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 18th 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 18th 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
No comments:
Post a Comment