Matthew 12:1-21 - The Ridiculous Insanity of Religious Fanaticism
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
"[Jesus said] it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
Eating when you're hungry and healing folks are unlawful, but killing someone is ...
Really, Pharisees? Are you kidding me?!
Pray: Please Lord, help the blind religionists to wake up before they hurt anybody else. Help us all to emulate Christ, of whom You said -
18 “Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
19 He will not quarrel or cry out;
no one will hear his voice in the streets.
20 A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he has brought justice through to victory.
Matthew 11:7-30 - Influence and Control
Many people and organizations have the strong desires to influence and to exercise control over others. There is a sense of power and authority, a sense of being able to accomplish one's goals when influence and control are flexed. Unfortunately, this is often done at the expense of others. Individuals and organizations merely use people to advance their own agendas. Influence and control from other sources are perceived as threats to the agenda. Resistance to 'outside' influence and control becomes a tactic.
Jesus described His generation as a generation seeking influence and control. "You shout in the marketplace, 'We played a tune; why didn't you dance? We sang a funeral song; why didn't you mourn?'" They were so committed to their own influence that they resisted, rejected God's influence (the One who truly IS in control). John the Baptist came as a great prophet and the forerunner of the awaited Messiah, a divine influence under the control of God, and yet he was rejected by many. "John came with a commitment to fasting and preaching, yet people said he was demon-possessed!"
Jesus came, God in the flesh, to draw people to Himself, away from sin and toward salvation. Jesus came to ordinary people, enjoying the food and drink of the common man. "[Jesus] came eating and drinking and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'" He came to influence them for the Kingdom, but many resisted His influence.
Jesus had performed amazing wonders in the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. But the citizens did not turn from their sin to Christ. I guess they had their own agendas. They were too busy attempting to control their own fates to submit to the Lordship of Christ.
Or maybe they thought they could do a better job of managing their lives and finding their own comfort zones. That's just foolish. The weight and weariness of this life press down on us and only One has the remedy. Jesus.
“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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Pray: Father, help me to see the superior advantage of allowing You to influence and control my life. Your desire is to give me rest and ease, to lighten my load and bless my soul. You send me messengers and You do miracles before me and on my behalf. Help me to see and hear them clearly and receive them as one who wishes to live this life as a grateful blessing to You.
Jesus described His generation as a generation seeking influence and control. "You shout in the marketplace, 'We played a tune; why didn't you dance? We sang a funeral song; why didn't you mourn?'" They were so committed to their own influence that they resisted, rejected God's influence (the One who truly IS in control). John the Baptist came as a great prophet and the forerunner of the awaited Messiah, a divine influence under the control of God, and yet he was rejected by many. "John came with a commitment to fasting and preaching, yet people said he was demon-possessed!"
Jesus came, God in the flesh, to draw people to Himself, away from sin and toward salvation. Jesus came to ordinary people, enjoying the food and drink of the common man. "[Jesus] came eating and drinking and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'" He came to influence them for the Kingdom, but many resisted His influence.
Jesus had performed amazing wonders in the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. But the citizens did not turn from their sin to Christ. I guess they had their own agendas. They were too busy attempting to control their own fates to submit to the Lordship of Christ.
Or maybe they thought they could do a better job of managing their lives and finding their own comfort zones. That's just foolish. The weight and weariness of this life press down on us and only One has the remedy. Jesus.
“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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Pray: Father, help me to see the superior advantage of allowing You to influence and control my life. Your desire is to give me rest and ease, to lighten my load and bless my soul. You send me messengers and You do miracles before me and on my behalf. Help me to see and hear them clearly and receive them as one who wishes to live this life as a grateful blessing to You.
Matthew 10:24-11:6 - What We Face in Following Jesus
Advertisements and salesmen are so good at emphasizing the advantages of their product or service, and ignoring or minimizing the disadvantages. Contracts have infamously included "the fine print" since the invention of writing. Think about the car commercials you've heard on the radio that end with the announcer shifting to a monotone and reading at three times normal speed a dense paragraphful of disclaimers. There's the hype, and then there's the truth.Jesus didn't work that way. Jesus was honest, plain and thorough in His description of the cost of discipleship. Jesus could have wooed us with just stories of heavenly glory and the blessings of eternal life. But He didn't play that game. No fine print with Him. Jesus laid it out in a nice big font in bold face. Look at what He says about the Christian life in today's text --
1. As a student and servant of Mine, you will be slandered and derided just like Me.
2. Getting killed for being a Christian is a real possibility.
3. Paying mere lip-service to allegiance to Christ has serious consequences.
4. Devoting yourself to Me can cause major division in your family.
5. Painful responsibilities are part of the Christian life; you will take up a cross.
6. Commitment to Me is devotion of the highest order; love Me more than family, more than life itself.
7. Following Me is a challenge that will cause you occasionally to stumble.
But here are the promises --
1. Your worth to God is great; He will take care of you
2. Christ will be the devoted disciple's Advocate before the Father; heaven's reward is yours
3. True and eternal life comes from surrendering your life to Him
4. Your life becomes enmeshed in the life of God; you are blessed and a blessing
Pray: Lord, grant me the courage to consecrate myself fully to You. It is a great challenge to walk in Your footsteps, but the reward has no equal.
Matthew 10:1-23 - Leading Your Team
When I was a kid, we would designate 'captains' to 'choose up sides' when we wanted to play a sport. The dynamics of that were interesting. We would usually push to make the two captains the two kids we didn't want on the same team together. Basically, the two best players simply could not be allowed to join forces. Their opponents would lose miserably. Once the two best were separated, they got to pick alternately the members of their teams. We'd do some sort of random game to determine who picked first, like 'rock, paper, scissor.' Then the choosing would begin. Smart picks were not only based on athleticism, but also on skill, the demands of that particular sport, and 'chemistry.'
One has to wonder what the criteria were that Jesus used to pick His twelve apostles. As you follow them through the gospel story, you come to be acquainted with a bunch of prideful, impetuous, dense, ornery and ordinary men who frequently demonstrate a serious lack of 'chemistry.' However, tracing the story out further, we come to see (apart from the betrayer, Judas Iscariot) a team of courageous, devoted followers of Christ who turned the world upside down.
As leaders, we find ourselves in the position of having to bring teams together. What might we glean from today's text about the 'Jesus way' to create teams?
1. Choose your team; some volunteers may not be the right fit.
2. Empower the team; give them freedom, authority, power.
3. Know the team members by name. Connect. Respect.
4. Choose diverse team members for breadth and depth.
5. Give teams clear, specific, thorough instructions.
6. Model the attitude you want your team to adopt.
7. Discuss team strategy.
8. Identify the obstacles and risks.
9. Commit to ongoing support of the team.
10. Cast a vision of success and reward to keep the team encouraged in the face of adversity.
Pray: Jesus, help me to learn more and more about Your way of doing things and how Your ways can be translated into the stuff of my particular, unique life-work.
One has to wonder what the criteria were that Jesus used to pick His twelve apostles. As you follow them through the gospel story, you come to be acquainted with a bunch of prideful, impetuous, dense, ornery and ordinary men who frequently demonstrate a serious lack of 'chemistry.' However, tracing the story out further, we come to see (apart from the betrayer, Judas Iscariot) a team of courageous, devoted followers of Christ who turned the world upside down.
As leaders, we find ourselves in the position of having to bring teams together. What might we glean from today's text about the 'Jesus way' to create teams?
1. Choose your team; some volunteers may not be the right fit.
2. Empower the team; give them freedom, authority, power.
3. Know the team members by name. Connect. Respect.
4. Choose diverse team members for breadth and depth.
5. Give teams clear, specific, thorough instructions.
6. Model the attitude you want your team to adopt.
7. Discuss team strategy.
8. Identify the obstacles and risks.
9. Commit to ongoing support of the team.
10. Cast a vision of success and reward to keep the team encouraged in the face of adversity.
Pray: Jesus, help me to learn more and more about Your way of doing things and how Your ways can be translated into the stuff of my particular, unique life-work.
Matthew 9:18-38 - Harassed and Helpless
35 Jesus (The Specialist) went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (The Diagnosis)
37Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to
send out workers into his harvest field.” (The Remedy)
Pray: Jesus, grant me your compassion, your words, your power. I want to work in the harvest! I want to rescue Your lambs from the harassment and helplessness that haunts them.
Matthew 9:1-17 - What's Wrong with Jesus?
Jesus hangs out with the wrong people.
Jesus doesn't do religion according to tradition.
What's wrong with Him?
Well, the only reason Jesus' words are considered blasphemous - words like, "Your sins are forgiven" - is that His accusers don't believe in His deity. If you believe He's God, then there's no problem with Him speaking and acting like God.
Jesus hangs out with the 'wrong' people because some people think God shouldn't care about all people. But Jesus knows we all need a relationship with God. No exceptions.
Jesus doesn't do 'religion' because our purpose isn't to preserve tradition; our purpose is to celebrate the Lord.
What's wrong with Jesus?Is that really the question?
We try to tame Jesus - fit Him into our flimsy little box. "Don't say that, Jesus!" "Get away from those people, Jesus!" "Get with the program, Jesus!"
Hmmm. Isn't the question really, "What's wrong with you and me?"
Pray: Lord, shut my mouth and open my eyes, my mind, my heart to receive You as you really are.
Matthew 8:18-34 - Winning Friends and Influencing People?
Up to this point in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus has been doing some mind-blowing teaching and some eye-popping healing. He has attracted large crowds. So large that He is going to take a little boat ride to the other side of the lake to get some respite. Today's text captures three events. They occur on this side of the lake, on the lake itself, and on the other side of the lake. And whereas Jesus' words and deeds have been magnetic, drawing people to Him, the words and actions of these three events show a more aggressive Jesus. He is influencing people still, but I'm not so sure about winning friends. Thus we come to understand - Jesus didn't come to be everyone's buddy; He came to be God, like Him or not. And some didn't.
"I'll follow you, Jesus, wherever you go."
"Yeah, well prepare to be a vagabond."
"I'll follow you Jesus, but first let me spend my elderly father's last days with him."
"Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."
"Lord, this storm is furious. We're going to drown!"
"Nail-biters! Why is your faith so puny?"
And to the storm - "Shut up and sit down!"
After casting demons into a herd of pigs which promptly commit mass suicide, the people of the region go out to Jesus and plead, "Leave us, please! Go away! Go!"
When Jesus comes into your life He says some beautiful things, does some wonderful, compassionate things. But Jesus will also say some hard things to understand, hard to accept. He will challenge you. He will rebuke you. He will stir stuff up. And that's when you have to answer the question again, "Who do I believe that He is?" Because how you respond to Him and what you do with Him will be determined by the answer to that question. Does He have the right to say what He just said to you? Does He have the authority to mandate something from you? Is it audacity that He should take something away from you?
Who does He think He is?
Who do YOU think He is?
Pray: Jesus, help me to remember who you are and what you came for, that I may retain my faith and submit to your will when things get challenging. You are God, and your desire is to bless me by transforming me into the image of your Son, Jesus Christ. That process can be quite the sculpting process. Chisel against marble. Sparks and shards. Bottom line is ... I've got to trust you.
"I'll follow you, Jesus, wherever you go."
"Yeah, well prepare to be a vagabond."
"I'll follow you Jesus, but first let me spend my elderly father's last days with him."
"Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."
"Lord, this storm is furious. We're going to drown!"
"Nail-biters! Why is your faith so puny?"
And to the storm - "Shut up and sit down!"
After casting demons into a herd of pigs which promptly commit mass suicide, the people of the region go out to Jesus and plead, "Leave us, please! Go away! Go!"
When Jesus comes into your life He says some beautiful things, does some wonderful, compassionate things. But Jesus will also say some hard things to understand, hard to accept. He will challenge you. He will rebuke you. He will stir stuff up. And that's when you have to answer the question again, "Who do I believe that He is?" Because how you respond to Him and what you do with Him will be determined by the answer to that question. Does He have the right to say what He just said to you? Does He have the authority to mandate something from you? Is it audacity that He should take something away from you?
Who does He think He is?
Who do YOU think He is?
Pray: Jesus, help me to remember who you are and what you came for, that I may retain my faith and submit to your will when things get challenging. You are God, and your desire is to bless me by transforming me into the image of your Son, Jesus Christ. That process can be quite the sculpting process. Chisel against marble. Sparks and shards. Bottom line is ... I've got to trust you.
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