none of them should lead us to despair. In our weak, temporary vessels of clay, we have a surpassing treasure, the gospel that changes hearts. Listen in as guest Ken Lowe (https://drkenlowe.com/) explains from II Corinthians 4 why we should not lose heart. 

Why did God save us? We'll never know the answer completely, but we do know that he saved us from some things: sin, death, the devil, and hell. These things were things to which we were enslaved. But we are also saved to things: fellowship with God, eternal life, rest, service to God, rather than to sin. But how does this salvation factor into our prioritization? 

Scripture often subverts our expectation in regard to what the glory of Yahweh is, and this passage is no exception.

If you turn on a light at 7 in the morning, not everyone will be happy with you. Some will rejoice in the fact that they no longer have to try to entertain themselves in the dark and others will have been asleep and will cover their eyes with their blankets. So too when the True Light comes into the world, he divides humanity into two classes: those who receive him and those who oppose him. 

How do you introduce Jesus and your account of life, death, and resurrection? What is the wonder and beauty of the incarnation? Let us marvel at the beautiful poem by John based on the even more beautiful reality of the eternal person of the Divine Word. 

If Jesus is to build his church, we need to be faithful to the means he appoints. But how are we to be faithful to his means if we are ignorant of what he has to say about the church and how it is that he builds it. But within the Gospels, Jesus only mentions the church twice, which makes Jesus' words about the church here all the more important. Let's learn together about how Christ builds his ch...

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who labor to build labor in vain. So we can rest because we are not the ones who build the church, and we need to be faithful more than creative.

Thanksgiving should be a way of life for the Christian, not just something that happens only once in the year. Indeed, Peter's confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, gives us enough to be thankful for that we could never express it well enough. 

Identity is a big deal in this day and age, but regardless of identity crises or identity theft crises, the most important identity to get right is the identity of the man Jesus of Nazareth. So whom do men say that he is? Or more to the point, who do you say that he is? 

Sometimes, we look for signs that indicate what we are doing is the right thing. Sometimes, we demand that God shows us himself so that we will know that he is there. But are we really wise to do such things? 

De ja vu. Why another feeding miracle? Does not Matthew know that we got the message the first time? But wait, are you sure that there is not more of a message to get? 

Canaan is cursed. He is in fact only the second human to be cursed in the Bible, and his curse carries out throughout the whole of the TaNaK (OT) narrative. There would then seem to be no hope that Jesus would respond to a Canaanite woman who desires to receive aid from him, right? 

Jesus has just left the disciples confused. He has offended the Pharisees and left them stumbling over him, the stumbling block and cornerstone. But the disciples have had reason to look up to the Pharisees. Who are they to trust and what does that mean about where defilement and uncleanness comes from? 

Opposition, hostility, and heat are rising as the Pharisees and Jesus confront one another. On whose authority anyway?

Sometimes people can be identified in pretty subtle ways. Such is the case here where Jesus practically whispers who he is to the beginnings of recognition from his disciples.

Wilderness. Multitudes. Suppertime. Must be time to dismiss the crowds. Or not.

Sometimes it's just as important to know what something isn't as opposed to what it is in order to understand it. And this is true in this text as Matthew opens up a section on who Jesus is by looking at two things he isn't.

Too good to be true. We tend to view with suspicion news that is good, but the truest news in the world is also the best-the gospel, the literal good news of Jesus' finished work on the cross opening to us the door back to God.