QT 31 May 17, Ps 1:3-4, The righteous have deep roots in a relationship with God

Psalm 1:3–4 (ESV) — 3 He is like a tree

planted by streams of water

that yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does, he prospers.

4 The wicked are not so,

but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

NOTE: Contrast are important because they shed further light on the items being contrasted. Not much is said about the wicked. Instead of a tree, the wicked are chaff. One is solid (with depth), heavy (not lacking substance), and alive, while the other is almost immaterial, light (without substance), and dead. The results are also different. The wicked is driven away, suggesting also that the wicked are tossed to and fro, one theory rules them one day and a new theory the next day. The only constant is that they are running away from their creator. The righteous, are planted (unmoving and unaffected by the world), growing (changing), yielding fruit (making a positive impact on the world for good), and prospering (at least spiritually, inside where it really counts). In my mind, the tree's success is dependent on the roots. The root are our connection to God through the word and the Holy Spirit who resides in us. The deeper the roots, the more effective our tree.

QT 30 May 17, Ps 1:2, How to renew your mind and recapture it from junk and sin

Psalm 1:2 (ESV) —

2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

NOTE: The phrase "day and night" could be viewed as an idiom, like sunrise and sunset suggesting beginning and end. In this case, "day and night" might be a way of saying "all the time." But, another thought is to take it more literally, and this is where modern science has opened doors into our creation that we might not have recognized before. Apparently at night, there are certain cells in our brain that go into overdrive cleaning up the garbage from the day before. By reading scripture before going to bed, we can reinforce the ideas of scripture in our brain and clean up some of the garbage that collects in there during the day. A regular habit of reading before bed time can transform and renew our mind so that we become more like Christ. And in contrast, falling off to sleep with the mind focused on sinful thoughts can reinforce sinful habits, the opposite of putting off and putting on, as we are commanded to do. This practice can be life transforming, and I am sure the enemy will go to great lengths to prevent this transformation within our minds.

QT 29 May 17, Ps 1:1, God's word must be our foundation

Psalm 1:1 (ESV) —

1 Blessed is the man

who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

NOTE: There is an increasing degree of evil in this verse. A person walking (following his path) but is listening to the counsel of the wicked. He then stops walking (following God, following the path God has assigned) and stand with the sinners. He has lost his path and is no longer making a difference. Finally, he sits down with sinners (he has abandoned his walk) and he is a scoffer, making fun of those who walk with God. Scoffers are also called fools in the bible. They think they have struck on some important argument against God, but it is never well researched or thought through. I have yet to hear an argument against God or some contradiction in the bible that has stood up to reason. But to a scoffer, it doesn't matter if it is true, in fact--to a scoffer--there is no absolute truth; an argument only has to sound good, because emotion is the foundation of their reasoning. And emotional is the easiest way to suck people into false reasoning. But it all starts when we are listening to the counsel and reasoning of the wicked, rather than listening to the absolute truth of the Word of God.

QT 18 May 17, Matt 21:28-32, God's will? It's simple--obey his commands

Matthew 21:28–32 (ESV) — 28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

NOTE: These parables are aimed at Israel. The two sons are two factions within the nation, the religious and the righteous. Both groups struggle with sin, one more publicly and the other discreetly. But only one group obeys in the end. The religious say they will obey, but it is all façade, there is no real change or difference. The righteous struggle to do the will of God, and choose to disobey, but their conscious grips them, and they ultimately choose to do the right thing. The people who followed Jesus are the righteous, they came from all walks of life--some not so pretty--but, in the end, they obey. Ultimately, we want to be the people who obey, because those are the ones who do the will of the Father. Do you want to know God's will? Obey his commands. It all flows out of obedience.

QT 17 May 17, Matt 21:14-16, The elite only want their narrative followed

Matthew 21:14–16 (ESV) — 14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,

“ ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies

you have prepared praise’?”

NOTE: In Matthew's account, we have long passed the stage of honest inquiry in the story. The people see and believe, but the intelligent and elite want it stopped. They want to suppress the thought that Jesus is the Son of David, the long-awaited Messiah. They want to insert their own interpretation of events. They probably considered the people unintelligent and repeating fake news. They were the elite, it was their job to tell the people what to think and how to think. At one time, they investigated the claims of Jesus (ultimately determining his power came from Satan), but they have so hardened their hearts that no miracles or signs or facts or different view of events will change their mind. They have written the script, the meme, and they are committed to it. Today, the same thing is happening. What is right is now wrong, and wrong is considered right. Gender, God's creation of man in his image, male and female, is redefined from a physical creation to an emotional feeling. Marriage, God's joining the two unique sexes into one being has been redefined. The elite hate God or any idea that God might exist. They are so blinded that anything that does not agree with their definition of the world is called a lie or fake news. How blind we are to reality. How sad the depth to which we have fallen. And somehow we think the world is getting better …

QT 16 May 17, Matt 20:29-34, God's view of what is important is different from ours

Matthew 20:29–34 (ESV) — 29 And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. 30 And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31 The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 32 And stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” 33 They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” 34 And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.

NOTE: I see two points of interest in this passage. One, Jesus has already rebuked his disciples for deciding what is important or not important on his calendar. The disciples tried to keep the children away, thinking that they were not very important. The crowd does a similar thing, trying to quiet to blind men, probably older men who long ago lost their sight. They have lived their life, and right now they are a hindrance to Jesus talking to the crowd or spending time with the crowd. So the crowd tries to keep them off his calendar since they were unimportant. But what the world thinks is unimportant, God often finds important. People are important -- other people besides me are important to God. Secondly, Jesus does not just immediately heal them, though I am sure it was obvious what they wanted. Rather Jesus asks them what they want (probably because of the rejection). And Jesus shows pity for them. The Greek word for pity here is deep empathy. Jesus sincerely cared about them and their situation. So the application is twofold if we are to follow Jesus' example: everyone is important and people are not just an event on a calendar, but require love, concern, and empathy for their situation.

QT 15 May 17, Matt 20:17-21, The ugliness of selfishness

Matthew 20:17–21 (ESV) — 17 And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 18 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death 19 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. 21 And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.”

NOTE: These two passages certainly highlight the misunderstanding of the disciples. Jesus just told them of his upcoming suffering, death, and resurrection. And now two of them want guaranteed high positions in his kingdom. There will be a kingdom and there will be leadership required in the kingdom, but this kingdom will be so much different. We won't play the games of "position" because we will have new bodies and transformed minds. It won't be about "us" anymore, but it will be about others. Another of Satan's many efforts to destroy God's work in the world today is the focus on "me" characterized by "selfies" and a growing narcissism in our culture. We focus only upon what makes our lives better, not what might make another's life better. We are what we believe -- animals who survive by being the fittest, and getting what they want over others. It is ugly, and it looks so ugly in people. But even the ugliness is exalted in our movies and TV shows (think "House") such that we think it is a good thing. How sad we are …

QT 11 May 17, 1 Tim 6:17-19 and Luke 16:9, Use wealth for the kingdom's sake

1 Timothy 6:17–19 (ESV) — 17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

Luke 16:9 (ESV) — 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.

NOTE: The scripture tells us that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, which does not mean that money is evil or that having money suggests evil. But there are dangers with money and one of those dangers is to seek money and to love money. Jesus says that your heart can only serve one master, God or money. Now, given that you are serving God first but still have money, how should you then live? These two verses tell us to use our money for good and for the kingdom's sake. Money or the accumulation of money is not the objective. The use of money for good things is the objective. How can I use the money God has given me to reach others that I know for Christ? How can I help the body mature in Christ? Certainly our first goal is to give to the local church and various Christian ministries. But it does not have to be limited to only those things, we can give our money in ways that does not result in a tax benefit but is still an act of love. How another person views it is not my problem -- rather I serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

QT 10 May 17, Eph 4:1-3, Do Christians really treat each other as the Lord intended?

Ephesians 4:1–3 (ESV) — 1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

NOTE: Paul has discussed the immense blessings the Ephesians now have as children of God. Jesus has done it all, and we are now members of God's family. What is more is that he has created a new entity, the church, the bride, that is composed of Jews and Gentiles. He has broken down the wall between God and men, and also Jew and Gentile. He has given the Spirit to each. He guarantees their future inheritance. He has adopted them into the family of God. He has called us to a special task of taking his message to the world. In light of the wealth of their new position Paul calls his readers "to walk in a manner worth of the calling." He begins in this chapter and continues through the rest of the letter to explain "the walk." But in a nutshell, or as a thesis, he summarizes the essential elements of this walk: humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, maintaining the unity of the Spirit, and a bond of peace. Where do I see true believers failing today? I think gentleness is lacking in some Christian organizations of which I am a part. We seem to believe that the greatest of all Christian virtues is to point out error or to correct behavior. Certainly some of that is part of "bearing with one another." But what about humility, gentleness, love, and peace? Why are not those ideas just as important? Lord, open my eyes to my lack of gentleness, humility, love, patience, and peace.

QT 9 May 17, Matt 19:7-9, Sin is what destroyed the original concept of marriage

Matthew 19:7–9 (ESV) — 7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” 8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

NOTE: This is complicated. First of all, it was not Moses who wrote and allowed divorce. The scripture makes it clear that all scripture is inspired by God (1 Tim 3:16) and Peter said, 'men wrote the holy scriptures as they were carried along by the spirit (very loose paraphrase).'  So, the command was from God in the OT. Jesus explains the command (allowing divorce) that it was because of the hardness of their hearts, or in other words, sin. Because we are sinners, men and women do things to each other that allows divorce. Certainly God never intended for a woman to suffer abuse, specifically physical abuse but one could also see other types of mental and verbal abuse as legitimate causes. Since those things are so far from the concept of marriage, as described in Eph 5:18ff, it is clear that sin requires a change to the original commandment. But less we misunderstand, the best result is the way it was intended, a man and woman becoming one from the beginning to the end of their marriage.

QT 8 May 17, Matt 19:3-6, Marriage is intended to help us understand the image of God

Matthew 19:3–6 (ESV) — 3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

NOTE: This is a difficult passage without some good study and background. The chief view of the day among the Rabbi's was Hillel's view that essentially was unconditional divorce. And Jesus response, is to bring the issue back to its foundation and to its importance. When God created Adam and Eve, marriage was intended as a "forever" relationship where two people become one. That was prior to sin, and so the original goal is tainted by the introduction of sin. But technically, the relationship was never intended to end. The big difference is "sin." Why is this eternality so important? Because the becoming one flesh is important to God. We are made in his image and that image is best understood as male and female, not any other combination. Male and female are differently created, and the understanding of that image is best seen in a marriage relationship. Satan is doing his best to destroy this aspect of creation, marriage. Satan is even working to destroy the idea of gender, male and female. All of this is to destroy our understanding of God and what it means to be made in his image.

QT 4 May 17, Matt 17:24-27, Jesus saw paying taxes as a trivial thing compared to more important eternal issues

QT 2 May 17, Matt 17:22-23, The HS is our helper in life

Matthew 17:22–23 (ESV) — 22 As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, 23 and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.

NOTE: After the rejection by the nation, Jesus spends more time with his disciples and begins to open up about the path the Father has laid before him. Jesus knew this from the beginning and had hinted at it in the past. I'm sure it was upsetting. To have God as a friend in human form who can sit next to you and tell you what you need to do, well, …, it is the same thing we have today, except for the tangible human form. But putting myself in those shoes, I would have been very distressed. To lose someone who was so important to you and to know it ahead of time might have been even worse. That is probably why Jesus tells them about the helper he would send and why the helper was so important. Jesus, in human form, cannot be near every person, but the Holy Spirit can reside within every person. Do we think about the fact that we have the helper, the HS residing in our heart who is ready to help us through life's difficulties? I must confess that I forget this fact far too often.

QT 1 May 17, Matt 17:1-8, God the Father calls Jesus His son

Matthew 17:1–8 (ESV) — 1 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. 3 And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4 And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 5 He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” 8 And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

NOTE: There is a lot that could be said about this passage, but to me the most significant aspect is the teaching moment. Jesus brings his three closest disciples with him. They saw his transfiguration into blinding white light. They heard the Father call him his son and command them to listen to him. They saw Moses, representing the law, and Elijah, representing the prophets, and then when they lift their eyes after the Father speaks, they see only Jesus. That is significant, because the law and the prophets have been fulfilled in Jesus. They are subservient to the son of man, the messiah, the son of God. Jesus may use the term son of man (the majority of time) to emphasize his mission as a man to die on the cross, but God the Father clearly calls him his son. The message is clear and obvious, except to those who don't want to believe. Lord, forgive us, open our eyes to behold truth.