The Wonder of Jesus Matthew 15:29-31

In the history of the world, there have been many fascinating people.

People who you look at and say, that was incredible. In the 4th century

BC, Alexander the Great, the military commander from Greco -Macedonia, conquered the known world at the age of 32.

No one has ever matched the speed at which he conquered so much territory. People look on at his life and are amazed.

In the late 15th century, Christopher Columbus sailed across the

Atlantic and was the first European to discover the new world. In fact, Columbus Day was not too long ago.

With this discovery, he changed the world. People look on at his life and are amazed.

Then there's George Washington, known as the father of the United States. He was the first president.

Without Washington, there's no sustained American greatness. He was the right man at the right time.

He was not a power -hungry man who could have made himself king with unlimited power.

He knew the damage that can come from a monarchy through the abuse he saw previously.

And so he set out to be a leader that the people wanted, where he had limited power and the

United States would have a balance of power. A leader like Washington paved the way for the greatest country this world has ever known.

People observe the life that he lived and are amazed. Then you have fascinating people like Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Graham Bell.

They had lots of endeavors in life, but one of those endeavors was to invent. Franklin paved the way for objects powered by electricity with his electrostatic machine.

Many years later, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, which changed the world.

Looking at lives of the past is an interesting endeavor. In the study of history, lives are observed and we are amazed as we look on at certain lives.

But the fascination of these people and how they changed the world in different ways pales in comparison to a man who walked the shores of the

Sea of Galilee and the streets of Jerusalem 2 ,000 years ago. He is the reference point for the most common calendar used in the world today.

The two biggest holidays exist to remember two major events in this man's life.

The book written about him is the best -sold book in the history of the world and every single year is the world's bestseller.

Those who walked among him said there was no one like him. No one before and no one after measures up to his greatness.

He is the most fascinating and the greatest man who has ever lived. I am, of course, talking about Jesus Christ.

What would it have been like to be among him? What will it be like to be in his presence in the future?

To be in contact with Jesus is the greatest experience that anyone can have. This morning, as we continue our sermon series through Matthew, we are going to see people come into contact with him and words do not express what it was like to be in the presence of the most fascinating of all people to have ever lived.

So this time, I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to Matthew 15. We'll be looking at verses 29 -31.

And if you're using one of those red Bibles, it is on page 976. This sermon is titled,

The Wonder of Jesus. And we'll begin by reading the text.

Matthew 15, verses 29 -31. Jesus went on from there and walked beside the sea of Galilee.

And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others.

And they put them at his feet, and he healed them. So that the crowd wondered when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, the blind seeing, and they glorified the

God of Israel. Here's our big idea. Understand that there is no one like Jesus.

So very simply, understand that there is no one like Jesus. And we'll see one reason why as we go through this text.

But before we jump in, let me give you a little recap of where we were one week ago. We saw the account where a

Canaanite woman came to Jesus because her daughter was oppressed by a demon. This woman was desperate, and she knew that the only person who could heal her daughter was

Jesus, so she came to him. But as she came to him, his response to her was perplexing.

Jesus started by not answering her. Then when she continued to pursue him, he said that he came for the people of Israel and not for the

Gentiles. But then the woman continued to plead for him to free her daughter from this demon.

Jesus once again did not grant her desire, but she continued once more, and Jesus finally healed her daughter.

What Jesus told the woman is, He tested her by not healing her daughter immediately.

And what the woman showed was her strong faith. This narrative is an encouragement to us to come to Jesus with strong faith, and when we do, he will answer.

He will deliver. He will help. No matter what obstacles we face, we must hold firm to our faith in him, and he will deliver because he is the steady rock who is always worth putting our trust in.

Now this leads us back to our text that we have already read, and we're going to begin by zeroing in on verse 29, where Matthew once again writes,

What we saw a week ago is that Jesus journeyed up to the Canaanite port towns of Tyre and Sidon, and then as verse 29 tells us, he came back to the

Sea of Galilee. Now we need to remember, this was the day before automobiles. We see someone travel from one place to another in the

Bible. This would have taken days, weeks, to go on these long journeys.

You can imagine how fit these people would have been, right? Because most of their travel is on foot. They're just walking to these places.

Heart issues probably would have been a very small problem at this time in history. During Jesus' ministry, he walked from as far north as Tyre and Sidon, to Galilee, down to Jerusalem.

He did all this on foot. Now in our text, Jesus is back at the

Sea of Galilee. He is back in the region where the people living there are mostly Jews.

Now what we have seen in Matthew is that wherever Jesus goes, that is where the crowds go.

You want to draw a crowd in the first century, make sure Jesus is there. You'll find the crowd.

And when Jesus came back from the port cities of Tyre and Sidon, he did not seek the crowds out. No, he found a quiet place on the mountain, next to the sea.

Verse 29 does not explicitly say that he prayed, but we can assume that he did.

In Matthew 14 -23, after Jesus had fed about 25 ,000 people, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.

So this is probably what he's doing in our text. But even though Jesus does not seek out the crowds, the crowds seek out him.

Let's read this in the beginning of verse 30. And great crowds came to him.

Not just crowds, great crowds came to him. What we read at the beginning of verse 30 is this large group that comes to him.

We're not talking dozens. We're not talking hundreds. We're not talking a thousand.

We're talking thousands. 5 ,000, 10 ,000, 15 ,000.

When the Bible says the crowds gathered, that's what it's talking about. That many people. And when the crowds were around Jesus, they were amazed at him.

People have a certain charisma about them that people are drawn to. In the 19th century in London, Charles Spurgeon was a phenomenon.

Wherever he preached, thousands came to hear him preach. He was known as the Prince of Preachers. He was able to draw a crowd unlike anyone else at that time.

In our day, the closest thing probably in recent history is Billy Graham. Early in his preaching career, crowds came to hear him preach.

Before he knew it, thousands upon thousands came to him. He would fill up stadiums of people.

Whether we're talking about Spurgeon or Billy Graham, nothing compared to Jesus. Jesus' disciples did not have to schedule an event for a crowd to gather.

No, all Jesus had to do was show up and thousands of people would be there to see him. He was a phenomenon and truly the most fascinating person this world has ever known.

What drew people to Jesus is they knew he could help them. In our day, in shallow

America, people are drawn to movie stars, music stars, and athletic stars.

Our society is largely drawn to what people view as the beautiful and the great people of society.

What is interesting about Jesus is that when he walked into a room, you might not even notice that he is there.

Based on his appearance, based on his voice, based on superficial things.

Isaiah 53 -2 described what he looked like. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

That was a prophecy about what he would look like. So a superficial person was not drawn to him.

A number of years ago when I was working as a sales rep for a running shoe company, my boss said something very interesting to me that I think is insightful.

He said there are two types of people. There are those who when they walk into a room, they say, here am

I. Then there are those who when they walk into a room, they don't draw attention to themselves.

But some people are drawn to the second group, not because of something surface level, but something much deeper.

People are drawn to Hollywood because of shallow appearances. Mature people are drawn to other mature people because they are drawn not to shallowness, but to something authentic, to something much deeper.

Think about the reality that you come to this church. You are drawn to this church not because we're cool.

We're not cool. Let's not try to be cool. Let's not pretend to be cool. We're not. I gave up a long time ago.

By the way, to be cool is not a virtuous thing. If that's your goal, you'll have problems.

Don't make that your goal ever. John the Baptist was not cool. The apostles were not cool.

The prophets were not cool. Jesus, in a superficial sense, was not cool. Nor should we desire that.

You're drawn here because of authenticity. Because of realness. Because of depth.

Because of relevance. True relevance. Not fake relevance, what a lot of people call relevance.

You want to meet God. And you want to grow and you are drawn to others here who have that same desire as you.

This is our goal as a church. To be rich, deep, lively church. And not a fake, shallow church that has a false appearance of life.

To be Christ -like is to be drawn to richness. To be drawn to depth.

To be drawn to realness. People were drawn to Jesus not because He was a movie star.

That was considered beautiful by a shallow society. Rather, people were drawn to Him because He is the definition of what is good.

He is the author of good. And when people saw Him, they said, we've never seen anyone like this man.

Jesus used His great power to help people. He used His power to do good. And let's see

His goodness on display in the remainder of verse 30. The crowds bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others.

And they put them at His feet. And He healed them. These people who are coming to Jesus are in desperate need for help.

And you see the list of people here. The people who are coming to Him can't walk.

Can't see. Can't speak. And Matthew even notes many others.

This could be any illness. And demon possession as well. All of these people are coming to Him and all of them are being healed.

What is interesting about these people that are coming to Jesus is that they are not just being healed without meditating on the man who is doing this.

They're not coming to Him as if, okay, He healed me. Let's just forget about who did this.

I'm good now. I'm just going to go on with my life. No. They are doing what one should do when confronted with greatness.

Let's see their response in verse 31. So that the crowd wondered when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing.

What the text says is that the crowd wondered. What the NIV says is that the people were amazed.

What the NESB version of the Bible says is that the crowd was astonished. When I looked at the possible meanings of this

Greek word, one of the meanings is to be had in admiration. When you see

Him, all you can do is admire. All you can do is be awestruck.

When you're in the presence of greatness, this is what you do. You admire. When you see a sunset, you have to stop and say, how beautiful that is.

That's the right thing to do. Don't just keep walking. Look at it. Be amazed. When you see an athlete do something extraordinary, you stop and say, what a great achievement.

When you see a musician play a masterpiece or sing a masterpiece, you stop and say, what a performance.

When you look at a man or woman who has lived a great life, at the end of that life, you stop and say, what a wonderful life lived.

Jason and I were just talking about George Cable, who just passed away. He pastored at Sunrise.

He pastored at Chisago Lakes Baptist. Great man. I think he was about 90 when he passed away, right around that age.

Great man. And people stopped and say, what a wonderful life lived. In our journey through life, we marvel at things all the time.

When you're in the presence of greatness, you admire. This is the appropriate response.

To not do that is to miss out on life. To miss out on the glories of life.

When we're talking about Jesus, the appropriate response is admiration. It's not his shallow outward appearance that people are drawn to.

People are drawn to his greatness. Now it is true that shallow people in the first century were drawn to Jesus' power because he was healing all these people.

He was a miracle worker. They were thrill seekers. That's who they were.

They liked him because of what he could do. They were impressed. But there were others who were much more noble.

Who had maturity. Who had depth. Who were drawn to his greatness, yes, but also his goodness.

He didn't use his power like a magician to show off. He used his power to help people.

He used his power to do good. And people were blown away by the greatness of this man. People long for authenticity.

People long for goodness. People ask the question, is there anyone real out there?

Is there anyone authentic? Is everyone a phony? Is everyone corrupt?

Is everyone mediocre? Is everyone just putting on a performance?

We ask these questions, right? We probably never have asked them more now than ever as we see so much corruption and so much phoniness and so much of a performance.

But when people came to Jesus, they found the One who is truly authentic.

The One who is truly good. Even the most authentic in society paled in comparison to Him.

He is the definition of good and people were drawn to that. Jesus said of Himself in John 8 .12,

I am the light of the world. The one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.

Jesus was the light that shined and people just wanted to be around Him. They weren't drawn to Him because He was a movie star.

At least the ones with more depth. But He's the real deal. He did not wow people because of His physical appearance.

But Jesus was the most beautiful person who has ever lived. The people during His ministry admired

Him and wanted to go with Him. Wherever He went. Most of the people who followed

Jesus were common folks. Ordinary people. They were not the elites of society.

They were not the celebrated. They were not the sophisticated. They were the ones that people forgot.

The downtrodden. The outcasts. It's interesting, we live in America, right? We live in flyover country, right? All the important people live on the coast, right?

East Coast, West Coast. And they just fly right over us, right? The people who followed Jesus were common people.

They were the forgotten of society. And what we have seen as we have gone through Matthew is that the elites were the ones who hated

Him. The corrupt Jewish leaders were the ones who eventually killed Him. These were the wealthy, the well -connected, the powerful.

And what they noticed is that many people weren't listening to them anymore. They had their ear.

Until John the Baptist came on the scene. Then people started looking at this guy.

Wait, this guy is actually different than these other people. And we like what he's saying.

He's actually addressing what's really going on. He's calling us to repent. He's not calling us to do all these exterior rituals that somehow are supposed to make us in a good place with God.

John the Baptist came first. And then Jesus came. He's different.

He's not like our scribes who teach us. He's not like the Pharisees. They were drawn to Him.

And the Jewish leaders were jealous. They did not marvel at Jesus. They did not admire

Him. They hated Him and wanted Him off the scene. He made their lives difficult.

They hated that everyone was marveling at Him. They were jealous. John 12 .19 says concerning the

Pharisees, that they said to one another, you see that you are not accomplishing anything.

Look, the world has gone after Him. They knew that people's attention was switching from them to Him.

The masses, the common people, were drawn to Him, and many of those people came to believe in Him.

These people came to Him for help and treasured Him above all else. And you will notice at the end of verse 31 that this marveling of Jesus turned into worship.

As Matthew writes at the end of verse 31, they glorified the God of Israel.

Now what's interesting is that the region of the Sea of Galilee was predominantly

Jewish. And last week what we saw is that Jesus went to the port cities of Tyre and Sidon.

And the port cities of Tyre and Sidon were Gentile cities. And so when He comes back to the

Sea of Galilee, that region, we're thinking He's coming back to the place where the Jews live. But actually, the people

He's with here are not the Jews. They're the Gentiles. And we'll see that next Sunday based off of what that passage tells us.

But what the text is saying is that they're glorifying. These Gentiles are glorifying the God of Israel.

And what we know is that many of these people came to true faith in Jesus. What we see here is that these people are glorifying the

Father of Jesus. God the Father. And what these people know is that the

Father and the Son are a packaged deal. By believing in the Son, the one who believes in Him has the

Father also. As 1 John 2 .23 says, whoever denies the Son does not have the

Father. The one who confesses the Son has the Father also. These people who are marveling at Jesus' mighty works are praising

Jesus here. But they are praising Him by praising His Father. The God of Israel.

When we praise one person of the Trinity, we praise all of them. It's not like the

Trinity is like, well, why aren't you talking about me? No, they're like, yes, talk about the Father. Talk about the

Son. Talk about the Spirit. By praising one, we praise all. As we worship one

God in three persons. And we need to put ourselves in the shoes of these people.

The devout Jews who came to Him were not corrupt. The devout

Gentiles who came to Him were not corrupt. They were waiting for the true Messiah to come.

And when He came, what they discovered is that He is the most fascinating, precious, and beautiful person who has ever lived.

He did not come to conquer the first time. Remember, that is what the corrupted Jews wanted.

They wanted a Messiah who would come and drive out their enemies so that they would finally be the ones in authority.

They wanted a Messiah of their own imagination. But when the true Messiah came, they wanted nothing to do with Him.

The leaders of this nation did not, and many of the Jews did not. But the people in our text who seek

Jesus on this mountain near Galilee, whether Jews or Gentiles, want the true

Messiah. They bring their sick to Him and they marvel at Him.

And what they say is, what a great Messiah He is. And He is glorified as they glorify the

God of Israel because of Him. Think again about the things in your life that you marvel at.

Think of the things where you stop and say, what a sight that is. And all you can do is stop and admire.

I remember being in Alaska when I was 16. We went to Denali National Park.

And the greatest sight of Denali is seeing the mountain. The mountain that it's named after.

The Native Americans call the mountain Denali. And so the park is named. And we know this mountain as Mount McKinley.

In Denali National Park, there are lots of sights to see. Lots of mountains, wildlife, rivers and streams.

But the greatest sight of all is seeing this giant mountain on a clear day.

And what's interesting is that when you go out to the mountain, what they do is they have these school buses.

That's the only way to get out there. You can't just drive your car out there. To get out there, you have to go on these school buses that are driven out there.

And it's quite a journey. It's about 20 -30 miles to get to the mountain. Mount McKinley, or as it's called

Denali, is 20 ,310 feet high. It is the tallest mountain in the world from top to bottom.

Everest is a peak attached to other mountains, while Mount McKinley is one stand -alone mountain and it stretches almost four miles high.

That's from Eureka to Cushing. That June day that we were there, we saw it.

You have a 25 % chance to see it on a clear day since many times the mountain is blocked by clouds.

But that day we were out there, my parents, my brother and I saw it and what a sight it was.

It's covered by snow year -round. It looks like a big marshmallow. That's how I would describe it. We marveled at it, and you cannot help but praise

God. And when we see a great sight in life, we marvel.

And the appropriate response is astonishment and worship. We are to praise

God for His greatness and goodness. And you have these times in your life where you stop and marvel at something glorious.

But nothing compares to what they saw 2 ,000 years ago. They were in the presence of the one from whom all good things come.

Every amazing sight you've ever seen in your life came from His hand. And to see the author of all good things firsthand like this crowd did would be the greatest sight of all.

As we sit here in the 21st century, we might think, we missed it. We lived during the wrong period of history.

What must it have been like to live among Him? But you know what? We will see

Him one day. Everyone who knows Christ as their Lord, Savior, and treasure. Everyone here who knows

Christ will see Him face -to -face in all of His glory. I love what the

Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1 .8. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. And though you do not now see

Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

What a wonderful verse that is. It says you don't see Him now, but you love

Him. And one day, you will see Him. You'll see the one that you have believed in.

You'll see the one that the eyewitnesses have written about. The ones who walked among Him have written about.

And one day, you'll join them. And you're going to see Him in all of His glory. They saw Him before that.

There was a light shining from Him. You get this image in Revelation, this piercing light that represents

His glory. We'll be able to be close to Him, to hear Him talk, to touch

Him. I don't know what the rules will be, but I think we'll be able to touch Him. And we'll be in the presence of our

God, Savior, King, and Friend. Understand that there is no one like Jesus and the reason why is that those drawn to Him are drawn to the purest of all glories.

That's our reason why. That's the one reason why in your outline. Understand that there is no one like Jesus and the reason why is that those drawn to Him are drawn to the purest of all glories.

As we think about what awaits the Christian, let's close this morning by reading

Revelation 22, verses 1 -5. This is the

Apostle John's vision of heaven where he sees Jesus. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the

Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. Also on either side of the river, the tree of life, with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month.

The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the

Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads, and night will be no more.

They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever."

Right now, we have a relationship with Christ, and even though we don't see

Him, He is with us. And I just want to say too, if anyone here does not know Christ as their

Lord, Savior, and Treasure, believe in Him today. He went to the cross. He died for your sins. He rose from the dead.

He died in your place so that you can be saved. He faced hell for you so that you don't have to go to hell.

When He bore the holy wrath of God at Golgotha. So believe in the

Lord Jesus Christ. A day is coming when all who know

Him will see Him. And just as that crowd on the mountain near the Sea of Galilee marveled and praised

God as they stood in His presence, so will we. This is the future that you have.

No matter what you're facing right now, no matter what difficulty, push through it with His strength.

Run to the finish line. It might be that His return is close. It might be that your death is close.

It might be closer than you could ever realize. But when we cross the finish line of this life, it will be the greatest sight we have ever seen.

We will look upon the greatest one there is. That's what you have to look forward to.

Amen. Now next Sunday, we will once again see Jesus do an extraordinary miracle.

We already saw Him feed thousands of people and now in a different episode, we will see

Him perform the same miracle to a different people. But it's still very large numbers.

So I look forward to looking at that with you next Sunday. But at this time, let's bow our heads in prayer.

Father in Heaven, truly Lord, the glory that is coming is greater than we could ever imagine.

You know, we think of the glorious things of this life. The glorious things that man tries to produce and how pathetic it is compared to the glory that You have.

The glory that You will display in the future. And Lord, this morning, may that be our hope.

May that be where our eyes are fixed. That our eyes would not be fixed on the mess of this world that we live in.

That we so clearly see the world is looking for solutions to try to cause it to improve.

And yet, Lord, we know that this world will never be fixed. We know that it will come to an end.

And we know, Lord, that You will bring in a world that is perfect. The world we have always longed for. So may that be our hope,

Lord, this morning and every day. And strengthen us in this, in Jesus' name, Amen.