Tuesday, June 05,
2012, 6:02 a.m. – The Lord woke me this morning with this song playing in
my mind and heart:
The Heart of Man
/ An Original Work / April 4, 2012
Based off Matt. 15:1-20; Mk. 7:1-23
Listen to me ev’ryone
and
Understand this
teaching of Christ:
Why do you break the
commands
Of God for the sake of
tradition?
When you follow the
ways of man,
And don’t obey the
words of Christ,
You nullify the words
of God,
And you hold to the
ways of man.
What comes out of a
man’s mouth is
What makes him unclean
and dirty.
The things that come
out of the mouth
Come from the heart,
from within him.
The heart of man is so
sinful;
From his nature, out
comes evil:
Lying, cursing, greed
and malice,
Lust and lewdness,
deceit, slander.
Jesus calls us to obey
him;
Turn from our sins;
follow His ways.
Yet, his people honor
him with their lips,
but their hearts not
with Him.
Their worship of God
is in vain.
Their teachings are
rules taught by man.
Jesus calls us; gently
leads us
To return and follow
His truth.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Matthew 26:17-35 (NIV 1984):
On the first day of
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do
you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”
He replied, “Go into
the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is
near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’”
So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.
When evening came,
Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. And while they were eating,
he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.”
They were very sad and
began to say to him one after the other, “Surely not I, Lord?”
Jesus replied, “The
one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of
Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays
the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
Then Judas, the one
who would betray him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?”
Jesus answered, “Yes,
it is you.”
While they were
eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his
disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”
Then he took the cup,
gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is
my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of
sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until
that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
When they had sung a
hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Then Jesus told them,
“This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:
“‘I will strike the
shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
But after I have
risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
Peter replied, “Even
if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”
“I tell you the
truth,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will
disown me three times.”
But Peter declared,
“Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other
disciples said the same.
My Understanding: When Jesus and his disciples were together
to celebrate the Passover, and they were eating, Jesus said that one of them
would betray him. The disciples were sad, and one after another asked, “Surely
not I, Lord?” Then Jesus described which one would be his betrayer – the one
who dipped his hand into the bowl with Jesus. In John’s gospel (chapter 13) it
says that Jesus said it was the one to whom he gave a piece of bread he had
dipped into the dish, and then he gave the bread to Judas. As soon as Judas
took the bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to Judas, “What you are
about to do, do quickly,” but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this
to him. Back to Matthew’s gospel, Judas, the one who would betray him also
said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” And, Jesus replied, “Yes, it is you.”
It always amazes me
whenever I read this passage of scripture (in any of the gospels) that the
other disciples did not get what Jesus was saying, either about him being
betrayed or about Judas being the betrayer. The signs were all there. Jesus had
been telling them that he was going to be handed over to be crucified, but that
this must take place. He pretty much told them that Judas was his betrayer. If
they didn’t get the part about the dipping of the bread and the handing it to
Judas, then certainly they should have gotten the part where Judas asked Jesus
if he was the betrayer and Jesus said, “Yes, it is you.” I mean, how much
clearer can one be? Yet, the disciples were clueless. They obviously were
blinded in their hearts and minds to what Jesus Christ was telling them about
his upcoming crucifixion and about his betrayer.
We, as observers
after-the-fact can sit back and say, “Boy, if I had been there, I certainly
would have gotten it.” But, would we? How many times are the signs all around
us and we just don’t see them because we are dull of hearing or our eyes are
blinded to the truth? Sometimes our minds and our hearts are blocked from what
Jesus is trying to reveal to us because of tradition, what we have always been
taught by man, our own experiences, too much book knowledge (of men), our own
will, dreams and desires, past emotional scars, our own fears, and/or our own
misperceptions of who Jesus is and what he requires of us, etc. For Judas, he
was either self-deceived and/or he was purposefully hiding his true intentions
behind a mask of “Surely not I, Lord?” as the other disciples had voiced.
Betray or Deny?
As well, we might
also sit back and observe the goings on at this supper and think, “Wow! I would
never betray Jesus,” or “I would never deny (fall away from) Jesus.” Would we
not? That is what the disciples thought, too, and yet they all abandoned him,
one betrayed him and another denied him strongly three times. To betray means
to be disloyal, to help the enemy to overcome someone, and/or to go against a
promise. To deny means to refuse to acknowledge somebody or to declare
something not to be true that is true. To be loyal to Jesus means to obey him
in everything. Not one of us has obeyed Jesus perfectly. Jesus said that
whatever we do to our brothers and sisters in Christ we do it as though we did
it to him.
Have we ever been
guilty of doing something that caused a brother or sister to fall into sin?
Have we ever made a promise to God that we did not keep? Do you know that when
we come to faith in Jesus Christ we come into a “marriage covenant” with Jesus
Christ? That is a vow or a promise to be faithful to him and to forsake all
other gods. Are we being pure in our relationship to Jesus Christ? Is he truly
our only god and master of our lives? Have we ever shrunk back from sharing
Christ when the Holy Spirit prompted us to do so? Have we ever shrunk back from
telling the truth of the gospel out of fear of the rejection of man? I think we
have all been guilty in one way or another of either denying or betraying
Jesus.
The Appointed Time
Jesus told his
disciples that his appointed time was near. He told them that he would be
betrayed, but that he must go to his death, just like it was written about him
in the prophecies of scripture in the Old Testament (see Isaiah 53, for one).
This must take place, he told them, because he was to be the sacrificial Lamb
of God to take away the sins of the world. He died on the cross, taking upon
himself the sins of the entire world. When he died, our sins died with him, and
when he was buried, our sins went to the grave with him, yet when he rose from
the dead, conquering death, hell, Satan and sin, our sins remained buried. He
did this so that we could be free from the judgment of sin over our lives (eternity
without God in hell), and so we could be free from the control of sin over our
daily lives. He also did this so we could be free to worship, obey and follow
him with our whole hearts.
Are we dull of
hearing or have spiritual blinders on keeping us from hearing and obeying the
truth? Have we allowed our hearts and minds to block out the truths of God’s
word because we are holding on to the traditions and teachings of men? Are we
self-deceived or are we hiding our sins and pretending to be righteous and hope
no one discovers the truth about us? Are we pretending to be loyal and faithful
to Jesus Christ outwardly but our hearts are truly far from him? Do we give lip
service only? Are we fulfilling our promise to Jesus Christ to forsake all
other gods and to be faithful to him only? Do we shrink back from sharing
Christ and the gospel when the Holy Spirit prompts us to do so?
Are we holding on to
willful sin in our hearts while going through the motions of being a follower
of Christ? Jesus Christ called us to leave our life of sins behind us and to
follow him in complete surrender. If you have not done that, or if you have “fallen
away,” I pray you will surrender to Christ your all today. I pray the Lord will
show me any part of my life that is not surrendered to him, or any areas where
I am denying or am being disloyal to him, so that I can surrender fully today.
I pray the same for you.
Fully Surrendered / Alfred C. Snead / George C. Stebbins
Fully surrendered—Lord, I would be,
Fully surrendered, dear Lord, to Thee.
All on the altar laid,
Surrender fully made,
Thou hast my ransom paid;
I yield to Thee.
Fully surrendered—life, time, and all,
All Thou hast given me held at Thy call.
Speak but the word to me,
Gladly I'll follow Thee,
Now and eternally
Obey my Lord.
Fully surrendered—silver and gold,
His, who hath given me riches untold.
All, all belong to Thee,
For Thou didst purchase me,
Thine evermore to be,
Jesus, my Lord.
Fully surrendered—Lord, I am Thine;
Fully surrendered, Savior divine!
Live Thou Thy life in me;
All fullness dwells in Thee;
Not I, but Christ in me,
Christ all in all.
No comments:
Post a Comment