Introduction
Speaking of Pastor Boyd, if you will turn to Matthew chapter 11. Speaking of Pastor Boyd, you’ll remember a month or so ago or more he preached a brief series of messages on discipleship from Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 to 20. Dan Fossett then asked me, “Could one of you preach a message on what is a disciple?” Just identifying what is a disciple. So I went to Pastor Boyd and I said, “Dan has asked that you include a sermon on what is a disciple.” And Pastor Boyd responded in his typical pontifical tone, “That’s a good idea, you do that.”
And so I thought I would, but I wanted, in order to do that, to begin with Matthew chapter 11, verses 28 and 29. But I thought, I can’t do that without dealing with verses 25 to 27. And I really don’t want to do that without dealing with verses 1 to 24. And my next series of messages that I’m going to start, I’m planning to start a series on the book of James. But for this month, we’re going to answer Dan Fawcett’s question on what is a disciple, but we’re just going to take our time about it. And we’re going to explore Matthew chapter 11, which is, I think, just a rich and wonderful chapter about Jesus and his call to discipleship.
So today, we look at the subject “Greater Than John the Baptist.” And we’ll ask the question, are you greater than John the Baptist? And then next time we will look at—we’ll follow the—that’s verses 1 to 15. Then we’ll look at verses 16 through 25, and we’ll look at “The Good Pleasure of God.” And then the next message, we will look at “The Great Invitation.” And then we will look more specifically then at the question of discipleship at the end of the chapter. So that’s the plan for February, the Lord willing.
Matthew chapter 11 today, verses 1 to 15:
When Jesus had finished instructing his 12 disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities. Now, when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John. “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in king’s houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it was written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.'” Here he quotes the prophet Malachi. “Truly I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Let’s bow together for prayer. Our Father, we are grateful for our time together. What a privilege it is to have your word. And what a delight it is to have your revelation to us about your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that you will gather up our attention and focus our hearts and our souls on him. We ask in his name. Amen.
Unfulfilled Expectations
I think for any fair-minded person it is difficult not to sympathize with John the Baptist as we find him in this passage. Israel had been a long time without a prophet. It had been some four centuries since anyone had come along and said, “Thus says the Lord.” And Israel knew it. They had been 400 years without a prophet. There had been some charismatic figures who had come along claiming prophecy, but all of Israel knew that it had been a time of silence and God had not spoken.
God had promised to send his servant, the Messiah, and God had also promised that before he comes—that is, before that Messiah comes—God will send a forerunner to announce his arrival, a new Elijah of sorts. And now 400 years had passed since God had last spoken to his covenant people, and through the prophet Malachi, as well as through Isaiah before him, but finally through his prophet Malachi, God had promised that the Messiah would come and that this forerunner would come ahead of him.
400 years have gone by and now suddenly this man named John bursts on the scene and begins to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And he begins announcing the arrival of the kingdom of God. Surely this is the announcement of the coming Messiah. He’s here. He’s called John the Baptist because he baptized as a symbol of repentance, calling men and women to repentance. There is a great moral dimension to the kingdom of God, of course, and it’s not just for anybody. And if you want to be part of this kingdom, you must turn from your sin and turn and submit to God. So he calls men and women to repentance, baptizes them as a symbol of their repentance, and his ministry was greatly successful by all accounts. It was a moment of great excitement in Israel. And in fact, Mark tells us the whole countryside of Judea and all Jerusalem came out to see him.
And he preached this message of salvation and judgment. The kingdom of God is here. And he preached that the king will come. And with that, there’s the great arrival of the kingdom of God. But with that, there’s also the message of judgment. His fan is in his hand. He’ll winnow—he’ll take his pitchfork and he’ll throw up the grain. The chaff will be blown aside. He’ll gather up the chaff and they’ll be burned. This is going to be a day of salvation and of judgment. And it was a moment of excitement. Israel had been waiting for this for centuries and now it’s here.
And the defining distinctive of John’s ministry is that he introduced Jesus. We read of it here, but especially in the Gospel of John, John’s own disciples, in fact, left off from following John in order to follow Jesus. Well, some of John’s disciples were a little concerned about that. Why are they leaving you to follow Jesus? And John, of course, was just excited about that and says, “This is just as it should be. This is why I’m here: to introduce Jesus the King to Israel, and they ought to be following after him. This is as it should be.” And so the Messiah had been identified, he’d been presented to Israel, and so far as John is thinking at least—and of course many others as well—this is going to be good.
John continued his ministry, as you know, and like any preacher worth his salt, he denounced sin, even if it’s the king. And he began to excoriate and criticize Herod because he had taken his brother’s wife, Herodias, to be his own wife. And like any tyrant worth his salt, he silenced John the Baptist and put him in prison.
So you can just imagine the thoughts going through John’s mind at this point. “I’ve announced the arrival of God’s kingdom. I’ve presented the king to his people. I’ve proclaimed as God instructed me to proclaim. This is going to be a time of salvation and judgment. And now here I’m in prison at the hands of this petty, profligate king, and I’m probably going to die, and Jesus is out there preaching, but I don’t see any of this judgment. I don’t see any of this fire. I don’t see any of the bad guys losing. If ever there were a time when the good guys should be winning and the bad guys should be losing, this was the time.” And here John is in prison after he’s announced that the kingdom of God has arrived. He had announced that this would be a time of God’s kingdom, and for John, he thought at least things seem to be the reverse.
So, we have a case with John, a case of unfulfilled expectations. Can you imagine it? Disappointed with Jesus. Disillusioned, at least. This is not the way it was supposed to go. And so finally, John sends his disciples. He’s in prison, so he sends his disciples. “We got to clarify this thing. Go ask Jesus, are you the one who is to come or not?” And so they come to Jesus and they ask. It’s something of a delegation. The crowd is there watching and this delegation from John comes and asks Jesus, “Are you the one to come or not?”
Jesus Defends John the Baptist
Well, you can understand, you can sympathize with John. And I think we have to see that for John, this was difficult to square all of this with what he had preached. And so they come and they ask Jesus. And with reassurance, Jesus provides the answer and he points to the evidence. That’s verses four and five: “Go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the good news preached to them, and blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
Now when Jesus lists all of these things that they had heard and seen, He’s actually lifting some quotes out of Isaiah, primarily Isaiah chapter 35, which announces what the Messianic age will be. Here’s what that Messiah will do. He’ll heal the lepers. He’ll raise the dead. The lame will walk. All of these things are listed as identifying marks of the Messiah back from the prophet Isaiah. So Jesus says to John the Baptist’s disciples, “You’ve seen it. You go back and tell John. That should be evidence enough. And blessed is the one who is not offended because of me.”
Now those Isaiah passages do include at points some note of judgment as well, but Jesus does not highlight those—just these aspects of his ministry. For now that is enough. The judgment will come later. And so verse six, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
Well now, he’s clarified the question for John, but now that leaves the crowd wondering, “Wow, we thought John was a prophet and here he is wavering like this.” And so Jesus turns now to the crowd in verse 7 to defend John the Baptist, lest they think too little of John because of what he has asked. Now some have thought that John was really not asking for himself, he’s just asking for the sake of his disciples, but it really doesn’t square with the passage. It’s set up in such a way to show that this is John’s question that he had. And in fact, now Jesus turns to defend John from any kind of a misunderstanding. So to clear up John the Baptist, he turns to the crowd, verses 7 to 10.
As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John. “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in king’s houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before me.'”
So Jesus is saying to the crowd now, “Yes, John was questioning me. He was wavering because he misunderstood this aspect of my mission. But don’t discount him for it. He’s a prophet. And in fact, he’s more than a prophet. He is himself the subject of prophecy. Malachi spoke of him. Isaiah had spoken of him. And he’s the one that they announced would come. He’s the great forerunner, the new Elijah, if you will.” So he’s cleared John the Baptist. And then as if that weren’t enough, verse 11 he says, “Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.”
Now that’s just a stunning kind of a statement, particularly given Israel’s illustrious history. Of all the people born from the very beginning till now, Jesus says, John the Baptist is the greatest of all of them. He’s greater than Enoch. He’s greater than Noah. He’s greater than Abraham. He’s greater than Moses, greater than Samuel, greater than Elijah, greater than great King David. He’s greater than all of them. He’s the greatest man who has ever lived. Wow. Okay, I’d say John the Baptist has been cleared as far as Jesus is concerned.
The Criterion For Greatness
But the question is, what is it that made John the Baptist so great? What’s the factor, the criterion, that in Jesus’ estimation makes John the Baptist the greatest of all people who ever lived? Well, the answer, of course, is he was the forerunner of someone still greater. He was the one who introduced the Messiah. John the Baptist was the greatest of all that went before him because he was the one who introduced Jesus. And in fact, Jesus as much as says that in verse 13: “All of the law and the prophets prophesied until John.” That is, the law in all of its commanding aspects and all that was in it anticipated the coming of Jesus. The prophets, of course, announced the coming of Jesus, the Messiah. But John the Baptist is greater than all of them because he did not say, “He is coming.” John the Baptist is unique among them because he was able to say, “He’s here. It’s Jesus.” And that, Jesus says, is what makes him the greatest man who has ever lived.
Now that’s just an astonishing kind of thing. What made John the Baptist great was the clarity of witness he gave to Jesus. And so there’s a subtle shift now in the point of focus, isn’t there? We’re talking about the greatness of John the Baptist, or are we talking about someone greater now? What makes John the Baptist great, Jesus says, is that he introduced me. Remember I’ve taught you many times, when you read through the Gospels, keep that question in mind: “Who does Jesus think he is?” Here’s another reflection of that. What made John the Baptist great is that he introduced me.
And in fact, Jesus isn’t done with that. He pushes further. If announcing Jesus is what made John the Baptist great, well then what about all of those people in the kingdom of heaven this side of John? What about them? What about all the rest of us, even the least of us as Jesus points out? The newest convert. We can give even clearer witness to Jesus than John did. John was tripped up over this idea of judgment, but even the least in the kingdom of heaven—even the newest convert—can make simple use of all of that. “Yeah, Jesus came, he died for sin, he was crucified for sinners, took their sin, was raised from the dead, and now throughout this age he’s saving his people and he’ll return again and bring judgment to the world and establish his eternal kingdom.” We can make short use of that anytime. John was tripping up all over that. And Jesus says the least in the kingdom of heaven gives even clearer witness to Jesus than John did. And so even though John was the greatest of everyone born up to that time, the least in the kingdom of heaven now on this side of John is even greater than he. You see his reasoning? It’s just astonishing.
Now Jesus, of course, is pointing to the essential focus and central responsibility of discipleship. What a disciple is called to do is bear witness to Jesus. Jesus says that, if you’d like to look back in chapter 10, verses 32 and 33: “Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will acknowledge before my Father who’s in heaven. Whoever denies me before men, I will deny him before my Father in heaven.” But Jesus says this is what makes a person great: he bears witness to Jesus.
Now we need this. You probably have all kinds of reasons why you think you’re great. You’re so smart. You command such respect. You hold a good position in the church. You’re really good at your work. You have a swelling bank account. You have all kinds of reasons why you’re great. And what Jesus says is, “Here’s what makes a man great: the clarity of witness he brings to me.” True greatness is found only in association with Jesus and bearing witness of him to others. Here Jesus says that is where you find your worth—bearing witness of him.
But still, you cannot miss this: in all of that talk about the greatness of John the Baptist and the greatness of all of those after John the Baptist greater than he, in all of that, you can’t miss what’s implicit in all of it, and that is Jesus’ claim: “True greatness belongs to me.” What made John great? He bore witness to me. What makes the kingdom of heaven—the least in the kingdom of heaven—greater than John? They bear clearer witness of me. True greatness, implicit in it, true greatness belongs only to me. That’s just astonishing.
Anyone would talk that way—can you imagine if I said, “Pastor Boyd is the greatest man ever to be born of women, from the beginning until now, because he introduced me”? It’s just repugnant. It’s offensive. Unless it happens to be true. And can you imagine the people standing there hearing all of this? Who does he think he is? And in fact, Jesus does this quite often. He pushes us in such a way that we’re forced to decide, who is this man? Is he some deranged lunatic who really thinks he’s that great, but isn’t? Is he a deceiving, lying scoundrel of some kind? Or is he really that great? Well, this is how Jesus pushes. We have to decide; we have to render judgment. Judgment about him, which in turn renders judgment about us. Does he have a right to talk like this? Or we might just ask it this way: who but God has a right to talk like that?
Confronted With the Unique Greatness of Jesus
The whole point that Jesus is pushing, and I’m certain the reason Matthew records this for us is to push this point, is that either Jesus is deranged, or he’s a deceiver, or he really is the greatest person in all the history of the world. And of course, what Matthew writes to tell us is that what makes him great is that he is the long-promised King—God come to the rescue of his people.
And in fact, once you notice that, here in Matthew chapter 11, you begin to notice that’s really not unique in Matthew chapter 11, is it? That’s been Matthew’s point all the way from the beginning onwards. Chapter one: “Book of the generation of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham.” Okay, he’s the one promised. And then you have kings coming to worship him. And then you have the repeated emphasis, chapters one and two: “This happened that it might be fulfilled, that it might be fulfilled, that it might be fulfilled.” This happened that it might be fulfilled, and this happened that it might be fulfilled. He’s the one bringing about all of the great expectations that we’ve had for centuries.
It’s chapter three, and Jesus is baptized and you hear the voice from heaven, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear him.” You get chapter four, he’s the one who has authority even over the devil himself and beats him in temptation. Matthew chapter five, six, and seven, you have the Sermon on the Mount and you remember what struck the people was what authority this man speaks with. Then you get to Matthew chapter 8 and 9. You have the string of miracles that Jesus performs. Cleanses the leper, raises the dead, casts out demons. By a sheer act of his will, by just a statement of his word, the storm is stopped. The dead are raised. And then in one climactic moment in chapter nine, a lame man is brought to Jesus and Jesus looks at him and says, “Your sins be forgiven you.” Who are you to say you can forgive sins? And Jesus says, “It’s just so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. Take up your bed and walk.” He’s the greatest.
You get to chapter 10 of Matthew, and you have Jesus sending his disciples out on their mission. He said, “Now, just know it ahead of time. When you go out there, you’re going to be beaten. You’re going to be opposed. You’re going to be hauled before the authority. You’re going to be hauled before governors. You’ll be put in prison. Some of you will be put to death. But it’s OK, because you’re doing it for my sake.” Who does he think he is? And as I mentioned, chapter 10, verses 32 and 33, your eternal destiny hangs on this question of whether or not you bear witness to Jesus.
And here we get to chapter 11 then, and that’s the point at issue in this discussion with John the Baptist, where Jesus makes that the point of issue. And then in the following verses, verses 16 and following, we have Jesus denouncing the cities of Galilee, and he denounces them because of this: they had the unique privilege of hearing and seeing Jesus, and yet they rejected him. And Jesus has the audacity to say, “You will have it worse in judgment than Sodom will, because you had greater exposure to me, and yet you rejected that light.”
Still later in chapter 11 that we will see, Jesus claims that he has exclusive and exhaustive knowledge of God. No one knows the Father except the Son. Still later in the passage we find him saying he has the sole authority to make God known to others. He is the one who has the right and the authority to give rest—spiritual rest—and the knowledge of God to others.
We get to chapter 12 and it continues. You have Jesus with the Sabbath incident where the disciples are plucking some heads of grain as they walk past a field and eating. It’s on the Sabbath and the Pharisees are all upset over it. And rather than saying simply, “Look guys, that’s not a violation of the Sabbath. The law provides for this, they can eat,” rather than taking the easy way out, Jesus just says, “Well, I’m an exceptional case.” And then he refers to himself as the Lord of the Sabbath. And then in chapter 12, he’s greater than the temple. And he’s greater than Solomon. And he’s greater than Jonah.
And this continues into chapter 13. And here we have Jesus announcing the arrival of the kingdom that he has brought. And he speaks of the culmination of the kingdom in terms of not just God sending his angels, but Jesus said, “I’ll send my angels. And they will gather the elect.” And then Jesus will judge between the sheep and the goats, chapter 24 and 25. He’ll decide the destinies of men. And you look through all of that, all through the Gospel of Matthew, and you have to ask, who in the world is this? Who claims that human greatness is determined simply by association with Him? Who is this that claims authority over every realm? Who is this who, with a word, can stop a storm, raise the dead, heal lepers? Who is this who claims that punishment in hell will be assigned in degrees according to your relationship with me and your exposure to me? Who is this who claims to be the only way to God? Who is this at whose behest the angels of heaven come running to do his bidding?
And then you begin to see, okay, this is Matthew’s purpose in writing: to confront us with the unique greatness of Jesus. But of course we can’t isolate that passage from the whole. Matthew doesn’t end his Gospel here. He doesn’t end his Gospel simply talking about the greatness of Jesus. He goes on and he tells us the rest of the story. Jesus is arrested. He’s whipped. He’s put on a cross. He’s crucified. There he bears the sin of his people. And there he establishes God’s kingdom by rescuing his people out of the kingdom of Satan by taking their sin. And because his work is so successful and so complete, God raises him from the dead. And Jesus rises from the dead and then he meets with his disciples again and says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Now you go into all the world and bring everyone into submission to me. Make disciples.” He is the one to whom every man, woman, and child is obliged to submit.
Well, now we have Matthew’s purpose in writing, and we have Jesus’ purpose and point here in Matthew chapter 11. Jesus is truly the greatest. He’s the world’s only hope. He’s the Redeemer. He’s the promised King. He’s the one who has borne the sin of people. And he is the only one by whom we can have fellowship with God. And in fact, John the Baptist’s message of judgment was true of Jesus as well. And when Jesus returns, he’ll bring all the world into account. He’ll separate the sheep from the goats, and only His will be saved.
We have to see, as Jesus pushes His theme of unique greatness—His unique greatness—that in all that we’re just pushed and we’re forced to decide. According to Jesus, our eternal destiny hinges on our response to Him. True greatness belongs only to Jesus and to those who are rightly related to him. And if you would be saved, as Jesus will tell us at the end of the chapter, you’ve got to come like a helpless baby and acknowledge your helplessness and hang it all on him.
The Gospels then—not just Matthew, but Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—have this one simple primary function, and that is to introduce us to Jesus Christ, to present him in such a way that we are impressed, and impressed such that we submit and trust and follow him as his disciples. They have this evangelistic goal. And the assumption is throughout: you need Him. You’re a sinner and you are lost without Him, and you will be held accountable to Him. And He is singularly suited to all that you need.
And that’s what Christianity has come into the world to say. Christianity has not come into the world to throw you back on the strength of your own arm and say, “Hey, you’re doing pretty well, keep it up.” Christianity’s very reason for being is to point you to a person, the Lord Jesus Christ, the most important person in all of the history of the world, the one, the only one who can say, “All authority in heaven and on earth belongs to me.” The one who is King over all. He’s the one before whom one day you will be held accountable. And he’s the one we need. He’s our only hope. And he is the one who is worthy of our complete and utter submission. As he says in verse 15, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Amen.
Let’s pray. Our Father, what a wonderful Savior we have in Jesus. Our hearts resonate as we read here in this passage and see his great claims. We love to see him exalted and in our heart of hearts we just rejoice with thoughts of his greatness. Lord, perhaps there are some here today who have not seen him yet in his greatness. Open hearts. For all of us, give us a sense of the glory of belonging to him as we anticipate and wait with great expectation his return when we will be with him. In his name we ask, amen.