Category Archives: Matthew

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Other Disreputable Sinners

Read: Matthew 9

Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?”  (Matthew 9:10-11)

I love that about Jesus, don’t you?  He didn’t come to impress the religious elite or hang out with spiritual celebrities. He didn’t set up shop in Jerusalem and buy airtime on JBN (Jerusalem Broadcasting Network).  He didn’t write a book about himself or put on a leadership conference or lead a church growth seminar.

He hung out with sinners!

The reason?  He explains in the next verse: “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” (Matthew 9:12, NLT) It would have been a complete dereliction of duty and an abject failure in his mission if he would have done anything else.  People were lost—they needed to be found. People were in bondage to sin—they needed to be delivered.  People were sick and dying—they needed a healer. People were confused and hopeless—they needed a Lord. People were beat down and harassed by a religious system that squeezed the life and joy out of them—they needed a champion.  What a champion they got in Jesus—and then some!

What a hero!  Jesus was exactly what the poor, outcast, marginalized and hopeless needed.  That was the purpose for which he came and he fulfilled his purpose brilliantly. That is why I love this story so much.

Yet that is why this story makes me extremely uncomfortable.  You see, if Jesus were to come today, would he feel comfortable in my church?  Would he want to hang out with my friends?  How would he fit in my social circle?  The very fact that I find this contemporary portrayal of Jesus hanging out with beer swilling gang-bangers offensive–and my guess is that it does you, too–tells me that I would have been right alongside those Pharisees questioning the kind of invitations to dinner Jesus had been accepting.  Perhaps Jesus would say to you and me what he said to the Pharisees,

“Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” (Matthew 9:13, NLT)

Ouch!  I’ve got to be honest: There are not a whole lot of “other disreputable sinners” hanging out in my world.  Something tells me that really ought to change if Jesus if going to fit in my world—or more importantly, if I am going to fit in Jesus’ world.

“When Jesus came to earth, demons recognized him, the sick flocked to him, and sinners doused his feet and head with perfume. Meanwhile he offended pious Jews with their strict preconceptions of what God should be like. Their rejection makes me wonder, could religious types be doing just the reverse now? Could we be perpetuating an image of Jesus that fits our pious expectations but does not match the person portrayed so vividly in the Gospels?” ~Phillip Yancey

What If God Took Over?

 

If you don’t have any “other disreputable sinners” in your life, your assignment is simply this:  Get some!

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Showing Off

Read: Matthew 8

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel! (Matthew 8:10, NLT)

We have all done things from time to time to impress people—it’s just human nature. Little kids act up to get the attention of adults in the room; teenage boys do strange things to impress the young ladies; twenty-eight-year olds return for their ten-year high school reunion to show how successful they’ve become compared to their classmates. Men with a receding hairline and an expanding waistline buy a little red sports car to prove they can still get a second look from the gals.

Showing off is just a part of human nature.  We do it because we want to feel significant, valued and alive.  It is not always a bad thing; it is usually not a good thing.  We human beings have a “show off” gene that before the arrival of sin led us to lean into God for our security, significance and satisfaction.  Now, at best, it mostly results in wasted energy; at worst, it steers us into deep weeds.

As much time as we spend showing off to impress others, what if we spent it showing off to impress God?  What?  Do you mean that we can actually do something that causes God a second look?  Well, apparently Jesus was pretty impressed with this Roman officer here in Matthew 8.  When he saw the faith of this guy, he was blown away.  The Greek word for “amazed” in this text means that he marveled at this man and truly admired him.

Yeah, faith impresses God.  It gets his attention—it always has.  Check out Abraham in Genesis 15:6 or read the long list of the ruthlessly faithful in Hebrews 11.  In fact, Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith, it is impossible to impress God.

Faith gets God’s attention.  There is just something about a person who realizes their total dependence on God, expresses their utter helplessness before him, declares both in their words and by their actions radical trust in his loving and benevolent character, and then adjusts their entire being going forward to reflect security in his care and competence.  That gets a second look from the Almighty.  In fact, the God of wonder stops in admiration of such childlike faith.

I would say that God is easily impressed.  It just takes a little faith.  I’ll bet you can do that!

“Unwavering trust is a rare and precious thing because it often demands a degree of courage that borders on the heroic.” ~Brennan Manning

What If God Took Over?

Memorize Hebrews 11:6, “It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” Now reflect that verse back to God every day this week in prayer, asking God to help you to exercise that faith more often and more ruthless than ever before.

 

 

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Sobering

Read: Matthew 7

“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. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’” (Matthew 7:21-23, NLT)

“I never knew you!” Those are truly sobering words, aren’t they! They used to scare me a lot in my younger day of faith.  I mean, if a person can be doing all those things for God—prophesying biblical truth, casing out demons, even performing miracles…all things that are pretty high on the “things I’d like to do for God” list—and still get rejected by God, wow, who can walk confidently in their faith, who can truly have the assurance of salvation?

But here is the deal:  True Christianity is not first of all a religion of the hands, it is a relationship of the heart.  It is not so much what you do for God to earn his favor, it is accepting what God has done for you through the death and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ that counts.  Before anything we do for God must come a heart full of love for him. What does a heart full of love for God look like?  Simply this: gratitude for what he has done and wonder at his undeserved gift of mercy and grace that saved a wretched, unworthy sinner like me. It is the heart that matters!

Now obviously, measuring the love within a person’s heart is not such an easy thing to do.  That’s why people want to base their worth and acceptability before God by what they do—something far more easily measured.  But over and over again, the Bible points out that it is not what we do that earns any credit with God, it is all based on what he has done for us.  We cannot earn our salvation—we can only give effort to doing the good things that gratefully saved people ought to do.

There is one thing, however, that evidences our love for God more than anything else: When we love other people as ourselves.  In fact, Jesus said the first greatest law of God was to love God heart, mind and spirit, and the second greatest law was to love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-39, NLT)  Here is another way to look at that: You can’t love God without loving people, and you can’t truly love people without loving God.

So when Jesus said to those who had worked so hard for their salvation, “I never knew you, get away from me you who break God’s laws”, what he was really saying was this:

“Go away! You obviously didn’t know me because you didn’t fulfill the two greatest laws of all—to love God wholeheartedly, and out of that love for him, to love others as much as you loved yourself.”

God wants your heart—your response to his love that shows itself in a delighting, awestruck, grateful head-over-heels love for him and a tender, compassionate, serving love for others.

Really now, isn’t that relieving?  All you and I have to do is love God so much so that it just overflows from our hearts back toward him and out toward others.  And after all that he has done for us, I personally think that shouldn’t be such a hard ting to do!

“The litmus test of our love for God is our love of neighbor.” ~Brennan Manning

What If God Took Over?

Memorize Revelation 3:4-5,  “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.”

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When You Pray

Read: Matthew 6

“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.”  (Matthew 6:5, NLT)

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 a 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 to an authentic, intimate, simple day-by-day, moment-by-moment practice of the presence of God. That is the kind of prayer that pleases God more than anything. “When you pray” like that, the Father opens up all of heaven to you!

“Heaven is full of answers to prayers for which no one ever bothered to ask.” ~Billy Graham

What If God Took Over?

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

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Practice Being God

Read: Matthew 5

“God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” (Matthew 5:7, NLT)

When a Christian really understands and then begins to organically live as a mercy giver, he or she “practices being God”.   Now don’t worry, this is not some new-age theology that I am promoting; it is simply an apt description for what biblical mercy is, and how biblical mercy acts.

That description, “practices being God”, was first used by Clement of Alexandria, a third century leader in the early church and one of its most notable thinkers.  It really is an apt description because to be merciful means to have the same attitude God has toward people, to think as God thinks about people, to feel as God feels for people, and to act as God acts toward people.

In other words, we are never more like God than when rivers of mercy are springing up from within and freely flowing out of our lives, drenching others in the same deep, healing, inexhaustible love and kindness of God that once flooded our lives.

Keep in mind that mercy goes beyond emotional waves of pity and compassion and sorrow for others in their weakness. Rather, mercy means getting right into the skin of another in order to see things through their eyes, think things through their mind, feel things with their feelings—and then, to act accordingly in redemptive kindness. Mercy is proactive, personal, practical loving-kindness that immerses us in the weakness, sin, and suffering of others in order to lift them out of it.

That is the very same kind of mercy that God extended to us through Jesus when he crawled into human skin and lived as one of us.  Jesus took on our flesh, experienced our weakness, knew what it was like to be tempted, disappointed, rejected, betrayed and to suffer as we do. He experienced what we were like so that we could experience what God was like. He became the Son of man so that we could become the sons of God.  He endured life on earth so that we could experience heaven on earth, and some day, heaven in heaven for all eternity.

In other words, mercy is simply acting in ways that brings God close to people in order to bring people close to God. That is how showing mercy becomes our call to practice being God.

So just remember, you are never more like God than when demonstrating God’s mercy.  You are practicing being God.  And Jesus says you will be blessed!

“Mercy saves the sinner, not in spite of, but by means of, the very judgment that came upon his sin.” ~Andrew Murray

What If God Took Over?

Here are three suggestions for the practice of being God this week:

First, practice being more understanding.

That will require you to be more patient, to listen more carefully, and to be more tolerant and less condemning of weaknesses. That’s what crawling into another person’s skin will do for you, as opposed to getting under their skin!

Second, practice being more redemptive.

That will require you to be more forgiving and sacrificially committed to reconciling with those who’ve hurt, disappointed, disagreed with or angered you.

Third, practice being more generous.

That will require you to open up your life—your time, your home, and yes, your resources—to be ridiculously open-handed with others.

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Ruthless Trust

Read: Matthew 4

During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.” (Matthew 4:1-3, NLT)

From the Word of God in general, from human experience—mine and other people I’ve witnessed over the years—and from this story in particular, I could make a pretty strong case that doubt is the number one strategy Satan uses in our lives to disrupt, weaken and ultimately destroy our faith in God.  If he can get us to question the goodness and sufficiency of God and his Word, then our spirituality will be dead in the water.

Every time the devil came at Jesus with a temptation, the very first word was “if” — “if you are the Son of God…if you will kneel and worship me…” (Matthew 4:3,5,9) Behind Satan’s enticements was the goal of getting Jesus to question God’s care and competence as well as his identity as the cherished Son of God.

That is exactly what Satan will do to you—most likely even today.  He will cause a question to arise in your mind as to the reliability of God’s Word, the dependability of God’s love, the sufficiency of God’s supply, and the truthfulness of your unmovable place as a cherished child of God.  Just like clockwork, the “if” question will be sown as a seed of doubt in your spirit before the day is out.

The number one defense against Satan’s strategy to destroy your faith is trust—ruthless trust.  Each occasion in which Jesus was hit with the big “if” was met with a return to what was unquestionable, unshakable and immovable—the Word of God.  Jesus’ answer to the assault on his faith?  “Scripture says…” (Matthew 4:4,7,10)  Jesus stood on the promises of Scripture, knowing that obedience to it was the only way to God’s provision (“man shall not live by bread alone”), true spiritual muscle (“jump off” and prove your divine power), and ceaseless kingdom authority (“all the kingdoms of the world will be yours”).

Trust—ruthless trust. No assault from the enemy can penetrate it, and no temptation, regardless of the power of its enticement, can hold a candle against it.  So no matter what, lean into God’s Word today—there is nothing in all creation as reliable.  Trust in God’s character—his care and competence have never been proven impotent.  Wait patiently for his provision—it will never lack the satisfaction you truly need.

And by the way, when you respond to temptation with ruthless trust, not only do you punch Satan in the nose, but you give a priceless gift to God. I love what Brennan Manning says in his book, Ruthless Trust,

“The splendor of a human heart which trusts that it is loved gives God more pleasure than Westminster Cathedral, the Sistine Chapel, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, the sight of ten thousand butterflies in flight, or the scent of a million orchids in bloom.  Trust is our gift back to God, and he finds it so enchanting that Jesus died for love of it.”

So throughout the day today, look up, smile, and trust!

“Unwavering trust is a rare and precious thing because it often demands a degree of courage that borders on the heroic.” ~Brennan Manning

What If God Took Over?

Analyze the things that are tempting you today.  Find out how they are assaulting your trust in the reliability of God’s Word, the sufficiency of God’s provision and the immutability of your position as a cherished child of God.  Once you do that, you will see what temptation promises as nothing more than a false infinite—something that in the light of day cannot hold a candle to what God has in store for those who ruthlessly trust him.

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So Much More!

Read: Matthew 3

“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.” (Matthew 3:11, NLT)

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 Christian’s 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?

“There is no better evangelist in the world than the Holy Spirit.” ~D.L. Moody

What If God Took Over:

Jesus said in Luke 11:13, “how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” Why don’t you ask for a fresh baptism today—Jesus the baptizer is ready to inundate you with the Holy Spirit!