Jesus came to seek and save the lost, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, to teach people of the Kingdom of God, and to present the truth that no one is good enough for God but that people could have a relationship with God through Jesus himself. It’s the last part of the message that many have difficulty with, and it’s that last part of the message that has the potential to divide families. The message that Jesus is the only way to God is divisive no matter how you look at it, and any divisive message has the potential to divide even families.

In fact, Jesus is saying these words as an encouragement to his followers. You see, in this section where Jesus is challenging his followers and speaking words of truth that alleviate fear, he has to address one of the major fears people have when coming to him. “What will my coming to Jesus do to my family?” There are some people who know that coming to Jesus will create a rift in their family, and they have to make the tough decision of whether their family is more important than Jesus or vice versa.

Jesus makes it clear that this kind of decision is par for the course when it comes to knowing him. Don’t be afraid to make this decision in Jesus’ favor. If you are sharing your faith with someone, don’t worry about being the person who might disrupt their family dynamic. If you are the person making the decision, don’t worry about being the person who disrupts your own family dynamic. We are each accountable to God as individuals not as families.

But of course, Jesus doesn’t throw these words out there for us to fret over them. He speaks some encouragement to us too by telling us that those who are willing to lose even their own life for Jesus will find true life. It’s almost as if he is saying, “Whatever you may lose for me will be returned to you in truer fashion.” Additionally, he makes the promise that doing even the smallest thing to honor Jesus and care for his followers will guarantee a heavenly reward. How much greater a reward will one receive who makes a great sacrifice like the loss of his own life!

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: Do not fear what you may lose or give up in knowing Jesus and making him known; he has the resources to replace it and reward you.

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What great encouraging words those must have been for the newly identified apostles! “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.” That’s like a high school football coach sending in his offense against the Chicago Bears defense and saying, “I’m sending you in there to be killed and devoured. Go to it!”

What’s the deal with Jesus sending his followers out into dangerous water without years of training? After all, doesn’t he know that winning someone to faith often takes months of arguing the truth of the Bible and wearing the other person down with niceness etc.?

Sure, it’s frightening, but it is also one of the most encouraging sets of verses. Check out these promises Jesus gives to offset the effects of fear:

• The Father, through the presence of the Holy Spirit will tell you what to say during times of stress. (Don’t be afraid of being put to the verbal test by an examiner of the faith or your life.)
• There will be great stress over Jesus (they aren’t alone), but those who stand firm through the end will be saved.
• God can see anything that anyone does against you.
• God is the judge and the only one to fear, but he loves us enough to know the hairs on our head.
• If we acknowledge Christ before men, he will acknowledge us before the Father.

Are you afraid of talking to people about your faith? Jesus promises that words will be given to you in the moment you need them. Are you worried about failing in the faith? Jesus promises that simply standing firm to the end will result in salvation.

Other applications can be made, but here is your big idea for the day.

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: We have no one to fear but God himself, and he loves us intimately.

Not long after Jesus identifies his “Twelve” as unique among all his followers, he gives them the identity of “apostles” (sent out ones) and then sends them out to the nearby towns to do what? To heal the sick and cast out demons! Not only that, but he also expects them to simply live off the generosity of those who will hear their message!

On Sunday, we talked about how fear is a major hindrance in our spiritual growth and how faith is the key to alleviating it if not defeating it altogether, but as I look at this passage, I can’t help but think about all the fear this would create in me. Sure, it’s great to see Jesus do miracles, but we aren’t even halfway through the book of Matthew, in fact, just a couple chapters past the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus is telling his followers to preach, heal, and cast out demons and to live as homeless moochers! I just can’t fully grasp that.

Even if Jesus looked me in the eye and said, “Jeff, this boy has a demon. Cast it out.” I would stammer over my words and think two or three times before even attempting it, but here, they will be doing it all ON THEIR OWN without Jesus by their side.

Of course there are potentially a dozen or more lessons to take from this, but one lesson is that Jesus will quite frequently call us to take on tasks beyond our ability to prove the all surpassing power he has to work through us. Paul calls it the “Jars of Clay” principle in that great things coming out of weak people point to an awesome God.

Is there something Jesus is calling you to do but you are a little afraid to jump into it? Is he calling you to finally make a commitment to him? To be baptized? To volunteer to help at the church? To join a small group study? To propose to the girl? To break up? To share your faith?

What is it? If Jesus is calling you to do something, it’s because he wants to stretch you and prove his power. Why not give it a shot and see what happens? Oh, and a word of warning. Perhaps you should consult with a few other believers to make sure it really is something Jesus is calling you to do!!

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: We have no reason to fear doing whatever Jesus asks of us because he has a purpose in it whether we can see it or not.

For years, this man had lived alone in the caves. No one related to him, and his family had basically disowned him, so when Jesus healed him, he had nowhere to go really and all the time in the world. So he asks to follow Jesus, but Jesus tells him instead to go home and share with others all that has been done for him.

Jesus has forgiven my sin and healed my soul, but he hasn’t taken me to heaven yet. Why? Because there are people here who need to hear my story. The same goes for you.

How much has the Lord done for you? How has he shown mercy to you? Who besides you knows the answer to those questions?

For your devotional time today, how about you count God’s blessings to you by making a couple lists?

List #1: Spend 5 minutes writing down all the things God has done for you and all the ways he has shown mercy to you.

List #2: Write down all the people you know who don’t know those things about you.

Finally: In prayer, commit to schedule a time with one person from List #2 to share with them at least one thing from list #1 or even to show them the whole list!

Three points to notice in this section:

• Jesus connects fear with a lack of faith. “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” It’s almost as if Jesus is saying, if you had faith you wouldn’t be so afraid.
• Jesus rebukes the weather before he rebukes his disciples. Apparently, he knew that the most loving thing for them was to deal with the immediate cause of their fear before attempting to actually deal with the deeper root. Then, when the rebuke of the weather comes, it’s a simple “Quiet! Be still.” No fanfare or coersion here. Jesus simply says it, and it comes to pass.
• Jesus had originally said, “Let us go to the other side.” He did not say, “Let us go into the middle of the lake and die in a seething torrent of waves before reaching the other side.”

Ultimately, the way to answer our fears is to claim the truth of God:

• What has God said about this situation or anything like it?
• Who is in charge and where is he?
• Does he care?

Each of these is a profoundly deep question, but the final question is the easiest to explain and the hardest to fully grasp.

Does God care for you? Yes, after all, he sent his son to die for you. He loves you a great deal, and he can be trusted to keep loving you.

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: With all his great authority, Jesus is aligning himself with us for our protection and our growth!

Jesus is responding to a question from the Sadducees, and in verse 32 He quotes Exodus 3:6 where God speaks to Moses in the burning bush. God identifies Himself to Moses by saying, “I am the God…of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

In Matthew Jesus hangs his response to the Sadducees on the tense of the phrase “I AM.” Since God tells Moses that He is the God of these men who are already dead, then there must be life after their bodily death. Otherwise these men would no longer have a God and the phrase would have been “I was the God…”

The key thing here is that Jesus is confident that Scripture is authoritative and that things truly occurred just as Scripture records them….even down to the very tense of a specific word. If Exodus records God as saying “I am,” then that is truly what He said.

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A couple of thoughts come to mind regarding this passage. First, since Jesus tells us to give that which bears Caesar’s image, the coin, to Caesar, it raises the question, “What do we give to God?” Obviously, the answer is that which bears God’s image, but what is that?

From Genesis 1: “Let us make man in our own image… in the image of God, male and female, he created them.” We bear God’s image, and thus it is our very selves that God expects of us.

Also, I find it particularly suitable that this passage, regarding our relationship to “Caesar”, falls this year on Independence Day in my church’s lectionary. We must always remember that our liberty is a gift from God, our Creator, not from our government. Caesar’s job is to protect and guard the liberty of his subjects; he is not its source. The same thing goes for morality. Caesar is not the ultimate arbiter of right and wrong—God is. When our government sets itself up as the determiner of morality, rather than its defender, whether through legislation, or courts, it is Caesar, back to his old tricks. Let us not give to Caesar that which belongs only to God.

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: What does giving to God what is God’s mean for you today?

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In this passage we are told that the kingdom of heaven is like a marriage feast, i.e., a big party. Many were invited, and all the likely candidates didn’t come. Some just made fun of the invite, others actually mistreated and abused the king’s messengers. So the king sent his messengers out to bring in whatever riff-raff they could find. This king was determined!

We may tend to think of the “kingdom of heaven”, as mentioned in this passage, as referring to some grand, cosmic, future reality, as in “I sure want to go to that feast in heaven when I die.” But Jesus, by his incarnation, death, resurrection, and sending of the Holy Spirit, came to bring the reality of the “kindgom of heaven” to the here and now.

The King is inviting us to his Son’s marriage feast each day. Today, when I get the invitation, what will I choose? Will I enter into his Presence, join his feast? Or will I scorn the invitation, and choose instead to feed sinful appetites? Or maybe I’ll just choose distractions–things that aren’t necessarily bad in themselves, but just fritter away my time and energy.

Lord, today I choose to come to the feast that you invite me to. Lord, I choose to receive from your hand, rather than the world, since I know that everything that comes from your hand is good.

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When I was a teen, my favorite job was babysitting for my piano teacher’s children. I’m not entirely sure letting me be responsible for her 3 little ones was necessarily the sanest choice, but the kids sure loved it. We had quite a few rowdy games that we played with great fervor, but none so much as “Rock-A-Bye-Baby.” Most people I know gently rock their children and then give them a little pretend-toss when they get to the line “down will come baby”, but that’s not how we played it. I would wrap one of them up snug in a blanket, rock them vigorously back and forth until they were giggling uncontrollably, and then, at the “down will come baby” climax, literally toss them 2 or 3 feet through the air onto their overstuffed couch. And they loved it. It never crossed their minds that I could very possibly lose my grip on them prematurely and drop them on the floor. And I’m sure they never thought I would ever miss the couch and send them flying into a less forgiving piece of furniture. Perhaps the craziest part of our game was the fact that they kept coming back for more. “Do it again! Do it again!”

So when Jesus says we should come to him like little children, I like to think of those 3. They trusted me completely – so much so that they literally put themselves into my hands. Do we trust Jesus that much? There will be times when my life is in so much chaos and motion that I have no control over it, but my response needs to be complete trust that He will not lose His grip on me. And in the moments when I feel as though I am hurtling through the air toward who-knows-what, He calls on me to rest in the assurance that He has, in His infinite love and wisdom, chosen the exact right place for me to land.

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: Would you let Jesus throw you on the couch? And then ask for more?

Sometimes, I think Jesus is just being rude to people. Here’s a nice man with great upbringing and a pretty solid spiritual background approaching Jesus with a very bold statement of commitment. If I had been there, this man’s statement of commitment would have put my own commitment to shame. There are some places where I really don’t want to go. This guy seems to have it all together!

That’s the problem with words of promise. They can convince us that something is true about a person when in fact it might not be. I look at Jesus and initially think he’s rude, but then I remember that Jesus came to earth on a mission of life and death that would label him as a workaholic for three straight years. He got up early in the morning to pray, and he went to bed late at night. He was constantly surrounded by crowds (and at times by some really annoying fishermen). But the mission wasn’t about celebrity. Ultimately, he was going to give up his life for the sake of others, and he was going to call his followers to do the same.

Perhaps it wasn’t rudeness but straightforward honesty that drove Jesus to challenge this man’s commitment to “go anywhere.” Perhaps Jesus knew the man wasn’t interested in a nomadic life but was rather interested in just walking with Jesus to his final destination assuming that Jesus had a home base from which he operated. Perhaps the man was simply asking, “Jesus, can I sleep over tonight?” Perhaps that’s what Jesus knew about the man, but at any rate, Jesus simply says, “I’ve got no place to sleep tonight or any night. There is no home base for what I’m doing. Are you aware of what you are signing on for?” And that’s the last we hear of this particular man.

The other man, of course, seems to be a little more honest and humble, but Jesus again responds with something that seems to be rude! This man just wants to bury his father, and Jesus says, “Forget about him! His body will turn to dust on its own eventually. Just leave it!” Or maybe that’s not what Jesus was saying at all. Perhaps Jesus knew something about this man too. Perhaps this man’s father wasn’t actually dead yet. Perhaps this man’s father wasn’t even sick. Perhaps this man was saying, “Well, Jesus, once my parents have passed, then I’ll look you up.” Perhaps Jesus was saying, “If that’s what you want to do with your life, wait for your parents to die, then you are already dead yourself. So go, let dead people bury dead people.”

Or perhaps Jesus was simply using these opportunities to teach something to those who would be reading these verses in 2008.

Jesus sacrificed a great deal to get on the road proclaiming good news and healing people, and he calls his followers to similar sacrifice. Are you waiting around for something to happen before you will give Jesus your full allegiance? Are you displaying a surface commitment to Christ while not actually addressing what it will cost you?

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: Take time now to reflect on your status with Christ. He calls his followers to sacrifice for the sake of the mission. “Follow me,” he says.

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By saying this, Jesus was calling his own people faithless and a centurion faithful!

How often do we judge people by their appearance, their background, or their ability to say things the “right way”? Of course, Jesus doesn’t do that kind of judgment. His judgment is based on who the centurion actually is, and who he is is a man of deep confidence in the total authority of Jesus.

In the centurion’s thinking, Jesus doesn’t need to know the diagnosis of the sickness, Jesus doesn’t need to touch the sick person, Jesus doesn’t even have to be near the house. As a man with total authority, Jesus can simply declare something and it becomes reality. If Jesus says a person is well, that person will be well from the moment the word is spoken. The centurion was right.

But we’re focusing on the words of Jesus, and what he says is terribly challenging. Basically, he says that there is room in the kingdom of God only for those who live under the supreme authority of Christ. The centurion has faith in Christ’s authority so strong that he lives his life based on it, and people like that are the ones who will be welcomed into the kingdom.

Take this as a serious challenge. In Jesus eyes, it matters not what you look like, what your background is, or anything else. What matters is whether you are willing to submit yourself entirely to his authority. Are you? If you aren’t the promise of the kingdom is not for you.

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: There is room in the kingdom only for those who live under Christ’s authority.

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The leper had said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean,” and Jesus responds with a simple, “I am willing. Be clean!”

I find myself often thinking of God as if he is playing games with me. He is holding out the promise of great blessing, but not actually delivering on that promise in my life today. I haven’t seen anyone healed in miraculous fashion before. I haven’t seen waters part, a pillar of fire guide my path, a burning bush, or a dead person come back to life.

So the simplicity of Jesus’ response challenges me. Jesus just said, “I am willing.” It’s all so effortless and easy. Is he still that willing to work in our lives? Is he still that willing to do miraculous acts? Whether he is or isn’t willing to work the same way he did back then, I choose to approach him daily the way the leper approached him—with simplicity and humility asking him to work in my life according to his will.

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: Jesus doesn’t need to be coerced. If he’s willing, he will act without delay.

Today is Sunday, and you have the opportunity to hear God’s Word spoken to you and explained to you. Do not allow the opportunity to be wasted by mere observation, listening, or missing out altogether. You must choose to hear the message and then put it into practice. In all of the Bible, the promise of a stable life is given repeatedly but only to those who hear the word of God and put it into practice.

What is one thing you can do today to put God’s Word into practice?

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!

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.

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?

What is it about us? Jesus says, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” and I think I can hear a number of people in my world who might raise their hands believing heartily that worry will be able to make a difference! Of course, they all eventually realize the truth that we simply can’t gain anything by worrying.

Worry is worthless!

Of course, the point Jesus is trying to make is that God himself will care for us and meet our needs if we are his children. If your needs are clothing or food, God can meet those needs.

Do you know what the most refreshing part of living life like this is? It’s not the lack of worry over where the next meal is coming from. It’s not the lack of concern over what clothes you have. The most refreshing part of living life this way is that we never have to determine our needs versus our wants. If we are his children, and if his promise is true that he will meet our needs, then whatever I have is something God thought I needed, but whatever I don’t have is something that I don’t need!

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: What you lack is something God thought you don’t need now. What do you think about that?

Jesus wants us to get a better perspective on life. Way too often, we think that life is about the gathering of money or the collection of items, but Jesus looks us square in the eye and says, “That’s wrong.” In fact, he gives four reasons why the focus on material wealth or even having a heart for material gain will destroy us.

1. Material wealth won’t last.
2. Your heart follows your treasure.
3. Generosity fills your life with light.
4. Either God or money will rule your life.

Each of these four statements gets progressively more challenging and enlightening, and even though the final statement is the strongest and most profound, the two in the middle deserve more attention than they are usually given. Without taking a great deal of time on them today, I just want us to reflect on them a little more deeply in the form of a question.

I need to explain #3 a little. Jesus’ actual words are about your eye being full of light or full of darkness and what that means for your whole body. It seems way out of context unless you understand that the Greek word Jesus uses for “good” in the line “If your eyes are good” is a word that has a double meaning. It can also mean “generous.” Likewise, the word used for “bad” can also mean “selfish.” In other words, Jesus’ point is that if you use your eyes to see how you can give, your life will be filled with light, but if you use your eyes to see what you can gain, your life will be increasingly dark. So here’s the question. Do your eyes prompt a desire to give or a desire to get?

Secondly, back to #2, the teaching is that if you put your treasure somewhere, your heart will follow. Therefore, if you want your heart to be with another person, you will invest your wealth in that person (give gifts, etc.). So the question for this is a two part one: Where do you want your heart to be? Where are you putting your treasure?

Of course, I won’t be shy about this. One way to have your heart be with God is to invest financially in a church that is focused on Him above all else. By giving your finances to God through a church (particularly through the commitment to regular, percentage-based giving), you can quickly see your heart turn more often to the things of God. But don’t stop there. It’s too easy to put 10% of the paycheck in a basket and then spend the other 90% willy nilly. Why not also consider how to use the 90% to invest in the work God is doing in a friend’s life? Why not use some finances to invite another family over for dinner just to get to know them and perhaps help them take a step closer to Jesus? Of course, I want people to tithe, because I know the church will benefit, but more than that, I want people to develop eyes of giving and use of treasure so their heart is drawn closer to God every day.

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: Does my use of money draw me closer to God?

How many times have you prayed the “Lord’s Prayer”? I have calculated that I have heard or prayed it on at least 1,196 Sundays in my life plus a few more hundred for other prayer routines. Yet, how easy it is to forget the previous words! Jesus says not to babble in prayer. Did Jesus give us the “Lord’s Prayer” for us to merely repeat it back to him?

There three parts to the prayer here in Matthew. In part one, we affirm God’s place in the world. He is holy, he is greater than what the earth can hold, and he rules the entire universe as King. He is in charge, not us.

Part two is brief and basic. We ask God for what we need. We affirm that we depend on God to survive, for our next breath, blink, and piece of bread.

In the third part, we ask for God’s help with our brokenness. While the second part affirms our status as dependent creatures, the third part acknowledges our status as fallen, selfish, and gullible to evil’s charms. We not only need bread but also need grace — We do not deserve the bread we just asked for! This part of the prayer, which Jesus explains, also asks for a holistic grace and not one that can be taken for granted. Why should God forgive me when I do not show that forgiveness is imprtant in my relations to others? God’s forgiveness is by grace through faith, and when we ask for forgiveness to save our hide rather than because of true remorse, God notices.

Take some time to pray through this passage and make it your own prayer. Do you set yourself in truthful perspective when you pray? Do you talk at God with a laundry list of requests, or do you ask for things knowing that you depend on God for everything, even the energy to ask? Do you regularly and honestly confess your sins to God, seek his help to live a more godly life, and then actually go out and try to do it? Is there someone you need to forgive or ask their forgiveness from today? Make sure that you start and end your time of prayer by praising God, rejoicing in his mercy, and affirming his lordship over your life.

BIG IDEA: Would I rather talk at God or be with God?

Bryan and Jeff were roommates in college. After that experience he fled to Egypt for refuge….

Seriously, here are a few bullet points:

• Missionary to Sudanese refugees in Cairo Egypt for 2 years (1997-99) *Moved to Oregon, got married. worked in IT sector for 7 years while supporting his wife Lynn in grad school at the U of Oregon. Involved in various ministries including youth ministry and BSF. *Currently in 3rd year of seminary at TEDS.
• We praying about church planting back in the Northwest after graduation.
• Favorite color is green, roots for the Packers occasionally, finds KrispyKreme donuts irresistible, loves Chicago high rises and the outdoors, and plays the drums for fun.

Beyond those things, BK is just a really great guy with a deep passion for Christ.

Bryan Kane: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankane r.bryan.kane (AT) gmail.com

Many people say Christians are hypocrites — they flaunt their “faith in Jesus” while living a double life. We can all list off the problems with other people or TV preachers while thinking that we’re doing fairly well.

In the past Christian mentors have encouraged me to do well publicly in order to “be a good witness” for Jesus and fight against this reputation of hypocrisy. If people know that I give 20% of my income to the poor, always stay late at the prayer meetings, pick up litter when walking in my neighborhood, and volunteer at the public library, won’t they say “Wow, I can tell this person follows Jesus. I should consider Jesus too”?

Maybe.

Or maybe Jesus knows that my public life is nothing more than a hollow marketing campaign. What if I stopped our posturing and grandstanding, and just tried to honor God when no one is around? What if I quit relying on the fickle praise of my friends and only cared about what God thinks?

Some may respond, “But what about this “salt and light” business? Didn’t Jesus just tell us to be a “city on a hill”?” When we stand within sight of the Sears Tower in Chicago, does it need marketing? It’s just there, and we always know where it is. Certainly our lives should reflect the profound transformation that following Jesus brings. Our lives should match our words. But here, Jesus calls his audience to do privately what people laud publicly. His issue in these verses is not whether we do good works or not, but how we do them.

Ask yourself, “What is my ‘marketing campaign’?” What would happen if I did something amazing and no one noticed or found out?

The BIG IDEA: “live for an audience of one.”

Bryan and Jeff were roommates in college. After that experience he fled to Egypt for refuge….

Seriously, here are a few bullet points:

• Missionary to Sudanese refugees in Cairo Egypt for 2 years (1997-99) *Moved to Oregon, got married. worked in IT sector for 7 years while supporting his wife Lynn in grad school at the U of Oregon. Involved in various ministries including youth ministry and BSF. *Currently in 3rd year of seminary at TEDS.
• We praying about church planting back in the Northwest after graduation.
• Favorite color is green, roots for the Packers occasionally, finds KrispyKreme donuts irresistible, loves Chicago high rises and the outdoors, and plays the drums for fun.

Beyond those things, BK is just a really great guy with a deep passion for Christ.

Bryan Kane: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankane r.bryan.kane (AT) gmail.com

Have you ever been treated unfairly? Has anyone ever demanded more of you than you thought was right? Has anyone ever wronged you? If you are anything like I am, you’ve said “Yes” to all three! And if you are like I am, you have been tempted to get revenge.

Jesus was quoting Exodus 21:23-25, a command that God to the people of Israel as they were forming their identity as a nation. It was a law for society as a whole, but God never intended his people to take it as a license for vigilantist behavior. It’s quite tempting to take it as a personal license to “pay people back” for the things they have done to us, but Jesus tells us we can’t. Instead, he commands us to do a complete 180 from our natural desires.

They slap me, so I want to slap them, but instead of me doing the second slap, Jesus says to let them take it.

Listen, the second mile is where revenge is defeated. In the first mile, the bully thinks, “He’s not fighting back” but during the second mile, the bully realizes that “He’s not going to fight back.”

That’s a scary place to be. I don’t feel comfortable with it. If everyone in the world knew that I wouldn’t fight back, I’d get walked all over, and maybe even my family would be put at risk. This is a hard passage to apply to our lives, and I’m right there with everyone else who’s trying to live it out, but I think I have a few insights.

1. The decision to not fight back is a decision to leave room for God to work (Romans 12:19). The commands of “eye for eye” were laws for how society should defend the rights of the individual not how individuals should defend their own rights. God defends his own, we don’t defend ourselves.

2. The decision to love even enemies brings us closer to the heart of God than any other human activity. God loved the world so much that he would send his Son to suffer and die and rise again so that we might have an opportunity to have restored relationship with him. We were God’s enemies and he loved us anyway. When we love our enemies, it is the most godly thing we will ever do.

3. The decision to respond to others this way is a simple expression of humility. Jesus calls his followers to be perfect. That’s the standard. We have already broken it, so we aren’t any better off than anyone else no matter what they have done. We simply don’t have the right to judge any other person let alone exact judgment on them!

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: God’s children live by generosity and unconditional love.

Yesterday, we heard Jesus tell his listeners that the covenant of marriage is so sacred any thought of violating it, even a lustful glance, is something to be avoided at all costs. Following on that theme, he now addresses the issue of divorce and remarriage. If a marriage is severed in divorce, that’s proof that the original marital commitment wasn’t sincere, wasn’t maintained, and can be considered invalid! If the marriage vow isn’t kept, the entire marriage was false and therefore, the man and woman involved in the fake marriage were simply living in adultery.

It’s important to note also that Jesus seems to place the blame here on the one who files for divorce. That person, notice, is victimizing the other by causing the other person to be guilty of adultery in this marriage and in any marriage to follow!

Jesus takes sexual purity very seriously.

But, it’s too easy for us to think that Jesus is talking about marital issues alone. He never let’s us get it that easily, so he immediately follows his statement with a statement on making oaths where he says that all oath taking is undesirable. Why is that? What’s wrong with making promises or swearing on something?

I’m not certain I fully understand Jesus here, but I think I have an idea what he’s getting at. Oaths are taken to convince someone else that my word is good. It has nothing to do with whether my word actually is good or not. The oath isn’t about my trustworthiness. It’s about my persuasiveness. Can I convince the other person that my word is good?

Jesus says, don’t even go there. Just be true to your word, all the time, consistently, and it doesn’t matter if people believe you. You be a person of integrity. Make sure your “Yes” is always “Yes.”

How easy is it for me to say something and walk away from the encounter knowing that I have no intention to do what I said? It’s very easy! Everyone knows it, so we often have to embellish our words to get people to believe us. But no matter how easy it might be, Jesus declares it to be wrong, and that’s where the connection is to be made with marriage.

Marriage is one example of “oath” taking because we have to convince the law and others that we are serious. What if the simple words, “I do” were enough? What would our lives be like if we simply lived what we said? We say, “Till death do we part” and live it out. We say, “You are the only one for me” and we live it out. We say, “I’ll do it” and live it out. What if our “Yes” always meant “Yes”?

What would it be like if we were to say, “Jesus, I’ll follow you” and then live it out?

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: Just do what you say, and convince people to trust you by your integrity.

To defend his claim of living a righteous life, Job says, “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl” (Job 31:1). For men at least the temptation of lust remains untamed territory. James tells us that no man has been able to tame the tongue, but taming the wandering eye of a guy is probably even more difficult. I have even known a number of men who have justified lustful patterns of behavior by saying they are simply appreciating the beauty that God created.

Well, appreciation and lust are two different things. Appreciation says, “I’m glad that’s there.” Lust says, “I want that here.” Lust is the desire to possess, control, and gain pleasure from another person specifically in an intimacy that God ordained solely for the covenant of marriage. And lust attacks women just as well as men. Of course some women aren’t as stimulated by physical appearance as men can be, but many women are highly stimulated by images of romance especially as portrayed on TV and in movies.

Isn’t that okay? After all, there’s no harm done by looking. A man looking at the Swimsuit Edition? A woman watching When Harry Met Sally? They aren’t doing anything wrong, are they? Even if they look “lustfully” at one of the models or at a situation on screen, it’s not like they’re actually having an affair.

This is exactly why Jesus says what he says. Looking with lust is as bad as doing. See, the point Jesus is making throughout this chapter is that God’s Law was never intended to be taken literally in the sense that following it by the letter is all we need to do. In fact, God’s Law was always intended to be taken to the heart. Therefore, if adultery is wrong, there must be a heart principle behind it—perhaps the intimacy of marriage is so sacred that even the thought of violating it should be demolished. It is the higher principle of the heart to which we should be committed. These higher principles will always express themselves in the way the Law prescribed, but God has always looked for the heart.

That’s why Jesus doesn’t stop with the statement on lust. It would be too easy for us to now treat his lust command as the new limit of morality without letting it actually sink into our hearts. Jesus is trying to get us to realize that all sin is so utterly terrible we must avoid it at all costs, even at the cost of personal pain and loss, even at the cost of a limb or an eye.

The sad truth is that I know I could lose both my eyes, and I’d still be able to formulate lustful thoughts in my heart, so getting rid of an eye or hand or foot won’t actually make me sinless, but if it could, I should be willing to go there for the sake of purity.

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY:

• Is “lust” an issue for me? What will I put before my eyes today, and how will I respond to what appears before me?
• What is the condition of my heart? Considering my eyes, my heart, and my hands, am I living a life characterized by purity?

Matthew 5:21-26

The true mystery of relationships is not to be found in the fact that two can accomplish more than one. It is not in the miracle of love between a man and a woman. No, the true mystery of relationships is that if two people ever face a relational conflict, the OTHER person is always at fault. No matter what the issue is, no matter what the emotions are, no matter what the relationship was like before the conflict arose, once the conflict has begun, I can be 100% certain that 100% of the blame belongs to the OTHER person!

Of course, it’s irrational to think so because the other person is likewise convinced that all the blame belongs to me (which makes them even more in the wrong). You can see where this is going. Conflict can easily devolve into a negative feedback loop that boils down to a simple power struggle.

In this passage, Jesus gives us four teachings on relationship conflict and how his followers must respond.

• Anger is as serious as murder.
• Verbalizing disdain for another person is qualification for eternal punishment.
• If you recall that someone has something against you, make reconciliation your highest priority.
• Settle arguments quickly or you might find yourself on the losing end of a power struggle.

Each of these has one thing in common. Jesus puts the responsibility for relationship health on ME and not the OTHER. I do not have the luxury to blame the other person or even to avoid the other. However much I feel the other person is to blame, Jesus doesn’t allow me to live that way. I must take the lead, the initiative, and the responsibility to have healthy relationships or perhaps face the possibility of God’s judgment!

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY:

We must take the lead in maintaining healthy relationships.

Matthew 5:17-20

Perfectionism is something I understand. I can remember one day in my youth when I proudly showed my mother my report card filled with A’s, and she noticed that one of my grades was an “A-”. I remember saying to her, “What’s the difference?” and she proceeded to tell me there was a big difference!

Throughout my years in school I began to realize the paradox of perfection. You can get A after A after A, and you don’t gain any ground whatsoever, because if your next grade isn’t an A, the streak of perfection is irreparably lost. One B, and the 4.0 is gone forever.

But what if 4.0 were the requirement for graduation? Suppose you got a B in Freshman English? What’s the point of going on?

That’s what Jesus is saying to his audience. 100% of the Law is still valid, 100% will always be valid, and 100% of it must be kept 100% in order for someone to enter the kingdom of heaven!

We might wish that God would wipe out the Law altogether, but Jesus says that’s not going to happen. However, there is a shining ray of hope in the words of Jesus at the beginning of this passage when he says he has come to “fulfill” the Law and the Prophets.

It should be clear to all of us that if God demands 100%, we have already failed, but Jesus didn’t. He came to fulfill the Law and that’s what he did. The requirement has been met, not by me, but by Jesus, and if he’s willing to accept me to himself, then God will accept me through him.

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: I must perfectly obey the Law or give myself to the one who has already done so.

Matthew 5:13-16

During the time of Jesus, salt was a commodity that had to be mined or collected from the shores of seas rather than being refined from salt water as is mostly done today. As a result, most of the salt in those days contained large amounts of impurities, and because the salt itself is soluble in water, it was quite common for humid air to leech the salt out leaving “salt” that was nothing more than a variety of different minerals—not very tasty, and not useful for anything.

Of course, this is a serious warning. How terrible it would be to live life as an unsalty Christian, missing our purpose and living a worthless life!

However, that’s not the main point. Jesus wasn’t speaking words of threat, he was speaking words of purpose. “Don’t you realize that the only way this world gets any flavor, experiences any light is through you?” Talk about a high calling! Jesus is claiming that we who follow him are the ones who make life better for the whole world!

BIG IDEA OF THE DAY: When was the last time a non-Christian was thankful for your faith?

Matthew 5:1-12

Often called “The Beatitudes” these pithy little phrases spoken by Jesus at the start of his public ministry set the tone for the method Jesus will use throughout his teaching. The theme of his teaching, of course is repentance in preparation for the arrival of the kingdom of heaven, but his method is often to provoke thinking by speaking cryptic words that go against the prevailing wisdom of his day.

These phrases here are the epitome of Jesus’ cryptic method of teaching. In fact, each phrase directly counters the prevailing thinking of the day in a way that is both encouraging and challenging to all.

Just like today, there were many people in Jesus’ day who thought they had everything figured out. They thought they had taken care of their spiritual condition in ways that would earn them great favor with God. They were confident to the point of condescending and they looked at others with pity at best and contempt at worst. However, Jesus directly attacked them by speaking words of blessing not to the spiritually stable but to the poor in spirit; not to the self-confident, but to those who mourn; not to the aggressive, but to the meek; not to the righteous, but to those who hunger for righteousness; etc. In fact, the ones who are blessed are the broken ones who have come to the end of themselves and have nothing left but the purity of heart that truly seeks God and God alone. (Isn’t that the essence of repentance anyway?)

It isn’t easy being broken, but those who are are the ones God blesses.

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: When I come to the end of myself, and live only for God, blessing is sure to follow.

Matthew 4:19

There’s something profound and refreshing in these verses, but there’s also something challenging. Let’s dig into it for a moment.

Jesus didn’t say these words to superstars. The superstars of Jesus’ day were the religious leaders and the scholars. If anyone was a candidate for being in Jesus’ inner circle of apprentices it would have been one of them. That’s a principle of human life that seems like a no-brainer. As I’m writing this, sports announcers around the globe are discussing the recent NBA draft and the fact that once again, superstar players have dominated the first round of the draft. Everyone looks to pick superstars for their team… except for Jesus. He doesn’t invite the superstars to be on his team.

Jesus said these words to fishermen. Not only were fishermen your basic blue collar workers, they were smelly, rough around the edges, and we know that the band of fishermen Jesus approached were known to be temperamental, rash, and sometimes cocky. They were anything but societal superstars. We don’t even know if they could read. In fact, there is only one thing we know about these men… they knew how to fish. And that’s exactly what Jesus said he would do for them. He would take their fishing skill and put it to use for his own purposes. This is how Jesus loves to work. He doesn’t “take over” our lives turning us into something completely different than who we already are. Instead, he moves into our lives taking who we already are and transforms the direction, motivation, and purpose of our lives.

How often do we think about God’s will for us as if it’s something difficult or undesirable when in fact, Jesus just wants to take who we already are and shift us toward his own purposes?

Jesus’ purpose is to make us who we are for others. Here’s the key point. Jesus starts with who you are, but in the process of following him, you will become who you are for other people. The final shift in the transformation Jesus wants to make happen in your life is the shift from “for you” to “for others.”

You were not created the way you are for your own benefit. You were created the way you are to bring your unique benefit to others. So the next time you think about “evangelism” be encouraged that Jesus doesn’t expect you to be a superstar. He just wants you to be who you already are. But the next time you think about being yourself and living out your unique gifts, be challenged to be yourself in a way that brings benefit to others and draws them toward Jesus.

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: Be who you are for others.

Matthew 4:17

The introductory words of Jesus’ earthly ministry are words of change. In fact, the Greek word for “repent” literally is the Greek word for change applied to the word for mind. In other words, “repentance” is the act of changing your mind. As Jesus used it, it meant changing your entire perspective on the life you are living, doing a 180, and returning to God. It’s all about giving up life-on-my-own-terms living and shifting to life-on-God’s-terms living.

The dual theme of repentance and the kingdom of heaven is central to everything Jesus ever taught, because it addresses the deepest problem with the human heart.

Since the days of Adam and Eve, the primary expression of sin has always been living life on my terms according to my desires rather than living life on God’s terms with him at the place of preeminence. The central desire of the sinful human heart is to run its own show, but the central reality of the spiritual world is that God is sovereign. In other words, the question of Lordship, “Who’s in charge of your heart?” is the central, most important question of all.

Jesus declares that the kingdom is coming, and when it comes, God will claim full and complete lordship over all things and every person. Those people who call him Lord, will be welcomed to live in his kingdom, but those who follow the leading of their own heart will be cast out from the kingdom.

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: Who’s in charge of your heart today?

Matthew 4:1-11, Submitted by Chris Barnes

As you read this passage, you find the devil at work in his attempts to get Jesus to fall or take a misstep. The devil is clever, using Jesus’ hunger to challenge him to perform a miracle to satisfy his hunger. Jesus uses his response as an opportunity to show the devil there is more to hunger than food alone. He reminds us the the words of God are more satisfying than bread alone. Bread will fill our stomachs but God will fill our spirit. It is important to remember that God has many things to share with us, and there is an importance to taking time to share with him in prayer and devotion. God will fill your spirit as the bread would fill your stomach.

In the devil’s second test, Jesus quotes the Scripture, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” This response brings us the very nature of testing God. What does it mean to put God to the test? How would one test the Maker of the universe? It seems simple to think of testing God in terms of sin. Remember that God has more grace and mercy than anyone can imagine. Putting God to the test to show his power is unnecessary, but he has already proven willingness to give his Son.

Finally the devil attempts to give Jesus the world, if he would only bow. How often does the temptation to have it all, bear the cost of serving a false god? Think in terms of money, possessions, and desires. How often do you see people losing their families over those things? Once you put something in front of God, everything else falls away. Take comfort in the fact that God is there for you and me. He is always willing to meet with you. You don’t need an appointment and don’t have to bring anything. Just take the time to worship God and look and the world he has given you.

Matthew 4:1-11

Hungry from going for days without any food, Jesus is confronted by Satan with a seemingly innocent kind of temptation. “What will it hurt to just make a little bread and eat it?” It’s easy to resist the “bigger” temptations because they are so obviously outside of God’s will and in many cases also against the law or against our own conscience, but how easy is it to fall to the temptation of the small, innocuous sins?

Here in this single temptation, and in Jesus’ response, three deep spiritual realities are taking place.

First of all, Satan is hitting Jesus with the same temptation with which he conquered Adam and Eve—the temptation to eat. If Jesus can beat this temptation, then he will prove his ability to be the “Second Adam,” the one who can start the human race all over again.

Secondly, unlike Adam and Eve, Jesus is able to resist the temptation to satisfy his own desires, but in resisting, he tells his secret that life comes from the Word of God rather than from food. He is declaring that time spent with the Father meditating on His Word is more important and more satisfying than food! I’ve been a believer for 30 years, but even so it’s hard for me to relate to that statement at 6:00pm when the smell of dinner is wafting through the house!

Finally, Jesus proves his own point in saying this because it is itself a quotation from God’s Word. God’s Word declares that it’s all we need, Jesus affirms his own belief in it by quoting it, and more practically, it gives Jesus the power to conquer his own temptation.

So what’s it mean for us? If Jesus needed the power of God’s Word to conquer temptation, how much more do we need it?

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: Get God’s Word in you, and you’ll live life beyond the needs and limitations of this physical world!

Matthew 3:1-16

One of the amazing things about Jesus is that he isn’t concerned with maintaining the appearance of righteousness but of upholding true righteousness for himself and also for others.

Picture the scene. For days and days now, a man named John has been wading out into the muddy waters of the Jordan River calling upon people to repent of their sins and be baptized by him. He is challenging the status quo of the religious elite and even calls Pharisees to repentance. He seems rather strange and eccentric and rumors fly around about him living in the wilderness off of locusts and wild honey as his only food. But regardless of his appearance or his unorthodox approach, his message is clear—”Be baptized in repentance for your sins.”—and the people keep coming. They come, they are convicted of their sin, and they are baptized.

Then, one day Jesus comes near. What are the people going to think when Jesus goes into the water? Well, of course, since Jesus hasn’t started his public ministry yet, no one really knows him. In the mind of the crowd, he’s just one more sinner repenting and going to John for baptism. John knew better, though. He knew that Jesus, a cousin of his on his mother’s side, had never committed any wrongdoing, and was promised by angels before his birth to be the Messiah. He knew Jesus didn’t need to repent, but everyone else would have misunderstood this moment.

John was concerned about Jesus’ reputation, but Jesus wasn’t. His concern was about righteousness, doing the right thing all the time, and the fact that John was promoting righteousness to his audience. Jesus wanted to be a part of that. He wanted to support that, and he wanted to personally associate himself with John’s ministry. It wasn’t about reputation. It wasn’t about repentance. It was about righteousness—doing the right thing and promoting the right thing.

Today, don’t allow concerns of doing the right things and promoting the right things to be overshadowed by the concerns over your reputation. It matters not what people think of you but whether you are living in willing submission to God, His Will, and even the leaders he has appointed. Jesus, the king of the universe and creator of all that is, placed himself under the leadership of John, and in a moment of profound submission, was baptized “to fulfill all righteousness.”

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: The only person whose opinion matters is God.

John 6:26-71

As we begin our series focusing on the words of Jesus, it’s fitting to reflect upon this key passage. Jesus has just fed 5000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish. Then, he walked across a lake without a boat, and the next morning, the people showed up ready for another meal.

In the following conversation, Jesus makes it clear that their hearts are in the wrong place. Here he is standing right in front of them, he himself, the source of life and the source of life eternal, and all they can think about is lunch.

The conversation culminates in his statement that the flesh counts for nothing, but that real life comes from the work of the Spirit through the words Jesus is speaking.

This is the truth we need to hear at the beginning of our journey into the words of Jesus. Though we have a tendency to focus on the earthly things around us, on our clothes, our stuff and on the food we eat, our source of life is to be found in Christ and the words he has for us. There may be some hard teachings, but if we are willing to stay close to Jesus, the power of his words will come alive in our hearts.

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: The words of Jesus will be our life.