SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/4/2021 12:35 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “Valuation by God”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
10:29-31
Message of the verses: “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.”
Now as we look at these verses we can see that Jesus
is now assuring His apostles, and also everyone who belongs to Him that they are
very dear to the Heavenly Father.
MacArthur adds “With divine intimacy and intensity, the Lord loves and
cherishes those who belong to Him, and He will not allow any permanent harm
come to them.”
When
we look at the word “cent” that was the smallest coin in circulation in Jesus’
day and according to MacArthur it was worth 1/16th the value of a
denarius, which was the average amount a person earned in a day. So we see that one cent would buy two
sparrows, and these were common and relatively valueless in the New Testament
times, pretty much as they are today.
MacArthur adds “Roasted sparrows were often served as cheap finger food,
as a type of appetizer or hors d’oeuvre.”(The wrong kind of finger food for
me.)
So
Jesus is saying about these pretty much insignificant for any use, and yet
Jesus says that God cares for them, for after all He created them. When we look at the word “fall” it is
translated as “hop”—in which case a little sparrow cannot even hop on the ground
without the knowledge of God, and this shows me how great my God is to know
things like this.
Now
we move to the part that men like me don’t like to talk about and that is how
many hairs are on their heads. 140,000
is the number of hairs on a person’s head, but trying to keep count of how many
is on my head, humaningly speaking would be difficult, but not for the all
knowing God I serve. MacArthur writes “God,
who has all knowledge of every person, illustrates that omniscience by this mundane
and spiritually inconsequential bit of information pertaining to the number of
hairs on a person’s head. If He takes
notice of things as that, how much more is He concerned about spiritual matters
of far greater consequence?”
“Therefore do not fear; you are of more value
than many sparrows” (Matt. 10:31). In
this verse Jesus gives a third exhortation to not fear and another reason why we
should not fear: we “are of more value than may sparrows.” Now the obvious understatement illustrates
how very dear God’s children are to Him. In a similar promise Jesus said in Matthew
6:30 “"But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive
today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe
you? You of little faith!” MacArthur
writes something that is very obvious
and yet at times difficult for us to understand why we don’t follow this
advice: “How can we be anxious and
fearful, knowing of such care and protection by our Heavenly Father?” (Yes how can we be so anxious?)
The
following comes from John MacArthur’s sermon on this section, something that is
very worthwhile in reading and thinking about.
“My father told this story, and I’ve heard it
several times. I don’t think I’ve ever relayed it to you, but it is one of the
greatest stories of commitment come out of the Roman era. Listen carefully; I
close with this. Nero was emperor, and Nero wanted around him some of the
finest men of Roman stock. And so, he identified his own personal wrestlers
known as the emperor’s wrestlers. And he wanted them selected from the bravest
and strongest and most stalwart of all of the Roman athletes. They were like
the Olympic team of Rome. And they surrounded the Roman amphitheater; they
attended the arms of the emperor; they were around all the time. And they had a
famous statement that they said, according to historians, “We the wrestlers,
wrestling for thee, O Emperor, to win for thee the victory and from thee the
victor’s crown.” That was their motto. “We the wrestlers, wrestling for thee, O
Emperor, to win for thee the victory and from thee the victor’s crown.”
“On one occasion, the Roman
army, including these great wrestlers, was sent representing the Romans into
Gaul to put down some kind of rebellion. No soldiers were braver or more
capable than the wrestlers of the emperor. They were led by a centurion under
the name of Vespasian, who was also a brilliant man.
“But while they were in Gaul,
history tells us that many of them were converted to Jesus Christ. Word came
back to Nero that some of his personal wrestlers had become Christians, and he
sent a message to Vespasian that said, “If there be any among your soldiers who
cling to the faith of the Christian, they must die.”
“The decree was received in the
dead of winter in Gaul. The soldiers were encamped on the shore of a frozen
inland lake, and with a sinking heart, Vespasian, the centurion, read the
message. He called the soldiers together and asked the question, “Are any of
you those who have embraced the Christian faith?” And 40 of them stepped
forward and saluted him. He said, “I give you till sundown tomorrow to deny
that or you must die.”
“At sundown the next day, he
asked the same question. The same 40 men stepped forward. He said, “I cannot
allow you to die at the hands of your fellows. I strip you naked and banish you
to the middle of the lake and leave you to the elements.”
“And so, he stripped them bare
and sent them to the middle of the lake, in the dead of night, frozen in the
winter. Not long after they had arrived there, he heard this coming across the
ice. “Forty wrestlers, wrestling for Thee, O Christ, to win for Thee the
victory and from Thee the victor’s crown.” And he heard it again and again
through the night. And it grew fainter and fainter as the morning came.
“Finally, near morning, one
lonely figure approached the fire who could not stand the coldness with the
others and who did not hold to the faith in Christ that firmly that he should
die. And he came to warm himself and admitted that he had denied Christ. And
then the cry came faintly across the ice, “Thirty-nine wrestlers, wrestling for
Thee, O Christ, to win for Thee the victory and from Thee the victor’s crown.
“Vespasian, by this time, was
utterly overwhelmed. And God did something in his heart at that moment, and he
threw off his helmet and all of his armor, took off across the ice, shouting at
the top of his voice, “Forty wrestlers, wrestling for Thee, O Christ, to win
for Thee the victory and from thee the victor’s crown.” Let’s pray together.
Lord, You’ve called us to follow
You at any price, be Your servants, be Your subjects, Your pupils. Make us
faithful, first of all, to be marked by the hallmark of discipleship. We’re
like Christ, and we don’t fear the world. Lift us above that, that we may say
nothing less and nothing more than You have whispered in our ear through Your
precious Word, by Your Spirit. Make us bold and use us in a mighty way.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: As I am studying about fear, both in this
study of Matthew 10 and also in Hebrews 3-4 for my Sunday school lesson I have
to say that I truly admire and look up to those who have fearlessly given their
lives for the cause of Christ. They
cared more about permanent spiritual things than things that are temporal.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I trust the Lord to use me in whatever way
that He has planned for me to be used by Him, and to not waver at what I am to
do.
11/4/2021 1:26 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment