Matthew 14 Jesus Humanity and Divinity

PRAY Good Evening Ladies, Did you enjoy the Coffee in your core? Who had some goodies in the class? So glad you could come out on this cold night to study God’s Word and fellowship with sisters in Christ. It’s good to be with like-minded people. Tonight we are going to talk about sacrificing for Jesus fully God yet fully man.

SLIDE 1 In His humanity Jesus was rejected by members of His own home town Nazareth. Matthew 13:54 They were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? ⁵⁵ Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶ And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?"

⁵⁷And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household." ⁵⁸And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

SLIDE 2 In Chapter 14, we hear the malicious act of Herod prompted by the request of the daughter of Herodias-the head of John the Baptist on a platter. (Not only dead but defiled and displayed among the debaucherous crowd.)

Jesus not only mourned the loss of family, his cousin John. He mourned His friend the prophet, the one who baptized Him. John the Baptist was the forerunner of the Christ, preparing men’s hearts to repent of their sins. Matthew 1:11 John humbly told the crowds, "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” A few chapters ago John from his prison cell sent his followers to Jesus for confirmation of His deity. John’s followers would now become followers of Jesus.

We can understand Jesus need to be alone, to mourn in privacy. This is not a time to entertain guests and put on a happy face for others. But as Christians “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.”
 1 Thessalonians 4:13 Our hope our devotion should be in Jesus.

SLIDE 3  Recently a friend of mine told me her sister was eager to meet the LORD but her family was not ready to let her go. But from our study of Revelation heaven is a place of no more pain and suffering. To be absent from the body is to be present with the LORD. We grieve because we will miss them and can no longer be present with that person here on earth. Understanding Jesus had the same, need manifests His Humanity.

SLIDE 4 Jesus Humanity and Divinity

·        Seek Him

·        Be Broken

·        Get out of the Boat

How will you respond to Jesus?

Seek Him:  Alone Time with Your Father- last week we learn that Jesus taught in parables to reveal and conceal. Were you challenged by the quote from Barclay? "The parable conceals truth from those who are either too lazy to think or too blinded by prejudice to see. It puts the responsibility fairly and squarely on the individual. It reveals truth to him who desires truth; it conceals truth from him who does not wish to see the truth."

Just a hint as we begin out second book of lessons on Matthew.

SLIDE 5 ***MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ONE FOR NEXT WEEKS LESSON.

·        Set aside specific times when you are uninterrupted by family, phone, television, etc.

·        Pray, asking God for wisdom to reveal the deeper truths of the lesson.

·        Read the entire scripture lesson before you start answering questions. It is often helpful to read it in different versions.

·        Glance at the questions that follow. Often we can end up answering 3 questions when the answer only requested a simple response.

·        Paraphrase the scripture instead of copying the verse word for word.

·        If the question seems ambiguous, read it again. Break is apart. Just like the buried treasure sometimes we have to dig.

SLIDE 6  Deuteronomy 4:29 But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Isaiah 55:6“Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;

It speaks to our Nation “to seek the Lord while he can be found.” One day soon we may not have the freedoms we possess now. Nazareth rejected Jesus because they were familiar with his family and knew him from his childhood. Maybe people in America reject Him because they are too entitled, BIBLES are freely available. Some people think they know Him, but they don’t allow Him to lead and influence their life. You can turn on the television or radio anytime day or night to receive the message of salvation. Your phone or mobile device can display many versions of the bible and you can search for limitless answers to your questions online.

Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

How are you seeking to know Him more? 

SLIDE 7  Being Broken: As I studied the lesson of Jesus desires for His disciples to realize the possibilities to see the needs of others and see beyond themselves. I was struck by Jesus blessing the bread.

¹⁹Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

²⁰And they all ate and were satisfied.

SLIDE 8  How often I forget the joy of speaking to my Father, thanking Him for what he has done, asking a blessing for the food. I love that they were all satisfied. Jesus can do that for you for someone you love. He can satisfy your deepest longing. Are you satisfied with Jesus?

Jesus broke the bread. To be used by God we need to be broken: broken of our selfish motives and desires to be right, to be esteemed to be appreciated. On the road to Emmaus Jesus travels with men who are unaware of who their companion is. As Jesus breaks the bread His identity was revealed. 

SLIDE 9 My friend Barbara is a crafty person. She is one of 10 former members of core group that still meets monthly for breakfast. Barbara brought everyone a clay pot with yellow and white daisies. In inspecting her purchase, several pots became cracked. Her resourcefulness and knowledge of the scripture used this defect to create a unique treasure which reminds us often we need to be broken to be used by God. A cracked pot allows light to shine through. If Jesus had not broken the fives loaves and two fishes many people would have gone away hungry. Jesus was asking the disciples to trust Him. Are you trusting Him?

How will you respond to Jesus? Are you willing to be broken for Him?

SLIDE 10  John 6: ³⁵ Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

After this colossal miracle of feed and satisfying 5000 men plus women and children, no doubt Jesus needed to recuperate. Remember the women with the issue of blood touching the hem of Jesus garment.  Luke 8:47 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.”

Jesus was fully divine to perform the miracles of the loaves and fishes. Yet He was fully human showing compassion, sorrow, and fatigue.

How has God broken you for his service? Where are you serving Him now?

SLIDE 11  Get Out of the Boat - Nearly 20 years ago the pastor of a church where I used to attend kept preaching about “getting out of the boat?” I was pumped like Peter and ready to jump into what he was “selling.” To my regret not long after this teaching he made a startling confession before the deacons and the church and that particular man resigned as our pastor.

Put your faith in Jesus not the man in the pulpit. Our pastors may be wonderful teachers, funny, charming, loving but remember he is a “man,” and therefore fallible, far from perfect.

However Christ who is true and faithful is the one we should look up to and worship. We must be willing to risk everything to know Him intimately and push ourselves beyond the comfort zone to serve Him completely and fervently with abandon.

SLIDE 12  Matthew 14:23-33 describes Peter’s crisis of faith.

When evening came, he was there alone,

²⁴but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.²And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. Roman guards change during the night- 4^th watch is between 3:00-6:00.
²⁶But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" and they cried out in fear.²⁷       But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid."
²⁸And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water."²⁹He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. I identify with Peter. He is so passionate-it is all or nothing with him.

³⁰But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me." ³¹Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" Poor Peter gets maligned for sinking,but He was the only one to get out of the boar.

³²            And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.³          And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." What an Epiphany!

SLIDE 13  The Peters’ lack of faith reminds us that even those who lived and walked with Jesus, saw His miracles, and heard His message still found it difficult to be faith-filled all the time.

We all experience storms—persecutions, financial troubles, illnesses, disappointments, loneliness—and Jesus does not always prevent them. But He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5). He will keep us calm in the storm.

Are you in a storm? What do you know about God’s character that could help bring calm to your heart?  How will you respond to Jesus?

SLIDE 14 I have been listening to devotions by various Christian writers.  Angie married Todd Smith of Selah after a storybook courtship. Angie delivered five daughters. Ellie and Abby are identical twins, then came Sarah Kate. Their fifth daughter is named Charlotte. Their fourth daughter, Audrey Caroline, was diagnosed early in Angie's pregnancy as "non-compatible" with life, and several doctors urged them to terminate the pregnancy. They wanted to leave room for God to perform a miracle, and Angie chronicled her pregnancy (beginning the week of the diagnosis), and still continues to shares through her blog.

In it, she shares the story of losing her baby girl just hours after she’s born.  As I was preparing to teach of Peter sinking in the stormy waters Angie’s story spoke to me…  

“And I think in my mind, what I’ve started to realize is it’s this image of life on a seashore and not out in the deep, where things are confusing and threatening and scary. I just wanted to hide out from it all and create these fictitious worlds where everything was safe. And when Audrey died, something in me snapped. I’d just been thrown into the deep end, completely unprepared. It was the scariest, most awful, and beautifully devastating time of my life.


SLIDE 15  Because when I found myself out of my comfort zone, in a place where my feet could not touch the bottom anymore, I saw His face. I saw a side of Jesus I had never seen in my life. And I feel like He whispered to me in that season, “Angie, you’ve been making sandcastles your whole life and even when the water comes in, you’ve let yourself become frightened. But Love, I live in the deep. You can’t fall in love with me from the seashore. It’s scary and its upside down, but you’ve got to move away from what’s safe to really see me.”

How will you respond to Jesus?

Are you willing to seek Jesus while he may be found, be broken so you can be used for His glory, going to the deep?