SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/14/2020 8:33 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “The Effect
On Our Worship of God”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
5:23-24
Message of the verses: “23 "Therefore if you are presenting your
offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something
against you, 24 leave your offering
there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then
come and present your offering.”
We
have been looking at Jesus’ teaching on how it affects our view on ourselves by
shattering all self-righteousness and then showing that we are guilty and thus
worthy of hell. Here He is teaching how
the sins of anger and hatred affect our relationship with God.
There
is no doubt that the scribes and the Pharisees did much worshipping directly
and indirectly, as they did this in the synagogues and also in the Temple. However as they offered sacrifices, and
offered prayers along with giving tithes and all sorts of religious activities
it was all heartless external ceremony.
Now
we come to a favorite word of mine that is found 904 times in the NASB, and
that is the word “therefore” as this word begins verse 23, and it refers back
to Jesus’ point that sin, just as righteousness, is first of all internal. As long as there is inward sin, the outward
acts of worship are not acceptable to God.
Jesus is continuing to focus on the particular sin of hatred against
someone else, which is a brother in the broadest sense. The point here is that reconciliation must
precede worship.
I
would have to say that most of the Jews did realize that sin caused a breach in
one’s relationship with God, and they also realized that the sacrifices and
offerings were intended to restore a right relationship with Him. Now we have talked about the rabbinical traditions
and how they did not go along with the Old Testament teachings in previous SD’s,
and since most of the Jews went along with their teachings, that meant that
they no longer gave much consideration to sins that could not be seen. Although the Jews would not have called such
things as hatred and lust good, nevertheless they did not think of them as true
sins. Not the case with the Old
Testament Law and with Jesus as He says that anger and hatred are every bit as
sinful as murder and adultery.
MacArthur
writes “The scene of ‘presenting your offering at the altar’ was a familiar one
to Jews. The Lord may have had in mind
here the sacrifice made on the Day of Atonement, when the worshiper brought an
animal sacrifice for his sins. When he
came to the court of the priests he would stop, because only priests were
allowed to enter the altar area. He
would then lay his hands on the animal to identify with it and present it to
the priest to offer on his behalf. ‘But
do not hand the sacrifice to the priest’ Jesus said, ‘if you ‘remember that
your brother has something against you.’
Unresolved conflict has priority and must be settled. ‘Leave your offering there before the altar,
and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present
your offering.’ Settle the breach
between you and your brother before you try to settle the breach between you
and God. Not to do that is to be
hypocrite by asking for forgiveness without repenting.”
Let
us now look at some verses to show that this has always been God’s
requirement. We will begin with Isaiah
1:11, and then 16-17 “11 "What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?"
Says the LORD. "I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat
of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats.” “16 "Wash yourselves, make yourselves
clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, 17 Learn
to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for
the widow.” I now want to look at Isaiah
58:5-7 “5 “Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble
himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed And for spreading out
sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day
to the LORD? 6 “Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of
wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free And
break every yoke? 7 “Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry And bring
the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; And not
to hide yourself from your own flesh?”
Now we look at Jeremiah 7:9-10 “9 "Will you steal, murder, and
commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after
other gods that you have not known, 10 then come and stand before Me in this house, which
is called by My name, and say, ’We are delivered!’-that you may do all these
abominations?” If the Jews would have
been reading their Old Testaments then they should have know that God demanded
they be willing to forsake hatred and be made right with each other before they
could be right with God.
It
is possible that the phrase “your brother has something against you” may refer
to anger or hatred on the brother’s part.
MacArthur adds “That is, even if we hold nothing against him, if he is
angry with or hates us, we should do everything in our power to be reconciled
to him. Obviously we cannot change
another person’s heart or attitude, but our desire and effort should be to
close the breach as much as is possible from our side and to hold no anger ourselves
even if the other person does.” I
suppose that this is a very difficult thing to do, and can’t be done without
the Holy Spirit prompting us and enabling us to do it.
It
makes no difference as to who is responsible for the break in the relationship,
and for the most part both parties are guilty of something, we should determine
to make reconciliation before we come before God to worship. A good practice would be to ask the Lord to
search your heart every morning to be sure that there is nothing between you
and the Lord. MacArthur writes “True
worship is not enhanced by better music, better prayers, better architecture,
or even better preaching. True worship
is enhanced by better relationships between those who come to worship. Worship may be improved by our staying away
from church until we have made things right with those with whom we know our
relationship is strained or broken.”
If
we have animosity or sin of any sort in our heart, then there cannot be integrity
in our worship. Psalm 66:18 was probably
written a thousand years before Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. It says “If I regard wickedness in my heart,
the Lord will not hear.” It was even
before this that Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings
and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and
to heed than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22).
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I would suppose that pride is the big deterrent
in not going to a brother and seek to get things right, and this includes spouses.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I trust the
Lord to make sure that things are right with those around me, and if they aren’t
to convict me and make things right.
8/14/2020 9:24 AM
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