SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/26/2023 9:19 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “Intro to Matthew 20:20-28”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
20:20-28
Message of the verses: “20 Then the mother
of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a
request of Him. 21 And He said to her, "What do you wish?" She said
to Him, "Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one
on Your right and one on Your left." 22 But Jesus answered, "You do
not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to
drink?" They said to Him, "We are able." 23 He said to them,
"My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left,
this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by
My Father." 24 And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the
two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that
the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise
authority over them. 26 “It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to
become great among you shall be your servant, 27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall
be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to
serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.’”
In today’s SD we begin looking at the introduction
to these verses, and as I think about what we will be looking at and compare it
to what we have been looking at for over a week or so, that is the sufferings
of Christ, it seems to me this is very different. John MacArthur entitles this 22nd
chapter of his third commentary on Matthew “How to Be Great in the Kingdom.” As I compare this section to the last section
I see a great deal of difference. We go
from the sufferings of Jesus to the proud disciples, and it seems like they
never even heard of what Jesus just spoke of.
In our world today and I can only speak of what seems to be going on in our country today, we see a very proud and egotistical generation. I suppose that pride is something that all of us have to fight against if we desire to be a person who is following the Lord. Christianity and pride are something that does not go well together; in fact one could say that they are opposite. I want to think about how a person becomes a born-again believer, and so let us look at Ephesians 2:8-9 “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” The highlighted portion of verse nine shows us that no one can boast about their salvation, as it is “the gift of God, not as a result of works.”
In
my other blog I am going over the Spiritual Diaries that I wrote in 2017-2018
on the book of Acts, and in today’s SD I posted from the 15th
chapter of the book of Acts. That chapter
is about what is called “The Jerusalem Council.” I want to quote a small section from that SD
which comes from John MacArthur’s commentary on Acts.
“In his commentary
MacArthur speaks of different church councils that took place to settle
doctrinal issues, but he then writes:
“As
important as those councils were, the Jerusalem Council, described in this
chapter, was the first and
most significant of all. For it fixed the most momentous
doctrinal question of all: What must a person do to be
saved? The apostles and elders
successfully resisted the pressure to impose Jewish legalism and ritualism on
the Gentile believers. In other words, they forbade the
inclusion of works as a part of salvation. They affirmed for all time the truth that salvation is wholly by God’s
grace through faith alone, apart from any human efforts.”
I think that this quotation shows us that salvation comes
from the Lord, and no one can earn it by doing any works. I totally believe that the Bible teaches that
in eternity past that God choose people for salvation, and when man sinned God
sent His Son to provide salvation. The Holy
Spirit give a person an effectual call that they cannot say no to and once they
receive that call that person will realize that they are a sinner, realize that
on their own that they can do nothing to be saved and then they invite Jesus
Christ into their lives to save them. The
Spirit of God calls a person to salvation and then the person accepts that call. I cannot explain this, but I do believe
it. I bring this up because of the
subject of pride which is what we will be looking at as we go through Matthew
20:20-28.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: In my heart I
know that I have nothing to be proud about when it comes to salvation, and then
spiritual things that go along with my walk with the Lord. I know it is all from God, but I still seem
to be in a battle with pride from time to time and that is something that is
not good.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Winning the battle of the mind is something
that has to do with winning the battle over pride, and I want to win that
battle each and every day.
4/26/2023 9:55 AM
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