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04.4 BSF Matthew Week 4, Day 4

My Daily Journal:

Satan has no new tricks. There is no new temptation, just the same old same old that mankind has faced forever.

The first temptation Satan attempts with Jesus is for a prophet. We often think about the “turn these rocks to bread” as a temptation of hunger, but it is deeper. It is a temptation of self reliance, to take matters into your own hands. This was the temptation that snared Moses. Number 20:8-12 tells the tale of the prophet and his yielding to temptation to put reliance on the staff in his hand instead of solely on the glory of God.

The second temptation Satan attempts is one for a king. This is the temptation that snared David. David knew he was chosen by God. He knew he lived in His favor and that he could trust perfectly in God’s love and strength and backing. And, as a result, he ventured into sin. From his high place in the palace he looked down and saw the wife of Uriah. He didn’t deny God or hide from God, he took God for granted.

The third temptation Satan attempts is one for spiritual being, for an angel. This is the temptation that snared Lucifer himself and, to a certain degree, Adam and Eve. This is the temptation to be “like God.” To be the object of worship. In Satan’s case his fall came when he worshiped himself above God. He couldn’t challenge Jesus to worship Himself above God, since Jesus was God, so Satan suggested Jesus worship him.

The beauty of Jesus’ response to each of these temptations is not just that he replied solely with scripture, although that is critically important. He looked past the challenge and looked at what the outcome of the challenge would yield – something we often forget. For example, if Jesus had yielded to the first temptation, when all would be said and done, he would have had a loaf of bread. We forget this. We get so wrapped up in the challenge, the temptation itself, that we fail to look past it to the actual outcome. Jesus did not.

The potential of the first temptation was a loaf of bread. The potential of the second was to return to exactly where He already was at the highest point of the temple. The potential of the third was ridiculous, to sacrifice kingship over all creation for rule over earthly kingdoms (something He already had anyway).

If we had the same eyes in our view of temptations – to look past them – what simple strength we will have to stand up under them through the Word of God.

My Answers:

6.
a.
1. Tell these stones to become bread 2. throw yourself down for scripture says angels will lift you up and not strike your foot 3. Offered all the kingdoms of the world if he would bow down and worship Satan. Deut 8:3, Psalm 91:11-12, Deut 6:16, 13

b.
Jesus is not Moses, tempted to take matters into his own hand. Jesus is not David in mortal battle against man and pestilence. He did not come to earth to rule over mortal nations but to save them and in such to be their immortal king

c.
We are self reliant. We trust in ourselves more than God. We are in fear and call on God for protection even while we put ourselves in harms way not for His glory but for ours. We seek power and to rule

d.
The temptations I face are nothing but garden variety temptations, faced by men over and over throughout time. Nothing new, nothing that can’t be handled through the strength of the word.

7.
a.
The angels came and attended to him

b.
He sends someone with a kind word of encouragement that tells me it was noticed.

04.3 BSF Matthew Week 4, Day 3

Today’ Scriptures

My Daily Journal:

What is temptation? What is the difference between temptation and testing? Is temptation a sin? Could Jesus have yielded to temptation? Could Jesus have sinned?

Jesus was fully man. God gave man free will, the ability to make choices. Jesus had this choice as does any other man. There is no way He had less freedom than you or I. But His choice was different. His choice as a man reflected His strength as God. Temptation itself is not sin. Yielding to temptation is sin.

In examining this, it is interesting to look at how Satan tempted Jesus. He didn’t do it with a question, as he did with Eve. He did it with a challenge, an accusation. Basically, he said – “prove it.” “If you are the Son of God…” Every proof (geometry or any other mathematics, logic, science) always starts with a postulate or axiom. An axiom is a premise so evident as to be accepted as true without controversy. These are the givens. They are the things by which every other question is answered or proven. Prima facie. God is truth. God is the creator of everything. God is the axiom. God is the only plumb and square by which anything else can be measured. He is the postulate and He said, “This is My son.”

But Satan requests proof. To attempt to prove an axiom, by definition, means you remove it from being a cornerstone. Using any other measure to determine if an axiom is true means putting faith in that measure over the axiom.

And this is the heart of temptation and sin. Sin is simply the act of putting something else above God. Trusting something else as being more reliable than the Word of God. Adam and Eve did this – Eve trusted her eyes over the word of God (when she saw it was good for food and pleasing to the eye, Gen 3:6). You and I do this when we worry, doubt, rely on self, fail to confess, accept despair or simply drift away.

But Jesus did not yield to temptation. You don’t prove an axiom, it just is. And Jesus just is the I Am.

Please feel free to comment.

My Answers:

5.
a.
If you are the Son of God. v3, 6

b.
Jesus was the son of God. God Himself in voice from heaven had proclaimed it at his baptism. The father of lies sought to have him prove it. You don’t prove a postulate/axiom – it is self-evident.

c.
Matt:Don’t worry about clothing or food, God provides
Acts:Salvation is found in no one else but Jesus
Rom:The Spirit testifies we are God’s children – share in suffering
2 Cor:Hard pressed but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair
1 John:If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive and purify us
Heb:Pay the most careful attention to what we have heard so not drift away

04.2 BSF Matthew Week 4 Day 2

Today’s Scriptures

My Daily Journal:

I loved the idea of the Holy Spirit as personal trainer. Faith is a muscle. Temptation and testing is nothing but dead weight. Sure, we need to be careful to not drop it on our foot, but facing and overcoming temptation is a tool to building strength when done with the right discipline and trainer.

We were told last week that the Spirit remained with Jesus. The spirit worked with and in Jesus to prepare and strengthen Him for His calling, His mission. His food was to do the will of Him who sent Him. His refuge was in the Spirit. He was training, preparing, growing stronger every hour and minute.

Part of any fighter’s training is time in the ring. A good trainer is a good ring man, with the fighter, in their head, in their corner, coaching, encouraging. The Spirit did this with Jesus. For 40 days and nights They (the Trinity) spent time alone in the wilderness in preparation. As Jesus battled the demands of his human nature and its yearnings to be fed, His spirit grew in strength and fortitude. When Satan saw Jesus at His weakest, He was strong – not in his own human strength but in the power of the word of God. Satan didn’t go in the ring with kid gloves, he went in swinging, but there are no new temptations and nothing as powerful as the Word.

The downside of this analogy is that every time I’ve thought about the Spirit of God this week, I keep picturing Mickey from the Rocky movies.

My Answers:

3.
a.
In the wilderness. Led there by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil

b.
Faith is a muscle, strengthened through proper use. Temptation is not punishment or even that we have done wrong/strayed, it is just dead weight.

4.
a.
Jesus did not add to or take from God’s word. He also trusted it whole-heartedly in full obedience to what it says

b.
D. Satan addressed Eve with a question, Jesus with an accusation
D. Eve relied on her own eyes
D. Eve yielded to temptation and sinned
S. Satan spoke
S. Satan was crafty
S. Satan desired sin

03.5 BSF Matthew: Week 3, Day 5

Today’s Scriptures

My Daily Journal:

Forewarning: At the risk of sounding gross… Here is an illustration about the different baptisms of John and Jesus and a perspective on why Jesus decided to be baptized:

Imagine you have a sack or bag made out of cotton, like t-shirt material. You use this sack when “walking your dog” and you use it to pick up the dog poo. You then carry this bag with you wherever you go, and it gets more and more full every day.

As gross as this sounds to be carrying around, this is what sin is in our life. Every time we sin, we scoop a little more gross, offensive material in our bag. That was, in particular, how it was in the time of John the Baptist. Everyone had sin, everyone had a gross, stinky, porous bag of poo.

John called people to recognize they were carrying this around with them every day and to do something about it. They couldn’t get rid of it, but by confessing and being baptized they could at least clean the outside of it. By repenting they could commit to putting less new poo in the bag.

People got the message. They came from near and far. But some people (mostly the leaders) were in denial about their bag of poo. They thought that if their bag was less full than someone else’s, theirs didn’t stink. Some of them tried to dress up their bag of poo to mask or hide it. They would dress it up in pretty robes or sprinkle it with perfume. When they showed up at the river they tried to not even bring their bag of poo with them – pretending it didn’t exist. But it did. John caught a strong whiff of it and rebuked them. He called it what it was!

But here is the deal – John only had the ability to wash the outside of the bag. Then one day, along comes Jesus and an amazing thing happens.

Jesus, the one and only person ever who did not have a bag of poo (because he had no sin), chose to get in the water. Imagine what this water (where all the poo bags where being rinsed) was like. Along comes the King of Kings, perfectly clean, and he made the choice to climb in this filthy water with His subjects, the commoners and all their sin

He chose to take on our filthy rags so that he could “fulfill all righteousness) so we could become clean and enter into His Father’s Palace. This choice was huge – in many ways just as big if not bigger than being born a human, because this marks the start of His choice to His obedience to the Father’s plan of salvation. This is the start to the pain and suffering. This is the start to the path that leads to an undeserved death.

But, in so doing, Jesus is setting the stage for a new baptism. One that doesn’t just clean the outside in water, but through the blood of His sacrifice, it opened the door to the Holy Spirit to do the work in us of cleaning and purifying us inside and out, transforming us into saints, pure and clean.

“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.”
– Isaiah 1:18

Like the “wool” of the unblemished Lamb of God.

My Answers:

12.
a.
‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’

b.
The voice of God and the spirit came down as a dove and remained on him

c.
“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

13.
a.
Hear the preaching of baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, Come to the river, Confess their sins, be baptized

b.
He had no sins to confess

c.
To fulfill all righteousness – to submit to the plan of God in obedience as fully human to be joined with mankind.
Ps 40:8 I desire to do your will, my God. Isaiah 11:2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him (as he came out of the waters of baptism)

03.3 BSF Matthew: Week 3, Day 3

Today’s Scriptures

My Daily Journal:

My son has recently collected my father-in-law’s faceting equipment with the hope and plan of learning how to cut gemstones. The process of cutting gemstones really does not involve any “cutting”. It is much more a process of careful a careful and precise grinding down with finer and finer grits to the point of polishing.

On a microscopic (or at least magnified) view, a rough stone consists entirely of valleys and mountains and rough places. In the grandness of the universe the scale of our actual mountains is not much different.

Through confession we acknowledge the roughness in our own life. Through repentance, we allow the work of our Master to grind that roughness away and wash it out of our life. It is this repeated process of confession and repentance – acknowledgement, submission and work of a changed outlook and structure, through which we are transformed.

The beauty in a perfectly faceted gemstone is not the stone itself. It is the fact that each side and each angle is polished to a perfectly smooth and reflective surface so the light that enters is magnified and reflected back. In the same way, the work of confession and repentance transforms us into a reflection of the master stone cutter.

My Answers:

4.
a.
Parents both of priestly line, Father served in temple, observed all commands and were blameless, prayed, prophesized by Angel that John would be a Nazarite. His parents were also obedient (naming him John). Sent as the prophet to turn hearts

b.
I grew up in a Christian household centered in service. My mom spent countless time in the nursery carrying for the “smallest of these” My dad taught bible study, served on councils and committees and always attended and gave joyfully

5.
a.
He called people to repent and change – to live a just life. He extolled them not to rely on their birthright but to be servants to God. He rebuked any, including Herod, and was locked in prison

b.
Do not rely on history, be fruitful today. Be generous and compassionate. Be fair and honest. Be just and content.

6.
a.
Baptized with water for repentance, confession of sins, salvation from coming wrath

b.
Confess: to acknowledge wrong deeds, not just mistakes, but insults to God because of disobedience

Repent: to commit to change and living a new/different life

7.
a.
Confession and repentance are are equalizers of people, we all sin and rely on God’s saving work. Works glorifying to God (charity and honesty and justice and contentment) remove human hierarchies

b.
At times I see myself as more than I am. At other times my self view is lower than what God sees in me. I’m a rough stone. But as God smooths my rough edges through confession and repentance and His grace, I become polished and reflective.

Photo credit: Richard W. Wise, G.G.
Author: Secrets Of The Gem Trade, The Connoisseur’s Guide To Precious Gemstones

02.5 BSF Matthew: Week 2, Day 5

Today’s Scriptures

My Daily Journal:

I looked up the word, refuge. I had thought of a refuge as a physical structure – some sort of stronghold or fort. But that is incorrect. According to the definition, a refuge is a condition of being safe or sheltered from pursuit, danger, or trouble. It is a condition, a state of being.

So, who needs a refuge? By definition, a refugee needs a refuge. A refugee is a person who is outside his or her country of origin or habitual residence because they have suffered (or fear) persecution.

In 1 Peter 1:17, this is what we are called to be: “Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.”

Do I live as a refugee? Do I seek refuge from the One who can provide it in this upside down world? Do I call on the Most High to be my refuge and my strength or do I bend to conform to this world?

My Answers:

10.
a.
They put their trust and obedience fully in God. Through that they were saved from death, protected, did not fear the terror of night. They loved the Father and His (their) Son and were rescued

b.
1. dwells in the shelter of the Most High, 2. says: He is my refuge… in whom I trust 9. if you say the Lord is my refuge, 14, Because you love the Lord, he will rescue you and protect you, for you acknowledge his name.

c.
Everything I have comes from the Lord. Every opportunity, every person in my life. Why would I rely on my power in comparison to God’s? Martin Luther said, God created the world out of nothing; so as long as we are nothing, he can make something out of us.

11.
a.
Wisemen (Magi) watched for, saw and obeyed to worship, God honored and aided their obedience through the non-obedient, Pay attention to dreams from God – worked for Magi, worked for Joseph (go to Egypt), worked again for Joseph (go to Israel), and again (don’t go to Judea)

b.
I think God gave me life after surgery not because I had been obedient to Him, but because He had plans for me to become so. 2 weeks before my surgery I started in BSF and it was the first thing I returned to. I have stayed every year since.

02.4 BSF Matthew: Week 2, Day 4

Today’s Scriptures

My Daily Journal:

I was convicted by the obedience that Mary and Joseph demonstrated as parents. There is an interested contrast in Adam and Eve and Joseph and Mary. We see disobedience in the first leading to the fall of man, the first sin wasn’t an accident, it was an intentional act of disobedience of the one rule given in the garden. But time and again we see the man and woman entrusted with the responsibility of raising the infant Son of the Living God with act after act of obedience. Joseph gets direction in a dream and he obeys, even getting up in the middle of the night rousting his wife and child and setting off to a distant and foreign land.

We think about demonstrating strength and leadership as parents of our children. We want to provide for them, educate them, lead them, help them. None of these are bad or wrong, but listen to these inspired words in Matthew about the man and woman God chose for His only Son. He doesn’t talk about any of those things – He talks about obedience.

I was also challenged with the question about Nathanael and his views of Nazareth. (In the process of researching this I found this website about why people looked down on Nazareth) Like him, I am filled with preconceived notions about people. These are prejudices, but not in the way we often use the word. I clearly, however, pay more attention to a well dressed and monetarily successful, highly educated leader than I do to someone on the opposite end of the socio-economic spectrum. God reminds us it is the heart that counts – not what we can see on the outside, but what He puts on the inside, that really matters.

My Answers:

8.
a.
Angel said – he obeyed. Joseph and Mary both demonstrate amazing obedience. A lack of obedience afflicted Adam and Eve (1st parents), but Mary and Joseph model obedience as parents of the holy One.

b.
Herod’s son, Archelaus, was now ruler. Having been warned in a dream he withdrew to Galilee, Nazareth

9.
a.
Differences between Northerners and Southerners. Race, dialect, prejudices, etc. http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2011/08/17/7-differences-between-galilee-and-judea-in-the-time-of-jesus/

b.
God turned everything upside down. All our prejudices and ideas about how “we would do things” – He did the opposite.

c.
Beings of might and power, in human thought, do not sacrifice that, even unto death, for those without any power and might. There is nothing in it for them. But God loved the world. Love is not human ration – it is divine.

02.3 BSF Matthew: Week 2, Day 3

Today’ Scripture

My Daily Journal:

I’ve often thought about the gifts the Magi presented to the Christ child. I would think about how they presented these very expensive gifts not to receive anything in return – how could they, He was but a child. While all of that is true, it isn’t the main thing.

I realized in this, they could have stayed home and sent gifts if it was about the gifts. It wasn’t. The gifts were nothing but an outward sign. The important thing was showing up with a worshipful mindset.

This is what God did. This is what we should do. God planned this time from the beginning of the world, from the fall of man forward all prophecy pointed to this event. But he didn’t send in a savior, He showed up and did it himself for His own glory.

Where do I need to show up and be fully present? Where am I distracted and thinking about other worries, instead of trusting and obeying the one in control. What am I holding on to instead of being fully present and engaged?

God was all in (fully man/fully God) – why should I think I should do any less than be fully present in serving and worshiping Him?

My Answers:

5.
a.
Boaz redeemed Naomi and Ruth at the threshing floor, Married and bore Obed, grandfather to David who was annointed by Samuel in Bethlehem

b.
Hosea 11:1 – out of Egypt I called my son
Jerimiah 31:15 weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because they are no more

6.
a.
Jews and Leaders, Romans, all plotted to kill Jesus and eventually did: Matthew 4:6; Luke 13:34; John 8:59; John 10:31; Matthew 12:14; Matthew 26:4; Mark 3:6; Mark 11:18; Mark 14:1; Luke 13:31; Luke 19:47; John 5:18; John 7:1; John 7:25; John 8:37; John 8:40

b.
Many have been persecuted and killed for their faith and work to lead others to Christ. While in America, we suffer little persecutaion, in other countries people are threatened, persecuted and killed for loving Jesus

c.
My children have experienced more than I have in public school and particularly from teachers (often those in authority). I feel we are all bombarded with temptation and the world. Television is so distracting – Our family removed ours and have turned off cable TV all together. It doesn’t bring glory to God!

7.
a.
To earnestly seek Him, regardless of cost. To trust in God and study and follow His teaching and signs. To listen to Him over any others. When we do this we are rewarded with personal time with our Lord – an amazing gift.

Today’ Scripture

My Daily Journal:

My Answers:

5.
a.
Boaz redeemed Naomi and Ruth at the threshing floor, Married and bore Obed, grandfather to David who was annointed by Samuel in Bethlehem

b.
Hosea 11:1 – out of Egypt I called my son
Jerimiah 31:15 weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because they are no more

b.
To be purposeful in prayer and study.

02.2 BSF Matthew: Lesson 2, Day 2

Today’s Scriptures

My Daily Journal:

Imagine the shock the Magi must have experienced. They came from afar to worship the newly born King of the Jews. They came to the logical place, the seat of power for the Jewish nation, to the royal palace – this is where you would expect the long awaited King to be, right? But instead they found – disturbed people! Why wasn’t everyone worshiping this King? They knew who the Magi were talking about. Herod himself called together the priests and teachers and asked them “where the Messiah was to be born.” He knew exactly who the Magi sought.

You would think after all these years of anticipation they would be falling over themselves to meet and worship the Messiah. But that would have meant letting go of their anticipation. They were comfortable in anticipation. They understood it. They had built entire structures and positions around it. It was ingrained in their lives, meals, even their calendar. The messiah showing up would mess all that up!

How we do the same! We know the love God has for us and the calling He has on our life, but we are comfortable. We pray for comfort and peace. For the easy and comfortable path. God calls us to be bold, to obey no matter what, and to trust that he not only has our back, but also our front and top and sides, inside and out. But it is hard to let go.

I am praying this year for boldness and obedience. I don’t know what God has in mind, but I know it is bigger and better than anything I can imagine. I know there will be “Herod’s” along the way, but God is bigger.

My Answers:

3.
a.
Jesus (born), Magi (came to Jerusalem, asked, saw star, came to worship), Herod (disturbed), All Jerusalem (with Herod), Chief priest & teachers (knew promise of Messiah), Herod (secretive, found exact time of star, sent Magi to Bethlehem, ordered to report back to him, lied)

b.
Jesus is as He always was. Some who are wise actively seek Him to show honor and praise. Some, particularly those with power, seek only their own preservation of power, some who are followers, blindly follow the leaders. Wise men seek the one true Lord.

c.
I am a wise man because I have heard and seen the calling of my Lord and God. I was lost and blind and I still stumble and fall (way too often). But, I “get up” and seek to be obedient in honoring my God

4.
a.
Origins from old, from ancient times

b.
come from Judah, from Bethlehem

c.
Ruler over Israel

01.5 BSF Matthew: Week 1, Day 5

Today’s Scripture

My Journal

Honor and obedience.

We live in a culture that is so dishonorable and so disobedient that I don’t think we fully have a grasp of the situation and times of Mary and Joseph.

In their day and culture, honor was everything. There was no corporate names to hide behind, no “spin”, no SBA loans or Government Backed loans. Who you were and what your name stood equated to your ability to earn a living. Without honor, you had no credit in the community. Without credit and trust in the community you had no income, no food, no shelter, no life.

When Mary turned up pregnant, Joseph was within rights to have her publicly humiliated, even to have her stoned. But being a righteous man he thought to divorce her quietly, so hopefully she could have some sort of life. The thought of marrying her would have been unthinkable.

But, then the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph. And what does he do? When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded. period. No prenups, no discussion, nothing – he just obeyed.

Doing what I or those around me thinks is the right or best thing to do does not require obedience. Joseph’s obedience was tested in a way we have a hard time imagining. Again, he didn’t do it with his own will or might. He didn’t do it with his own thought. He just did it (sorry, Nike).

What if we woke each day with the obedience in mind to do what the Lord commands of us this day? What could God do with me with that?

As I look back, the times of greatest joy have not been when I have gotten my way, but when I trusted and followed God into areas of obedience that I did not think I was “the right person” to do or that I didn’t have strengths or skillsets or sometimes even desire to do. But waking up and doing what God commands is a really powerful and joyful trip!

My Answers

9.
a.
i. He will crush your head and you will strike His heel
ii. Sceptor will not depart from Judah nor ruler’s staff from between his feet
iii. You are my son, today I have become your father
iv. Sign: virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel
v. For to us a child is born…

b. Matt 1: 23 = Isaiah 7:14

10.
a.vs 24: When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded

b. Accepting call to be a Children’s Leader in BSF. I did not have a passion for babysitting other’s children and thought I would be better with adults, but accepted the calling God had for me. The blessings have been amazing!!

11.
a. This was huge – honor was everything in the community. This was life or death for Mary.

b. They alone gained the honor of loving and caring for the Christ child and living with God every day. Not since Adam and Eve had there been such intimacy with the Lord

c. Submission to take risks for the Lord always yields amazing rewards. Disobedience never does.