SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/23/2020 10:34 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “Property”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 5:42
Message of the verse: “42 “Give to him
who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.”
Today
we are looking at the fourth right we are to surrender and that is of our
property. Possessiveness and I know that
this will hurt, is another characteristic of fallen human nature. One of the things that we certainly dislike
is giving up, even temporarily, the things that belong to us. I once heard of a man who came to visit our
country and he was with the former Larry Burkett and every time that someone
gave this poor man something he would give it away, including suits that were
given to him. I think he understood this
section from Matthew 5:42. As believers
we are stewards of the things that God has entrusted us with, and therefore if
it is time to give them up then we are to do it. It is easier to give up things from our
wealth, but not from things that we believe we need. In the end, whether at the Rapture or in
Christian death we will give up everything, however we can send things ahead. “By right it is ours to use or dispose of as
we see fit.
“But
that right, too, should be placed on the altar of obedience to Christ if
required. When someone asks to ‘borrow’
something from us, we should ‘not turn away from him.’ In other words, we should give him what he
wants. The implication is that the
person who asks has a genuine need. We
are not required to respond to every foolish, selfish request made of us. Sometimes to give a person what he wants but
does not need is a disservice, doing him more harm than good.”
Another
part of this principle is that we should give to the person as soon as we know
that there is a need even if they do not ask.
My wife and I support from time to time a wonderful man from Bangladesh
who has several ministries. He has had
to give us some of those ministries because of the Covid 19 problem and there
were many of his friend who had not job and therefore had no money to buy food. We were not asked but gave to him money so
that he could help feed those who lost their jobs. We truly were led by the Spirit of God to do
this and were grateful to help out as it is more blessed to give than receive.
MacArthur
writes “Jesus does not undercut civil justice, which belongs in the
courtroom. He undercuts personal
selfishness (characteristic of the false religionists listening to Him on the
mountain), which belongs nowhere and especially not in the hearts of His
kingdom people.”
So
how does this all work that we are able to give things to people who are in
need? The answer is to die to self. “To fight for one’s rights is to prove that
self is still on the throne of the heart.
The believer who is faithful to Christ lives for Him and, if necessary,
dies for Him (Rom. 14:8). It is
impossible to live for self and for Christ at the same time.”
We
now have a quote from a very famous person who lived a while back in England,
George Mueller wrote: “There was a day
when I died, utterly died to George Mueller and his opinions, his preferences,
and his tastes and his will. I died to
the world, to its approval and its censure.
I died to the approval of the blame of even my brethren and friends. And since then I have studied only to show
myself approved to God.”
MacArthur
concludes this section and this chapter with the following: “That is the spirit Jesus teaches in this
passage, a spirit all men fail to possess apart from saving grace. It is the spirit Abraham manifested when he
gave the best land to his nephew Lot. It
is the spirit of Joseph when he embraced and kissed the brothers who had so
terribly wronged him. It is the spirit
that would not let David take advantage of the opportunity to take the life of
Saul, who was then seeking to take David’s life. It is the spirit that led Elisha to feed the
enemy Assyrian army. It is the spirit
that led Stephen to pray for those who were stoning him to death. It is the spirit of every believer who, by
the Holy Spirit’s power, seeks to be perfect even as our heavenly Father is
perfect (v. 48).
Lord
willing tomorrow we begin the study of our last section in this wonderful 5th
chapter of Matthew. It has been a very
long study, as I do not believe that I have ever taken so long in a chapter as
this one, but well worth it. I look
forward to finishing this chapter in the next few days and move onto chapter
six.
9/23/2020 11:03 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment