The Gospel of Matthew

The first Gospel is traditionally ascribed to Matthew Levi, a tax collector or publican, whom Jesus called to be one of his twelve disciples (Matt. 9:9-13; 10:3).  Practically nothing is known of him except his name and occupation.  After the listing of the apostles in the book of Acts (Acts 1:13) he disappeared from the history of the church.  Nowhere in the First Gospel is he explicitly called its author, but the earlier writers of the church who discuss the authorship credit it to Matthew.

It may have been composed sometime between A.D. 50 and 70 and have been circulated by those who worked in and from the church of Antioch.

The theme of the Gospel of Matthew is announced by its opening words: "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham" (Matt. 1:1).  The Gospel is no mere aggregation of fragmentary sayings and random stories, but it is definitely organized to show how the Messiah discharged the calling for which he came into the world.

The first of these sections acquaints the reader of the Gospel with the background of the Messiah.  His genealogy, stemming from Abraham, the initial recipient of God's promises, and from David, divinely chosen founder of Judah's royal house, is first stated in the opening verse and then demonstrated.  The account of the virgin birth, together with the baptism and the temptation that prepared him for his public labors.  "That it it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet," or some similar expression, occurs no less than five times.  The advent of Jesus is thus depicted as the completion of the divine purpose that was revealed in the Old Testament and that was partially worked out in the historical process that preceded his coming.

Next it opens with the appearance of Jesus in Galilee after the imprisonment of John the Baptist.  It is devoted largely to the declaration of the spiritual and ethical principles of the Messianic kingdom.  Jesus summoned people to repentance and to faith in him, and as he declared to them  the realm in which he was Lord, he sought to point out what the nature of that realm would be and how it could be entered.

Matthew alone uses the phrase "the kingdom of heaven," thirty-three times.  Five times he speaks of "the kingdom of God" (6:33, 12:28; 19:24; 21:31; 21:43).  The other Synoptics use the latter term in many passages where Matthew employs "kingdom of heaven."  While Jesus asserted unmistakably that his kingdom would have an ultimate material manifestation (8:11; 13:40-43),  he also made plain that it has a present spiritual existence (4:17; 12:28).

The spiritual principles of the kingdom were embodied in the Sermon on the Mount, of which Matthew gives the fullest record.  It defined Jesus position with regard to the law, for he said that he "came not to destroy, but to fulfill" (5:17).  He demanded a righteousness that exceeded the standard of Jewish legalism, for it was inward, not outward; spontaneous  not legalistic; gauged by a person, not by a code.  Its highest standard was God himself; "Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (5:48).  In this respect he went beyond the law when he said: "Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time... but I say unto you" (5:21-22).  The Sermon on the Mount is a direct assertion of his rights to transcend the law.  he did not revoke the law but he went beyond it by the sheer holiness of his person.

The criterion of righteousness in the Sermon on the Mount is not conformity with human ideas but knowledge of Christ, hearing his sayings, and doing them(7:23-24).  The full import of Christ's person and work was yet to be realized, but the necessity of making him central to all of his teaching and to all of faith is stated here unmistakably.

The Gospel of Matthew was written to show how Jesus of Nazareth enlarged and explained the revelation that had been begun in the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament.  Although it is strongly Jewish in its character, it was also written for the benefit of Gentiles, since the final commission enjoined the Twelve to make disciples "of all the nations" (28:19).  If it was originally composed for the benefit of the church at Antioch, where Gentile converts first came together in large numbers, the reason for its character would be plain.  Matthew was seeking to show to these converts the meaning of Jesus' ministry in terms of the Old Testament that their Jewish colleagues believed and from which they themselves had been taught.  Matthew evidently wanted to stress the content of Jesus' teaching as related to his person and to the law, in order that the full implications of the Messiah's coming might be clear.

In order to demonstrate the close tie-in of the career of Jesus with the Messianic promises, this Gospel makes much use of quotations from the Old Testament, There are at least sixty obvious examples, falling between 1:23 and 27:48.  Most of them are drawn from Isaiah and the Psalms, yet the Old Testament as a whole is represented.  Further, many of the passages include reference to "the fulfillment" of the words of the prophets.  Jesus career was more than a series of marvelous historical events, it was "the fulfillment of the divine purpose in the promised Messiah.

Special Features

1.  Matthew is the Gospel of the Church.

Matthew's Gospel is the only one in which the word "church" occurs (16:18; 18:17).  Both of these passages were spoken by Christ, showing that he had a definite idea of the church as an institution to come.  The very fact that these utterances of his are embodied in Matthew may indicate that it was written for a young and struggling church that needed encouragement and discipline.

Both passages in Matthew lay emphasis on the authority of the church-the former stressing its leadership, the latter the body as a whole.  In particular, the context of 18:17 includes a pastoral tone-emphasizing the concern for a wayward member (i.e., the lost sheep, 18:10-14) and an erring member (i.e., "If your brother sins against you," 18:15-20).

2.  Matthew is the Gospel of the King.

Not only is the doctrine of the Kingdome emphasized in Matthew, but through all of the Gospel the royal line of Judah.  The alarm of Herod was caused because the birth of Jesus introduced a political rival.  The entry into Jerusalem stresses his arrival as king, riding peacefully on an ass's colt (21:5, 7).  In the eschatological discourse he predicts that he will sit "on the throne of his glory" (19:28; 25:31), an expression found in Matthew alone.  The inscription over the cross, placed by Pilate, was "This is Jesus the King of the Jews" (27:37).

In keeping with the emphasis on a king stemming from David's line, Matthew contains nine references to Jesus as "the son of David" (a title found three times only in Mark and Luke respectively).  As David had established Jerusalem as his capital, so in Matthew alone do we read of Jerusalem as "the holy city" and "the city of the great king" (5:35).

Teamwork

To enlist people to share their vision, leaders must be prepared to walk the walk.

When matching people to roles in the organization, It's not enough to weigh what they've done in the past.  To get the right fit, It's crucial to consider what they could do if the environment allows them to flourish.

Traditions are made to be broken.  If you're doing something just because it's always been done that way, you may be missing an opportunity to do better.

It's easy to downgrade people by dwelling on their weakness.  It's harder to look at them with fresh eyes and identify their strengths-and how they can help the organization to function.

When there is grumbling in the ranks, shift the responsibility back on to the complainers.  Get them to think how they can help the organization, rather than the other way around.

Explain what you're trying to accomplish.  Accept false steps as opportunities to learn.  Leaders have to work harder than the people they hope  to motivate.

When sending a message, it's not enough to be honest and accurate.  The impact of the message will hinge on who's receiving it- and what they're willing to take in at that time.

Not every trainee needs to have the big picture in total focus.  But they do have to understand their role in helping to reach the leaders vision, and to be convinced to work in the right direction.

Washing dirty laundry in public is probably the quickest way to divide your team from within.

Praise can be most valuable when it's merited by someone whose supporting role is overlooked.  To get honest input, reward it with consistent attention-and open mind.

The more you prepare beforehand, the more relaxed and creative and effective you'll be when it counts.

Well-prepared leaders plan ahead for all contingencies, including the ones they consider unlikely or distasteful.

People perform most reliably when they're sure they can handle the task at hand-and that sureness comes only with specific preparation.

Leadership Check List

A.  Vision

1.  Articulate a vision

What is your vision for your church, ministry, team, or family?

What convictions drive your vision?

What kind of team are you building?  How clearly have you communicated your vision?

How important is "trust in God's plan," in your day-to-day activities?

2.  Keep winning and losing in perspective.

What does success mean to you?

What does failure mean to you?

When you suffer,  do you merely mourn the suffering or do you turn it into an opportunity by learning from it?

How good are you at moving on after a disappointment?

3.  Lead by example.

What kind of example do you set for those you train?

Do you ask people to do things you yourself won't do?

How much extra time and effort are you willing to put in?

Are you committed or only interested?

4.  Value God's service more than popularity.

How important is it for you to be liked?

How do you share yourself with your team members?

What qualities or actions do you think God's respects in you?

What do you want your team to remember you for?

5.  Enjoy what you do.

What would you work hard at for no pay?

Are you glad when your training is over or when it begins?

Is training a task or a source of satisfaction for you?

B.  Training

1.  Limit the number of trainee-development goals.

How many things do you have your trainees working on at any one time?

How do you build in self-monitoring and self correction?

How do you make sure that God's most important things are the most urgent to your team members?

2.  Make people master God's service.

How rigorous are you as a trainer about making people know their development tasks?

What part does being on God's plan in your team's performance?

3.  Reduce training errors.

How important are "training challenges" to you?

How carefully do you monitor your team's performance?

What sort of training plan do you follow?

4.  Practice continuous improvement

How important is it to you, as a trainer, that your people keep on growing spiritually?

How open are you yourself to learning?  To changing what isn't working?

How concerned are you about closing gaps between God's plan and your actual training practice?

C.  Relationships

How trusting of God's plan for you, are you?

Do you sometimes let your ego-your need to be right or to win-control your decision making?

How open are you to suggestions from others?

To what extent do you train those God coaches to be ready to change the plan?

D.  Consistency

1.  Manage results

 How carefully do you monitor people's performance so you can manage consequences appropriately.

Are you consistent in your relationship with God?

Do you behave the same way in similar circumstances - praise good performance, redirect or reprimand for less than best results?

2.  Provide positive consequences.

How important is praising (God and Trainee) to you as a training strategy?

How good are you at catching people doing things right, and giving them an appropriate pat on the back?

Are your praisings timely?  Specific? Self-disclosing in terms of your feelings?

When someone is learning, do you wait until they do it exactly right before you praise the person or do you recognize progress?

3.  Redirect

Do you stop and redirect when a person's performance is incorrect?

Do you treat an error from a beginner differently than a similar mistake from a experienced-trainee?

4.  Provide negative motivation

How willing are you to reprimand people when they "can" but "won't"?

When reprimanding someone, do you reaffirm the person's past performance at the end?

5.  Avoid no response.

Could you be accused of not noticing the performance of your trainees?

Have you ever "taken over" on your people?

E.  Integrity-Based

1.  Have integrity.

Would others consider you a Godly person?

How do you keep things in perspective?

Are you impatient?  Do you want what you want right now?  Or do you trust God's plan will work out?

How to you model integrity for your team?  Do you think integrity pays-that you don't have to cheat to win?

2.  Show Godliness.

Are you godly?  Do you do what you promise God you will do?

Do you have the trust and confidence of the people you train?

Do you walk your talk?

3.  Have a sense of humor.

How important is humor in your training?

Are you ever the target of humor?  Are you able to laugh at yourself?

Do you take what you do seriously but yourself lightly?

Homework

Read http://george0361.tripod.com/faith.htm

Then spend a hour writing a action plan on what Jesus said.