Reading Assignment: Matthew 17:14-27
Truth: Fatih can move mountains.
Key Verse: Matthew 17:20
This section is comprised of four parts:
1. Unbelief
2. Mustard Seed
3. Crucifixion
4. Taxation
Prayer:
1. God is powerful.
2. We are to trust in Him.
3. All who trust in Christ are sons of God.
Transcript
Let's pray.
Our Lord, we look to You once again. Thank You for being our faithful God. You are ever there to hear us when we pray and to speak to us when we turn our ears to You. You enliven our hearts and our souls, that we would draw our strength and encouragement from You. Now we pray that this morning, as we look to Your word, that You would speak to us. Thank You for Your precious word to us. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
The next passage to be read is Matthew 17:14-27, and the main truth I want to highlight is that faith can move mountains. Those words come from the key verse in verse 20 where Jesus says, “if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.” Now there has been many wrong uses of this verse; but we shouldn't ignore the verse because of its misuse, but we should try to understand its true meaning and embrace that which Jesus teaches us here. In terms of the overall passage, it contains four parts. First, there's the issue of unbelief. Then Jesus explains faith in terms of a mustard seed, which is the verse that I just read for us. Then Jesus once again predicts His crucifixion. And finally, there is taxation. So unbelief, mustard seed, crucifixion, and taxation.
First, unbelief. This is the scene after Jesus and His three disciples had come down from the mount of transfiguration, probably Mount Hermon. This is where Jesus rebuked the disciples for their unbelief. The story goes like this. There was a man who had a son who was demon possessed. While Jesus and His three disciples were up on the mountain, this man brought his son to Jesus's disciples, that they might heal his son. But they couldn't do it. When this man saw that Jesus had come down, he then approached Jesus and explained to Him what had happened. At this point, Jesus calls for the boy to be brought to Him and He exorcised the demon. In the process, Jesus points out that the disciples lacked faith. The words come out rather strong. He said to the disciples (and possibly the crowd there), “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you?” That's verse 17. In that verse, the word “you” is all plural (in the Greek) and so this is not talking about the father but the rest. I believe the disciples were the main audience for those words. Jesus rebuked His disciples for their lack of faith. This elucidates what happens a little later in Jesus' further conversation with the disciples. After the exorcism, the disciples approached Jesus privately. I think they were a little bit sheepish and ashamed of how they couldn't drive out the demon, though Jesus had given them the power to do so back in Chapter 10. And they asked Jesus, “Why could we not drive out the demon?” And Jesus gave them the answer with the picture of the mustard seed.
This brings us to that second part on the mustard seed. Jesus told them that the reason for their inability to exorcise the boy was their lack of faith. He tells them, “Because of the littleness of your faith.” Now that phrase “littleness of faith” can also be translated as “lack of faith.” In fact, some translations just cut to the chase, and they render it “unbelief.” That's how the New King James Version renders it. I believe that's a better translation, because immediately afterwards Jesus tells them that even if they had the smallest amount of faith, even the size of a mustard seed, that they could do great things. So Jesus doesn't mean to say that they do have faith, just a little amount. He is actually saying that they lack faith altogether, that they don’t even have a little faith. It is here that Jesus gives the illustration of the mustard seed faith. If a person has even the smallest amount of genuine faith, he can do great things. This is verse 20, the key verse I read earlier. Jesus talks about the smallest seed known to the Jews at this time, which is the mustard seed. And indeed it is a very tiny seed. He tells them that if they had even the smallest amount of genuine faith, they could accomplish astonishing feats. The question arises: what kind of thing can even the smallest amount of faith accomplish? At this point, Jesus brings up the biggest visible thing looming over them, the mountain from which they had come down. This was in all likelihood Mount Hermon which stood 10,000 feet in elevation. In any case, Jesus explains that even a little bit of genuine trust in the Lord can move a mountain, even a huge one like this. This is striking, that even a person with a small amount of real faith can do great things for God. Why is that? Why doesn't Jesus just say if you had great faith then you can do great things? It is because faith doesn’t do anything. It is God in whom we trust, who does great things. You see, it isn't the strength of our faith that makes all the difference in our lives. It is the strength of the God in whom we place our faith who makes all the difference. By the way, I should also highlight here that Jesus teaches this lesson once again in Mark 11:22, and there Jesus explicitly says that it isn't just faith that can move mountains, but it is faith in God that we can move mountains. That's important to highlight because some people have mistaken this passage to mean that if I just believe that something will happen, then it will happen. That was never what Jesus taught. He is talking about how, if we depend on God, God will do great things. In this context, that great thing was to cast out demons. Jesus was telling the disciples that if they continually trusted in God to do it, then God would have done it. There's an important lesson here. When a person trusts in the Lord, no matter how strong or how great their faith might be (or how weak or little), if that faith is genuine trust in the Lord, He will answer them and do great things for them. Why is that? Because the Lord is near to all those who truly trust in Him, and His ears are turned to them to hear their prayers. And this was the lesson for the disciples. They needed to stop thinking that the healing and the exorcism were some kind of magic tricks that they can just use at will. No, they needed to continually trust in God for the healing and the power over demons. And if they continued to trust in Him, then God would do it.
Now some time had passed after this conversation, and Jesus once again reminds the disciples what was soon to take place, His crucifixion. This brings us to the third section on the crucifixion. This is verse 22. When they reached Galilee from the northern area of where Mount Hermon was, Jesus once again announced to the disciples that He was going to be delivered over to His enemies and that He will be killed and that He will rise on the third day. The disciples were deeply grieved over this. Jesus kept telling them this, because He was intent on preparing them for what was going to happen. What this once again shows us is that Jesus went to the cross knowingly and willingly. He gave up His life intentionally for the salvation of His people.
Now, when they reached Galilee, they headed for the city of Capernaum. This was the headquarters for Jesus’ ministry in and around Galilee. And it was there that we encounter another story. This is the story of taxation. So the Jewish tax authorities came to Capernaum. These are not the Roman tax collectors. Instead, these were Jewish tax authorities. They had come to collect taxes for the temple, quite distinct from the Roman tax. And so these men came and asked Simon Peter whether Jesus pays the temple tax. In the text, this is called the two-Drachma tax. Drachma is Jewish currency. This was the value of half of the temple tax. Peter answers that Jesus does pay the tax. Afterwards, then, Peter comes into the house and Jesus speaks to him and teaches him a lesson. He asked Peter, “Kings collect taxes from whom? From his sons or from strangers?” The answer is obvious, and Peter knows the answer. He says, “From strangers.” Then Jesus teaches this lesson: “Then the sons are exempt,” that is exempt from taxation of the king. This is an interesting statement. What Jesus meant was this: He is the Son of God, and the temple is His Father's house, as Jesus had described it elsewhere. This means Jesus, the Son of God, is exempt from His Father’s tax, the temple tax. Now, you'll notice that Jesus doesn't say that the Son (in the singular) is exempt, but “sons” in the plural. He says that because He is graciously including Peter also as a son of God. He does this because He knows that He will pay the price of Peter’s redemption on the cross. Then to avoid needless conflict with the Jewish tax authorities, He gives instructions to Peter to pay the tax, but in the most unusual way. He tells him to throw it a hook into the Sea, and he'll find a catch. And in the first fish he catches, there will be a Shekel in its mouth (a Shekel is worth four Drachmas). And He tells Peter to use that Shekel as the tax payment for them both. Jesus would not give any money from the money box that people had contributed to their ministry; but He would gladly accept God’s direct provision to pay for tax for Himself and Peter. This was God’s tax, and neither Jesus nor Peter had to pay out of their own pocket. What can we learn from this? I would point out that Jesus and Peter were both being treated as sons of God. This means that all who belong to Christ are truly sons of God. Even as Jesus is truly the Son of God, so are all who trust in Christ and follow Him. They too are sons of God through faith in Christ. We've seen this lesson before back in Chapter 13, but Jesus teaches us this, that all who belong to Him are indeed sons of God, because He shares His sonship with all those who truly trust in Him. This is really an astonishing facet of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus doesn't just merely give heaven to people. He gives to His people something far vaster than that. They become children of God who inherit the kingdom of heaven.
In light of all of this, what can we pray about? First, God is indeed powerful to do anything. He really can move mountains. And if we trust in Him, then we can trust in God to do great things that we cannot do on our own. The second thing we can pray is about our trust in God. And you know, every time we talk about our response to the Lord, if you sense in your heart, “I haven't responded to the Lord rightly,” always take the time to talk to the Lord honestly about these matters. Jesus knows. And we ought to confess that to the Lord and repent and make it right with Him. These are the sins for which Jesus went to the cross, that our sins would truly be forgiven, even our failure to trust in Him as we should. Lastly, we can thank the Lord for sharing with us His sonship and that we really are children of God through faith in Him.
Let me pray for us and we'll wrap up our time for today.
God, you really are powerful over all things. Physically, we are incapable of moving a mountain. That is simply absurd. But we look at You, and You're the creator God. You made the mountains rise. And Your power is not limited to massive things on earth. You created every star, every planet, every moon, every galaxy, even the universe. This whole world came into being through the power of Your word. You spoke and the entire creation came into being. To You, our powerful and awesome God, moving mountains is trivial. And we understand that if we trust in You to do great things, we will see You do great things for Your glory and honor. Help us to trust in You as we should, and for our hearts to lean upon You, as they should. And Lord, where we have failed to trust in You, we pray that You would forgive us, and that You would renew us to a right state of mind and heart to lean upon You as we should. We also thank You that all who trust in Christ are made into Your sons. Help us to live every day with this reality in our hearts, that through faith in Christ, we are children of God. And that as we get to live each day, not as mere ordinary human beings, but as those who are redeemed through grace, through Christ, and that we are Your children, the children of the God who created the universe, who is sovereign over all things. Thank You, Father, for the wondrous blessing of salvation, even these words that we saw this morning. Thank You, for those who trust in You, nothing is impossible. Thank You for this time together and Your word. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
All right. Thanks everybody. Lord bless you all. See you next week.