SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/20/2020
9:41 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The
Content”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 5:2
Message of the
verses: “And opening His mouth He
began to teach them, saying”
John MacArthur states that when Matthew states that Jesus
was opening His mouth that it was not something that we would consider to be
obvious, “but was a common colloquialism used to introduce a message that was
especially solemn and important. It was
also to indicate intimate, heartfelt testimony or sharing. Jesus’ sermon was both authoritative and
intimate; it was of the upmost importance and was delivered with the upmost
concern.”
Jesus in this sermon was establishing a standard of
living that was counter to everything that the world practiced and that they
held dear to them. One who lives by the
standards that Jesus speaks of in this sermon was to live a life of blessed
happiness. Jesus gives and utterly new
approach to living, which is one that results in joy instead of despair, and in
peace instead of conflict which is a peace that the world does not understand
and cannot have as seen in John 14:27 and Philippians 4:7. Jesus sermon gives us a blessedness which is
not produced by the world or by circumstances, and this cannot be taken away by
the world or by circumstances. This is
not produced externally and cannot be destroyed externally.
There are some evangelicals who maintain that the Sermon
on the Mount only pertains to the kingdom age, which is the Millennium, (the
1000 year period that follows shortly after the Tribulation period, which will
follow shortly after the Rapture of the church). They say this because of what is found in
Matthew 5:48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as
your heavenly Father is perfect.’” John
MacArthur answers this by writing “For several reasons, however, that
interpretation cannot be correct. First
of all, the text does not indicate or imply that these teachings are for
another age. Second, Jesus demanded them
of people who were not living in the Millennium. Third, many of the teachings themselves become
meaningless if they are applied to the Millennium. For example, there will be no persecution of
believers (see. 5:10-12, 44) during the kingdom age. Fourth, every principle taught is the Sermon
on the Mount is also aught elsewhere in the New Testament in contexts that
clearly apply to believers of our present age.
Fifth, there are many New Testament passages that command equally
impossible standards, which unglorified human strength cannot continually
achieve (see Rom. 13:14; 2 Cor. 7:1; Phil. 1:9-10; Col. 3:1-2; Heb. 12:14; 1
Pet. 1:15-16).
“The teachings of the Sermon on the Mount are for
believers today, marking the distinctive lifestyle that should characterize the
direction, if not the perfection, of the lives of Christians of every age. Unfortunately, those standards do not always
characterize Christians. The world’s
standards and objectives too often have engulfed believers and conformed them
to its own image, squeezed them into its own mold (Rom. 12:2, Phillips).”
So
how do we, as believers follow what is taught in the Sermon on the Mount? Let us first of all go back to what Paul
writes in Romans 12:1-2 to help us out with this answer: “1 WITH eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I
beg you, my brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your
bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him. 2
Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God
re-make you so that your
whole attitude of mind is changed. Thus you will prove in practice that
the will of God is good, acceptable to him and perfect” (Phillips). I have used the Phillips paraphrased version
of the New Testament to help us better understand what we are to do. First of all we are to give ourselves to the
Lord, and even though this is a one-time thing to do it is good to remind
yourself to do this each day, something we learned from the quotations that we
made from Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s book “The Strategy of Satan.” Next as verse two says we are to have a new
way of thinking, we are to let the Word of God, as we read, study, and meditate
on change our minds and in the case of our verses from Matthew this is a good
place to begin as we continue to study the Sermon on the Mount we need to have
our minds changed by what Jesus teaches.
We live in a world that has been changed by a virus over the last few
months and as believers if we understand God’s Word we will know that He is
still on the throne and we are to live our lives by practicing what the Word of
God teaches, things like are in the Sermon on the Mount. God has allowed this to happen and perhaps
one of the reasons is that we can see how soon that the whole world has changed
in a very short amount of time. As I
think about this in reference to a couple of phone calls I very recently had
both people stated that when we look at the things that will happen at the
beginning of the book of Revelation that they all happen very fast and so this
could be a picture of how things change very fast. If it were not for our technology it would
not happen fast, but we have the technology to have it happen fast. Bottom line is for believers to understand
that God is in control and to trust Him even though times are tough, and to use
this time to tell others the good news of the gospel.
Lord
willing we will talk more about a new way of thinking in our SD for tomorrow.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I certainly desire to have the Lord continue
to change my mind from any worldly things to what is true that are found in His
Word.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Learn more about contentment, humility and
have joy as I study His Word.
3/20/2020 10:23 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment