ResponsiveReiding

From Matthew 16:1-4 / Prove it!

In this short encounter, we find some odd bed-fellows, the Pharisees and the Sadducees together. Ordinarily, these were competing factions within 2nd Temple Judaism. They differed greatly theologically. But in Jesus, they found a common enemy. And the way fallen thinking goes, allying with others we would ordinarily oppose makes sense if we have one uniting goal. Such was both the religious and the political climate of the day. And so it is with many today in the realm of politics. No matter how we differ or even disdain one person ordinarily, if we think they can get us what we want, we’ll join arms with them. In this case, both lost in the end. And I fear that is unavoidable for us today as well. It is a sour lesson.

Some background may be helpful here.

The Pharisees were Evangelical Fundamentalists of their day. They had great sway among the masses. They were Legalists – but also held strongly to the oral tradition of the Jews.

They awaited the coming of the Messiah and scrupulously followed the Law. They believed in the resurrection, in the angelic host and in spiritual realities.

The Sadducees on the other hand were theological liberals and the ruling Elite.

They are often understood as holding to four key teachings: a. That the soul ceases at death – hence there is no resurrection. b. That the written Scriptures take precedence over all oral traditions. c. They majored on free will and a strong sense of human responsibility. d. They rejected notions of angels or a spirit realm.

Josephus the Jewish historian and contemporary of Jesus says they were boorish and vulgar. (A parallel to Hollywood – elite but vulgar)

They were in league with the Romans.

A 3rd major thought system was that of the Essenes, which we cannot go into here. It is enough to say they were isolationists. Cloistered away from what they perceived as “worldly” influences.

Bottom line? The Pharisees & Sadducees both opposed Christ AND each other. And yet in this text, both came to “test” Jesus by asking for a sign from heaven.

Note first: There will always be those who demand that God prove Himself to their satisfaction or they will not believe.

This was central to the temptations of Jesus in the Wilderness, and it will be central to the temptations the Enemy still lays on the shoulder of the Church in our day. It betrays a fundamental upside down reasoning.

God as Creator has every right to demand what He will from the Creature. We have no right to demand anything of Him.

The one “sign” which transcends all the rest, is His rising from the dead. The sign of Jonah. But in the end, they will refuse to believe even that.

Woe to those who require God to give proofs to them to their own satisfaction.

Note second: There is no external proof that will suffice for those who do not WANT to believe who Christ is and His Gospel.

For those who cared to really look, God had given signs everywhere!

The visit of the Wise Men (Matt. 2) and Herod’s response – butchering the children (Matt. 2). The preaching and ministry of John the Baptizer (Matt. 3). The voice from Heaven at Jesus’ baptism (Matt. 3:16-17). The testimony of Jesus’ preaching, healing, and delivering (Matt. 4:23-25). The sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7). His cleansing the Leper (Matt. 8:1-4). Healing the Centurion’s servant (Matt. 8:5-13). Mass healings @ Peter’s house (Matt. 8:14-17). Calming the storm (Matt. 8:23-27). Curing the Gadarene demoniacs (Matt. 8:28-34). Healing and forgiving the sins of the paralytic at Jesus’ house (Matt. 9:1-8). Raising the little girl from the dead (Matt. 9:18-26). Healing 2 blind men (Matt. 9:27-31). Healing the demon oppressed mute (Matt. 9:32-34). Jesus’ reply to John the Baptizer’s men and their questions (Matt. 11:5-6). Calling Himself Lord of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:1-8). Restoring the withered hand (Matt. 12:9-14). A blind and mute demoniac healed (Matt. 12:22-23). The institution of the parables as judgment (Matt. 13). Feeding the 5K (Matt. 14:13-21). Walking on the Water (Matt. 14:22-33). Healing many sick @ Gennesaret (Matt. 14:34-36). Healing the Syro-Phoenician woman’s demonized daughter (Matt. 15:21-28). Jesus heals”many” (Matt. 15:29-31). Feeding the 4K (Matt. 15:32-39). Indeed, there had already been recorded and noised about no less than 26 public instances of miraculous power and preaching.

Now Jesus says – WHAT MORE PROOF DO YOU NEED? If you will deny the obvious, what WILL work? Nothing. Luke 16:19-31 – If they will not believe Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if one comes back from the dead.

Note third: Such is the nature of spiritual blindness, that people possessed of great knowledge, wisdom and common sense, will still deny the plain truths about Jesus.

Unless the Holy Spirit opens their eyes, they remain in their blindness.

If someone can be intellectually convinced INTO the Kingdom, then they can be convinced OUT of it too.This is one reason I put little stock in apologetics as a tool for evangelism. No argument can make them Christians. But it DOES greatly help the Believer so his or her faith is not shaken.

Note fourth: We must beware that we too can have such iron-clad ways of understanding how God must work – that in the interest of protecting our own systems, we too can deny the obvious.

I worry about those who have so precisely determined how last days prophecy must play out. That just like the Pharisees, Sadducees AND the Essenes rejected Jesus because He did not fit their pattern – some of these too will reject what is right before their eyes.

It is common today to hear people say – “IF we don’t repent, America will be judged.” All the while ignoring that America IS being judged. The evidence is all around us.

The rapid moral revolution. The rise of secular religion and spirituality that has nothing to do with Biblical Christianity. The lack of common sense in government and Godless leadership. These are judgments.

And what of us who have such minutely defined end-times schema? Will we refuse Him when He comes because He does not fit the paradigm we’ve invented? Such was the case with both the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Woe to us who cling to our constructs and schemes over clinging to Christ above all.

Note fifthly: Unbelief is not something to be overcome by others, but to be repented of by the unbeliever.

Note how Jesus holds those who hear Him morally responsible. Here, He calls them an evil and “adulterous” generation.

Why adulterous? Because they claimed to be God’s people, but served themselves instead. They said they were God’s, but they really served their own opinions. Self was their god – not the God of the Bible.

Note sixth: Those who will not accept God’s testimony and proofs as given, will in the end find themselves abandoned (Robert Gundry) by God.

So here, He left them – they did not leave Him. “So He left them and departed.”

The repetition strengthens it.

What a terrifying thought – that one can resist the truth to the extent that Christ Himself will withdraw, or as Gundry puts it – abandon them.

Believer, take heart. Review the Gospel record and see if God has not provided more than enough proofs to satisfy even the most skeptical soul.

Unbeliever – take heed! Review the Gospel record and see if God has not provided more than enough proofs to satisfy your soul. And come to Him.

From Matthew 15:32-39 / A God of Compassion

J.C. Ryle notes that of all the varied emotions Jesus displayed during the incarnation – wonder, grief, anger, etc., none is more numerously noted than compassion. At least nine times directly and more times inferred. We need to note it. We have a most compassionate and tender God when it comes to our sufferings.

No, His compassion does not mitigate His justice, holiness or wrath. In His perfection, all of His attributes shine forth with equal intensity. None is ever expressed or displayed at the expense of the others. There is always absolute balance.

One may shine a pure white light beam through a prism to see the varied wavelengths and colors that light is comprised of – but when in right balance, only pure white light is visible. The Gospel serves as a prism, but we must not forget the whole when looking at a portion.

Note first: How much like me Jesus’ Disciples are. They had been here once before. And what did Jesus do then? He miraculously fed the 5,000 from a few loaves and fishes. But here, they repeat what they did the first time – they sputter to themselves about what they cannot do. One would have thought they would turn to Jesus once again first instead. But no. Like me they went through the ritual of personal helplessness first rather than running to Christ first.

Oh Father, help me to seek your face before I get into a dither about what I can’t do. Seeing every situation, make my first thought to run to you.

Note second: The wonder of our God in Christ’s compassion is.

He has compassion on all the brokenness our sinful rebellion has brought into the world.

On our physical needs. So He feeds the 5,000, the 4,000; sends seasons of rain and provides soil for planting and harvesting. We have air to breathe, water to drink, strength to farm and inventions to multiply the productivity of our labors.

On the frailty of our bodies. In His incarnation, He heals multitudes. Even now, He stretches out His healing hand at times. And in compassion gives men success in the sciences to create medicines, surgical techniques, therapies and treatments of all kinds. All to alleviate our suffering. On the saved and unsaved alike!

On the impact of our sin on our souls. His Word is given to lighten the eyes to our condition, and to provide the truth to right our listing and sinking inner man. There are secular counselors who observe and offer insight to our soul’s disorders. And above all, the Gospel to actually heal the soul and bring it back into right relationship with God.

He has compassion on the death we brought upon ourselves in Eden. So He weeps at Lazarus’ grave, and feels compassion for the death of a widow’s only son. Precious in His eyes is the death of His saints. (Ps. 116:15)

He has compassion for the Saint when he or she stumbles in sin. If only more of us grasped this, how much we would know He remains our ally in fighting sin. He winces at our wounds in that cosmic battle. He speaks healing and restoration to us in our failures. His Spirit is the Comforter. By His Spirit He points back to the Cross where our freedom and salvation has been once forever won.

He is compassionate toward the pain of our many temptations. He has tasted them all and knows their bitterness and does not cast us off when we are overcome.

He is compassionate when our own foolishness brings pain and destruction in our lives.

He is compassionate toward our forgetfulness of His love, mercy, grace and promises.

He is compassionate toward our loneliness and provides His Church, natural companionship, marriage and His promise to be with us always.

He is compassionate such that He pleads for us, intercedes for us perpetually before the throne of the Father that we might be preserved, blessed and arrive at our full inheritance.

Christian – never doubt His compassion toward you in every aspect of life – and even on those things we bring upon ourselves in foolishness, times of shirking off His yoke and by virtue of life in this post Genesis 3 world.

You who are not yet saved by His grace – His compassionate arms remain open wide to you. He has preserved you another day, and seen to it this Gospel of His forgiveness and substitutionary death on the Cross is brought before you yet again. He calls to you to come running to Him still filthy in all of your guilt and shame for His cleansing. He has compassion on the ravages of sin in your life. And today, He pleads through my voice to come for His ministrations. He will not refuse you.

O what a compassionate God He is!

From Matthew 15:29-31 / Something’s Missing

Note first: The way Matthew records this account seems strange compared to his other reporting. It is rather stark. Just matter of fact. And this feature ought to pique our interest. Such shifts in style are not mere accidents. We need to pay attention.

Note second: There are a number of things missing in this account. There are no interpersonal engagements. In the previous account, Jesus deals with the Canaanite woman quite personally, and with His disciples. Here, nothing. He came, He sat, He healed. Yes, the crowd wondered – ooh-ed and ah-ed. They praised God. But beyond that, we get nothing.

Note third: The greatest thing missing, is that Jesus is not recorded as having preached or taught anything. He just healed. The lame walked. The blind saw. The mute spoke. But no one sought Him for who and what He was. They just wanted relief from their temporal miseries.

Note fourth: How bountiful and even miraculous His common grace can be. In Jesus’ work of destroying the works of the devil (1 John 3:8) – that is, countering the effects of the Fall – He is pleased to relieve the suffering sin brought into the world and that still plagues us. He is so gracious, so merciful, so touched by the feelings of our infirmities, that it almost defies our imaginations.

Note fifth: That we can be touched by the miraculous hand of God, and our souls still be left untouched. When we seek Him only for what He can do for our present felt needs, without considering the deepest need of reconciliation to the Father – we may indeed go away happy for the moment – but what then? What of the judgment to come? What of eternity?

Note sixth: While the worship of the crowd and those healed was appropriate, by itself, it meant nothing regarding the state of their souls. Lost men and women can “worship” in the barest sense of the word. And it is only right that God be worshiped on every level. But we must not confuse that with the worship of the Redeemed. Gratitude for His goodness is only right from every creature. But the presence of even genuine and rightful worship is no proof of regeneration. How many thousands or even tens of thousands enter into some form of worship each week – who in the final analysis will prove to have never been transformed in the inner man by the new birth?

Perhaps some “worship” because they enjoy the experience of the music and the sense of community. In the process, they express genuine gratitude for the blessings of this life that He so freely gives. But again, this is not salvation. And we dare not mistake for such.

Note in summary the most important point: That we can genuinely meet God, be touched by God, be blessed in miraculous ways, and then worship God, and go our way rejoicing – and still be dead in our trespasses and sins.

Dear Reader, let this not be you. Search your heart. Better yet, ask Christ to search your heart by His Spirit. If your relationship to Him is not centered in the Cross, in regeneration, in repentance from sin and faith in Jesus’ substitutionary atonement on Calvary – dying the death you deserved so that you might be reconciled to the Father – you are not saved. Healed maybe. Prayers answered, perhaps. The recipient of miracles even. Filled with genuine gratitude. And still abiding under the wrath of God for your sins.

Flee to Him today. For apart from the cleansing from sin found only in His blood – for all the above, you are still His enemy.

But He bids you come today.

He will not refuse you.

From Matthew 15:21-28 / Mercy for Dogs

These verses bring us to one of the most controversial events in the life of Jesus. Controversial mainly, because we look at this encounter through the eyes of 21st century sensitivities, and even worse, woke-ism. As a result, some charge Jesus with racism here, and even say that He later repented of His sin. But is that really what’s going on here? A closer examination dispels such notions.

The controversy centers around Jesus’ words to this Gentile (Canaanite) woman, and His response to her plea: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” The charge being, Jesus, in an act and attitude of racial discrimination called this woman a dog.

There are several suggestions put forward to clear Jesus of the charge.

The 2 most common, and both possible are: 1 – It was simply the parlance of the day for Jews to refer to Gentiles as dogs. No one would have been shocked by the language then. It was all too common. 2 – Jesus uses a diminutive word for “dogs” here. He does not use the more common word for wild, scavenger dogs, untamed and universally disdained, but rather a word more akin to our “puppies.” A fond, household pet. And thus He was simply referring to the priority of His mission to His own people, the Jews. But not disdaining her.

As I said, both are possible.

A third, less common explanation is that of William Gurnall (and others) that Jesus was dealing directly with this woman’s faith. Testing it to see if it was genuine. In addressing that principle, and one which applies to all of us at one time or another – Gurnall writes: “The Christian must trust in a withdrawing God, Isa. 50:10: ‘Let him that walks in darkness, and hath no light, trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.’ This requires a holy boldness of faith, indeed, to venture into God’s presence, as Esther into Ahasuerus’s, when no smile is to be seen on his face, no golden sceptre of the promise perceived by the soul, as held forth to embolden it to come near, then to press in with this noble resolution, ‘If I perish, I perish;’ nay, more, to trust not only in a withdrawing, but a ‘killing God,’ Job 13:15; not when his love is hid, but when his wrath breaks forth. Now for a soul to make his approaches to God, by a recumbency of faith, while God seems to fire upon it, and shoot his frowns like envenomed arrows into it; this is hard work, and will try the Christian’s metal to purpose. Yet such a masculine spirit we find in that poor woman of Canaan, who takes up the bullets Christ shot at her, and with a humble boldness of faith sends them back again in her prayer.”

i.e. What a compliment Jesus pays her to joust with her so, and so to test if her faith is real or a sham. And so He does with us at times, delighting in a Holy banter that bids us reason and interact with Him in a most amazing way.

I think there is much to take from this view. The principle is certainly true.

But I think there is a better explanation yet. And it is one that emerges from a more careful reading of our newer translations.

In older translations, in vss. 24 and 26, the translator’s insertions make it seem as though Jesus is speaking directly to the woman. But you will notice that the inserted “said to her” does not appear in newer translations since it is not in the original Greek. That being the case, what is going on here seems to me, to be Jesus rebuking His Disciples and their prejudices, in regard to how He intends their ministries later to “go into all the world.” Indeed, even after this, it is going to take a miraculous vision to get Peter to go to the Gentiles later. And, as the narrative here continues, Jesus is about the feed the 4,000, of which the majority will almost certainly be Gentiles.

Read this way, the entire scenario takes on an entirely different cast.

The woman comes pleading for mercy for her demonized daughter. And her persistence causes no little distress to the Disciples.

They, the Disciples are dismissive of the woman, despite her obvious distress. They just want rid of her. But Jesus wants to use the occasion to get them to drop their prejudices. So He lets her continue until they can bear it no more and basically say: “Just do what she asks and lets get on with our lives in peace!”

And Jesus says to THEM (not her) – I, was sent sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. My ministry has a very narrow focus. My primary mission is to save the lost, not casting out demons. And He will not be taken off this primary task.

Not to be so easily ignored, the dear woman runs to Jesus, kneels before Him and pleads directly and urgently.

Now the question is – to whom is Jesus speaking in vs. 26? And given the narrative so far, it seems to me He is still addressing His Disciples. And now, exposing their hearts as being deficient in compassion and mercy. He speaks in their language – He says what they were thinking, but not saying out loud: She’s not worthy. As though grace and mercy are somehow deserved by some – like themselves as Jews. She’s just a dog. Why should I act? It’s not my mission.

Though it will be theirs soon.

As for the woman herself, she will agree with this too in a few moments. She gets it. She sees such a benefit as she is asking for, as only the crumbs which fall from the table of salvation. This is not primary, but it is my sad condition, is there not some mercy left over for such as I am? For such as this need? Such is the insight of her faith, and such is the answer she needs and receives. No wonder the greatness of her faith is commended.

And, her faith obtains.

In a similar thought, Chrysostom understands the disciple’s begging here as one of granting her her wish, so that the pleading will stop. He uses it to note that our own pleading with Christ is superior to the pleadings of other saints on our behalf. As an encouragement to keep praying ourselves, and not rely on other’s prayers. She persists. And she obtains.

Through this entire scenario, the Disciples were to learn compassion, and even for those outside of Israel. It would break their ethnic biases. And in turn, the woman would demonstrate the need for humility in obtaining our needs from God. We can place no demands upon Him. He owes us nothing. We deserve nothing. But the humble are met.

Note then how the grace of God in salvation carries with it the open door to other blessings as well. His grace and mercy are so bountiful, they spill over:

a. Into needs and desires not directly associated with salvation. This ought to give us boldness in prayer for all manner of need.

b. Into needs for those still outside of Christ. We ought never to fear praying for the needs of our lost loved ones, that they might come to know the bountiful supply of Christ. NO, He is not sent for those things themselves, but those things may well be met in the overflow of grace.

Again, we should not miss how Matthew arranges the feeding of the 4,000 right after this. The lesson of His immense bounty is immediately re-emphasized. This dynamic will be demonstrated in the feeding of the multitude in the next portion. Apparently, the Disciples had not learned the lesson in the first feeding just before this. So Wiersbe notes: In 14:15-21 – He feeds a predominately Jewish crowd in Galilee. In 15:32-39, He feeds what is likely a more Gentile crowd.” But the Disciples aren’t getting it yet. So next, Jesus will break the bread and fishes, giving them to the Disciples to distribute.

It appears that Matthew uses the woman and her need to highlight this dynamic for the Church. We are to take what He has given us, and give it to others regardless our personal prejudices against them by virtue of race, background etc. What He did for us, we do for them – freely. Indiscriminately.

Note again, the woman recognizes that this does not belong to her, that she has no title to it. And this is the humility we all need. We obtain salvation only when we know we do not deserve it. This is being placed before us in stark relief. But it is that very unworthiness and our recognition of it that gives us grant to obtain. Oh that such humility would attend us always. Then we would see generosity from the Throne such as we never imagined. He owes us nothing. All is of grace. This, the poor woman grasped.

As with the Centurion previously, faith is once again connected with recognizing something of Jesus, His authority and mission. Faith opens our eyes to who Jesus is and why He will do what He will do. It does not superimpose upon Him our interpretation of Him, but grasps reality about Him.

This is why all who deny His deity remain outside of faith and lost – for faith, genuine Biblical faith always contains this element of recognition regarding Christ.

From Matthew 15:10-20 / Breaking the Chains of Tradition

These verses are a continuation of Jesus’ exchange with the scribes and Pharisees. For Jesus, it is not enough to rebuke those who err, He must go on to bring truth to those who had been influenced by the erring. Such is His care for His people.

Hint to preachers: This is the example upon which passages like 2 Timothy 4:2 are based: “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”

Jesus tells them the truth; Reproves the bad teaching; Rebukes the bad teachers; Exhorts the listening crowd – and does so with patience, and teaching.

Simply rebuking is never enough. It devolves into mere ranting and venting. It is never sufficient, and indeed eventually does more damage – for it never heals the wound. D. A. Carson likes to say that preaching should both wound and heal. If we only do one or the other – or neglect both – we abuse our people.

Note first: Jesus immediately shifts the conversation from mere behaviors, to inward motives of the heart. Mere behavior modification is not the same as sanctification.

Take two men who have become drunkards. Both decide to enter a 12 step program to get sober. (What we might think of such programs here is not the issue – don’t get side tracked.) One of these men is a Christian, the other is not. Both in time do find themselves living a sober lifestyle.

The Christian is seeking to grow in the image of Christ. The un-Believer – as good as it is outwardly, and it IS better to be sober than not – is simply now sober. He has not grown in the image of Christ at all.

We dare not make what is identical outwardly into what is true inwardly. 2 different motivations were at work. One is sweetly acceptable to God with eternal impact. The other, acceptable to God as it is better for the man as a creature of God, nevertheless has done nothing of eternal significance. He is still lost and undone.

Men may modify their behaviors for all sorts of reasons. But if these changes are not the product of a heart seeking to serve Christ – they are not holy things. Just different. If the heart is not changed, the behavior is of very secondary importance.

Note second: When we make following Christ into a system of do’s and don’ts – taste not, touch not, etc., we have become Pharisees in the worst sense of the word.

Are there behaviors which are commensurate with being a Christian, and some which are antithetical to it? Of course! The Word of God is filled with such examples. But the ruling principle is not the action – the ruling principle is the motive.

As you work through a passage like Eph. 4:25-32, you see a pattern of true sanctification which we dare not ignore. In each example, 3 things are evident: 1 – Identifying a wrong behavior (that which is inconsistent with the character of Christ) – like “falsehood.” 2 – Stop the habit of lying BY – speaking the truth. 3 – And this is the key: BECAUSE – “we are members one of another.” The proper motivation which appeals only to those who have been regenerated by the Spirit of Christ.

But please PLEASE do not miss the critical point: It is not the behavior considered by itself which is the problem – it is behavior which is not consistent with the character of Christ within us.

So it is, we pursue the character of Christ, and the behaviors fall in behind in due time.

If my motivation changes, the behaviors will automatically follow. Seek first the Kingdom, the Kingship of Christ – that is the “prime directive.”

One more side thought here. So much teaching and thinking about sanctification revolves around “how do I stop doing X”. And this is why it so often fails.

Here is the principle: If the “law” says, “thou shalt not walk south.” Do not worry about how to stop walking south. Walk north. And you will by default stop walking south. Do not approach mortifying the deeds of the flesh in terms of negatives, but in terms of positives. Just as we saw in Eph. 4. Speak the truth, and you have just stopped lying. But just trying to stop lying, cannot be done.

Note third: Jesus disabuses us of the notion that sin is matter of external contamination. Such a faulty view of sin inevitably leads to things like the traditions He is directly confronting, and things like cloisterism.

So ingrained is this wrong view of sin, that many Christian parents virtually raise their children as though they were born pure, and so if they can only keep them pure and un-engaged with that nasty world “out there” that their kids will always grow up to be fine Christians by default. We just need to keep them pure and all will be well.

It is a lie.

We must reckon with the Biblical teaching regarding our being born in sin, and the need of the new birth. We come into this world loaded with inward corruptions.

So Jesus will be clear, it is out of the heart that evil thoughts come, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander and the such. These do not need to be taught. They are the natural gravitation pull of our own inward sin – irrespective of our outward environment.

If outward environment were the answer to sin, then Adam and Eve should have never fallen. They had the most perfect environment which could possibly be provided. Something else had to be afoot.

Sin is not caught, it is inherited.

I had a dear aunt, who loved Christ and did all she could to raise her 2 boys in the faith.

So zealous was she for their purity, that she would go through the Sunday newspaper and remove all adds for women’s undergarments, bathing suits, lingerie or even normal clothes she thought were too revealing.

They were in Church constantly, and even into young adulthood their friends and companions were carefully curated.

Both men eventually fell into public and unrepentant homosexual lifestyles.

Both, quite simply, had never been born again. All of the well meaning vigilance could not do what only the Holy Spirit can do.

Failure to reason from the Biblical understanding the Fall, leads to all kinds of sincere, but sincerely wrong approaches to sin.

And it produces the worst of cognitive dissonance in the parents who feel betrayed by God – after having done all they could do.

Note fourth: What an amazing thing this salvation is which is extended to us through the Gospel. It is not a program of moral reformation, behavior modification, works based acceptance with God or vain religiosity – it is nothing short of the dead being raised to life by the Spirit of the Living God – and made new creatures by His sovereign work.

We MUST, MUST, MUST preach as Jesus and the earlier generations – above all – “You must be born again!”

And how willing He is to do that very thing for all who hear and flee to Him in their guilt, shame and utter weakness.

From Matthew 15:1-10 / Slaves to Tradition.

This exchange with the scribes and Pharisees in vss. 1-20 is filled with crucial principles for living in Christ’s Kingdom. We see His reasoning on display in a most wonderful fashion. And, in the process, He frees Believers from so much that man-made religion imposes.

Note first: How this exchange proves to be Jesus’ own exposition of Matthew 7:3-5. There, in the parable of the speck in a brother’s eye versus the log in our own, Jesus appeals directly to the priorities of weights. Some things are more important than others.

Jesus will come back to this principle in Ch. 23: ““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!”

Some matters, even of God’s Law are weightier than others. Failure to make this distinction flattens God’s Law so as to utterly distort it.

One thinks back to the issue of circumcision. It was given to the Israelites as a unique sign of the Covenant. And yet, we read in Joshua that for the entire 40 years Israel wandered in the desert, they failed to circumcise their young. And did God abandon them? Did He charge them with gross sin? Did He fail to meet them every step of the way? No. But when they finally crossed over the Jordan, He told them to do what they had neglected before they were to begin their campaign.

Think now how some would make water baptism the equivalent of circumcision, and lay such stress upon it as to make one who is not baptized to remain in gross sin and perhaps not even saved.

Passages such as this bid us to think in the broader construct of Biblical Theology rather than in narrow patterns of mere proof texting.

Not every sin, not even every heresy is – damnable. Indeed, some are, but not all. And for lack of understanding this, the Body of Christ is often needlessly divided.

Just recently I heard from 2 different sources that some have made a major issue over whether or not the angelic host sang as Jesus’ birth, or only made a proclamation.

And will any be asked of they were correct in this when they reach the courts of Heaven, or be denied entrance, or lose rewards over it? Nonsense.

Note second then: Those who make every deviation from their own considered opinions into rank heresy, commit a terrible error.

Here, it was the tradition, the mere human opinion of some which actually overrode the commandment of God! So the appeal to “honor” in vs. 4.

And it bids us examine ourselves, even in the New Covenant regarding what “traditions” have come to have more impact upon us than the commandments of God Himself.

As a young man coming out of a strongly Pentecostal tradition, the practice of some women wearing open-toed shoes was considered salacious. Can you imagine that in Jesus’ day when all wore sandals or went completely barefoot?

On Sundays, we could not read the color comics in the newspaper until after the Sunday morning service. Or turn on the TV until after the evening service.

Wednesday service was a sacrosanct as Sunday’s.

Those who were not Pentecostal were – in the words of a Pastor cousin of mine: “driving a Cadillac with a 4 cylinder engine” – and were barely saved, if at all.

Communion had to be unfermented grape juice and unleavened crackers. Real wine and leavened bread were to be eschewed. Neglecting not only the Scripture examples, but the historical debates over the same.

In the mid-second century, the entire church nearly split over what day to celebrate Easter on, if not for the intervention of Irenaeus.

And today, some Christians will celebrate Christmas and others consider it pagan. But when such traditions actually govern or disturb the unity of the Church, we are following the Pharisees as our exemplars.

Note third: Jesus’ most excellent definition of hypocrites. The Pharisaical hypocrites put on the mask of righteousness in washing their hands, while their real face is the one of creating loopholes around God’s commands.

No one defines hypocrisy better than Jesus in this place: Playing righteous by what one says, but living in sin in direct contradistinction to that profession. Actors playing a role.

Note fourth: Every doctrine or teaching of the Word is a commandment of God and is to be heard as God’s voice to us. But to leap to assigning the same authority or statute to our extrapolations or implications of those doctrines is a grave error. And soon, our extrapolations take the place of the doctrines themselves, morphing into doctrines. When we make our extrapolations equal to or even above Scripture – we have usurped God’s voice with our own. And we will not be found faultless. Teachers and preachers, beware. Church leaders, beware. Every man or woman who desires to serve Christ – beware.

Note fifth: How freeing all of this is. It is so blessed and free to serve Christ, in that we are not called to nit-pick everyone else all the time. And freeing that we can step out of our own bondage to tradition.

The old adage, wrongly attributed to Irenaeus or Augustine, comes to us from the 1th century German Lutheran theologian Rupertus Meldenius, and emerges from the principles of passages like this: “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity. May it be so.

From Matthew 14:34-36 / Just the Fringe

In this small portion, almost an aside, are still some blessed lessons to take in.

Note first: How sad it is that some only want enough of Jesus to have their immediate needs met. Just the fringe is all we want. Not His Gospel. Not His person. Not to know Him, seek and walk with Him. Just fix my felt need, and let me go on my way.

It reminds me of Wilbur Rees famous poem:

I would like to buy $3.00 worth of God, please—not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine.

I don’t want enough of God to make me love an enemy or pick beets with a migrant; I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3.00 worth of God, please.

Father, please work in my heart so as to not let this be the case with me. I know at times it has been. Forgive me. I repent. Teach my heart to seek you for you. I do not want your fringe, I want to want you with all my heart.

Note second: We can receive blessings and even miracles from our brush with Christ, the Gospel, His Church and the Father – and leave with nothing more. Just because we have received a miracle, says nothing about the state of our souls. If we have not come to Him for salvation – we may find our few remaining years easier, but what is that in comparison with an eternity shut out from His presence?

Later, when Jesus addresses the battle we must prosecute against the remnants of indwelling sin (Matt. 18) He will tell us that it is better to enter life (Heaven) missing a foot or a hand or an eye, than to be thrown whole into the hell of fire.

Note third: How abundant, free and gracious is His mercy, in spite of men’s surface response to it.

The rain falls on the just and the unjust.

God’s common grace sweeps the earth with the miracles and blessings of modern medicine, scientific breakthroughs against plagues and disease, and countless inventions which add comfort, ease and pleasure to our lives. The entire race is abundantly blessed. The proof is all around us.

God is a giving God.

God is an abundant God.

God is a merciful God, to the just and the unjust.

God is a patient God as so much time has been afforded to let the Gospel go out into all the ends of the earth – as He withholds His just and final judgment.

And if He is so good, so that even if we but touch the hem of His garment we will be blessed, then how much more is ready and waiting for those who press on to know Him, walk with Him, obey Him and trust Him?

Truly, the half of His glory has not even yet be told, let alone received.

From Matthew 14:28-33 / When Jesus says: “Come!”

When Jesus commanded Peter to come to Him walking on the water, it was no more miraculous than when He bid Lazarus to come out of the tomb – or to you and me when He said “Come unto me all you who are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

His voice commands the seas. His voice commands the very stars. Heaven and earth are held together and function by His word.

How much more then should our hearts rest when He says that all who receive Him have the right to become the children of God?

All that is needed, is for us to believe Him. And the impossible is done. Rebels are made into servants. Sinners into saints. Savages into sons. The dead, raised to new life in Him. And all His promises made sure.

Sinner – hear Him – He calls to you today: Lay down your sin and flee to Him. His blood can cleanse every stain of sin and guilt. He can make you new this very moment – if you will but obey His commend to “come” – no matter how daunting, or impossible it seems.

Christian – hear Him – He calls to you today: Cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you. Believe Him. He who began His good work in you will complete it until the day of His return. No matter how daunting the remnants of indwelling sin. No matter how far from bearing His restored image you are at this point, no matter how impossible that seems.

1 – HE bids us come! His voice we know,

And boldly on the waters go,

To Him, our Lord and God:

We walk on life’s tempestuous sea,

For He who died to set us free,

Hath called us by His word.

2—Secure from troubled waves we tread,

Nor all the storms around us heed,

While to our Lord we look;

O’er every fierce temptation bound,

The billows yield a solid ground,

The wave is firm as rock.

3—But if from Him we turn our eye,

And see the raging floods run high,

And feel our fears within,

Our foes so strong, our flesh so frail,

Reason and unbelief prevail,

And sink us into sin.

4—Lord, we our unbelief confess,

Our little spark of faith increase,

That we may doubt no more,

But fix on Thee a steady eye,

And on Thine outstretched arm rely,

Till all the storm is o’er.

Ryle’s Hymns for the Church on Earth #29

From Matthew 14:22-27 / The Unexpected Jesus

Throughout His incarnation, Jesus was continually doing the unexpected.

It was not expected that the Messiah would be born to a virgin.

It was not expected that He would come when Israel’s spiritual state was at such a low ebb.

It was not expected He would be so humble and – ordinary.

It was not expected that He would preach as He did.

Not expected that He would avoid seeking authority or power among men.

Not expected that His public ministry would be so short.

Not expected that He would die on a cross.

And certainly not expected – by ANY – that He would rise again the 3rd day.

Jesus did then, and continues even now to defy human expectations – constructed out of our own imaginations and preferences.

And so it is in this frightful moment on the sea. The last thing any of the Disciples would have expected was to find Jesus walking to them on the water in the midst of a life-threatening storm.

But there He was.

Note first: Here He still is in our hour of need today. No child of His is in such a place where He cannot be found. No matter how unlikely, how unexpected, how impossible. No matter how stormy, how bleak, how seemingly beyond all hope – He comes to us where we are.

He is magnificent.

Note second: Obedience to Christ is no barrier to trial, danger and struggle. This scenario will be repeated in the lives of His disciples both in similar circumstances as well as in very different ones. There they were, doing what He had specifically asked, while facing inhuman and insurmountable opposition. It is in these hours we are to look for His visitation.

It is a myth that serving and obeying Christ somehow exempts His servants from danger.

There are many who believe that as long as they have a sense of peace about their decisions, that He will always make their path smooth and easy. It is not so. These men were as “in the center of God’s will” as they could possibly be; and never were they less peaceful and more troubled.

Note third: How this scene might parallel the return of Christ? Contrary to my postmillennial brethren, He does not come to a “Christianized” world, but to one in turmoil. It was true in His first coming, and we’ve no reason to believe it will not be when He returns. If Jesus Himself can query as to whether or not He will find faith in the earth when He comes (Luke 18:8), should we expect it to be any different?

I’ve little doubt that before He returns, that it will be a season of darkness and great labor for the Church, but seeming to make little headway?

But when He does finally appear, we may well fear Him before we recognize Him, so focused on the struggle, and fearful of sinking. But it will be then that He calls to us and tells us – the storm is not the problem, “it is I” – I am here. All will be well.

Note third: The nature of great prayer revealed here twice. And observe, I said great prayer, not eloquent, verbose or well thought out prayer. First was a cry of fear in their misunderstanding. How graciously He responds to such prayers with His blessed: “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” The second will come soon after in Peter’s “Lord save me!”

How He hears are gasps in His direction. And answers in grace.

Note fourth: We may well have before us a hint of what the dying saint may face in their final hours. Having exhausted all, failing to reach the final shore, struggling in the dark, no more progress being made, fearful, doubtful, and as the final time approaches, the specter of Christ seems more fearful than joyful. But even then, in that near-sinking bark, He will call out and say “Take heart; it is I” – and He will not only come to us, but in that moment, we be immediately at the shore.

Oh praise the name of our unexpected Jesus!

Matthew 14:13-21 / Seeing The God/Man

There is perhaps no other place in the Gospels, where both Christ’s humanity and His divinity are so fully seen at one and the same time. Indeed, this portion is so full, it almost defies being mined out completely. Deep, deep revelations are set before our eyes.

Note first: What a picture of Jesus’ humanity emerges.

In vss. 13-14, we see there is no question that Jesus withdraws at least in part to deal with His own personal grief. John, above all others, knew who Jesus was, and shared the most with Him. He paved the way for Him. He was His cousin, and uniquely called to his prophetic office in direct connection with Jesus.

Now, John was senselessly and brutally murdered because a spineless, immoral political leader driven by impulse at the sight of a young girl acting lewdly for his illicit pleasure – and didn’t even have the decency to stop himself in the face of something so heinous. So it is, upon hearing this news, Jesus withdrew. As He would weep at Lazarus’ tomb even though He knew He would raise him from the dead, so too, He know full well He and John will rejoice in Heaven and at the resurrection – and yet – He grieves. He is full man.

Note second: At how wonderful our Savior is. Withdrawing in these moments, nevertheless, refusing to shut His heart at the sight of these people. He does not let His own grief destroy His compassion for them. He still meets out mercy, while reeling from the blows of such wickedness. This is our Lord. His heart remains full even when it is breaking.

Grief has taken an improper place in us when it prevents us from having compassion on the circumstances of others. Jesus demonstrates how even in His great grief – the sorrows, even of mere temporal discomforts – are still able to impact Him.

Note third: In the breaking of the bread – Scant resources are no barrier to meeting great needs, when they are given into the hands of our God, and consecrated to His ends. He will be glorified in our lack – if we look to Him in it. Trust Him.

What good news this is for preachers who must be bi-vocational and are often drawn off to other necessities while wanting to shepherd God’s flock. No, you may not have the time for study and prayer and preparation you desire – but if it is God’s Word, if it is but some small loaves and fishes, it will meet the needs of the souls of your hearers, and then some. Trust His provision in your situation even if it seems meager at the time.

Note fourth: The magnificent display of His divinity. In my estimation, His multiplying the loaves and the fishes is His greatest miracle.

Right before their eyes, in plain view, He had to perform and act of creation ex nihilo. There were only so many atoms and molecules in the loaves and fish at hand. So He had to create more matter right then and there. It is as though He is back in Genesis 1:1. And it is done without fanfare, without telling them what He is doing, without any sort of pageantry. He simply creates, breaks and distributes. What a God!

Could He possibly make His divinity any more clear than in this moment? And yet, they all missed it. Even the Disciples. How blind sin has made us!

Note fifth: What a model for preaching is set before us here.

a. The loaves are broken by Jesus. We get edible portions of His Word from Him in our discourse with Him.

b. We take that, and give it to others.

c. Don’t worry if it seems small, or plain. If eaten, it WILL satisfy.

d. Don’t assume it is only good once. There is more there to feed others as well. There is great abundance.

Note lastly: Three things.

1. Clearly, the idea of abundance is meant to be demonstrated. When God meets the need, He does more than meet it barely. He is a God of abundance and there was enough left over here to feed many, many more.
2. How quickly we are satisfied – when He has provided so much more. We stop receiving from Him when our immediate pinch is met, and not according to all He has made available for us. May we become voracious consumers of all He has provided, and not just triflers at His provision.
3. Why did not those who partook, take more with them to take to others? Why was so much left over? They consumed what they had an appetite for themselves, but thought nothing of taking what Christ had blessed for them to others who might be hungry too.

Father, open my eyes to your great, abundant provision for my soul and life in Jesus. Give me a ravenous appetite for your provision – hunger for your Word and the truth of Christ that gobbles up everything thing I can. And let me take what you have broken, and not let a crumb of it be left behind, but carry it to others who need the Bread of Life that only you can, and have so graciously supplied.