|
|
 |
|
| |
Gospel Reading: Matthew 12:1-8
It is mercy I desire and not sacrifice … The Son of Man is indeed Lord of the sabbath. vv 7-8
In today's Gospel Reading the disciples were in clear violation of the laws of the Jews. God had said, "Remember to keep holy the sabbath day. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord, your God."
THE LAW EXISTS FOR PEOPLE
A deeper reading of Scripture shows a less stringent approach to the law. Jesus pointed out: "The priests on temple duty can break the sabbath rest without incurring guilt." And David when he was fleeing Saul, "... ate the holy bread, a thing forbidden to him and his men or anyone other than priests." The law said, "It shall belong to Aaron and his sons, who must eat it in a sacred place," yet David and his men ate the sacred bread even though they were not priests.
Jesus' words show that people do not exist only to serve the law, that the law exists for people, to bring them to God. The law manifests God’s holiness and his mercy. To lose sight of this is to keep the law in vain.
JESUS IS LORD OF THE SABBATH
Another reason the disciples' actions were acceptable is because of the divine authority of Jesus. True, they were in obedience to the heart of the law, but they were also obedient to the Giver of the laws. Jesus is "Lord of the Sabbath." Here Jesus called himself God! It is essential that we see Jesus as Lord, as God.
HIS SABBATH BRINGS INNER PEACE
In fulfilling religious laws of the church do we look to the spiritual heart of the law, or do we only see externals? Do we appreciate the rest and holiness of a weekly sabbath, or do we work nonstop? Hebrews instructs us that, "A sabbath rest still remains for the people of God. And he who enters into God’s rest rests from his own work as God did from his." Jesus' sabbath brings deep inner peace, something not possible from mere externals.
John Michael Talbot
|
| |
| |
Gospel Reading: Matthew 10:16-23
You must be clever as snakes and innocent as doves ... The Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you. vv. 16, 20
Peter wrote, "Should anyone ask you ... be ever ready to reply." Our gospel reading tells us we must be both clever and innocent when we reply. But what does that mean and how do we do it? WITNESS BY THE SPIRIT
Paul told Timothy to teach but not to argue: "I charge you to preach the word, to stay with this task whether convenient or inconvenient - correcting, reproving, appealing ~ constantly teaching and never losing patience." He also said, "Have nothing to do with senseless, ignorant disputations. As you well know, they only breed quarrels, and the servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome but must be kindly toward all. He must be an apt teacher, patiently and gently correcting those who contradict him." Teach? Yes. Argue? No. Clever? Yes. Theological speculation? No.
Rely on the power of the Spirit when you give witness and simply state how Jesus has made your life different. If your life does not demonstrate your words, the words will be meaningless. If your life has changed, your words will be charged with power. As Jesus taught the apostles, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes down on you; then you are to be my witnesses." At Pentecost the outpouring of the Spirit caused the empowered believers to make bold proclamations as the Spirit prompted them. Suddenly a handful of uneducated, working-class fishermen became eloquent preachers!
GOD WANTS TO USE YOU
Do we try to speak by our own power or by the power of the Spirit? Do we devise long speculative arguments to defend our doctrine? Remember that, right or wrong, no theology will be powerfully defended without the Spirit! If we seek the power of the Spirit, then our words become instruments of testimony before the small as well as the great. Twelve simple men were used as instruments of God to permanently change the world. God is willing to use you in the same way today!
John Michael Talbot
|
| |
| |
Gospel Reading: Matthew 9:9-13
He said to him, 'Follow me.' Matthew got up and followed him. Now it happened that, while Jesus was at table in Matthew’s home, many tax collectors and those known as sinners came to join Jesus and his disciples at dinner ... 'It is mercy I desire and not sacrifice.' v. 9-10, 13
Jesus' call requires radical and immediate response, and a response that is livable. Peter and Andrew immediately left their nets and became his followers. Of James and John it is said that they also immediately abandoned boat and father to follow him.
Jesus called Matthew just like the rest; Matthew responded like the rest. But Matthew then threw a party for Jesus at his house! Apparently Jesus' call to apostolic poverty and holiness did not forbid Matthew from making use of his house and maintaining contact with his old friends.
LOVE SATISFIES THE DEMANDS OF THE GOSPEL
There is a time to radically break with one’s past. Paul said, "Those things I used to consider gain I have now reappraised as loss in the light of Christ," but he did not imply that we should break association with all non-Christians.
In the end, love will satisfy the radical demands of the gospel. Love calls us to poverty. Love calls us to holiness. Without love, poverty becomes an empty and life-draining curse. Without love, holiness degenerates into cold and heartless self-righteousness.
Paul asserted that: "If I speak with human tongues and angelic as well, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and, with full knowledge, comprehend all mysteries, if I have faith great enough to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give everything I have to feed the poor and hand over my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing."
LET US LEARN THE WAYS OF LOVE
Is our Christianity radical or fanatical? A fanatic fulfills the radical externals of poverty and holiness but does so without love. Love softens the edge of razor-sharp issues and changes the cutting edge from a sword that kills and maims into a surgical knife that heals. It brings us to a balance between no-compromise and the leniency of wisdom.
Let us be radical, rather than fanatical, about the issues of poverty and moral purity. Let us learn the way of love.
John Michael Talbot
|
| |
| |
Gospel Reading: Matthew 8:28-34
The entire town came out to meet Jesus. When they caught sight of him, they begged him to leave their neighborhood. v. 34
Jesus Christ is not always good for business. If we let him cast all the demons out of our life, we may have to change our way of earning a living. If Jesus changes our personal morality, then he will also affect our business.
Jesus said, "You cannot give yourself to God and money. I warn you, then: do not worry about your livelihood ... Seek first his kingship over you, his way of holiness, and all these things will be given you besides."
DON'T LOVE THE WORLD OR ITS THINGS
Christianity cannot be compromised by commercialism. Yes, we must live in the world, but we must never be of the world. Jesus prayed to his Father, "I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to guard them from the evil one. They are not of the world, any more than I belong to the world." The Apostle John wrote, "Have no love for the world, nor the things that the world affords. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love has no place in him, for nothing that the world affords comes from the Father."
SHARE YOUR WEALTH WITH THE POOR
It is not only the spiritual dimension of detachment from possessions that makes Jesus a threat to our materialistic and commercial world. It is also his practical teaching about sharing our wealth with the poor. Our present expression of Christianity is a far cry from what was advocated by Jesus and the Apostles.
SPIRITUALITY OR COMMERCIALISM?
The selling of religious books, tapes, and records and the financing of large media and crusade ministries definitely affect many of our decisions in the church that would should be made by spiritual standards alone. Yes, God can work through these externals to manifest and accomplish his will, but economy should not dictate spirituality. Rather, spirituality should affect economy.
We must decide which door to choose: the door of spirituality or the door of commercialism. If we choose wrongly, we and perhaps the entire world, will perish.
John Michael Talbot
|
| |
|
|
Subscribe to this blog
