SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/9/2020
8:33 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “Verbal Insults”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
5:10-12
Message
of the verses: We now move to the
second promise that Jesus made and that is that citizens of the kingdom are “blessed…when
men cast insults” at them. MacArthur
writes “Oneidizo carries the idea of
reviling, upbraiding, or seriously insulting, and literally means to cast in
one’s teeth. To ‘cast insults’ is to
throw abusive words in the face of an opponent, to mock viciously.”
Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior
but He is also my example to follow and what He went through during the time
leading up to and including His crucifixion are things that should be an
example to all believers. I am not
saying that we can do the things that Jesus did on the cross, but I am saying
that there have been many millions of believers during the church age who have
had similar things happen to them as far as abusive insults and even death as
they followed their Lord’s examples. In
his commentary John MacArthur tells the story of a believer who was going to divorce
her husband without any biblical grounds.
She had a friend who confronted her on this issue and it did not go well
for her friend as she told her the truth about staying with her husband to get
things worked out. In the end her friend
after being verbally abused said “I love her, and it is with a heavy heart that
I realize the extent of her rejection of Christ. Painful as this has been, I thank God. For the first time in my life I know what it
is to be separate from the world.”
A casual study of the book of 1
Corinthians shows that that church had a problem with separating themselves
from the world. Paul writes to them the
following in 1 Cor. 4:9 “For, I think, God has
exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have
become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.” MacArthur adds “Paul drew the expression
become a spectacle’ from the practice of Roman generals to parade their
captives through the street of the city, making a spectacle of them as trophies
of war who were doomed to die once the general had used them to serve his proud
and arrogant purposes. That is the way
the world is inclined to treat those who are faithful to Christ.”
Paul
follows verse nine with a note of strong sarcasm as he enforces his point in verse
10 “We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak,
but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor.” There were many in the Corinthian church who
suffered none of the ridicule and conflict that the apostle suffered because
they prized their standing before the world more than their standing before the
Lord. As the world looked at them they
were prudent, strong and also distinguished because they were still so much
like what the world is.
I am sorry
that this SD is short, but I want to have some time to think about what I will
write next before writing it.
6/9/2020 9:07 AM
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