BSF Matthew Study 2013-2014 – Page 4

22 BSF Matthew Week 22, Day 3

My Daily Journal:

People often misunderstand the term “Fear of God.” I don’t think this means a fear of punishment, viewing God as someone to cower from or to avoid so as not to anger him. Instead, I think it means fear of disappointing.

I grew up in my father’s home town. When I went someone, anywhere, the odds were very high that someone there knew my dad and knew I was his son. My actions, and my mis-deeds, reflected not only on me but on him. I did not fear so much his anger or punishment, but that I would dishonor or disappoint him by my callous behavior.

I think having that same type of fear of God is important and that it reflect love and honor and respect for our Heavenly Father. But that is not whom the spiritual leaders in the temple feared. When Jesus challenged them about John the Baptist, there was nothing in their thought process about God or truth. It was all about fear of men.

Whom you fear reflects whom you honor and respect.

My Answers:

5.
a.
show us your qualifications, license, certification, authority – Union card, who died and made you the messiah?

b.
Every day Jesus taught in the temple – teachers of the law and the leaders were trying to kill him

6.
a.
They decided to not believe John the Baptist, the prophets, the prophecies of scriptures

b.
seeing don’t see, hearing don’t hear, hear don’t understand, see, not perceive, calloused heart, blind

7.
a.
Gentiles, tax collectors, prostitutes – others that were considered blatant sinners

b.
The jews, particularly the teachers of the law and pharisees

8.
a.
Said no, but did: Same, drugs, prostitution, open sin. Said yes, but no: Church going hypocrites

b.
I was the later, but now am the says yes and does

22 BSF Matthew Week 22, Day 2

Today’s Scriptures

My Daily Journal:

On any fruit tree the leaves are what feed the plant and the fruit is what feeds others and prepares the next generation. But how many people do we know at church who are all leaves? I know during a period of my life my main focus in deciding what church to go to was what am I getting out of it.

Jesus did not have any frustration with the fig tree because it had leaves. A healthy plant needs to be fed. But His frustration was that it only had leaves. When we approach spiritual life with a complete focus on what is in it for me, we model the same hypocrisy.

My Answers:

3.
a.
may you never bear fruit again

b.
Immediately the tree withered

c.
They had nourishment to grow, but no fruit – They pretended to be what they were not

4.
a.
with faith, command and move mountains, don’t receive reward in the act – trust in God. Bear fruit!

b.
Forgive others (cleanse yourself) so that God may forgive you

21 BSF Matthew Week 21, Day 4

Today’s Scriptures

My Daily Journal

How do others know you are a christian?

Is it the cross you wear? Is it the fish sticker on your car? Is it the bible you carry around? Is it that you go to church on Sunday or that you hold office in the church? Is it because of what you don’t do?

Mrs. Zebedee wanted others to know that her sons were fully aligned to Jesus. We can be critical of her, but think about that for a moment. Is that such a bad thing?

But when we raise ourselves or other humans up, we inadvertently lower Jesus down from His righteous place. For James and John to sit at Jesus left and right would have filled up the seats at both sides. But Jesus is seated at God the Father’s right hand.

So, how do we demonstrate that we have given our lives to the Lord? By following His example and serving others. John 13:35 says it best: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

My Answers:

8.
a.
Delivered over to the chief priests and teachers of the law, condemn to death, hand over to gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified and on the third day he will be raised to life

b.
They still did not understand the kingdom He would oversee and what it meant to rule there

c.
the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

9.
a.
The cup of judgment, poured out on the wicked of the earth; The cup of righteous wrath against sin;

b.
He came to serve, to give His life as ransom; The Father’s will; To bear our sins

c.
James was martyred; John imprisoned and then died a prisoner on the island of Patmos because of the word of God

d.
The cup of His blood shed for our forgiveness

10.
Proclaim Christ boldly. Receive His blessing to Follow Him.

21 BSF Matthew Week 21, Day 3

Today’s Scriptures

My Daily Journal:

It is often helpful to put ourselves into the biblical story. By immersing ourselves into character, we not only get a deeper sense of the message but we are better able to see how we should apply the truth and change our daily walk.

In the story of the land owner and workers found in Matthew 20, our first inclination is to put ourselves in the position of the worker and Jesus as the land owner.

But, let’s take a different view point. What if you take on the character of the landowner. This isn’t a stretch. Romans 8 says we are heirs with Christ. Jesus himself refers to his followers as stewards. What if we are the stewards of this land? What is the message to us?

I see several:

1. Be relentless in calling others into the harvest. Jesus said the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. How much of that is because we aren’t repeatedly showing up to find people waiting to be called?

2. Give each worker a full measure of God’s word and grace. Some of the workers were doing a lot of different things with their life before they were convicted to show up at the street corner. How often do we tend to hold that against them? The landowner gave the first workers a full measure. He did not give the later workers any less.

3. Don’t negotiate. The bible says what the bible says. How often are we tempted to water it down to fit the views and opinions of others. We fall into a trap of the world’s view of “fair”. God is just and He doesn’t hold back His grace.

4. Expect persecution but watch for the joy. What did the landowner hear about when he passed out the wages? Did he hear the joy of those called late in the day? Maybe a little, but it was mostly drowned out by the grumbles of those called early. It is easy to focus on the grumbling, the persecutions in life, so much so that we sometimes miss the joy.

My Answers:

7.
a.
Eternal life is the denarius – but it isn’t earned nor is more earned by longer work or greater deeds

b.
He calls the workers. He has the work and the pay. He provides grace and love and complete reward

c.
They have an entitlement attitude. They judge themselves based on other men (not a sign of humility) and find themselves more deserving then are upset at rewards given to those who have worked less

d.
At any point I am called to work it is a blessing – Thankful for the reward I am given, not jealous or self-righteous, but be humble

e.
That He would work so hard to call us to work – He doesn’t need us, we need Him, but He pursues us over and over again.

21 BSF Matthew Week 21, Day 2

Today’s Scriptures

My Daily Journal:

There is an old joke:

There once was a rich man who was near death. He was very grieved because he had worked so hard for his money and he wanted to be able to take it with him to heaven. So he began to pray that he might be able to take some of his wealth with him.

An angel hears his plea and appears to him. “Sorry, but you can’t take your wealth with you.” The man implores the angel to speak to God to see if He might bend the rules.

The man continues to pray that his wealth could follow him. The angel reappears and informs the man that God has decided to allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the man gathers his largest suitcase and fills it with pure gold bars and places it beside his bed.

Soon afterward the man dies and shows up at the Gates of Heaven to greet St. Peter. St. Peter seeing the suitcase says, “Hold on, you can’t bring that in here!”

But, the man explains to St. Peter that he has permission and asks him to verify his story with the Lord. Sure enough, St. Peter checks and comes back saying, “You’re right. You are allowed one carry-on bag, but I’m supposed to check its contents before letting it through.”

St. Peter opens the suitcase to inspect the worldly items that the man found too precious to leave behind and exclaims, “You brought pavement?!!!”
(thanks to ahajokes.com)

I thought it was so fitting that Jesus used the analogy of a camel. A camel is a beast of burden. But we don’t recognize that the things we carry around with us are truly burdens in the economy of heaven and the things we can see as burdens are true joy. Wealth, prestige, pride, are all burdens that we can’t take with us. They are not going to fit through the portal of the grave, the eye of the needle. But the things I find myself grumbling about having the discipline to do every day, like praying, studying the word, testifying to others, teaching, leading, investing time in worship – these all carry through and bring everlasting joy.

My Answers:

3.
a.
People with wealth have a very difficult time putting God first in their lives. There is so much energy required to maintain and build wealth. Anything we are unwilling to give up is something we value more than God.

b.
Nothing is impossible for God – no matter how hard hearted, while it may seem impossible for them to change – don’t give up on God

4.
a.
100 times as much

b.
Eternal Life

5.
a.
homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions

b.
Rom: children=heirs with Christ, if share in suffering also share in His glory
2 Tim: Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Jesus will be persecuted
1 Pete 2: Blessing is in unjust suffering, undeserved but endured for God
1 Pete 4: do not be surprise by “fiery ordeal”, rejoice in sufferings so overjoyed in His glory

6.
Through the joy of communing with other believers. Through the work He gives us to do, such as bringing others to Christ. Through the blessings of prayer, study, teaching, leading, worship

21 BSF Matthew Week 21, Day 5

Today’s Scriptures

My Daily Journal:

Blindness:

I recently finished reading the book Cross Roads by Wm. Paul Young. Many of you may know Young as the author of The Shack.

One of the things the book reminded me of is that God is always present. When we don’t see God it isn’t because God isn’t there, God is everywhere, OmniPresent. Instead it is because our vision is veiled by our own sin.

The past few weeks lessons have been lessons in what it means to be a Christ Follower. We are called to be humble, unselfish, compassionate and serving others. The opposites of those, prideful, selfish, uncaring and either self-serving or desiring to be served by others are all too “natural” characteristics in a fallen world. Each of these things in our lives is like a blindfold causing us to fail to see God in His full presence and glory.

In my divisions I included the story of the 2 blind men in this section because I think the whole message of the entrance into Jerusalem was about Jesus coming to heal the blind and lame.

The blindfolds of blindness have different characteristics in the story. Some are physically blind, but clearly see the character of Jesus. Some see Jesus triumphant entry into the city, but are blind to His real mission and message of salvation, Some see Him healing others but refuse to accept they themselves are blind.

Notice in both situations of Jesus healing physical blindness, there was another component. In the temple He healed the blind and lame. See, seeing is not enough, it is just the first part. Getting up and following Him is the only proper response to having the blindfolds removed.

How is sin clouding your vision of God? Are you asking for your blindness to be removed? If you have seen the light, are you still lying on your mat?

My Answers:

11.
a.
Jesus wouldn’t steal, so it must have been arranged. It wasn’t just that Jesus knew the owner, but that the owner knew Jesus!

b.
A very large crowd

c.
Pharisees Luke 19:39

d.
Zach 9:9 – See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Psalm 118:26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord

13.
a.
House of prayer

b.
John: Destroy temple and raise it up in 3 days
1 Cor: Bodies are temple of H/S
Eph 2: In him the whole building is raised, body of Christ = the church

c.
forgives sin, purifies us of all unrighteousness, thoroughly washed and renewed through Holy Spirit

20 BSF Matthew Week 20, Day 5

Today’s Scriptures

My Daily Journal:

Jesus continues to dispel the myth of what a saved person looks like.

At the time that Jesus was on the Earth, it was simply assumed that a fellow Jew who was wealthy had been blessed by God. Those who were poor were not. So, wealth was not just a reflection of work or circumstance, it was a reflection of God’s view of the individual.

This wealthy man who approached Jesus assumed he was in. The Mark passage makes this even more clear because he asks about his “inheritance.” Someone would normally receive inheritance from their family, so for him to inherit it, meant that he already had an entitlement to it. He had followed the commandments, he had done his duty. What other good work did he need to do to remove any possibility of doubt?

But Jesus looks at him and loves him.

Jesus sees what he worships above God, the thing he doesn’t want to let go of because of what it means to himself and to others, to his pride and ego. Anything we refuse to let go of to follow Christ is something we put greater value on that we do on Jesus.

The apostles struggled. To them, this man had received huge blessings from God. To them, wealth = higher standing in God’s family, it was a yardstick measure showing God’s satisfaction with an individual.

But Jesus says it is just another situation in life, not a reflection of God’s love. There is no correlation between the size of God’s grace and blessing in a christian’s life and the size of that person’s checking account (as much as the preachers of the prosperity gospel may like). Either wealth or poverty can be a blessing or a stumbling block. They can draw people closer to Christ or take them farther away. If the man had made sizable donations to charities would not have made any difference. It isn’t about the money – it is about what comes first in your life.

One last thing – sometimes we need a little more tough love! Jesus told the wealth man these things not to punish him, but because he loved him. How often do we pray that Christ point out the the things in our lives that we are putting above Him as opposed to the number of times that we ask Him to “bless us” with more money.

My Answers:

11.
a.
Ephesians 2: 8-9, by grace save through faith, not by works so no man can boast. (he assumed works). Eph 1:5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ (he assumed in family)

b.
By looking at him and loving him. He demonstrated what this man was putting before God in his life.

12.
a.
1. no gods before me, 2 worship any graven images.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength. Love your neighbor as yourself

b.
His wealth

13.
a.
He loved him

b.
Creates a sense of entitlement and of salvation being something earned and acquired.

20 BSF Matthew Week 20, Day 4

Today’s Scriptures

My Daily Journal:

What does a christian look like? When we think about it, our immediate thoughts turn to outward appearances and probably someone who looks a lot like us.

But Jesus looks at the heart. A Christ-Follower is someone who has given their heart over to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

A christian may be male or female. A christian may be married or single. If someone is single, they don’t have to marry to be a christian nor does marrying make them more of a christian. God is in control. Being married is a gift. But being single is also a gift. They are different gifts, but one is not better than the other (OK, the Apostle Paul had a bias for being single, but you understand my point). Both are gifts. The key is to use the gift for the glory of God.

The same is true of age. A christian may be young or old. There is no minimum age for asking Jesus into your life. Young christians (I’m talking age not maturity of faith) are amazing examples of unconditional love, both giving and receiving. I am very proud to call these children, brothers and sisters in Christ.

My Answers:

8.
a.
Intimacy is a part of marriage. Some can’t. Some choose to forgo it for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Those who can should accept it

b.
He saw a life of celibacy as a gift from God. But for those who don’t have this gift to remain celibate/chaste, they should marry and for those who marry they should live as a married couple, sharing in intimacy with each other.

9.
a.
1 john 2:15-17… for all that is in the world, lust of flesh, eyes, pride of life, is not of the Father. Rom 12:2, Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind

b.
By demonstrating the love I have for my wife and model the respect and appreciation I have for her in ways that others can see

10.
a.
For Him to pray for them and for Him to place his hands on them

b.
They may have felt He had more important matters to attend. They were operating as gatekeepers, only allowing through those “worthy” of an appointment

c.
Failure to acknowledge them as faithful followers, brothers and sisters. Failure to address them at their level. Failure to pray for them and bless them. Failure to be humble.

d.
Be on their level and welcome them. Encourage them. Not talk down to them. Show them the love of Christ – take time for them!

20 BSF Matthew Week 20, Day 3

Today’s Scriptures

My Daily Journal:

The pharisees asked this question of Jesus to “test him”, i.e., to trap him.

Basically there were two camps, one that believed you could divorce for “any reason” and another that believed you could only divorce for “some reasons.” Either option He chose, alienated one of the camps.

But, I believe, the question itself is the trap. Let me put it another way.

This is the same as saying:

“Jesus, we have this beautiful, priceless and irreplaceable crystal vase. Is it better to break it by throwing it to the ground or is it better to break it by smashing it with a hammer?” Jesus, (with great tact), informs them they are num-nuts and what they should be focused on is protecting the vase so it does not get broken.

All of this focus on divorce misses the point entirely. Take care. Treat a marriage as what it is: something precious and valuable and irreplaceable. Something ordained by God.

But what about those with a broken vase? What about those who have divorce in their past? God meets us where we are. He doesn’t say to the lost sheep, find your way back to the flock and then we’ll talk. He goes and finds the sheep where it is, while it is still lost. In 1 Cor 6 Paul explained that some of the members of the church had been thieves, greedy, sexually immoral, drunkards… but you were washed, sanctified, justified in the name of the Lord Jesus. Jesus didn’t say get your life in order first and then come to me. He said come to me and I will help transform your life.

My Answers:

6.
a.
He continued ch 18 theme of forgiveness: shouldn’t divorce. If divorce for any reason other than sexual immorality then any other relationship is adultery

b.
Any relationship after marriage is adultery (except in the death of a spouse)

c.
do not separate. If spouse is an unbeliever stay together, but if they decide to leave, let them go.

7.
a.
The man who hates and divorces his wife does violence to the one he should protect. He does not look on with favor or plea

b.
It is true – to teach a nation that was focused on itself

c.
Christ is the model. Love as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy. Husband and wife=1 body. care for spouse as you would your own body.

d.
The love He had for us, cleansing us in the water through the word, to prepare us to be holy and blameless

e.
God meets us where we are now, 1 Cor 6:8-11, thieve, greedy, sexually immoral, drunkards….that is what some of you were but you were washed, sanctified, justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; Matt 18:12, lost sheep=rejoice

20 BSF Matthew Week 20, Day 2

Today’s Scriptures

My Daily Journal:

To me, the discussion about the Law of Moses and divorce is like a discussion about daredevil safety equipment. Let’s put it this way. If you are going to ride a motorcycle at high speeds and jump it over a bunch of flaming cars, someone is going to suggest you have on a really good helmet and flame retardant clothing.

The better idea is to not do it. But since some people are set and determined to do it anyway, sufficient guidelines and protective gear is designed.

When Moses outlines these “laws” about divorce, I don’t think he is saying this is a good idea or the right thing to do. I think he is simply saying, you are going to do this anyway because you are hard hearted, so let’s take these steps to minimize the damage.

My Answers:

4.
God created male and female in His image. He joined them together and commanded them to be fruitful. They become one flesh, man must leave his father and mother and be united with his wife

5.
a.
Prohibited from returning to a relationship where a husband sends her out of their house

b.
Their hearts were hard

c.
God will allow me to do things that are wrong. That doesn’t make them right, but if I’m hard headed and hard hearted enough He will allow it.