Grace Road Church

Throughout the Bible, the concept of marriage is used as an image of the relationship between Christ and His church. This week, we look at the parable of the wedding feat in Matthew 22:1-14, in which Jesus alludes to the wedding supper of the Lamb found in Revelation. Through this parable, Jesus demonstrates the consequences of apathy, the lavishness of God's call to us, and the importance of Jesus' imputed righteousness. What does it mean to "put on Christ?" How does our own self-righteousness get in the way? Cody Wilbanks unpacks this and more.

We will resume our Matthew series in the fall as we pause for a summer of guest speakers and standalone sermons.

As we continue through Matthew 21, the Pharisees persist in challenging Jesus' authority. Now, Jesus gives them a second parable to demonstrate himself as God's son. This parable is a type of prophetic autobiography, in which Jesus foreshadows his own death. What is Jesus communicating to the pharisees about the nature of God's kingdom? How is Jesus the better prophet? Join us as Cody unpacks these questions and more.

Cody continues our journey through Matthew 21 this week as Jesus' authority is challenged in verses 23-32. Jesus answers this question posed by the Pharisees by giving them a parable of two sons: one who first denies his father's authority but then changes his mind and one who claims fealty but denies in action. Cody charges us to ask ourselves: which son are we most like? What does true repentance look like? Will we be relentless rebels or repentant ones?

This week, Cody walks us through a familiar Bible story: Jesus overturning the tables in the temple. Often, Jesus' anger in this scene can be misunderstood as a justification of our own anger towards others. Instead, Cody shows us that Jesus' anger is not like ours, and we are likely more similar to the Pharisees and money changers in this story than Jesus himself.

In honor of Mother's Day, Kevin Maloney skips ahead this week to Matthew 20:17-28 and unpacks the request made by the mother of the sons of Zebedee. She asks Jesus if He would assign her sons important positions in the kingdom, seated at His right and left hand. Jesus uses this request to demonstrate real greatness in the kingdom of God: a path antithetical to the way we view success in this life.