I was standing in the kitchen when I heard the announcement on the evening news coming from the television in the next room: “The FDA suspects salmonella in many of the country’s tomatoes.” I listened to the report and promptly went to my fridge, reached to the back of the second shelf and pulled out a small package of tomatoes I had recently purchased. I looked at them. I held them under the light. I took them out of their packaging, ran them under some water and prayed, “Oh God please let these tomatoes be okay, you know how much I love them on my salad!”

In this passage Matthew gives us a report similar to the one I heard on the news that day. Setting aside the age-old argument about whether a tomato is actually a fruit or a vegetable, he informs us that we are called to be fruit inspectors. He warns that there are those who look like sheep but inside they are vicious wolves. They look fine, but, like the tainted tomatoes, once you get beneath the surface you will find that they are truly poisonous. They have the outward signs of belonging to the people of God but they really don’t have a personal relationship with Him through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“You will know them by their fruits,” verse 16. This is not justification by works but the indispensable evidence of justification by faith. This is not to say that outward works are irrelevant. Titus 2:14 says that our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ “gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, EAGER TO DO WHAT IS GOOD” (emphasis mine). The distinction can be summed up this way:

External obedience, that is, outward works, do not always indicate a right condition of heart, but, a right condition of heart will always produce good works.

The ability to do good works is not a guarantee that you are a Christian. But someone who is savingly known by Jesus will naturally evidence it by a life that reflects the character of Jesus and the fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23).

Authenticity in the Christian life is a serious matter.

Do you know God?

“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

When you hear or read what God has done for sinners in the cross and resurrection of Jesus, does this appear in your heart as a great and glorious thing? If you can utter an earnest “Yes!” then you have warrant to rest in gospel for your salvation. I love the fact that Jesus says “I never knew you.” He does not say, “I knew you at one time but I no longer know you,” nor “I knew you at one time but you strayed away from me.” but rather, “I NEVER knew you.” Unbelievers never come to see the glory of Christ as compellingly glorious. These people only want fire insurance. But genuine believers want more than rescue from harm. They see Christ as being more beautiful and desirable than all else. This is why the Apostle Paul could say, after many years as a Christian and full-time minister, “…my determined purpose is that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly]…” (Philippians 3:10, Amplified Bible)

He’s coming again soon. Know Him well!

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In this third message, Pastor Jeff closes out the Sermon on the Mount by summarizing Matthew 6-7 under the theme of stability. Did you know that Jesus taught us what he did so that we could have stability in our lives? It’s true. Listen up.

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The toughest parts of the Bible are perhaps the promises of great things which seem to be given in the form of blanket guarantees despite the reality of a world where they don’t seem to come true. This verse seems like one of them. How is it that God can give a promise like “Ask and it will be given to you”? How can he say, “Everyone who asks receives”?

We live in a world where these promises apparently aren’t true. I have prayed many prayers and have asked for many things where the answer I asked for wasn’t given. I asked, but I didn’t receive. Is that proof that God was playing a trick on us when Jesus said these words? I don’t think so.

Let’s just consider a few ways to understand these verses:

1. Perhaps we have read them backwards. Perhaps Jesus doesn’t mean that all requests will be granted but that only those who ask receive. This doesn’t make sense with the use of the word “everyone” though.
2. Perhaps we are reading the word “receives” wrong. Perhaps everyone who asks receives //something// even if it isn’t what was requested. This also doesn’t seem to go along with the rest of the verse.

A third option, however, may be the most reasonable. In the second half of this passage, Jesus uses the word “ask” a second time and tells us that God will give “good gifts” to those who ask him. Perhaps the issue is that we aren’t asking for the right things. Perhaps Jesus is saying that everyone who asks for what is good will receive it.

From this perspective, we can understand that if we ask and don’t get our request fulfilled, then our request was for something that wasn’t as good as whatever God actually has planned. The bottom line is that God cares for us more than we know, and that he is eager to give us good things.

BIG IDEA: Let’s be careful what we ask for but never be cautious to ask.

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This Saturday, we will be taking the words of Jesus and putting them into action! For our first service project, we will be picking up trash around the outside of the Tippecanoe Mall. We’ll be meeting outside the mall in front of Panera Bread THIS Saturday at 11:00 am. If you have purchased one of the RED t-shirts, please wear it, and if you don’t have a t-shirt yet, you will receive one for participating in this event. If you have work gloves, please bring them. Medical-style latex gloves and trash bags will be provided. After we’re done, we’ll also plan on going out to lunch together for those who are interested. It will be great to grow together as we serve others.

See you Saturday!

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Matthew 7:1-6

Too often, we think of Jesus’ words at the beginning of this section without recognizing the rest of the section. Jesus says, “Do not judge” and many people have taken that to mean, “You shouldn’t judge me, because Jesus says we shouldn’t judge.” Usually, people who say those things are actually hiding something or are knowingly worthy of judgment, they just aren’t ready to deal with it.

On the other hand, some people have taken Jesus’ words to say, “I am never to judge or critically evaluate other people.” In fact, it’s easy to get those two simple conclusions out of this passage, but it completely ignores the rest of the passage. You see, the principle here isn’t, “Never critically evaluate,” but “You will be judged how you judge others.”

Consider that Jesus doesn’t tell us to stop thinking about the speck of dust in our brother’s eye but to deal with our own issues first so he can be more effective in dealing with the issue his friend is facing.

Consider that Jesus warns people about sending too much value in the direction of “pigs.” In the context here, it seems like Jesus is really talking about human beings. He tells us to be careful whom we trust with sensitive or valuable information or they might turn it around on us.

So the basic idea of this section is really that Jesus wants us to critically consider other people so that we can make sure they are healthy before we enter into any commitments to them.

This can be incredibly tough now because we want to judge people over stupid things or to evaluate them too harshly, but that isn’t what Jesus is talking about. Evaluate others with the same criteria that you want others to use to evaluate you.

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: Have you examined yourself thoroughly enough to be able to step up and help others while critically remaining wise regarding who should be helped and how?

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