Monday, February 18,
2013, 6:50 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “My Sheep” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is
listening. I read Matthew 5:21-6:24
(quoting Matt. 6:19-21):
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where
moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where
thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart
will be also.
You
have heard…
Jesus began a series, as recorded in Matthew
5, of “You have heard it was said” or “It has been said,” and then he added, “But
I say.” Most of these matters they had heard were Biblical teachings from the
Old Testament, though some were not. So, most were true, i.e. it is true that
we should not murder, and it is true that we should not commit adultery. So, in
these cases, in particular, Jesus was not saying that what they had heard was
wrong, but that it was incomplete. There was more to the story. It wasn’t that
their understanding was completely faulty, but that it was missing some key
elements.
For instance, it is true that we should not
murder. Yet, that is not the whole truth of the matter, for all acting out of
sin first begins in our hearts and minds and attitudes, and even the
entertaining of the sin in our minds is sin itself. If we are willfully angry
with another person, i.e. not speaking of the initial emotion of anger, for
scripture teaches to be angry and sin not, but if we entertain anger,
bitterness, rage, spite, and vindictiveness in our minds and hearts, and/or if
we choose to hold on to these feelings and we refuse to forgive another for
wrong (or perceived wrong) against us, then Jesus says it is the same as
murder.
In the same respect, it is true that it is
wrong to commit adultery. Yet, Jesus goes beyond just the physical act of
stealing another’s spouse, and/or engaging in actual physical (sexual) relationships
with another with whom we are not married, but he deals with the issue as one
of moral purity, such as the impurity that begins when a person (man or woman)
looks on another (opposite or same sex) with lust (desire; longing; hunger; hankering
and/or covetousness) in his or her heart and mind, desiring something or
someone which or who is not his or hers to have. And, lust (and adultery) can
take many forms. God/Jesus often spoke of the church being adulterous toward
her Lord when she followed after other lovers (other gods of this world).
In the same respect, adultery can be
emotional as well as sexual, as well as it can be in the mind and heart only,
or it can be acted out, too. When we give our hearts, minds, affection, passion
and desire to another with whom we are not married in a manner that should be
reserved only for the spousal relationship, and especially if that affection
and/or desire should cause us to withdraw emotionally and/or physically from
the one to whom we are betrothed, whether to our Lord or to our husband or
wife, and we begin moving the affection, attention and passion rightfully
belonging to our beloved to another, then we have committed adultery in our
hearts, i.e. we have sinned.
Jesus’ remedy for sin seems a bit drastic
(see Matt. 5:29-30), but I think it makes a strong and necessary point, which
the writer of Hebrews reiterates (see Heb. 12:1-3). If there is something in
our lives that is leading us down a path of sin, we need to get rid of it. We
need to crush it, destroy it, eradicate it, put it to death, and throw it away to
where it cannot be retrieved, just as we would unload a heavy burden that is
weighing us down and is keeping us from being able to run a race. We can’t
fight off the temptation to lust, for instance, if we are continually feeding
that animal within us. We must rid our lives of all hindrances to our walk of
faith, and this is radical, but this is what Jesus called for. We can’t play
with this. And, we must then focus our time, attention, affections and desires
and passions on our true love, Jesus Christ.
Treasures
on Earth
I think when we read this passage (Matt.
6:19-24) about not storing up treasures on this earth, that we naturally think
of material possessions and/or money. Yet, the Lord gave me a “But I Say” to go
along with this passage today, i.e. he gave me a more complete understanding of
what all this entails, which follows with the line of thinking above, and which
also goes along with the song he gave me in my mind this morning, which is based
off John 10, and is about Jesus and his sheep.
Our treasures can include our material
possessions and our bank accounts, but they may also include pride, lust,
sinful practices, wrong attitudes, unforgiveness towards others, our religious
traditions and practices, our cultural philosophies and leanings, our political
affiliations, our careers, families, control of our own lives and destiny
and/or our belief systems based upon what we were taught, what we are willing
to accept, and/or what makes us the most comfortable. Some of these things, in
and of themselves, are not sinful, but many are, i.e. it is ok to have earthly
possessions. The issue, I believe, goes back to the heart, and is a matter of priorities,
“adultery,” and idolatry.
Jesus said that we are not to “store up”
treasures on the earth, because they are all going to pass away and they can
easily be taken from us, i.e. they are temporary and they have no real eternal
value. Yet, to a certain degree some of them are necessary, but many are not,
and many are actually harmful to us and to our relationship with Jesus Christ. So,
we should not store them up, i.e. we should not stock pile a bunch of things
that are from this earth that not only are perishable, but they have no eternal
value.
In other words, the things of this world and
this earthly life of ours should not be our primary focus of our time,
thoughts, attention, affections and expenditures, and/or passions and desires.
We should not lust after the things of this world or of our earthly lives.
Rather, we should focus our time, attention, talents, gifts, resources, affections,
passions, and desires on what will last for eternity, i.e. our personal
relationships with Jesus Christ, listening to what he says, following him
wherever he leads us, loving others with his love, and in sharing the true
gospel of Jesus Christ to as many as possible so that they can have eternal
life, too.
Religious
Treasures
“You
have heard it said… but I say…”
The Lord Jesus gave me a picture this morning
of how some of what we have been taught can be a treasure to us, which we hold
on to (store up), but that has little to no eternal value because it is based
upon faulty thinking and/or incomplete understanding of Biblical truth. My
husband, though probably not original with him, once dubbed these as our “sacred
cows.” These include religious traditions and practices, things we have always
been taught, and cultural leanings and etiquettes, etc. that we “treasure” and
that may be true, to some extent, but that are incomplete, though some may not
be true at all.
Jesus said, as recorded in John 10, that his
sheep hear his voice, they listen, they know him and his voice, and they follow
(obey) him. They will never follow strangers. They will, in fact, run away from
them. They go in through the gate, Jesus Christ, and they find forgiveness and
they are saved, (and they are being saved, and they will be saved). Jesus laid
his own life down for his sheep. He knows them. He gives them life to the full,
and they will live with him eternally. Yet, there are those who are thieves and
robbers who come into gatherings of the church by another way, and their goal is
to destroy the church. They teach incomplete truths on purpose, i.e. half-truths,
i.e. deceptions (lies) in order to lead the sheep astray. To the sheep who
listen to the Lord, these are the strangers.
Behind these thieves and robbers (the
strangers) is Satan. He is a liar and the father of lies, and his greatest tool
against us, other than fear, I believe, is deception. Deception can be defined
as “the practice of deliberately making somebody believe things that are not
true; an act, trick, or device intended to deceive or mislead somebody;” a
sham; fraud; con; et al (Encarta Dictionary). So, although not everyone who
believes an incomplete truth or a half truth is a deceiver, there are many who
go about deceiving the minds of naïve believers or prospective believers in
order to either lead people away from pure devotion to Jesus Christ and the
truths of his word, and/or for the purpose of gaining disciples after
themselves. And, many “sheep” follow them and their lies, i.e. deceptions, i.e.
half-truths.
To me, the biggest and most dangerous of all
incomplete truths being taught today, and by many on purpose, and for the
reasons already mentioned, and perhaps more, is to tell people only half the
gospel. They quote scripture, and what the scriptures teach is obviously true,
but they leave out the other half. Many do this innocently and naively,
believing what they have been taught, and so are just regurgitating it, while
others do this with more sinister motives in mind.
It is true that we are saved by grace,
through faith, and that this is a gift from God, not from ourselves, not of
works, lest any of us should boast (see Eph. 2:8-9). We can do nothing in our
own efforts or works or good deeds to earn or to deserve salvation. No matter
how many rules we follow or how many laws we obey or how many good deeds we do,
we will never be good enough. We have all sinned, and we all fall short of
attaining the glory of God. This is absolutely foundational to our
understanding of salvation by grace through faith. There is no dispute here.
Yet, taking this passage out of context and teaching it by itself, or with
others just like it, as God’s sole eternal plan of salvation is incomplete. In
interpreting scripture, we should always read in context, and we should compare
scripture with scripture to make sure we have the whole picture, as much as is
possible.
If we read two more chapters into Ephesians
we read this in chap. 4:20-24: You,
however, did not come to know Christ that way (see 4:17-19). Surely you heard
of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old
self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the
attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in
true righteousness and holiness.
And, Jesus said (as recorded in Luke
9:23-25): “If
anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily
and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole
world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”
This (above) is what it means to have faith,
and the ability to do this is a gift from God. His Holy Spirit within us will give
us all we need to be able to turn from our sin, to be transformed in heart and
mind, to die to sin and self daily, and to follow Jesus in obedience and
surrender to his will for our lives, making him both our Savior and Lord
(master). These scriptures, and others like them (such as Mtt. 4:17; Luke 5:32;
13:3; Jn. 14:23; 15:10; the book of 1 Jn; Rom. 6, et al) complete the teaching
on salvation, and they give us the true understanding of the kind of faith that
is required by God to be considered believing faith that ensures our eternity
with God in heaven. So, make sure today that you have the complete story, i.e. that
you search the scriptures and make sure what you believe is not just a
half-truth, but that you believe the whole truth. Some of it may matter for
eternity.
My
Sheep / An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Based off John
10:1-18 NIV
My
sheep hear me. They know me.
They
listen to my voice and obey.
I
call them and lead them.
They
know my voice, so they follow me.
They
will never follow strangers.
They
will run away from them.
The
voice of a stranger they know not;
They
do not follow him.
My
sheep hear me. They know me.
They
listen to my voice and obey.
I
call them and lead them.
They
know my voice, so they follow me.
So,
I tell you the truth that
I
am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever
does enter
Will
find forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless
whoever enters
Not
by the gate; other way,
He
is the thief and a robber.
Listen
not, the sheep to him.
So,
I tell you the truth that
I
am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever
does enter
Will
find forgiveness and will be saved.
Oh,
I am the Good Shepherd,
Who
laid his own life down for the sheep.
I
know them. They know me.
They
will live with me eternally.
The
thief only comes to steal and
Kill
and to destroy the church.
I
have come to give you life that
You
may have it to the full.
Oh,
I am the Good Shepherd,
Who
laid his own life down for the sheep.
I
know them. They know me.
They
will live with me eternally.
They
know my voice, so they follow me.
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