Devotionary

Today, we move into chapter six of Matthew, and we’ll be looking at the first four verses. I’ve entitled this episode, “Godly Giving” because it deals with the kind of giving God desires. He is looking for giving that is motivated by righteousness, not done in order to somehow achieve a reputation of righteousness. Doing good deeds in order to make a good impression is not what God is looking for in His people. Righteous-looking acts that are motivated by a self-promoting agenda may get you recognized by men, but they won’t result in a reward from God. Once again, Jesus is presenting an alternative view of what it means to live a righteous life. It had less to do with external behavior than it did with a changed heart. Godly giving was to be selfless and sacrificial. It wasn’t to be done for show or in an effort to leave a favorable impression. That kind of giving was self-centered and far from righteous as far as God is concerned. So, Jesus warns His listeners, and us, that righteous-looking deeds done to im

In today’s episode, we’re going to look at a single verse, the final verse of Matthew, chapter five. While short in length, this verse packs a powerful punch, that is just as impactful today as it was when Jesus spoke it on the Galilean hillside. On top of all that Jesus has said to His audience, He now challenges them with a call to perfection. But not some kind of earthly form of perfection. He calls for godly perfection. Rather than emulating the righteousness of men, we are to use God as our standard of perfection. But that sounds impossible, doesn’t it? How can fallen, sinful men hope to match the sinless perfection of God? What chance do we stand in achieving this seemingly unattainable standard? None whatsoever. That is, if we are left to our own devices and remain dependent upon our sinful flesh to try and pull it off. But Jesus is pointing to something far more reliable than human achievement. He is trying to set the stage and prepare the hearts of the people for His offer of salvation. Redemption is

In Matthew 5, verses 43-47, Jesus will tell his audience to love their enemies. As Christians, we’ve grown accustomed to that phrase as Christians. We may not obey it, but we’re certainly more than familiar with it. But when Jesus dropped it on His audience that day on the hillside by the Sea of Galilee, it was a like He was speaking a foreign language. Once again, He was addressing a common misperception regarding the law and their obedience to it. This time, it had to do with something the law didn’t say, but that had become almost as binding as the law itself. For some reason, the Jews had gotten it into their heads that God’s command to love their neighbor also meant that they were free to hate their enemies. And since God didn’t seem to indicate who their enemies were, they took it upon themselves to decide. In essence, anybody who wasn’t a Jew was their enemy. But Jesus had other ideas. He wasn’t going to let them misinterpret and misapply God’s law. Because for those who would be approved by God, and e

We live in a world where getting even is seen as some kind of inalienable right. We somehow think that retaliation for a wrong done is guaranteed by the constitution. And the Jews of Jesus’ day had the same mentality. So, in today’s episode, based on Matthew 5, verses 38-42, we’ll see Jesus address the mistaken notion that retaliation was a God-given right, provided for in the law of Moses. Instead, He is going to present the life of self-sacrifice and love. He will encourage His listeners to give rather than choosing to get even. Like touching a live electrical wire, His message will jolt His audience, sending shockwaves of confusion and doubt into their brains. What He is asking them to do will sound illogical and impossible to their ears. What He recommends will come across as unprofitable as it is unappealing. But once again, Jesus was describing the life of those who are blessed or approved by God. He was revealing the radical new lifestyle that would mark those who place their faith in Him as their Savi

In today’s episode we’ll be looking at verses 33-37 of Matthew 5. I’ve entitled this episode, “Trustworthy Truthfulness”, because in these verses, Jesus is going to bring up the issue of oaths, but His real emphasis is going to be on speaking truth. For the Jewish people, oaths had become another misunderstood and misused tradition that provided them with an excuse to lie and get away with it. Originally, swearing an oath had been a serious thing. It was a way of guaranteeing your word. But, over time, the religious leaders had developed workarounds or loopholes that allowed someone to make an oath and then break it. It was like crossing your fingers. You made a promise, but with no intention of keeping it. And the worst part was, many were using God’s name or things associated with God, to back up their oaths. So, when the failed to live up to their word, they were dragging God’s name through the mud. Which is what led Jesus to take this on in the first place. In essence, Jesus is telling them to say what th

Today’s episode covers Matthew 5, verses 31-32. In these two short verses, Jesus takes on what was an extremely hot topic at that time: Divorce. Then, as today, divorce was a problem among the people of God. And while the Mosaic law had restrictions regarding its use and strict regulations governing its accessibility for the Jewish people, they had begun to act as if divorce was not only a viable option, but in some cases, a preferable one to marriage. And as before, Jesus will deal with the perception regarding divorce and the reality that God intended when He gave the laws concerning it to begin with. For God, marriage was intended to reflect the covenant relationship between He and His people. So, it was all about faithfulness. And Jesus will make that point painfully clear to His audience as He stresses God’s unwavering view regarding the marriage covenant. For all practical purposes, Israel had bought into the idea of no-fault divorce. Men were putting away their wives for little or no reason, and thinki

In today’s episode, we’ll be looking at Matthew 5, verses 27-30. I’ve entitled this lesson, “Purity of Life” because in it, Jesus is going to deal with the issue of adultery. But, like each of the topics He has covered in His message up to this point, Jesus is going to give His audience a slightly different perspective than that to which they were accustomed. They knew that, according to the Mosaic Law, adultery was wrong. But was NOT committing adultery the goal God had in mind when He gave this law to Moses? Jesus will go out of His way to point out that there is far more behind this law than a prohibition against marital unfaithfulness. In fact, He’ll get to the literal heart of the matter – the heart of man. God was looking for purity of life, not some kind of performance-based, do-just-enough-to-keep-God-happy kind of lifestyle that focused on avoiding the major infractions, while failing to measure up to the inward transformation God was really interested in. Adultery was a symptom of something far more

Today’s episode is entitled, “The Capacity to Love” and covers Matthew 5, verses 21-26. In this section of His message, Jesus will deal with the need for love among God’s people. Those who are blessed or approved by God, will be marked by love, not hatred. The Jews took great pride in their adherence to God’s law concerning murder. For most of the people in the crowd that day, murder may have crossed their mind at some point, but they had refused to give in. And they believed that fact counted as a plus on the righteousness side of their ledger. Yet, Jesus was about to blow that false mindset out of the water. He was going to reveal that the God wasn’t as concerned about murder as He was about the condition of the heart that could eventually result in murder. Hate was the problem. Or to put it another way, the lack of love. It wasn’t enough to not kill someone. God wanted you to love them. To refrain from murder is not a sign of righteousness and would certainly not qualify as love. Once again, Jesus is rocki

Today, we’re going to be in Matthew 5, verses 17-20. Jesus is going to assure His listeners that what He is teaching is not contrary to the Old Testament Scriptures. It may have sounded radical and revolutionary to their ears, but it was not a departure from God’s law and all that the prophets had written. Jesus wasn’t introducing something that was going to replace the law, it was going to fulfill it. He wasn’t contradicting the writings of the prophets, He was actually the one they had promised would come. The law was God’s revelation of what He expected in terms of right behavior from mankind. It was His brand of righteousness described in great detail. The writings of the prophets were predominantly the call of God for the people of Israel to return to Him. The prophets spoke on behalf of God, calling the disobedient Israelites back to a right relationship with God, through obedience to His law. They could return or face the consequences. They could repent or suffer God’s punishment in the form of captivi

In this episode, we move into the next part of Jesus’ message, found in Matthew 5, verses 13-16. Here Jesus will begin to deal with the goal for those who have been blessed or approved by God. Their lives are to make a difference in the world around them. This episode is entitled, “Agents of Change,” because that is exactly what we are called to be. Jesus will use two simple metaphors to illustrate how those approved by God should live in the midst of the world around them. The nation of Israel had been set apart by God to be a living example of what it looks like for a people to have a relationship with God. But they had failed to remain faithful. God leveled this sobering accusation against them through the prophet, Ezekiel. “I placed her at the center of the nations, but she has rebelled against my regulations and decrees and has been even more wicked than the surrounding nations. She has refused to obey the regulations and decrees I gave her to follow.” (Ezekiel 5:5-6 NLT). Now, Jesus was offering a new o

This episode, entitled, “The Benefit of God’s Approval”, will be our third and final look at The Beatitudes, found in Matthew 5, verses 1-12. Each of these nine statements contain powerful words of comfort for those of us who know Christ as our Savior. There are immediate benefits tied to each of them, but future-oriented, eternal benefits as well. Our goal in this episode is to concentrate our attention on the amazing list of benefits Jesus lines out for the those who have been or will be approved by God through faith in His Son. The main point in these first twelve verses is what it means to be blessed or approved by God. It is a state that every man and woman longs for in their hearts, whether they recognize it as such, or not. It was the 17th-Century scientist and mathematician, Blaise Pascal who said, “What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with

This will be our second week looking at the first 12 verses of Matthew chapter 5, the portion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount that we call The Beatitudes. In this episode, called, “Not What They Expected”, we are going to start unpacking what these verses meant and what Jesus was trying to teach those in His audience. It wouldn’t take a stretch of the imagination to conclude that what Jesus had to say was not what they expected to hear. After all, they viewed Jesus as a rabbi or teacher. They assumed that all He would say would fall in line with everything else they had heard said or taught by other rabbis and religious leaders. But these opening lines of Jesus’ sermon were shocking and a bit disconcerting to His listeners. They were unexpected and, most likely, unpleasant to hear. But it is critical that we clearly understand what Jesus is saying in these opening verses, because they will set up much of what He has to say in the rest of this passage. As always, try to hear Jesus’ words from the perspective of

Over the next three weeks, we will be spending all our time on the first 12 verses of Matthew chapter 5. This is the section best known as The Beatitudes. These verses, while well-known and quite familiar to most of us, provide an interesting opening to Jesus’ message. What was Jesus trying to say to His audience? In fact, just exactly who in His audience were these statements aimed at? This opening salvo from Jesus was anything but simplistic and easy to understand. From the outset, He had His listeners scratching their heads and wondering just exactly who He was and what He was talking about. Nine times, Jesus will use the word “blessed.” What did He mean? And how in the world did blessing go hand-in-hand with poverty, mourning, hunger and persecution? And twice Jesus will refer to the kingdom of heaven. Was that the same thing as the kingdom of God? Where would this kingdom reside? Who would be its king? All of these questions, along with many others, would have been swirling in the minds of those sitting

This first episode is entitled, “Radical and Revolutionary” and is intended to serve as an introduction that looks at the setting and circumstances surrounding Jesus’ message. One of the problems we face as 21st-Century Christians is that we have a habit of reading the Bible with a post-cross, this-side-of-the-resurrection perspective. It’s only natural, because that’s our historical point of view. But when reading the Scriptures, we need to always keep in mind who is speaking or writing and the exact nature of the original audience. Who were they? What were their circumstances? How would they have received what was being said or stated? This is particularly important when it comes to the Sermon on the Mount, because the original audience was predominantly Jews and, because Jesus had not yet died and rose again, none of the people in His hearing were yet believers. According to the text, there were only four disciples in the crowd that day. Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John. And they had just begun to follo

In this upcoming session of Devotionary, we’re going to take a slight departure and deal with a particular passage of Scripture, but not an entire book. That’s not normally how we operate, but I think you’ll see what I’ve chosen to give this passage special treatment. I am talking about Matthew, chapters five through seven. You’ll probably recognize it by its more familiar name: The Sermon on the Mount. Of course, what sets this passage apart is not its name, but its author. In it, we have the words of Jesus Himself, as recorded by Matthew. It was Augustine, the bishop of Hippo, who first coined the title, the Sermon on the Mount. That was all the way back in the middle of the first century, and it has stuck with us to this day.   While less a traditional sermon, and more a collection of teachings shared in a classroom like format, the words found in these three chapters in the gospel of Matthew are nevertheless significant because of what they say and who said them. So, over the next weeks, we are going to d

Well, this is the final episode in our study of Galatians. We’ll be looking at chapter six where Paul wraps up his discussion of the law and our life of faith in Christ. Throughout this letter, Paul has made it powerfully clear that there is no other gospel than the one that preaches the grace of God alone, made possible through faith alone in Christ alone. And there is no other way for men to be made right by God than through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. He not only saves us, He sanctifies us. And He makes it possible for us to live according to a new law: The law of Christ. Loving as He loved. Sacrificing for others as He did for us. Extending grace just as we have received it from God the Father. We are now free. Free to live and love as Christ did.

In the second half of Galatians chapter five, verses 16-26, Paul is going to explain that we not only have the freedom to love, but the power to do so. It comes from the Spirit of God. But it requires a determination to live under the Spirit’s control, choosing to be led by Him and not by our old sin nature. It’s a choice we have to make each and every day. And when we choose to let the Holy Spirit have control of our lives, He produces His fruit through us. And that fruit is irreproducible any other way. Oh, don’t get me wrong, we can produce a lot of things with our life, but if we do it in the flesh, the byproduct of our efforts will look dramatically different. Like everything else in our lives as believers, fruitfulness is not based on our own efforts, but on our complete reliance upon God. The life of faith is a life lived according to God’s power, not ours.

As we move into chapter five of Galatians, the first 15 verses will introduce us to the concept of our freedom in Christ and what that should mean when it comes to our relationships with those around us. Paul will tell us that we are “free to love”, which is also the title of this episode. We enjoy freedom from the law. We are no longer required to try and keep the law in order to earn a right standing with God. We are free from the rites, rituals and religious rule-keeping that marked the law. But our freedom has a purpose. It is to have an ulterior motive. Rather than having to obsess about our own spiritual standing before God, we are free to love and serve those around us. Rather than focusing on law-keeping, we can concentrate all our attention on love-giving. Our salvation has been secured. So, we can spend all our time putting the needs of others first.

Today’s episode is called “Two Covenants,” and is based on Galatians chapter 4, verses 21-31. Paul is going to contrast the old and the new covenants, using two Old Testament characters: Hagar and Sarah, to illustrate their differences. This unique comparison, will provide us with a better understanding of how the original covenant was based on the Law, but the new covenant, which replaced it, is based on the finished work of Christ on the cross. But Hagar and Sarah, two women who both bore sons to the Jewish patriarch, Abraham, represent two dramatically different attempts to see God’s promise fulfilled. One was based on human effort and reasoning, while the other relied on the word of God. He would do what He promised in His time and according to His will. No help needed. No other options accepted.

Today’s episode is called “Re-enslaved” and is based on Galatians chapter 4, verses 1-20. Here Paul will confront the Galatian believers about their inexplicable desire to return to their old status as slaves, when they had been set free by Jesus Christ. For Paul freedom was a major benefit of having placed his faith in Christ. He was freed from the law. He was free from the demands of having to try to keep the law in order to be made right with God. In fact, he told the believers in Rome, “But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit” (Romans 7:6). And Paul wants to know why the Galatians would willingly choose a life of slavery over freedom in Christ.