SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/13/2021 10:06 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “A Disciple Forsakes His Family”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
10:34-37
Message of the verses: “34 “Do not think that
I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 “For
I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; 36 “and ‘a man’s enemies will
be those of his own household.’ 37 “He who loves father or mother
more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me
is not worthy of Me.”
We want to begin to talk about marriage as we begin
this SD, and there are times when one of the spouses becomes a believer and the
other has not yet or perhaps will never become a believer. Paul writes the following to the Corinthians
in 1 Cor. 7:14-15 “14 For the
unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is
sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are
unclean, but now they are holy. 15 Yet
if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not
under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace.” MacArthur writes “If the sword of division
causes an unbeliever to sever a marriage, the separation is to be accepted for
the sake of the believer’s peace.”
I
want to briefly talk about what Jesus said very close to the time that He would
be crucified. Jesus said that He is the
one who gives peace, but that peace is not like the peace that the world
has. In the later chapters of John’s
gospel Jesus made these statements: John
14:27, and 16:33. When our Lord returns
to planet earth at His second coming to rule this world from the throne of
David in Jerusalem He will bring a perfect kingdom of peace on earth as this
will be established, ushered in and sovereignly sustained by the Prince of
peace. MacArthur adds “But for now; during the interval between His two
comings, the gospel that brings inner peace to those who believe will also be
the cause of their being misunderstood, maligned, and mistreated by those who
do not believe—including those nearest and dearest to us. Nowhere can feelings be hurt more deeply than
in the home.” I have to say that unfortunately
this is a true statement.
It
is because the intervention in history by the Son of God was to split and
fracture human relationships, that Jesus determined that His disciples should
be prepared for that experience. Now a
quote from Martin Luther that comes from MacArthur’s commentary: “If our gospel were received in peace, it
would not be the true gospel.” MacArthur
then adds “Luther’s preaching and teaching produced the greatest rift in the
history of religion, challenging the unbiblical teachings and practices of the
Catholic Church and shattering its millennium of complacency and political
power.”
It
is my desire to be able to finish this section in our next SD.
11/13/2021 10:26 AM
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