Last week Brian shared with us from Matthew’s own personal experience. We saw that the Pharisees were appalled that Jesus was eating dinner at a Tax Collector’s house with a bunch of tax collectors and sinners.

When they tried to trip up Jesus’ disciples, with the question, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Jesus stepped in and answered their question, “It is the sick who need a doctor!”

His point >> you are getting this all wrong. God’s Kingdom is for everyone. It is for those you may deem unworthy. It is for those of you who may feel like you don’t deserve it.

Have you ever had a very busy day where you thought you had left everything you had on the court and at the very end, some fool questions your motives and calls you the devil incarnate?

Today we are going to look at the discouragement we will face when be Bring Kingdom as we live sent. Matthew gives us a glimpse of a day in the life of Jesus. It was busy. It ran the gamut of emotions. It starts with being questioned by maybe the person Jesus admired the most. There were some exciting moments. And it ended with a serious accusation.

Marty Solomon believes that John was Jesus' rabbi. Whether that is true or not we know that Jesus loved and respected John. He said as much in Matthew 11:11, "I tell you among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist…"

It must have been tough for Jesus to be questioned by John. But Jesus responded with grace, not only did He answer John, but He gave Him the reason for why things were not playing out the way John thought they should be.Jesus was living by and teaching a brand new paradigm.

Some days go all wrong. Have you ever experienced one of those. Jesus was bringing Kingdom. He was doing amazing things. People were experience life transforming interactions with Him. And yet, people laughed at what He knew and they could not even fathom.

Some people just don't get how their choices can impact others. These guys probably couldn't help themselves. They couldn't keep from telling everyone what Jesus did for them. And yet their simple act of obedience promoted the focus on Jesus' miracles rather than what He wanted to teach and how He wanted to train His disciples.

If it isn't enough to be questioned by the one you respect. If it isn't enough to be laughed at by those who have no clue. If it isn't enough to be ignored, Jesus had accusations leveled against Him that He was doing what He did by the power of the Devil.

As Matthew was sharing a day in the life of Jesus. He didn't hold back on the great things He did or the difficult things He faced. But what it interesting is Matthew does not say anything to us about how Jesus dealt with it all.

Maybe that is the point Matthew is making. Jesus didn't let these things get to Him. He expected days like this. I think He expects us to be prepared for days like this too. In Matthew 5:11-12 He said, "“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

In Matthew 10, Jesus is going to send His disciples out to do the same things He has been doing. He knows they are going to have similar experiences. And He knows we are too.

This new paradigm sees things from an eternal perspective. Jesus sees the big picture not just the temporary discouraging moment.

Although there were a lot of great moments in Jesus’ life, when you look at the Gospels, Jesus didn’t just have a discouraging day, the last three years of His life grew more and more difficult.

Listen to what the writer of Isaiah 53 wrote about Jesus hundreds of years before, “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.”

Please hear this: Jesus get’s you. His whole life was lived for you. Every time He was questioned. Every time He was laughed at. Every time He was ignored. Every time they accused Him of evil. Jesus was loving you!

One of Jesus’ closest friends, wrote these words in 1 Peter 5:7, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

And the writer of Hebrews added in Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”