Redeemer will be walking through Matthew’s gospel during the 2022/23 year. Our very first sermon series was in Mark, but since then we haven’t had a good long look at a gospel. So we’re due! There is nothing quite like coming to grips with Jesus in His own words and on His own terms.

The hope would be for believers to grow closer to Jesus as we hear and wrestle with His words. For those who follow Him to understand more about the kingdom He preached about and to yearn and desire for it. As we grow in greater love for Him, we will grow in greater love for those we know and love, and those who we don’t know yet.

We’ll begin by looking at the first four chapters of Matthew then add other series as we progress through the book.

Some of the prominent themes in Matthew we’ll be learning about:

Kingdom of heaven
The phrase “kingdom of heaven” occurs 31 times in Matthew and is a big theme in the book. Indeed, an overview summation of all of Jesus’ preaching is in 4.17: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” The kingdom of heaven, a particularly Jewish way of saying kingdom of God, is a new community that is faithful the Old Testament writings, of which Jesus, the Messiah, now leads. This new community is larger in scope of ethnic Israel and now is an invitation to the whole world.

Jesus, the Messiah
Of the three synoptic gospels, Matthew uses the word “Messiah” more than all of them. The promised Messiah of the Old Testament is found in Jesus. For dedicated religious Jews like Matthew, this is a very important reality and change.

Jesus, the new and better Israel
In Matthew Jesus’ life is written in comparison to the Israel of the Old Testament. Where Israel failed, Jesus succeeds. Where Israel was disobedient, Jesus is obedient. Jesus is the obedient son of God of which Israel, even at her best, was only a type and shadow.

Fulfilment
As with kingdom of heaven, the Messiah, and the real Israel, Matthew writes often about fulfilment. In biblical fulfilment there is a continuity and discontinuity present: continuity with the old, but expanded and changed in such a way for it to be new and different. Jesus’ baptism, the Sermon on the Mount, healings, His death. The theme of fulfilment is what connects the Old and New Testaments and Jesus is at its centre.

North and South
Being a geographically based narrative, like a road trip film, place does matter. Jesus comes from the north, where money and power are scarce. Those in the south, with the money and power and status (even of Jerusalem itself ), couldn’t conceive of someone important coming from the north. Much like in our time and place, geographical snobbery is at play in this gospel, and the original audience would have understood this immediately. This is easy for us to miss, but they would have felt it in their bones.

We’ve created a series of notebooks to accompany the messages. Perfect for referring back to. Anyone on a Sunday can have one at no cost.