Foundations for Our Future (30)

by: The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler

Blessed to Bring Light

We began the week facing the possibility of persecution, and our attitude if it comes, and we ended the week being reminded that we are not to be “hidden” disciples, but very visible ones.

This does not mean, of course, that we prance around trying to show off as Christian people, nor does it mean we are to behave in a manner that is obnoxious to unbelievers. But it does call us to be willing to be known as followers of Jesus. How might that be?

What if we are meant to be kinder, and friendlier, and more courteous than others? What if we are to be eager to serve, rather than to be served? What if we are to be bringing comfort where there is sorrow, and healing where there is pain? What if we are to be known as truth tellers, never hiding behind half truths? What if we are be quick to forgive, slow to anger, and lifting up others? These are some of the behaviors that are to characterize the followers of Jesus.

Pray today for the will to walk into the light, more and more, by the grace of God.

Foundations for Our Future (31)

by: The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler

Who Gets the Glory?

No one in their right mind would light a lamp in a dark room, and then put it under a basket. (Matthew 5:15-16) Our Lord knows that well, but he is trying to wake up his listeners to a better understanding of their calling, if they follow him. They are to be seen doing what is right.

Sometimes that is very simple. All people of good will will pitch in and help if someone tumbles and spills their grocery cart. There are always some in every neighborhood who will help pick up litter, and tend common garden areas. Most will give some small amount to a worthy charity from time to time. Those are good deeds, but are they the “good works” our Lord is speaking of?

The distinction seems to be this: does what I am doing make people think more highly of me, or does it bring glory to God, who is our Father in heaven? When that question is asked it causes any thoughtful Christian to pause in introspection.

We are created for good works that we are to walk in, says the apostle. (Ephesians 2:10) The Holy Scriptures make clear that such things have eternal value. Here Jesus shows us unmistakably that those works will bring others to give glory to God. 

Pray today for the wisdom to know when we are faced with a good work that we are to act on, and to not get in the way of God’s glory.

Foundations for Our Future (32)

by: The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler

All Will Be Accomplished

The good Lord turns us today to the written revelation given to Israel which we know as the Old Testament, but which he calls “the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 5:17-18) He does so, we can be sure, for good reason.

At the first time of this teaching Christ Jesus knew that what God had sent him to say and do was going to be a challenge for most men. Especially religious men. They would soon be accusing him of overturning the Law and blaspheming against God, but he makes very evident that he knows that the Law & the Prophets came from God. Nothing he is about to say or do will be designed to “abolish” them. Indeed he has come “to fulfill them.”

Believers look back on this scripture and recognize that the divine nature of the Son of God gave him the authority to utter these amazing words. But if we go on to imagine that the truths taught in the Old Testament are no longer applicable to Christians, we make a grave mistake. Many of those things promised of old were to be fulfilled in the lifetime of our Lord, but not all. “All will be accomplished”, he tells us, but there are some things still undone. We must never forget that there is gospel treasure still to be learned and obeyed from Genesis to Malachi.

Ask the Lord today to give you a deep and abiding hunger to know all of the Word of God.

Foundations for Our Future (33)

by: The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler

Doing & Teaching

The foundation of the Christian Faith is the revelation given to Israel. The call of God to Abraham, Sarah, and their descendants is the wellspring of our faith. God began long ago to call a people for his own possession, and that is going on still. Today we see that what he desires for those who are his has not changed.

First Jesus tells us what not to do. We are not to relax any of the commandments nor to teach others to do so. (Matthew 5:19) If we foolishly or intentionally do this, we will forfeit any esteem or reward in the kingdom of heaven. Note that Jesus seems here to anticipate that some Christian people might do this, since it is only those who follow him who will one day be in the kingdom of heaven. To turn aside from the commandments of God is a grave error.

Those who will be rewarded, “called great in the kingdom of heaven,” are those who do the commandments and teach other to do so as well. The whole of our Lord’s teaching will be unfolded before us, in the New Testament, that we might learn how this can be so. Now let us note that to be a follower of Jesus is not about “knowing” it is about “doing.” And that step alone is not sufficient, it is to be about teaching others to do the same. Disciples make disciples.

Pray to be a doer and a teacher of the way of God.

Foundations for Our Future (34)

by: The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler

Never?

One of my fellow NAMS Companions, Prince Ven Goor, who is planting new churches all over Northwest India, frequently asks leaders he is discipling: “What is your end vision?” Today we see the Lord setting before all his first followers an end vision of breathtaking scope. His followers will be called to a righteousness that exceeds that of the most religious people of their day. (Matthew 5:20) This is to be their journey, if they follow him. How can this be?

We must first recognize that this will not happen without effort. No disciple becomes what his master desires without personal commitment to change. To think, to feel, to will, to act - all will be necessary to become like the teacher. Our righteousness will never exceed “that of the scribes and Pharisees” if we will not sacrifice to pursue it. But there is a mystery that will be revealed in this calling. The natural man or woman can not do this. It can only be done by the power of God and his boundless grace. There we see the mystery: we are called to something only God can accomplish. Without what he alone can give us, we “will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

In time the Lord Jesus will reveal to his disciples, and thus to us, that he must dwell in us if we are to become what he wants us to be. He must become our righteousness.

Let us pray today to hold nothing back, and to receive what he offers.

Foundations for Our Future (35)

by: The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler

One Word

Sometimes one word in the Holy Scriptures “stands out” on the page. When that happens it is good to slow down and pray for wisdom. Our last devotional contained such a word for me. Never.

The idea that the Lord said “never enter the kingdom of heaven” would not leave me, and so I went to the Greek text. There I found two words, not one, and they are literally translatable as “by no means.” So literally, it may be be argued, Jesus is saying unless our “righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and scribes [we] will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20) Whew!

Now any true follower of the Lord Jesus wants to be clear about just what Christ is telling us. How then do we understand “means?” It is describing any system or method we can come up with to accomplish our objective. Note the “we.”

The Lord is absolutely telling us two things at the same time: I expect a righteousness from you that exceeds that of the very best you know, and you can not devise a method to do it on your own. There you have it. The call to be righteous and the clear certainty that it is beyond us.

Now we are back in the beatitudes. Now we see what the Lord meant when he said “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3) They are completely dependent on God.

Today pray for that complete trust.

Foundations for Our Future (36)

by: The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler

Building Well

We have journeyed from Matthew 5:1 to Matthew 5:20 over the last three weeks, and it would be good to reflect on those verses before we move forward. These teachings of the Lord Jesus must never be taken for granted by a believer, lest we discover we have not been building well. Our Lord has made very clear that we can build carelessly, and discover later that we have been building in vain. We do not want that, nor does he.

We have seen that the description of a follower, a true Christian, is given to us in the beatitudes (Matthew 5:2-10). Then we were shown the possibility of suffering, in this life, because we follow Jesus (Matthew 5:11-12). Next the call was given to us to be in the world as salt and light, with the outcome of our deeds to be that glory is given to God our Father. And finally, we saw that the life we are to live does not overturn the Law and the Prophets, but rather calls us to do and teach them (Matthew 5:17-20). We are called to be righteous people, holy people.

The Lord Jesus will now begin to give some concrete examples of what that life is to look like. He will teach us about anger, lust, divorce, swearing oaths, retaliation, and love of enemies. It will be exhilarating and challenging. It will require of us that we be building well.

Today read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest.

Foundations for Our Future (37) 

by: The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler 

You Have Heard

Six times in the next thirty-seven verses our Lord Jesus will say: “You have heard that it was said…but I say to you….” (Matthew 5:21) In every instance he will be challenging things the people of God had been taught by their leaders about God’s Law. Many of these things were almost certainly common sayings among them, and almost everyone believed they came from God. Christ is going to correct that interpretation. When he does this, he is taking up the position only God himself can occupy.

Not only is Jesus taking a stance that some will soon begin to call “blasphemy,”but he is daring to go on to explain what the Law of God was actually intended to mean. He presumes to know the mind of God in giving the Law. No Christian dare rush past this revelation.

Jesus is not just a teacher. Jesus is not just a fine moral guide. Jesus is not just a rising leader in ancient Israel. Jesus is not just someone we remember on Sunday as the founder of our religion. No, he is the “beloved Son” of God.

Here we come face to face with the most challenging reality we will ever encounter. God has come among us. The Creator has taken up residence among us, and his will is to restore his creation to its original intention. And of all he might address in sinful human behavior, he first focuses on our anger.

Pray to understand Matthew 5:21-26 this week.

Foundations for Our Future (38)

by: The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler

Anger

What makes you angry? How do you control it? Do you?

I served under a wonderful rector years ago who struggled mightily with anger issues. One day as he and I prayed together he asked me to lay hands upon him and ask God to deliver him from his anger. Ten minutes later we were driving to the hospital and another driver cut him off. His speech in the next few seconds did not glorify God.

All of us deal with anger, and the Holy Scriptures do not describe it as a sinful emotion in itself. There is a distinction made in the Bible, however, between righteous and unrighteous anger. Here the Lord is focusing us on the most basic community of our lives, that which we live with our brothers. (Matthew 5:21-22) He means, of course, those who share with us in the household of God. Those who are called to enter the kingdom of heaven. And he tells us that unresolved conflict there is unacceptable in God’s sight.

Nobody really wants to hear this. Most local congregations are rife with old disputes, distant wounds, unforgiven slights, and even hidden fury. People dare to come to the altar of God on Sunday who have deep grievances against one another, and Christ Jesus says it is a deal breaker. Thinking we are not murders, when we are furious at a brother or sister, is believing a lie. The sin is the same. It can keep us out of heaven.

Foundations for Our Future (39)

by: The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler

Who Is At Fault? 

In this teaching about anger and reconciliation, the Lord Jesus makes very plain that he is speaking about the person who is at fault taking the first step. (Matthew 5:23-24) Perhaps it would be more accurate to say the person who first realizes that he has sinned against another. This person knows that the other one has a legitimate complaint: “something against you.” Maybe both sinned, but this man knows he did as well.

No first step is harder, without the grace of God, than to admit fault and ask for forgiveness and reconciliation. It is excruciating to do in a marriage, in a business setting, or in a social circle. But Christ Jesus makes it crystal clear that of all the places it must be done it is within the household of God. It must.

Nothing shows the severity of such unresolved breakdowns, from the Lord’s point of view, as his strict instruction to not bring our gift to the altar until we have gone to our brother or sister to be reconciled. One of the most sacred acts of our lives, returning our gratitude with thanksgiving to God in corporate worship, is to be stopped until another sacrifice is made. The sacrifice of humbly asking for forgiveness. Crucifying our pride. For most of us, most of the time, this is a much greater sacrifice.

Consider today in prayer if there is someone you must go to?