PRACTICE YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS TO BE SEEN BY YOUR FATHER

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Matthew 6:1–18

Key Verse: 6:1

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

Who’s looking? What a question! Often we pretend like we don’t care, but we really do. Some adults crave attention, just like little children. Psychiatrists call it histrionic personality disorder. Such people have always got to be the center of attention. They make the people around them tired with their constant nagging. But actually, we all have a normal desire to be recognized for what we do. Today’s passage speaks to this: Whose recognition are we seeking?

As we’ve seen, when he begins his ministry Jesus has to start in an already very religious society. It’s not easy, because he sees some serious problems in what’s going on. Jesus wants his disciples to be better than the so-called religious leaders of the day. Basically, he wants us to respect the Bible, learn what it says, practice it, and finally, teach it. Jesus has a great hope that his disciples will grow to be godly Bible teachers, and that through their Bible teaching, countless people will also come to God’s kingdom. Through six practical examples Jesus showed us that practicing God’s commands isn’t just about outward behavior but about what’s in our hearts. Ultimately, practicing God’s commands means loving even our enemies and praying for those who persecute us (5:44). Now Jesus moves on to three other forms of piety—giving, praying and fasting. Every good Jew was already supposed to be doing these things regularly. Jesus didn’t tell his disciples to stop doing them, but to be careful about how they did them.

Read verse 1. He’s teaching a major principle, which he’ll apply to giving, praying and fasting. What is it? It’s to live before God, not before people. In 5:16 he said to let our light shine before others, that they may see our good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven. But here he says to be careful not to practice our righteousness before others, but only before our Father in heaven. At first, these two sayings seem contradictory. But he doesn’t mean we should be hiding all the time what we’re doing. He simply means that we should be seeking not people’s recognition, but God’s glory. There are some key things to note in this verse.

Look at verse 1 again. First of all, it’s not easy to understand the phrase “your righteousness.” Often we don’t feel like we have any righteousness. We easily associate practicing righteousness with self-righteousness. What is “your righteousness”? Jesus said back in 5:20 that our righteousness needs to surpass that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law. He meant we have to go deeper than them. We can’t just know the Bible or keep it outwardly; we have to grasp the spirit of God’s law. We can’t just teach it to others; we have to show it by our personal example. Jesus taught us to show ourselves as children of our Father in heaven, meaning we have to be generous, kind, and loving like God, even toward those who hate us. Jesus concludes that we have to be perfect, just as our heavenly Father is perfect (5:48)—perfect in character, perfect in holiness, perfect in maturity, perfect in love. Obviously, that’s going to require lots of struggle and a life-long discipline of seeking God and imitating him. We’re righteous not by works but only by faith in his grace (Eph2:8,9). But by faith we need to be pursuing God’s righteousness that changes and sanctifies us. We should encourage one another to be pursuing this righteousness and practicing this righteousness. Instead of asking, “How’s your studies?” or “How’s your health?” we should be asking one another, “How’s your righteousness?”

Read verse 1 again. Jesus says that by practicing our righteousness, we’ll have a “reward.” In chapter 5 he’s already mentioned a reward twice (12,46). In today’s passage he mentions it seven more times (1,2,4,5,6,16,18). He’s serious: the reward is important. What’s he talking about? In verse 20 he says it’s like storing up “treasures in heaven.” So it can’t be money or material or human benefit on earth, which eventually perish; he’s talking about an eternal reward. But what’s that? The Bible calls it the reward of being close to God forever (Ps16: 11). It’s the reward of experiencing God’s love, peace and joy even now in this life (Eph3:19; Php4:7; 1Pe1:8). Ultimately, it’s the reward of sharing his glory in his kingdom (Ro8:17; 1Th2:12; 1Pe5:10). Many people think it’s not good to be doing something just to get a reward. Of course we should serve God purely, out of love for him. But Jesus repeatedly promises God will reward us—if what we’re doing is truly for him. So we all should learn to be seeking God’s reward.

Read verse 1. He’s already mentioned “your Father in heaven” three times (5:15,45,48). Here he mentions him ten more times (1,4,6, 8,9,14,15,18). So in today’s passage his teaching on our Father in heaven may be most important. The Old Testament addresses God as “Father” 15 times. But Jesus takes this truth about God to a whole new level. He wants us to think about God not as if he’s scary or remote, but as our loving heavenly Father. In verse 8 he says our heavenly Father knows what we need before we ask him. In verse 9 he tells us to call him, “Our Father in heaven.” He wants us to have the utmost respect for God, but also he wants us to be sure of his love and to feel totally secure in him.

Jesus also repeats that our Father “sees what is done in secret” (4,6,18). It tells us that God our Father is everywhere. He knows everything. We can’t hide from him (Ps33:13–15; Ps139). He made everything, including our hearts, and that’s what he’s really looking at. He wants to see not just our actions but also our motives (Ro2:7,8). Because of who God our Father is, Jesus later predicts, “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be brought out into the open” (Mt10:26). We may try to hide our motives from others, and we might succeed, but God our Father sees and knows everything.

This truth isn’t meant just to scare us. When we live in the presence of our Father God, we can come to him, confess our sins, repent and be forgiven, and then, live transparently, without pretense, as forgiven sinners. Before our Father God we can be confident of who we are and unafraid of people, no matter who they are. God our Father sees not only the bad but also the good. The Bible repeatedly teaches that God our Father will repay each person based on the truth of what he sees (Mt16:27; cf. Job34:11; Ps62:12; Pr24:12; Ecc12:14; Isa3: 10,11; Jer17:10; 32:19; Ro2:6; 1Co3:8; 4:5; 2Co5:10; Gal6:7,8; Rev2:23; 20:12; 22:12). People may never notice the good we’re trying to do, but God our Father sees it all. By saying, “your Father sees what is done in secret,” Jesus wants to motivate us to do good before the eyes of our Father in heaven. Though people often misunderstand and even hurt us, we should commit ourselves to our faithful Creator and continue to do good (1Pe4:19b). To really live like this, we’ve got to fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen, and persevere because we see him who is invisible (2Co4:18; Heb11:27b).

Read verse 2. In this passage Jesus repeats the word “hypocrites” three times (2,5,16). “Hypocrites” has several meanings. Originally, it meant to be an actor, someone who wears a mask, who has two faces, a faker. Jesus said elsewhere it means not practicing what we preach (23:3). But here he says the “hypocrites” are those seeking personal glory while pretending to be serving God. They actually do a good deed of giving to the needy, but they announce it with trumpets, to be honored by others. They get human honor fully, but not God’s. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were seeking human honor through all their activities, such as how they dressed, where they sat, and the titles they expected others to address them with (23:5–7). Why is Jesus telling us this? He’s warning us that we all can be just like such hypocrites. Outwardly it can look like we’re serving God, but inwardly we can be seeking our own glory. We can understand people seeking personal glory through their own human achievements. But how could people possibly be trying to gain personal glory through church activities? It’s weird, but we still do it. For example, we can always be sure to tell others at church whenever we go out to invite people to Bible study, so that we’ll feel more powerful, or even superior. We can love to be seen teaching the Bible to a student or sitting with a student at church or at a conference, secretly hoping others will be impressed with us. At meetings we can talk a lot about the Bible students we’ve had, not because God was working in them but because we want the reputation of being fruitful. We can even write and share a reflection on a Bible passage not to grow, but just to look good. We can exaggerate small things to sound way better than they really are. We can talk a lot about ministry, when in fact we’re doing very little ministry.

How does Jesus help us? Read verses 3,4. He’s telling us to do it in secret, only for our Father in heaven to see. Of course he doesn’t mean to always be going out of our way to hide what we’re doing. Instead, he gives us a simple tip: “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” It can mean not to calculate about any benefit we might receive. It also can mean to immediately forget about any good we’ve done. It’s the opposite of our tendency. We like to gloat over anything good we do. But with this expression “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,” Jesus is telling us to quickly put it out of our minds, to act like it never even happened. It reminds us of the righteous people Jesus describes later, who did many good things in their lives but couldn’t remember any of it (25:37–40).

Jesus also teaches us to apply this same principle when we pray. In fact, he spends the most time here, verses 5–15, teaching about prayer. Read verses 5,6. He doesn’t mean we should never pray in public, but that our motive should not be to impress others, but to sincerely talk to God. It’s good to pray together at church meetings, if it’s for the right reasons. But we should be spending even more time alone with God in secret prayer, as the mainstay of our spiritual life. If we pray only when we’re at church or with others, but not really when we’re alone, it’s likely that our prayers are only part of a show we’re putting on for others. On the other hand, going to God alone in prayer is one of the greatest privileges we have, through faith in Jesus. In him and through faith in him we can approach our Father God with freedom and confidence (Eph3:12). We can cast all our anxieties on him, because he cares for us (1Pe5:7). Through personal prayer we won’t be anxious about anything; in every situation we just present our requests to God, and God’s peace guards our hearts and minds (Php4:6,7).

Jesus teaches us something else about prayer. Read verses 7,8. Here he says the pagans keep on babbling in prayer. Why? He says “they think they will be heard because of their many words.” They’re trying to use prayer to manipulate the spiritual world, to get what they want. Some even shout at God, demanding him to do something. Ecclesiastes 5:2 reads, “Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.” It means to take time to quiet ourselves before saying anything, to meditate on who it is we’re talking to. We should remember that we’re talking to our Father in heaven, who knows what we need before we ask him. It means our prayers should be full of faith. In the next chapter Jesus says we should not passively sit back, but ask, seek and knock, trusting our Father in heaven wants to give us good gifts (7:7–11).

Often we don’t know how to pray; we feel like scatterbrains, overwhelmed by our situation, our problems and our feelings, confused and weak. To help us form a healthy spiritual life, Jesus goes on. Read verses 9–13. This prayer it not meant to be a magic incantation we say when we’re in trouble; it’s a model of how to order our prayer life. The first half focuses on God and his concerns; the second half is about us and our needs. We don’t naturally even think about God, and we naturally tend to depend on ourselves. We need spiritual discipline in prayer to learn to truly focus on God and to truly depend on him in our practical lives. It’s called “spiritual formation.” Over time, it actually changes our hearts to be God-centered and humble enough to truly depend on him.

Read verse 9 again. Our first prayer request should be, “hallowed be your name.” “Hallowed” means to make holy. God’s name is already holy, whether we pray or not. But when we pray like this, first and foremost, a genuine desire for God to be glorified replaces our desire for our own glory. We stop trying to steal God’s glory for ourselves, and we really start longing for God to be glorified, that people would really get to know him, “even through me.” Ezekiel 36:23 reads, “I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I am proved holy through you before their eyes.” If we don’t make this prayer request, “hallowed be your name,” our very first priority, we end up profaning God’s name through our hypocrisy. But when we really do pray it from our hearts, people can begin to see the great and holy God, “even through me.” It’s a prayer for God to help me to glorify him by truly living a holy life. It’s also a prayer for our world, that people would stop ignoring him and truly get to know this awesome God who’s real.

Read verse 10 again. Jesus wants our prayers to focus on God’s kingdom coming. It’s the best prayer topic in this fallen world. No human utopia, no human success in this world, could ever be better than God’s kingdom coming. When we repent and believe in Jesus, God’s kingdom becomes our real destination, our eternal home. Praying this prayer helps our hearts not to get engrossed by the things of this world, like possessions and pleasures. We also pray this prayer because it’s what God really wants to do for all people. God our Father longs to bring all people back to his eternal kingdom, where there will be no more sin, no more curse, no more death. As we pray for people, we shouldn’t be trying to fix their immediate problems; we should be praying for them to know the glorious hope of God’s kingdom. This prayer request keeps us from focusing on trying to build our own kingdom. When we’re not sure about this hope, we even try to use ministry to build our own kingdom. But when we’re sure of the hope of God’s kingdom, we’re free to serve and help all kinds of people, whether they stay with us or go somewhere else. We may not see visible fruit in our ministry, but we firmly believe God’s invisible kingdom will surely become real someday, and whatever we do for his kingdom is never in vain.

Jesus adds, “your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” This is not a surrender to fate; it’s an eager longing to see God’s will done. What is God’s will? Sometimes it seems vague, but it’s not. God’s will is his desire to save. He is patient, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2Pe3:9). He wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1Ti2:4). To pray for his will to be done means to pray for his salvation to spread to the whole world. Personally, it means to pray for his will to be done, ahead of my own. Jesus later emphasizes that his disciples are those who do the will of God (7:21; 12:50). He himself showed the best example of how to pray like this just before his arrest. He didn’t want to go through with it because it meant so much personal suffering, but he prayed three times, until he could really overcome himself, “Yet not as I will, but as you will” (26:39, 42,44). To be godly, we need to seriously imitate his prayer, “Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Read verse 11 again. Now Jesus balances a focus on God and his greater purposes with a focus on our everyday needs. And the first of these is to pray for daily bread. Proverbs 30:8,9 reads, “Keep falsehood and lies from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.” God’s basic training for his people is to depend on him for daily bread each and every day. This is how God trained the Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years, to gather only enough manna for the day. We take our daily food for granted. We think we earn our own money and provide for ourselves. It seems unnecessary to pray for daily food when our refrigerator is full or we have plenty of money to pick up a quick bite or order food. We even think it’s unspiritual to pray for our daily food. But by really praying for this, we learn that it’s actually God who’s with us every day to sustain us. We learn to be thankful even for small things like a delicious meal or drink. We experience firsthand the loving care of God our Father. To ask for daily bread also means to pray to feed each day “on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt4:4). It means to have personal devotions each day, feeding our souls on his word. It also says not “my” daily bread but “our” daily bread, meaning we also should be praying for the material and spiritual needs of those around us. Praying for “our” daily bread keeps us from remaining in our natural selfishness.

          Read verse 12 again. Here, “debts” is a metaphor for sins, and “debtors,” for those who sin against us. The spiritual reality is, our sins are like huge debts we’ve rung up and could never pay back, even over an entire lifetime of hard work. We should pray for forgiveness daily, not because we don’t believe Jesus has already forgiven us, but because we still sin against God all the time, often without even knowing it. Our sins, conscious or unconscious, cut us off from close fellowship with our Father God. Especially when we sin intentionally, we feel hopeless to approach God. But no matter how much we fall down, we can get back up and pray this prayer. Psalm 103:10–12 reads, “…he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Our great Father God really wants to forgive us. And just as food is always a daily necessity for our bodies, so forgiveness is always a daily necessity for our souls. Asking God’s forgiveness every day keeps us connected to his grace, and it helps us grow deeper and deeper, stronger and stronger in his grace. The more we’re aware of his forgiveness, the brighter and happier we are. It’s also a prayer to help us forgive others. In this fallen world people sin against us all the time, sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally. We get hurt. We hold grudges. We fight back. We can’t seek fellowship with our Father God and at the same time, ignore our relationships with others. Read verses 14,15.

The final prayer request in the Lord’s Prayer is in verse 13. Let’s read it. This prayer request acknowledges how vulnerable we are. So many people think they’re invincible. People say, “I can handle it.” But nobody can really handle the devil’s temptations. He may not always tempt us with obvious sins, but he often tempts us with subtle sins, like doubt, unbelief and fear, bitterness and despair, pride and vanity. The devil is way more clever than we are, and he knows exactly where our weak spots are. He attacks us not just personally, but also in our families, in our church community, and even in our entire nation. We should never be playing around with temptation, but always be praying, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

In verses 16–18 Jesus applies the principle of living before the eyes of God our Father to fasting. Hypocritical people want to gain glory for themselves through fasting, even if it’s just one meal, or just chocolate for Lent. But true fasting should be done secretly, only for God to see. It’s to help us repent, to resist temptation, to mend broken relationships, and to pray more fervently for those in trouble. Fasting also helps us become more discerning to see God’s leading in our lives. Christian life is meant to be joyful like a wedding feast, with much eating and drinking, because we experience the grace of our Lord Jesus. But fasting also has its time and place, if it’s done before God.

Today Jesus challenges us. Let’s read verse 1 again. May God help us be careful to live before the eyes of God in all we do.

PRACTICING AND TEACHING GOD’S COMMANDS

Matthew 5:17–48

Key Verse: 5:19

“Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

          When Jesus began his ministry he had to enter into an already very religious society. In every village there were synagogues where people would gather together regularly to hear the Bible read. They had many long-standing religious traditions, and many people called “Pharisees” and “teachers of the law” who claimed they knew and could teach the Bible. Sadly, these people came to think they were so great, so privileged, that much of God’s word didn’t really apply to them. Worst of all, they’d lost the spirit of God’s commands and were misleading their people into superficial legalism. In this Sermon on the Mount Jesus began with the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes of Jesus challenge us to ignore the ways of this world and come to God with a true spirit of repentance so that we can grow personally to be more like God. To go deeper, Jesus now needs to speak to the many wrong ideas people had about the Bible and how it applies to our lives. He really wants his disciples to have a right view of the Bible. Members of his kingdom are those who treat the Bible as the word of God. He says those who are great in his kingdom are those who clearly practice and teach God’s commands. We'll focus on verses 17–­20, then look briefly at the six examples Jesus gives to show that it isn’t about outward behavior but about the heart. May God open our hearts and speak to us personally through his living word today.

Look at verse 17. Here, “the Law” and “the Prophets” refers to the whole Old Testament. In Jesus’ day, some teachers liked the Law but not the Prophets, and some liked the Prophets but not the Law. Jesus says we have to humble ourselves to listen to it all, read it all, understand it all. He’s also saying he came to fulfill it all. What does it mean? Partly, the Law and the Prophets are prophecy that points to Jesus. We need to know what these prophecies are and what they mean to us in Christ. Partly, the Old Testament is moral and ethical laws God gave his people to live by. We need to know what these are too, and how Jesus helps us live by them. Partly, the Old Testament describes religious rituals and ceremonies for God’s people; these things were like shadows of Jesus and what he came to do. We need to study and see how Jesus fulfills them. Because Jesus purifies our hearts through faith, we no longer need to keep the food laws (Mk7:18,19; Ac15:9). Because Jesus is our temple, our mediator and our great high priest, we no longer need to go to Jerusalem or to human priests and make sacrifices to approach God; we can go to God directly through faith in Jesus (27:51; Jn2:21; 1Ti2:5; Heb4:14,16; 6:19, 20; 7:24–27; 9:11,12,24–26; 10:1,19–23). We don’t need to follow the letter of the Law, but we need the Spirit to follow the principles of God’s Law (2Co3:6). To understand the Old Testament, Jesus is our best teacher. We always need to see the Old Testament in light of the new covenant in his grace (Jer31:31–34; Heb8:8–12; Lk22:20; Heb7:22; 8:6; 9:15).

Look at verse 18. Here Jesus is telling us that all of the Bible is God’s revealed word. Instead of picking and choosing what we like and ignoring what we don’t, or trying to change it to fit our situation, we need to respect the Bible for what it is: the very words of God (Ro3:2; 1Pe4:11). Down through history so many have tried to change it, thinking they were smarter than the Bible. Many ignored the warning that comes at the end not to add to or take away from what God has said (Rev22:18,19). Instead of thinking we know better, we need to humble ourselves to respect the Bible and listen very carefully to what it’s saying. Contrary to what some people think, the Bible isn’t cleverly invented stories; none of it is mere human interpretations; none of it began with human ideas; it’s all inspired by God himself through the Holy Spirit (2Pe1:16,20,21; 2Ti3:16). This is why the Bible is not just a bunch of human words, but the word of God, and why we should treat it as the word of God, so that it can work in us (1Th2:13).

Look at verse 19a. Jesus says we should not “set aside” even one of the least of God’s commands. In Greek it means “to loose, relax or dissolve.” According to Jesus, we’re not allowed to diminish any of God’s commands, even the ones we think aren't so important. Of course, as we’ve seen, he didn’t mean the dietary, civil or ritual laws of the Old Testament, which no longer apply to those who believe in Jesus. He’s mainly talking about the principles of the spiritual, moral and ethical commands of God. In his day the so-called Bible teachers were watering down the principles of God’s commands with their rationalizations and sophisticated reasoning. They were mainly using it to control people and get their money. They thought they were the smartest, the most intellectual, but to Jesus they were the worst. Today, too, in the name of grace people water down the commands to worship God, to be holy, and to treat all people will respect. Jesus didn’t despair about the condition of his time; he raised disciples and had hope for them. Read verse 19. Jesus wants those who follow him to practice and teach God’s commands. We learn two main things here.

First, practice God’s commands. As we all know, there’s a big difference between knowing and doing. Some people know all about the Bible; the problem is, they don’t obey its teachings in their practical lives. The Bible warns us repeatedly about this. Romans 2:13 says, “For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.” James 1:22–25 says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.” Jesus ends his Sermon on the Mount with a warning: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash” (Mt7:24–27). Not only is being a hypocrite embarrassing and shameful; it also leaves us with too weak a spiritual foundation to survive hardships.

          So how can we practice his commands? First, we need to love Jesus (Jn14:21). When we love Jesus because of his amazing love for us, we pay close attention to his words. Out of love for Jesus, we need to study the Bible regularly. And no matter how much we think we may know it, we need to be reminded of what the Bible teaches and of what Jesus said. Most of all, in real life situations we need the Holy Spirit’s help to remember his words (Jn14:26). Our flesh is too strong in us; it makes us too proud and rebellious to practice his commands. Only with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us can we put to death the misdeeds of our body and live by the righteous requirement of God’s law (Ro8:4,13). Once Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment in the Law. He replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Mt22:36–40). All our efforts to practice God’s commands should be coming from love, love for God and love for others. And when we know God’s love personally and love God in return, that’s when we truly love people (1Jn4:7,8,20,21). It’s not love with an agenda, love that tries to manipulate; it’s unconditional love. Again, only with the help of the Holy Spirit can sinful people love God and love our neighbor like this.

Second, teach God’s commands. Read verse 19 again. Jesus was addressing the false teachings about the Bible coming from the religious leaders of his day, but he was also talking to his disciples. In these words, Jesus reveals his hope that his disciples, who were just unschooled, ordinary men (Ac4:13), would grow to be great teachers of God’s word. Actually, Jesus is giving his teachings to his disciples not just so that they would live by them themselves, but also so that they would go out and teach them to others. In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus’ last words to his disciples are: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Mt28:19,20a). Why does Jesus want us to teach his commands and make disciples? It’s because his words give people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins (Lk1:77). When we hold to his teaching, we’re really his disciples, we come to know the truth, and the truth sets us free (Jn8:31,32). God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1Jn2:3,4). So his greatest hope is that people would follow Jesus and grow to the point where they can teach his commands to others. It’s not for some special people, but for anyone willing to follow Jesus.

In England in the 1300’s through the 1500’s a group arose known as the Lollards. Led by John Wycliffe of Oxford University, they translated the Bible into everyday spoken English and believed everyone should read, know, understand and teach the Bible. They were mocked and treated like heretics. But their influence spread throughout the English countryside. They thought the church had become corrupt. Priests were becoming rich and focused on gaining political position and influence. People were too focused on church rituals and art, not on knowing the Bible. The Lollards strongly believed that every ordinary believer in Jesus is a royal priesthood (1Pe2:9). They believed that when the word of Christ dwells in us richly, we can and should teach and admonish one another with all wisdom (Col3:16). They believed that when we’re anointed by the Holy Spirit, we know the truth, we can be reliable and able to teach others (1Jn2:20; 2Ti2:2). Not many people know about the Lollards, but according to Jesus’ words they are great in the kingdom of heaven. We may feel inadequate to teach the Bible to others, or too scared to do it. Some of us may feel burned out or so discouraged. May God newly inspire us to teach his word, so that people can come to know the truth of his grace and become members of his kingdom.

Read verse 20. What does it mean to have a righteousness that surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law? Their first fatal flaw was that they taught God’s commands but did not practice what they preached (23:2,3). Later on, even Apostle Paul rebuked them: “…if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law, if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: ‘God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you’” (Ro2:18–24). Our righteousness can exceed theirs when we repent and stay focused on obeying God’s commands ourselves before trying to fix others.

We can see the second main flaw of the Pharisees and teachers of the law in the six examples Jesus gives in verses 21–48. They kept God’s commands outwardly, for people to see, keeping themselves looking good, but inwardly they were full of greed, self-indulgence, hypocrisy and wickedness (23:25,28). They weren’t really striving to keep God’s commands from their hearts. In all six of his examples Jesus makes a contrast between keeping God’s command outwardly or keeping it inwardly. Outwardly we may not murder anyone, but inwardly we can be murdering people with our anger and hatred. Outwardly we may not commit adultery, but inwardly we can be committing adultery by looking at people lustfully. Jesus knows how easily lust can capture our minds and hearts, so he tells us to gouge out a lustful eye, cut off a lustful hand, and throw them away, meaning to really put our sins to death. Outwardly we may not divorce, but inwardly we may have a broken relationship with our spouse. Outwardly we may take oaths and make great promises, but inwardly not be serious about keeping them. We can try to use God’s word about “an eye for an eye” to justify getting revenge, but ignore the spirit of that law that was given to protect people. To keep that law inwardly, we need to learn how to turn the other cheek when someone hurts us, to go the extra mile with a demanding person, and to give to someone asking to borrow from us. To inwardly keep God’s law, we need to learn to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. This is a righteousness that makes us more like God, who loves even those who hate him.

Let’s read verse 19 again. In our time of relativism, may God help us to deeply respect the whole Bible as the word of God. May God help us to practice his commands from our hearts by faith in Jesus and the help of the Holy Spirit. May God also newly inspire us to teach his commands to others, that they may know the truth and come to his kingdom.

MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE

Matthew 4:1–11

Key Verse: 4:4

          We’ve been looking at the preparations for Jesus’ ministry. Last week we saw how John the Baptist prepared the way through his challenging people to repent, and through his baptizing Jesus. Today Jesus prepares the way through his being tempted in the wilderness. What are temptations? Generally, they’re inducements to do something wrong, and thereby, to turn away from God. In this passage Jesus is tempted three times, and each temptation seems to be different in nature from the others. We should be asking: What do each of these three temptations mean? Why did Jesus have to be tempted in these ways before beginning his ministry? And how was he able to resist these temptations? May God open our hearts and speak to us through his living word today.

Look at verse 1. The first thing we notice here is that it’s “the Spirit” leading Jesus to be tempted. When he was baptized by John, the Spirit of God alighted on Jesus like a dove. God sent the Spirit to empower him for his ministry and to guide and lead him. But it’s surprising that the Spirit led him into temptation. Our Lord taught us to pray, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (6:13). But the Spirit led Jesus into temptation. Why? Jesus was on a mission to rescue us from the dominion of darkness and bring us to the kingdom of the Son he loves (Col1:13). God’s will for Jesus was to face the temptations of the devil first and defeat them, so that he might be our Savior (cf. 1:21b).

The next thing we notice in verse 1 is the place: “the wilderness.” Ancient people thought of such a place as the haunt of demons. Jesus’ going to the wilderness fulfills what is described in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 8:2 reads: “Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.” Just as God did this to Israel his child, so he did it to Jesus, his Son. Israel failed God’s test, but Jesus came to pass it, to truly keep God’s commands. Next, we notice the word “tempted.” In Greek, it can also be translated as “tested.” To be clear, God tests; the devil tempts. James 1:13 says, “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone.” God doesn’t tempt us; but he does allow us to experience temptations as a spiritual test. The devil is an expert at tempting us, especially through all kinds of rationalizations and excuses. His temptations are so powerful they can make us feel helpless, like giving up. We even can become afraid of his temptations. But 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” Finally, we notice at the end of verse 1 the word “the devil.” “Devil” is a Greek word and “Satan” is a Hebrew word; they both mean the same thing: “the Accuser.” The devil’s essential nature is to accuse. He accuses God; he also accuses God's people. He constantly accuses us of our sins so that we might live in guilt and torment and try to destroy ourselves. As followers of Jesus we should not be known for accusing people, but for leading people to the saving grace of Jesus. Jesus referred to the devil as “a liar and a murderer from the beginning” (Jn8:44). And Jesus said the devil's purpose is to “steal and kill and destroy” (Jn10:10a). So he called the devil our “enemy” (13:25,28,39). We should not be naïve or unaware, like Pinocchio; our enemy the devil is out to destroy us. He’s way smarter than we are, and he knows exactly how to entice us, knock us down, drag us away from God and ruin our lives.

Look at verse 2. Here we see that Jesus took these temptations very seriously; he prepared to meet them by fasting forty days and forty nights. Fasting is not just for losing weight to feed our vanity; fasting is a means to focus on prayer so as to get closer to God. Jesus also said it’s a means for driving demons out of people (Mk9:29; see footnote). Fasting teaches us to totally depend on God, not on our human strength. The forty days and forty nights remind us of how Moses and Elijah both fasted that long. Jesus came to do what Moses and Elijah couldn’t do. After the long forty days and forty nights of fasting, verse 2b says simply, “…he was hungry.” It was a moment of great weakness and vulnerability for Jesus. Sometimes, when people are hungry, they’ll do anything, even throw away all their ethics and morals for a meal.

What was the devil’s first temptation? Read verse 3. The first thing the devil talked about was whether or not Jesus was the Son of God. He asks about it again, in his second temptation in verse 6. At Jesus' baptism, a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (3:17). The devil tried to tempt Jesus by attacking this. He tried to get Jesus to doubt the Father’s love, and doubt his identity as God’s Son. In a sense, he’s saying, “If God really loves you as his own Son, why are you suffering so much hunger here out in the wilderness?” The devil still tempts us in this same way. He tries to get us to think that the hardships and suffering in our lives are evidence that God doesn’t really love us, or even, that God isn't really there, he’s not real. The devil also tries to get us to lose our identity as God’s children.

In this case, the devil is especially tempting Jesus to use his power as the Son of God for his own gratification. It seemed harmless enough; turning stones into bread didn’t seem to be hurting anyone, not even himself. It might even seem to be a good thing. Underneath, it was a temptation to do anything in order to survive. Just as the temptation to give in to our physical desires can be overpowering, so the temptation get money also can be overpowering. It may not be a temptation to grab millions of dollars illegally; it may be as subtle as to say, “My job needs to be my first priority; otherwise, how will I live?” Most people succumb to this temptation and live under the cursed struggle to survive.

What did Jesus say to this temptation? Read verse 4. Here Jesus is quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3. God was training the Israelites in the wilderness through humiliating poverty and hunger to learn an important life lesson: “Man shall not live on bread alone.” The devil deceives people into thinking that if only they have enough bread, they’ll be happy. Our media is full of deception that if only we have lots of money, a nice house, a fancy car, a well-toned body and an endless supply of food and drink, we’ll be satisfied. But it’s never enough. People who gain these things always want more. Actually, worldwide the most affluent people are actually the unhappiest. Wealthy people have the highest suicide, depression and divorce rates. Why can’t lots of bread and lots of money make us happy? It’s because God made each of us with a soul. Our souls can never be satisfied with physical, material things. Our souls can be satisfied only in God.

In verse 4, the expression “live on” has deep meaning. So many people are physically alive, but spiritually they’re dead. They’ve lived throughout their lives as if they have no soul. Many have virtually killed their souls through sinful living, trying to numb their consciences. Outwardly they may look good and laugh a lot, but inwardly their souls feel restless and meaningless. Read verse 4 again. Here Jesus tells us how our souls can come alive: “…on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” What does it mean to “live on” every word of God? And where can we find such words? We find these most precious words in the Bible. The psalmist wrote: “The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes…They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb” (Ps19:7,8,10). Job 23:12 says, “I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.” The verses in the Bible are not mere empty words. Jesus once said, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life” (Jn6:63). Just as we eat food every day, we need to learn to feed on God’s word every day. Colossians 3:16a says, “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly…” How can we do that? It can’t be through just listening to a sermon on Sunday; we have to learn to feed ourselves through morning devotions and personal Bible reading. The word of God can grow in us through answering Bible study questions, writing Bible reflections and teaching the Bible to others. To be filled with the Spirit and life, we can’t be superficial; we need to be thinking about God's word deeply. The psalmist wrote: “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers” (Ps1:1–3). Jesus emphasized the expression “every word.” We can’t pick and choose which parts of the Bible we want to know; we have to read it all, and listen to it all carefully, as if we’re reading the very words of God. When we feed on his word, we grow in love for God and gain spiritual strength to resist the devil’s temptations.

The temptation of bread was just the beginning. What was the devil’s second temptation? Read verses 5,6. It seems weirdly suicidal. What was the point of this temptation? It was to get Jesus to take a quick and easy way for his ministry. If he jumped off the Jerusalem temple in front of a crowd and God rescued him, such a great miracle would immediately prove to everybody that he really was the Son of God. Then there would be no need for struggle or suffering or patience. Just like the temptation of bread, it’s a very powerful temptation. The devil still tempts us to take the quick and easy way. This time, the devil was even quoting Scripture, tempting Jesus to use God’s word for his own purpose. The devil still tempts us to use God’s word to justify what we want. How did Jesus answer? Read verse 7. He’s again quoting Deuteronomy, from 6:16. Jesus' answer helps us understand better the nature of this temptation. It was a temptation to test God. What does it mean to “test” God? It’s not just asking God to prove that he exists; it’s demanding God to prove that he loves us and will protect and care for us. In fact, some people enjoy living on the edge; they call it life in the fast lane, or living dangerously. They get an adrenaline rush from taking risks. It may seem fun or cool, but according to Jesus, it’s testing God. We should never test God; we should humbly trust God and obey him.

The devil had one more temptation. Read verses 8,9. It was yet another powerful temptation: the temptation of glory. Jesus enjoyed glory with the Father before the world began (Jn17:5). In fact, we human beings all have in our souls a longing for eternal glory, to share the glory of God, because we were made for glory (Ro2:7; 8:17,18,21; 9:23; 1Co2:7; 4:17; 2Th2:14; 1Pe5:10). In this case, the devil is telling Jesus he could have all the glory he deserved, if only he would bow down just once and worship him. It was a temptation to get out of being despised and rejected, a temptation to get out of all the suffering and humiliation, to compromise with the devil just once in order to gain personal glory. Just as in the German legend of Faust, many ambitious people give up their moral integrity in order to gain power and success in this world. They’re so hungry for power and glory they’ll do anything to grab it. These people have the philosophy, “The ends justify the means.” But whatever the purpose, it’s never good to compromise with the devil, not even a little bit, not even just once.

How did Jesus respond? Read verse 10. Jesus was not intrigued in the least; he said, “Away from me, Satan!” "Get lost!" And he quoted from Deuteronomy yet again, from 6:13. To Jesus, a love relationship with God the Father was more valuable than all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. We should never listen to the devil’s subtle rationalizations to compromise our worship of God. Do we value personal glory and success in the world, or do we value God? Where, honestly speaking, is our heart? We may be offered this temptation only once in our lifetime, and at that moment we have to make a choice. Will we choose following the world, or will we choose following Jesus?

Verse 11 shows us that when Jesus repeatedly resisted the devil and his temptations, giving him the clear word of God, the devil gave up and left him. If we’re ready to play around and compromise, the devil won’t leave us alone. We need to be crystal clear about temptation.

We also notice that in all three temptations Jesus quoted Scripture. He didn’t depend on his own willpower or strength; he humbly depended on the power of God’s word to resist the devil. Apostle Paul who fought against many temptations in his own life called God's word “the sword of the Spirit” (Eph6:17). We may be very weak spiritually and even humanly. But if we hold firmly to the word of God we received, we have the most powerful spiritual weapon, and we can gain the victory over the devil and all his temptations.

But why did Jesus have to defeat temptations beforehand? It was so that his ministry would be powerful and effective. But it was especially for us. The Bible says he was tempted in every way, just as we are, so he can empathize with our weaknesses (Heb4:15). And he suffered when he was tempted, so he can help those who are being tempted (Heb2:18). We may have given in so much that we feel like total failures. But whatever we’ve done, we can still come to Jesus, who defeated all the devil’s temptations in our places. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” We may be losers, but if we depend on Jesus, we become more than conquerors (Ro8:37).

Praise Jesus who defeated all the devil’s temptations in order to save us. May God help us learn how to humbly depend on Jesus, and learn, like him, how to live on his every word so that we can resist the devil’s temptations in our lives.

REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN HAS COME NEAR

Matthew 3:1–17

Key Verse: 3:2

“…and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’”

          Preparations are a necessary part of life. Couples prepare for their wedding day. Parents prepare for when their new baby comes home. Students prepare for an upcoming test. Musicians prepare for a concert. Chefs prepare to cook a meal. The preparations are always crucial to success. Matthew 3:1–4:16 is a case in point. Before Jesus begins his ministry, preparations need to be made. John the Baptist prepares the way (3:1–12). Jesus himself also prepares by being baptized by John (3:13–17), resisting the devil’s temptations (4:1–11) and going to the place where God wanted him to be (4:12–16). Just as spiritual preparations were necessary for Jesus, so they are for all of us who want to follow and serve him. But what are “spiritual preparations”? What does it mean to be “prepared spiritually”? In this study we mainly want to think about John’s message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” It’s the key to spiritual preparation. May God speak to us through his living word today.

          Look at verse 1. Here Matthew introduces us to John the Baptist. In fact, throughout this Gospel Matthew draws parallels between John the Baptist and Jesus. Just as John the Baptist “came” (1a), so in verse 13 Matthew writes, “Then Jesus came…” The repeated verb “came” strongly suggests that God sent them both (cf. Jn1:6,14). Both John the Baptist and Jesus came with the same authority of heaven (21:23–32). Both men were recognized by the people as prophets (11:9; 14:5; 21:11,26,46). Both men proclaimed the same message (3:2; 4:17). Both challenged the people to repent. Both were opposed by the religious leaders. In the end, both of them were executed (14:1–12; 26–27). Matthew especially tells us that John the Baptist began the days of the kingdom of heaven (11:11–15), ushering in a new era of God’s salvation history.

And though he parallels both men, Matthew characterizes John the Baptist as quite different from Jesus. John’s point was not himself, but to get people ready for Jesus, to turn people’s attention to Jesus (11). In fact, Matthew depicts John the Baptist as “under” Jesus, totally subordinate to Jesus (11,14).

John the Baptist is called the forerunner of Jesus. What did it mean to be his forerunner? Read verse 3. As we’ve seen, Matthew repeatedly shows us how Old Testament prophecies were being fulfilled. It was true not only of Jesus but also of John. But Isaiah 40:3 also sheds light on what it meant to be a forerunner of Jesus. It says, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.” How did John do this? First of all, verses 1 and 3 both mention the wilderness. John began by preaching in the wilderness of Judea. That’s kind of a weird place to start. One would think he would go to where people were. But John went where there were no people, the wilderness. Obviously, he expected people to come out to him. Why did he start preaching in the wilderness? Partly, it was to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah. But by staying in the wilderness John was making a statement. He was taking a stance against a comfortable, self-absorbed lifestyle. The wilderness was a place to get serious about seeking God. It was a place where there were no distractions, where a person could focus on listening to the voice of God. John chose the wilderness, to call people to come out from being absorbed by the world. It might seem that nobody would bother to go see a seemingly crazy man out in the wilderness. But verse 5 tells us that people went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. God was using John in the wilderness to call people back to himself. In a sense, ministry always begins in a spiritual “wilderness”—a place where there’s no awareness of God, no spiritual life. To begin in such a place always takes faith.

          What exactly was John telling people? Read verse 2. Why didn’t he just say, “The Messiah is coming”? Why is he using the expression, “The kingdom of heaven has come near”? For a long time, to most people God seemed far away. God didn’t seem very real. Many probably thought that if God did exist, he had totally checked out and abandoned this world. He had even allowed a crazy man like Herod to rule and terrorize his people. Honestly, the world didn’t look like the kingdom of heaven, but kind of like a living hell. But now, John is saying, God has intervened in human history. God has started bringing his kingdom, his rule, into the realm of where human beings live. God has been doing it quietly, right in their midst, though they were unaware of it. God was bringing his kingdom near through the coming of Jesus. People need the eyes of faith to see it.

In this one person, Jesus, God’s kingdom has come near. But how so? Jesus came to give people real access to God. Jesus offers us all God’s grace of forgiveness of sins. This grace of God brings us spiritual healing. Through Jesus, no matter now sinful we are, we can draw near to God and experience his amazing grace. Fundamentally, living in the kingdom of heaven means living in his grace. His grace becomes our hope. His grace enables us to see the world, ourselves, and others with hope. His grace enables us to live differently, not as negative, cruel, vicious people, using and hurting each other, but as transformed people, gracious members of his kingdom, people full of God’s love, peace and forgiveness. Ultimately, his grace is an invitation to come back home to be with him forever. Jesus not only would die for our sins but also would be raised from the dead to give us a living hope in heaven (1Pe1:3,4). One day he’ll come back to this world and bring his kingdom fully (25:34). In light of this hope, we should live wisely, waiting for his kingdom (25:1–13).

John the Baptist’s brief message “the kingdom of heaven has come near” describes so well why Jesus came. This kingdom coming is exciting. John said it “has come near.” Hearing about it is actually the chance of a lifetime. It’s like a train pulling into the station opening its doors: We shouldn’t just stand there, but walk through the doors and get on before the doors close and the train leaves. Paul describes it like this: “As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, ‘In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (2Co6:1,2). Though it’s simple, it’s a very urgent message.

How should we respond? John gave one clear, simple word: “Repent.” Don’t just think about it; repent! What does it mean? For some, repentance conjures up images of self-torture or of getting really emotional. But it’s not about just getting emotional or torturing ourselves. In this context, to repent means to stop being engrossed in the things of this world, to stop ignoring God. The word “repent” literally means to “change your mind.” It especially means to come to God personally, asking him to forgive us, asking him to be in a real relationship with him. And it means to get rid of whatever in our lives may be hindering us from having that relationship. Later in verse 6 it mentions that people were “confessing their sins.” They were admitting the wrongs they’d done and asking God’s forgiveness. To repent means to have a godly sorrow over our sins (2Co7:10). In a sense, it means to apologize to God. It means stop rationalizing, making excuses, blaming our situation or others, stop living in denial, humble ourselves, own our sin and take responsibility for it. To repent isn’t a mind game or intellectual exercise; it means taking drastic action. James 4:8 says, “Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” When we repent, we start seeing sin the way God does. Instead of loving it, we start to hate it. It’s not a once-in-a-lifetime thing; it's a lifestyle. To repent means to keep struggling against our sins and coming to God for forgiveness, no matter how often we may fail (18:21ff.).

John’s message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” means this good news is available and accessible to anyone. It’s a message of great hope, even for the most sinful people. John prepared people for Jesus by giving them this message. As John prepared the way for Jesus, we’re called to do the same (Mk6:12).

Read verse 4. It tells us he was just like the prophet Elijah (2Ki1:8). He used whatever was available to him out in the wilderness. But he wore such humble clothes and ate such humble food not to make himself more righteous than others, but to focus on God’s mission for him, to prepare the way for Jesus. In our self-absorbed culture John the Baptist is such a breath of fresh air.

How did people respond to him? Read verses 5,6. John was out in the wilderness. He was living poorly. His message was simple and very challenging. But people loved it. They responded in droves. It’s because John’s lifestyle gave his message spiritual power. If we want to influence people, it can’t be just through our words; it's got to be through how we live in our daily lives. How we live has to match what we teach.

          John had a very different message for the religious leaders. Read verses 7–10. With great courage John severely rebuked them. He was mainly rebuking them for their pride. They thought they were already good with God because of their heritage. They were badly mistaken. Because of their unrepentant hearts they were actually under God’s wrath and judgment. These religious leaders knew the Scriptures and were faithful to rituals, but it was all a bunch of hypocrisy; it was actually all for their own glory and honor (23:1ff.). We learn here that real repentance produces fruit. What is this fruit? First of all, in light of John’s rebuke it’s got to be the fruit of humility. It’s also the fruit of real love for God, expressed in real love for our fellow human beings (Isa58:6,7). Read verses 11,12. Here John turns the attention away from himself to Jesus. He is serving Jesus not as if he’s doing everyone a great favor, but with a deep awareness of his own unworthiness. And he really wants people to experience the permanent change Jesus brings. Water washes away dirt temporarily. But the Holy Spirit brings about real inner change. Jesus baptizes us with the Holy Spirit, to burn away our sinful desires and make our love for God real. Jesus is the judge who one day will sort the repentant from the unrepentant.

          In the last part of chapter 3 we see Jesus coming to John to be baptized. It shows his humility to co-work with John the Baptist. He didn’t need John’s baptism, because he was without sin. But he did so to acknowledge God’s work through John’s ministry. Jesus didn’t start his ministry as a one-man show, but with humble co-working. It also shows his obedience to God. Going to John to be baptized meant accepting God’s mission for him. When Jesus submitted himself to God like this, God was so pleased. Read verse 17. This became the key verse of Jesus. Jesus would face such harsh criticism and rejection. He needed this personal word from God assuring him of the Father’s love for him. Being sure of God’s personal love may be the best spiritual preparation for ministry.

          Today we mainly thought about John’s message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” May God bless each of us to really accept this message and produce the spiritual fruit in our lives that God is looking for

LET US FIX OUR EYES ON JESUS

Hebrews 12:1-29

Key Verses: 1b-2

“And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

So 2015 has ended and 2016 is upon us.  Are we ready for 2016? (I’m going to say 2016 a few times because it still doesn’t sound real).  Time flies when we’re having fun, right?

Speaking of fun, in today’s fast-paced and connected world, many things pull our hearts to satisfy our desires.  We are bombarded by so many choices, such as instant access on our smartphones to find a restaurant that fits our mood or be able buy instantly from the couch what we want through Amazon’s 1-Click.  There’s instant entertainment through YouTube videos and Netflix.  The world has so many things to offer! 

The Christians in the first century faced many challenges from the world as well.  The author of Hebrew told them to fix their eyes on Jesus because Jesus is the solution to their challenges.  Likewise, we want to think about why we should fix our eyes on Jesus as we run the race marked out for us.   We want to also think about how we can run this race through God’s discipline in our lives.

Part I. We are Running a Race Marked Out for Us (1)

Verse 1b reads, “And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”  The purpose of Hebrews was to strongly encourage the early Jewish Christians to persevere and the author continues to do so in this chapter.  The Jewish Christians started strong in their faith.  Due to hardships they faced as time passed, however, they lost heart and grew weary.  So the author reminds them that their life of faith is like a race. Not only is living a life of faith like a race, but it is marked out for us.  This means that God gives Christians a calling and purpose for our lives.

When we think about a race, my first thought is the Olympics.  It’s a grand spectacle of racing – to run as fast as possible, dive as straight as possible, jump as high as possible, and curl as carefully as possible.  The purpose of it all is to stand on the pedestal with a gold medal hanging around the neck and singing the national anthem.  It is truly a glorious moment for an Olympic athlete.  But what about for us regular people?  Are we in a race?  I certainly believe so.  We are racing every day to meet due dates for our homework, to get the best possible grades, to get that dream job, to meet deadlines at our jobs, to do the best work as possible so that we get that promotion instead of that other person, to get our children into the best schools ahead of others, and so on.  Then what’s our glorious moment?  Is it being able to buy that dream house, dream car, luxury vacation, children going to Harvard University, or retire at 40 years old?

For God’s chosen people though, we should deeply accept that we are called to run the race marked out for us.  All who finish this race are winners far greater than the gold medalists in the Olympics.  Our destination is the heavenly kingdom with God our Father and our Lord Jesus. 

In this glorious and heavenly race, we are in different stages.  Our senior missionaries in our ministry have run the race of faith for over 40 years or even 50 years after receiving and accepting Jesus during their college days.  Because of their lives of faith, many of us are here today and they have helped us to come to know Jesus deeply and personally.  Brandon is like a young stallion of faith.  He started bible study less than 10 years ago and now he is continuing to grow in faith and serves in so many ways. 

How would you rate your own race?  Are you tired? Discouraged? Exhausted? Complacent? Or are you fully of energy? Full of Joy?

Look at Verse 1 again.  In this race, we are not alone.   Chapter 12 begins with the word “Therefore” because the previous chapter provides beautiful examples of many different men and women of great faith.  The author reminds us that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. For example, Moses raced all his life leading over 600,000 people for 40 years looking forward to a heavenly reward.  Hebrews 11:26 says, “He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.”  We can be encouraged by the witnesses, so that we too can finish our race by God’s power.

Look at Verse 1b. “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.”  Here “everything that hinders” means “weight.” Just as a runner wears a very light-weight shirt and shorts, it’s very difficult to run the race of faith with heavy clothing.   In other words, our faith will be greatly hindered when we carry and hold onto baggage.  The baggage can be many things, like attachment to worldly hopes, human recognition, or human love.  Also, worries of life, broken relationships, trying to live up to people’s expectations, and many other worldly reasons, hinder our life of faith.  We should strive to throw these off continually.

Look at Verse 1c. “And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”  Perseverance is defined as steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.  Living a life of faith requires perseverance because we can get discouraged when we don’t see any visible fruit.  Many of the heroes and heroines of faith in chapter 11 experienced victories and successes by God’s power. On the other hand, many of them also boldly faced sufferings and loss by God’s power. The author points out that “they did not receive the things promised” (11:13,39).  The best things promised that they looked forward to were not earthly but heavenly. Whether they were successful or not in the world, they lived by faith in the invisible God. 

There has been a lot of changes in our ministry this past year, but how should view what has happened?  In God’s point of view, or human point of view?  Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”  The object of our faith is not visible blessings or successes, but the invisible God who is our very great Reward (Ge 15:1).  We must believe that God will fulfill his purpose in our lives in His time and in His way when we continue to seek and serve him wholeheartedly.

Part II. Fix Our Eyes On Jesus (2-3)

How do we run with perseverance the race marked for us?  When I was studying for my final exam for my last class ever for my graduate degree, I couldn’t wait to be done.  I visualized handing the final exam to the professor and walking out of the graduate school building for the final time.  After three and half years of juggling school, work, church, parent, and long commutes – I had almost finished the race and was close to reaching my goal. My eyes were fixed on finishing school.

Likewise, the author says in verse 2 to fix our eyes on Jesus.  Fixing our eyes on Jesus means that when Jesus is the goal in our race of faith, we can persevere and be able to stay focused on the goal Jesus had.  How can we do so and why should we fix our eyes on Jesus?

Looking at verse 2 again, we need to remember that Jesus is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.  Jesus is the eternal Word, almighty creator of heaven and earth (John 1:1,14).  He humbled Himself and became a human being born in a lowly manager.  He came as a regular person, so that he could be a friend to all people around the around. 

Because Jesus is God incarnate, he is the pioneer of our faith. This means that he is the author and founder of faith.  Jesus is the perfecter of our faith because he suffered and died on the cross to save us from our sins.  He finished his mission of faith and gave us a new living hope when we live by faith. Again, Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

Verse 2b reads, “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  The race of Jesus is the race of the cross.  Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before him. During his earthly ministry, his joy was carrying out the Father’s will by giving his life to serving people. What was the joy Jesus looked forward to? He looked forward to drawing all of his people including you and me to God through his sacrifice (Jn 12:32). Jesus also looked forward to his resurrection, ascension, and his reunion with the Father in glory (Jn 17:5). Jesus knew that the Father would exalt him to the highest place and give him the name that is above every name (Php 2:9). He prayed to the Father in John 17:13, “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that those who believe may have the full measure of my joy within them.”  

We can have the joy of Jesus now, yet our greatest joy is the hope of the heavenly kingdom. Jesus said, “Look, I am coming soon. My reward is with me, and I will give each person according to what they have done” (Rev 22:12). With this joy set before us, we can run the race of the cross.

Look at verse 3. “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”  When we look to Jesus in running the race of faith and have our hope in heaven and eternal life, we are going to face many difficulties in this life.  When we are tired and weary, we should fix our eyes on Jesus and we can win the fight of faith.  Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:12, “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” Paul also says in 2 Timothy 4:7-8, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

Charles T. Studd (1860-1931) was a well-known missionary, who gave his life to Jesus at the age of 24 and went to China in the late 1800s.  He gave up his future as a nationally renowned cricket player and heir of great wealth.  When his brother George became seriously ill, Charles said, "I know that cricket would not last, and honour would not last, and nothing in this world would last, but it was worthwhile living for the world to come."  When asked if he had made too great a sacrifice, he answered, “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him.”  As the years went by, his love of Christ did not weaken, but rather grew stronger. Seeing an advertisement that read; “Cannibals want missionaries,” he went to central Congo at the age of 50. He dedicated the remaining 21 years of his life for people in Africa. He left a famous poem, a part of which reads,

Only one life, yes only one,

Now let me say,”Thy will be done”;

And when at last I’ll hear the call,

I know I’ll say “’twas worth it all”;

Only one life,’ twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.

When he finished his race on earth, however, he was full of thanks. In a letter he wrote, “As I am nearing my departure from this world, I have but a few things to rejoice: God called me to China and I went; I joyfully acted as Christ told the rich young man to act. My only joys therefore are that when God has given me a work to do, I have not refused it.” We know that he had the full measure of Jesus’ joy.

Part III. Endure Hardships as Discipline from Our Loving Father (4-29)

Look at Verses 4-17. A main component of our race of faith is how we react to God’s discipline in our lives.  All hardships are part of God’s discipline, but how do we view hardships in our lives?   Do we try to run away from it as far as possible? Do we accept it as part of God’s discipline?  I always found it fascinating how God applies his words so practically.  For instance, for a body builder, a disciplined workout schedule is required to build muscles and it takes many months.  Every time a body builder lifts weights, he or she is literally causing tiny rips (or tears) in the muscle fibers.  Then the body repairs and adapts the muscles to be stronger and bigger.  Lifting weights is so hard because it takes so much discipline, hard work, and it is also painful.  But after all the hard work, it does pay off with bigger and stronger muscles.

Similarly, if we don’t accept God’s discipline, it will be very difficult to run the race of faith or fix our eyes on Jesus.  Verse 7 reads, “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children.”  As God’s dear children, we all undergo discipline from our loving Father God.  Jesus had many disciples, but his core group consisted of only 12 and he spent 3 intensive years with them day and night training them and disciplining them in God’s word in grace and truth.  He performed many miraculous sign of God’s power.  Jesus changed water to wine, He calmed the storm, and even raised a man from the dead.  He challenged them continuously by telling them: “You Give Them Something to Eat!” and “Whoever wants to be my disciple, must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”  Those 3 years were critical in laying the foundation of faith in them. 

Verse 10b reads, “…but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness.”  We need to also remember that God disciplines us so that we can grow in his holiness. This holiness is not outward, but inner holiness.  Through God’s discipline and all our hardships, God is sanctifying us to be holy in our spiritual lives so that we can have a close personal relationship with Jesus.  1 Peter 1:13-16 says, “Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

In Verse 18-28, the author shares where all people of God will go.   The city of the living God is the final destination after finishing our race on earth. After this life and after living a life of faith, we will receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken.  Therefore, we must be thankful and worship God with reverence and awe.

In recent months, I have been consumed with the uncertainty of my professional future because it would impact the future of my family so significantly.  My mind was on how I can plan properly the next steps after completing graduate school and the unlikeliness of advancing in my current role and the unlikeliness of receiving a significant pay raise.  I was fixing my eyes on myself as if I was in a tunnel.  I need to do this. I need to do that. I must update my resume. I must start contacting people that I have met at school and at other companies.  My mind said seek God’s kingdom first and God will provide, but my heart firmly believed that I must depend on my abilities to be successful.  I might as well ask myself, ‘Jesus who?’   Fixing my eyes on Jesus was so far away from my mind that I would need a telescope. I repent of my selfishness, self-righteousness, and pride.  I know the hopes and dreams of this world are temporary, but I want to live comfortably and luxuriously.  As I look ahead to 2016, I pray that I can fix my eyes on Jesus and persevere in faith and seek first God’s kingdom no matter what because living for God’s glory takes away worldly worries and gives eternal hope.

Based on today’s passage, how did we run the race of faith this past year in 2015?  What will the race look like in 2016?  Are we fixing our eyes on Jesus and living by faith?  Are we living for the heavenly kingdom?  Living a life of faith is hard, but it fills us with heavenly joy of sharing in God’s glory.  Fixing our eyes on Jesus can start simply from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.  It says, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

May God guide us to run the race of faith with perseverance by fixing our eyes on Jesus, so that we may have the full measure of his joy.

THEY WILL CALL HIM IMMANUEL

Matthew 1:18–25
Key Verse: 1:23

“‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means, ‘God with us’).”

    Today’s passage is Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus. Luke writes the story from Mary’s point of view; but Matthew tells it from Joseph’s. Matthew stresses the importance of his names: “Jesus” and “Immanuel.” He also mentions how his birth fulfilled prophecy. So what does it mean that Jesus was born to be “Immanuel”—“God with us”? And what can we learn from Joseph’s example? May God open our hearts to the true meaning of Christmas through this study.

    Matthew has just shown us through the genealogy that Jesus was the son of David and the son of Abraham; he was the Messiah God had promised. But the way Jesus the Messiah was born was really unusual. Read verses 18–19. What a hard thing to have to live through! When two people are pledged to be married it should be a really happy time. But God had a special plan for Mary and Joseph. This engagement suddenly faced a huge storm. Mary was found to be pregnant without her fiancé Joseph. But it wasn’t because Mary had cheated on him; it happened, Matthew says, “through the Holy Spirit.” It was a highly unusual, unique act of God. We’ll think more about it later. Verse 19 tells that the way they thought about being engaged was different from us. To them, it was like being married already. Though they were just engaged, Joseph is called “her husband,” and to break off the engagement is called “divorce.” 

Verse 19 also tells us some things about Joseph. He was an unusual man. When he got news that Mary was pregnant, Joseph faced a dilemma. Most men would have felt hurt. Many would have lost their temper. Many, if they were deeply in love, would have just accepted the woman and covered everything up. But verse 19 says describes Joseph as “faithful to the law.” Here, “the law” is God’s law in the Bible. That sounds so outdated, so uptight, so uncool. There are so many laws in the Bible, we think it’s all just a bunch of legalism and excuse ourselves from knowing or living by them. We don’t take it so seriously. But Joseph took God’s words seriously. You might think the Bible doesn’t talk about a woman getting pregnant without her fiancé during their engagement. But the Bible actually describes such a situation. God gave a law: If it was rape, only the man should be put to death; if it was by mutual consent, both of them should be put to death (Dt22:23–27). God gave such a serious law because he wanted his people to be dead serious about infidelity and betrayal, and grow as his holy people. Being faithful to the law, Joseph probably knew even this obscure law. To be faithful to God’s law, for years he’d had to train himself in real life situations to think based not on his feelings or calculations but on what God’s word teaches. Why did he live that way? He wasn’t legalistic or self-righteous; he made his life about God and about pleasing him. He was faithful to God’s law basically because he loved God. More than anything else, he sincerely wanted to please God. So, even in this crisis he didn’t get emotional; he was carefully considering everything. When he thought about it, if it had been rape, Mary likely would have spoken up and sought to catch the guy. But her silence gave the impression she’d consented. If that were true, he couldn’t marry her and pretend the baby was his—that would displease God. 

Verse 19 adds, “…and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace.” When we’re hurt, even slightly, most of us get vindictive. We want to see the person who hurt us suffer. We want to prosecute to the full extent of the law. Joseph was a real human being, just like any of us. He must have felt so hurt by the news of his fiancée’s pregnancy. He could have made it all about his pride and honor and sought to have her punished. But it says he didn’t want to expose her to public disgrace, though if she’d cheated on him she deserved it. Joseph was being not only just but also merciful. How could he be like that? His faithfulness to the law had brought him close to the heart of God, who doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve (Ps103:10). In deciding to divorce Mary yet not expose her to public disgrace Joseph was thinking first of God, then of Mary, and wasn’t even thinking of himself. In short, he was a godly person. In our self-absorbed culture there are not many people living as godly examples. Let’s pray that we can grow as godly persons like Joseph. They say a crisis reveals our true colors. In this crisis Joseph’s solution was the best one humanly possible. 

But God had other plans. Look at verses 20–21. The first thing we notice here is that the angel calls Joseph “son of David.” It reminds us that Joseph’s name was listed in the genealogy (16). Legally, Joseph was born in the line of King David. So his marrying Mary and accepting her baby would give the child the legal status of a descendant of David. But Joseph was a spiritual “son of David” as well; he’d learned David’s faith and mercy, and this was shown in the way he reacted to the news of Mary’s pregnancy. Next, in these verses the angel cleared up for Joseph that the baby had been conceived not out of sin, but through the Holy Spirit. God did that for a special reason. Let’s read verse 21. Mary would have a son, and God wanted Joseph to name the baby, legally making the baby his. And the name itself is also very important. God chose the name “Jesus,” meaning, “the Lord saves.” They say it was a common name at the time. Many couples named their son “Jesus” in the hope that God would send the Messiah to save them. This time, the name came from God himself. In Greek, the emphasis in verse 21 is on the word “he.” It was Mary’s baby who really would “save his people from their sins.” And God’s purpose for this baby is the main reason why he had to be conceived by the Holy Spirit. If he were conceived in the ordinary way, he would have inherited a sinful nature just like the rest of us. If he were just another sinful human being, he wouldn’t be able to help us, because he would have had the same problem. But because he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, Jesus uniquely was born without sin. And even more than that, because he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, Jesus was the divine Son of God (Lk1:35). Through the Holy Spirit, God the Holy, Eternal Son took on human form. At the same time, because he was born of a virgin, Mary, Jesus was also fully human. He was made like us in every way. He’s not ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters. He shared in our humanity so that he might destroy the power of the devil in our lives. He was tempted and suffered just like us, so that he might become our merciful and faithful high priest (Heb2:10–18). He became fully human so that he might empathize with our weaknesses, and so that through him we could approach God’s throne of grace with confidence (Heb4:15–16). Jesus, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin Mary, fully God and fully human, became the mediator between God and mankind (1Ti2:5); he truly can save us from our sins. 

Read verse 21 again. As we saw in the genealogy, the history of the Jews shows that despite their best intentions they couldn’t be faithful to God; they failed again and again. Even their best king, David, fell into temptation. Because of their sins their nation was ruined. They really needed a Savior to save them from their sins. The same is true for us. We could never save ourselves from our sins by our decisions, our willpower, hard work or sincerity. If we’re honest, we have to admit that we’re totally enslaved by our sins. But it’s God’s promise that he sent Jesus his Son to save us from our sins. We can’t do it, but if we repent and accept God’s promise by faith, he does it. We all need to learn to depend on Jesus, not on ourselves, so that he can save us from our sins.

Finally, Matthew gets at the heart of what he really wants to say. Let’s read verses 22–23. Matthew alone among the Gospel writers highlights the prophetic sign of Isaiah 7:14 and applies it to the birth of Jesus. This prophecy took place when God’s people were under a threat from foreign enemies. King Ahaz their leader was so scared, and he made everybody else scared, too. The Bible says their hearts were shaking, “as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind” (Isa7:2b). God sent the prophet Isaiah to help Ahaz overcome his fear by asking for a sign from God. Ahaz refused to ask for a sign, because he already had his own plans. But God himself gave his people the sign of a virgin giving birth to a son and calling him Immanuel. In the next chapter this Hebrew name “Immanuel” is repeated two more times (Isa8:8,10). Finally, the child “Immanuel” is described fully in Isaiah 9:6. It reads: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” According to this verse, the child “Immanuel” would be the “Messiah” in the line of David (Isa9:7). In verse 23 Matthew says this child born of a virgin, “Immanuel,” the Messiah, is Jesus. In his Gospel, written primarily for the Jews, Matthew often explains how the life and ministry of Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies. Especially in chapter 2 we see four other prophecies being fulfilled in the events surrounding Jesus’ birth (2:5–6,15,17–18,23). But Matthew’s quoting from Isaiah is way more than just the fulfillment of prophecy; it gets at the heart of what the birth of Jesus means to us. Let’s read verse 23 again. Here Matthew explains what Jesus’ other Hebrew name, “Immanuel,” means to us: it means “God with us.” The expression “God with us” at first doesn’t sound so spectacular. “God be with you” has been repeated so much over the years. It’s abbreviated in our English saying, “Good-bye.” But Jesus being God with us has profound meaning.

First, “God with us” means God never gives up on us. Israel had totally failed God. He stopped sending prophets to them for the past 400 years, because they never listened anyway. But it didn’t mean God had totally abandoned them. God was still with them in preserving the line of David and sending the Messiah Jesus through them. God was always with them, even in their darkest times. So Jesus’ birth means that, no matter how much we may have failed, no matter how much we may have sinned and rebelled against him, God never gives up on us.

Second, “God with us” means God sent Jesus to forgive our sins. Our sins make us treacherous, and really ugly, like spiritual monsters. But it was God’s plan all along to send the Messiah to forgive our sins. God had predicted his coming in Jeremiah 31, when he would come and make a new covenant with his people so that he would “forgive their wickedness” and “remember their sins no more” (Jer31:34b). This is exactly what Jesus came to do. He came to forgive our sins (Mt9:2,6). The new covenant is in his blood, which he poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins (Mt26:28). Matthew the author had experienced this personally. He’d been one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. But before Jesus called him he’d lived as a tax collector. His job had made him greedy for money and abusive to people. In modern terms, he’d sold his soul for money. Nobody could trust him. Nobody wanted to be with him. But Jesus called him to be one of his twelve disciples. It made the religious people mad, but Jesus did it anyway. In Jesus’ calling Matthew experienced “God with us” in his amazing grace of forgiveness of sin. Matthew is saying here that no matter who we are or how much we have sinned, Jesus was born to be “God with us,” to forgive all our sins.

Third, “God with us” means God sent Jesus to heal us. The Bible describes our sin like a disease. When we sin, we may not feel anything, but it makes our souls sick. We become sicker and sicker not only with guilt and more and more sinful desire, but also with an increasing incapacity to do anything good for God. In Matthew’s Gospel there are many teachings of Jesus. But Matthew especially emphasizes Jesus’ healings, especially his spiritual healings. Only Matthew quotes from Isaiah that Jesus “took up our infirmities and bore our diseases” (8:17; Isa53:4). Matthew says that when the Pharisees questioned why he ate with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus responded, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (9:11–13). He repeated it later in defending his ministry to his disciples (12:7). Jesus didn’t mind being with Matthew, even though he was really sick with sins of selfishness and greed. Because Jesus was always with Matthew, he could be healed of all the diseases of his sin. This was actually how Jesus forgave his sins practically. It wasn’t through just saying some words or preaching a message, but by actually living with Matthew in all his weaknesses and sins, quietly bearing with him, nursing him back to health with his mercy, until he could be healed.

And it wasn’t just for him alone. Matthew tells us that whenever crowds came to Jesus, he healed all that were ill. Then Matthew uniquely quotes the prophecy of Isaiah again and applies it to Jesus: “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out…” (Mt12:15, 20; Isa42:3). Our sins make us like bruised reeds and like smoldering wicks—just about to go out. But Jesus, though he is as mighty as God himself, doesn’t crush us with his power. Instead, with his power he tenderly nurtures us until our souls are healed. Our souls become sick not only with sinful desires, but also with anxieties, fears and meaninglessness. Matthew alone describes the healing of our souls Jesus gives us in his invitation: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Mt11:28–29). Jesus was born to be “God with us” to heal our sin-sick souls. The ugliness and chronic sicknesses in our souls are something we’d rather just not think about. At Christmas, we all tend to get obsessed with getting the latest gadgets or new clothes or toys or with decorations and cooking amazing food, and it’s all supposed to make us happy. But the best gift of all is the birth of Jesus to be God with us, to actually heal the deepest sicknesses in our souls.

Finally, let’s look at verses 24–25. Joseph had experienced God’s revelation through an angel. But he didn’t respond in his own way; he obeyed and took Mary home as his wife. Out of deep respect for God’s words, he controlled himself and didn’t consummate the marriage until Mary gave birth to her son. And he gave the baby the name Jesus. God used Joseph to protect Mary and her baby so that God’s will could be accomplished. May God help us learn to obey him practically in our lives so that he can use even us.

WE HAVE COME TO WORSHIP HIM

Matthew 2:1–12

Key Verse: 2:11

“On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.”

This Christmas season, to think about what Jesus’ birth means to us today, we’ve been studying the first two chapters in Matthew’s Gospel. Through the genealogy in chapter 1 we found that there’s grace and hope even for sinners like us, if only we learn the faith of Abraham and David. In the second half of chapter 1 we found a special name of Jesus, “Immanuel,” God with us. This name of Jesus mainly means that God never gives up on us; Immanuel Jesus is still with us today. He wants to forgive all our sins and heal us spiritually. In today’s passage the author Matthew reveals even more about who Jesus is. For a few minutes let’s really think about who Jesus is. And let’s try to learn from the Magi how to truly worship him. May God help us come to know Jesus more personally this Christmas, worship him, and experience the joy the Magi had.

Verse 1a says, “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea…” Through the genealogy Matthew has already proven Jesus was a direct descendant of David. Now he adds that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea. Bethlehem was the hometown of David. The prophets had predicted the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (5–6). Actually, Mary and Joseph were from Nazareth in Galilee. But Luke’s Gospel tells us that right near Mary’s due date, they were forced to go to Bethlehem because of a census decreed by the Roman Emperor. Mysteriously God was working to fulfill his own will. The next bit of information Matthew gives us is in the phrase, “…during the time of King Herod…” This was the first Herod, Herod the Great. He actually was not Jewish; he was an Idumean. But his ambition was to become king of the Jews, so he traveled to Rome, begged Caesar, and got his way. Many Jews considered Herod an illegitimate king. So he was always trying to prove himself. He ruled from 37 B.C. to 4 B.C. and married several women. He was famous for his great building projects. He built his own grand palace residence south of Jerusalem, called Herodium. He built a place called “Cave of the Patriarchs,” as well as his crowning achievement, the Jerusalem Temple, to get the Jews to like him. But his achievements couldn’t solve the inferiority complex in his heart. He became more and more paranoid about his position. He had one of his wives killed, as well as three of his sons, some in-laws, and others of whom he became suspicious. So the phrase “during the time of King Herod” points to a dark time in Israel’s history. But often it’s in the darkest times and places that God chooses to do his greatest work. The last part of verse 1 says, “…Magi from the east came to Jerusalem...” Who were these men? First of all, the word “Magi” is plural. It doesn’t actually say there were three; they could’ve been an entourage with many servants. Later they were called “three,” probably because of the three gifts mentioned later. Next, it says they were “from the east.” It’s believed the Magi originated with a people called the Medes, with a famous mystic named Zoroaster. The Magi became part of the Persian Empire and later were influential in ancient Babylonia—basically modern-day Iraq/Iran. They were also called “wise men.” They studied astrology, astronomy, math, chemistry, and various ancient religious texts. People began calling them “magicians,” and they became royal court advisors to kings. They were rivals to Daniel in Babylon. It’s likely that during the 70 years of Jewish exile there the Magi were exposed to the Old Testament. They studied the Pentateuch and found a great hope: God had promised to send the Jews a King who would be for all people. Though they were Gentiles, the Magi accepted this hope as their own.

So they come to Jerusalem with a burning question. Let’s read verse 2. In Greek the emphasis is on the word “born.” It’s a contrast to Herod, who grasped his position through political manipulation. Jesus, on the other hand, was “born” king of the Jews. It says they “saw his star when it rose.” In the ancient world people believed the birth of a great leader was accompanied by the appearance of a special star. In this case, there was the prophecy of Numbers 24:17a: “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob, a scepter will rise out of Israel.” To the Magi this prophecy was foretelling the birth of the king of the Jews. As they observed the stars in the sky each night, they’d been looking for that star, and one day, it finally appeared! Probably some of them were skeptical. But finally they were all persuaded to make the long journey as a team. It meant traveling at least a thousand miles, spending many months, a lot of money and putting everything else in their lives on hold. They couldn’t be completely sure about it, but they were willing to take a chance on this star and go and see. Finally they said we “have come to worship him.” The word “worship” originally meant to kiss someone’s hand as an expression of honor; later it came to mean to fall prostrate before a superior. It’s surprising that these Magi publicly said they’d come to “worship” the king of the Jews. It reveals what they really thought of him—they considered him worthy of their worship, their full devotion. They were high-class, highly educated men, but they’d come to humble themselves before a newborn child and worship him as their own king.

What effect did they have? Look at verse 3. Unintentionally, the Magi were disturbing. How could these men from a far-off land know about the birth of the king of the Jews, when the Jews themselves didn’t? Their coming exposed the Jews’ shameful lack of interest. It particularly disturbed Herod, who thought he was king and that he could pick any of his sons to be his successor. It’s interesting that it says when Herod was disturbed all Jerusalem was disturbed with him. After living under his rule for over 30 years, the people came to know what kind of man he really was; when he was upset he was capable of doing anything with his power. Under Herod people were terrorized and traumatized.

What did Herod do? He realized the Magi were talking about not just any king but the Messiah, the special one God had promised and everybody had been waiting for, for so long. So Herod, who generally was not interested in the Bible, suddenly called for an official state Bible study. But he wasn’t like the Magi; he wasn’t interested in truth; he wanted to use the information he got from the Bible for his own selfish agenda. Look at verses 7–8. It was a lie; according to verses 13 and 16 what he was really doing was trying to kill the newborn child. Herod was arrogant enough to think he could stop God from accomplishing his will and sending the Messiah.

But what’s most important here is the answer Herod got from the chief priests and teachers of the law. Let’s read verses 4–6. Here we should note where Bethlehem was. It was about six miles south of Jerusalem, less than a two-hour walk. It’s sad that these religious experts had the perfectly correct answer but were not in the least interested in going to Bethlehem to see if what the Magi said was true. They had the prophecy of Micah, which the Magi clearly didn’t, but they weren’t motivated to do anything. In fact, they had all God’s revelation at their fingertips, and the Messiah born virtually in their backyard. But because they weren’t interested, it did them absolutely no good. It’s just like Christians today who have the whole Bible and all kinds of religious knowledge but who never really do anything with it, who never take any action. And it’s like some people whose only interest is to use what they learn from the Bible for their own purpose. In light of this, why do we go to church, why do we study the Bible?

In verse 6 we learn more about who Jesus is. Let’s read verse 6 again. This verse predicts that the Messiah would be a shepherd of God’s people. What a contrast! Herod was obsessed with his own vanity and power and viciously used and abused his people. But the Messiah, like a good shepherd, would sacrifice himself to care for his people. This concept of a shepherd started with David. David grew up as a shepherd boy. He risked his life to protect his father’s sheep. When he became a man, he applied those same lessons as a leader for his people. David embraced all those in Israel who were distressed or in debt or discontented and cared for them dearly. He embraced not just his own tribe but all the people of all the tribes of Israel. Because David was a real shepherd, people dearly loved him as their king. David was nothing but a flawed human being, just a shadow. But Jesus was born to be our true Shepherd.

How was Jesus our Shepherd? First of all, we see it during his earthly ministry in the way he treated people. He healed the sick, even late into the night. Out of his compassion he fed the hungry. He made friends with the lonely and the outcasts. He spent time with people nobody else wanted to bother with. He treated women and children with real respect. There was no one too messed up for Jesus. He truly cared for each person. Ultimately he proved he was our real shepherd when he became the Lamb of God for us on the cross (Jn10:11; 1:29). A prophet described him: “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa53:3–6). No one else would do it, but Jesus the sinless Son of God willingly did it. He bore all our ugly, dirty sins in his own body on the cross (1Pe2:24). Because this Jesus is our Shepherd, he’s worthy of our worship, and we want to worship him as our King, we want to love and serve him with all our hearts and souls and strength.

Now let’s finish the story of the Magi. Look at verse 9. It’s amazing that only when they left Herod in Jerusalem did the star reappear. And not only did the star reappear—it led them to the house where Jesus was. It was nothing less than a miracle. How did they respond? Read verse 10. It literally says, “…they shouted with very great joy.” They were Magi, but they threw away their dignity and started dancing. They were so filled with joy because now they had the prophecy of Micah confirmed by the leading of the same star. It meant it all was true. Their great joy came not from money, food or pleasure, but from discovering the truth. The real joy of Christmas comes not just from spending time with family and friends, with traditions and relaxing; it comes from discovering the truth in Jesus and meeting him personally. Finally, what did the Magi do? Read verses 11–12. First of all, they did what they set out to do; though he was just a little child, they bowed down and worshiped him as their true King. Next, they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts. They gave him not cheap stuff as afterthoughts, but their costliest, most thoughtful gifts, fit for a king. Probably unbeknownst to them, their gifts predicted what Jesus would do—gold meant he was king; frankincense meant he was a priest; myrrh meant he would die. And after their worshiping and giving, protected by God, the Magi just went home. They didn’t get anything—they only gave. Matthew, the former tax collector, was especially moved. Their worship was very pure. Getting doesn’t make us joyful. Worshipping Jesus and giving him our best makes us truly joyful. Because he’s worthy of our hearts, when we worship him, we’re deeply satisfied.

THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS

Matthew 1:1–17

Key Verse: 1:1

 “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:”

          A political hot button issue in this election cycle has been immigration. Soon the U.S. may actually have a wall going up along our southern border. But many have pointed out that America is really a nation of immigrants. The only legitimate people here may be the native Americans, like those at Standing Rock. Looking at things this way turns everything on its head. On a TV show “Who Do You Think You Are?” celebrities trace their ancestry and find out shocking things about their roots. We all have so many assumptions about who we are, where we came from, and, based on that, what we deserve. Throughout my life people have looked at me strangely because of my last name. Several years ago I researched my ancestry and found that I’m a direct descendant of at least five men who fought in the American Revolution; earlier, two of my ancestors were in the original Jamestown colony; one even came over on the Mayflower. So I guess I’m more American than most. Supposedly I’m even related to some kings of England. Does it change who I am? Will people respect me more? Hardly.

          For most people history and genealogies are so boring. In two places the Bible actually warns us not to waste time on genealogies (1Ti1:4; Tit3:9). But Matthew begins his Gospel with a genealogy. Many just skip over it and would never devote a whole lesson to it, because it looks like just a list of strange names nobody ever heard of. So why are we studying this genealogy? It’s because as we look at it more closely, we learn some important things. It shows us that Jesus’ birth as the Messiah is good news. It reveals God’s faithfulness. It’s not really a human ancestry; it’s a spiritual lineage of faith. In Jesus’ genealogy we even find the names of some scandalous women. And we begin to see why David is such a key figure. Through this study may we learn more about God, about ourselves, and about how we can be used by God today.

First, the Messiah. Read verse 1. Here the word “genealogy” in Greek is “genesis.” It means beginning or origin. Where did Jesus come from? In his time some people thought Jesus wasn’t even Jewish (Jn8:48). Matthew is saying Jesus came from David, and from Abraham. And he repeats that Jesus is “the Messiah” (1,16,17) Who’s that? “The Messiah” means “the Anointed One.” In the Old Testament, prophets, priests and kings were all anointed. But the Messiah is a special One. God made special promises to Abraham and David that he would send the Messiah through them. God told Abraham, “…all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Ge12:3). God told David, “…I will establish the throne of [your offspring’s] kingdom forever” (2Sa7:13). Many Old Testament prophets also predicted the Messiah’s coming (Lk24: 26,27,44; Ac3:18; 17:2,3; 26:22,23; Ro1:2; 3:21; 1Pe1:10,11). Among them, Isaiah may best capture the meaning of the word “Messiah.” Isaiah 9:6 says, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” The Messiah isn’t just a king; he’s “everything to everybody.” He satisfies our souls and meets our deepest needs. People hold onto false messiahs, be they people, ideas or objects. But knowing Jesus as my true Messiah changes everything.

Second, human unfaithfulness and God’s faithfulness. As we read through the names in this genealogy we notice some things. Firstly, the list of men after King David (6–11) are only the kings of Judah; the northern kings aren’t mentioned. It calls to mind how Israel was divided into two. That painful division happened because of David’s son Solomon’s sin of idolatry (1Ki11:9–13). Especially, Matthew repeats in verses 11,12 and 17 “the exile to Babylon.” Those 70 years were the most humiliating. The Northern kingdom had already been destroyed by the Assyrian Empire. God punished them for their idolatry. During the Babylonian exile, the southern kingdom Judah was destroyed for the same reason; they “were taken captive to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness” (1Ch9:1). Their hearts turned away from God and turned to idols (e.g. 1Ch5:25; 2Ch29:6). The Jews were proud of their heritage as God’s people. But this genealogy shows that they were unfaithful to God. God alone was faithful to his promises. Despite their unfaithfulness, God kept his promises for 42 generations to send the Messiah through the descendants of Abraham and David. God never lies or changes his mind; he never makes a promise and doesn’t keep it (Nu23:19). We’re all unfaithful, but God is faithful (Ro3:2,3). This gives us hope (La3:21–23).

Third, a spiritual lineage. If Jesus’ genealogy were just a list of people literally descended from Abraham and David, it wouldn’t have much to do with us. But we find that it’s actually a spiritual lineage. Read verse 2. Abraham had more children than Isaac; Isaac had more children than Jacob; Jacob had more children than Judah. But only these three descendants—Isaac, Jacob and Judah—are mentioned because they inherited the covenant promises God made to Abraham (Ro9:6–8). Why did they inherit God’s covenant promises, and not their siblings? It was because they learned personal faith. Galatians 3:7–9 reads, “Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’ So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” No matter who we are, if we learn Abraham’s faith, faith in Jesus, we too are included in God’s redemptive history, in the spiritual lineage of God’s people.

Fourth, scandalous women (3,5,6,16). Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus mostly lists men’s names. But surprisingly, he includes the names of five women. He could have chosen more honorable women, such as Sarah, Rebekah or Leah. But instead, he purposely chooses some pretty embarrassing women. Tamar was the daughter-in-law of Judah (3a). The only way she was included in this genealogy was because she dressed up like a prostitute and tricked her father-in-law Judah to sleep with her. What a weird faith! Tamar’s faith exposed Judah’s sin, but also set him on the road to repentance (Ge38,45). Rahab didn’t just dress up; she was a prostitute. And she was a Gentile. So much for racial purity! The only way she was included in this genealogy was because by faith she protected Israel’s spies when they came to Jericho. Because she did so, her life was spared, she came to live among God’s people, and even married into the lineage of Jesus (Heb11:31; Jas2:25; cf. Jos6:25). Ruth was a Moabitess, a descendant of incest between Lot and his daughter, and God had said the Moabites were not supposed to live among his people down to the tenth generation (Dt23:3). The only way she was included in this genealogy was because she learned faith from her mother-in-law Naomi. When their husbands died, Ruth by faith went back to Israel with elderly Naomi, to take care of her. And by faith she listened to Naomi and boldly asked Boaz to marry her. In verse 6 there’s this woman “who had been Uriah’s wife.” Her name was Bathsheba, but by writing she “had been Uriah’s wife” Matthew is intentionally exposing King David’s great sins of adultery and murder. The only way she was included in this genealogy was because by faith she listened to the prophet Nathan and asked David in his old age to make her son Solomon king (1Ki1:11ff.). Finally, there’s Mary the mother of Jesus. In history people have idolized her, and many still pray to her. But actually, her story was also scandalous. She got pregnant while engaged, and it wasn’t even with her fiancé Joseph. Though she was innocent, people imagined the worst about her. The only way she was included in this genealogy was because by faith she obeyed God’s will for her to be the mother of his Son (Lk1:38). Five scandalous women. Why does Matthew include them in this genealogy? In his former life as a tax collector Matthew probably knew some prostitutes. Later he tells us that during Jesus’ ministry many prostitutes had repented and accepted God’s grace (Mt21:31,32). It wasn’t anything new. God has always worked through repentant people who had faith.

Fifth, Manasseh. Read verses 9,10. There were many kinds of kings of Judah. David was known as the gold standard of kings; everyone else was compared to him. The second best was probably Josiah; the third, Hezekiah. The hands down worst was Manasseh (2Ki21:1–18). Though he was king of God’s people, Manasseh was a blatant idol worshiper. He even brought idols into God’s temple and sacrificed his own sons in the fire. He led the whole nation astray. God sent the king of Assyria to put a hook in his nose and shackles on his feet to drag him off to Babylon. But something amazing happened. 2 Chronicles 33:12,13 reads: “In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. And when he prayed to him, the LORD was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.” Manasseh’s story tells us that God has always worked through repentant sinners, even really wicked ones. So much for human self-righteousness.

Sixth, David. In this genealogy Matthew mentions David repeatedly in verses 1,6 and 17. Look at verse 17. The three sections of 14 generations is a Hebrew gematria, which attached a numeric value to each Hebrew letter. David’s name in Hebrew has three consonants, DVD, and their numeric values are 4, 6 and 4, which adds up to 14. The point is, this entire genealogy has a strong focus on David. Jesus the Messiah is “the son of David.” In verse 6 we already thought about David’s great sins of adultery and murder. So why would God put so much emphasis on David? David’s story shows us that even the best people are mere sinners, in desperate need of a Savior. David also shows us what may be, to Matthew, the most exemplary faith. Why is David’s faith so exemplary? It was because David had faith to repent and believe God’s forgiveness. When the prophet Nathan came and rebuked him for his sins of adultery and murder that he’d been hiding, David didn’t lash out at Nathan with his kingly power and have him executed. Instead, he said, “I have sinned against the Lord” (2Sa12:13). Then David wrote one of his most famous songs, Psalm 51, which begins, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” What great fait—not to despair, but to come to God and ask for his forgiveness and cleansing! Apostle Paul lists David’s faith as an example for all Christians when he writes: “David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them” (Ro4:6–8; cf. Ps32:1,2). David shows us what Jesus the Messiah really came to do: forgive our sins (Mt6:12,14,15; 9:2,5,6; 18:35; 26:28). He also shows us all how to come to God, confess our sins, and accept his grace of forgiveness in Jesus.

          Today we learned that Jesus is our Messiah. Even the best people are unfaithful, but God is faithful. God uses men and women who have personal faith, regardless of who they are. God wants to include all kinds of people among his people. Most of all, God sent Jesus to forgive our sins. May God grant us the faith to receive his grace personally this Christmas.

PRAISE THE LORD, MY SOUL

Psalm 103:1–22

Key Verse: 103:2

“Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits…” 

Happy Thanksgiving! For most people, Thanksgiving is about taking a break from work or school, getting together with family to eat a meal, and maybe watching a parade or football game. But more and more people would rather not spend precious time and money on Thanksgiving, because it means having to deal with dysfunctional family members and getting painful old issues stirred up again. Thanksgiving doesn’t have much of a religious significance anymore.

However, even non-believers see being thankful as a good thing. An article in Forbes magazine shows how being thankful produces positive results—it helps us to have better relationships, better physical and mental health; it reduces our aggression and increases our empathy; it improves our self-esteem and increases our mental strength. Still, even though we may know it’s good, it’s hard to be thankful in the midst of messy relationships and many pressing problems. Moreover, we all can be thankful for good things in our lives, but not really be aware of where they came from. The Bible says that every good and perfect gift actually comes from God himself (Jas1:17).

And therein lies the problem: if it’s about God, many people immediately get turned off. So many have a negative impression of God, mostly due to those who’ve claimed to represent him. Charles Shultz, the creator of the Peanuts cartoons, famously had his character Linus once say, “I love mankind; it’s people I can’t stand!” In the same way, many people say, “I love God; it’s Christians I can’t stand!” But honestly, many of us don’t know God all that well. We may have some common sense knowledge or impressions of God, but not a very personal understanding. And Christians certainly don’t always represent him well.

Psalm 103 speaks to these issues. It’s probably one of the most loved of all the psalms in the Bible, because it tells us not only what to be thankful for, but also, who God really is. This psalm was written by David. He grew up as a shepherd boy, became famous as a fighter, and later, after much suffering, king of Israel. Through all his life experiences he grew to know God intimately. He knew God so well that he was also famous for writing and singing many songs about God. Have you ever considered writing your own song for God?

In this song David begins and ends with the words, “Praise the Lord, my soul” (1,22). As we read these words it sounds weird, because it seems David is talking to himself; he’s talking to his “soul.” He doesn’t say, “Praise the Lord, my lips,” or “Praise the Lord, my mind,” or even “Praise the Lord, my heart,” but “Praise the Lord, my soul.” He adds in verse 1, “all my inmost being.” It tells us that we all have something inside us, and it’s called a soul; it’s at the core of our being. We all tend to feel our bodies—when they feel good, or when they feel bad. But often, we’re totally unaware that we’re a soul. We can get so busy in life, living as if we don’t have a soul. It happens even to church people who’re working hard but not taking the time to nurture their souls. Then we wonder why we’re having problems. Genesis 2:7 says our souls come from the breath of God. It implies our souls were created for God. As our bodies need things in order to be happy and healthy, so do our souls. As Pastor Judah Smith writes, we need to be asking ourselves and others, “How’s Your Soul?”

We can go through the motions of going to church or Bible study and singing the praise songs. But this psalm tells us we need to learn how to praise God from our soul, with all our inmost being. In Hebrew, the root of this word, “praise,” actually means to get down on our knees. That’s pretty dramatic and powerful. Why does it have to be so intense? It’s because God is real, and that’s the only kind of praise and thanks he deserves. Not fake. Not superficial. Not half-hearted. From the soul. All our inmost being. On our knees. Like David who danced with all his might when he brought the ark of God into Jerusalem (2Sa6:14). The fact that David commands his own soul to do it also has an important message for us. Most often, we’re not “feeling it” at first, but we need to make a choice to praise God; it’s something we need to choose to do. We can choose to focus on the negative. We can choose to be bitter. We can choose to be depressed. Or, we can choose to praise the Lord.

But how can we go from “not feeling it” to praising the Lord with all our inmost being? In verse 1 the psalmist tells himself to “praise his holy name.” Here, “name” represents God’s character. So to “praise his holy name” means to praise God for who he is. Later, David will describe who God is more fully. But suffice it to say here that we can praise God with all our inmost being when we turn our thoughts away from ourselves and our problems, away from people, away from this world, and really start thinking about his holy name, who God is.

Read verse 2. According to this verse, another key to praising God is to “forget not all his benefits.” This is definitely not “friends with benefits.” The word “benefits” literally means good deeds, and sometimes it’s translated “kindness.” It means how God treats us. The operative word here is “all.” It means a lot. We need to remember “all” the ways God has shown his kindness and goodness to us. As the hymn says, “Count your blessings, name them one by one; count your blessings, see what God has done.” So let’s start counting! God has done so much good for us. It started with our parents, teachers, coaches or anybody who went out of their way for us. Whoever they were, people nurtured and protected us when we were helpless babies; they trained us as children, they guided us as teenagers and mentored us as young adults. None of us would be where we are today without those people. But often we’re unaware that these good people in our lives actually came from God himself. As we enjoy all the kindness God has shown us, directly or indirectly, we’re kind of like people eating a gourmet meal, unaware of how much it cost somebody or how much work went into making it.

And this touches on what’s probably our greatest human problem. We all take things for granted. We’re like Adam and Eve who started taking the beautiful garden and all their privileges in it for granted. What’s more, in our sinful nature we tend to magnify our problems, but minimize the good. Sometimes we even create drama and manufacture fake problems. Of course some people have really serious problems, great pain and suffering, no end in sight, nobody to turn to, no true friends. At different times we all experience various levels of hardship. But whatever we’re going through, the bottom line is that we get to be alive, and we get to be alive in God’s good world. As the famous movie showed us, life is beautiful. Life’s a privilege. We all have an absolute reason to praise God—we’re alive. So Psalm 150:6 says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”

Yet, we so easily forget all God’s benefits. Sometimes we even convince ourselves that we created these benefits. We like to think we’re independent and not indebted to anybody. But the truth is, without God we wouldn’t even be alive, not to mention able to enjoy anything good. The Bible says that when we forget all God has done for us, we become proud (Dt8: 12–14; 2Ch26:16; 32:25). We become spoiled, and frankly, ugly. It’s ugly to receive so much only to turn out ungrateful. On the other hand, it’s so beautiful to give thanks where thanks is due. To “forget not all his benefits,” we need an exercise in being reminded. And that’s what this psalm is all about.

So what are all God’s benefits for us? Many people at Thanksgiving say, “I’m thankful for my family and friends, I’m thankful for my job, etc.” But surprisingly, David doesn’t start out describing any financial or human benefits. What does he begin with? Read verses 3–5. Notice he doesn’t mention the generally “good things” until verse 5. What he’s thankful for first is God’s forgiveness. He’s not speaking generally, about God forgiving all those wicked people out there; he says, “who forgives all your sins.” There he goes again, talking to himself! David uses the word “your” here five times, each time speaking to himself. It tells us that to really thank and praise God, it’s good to remind ourselves of our own sins. David says, “all your sins.” Sounds like a lot. In the Bible David seems like such a nice man; but he knew himself, that he had so many sins, sins against God, and sins against people. We shouldn’t live in denial about all our sins. Nor should we just dig up our ugly sins and be left in shame. We should remind ourselves of all our sins, in order to appreciate how great God’s forgiveness is. “God forgives…all our sins”?! Wow! We’ve heard it probably many times, but do we really appreciate it? David’s going to come back to describing God’s forgiveness a bit later. But the point here is to take a moment to remind ourselves of all the sins in our lives that God has so graciously forgiven. Appreciating God’s forgiveness personally is the starting point of being thankful, the starting point of praising him with all our inmost being.

He adds in verse 3b, “…and heals all your diseases.” Here David makes healing parallel to forgiveness. It’s deep. As we experience God’s forgiveness, we also experience his healing, both physically and spiritually. David seems to be suggesting that we human beings have all kinds of spiritual diseases. What are all these spiritual diseases? Well, it’s not pretty. Pride. Vanity. Lust. Selfishness. Fear. Guilt. Self-hatred. Hatred of others. Greed. Unbelief. Bitterness. And that’s just to name a few. We develop these spiritual diseases as we gradually commit sins, and, as people sin against us and against each other. Once we contract these spiritual diseases, they’re so hard to get rid of; they become our “baggage.”

The man who wrote Matthew’s Gospel used to be a tax collector before Jesus called him. His life choices he made in order to pursue money at all costs left him spiritually very sick. But Jesus invited this spiritually very sick man to follow him, and Jesus was always with him until he was healed. Through Jesus’ spiritual healing Matthew was changed from a greedy, guilt-ridden, chronically selfish man, into a man who saw sick people with God’s love and compassion. So in retelling the details of Jesus’ ministry, Matthew emphasized how Jesus healed people. He said Jesus’ healing was in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases” (Mt8:17; cf. Isa53:4). What heals our spiritual diseases? It’s definitely not our efforts to improve ourselves. The only thing that can truly heal all our spiritual diseases is God’s forgiving grace to us in Jesus. The Bible says that by the wounds of Jesus on the cross we have been healed (1Pe2:24b; cf. Isa53:5). Here, David uses the present tense of the verb, “heals,” to say that it’s an ongoing process even now. What a great thing to be thankful for, that God is healing all my spiritual diseases in the grace of Jesus!

Let’s read verse 4. Here, “the pit” can refer to the pit of death; it can also refer to the pit of sin that’s impossible to get out of on our own. When we give in to sin in our lives and contract spiritual diseases, our lives feel like we’ve plunged down into the pits. In a pit we feel hopeless. But God in his grace redeems our lives from the pit. How does God redeem my life from the pit? It’s through Jesus, who died on a cross in order to redeem us. Through his shed blood Jesus paid the price to get us out of our pit of sin. In fact, Jesus is the only one who can get us out of the pits. And what happens to us when we get out of there? It says that “he crowns us with love and compassion.” What a change! It’s like the prodigal son coming home filthy and in rags, but having the best robe, ring and sandals put on him. Though we’re nothing but ugly, dirty sinners, God treats us in Jesus like royal princes and princesses. What does it mean to be crowned with love and compassion? Partly, it means to experience God’s love and compassion personally. Partly, it means to become loving and compassionate like God himself. What a blessing, to be crowned not with material treasures, but with love and compassion! We can’t take credit for it; it’s an inner transformation, done only by the grace of Jesus. When we actually see God’s own love and compassion growing in us, it moves us to praise him with all our inmost being.

Read verse 5. Here, “desires” means simply, what you want. And in Hebrew the word for “good things” was especially used for things that smell amazing. I’m thinking of a bakery, or a house when somebody’s been cooking an incredible meal. God our Creator knows what we want and how to satisfy us, and he generously provides us with plenty of food and fills our hearts with joy (Ac14:17b). But in this verse David is probably talking about not only physical but also spiritual satisfaction. Being in a relationship with God satisfies our souls like nothing else. We experience firsthand how good he is to us. When God satisfies us, it says our youth is renewed like the eagle’s. It means we have new strength and new spirit to soar. We get so tired and worn out living in this world. We can even get burned out and feel dead inside. We need to spend time coming back to God, until we experience him so deeply that our souls are renewed and truly satisfied. It’s the best refreshment ever. And we need to praise and thank God for always renewing us whenever we come to him.

In verse 6 David helps us to see that what God does is not just for us personally, but for all people, especially those who’re oppressed. God doesn’t ignore them, but works righteousness and justice for them. In this next section of the psalm David wants us to appreciate more of God’s character. God revealed what he’s like in the ways he dealt with his people Israel (7). Look at verses 8–12. This is a loose quotation from Exodus 34:6,7. Many people think the God of the Old Testament is a God of anger and wrath. But that’s not true. God revealed himself to Israel as one who’s compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. God doesn’t hold grudges. God also doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve. We should say that again: God doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve. That’s precisely what it means to be gracious. Our sins make us deserving of punishment, severe punishment. But God loves us so much that he wants nothing more than to forgive us. David describes God’s forgiveness. Read verses 11,12. David uses great distances here as a metaphor. Our sins may seem so great to us, but God’s grace is far greater. When he forgives, it’s like he totally wipes our record clean. It’s like he puts our sins at the opposite end of the galaxy, in a black hole, obliterated. That’s how much he loves us.

David wants to think more about God’s compassion. Read verses 13,14. God really is our Father. His compassion for us isn’t a concept; it’s real, and very personal. In God’s eyes, we’re his own lovely children; we belong to him. David also emphasizes how God in his compassion knows and understands us. He knows all our weaknesses. He knows how truly weak we are. But he doesn’t despise us for it; even in our fragility he sees us with compassion. When we dwell on the greatness of God’s forgiveness and compassion, we want to praise him with all our inmost being.

David also meditates on God’s faithfulness. To do that, he thinks about how different God is from human beings. Read verses 15–18. Human beings are here today, gone tomorrow. But God is from everlasting to everlasting. The Everlasting God never forgets the people who keep his covenant and remember to obey his word. We also see in these verses the one thing this amazing God wants from us. He knows how weak we are. He knows how sinful we are. All he asks of us is that we fear him. It’s repeated here in verses 11,13 and 17. What does it mean to fear him? He’s so forgiving, so compassionate, so faithful. To fear him doesn’t mean to live in dread of him, but with awesome respect. It means not to abuse his grace or take him for granted. Ultimately, as David says in verse 18, to fear him means to remember to obey his word. If we don’t keep his word, we’re not really fearing him.

David finishes with a glorious vision of God in verse 19: “The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.” At the end of his song, David again calls for praise to God. Read verses 20–22.

Let’s read verse 2 again. This Thanksgiving, let’s try to remember all God’s benefits. His forgiveness. His healing. His love and compassion. All the goodness he shows us, that satisfies our souls. May he help us even to kneel down and praise him with all our souls.

THE NEW CREATION

Galatians 6:11–18

Key Verse: 6:15

“Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.”

Sometimes we try to force people to do something we want. Parents force their children to do their homework. Employers force their workers to come on time and do their jobs. Even in the church people are forced to do things, through guilt trips and, frankly, other sorts of bribery. But when a ministry is based on a system of forcing people, it’s not healthy, because when the forcing stops, so does the activity. Nobody can be forced into a relationship with God, into following Jesus, serving him or living the Christian life; it has to come from our hearts. In Galatians Paul has been fighting against the Judaizers’ forcing Gentile Christians to be circumcised, and in these last verses he writes about it again. This time, he exposes their real motives. Instead of circumcision, Paul makes a new rule for all ministries. This “rule” is “the new creation.” He also shares how his own heart, his motives and all his values had been changed so radically. In this study we want to think about what it means to be a new creation, how to become a new creation, and how to really live as a new creation. May God open our hearts and speak to us through his living word today.

 Look at verse 11. It seems that this last portion of the letter, verses 11–18, were written in Paul’s own handwriting. In the ancient world people wrote letters all the time, but usually they dictated their words to a secretary who wrote things down. Paul also used this method in writing his letters. But at the end, he would take the stylus and scroll away from the secretary and finish it in his own handwriting (2Th3:17). It was his way of proving that the letter really was from him. In this case, he’s using very large letters. Why? Most likely it was due to his injuries. About six months before writing this letter, Paul had been stoned nearly to death in a Galatian town called Lystra. After the stoning, Paul continued his ministry in Galatia with resurrection faith, not protecting himself or holding back (Ac14:19,20). But physically, the stoning had left its marks on him. It may have damaged his eyesight (Gal4:15), and with a possible head injury, even his fine motor skills. This may be why when writing in his own hand he had to use such large letters. If this was the case, this portion of the letter must have been a heart-moving reminder to the Galatians of Paul’s commitment to the gospel as a matter of life or death. Despite his hard physical situation, what spirit Paul had!

 Read verses 12,13. Paul again mentions circumcision. Why does he keep talking about it? It’s because it was such a real problem for these new Gentile Christians. Since they’d just become Christians, it was so easy to influence them. And as Paul had mentioned earlier, the Judaizers were really zealous to win over these Gentiles (4:17). When people are extremely zealous, they can be very persuasive; they can influence us and turn us to a different path. The problem is, it may not be the truth (5:7–9). Paul himself has been writing very passionately and persuasively, but it was based on “the truth of the gospel” (2:5,14; 4:16; 5:7).

Here Paul says the Judaizers “are trying to compel you to be circumcised.” Here the word “compel” in Greek is literally the word “force” (cf. 2:14). Even if it’s good, even if it’s the truth, we can’t force people. We can’t force people to study the Bible, force people to pray, force people to attend meetings or services, force people to teach the Bible or to offer tithe. Why not? It’s because it won’t be coming from their own personal faith. So when the forcing stops, so will the activity. We need to be prayerfully helping people exercise their own personal faith, based on a personal response to the word of God. Our Bible study, prayer, church attendance and serving need to happen not because someone is nagging or pushing us, but because we’ve personally decided to believe God’s promises and obey his commands. For example, Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” We can’t force people to live with these spiritual priorities; but we can pray that people will take this verse as the personal promise of God, and act on it.

Paul also talks about the Judaizers’ motives. In verses 12,13 he mentions three: to impress people by means of the flesh, to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ, and to boast about “your circumcision in the flesh.” To “impress people” in Greek literally means “to show a good face.” In Asian cultures, honor and saving face are extremely important. People will even commit suicide if they think they’ll be dishonored. But in many other cultures, looking good is more important than content. People in America work hard on their outward appearance, spending lots of time and money on diet and gym membership to look buff, not caring so much about their character. They also want a good-looking house, car and life. This motive can work its way in to ministry. The Judaizers weren’t so serious about keeping the law themselves, but they were serious about forcing Gentile Christians to be circumcised so that they could “save face” before their fellow Jews. In the same way, people want to have the appearance of a fruitful ministry. They want to have many attendants on Sundays or show up to big church events with many so-called converts, not caring about the depth of change in people or the quality of their own personal spiritual life.

We can understand trying to impress people by means of the flesh; it’s a little harder to understand why getting people to be circumcised was a way of avoiding being persecuted for the cross of Christ. But in their community, if people didn’t follow Jewish customs, including circumcision, they would not be accepted or welcomed. Regardless of the cultural context, it’s always been much easier to follow some outward customs than to depend on the cross of Christ as my only righteousness. When we only depend on God’s grace through the cross of Christ, not on any kind of human conformity, we too will experience various forms of persecution. When we don’t conform, we’ll be despised as unspiritual or perceived as rebellious, not to mention being shunned. Our Lord Jesus himself was despised because he didn’t keep Jewish religious customs and became a friend of sinners. Because he hurt their pride, in the end he was crucified.

Lastly, Paul says the Judaizers wanted to “boast” about their circumcision in the flesh. It means they wanted to hold up each Gentile believer as a kind of trophy for their own glory. They wanted people to be impressed by their ability to get Gentiles to become like Jews. It was really twisted. But down through history it’s been the perennial problem for everyone involved in evangelism and discipleship. Evangelism and discipleship are so good, so right, so precious, but our false motives can poison them. Paul wrote elsewhere that it didn’t matter if it were from false motives or true, as long as Christ is preached (Php1:18). But here in Galatians, he says the motive is so important. Earlier, he wrote that the Judaizers were trying so hard because they wanted these new Gentile Christians to be loyal not to Christ but to themselves (4:17). In the same way, many people are trying to find personal validation through ministry. They’re trying to feel better about themselves through ministry. They’re trying to feel loved and appreciated, or to get people’s respect, or even a higher position in a church organization, through boasting about their fruitful ministry. It’s tricky because motives in ministry are invisible. People see appearances, but God can see right into our hearts (1Sa16:7). We should be helping people purely, out of love for Christ and love for them, not out of any self-interested motives.

To emphasize this, Paul again mentions his own personal testimony. Read verse 14. This is one of the most famous Bible verses; so many pastors, missionaries and gospel workers have had Galatians 6:14 engraved on their tombstones. Paul’s example here is meant to be followed by all believers. His motives had been totally changed through the cross of Christ. How so? Before knowing Christ, he’d been working hard as a young Pharisee. He was more zealous for the law than all his fellow Jews. But it was for his own glory. His name, “Saul,” implied that he was a great one. With this motive he was even persecuting Christians, arresting and dragging them off to be stoned to death. He wanted to be seen by the world-wide Jewish community as the most promising young Jewish man. He thought he was so righteous. But after meeting the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus, in the light of his presence he finally saw the blackness in his own heart. He saw that he actually wasn’t religious at all; in fact, he was a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man (1Ti1:13), who had wounded and crushed so many people for his own ambition. The Risen Jesus told him it wasn’t Christians he was persecuting, but Jesus himself (Ac9:4,5). Paul realized that in pursuing his own glory he’d been living as an enemy of God, trying to steal God’s glory for himself. This truth forced him to look at the motives in his heart, and inspired him to change his name to “Paul,” a small one. His pride, vanity and self-righteousness were broken. He no longer cared what his fellow Jews thought of him; he cared most about what Christ thought of him.

He wrote back in 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Through the cross of Christ, he fell in love with Christ. He’d tasted a love that made human recognition seem empty. Now, the focus of his life was not himself, but Christ. He was ready to boast about what Christ did on the cross, not about what he did. His only glory was in the cross of Christ. He was ready to suffer anything, not for his own name’s sake, but for Christ’s. He was even ready die for the name of the Lord Jesus (Ac21:13). The cross of Christ had changed his heart that deeply. The pull of the world, especially of human recognition, no longer had any affect on him. This is what it means when he said that “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” He no longer valued what the world values: honor, status and security. He valued what Christ values: humility, service and self-sacrifice. Now, his motive in helping people was truly pure: to have Christ “formed” in them (4:19). He wasn’t trying to have their bodies marked by circumcision; he was trying to get their hearts engraved by the cross of Christ. Honestly, human glory and recognition are still a powerful temptation for each person. Only the power of the cross of Christ can break their spell on us.

Read verse 15. Paul had written something very similar back in 5:6. Since Christ has been crucified on the cross, circumcision or uncircumcision no longer matter. They’re like any other human consideration, such as religious, ethnic, economic or social background (3:28,29). The only thing that counts now, Paul says, is “the new creation.” What is this “new creation”? It’s what God does when we repent and accept what Jesus did for me on the cross. The Holy Spirit works in us to completely change us. We’re born again as God’s children (Jn1:12,13; 3:3,5–8). 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

But what does it mean to live as a new creation? It’s life by the Spirit. First of all, it means to have the amazing assurance that God has forgiven all my sins. It means to have a personal conviction about God’s love, that God loves me personally as my true Father (4:6). It means to have the Spirit’s power to resist our sinful nature, the power to walk differently in our daily lives (5:16), in what we pursue and in how we treat others. It means to have a faith that expresses itself through love (5:6). As new creations, we serve one another humbly in love (5:13b). New creations have the good fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control (5:22,23a). In other words, new creations grow in a Christ-like character. Most of all, new creations have experienced new birth into the living hope of the kingdom of God (1Pe1:3,4). When we’re new creations, we believe God’s kingdom is my true inheritance and my final destination, my real life goal. In verse 15 we find what our focus should be, both personally and in our prayers for others. We should be struggling to come to the cross of Christ until we’re truly made into new creations, until we experience the changing power of the Holy Spirit. We also should be praying for others not so much for their human problems or needs, but especially that they can become new creations through the cross of Christ. We should never lose sight of this goal in prayer.

Read verse 16. Paul gives a conditional promise of blessing of peace and mercy. It’s not for everyone, but only for those who “follow this rule”—the rule not of circumcision but of the new creation. When we’re new creations, when our fellowship values being new creations through the cross of Christ, not following rules, laws or customs, we experience true peace and mercy. It’s the mark of the Israel of God, meaning God’s true people who struggle with God through faith in Christ until they’re really changed. Only changed people can really experience God’s peace and God’s mercy.

Read verse 17. Evidently, not just the Judaizers but even some others were out to cause trouble for Paul. They would cause him trouble especially by emphasizing things other than the cross of Christ and the changing power of the Holy Spirit. Since Paul had already experienced so much suffering for Jesus, evidenced by the scars on his body, they should stop.

Read verse 18. Here Paul again comes back to what his letter to the Galatians is all about: living in the grace of Christ (1:6). What we need most, each and every day, is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to be with our spirit.

Today we thought about how important our motives are, and especially, how we can be changed into new creations through the cross of Christ. May God bless us to follow this rule of the new creation. May he fill us with his peace and mercy through the grace of Christ. And may he help us, like Paul, to be changed so deeply that we boast only in the cross of Christ.