SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/22/2021 10:01 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “Intro to Matthew 10:24-31”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
10:24-31
Message of the verses: “24 “A disciple is
not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. 25 “It is enough for the
disciple that he become as his teacher, and the slave as his master. If they
have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more the members of his
household! 26 “Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing covered that
will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. 27 “What I tell you in
the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your
ear, proclaim upon the housetops. 28 “And do not fear those who kill the body,
but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy
both soul and body in hell. 29 “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet
not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 “But the
very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 “Therefore do not fear; you are of
more value than many sparrows.”
John MacArthur entitles this chapter on Matthew
10:24-31 “The Hallmarks of Discipleship—Part 1,” and we will probably take a
few days just looking at the introduction, but I will probably not post all the
verses each day as we look at the introduction.
I listened to the sermon yesterday and at the end of the sermon
MacArthur gives a story that his father use to tell, as he was a pastor also. The story is powerful, yet heartbreaking, and
when the right time comes I will quote that story in one of the SD’s that will
go along with our verses above.
MacArthur
begins his introduction with the following “Jesus’ most crucial and definitive
teaching about discipleship, setting forth its true nature and its real
demands, is presented in the remainder of this chapter. The call of the Great Commission is the call
to ‘make disciples of all the nations’ (Matt. 28:19). Disciple-making is the central work of the
people of Christ’s church, the work of bringing men and women to a saving
relationship to Jesus Christ and of helping them grow in His knowledge and
likeness. It is what Paul calls ‘the
equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body
of Christ’ (Eph. 4:12).”
As
we go through these verses we will see that when Jesus called the twelve
disciples to Himself, that He carefully instructed them about what they would
be expected to do and also what they would endure. One has to think about this to get a grasp on
the enduring things that these men would eventually go through, and yet for
eleven of them it was their love for the Lord that they were willing to endure
what He would take them through, a love that is very powerful. Now as Jesus spoke of what they would endure
He would keep out the half-hearted people from following Him, as all they
wanted were the benefits of the Kingdom but not its commitments. Jesus elected to Himself only those who were
willing to enter the narrow gate and walk the narrow road.
MacArthur
writes “In Matthew 10:24-42 Jesus sets forth the essence of this Christian
dedication and consecration. The truths
He teaches here were obviously a great imp;ortance to Him, because He repeated
them frequently throughout His ministry.
Like every effective teacher, He understood the importance of
emphasizing and reemphasizing basic truths.
Each area of study has a core of information that is absolutely
foundational, and the good teacher continually goes back to that information
and reinforces it.” One more paragraph
from this important introduction and that will end our SD for today.
“As
an aside, it should be noted that redaction” (to edit something) “criticism
fails largely at the very point. Because
certain biblical analysis do not recognize the validity and importance of respective
teaching, they assume that the gospel writers pulled together various sayings
of Jesus and arbitrarily decided to insert them at different places in His
ministry. They maintain that we
therefore cannot be sure of what Jesus actually spoke on any given
occasion. But to accept the redaction
critic’s view is to reject the integrity of the gospel writers and therefore of
Scripture itself.” All I got to say
about this is that my God is fully capable of making sure what He wants to say
to us in the Scriptures will be said to us, for after all I worship a God who
knows how many hairs are on my head, and a God who actually cares so much for
birds, like sparrows that He knows not only when they die but keeps track of
all the times that they hop.
I want to praise the Lord for having the
best week of people looking at my Spiritual Diaries as well over 4,000 of them
have been viewed.
10/22/2021 11:02 AM
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