Doctor’s Orders

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 6:1–8, 16–18 (day six) 

Notice what Jesus doesn’t say in his prescription for overcoming spiritual fraud.  He doesn’t prescribe waiting until your heart is in the right place or ensuring the right feelings precede the right behaviors.

Can you imagine if we only did the right thing when we felt like it?

Jesus’ prescription for overcoming spiritual fraud is to go home, embrace spiritual integrity, be honest with God, and practice your spiritual disciplines in private whether you feel like it or not. It is there, in your private spiritual pursuits, that you may discover God reshaping a heart into one that is wholly his.

Pure in Heart

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 5:33-48 (day six)

May the words of my mouth
    and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing to you,
    O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14

God cares about your inner life; your thought life and love life are of grave concern to him. He cares about your business dealings, how your heart handles your enemies, and your thought life when bad things happen.  He cares about the integrity of your inner life.

That’s why the whole law can be reduced to one command: love.  That’s what Jesus is getting after in his greatest sermon.

Jesus is the Way

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 5:17-32(day six)

“I am the way…” -Jesus, John 14:6

The Pharisees were the gold standard of righteousness. At the time, most probably thought that if anyone was righteous, they were. Truth is, they had managed to become more like Pharoah than Moses by heaping burdens on the people rather than leading them to freedom.

When Jesus declares, “I came to fulfill the law.” Part of what he means is that he is the new gold standard (and the new Moses). Essentially saying, “If you want to know how to live according to the law, if you seek righteousness, then all eyes on me.”

This is Jesus’ way of saying, “I am the way.”

Greater Things

12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.” John 14:12

If we are not careful, we run the risk of over-spiritualizing Jesus’ description of Kingdom people being salt and light, when in fact he was describing real impact in the real world. Jesus modeled for us what he meant; everywhere he went he restored the lives of the sick and broken, he rescued others from demonic possession, and he spoke words that changed everyone who received them.

Jesus said, “You will do what I have done. You will do even greater things.”

Do you believe that?

Blessed are Those Who Mourn

God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4

The Beatitudes (which is just a fancy word meaning blessed) are descriptions of the attitudes and values of the children of God. Those who mourn recognize that all is not right in the world; that humanity willfully embraces sin and corruption. Those who mourn recognize all too well that they are not only onlookers but participants in this corruption.

The good news is that they are not left in their mourning but are blessed by God’s comfort. What a promise! In this blessing, we discover that God knows our sorrow and cares about our grief. Not only, but he does something about it:

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” -Jesus, Matthew 11:28

A Voice From the Ancient Church

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 6:11-18(day six)

But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galatians 6:14

“When Paul writes that the cross is glory, he means obviously “the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” When in that mystery his body hung from the cross and in it crushed the power of the world, the whole world was crucified through him. In the cross he identified with every person in the world. In doing so he made everything that he suffered universal, that is, he caused all flesh to be crucified in his death. Therefore, I too am fixed to the cross and to the world. I means the one who was living carnally, whose thoughts were of the flesh. Such a one is now “nailed to the world,” that is, the worldly things in him are subjected to death.”

-Marius Victorinus, 4th-century grammarian, rhetorician, philosopher, and theologian. Born in Tunisia (North Africa), died in Rome.

Salvation is Serious Business

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 6:1-10 (day six)

“…you who are godly…” Galatians 6:1

By “godly,” Paul means walking by the Spirit (Galatians 5:25).

Beginning in 5:16, Paul provides the Galatians with a field guide on “walking by the Spirit.” He concludes his guide with some very practical advice in Galatians 6:1-10, covering two connected Spirit-led efforts. The first effort is internal (managing our own temptations and reorganizing our life around Jesus), and the second is external (restoring and sharing each other’s burdens); neither is mutually exclusive.

Perhaps these verses have two overarching declarations: You must take responsibility for your own spiritual growth (6:1b, 4), and you can’t fake it (6:7-8).

Paul never does “salvation” light; he expects us to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” (Phil. 2:12)

Inside Out

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 5:16-26 (day six)

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Galatians 5:22-23

The evidence of the Spirit is not the clothes you wear, the food you eat, or the places you go. Nor is it your family lineage, how early in life you attended church, your Sunday school attendance, or your well-versed prayers. The Spirit of God will always lead the children of God to love God and others.

A child of God is not determined by how they look on the outside but by how they love on the outside. Say “yes” to God’s Spirit and love well today!

Faith Works

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 5:1-15 (day six)

“…faith working through love.” Galatians 5:6

Faith is not a license to live in disobedience; Paul assures his critics of that. In fact, Paul describes a kind of faith that works through love. This means that love is the fuel that puts faith to work. It is much like marriage should be. You don’t seek your spouse’s well-being to pass an annual review, a checklist that keeps your marriage intact. You seek their well-being because you love them and you have made a covenant with them. Your motivation is not self-preservation, it’s devotion.

Faith without devotion is not faith. James would describe that kind of faith as dead faith (James 2:26)And not only devoted to God but to one another. You can’t have one without the other. (See verse 14.)

 

Finish Strong

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 4:21-31 (day six)

It’s no mistake that Paul returns to Abraham. Earlier in the letter, Abraham served as an example of how the “righteous live by faith” in God and not by works of the law. And now? We find Abraham trusting in his own effort to fulfill God’s promise of an heir. (The results were not what he had hoped. In fact, we are still experiencing the results today.)

The point is this. Abraham had started off so well, yet even he stumbled into trusting his efforts along the way-just like the Galatians-but he finished strong.

I think this was a not-so-subtle way of Paul saying, “You can finish strong, just like Abraham! Don’t get caught in the allure of your own effort! Return to Jesus alone, by faith alone.”