Title Challenge (Matthew 21:23-32)
If we could define Jesus' earthly ministry in one word, it could be said that it was a journey of challenge toward the cross. When he began his three-year public life, the first words he cried out were, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The time has come, the last days have come, and God's time has come, so stop sinning and return to God. He also said, 'Follow me' while recruiting disciples on the Sea of Galilee. It is challenging to follow God's values instead of following the world's values any longer. He also said that he did not come to bring peace, but to cast fire on this land. In God's time, there is a time, and the fire of judgment and the fire of purification have come. In the end, Jesus metaphorically expresses himself as 'fire' and challenges them to repent and return. When the deadline for Jesus' earthly ministry is over and the last 4 days of Lent, especially the Holy Week, Jesus' journey of challenge will reach its climax.
Let's take a look at the journey of challenge before and after today's text.
In 21:1-11, it contains Jesus’ ‘entrance into the temple of Jerusalem’.
The direct appearance of Jesus, the Son of God, to the Israelites who had left the Lord who had saved them, served all kinds of idols, and sent countless prophets to warn them, but did not return, was a challenge in itself.
Verses 12-16 contain “Jesus cleansing the temple”.
It is a challenge to religious and ecclesiastical leaders such as the high priests, scribes, lawyers, Pharisees, Sadducees, and elders of the people who have turned the house of prayer for all people into a den of robbers.
In verses 18-22, Jesus “cursed the fig tree that had no fruit.”
This is a challenge to the unrepentant nation of Israel. In Luke 13:6-7, we read, “Then he spoke in parables, saying, ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came and sought fruit from it, but found none. He said to the keeper of the orchard, "I have been looking for fruit on this fig tree for three years, and I have not found it. Cut it down. Why do you leave the ground alone?" While Jesus had been ministering for three years, waiting for Israel to return, it is still a challenge for Israel, who has only budded with leaves and has no fruit of repentance.
Verses 23-24, which contain today's text, are questions about 'Jesus' authority.'
It is a challenge to religious leaders and ecclesiastical leaders who do not live according to God's Word, oppress the orphans, widows, and the poor and pray for a long time with hypocrisy. In verse 23, when Jesus entered the temple and was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came and said, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" When asked, "Where was the baptism of John?" Are you from heaven or from men?' they ask the unanswerable question. To those who say they do not know the answer, Jesus does not tell us by what authority he does these things. This is a challenge because he does not reveal the identity of Jesus to those who do not need to know about the identity of Jesus.
Let's look at some aspects of Jesus' journey of challenge.
1) This was a challenge in God's providence.
This was a challenge to fulfill the will of God foreordained and provided, not a challenge to set goals and move forward by making them yourself. This speaks of the life he lived as prophesied in the Bible. It is the life of Jesus in the providence of God and the journey of challenge. 1 Corinthians 15 records that Jesus was born, grew up, worked, challenged, suffered, died, and rose in the will of God. This is not to follow a pre-programmed procedure like a computer, but to follow the will of God provided and planned in advance of the ages, and it means that Jesus walked on the journey of challenge.
2) It was a challenge that accompanied the identity of Jesus.
He was walking this journey of challenge toward the cross by showing who Jesus is in front of people. The miracles that Jesus showed during his public life were to show 'Who are you, Jesus' and 'Who is God', but the miracle itself has no meaning. By healing on the Sabbath, Jesus was the Lord of the Sabbath, and by announcing the end of the Age of Law, he challenged the legalists, raising the dead, calming the sea and the wind, and showing the miracle of the five fish, he is truly the Creator and of God. As a son, he challenged the people of Israel to repent and return to Jehovah God. Sometimes Jesus hid Himself and at other times actively revealed Himself, as He did to the Samaritan woman. As a whole, he showed the true identity of Jesus to the people of Israel in a timely manner.
3) It was a challenge of quantum composition.
Like the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, he challenges the Israelites by adopting the adoption structure of the eldest son who is in his father's house but seems to hear his father's words, and the younger son who disobeys his father's word and leaves the house but repents and returns. Also, the high priest and the elders of the people who stood proudly in the temple, raised their faces, boasted of their fasting with a loud voice, and gave thanks for not being like a publican, and the publicans and prostitutes who dared not even raise their faces and beat their breasts, admitting that they are sinners, repenting and asking for mercy. It is also the challenge of the quantum structure of In the 25th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, he challenges the adoption by showing the people who are saved from the judgment composition of the sheep and the goats on the last day and the people who will go to hell.
This magic of the cross developed into a more secret form. If you have the assurance of salvation, you will be saved, that if you believe that Jesus took the place of your sins, you will be saved, that you just need to confess that you accept Him, and the scheme or belief of salvation expressed in the so-called “four spiritual principles” that are in vogue. If you believe or confess the doctrine of atonement while doing this, your existence will be changed in heaven, you will be transferred from death to life, and you will see a great revolution of cosmic change. This is not different from the incantation in fairy tales in which a door opens when a certain incantation is uttered, "Open sesame".
Witchcraft is the idea that existence, the world, and the sky move according to what you think and confess, sitting down without lifting a finger and without any effort. Here, the cross and suffering of Jesus and the historicity of his life are blown away, and the cross is only requested as a transitional event for me to be saved and to gain the glory of resurrection. When the cross is used only as a talisman in this way, we degenerate Jesus into a superstition or a magician who is as small as a furnace ghost. If God has to save me just because I have the assurance of salvation, and God cannot save me because I am not sure, then why do I need to say that I am God, who thinks that way? The Korean church must first wake up from this low-level witchcraft.
Even those who have a sense of history in Christianity speak well of its historicity up to the cross, but when they reach the heart of Christianity, which speaks of resurrection or salvation, they always miss the historicity and either fly to the sky or evaporate into the realm of mystery. However, like the cross of Jesus, our cross must be thoroughly interpreted historically.
Resurrection means defeat is victory. "Justice always triumphs" is a lie. Because that's not true in reality. A person who thinks that justice always triumphs will give up after being beaten by the unjust club of reality several times. Resurrection is the belief that “justice loses, but God wins.” Resurrection is not an extension of a certain possibility. We only carry his death on our backs. Only death can make resurrection possible.
Jesus died and was unsuccessful. This is a paradox. Jesus thoroughly challenged him and gave him a challenge and went to Calvary Hill. This morning we must see if our goal is wrong. Our earthly ministry should also be a challenging journey toward the cross like Jesus. The high priests and scribes did not take this challenge, but the publicans and prostitutes did. Verse 32 says, “John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the publicans and the prostitutes believed; and when you saw this, you repented all the time and did not believe.” The fact that tax collectors and prostitutes repented and returned to become children of God itself was accepted as an event of great challenge for the high priests, scribes, and elders.
Let's apply it in two ways through today's talk.
1) True Christians go on a journey of challenge.
2) The true church goes on a journey of challenge.
If you are a born-again Christian, you are bound to walk the path of light and salt, the narrow path, and the path of challenge. If you avoid suffering, view the cross as a magic trick, and use it as a collateral for promoting faith as a tool for healing, you may be a superstitious believer and not a true Christian.
Isn't it a challenge to look at homosexuals and have an intuition to save even one more soul? Isn't it the challenge of how to raise our children in this wicked and lewd generation? Shouldn't we reach out to even one soul with a sense of challenge and let them know that we need Jesus Christ? The role of the church and of the Christian is to be in the world and to influence and transform. When the world is going wrong, it's our job to hire the right politicians and undress the wrong politicians. It is also a challenge for us to see Christians with their eyes wide open so that this politics can get right.
We have the glory of resurrection and eternal life. But it is only given through passing through Golgotha Hill, where the cross stands. Avoiding hardship, persecution, and hard work, it is not acceptable to cry out for life only with words and mouth. I pray that you will be blessed with realizing our salvation and being born again as God's true children as you take on challenges, give challenges, and go through this world toward the cross.