SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/27/2022 11:38 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                       Focus:  Intro to Matt. 18:5-9

                                                                                                                  

Message of the verses:  “5 “And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea 7 "Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! 8 "And if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the eternal fire. 9 “And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into the fiery hell.”

 

            John MacArthur entitles this 12^th chapter of his third commentary on the book of Matthew “The Danger of Causing a Christian to Sin.”  We will begin to look at the introduction to these verses in our SD for today.

 

            I am a father to three children, two of them my wife and I raised, the other was raised by her mother and step-father.  As a parent, a Christian parent you want to make sure that your children are raised in a way that their lives will be going in the direction of following their Savior, and also as a parent you want to screen the influence that others have on them.  This becomes more challenging when they get older.  My children have children of their own right now and so it is their job to watch out for them in the way we tried to watch out for our children when they were living at our home. 

 

            MacArthur writes “Most parents are more grateful for what is done on behalf of and for the benefit of their children than for anything that could be done for themselves.  Likewise, most parents find it easier to forgive an offense against themselves than one against their child.  Parents are grateful to friends, teachers, and others who encourage, support and build up their children. They are incensed, however, By a young man who gets their daughter pregnant, a supposed friend who induces their son to try drugs, or an unbelieving professor who tries to lead their son or daughter away from their Christian faith. 

 

            11/27/2022 12:06 PM

 

PT-8 "Matt. 18:1-4

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/26/2022 8:06 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-8 “Matt. 18:1-4”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  Matt. 18:1-4

 

            Message of the verses:  1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

 

            A couple of things before I quote the story that I promised to do in yesterday’s SD.  First of all I put yesterday’s SD on my other blog and only found out this morning, and so I canceled it from the other blog and put in its right place this morning.  Second, as mentioned we will look at a story from MacArthur’s past, and when you think of when he wrote this that makes this story over forty years old.

 

            “A number of years ago I ministered to a group of black schools in the south.  At one rural elementary school, I presented a simple message about God’s love and the unique and lovely person of Jesus Christ, who especially loved children and died as a sacrifice for them on the cross to pay the punishment for all our sins.  At the end of the message I asked, ‘How many of you would like to have  Jesus live in your heart and forgive all your sin and desire to follow such a wonderful Lord and Savior and have Him take you to heaven some day?’  To my amazement, every one of the one hundred or so hands in the room immediately went up.  There was no skepticism, no doubting, no hesitation, no looking around to see how their friends would react.  When the invitation was asked for, the heart of each one of those children was ready to respond positively to the claims of Jesus Christ.  To be sure that they understood the commitment they were making, I asked, ‘Now how many of you are willing to let Jesus control your life and to obey whatever He says?’  Again, every hand went up.

 

            “God knew the intent of their hearts and what that simple affirmation meant as a step toward Him.  But what I saw was the illustration of saving faith.  None of those children felt adequate in himself or so perfect as not to recognize sin and the need of forgiveness.  None was reluctant to give his life to One who was so lovely and gracious and could provide all they would need in time and eternity.  Nor were they reluctant to do what He asked them in obedience.

 

            “That is the kind of unpretentious, nonhypocritical, humble, childlike faith Jesus was talking about.  That sort of response of His Son is the greatest in God’s sight.  The greatest in the kingdom of heaven is the one who is humble, unaffected, genuinely sincere, undemanding, nonself-centered, receptive in whatever God offers, and eagerly obedient to whatever He commands.

 

            “The popular ‘gospels’ that propagate self-fulfillment and personal success are the antithesis of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  They are a mockery of New Testament Christianity and strike at the heart of salvation and of Christian living.  The Lord made no provision for the elevation of self, but rather declared unequivocally that the person who, on his own terms, ‘has found his life shall lose it’ (Matt. 10:39).  The way of self is the way of disqualification from the kingdom.  Those who glorify self not only will not be great in the kingdom but will never enter it.

 

            “James presents an invitation to salvation that unarguably reiterates what our Lord demands in the passage of Matthew: 

 

6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE." 7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

 

            I think back on the year 2003 when we got some new neighbors who moved in next to us and they had three children, Ashley, Bridget, and Collin.  In the summer of the following year I presented the gospel to the mother, Beth, and both she and her mother who lived not far from us received the Lord.  Eventually all the family with the exception of her husband made professions of faith.  Later on Beth’s husband also received salvation.  Collin was the youngest and when he went to school, a catholic school, he shared Christ with his teacher and his classmates and he said that they all said the prayer, the prayer of salvation.  All the kids are grown up and whether or not they still walk with the Lord I am not sure.  Beth’s mom and her sister have gone to be with the Lord as both had cancer.  The story of Collin and his classmates is similar to that of John MacArthur’s story.  All I can say is that was a great time of harvest for the  kingdom of God that He allowed me to be a part of and I am thankful for the memories of it as they will always be with me, and hopefully we will all get together after the Lord calls His Church home at the Rapture.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life:  Humility is something that when you think you have it then you don’t.  Humility can be seen in all its greatness in the life of Jesus Christ as Paul writes about in Philippians 2:5-11. 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to get me through the different trials that I am going through at this time, difficult trials.

 

11/26/2022 8:46 AM  

  

More on Conversion (Matt. 18:3-4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/25/2022 9:12 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  “More on Conversion”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 18:3-4

 

            Message of the verses:  “3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

 

            The purpose of this section and maybe even the chapter is to show that to be converted requires people to become like children, as Jesus explained.  A child is simple, dependent, helpless, unaffected, unpretentious, unambitious writes John MacArthur.  Children are not sinless or naturally unselfish, and they display their fallen nature from the earliest age.  However they are nevertheless naïve and unassuming, trusting of others and without ambition for splendor and greatness.  The problem is it depends on where a child is raised and how much responsibility they have put on them at an early age.  I remember when my 18 month old son was in the hospital waiting on having surgery and in the room that we were waiting was a little girl about the same age as our son.  This little girl had a very wet dipper, (this was the time before Pampers were that popular), and it did not bother her because she had been neglected so much that she just go use to it.  I wonder what ever happened to that girl as she was going to have open-heart surgery like our son had.  By the way my wife took care of her wet dipper so the little girl would be more comfortable.

 

            MacArthur writes “It’s the person who humbles himself as this child,’ Jesus declared, ‘who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’’  The verb behind humbles is tapeinoo which has the ligeral meaning of making low.  In God’s eyes, the one who lowers himself is the one who is elevated; the one who genuinely considers himself to be the least is the one God considers to be the greatest.  ‘The greatest among you shall be your servant,’ Jesus told the self-righteous Pharisees.  ‘And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted’ (Matt. 23:11-12).  The person who is not willing to humble himself as Jesus ‘humbled Himself’ (Phil 2:8) will have no place in Jesus’ kingdom. From self-righteous Jews who exalted themselves so highly as to think God was pleased with them for their own goodness, this was a shattering blow.”

 

            The following is a quotation from John MacArthur’s commentary as he quotes “The great Lutheran commentator R. C. H. Lenski” and what he said about Jesus clear statement that you rise higher in His kingdom as you go lower.  “He who thinks of making no claims shall have all that others claim and by claiming cannot obtain…Only an empty vessel can God fill with his gifts.  And the emptier we are of anything that is due to ourselves, the more can God pour into these vessels his eternal riches, honors, and glories’ (The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel [Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1943], 683).’”

 

            A little child will make no claims of worthiness or greatness, as he simply submits to the care of his parents and others who love him, relying on them for all that he needs.  He knows he cannot meet his own needs and has no resources to stay alive.  So this is the kind of humble submissiveness that results in greatness in God’s eyes and in His kingdom.

 

            In his commentary John MacArthur tells a story of what he did earlier in his life, and I will share that story with you in our next SD.

 

11/25/2022 10:16 AM

 

 

More on Elements of Salvation (Matt. 18:3-4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/24/2022 11:28 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  “More on Elements of Salvation”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 18:3-4

 

            Message of the verses:  “3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

 

            Once the Lord took the young child and set him in His lap and then held him up before His disciples He then gathered up all those elements of salvation:  “Truly I say to You, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

 

            John MacArthur writes “The phrase are converted translates an aorist passive of strepho, which elsewhere in the New Testament is always translated with an idea of ‘turning’ or turning around.’  It means to make an about face and go in the opposite direction.  Peter used a form of the term twice in his message shortly after Pentecost, as he called his hearers to ‘repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away’ and declared of Jesus that ‘God raised up His Servant, and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways’ (Acts 3:19, 26).  The term is used repeatedly in the book of Acts to speak of conversion (11:21; 15:19; 26:18, 20).  Paul used the word when speaking of the Thessalonian believers, who had turned ‘to God from idols to serve a living and true God’ (1 Thess. 1:9).”

 

            There are two sides to this “coin” conversion and repentance as conversion is the other half of repentance.  Repentance is being sorry for sin and turning away from it; conversion is the expression of will that fully turns from sin to the Lord.  As we look at Psalm 51:13, the Psalm that David wrote after his sin with Bathsheba, we will see that verse 13 alludes to both sides of this “coin.”  “Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You” (Ps. 51:13).  John MacArthur writes, and we will conclude this short SD with these words, but before that I wish all who are reading this a Happy Thanksgiving.”  “Jesus’ use here of the passive voice indicates that the disciples could not be converted from sin to righteousness by their own efforts but needed someone else to turn them around.  Although the response of a person’s will is required, only God had the power to convert.”  Remember when I became a believer I totally know that this is a true statement.

 

11/24/2022 11:48 AM

 

 

 

3rd Component of Faith (Matt. 18:1-4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/23/2022 9:02 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  “Third Component of Faith”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 18:1-4

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 It was at this time that the disciples came to Jesus with the question, "Who is really greatest in the kingdom of Heaven?" 2 Jesus called a little child to his side and set him on his feet in the middle of them all. 3 “Believe me," he said, "unless you change your whole outlook and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven. 4 It is the man who can be as humble as this little child who is greatest in the kingdom of Heaven” (Philips).

 

            It is the third component of faith that allows us to enter into the kingdom is meekness, and this is closely related to the sense of having nothing of value to offer to God.  It is because of his sense of personal unworthiness, the humble and meek person neither claims nor demands anything of glory for himself, and this is difficult to do because of still having the flesh to contend with.  This believer is committed to fight for God’s causes, not his own.

 

            In Matthew 7:21 we read “"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.”  We can see from this verse that the one who enters God’s kingdom also will have a desire and also a capcity to be obedient.  MacArthur writes “Entering God’s kingdom is more than simply expressing the wish to be in it and having the conviction that Jesus is its Lord.  The sovereign, saving God will produce in the soul a personal submission to Jesus as Lord and a new heart longing to obey His commands.  The person who is unwilling to leave the things of the world for the things of the Lord has no genuine desire for salvation (8:19-22).  Coming into the kingdom assumes by the very term that one comes under the rule of the Lord of that kingdom.”

 

            The new birth makes people followers of Jesus.  “Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’” Now we know that this person did not come to salvation through the Lord, but what we can see from this is that when Jesus called people to follow Him, He was calling them to salvation, which is what He was doing “rich young ruler.”  The ones who do this Jesus said in Matt. 10:32-33 “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. 33 "But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.”  We can see that there is a choice, a choice that is the greatest choice anyone will ever make.

 

            We can see from Matthew 10:38-39 that the one who enters God’s kingdom is aware of his need to be self-denying:  “38 "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 "He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”  This verse came up in my preparation for a lesson in Hebrews and what I learned from it was that a believer must be willing to take up his cross and follow the Lord, and this does not mean that persecution will come about in the believer’s life, but that he is willing to accept whatever the Lord has planned for him in his life, including persecution.

            We want to move on now and talk about that the faith that saves is the component of persistence, which is taught in Matthew’s gospel.  There is a wonderful story that we have gone over in the 15^th chapter Matthew which illustrates this component of persistence.  It is the story of the Canaanite woman who had a demon possessed daughter.  She came to the Lord who was staying in a Canaanite village in order to get some R & R with His disciples and the woman knew about Him and His ability to heal and cast out demons.  She would not let Him alone until He healed this woman’s little girl.

 

            John MacArthur writes “All of these components of the faith that God grants for salvation can be summed up in the first lesson Jesus teaches—the lesson of humility.

 

            “It is impossible to miss the fact that this teaching is directed at the disciples and implies they needed to hear and accept it.  And from the argument among them that prompted this lesson from Jesus, it is obvious they were not living according to His standard of humility.  They were manifesting pride and self-seeking.  It may be that some of them were not yet in the kingdom (certainly this invitation was pertinent to the power-hungry, money-hungry Judas), and those who were in the kingdom had allowed their fallen flesh to dominate their attitudes.  This makes the important statement that even though our hearts are in line with these principles of genuine saving faith at the time God graciously grants it to us, we fall often and easily to the power of sin that is still in us.”

 

            Lord willing in our next SD we will pick up the story of Jesus picking up the young child in order to illustrate what we have been learning so far in these four verses.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  “This makes the important statement that even though our hearts are in line with these principles of genuine saving faith at the time God graciously grants it to us, we fall often and easily to the power of sin that is still in us.”

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to trust the Lord to, through His Holy Spirit, to convict me of sin in my life so that I can confess it to the Lord and ask for His forgiveness.

 

11/23/2022 9:43 AM

 

 

 

More from Matt. 18:1-4

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/22/2022 8:53 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  “More From Matt. 18:1-4

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 18:1-4

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

 

            We want to begin by talking about the first component that is presented for entering the kingdom of God, and that would be repentance.  John the Baptist was the first person teaching about this in the period between the Old and New Testament as he said “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” as seen in Matthew 3:2.  Now let us look at what the Lord started of His ministry with in Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”  This first step for people to enter the kingdom is, as mentioned repent, as a person first of all has to realize that they are a sinner, that they are born into sin, and that they need to agree with God that this is true.  I have said before that when witnessing to a person in order for them to become a believer that you first have to show to them that they are lost before you can tell them how to be saved.  John MacArthur writes “This repentance is not a human work but a divine gift that only God can grant (2 Tim. 2:25).”  “With gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.”

 

            We now move to the second component of faith that grants entrance to the kingdom is the recognition of spiritual bankruptcy.  This component is too a work of God, not man, because it is the Holy Spirit who convicts of sin as seen in John 16:8-11 “8 "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”  In the Beatitudes, they began with a call to humility, expressed there as poverty of spirit as seen in Matthew 5:3 “"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  For a person to desire to enter the kingdom they genuinely need to see themselves as utterly unworthy and undeserving.  Their awareness of their sin brings guilt and frustration over their inadequacy to remove it.  This person knows that they cannot themselves cleanse their sin and that they have nothing to offer God that could merit forgiveness for it.  As we look at Matthew 5:3 we see the term “poor in spirit,” and the Greek term that is behind that refers to a beggar who has absolutely no resources of his own.  Because the repentant and bankrupt person is deeply aware of his sin, he will mourn over it as seen in 5:4; because he has no righteousness of his own, this person will hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness, as seen in verse 6; and because he cannot himself cleanse his sin, he then longs for purity of heart as seen in verse 8, and this can only be provided by God.  Let us look at these verses we have been talking about here in Matthew chapter five.  “3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

 

            Lord willing we will take a look at the third component in our next SD.

 

11/22/2022 9:28 AM

 

           

Continue Looking at Matthew 18:1-4

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/21/2022 9:58 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  “Continue Looking at Matt. 18:1-4”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 18:1-4

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3  and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

 

            I said that we would talk about the child that Jesus called to himself, and the word in the Greek is Paidion and this identifies a very young child, sometimes even an infant.  I think that it is fair to say that this child must have been old enough to be able to run to Jesus after He called the child to Himself.  We have talked earlier that this gathering may have taken place at Peter’s house as that is where we think that Jesus stayed while ministering at Capernaum. If that were the case the child may have belonged to Peter’s family and already been well known to Jesus.  I guess this all makes sense but not sure how factual it is.  So in any case, he readily responded and allowed himself to be taken up into Jesus’ arms as seen in Mark 9:36.  We know that Jesus loved children, and that children loved Him.  So Jesus was sitting before the disciples holding this small child in His arms, and so this was a beautiful setting in which to teach them profound lessons about the childlikeness of believers.

 

            In our introduction to this section we mentioned that this entire chapter was lessons for the disciples and that would make them lessons for us also.  In verse three we see the essence of the first lesson: "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.”  MacArthur adds “That is an absolute, and far-reaching requirement of ultimate importance.  Entrance into Christ’s kingdom demands childlikeness.  There is no other way to receive the grace of salvation than as a child.

 

            The kingdom of heaven, a phrase Matthew uses some thirty-two times is synonymous with the kingdom of God.  It has become common for Jews at the end of the Old Testament era, and especially during the interestamental period, to substitute out of reverence the word heaven for the Hebrew tetragrammaton (YHWH), God’s covenant name (often rendered as Yahweh, or Jehovah).  Used in that way, heaven was simply another way of saying God.  Both phrases refer to the rule of God, kingdom of heaven emphasizing the sphere and character of His rule, and kingdom of God emphatically pointing to the ruler Himself.  God rules His kingdom with heavenly principles and heavenly blessings and in heavenly power, majesty, and glory.  Entering the kingdom means coming under the sovereign rule of God.”

 

            I have a couple of more paragraphs to quote from MacArthur’s commentary, paragraphs that are very important for us all to understand.  Perhaps you may already understand what will be written, but if that is the case it is a good reminder.

 

            “Our Lord is talking directly about entering God’s kingdom by faith, through salvation that will result in future millennial blessing and eternal glory.  The phrase ‘enter the kingdom of heaven’ is used three times in the book of Matthew (see also 7:21; 19:23-24) and in each case refers to personal salvation.  It is the same experience as entering into life (18:8) and entering into the joy of the Lord (25:21).

 

            “The fact that a person must enter the kingdom assumes he is born outside of it under the rule of Satan and that he is not naturally a heavenly citizen under the rule of God.  The purpose of the gospel is to show men how they may enter the kingdom and become its citizens, moving from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son (Col. 1:13).  It is God’s desire to have men come into His kingdom and He does not wish ‘for any to perish but for all to come to repentance’ (2 Pet.3:9).  The purpose of Christ’s ministry and the ministries of John the Baptist and the apostles was to call people to the kingdom.  That is still the supreme task of the church.

 

            “The central focus of Matthew’s gospel is to draw men and women into the kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ, and that is doubtlessly one of the reasons the Holy Spirit placed this book at the beginning of the New Testament.  Throughout his gospel, Matthew carefully and systematically presents the components of genuine belief.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is good to go over exactly what happened to me when I became a born again believer in Jesus Christ almost 49 years ago.  I certainly did not realize all that happened to me then and so it is good to go over this in my SD for today.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I do have faith that the Lord is suing these Spiritual Diaries that go onto my two blogs each day and are read by somewhere around 100 persons per day in many different countries.  I believe that the Lord called me to write these Spiritual Diaries each day way back in eternity past as this is a part of what Ephesians 2:10 speaks of, and have spoken to my heart on many occasions.

 

11/21/2022 10:40 AM

 

           

 

 

PT-2 "Entering as a Child" Matt. 18:1-4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/20/2022 8:03 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  PT-2 “Entering as a Child”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 18:1-4

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

 

            The disciples of Jesus had heard that He was speaking about humility, but they have not accepted it, and they also had heard but not accepted what He had been teaching about the kingdom.  This is a similar reaction to what Isaiah was speaking about in Isaiah 6:9 “He (God) said, "Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’”  The disciples were listing but not perceiving, and looking but not understanding. 

 

            Jesus had spoken to them three times about His impending death and resurrection, but they just did not want to hear about it.  I know the feeling as there have been three times in my Christian life when the pastor that I was sitting under left, two times because he was retiring, and this last time because he was taking a different job, actually becoming the president of a Mission Agency.  I am not sure what the Lord is teaching me, but I do know that I miss our former Pastor very much.  I had lunch with him last Friday and told him that I missed having him leading our church.

 

            Now as for the disciples several months after this lesion in Capernaum, their selfish ambition was still very evident.  Probably at her son’s instigation, the mother of James and John asked Jesus, “Command that in You kingdom these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left” (Matt. 20:20-21).  We see in verse 24 that the other disciples were indignant.

 

            I do believe that this kind of behavior was hurtful to the Lord Jesus, as it did not stop but even on the last day of His life, before He was crucified that the disciples were still arguing about their own greatness (Luke 22:24).  Their insensitivity and selfishness is thus demonstrated as all the more sinful because it occurred at times when Jesus was speaking of His own suffering and death.

 

            Perhaps the other disciples were jealous of Peter, the one who walked on the water, the one who went on the mountain with Him along with John, and then the one whom Jesus had to discipline telling him to “get behind me Satan.”  Perhaps the other disciples were thinking that after that they had a chance to become Jesus number one disciple.  All I can say that as you look at the book of Acts after the Holy Spirit came upon them that things finally did change.

 

            John MacArthur writes “The teaching here is desperately needed in the church today, where selfish ambition is widespread and obligation to perform our duty to fellow children of God is routinely ignored.

            “Like all of us, the disciples needed repeated lesions in humility, and here Jesus used a child as His illustration.  And He called a child to Himself and set him before them.”

 

            We will look more about who this child was, the age mostly in our next SD.

 

11/20/2022 8:30 AM

Entering as a Child (Matt. 18:1-4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/19/2022 9:16 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  “Entering as a Child”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 18:1-4

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

 

            I think that it is good for us to understand what the words “at that time” means, and it is believed that this speaks of the time when Jesus had told Peter to go and catch the golden fish to pay for their taxes at the end of chapter seventeen.  Not sure if Peter had returned when Jesus begins preaching this sermon, but I have to think that Peter was there along with the disciples came to Jesus which well could have been right in Peter’s house.

 

            John MacArthur writes “The two scenes are closely connected in time and in thought.  On the same day the disciples received the lesson on being citizens of the world they were given a series of lessons on the issues related to being children of God.”

 

            The Lord’s message was the answering of a question that the disciples asked found in Mark and Luke’s gospels, along with Matthews “"Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"  This question was an argument that happened between the disciples, (Luke 9:46; cf. Mark 9:34).  Although because of our Lords omniscience He knew what was going on He asked them “What were you discussing on the way?”  They were so ashamed of their attitude and conversation that “they kept silent.”

 

            Being embarrassed shows that they knew that what they had been doing was inconsistent with what their Master had been teaching on humility.  The problem was not they did not know about humility, but they were not applying it to their lives at this time.  The disciples were looking forward to serving in the kingdom, but the truth is that they had the cart before the horse and would learn much about when the kingdom would be coming, and then what their role would be in it later on after the resurrection of Jesus Christ and Him going back to heaven.  Jesus knew all about this but did not tell them about it at this time for He knew that they would not be able to handle it.

 

            Jesus had told them three times that He was going to die, but they were not willing to think about this, and would not realize what was going to happen to Him until after it happened to Him, and then they would remember Him speaking this to them about it.

 

            11/19/2022 9:35 AM

Intro to "Entering the Kingdom" (Matt. 18:1-4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/18/2022 8:38 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                Focus:  PT-1 “Intro to ‘Entering the Kingdom’”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 18:1-4

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

 

            As we begin to look at chapter eighteen of Matthew’s gospel we see that in order to enter the kingdom of God we have to be like children.  The Bible has much to say about true believers being children, as we are called children of promise, children of the day, children of light, beloved children, dear children, and children of God.

 

            This is something that we as believers can rejoice in as this is a wonderful truth that through Christ, we have become God’s own children, as we were adopted by His grace.  Now because of the we bare the image of God’s family and also we are joint heirs with Jesus Christ of everything that God possesses.  As children of God we enjoy God’s love, care, protection, power, and other resources in abundance for all eternity.  Let that that sink into your mind and then praise the Lord for these things that He has given us through Jesus Christ because of what He has done for us.

 

            John MacArthur writes “But there is another side of our being children, and in Scripture believers are also referred to as children in the sense that we are incomplete, weak, dependent, undeveloped, unskilled, vulnerable, and immature.”  You get no argument from me about this quotation.

 

            Let me say as we continue to look at these first four verses in Matthew chapter eighteen, and that is that in the commentaries that John MacArthur writes he usually divides up the chapter by first of all giving an introduction and then after that there are different major points that are looked at as he explains the different sections of the verses that he is writing about.  Well that is not the case with this first chapter of his commentary on the 18^th chapter of Matthew, so as usual we will follow his commentary, but it will be a bit different as we move through these four verses.

 

            The eighteenth chapter of Matthew focuses on those immature, unperfected, childlike qualities that believers demonstrate as they mutually develop into conformity to the fullness of the statue of Jesus Christ.  I have to say that I am looking forward to this because you really can’t fix a problem unless you know that you have one, and what the problem is that you need to fix.

 

            MacArthur writes:  “This chapter is a single discourse or sermon by our Lord on the specific theme of the childlikeness of the believer, speaking directly to the reality that we are spiritual children with all the weaknesses that childhood implies.  It is also essential to see that the chapter teaches the church, as a group of spiritually unperfected children, how to get along with each other.  It is no exaggeration to say that this is the single greatest discourse our Lord ever gave on life among the redeemed people in His church.  Sadly, because it has been largely misinterpreted, its profound riches often have been lost.  We shall attempt to recover these truths that are so vital, powerful, and needed by the church in every age and place.

 

            “The first lesson in this masterful sermon is that everyone who enters the kingdom does so as a child (vv. 1-4).  Jesus then teaches that all of us in the kingdom must be treated as children (vv. 5-9), cared for as children (vv. 10-14), disciplined as children (vv. 15-20),  and forgiven as children (vv.  21-35).”

 

            With that said we have the whole outline for the 18^th chapter of Matthew that we will be looking at for as long as it takes to get through it.  I am never in a hurry when it comes to the study of the Bible and that is why I enjoy John MacArthur’s sermons and commentaries which I have never found to be an airplane view of any Scripture passage.  I listen to his sermons as I take my walks each day, the sermons in which he then uses to put into his commentaries, and so I get a larger dose of the truths from the Word of God.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I suppose that when you are growing up that it is your desire to become an adult and not be a child anymore, but the truth is that when I became a believer in Jesus Christ that I found out that I am a child of God, and a child who needs to be led and taught by the Spirit of God as I read and study the Word of God each day.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I am going to lunch with my former Pastor who is now the president of Baptist Mid Missions, and I am looking forward to this time together as we do this at least once a year.  I feel very free to talk to him about things that are going on in my life as he always gives me good advice.  I also must say that I miss him as my Pastor very much and am happy that he did not have to move in order to take this position and still attends our church where I see him from time to time.

 

11/18/2022 9:19 AM

PT-4 "The Provision" (Matt. 17:27b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/17/2022 10:14 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  PT-4 “The Provision Delivered”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 17:27b

 

            Message of the verse:  “go to the sea, and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a stater.  Take that and give it to them for you and Me.”

 

            On my other blog I have been posting the Spiritual Diaries I did earlier when I studied the book of Acts and I just finished a little while ago things from the forth chapter which tells when Peter and John were in front of the Jewish officials.  They were told not to teach in Jesus’ name any more and Peter responded “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20).  Then in the fifth chapter we read something similar as the disciples were back in front of the Jewish leaders again:  “27 When they had brought them, they stood them before the Council. The high priest questioned them, 28 saying, "We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us." 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:27-29).  The truth is that in the early church many believers lost their freedom, their possessions, and even their lives because they refused to offer incense to Caesar.  They would honor him as a human leader, but they would not worship him as a god. 

 

            John MacArthur writes the following and with the events that are happen in our country I think that this is very timely:  “The Christian’s first obligation is to obey God, and when His law is directly opposed by men’s laws, God’s law must prevail.  The Christian, for example, has no right to lie, steal, commit murder, or worship a false god, no matter what the dictates of a human government might be and no matter what the consequences for disobedience might be.

 

            “Nor is it that a Christian has no right to help change unjust laws and governments when he has opportunity to do so.  But in a democratic society especially, the major injustices and evils within it are primarily the result of poor government or poor laws, bad as those might be.  When the people have no respect for law; God’s or men’s, and when their standards and motives revolve around their own selfish interests, no government can be stable or provide justice and order.  Even the most godly and moral leaders cannot infuse morality into an immoral society.  It is futile to work at changing evil laws and removing evil leaders without changing evil hearts of those whom the laws try to control and the leaders try to rule.”

 

            The New Testament writers have even wrote about how slaves are to be submissive to their owners.  Paul said that if a slave has the opportunity to get out from under the ownership of their owners that they should do so, but if not they are to submit to their owners.  I have said before that the passage in Philippians two, which speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ tells us that He was a slave, and that He submitted to the will of His Father in coming to earth, and then paying the price for our salvation, to those who will accept it.  5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” 

 

            The following is the definition of “bond servant”  “doulos doo’-los  

1) a slave, bondman, man of servile condition

1a) a slave

1b) metaph., one who gives himself up to another’s will, those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing his cause among men

1c) devoted to another to the disregard of one’s own interests

2) a servant, attendant

 

            MacArthur concludes “The Christian’s being a citizen of God’s kingdom does not exempt him from responsibility to human kingdoms.  In fact his being a citizen of God’s kingdom gives him a special obligation to human kingdoms, because those, too, belong to God and are ordained by Him.

 

            “By being a good citizen the believer shows love for his fellow men, even those who are lost and unjust.  By being a good citizen he shoes respect for God-ordained human government, even when its leaders are ungodly, corrupt, and oppressive.  By being a good citizen he shows that he loves God as well as his country and his fellow citizens.  In light of such testimony the on looking world is compelled to consider the power that makes such love possible.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The point of all of this is love and the example is seen in the passage from Philippians chapter two which I quoted.  Love has to come from within a person fueled by the Holy Spirit.  I certainly have to give myself over to God in order for the Holy Spirit to produce that kind of love needed in the ungodly society that we are living in at this present time.

 

My Steps of Faith For Today:  I trust that I will do a better job in loving others as Christ loves me.

 

11/17/2022 11:12 AM