LET THE DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD
Do you think maybe that disciple was offended by his Master’s words? Jesus was saying that those preparing this funeral and burial were as dead as the corpse they were about to bury! Jesus asked this disciple to "follow Me" and let dead people take care of dead matters. But consider that this was the disciple’s own father. Are we not to "honor our father and mother?" Of course we are, but when Jesus asks us to follow Him then our allegiance to our parents, children, or loved ones take second place to that command. We must be willing to forsake all to follow Jesus! Jesus was leading this disciple to things of life, while this particular disciple desired to sooner attend to things of death. One cannot serve two masters.
FASTING HYPOCRITES
"Moreover when you fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance [‘don’t look like those miserable play-actors’ Phillips Translation]: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast" (Matt. 6:16).
Jesus could have just told them how to fast properly. But no, He first told them how NOT to fast by exposing the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of the day. He was a Master of sarcasm and satire. He called them "hypocrites" and said their religion was as fake as they were. But it was the truth of His infallible statements that really cut them. After all, the Word of God is like a sharp two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12). It cuts to the marrow of the bone. They were, as many still are, fakers and "play-actors" as Phillips translates it.
CAST OUT THE LOG FROM YOUR OWN EYE
"Or how will you say to your brother, Let me pull out the mote out of your eye; and, behold, a BEAM [a PLANK, a LOG] is in your own eye?" (Matt. 7:4).
What? Talk about exaggeration. Jesus didn’t suggest the first brother had a toothpick in his eyes hindering him from helping his brother to retrieve a small mote, but rather a log, a beam, a timber. A log is a billion times larger than a mote, which is a tiny speck. Don’t try and take a speck of dirt out of your brother’s eye when you have a giant redwood tree growing out of your own eye! It is Christ’s gross exaggeration that makes this parable so profoundly clear and truthful.
Of course this parable cannot be literally true, however, it is absolutely spiritually true.
People who often try to remove a character flaw from a friend or associate have themselves giant character flaws far more weighty than those they try to correct in others. Notice the word Jesus uses to describe this character flaw in His disciples, "You HYPOCRITE…" (Matt. 7:5).
PEACE OR A SWORD?
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword" (Matt. 10:34).
Anyone offended by this statement of our Lord? Isn’t our Lord "The Prince of Peace?" Jesus did not come to bring armies of armed men to do battle on this earth, but that is the literal meaning of His statement.
We know that by the sword Jesus had reference to God’s Word, but those who heard Him make this statement didn’t know that. The force of His speech by doing so is undeniable. Many years later we are given the following verse of Scripture which teaches us what Jesus really meant by "a sword."
"For THE WORD OF GOD is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any TWO-EDGED SWORD, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Heb. 4:12).
Well, who then is the enemy of God’s Word that we do battle against with this spiritual sword?
"And a man’s foes [Gk: ‘enemies’] shall be they of his own household" (Matt. 10:36).
Which ‘household’ includes the church itself (Eph. 2:19).
CHRIST DEMANDS MORE THAN EQUAL LOVE
"He that loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: and he that loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me" (Matt. 10:37).
Anyone offended by that Statement of our Lord? Do you think it was wrong of our Lord to suggest that we must love Him more than our own parents and children?
JESUS CALLS THE JEWS WOLVES
"Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves…" (Matt. 10:16).
Jesus said that among the religious leaders in Jerusalem and Judea, were "wolves." Does that offend anyone? Are there yet "wolves" who devour the sheep in the flock of God’s Church? Does a cat have a tail?
GOD DOESN’T CHOOSE PANSIES TO DO HIS WORK
"And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, ‘What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment [‘a man dressed in silks and satins?’—Williams Translation] behold, they that wear soft clothing [‘Behold they which are gorgeously appareled {dressed}, and live delicately {in luxury}, Luke 7:25], are in kings’ houses" (Matt. 11:7-8).
Is this not a taunting, sarcastic remark? He asked them what spectacle they expected to see out there in the wilderness—a blade of grass swaying in the wind? Some patsy that would be blown away by the softest summer breeze? Jesus was asking these religious sophisticates whether they thought a real man of God would look like some prim and prissy, prudish, punctilious, polished, patrician of the kings court? Is THAT what kind of a man you went out to see? Someone who would never get his fingernails dirty?
The religious leaders were offended by the rough presence of John the Baptist. But what is the Truth? What kind of a man was this John the Baptizer who was
"…clothed with camel’s hair, and with girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey" (Mark 1:6)?
Here’s the Truth:
"For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist…" (Luke 7:28).(Closing prayer)Lord, We pray for our brothers and sisters who are being held by our own government and subjected to tortures we do not condone. Be with them at all times and as Yahweh Saoboth send angels to watch over them.Father, our prayer is simple and for the depths of our hearts.In Jesus' name we pray Who is One with You and the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever...Amen, amen and amen.
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Pastor Lee S Gliddon Jr
God's Word Christian Ministry
Conservative Patriot http://conpats.blogspot.com
God's Word Christian Ministry
Conservative Patriot http://conpats.blogspot.com
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