Thursday - Matthew 7 - The Master Holds a Mirror for Us

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AVING dissected the law & found its very heart, & having turned our eyes heavenward in worship & faith, now we look within. If we begin our spiritual journey by looking within ourselves, we will only despair. Or worse, we may begin to worship self. However, once we have been humbled by God's law & exalted by a clear manifestation of His magnanimous management of our lives, it is then that we are equipped to look within & examine our own soul under the light of the truth.

Let the Spirit of God hold the mirror of His Word in front of you so you can look at your own soul – so you can see it clearly & adjust. While we are all commanded to be discerning, we are not supposed to take the place of God. "Being judgmental" has little meaning theologically. But, being harsh with others, & imagining ourselves to be morally superior (& being lenient on ourselves): this common attitude must be obliterated (vs. 1-5).

From the springboard of the first 5 verses of Matthew 6, Christ challenges us to consider the ramifications of how we invest truth (vs. 6). He invites us to bring our needs to Him for solutions. This implies that we also should seek to discern what it is that we need, & what the good things are that God would want to give to us. Prayer demands self-analysis. 

Then Jesus continues by requiring that we examine our own desires & motives even as we move & act continuously toward others (vs. 12). It is the golden rule. But that rule demands honest introspection. And He continues further by challenging us to examine our own soul’s salvation (vs. 13-27).

Wednesday - Matthew 6 - The Master Continues

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OD is in charge. From the mouths of angels, we are reminded in this chapter that God is the Boss. He is the Dreamer, the Architect, the Artist, the Builder, the Supplier, the Manager, the Owner; the everything of our lives. Matthew 6 teaches us to look to Him for our very purpose in life.

When we give to a poor neighbor, it is not for our neighbor’s sake, nor our own (nor for the critical observers all around). We should give above all because God is watching (vs. 1-4). When we pray, we should not try to impress a human audience with our extensive spiritual vocabulary (or passion, or persistence), nor should we attempt to assure ourselves of our own worthiness through the maintenance of a specific religious habit. It is God who is supposed to be the central figure in every prayer. When we forgive, if we fast, as we invest; no matter what we do, God wants us to live with faith, loyalty & a dependence that is directed toward Him.

There is a phrase in Matthew 6:25, 28, 31 & 34 that fillets our spirit & lays it out for a very efficient & thorough autopsy to be conducted on that dead nature (Colossians 3:3). "Take no thought..." He said.  Human worries & fears are strong evidence that we are broken & in need of repair. If God is alive, & He is; if God is omnipotent, & He is; if God knows everything, & He does; if God cares for us enough that He would give His own life for us, which He did, then our worries & fears are unfounded (see vs. 33).

Tuesday - Matthew 5 - The Master Speaks

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ATTHEW 5 may not be the apex of the entire Bible, but is is the apex of all the Scriptures that we have studied from Genesis up to Matthew 5. It is apparent from chapters 1-4 that Jesus is the One to whom all previous prophecies have ultimately pointed. Now we find His first recorded sermon. And, the substance of His "Sermon on the Mount" is quite heavy.

Notably, there is an unmistakable optimism & tone of hope here. Jesus did not open His mouth & say, "Cursed are the proud, for they will inhabit hell!"  He could have started out that way.  That is a fair implication from Matthew 5:3.  It is surely taught elsewhere in the Bible. But Jesus didn't come to condemn the world. He came to save us! So, there are many positive statements in this sermon. What marvelous encouragement it is to read these words, realizing they were spoken by our incarnate God. Surely the hope of nations had arrived & was speaking peace on the mountain on that day.

But wait! Another thing to notice here is the impossibility of the expectations of Jehovah. Who can live by the standards and conditions that Jesus declared? Clearly Jesus wasn't burning the rulebook. He was publishing a commentary that reiterated, clarified & intensified it.  Why?  1. The law was originally intended to portray God's holiness loudly, & thereby to convince men of their desperate need for God's grace & mercy. 2. More can be expected of servants when their Master is present to guide every subtle movement. Christ came to not only keep the law for us but also to enable us to live in the very spirit of that law.

Monday - Matthew 4 - The Beginning of Jesus' Ministry

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 HIS chapter gives us an account of the temptation of Christ in the wilderness, the calling of 4 of His disciples (Peter, Andrew, James & John) & the His initial influence in Galilee.

Part of the plan of redemption; part of the reason for the incarnation of the eternal Son of God was so that He could be tempted & tried. After Jesus' baptism, the Spirit of God guided Him away from society for an extended period of solitude & spiritual preparation. Jesus communed with His heavenly Father for 40 days (in the wilderness). Afterward, Satan himself came to Christ to resist Him. With 3 different carrots, Lucifer attempted to entice Christ to sin. While Jesus had no sinful nature & therefore, He could not be tempted with evil (especially from within), He was genuinely tested by the offering of these things. And in every case, the tool which He used (to do battle with the devil) was His written Word.

Now, Jesus was a Galilean. But He had been reared in Nazareth. According to Isaiah 9:1-2, the Messiah had to be from Galilee. So, He moved approximately 20 miles to the northeast, to Capernaum. There He met 4 anglers & took them under His wing in order to begin training them for an apostolic ministry. Then, His ministry moved into full swing. He began teaching, preaching, healing & exorcising. John had prepared the way for Him & (no surprise) hordes of people began to follow Jesus.