All or nothing

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

ALL OR NOTHING

Matt 16:24-28

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. 28 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." 

NIV

A powerful statement is made here by Jesus, not that any of his statements are without power, but this seems to be at the center of Christianity. What Jesus is telling us here is that it is impossible to live as a believer and also live our own non-believing lives. The question is: What does a non-believing life look like compared to a believing life. The central theme goes back to when Jesus said that we cannot serve two masters, God and money. A non-believing life, and notice we do not say a non-believers life, is one who has not yet given up self-reliance, self-dependence and selfish pursuits for the sake of gaining Christ fully. This implies we cannot be a believer, a follower of Jesus and still want to have all the fame and fortune of this world. We need to deny that self within us, that self who wants all the stuff, all the material things, all the “good life”, all the money in the bank that can afford us to have want ever, whenever, we want, or just be content to sit and count all that we have in the bank. This is what Jesus means by gaining the whole world. If we are so bent on the things we may well not be so bent on following Jesus and therefore are in danger of losing our life, which means our soul. So within the context of the words of Jesus here, there are two lives we can live, one or the other, but not both, not a portion of one and a portion of the other. It is an either or situation.  This is a choice we must make. Jesus tells us that when he returns all people will be rewarded for what they have done. The Greek word translated reward means to give back. Jesus will give back to each person what choice he made, what he has done. If a person denied himself and took up his cross and followed Jesus, he will receive eternal life. If a person did not deny himself, but continued to pursue his own personal agenda, seeking after fame and fortune, the things of this world, then Jesus will give that back to him as well. He will lose eternal life and be burned up with the world. Oh sure we all face temptations and we all fail to resist them one hundred percent of the time. Some of those temptations, if not all, are based on selfish pursuits in one way or another. That would be a form of not denying self. It does not appear Jesus is making the case that if we follow him, if we deny ourselves, we will never sin again. But this goes back to seeking first his Kingdom. How can we seek first his kingdom and want to have what we want when we want it? How can we serve both Jesus and self? Do we compartmentalize our lives? Do we have our physical life, and our spiritual life? Do we think as long as we love the Lord our God with all our spiritual life, we can still pursue after want we want in our physical life? Do we seek him first, sort of, so that he will add all these things unto us? That is to say do we follow Jesus for the physical, material blessings he gives to us? It appears we cannot even ever think like that. We need to deny all that is associated with our self wants in order to fully be devoted to Jesus. Although that might sound easy, it is very difficult to achieve. However our eternal life in Christ is not disturbed by our failure, if we have accepted him as our Lord and Savior. Our salvation is not dependent on our perfection, but on his. Yet at the same time we have to acknowledge we cannot run after the things of the world while professing Jesus is our Lord. We may yield to one of those temptations from time to time, but we are not forsaking our main goal of following Jesus. We just cannot follow him, carry our cross, perfectly, we will stumble occasionally. This is what the Apostle Paul was saying when he declared that war the wages within. The things we want to do, we do not, and the things we do not want to do we do. Those who have never denied themselves anything are in fact denying Jesus, denying to carry their own cross at all. They do not want to follow him or his lifestyle, they pursue fully after their self-agenda and therefore will ultimately lose their lives, their souls. We have gained eternal life, and we will continue to pursue Jesus. The last statement of Jesus about some of his disciples’ not tasting death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom has a need to be explained. Surely Jesus did not mean they would live until the rapture, or the new age, or the day of Judgement, or Jesus and his army coming in the clouds to defeat Satan once and for all, at the battle of Armageddon. Surely all his disciples tasted death at the end of their physical lives. However if Jesus meant, and it surely appears he did, that they would not die before they observed the church spreading, his glory, his kingdom spreading across the world. Many of them did see that. We can read all about their acts. They were being part of this spreading of the Gospel to both the Jews and the Gentiles. Both Luke and Mark make this clearer in their record of what Jesus said.

Luke 9:27

27 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God." 

NIV

Mark 9:1

9:1 And he said to them, "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power." 

NIV

So we have to conclude this is what he was telling them, however, we could still make a personal application to that statement. We could say that we will not taste death until we see the power of the kingdom of God coming fully in our lives. This walk with our Lord is surely a journey which requires growth. The more we read, the more we hear, the more we study, the more we understand, the more we should be growing in our faith, or trust, our obedience and our desire to please him. He wants us to be fully committed to him, denying the self within us. This make take the whole, the rest of our days here on earth. But we can be certain as we face that moment of our last breathe, if we are blessed enough to have that occur because of old age, or illness rather than a sudden crash, we will have no choice but to leave all behind and be fully looking for Jesus. There is no trailer on a hearse, we cannot take any of this world with us into the kingdom of God, so then why are we so interested in the accumulation of the things? Before we taste death, the Kingdom most come in all its power.  It has to come down to all or nothing. 

Overlooking the Physical

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

OVERLOOKING THE PHYSICAL

Matt 16:21-23

21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!" 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." 

NIV

This is certainly the truth of God for his people, which definitely includes us. It becomes all too easy to relate to God on a human level. Here we have Peter who was the man who walked on the water, defying the laws of physics, although not for too long until Jesus walked with him back to the boat. Peter was the first to proclaim that Jesus was the Son of the Living God, the Christ. Yet Jesus tells him, “Get behind me, Satan!” How can that be? Although Peter recognized that Jesus was the Christ, he was still relating to him in his humanity, seeing the physical Jesus, but not seeing the spiritual Jesus. Peter may not have actually understood at this time Jesus had always existed as God and he was in fact the creator of all that was created. Certainly they all got it eventually. We just have to read their letters to the churches and the four gospel accounts to know they got it, who he really was, but it seems they did not while he was still with them. How does this apply to our lives? Do we bring Jesus down to our human level? Do we humanize him too much? Yes he was fully man, but also fully God. Do we just pass that off as a mystery, “mysterium Fidei” the mystery of the faith, or in some sense the mystery of God? Are we not to understand God? It would appear God desires for us to know him completely, seeing with spiritual eyes, not with human understanding. We cannot fully explain God on a human level. Jesus was here for a special purpose, to redeem all mankind to himself. He was the only one who could satisfy his own need for Justice. Yes we talk about God the Father sending his Son to pay the price for sin. But in all reality God came himself to satisfy his own need for justice. Man can never satisfy that need. Man cannot do anything which fulfills God's demand for justice. Sin had to be atoned for once and for all, so that man could be returned to his rightful fellowship with God. Even though we cannot be perfect in our flesh, we can be in our spirit. This is the argument Paul was making when he said that what he wants to do he does not and what he does not want to do he does. He cannot, nor we, be perfect in the flesh, we will always have evil right there with us, sin. But in the spiritual realm of God, in the spiritual we are already made perfect. As Peter needed to see Jesus spiritually rather than physically, we need to see Jesus the same way. Sometimes we look at him as a man who was tempted by all the human temptations, which he was, no question about that, for we were told so.

Heb 2:14-18

14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted , he is able to help those who are being tempted.

NIV

Heb 4:14-16

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

NIV

But we cannot ever forget that he is also God, for in the beginning the word was with God and is God.

John 1:1-2

1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.

NIV

How then can we see Jesus as Peter was seeing him at this moment when he refused to accept what Jesus was telling him about being killed and then raised up in the third day?  Did Peter not understand that Jesus said in the same breath that he even though he would be killed, he would come back to life? Is it any wonder Jesus demanded that Satan get behind him? This is the plot of Satan in its fullest. He wants people to think God is dead. We know that is not true, but yet we also cannot humanize Jesus too much either. He is God and he is alive and well sitting in heaven waiting for the moment to gather his people to himself. Yes, there is the Father and the Son and now we have the ministry of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, not just among us, but within us. That would be easy to dismiss as a mystery as well. How can God live inside of us? How can he live in every believer at the same time? When we look with physical eyes, endeavor to understand with human minds, we fail to grasp the fullness of the truth of God. We are no better than Peter was at the moment of this exchange between him and Jesus. We ask ourselves how can we have the Holy Spirit living inside us and still sin. How is that possible? We would think that if God is living in us, we would not sin at all. How can we sin knowing the Spirit is right their within us? Are we not offending him in the midst of our sin? Yet he already paid the price for that sin, not just our past sin, but our present and future sin. However we are also told that we should not continue to sin just so his grace may abound.

Rom 6:1-4

6:1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

NIV

Again we would have to include all of this Romans' six to get all of the teaching, but the point is there is a difference between living in sin, and failing to be perfect, while at the same time in the spiritual realm of God, we are already made perfect. It still comes down to ridding ourselves of the physical realm and seeing in the spiritually realm. Peter was not ready or able to do that when he told Jesus, “Never, Lord, this shall never happen to you”. Peter finally got past that moment. We have to get past the physical as well. We must always think in the spiritual, for it is in this reality the Spirit leads us into all truth. Therefor we must overlook the physical. 

Who do we say he is

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

WHO DO WE SAY HE IS

Matt 16:13-20

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"  14 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"  16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.   19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."  20 Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

NIV

This is a passage of scripture which has given rise to much discussion with many various views. There are three main views held by some denominations. First that Jesus referred to Peter as the rock which he would build his church upon. This view has been adopted mainly by the Roman Catholic Church making Peter the first Pope, so to speak. He was the first head of the early church. However if he was actually head or authority in the early church then Paul would not have confronted him as he did.

Gal 2:11-13

11 When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. 12 Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

NIV

We would also have to include the whole of Chapter fifteen of the Acts of the Apostles to clearly see that the church followed the advice of James in this matter of the gentiles. Peter spoke first, but then James spoke up and asked the brothers to listen to him and they did, as they followed his advice. If Peter was the singular undisputed head of the Church neither of these situations would have happen.

The second main view is that Jesus was referring to himself as the Rock.

Isa 28:16

16 So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.

NIV

Although Jesus has been referred to as the Rock of our Salvation this may be a forced interpretation in an effort to dismiss Peter being the rock upon whom Jesus builds his church.

The other view also includes Peter, however not him per say, but his confession. Jesus will build his church upon that type of confession of those who believe. When people confess that Jesus is the living Son of God, the Christ, they become part of his church. This is a fact, but it is not the most plausible interpretation of this passage about the rock. If we look throughout the Acts of the Apostles we would find that Peter did indeed preach the good news to first the Jews and second to the Gentiles.

Acts 2:14

14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.

NIV

On the day of Pentecost Peter preached to all those Jews who were in Jerusalem celebrating Pentecost. This was Shavuot which occurs 49 days after the first day of Passover (i.es the 50^th day, including Passover itself) According to our scholars the Jewish tradition, Pentecost commemorates God’s giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, 49 days after the Exodus.  So Jerusalem was filled with God fearing Jews from all over. Peter preached to them and thousands accepted, confessed that Jesus was the Son of the living God, the Christ. Then we would jump to Acts chapter ten where Peter gets the vision of the sheet full of animals which is God calling him to preach to the Gentiles as well. So Peter is in fact the foundation upon which the church is built preaching both to the Jews and the Gentiles. But he is not the infallible authority of the first church. The idea is that the church, is built upon the solid foundation of being for all men, excluding none.

The basis for all this discussion is on the two words for Rock, Petros and Petra. They mean the same thing, except one is the feminine gender of the other. So the word rock is not the point of the meaning of the passage for neither Jesus nor Peter were feminine.

As interesting as all this is it would seem all the point is about the foundation of the church is universal salvation for all mankind. “Whosoever believes will not perish but have everlasting life” John 3:16. In all reality the main point here is in the words of Jesus when he asks, "Who do you say I am?" This is the question he asks all people. This is the question he asks us. What our answer is carries a great significance for our life. When we answer, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living the God”, we are saved, we will not perish, we are now on solid ground, we now have a firm foundation for the rest of our life. Everything we do is based on this foundation. We build the rest of our life on that one truth. All the rest of scripture may help us to discover ways in which we may correctly think and behave, but it all hinges on the foundation of confessing who Jesus is. Who do we say he is?

Right guidance

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

RIGHT GUIDANCE

Matt 16:5-12

5 When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6 "Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  7 They discussed this among themselves and said, "It is because we didn't bring any bread." 8 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, "You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Don't you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 11 How is it you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

NIV

This whole idea of being on guard against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees brings us to a place we should consider what they taught in order to see how that applies to us today. First the Pharisees believed in both the Oral and the Written Law. The Sadducees rejected the Oral Law and adhered strictly to the Written Law which was the Torah. The Oral Law was what God gave Moses and was passed down for Generations until about three hundred years when it was codified and written down which is known as the Talmud. The Pharisees thus had many rules of their own, interpretations of the Law while the Sadducees would only follow the Law itself. The Pharisees believed in the afterlife in which God punished the wicked and rewarded the righteous. They also believed the Messiah would come and bring world peace. The Sadducees did not believe in the afterlife as it was not mentioned in the Torah and adhering to a literal interpretation of it they could not accept the afterlife. While the Pharisees were more or less the blue collar men of the day, the Sadducees were more concerned about the rituals associated with the temple. So how does all that relate to us? Jesus told his disciples to be on guard against both their teachings. So then we could conclude both their teachings were false, or at least contained false doctrines. Certainly the rejection of the afterlife was false. Certainly the adherence to an Oral Law was false. With all the ways in which both lived out their beliefs may also have lead Jesus to warn his disciples against their teachings. The idea here is that we are also subject to many false teachings today. This is not to say that every denomination is filled with false teachings, but it could be that each has some false teachings among those that are correct. Why else would there be so many denominations with such a wide array of differences? It is true some differ over such slight amounts of scripture, yet they still differ and thus who are we to know to be on guard against. It has its own form of yeast which infects the whole of its congregation and if we allowed them to convince us their interpretation of the scripture is the one and only correct one, then we would be infected as well. Then we have the non-denominationalist, those churches that do not ascribe to any larger authority and thus they are allowed to make up their own set of beliefs along with their rules and regulations or the rejection of any rules and regulations. Then on top of that we have so many voices using multi-media methods of spreading their beliefs. In a world of both inclusion and exclusion we have those who accept all beliefs as valid while others reject all but theirs.  So what are we to do? It would seem appropriate to follow the teachings of Jesus. But then there are some who are Jesus only churches. Still we have the truth in the words of Christ as well as in all scripture. We have to know that all scripture is God-breathed and therefore profitable for teaching, correcting, rebuking and training in righteousness. We have to believe that God ordained men to collect all the right manuscripts. So we have to believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God. Yet how do so many believe so differently regarding what it says. We know we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves so we have to at least come to terms with the basics. God so love the world he sent Jesus to die on the cross to be a sacrifice for our sin. If we want to be saved we need to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We believe in the trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We believe we should be baptized, but after that the challenge starts. What we are left to conclude is we need to be on guard against any false doctrines. What we need is the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth, the only truth therefore. So then do we listen to men or to God? Do we look for praise from men or from God? When we start to adhere to rules and regulations of men, even if they believe there are Gods rules, it develops the attitude of looking good before others and thus receiving their praise as to how a good Christian we are. There is just so much that can go wrong whenever man gets in the way of God. Could we say that God moves differently in each person and so then our faith is a very personal unique faith? That would discount the truth then. There is but one truth. Jesus said he was the light, the truth and the way. They is no other way. We therefore must rely totally on the Spirit. One of the gifts he bestows upon us is the gift of discernment and thus we should be able to discern what is correct teaching and what is not. So then again let us look to the Spirit for right guidance. 

A sign

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

A SIGN

Matt 16:1-4

16:1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 He replied, "When evening comes, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,' 3 and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. 4 A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah." Jesus then left them and went away.

NIV

Certainly this speaks to so many people today who look for some supernatural or paranormal event in an effort to prove something exists greater then themselves, or at least outside the physical realm of man. The Pharisees surely had the knowledge of those types of things happening in the past by their prophets of old. Samuel called down rain and thunder to prove God to the people with a great sign from heaven.

1 Sam 12:16-18

16 "Now then, stand still and see this great thing the LORD is about to do before your eyes! 17 Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call upon the LORD to send thunder and rain. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the LORD when you asked for a king." 18 Then Samuel called upon the LORD, and that same day the LORD sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the LORD and of Samuel.

NIV

Isaiah proved the power of God by making the sun reverse course, or as we know now the earth actually reversed it spin. Either way a great sign from heaven.

Isa 38:7-8

7 "'This is the LORD's sign to you that the LORD will do what he has promised: 8 I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.'" So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down.

NIV

Moses also brought great signs from heaven. God provided manna from heaven for the people. So it was actually not unreasonable in the minds of the Pharisees and Sadducees to ask for a sign from heaven from Jesus which would prove he was also a prophet. We are not sure if they wanted to prove he was the Messiah, although that idea was certainly spreading throughout the land. Yet they were wanting to test him for themselves, have him prove himself by bringing a sign from heaven as other prophets had done. Jesus rebukes them in no uncertain words. He calls them a wicked and adulterous generation. They could read the signs of the sky which lead them to know what the weather would bring, but could not read the signs which brought them the Messiah, and their salvation. It is not much different today. Mankind can not only read the sky, but has created great technical aids to predict the smallest change in weather patterns forecasting temperatures, rain, wind, barometric pressures and the such but refusing the signs of God in all creation. Yet how do we perceive this in a more personal way? Do we ask for signs? Do we want God to prove himself to us by some miracle from heaven? We have heard some believers wish God would do something for them, like he has for others. Are we like them? Do we see God acting on behalf of others, blessing them in some material way, while we are in the midst of a struggle? Do we wonder why God does not heal us when we hurt? Are we always looking for something, a sign from God? Surely Jesus would not call us a wicked and adulterous generation. We love the Lord with all our heart, our mind, our spirit and our strength. Yet do we also have an affair with the world? We want, we desire the good life, at least what is defined as the good life here in the world. Is that bad? It would seem so. But is that what the Pharisees and Sadducees were doing that he would call them adulterous? Maybe it had more to do with their worship of the law, their religiosity, their self-righteousness, their adherence to tradition rather than the truth of God. This would make more sense to be able to apply the words of Jesus to our lives. Could we get distracted by just doing church? Could we become adulterous by looking to the denominational traditions rather than the truth of God? Still we might be looking for God to prove himself with a sign, a miracle. We say we believe, but it would be nice if God did something big. We have to come to terms with the facts, God is who he is because he said so. We just need to believe, period. Certainly we can look back at great things God has done in our life. Certainly we could expect that God does not change and therefor there are still more great things he will do in our life. But we need not have him to prove it, as the Pharisees and Sadducees were doing. Jesus told them the only sign they would have is that of Jonah, the fact he would be in the ground three days and be returned to life. We know all that, we are aware how true all that is. We believe and do not need any more signs to continue our faith in God. How could we live any other way, yet we still need to be careful not to fall into the trap of having an affair with the world. It is a temptation that may never go away, so we need to be vigilant in our trusting God for all aspects of our life. For we too one day will enter the ground, but only to rise again just as Jonah, just as Jesus. This is our road sign.  We have the greatest road sign of them all, the scriptures which point us to the right path. What more of a sign do we need? 

No Collapsing

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

NO COLLAPSING

Matt 15:29-39

29 Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. 30 Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. 31 The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. 32 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way."  33 His disciples answered, "Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?" 34 "How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asked. "Seven," they replied, "and a few small fish." 35 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. 36 Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. 37 They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 38 The number of those who ate was four thousand, besides women and children. 39 After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.

NIV

This seems a repeat of what has happened before when he feed five thousand men plus the women and children, except that was with five loaves and two fish. At that time his disciples did not consider that to be enough and thought Jesus should send the people away to get food. We are at the same kind of circumstance however Jesus circumvents their thinking the people should leave to get food. He tells his disciples from the start he does not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way. Rather than dealing with the same kind of miraculous provisions we did back in chapter 14, let us focus on those words of Jesus. We know he provides for our material needs, as we already have been not only made aware of, but have received so much from his hand. Yet those words spoke out to us, maybe for the first time although we had read them many times. It is certain that we find this to be true all throughout the scriptures. Many times we can read a passage skimming over portions as we have read them before and are aware of the historic event or circumstance. Then we read them again and suddenly a truth pops right out at us. The same words, the same situation, but a different time in our lives. Jesus had compassion on them. Jesus did not want to send them away hungry. He did not want them to collapse on the way. Jesus has compassion on us. He would never send us away hungry. He never wants us to collapse. Although in this setting he fed them loaves and fish and again with enough for leftovers, his desire for us not to go away hungry has great spiritual significance. Without the word of God, without being able to ingest it, digest it, assimilate it into our life, we would collapse, we would fall prey to spiritual hunger. The compassion of Jesus is what caused him to return to the Father. He told his disciples that he must go so that he could send the comforter, the Holy Spirit who would lead them and us into all truth. This way we would never go hungry again. Jesus, because he was fully God and fully man was not able to be omnipresent as the Spirit. The Spirit is only fully God and therefor can inhabit every believer leading them, feeding them the truth of the Word. Although Jesus had died in the cross out of both obedience to the Father and compassion for the people, he rose in a glorified state and was able to walk through closed doors, yet he was not able to be everywhere at the same time. Yet we cannot help also think that he loved his disciples deeply having spent those years so closely with them. We cannot help thinking he might have wanted to stay with them and continue their learning and growing to become the great men of God they were. But in his even greater compassion he knew the Holy Spirit would be the one who could do all that in their lives and could do that in the lives of many people throughout the ages until the Father sends Jesus back to gather them all to himself. Everything God does, whether the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit is out of compassion for us. We can be fed and not grow weary, not collapse in this journey of life. Jesus has told us he is the bread of life, the spring of living water, the vine upon which we are connected as branches. Apart from him we can do nothing. But as we remain in him, being led by the Spirit we will be not only sustained physically, but spiritually fed so that we produce all the fruit of the Spirit and thus never collapse on the way. 

Great faith

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

GREAT FAITH

Matt 15:21-28

21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession." 23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." 24 He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."  25 The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said. 26 He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."  27 "Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." 28 Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

NIV

The first thing we need to put to rest is the idea that Jesus called this woman a dog. This was a common expression used in that day and even in today by some groups and how they refer to other groups. The Jews called any gentile a dog as a way of showing disrespect. The gentiles called Jews a dog as well. Today Muslims call us Christians and Jews dogs demonstrating how little they respect us. We however, because of our faith in Jesus Christ and his teachings, are not only supposed to love our neighbor, but love our enemy as well.

Matt 5:43-45

43 "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy .' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.

NIV

Therefore it would be inconsistent with his own words that he would actually call her a dog as a sign of disrespect as he loves her more then we could possibly. The idea was to test her faith, as she was a gentile and for all practical purposes Jesus confined his ministry to the Jews. He came to the Jews, a chosen people to show the whole world his divine power and love. We know this because of his own confession, as well as the words John was inspired to write as to how much God loved the world and what he gave for it so that whosoever believed would not perish but have everlasting life. So than we have no other conclusion that Jesus was testing her faith. He wanted to see just how sincere she was about believing he was the Christ. She was not dismayed by his response about his being there just for the Jews. She was willing to accept just the crumbs of his ministry for her daughter. This was proof enough for Jesus that her faith was true. Surely we would think he already knew all about her, being divine, yet he was also human at that time. However we are also told of his foreknowledge in other portions of scripture. Still the woman had no idea of his plan, or his reasoning, but only her faith, her belief he could heal her suffering daughter. How do we relate to this event in our lives? Does Jesus test our faith at times? We know it is God’s will to heal us for we have been told so. Yet are we healed right away all the time? Are we healed every time? Do we even pray, believing we will be healed? Do we have the kind of faith this woman demonstrated? If so, do we go to Jesus or the doctor first? Have we accepted that Jesus sort of heals us through doctors? His healing is perfect, the doctor’s is not. Could there be times we have some infirmity or adversity to see if we will ask him for a healing or relief or just accept the infirmity or adversity by going to see a doctor instead or trying to find a way in our own strength to overcome the adversity? That would seem weird that Jesus would make us sick or bring some adversity into our lives.

James 1:2-8

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

NIV

Yet it does seem right to consider that our faith is tested. The woman passed the test. Can Jesus say the same about us? Do we just pray for a healing because that is what we are supposed to do? Do we just pray for relief of the adversity because we are expected to? But do we pray because we truly believe with all our heart, without any reservations, without any doubt whatsoever that what we ask in the name of Jesus will be given to us. Do we really expect Jesus to heal us? Do we have total confidence in his divine power to heal us? Do we have complete trust that he will overcome our adversities or give us the divine wisdom and power to overcome them? It is all about faith. We are told he gives every man a measure of faith.

Rom 12:3-4

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

NIV

What that measure is, we cannot be certain. We know God is not a respecter of persons, or does not show favoritism. Therefore we would have to conclude he gives the same measure of faith to each person. It is what we do with that faith which matters. Do we use it and see it grow within us or do we ignore it and see it wither away? Just as we exercise to grow our muscles, we need to exercise our faith so it will grow. As we see the results in our body from exercise, we will also see results from our exercise of faith. Let us hear Jesus say: “you have great faith! Your request is granted.

From the heart

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

FROM THE HEART

Matt 15:10-20

10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. 11 What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.'"  12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?" 13 He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."  15 Peter said, "Explain the parable to us." 16 "Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. 17 "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.'" 

NIV

We should have included the complete teaching of Jesus when we dealt with just verses ten and eleven as he explains all of his reasons for that saying. Our consumption of the mouth simply exits the body, but the thoughts of our heart are what comes out of our mouth. As a man thinks, so is he. He goes on to explain many of the thoughts that are in the mind of people, which ultimately cause them to be unclean. Again this is disturbing in that it seems at times our thoughts are uncontrollable. This is when that fruit of self-control needs to be at its finest. However it would also seem that Jesus is making the point that those who are unclean are those who produce the action from the thought. That would agree with the progression of sin as outlined by James.

James 1:13-15

13 When tempted , no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

NIV

The temptation is always contained within our thoughts first. It would seem it is impossible for the finest of a person, the purest, the most holy to live completely free of some type of evil desire. We are not sure if the list Jesus gives as evil thoughts is exhaustive or just an idea of types of thinking that would lead to being unclean because those thoughts would then lead to the action. How can we ever escape all thoughts that are not only pure, even though we have been admonished to think pure thoughts?

Phil 4:8-9

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure , whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

NIV

This might be a bit out of context as we would have to know what was going on in Philippi to know why Paul told them to think on these things. Yet it still speaks to us today about keeping control of our thoughts being careful not any evil thoughts to take possession of our body, which would mean we would be drawn away, enticed by our temptations into action. Sure we might not commit murder, adultery and theft, but there is always slander, which translate into gossip, which has been concealed as a prayer request for another. But the point again comes back to our thoughts need to be subject to Christ. We are going to have thoughts that are not pure from time to time and that is when we need to put them in their place, under the blood of Jesus.

Jesus also includes this idea about a blind man leading the blind. He was referring to the Pharisees and how they act as they are holy men of God, but are in fact blinded to the truth and those who follow them are being blinded as well. This certainly speaks to many of the false teachers we have with us today just as there were in the early church.

Titus 1:10-11

10 For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. 11 They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach — and that for the sake of dishonest gain.

NIV

It is easy for us to see those who preach and teach just enough of the truth, however a twisted type of the truth, for their own personal gain, becoming wealthy on the backs of their followers. But this can also speak to the everyday believer like us. It is important that we do not become blind guides, pretending to be perfect Christians when we are not. It is easy to look good, smell good and still have bad lingering within. We might want to put up that façade so others think us to be holy rollers, pure as the driven snow, without a hint of that crimson red sin. But the fact remains we cannot have a blind eye to the sin that lurks from within. We identify with the Apostle Paul in this case. Those things I hate, I do while the things I want to do, I do not. There is a war that wages within us. We want to do good and yet we do not do all the good we should. We do not want to do evil, we what to control those thoughts that are not good, but yet there they are, and the evil is right there with us. If nothing else we need to be honest with ourselves and in all reality with others, so as to not be blind guides, for being a blind guide also makes us unclean. This is seen in our lips speaking words from a lying heart.  The Pharisees were doing just that, see how holy we are? See how we do everything according to the Law, how perfectly we follow God. Yet they were not. We need to make sure we are not trying to look so perfect, when in fact we are not. This is the truth we need to have from the heart.

Self-Control

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

SELF-CONTROL

Matt 15:10-11

10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. 11 What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.'" 

NIV

What Jesus is saying here is sort of a conclusion to his speech on the traditions of man rather than the truth from God. He was talking about that as a response to the charge the Pharisees were making about his disciples not washing before supper. Heck, where have we heard that before? As children did not our parents tell us to wash up before dinner? Did we not tell our children the same thing? Traditions of men has been carried out through hundreds of generations. But here Jesus is continuing to tell them their traditions have gotten in the way of their understanding the truth of God. So he tells them even if the food has a little dirt on it from the hands of the disciples it is not going to make them unclean. However, it is what the Pharisees say with their mouths that makes them unclean. When we bring that truth forward to our time what we see is that some denominations, especially the holiness ones have designed a list of don’ts which have been made from traditional thinking rather than from the truth of God. What this list includes is not smoking and no drinking of adult beverages. Both which enter the body through the mouth and therefor according to Jesus do not make the body, or the person unclean. This would also include all sorts of foods, however the truth of God may have limits on the quantity of consumption as it speaks about gluttony in the scriptures

Prov 23:1-3

When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you, 2 and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony. 3 Do not crave his delicacies,for that food is deceptive.

NIV

Prov 23:20-21

20 Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, 21 for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

NIV  

Although this is Old Testament, the New Testament speaks about one of the fruit of the Spirit being self-control which could well apply to overeating as well. The fact seems to support that many believers would pay much attention to the no smoking and no drinking but would certainly ignore the truth about overeating. So what it comes down to is traditional thinking rather than scriptural thinking. Jesus tells us that what we eat or drink in all reality is not the important issue, it does not affect our salvation or our relationship with God, and it does not make us unclean. Now having said that we surely should do all things in moderation, including the consumption of food. That would be in truth with having self-control. Yet the self-control also fits well with that which comes out of our mouths, which certainly can make us unclean. The scripture speaks directly to the issue of our tongue. There are so many it would take more than a little devotion to include them all, but here is just one.

1 Peter 3:10

"Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.

NIV

Our words are very important. The idea of the first Psalm when it speaks about sitting in the seat of mockers, that word means to make lips, or give God lip service with our mouth, but not live as we talk. That would translate as not walking the talk, but only talking the walk. James talks about a stream which cannot produce fresh and salt water which speaks to our tongue not being able to praise God and speak ungodly words as well. The problem is that what comes out of our mouths is a result of what is in our heart. Yet it goes even deeper than that for the truth.

Prov 23:7

7 For as he thinks within himself, so he is.

NASU

Depending on the particular translation this looks a little different, but the original words are clear that it is not just our mouths that make us unclean but that as we think that is who we really are and in most cases we endeavor to deceive others with the words of our mouth which goes back to what James says about the fresh and salt water. Although it may be true that we should exhibit some self-control in our consumption of anything entering our body through our mouths, it would benefit us far greater to have that kind of self-control on our thoughts and our words. 

True Worship

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

TRUE WORSHIP

Matt 15:1-9

15:1 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!" 3 Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'   5 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' 6 he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: 8 "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'" 

NIV

So many times traditions get in the way of true wordship and accurate beliefs. Sometimes the rules of regulations of denominationalism deter us from the truth of the Word of God. This whole idea of being a “Good Christian” is based on traditional thinking rather than on the truth. The fact is we cannot be a good Christian, or a better Christian based on the number of works of service we do in or out of the church. The fact that we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior is the only basis we have to even be called a Christian. How can one accept Jesus better then another? How can one person be good at accepting Jesus, while another is not so good at accepting him? But on the other hand, do we give God lip service? Do we say that we love him, but then go about being a Christian according to our traditional method of thinking? Do we base our love for him on the number of things we do and things we don’t do? Although it may be true that works do spring forth from our love for him, our love for him is not based on our works. Love does not come from works, but works come from love. We do need to be careful not to be distracted by the teachings of men, which might well include those denominational doctrines. That is not to say every denomination is made up of rules of men, yet with each having so many differences in either their interpretation or understanding of scripture, it is difficult to reason they all have nothing but the truth of God, but rather some rules of men. It is with this truth, it would be best for us to lean completely on the leading of the Spirit. We are told we need to worship in Spirit and in truth. The only way we can do that is the live in the Spirit and not get distracted by the rules of men, the traditions they hold so dear. It is all about Jesus, not about our style, our methods, and our traditions. Let is simply worship our Lord. 

Send word

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

SEND WORD

Matt 14:34-36

34 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him 36 and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.

NIV

This seems sort of a short record of a situation which must have been a striking moment in the time of the people of Gennesaret. We are told that when Jesus and his disciples landed some men recognized him. We are not told as to how they recognized him other then they must have been around him before, seen him heal, hear him teach or perhaps been healed themselves. What we are not told is how different his disciples must have been. They had just witnessed him walking on the water, Peter climbing out of the boat and walking on the water, at least for a while, then both of them walking up and climbing in the boat with the storm calming at the same time. They proclaimed he is the Son of God. We wonder if their continence was any different. Although they had been following him, as he had called them to do so, they may not have understood just how divine he was, until now. He had defied the law of physics. Of course they would not know about the law of physics, but they would know their realm of reality which is not being about to walk on water. However in the realm of God all things are possible. So it may well have been a whole new group of men accompanying Jesus. Still we are told it was Jesus who was recognized by the townspeople. What they did is our lesson. They sent word to all the surrounding country. Surely they did not post it on facebook, or sent out a text message, or even called on their cell phones. They must have sent a person as a runner, or perhaps several runners to proclaim Jesus has landed on their shore. We do not know how long that took, but the result was that people brought their sick to Jesus. For the sake of the just considering the thoughts of Jesus, let us imagine this sending word took several hours. Then the time it took the people to respond and gather their sick and make the trip to the shoreline where Jesus had landed. What was he doing during all this time? Was he just standing there waiting for all the people to show up so he could minister to them? It would seem that is exactly what he did. The point of that is when we send word that Jesus is here, he is waiting, for those  to whom we send word, for them to come and be ministered to. But we must send the word he is here. How we do that would seem to be the same manner these men did. We send word, we are the runners. Someone came to us and told us Jesus was here and we came to be ministered to and in fact we were. We were healed of our sinful state and some of us received physical healings as well. So then being the runners now, being sent, by Jesus himself, to go into all the world and preach the good news, Jesus is here, that is our mission. We need to tell people Jesus is here, come and get healed. Of course today we do have Facebook, twitter, instant messaging, text messaging along with a host of other not physical, person to person, forms of communication. Yet would it not seem more appropriate to tell someone in person that Jesus is here? Sure some of those forms of communication including television, radio and even books can reach large numbers of people we cannot possibly get to on the personal one on one method. But it seems the one on one is far more personal with the other person being able to see our excitement of Jesus being here. Maybe that is why we do not use that method. Maybe we are not that excited Jesus it here. Maybe we use all those other forms merely out of a sense of duty, feeling we are fulfilling our call, as an obligation. But if we are truly excited about Jesus being here, having recognized who he is, and then we would be running to others, telling them to come meet him. Maybe we have just become too modern in our methods, or have accepted this new changing world and have forgotten the age old way of sending word. Maybe we have been harassed by Satan so much that we fear rejection of people to the word we send them. Maybe we have been suppressed enough by the world’s view of us, we just want to hide in our church, being content to learn more about our walk with Jesus, and have given up on sending word, or feel we are doing that my supporting a missionary to send word in some far off place. But there are people right in our own neighborhood, in our workplace, in our shopping places, and recreation areas that need to be told, Jesus is here. Will we send word?  

Come

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

COME

Matt 14:22-33

22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. 25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."  28 "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." 29 "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"  32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

NIV

If we were just to take the words of Jesus here, it would be a great lesson itself. “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid. Come, You of little faith, Why do you doubt?” Those words could apply to the summoning of people to the kingdom of God, the call for salvation, the call to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. It takes courage to believe in that which we cannot see, especially in the face of opposition. Although it seems many believe in ghosts, in the supernatural, the paranormal, but they endeavor to find proof of their reasons for such belief, whether it is true or false proof matters not, as long as they proved they saw that which they believe. We, on the other hand are asked to believe without any proof, other than of course this book we call the bible. How can we prove God? No one has ever seen him and lived to tell about it. Well, that sure smacks of sarcasm. Moses saw God and lived to tell about it, even if it was his back side, he saw him. The disciples saw God, in the flesh, and lived to tell the whole world about it. We are in the midst of one of those accounts, Matthew is telling us all about his encounter with the living Son of God, who is in fact still God. We need to take courage. We have already come to Jesus. At least we hope we have come all the way. Have we actually stepped out of the boat? There is a lot of symbolism in that stepping out of the boat. The boat represents all that we know which sustains us in the midst of life itself. It is the physical realm of our reality, what we can see, what we can trust to provide a means to live, and even a way of live itself, being not just used for transportation, but for a means to support ourselves and our family, a vessel to catch fish. Here Jesus beckons us to step out onto the water, a place that is outside the realm of our reality, but is in the realm of his reality. There are a whole lot of places or ways we could go with that statement. Perhaps each person would go somewhere a little different with it. We would travel to the place where we need to get past our realm of reality and get into his. What does that look like? We perceive the physical means of supporting life as the only means. We have been taught since childhood we need to learn as much as we can, get some form of education which will enable us to attain a career which will provide us with all the material goods of our desires. We have been programmed to aim for success in the world, both in stature and material gain.  It is true some people seem to aim higher than others and seem to be in a position to have a leg up, so to speak, on others. But we all want basically the same thing from life. Jesus is telling us to step out of that reality, our reality and step into his. He has a different way of life. He tells us to live by faith. He tells us the righteous will live by faith.

Rom 1:16-17

 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith ."  

NIV

2 Cor 5:7-8

7 We live by faith , not by sight.

NIV

The sight is the boat, the water is the faith, Peter was asked to come out of the boat and to stand on the water by faith. He did it, at least for a little while until us came to the realization he was not in the boat, but on water, outside his physical realm. He got distracted by his perceptions of reality and began to sink, but when he yelled out to Jesus to save him, all was well, and he was back in the realm of Jesus, and they walked together to the boat. Peter became afraid despite Jesus telling him not to be afraid. It is possible for us to be afraid at times living by faith, in the realm of Jesus rather than relying on our own physical realm which we might be more comfortable with. Taking courage is overcoming being afraid, it may not eliminate the fear, but courage allows us to function beyond the fear. Yet, when we look at our physical circumstance and fear begins to grip our heart, when can call out to Jesus and he is there to talk hold of us, lift us above our situations and bring us safely to a place of security as well as calm that storm which troubles us. Is there any reason to doubt this? Do we hear our Lord telling us we have little faith in him, that we doubt he will sustain us in our hour of need? We hear him calling, “Come”.  

Jesus will provide

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

JESUS WILL PROVIDE

Matt 14:15-21

15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food." 16 Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."  17 "We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered. 18 "Bring them here to me," he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

NIV

Other accounts include some other details of their miraculous event. But we need not go to them for a lesson in the divine provision of God. Although in the account of John it appears Jesus was testing the faith of Phillip in that he asked him where they could buy bread for the people to eat. Jesus already knew what he was going to do, but wanted to see if Phillip and perhaps the others would come up with the solution that Jesus could provide all they need. In Matthew account we are already shown the disciples did not even think that Jesus was capable of providing enough food for over ten thousand people. That might even be a conservative number as there were five thousand men and then all the women and children who were not among that count. Yet here it is, Jesus feed them all from just a little bit of bread and fish, about the amount needed one person’s provisions. This is nothing less than the divine act of one who created everything that was created from nothing. To take five loafs and two fish and feed thousands of people and even have leftovers is nothing short of an act of God. No earthly magician could do anything close to this, not even Satan in an effort to deceive people away from the truth. There is no power on earth that can do what Jesus did here. Of course that is not to say some of the food bank programs may have feed that many people over a period of time, but that would be donations from many other people. What we have here is Jesus making enough food by just his power alone. This should have strengthened the faith of the disciples for sure. They should have been so impressed they had to know he was the divine Messiah, the Son of God who came down from heaven, God in the flesh. Although they were not privy to the concept of the three in one as that point. They should have been if they were not there at the time Jesus was baptized by John, they must have heard about it. That was the time the trinity was all together at one time, Jesus in the flesh, the Holy Spirit descending upon in him in the form of a dove and the voice of God from the heavens. Nevertheless they were still not fully aware of Jesus actually be Yahweh in the flesh. The point of this miracle, this provision for so many from so little is simply to prove Jesus can provide for us in the same way. We do not have to be wealthy in order to be sustained by the power of God in our lives. He can provide more than enough for us from the smallest amount we have. We merely have to look to him for that provision, rather than looking to ourselves.  If they looked only at their ability to provide for the people, they would have only have five loafs and two fish. Surely that would not go very far at all, but Jesus made more from less. This is how he works in our lives if we get our eyes off of our abilities and trust in him for our needs. Yes, we need to work. Yes, we should earn our paycheck, but we are also told to do our work or work as onto the Lord.

Col 3:22-25

22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

NIV

Eph 6:5-8

5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.

NIV

So the point is that we are to work, but not for the provisions of our life, but for the benefit of our Lord, doing that which is right in his sight. He will multiply that which we have so that we even have leftovers. We do not have to make large sums of wealth in order to have a good life. We only need to trust in his divine power to provide for us. We are told over and over again of this principle.

Mal 3:10-12

10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. 12 "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.

NIV

Not room enough to contain, which is more than leftovers, which is enough for a lifetime. But of course this has a condition of bringing the whole tithe into the storehouse. But the New Testament is full of examples of the provision of God simply because he loves us. The most famous one is:

Matt 6:24-34

 24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. 25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air ; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

NIV

Time and time again we are told Jesus will provide for us. Why should we not trust him to do so? He will do it. He has told us to ask anything in his name and he will do it, he will provide for us, if we but ask him. Yes, again we need to work, but he will use that which we work for, as long as we are working as to him, not as to our boss, and he will make it enough to provide all we need. How that happens for each person may be a little different, but the point is Jesus will provide. When there is no other way, he will find a way. Jesus will provide. 

Compassion

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

COMPASSION

Matt 14:13-14

13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

NIV

A slight description of this place could be found in the other gospels, however that is not the important issue at hand. Yet to get the picture here it was most likely a place on the east side of the Sea of Galilee that was rather uncultivated and somewhat uninhabited. According to Luke’s account the disciples were with him in the crossing over to the east side, as we are going to see in a little while the feeding of the thousands at this location. But here Jesus has the intent to withdraw alone with his disciples and spent some quiet time, at least that is what it seems. Some of our scholars are of the opinion he was doing this to escape the plot of the Pharisees to kill him, as it was not his time. Yet knowing that he is fully man and fully God, would he not be privy or at least have been given the foreknowledge of the thousands of people who would show up at that location and he would be able to show the miracle of feeding them with a couple fish and a few loafs? The way the narrative sort of implies is that the crowd just showed up unexpectedly. He was expected to land in a solitary place, but instead this large crowd is waiting for him to get there. So what does he do, how does he respond? He is filled with compassion and heals all their sick. Here is the lesson for us. Sometimes we just want some alone time, me time, to spend the way we want to spend it. That might be reading a good book, The Good Book, or even praying, or maybe just playing, enjoying some hobby time, whatever that is for each person. But someone interrupts that alone time by needing our attention or some action for them. How do we respond, not in the physical, but in the quiet of our own mind? It might be one thing to get up from whatever we were doing and fulfill their need, but what is our mental state of mind in the doing of this response. Do we resent their interruption of our alone time? Do we feel they are being selfish, wanting us to stop our alone time for them? It might be that we are the selfish ones, not willingly giving up our time for them. If we say that we want to be more like Jesus, then this is the time to have compassion on them and heal their sick. That would mean we should have compassion on the one who interrupts us and tenderly, kindly and gently meet their needs, seeing them and their need ahead of our own. Our lives are filled with opportunity to meet the needs of others, just as the life of Jesus. It is in the attitude of our heart and mind in how we meet those opportunities which is the key to our being more like Jesus. The Greek word translated compassion means to have the bowels yearn, i.e. to feel sympathy, to pity. This is a gut wrenching feeling deep within our being. Our definition of the English word compassion is to have a sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it. This is certainly what we are told how Jesus felt and how he responded. Have we reached that point in our walk with him? If not, then we need to grow some more, so that compassion is a natural response.