SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/29/2021 10:19 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-4 “Confirming Credentials”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 10:8
Message of the verse: “8 “Heal the
sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons; freely
you received, freely give.”
In
looking at being ready to do the things that these apostles of Jesus went out
to do has to be a gift from the Lord to be able to have the desire to do these
things. Our human nature does not cause
us to do things like this in the way that they can be done from the power of
the Holy Spirit, so it is best to pray that the Spirit of God give us the
desire to serve people in the way that these apostles did as seen in this
verse. I know that we cannot go out and
heal people or cleanse lepers or some of the other things that are talked about
in this verse but we can have the right attitude to go out and help people who
are in need.
John
MacArthur goes on in his commentary to talk about the second apostolic credential
which was the power to “raise the dead, and to “cast out demons.” Bringing dead people back to life and
conquering the unseen demonic kingdom of darkness is what they were empowered
to do. I have mentioned in earlier SD’s
that this kind of apostolic power was only done during the time when the
apostles were alive as they were what is called “sign gifts” that is gifts to
aid in beginning the church, and then after the NT was completed there is no
need to have such gifts even though some people believe that they are still available
at this time.
The
third confirming credential was obedience to Christ’s admonition, “freely you
received, freely give.” These gifts were
given from God and were not coming from the apostles so to speak, but through
God’s power and thus they should be used to glorify God. There was a person in the book of Acts who
tried to buy these gifts and Peter sternly warned him that his motives were
wrong and he was in need of repentance.
We
come to the point of freely doing the things that God has enabled a person to
do. A Pastor is worthy of receiving his
pay, but when he goes out to preach and teach others who are not of his church
that Pastor should not have a set fee for doing this and if he gets something
that is great, but if not then this should not bother him as he is simply using
the gifts that God has given him to use.
On
the other hand false prophets then and today are the ones who make it known
that they should be paid. This is a good
way to tell who one is dealing with.
We
conclude by again quoting from MacArthur’s commentary: “One qualification for elders is that they ‘shepherd
the flock of God…not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will
of God; and not for sordid gain’ (1 Peter 5:2; cf. Titus 1:7). They are to be ‘free from the love of money’
(1 Tim. 3:3). The pastor who puts a
price on his ministry prices himself out of God’s blessing.
“The
present application of this teaching should be that God’s ministers are to be
supported by God’s people, because ‘the worker is worthy of his support,’ as
Jesus gos on to say (Matt. 10:10; cf. Luke 10:7). But they are not to put their services out
for hire to the highest bidder or demand a given amount they feel they deserve
to be paid. It is their responsibility to
faithfully minister and the people’s responsibility to faithfully support them. This balance becomes clear in the next
element of our Lord’s teaching.” The
next thing we will be talking about comes from verses 9-10 of Matthew 10 “Confident
Faith.”
9/29/2021 10:45 AM
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