Category Archives: Matthew

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Your Confidence in the Un-Random God

Your Heavenly Father Leaves Nothing Up To Chance

There is nothing random about God; nothing is left up to chance. The God of the Bible is the sovereign Lord of the universe, and is ruling over the details of history to bring about his perfect plan. What may seem like happenstance or coincidence, God has foreordained, caused, or permitted in his perfect will. Coincidence is simply a sovereign act of God for which he chooses to remain unseen, a miracle for which he prefers anonymity. God is in control of all things, and that includes your life.

The Journey: Matthew 2:5,15,18,23

For thus it is written in the prophets…

The birth and life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Savior of the world, was not the product of random events. It was the direct result of prophetic fulfillment. Thus, the phrase linking Christ’s life to Old Testament prophecy is repeated four times here in this second chapter of Matthew’s Gospel.

Those details of Jesus’ life had been laid out in the mind of God from eternity past and had been written down in the inspired utterances of the prophets of old hundreds of years before Christ was born. The fulfillment of scores of prophecies in minute detail of the birth, life, death, and resurrection Jesus leaves us with a pretty amazing track record of prophetic accuracy…leaving no doubt that those prophecies detailing his second coming will most certainly be fulfilled, too.

There is nothing random about God; nothing is left up to chance. The God of the Bible is the sovereign Lord of the universe, and is ruling over the details of history to bring about his perfect plan. What may seem like happenstance or coincidence, God has foreordained, caused, or permitted in his perfect will. Coincidence is simply a sovereign act of God for which he chooses to remain unseen, a miracle for which he prefers anonymity.

God is in control of all things, and that includes your life. David wrote in Psalm 139:16,

You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.

God’s Word invites you to live with amazing confidence today, knowing that he is in control of all things, including even the smallest details of your life. Therefore, you can say, “all things will work together for my good and his glory.”

As John Newton said, “We serve a gracious Master who knows how to overrule even our mistakes to His glory and our own advantage.” You can take that to the bank!

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, I will live confidently and expectantly this day, and this year, knowing that my life is a part of your greater plan. Take over my life completely, and may every detail of my existence serve your purposes perfectly and bring great glory to your name.
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Delayed, But Not Denied

God Will Fulfill All Of His Promises To You

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “God does not give us everything we want, but He does fulfill His promises…leading us along the best and straightest paths to Himself.” Catch that? He fulfills his promises—all of them! So which one are you claiming. If there are over 7,000 promises that God has made to his people in the Bible, shouldn’t you be claiming one or two of them for yourself? Look up a couple of promises in God’s Word, memorize them and pray them back to God every day this week.

The Journey: Matthew 1:1-2

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren.

Back in the day when I was growing up, you had two choices in Bible versions: The King James or the King James.  And the King James used the word “begat” when listing the genealogies of the Bible, as is the case in this chapter.  To read through what seems likean unending lists of mostly boring and meaningless names in these genealogical record took real commitment. Matthew 1 is a case in point: “Judah begat Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez begat Hezron, and Hezron begat Ram…” and so forth.

Perhaps you were tempted to skip over this chapter today, or maybe just to just read through these names a little faster than normal. That’s what we tend to do with genealogies—the “begats”. If we read them at all, we just breeze through them. They’re to be endured, not enjoyed; tolerated, not celebrated. That’s understandable. The names are hard to pronounce. We don’t have any historical context for most of these people. Reading these names is akin of reading from the phone book.

Yet we believe the inspired Word of God is inerrant in all it affirms, the only authoritative and infallible rule of faith and conduct. That means every chapter, every verse and every line is God’s perfect Word for us—even the genealogies. They are not here by mistake; they are not here just as filler. They are here by God’s design for our benefit. So, in a sense, these genealogies are truly “Designer genes”.

If you have ever researched your genealogy by looking up your family tree, you know that what you are looking at is the historical thumbprint that provides context to the ongoing story of your life. That’s why God spent valuable ink in His Word passing these genealogies to us. And this genealogy in Matthew is important because these names not only remind us of how Jesus got here. They tell us the story of who God is. And since God is our Father, the stories behind these names reveal the “Designer genes” that make us, spiritually speaking, who we are.

This particular genealogy tells a wonderful story—a very important story that you and I really need to know: It tells the story that God is the God of promise.

The very first line in Matthew 1:1 says, “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham.” The birth of Jesus was the result of a Divine promise made thousands of years before his birth. The God of the Bible is a God who makes promises—and is faithful to keep them—every one! The Bible contains about 7,000 promises, and two of them stand head and shoulders above the rest: The Abrahamic and the Davidic covenants. Abraham and David are two significant Old Testament characters. God made promises to them in response to their faithfulness.

To David, God made the promise of an everlasting throne 1 Chronicles 17:11-14, “When your days are over and you go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom…I will establish his throne forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son…I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.”

But God not only promised David an enduring throne, he promised Abraham a universal seed. God told Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 that through his genealogy the whole world would be blessed. That didn’t happen for Abraham through Isaac, or Jacob, or Judah. It didn’t even happen for David through Solomon. The enduring throne and the universal blessing were revealed and fulfilled hundreds of years later through Jesus Christ.

The point is that in this genealogy, we see that God always keeps his promises. They may be so slow in coming, but they are never late. God’s promises may seem delayed, but they are never denied. And every time you read this genealogy, or any Bible genealogy for that matter, you are seeing how the God of history, in his sovereign timing, fulfills what he has promised.

And the God who made 7,000 promises in his Word, many of them direct promises to you, will fulfill them all in his sovereign time! It doesn’t matter when he fulfills them or how…it only matters that he will.

And he will, because he’s the God who fulfills!

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, you keep all of your promises. You’ve proven that throughout human history. Now there is one more I am calling upon you to fulfill this year. Along the way in 2019, conform me to the image of your Son. In all the circumstances that come my way, good and bad, make me more like Jesus!
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A Day To Begin Again

The Journey to Christlikeness

The New Year is just a few hours old, and I don’t know what this year holds for you and me, but I know Who holds this year. He is Immanuel, the God who is with us each step of the way. And since he is with us – behind us, in front of us, alongside us – he will fulfill each of his promises and accomplish all of his purposes—not the least of which is to conform us to the likeness of his Son. He is the unstoppable God, and making us more like Christ is his target – and he never misses. He will get us there looking a lot more like Jesus!

The Journey: Matthew 1:22-23

All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel,’ which means, ‘God is with us.’”

For me, the launch of the New Year is always the opportunity to begin again. I’ve set new goals for myself, and today I continue the march toward that which God has called me: The transformation of my life into complete Christlikeness. Like the Apostle Paul, this will be my consuming passion this year:

Until Christ is formed in you! (Galatians 4:19)

One of those critical goals that will propel me forward toward Christlikeness is to have a “quiet time” with God every single day this year. I know of no more powerful and profound, yet simple key to Christian growth, spiritual health and life change than to read, meditate on, and pray over God’s Word. You cannot grow and you will not be “bless-able” without the intimate relationship with God that comes through his Word. It will not be apart from reading, memorizing, meditating, absorbing, obeying and loving God’s Word that God will truly take over Ray Noah in the next 365 days.

So I want to invite you to join me on this journey. I will be reading the Gospels four times this year—one chapter each day Monday through Friday. When I get through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, I will return to Matthew and begin again.

So why the gospels, you ask? Well, if I am going to look more like Jesus this year, I figured spending time listening to his words, watching his life, and absorbing his ways couldn’t hurt. And what better way to do that than by saturating my life in his story, which is contained in these four gospels.

Now as you start off today’s reading in Matthew 1, you are immediately confronted with a list of names, which, for the most part, are meaningless to you. You may be tempted just to skip past these names, but I want to challenge you not to do that. You see, each name, just like in your own family history, tells a story. And that story reveals God’s activity in fulfilling his divine purpose to bring about the birth of his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus did not just suddenly appear in history without context—his birth was the result of God’s eternal plan.

Not only do these names show us how God was fulfilling his sovereign purpose, they show us how he was fulfilling his divine promise. Jesus was born as a result of a promise God had made hundreds of years before, first to Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:15), then to Abraham (Genesis 12:3) and to King David (I Chronicles 17:11-14). God never breaks a promise—you can count on that!

Furthermore, these names not only tell the story of God’s purpose and God’s promise, but they tell us the story of God’s grace in using fallen and quite flawed human beings as the conduit through whom his Son would be born. In this listing of the Messiah’s progenitors are some unlikely and undeserving people: Tamar, a Gentile woman who slept with her father-in-law; Rahab, a Gentile prostitute; Ruth, a Gentile woman from the hated Moabite nation; and Bathsheba, who is listed as the “wife of Uriah the Hittite”, the woman with whom King David had an adulterous affair.

It is nothing less than amazing that God would use people you would never expect as the human conduit through which he would fulfill his purposes and his promises. And if God would use people like them, he will use people like you and me. That is the grace of God!

This opening chapter here in Matthew’s Gospel that begins with all these strange and boring names tells us the amazing story of how our purposeful, faithful and gracious God went to extreme lengths to reach us and redeem us with his love. He didn’t send his love through a written message, or a public service announcement, or a sign in the heavens. He sent himself! He sent his love through a baby born in a manger, who was called Immanuel—which means, “God is now with us.”

Here we are at the beginning of the New Year, and I don’t know what this year holds for you and me, but I know Who holds this year. He is Immanuel. He is God, and he is with us. He is the God who will fulfill each of his promises and who will accomplish all of his purposes—not the least of which is to conform us to the likeness of his Son. He is the unstoppable God, and making us more like Christ is his target—and he never misses!

And he is the God who has every right to rule my life—and yours!

Have you set some action steps that will allow God to completely rule your life this year? I hope so. I have—I’ve listed 5 of them below (I have a few more that I’ll not bore you with at the moment). Take some time to write down your action steps—and if you don’t mind, share them with someone to whom you will be accountable.

  1. To have a daily quiet time with God—Bible reading, journaling and prayer.
  2. To share my faith with a lost person at least once per month.
  3. To live a morally pure and God-pleasing life each of the next 365 days.
  4. To look more like Christ in my thinking, feeling and acting life—that my growth in Christ-likeness will be evident to my family, associates and followers.
  5. To know and do God’s perfect will.

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

Lord, I really need your help on this. This year, pull out all the stops to conform me to the image of your Son. 365 days from now, may there be a noticeable change in me—may people actually mistake me for Jesus!
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Living Just To Avoid Hell Is Shortchanging Your Christianity

There Is So Much More God Has Planned For You

Don’t get me wrong, forgiveness is a wonderful thing. What a gift of mercy and grace to be cleansed from sin and pardoned from guilt. But that is just the beginning! God wants to do so much more in us and through our lives than just forgive us and remove our guilt. A life of kingdom abundance and eternal impact is what he has in mind.

Enduring Truth // Focus: Matthew 3:11

I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Some people get stuck at pardon and never move beyond it. God wants us to move forward in power and join him in the great reclamation project of redeeming mankind and restoring creation to his rule.

Now don’t get me wrong, forgiveness is a wonderful thing. What a gift of mercy and grace to be cleansed from sin and pardoned from guilt, but that is just the beginning! God wants to do so much more in us and through our lives than just forgive us and remove our guilt.

Unfortunately, some Christians don’t get that and are content to live just righteously enough to stay out of hell. In a sense, they live on the edge of the promised land of power in the holding pen of pardon. What low expectations!

John the Baptist’s work in preparation for the arrival of Jesus was simply to call people to repentance of sins. To prove their willingness and demonstrate their obedience, John baptized them in water. That was a very significant marker in the life of the believer; a public statement to the initial commitment they had made in response to God’s invitation to salvation. So important was this act that Jesus himself submitted to it (Matthew 3:15, NLT), and then told his disciples that their commission was to lead other people into it (Matthew 28:19, NLT).

But John didn’t stop with baptism unto repentance. He preached that Jesus would take people to the next step; Jesus would take them way beyond by baptizing them with the Holy Spirit and with fire. In other words, Jesus would baptize his followers with the very same power that enabled him to be the Agent of creation, the Lord of life, the Savior of the world, the Master over sin, sickness, death, all the powers of the unseen realm and all of the physical elements of the seen world, and the King of Kings for all eternity. Yes, Jesus would impart to all who would follow him that very same power in the Person of the Holy Spirit.

It would be through the person of the Holy Spirit, fully dwelling in the believer that Jesus would empower his followers to do the same works he performed and proclaim the same words he preached, calling the rest of un-redeemed mankind to repentance and restoration as God’s very own children. Furthermore, through the same empowering of the Spirit, Jesus would baptize with fire. Fire represented cleansing, purity and judgment in the Bible. The baptism of fire that Jesus would bring would purify God’s people to be his very own family, and would bring those who refused under the righteous judgment of God at the proper time.

Now isn’t that so much more than just forgiveness? Isn’t that far better than simply living in the holding pen of pardon? Jesus has a life of purpose for you far beyond what your university degree or your current career or your bank account or anything else can give you. Through the Holy Spirit, he will empower you to do God’s work on Planet Earth!

That sounds so much more exciting to me than merely living my life just so I avoid hell. I don’t know about you, but I want Jesus to baptize me again today in the Holy Spirit’s power and fire. I want to be emboldened and purified to do God’s work for him today on this planet.

How about you?

Thrive: Jesus said in Luke 11:13, “How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.” Have you asked lately for a fresh infilling? If not, ask!

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Be Spirit Filled – By Whatever Means!

Quit Quibbling and Get Filled

Jesus often referred to the “promise of the Father,” which was—and still is—to send the Holy Spirit to be with us, dwell within us, and work through us in ways that are beyond human replication. It doesn’t take too long reading in the New Testament to understand that God’s deep desire for his children is that they would live as Spirit-filled people.

Enduring Truth // Focus: Matthew 10:18-20

You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me. When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

The New Testament writers spoke often of the Holy Spirit. Jesus directly spoke a great deal about the Spirit as well. For the first century Christians, a relationship with the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, was just as normal and expected a part of their faith experience as was their relationship with Jesus.

It is unfortunate that what was fully embraced in the first century has become so controversial in our day: The infilling of the Holy Spirit. We now quibble over if one is Spirit-filled at salvation or if the infilling comes when one is baptized in the Spirit as a separate and distinct event. We argue over whether speaking in tongues is the initial physical evidence of being Spirit-baptized or if the Spiritual language is even valid in the 21st century.

Theological lines have been drawn, denominations have been formed, preachers have taken their stand on one side of the issue or the other, position papers have been issued, and all the while God longingly waits to give the Holy Spirit to all who ask (Luke 11:13).

Jesus often referred to the “promise of the Father,” which was—and still is—to send the Holy Spirit to be with us, dwell within us, and work through us in ways that are beyond human replication. It doesn’t take too long reading in the New Testament to understand that God’s deep desire for his children is that they would live as Spirit-filled people.

For the believer, the Spirit-filled life is not an option, but a divine expectation. It is an act of faith and obedience that will enable the believer to experience dimensions of the blessedness that the Acts 2 believers experienced. Nothing but the Spirit-filled life will empower the believer for his/her mission in the world. Nothing but the Spirit-filled life will enable the believer to live the kind of holy and honoring life God calls for—and deserves. Nothing but the Spirit-filled life will equip the believer with words—and courage—to stand before hostile people to fearlessly declare what the world does not want but so desperately needs to hear:

God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

The Father is still waiting to deliver His gift to those who ask: “Ask and keep on asking…for how much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask!” (Luke 11:9-13)

We may quibble over the mechanism of Spirit infilling, but the bottom line is, by whatever means, be filled and keep on being filled with God the Holy Spirit.

The Father promised it. Jesus declared it. The Holy Spirit is ready for it. Are you?

Thrive: Try this prayer for Spirit-infilling: “Lord Jesus, you are the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Just as you breathed on your disciples and invited them to receive the Holy Spirit, I ask you to breathe on me and baptize me in the Spirit of your Father afresh today. Fill me with the Holy Spirit from the center to the circumference of my life—truly take over every square inch and every split second of my life.”

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The Malpractice of Prayer – And How To Avoid It

Getting Real With God

Jesus is calling us out of the legalistic, joyless intimidation of misunderstood and malpracticed prayer and into an authentic, intimate, simple, day-by-day, moment-by-moment practice of the presence of God. This is the kind of prayer that pleases our Father God more than anything. And “when you pray” like that, the Father opens up all of heaven to you!

Enduring Truth // Focus: Matthew 6:5

When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get.

In Jesus’ day, prayer had been hijacked. The culprits were the religious leaders and the Pharisee—Jesus called them “hypocrites”. They had turned the simple and wonderful practice of talking to God into a ritualized, formalized, mechanized and stylized event. As a result, something meant to connect people with God had turned into an intimidating, joyless experience since few people were eloquent enough to pull off the impressive public prayers demanded by the spiritual elite.

This misuse and abuse of prayer disgusted Jesus, the master of prayer. So in a teaching moment that was both scathing, yet soothing at the same time, he sat the record straight as to what the kind of prayer that truly pleases God really looked like.

First of all, Jesus taught that God-pleasing prayer is authentic. Jesus said in verse 5, “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them.” The hypocrites—the Pharisees and religious leaders—were pretentious. Their motive for praying was to impress the crowds, but they were anything but real. God wasn’t, and isn’t, impressed by the style or the content of our prayers. He’s moved by our honesty—even if it is not too articulate and especially when it is heartfelt. Jesus is saying that God wants his children to just “get real” before him.

Secondly, Jesus taught that God-pleasing prayer is intimate. Verse 6 says, “when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private.” The use of the name “Father” isn’t a mistake. Jesus is painting an altogether different picture of what God intended prayer to be than what man had turned it into. Jesus is referring to a childlike quality and posture that payer is to take before the Father. That’s because God-pleasing prayer is really a parent-child exchange. It is simply being with a Father who longs to be close to his kids.

Finally, Jesus taught that God-pleasing prayer is simple. He said in verse 7, “don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.” I can’t help but think if Jesus was here today to teach us about prayer, he would instruct us in the KISS method: Keep it simple, sweetheart!

Jesus is calling us out of the legalistic, joyless intimidation of misunderstood and malpracticed prayer and into an authentic, intimate, simple, day-by-day, moment-by-moment practice of the presence of God. This is the kind of prayer that pleases our Father God more than anything. And “when you pray” like that, the Father opens up all of heaven to you!

Thrive: Practice brutally real, child-to-Father, very simple prayers throughout the day. You will please God more than you know!

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Why Jesus Is So Annoying

Thank Him for Getting Under Your Skin

Why is Jesus so annoying? How come he doesn’t always play nice? What is it that makes him so willing to irritate both sinners and saints—but especially the saints? Precisely because Jesus is more committed to our holiness than he is concerned about our happiness!

Enduring Truth // Focus: Matthew 15:12-14

Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?” Jesus replied, “Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.”

On a fairly regular basis, Jesus got under people’s skin. In fact, he flat out annoyed them—and it didn’t bother him in the least. He didn’t come to earth to win a popularity contest, he came to get in the way of people’s headlong plunge into hell. That meant he had to tell them the truth—even if it ruffled their feathers. By the way, he is still doing that today, and chances are, he’s fixing to ruffle your feathers, too (if he hasn’t already)!

So why is Jesus so annoying? How come he doesn’t always play nice? What is it that makes him so willing to irritate both sinners and saints—but especially the saints? I’ve already given the answer, but let me restate it once again:

Jesus is more committed to your holiness than he is concerned about your happiness!

You see, it is holiness that will get you into heaven and keep you out of hell. Now that’s not just my opinion, that’s a direct quote from the Word of God. Hebrews 12:14 (NLT) very clearly says, “work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.”

That’s why Jesus is so willing to get up in your grill and tell it like it is. He wants you to be holy, just as he is holy. That’s why he says things that are uncomfortable, that will make you squirm, that are frankly, offensive…things like,

Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. (John 6:53, NLT)

You will perish unless you repent of your sins and turn to God. (Luke 13:3, NLT)

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. (John 14:6, NLT)

Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. (Matthew 7:21, NLT)

All who love me will do what I say…Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. (John 14:23-24, NLT)

And on and on the list of Jesus’ annoying sayings goes. Now of course, Jesus is not annoying for annoyance sake. He says things that make us uncomfortable because he loves us, and wants us to partake of his holiness. In fact, in the greatest act of love imaginable, he died on the cross so that you and I could enter through his sacrifice into the very holiness that will put us and keep us in right standing with a holy God. That is called imputed holiness—which Jesus offers as a free gift, received only and completely by grace through faith.

What a deal—Jesus paid the full price for my holiness, and all I have to do is turn to him in full repentance of my sins, full acceptance of his death and resurrection, full surrender to his Lordship over my life, and I am declared holy. Moreover, I am then declared legally holy because I now stand before God in the holiness of Jesus Christ.

Now there is one more thing: Hebrews 12:14 said we are to “work at living a holy life”. Since Jesus has graciously done so very much to make us holy, we ought to gladly and thankfully make every effort (this is not about earning, mind you, you can’t earn what you’ve already been freely given) to live a life of complete and utter holiness before God.

Before you groan about this “holiness” thing—truthfully, it’s not such a bad or burdensome deal. All you really need to do, in light of what has already been done for you, is to gratefully love God will all our heart, mind, and body. Then once you’ve done that, just do as you like.

But just remember, to keep you loving God as he deserves, expect Jesus to annoy you along the way!

Thrive: Augustine said, “love God and do what you want.” Are there things you are doing that betray your love for God? Why not take a step today to jettison those behaviors or thought patterns from your life? Start with repentance, then ask for God’s help, and think about confessing your faults to a trusted brother or sister so that you can become accountable for growth in holiness in those particular areas.