Sermons on Matthew (Page 2)

Sermons on Matthew (Page 2)

The Forgiveness of Sins – Psalm 130; Matthew 18:21-35; Colossians 3:13

If I came to you and said, “You’re free!”, that may or may not be good news to you. For most of us, it wouldn’t be really news at all – you might say, “OK… I didn’t know I needed freeing.” It would only be good news if there was a few inches of glass between us and I was delivering that news to the telephone – and even then only if I was relaying the news of the judge…

The Church – Matthew 16:13-20, Ephesians 4:1-6 & 5:25-27, 1 Peter 2:4-10

The Church At this point in the Creed, we see a sort of a shift in the content of what we profess: a shift from professing our faith in the essentials of our triune God and how our salvation was accomplished by Jesus; to professing our faith in the essentials of our life in that triune God and how we live out that salvation which we receive from Jesus. From the Trinity of our faith to the lives of the…

On the Third Day, He Rose Again – Matthew 28 & Romans 1:1-4

How do we account for the strange phenomena of Christianity?  quote: “either Jesus really rose from the dead, or this is the weirdest, most unlikely thing that ever happened in human history – that people on such a large scale, across time and place and ethnicity and culture and language would believe it, have their lives changed by it, and even give their lives for it.” If Jesus really rose from the dead, then the historical outworking of Christianity makes…

Died, Buried, Descended – Matthew 27:57-66; Hebrews 2:14-15; Romans 8:37-38

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary; he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended into hell. The Apostles’ Creed wanted to make sure that an essential part of the Christian Faith, was that Jesus, the founder of our faith and the one we call Lord and God: died.  When you think about it, it’s kind of odd. How…

Suffered & Crucified – Matthew 27:11-56

“I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord, who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, Born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified.”  Last week we looked at the phrase of the creed in which we confess Jesus supernatural conception and birth.  And up until that point in the Creed, all seems well. We are perhaps left with the sound of children singing silent night softly in our ears while we envision a peaceful night…

Conceived & Born – Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38 & 2:1-20

Jesus was anything but ordinary. The life of Jesus is book-ended by the same thing which characterized it throughout – the extraordinary; the supernatural.  Quote: “And at the beginning of Jesus life he makes an impossible entrance; and at the end of Jesus life he makes an impossible exit: he enters & exits from places where life life ordinarily doesn’t enter or exit from:  A virgin’s womb; and a sealed tomb.”  Life normally doesn’t make an entrance from a virgin’s…

God the Father Almighty – Matthew 6:25-34 & Romans 8:14-17

When we declare our faith in God the Father Almighty, there’s a few things we’re not doing:  First: We’re not just declaring that we believe that there is a God; we’re declaring our faith – our trust and loyalty and allegiance to God.  We discussed this last week – that our faith isn’t merely intellectual assent that there is a God; but our faith is a personal trust in God, and a personal commitment to God, and a personal loyalty…

Savior of Sinners – Matthew 1:18-25

In this passage we see 1) the virgin conception & birth of Jesus, 2) the naming of Jesus, and 3) Joseph’s response to the angel’s news about Jesus. The virgin birth is necessary, because without it, Jesus would not be fully human and fully divine. If he had two human parents, he would be merely human – just like us, another sinner in need of a savior. He would be “with us”, but he couldn’t be “God with us”. If…