Matthew Was There and Wrote It Down
Month 4: The Teacher (Part 1) · Why We Believe
Today's Scripture
Read together: Matthew 9:9 & Matthew 10:2-4
9 As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me,” He told him, and Matthew got up and followed Him. — Matthew 9:9
2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. — Matthew 10:2-4
Memory Verse
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”— Matthew 5:6 (BSB)
📖 Bible-in-a-Year (optional)
Today's reading: 1 Kings 10-12
Reading the whole Bible in a year — do this when you have extra time. (Around Day 93 of 365 — Solomon's glory fades and the kingdom splits.)The Heart of It
The Sermon on the Mount didn't float down from the sky. Somebody heard it with his own ears and wrote it down. One of those somebodies was Matthew. We meet him in , sitting at a tax booth. Tax collectors were despised in Israel. They worked for Rome, and they were known for cheating their own neighbors. Yet Jesus walked up to this man everyone avoided. He said two words: "Follow Me." And Matthew got up, left the money behind, and went. Later Jesus chose His twelve apostles. Matthew's name is right there on the list (). It's often written "Matthew the tax collector," as if he never wanted anyone to forget the grace that saved him.
That's why we can trust the Gospel that bears his name. Matthew wasn't writing legends about someone he'd only heard of. He was an eyewitness. He was one of the Twelve. He walked dusty roads with Jesus, watched the miracles, and sat on that hillside drinking in every word of the sermon we're studying. A former tax collector knew how to keep careful records. That's exactly what he did with the words and works of Jesus. When you read Matthew's Gospel, you're reading the testimony of a man who was there. He was so changed by Jesus that he gave up his fortune to follow Him and tell the truth about Him. We believe the Bible not because it's a nice story, but because real people who saw real events wrote down what really happened.
Around the Table
Matthew had a job counting money. Jesus said, "Follow Me!" and Matthew got up and went. Later he wrote a whole book about Jesus!
Let's do it: Pretend to write in a book and say, "I'm writing down everything Jesus did!"
Matthew was an eyewitness. He saw Jesus with his own eyes and heard the Sermon on the Mount in person. That's why his Gospel is trustworthy.
Let's talk: Why would you believe a story more if someone who was actually there told it?
Matthew was a tax collector. People hated him, but he was good at keeping careful records. Jesus turned him into an apostle who wrote down what he saw with his own eyes.
Let's go deeper: How does it strengthen your faith to know the Gospels come from eyewitnesses, not anonymous legends written centuries later?
💬 Conversation Starter
Who in your life keeps the most careful records, or always remembers exactly what happened? How is that a little like what Matthew did for Jesus?
🛡️ Defending the Faith
When someone says, "The Gospels were just made up long after Jesus, so you can't trust them" you can kindly answer like this. The Gospels were written within the lifetimes of people who knew Jesus. Matthew was one of His own twelve apostles. He was an eyewitness to the events. The early church identified him as the author. And he even names himself with the embarrassing title "tax collector." That's not the kind of detail you invent to look good. Eyewitnesses who refused to soften their own past are exactly the witnesses we should trust. As Peter put it, "we did not follow cunningly devised fables, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty" (). Always give that reason gently and respectfully ().
For Dad · Go Deeper
The reliability of the Gospels is not a side issue you bolt on once your kids are older. It is the foundation under everything else you teach them. Our culture treats the Bible as ancient opinion. So our children need to know early that the faith rests on testimony. It comes from people who were there and had every reason to tell the truth, often at the cost of their lives. Matthew walked away from wealth. He had nothing earthly to gain and everything to lose. Study a little of the historical evidence yourself this season. Then, when your fourteen-year-old asks the hard question, you won't flinch. A father who has done his own homework hands his children confidence instead of mere sentiment.
Draws on: Craig Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the Gospels.
Let's Pray Together
"Father, thank You that the Bible is true. It was written by people who really saw and heard Jesus. Thank You for changing Matthew, and for changing us too. Give us strong faith in Your trustworthy Word. In Jesus' name, amen."
The story of Jesus comes from eyewitnesses. I'm standing on solid ground.