ResponsiveReiding

From Matthew 5:13-16 / Salt and Light – We must connect these verses with those which come directly before. In that context, in order to be salt and light – one must uncompromisingly live as those who know their blessedness does not come from this world – but rests in their being citizens of Christ’s Kingdom. Note that salt loses its “saltiness” in only one way – mixture with other things. Salt crystals never lose their essential property. But when salt becomes mixed with other substances, the salt no longer can do its work. The question is, what are we mixing with our devotion to Christ? Politics? Pleasure? Success? When we value what the world values; when we fear what the world fears; when we reason the way the world reasons – we lose our saltiness. We no longer cleanse and preserve. Note secondly that God is light and life. All things left to themselves are decay and darkness. As His, Christians bring His light and life-giving presence into this world. We are this way because He is this way. He alone stands contrary to sin’s entropy. He alone brings light. Apart from Him – all is darkness and deconstructing chaos. We cannot bring light into the world apart from exposing Christ for who and what He is, His work and His purposes. We must be ever about the business of making Him known in the proclamation of His person and work, and in living by the power of the Holy Spirit so that His life is manifested through us. What a high and precious calling He has granted those who are His by faith. Heavenly Father, fill us afresh today that we might know Jesus, and make Him known. Amy we, in all we say, think and do, preach Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

From Matthew 5:1-11 / The Beatitudes – 3 things to note: a. The eschatological nature of the blessedness in each case here: “shall” is the underlying reality of the Kingdom. I am blessed now, as I look forward to what “shall be” in the fullness of the Kingdom. Keep looking forward and fixing your hope there – not here. b. Jesus did NOT say (as is commonly taught by some) that the poor in spirit, or those who mourn are blessed BECAUSE they are in such condition – but rather that such conditions are not antithetical to the true blessedness which comes from being a citizen of the Kingdom. This flew in the face of a theological tradition which positively equated external blessings with assurance of God’s favor (spiritually) and external hardships as evidence of sin and divine disfavor. The Law of Moses did indeed promise external blessings as a fruit of obedience. But as Israel’s history shows and the prophets constantly revealed – God was never pleased with mere external obedience, rewarding it with Pavlovian treats. When their hearts were far from Him, irrespective of their ceremonial scrupulousness, He rebuked them. God’s external blessings were often poured out and sustained in the very face of Israel’s gross disobedience. Such mercy is meant to lead to repentance (Rom. 2:4) – to the revelation that God does not anger easily and favors very quickly. Here in this sermon, Jesus clears up the mystery once and for all. Blessedness itself is not located in the external. Externals sometimes reflect chastening (when negative), but more often than not – mercy and grace. There is not a one-for-one inverse correspondence which allows us to automatically read external blessings as God being pleased with us – or hardships as His necessarily being displeased, on a personal scale. Other dynamics are at work. Daniel was in captivity not due to his own sins primarily (he was not perfect), but those of his nation and forefathers. He suffered with them as part of them, though not a partaker in their deviance from God. We are to locate our sense of blessedness in being Christ’s. Being reconciled to God by His blood. Being washed from our sins and guilt – forgiven. In the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In anticipation of the fullness of the Kingdom. In this light, blessed are we – no matter what we may be enduring. c. Note too how the character of God in Christ is so wonderfully revealed here:

1. There is no ego in God. Jesus did not think His equality with the Father as something to be latched on to. He was poor in spirit.

2. God mourns our sinfulness. Yes there is anger. Yes there is holy judgment. But oh how there is a grief over our sin and what it has done to us.

3. Who is more meek and humble than Jesus, totally surrendered to the Father’s will, and never thrusting Himself forward to be over others?

4. Note the sole appetite in God for holiness. He has no taste for sin, and yearns for it in us.

5. How He is compassionate toward us in our suffering the results of our own sin. Merciful!

6. He is absolutely pure in heart. There is no darkness in Him at all.

7. He makes peace with Himself for us, at the immeasurable cost of His Son.

8. There is none so falsely accused, misunderstood and blamed as the truthful, radiant, ever sinless God. He has been persecuted for righteousness since the Fall, the apex of which is found in the cross.

From Matthew 5:1-7:29 The Sermon on The Mount – Jesus’ exposition of The Father.

While we could take each individual portion and expand upon them endlessly, let me try to give you a digest of the sermon in one take, as it would be meant to be heard on one occasion. In this view, I contend the sermon can be seen as an exposition of God the Father in His glory by The Son. Christian, this is His goal in all He saves, that we might once again bear this image, so perfectly shone forth in Jesus Christ. Christian – what a blessed call! So He begins:

5:1-12 / Be BLESSED – God is a BLESSING God. Repeated 9x’s over just at the beginning!

5:13-16 / Be EFFECTIVE – God is LIFE and LIGHT in the face of DARKNESS and DEATH.

5:17-20 / Be HOLY – God is HOLY, not without perfect conformity to His own nature. He is not arbitrary. Know His nature and you will know His ways. He is what He is – without defect or discord or imbalance (nothing missing or overstressed) or shadow.

5:21-48 / Be PERFECT (Loving) – God is PERFECT in love toward us.

Murder: God is not a God of hatred – God is love.

Adultery: He is not driven but controlled and purposeful.

Divorce: He is not unfaithful in any way.

Oaths: God cannot lie. He IS truth.

Retribution: He is not personally retributive only JUST.

Enemies: He loves His enemies. How much more His children?

6:1-24 / Be the Slave of only ONE Master – God is not torn, He serves His holy nature ALONE.

Alms: He is anonymously providing for the masses at all times in Providential beneficence.

Prayer: He is the rewarder of those who seek Him and delights in intimacy with Him.

Forgiving: He is a forgiving God. Easily and repeatedly.

Fasting: He willingly denies Himself certain rights for our good.

Treasure: He treasures us – not things.

Judgment: He is never skewed in His dealings with us – but wholly pure, merciful, sympathetic and gentle.

Dogs: He is not indiscriminate or promiscuous. He gives Himself to His own, but not to everyone the same.

Ask: He delights to give – and that, most – Himself.

Golden rule: He treats us with dignity and justice and compassion and generosity and goodness. Seeking us out even in our sin.

Gate: He provides a way to Himself, distinguishable from all the world.

Fruit: He is all sustaining and refreshing and satisfying.

Lord, Lord: He cannot be fooled.

Rock: He makes His truth known for our good.

So –

6:25-34 / Be CONFIDENT in the Father’s love

7:1-5 / Be full of MERCY

7:6 / Be DISCERNING

7:7-12 / Be LOVING

7:13-23 / Be ENTERING

7:24-27 / Be HEARING

From Matthew 4:23-25 / Jesus’ Ministry – 2 things are of note here in this brief description of Jesus’ ministry. First, it was 3-fold in nature. a. He focused upon Teaching: People need not only declaration, they need instruction and demonstration. How to rightly apply and implement the Word of God in our lives is as essential as hearing the Word itself. b. Preaching. People need not only good instruction, they need to be called upon to respond rightly to the authority of God’s Word. They need to be exhorted. And in this case, the preaching of Jesus centered on the declaration of His coming Kingdom. That it had burst in upon them and was now in process. There is no salvation apart from treason against this present world system and the serving of self – in order to serve Christ the King and His purposes. c. Healing: People need to know the truth of God’s Word, to be called upon to follow Him with authority and to see the Spirit of God in action within us – through us. They need to experience the mercy, compassion and goodness of God as a foretaste of the coming Kingdom. Jesus had power to manifest a glorious taste of what His kingdom would be like when it arrives in full. And in that day, every last vestige of sin’s effects will be once and for all eradicated. Come quickly Lord Jesus! Secondly, contrary to many representations of Jesus, He was NOT anti-establishment. He did not plant churches, nor abandon the one that was so broken. He preached and taught within the synagogue, as well as privately and in the open. He taught openly in the Temple. It has been popular at times to cast Jesus as a revolutionary and a firebrand after a political sort. But the facts do not support such a notion. He remained within the Judaism of His day, while manifesting the true religion and service of God at the same time. He was fulfilling what ought to have been. But when Judaism at last expelled Christ and Christianity, the worship of God in Spirit and in Truth, the “Church” made up of believing Jews and Gentiles rose as birthed out of the dead carcass of the Judaism of old.

From Matthew 4:18-22 / Finding the Ordinary – It can be a bit trite and unfair when we hear some give their testimony saying something like “I found the Lord” – and we pedantically correct them with something like: “He wasn’t lost, you were, so He found you!” Technically that’s correct. Paul’s citation of Isa. that “no man seeks after God, no not one” is true enough as it stands. Though it can be cited in such a way as to ignore that since the advent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, He has been in the world working in men’s hearts to indeed seek the Lord. There are genuine seekers out there. Not of their fallenness, but out of the glorious grace of God secretly at work. Nevertheless, in the final analysis, like Jesus seeking out and calling the disciples in this passage, or the woman at the well of Samaria and others – He is a seeking Christ. He Himself tells us, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” What I find delight in here is the simple reality of where He finds any of us. Nowhere else but doing what we do, because of who and what we are. It is one more reminder that when all was said and done, these men, were not special men in and of themselves. He did not seek out pre-existing and pre-qualified “disciples”. He made them disciples. He calls ordinary people in ordinary circumstance with ordinary backgrounds, ordinary skills, ordinary families, ordinary life experiences (good and bad), wrestling with ordinary sins, ordinary thoughts, feelings, faults, brains and bodies. Out of the same lump of fallen humanity, He pinches off some pieces of soiled clay, and forms them into vessels for honor and service in His household. He neither rejects us nor accepts us because of our ordinariness. He receives us and forms us out of love, uninfluenced by us. If He did not save the ordinary and the lost, He would save no one. For there is nothing in any of us to commend us to Him. In a day where everyone wishes to establish their personal exceptionalism – Christ still saves the unexceptional. Indeed, only the unexceptional. Come to Him. He calls to you even now. Come and be His disciple. Even your best nets are full of holes and need continual mending. He calls you right where you are, to follow Him.

From Matthew 4:12-18 / A Great Light! – Because Matthew is always aiming on proving Jesus’ Messiah-ship, more than the other Gospel writers, he demonstrates how Jesus’ life and works fulfill prophecy. This passage contains the 7th out of nearly 20 direct references in Matthew to the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. And here he cites that famous chapter where we also find the words: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.” (Isa. 9:6-7) Note that this “great light” is nothing more and nothing less than Jesus’ presence among them, and His preaching the message of the Kingdom. ‎The light was not IN them, though it was among them and they could see it. As is often said by Mark Ward, “edification requires intelligibility”and so it is even with the Son of Man. Jesus simply dwelling among them in this dark region brought no saving light, apart from His preaching to repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. And while in our day, preaching is often looked down upon as a poor means of communication, it is the means the Master appropriated for Himself, sent His disciples out to do, and is still His appointed means to bring light into darkness. Mere symbols cannot do it. If one were to present a cross to the native tribes of an un-reached people group – it could have no effect upon them unless the meaning behind the Cross is explained. We cannot merely “live” Christ, we must preach Him; make His person and work known. Declare His deity, proclaim His perfections, make the case for His substitutionary atonement, and call men to repent of their sins – especially of self-righteousness, self-sufficiency and rebellion against His right to rule and reign over them. As was the watchword of Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle: “We preach Christ, and Him crucified.” And when we keep to that, those who dwell in darkness, will indeed see a great light.

From Matthew 4:1-11 / Jesus’ Temptations – We could easily fill volumes (as others have already) on the wonder of this account. But in this brief overview, note that Jesus as a man in this world must have already experienced temptation before this moment. But in this, we see that there is normal, everyday temptation, and then there are seasons of extraordinary temptation – a demonic setting upon that strains us to the limits. Jesus endured both. On our behalf. Now there is but one way we know the events of the temptations in the wilderness took place – Jesus must have related them to His Apostles. How often and when, is left untold. But it was part of the information they needed to know regarding Him and His mission. And He has seen to it that we are let in on this extraordinary experience, that we may both take heart when we are assailed. That we are not alone in facing any temptation. Even the Son of God was severely tried. And, it is given that we might trust fully in how He has overcome for us.

For me, these temptations are indicative of the 3 most difficult aspects of the Christian life: 1. Trusting God’s PROVIDENTIAL appointments. If Jesus did not have bread at the moment, He could trust the arrangements the Father had made – including having to face off with the Devil while weak, hungry and alone. So we too can trust Our Father. 2. Waiting God’s TIMING. Jesus would not have the world in its fullness NOW. Our inheritance awaits His return. And we are not to expect to live as though it is all ours already in experience. It is through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22) thus we are not to expect and easy ride now. Jesus’ cross was yet before Him. And should He tarry, our deaths are yet before us. 3. Submitting to The Father’s METHODS AND MEANS. Jesus would not have the Father’s promises without going by way of the Cross. Nor can we follow Him unless we take up our cross and deny ourselves. In essence, the Devil’s arguments were these: As God’s Son, don’t you deserve not to suffer? Don’t you deserve to be recognized for who you really are? Don’t you deserve to sit on the throne now? And we each hear those whispers yet today in our own ears. Praise God He did not fail to overcome. For in His triumph, ours is secure.

From Matthew 3:13-17 / Satisfied – In this most interesting account, the mystery of the incarnation takes center stage. First, we recognize that Jesus does not “need” to be baptized. He is the righteous Son of God. But as a man, appearing the likeness of sinful flesh, He does all it would be fitting for a man to do in serving God in his culture, place and time. He is a complete Savior to us in this way. He fulfills all righteousness for us. He did what would be incumbent upon a Gentile coming to God, and, in addition, all that would be required of a believing, faithful Jew of His day: Rom. 3:29-30 “Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. He is identified with us in baptism, as being part of a believing and repenting community – even as we are identified with Him in baptism as partakers of His death, burial & resurrection. Note second then the Father’s affirmation of Jesus here. And a good question to ask yourself is – Are you as well pleased with the beloved Son as the Father is? Or do you imagine you can make yourself pleasing to the Father somehow apart from Him, or in addition to Him? The Believer must put the full weight of their acceptance with the Father on the Son. For the Father is well-pleased with Him. And if we are in Him, then the Father is well-pleased with us as well. How much we need to remember this and cling to it when we fail, and are tempted to somehow supplement His righteousness with our own in repentance. Yes, we repent, but not to somehow make up for anything lacking in Christ’s righteousness imputed to us. This, we accept by faith and faith alone. Glory! Woe to us when we do not trust our entire well-being to being in Him, and rest nothing on our own goodness or good works. At any time, before or after salvation. He fulfills ALL righteousness for us.

From Matthew 3:11-12 / 3 Baptisms – As John comes on the scene, we find him quite conscious of what is going on. In terms of understanding his own ministry, he says “Look, my ministry is simply to get you ready for the one to come. You need to cast off this trust in your heritage and personal righteousness as self-acknowledged sinners.” This is the baptism with water. Identifying as sinners in need of the saving work of Christ. And subsequent to Jesus’ coming, identifying with Jesus death and resurrection in baptism. But then, John speaks of Jesus’ ministry, and how He is the One who will send the Holy Spirit. How in the fullness of the New Covenant, He will use the enduement of the Spirit to baptize us into right relationship with the Father – identified as His children by faith. But then there is a 3rd baptism referred to – the baptism of fire. And this speaks of final judgment. Those who remain in their sins, refuse to come to Christ for His mercy and saving grace and reject Him as Lord, will be identified with His enemies. Even as the Spirit will gather Christ’s “crop” into the barn, and in that separation, the wicked like chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire. This demonstrates a principle we see throughout Scripture, that one and the same thing – like the sending of the Spirit – accomplishes 2 different things at the same time. Here, blessing the saints, and punishing the unbeliever. And so the Gospel goes out with urgency – for there is no reason for any to perish except one’s own refusal to believe and flee to Christ. That day of grace is still upon us. Fire has not yet gone out. The Spirit and the Bride – the Church – still say to all who will hear “COME! And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” Come today.

From John 1:14-18 / GRACE! – Verse 14 contains the first use of the word “grace” in the NT. And oh what is built upon it. But how do we define such a thing as God’s favor the way it is then expounded in the Gospel? If I might be so bold as to attempt just a shallow try – it looks like this: Grace is:

The greatness of God stooping down to the lowliest of men.

The goodness of God extended to the worst of men.

The worthiness of Christ accounted to the most unworthy.

The riches of God in Christ bestowed upon the most bankrupt.

The sweetness of God poured out on the bitterest of men.

The mercy of God granted to the guiltiest of criminals.

The cleansing of God in washing the filthiest of sinners in the blood of His dear Son.

The promises of God bestowed upon and fulfilled to the most faithless.

The forgiveness of God granted to those who have offended Him most.

The love of God expressed to His fiercest haters.

And God’s acceptance as beloved children, those who are most estranged from Him in their sin and rebellion.

All given freely in the birth, life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that we might have eternal life in and with Him. It expounds the wonder that “the word became flesh and dwelt among us.” This is the glory of the only Son from the Father. And Christ has made Him known. That, I believe, is just a tiny sip of true grace.