Showing posts with label Book of Matthew. Show all posts

Matthew 6  

Posted by Jordan Jones in

5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (NIV)



5"And when you come before God, don't turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?
 6"Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.
  7-13"The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. (MSG)

I've been searching out what God's intended beat and rhythm of prayer is. Because I feel as though there are not too many things more misunderstood, more maligned, more of a cause of frustration & confusion than prayer. 
No reason to get defensive to that. I talk with numerous middle and high schoolers every week. There is a common consensus: Why is it so important? Why can't I hear God speaking back to me? What the heck does prayer look like?
Is it merely me saying thanks? 
Is it getting on God's lap and reading off a wish list like we do with Santa?
Or could it be to engage a relationship?
To interact with the One we were created by and for?
I believe this more and more each day: prayer is designed to draw us into a more complete, more dynamic relationship with our Creator. 
Think about it...if I spent at least one hour with you every day one-on-one and called you at least once an hour...there's a good chance we are going to see our friendship/relationship progress, right? And experience tells me that I will start acting like you a little too. 
Like using those little unique phrases that only you do. And reacting to things like you do. And getting passionate about some of the things that I never even noticed before we became so close. 
Is the picture getting clearer?
Prayer is dynamic communion. Relationship. 
Not hype. Not formulas. Not wish lists. 
Love.  

Matthew 5- Part 8  

Posted by Jordan Jones in

10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.


10 They are blessed who are persecuted for doing good,
for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.

10"You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.

I'm telling you...this Naked Gospel book is wrecking me.

Literally.

Pieces of guilt...

of shame...

of religion...

of misconceptions...

flying off me.

In the book, Andrew Farley, makes a distinction between flesh, sin and the old self. The Bible is clear that when we come to Christ our old self is eradicated. Colossians 3 says that "you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." Our old self is dead. Period. So I don't want to hear this "It's my sinful nature that made me do it" crap. You're spitting in the face of the God's holiness if he would allow you into His kingdom with your old nature in tact. To deny this or to water it down is to miss the power of the message all together.

So why do we keep sinning then?

Here's the deal...Christians are new creations at heart, no matter where we allow our feet to take us on our journeys, no matter what lies we buy about what is going to truly satisfy us.

Christians are in the Spirit.

But the flesh is still desiring us to be captivated by lies in every moment. But the flesh is not the old self. It's not us, but it is with us.

The choice rests in our hands to depend on the flesh or the Spirit on every step of our journey.

Farley says that "when we walk after the flesh, we're not being ourselves. If we rely on intellect, strength, or physical appearance to gain purpose and fulfillment, we're walking after the flesh. But again, this is no indication of our nature. In fact, depending on the flesh goes against our nature. We're designed for dependency on Christ. Walking after the Spirit is our destiny. We'll never be content with talking after the flesh or fashioning an identity outside of Christ. We can do it, but it won't fulfill."

When we pursue the flesh, the Spirit of God within us and our new self cry out to be heard.

Check out another quote: "We know from Romans 6 that it's our responsibility to not let sin ruin our lives. Paul admonishes us to resist this rogue force and not allow it to take control. Clearly, there's a choice. We're urged to recognize the presence of sin and say no to it: 'Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.' (Romans 6:12)

Notice to whom the evil desires belong, namely, to sin. If we give in to sin, we're buying into the lie that we want to sin. Yes, we're not yielding to God. But we're also not yielding to our own selves. Instead, we're giving in to thoughts that didn't originate with us. They're coming from a sinister sources, and for that reason they will never fulfill.

We can allow sin to have its way with us, but what benefit will we really get? Sure, there may be a temporal and fleeting sense of fulfillment but only at a base (flesh) level. In the believer, this feeling will eventually give way to a sense of our higher calling."

Doing good is pursuing that higher calling.

And realizing that it might get messy.

And even if we are really doing it right...it means we will get persecuted for it.

Matthew 5- Part 6  

Posted by Jordan Jones in

Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.


You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

God blesses those whose hearts are pure,
 for they will see God.


There is this thread throughout the Scriptures where God continually proclaims that our fleeting flesh, this momentary skin, this transient outer shell we call our bodies are fleeting. They appeal for a time, but they will fade.

In 1 Samuel, we see God's character illuminated when it is declared, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

In this circumstance, we see that God declares that leadership should not be based on the possession of power, the presence of beauty, the holdings of wealth, but a pure heart. Interesting.

If this reality applies to one of the most important themes in the Scriptures, leadership, can we reason that it applies to other situations as well?

It seems like Jesus would point to that being the case.

Check out Luke 6 when Jesus says, "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." (Translation: It all stems from the heart...fall in love with me and you will begin to see your evilness in comparison to my holiness and the natural outcome will be my Spirit working in you and diminishing your desire to trade Creator for created. But the Gospel is not mere moral uprightness- a focus on proper behavior- it's a shift in motivation!)

I know our natural tendency is to focus on the outside. TRUST ME. It is hard-wired into our very DNA. It's called sin- it sucks. However, there is this greater reality- the Kingdom of God that is continuously inviting us into the way God intended things to be. And this is clear in the text concerning the way God designed things: the inside of a person is the greater reality.

But we so easily fall into the pattern of elevating outward appearance to highest pursuit, sometimes at the forfeit of our soul.

Jesus said, "What is it to gain the whole world, but lose your soul?"

9th grade guy translation: Is Megan Fox really hot enough to allow you to forfeit your heart in the process by elevating her outward appearance so high that she is causing you to masturbate? (Let's not be so naive to think that Satan doesn't play a part in this...)

(And yes I said the "m" word...Satan desires that we keep topics like these in the darkness, not allowing Jesus' light to transform us...do you really want to be a part of Satan's plans just because we haven't talked about it in the past because of our religious rituals?)

10th grade girl translation: Is getting your body noticed by others really more important than being consumed by your Creator and his love for you?

Pursue a pure heart today.

No let me re-phrase that: Pursue Jesus today. And then let him clean your heart.

You may want to check out a similar post I wrote back in June.

Matthew 5- Part 5  

Posted by Jordan Jones in

God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.


You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for.

Sometimes I think add too much as I wrestle through the scripture. I slant the story God is trying to reveal to me toward my tendencies, my reluctances, my fears. But when we read the Word of God- it's about us shaving off our tendencies and re-orienting ourselves around truth. And don't be scared from that word (sorry so many people have tainted it). Truth is simply reality the way God sees it. I can get in on that.

So today- care about others. Go out of your way to show mercy. Why? Because Jesus declares there is no better way to live- he has a track record of inviting people to the fullest life possible- I doubt He got it wrong here.

Keep faith simple today.

Matthew 5- Part 4  

Posted by Jordan Jones in

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."


"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."

"God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied."

I find it interesting that the translators use justice interchangeably with righteousness. Why does that surprise me so much? Because my experiences with the word righteousness growing up in a rules-based church had everything to do with: behaving, standing tall, wearing your "Sunday best". Right was equated with a formula. But Jesus turns this upside down here. He equates right with justice. Desperately seeking the betterment of those around us- yearning to see everyone on the same level ground.

This is what God desires. Don't believe me? Check out Micah 6:8.

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

If you say right now...

"I am not satisfied in life...I rarely find any fulfillment in it."

Could it be because you were created to walk in the rhythm of justice...but you have been walking to the beat of selfishness and formulas? And it's just not fulfilling for you?

So how can you uphold justice today? How can you bring someone up to the level ground of justice (not fairness!)- while refraining from elevating someone above the level ground of justice (like we are so prone to do).

Blessed are you when you are so desperate for justice that you even hunger and thirst for it.

Matthew 5: Part 3  

Posted by Jordan Jones in

"A real Christian is an odd number, anyway. He feels supreme love for the One whom he has never seen; talks familiarly every day to Someone he cannot see; expects to go to heaven on the virtue of Another; empties himself in order to be full; admits he is wrong so he can be declared right; goes down in order to get up; is strongest when he is weakest; richest when he is poorest and happiest when he feels the worst." - A.W. Tozer

The truly upside down life.

I don't know if you have caught it yet...but these BEattitudes wreck everything that seems comfortable (well...if we truly understand them and engross them into our lives). These attitudes completely change the story...demand us to u-turn from our personal kingdom of self-preservation (because isn't that the only thing our kingdoms embrace anyway?) and invite us to merge with the flipped Kingdom of God.

So what's in store for today?

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."

The what?

The meek? Isn't that what is wrong with Christians today Jesus? They're cowards? The last word to describe most of your followers is powerful...aren't you just feeding into that?

My thoughts on this verse for 15 years...

Until I got a little context.

Meek here has nothing to do with fear. Nothing to do with gentleness they way we tend to define it.

Jesus is saying...never lose sight of who you are. You have been brought from the depths of darkness and are now able to commune with the Blessed and only Ruler, the One who lives in inapproachable light. With this realization brimming from your every thought and action- there is no reason to count yourself higher than you should. There is no way for you to be proud of yourself and your accomplishments, your gifts, your talents.

Look at what another version says:

"God blesses those people who are humble. The earth will belong to them!"

or:

"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought."

A real Christian is an odd number, aren't they?

Matthew 5- Part 2  

Posted by Jordan Jones in

Matthew 5: 4


"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."
"They who grieve are blessed, for God will comfort them."

Grieve comes from the root "grave" or heavy. I truly believe Jesus is inviting his followers to see that the Kingdom, the Kingdom of truth, beauty, completion and triumph, involves embracing the heavy weight of the messiness of humanity. Jesus became flesh...the son of God was tempted in every way here on Earth. He experienced the fragility of our skin. He saw our brittleness firsthand. So he invites his followers to grieve for those who are hurting, mourn for those who are broken...because he knew this is our natural condition without His restoration of us. 

So He says...

Mourn for your enemies. 

Grieve for your rival. 

Mourn with your mom. 

Grieve with your estranged wife. 

Mourn with the very person you want to curse. 

Grieve for the lost. 

For you will be comforted. 

Matthew 5- Part 1  

Posted by Jordan Jones in

Ah, the Beatitudes. 


Attitudes we should be. 

Sorry for the obvious. 

Let me rephrase that...attitudes we should embrace, but really we treat them as suggestions from Jesus of how to be perfect and there is no way we can obtain that so we just read the listing of them in Matthew 5 and smile and nod and agree with Jesus, but never ask him to change us and actually take hold of the Kingdom shift he is trying to instill in us. 

Yes Mr. and Ms. OCD...that was a run-on sentence. Check out the first 10 verses of Ephesians...that's all one sentence in the Greek. Paul puts my run-on to shame so stop crying. 

I'm going to spend the next few Matthew posts in chapter 5 (and I know they have been lacking lately...I am jumping back into posting now that Fall is rapidly approaching). But I don't want to just run through the Beatitudes like I normally do, briefly commenting on them as a whole...I want us to key in on specific paradigm shifts Jesus is inviting us into when he begins to list off what a life abandoned for the Kingdom of God would look like. Yes, this may take a few weeks. But I really want us to think: What is Jesus inviting us up into in these verses?

Matthew 5:3 says, "Blessed are those who realize their spiritual poverty, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them." Other translations say "blessed are the poor in spirit" while one paraphrase even says, "you're blessed when you are at the end of your rope." 

Then it goes on to say, "With less of you there is more of God and His rule."

Could Jesus possible be saying stop coming to me with your suffocating, shrink-wrapped self-righteousness so you can actually see God and not yourself? Is there a chance that Jesus is speaking straight into our selfish need for neat and tidy spirituality, our pursuit of the black and white (like the Pharisees and the Sabbath) and the fact that we have bought the lie from the enemy that we have it all together?

Blessed are those who realize how poor they really are. 

How rank and pungent they really are.

How gross their "acts of holiness" really are. 

How feeble they really are. 

How unworthy they really are. 

How inadequate they really are. 

How jacked up they really are. 

How far their hearts had turned away from God. 

You are blessed. 

Why? 

Because you don't have to see and hear from God through countless layers of lies of pride and self-righteousness. Because when there is less of you, there is more room for God and His rule. 

Matthew 4  

Posted by Jordan Jones in

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: " 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'
Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. (Matthew 4:1-11)

Jesus knew two things when we came in full contact with temptation at its ultimate peak. Jesus had to know that there was 1) more at stake than what meets the eye and 2) when it comes to temptation...your ability to withstand it has everything to do with your confidence in God.

Because let's be honest...Satan right in front of you putting on a full-on assault of temptation is unparalleled intensity. I can't think of any temptation stronger than that. We're talking about...the serpent, the deceiver, the father of lies, the god of this age...I could go on. He didn't get those names for being a swell fellow. And being tempted by the father of lies is wrestling with utter darkness. I hear students say all the time, "It was Satan that may me do (it)" It being...(sleeping with my girlfriend) (lying to my parents) (smoking dope) (buying more crap that doesn't matter while forgetting about the poor around me).

No...you've bought a lie.

Satan didn't make you do anything. You did it. You willfully chose yourself over God. Satan wants you to think that he did it...that's the only glory he can get. But if you can do his job for him- that excites him even more. (And if we are going to be honest...most people will never be tempted by Satan himself...that's the thing about Satan...he can't be two places at once...he likes to send his demon mob squad to spread lies- so your little comment about Satan making you do it is pretty flawed).

James 4 says, "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." In James 1 we get a glimpse into a similar sentiment: "For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed."

Don't blame the Evil One for the evil in you. But Jesus didn't have that evil in Him. And Satan knew this so he had to show up in person...had to put on the biggest offensive of his existence. So as you venture through the text here as Jesus interacts with the father of lies...you see an audacious, confident perspective. Jesus realizes there is more at stake here than what meets the eye. Their interaction really has nothing to do with food or power or rule (all the things Satan tempted Jesus with)...it was all about worship. It was about who Jesus was confident in to fulfill Him, feed Him, lead Him. And Jesus was convinced that nothing was more desirable, nothing was better than His Father. Period.

So when you are faced with temptation...when it is glaring straight into your eyes...you may even be touching it already...discovering if you want to continue on with the pursuit of it...look toward Jesus. Look toward His father. Do you really believe that thing you are about to throw yourself into is better than your Creator?

And could there really be something more at stake here than just what meets the eye?

Matthew 1  

Posted by Jordan Jones in

Matthew 1:18: "This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. His mother Mary was engaged to marry Joseph, but before they married, she learned she was pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit."


I hope you grasp the enormity of this one verse- how crucial it really is to our faith. The son of God coming down into human form by a creative act of the Holy Spirit in the body of a virgin, Mary. Here is Perfection, born as a man (via a virgin), without surrendering any aspect of His deity.

The reality is that He had to become man because man was the one who had chosen to be separate to the divine flow of God, we had sinned. But He also had to be God because God was the only One who could do anything about this separation. Here's the thing...we had tried for centuries to break through the walls of separation, leap the gap of eternity- but we only widened the gap, built more walls. The only way God could bring about the restoration of the broken human race was to assume the form of the race He was to save.

"The Son of God became the Son of man so that the sons of men might become the sons of God."

Matthew  

Posted by Jordan Jones in

I will be making some posts in the next few months as I read through the Gospel according to Matthew (the first book in the New Testament). Keep your eyes open!

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