To Be Chosen

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

 TO BE CHOSEN

Matt 11:27

27 "All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

NIV

We already considered this being revealed the things of God, but here there is more. First, we must see that the Father has given all authority over all things to Jesus and it is the Father who has the full comprehension of who Jesus is and as far as knowing the complete fullness of God, only Jesus knows all there is to know about the divine Godhead. We get that, the supreme, divine, almighty Godhead is only known in the fullness by them alone, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Yet, Jesus also says that He has the authority to reveal all the knowledge of God to whomever He chooses. The question then is how do we know who He chooses? Are there or were there only a few people He chose to reveal the truth about the Father? We think that we would need to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior first, before we had any chance of being among those, he reveals the truth about the Father. However, once we have accepted Jesus, then if we are listening, we would hear Him speak about the Father. Again, Jesus has sent us the Holy Spirit, who will lead us into all truth, and that would also include the truth about the Father. Jesus has said that if we see Jesus, we see the Father. He has said that He and the Father are one, and He prayed that we would be one as well. In fact, Jesus prayed that we would be one as He and the Father are one. That could mean that all of us believers should be one, as Jesus and the Father are one. It could also mean that we believers are one with Jesus and the Father. If we are in Christ, and we know that to be true, then the only way it makes sense is that we are one with Christ and therefore one with the Father. If that is true, then there should be no mystery about God whatsoever. We can know all there is to know about the Father because we know all there is about Jesus, for we have been told everything about Him and have been revealed the truth through his authority in sending the Spirit. We have the complete record of God, at least from the beginning of time of humankind, written by men whom He inspired. Why do we always want to think there is this great mystery that surrounds God? It might be easier to just say it is all a mystery and then forget about what Jesus reveals to us. However, we were created by God in His image, therefore we should know Him just on that basis alone. Becasue Jesus reveals the Father to us than there is no mystery for, we know who the Father is and how He works toward His perfect will and pleasure, both for himself and for His creation. In fact, we would say that we have been chosen to be revealed the knowledge of the Father. Therefore, let us live in that knowledge so that we can experience this confidence, first of our salvation, second of the eternal life we will have as we are forever present with the Lord. But even more then that, we can live confidently that we are one with God, secure and safe from all alarm. 

Revealed to Children

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

REVEALED TO CHILDREN

 

Matt 11:25-26

25 At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

NIV

To be a little child so that the kingdom of heaven will belong to us is a wonderful thing. To have everything revealed to us because we are like a child is overwhelming. Of course, we are not little children, as we are quite older and have lived many years. We have taken on the responsibilities of adulthood, even raised children of our own. The burdens of life have weighed upon us, including difficult times with struggles that could crush others. Most of our youth, we could not wait for the next phase of our lives, as little children, we could not wait to go to school, then we could not wait until we were old enough to drive, then we waited to graduate, and go on to bigger and better things. We either wanted more education to have a better chance to succeed, or we couldn’t wait to get out in the world and make our mark. We always believe that through learning we would be wise. However, Jesus said something else about these children to whom the kingdom of God belongs. We will see this later in this gospel; however, his words are in conjunction with this idea of the little children he speaks of here. Jesus called children to stand in the middle of his disciples in response to a question about who is the greatest in the kingdom. He then told his disciples that unless you, and that includes us, change, and become like a little child you, including us, will never see the kingdom of heaven. Jesus went on to say that whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom. Certainly, we cannot turn the clock back and become a child again, but we do know how to change the way we think. We cannot abstain from all adult responsibilities, and just act childish, or child-like without a care in the world, trusting our parents to take complete care or, meeting our every need as well as living as part of a family, and understanding our part, being a child listening and obeying our parents, but still having fun all day. But wait, that is what we are supposed to do in our relationship with Jesus. We need to change and become humble before Him. Children have no need to be prideful, they need their family, their parents, being dependent on their parents. We need to change to be like a child in our thinking in our relationship with Jesus, depending on Him completely. Certainly, His disciples were Jews and had lived most of their lives under the pressure of leader groups, like the Pharisees or the teachers of the law, and perhaps even felt their righteousness was dependent on following the law. We might, as adults, feel a certain compulsion to try to live right by doing “Good works”. But that is the adult thinking, and if we change and become like a child, then all we can do is put all our trust in Jesus, then we will belong to and have the kingdom of heaven and have everything revealed to us.

 

Thinking Differently

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

THINKING DIFFERENTLY

Matt 11:20-24

20 Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. 21 "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."

NIV

It is not that the sin in our lives has gone completely, but we have repented so these words are more as a warning against the refusal to repent. First, we need to have a full understanding of what is meant by repenting. The Greek word means to think differently or afterwards. We do not know much about some of these cities, but we know that Capernaum was a wealthy prosperous city and Jesus did many of his miracles within the area of Capernaum. Jesus is making the compassion of either being lifted up to the skies, heaven or sent to the depths, hell. It is doubtful that an entire city would go either to heaven or hell, so there is another meaning we should explore. Could this being brought down to the depths mean the prosperity of the city will dwindle to nothing? It will lose its economic importance. This goes directly to not wanting to change the way they think about their morals and social graces which Jesus taught about in their synagogues and from a boat along the shore, and on the mount, not far from Korazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. Having a change in mind, to think about the things of God. We all live in accordance with the way we think. If we think along the lines of the Old Testament law to find right standing with God, we will then make every effort to live under the rules and regulations of the law, but then we also have to know that breaking one, means we have broken the whole and there is no hope then of right standing with God, so then we go on to think that life is better served by serving self, seeking fame and fortune. Capernaum was this kind of city, wealth was important. The people must have stopped, somewhere in the course of time, trusting in God and put more trust in their own futile thinking. Jesus showed them the divine and the truth, but they refused to think any differently. We have to ensure we are never in that situation, for we have already changed the way we think. We believe in God and have accepted His grace, His act of graciousness of sending Jesus to pay the price for our sin. Once we thought differently, we did not trust God, in fact, we were opposed to God, in some sense, opposed to the idea of God, as we served ourselves to the utmost. However, because of the miracle that Jesus did in our lives, we changed our thinking, we repented, we turned from one way of living to another. This parallel of being lifted up or thrown down does apply to us as individuals and again, there is something to be said about being lifted up. This could be seen as in the rapture, or as the moment of our last breath. But it also can be seen in daily life. God lifts up the humble, but the proud are cast to the ground. Again, we have to be careful to not be proud of our lives, even thinking of how “Good” a Christian we think we are. Those cities were proud of their success, much the same many cities today think. They boast of their commerce and high-paying job opportunities to draw people to them. There are false teachers today who what believers to think God is a source for prosperity and wealth, to live well, to be a success. Pride will always come before the fall. We cannot be prideful about anything in this life other than we have decided to think differently and humble ourselves before the Lord. We are completely dependent on Him for all things in this life and the life to come. 

Action of Wisdom

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

ACTION OF WISDOM

Matt 11:16-19

16 "To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: 17 "'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.' 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' But wisdom is proved right by her actions." 

NIV

There are some who would restrict these comments of Jesus to the Jews only because of the use of the word, generation. The Greek word is genea, which is where we get genealogy, or a particular gene, such as the Israelites, all in the genealogy from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But this word can refer to the age as well. That is the age in which man lives. That could encompass from the time of Jesus to the present time. We refer to this age, this period as the age of grace. The reason we are thinking along this line is that these words of Jesus can still apply to the age in which we live, this generation of ours. The point Jesus is making is that many are simply dissatisfied in their lives. It does not matter if we believers refrain from all the vices of the world, there are some who will think poorly of us because of our faith. However, if we openly eat and drink, enjoying some of the goods of this life, they think badly of us, perhaps even saying we are hypocrites. This is the reason Jesus used that example of playing a flute, happy tunes, but no one danced and singing a dirge or a funeral song, and no one mourned. It does not matter what we do, there will always be those who will not respond to the music we play, the songs we sing, the gospel we share. Although we are supposed to be witnesses, and live a life reflecting the glory of God, and even speaking up for Jesus, we cannot live totally in response to the world’s whims. In other words, we cannot try to please everyone thinking that will cause them to listen to us. For the most part, what pleases the world is for us to remain silent and keep to ourselves, never infringing on our lives of sin. However, it does not matter of the approval or disapproval of men, but that we live to please God. This is wisdom being proved right by our actions, of living so to please God. Wisdom means we understand the truth and live by it and therefore are approved by God. This does not mean we are sinless, but merely are understanding of whose approval we need, Gods and not man. Our approval by God is dependent on our accepting his grace, accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Again, His approval is not like the approval of men, dependent on what music we play or song we sing, but rather on our being in Christ. The action of wisdom is accepting Jesus, while the foolish play their games like children imitating their parents. 

The Least

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

THE LEAST

 

Matt 11:11-15

11 I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. 13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. 14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. 15 He who has ears, let him hear.

NIV

Jesus is speaking about John the Baptist being someone very special. We do know that both Isaiah and Malachi prophesied about John being the one sent ahead to prepare the way for the Lord. Certainly, John had a privilege no other had in not only being sent to prepare the way for the Lord but to also have baptized Jesus and witnessed the Spirit descending upon Jesus and hearing the voice of God declaring Jesus to be His Son. How is it that we, who are one of the least in the kingdom of heaven will ever be able to be greater than John the Baptist? The only way in which this might be is that John did not see the fulfillment of his work, in that he died, or rather was behead, killed, before Jesus’s death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. John did not see the whole of the gospel as we have. John was not able to speak of the wholeness of the gospel as we can. So in that sense even though we could never rise to the statue of John the Baptist, and although he was prophesied about, and was the result of a miracle spoken by an angel of the Lord to Zechariah, John’s father, he was not able to preach the good news about the kingdom of heaven as we can. At best, according to Luke, John was able to say the kingdom of heaven is near, or approaches and Matthew records that Jesus used this term, the kingdom of heaven. It is used thirty-two times in the gospel of Matthew. Yet, during that time, the fulness of the kingdom had not yet happened. Some might suppose that Jesus was the fullness of this kingdom and so as he arrived and began His work on earth, the kingdom of Heaven was on earth, it had come near, or had approached. But we have that task because, although we are now citizens of heaven or of the kingdom of heaven, and we have the complete story of the kingdom, therefore having more knowledge than John the Baptist. He was filled with the Spirit, even in his mother’s womb, but we too, although among the least in the kingdom have been filled with the Spirit, who first, led us to repentance, and second, leads us into all truth. It is almost overwhelming to think, being the least in the kingdom of heaven, that we are considered by Jesus to be greater than John. What do we do with that knowledge? What do we do, knowing how Jesus speaks about us? It seems we have a great privilege and responsibility to be a voice in the wilderness of the world, preaching the good news that the Kingdom of Heaven is real and available to anyone who accepts it, to anyone who has an ear to hear. Let us, the least, raise our voices so some can hear. 

The Messenger

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

THE MESSENGER

 

Matt 11:7-10

7 As John's disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: "What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 8 If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings' palaces. 9 Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is written: "'I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.'  

NIV

It is interesting that Jesus asked these questions of the crowd, but it is also interesting those questions could apply to people today. It is not that anyone is searching for John the Baptist, going out into the wilderness to hear a prophet, however, people are looking for something. There is a large contingency of people who are searching for the answers to how life began. There are so many theories on how the universe began. This big bang theory is the most bazaar of them all. Those who want that theory to be fact would have us believe that all of the unknown numbers of stars, which are the same as our sun, all exploded from one spot in the middle of nothing. Others are looking at stones and want us to believe they found stones that are sixty-billon years old. People are out in the world looking for any other way to explain everything through the mind of man. This latest theory regarding dinosaurs and their disappearance says they evolved over billions of years into birds. They are all looking for something to prove there is no God, and yet this whole world and the universe are just like John the Baptist in the sense it is pointing the way to Jesus. This world is a messenger to people declaring the way for the Lord. Anyone who wants the answer to life can find it within the bible, for it is a record of man’s encounter with the divine creator of all that is. This record that has been kept safe and pure includes both eyewitness accounts of personal encounters with God the Father and Jesus the Son, as well as words that were inspired by the Spirit regarding the personality of God and His will for His creation, and ultimately the purpose of our lives. All the searching of the relics of this planet should lead people directly to God, but they are blinded by their own futile thinking. We have said this before, and we are convinced this is an accurate description of the science so many what to put their faith in. science is simply man discovering what God has established. The problem is they want to use it to disprove God did create everything that has ever been made. No, this world, and all the universe, is the messenger that was sent ahead of the one He sent, and it has been and will continue to point man toward Jesus. 

Blessed

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

BLESSED

Matt 11:1-6

11:1 After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.   2 When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" 4 Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 6 Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me." 

NIV

We could make a point about John being in prison and wondering if Jesus is the one. John might have thought that if Jesus was the one, why then was he in prison. Why didn’t Jesus, if he is the Savior of the world, save him from going to prison. But we know it was John’s own fault because of accusing the king of adultery and we also know the wrath of a woman scorned is nothing to mess with. Yet, it seems he still was questioning. But on the other side of the coin, John had already indicated to his disciples that he must decrease, and Jesus must increase. However, there John was in prison and his disciples were still hanging around him, just outside his cell. We are not told, but it makes sense to us that John wanted his disciples to see they needed to leave and follow Jesus for, indeed, he is the one. No one, since the beginning of time has had the authority over blindness, lameness, skin disease, deafness, and the resurrection of the dead, other than Jesus. We know for sure no one will ever have that kind of authority again, however, we also know that Jesus has given us the authority over much of what He did. We do not need to ask the question that John did, but at the same time, we do have to ask ourselves if we truly believe all that Jesus said and did. If we believe then we need to be living in the reality of the kingdom of God, and not get it mixed up with the illusion of this world. If Jesus gave a blind man sight, then his blindness was only an illusion of the world, for in the reality of the kingdom, once the man encountered the kingdom of God, he could see. This is how we must make this transition of living with this illusion into living with reality. There is so much power available in the kingdom of God, and we have been called out from this world into the kingdom. Let us shake off the dust from our feet to this unwelcoming world of illusions and join our Lord in His kingdom. No illusion here in this world can cause us to fall away from our reality, knowing Jesus is the Lord of lords, the King of kings, the almighty creator of heaven and earth. Jesus has given us authority and we need to be living in that authority, and not get distracted by this world. Because we have decided to follow Jesus and we have decided to continue to follow him to our last breath, we can be assured that we are blessed. This Greek word translated as blessed carries the meaning of being happy, content, fulfilled, satisfied, and connected to the names of God. 

Rewards

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

REWARDS

Matt 10:40-42

40 "He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. 41 Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."

NIV

This seems to be a slightly difficult saying of Jesus to see a personal implication. Certainly, we would believe as we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior we accepted God as well. Accepting God also means we accept everything in the bible as he has said all scripture is God-breathed.

2 Tim 3:15-17

 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

NIV

Therefore that means something in this saying of Jesus is, in fact, useful to us, either to teach us, rebuke us, correct us or train us in righteousness. Yet it also means that in accepting Jesus and thus God we accept the precepts of God, all of them. This means we cannot pick and choose which we are going to live by and which we are not. This requires thought as to whether we have taken some of the truth of God and left some of it behind to adopt or continue to practice some of the rules of this world. Jesus goes on to take about prophets, yet the Greek word used here implies an inspired speaker. This could apply to those who minister in the name of our Lord, such as pastors and evangelists. We remember Jesus was sending his disciples into all the towns to preach the gospel and this may have been spoken to the crowds to know how to host his disciples. But it also applies to us today in giving due respect to those who have spent their lives, dedicated their lives to ministering in the name of Jesus. This also implies that their reward for ministering full time in the name of Jesus is no greater than those of us who receive or respect them. We will all receive the same reward. This agrees with the character of God in that he shows no favoritism. The righteous man Jesus talks about is the innocent or holy man. This could again speak of ministers but also can imply all Christians as we are all called to be holy because he is holy, or set apart, or different, in the sense of being rendered innocent by God because we accepted Jesus.

Rom 3:22-25

There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

NIV

That word justified in Greek it means to be regarded as just or innocent. So then in that sense, we are the righteous the holy men and women and thus we should accept each other with honor and respect. This would imply that we do no harm to each other, we do not speak ill of another brother or sister in Christ, spread rumors, gossip, or any other many of disrespect, keeping any confidential matters shared with us confidential. As to the cup of cold water, we might not see much of a meaning for us today as it was customary in those days for righteous men to take water on hot days and stand on the roadside to offer a cold drink to those weary travelers passing by. Our scholars believe by using the term, “Little ones”, Jesus was referring to his disciples and thus they were going to be the travelers without coin, bag, or extra coat and would need a cup of cold water as they traveled from town to town. But it could also imply that we offer a cup of cold water as well. This could mean being hospitable, not merely to each other, but to the weary traveler. This might mean the poor among us. Those poor individuals who stand along the road at an intersection holding a sign, “Homeless, need food” or something of that effect. Sometimes we can think poorly of them, thinking of them as scam artists who have a home. But how do we know? Perhaps we are to just offer a cup of cold water, whatever that means to each of us.

Heb 13:2

2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.

NIV

Living the life of a believer has more to it than the safety of our own souls. There are interactions with others which demand certain attitudes and behaviors. Let us live not just for ourselves but for the benefit of those lives we encounter and certainly, we will receive our just reward.

 

 

 

More Than Life

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

MORE THAN LIFE

Matt 10:37-39

37 "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

NIV

We are told to love the Lord our God with all our being and to love our neighbor as ourselves. When we consider that God so loved the world, that would be all of us, his creation, that he sent Jesus to die for us. However, there is a point where we must come and that is we must be willing to set everything else aside and love Jesus more than anything or anyone. That is easier said than done. We are so distracted by all the things of the world and sometimes we make excuses for spending so much of our time trying to gain worldly goods that it may seem we love the Lord, but in the condition in which we are and we may not be overly willing to give it all up for the sake of the gospel. In fact, we have heard believers say that God has blessed them with a certain amount of wealth so they can do more for the kingdom, yet they live in accordance with their wealth. We have also heard that if we are a believer, it should show in the love we have for others. The problem is that we cannot love others as much as we love Jesus. As far as taking up our cross and following Jesus, we must understand that on that day a criminal was forced to carry their own cross to the place of their crucifixion. Jesus carried his cross until he fell from exhaustion. The point of having a criminal carry his cross was mainly to humiliate him before the city. It did not matter about punishment, for the cross would do that. The point is that we must be willing to be humiliated for the sake of the gospel. Sometimes we feel we should have a good reputation and that our lives reflect the love of Christ and that is true, but at the same time if we are not willing to pick up our cross, our object of humiliation and carry it through the city, would that mean we are not worthy of the Lord? This relates to finding our life, but losing it, for we spent most of our time devoted to our daily living, and the accumulation of possessions and financial security and if this is our main theme in life, then we may lose in the end, and not see eternal life. It seems Jesus is saying that if we profess him as our Lord and Savior, then all else is meaningless. Yes, we have to be concerned with daily life, having an income, paying bills, and all that life entails, but we should not be focused more on that than we are on Jesus. He cannot be a part of our lives; he is our life. Our love for Jesus must be more than our love for life. 

No Peace

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

NO PEACE

Matt 10:34-36

34 "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn "'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— 36 a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'  

NIV

This would seem like Jesus is contradicting himself. He has told us that he gives us his peace, not as the world gives peace, but his peace. We sing songs like “I have peace like a river”, and we know one of the fruit of the Spirit is peace. Yet, here Jesus is not talking about the peace he gives us believers, but rather the fact that as one member of a family comes to him, it causes strife within a family. This was especially true in the Jewish culture as well as in most Eastern cultures. It can happen in our families if we are too verbal about Jesus. Yet, how can we remain silent among those we love, particularly our family. Sometimes there seems to be a bypass that we cannot overcome. We tell them if they love us, they would listen to what we have to say. But they say if we love them, we will not push Jesus on them, that we would be silent about our faith. So, in the sense of a prophetic word, Jesus is speaking about what will happen when we decide to follow him.

 

Say It

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

SAY IT

 

Matt 10:32-33

32 "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.

NIV

This is clear enough that we should not need to say anything about it, except this idea of acknowledging Jesus before men. What does that entail? What men must we acknowledge Jesus before for Him to acknowledge us before the Father? We wonder if it is sufficient to acknowledge Jesus while we are in church, or with other believers? After all, they are men and that should do the trick, or meet the rule. However, we fear that is not what Jesus was talking about. We think we have a responsibility to tell people who are not believers about Jesus, at least, about how Jesus is our lives. We must acknowledge Jesus before those who do not believe. It is not that we must go about preaching the good news, but our lives should reflect the glory of the Lord in ever-increasing amounts. Therefore, it only makes sense that if we are reflecting the Lord’s glory, everyone would be able to see Jesus when they look at us. If that is true, and it should be, then we would be acknowledging Jesus before men. But there may be more than just looking like a Christian or saying that we are a Christian and therefore mean we are acknowledging Jesus. Just saying we are Christian does not meet the criteria Jesus stated. There are many people who say they are Christian but have no idea of their need to be born again so they can see the kingdom of God. There are others who say they are Christian but do not reflect Jesus at all, or even attempt to reflect Jesus in their lives. It certainly appears that we must say the words, profess our faith in Jesus, telling people what Jesus has done and is continuing to do in our lives. This is acknowledging him before men. There are ever people who say they are Christians and prove it by their magical works of healing, prophecy, and even casting out demons. However, Jesus tells them that He never knew them, and tells them to get away because of doing evil things. It is not about our works, of how “Good” a Christian we think we are. It is about using our mouth to tell the story of Jesus. When our profession is about how much we do for Jesus, then we are giving ourselves the praise, as well as looking for praise from men, and in the purest sense, we are disowning Jesus. Therefore, let us speak up, speak out and tell everyone whenever we can, about how Jesus changed us, embraced us, and died for us. 

Fear and Fear Not

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

FEAR AND FEAR NOT

Matt 10:26-31

26 "So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

NIV

Who should we not be afraid of is the question? When Jesus says, “So do not be afraid of them”, he must have been referring to who he already mentioned. It would seem he was not referring to the household of Satan, for he does mention their destructive scheme and their teacher who can kill both body and soul. So, the ‘them’ most likely implies those in the world who would persecute us. Certainly, they persecuted Jesus to the point of making effort to have him killed by the Romans.  His disciples, at least the twelve, were also persecuted, most of whom were either crucified or killed in another fashion. It seems John was the only one who was allowed to live in exile. However, the warning of Jesus speaks to all people throughout time, which means us. What can man do to us? Why would we fear man? They can only kill our bodies and if that were to happen, we would simply just leave our bodies behind, and join in the festivities in heaven, rejoicing in the presence of our Lord. It is unlikely in our country that we would be killed because of our faith, although many believers around the world are killed for their faith in Jesus. We could be persecuted, perhaps not in the manner that Jesus was, or His disciples, but we could find that we are looked at as different and may even be treated with some level of contempt. Of course, that would be predicated on the fact that we did not succumb to the pressures to be silent, to remain quiet about our faith, and that we do not mention their need to accept Jesus to be saved. If we go along with the flow of the world, we can be sure we would be safe, at least from those who can only kill the body, and we would even escape any form of persecution. However, it does not matter whether we remain silent, or boldly go forth where others have traveled before, speaking up and speaking out with the good news about the kingdom of God, the evil one will come after us, just because we are a Christian. Jesus tells them, and us, that this one, the evil one, is who we should be afraid of. That is not to say we should tremble in our boots or go hide in some dark corner of the house, or never leave the church in fear the evil one will destroy us. No, we are in Christ, and we are more valuable to God than many sparrows. He has given us the power to be able to take our stand, to stand our ground, against the forces of evil. He has clothed us in His armor, which Satan cannot penetrate. The Lord’s shield of faith alone can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. We should fear Satan in that we view of knowing his plan of destroying us, but we also have no reason to fear him because we are in Christ. So, we fear and we fear not. 

The Learner

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

THE LEARNER

Matt 10:24-25

24 "A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!

NIV

It is interesting that this version is the only one that translates the Greek word, mathetes, as a student. The other translations use the word disciple. However, this Greek word carries the meaning of learner or pupil. Although it is true his disciples learned from Jesus and were in fact his pupils, throughout scripture, this word is translated as a disciple. So we can say that being a disciple of Jesus is being his student or being his pupil. The point Jesus was making is that we certainly cannot be above him as he is the almighty God and we are his creation. However, it is enough for us to want to be like Jesus. This being like Jesus is not the desire to be like God but to take on the character of Christ in our life to respond to people like Jesus did and to love people like Jesus did. The reason we study or become scholars of the word is to learn all about Jesus and how he interacted with people. Jesus makes a statement about the head of the house being called Beelzebub that all the members of the house would be called the same thing. Again, it is interesting the Greek word here translated as belzebub is really beelzebul which the Jews knew as the dung god. Perhaps this was the worst thing they could call Jesus is to be the God of the dunghill and not necessarily Satan although, this word has been used as the name of Satan. Seeing in the way that Jesus meant it would mean that as he is Christ, we who are of his household would be called Christians. We should not take that title unless we truly want to be Christ-like or like Christ. This would also mean that we would be learners or scholars who study the scriptures looking for all the ways in which we should be like our teacher. Another interesting comparison that we can see is the difference between what the world is called and what we are called. We could say the world is it dunghill, a catcher of flies. This would imply the world stinks and we should have nothing to do with it. Although it is true that we live in the world but we are not of this dunghill, we have been called forth and have become a member of the family of God. We also need to remember that we will always be a student or a learner. We will never attain the perfection of Christ, so we continue to learn, and continue to study in an effort to be more like Jesus.

Will Not Finish

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

WILL NOT FINISH

Matt 10:21-23

21 "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

NIV

There are some places in the Middle East that when one member of a family accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, becoming a Christian, that the family disowns that member. In that sense, by considering that person to be dead to the family the brother will betray the brother to death. We certainly know that the Pharisees wanted to kill Jesus because he was disrupting their authority over the people, at least,  that is one of the reasons if not the main reason. Again, perhaps in the Middle East Jews would hate Christians because the Jewish people lived in the Old Testament law. We are not so certain that all men hate us in our culture, in our country today. Although there are individuals who have extreme hatred toward Christians, in fact, they have gone into churches armed wanting to shoot as many Christians as possible. It's possible one of the reasons that we do not feel the persecution that the early church felt is because we may not be threatening the anti-Christian culture, and have succumbed to the pressures of being silent, not talking about religion. It might be one thing to share Jesus with the caveat of being able to have eternal life. However, if we were to preach like John the Baptist or Jesus telling people they need to repent of their sin, we may run into some resistance. We are told that people love the darkness because it can hide their sin or their evil deeds under the darkness of night, and they do not want the light because it exposes their sin. There was something else interesting here as well when Jesus tells them they will not get through all the cities in Israel before he comes back. Jesus could not have meant just those twelve disciples we're expected to visit every city in Israel in their lifetime. Of course, we do not know for sure how many cities were in Israel during that time of Jesus. we also understand they would have had to walk to every city which would have taken a long time. However, Jesus may have been making the point that we will not reach every city or town, or village throughout the world before he returns. Of course, we have much better technology and the ability to travel much faster from place to place so it is possible we could reach every person in this world with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, that possibility would depend on all of us Christians to be sharing the good news of Jesus everywhere we went. If we rely solely on the missionaries or evangelists to travel to every city throughout the world there's not enough of them.  If I were to reach two people for Jesus and each of them reached two people for Jesus and each of those four preach the good news to two people and those eight reached out to two people and then those 16 and on and on and it would only take a matter of days or perhaps weeks and every person on this planet would have been reached or at least, heard the good news. Considering that Jesus left his ministry in the hands of 12 men and we have now millions of believers, it would seem they did a pretty good job or followed the leading of the Spirit. Maybe we could start a revival by just reaching out to two people. Even then, we would not finish.

Trusting the Spirit

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

TRUST THE SPIRIT

Matt 10:17-20

17 "Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

NIV

This being on guard against men may make a reference to the preceding verse about being shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves. However, there is something to be said about being on guard against all men. This would not mean our fellow believers, but to be aware of the people in the world. We should be on guard against those that do not know Jesus in the sense that they are serving other gods or Satan. It is doubtful that we would be handed over to local councils and flogged in our churches. But it is quite possible that we could be persecuted on account of Jesus. Again, it would be doubtful that we would be arrested because we are Christians. But then again, the end of time has not come and it could be possible at some point in the future that we might be arrested because we are Christians. It has been said that we are no longer a Christian nation. But there is something to be said about relying on the spirit to speak the truth about God. Over the years we have seen many different forms or formulas or patterns for us to memorize so we have an exact word order that would be most effective in bringing someone to Jesus. Those little booklets that have the four spiritual laws is just one example of having a specific way to witness for Jesus. Jesus was telling his disciples that they should not be concerned about how to talk or what words they would use because the spirit would give them the right words at the right time for the right people in order for them to hear the truth. It is also interesting that some would say we have to quote the word of God when we are witnessing for Jesus. However, that would assume that unbelievers know the word of God and believe the word of God is true. It is also very easy to slip into a pattern or a routine as to how we go about witnessing for Jesus. We are comfortable with routine but then again, that would be us speaking and not necessarily the Spirit speaking. It would seem far better for us not to be so concerned about an exact way of saying something or being perfect in our testimony for Jesus, but rather to just allow the spirit to inspire us as to what to say at the right time for that right person. God knows the need or the void that is in that person's life, and the spirit would give us the exact words at that right time in order to touch that person's heart. We know God looks at the heart of men and that would include the heart of all unbelievers. He knows their heart and we can only look at their outside. It would make perfect sense then for us to trust the spirit far better than trusting our preconceived or predetermined method of witnessing. we remember being in a sales seminar where we were instructed to ask people questions about their family, occupation, recreation, and in their answers, they would tell us exactly how to share the gospel with them or give the message and that was an acronym for form. The Spirit doesn't need an acronym, the Spirit gives us all that we need when we need it in order to be effective in giving the message or the good news. Let us just trust the Spirit.

Looking For The Worthy

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

LOOKING FOR THE WORTHY

Matt 10:11-16

11 "Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. 12 As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13 If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. 15 I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. 16 I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

NIV

these are further instructions from Jesus to his disciples. Although this is talking about his disciples going from town to town it is also interesting how this could apply to our hospitality as well as our receiving hospitality from churches that we attend. We could say that in this scripture the word home can be translated as a church not necessarily the Greek word but in the meaning, in the context, we could say as you enter a church give it your greeting if the church is deserving let your peace rest on it if it isn't let your peace return to you. It would be a really sad thing if we had to shake the dust off our feet as we left a church. we cannot imagine any church that would refuse to be hospitable, but it seems that may be the case every so often. However, it is interesting that we are told or his disciples were told to find a home that is worthy or find a worthy person. It is interesting the Greek word translated as worthy carries the meaning of having weight or in that particular sense of a person being deserving or one who has merited anything. However, it is also able to be looked at on a personal note in regards to whom we share the gospel with. as Jesus told his disciples if someone would not listen to them to shake the dust off their feet and leave that home or town. There are many people in our world today who are not willing to listen to our words, refusing to hear any truth that contradicts their truth. Any truth that is not based on the word of God, is not truth. We have actually heard people tell us that they live by their own truth and that's what's important as long as we live by what we believe we're living in the right way. We have also heard them tell us that it seems stupid to follow a book that was written by men thousands of years ago and it has no meaning today. But the point still remains that just as Jesus told his disciples to go out into towns and villages sharing the good news, we too have been told to share the good news, being witnesses for Jesus. However, we need to be aware of those who are hospitable to our words, shaking the dust off our feet when we encounter unhospitable people. This is what Jesus told his disciples to do if a home or a town was unhospitable, not willing to listen to their words to leave it. We know that God has turned unworthy people who refuse to accept Jesus, accept his word that he turns them over to their reprobate minds. We cannot judge people as to their destination or their destiny, however, we can judge whether or not they are worthy or unworthy to listen to our words based on their hospitality and willingness to listen. To those willing to listen give them the peace of Christ and let that peace of Christ rest on their lives. That fits right in with the fruit of the spirit as we encounter people the spirit manifesting his fruit within us and allowing people to pick that peace, that love, and the joy of knowing Jesus. Let us continue to search for those who are worthy.

Worth His Keep

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

WORTH HIS KEEP

Matt 10:5-10

5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9 Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; 10 take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.

NIV

There are more instructions that Jesus gave these twelve and it is a good thing the instructions were just for the twelve. Well, maybe they are not because if they were then there would be no reason to include this in the canon. If all scripture is God-breathed and it is useful or profitable for teaching, thus being taught, rebuking, therefore we are rebuked of wrong behavior and thinking, correcting, and thus we stand corrected in our theology, or thinking, and training in righteousness, hence we are always in the middle of training so that we are fully equipped or thoroughly equipped for every work, then these words of Jesus are just as much for us as they were for them. We must learn something from them for our lives. Of course, there were to only go to the lost sheep of Israel, and we have are already well past those days and so could we take this to mean that we are simply to go to the lost sheep of God? Should be we going into the world we know, investing the gospel into the lives of the lost? We know that is true, and we know we should be telling people the kingdom of God is near. As to healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing lepers, driving out demons, we need to take a pause for a moment and consider if we should or could do all that. We do pray for the sick and we should be expecting them to be healed. If we do not expect a healing then why bother to pray for them. Well, let's leave this to ponder for a while, maybe we will come back to this sometime. The other interesting point Jesus told them was not to take any money with them, to simply head out doing the work of the Lord with the authority He gave them and the reason for not taking any money was because the worker was worth his keep. That is to say, if a person is doing the work of the Lord, preaching the good news, in essence, doing ministry, they are worthy of their keep, or are taken care of financially. In the church today, that is usually the case, most pastors are on salary, or compensated, or worthy of their keep. There are some who serve, but all too often are required to do so voluntarily, thus they may not be worthy of their keep, and maybe should consider they are not worthy to minister and simply walk away. Of course, the church cannot pay every person in the church, because we all are supposed to be doing the work of the Lord, but Jesus is specifically speaking about those twelve, as well as those who proclaim the kingdom of God is near, which in most cases are those called into the ministry of teaching and preaching. Nevertheless, the larger issue is that all of us who are children of God is worthy of our keep, and Jesus keeps us, He holds us in the palm of His hand, and no one can rip us from His keep. Because we are all born again, presenting ourselves as living sacrifices to God, He tells us we are worth our keep. 

Gave Authority

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

GAVE AUTHORITY

Matt 10:1-4

10:1 He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

NIV

It is interesting that Matthew, the writing of this gospel refers to himself as Matthew, the tax collector. He does not mention any of the other's former occupations, although we know that Peter, James, and John, the sons of Zebedee were fishermen, and most like Peter’s brother Andrew was as well. Jesus is going to give them specific instructions and we will get to them, but first, we should consider the authority Jesus gave them. They had the authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, so it is only right that he is able to give authority to others. It is interesting that is one of the things that we could ask for, authority over evil spirits, and sickness. Jesus said that we could ask for anything in his name, in his authority, and the Father would give it to us. So instead of asking for a new car, or peace, or healing, we could ask for the same authority he gave his disciples. It may be true that it does not appear we encounter too many evil spirits that need to be cast out, except perhaps everyone who is not a devote follower of Jesus, not born again, might be either possessed or at the least, influenced by evil spirits. That is not to say everyone who isn’t a Christians is possessed by a demon, but evil spirits are out there, and we should have authority over them already. We should also have authority over every disease and sickness. However, it seems we believers have resigned ourselves to being subject to the ills of this world. We are living in a body that can be frail or is subject to sickness. Sometimes, we cause our own sickness or infirmity, but still, we should be able to take authority over them, unless the only people Jesus gave authority to and is limited to, are his disciples. If that is the case then we are hopelessly doomed to sickness and disease, with no way out. Sure, we ask Jesus to heal us, but then what if we are not healed? We always make an excuse, using the one time God told Paul that His grace was enough. Yet, Paul had authority, as he would lay hands on people, and they received the Holy Spirit. We know his disciples did do miracles, but we also know that one of the gifts of the Spirit is miracles, therefore we have already been given authority through the manifestation of the Spirit within us to do many things of God. But, just as an officer in the military has the authority over a certain amount of personal, that officer needs to exercise their authority and take charge of whatever the task is. Those enlisted, the none officers, know they must obey the commands given by the one in authority. We have been given authority and we need to exercise it, if the commands and sickness and disease must obey, again, unless we have not been given any authority at all, and it was just for the twelve. But somehow, we have to believe we could have that authority too. 

The Weary and Lost, the harvest, compassion

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

THE WEARY AND LOST

OR

THE HARVEST

OR

COMPASSION

Matt 9:35-38

35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." 

NIV

It is time to ponder the compassion Jesus had on the crowd that follow him. We are told it was because they were harassed and helpless. It is interesting how other translations translate the Greek words here. The wooden or original words mean flay, as in the skin, and to fling as in thrown down. This translation uses harassed and helpless, others use weary and scattered, distressed, and dispirited, fainted and scattered abroad, distressed and scattered, distressed and downcast, because their problems were great and did not know where to go for help. Al those translations pretty much convey the same idea, just a little differently. The people in this crowd were the average run-of-the-mill Jews who lived during hard times, having the Roman Government controlling their country. Even their own culture may not have been easy on them, as their ruler, their king was working with the Romans, in order to keep his title and remain wealthy. The Sanhedrin would have also made life difficult enforcing so many extra rules and regulations on the common people. In addition, perhaps because of their living conditions, plus factors we may not know, many were sick or had various diseases. In general, life was difficult, and they were distressed, downcast, dispirited, weary, and living without real guidance, like sheep without a shepherd, lost and unable to find their way home. Of course, we know the home is the kingdom of God, and Jesus is the way home. He told his disciples to look at that crowd of people and see them as a field ripe for the harvest, ready to be gathered up into the kingdom of God. He said it would take a lot of workers to gather the full amount of the harvest, and although his disciples did eventually go out and begin the harvest, the field has continued to become bigger there will always be workers needed to help those who are weary, distressed, dispirited and lost and have one to help them find their way home. If we are going to be Christlike, if our goal is to become more like Jesus, then we must understand and feel this compassion Jesus felt. This Greek word translated as compassion is to be moved in the bowels, that is moved within our being, actually feeling, not just working out of obedience, or for a show of our spirituality, but to be moved within, feeling compassion and showing them a way home. 

Heralding Divine Truth

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

HERALDING DIVINE TRUTH

Matt 9:35-38

35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." 

NIV

We have more than one truth to contemplate here. First, that Jesus traveled to many towns and villages and he went to the synagogues to teach and preach the good news of the kingdom. It is interesting the use of these two words, teach and preach. This could be seen that he was teaching or preaching the same good news. However, we have many situations where we have seen Jesus have the crowds sit and he taught them, such as what we just saw back a few chapters which is known as his sermon on the mount. Although it was not a sermon, like we think of sermons, having three points, and lasting about twenty to thirty minutes, give or take. Jesus taught a lot about life, relationships between God and men, and about how we should interact with each other, or how we should treat each other. He also taught about the kingdom and eternal life and that He was the truth, the way, and the life. But Jesus also preached or as the Greek means, heralding divine truth. Of course, everything Jesus said either through teaching or preaching was and still is divine truth. This should be our task to teach and preach divine truth and that means everything we say must be grounded in the Word of God. This is not to mean we cannot have a conversation about the weather, sports, politics, the economy, or many other topics, but in those conversations, our viewpoint should always be influenced by divine truth. However, when we have been called to teach in the church or preach in the church, to our fellow believers, as Jesus did among his fellow Jewish believers, then we must always be either teaching or heralding divine truth. It also appears that because all of us believers have been told to go out into all the world and herald the divine truth about the good news, the gospel to everyone. Again, this meant for the disciples to travel around, spread the good news, but we have taken that command as well for us. However, we all do not go about traveling the world. We do send and support several couples that do travel, but we who stay put in our towns and villages can also go out into the world in which we live our daily lives. We go into retail, construction, banking, medicine, transportation, trucking or railroads, engineering, science, art, just to name a few areas in life that we go out into. We can always be about heralding divine truth, either in our words or in our behavior, our living testimony so others may get a glimpse of Jesus. We have yet to touch on the other truths, as His healing everyone, and His compassion, and people who do not know or have not heard the divine truth are like sheep without a shepherd and, of course, his words about workers and the harvest. We will ponder on those later. For now, let us simply consider being a teacher and preacher, heralding divine truth, regarding the good news through and throughout our lives. 

Demons

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

DEMONS

Matt 9:32-34

32 While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. 33 And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel." 34 But the Pharisees said, "It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons."

NIV

Demon possession is a horrific way to live, they do things within the person for the express reason to torture or cause harm to a person. In e case of this man, the demon kept the man from being able to speak. Life would be very difficult not being able to communicate with others. Perhaps this man was able to write out his wants or needs, but still, he could not talk. He could not carry on a normal conversation, but there could have been more that was wrong with them, as someone brought him to Jesus. Of course, Jesus drove out the demon and the man could speak once more. He was most likely able to speak at one time in his life before the demon took possession of him. This leads us to the question of how does a demon take possession of a person? We know that first there has to be a void within, that is the Spirit has not been invited as a result of accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. As we know, there are many somewhat religious people or those who say they believe in God, and perhaps even believe in Jesus, but even the demons believe in Jesus for they obey him when he tells them to leave a person alone. Believing does not necessarily mean accepting Him as Lord and Savior. If a person is not born again or born from above, then they are subject to being possessed by a demon. There are many demons, of which the exact number is not known, but enough to affect, or rather infect many people. From what we learn in the scriptures, Jesus encountered many demon-possessed people. It was fairly common in those days, and it seems we have forgotten that it can still and does happen today. We must know that the demons did not stop possessing people and just float around seeing where they might cause some chaos. There are also people similar to the Pharisees who do not believe Jesus is the Son of God, but rather accuse Him of being someone else. Matthew does not tell us here in this narrative that Jesus dispelled their accusations by talking about a house divided cannot stand, and if he were the prince of demons and casting out demons, that would be a house divided and it would not stand. But the point is we should be aware there are demons in this world and they want to cause us harm if they could, but because we have the Spirit, the demons cannot inflict their influence upon us, but that also means we could encounter people who are possessed and therefore influenced by demons. It should be easy to see them, for as we walk in the light, they are walking in darkness. This is not to say that everyone who has either rejected Jesus, or has not been born again is possessed by a demon, but it also does means they could be. So, we walk being aware, rather than not being mindful of the existence of demons. This is also why God has clothed us with his armor, so we can take our stand. 

According to Your Faith

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

ACCORDING TO YOUR FAITH

Matt 9:27-31

27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" 28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" "Yes, Lord," they replied. 29 Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you";  30 and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, "See that no one knows about this."  31 But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.

NIV

The first interesting point to notice is these two blind men addressed Jesus as the Son of David. It was the thought according to Isaiah the things that Jesus did indicate that the Son of David meant the same as calling Him the Messiah. How these two blind men perceived that Jesus was the Messiah, by calling Him the Son of David is not told to us. However, news of all the healings and teachings of Jesus had spread to the people. We do not know, but it seems these two blind men were very near the house of the ruler where Jesus raised the girl from the dead. Surely there was quite a buzz among the people about what Jesus had just done. Hence these two surely thought that if Jesus could raise a child from the dead, he could restore their sight. As they called out to him to have mercy on them, he asked them if they believed he was able to restore their sight. A simple, “Yes, Lord” was all it took. Jesus made it clear, just as he did to that woman who touched the hem of his garment, their healing would be done according to their faith. We must see that these two men had the faith, they believed and that is the reason they received their sight. Yes, Jesus could simply walk by all sorts of people and touch them, healing whatever infirmity they had. He could heal everyone anytime he wanted to whether they asked or not. There are no bounds to His authority or His sovereignty. We think of the lame man by the pool and how Jesus intervened in his life. Jesus approached him and asked him if he wanted to be healed. But here, as with many cases, Jesus waited for these men to ask. When they did, He simply asked if they believed and they did, so according to their faith, Jesus restored their sight, just with a word. In this case, he did touch them, he did not put mud on their eyes, but just spoke the word and they were healed. What we learn from this is our need to believe. Maybe the reason we are not healed as fast as Jesus heals is that we have doubts because we have not seen such miracles happen very often or at all. Is it because we just do not believe He is able? Yet, from a personal experience we know He has healed us before, so why then not now? We know He is able, we believe He is able and as we have seen before, we know He is willing. But at the same time, as we age, which is the natural course of events with this perishable, corruptible body, though wear and tear it begins to fail us. Because of being the descendent of Adam, our bodies are not immortal but will perish, we will die from something, if not simply old age as our bodies wear out. So then, it is possible that some problems of this body should not be healed which if Jesus always healed everything within our bodies all the time, every time, then we would never face the death of this body. At some point, certain things are just going to happen and perhaps that is the way it is meant to be. Still, Jesus could heal us, but even if he doesn’t, His grace is all we need. His divine influence upon our hearts, and how that influence is reflected in our lives is all we really need, and physical healing is simply icing on the cake. 

Touching Jesus

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

TOUCHING JESUS

Matt 9:18-26

18 While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live." 19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples. 20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed." 22 Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment. 23 When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, 24 he said, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. 25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26 News of this spread through all that region.

NIV

Having considered that Jesus raised this little girl or daughter from the dead, we need to think about what happened on His way to the ruler’s house. Matthew leaves some of the details out, but because we know this story from the other gospels, there is more than Matthew gives us. First, we have to know Jesus did not travel alone, as well, it would appear a crowd always gathered where he went. So the picture we have is people shoving and pushing all-around in this group of people following after Jesus as he was about to go raise a girl from the dead. We have to believe the ruler did not come to Jesus in private because Jesus was still at Matthew’s house having dinner with a group of tax collectors and there were his disciples, some Pharisees hanging around asking why he was having dinner with sinners. This is the setting in which the ruler came and knelt before Jesus. So, everyone knew where Jesus was going and what he was about to do, so naturally, a crowd was all around him. This is the setting in which this poor woman had spent all she had on every kind of doctor she could find in order to cure her of this constant bleeding. We are only told that she had an issue of blood, never Mark or Luke give us exactly what her problem was, but it is thought her bleeding was of the feminine nature and that would have made her unclean in the eyes of the Jews. This might be the reason she did not make an attempt at a personal plea but merely crawled through the crowd to touch just the hem of His garment. From Mark and Luke we are told that when she did touch the hem of his garment, Jesus felt the power flow from him and reacted to it. He asked who touched me and his disciples were rather taken back, as it would seem Jesus was being pushed and stoved as he walked to the ruler’s house. Yet, this woman caused power to flow from him and he wanted to know where she was. We have to believe Jesus knew who it was, and what her situation was, as he felt the power flow into her, even though she would have been either kneeling or crawling on the ground under the crowds of people. When Jesus stopped and asked, she finally admitted it was her, and Jesus told her that her faith had made her whole. What we must see here is that it was not Jesus who would heal her, although it was, but it was her faith, her belief that if she could just touch the hem of His garment she would be healed. Jesus did not exchange words with her as he did with the lame man at the pool, or the blind man he put mud on his eyes, or so many others that he had a personal encounter with. This was a simple act of faith by this woman without having any conversation with Jesus or asking to be healed, or coming to him in front of everyone. She knew she would be healed if she could only touch the hem of his garment. This is the kind of faith we need to have. We may not spend all we have on doctors, but we also have insurance that pays quite a bit; however, we do go see the doctors expecting to be healed. Why don’t we come to Jesus and expect to be healed? Maybe we should just touch the hem of his garment. 

Raised Up

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

RAISED UP

Matt 9:18-26

18 While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live." 19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples. 20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed." 22 Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment. 23 When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, 24 he said, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. 25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26 News of this spread through all that region.

NIV

Matthew gives us a two-for-one situation here. First, we have the ruler’s daughter going on, but in the process, the woman with the issue of blood touching the hem of Jesus’s garment and is healed. Maybe it would be best to take one at a time for Matthew does not deal much in detail about this woman who touched the hem of His garment but spends more time with the ruler’s daughter. Let’s do the same for now, and then next we will go into more detail about this woman. It is interesting the ruler’s daughter is already dead when he goes out to find Jesus, knowing somehow, believing, that Jesus can bring his dead daughter back to life. We do understand the belief of the Jews that the spirit of a person who dies hangs around for three days. That was the significance of the fact Jesus waited four days before raising Lazarus from the dead. Mary and Martha were worried because their brother's body had already started to stink, knowing, of course, his spirit had left the grave, and no longer was around. So it would not be out of the question that if the girl had just died, the ruler might have been concerned that Jesus get there right away. Although their belief about the spirit is unfounded, it still would have played a part in their lives. Nevertheless, he believed Jesus could raise his daughter back to life. That is a lot of faith. Jesus got up and went with him. Unlike the centurion who simply asked Jesus to say the word, this man needed Jesus to come and put his hands on his daughter and Jesus did go with him. Jesus could have said, “Go, your daughter is alive” and sent him on his way, but Jesus took the time to do as the man asked to go with him to his home and raise his daughter. Isn’t that just like Jesus, to answer this man’s need? Of course, when they arrived at the house and it was filled with mourners and Jesus told them to leave because the girl was not dead, they laughed at him. There are always going to be people who laugh at the idea that Jesus can do all that he does. It also seems to be a bit prophetic that those who laugh at Jesus get put outside, that is they do not get to go inside the kingdom. But the story here is this daughter and Jesus does simply take her by the hand and she gets up, alive and well. This is the Jesus we serve. This is Jesus who died for our sins. This is the Jesus who heals all who come to him. This is the Jesus who is alive and sits at the right hand of the Father and has told us to ask anything in His name and it will be done for us. So why do we have such a difficult time believing he will heal us, especially in this time of this dumb covid situation? Why shouldn’t we just ask to be healed from this infirmity we have, this pain, this illness? Jesus can raise people from the dead, of course, he is going to raise us from the dead on that day we take our last breath. But in the meantime, we should be healed. 

No Patch No Old Skin

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

NO PATCH, NO OLD SKIN

Matt 9:16-17

16 "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved." 

NIV

This is the rest of the story, in that Jesus is still answering the disciples of John about fasting. He makes two illustrations for them and, of course, for us. This is regarding making a comparison between the old and the new covenants. What Jesus is saying when using the garment is that it is not possible to patch the old covenant with the new one. If a seamstress were to put a patch made of new cloth on an old garment everyone knows when that garment gets wet, that patch will shrink up because it has never gone through the process of shrinkage and thus it will pull at the old garment and make the whole worse. This is why we cannot go back and read or use the Old Testament as an example for fasting because those examples are tied to the Law of Moses, the legal system by which God was showing men they could not find righteousness through observing the law, but they were in need of a Savior, the Messiah, whom they were indeed waiting for, however, refused to see Jesus as that Messiah. Nevertheless, Jesus established this completely new covenant and it does not just patch the old covenant. One has to undress himself of that garment and put on a whole new garment. This is the same application for the wine and the wineskin. Although we use commercial methods of fermentation of grapes today, it would have been the custom in the time of Jesus to employ the use of the wineskin as a method of fermenting the grapes. If they put new unfermented wine into an old wineskin, as the wine began to ferment, the gases produced would burst that old worn skin. Again, we cannot put the new covenant into that old one, because the old is not compatible with the new. The new covenant would burst that old covenant, break it up, tear it apart. We could apply this in a way that when a person becomes a believer, we should not fill them up with all the rules and regulations of the Old Testament, the old covenant, but that also can apply to us who have believed for years. We too should not try to fill ourselves up with the rules, the law of the old covenant. Yes, we can learn what happened to the Israelites when they disobeyed God. We can learn many lessons from the Old Testament, but we are not to put ourselves under the law, for we know from experience we cannot fulfill the law, and if we break just one of the smallest rules, we are guilty of breaking the whole law and are therefore doomed. Jesus fulfilled the law, he did not cancel it, but fulfilled it, so that if we are in Christ, we have already fulfilled all the law of the old covenant and now we must live as new wine in new wineskins, or wearing a whole new garment, such as the armor of God, or clothe ourselves with Jesus.

Fasting

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

FASTING

Matt 9:14-17

14 Then John's disciples came and asked him, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" 15 Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

16 "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved." 

NIV

We think we may have taken this statement of Jesus and made it into a doctrine we should ascribe to. Fasting was a regular routine among the Jews or at least among the Pharisees or those in the Sanhedrin. There were also regular ascribed days of fasting in the law, for special reasons. This is the reason the disciples of John questioned Jesus about why his disciples did not observe such rules and regulations. This does not necessarily mean that we should set up rules and regulations regarding fasting or have special days of fasting. We also must garner a true understanding of what fasting means. Does this mean the total abstinence of all foods for a twenty-four period? Does it mean to abstain from food for one meal, or all three meals, or simply during the daylight time? Does it mean, as it has in one faith, to fast from meat on one day of the week during the Lenten season. There is a great number of sources to inform of the various methods and reasons why we should fast, such as to overcome a calamity in life, renew our connection with God, empower us to fulfill God’s calling in our life, and fasting helps defeat the devil. These sources also give us methods, such as a full fast, only drinking liquids for the number of days we decide. There is the partial fast, where we can fast from 6am to 3 pm of sunup to sundown or, giving up one type of food, such as chocolate. We could select the Daniel fast, eat no meat, no sweets, no bread, only fruits and vegetables. It seems to me there is too many reasons and methods that man has developed in order to feel he is fulfilling the words of Jesus when he said after he is gone then they will fast. That was a connection to a marriage feast, with a bridegroom. But Jesus has not gone, he is still with us for he said that He would never leave us nor forsake us. So then how could we fast because He is gone, for He is not gone. Again, it would seem that man has made fasting into something Jesus never meant it to be. We will get to the wineskins later, although Jesus tied this to the fasting thing. because we have enough to deal with the simple fasting because the bridegroom is gone. It was a point of legality of the law of Moses, the old covenant, under which the Jews tried to find their righteousness. We live under the new covenant in Christ. Those who promote all these methods and reasons to fast seem to be looking to efforts of man to either appear holy or invoke some effect in our lives. But we live in Christ and He lives in us and we are already declared holy and blameless in the sight of God. Everything that happens in our lives is a work of God, and not a work done by us, which even includes fasting. Perhaps if we want to cast out a demon we might want to fast and pray, but how many demons have we encountered? This is not to say, that we should abandon fasting altogether, but that it should be done only when the Spirit inspires us for some reason God has determined for us, and not because we have determined.