Category: Matthew (Page 24 of 24)

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” ~Matthew 5:48

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus takes six specific commands from God’s Law, corrects the faulty interpretation and selfish external applications, and then points his disciples toward the true nature and true intent of the Law: living selflessly with others in community. God reveals himself to man through the Law. The Law is the perfect reflection of our God. And as we pursue this true intent and motive of the Law, as we strive to emulate our God in the ways we live with each other, we are pursuing that perfection of God. It’s a goal that shapes the disciple’s entire life. It’s the ultimate object of our behavior and our thoughts and our will. We accept nothing less than the perfection of God. We’re always striving toward it.

 OK. We understand all that. We also are assured by Holy Scripture that our perfection is found only in Jesus. We are righteous only through the blood of the Son. All have sinned. None are perfect. It’s only by participating in the salvation work of God through the Christ that I can be viewed as righteous in God’s sight.

OK. We get that, too. But here’s where it gets weird.

1) I’m saved by grace. I know I’m going to sin. I’m human. I can’t not sin. And so I wake up every morning resigned to my fate as a sinner. I’m going to sin before I make it out to my car today. When I go to bed at night, I know I’ve sinned. And I’ll sin again tomorrow. I’m human. But I’m saved. As a natural result, I’m not quite as bothered by my sin as I used to be.

or 2) The Holy Spirit dwells in me. I’ve been changed by God. I’m a new creature. Every sin I commit I do so by my own choice. Nobody’s making me sin. So it’s up to me to be perfect. And I will be. From this point forward I will not sin again. God calls me to be perfect. Paul tells me to stop sinning. And I will. As a natural result, I’m continually disappointed. I’m setting myself up for failure.

I struggle with finding the balance between the two extremes. I believe I’m not alone in that. I try to live it one day at a time, like most of us do. I pray every morning that God will give me the power to remain free from sin all day until my head hits the pillow that night. I am confident in my salvation. But I should be grieved by my sin.

Michael J. Wilkins calls the balance “restful dissatisfaction.” He elaborates in his NIV Application Commentary on Matthew:

 “I rest content with what Christ has done in my life and with the growth that has occurred, yet at the same time I balance that contentment with the desire to move on. At any one point in my life I want to be satisfied with what God has been doing in my life, yet I want to be dissatisfied to the degree that I press on to complete maturity. I accept my imperfection, yet I have the courage to press on to perfection. I rest in the indicative of what God has accomplished in Christ’s work of redemption and regeneration, I rest in the assurance that transformation is, at this very moment, being accomplished, and I rest in the promise that ultimately we will be like him. But I am dissatisfied when I see immaturity or impurity in my heart, mind, and life; I am dissatisfied with the state of this world apart from Christ; I am dissatisfied with loving less than the way Jesus loves.”

Peace,

Allan

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”   ~Matthew 5:14-16

Public Agenda, a national research group, published the results of a study three years ago entitled “Rudeness in America.” The survey queried respondants on the increasingly common breaches of etiquette we encounter in society such as cell phones in restaurants, selfish driving, and public cursing. The report claims that 79% of us believe lack of respect and courtesy is a serious problem. 88% of us encounter people who are rude or disrespectful at least 3-4 times per week. 50% say they’ve walked out of a store in the past month because of poor customer service.

But what do we do about it?

The survey shows that 42% of us believe walking away from the person or circumstance is the proper way to handle rudeness or lack of respect. 36% replied that the proper response is to flood the situation with excessive politeness.

These kinds of things, while they do drive us crazy, may seem trivial in light of the “bigger issues” facing us and our communities. But isn’t this exactly what our Savior meant when he charged his disciples to be salt and light? As trite as it may sound, our actions do speak much louder than our words.

Jesus is preaching in Matthew that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. It’s breaking into earth. It’s here. It’s changing people. It’s changing lives. It’s impacting the world in profound ways. And you, my disciples, are living proof of it. You’re not just bringing the light of the good news into the dark corners of the world. You ARE the light! It’s like what Paul told the church in Thessalonica: forget the message, you ARE the message!

We must LIVE the truth of the gospel so people see that it’s real, that it’s not just so much talk. The Kingdom produces changed lives in us. The world sees by our actions and good works that it’s true. And they, in turn, praise our Father. Being salt and light means being seen being different. And it happens in the ordinariness of life. We’re to live in a transformed way in our everyday activities.

Are you rude or disrespectful? Do you go along with the crowd in ripping the football player on the opposing team? How do you treat your customers? Your students? Your waiter? Your brothers and sisters in Christ?

I’ve been criticized for this, but I won’t apologize. I will not apologize for holding my brothers and sisters in Christ to a higher standard. I’ll never apologize for expecting more out of Christians than I do those in the world. We should never tolerate Christians being rude or disrespectful to anyone, much less to fellow believers. I hear people sometimes excuse selfish and hurtful behavior in the church by saying, “Well, that’s just the way he is.”

No, it’s not! He’s been baptized! He’s a Christian! The Scriptures tell me he’s a brand new creature. The Holy Spirit lives in him. Getting loud in someone’s face in inexcuseable.

Donald McCullough wrote a book in 1998 called Say Please, Say Thank You: The Respect We Owe One Another.

“I’m more interested in the little things, such as remembering to say ‘thank you’ and to call your mom on Mother’s Day. These things may not seem very important when compared with the major problems facing our culture. Yet they may be the best place to begin; they may be the only place to begin. If a person can’t remember to say ‘thank you’ to her housekeeper, it’s won’t matter much if she writes a major philosophical treatise on kindness; if a person is rude to his family, the angels in heaven won’t give a holy rip if he preaches soaring sermons on the nature of love.”

If we are disciples of Jesus, we are the light of the world. The light to the world. Our lives are changed, we’re different, and it’s obvious. As obvious as lighting a lamp in a dark room. If we’re courteous, respectful, considerate, and others-oriented, it’ll be clear to those around us that Christ does make a difference. It’s not just talk.

Peace,

Allan