Opening Up Matthew’s Gospel
Overview
The theme of Matthew’s Gosel is Jesus and what it means to follow him as his disciple and serve him, our King. But the scope of his Gospel is quite amazing: in his opening verse, Matthew takes us all the way back to Abraham, and in his closing verse, he takes us all the way forward to the close of the present age. Matthew offers us a view of life and of the world that is grounded in God’s plan and purpose, focused in the coming of Jesus and worked out in the ongoing work of the church. The first book in our New Testament has a fitting place in the center of the bible, linking the two parts together.
Top Highlights
“the kingdom of heaven is not just a matter of words, but also a matter of action.” (Page 55)
“It is important to note that the Sermon on the Mount is descriptive before it is prescriptive. It describes what the Christian is before talking of what the Christian should do. For Jesus, obedience grows out of blessedness; the statement of our condition precedes the demands of our discipleship. All the imperatives of the gospel arise out of its indicatives.” (Page 42)
“When is a prayer not a prayer? When it is a matter of public performance (v. 5), or of empty phrases strung together (v. 7), or when we ask God for something that we are not willing to grant to others (v. 15).” (Page 48)
“The third part runs from the exile to Jesus and illustrates God’s saving work in the world.” (Page 24)
“This model prayer is concerned in the first instance with the glory of God. Before we ask anything for ourselves, we look for the hallowing of God’s name, the extending of God’s kingdom and the doing of God’s will. These are the issues that weed out all that is self-centred in our prayer lives. It’s not just a matter of coming with our requests: it is coming with requests for things that will give glory to God, that will be in the interests of his gospel and that will produce more obedience to him in our own lives and in the lives of others.” (Page 48)
- Title: Opening Up Matthew’s Gospel
- Author: Iain D. Campbell
- Publisher: Day One
- Publication Date: 2008
- Pages: 188