116th Post Jesus on Riches Con't. - Matthew 6: 19 - 24

From this passage it sounds like works are needed to get to heaven. This is not so, John 3:16 asks you to believe only. This is the start of your walk with God. Notice I used the word walk, this implies movement and implies some kind of goal. If you decide to live for God, your life will show that change, works that show the change are signs that you are changing (walking), it is in the process that you are laying up treasures in heaven. As you do more and more things that serve God and less and less that serve the world; you will notice that your eyes seem brighter. You will want to serve God more and the world less. Your friends will be the first to see the change in you, they may join you or leave you, this is up to them, not you. You have no control over them. It is at this point you are trying to serve both masters. You see people in this predicament all the time. They have one foot in Church, and the other in the world, and they lean from one side to the other.
They think they are fooling everyone, but God knows the heart, He will not be fooled. It all boils down to the same decision Joshua asked the people toward the end of his book. Choose today whom you will serve, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Jesus makes the same plea. Jesus says you cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon was a word that was common in Jesus day, but not one we use today. Mammon means wealth, riches, the good life. The world makes this choice very hard for us, since we all need money to survive. We tend to become slaves to it and worship all that it buys. This has always been the trap, and one we as Christians are called to stay away from. Knowing this, does not make it any easier to do the right thing. You can with God's help.

115th Post Jesus on Riches Con't. - Matthew 6: 19 - 24

Matthew 6: 19 - 24; Luke 12: 33-35; 16:13.
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters; for he will hate the one and love the other, or else he be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
This passage comes from Jesus Sermon on the Mount, about 1.1/2 years into Jesus earthly ministry, Jesus is telling us to lay up treasures in heaven, not on earth. The Rabbis, and Priests, were telling the people all you had to do to get to heaven was go to the Temple and obey God's laws and do sacrifices. Jesus is telling the people that you have to have a heart for God. Not only by keeping, but by doing by living God's Word. This is a new teaching, more was required of you than just going to the Temple. You need to work on earth to live, but you also have to work to lay up treasures in heaven. I will continue this thought on next post.

114th Post Jesus Said Concerning Riches - Comment

Riches will be the new topic, we will look at in this study. You can find verses throughout the Bible that seem to contradict each other. This often makes it unclear to find out exactly what God thinks on this subject. First off, God never contradicts Himself, and since the Bible is His words, the Bible does not either. The misunderstanding is not on God's side but on ours. When we think of Bible verses that deal with riches; these verses seem to pop into my head, "The love of money is the root of all evil". "It is easier for a camel to pass through an eye of a needle than a rich man to enter Heaven". On the surface, these verses seem to say that if you have money, it will be harder for you to get into Heaven. And on the surface you would be right. However, it is not the fact that you possess the riches that is the problem, it is how you possess them. What are you talking about?? If your riches own you, then you will have a hard time getting into Heaven. But if you own your riches, you can part with them, you can give freely to God and to others. This is the difference. It is similar to Jesus teaching on the heart. If your mouth is clean or unclean depends on the condition of your heart. Same holds true here. If making more wealth is most important to you, than it is your love of wealth is where your heart is. If you use your wealth to further God's Kingdom, then your heart is in the right place.

113th Post Jesus On Marriage & Divorce Con't. - Matthew 19: 11 - 12

Matthew 19: 11 - 12 All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: for there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.
This passage was also taken from late in Jesus earthly ministry, we need to remember that this passage was spoken during Jesus teaching on marriage and divorce. The word eunuchs, might be unfamiliar to you. The word means males that cannot father children. Jesus said there are those who were born this way, others made this way by men and still others that have chosen to be this way, so that they could do the Lord's work without distractions. Jesus was putting marriage in a high position. Not all men can take the command of marriage, this is what Jesus was saying in His opening lines. Not all can accept, but only those to whom it has been given. Then Jesus goes on to explain why men should not enter into marriage. I think it is interesting that Jesus focuses on those men who can not pleasure a woman nor have children. In God's eyes, marriage is the institution in which to have and raise children. This union between a man and a woman is the only union that will produce children naturally. This is what God intended. If you have a problem with these words, your problem lies with God, marriage is His institution.

112th Post Jesus on Marriage & Divorce Con't. - Matthew 19: 8 - 9

Matthew 19: 8 - 9 Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immortality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.
This passage is from late in Jesus earthly ministry, He has spent over three years trying to educate the people. If you look at post 109, Matthew 5: 31 - 32. This is almost the same message, if anything this passage is a little stronger in its language. In Revelation, Jesus said "I am the resurrection and the life, the alpha and the omega". "Alpha" and "Omega", meaning the beginning and the end. Man has had a hard time since the beginning to remember what God has told him correctly. Jesus taught the same exact words that God had given Moses. Why then did the Sadducees and the Pharisees have so much trouble believing that Jesus was who He said He was? The answer is simple, they had taken God's words and applied their own understanding to them. When we do this God's words are no longer His, but ours. This is the reason for the disconnect. Man has a sinful nature and it is this nature that causes him to try to alter the real meaning of God's Words. We forget that God is still in control and On the Throne! The Bible said that the world will become much darker (Full of Sin) before Jesus comes back. Will you be ready?

111th Post Jesus on Marriage & Divorce Con't - Matthew 19: 4 - 6

Matthew 19: 4 - 6 Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning "made them male and female", and said, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh"? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.
This passage is taken from Matthew 19: 4 -6, from its location, we know that this was spoken by Jesus late in his earthly ministry. This is God's words, and Jesus (Being God) has the authority to speak on God's behalf. This passage is pretty straight forward, and spells out exactly what God had intended. Marriage should be between a man and a woman, singular, the two are joined together to make one flesh. When a pair are joined into one flesh, they soften each other making one complete person. If you have looked at married couples that have lived together for 20-30 years. they start to look alike. At fifty years together they really look alike. This is not a fluke but by design. The last part of this passage "Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate", this is said stronger in the King James version; it uses the word cleave for joined together. Some people think of a meat cleaver when they see this word "cleave", that is one definition, but the correct definition is cleaved with such force the two become one. Blacksmithing has a name for this they call it forge welding. You take two different materials and heat them and thrust them together with such force that they become one. With Humans this is done without heat and without the large amount of pounding the blacksmithing way requires. This is a very strong weld. Marriages made under God are supposed to be this strong as well. Unfortunately divorce rates are as large in Church families as in non-church families. We are becoming like the people of Jesus' day in this respect.

110th Post Jesus on Marriage & Divorce Con't- Comment on previous post.

The Bible passages we will discuss are printed in the previous post their addresses are as follows: Matthew 5: 31 - 32; Luke 16:18; Deuteronomy 24: 1 -4.
The Matthew and Luke passages state the Law as God had intended it. Deuteronomy 24, was given only after the people cried out to God for relief. During Jesus' time divorce was so easy to get that a man could divorce his wife for burning his food. All a man had to say was "I divorce you", three times in the presence of witnesses and it would be legal. They had come a long way from the actual meaning of the Law. Notice it is the man that is mentioned, that has the power to divorce. At this time in the ancient world the man was in control. This started to change with Jesus and His teaching and really got started under Paul. I will not go into this here. At this time the man could decide if his wife was unfit for any reason and could send her out of his house. This is a whole lot different from what Jesus said, sexual immorality was the only reason for divorce. If you remember Joseph, Jesus' earthly dad, he was studying the different aspects of divorce, to put Mary away quietly. Joseph thought Mary had been unfaithful, so he had the right to have her stoned publicly if he wanted to. God intervened by sending the Angel Gabriel to him to explain Mary's situation. Joseph, accepted what the angel told him, that Jesus was born before Joseph had relations with Mary his wife. That says something about Joseph's character.

109th Post Jesus Said on Marriage & Divorce Con't - Matthew 5: 31 - 32

Matthew 5: 31 - 32; Luke 16: 18
Furthermore it has been said, "Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce." But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.
Certificate of divorce was not something God intended when He created sex and marriage. This certificate was given to the people through Moses. While Moses was leading the people in the wilderness they asked Moses to ask God for relief from marriage. Deut. 24: 1 - 4. "When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and if she departs his house, and if she goes and becomes another man;s wife, and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, then her former husband who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. These verses from Scripture are long and took up most of the space for this post, so the comment on them will be on the next post.

108th Post Jesus Said on Marriage and Divorce - Comment

This is a difficult subject for us to look at, Jesus talks about this subject from God's perspective. Since God invented sex and marriage, Jesus will talk on this subject from God's point of view. Remember Jesus came into the world to save us from our sins. We don't know that we have sinned, until the Holy Spirit makes us aware of the sin. The Bible is the usual way that the Spirit uses. You could have been married and divorced before your relationship with Jesus made you aware that you have sinned. If you ask for forgiveness, your sin will be forgiven. If God has forgiven you, you should have no more guilt. If you still feel guilty, it is not God that is using this to make you feel guilty. It is Satan. Satan wants to drive a wedge between you and God, he does this by telling you, you are not worthy to go to Church. A strong relationship with God is what you need. Christian fellowship is also a way to stay accountable to God.

You have to be made aware that you are sick, before you will seek the services of a doctor. Jesus is your Spiritual Doctor. He has to diagnose the problem before He can fix it. Jesus wants to make you the best you can be. This is accomplished through relieving your pain and suffering.

107th Post Jesus Said on Children Con't. - Luke 17:1 - 2

Luke 17: 1 -2; Matthew 18: 6 - 7; Mark 9: 42 It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! It would be better if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.
These are pretty strong words from Jesus. We have to remember that Jesus is God and man, and He is speaking as God when He uttered these words. We tend to forget that God has commanded that we do not cause offense to any of these little ones. In the ancient world children held a position in society lower than women. Jesus was telling people that they could not take advantage of weaker or less experienced just because they could. This teaching is completely different from what the world teaches. Even the Rabbi's and Priests were silent on this issue. We tend to give St. Paul credit for this teaching this because he taught more on stumbling blocks; but Jesus went to the heart of the subject by protecting the weakest in society. Look how Jesus phrases His wording, "it is impossible that no offenses come, but woe to him through whom they do come!" That means everyone who causes an innocent to stumble will be held accountable for their actions. Jesus is holding us to a higher standard than was being used in that day. We very seldom ask if what we are doing, could be causing a weaker to stumble. We need to pay more attention to this in the future.

106th Post Jesus On Children Con't - Matthew 21: 16

Matthew 21: 16 Yes. Have you never read, "Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise"?
This passage is toward the end of Jesus earthly ministry, when Jesus says "Have you never read",
Jesus is talking about the Old Testament, and in this case Psalm 8:2 Out of the mouth of babes and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.
Jesus spoke these words in the Temple in Jerusalem. I am sure He would attract the priests along with regular people who happened to be there. I would think the priests would marvel at His knowledge of the Old Testament, as in this passage Jesus quoted scripture easily, probably making the priests to go to the library to check to make sure He quoted correctly. In quoting Psalm 8: 2, Jesus was saying that the babes and infants are protected by God because their praise is not corrupted. Jesus wants us to be "child-like" in our faith, because it is honest and true. You learn to lie and cheat by living in this sinful world. Babes and infants have not been taught how to lie and cheat. When children start to talk themselves, this is when they discover that words have power. It is at this time that they learn all these bad things. Since we have a sinful nature, we will turn to sin without being taught. It is our knowledge of the world that makes it difficult for adults to believe the truths of God. This is what makes us continue to look for hidden meanings or secret teachings. The Praise and faith of babes and infants is simple and true.

105th Post Jesus Said on Children Con't - Matthew 19:14

Matthew 19: 14; Mark 10: 14; Luke 18:16 Let the children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.
This is the passage we are the most familiar with; you would think this came before Jesus used children to teach the disciples that they (the children) were more important to God than the disciples. From the location of this text in Matthew we know this comes late in Jesus' ministry. The background for this passage is as follows. Jesus is starting to teach, and a large crowd is gathering, and the children are coming to the front for a better view of what is happening. From what we said so far, this could happen today, adults and children still act the same way. The disciples are acting as crowd control much like ushers do at our meetings today. They notice the large group of children gathering close to Jesus and start to try to move them to the back so that they won't interrupt Jesus during his talk. Jesus sees what the disciples are doing and tells them to stop and let the children come up to Him. When the children are allowed to come to Him, He takes them into His arms and blesses them. How different, does Jesus treat the children then we would today. Today we say children should be seen and not heard. Reaching the adults is more important than reaching the children. Children have a whole life to live for Christ, adults may come and listen but seldom do they change the way they live, they are stuck in their ways by adulthood. If you reach the children, you will reach their parents.

104th Post Jesus On Children Con't.- Matthew 18:14

Matthew 18:14 Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
Jesus is very clear on this point, that we are to teach children correctly concerning the things of God. And not cause them to stumble. Further into this chapter Jesus talks about disagreements with each other. Jesus opens the door for closing them outside the fellowship. Everything else in this chapter deals with nurturing and encouraging their walk with God. As this verse points out. If you decide to throw someone out of the fellowship. you will also be judged by God, that you acted correctly in what you did. We need to remember that when we are contemplating sending people out of the fellowship, we are in fact telling Satan he can have them. God the Father and Jesus caution us on this point. Be very sure you are right. If the offense does not equal the possible outcome, then it should never be brought to this point.
We as adults have trouble dealing with children, I believe this is why we tend to have children young, and grandchildren as we get older. The grandchildren help us remember to treat children with more understanding. Unfortunately we can guess the physical maturity of people by looking at them. We have no idea about spiritual maturity, because we can not see their heart. Spiritual maturity comes from walking with God. Only He knows how mature we really are.