ResponsiveReiding

From Matthew 16:24-28 / Taking up Our Cross

This discourse is what follows Jesus’ dealing with Peter’s desire for Christ to remain. This theme is continued: Every place where our will runs counter to the Father’s – this is where our desire must be crucified. This is our cross. We do not have to die in literal crucifixion for sin – this Christ alone can do. But ours is to lay aside our desires and agenda, in favor of the Father’s eternal plans. And Oh, how hard this is at times. Heavenly Father, give me grace to see it, and do it.

Note first then: The loss of life here is not so much physical death, as it is losing our “right” to direct our own lives and to accomplish our own goals; to live for His plan and purpose.

Will we lay this down? Or will we demand that God give us the life we want, irrespective of the plan of redemption? This is the great question. And it is a question of life or death.

Note second: 21-26 Is all one with taking His easy yoke and light burden upon ourselves. It is off-loading a life built around God helping us achieve OUR goals, to being given over to devoting ourselves to God achieving His eternal plan and purpose. We lose the world – but we gain Him! We gain true LIFE, in all of its fullness.

And herein is the problem with so much of pop-Christianity today: Jesus is not our end, but rather the means to achieve some end of our own making.

We’ve lost the perspective of Asaph in Ps. 73:25 “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.” We’ve replaced it with “What do you have for me in Heaven beside yourself, and how can you give me the pleasures of this world?”

Yes, it is true that in Christ we are blessed even in this life. His grace toward His redeemed ones is immeasurable, and that, compounded upon common grace. But when we see these as ends in themselves rather than mere types and shadows of the glory of Christ Himself, we lose everything. At His right hand are indeed pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16:11). But what makes that true is that we are at His right hand – near Him – gazing upon Him – delighting in Him close up, and not through this present dark glass. David’s prayer in Ps. 17 ends with the sum of this reality: “As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.”

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wrote it. The Stones performed it. Experts say it is one of the 100 songs that shook the world. Another says it is the most popular rock song ever written. And over 15 million people bought it to listen to over and over. And its message has been renewed and re-sung in countless ways by countless musicians. So we hear its more clever refrain in the words of Lyle Lovett:

So like the years and all the seasons pass; And like the sand runs through the hour glass; I just keep on running faster; Chasing the happily I am ever after.”

King David knew better. He knew there can be no ultimate satisfaction in this life. That lack of satisfaction is not a condition to be remedied, but a reality to be put into its proper context. For we were never meant to find satisfaction in this life. We are not meant to have that, until the resurrection.

David’s line can be taken 2 ways – and perhaps it is meant to be taken both ways.

a. When I awake in the resurrection, I will finally see your likeness God – and at last I will be fully satisfied.

b. When I awake in the resurrection, and your sanctifying work is fully done, I shall be satisfied having been conformed to your likeness.

Here alone is true satisfaction – beholding the likeness, the face of our Dear Redeemer, and being conformed to it. If we seek satisfaction anywhere else, we shall never obtain it. And if we are satisfied apart from it, we are the most blind, deceived and pitiable creatures of all.

And so we read in George MacDonald’s “The Diary of an Old Soul”

Thy fishes breathe but where thy waters roll; Thy birds fly but within thy airy sea;  My soul breathes only in thy infinite soul; I breathe, I think, I love, I live but thee. Oh breathe, oh think,—O Love, live into me; Unworthy is my life till all divine, Till thou see in me only what is thine.

Note third: It is in the adoption of one of these paradigms versus the other, that the last judgment will come at Jesus’ own hands. We must consider carefully and regularly in what direction the inclination of our hearts leans.

No, in this life, it will never be perfectly so. But if we know nothing of the Holy Spirit’s ministrations in calling us back to the Cross-centered life over and over – we have great reason to fear. And, by the same token, if as a Believer, you are privileged to have the Spirit call you back over and over – how great ought your rejoicing to be.

Note lastly: How wonderfully Jesus gives glimpses at times of the glories to come in cheering and strengthening our souls. For the Disciples, there would be an astounding fulfillment of this just a few short days later on the Mount of Transfiguration.

But for all that – Peter will tell us later that Believers have something even more trustworthy than that supernatural experience for our foretaste – the sure word of prophecy. God’s personal promise that it will be so. 2 Pet. 1:19-21 “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

From Matthew 16:21-23 / Adversaries

The exchange with Peter in this passage is one of the most sobering in all the Gospels. “Satan” (vs. 33) as we know, simply means – adversary. One can be “a” satan or an adversary of Christ and His Kingdom without it being demonic, or being “THE” Satan we most often think of as The Devil. We have grown so accustomed to using the word satan only to refer to the personal Devil, we forget that the semantic range of the word allows for how Jesus uses it here in reference to Peter.

Note first: All it takes to be God’s adversary, is to set our agenda above His. In Peter’s case here, Jesus defines being a satan as simply setting the mind on the things of man above the things – the plans and purposes of God.

Was it wrong for Peter not to want Jesus to suffer and die? Not in the most basic sense. Jesus was his friend, his mentor, The Christ. But here is the problem, in his perfectly legitimate desires to spare Jesus such things, and to suffer the loss of Jesus himself, he had no consideration whatsoever for what was best and wisest in God’s eyes, and in His plans and purposes. And in our day where everyone is supposed to be in pursuit of their own agendas, happiness, goals, ambitions and desires – the posture of submitting all of those to God is almost unthinkable. Indeed, so much preaching and teaching today would tell us exactly that – that God’s chief end is to see to it we get ours!

We’ve turned the entire paradigm on its head.

In effect, Jesus is saying to Peter: You are looking at this from your perspective, and not from God’s. You may wish me to remain for yourself, but what is the Father doing? What is His plan? This is what must guide us – not our personal desires, but what God is about in sending me to earth. And that, must culminate in my death, or there is no hope for you in eternity.

And so may we pray today: Heavenly Father, keep your plans and purposes ever before me. Let me live my life so as to be fully invested in your agenda, what you are about in this world. Let me leave my self-willed and self-constructed goals behind. Let me be immersed in your will, surrendering my own completely. If nothing gets done the way I want, let it be, as long as your will is done.

Note second: The connection between 33, and 34-38. This is what it means to take up our cross. It is quite simply to abandon our agendas for His.

Now there is no question that this applies to each and everyone of us in our lives. God doesn’t exist to guarantee we get what we want in life – especially given our skewed values and desires due to the Fall. WE exist to get Him what He is after. To fulfill His purposes and plans. You cannot read Jesus’ own words without seeing that very dynamic time after time. He only speaks what He hears the Father say; does what He sees the Father does; “I have come to do your will.”

But this has a very special application to the ministry.

In today’s climate, something has crept into how Churches search for pastoral candidates and how leaders in the Church are supposed to function within the context of being visionaries or “vision-casters” as it is often dubbed.

No man should be considered for a pastoral role based on questions like “what is your vision for this Church?” Nor ought he to be always called upon to be setting a vision. No. The question is: Do you know Christ’s vision for His Church? And if so, what is it Biblically – and how do we fit into Christ’s vision in this local assembly?

Having some sort of mystical, subjective vision for a Church quite frankly was never a part of the ecclesiastical framework until quite recently. And it is borrowed from corporate America, not the Bible.

Pastors are to give themselves over to the purposes and plans of God as articulated in His Word – not divining some hidden, secret purpose of God for some certain group of people.

Note third: Public sins need public redress. Jesus took note that the other disciples heard Peter’s rebuke and thus He needed to set it straight right then and there. This would not wait to be dealt with privately because of the immediate impact upon others.

In other words, this was not a “Matthew 18” situation. Nor is it today when public figures, both inside and outside the Church sin publicly. As with Paul’s immediate and public rebuke of Peter in Antioch – when things are done publicly which have an immediate impact on a number of people, it must be addressed then and there. Much sin today is buried under a mistaken notion of how Matthew 18 is to be carried out.

Note fourthly: Jesus’ rebuke is not simply yelling at Peter, it is remedial. Peter isn’t ousted from the Apostleship. He isn’t demoted or written off. He is corrected.

And isn’t this a most marvelous display of the mercy and grace of God in how He deals with all His blood-bought ones?

Yes, at times we greatly err. At times, we too may well be His “adversary.” Aren’t we constantly being challenged to submit our wills to His? To go back and be sure we are setting our minds on His plans and purposes rather than our own? Indeed. And He is faithful not to leave us to ourselves. To love to a better place. To still own us as His own.

From Matthew 16:13-20 / Two Questions

There is little doubt that this is one of the most pivotal passages in the whole of the Gospels. And it is built around two eternally vital questions, and their right answers.

Note first: Jesus asks the disciples regarding the common opinion about who He is.

At first, this might not seem very important, but as we go out into the world hoping to evangelize, we need to find out people’s presuppositions before we venture to tell them the truth. When we fail to do this, we may use identical language, but with disparate if not diametrically opposed concepts.

When we speak of Jesus to a Muslim for instance, if he or she knows anything about how the Koran paints Him, then we are talking about two very different individuals. The same is true for Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and even those with little religious affiliation whatsoever. We must find a starting point where we are meaning the same thing by the words we speak before we can truly communicate with profit.

Going back a few years, it was a common saying that when someone was upset about something, they had a bee in their bonnet. An apt description. Who would be flustered if they had a bee in their hat? But if at the same time you used that saying with someone from England, it wouldn’t carry any of the same connotations. For there, the bonnet is the hood of one’s car. And who would care if there was a bee under the hood of their car? It would be nonsensical.

So who do PEOPLE say or think Jesus is, is vital before we can talk about who the Bible says Jesus is – and clarify that concept before we can share the Gospel competently.

As the Disciples were to make their way into the world for the Gospel’s sake, this issue would be front and center. So it is you see why Paul began where he did on Mars Hill. Until they were even talking about the same thing when they said “God” – misunderstanding would make Gospel unintelligible.

Note second: Illustrative of the first point, were the various notions among the Jewish population surrounding the coming of the Messiah. Hence, they would try to put Jesus into one of their preconceived categories.

Some thought Jesus might be John the Baptizer raised from the dead. Such an opinion can only come about when people look at important questions a-historically. And it is why Christians especially need to understand the historical factuality of Jesus’ birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection. This was troubling concept Herod had of Jesus in Ch. 14.

Other thought Jesus might be Elijah. This was more in tune with drawing an opinion from Scripture, but failing to consider the teaching of Jesus on the subject. They would have drawn from the common understanding of Mal. 4:5 where Elijah was prophesied to be the Messiah’s forerunner. But this is the designation Jesus gave to John the Baptist.

There were other Jewish legends which included other Old Testament prophets coming back to life in connection with the appearance of the Messiah.

In evangelizing, all of these false ideas of the Messiah would have to be dealt with in preaching Christ and Him crucified without misunderstanding. We can appeal to Scripture but leave out other critical Scriptural information thus failing to arrive at the truth. A whole understanding of the Bible is critical.

Note third: Peter’s famous declaration in response to Jesus’ second question: “But who do YOU say that I am?”

This, and this alone is the foundation of the Church: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Apart from this we have nothing but man made religion. Everything hangs upon and is founded upon this revelation. And any who have not had it revealed to them, are not of or in The Church.

Indeed, this is THE question everyone must answer for themselves. And make no mistake, the mere truth of the data is not salvific alone. The Devil and all the demons know who Jesus really is. The question is, having received the light of who He is, have you been reconciled to God through Him?

Thus we note fourth: Imagine how deaf, dumb, blind and hard we are, that God can appear in human flesh, do miraculous works, and speak to us directly- and yet apart from the Spirit’s working – we will not perceive Him.

We have little concept of how truly lost – lost is. Nothing short of the supernatural work of revealing Christ the soul delivers us from that death.

But note fifth: How gracious God is that He overcomes our pitiable state. If He did not, none would be saved.

Note sixth: A wonderful parallel between Jesus’ building His Church, and its shadow back in 1 Chronicles 28:11-19. There, it was David’s design, the father’s design which the son, Solomon carried out. And so it is with the Church. It is the Father’s great design, but the Son is the builder. Its erection is committed to the Son. But the Son is carrying out the Father’s will, plan and purpose.

Note lastly: In regard to the keys of the Kingdom. ‎If as Lightfoot suggests, the keys of the Kingdom are the sharing or the denying of any the Gospel – then both what glory and responsibility rests upon us. Are men kept out of the kingdom because we do not open the door of the Gospel to them? Father forgive us our neglect! Let me use those keys every single day! To deny men the Gospel, is to leave them bound in their sins.To fail to tell them the jail door is open and they may come out if they will follow Jesus to the entrance of Heaven.

‎Lightfoot goes on to insist this common Jewish way of speaking had to do with THINGS, not people. And thus in transitioning from the Mosaic to the New Covenant, the Apostles would be looked to to determine for the Church what was to be carried over as binding, and what was not. This was carried out at the first Church council in Jerusalem and was an issue of contention between Paul and Peter at Antioch.

And so it is this is not an issue of cause and effect, but of correspondence. As we walk with Him, submit to Him, give ourselves over to His cause ans purposes, we harmonize with Heaven itself.

From Matthew 16:5-12 / Beware the Leaven!

Note first: What we think matters; ideas have consequences.

One cannot imbibe false doctrine and it not have an ill effect. And the ill-effects of false teaching grow with the breadth of the system taught. Hence Jesus likening the false teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees to leaven. Once errant teaching moves beyond mere opinion about one or two issues, and blossoms into an entire paradigm or worldview – the effect governs the entire thought process.

This is why Jude is so exercised in his short epistle. The Church must – from the pulpit to the pew – be guardians of the truth once and for all delivered to the saints.

Innovations, new revelations, novel teachings are to be examines. And if they are not faithful to the Word already given – they are to be eschewed. Not entertained. Not toyed with. Not dallied with on the fringes – rejected. If not, make no mistake, like leaven, they will permeate the whole, puff up and create an entire false system.

We must be settled that God’s revelation is complete, sufficient and sealed until the final revelation of Christ Himself in His return.

No new doctrines. No tempting little off-kilter tid-bits. No new novel slants on the Word. Isa. 8:20 – “To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.”

Note second: How it is Jesus rebukes the Disciple’s faith here, and not their knowledge.

One would think Jesus would point out how little His disciples knew, not how little their faith was – at least in this context.

But the connection is this: faith must be rooted in what God has said and in His character. Always. Faith is never a baseless hope or conjecture. It is not something we can conjure up on our own.

Jesus was pointing out that faith must be based upon knowledge, and that given the track record of Christ feeding the multitudes, there is no way they should have thought Him ill disposed simply because they had forgotten something like bread. What is that to One who created the worlds by His word?

Faith does not exist in a vacuum. It is rooted in knowledge of Who God is in His character, and what He has revealed in His Word.

Note third: Jesus had not given them any reason to believe He was upset with them. They had no reason to fear that. And this is why depending upon our feelings for God’s attitude about us is so misguided. We must base those things on His revelations, not our subjective feelings.

We must always make our redress to the Word of God to formulate our opinions, and God’s.

One thinks of the tragic case of that great hymn writer William Cowper.

Given to write such glorious strains as:

1. God moves in a mysterious way
   His wonders to perform;
   He plants His footsteps in the sea
   And rides upon the storm.
2. Deep in unfathomable mines
   Of never failing skill
   He treasures up His bright designs
   And works His sov’reign will.
3. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
   The clouds ye so much dread
   Are big with mercy and shall break
   In blessings on your head.
4. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
   But trust Him for His grace;
   Behind a frowning providence
   He hides a smiling face.
5. His purposes will ripen fast,
   Unfolding every hour;
   The bud may have a bitter taste,
   But sweet will be the flow’r.
6. Blind unbelief is sure to err
   And scan His work in vain;
   God is His own interpreter,
   And He will make it plain.

And yet, for this and a multitude of others – written along with his dear friend John Newton – because of a dream he had where in the dream, God abandoned him – Cowper lived out the last days of his life believing he was damned.

Not because of God’s Word. Not because of the Gospel. But because he had a bad dream, which left him with feelings of despair, and concluded based upon those, he was beyond the grasp of salvation.

Beloved – we take our thoughts and our feelings from the teaching of the Word of God, nowhere else.

If not, we will live in the bubble of false doctrine. Looking large, but filled with useless air.

It is the The law of the LORD which is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. (Ps. 19:7-11)

Make your stand there.

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.