Matthew-028

We turn to the Word of God now to Matthew 11:13-27.

God’s promise is fulfilled in Jesus Christ

Here is a very important passage in the Word of God. But what does it mean? What is the significance of this saying in verse 13: “all the prophets and the law prophesied until John”? The Lord Jesus is saying, “Up to the time of John the Baptist, everything was prophecy, but from John the Baptist onward, there is fulfillment of prophecy. All that was before was just promise, but from now on, you will begin to see the realization of that promise. Now is the day all eyes were looking forward to, when God would reveal that his salvation is coming into being.” Since Jesus came, every prophecy of promise began to be fulfillment. God does not just promise, but he will do what he promised. For generation after generation, there was only promise. People waited for the salvation that was in Christ to come, but there was no salvation.

However, when John the Baptist came, the first promise was beginning to be fulfilled. This is because in the last book in the Old Testament, Malachi 4:5 [NJB] says,

The Jews knew that Yahweh God was going to come because the prophets had already said so, for example in Malachi 3:1,

But who is speaking? Prepare the way before who? Who is coming? It is God himself who is coming!

Therefore, the Lord Jesus says to them in Matthew 11:14, “If you are willing to accept it, John the Baptist is that Elijah that God has promised to send to prepare the way for him.”

Why does the Lord Jesus say, “If you are willing to accept it”? Is it up to them whether they are willing or not to accept it? Certainly! What does this mean? If you are willing to accept that John the Baptist is Elijah, you will consequently be willing to accept that Jesus is none other than the Christ, in whom God comes, for in him “all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” (Col. 1:19). Are you willing to accept this fact? That is why the Lord Jesus says, “If you are willing to accept it.”

He goes on to say in Matthew 11:15, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear,” which is an expression he always uses when he is saying something very important. But were they willing to accept it? No, they were not. Were they willing to listen? They were very happy to listen, but they were not willing to accept it.

A parable

So the Lord Jesus goes on to say in verse 16, “To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who play in the market place.” The market place in Jesus’ time was a central place where everyone could sell whatever they wanted. Some were selling chickens in one corner, others were selling tomatoes in another, and in yet another corner someone was standing up making a great speech about philosophy. And amidst all this noise, you have the children who are playing, shouting and running around. It’s a very exciting place that was worth a visit!

When you understand this, you will understand why Paul often went to the market place to preach because that was where everyone gathered to talk. In fact, if you had time on your hands, where would you go? To the market place of course! There you meet your friends, talk about the latest political situation, grumble about the economy and the inflation, and listen to all the philosophers, all these religious quacks who are trying to sell off their religion. That is, assuming you can hear what they are saying above the noise of the shouting of hawkers who are selling chickens, tomatoes and many other things. It’s quite a challenge to preach the gospel in that situation!

In fact, the very next day after I arrived in Scotland to begin my Bible training, the people came to me and said, “We have a stall in the market place to preach the gospel. How would you like to come and preach today?” I said, “That’s fine with me.” But I didn’t know what I was letting myself into, because that was exactly the kind of market place I talked about earlier on. I had to stand on a soap box to preach to the people. So there I was, trying to compete with the next fellow selling life insurance, and the other fellow with a loud voice selling dolls, and another selling soap.

It is very good experience for training in God’s work. I began to understand what Paul had to put up with when he was in the market place preaching Christ. It’s a very humbling experience too, because in our pride, we always think we are so superior to the fellow who sells soap and tomatoes. It’s very humbling to discover that his voice is better than yours; in fact, he is more eloquent. I wonder if it would be better to say, “I’ll sell the tomatoes and you preach Christ!”

So the Lord Jesus is saying in verses 16-17, “Like these children playing in the market place and one says to the other, ‘We piped to you and you did not dance. And we wailed and you did not mourn.’” What does this mean? When did people play the pipe? They did it at a wedding. When was the wedding? Well, children like to play games, and the children in this passage were playing the wedding game. “You’re the bride, I’m the bridegroom, and you are the brides­maids.” They had a great time playing getting married and dancing, while some children were looking on.

And so the first group of kids said to the other group, “We piped to you and you didn’t dance. We were trying to play the wedding game and you didn’t respond. Aren’t you in the mood to pretend having a wedding? Let’s have a funeral then, where we’ll wail and you’ll mourn.”

As you know, funerals were again public matters. In the old days, everything was very public. So mourning was public mourning. Everyone had to cry. If someone in your family died, and you weren’t very good at crying, it was very much required that you paid people who were professional mourners a certain sum for crying the whole day. Or even if you were good at crying, you might feel that the expression of mourning was not good enough, therefore if you could afford it, you hired more people to come and mourn. The more mourners you can afford the better, so if you can afford twenty people, it would really be a big scene. When everyone is wailing and crying, it shows a great deal of respect for the dead person. Actually, it sounds strange to us, but it’s absolutely true. I remember in China, people used to mourn quite loudly too. And apparently, the louder you mourned the more respect you showed to the dead. So you would have a terrific noise going on the whole night, because every­one was trying to cry as loudly as they could. Actually, this whole scenario was very amusing to the children. They liked to imitate everything, and so they also tried to imitate the noise of the wailing. In fact, the word “wailing” is very important because it indicates the loud noise that is made.

Man is willing to listen to God’s Word, but not to respond

In this passage, they were playing the funeral game, and this group of children said to the other children, “We’re wailing, but you refuse to mourn. You didn’t want to play!” They were willing to listen to the others trying to play the wedding game and the funeral game, but they didn’t want to join in. So the Lord Jesus is saying, “This generation is just like this. They are willing to listen but they are not willing to respond.” This point is very important to understand.

God has revealed his salvation. The salvation of God was being proclaimed, and people were willing to listen to it. When John the Baptist was preaching, they came by the thousands to listen to him, but only a portion of them was baptized. When the Lord Jesus preached, even more people came; tens of thousands came together to hear him preaching. That is why there were the feeding of the 5,000, with the five loaves and two fish on one occasion, and the feeding of the 4,000 with seven loaves and a few fish on another occasion. These people who were there were willing to listen to Jesus, but how many were willing to take up their cross to become disciples? How many learned to trust in him wholly and completely?

When Jesus came to Jerusalem, they laid palm branches on the ground. They sang “Hosanna” to Jesus. But how many became followers of Jesus? And not too long afterwards, many of these were in part of the crowd that crucified Jesus. Certainly, not everyone joined the opposition party, but at least some of them turned against him.

Some people say, “How can it be? Can the very same crowd that cheered Hosanna!” just a few days ago be the ones to turn against him and kill him a few days later?” It was not the same crowd. What is very important to understand about the Lord Jesus’ crucifixion is that the crowd that accompanied Jesus into Jerusalem was a Galilean crowd, but those who crucified Jesus were basically a Jerusalem crowd. There were small groups from that first crowd that would have been present in the second crowd, who demanded his crucifixion.

However, the point is that wherever Jesus went, the crowds were willing to come in great numbers. But those who became true disciples, who entered into God’s salvation through him were always few. Those who hear are many; those who are saved are few. This is the central point of this passage. God’s salvation was being fulfilled before our eyes and their eyes. Up to that time, everything was only promise. But now, Simeon, that servant of God was able to say, “God, my eyes have seen your salvation” (Lk. 2:30), because now God’s salvation has come. And the word of salvation was being proclaimed with power. This is what is meant by the kingdom of God was coming with power. Since it was being preached with power, there was also vigorous response. (Mt. 11:12)

The response of the majority is usually superficial and wrong

The majority is usually always wrong. Here lies the weakness of a democratic system, which I am very worried about as a whole. People are asked to vote on very vital issues that they understand almost nothing about.

In England for example, often, vital issues were being voted on, such as the Common Market. There was a referendum on the Common Market, but I can guarantee you that not one out of ten understood either the implications of being in or out of the European Common Market. Everybody says, “All right, the majority votes.” However, the majority doesn’t even understand the issues because a question like the Common Market is far too complex for the layman to grasp. Yet decisions are made. So how does the man on the street vote for the Common Market? He votes against the Common Market if he happens to dislike the French leader or the German leader. He says, “I don’t want to be mixed up with those Germans. I vote against the Common Market.” Or the other person might have just had a nice holiday in France and he says, “Oh, I like France. I vote for the Common Market.” That is hardly the way to vote on an issue like this. But how else can they vote since they hardly understand the complexities from the political, economic, and military point of view regarding the Common Market?

The same problem lies within the church. If you try to run a church on the basis of a vote on a democratic system, you will have spiritual disaster before too long. They are going to vote again, on issues that they really don’t grasp. On what basis do you vote for a person to come into office? When voting for the American President, I heard a woman say, “I’ll vote for that man. I like his hairstyle. He looks very cute.” Are you going to vote for a president because you like his hairstyle or his charisma so you think he is a nice fellow? The poor man lacking a pleasant demeanor will never have an opportunity, even though he may be far more capable and efficient to make a far better president. But he will never get voted in because he doesn’t have the charisma.

I have never forgotten the lesson I learned in a Chinese church in England. The church’s young people were voting for a youth leader. Needless to say, the fellow with the nice personality, the one who was slick and smooth and knew how to handle people got voted in. But of course, the other person who was far more spiritual and capable, couldn’t get voted in just because he did not go around grinning at people and shaking their hands to win their votes. So don’t imagine that the way to run a church is to run it on the basis of one man, one vote. That is the sure way to have spiritual disaster! That church’s youth fellowship was in a state of crisis, and it needed a spiritual man who is stable in all his ways. Instead, they voted in the slick fellow, and the whole fellowship went down.

Therefore, the majority response to God’s salvation is usually always wrong. Why? The majority only looks at the superficial. They are willing enough to listen to salvation, thinking, “I find that it’s good!” But when they come to realize what kind of response is needed, they would say, “I’ll just settle for listening.” And the great tragedy is that many of the people who go to church every Sunday will find themselves under God’s condemnation at the Judgment because they have been listening all their lives, but they have never done God’s Word. There is no action in their lives. Like these children, they don’t respond.

But for some of them, the situation gets even worse. Some have to justify their lack of response with excuse. So they say, “We like listen­ing to John but we can’t respond to his teaching, because actually he has a demon.” (Mt. 11:18) In other words, he is mad! “He’s an interesting character and we go out to listen to him, but really, he’s a bit potty upstairs,” as the British would say. The Americans would say, “He’s bananas!” The Lord Jesus came eating and drinking, and they said, “Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” But John the Baptist only ate locusts and wild honey, and many people said he was mad. So they say, “Jesus is all right. Listen to his preaching, but don’t take it too seriously.”

Therefore God warned Ezekiel the prophet saying, “Although they will come in their crowds to listen to your preaching, and you are like one who sings love songs to them, they will say, ‘Ezekiel, you’re a great preacher!’, but they will not do it; they will not respond” (cf. Eze. 33:32). We find that this situation is also quite common in the church, don’t we?

The wise are known in what he does

Then, the Lord Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 11:19, “Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.” A person who is wise will be known in what he is willing to do, not in how much he talks or is willing to listen.

I have often observed that those who do the most are those who talk the least. Wisdom is always justified not in how much it says or knows, but in how much it does. This understanding is very different from the world’s. We think a man is wise because he knows so much. Again, we go back to knowledge. But the Bible tells us that wisdom consists not in how much you know but in your doing. There is much more than that in these words than I can expound today, but I am just giving you part of its basic meaning. It is sufficient to see the contrast between the doing, listening, and knowing.

From verse 20 onwards, the Lord Jesus says that the judgment of these people, who have heard the news of salvation and did not respond will be terrible. The end of those Christians who know the truth but don’t do it, will be worse than a non-Christian’s. The Lord Jesus says this two times. In verse 22: “I tell you, it will be more tolerable on the Day of Judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.” Also in verse 24: “It will be more tolerable even for Sodom on the Day of Judgment than for you.” Why is this? It’s because Tyre, Sidon and Sodom never had a chance to hear the news of this salvation; they have never heard of such great salvation. So the writer to the Hebrews says, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” (Heb. 2:3). But who are the people who will have the discernment to see and to receive such great salvation as this? Who are the people except those with this true wisdom?

Two kinds of wisdom

What do you consider to be wisdom? The world regards that it is wise to become increasingly wealthy. Man regards himself to be very clever because he gets richer all the time. That is so for the world. But God looks at wisdom in a very different way. In Luke 12:13-21, there is a parable called, “The Parable of the Rich Fool.” What did this rich fool do? He built bigger and bigger barns to store up his riches. In fact, in the world’s eyes, this man was by no means a fool. He was brilliant! He was very wise.

His production was excellent. He must have had superb technique to be able to achieve that! Therefore by the world’s standard, he was a great success. Of course, if you have more production, you’ll build bigger barns in order to be able to store it up and sell it at the right time. You don’t want to rush out and sell it at a loss. This man is a superb businessman. The world regards this as wisdom. He not only has enough, but he has also made provision for himself in the future. That is foresight. That’s very wise. No wonder this man is a real success in the world.

But to our surprise, the Bible says he is a fool. Why is he foolish? Because his whole attention is fixed on the world, and all his riches are passing away. When he dies, he doesn’t take one cent with him. So we see what wisdom is in the world’s eyes is foolishness in God’s eyes.

What is wisdom in your eyes? I am sure that if I presented the Parable of the Rich Fool without saying it is the Parable of the Rich Fool, and simply told you there was a rich man, the majority of Christians in the churches today would say, “Wow! He’s great! He’s a real success!”

God only reveals his truth and power to the willing-to-be-defenseless

What kind of person does God reveal his saving truth to? Jesus declared in verse 25, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.” God hides his saving grace from those people who the world regards as wise and understanding, these “world successes,” because these people cannot see spiritual truth. Their eyes are blinded by the material possessions in the world. These people have never been true friends of the gospel. They have always been willing to listen but not to act upon it.

In our church in Liverpool, there were one or two very rich people who tended to come to church. They were restaurant owners. I won­dered how long people like this could stand my preaching. I waited to see how soon they would leave the church. Yet week by week they came. I was puzzled: how can they stand it? They are still coming back. Every week when they heard the Word of God expounded, it must have cut into their hearts, but they returned. For years they came, Sunday after Sunday. It was a mystery to me because I felt that if I were in their position, I would either be boiling angry, or at least I wouldn’t come to church anymore. But the amazing thing was, they so enjoyed listening. And I thought, “Well, the service is too long for them. Surely, they are thinking about the money they are losing at the restaurant.” But they still came to church. They liked to listen. It was like listening to singing of beautiful songs! They were enjoying this, but they wouldn’t do it. So I think of these words the Lord Jesus said: “It will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you.” I thought, if I said that to them, they would have said, “This is enough! I have taken three years of this, and I’m leaving!” But no, they still came back. Is it because they have got so used to listening that it doesn’t hurt them anymore?

Then the Lord Jesus says, “God will reveal his truth only to those who are willing to be babes [RSV].” What is a “babe”? At that time, this was an expression used to describe people who were naïve, foolish and unsophisticated, who did not understand the ways of the world. In Matthew 18, Jesus said, unless you are willing to become as helpless as a little child, surrendering your rights, unless you humble yourself and are willing to be regarded as foolish in the eyes of the world, you will never know God’s truth, and never enter the kingdom of God (cf. Mt. 18:3-4).

A baby cannot defend itself, so you can hit it and throw it. There are some parents who in fact, commit cruelty to their babies. They burn their babies with cigarette butts, sit them on the electric stove, or hit them so heavily as to crack their skulls or break their bones. It is incredible what people will do to the baby because the baby is defenseless. It cannot bring you to court. So when you are willing to learn to become a little child—which you are not by nature—you resign your rights and turn the other cheek willingly. Are you willing to become as a little child?

These days, I pray a very curious prayer, and I wonder if I should tell you what I pray! I constantly have before my mind the words of the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 4:13. He became “the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things.” My prayer to God often is: “God, make me willing just to be the garbage of the world. Forgive me that for so much of my life I’ve tried to become someone in the world. But Paul was willing to be the garbage of the world. So God, make me willing to be the same.”

You will say, “Why do you want to be willing to turn the other cheek when someone slaps you?” It’s not that I am by nature defenseless. Being trained in self-defense, I know how to defend myself if neces­sary. But why learn to become as a child, to become defenseless? It’s only then that you will see God’s power working on your behalf.

Are we willing to become as little children?

This reminds us of those wonderful words in Zechariah 2:8 where God says, “He who touches you, touches the apple of my eye.” Nothing is more sensitive than one’s eye. The tiniest speck of dust or fluff in your eye will make you very uncomfortable. But God says, “You are so precious to me that if anyone touches you, he has touched the apple of my eye, and I will react.” You will see God’s saving power coming into action. So if someone slaps my face, he has slapped God’s face. My face belongs to God, so it is up to him to react, not up to me. I am not my own.

Learn to become as a little child. You will say, “The world says, ‘That’s foolish!’” But I say, “Amen! That’s what I want to be in God’s eyes.” And you will ask, “What can I get out of this?” God reveals his saving power to the person who is willing to become as a little child. Then you will know God, his glory and power. Just as the Lord Jesus says, “I will reveal the Father to you” (Mt. 11:27). Who does he reveal the Father to? To the little child, to the spiritual child. Are you willing to become this?