bsfblog – Page 6 – The Notes are Good

23 BSF Matthew Week 23, Day 5

My Daily Journal:

I think it is important to understand that the woes in Matthew 23 are not curses, they are warnings, very serious warnings with very serious consequences, but not a sentence to be served. (see Isaiah 6:4-7, Woe reversed power of God)

None of this was new. For example, at the center of the woes, in verse 23, the warning addresses tithing on spices but not giving justice, mercy and faithfulness. Turn back to Micah 6:8, “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Jesus began this warning with the parable of the tenants and the wedding banquet. Flip back to Matt 21:45, “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them.” Matt 21:43, “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.”

The wedding feast is starting. Christ is being married to His church, the body of believers and the religious leaders will not see Him again until He returns as the righteous husband returning to redeem His bride. On that day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. (Philippians 2:8-11)

My Answers:

11.
13. shut the door to the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces – open
14. devour widow’s houses and make lengthy prayers for show – care for widow’s pray quietly
15 travel over land and sea to win convert, then make them 2x more child of hell – be missionaries, but feed and nourish them in the scriptures
16 value gold over temple, altar, God – value God above all else, Don’t swear
23 tithe spices, but don’t give justice, mercy and faithfulness, strain out a gnat, swallow camel – Put Jesus First, love with all heart, soul, mind, strength
25 clean outside of cup but inside full of greed and self-indulgence – repent and ask for a clean heart and for God to renew a right spirit within
27 place selves above ancestors – not killed prophets – go ahead, finish what your ancestors started – Accept the prophets and the one they prophesied

12.
a.
Jewish leaders = vipers, Sending = disciples, apostles

b.
They rejected the prophets, the scriptures and Jesus – His blood will be on their heads

c.
We are given free choice. If we choose to reject Jesus, He honors that decision, even though it means separation from Him until judgment day and then for eternity

d.
There will come a day when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. God has kept the door open until the final measure of believers has come to Christ

23 BSF Matthew Week 23, Day 4

Today’s Scriptures

My Daily Journal:

This discussion reminds me so much of my golf game.

The religious leaders were trying to pull Jesus off into the weeds to trip Him up. Everything they asked Him about was on the far fringes of the course of life. That is where they played, going from patch of weeds to patch of weeds.

Jesus wasn’t afraid of the weeds, but His response was always the same. The solution is not to go from weed-patch to weed-patch, but to get the game back on the fairway. Return to the scriptures. Return to the power of God. Return to right thinking and right living.

No where is that more evident than in Matthew 22:42. The leaders are gathered. They had plotted and planned and asked questions, all attempting to get Jesus into their weeds. And now, Jesus asks them a question. But Jesus question isn’t in the weeds. It isn’t on the fringe. It is at the very heart of the green. What do you think about the Messiah?

That is the core question, isn’t it? That is the question all of religion hinges on. We know we need a savior. What do you think about the Messiah? In the game of life, that is the hole-in-one shot, that is where we should play.

My Answers:

8.
a.
What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?

b.
Shows that while He was a descendent of David, he was Lord, the son of the Living God

c.
To address Him as my Lord and Master, not only in word but in action

9.
a.
what the teachers and Pharisees who sit in Moses’ seat say to do

b.
Do not do what they do

c.
done for people to see

d.
To be humble and ensure the honor and glory are God’s alone

10.
To be humble, to not take on titles belonging to God (Rabbi, father, instructor)

23 BSF Matthew Week 23, Day 3

Today’s Scriptures

My Daily Journal:

I was really struck by how I, like the lawyer who asked the question of Jesus about which is the most important commandment, sell myself short.

We prioritize. We are taught to identify which are the big rocks, the most important tasks, and put them first. Eat that frog, don’t sweat the small stuff. I’ve read the books and I understand how that approach can help navigate the pressures of life on this earth.

If I do my lesson each day and spend some quiet time in prayer, I think I’m doing pretty good. But I’m not “holy”. That approach would not qualify me to be a “treasured possession” of God. God wants “All”.

All my heart, all my soul, all my mind, all my strength. Not just 20 minutes of my heart and mind, but all. Yes, we trip and fall and veer off path – we sin.

The lawyer asking the question of Jesus was on this path. I can’t keep all the commandments all the time, so which one or ones are the most important and I’ll prioritize those first. What is the minimum passing grade, Jesus? What is the least I have to do?

But God says, you will sin, but then repent and give it all back to me. If you fall down, that does not mean you have reached the final destination, you just tripped. Get up and keep going.

What would a day look like if every calorie I burned reflected God’s strength. What if every thought was directed to His glory? What if my heart and soul fully reflected His love for 1440 minutes in a row? That would be holiness. I am not capable of that but God is capable of that. Ask and He can move mountains. Why do we settle for “doing pretty good” when we are created to be so much more?

My Answers:

6.
a.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul mind (and strength)

b.
Look out for yourself first, charity begins at home,

c.
We protect our own life – we feed and clothe ourselves and see to our needs of comfort and security. These same basic instincts, through love, should extend to others.

d.
Why would someone do this without a belief in God, how would anyone understand true love?

7.
a.
Heart: Having no love that you put before God, that you would not give up for Him
Soul: Pledging not just this life but eternity to Him, we are souls with a body, not bodies with a soul.
Mind: To think first of God, even above self, to trust in Him above reason
Strength: Physical ability – not just philosophical or spiritual, but real

b.
Start my day with God. End my day with God. Take better care of my heart, soul, mind, strength. They belong to God, I am just the steward, the renter.

c.
made holy by God, chosen, treasured possession, based on love and commitment of God

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 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 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.

19 BSF Matthew Week 19, Day 5

Today’s Scriptures

My Daily Journal:

I worry about being taken advantage of. We live in a world full of warnings to “keep up your guard.” We are told to be careful, diligent, cautious. “There is a sucker born every minute.” Don’t be a patsy, an easy-mark.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Peter’s question is not unreasonable. There have to limits, right? There have to be boundaries. If someone wrongs us, they have to pay. How many times must I offer forgiveness to someone who repeatedly transgresses against me.

I’m guilty of this mindset. But it is a mindset of limited resources and God is a God of Unlimited Grace and Provision. Jesus helps put this in perspective. We are focused on the equivalent of 100 silver coins. We seek justice for a transgression of 100 silver coins. But God is dealing at the level of 10,000 bags of gold.

Since we don’t deal much in actual silver and gold, I looked it up.

A US Silver Dollar (1878-1935) is worth about $15.50 in silver. So 100 silver coins would be worth $1,550.

During the gold rush, a bag of gold held approximately 25 pounds. Assuming bags have traditionally been about the same size, a bag of gold at current market value would be worth a little over US $500,000. So, the forgiveness of the King was to the tune of US$5,062,000,000. $5 Billion Dollars.

In God’s economy, the things we worry about someone taking advantage of us over would get lost in rounding. If I spent more time and effort protecting my heart and my eyes and those I love, that would be a far wiser eternal investment than protecting worldly possessions.

My only appropriate response should be one of thanks to God and modeling the grace and mercy that He has shown me. When we pray for God to forgive our sins as we forgive others, the forgiveness we show others is the measure we are asking Him to use on us.

My Answers:

12.
a.
how many times must I forgive my brother = maximum number of time I can ask for forgiveness. If 7, then…

b.
Law of Lamech or Lamech’s curse was a distortion by Lamech for a rule of vengence. Jesus turned these words into a rule of forgiveness instead.

13
a.
Sins of others to me are miniscule compared to forgiveness I have received. 10,000 bags of gold vs. 100 silver coins

b.
Lord’s prayer, forgive us our sins as we forgive others

c.
As I forgive and seek to truly hear others and simply listen, I find myself in a better place, one where I feel more forgiven

d.
Thank you for being God. Thank you for being the almighty and being patient with me. Thank you for being the shepherd to come and hunt me down when I repeatedly go astray.

19 BSF Matthew Week 19, Day 3

Today’s Scriptures

My Daily Journal:

How do I bring others to Christ? I think the answer to that is by living out my faith. It is not just in the words that come out of my mouth, but also in my actions and behaviors. It is not just in missional statements but in actions and interactions. The way I choose to live my life. The people I choose to be around and the way I choose to spend time, in ways that bring honor and glory to God. The way I put trust in Him and show His love in my interactions with others.

How do I cause others, particularly “little ones” to stumble? I think the same things apply. It isn’t just a direct comment or statement I make to them, but more often through my actions and interactions. The things I do in my life that do not bring honor and glory to God. The way I choose to live my life in worry and doubt instead of trusting in Him fully. They people I choose to be around who don’t follow Him. The interactions I have with others that exclude God.

The message in our passage today is that this is extremely serious. Far more serious than, I think, we give it credit. We go through life with such nonchalance, not thinking how the anger we feel, or the worry, or frustration or greed, lust or pride influence our words and actions in ways that can cause those “little ones” who are watching to stumble. We like to delude ourselves thinking that no one notices, but talk with young believers. Their number one concern of becoming a christian is that they will be seen to be “religious”, joined with hypocrites who go through the motions on Sunday morning but fail to demonstrate it the rest of the week.

Harsh? Yes. But when our Lord says it would be better to tie a heavy stone around your neck and go drown yourself, I am thinking we should probably take this seriously!

My Answers:

6.
a.
better to have a large millstone hung around their neck and drowned in the depths of the sea

b.
Pride – we saw someone drive out demons in your name but he wasn’t one of us so told him to stop

7.
a.
stop judging and criticizing others – Don’t be a stumbling block either in my words or actions or approach. Just because I can doesn’t mean I should because it may be misunderstood – err on the side of shining God’s light.

b.
criticism, bad examples, drinking, failing to serve or grumbling about service

8.
Even when I go astray, Jesus doesn’t write me off or condemn or curse me, instead He seeks me out and rejoices in my return.