Author: Chuck & Deb

Read Matthew 15.1-14

“And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matthew 15.3)

TRADITIONS: HANDLE WITH CARE

I was discipling a young man in our ministry who was saturating his life in the Word of God but wasn’t having his quiet time the same way we were. He was memorizing Scripture but it wasn’t the same set of verses that we usually have guys memorize. It seemed his approach to his relationship with Jesus was completely different than most of the folks in our ministry. This irritated a couple of our leaders and they voiced their complaints. My question to them was, “Is he growing in his relationship with Jesus and is he helping others do the same?” The answer was yes, but… This is where we need to be very careful that we don’t become like the Pharisees. We have our methods (traditions) and most of the time they are very helpful. But they’re just methods. The objective is to help people follow Jesus. Let’s not get confused between the commands of God and the traditions of men.

Now what if you have chosen different methods and your methods aren’t helping you grow closer to Christ?

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Read Matthew 14.22-36

And He said, “Come!” (Matthew 14.29)

LET ME TRY

My two sons inherited the “Let me try!” attitude from their father. Whether it was jumping from the bed into my arms, being first to stand in front of the baseball pitching machine, or driving like crazy men on four wheelers, they were always willing to try risky things. Now they’re doing things like Ranger school and learning Chinese. When Peter said, “Let me try!” Jesus encouraged his risk of getting out of the boat and walking on water. While the other disciples were thinking “How is Jesus doing that?” Peter was thinking, “How can I do that? ” I think that thrills our Master. He wants us to imitate Him (Luke 6.40). He encourages us to exercise our faith and take risks, just as He did. Living by faith means getting out of the boat.

What risks are you taking to become like Jesus?

This was my 800th post in my blog! Thanks for your support!

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Read Matthew 14.13-21

When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. (Matthew 14.14)

“PEOPLED”

The lady at the customer service counter was snapping at the man in front of me. I was thinking to myself, “this isn‘t going to be pretty.” She was obviously, what I call, “peopled.” It’s when people in the people business spend so much time with people problems they can no longer treat people like people. How do I know this? Because I’m in the people business and I’ve been there. That brings me to Jesus. He was in the people business and probably no one in the history of mankind had the potential of being more “peopled” than He. And yet that wasn’t the case. Jesus was mourning the death of His cousin and trying to get away to grieve. And what meets Him on the other side, the place of solitude? 5000 people! And what’s His reaction? Irritation? No, it’s compassion. So what was the greater miracle: feeding 5000 or His attitude toward them?

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Read Matthew 14.1-12

Although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths, and because of his dinner guests. He sent and had John beheaded in the prison. (Matthew 14.9-10)

WHO REALLY LOST THEIR HEAD?

“I just want to know that I can trust you,” said one thief to another. Some standards of morality just don’t make any sense, do they? When we look at Herod’s life, we enter the state of moral confusion. Herod is willing to commit adultery with his brother’s wife, live in debauchery, and murder John the Baptist. But when it comes to breaking an oath, oh no, he wouldn’t do that. His moral compass was spinning out of control. He had lost his head well before John lost his. His problem was not the absence of a personal moral code. His problem was that his moral code was personal. In order to maintain any real objectivity in our moral standards, they must come from Jesus. He is our consistency. Otherwise, we will be left to the whims of our opinions to guide our sense of rightness.

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Read Matthew 13.53-58

And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. (Matthew 13.58)

SOMETIMES SEEING IS NOT BELIEVING

He was leaning precariously over the edge of the rock but not quite past the point of no return. He was frozen with fear on the 60-foot cliff and he could go no further. I reminded him that the rope held him securely and he had seen others rappel down the rock wall several times. In the end, his faith failed. Simply seeing did not lead to believing. Just like the people of Nazareth. Jesus’ hometown folk had seen and heard the wonders of their prized son. And yet they could not get beyond the arrogance of familiarity or the pride seniority. Jesus’ powers were limited by unbelief.

Are you limiting the power of Jesus by the trumping power of disbelief?

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Read Matthew 13.47-52

“…and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13.50)

Ample Warning

I told them three times, “Be careful with that blasting cap, you could blow your hand off.” Now what’s my motivation? Am I trying to be a “Debbie Downer”? Am I overly critical or legalistic? No, I care about these people and I’m teaching them how to handle explosives. Repetition is a technique in instruction and Jesus uses it several times (especially when it comes to people feeling comfortable with their standing in the Kingdom). If Jesus emphasized this over and over again, we can come to two conclusions. First, this must be a very important message. And second, some will still choose not to listen. Remember, Jesus sets the standards. He is the standard.

I’ve heard it said, “There are three ways to learn: repetition, blunt force trauma, and repetitive blunt force trauma. I choose number one!

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Read Matthew 13.44-45

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” (Matthew 13.44)

WHAT SACRIFICE?

I know three men who recently left very successful careers to enter full-time ministry. When their peers found out that they were forfeiting their pay, status, and a very comfortable retirement in order to obey God’s call on their lives, well, let’s just say they were a little less than encouraging. But if you were to ask these men and their wives about the sacrifice, you might be a little surprised at their response. They would say, “What sacrifice? We have gained the Kingdom of God!” And by the way, I know of three other men who have answered a call to stay in their careers for the sake of the Kingdom. It’s not about position, possessions, or people. It’s all about the Kingdom of God. (Matthew 6.33)

What is the Kingdom of God worth to you? Do you joyfully give up the things of this world in order to gain the Kingdom?

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Read Matthew 13.31-35

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed.” (Matthew 13.31)

THE KINGDOM IS LIKE SPRAY INSULATING FOAM

I needed to fill in some small cracks in order to finish insulating the house. I used a can of spray foam insulation. Now if you’ve never used this stuff before you‘re in for a surprise. When I gave it what I thought was a little squirt, it not only filled the crack but started growing so fast it went half way down the wall and expanded to about a 100 times its size. Wow! So when it says, “Apply in small amounts,” it means small amounts. The Kingdom of God grows the same way. It only takes a few fired up “Jesus Followers” sharing the good news and living an authentic Christian life to change whole communities. Jesus guarantees that the Kingdom will grow. We just need to roll up our sleeves, apply a little faith and start sharing the gospel in word and deed.

How do you see the Kingdom growing in your own heart? How do you see it growing in your community?

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Read Matthew 13.24-30, 36-43

“But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.” (Matthew 13.26)

DON’T FAIL THIS TEST

I knew the information for the exam like the back of my hand and I was filling in the little circles as fast as I could on the bubble test. Only one problem: I had skipped one question in the beginning. Now all my answers were just one question off. What a shock when I got my exam back with a big fat “F” and I realized what I had done. Failing an exam in school is one thing but being mistaken on your eternal security is another. There is only one question on the eternal test: “Will you follow Jesus?” How do you know you’ve answered the question right? The same way you can tell the difference between wheat and tares: you’ll see the fruit (2 Corinthians 13.5, John 15.8).

What does the fruit look like and how is it produced? (John 15.1-8) Is Jesus the only way to produce such fruit? (John 14.6, 2 Corinthians 5.21)

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Read Matthew 13.18-23

“And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit…”(Matthew 13.23)

YOU ARE HERE

You know the maps in the mall that help you find your location? You look for the little arrow that says, “You are here.” Well, Jesus talks about a spiritual map in a similar way. It pinpoints the location of where we are in relationship to God. The first potential location is “clueless”. They don’t even know where to begin and probably don’t care (and they would probably have stopped reading by now). The second is one who has had an emotional experience with God but is “rootless” and simply fades away. The third location is one who is distracted by so many things it’s being choked out and bears no “fruit.” However, the desired destination is the one called “good ground”. That’s where we find a fruitful relationship with God.

Re-read Matthew 13.18-23. What’s your location?