Category Archives: Matthew

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When God Doesn’t Live Up To Billing

Matthew 11:1-13:58

 

When God Doesn’t Live Up To Billing

“Are you the one who was to come, or should
we expect someone else?”
Matthew 11:3

Go Deep: Let’s be honest—we’ve all been deeply disappointed with God. Sometimes He doesn’t live up to our expectations. A prayer doesn’t get answered the way we want, when we want: a healing doesn’t occur, a job is lost, a relationship goes sour, a marriage isn’t saved, a loved one refuses salvation, a child dies…

That’s when faith really gets tested. It is easy to believe in the good times—when things are going great, prayers are getting answered, and God is obviously on our team. But just cut off the flow of blessing, squeeze our faith a little, push us out of our comfort zone—then take our spiritual temperature and see if we’re still aflame with faith.

John the Baptist was there. He had obeyed the call of God early in his life as the forerunner of the Messiah. He had arranged his whole world around announcing Jesus as Israel’s Messiah. He had lived an austere life, preached his heart out, courageously confronted the religious establishment, boldly challenged sinful hearts, and called Israel to national repentance, all to prepare the way for Jesus. He expected his faithfulness to God and obedience to the call would usher in the Kingdom of God when Jesus showed up and launched his messianic ministry.

But now he was in jail. He was in a pretty serious situation that in a few days would lead to his beheading. And Jesus was out there preaching to small crowds, doing a few miracles here and there, and not taking this Messiah thing very seriously. John was disappointed, to say the least.

Did you notice how Jesus handled John’s disappointment and doubt? Not with a brow beating, not with a rebuke, not with anger, Jesus simply reaffirmed John and spoke about his value in God’s eyes. Jesus understood where John was coming from.

Jesus also understood that God’s timing was way different than John’s. John wanted the Kingdom now, and when it didn’t happened, he questioned. So Jesus redirected John’s faith—he encouraged him to take his eyes off circumstances and put them back where they belonged: On the undeniable evidence of God’s activity; on the unshakable hope of God’s Kingdom; on the unbreakable promise of God’s Word; on the irrefutable goodness of God’s character. And then to trust!

We’ve all had similar doubts, questions, disappointment and perhaps even anger with God when he didn’t live up to billing. Maybe that’s where you are today. That’s okay—God is big enough to handle your upset—provided you do as John did and be honest about it. God won’t give you a beat down if you’ll come to him with a humble and honest heart. He’ll simply reaffirm your inestimable value and remind you of his everlasting love—and then he’ll invite you to trust.

And at the end of the day, you’ll never be disappointed when you trust God. Take to heart what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 5:3-5,

“We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

Just Saying…“Bless your uneasiness as a sign that there is still life in you.”  That’s from Dag Hammarskjöld, the Swedish-born Secretary-General of the United Nations, whom President Kennedy called “the greatest statesman of our century.” Not only sign of life, your uneasiness may in fact be the pre-evidence that God is doing a great work in you.  Missionary Frank Laubach wrote, “There is a deep peace that grows out of illness and loneliness and a sense of failure. God cannot get close when everything is delightful. He seems to need these darker hours, these empty-hearted hours, to mean the most to people.”

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Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff

Matthew 8:1-10:42

Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff

“For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise
and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power
on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise,
take up your bed, and go to your house.” And he
arose and departed to his house.
(Matthew 9:6-8)

Go Deep: I’ve always loved that line: “Which is easier?”  If I had been the one in this situation instead of Jesus, I would likely have said, “Which is harder?”  But Jesus was God, so he didn’t sweat the small stuff—and to him, it was all small stuff.

That’s why he could forgive sins just as easily as he could heal a paralytic.  That’s why he could cure those with leprosy, raise a little girl from death, heal a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, open blind eyes, equip a mute man with speech, drive demons from those in the devil’s bondage and even calm a raging storm on the Sea of Galilee.  It was all small stuff to Jesus because he was God.

So what about your life?  What are you facing? What is your storm, your impossibility, your bondage—a physical challenge, a financial situation, a problem at work, guilt over a past sin, a broken marriage?  What is it that is causing paralysis in your life, keeping you from walking into the abundance that Jesus promised to give? (John 10:10)  Whatever it is, no matter how big of a deal it seems to you, it’s all small stuff to Jesus, because he is God after all.

As you face those things today that have paralyzed you with fear, anxiety, guilt, hurt, anger or inaction, take to heart the words of the prophet Jeremiah,

O Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth
by your great power.  Nothing is too difficult for you.
(Jeremiah 32:17)

So don’t sweat the small stuff—because it is all small stuff to Jesus.

 

Just Saying… The prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon, England’s best-known pulpiteer for most of the second half of the nineteenth century said, “When you have no helpers, see your helpers in God. When you have many helpers, see God in all your helpers. When you have nothing but God, see all in God. When you have everything, see God in everything. Under all conditions, stay thy heart only on the Lord.” Put your hope in the Lord, because that hope will not be disappointed. (Romans 5:5)

 

 

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What Moves God’s Heart

Matthew 5:1-7:29

What Moves God’s Heart

God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs
Matthew 5:3 (NLT)

Go Deep: There is no doubt that God has a special place in his heart for the poor.  You can’t read too far in either the Old or New Testaments before you are convinced of that.  But it is not poverty itself that impresses God—although he is always moved with compassion by people’s desperate condition—it is the utter dependence and complete openness of those who are without any other means of help that touches his heart.  It is these who are truly blessed.

How are they blessed?  They know they need God!  That is simply and truly the best blessing of all. And when those who know they need God find him, they find everything.  Furthermore, once they come to know God, they understand that without him they have absolutely nothing—pain, poverty, helplessness and hopelessness.

The poor are quite unlike the rest of us in that sense.  When we find God, we tend to place him alongside everything else we have: our wealth, our conveniences, our abilities, our ingenuity, our relationships.  We are not desperately dependent on God like the poor.  When the poor get sick, they pray first, then they pray desperately.  When we get sick, we go to the medicine cabinet for aspirin or to the phone to call the doctor, and if we happen to think about it, then we ask God.  Or if the poor are hungry, they pray for provision.  We go to the fridge and get a snack.  It’s a matter of desperate dependence.  They have it; we don’t.

My observation is that they who have so little reason for joy have so much more joy than we who have so much but have so little joy. I remember thinking that very thing as I was standing in an African orphanage for boys, watching the smiling faces of about thirty parentless ten-year-olds singing songs that expressed their hope in God and their longing for heaven.  They were beaming from a source of Light like I didn’t know—not really.  And I was convicted.

It’s a matter of desperate dependence.

Father God, afflict my heart with holy desperation!  I’d rather have that than any earthly treasure that gets in the way of knowing and needing you.

Just Saying… The brilliant thinker C.S. Lewis once said, “A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world—and might be even more difficult to save.”  May we find discontent with our own contentment if it is not borne by our satisfaction in God alone!

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Temptation

Matthew 3:1-4:25

Temptation

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be
tempted by the devil.  And when He had fasted forty days
and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now
when the tempter came to Him, he said,
“If You are the Son of God…”
Matthew 4:1-3

 

Go Deep: Isn’t it interesting—profound, really—that Satan knew who Jesus was, that he was God the Son, yet tempted him anyway.

Satan once resided as Lucifer, chief of all then angels, in the presence of the Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. So when Jesus became the incarnate Son of God, Satan knew perfectly well of his divine nature. Rather than backing off, however, Satan unleashed a torrent of enticements designed to derail the plan of God and get Jesus off his game.  And if the very Son of God would have to endure an onslaught of Satanic temptations, so will you.

It is also of interest that Satan didn’t tempt Jesus with obvious evil.  Three times he attempted to entice Jesus to sin with subtle, sane, and spiritual sounding goodies. The devil is the master of subtlety. He didn’t come to Jesus dressed in a red suit and pointed tail, pitchfork in hand, luring Jesus to commit murder or to steal a bag full of money.  No, this temptation was to gain what seemed good by sacrificing what was best.

It is highly likely that the temptations you will face today will be subtle as well.  Satan’s stock-in-trade is deception, which is what makes temptation so effective.  Jesus called him “the father of lies”, and he’s gotten pretty good at it over the millennia.  So in particular, watch out for the enticements that will be just slightly off center from God’s will.  Don’t accept good at the expense of God’s best.

In one sense, the temptations that will hit you today will be perfectly sane.  Jesus had fasted for forty days and was at the limit of what a human body could endure.  He was hungry, and Satan simply suggested that Jesus use his God-prerogatives to satisfy a physical necessity.

Jesus was called to be the Messiah of the Jews.  What better way to jumpstart his ministry than by hang-gliding from the highest point of the temple in Jerusalem—without a hang-glider.  What a great way to show off his God-powers and impress the people he was called to lead.

Ultimately, Jesus was called to be the Lord and Savior of the world.  Why not fast-track that plan by allowing Satan to hand deliver all the nations of the world to him in an instant.  No fuss, no muss.

The problem was, each of these temptations called for Jesus to depend on himself to get his needs met rather than trusting in God’s provision, timing and plan.  That is perhaps the most foundational and most common sin of all—to trust in anything or anyone other than God to get your needs and wants met.

It is likely that you will be hit with temptation in the same way today.  It will be subtle.  It will seem sane.  And probably, it will sound pretty spiritual as well—remember, each temptation Satan dangled before Jesus was prefaced with Scripture.

So be on guard today—sin is crouching at your door.  But it is not inevitable that you will succumb to it.  Jesus didn’t—which means that you don’t have to either.  Jesus knew the Word and will of God better than Satan, and so do you.  That’s one of the blessings of reading and praying the Scripture each day, as you are doing.

Likewise, since Jesus overcame his battle with temptation, he stands at the ready to help you in your battle.  So just ask him for his help—he is more than willing to come alongside you.  Hebrews 2:17-18 teaches us,

“For this reason Jesus had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

So when sin comes knocking at your door today, just send Jesus to answer it.

 

Just Saying… John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, said “Every temptation is an opportunity of our getting nearer to God.” Temptation usually has the effect of causing distance between you and God.  Why not buck your temptation and use it to draw close instead.

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History Is Really His Story

Matthew 1:1-2:23

History Is Really His Story

“For thus it is written in the prophets…”
Matthew 2:5, 15, 18, 23

Go Deep: 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 of Jesus leaves us with a pretty amazing track record of prophetic accuracy…leaving no doubt that those 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.”

Just Saying… John Newton, once a slave-trading profligate who was marvelously converted, was profoundly spot-on when he wrote, “We serve a gracious Master who knows how to overrule even our mistakes to His glory and our own advantage.”

 

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Let The Punishment Fit The Crime

Read Revelation 18

“Give her as much torture and grief as the
glory and luxury she gave herself..”
(Revelation 18:7)

Thoughts… God’s judgments are never random and thoughtless; they are quite purposeful and specific to the wickedness and idolatry they intend to punish.

When God poured out the ten plagues on Pharaoh and his people during the time of Moses, each divine blow struck right at the heart of Egypt’s worship of their gods. We witness that throughout the Old Testament: When godless, idolatrous Israel was punished, God’s judgment was never vague as to the reason for the Divine discipline.

We saw previously in Revelation 16 that in the end times, the physical world will be catastrophically shaken as God releases his displeasure on those who have worshiped creation over the Creator. And now, once again, we see how Divine justice will fit the crime as punishment is meted out against the world’s economic system here in Revelation 18.

Perhaps the greatest sin of mankind from time immemorial has been the worship of mammon—money, and the vast and varied evils that have arisen from it. Empires, nations, systems, businesses and individuals, motivated by greed, the desire to amass wealth and the insatiable lust for more, have perpetrated indescribable wickedness through the history of humanity—slavery, exploitation, the sex trade, poverty, ecological ruin, bribery, injustice, pornography, and war.

But in his final judgment against the humanity, God will bring these economic systems low in a display of Divine shock and awe that will cause humanity to drop its collective jaw:

“When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, ‘Was there ever a city like this great city?’ They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out: ‘Woe! Woe, O great city, where all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth! In one hour she has been brought to ruin!’” (Revelation 18:18-19)

God will again strike the world where it hurts—and this time, he will go right for the jugular of human sin: man’s worship of mighty money. The punishment will fit the crime: “God has judged her for the way she treated you.” (Revelation 18:20)

Of course, this will come at the end of time, but there is a message for believers here and now. Jesus said it best:

“You cannot serve both God and money…So don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also…The judgment will be upon anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 16:13, Matthew 6:19-20, Luke 19:21)

The 18th century Anglican clergyman and hymn-writer, Augustus Toplady, put it this way, “Since much wealth too often proves a snare and an encumbrance in the Christian’s race, let him lighten the weight by ‘dispersing abroad and giving to the poor’; whereby he will both soften the pilgrimage of his fellow travelers, and speed his own way the faster.”

Not a bad way to handle your money in light of what is coming!

Prayer… Father, help me to reject the god of this world—unrighteous money—and store up for myself treasures in heaven. Help me to be rich toward you with the use of my wealth now. No matter how much I have, may it always be used to glorify you name and advance your kingdom in this world.

One More Thing… “One verse in every six in the first three Gospels relates either directly or indirectly to money. Sixteen of our Lord’s forty-four parables deal with the use of misuse of money. A loving, joyful, liberal giving to the Lord’s work is an acid test of a spiritual heart, pleasing to God.” — William Allen

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What Disciples Do

Read Matthew 28

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that
I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the age.”
(Matthew 28:19-20)

Thoughts… What do real disciples do? Two things actually: They reflect, and they replicate.

To begin with, authentic disciples become like the Master. They fully devote themselves to his life and fully obey his teachings. They become like the Jesus in thought, word and deed to the point where his very being is reflected in the essential quality of their being. The Master becomes the sum and substance of their lives.

Only by the kind of transformation where the Master is fundamentally reflected, from the center to the circumference, in the lives of his disciples can they in turn “go and make [other] disciples.” Only then can they teach others to “observe all that [the Master] has commanded.”

That is what it means to be truly Christian. Being truly Christian means being an authentic disciple. One cannot happen without the other—Christianity means discipleship; discipleship means Christianity. Being either is not just in name, it is in the reflection of the Master in the life of the disciple. Calling oneself a disciple is simply wishful thinking without doing the things of discipleship and being in essence the reflection of the Master. Call it what you will, anything less is nothing more than inauthentic discipleship, non-Christianity, and false religion.

Then, authentic disciples replicate the life of the Master through their lives in the lives of others. In other words, they reproduce. Barren discipleship is non-discipleship. True disciples go with the message, bearing the life of the One they reflect, and persuade others to follow Jesus.

Disciples don’t just win coverts to Christianity, they make other disciples in the way of the Master. To convert a soul to Jesus simply begins the process of discipleship. Conversion is the first step; discipleship is the journey. True conversion that begins the journey of authentic discipleship requires the same full devotion to the Master’s life and the same full obedience his teaching that took place in the proto-disciple. The Master’s life is replicated in the disciple, who in turn replicates the Master’s life in the convert, who then, in turn, replicates the Master’s life in still others.

That is when discipleship comes full circle; when discipleship is proven authentic.

Here is the real question in all of this: Are you a true disciple? The answer is easy: If you are reflecting and replicating the life of the Master, you’re in pretty good shape.

If you aren’t, you need to go back and have a serious conversation — should I say, “conversion” — with the Master.

Prayer… Jesus, you said we cannot truly call you Lord unless we do the things you said we should do. With all of my heart, I want to be authentic when I call you Lord. Help me to give you my full devotion and complete obedience. Make me a true disciple.

One More Thing… “Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer