SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/23/2020 8:40 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The
Negative Consequence of mans response to the Law”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 5:19
Message of the verse: “19 "Whoever then annuls one of the least of
these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called
least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he
shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus
is teaching that the person who “teaches others” to disregard or to disobey any
part of God’s word is even a worse offender.
He not only annuls the law himself but he causes others to annul it
too. There is actually more as his
disobedience obviously is intentional.
Now it is possible to break God’s commandments by being ignorant of them
or even perhaps forgetting them. However
to teach others to break them has to be conscious and intentional. I remember a verse from the pen of the
apostle Paul as he begins his letter to the Romans, and towards the end of his
writing in the first chapter where he is talking about how men and also mankind
go through a series of downward steps he writes the following “and although
they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy
of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who
practice them” (Romans 1:32).
James
talks about wanting to be a teacher and cautions this idea by writing in James
3:1 “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as
such we will incur a stricter judgment.”
Now we know that every believer is accountable for himself but James is
saying that those who teach are also accountable for those whom they
teach. I have been teaching a Sunday
school class for a few years to some very spiritually minded adults, some with
high educations in the Bible, and I can say that it would never be my intention
to steer them wrong. We may have some
disagreements on certain things in the Word of God, but that is not teaching
wrong things like what Jesus is talking about.
I have studied the attributes of God and in learning about them, that is
my goal to not teach anything that would go against the attributes of God. Some have problems with the subject of
election, but I don’t and the reason that I don’t is because election does not
go against the attributes of God, as one of His attributes is that God is
sovereign. Isaiah writes the following
in Isaiah 9:15-16 “15 The head
is the elder and honorable man, And the prophet who teaches falsehood is the tail. 16 For those who
guide this people are leading them astray; And those who are guided by
them are brought to confusion.”
John
MacArthur writes “Jesus’
warning does not simply apply to official or formal teachers. Every person teaches. By our example we continually help those
around us either to be more obedient or more disobedient. We also teach by what we say. When we speak lovingly and respectfully of
God’s Word, we teach love and respect for it.
When we speak disparagingly or slightingly of God’s Word, we teach
disregard and disrespect for it. When we
ignore its demands, we give loud testimony to its unimportance to us.”
We
have been talking about Paul’s warning to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20 and I
want to go there again and look at 20:28-30 where Paul writes “28 “Be on guard
for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you
overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
29 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not
sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking
perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” This certainly is an example of what Jesus is
teaching here in Matthew 5:19.
John
MacArthur states that “The consequence of practicing or teaching disobedience
of any of God Word is to ‘be called least in the kingdom of heaven.’ I do not believe, as some commentators
suggest, that ‘called’ refers to what men say about us, but to what God says
about us. Our reputation among other
people, including other Christians, may or may not be adversely affected. Often other people do not know about our
disobedience, and often when they know they do not care. But God always knows, and He always cares. It is only what we are ‘called’ by God that
is of any ultimate importance. It should
be the concern of every believer who loves his Lord that He never have cause to
call him ‘the least.’”
MacArthur
goes on to write something near to my heart as he writes “Determining rank in ‘the
kingdom of heaven’ is entirely God’s prerogative (cf. Matt. 20:23), and Jesus
declares that He will hold those in lowest esteem who hold His Word in lowest
esteem. There is no impunity for those
who disobey, discredit, or belittle God’s law.”
One
of the things that I battled with and people still battle with is whether or
not a genuine born-again believer can lose his salvation. Jesus does not refer
to the loss of salvation and it is clear from the fact that, through offenders
will ‘be called least,’ they will still be ‘in the kingdom of heaven.’ However blessing, reward, fruitfulness, joy
and usefulness will all be sacrificed to the extent that we are
disobedient. John writes in 2 John 8 “Watch
yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may
receive a full reward.” John MacArthur
adds “It is possible to
lose in the second phase of our Christian lives, what we built up in the first.”
If
we disdain even the smallest part of God’s Word then we demonstrate disdain for
all of it. The reason is because its
parts are inseparable. James teaches the
following in James 2:10 “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in
one point, he has become guilty of all.”
I have to say that this is probably the first time that I looked at this
verse in the vein of believers.
MacArthur concludes “To ignore or reject the least of God’s law is
therefore to cheapen all of it and to become ‘the least’ in His kingdom. Such Christians receive their rank because of
their ill treatment of Scripture, not, as some imagine, because they may have
lesser gifts.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have highlighted a paragraph above and
that is what I want to be my spiritual meaning for my life today.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to understand more about the law of
God, so that I will live a better life for the cause of Christ.
7/23/2020 9:40 AM
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