Crude Overview:
Jesus continues to heal and teach. He calls Matthew and shows the Pharisees that He has come for the sinners and not the already "righteous". He teaches that His disciples do not fast because He is there. How can one mourn while the bridegroom is with them? Once He is gone they will fast. Jesus has compassion on the crowds because they are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
What does this teach me about the LORD?
Jesus' compassion is like no one else's. He sees to the root of every problem; our sin. He feels compassion for us in this state and invites us to be healed, to be forgiven, to go and sin no more. He has judgement for those who refuse to see their sin or who glory in their sin. His compassion knows no bounds for the broken and those who know their helplessness all to well.
Book Notes:
"Pharisees would have regarded as sinners anyone who failed to keep God's law as they understood it, and the term here seems to reflect a commonly understood meaning by which it included both people guilty of publicly known sin and others who did not keep the strict purity requirements of the Pharisees."
"'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' is a quotation from Hosea 6:6...More important to God was 'mercy' (the Septuagint rendering of Hb. hesed, meaning 'steadfast love'), which would have led the Pharisees to care for the sinners as Jesus did.
Personal Observations:
There is so much here that any group of believers could latch onto and talk about for hours. One could find at least six sermons here, if not more
The one thing my soul has lept at is the note on the word "mercy" which is the Hebrew word that the Greek substitutes. Hesed; steadfast love.
If we go back to the Greek and say, "I desire mercy and not sacrifice," we understand this. God sits as judge, looks at our case and we know we are screwed. We deserve the death penalty..and then He dismisses our case.
"I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice." This feels very different. This is compassion of a much deeper level. IN this scenario the judge is overcome with compassion for the defendant whom He has loved since he was a child. He has watched him make bad decision after bad decision. The judge loves him so much that He takes off the black robe, sets down his gavel, and takes the place of the defendant and tells the bailiff to take Him to take Him to death row instead.
The frightening thing is that Hosea 6:6 is a call for God's people to have this kind of love.
What does that look like? I'm scared to find out, honestly.
P
Sunday, August 4, 2019
Saturday, August 3, 2019
Matthew 8 Devotional Notes
(I have long made pretty daily notes on the Bible chapter that I'm currently reading. I'm feeling pushed to share and open discussion over them so I am making them available here. I hope they bless. I always divide my notes into "Crude Overview", "What does this teach me about the LORD?", "Book Notes" (what of the study notes in my Bible I find of particular interest), and "Personal Observations".)
Crude Overview:
The narrative moves from the teaching and preaching of the Sermon on the Mount into healing and other miracles. Jesus heals a leper, a centurion's servant, Peter's mother-in-law, exorcises the demons out of two men, and even calms a raging storm. In the middle He disappoints a scribe and disciple from following Him because of their desire of temporal things.
What does this teach me about the LORD?
It shouldn't be as much of a surprise, but it is amazing to me how Jesus is mentally and emotionally on another plane than we are. I want His heart. I want His eyes. I want His understanding. I want His compassion; His way of viewing the world and all things rightly.
With the leper, Jesus doesn't just heal him and walk away. His concern goes beyond just giving him what he asked for. It extends from physical healing to even his social and relational healing.
With the centurion, here is a Roman, a pagan, an enemy conqueror of the Jewish people; and oppressor and exploiter. Jesus sees beyond that. He sees a man in need and even a man of greater faith than Jesus has seen in all Israel.
With the scribe and the disciple He sees the cost that they haven't considered or may not be willing to pay. Jesus doesn't have the "more the merrier" kind of mentality. He wants wholly committed people. Popularity was never His goal.
When it comes to the storm He sees that God has a plan and purpose, and if they die it is only due to God's will. He is so resting in faith that He can sleep through the storm shaking the boat like an earthquake.
Instead of seeing and fearing the demon possessed/oppressed men in gentile territory as threats, Jesus came to them with compassion.
In each instance Jesus saw through into the True Reality beyond the physical reality concerns.
Book Notes:
"Addressing Jesus as Lord, the Roman centurion reveals a remarkable sensitivity for Jewish traditions."
"'Little faith' is not 'no faith', but 'ineffective', 'defective', or 'deficient' faith."
"The demons recognize that one of Satan's strongholds is being invaded and overpowered."
Personal Observations:
My wife and I noticed two interesting things going on in this chapter. There are intermingled themes of Jesus' authority and the "unclean". At least here, Jesus did not let the things "unclean" stop Him from exercising His authority in healing. Where others would have actively avoided the unclean leper, the pagan and therefore unclean centurion, and the men filled with unclean demonic spirits, Jesus sought their healing and wholeness while "risking" being considered unclean Himself.
The people, their souls, their healing, their salvation, their restoration all mattered more than their designation as "unclean".
Crude Overview:
The narrative moves from the teaching and preaching of the Sermon on the Mount into healing and other miracles. Jesus heals a leper, a centurion's servant, Peter's mother-in-law, exorcises the demons out of two men, and even calms a raging storm. In the middle He disappoints a scribe and disciple from following Him because of their desire of temporal things.
What does this teach me about the LORD?
It shouldn't be as much of a surprise, but it is amazing to me how Jesus is mentally and emotionally on another plane than we are. I want His heart. I want His eyes. I want His understanding. I want His compassion; His way of viewing the world and all things rightly.
With the leper, Jesus doesn't just heal him and walk away. His concern goes beyond just giving him what he asked for. It extends from physical healing to even his social and relational healing.
With the centurion, here is a Roman, a pagan, an enemy conqueror of the Jewish people; and oppressor and exploiter. Jesus sees beyond that. He sees a man in need and even a man of greater faith than Jesus has seen in all Israel.
With the scribe and the disciple He sees the cost that they haven't considered or may not be willing to pay. Jesus doesn't have the "more the merrier" kind of mentality. He wants wholly committed people. Popularity was never His goal.
When it comes to the storm He sees that God has a plan and purpose, and if they die it is only due to God's will. He is so resting in faith that He can sleep through the storm shaking the boat like an earthquake.
Instead of seeing and fearing the demon possessed/oppressed men in gentile territory as threats, Jesus came to them with compassion.
In each instance Jesus saw through into the True Reality beyond the physical reality concerns.
Book Notes:
"Addressing Jesus as Lord, the Roman centurion reveals a remarkable sensitivity for Jewish traditions."
"'Little faith' is not 'no faith', but 'ineffective', 'defective', or 'deficient' faith."
"The demons recognize that one of Satan's strongholds is being invaded and overpowered."
Personal Observations:
My wife and I noticed two interesting things going on in this chapter. There are intermingled themes of Jesus' authority and the "unclean". At least here, Jesus did not let the things "unclean" stop Him from exercising His authority in healing. Where others would have actively avoided the unclean leper, the pagan and therefore unclean centurion, and the men filled with unclean demonic spirits, Jesus sought their healing and wholeness while "risking" being considered unclean Himself.
The people, their souls, their healing, their salvation, their restoration all mattered more than their designation as "unclean".
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Mistaken Self-Loathing
Tonight I was reading through a section of Tozer's "Knowledge of the Holy" on God's omnipotence. It's quite a good read, actually, if you can take the time to not be distracted. That kind of time comes is exceedingly rare for me these days. Something clicked in my brain that I want to share both because it may help someone else and because if I don't right it down often I forget. There's a reason the children of Israel built stone monuments.
Over the past year the LORD has been seemingly on a crusade to root out many of my foundation level, psychologically based, wrong ideas. They are generally emotional in nature and as such logic hasn't really had that much effect on them.
The primary wrong headed idea that He dealt with tonight, while reading Tozer, was that I fear appearing before Him. I fully believe I will be accepted into heaven because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus; He paid the debt and nothing needs to be added to that to save my soul. I do fear, however, the knowledge and understanding that will suddenly converge upon us as we begin to understand many things. Chiefly, I am very uncomfortable with the fact that suddenly I'll realize my understanding on earth was incomplete and I fear the shame of my actions as a result. I DREAD the idea that God could look at me and say, "Well...you got this wrong and that wrong...and what were you thinking with THAT idea? It was clearly written over here and you missed it." I can't imagine that God would call me an idiot...and yet I pretty much feel like that's precisely what I will think of myself as my illusions start crashing down around me and I go, "Ooooohhh....right" on the other side of the veil.
While reading Tozer's words on omnipotence I began to see a glimpse of just how many of His attributes come together and are dependent on one another. He is all-powerful. He is all-knowing. He is sovereign.
And here I am...what...going to surprise an all-knowing God with my ignorance? Is my wrong headed thinking going to supplant or complicate an all-powerful God's plans? His sovereignty goes well beyond any idiocy that I could utter or think.
I've spent a lot of my years with this anxiety feeling an enormous amount of pressure to study, perform, to know, and to understand. I have been motivated by fear of that moment before God and it has overwhelmed me to the point that I've just mentally shut down because, "Why try?". It is just too much of an expectation...that God never put on me. I put it on myself. My wife often has accused me of being a perfectionist. I've rejected that analysis with the weak idea that if I was actually a perfectionist I'd be expecting perfection of everyone else. As it stands I only apply that standard to myself.
Two big problems with all of what is contained in that paragraph. 1) Jesus specifically tells us to be anxious for nothing. Yes, I want to grow in my understanding of the LORD. Yes, I want to grow and bear fruit as a Christian. But! An all-knowing, all-powerful, sovereign God already knows what I need, when I need it, and the manner in which I will best receive it. 2) God wants us to be motivated by His great love for us and not by fear. It is important that we are motivated out of a love we already have rather than a love we mistakenly believe we can earn. Jesus covered us, full stop. God cannot love us or be impressed with us more than He already is because when He looks at us He sees His son covering all our faults and failures. What is left to us is to walk with Him and obey what He gives us to do.
It is my job to seek. It is like climbing a ladder, in a sense. I am climbing, obediently moving from one rung to the next and trusting that He will place the next wrung where and precisely when my hand will reach to grasp what I cannot yet see. My faithfulness will make room for His already beautiful, steadfast love to be proven out.
Pax,
W
Over the past year the LORD has been seemingly on a crusade to root out many of my foundation level, psychologically based, wrong ideas. They are generally emotional in nature and as such logic hasn't really had that much effect on them.
The primary wrong headed idea that He dealt with tonight, while reading Tozer, was that I fear appearing before Him. I fully believe I will be accepted into heaven because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus; He paid the debt and nothing needs to be added to that to save my soul. I do fear, however, the knowledge and understanding that will suddenly converge upon us as we begin to understand many things. Chiefly, I am very uncomfortable with the fact that suddenly I'll realize my understanding on earth was incomplete and I fear the shame of my actions as a result. I DREAD the idea that God could look at me and say, "Well...you got this wrong and that wrong...and what were you thinking with THAT idea? It was clearly written over here and you missed it." I can't imagine that God would call me an idiot...and yet I pretty much feel like that's precisely what I will think of myself as my illusions start crashing down around me and I go, "Ooooohhh....right" on the other side of the veil.
While reading Tozer's words on omnipotence I began to see a glimpse of just how many of His attributes come together and are dependent on one another. He is all-powerful. He is all-knowing. He is sovereign.
And here I am...what...going to surprise an all-knowing God with my ignorance? Is my wrong headed thinking going to supplant or complicate an all-powerful God's plans? His sovereignty goes well beyond any idiocy that I could utter or think.
I've spent a lot of my years with this anxiety feeling an enormous amount of pressure to study, perform, to know, and to understand. I have been motivated by fear of that moment before God and it has overwhelmed me to the point that I've just mentally shut down because, "Why try?". It is just too much of an expectation...that God never put on me. I put it on myself. My wife often has accused me of being a perfectionist. I've rejected that analysis with the weak idea that if I was actually a perfectionist I'd be expecting perfection of everyone else. As it stands I only apply that standard to myself.
Two big problems with all of what is contained in that paragraph. 1) Jesus specifically tells us to be anxious for nothing. Yes, I want to grow in my understanding of the LORD. Yes, I want to grow and bear fruit as a Christian. But! An all-knowing, all-powerful, sovereign God already knows what I need, when I need it, and the manner in which I will best receive it. 2) God wants us to be motivated by His great love for us and not by fear. It is important that we are motivated out of a love we already have rather than a love we mistakenly believe we can earn. Jesus covered us, full stop. God cannot love us or be impressed with us more than He already is because when He looks at us He sees His son covering all our faults and failures. What is left to us is to walk with Him and obey what He gives us to do.
It is my job to seek. It is like climbing a ladder, in a sense. I am climbing, obediently moving from one rung to the next and trusting that He will place the next wrung where and precisely when my hand will reach to grasp what I cannot yet see. My faithfulness will make room for His already beautiful, steadfast love to be proven out.
Pax,
W
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