Loving Two

Meditation June 8, 2020

Matthew 6

24“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Jesus continues with the dichotomy he is drawing between believers and unbelievers and their behavior. In the beatitudes he gives us the characteristics, the personality traits of the believer and he is following that showing how that affects behavior. First he looks at the law. For the unbeliever it deals only with the outward, but Jesus says for the believer, those who to whom the Spirit has given understanding of spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14) he is shows the law to apply to the heart and intentions and following on that same way teaching them the path they should follow. Having directed them in the manner they should live in their relationship with fellow men he teaches them how their new person should relate to God in their duties and relationship toward Him. He then turns our attention toward things, worldly things, treasures on earth and treasures in heaven and the way in which we should relate to them. Now, having drawn those distinctions He teaches us that we can’t have it both ways, we can’t have double vision and successfully go through life with one eye on heaven and the other eye on earth. Why not? It seems that a lot of people manage to do that. But that I just the thing; i.e. it seems so but in reality it is all appearance without substance. It is impossible for that to be true. That is the point Jesus is now at in His teaching.

“No one can serve two masters….” He does not say that it is difficult but that it is impossible. Jesus leaves no doubt regarding this. “No one” translates oudeis which according to Strong mean not one, none at all, no valid example exits of anyone able to do that which follows. Jesus makes it as emphatic as language allows. “Not one example is to be found of someone who can serve (literally be the slave of) two masters. We can easily miss the force of that and read it as no one can serve two people. Why not? What is to prevent serving two or a half dozen people? Nothing prevents one serving several people but that is not what Jesus said. He said, “No one can be a slave to two ‘masters….” The word translated masters here is translated lord elsewhere in reference to Jesus. Master, lord refers to a person who has absolute ownership. To serve, *douleuein), to be a slave to has to be understood as it would have been understood by Jesus’ hearers. When they heard slave, they heard someone who according to the law that governed them who was practically not a person but a thing over which the owner had absolute rights even of life or death. The slave was a walking, talking tractor, a farm implement that could be bought, sold, beaten, thrown away or all of them. A slave had no time to serve another master simply because no time was his. All his time belonged to his owner and should his owner grant him permission to serve another temporarily, he was still under the rule of his master who could at any moment for any reason or no reason at all retract that temporary leave. A slave, quite simply, for every living moment of his life was at the disposal of his master to do as he master pleased. (We do well to remember that in to relation to our being servants, slaves of Christ.)

Now that Jesus has made it clear to them in terms they could easily understand, i.e. that one cannot have two masters, He directs them to the two masters vying for their complete servitude. Those to masters are God and mammon, God and, to be precise, things. Usually understood as money or riches, mammon, according to linguists, is a Syriac word that means worldly goods or any thing that come under the name of worldly good; e.g., money, riches, toys (remember the bumper sticker about the one with the most toys. I hate that sticker.) John Gill says that mammon, “according to the Jewish way of speaking, which the Samaritans used, is one that is greedy…who cannot refrain himself from gluttony.”

Note that Jesus does not say wealth is sinful but that having it be your master means that you cannot also be serving God. There is no mistaking His teaching regarding this. “Not one is able to serve…both God and Mammon.” We have in the OT examples of those to whom God gave much wealth. Abraham, Job, Solomon and numerous others were given much wealth. Deuteronomy 28:11 God promises prosperity, in Malachi 3 God says bring me your tithes and see if I do not open the windows of heaven and pour our on you more than you can receive; there will be so much you will have nowhere to store it. But here is the point, wealth, things, worldly goods, though they had them in abundance, was not their master and one need not read far in the OT to learn that when things became the master, God took them away. You cannot love two masters and God will not share your affections with another.

Many are the subtle ways in which we let our affections stray. Martin Lloyd Jones tells the story of a man whose heifer became pregnant and delivered two calves, a black calf and a black calf. The farmer told his wife the Lord had been very good to them in giving them two calves, that he was giving one of the calves to the Lord and when they were grown and he sold them he would give to the church the money he received for the Lord’s calf. Which calf is the Lord’s she asked? The farmer replied he hadn’t yet decided but soon do so. Some months later he came into the house with a sad face and announced to his wife that the Lord’s calf had died. We don’t have calves but few, if any, of us are there who cannot remember a time when we had to give a little less because we had to spend part of the Lord’s money for food, or gas, or some other unexpected expense.

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

This we know all too well. May God grant us that we keep our affections on those things that we may store up in heaven.

Seeing Darkness

Meditation June 7, 2020

Matthew 6

22“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, ^c your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eyes are unhealthy, ^d your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

24“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

We are naturally given to understanding things from our experience and perspective. There is nothing wrong with that…unless you are reading something that was said to a group of people 2000 years ago. When that is the case, if you wish to rightly understand what was being said to them, you must seek to understand it from the point of their experience and perspective. Here, in these verses, we have a text book case of the need for doing just that.

Jesus begins, “the eye is the lamp of the body.” We all understand that. If you have difficulty grasping his point, the next time you go grocery shopping, try doing so with you eyes closed. I say that only to get the mind going in the right direction. Jesus is not talking about blindness but double vision, diplopia and to be precise spiritual diplopia.

We have to keep the Sermon on the Mount all together. The division of the Bible into chapters and verses is a once a boon and a bane. If you have ever tried reading a Greek or Hebrew text you understand how it is a boon. You can get something of the same effect if you will copy and paste a chapter from an English bible and then delete all the verse numbers, punctuation and any extra spaces that divide the end of one sentence from the beginning of the next together with all the capitalizations at the beginning of sentences. . Thank God He has given us men with patience to study the original languages and provide punctuation and verse division for us. At the same time, we must be careful for the division of the text into verses. That can quickly become a bane when it lends itself to approaching and understanding what is being said apart from the context in which it is found and that is a sure formula for misunderstanding.

When we come to verse 22, Jesus is still talking about, fleshing out, applying to life the characteristics of the new creature in Christ that he detailed in the beatitudes. He has explained them in relation to that which we are in the world, in relation to the law, to our civil and religious duties under the two great tables of the law and now he is explaining them in relation to our attitude toward things of this world. He has told us not to set our hearts on the thing of this world, to set our hearts upon and treasure up for ourselves those things that perish; now He is continuing this thought by explaining that we can’t have both; that we can’t both set our hearts on treasuring up treasures on earth and at the same time storing up treasures in heaven. He knows the human heart well enough to know exactly where it is going to run unless He corrects it. Our fallen hearts are going to grab for both.

To head that off at the pass, so to speak, Jesus says “The eye is the lamp of the body…” Lamp is a better translation than ‘light’ as several versions translate. The eye is a lamp in the same way lamp is used when David said “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” As the word of God shows us the way so that we don’t go about spiritually and always in peril of wandering into things spiritually harmful, just so the eye shows the way to go physically so that we are not constantly bumping into things harmful or wandering about aimlessly arriving at our intended destination only by the most extreme smile of providence. Jesus is not talking about a spiritual or moral eye per se as some explain. He is talking about the physical eye and using that as a metaphor for a spiritual truth. “If you eye is healthy”, if you can see well, then you can get on safely in life, doing the things necessary for life, without harming yourself for others. You can imagine the results you would get if you awaken in the morning and rather than opening your eyes you wandered about blindly dressing and preparing you morning meal – assuming you could get that far before needing to call for medical help. Or worse yet, if you should somehow make it to the car, driving yourself to work still blind. Well that is exactly His point with regard to our spiritual life.

Thus, Jesus says, “If your eye is single…” or, in other words, if you see well. The Greek word is haplous, The NIV and some translate that as healthy while the KJV and others translate it as single. Both are correct. Jesus is talking about the difference between seeing well and not seeing well but he has a particular point in mind and translating it as single is a better translation that leads naturally not his next point about serving both God and mammon. Haplous is the Greek antonym for diplous which means double from which we get our term diplopia or double vision. If you have double vision, you may, in fact, be in more danger than you would be if blind. If blind you know just don’t unless you have help. With double vision you are tempted to carry on. There is always the chance you will pick the correct vision. I remember my brother when he had a brain tumor that caused him double vision, and more interestingly phantom vision, bumping into walls and saying, “I always pick the wrong one.”    Such is the danger of the physical eye that is not single. If is possible that Jesus is speaking less in metaphor and more to an understanding that the Jews would have had. Haplous in the Septuagint is used to translate the Hebrew barakah which means generous (Proverbs 22:9). And other Jewish literature, e.g., the Mishnah and Talmud speak of the good eye, middle eye and evil eye. And Jewish commentators on the Mishnah say the good eye is the generous eye, it sees need and attends to that need whereas the evil eye is contrary. Either way, whether the intent is to use a metaphor or Jesus is speaking to a spiritual understanding the Jews would have had, the point is the same.  If you see well, if your eye is healthy and you sight is good, you know where to go and where not to go, your whole body is full of light. You are not bumping into things, falling over things, injuring yourself or dressing in who knows what combination of clothing and colors. You get the absurd spectacle you could soon make of yourself attempting to go through life blind and unassisted.

Meyer thinks haplous as single because it is contrasted to evil rather than double (diplous).He may have a technical point but I think he is overlooking the fact that Jesus is leading to the point of attempting to serve two masters, to successfully have double vision, if you will, which He is going to say is not possible.

The point Jesus is in the midst of making is that you can distinguish between believers and unbelievers by observing in yourself and other the things that are most valued, those that command your attention and those to which you most devote your time, energy and thought. That is the single eye, or in the spiritual realm, the good, generous or healthy eye. Not only does single fit better with what Jesus is going to say regarding serving two masters but if Meyer had stayed with singleness of eye on his technical grammatical route he could have avoided what I think is his misunderstanding for poneros, which he, translates as evil, just as haplous that has a primitive meaning of single, has as its primitive meaning pain-ridden.

The point of it all is this: The single eye is a healthy eye with which one can see clearly the way in which he should go; on the contrary the evil eye is an unhealthy eye leaving one in the darkness unable to make out the path he should follow. Jesus is clearly saying this in regard to laying up treasures in heaven as opposed to laying up treasures on earth. And His point, it seems to me is not that an evil eye will lead you astray, that hardly need be said, but that as He will continue, double vision, attempting to serve to masters, seeing two different direction simultaneously, leaves you in darkness and worse for being blind with double vision you think you see and continue on whereas if you were just in darkness you would wisely proceed with caution if at all. Thus, practically, the darkness is greater.

May God grant us the singleness of vision and the wisdom to keep our eye on those things which are not seen for the things seen are temporal, but the things not see are eternal. (2Cor. 4:18)

Where Your Heart Is, There Your Treasure Will Be

 Meditation June 6, 2020 Matthew 6

19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Do not treasure up for y0urselves treasures that fit the earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieve break in and steal.

Jesus has declared the laws, if we may call them that, of the relationship believers are to have with other men and the relationship they are to have with God. Because believers are of the character he describes in the beatitudes, we may judge ourselves by our behavior whether or not we are truly believers as well as measure the progress of our sanctification as believers. And thus, discover where we need repentance and improvement.

Jesus now turns our attention to understand the attitude we should have as believers toward things of this present world in which we live.

He first gives us the negative. DO NOT store up for yourselves earthly treasures, treasure treasures that serve no other purpose than living lavishly between the cradle and the grave. "(F)or yourselves!" is the phrase that gets immediately to the heart of the problem Jesus is addressing. And we do not need to say much about that. We all understand what he means. Even the ungodly, though they would disagree with it being a negative, understand exactly what Jesus meant by “storing up for yourselves.” The problem for believers is that when we set our mind and efforts to accumulating solely for the self, we begin to neglect the orphan, the widow, the needy and we begin to place our confidence in our possessions. Possessions become an idol, that to which we look for security and where we place out dependence. We take no thought for tomorrow not because God holds tomorrow but because we have provided for ourselves for tomorrow, because we have treasured up treasures for tomorrow. You remember the story of the man who filled his barns with grain and said, ‘Now I have provided for myself, I will retire and live in ease.’ And the Lord said, ‘You fool. You do not know that tonight your soul will be required of you.’ (Lk. 12:20) Jesus is not giving a mandate against providing for a time when because of ate or circumstance you are unable to continue working. He is not saying we should not have a retirement plan. His is simply saying the goal of our life should not be to put aside wealth for the sole purpose of arriving at a point when we can live a live of ease. Paul exhorts in 1 Cor. 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” If we lay up treasure with that end in view, then we lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven.

Jesus is dealing with attitudes, sins of the heart and the laying up of treasures on earth has to do with putting our confidence in that which we have provided for ourselves rather than putting our confidence in God.; it is in finding our joy, our purpose, our comfort in things. One of my least appreciated bumper stickers, one that thankfully is not seen much anymore, was the one that said, “The one with the most toys wins.” That is exactly what Jesus is teaching against here. Where you lay up your treasures, whether on earth or in heaven, reveals where your faith lies.

I especially like what Ironside had to say in regard to this; i.e. “All treasures are held in subjection to God and used as He directs. He who is I touch with eternal realities can well afford to hold earthly possessions with a loose hand.”

We have no choice but to deal with the things of the world in which we live. We need food and clothing and places to live. We not only need them but we the pro-life law; i.e., you shall not kill, commands us to provide for ourselves and, as needed to the extent we can do so, provide for others those things which enhance, promote and protect life. The opposite extreme that some go to of disregarding all earthly possession may well be no less sin than hoarding earthly possession. They are given to us by God to be used for His glory in the ways he has indicated. And that is the thing Jesus is teaching. Wealth, possessions and the obtaining of them are to be motivated and guided by spiritual considerations. Worldly possessions we must have but if all our efforts and thoughts are going to what we will eat or what we will drink or with what we will clothe ourselves we are going in the opposite direction from what Jesus is teaching here. The point is that we are to labor for the things needed without being anxious over them or coveting them but realizing God has promised to care for us by rewarding the work of our hands. Johnnie B. liked to tell the tale (I think he made up this one himself) of two farmers who went to their fields in the Spring to plant. One hitched up his mule and went to plowing saying, “Lord give me and this old mule strength to plow this ground again.” The other man went to his field sat down in the corner by his fence with a handful of seeds and said, “Lord, I’m old and my body is weary. Please send the birds to plant these seeds.” In the Fall the first farmer went to check on his neighbor he hadn’t seen in a while and found nothing but bones in the

As in Luke 12:33 where Jesus say to sell you possession and give to the poor, he does not mean to impoverish yourself, as some insanely would have us believe, in order that you too may become poor. Jesus does not utter oxymorons. It is not just the privilege but the duty of believers to labor to make provision not only for himself and his family but for those who cannot (not will not) provide for themselves. To live well is not sin. There is no magic number that says you may keep this much and more than that is I sin. Believers are to live modestly, frugally, with restraint so that they may provide for their family and if possible leave an inheritance (Pro  13:22) but there is no requirement we should live as paupers. However, to live with overabundance, to lay up treasure to satisfy the longings of the flesh when others are in need is to lay up treasures on earth. This is that Jesus says we ought not do.

May the Beauty of Jesus Be Seen

Meditation June 5 2020

Matthew 6

A reminder of the approach we are taking to the Sermon on the Mount. Some think it was not a single sermon but collection of the teachings of Jesus that Matthew gathered and presented as a sermon. The reasoning is that we find many of the same teachings scattered throughout the gospels and appearing at different times. That is true. But that proves nothing except that Jesus was consistent in His teaching. I think it is likely the Sermon on the Mount is a condensed version of the days teaching; however, I have found no reason other than the fact that what Jesus taught on the mount is consistent with what he taught at other times. There has to be better evidence than consistency to call into the question that which a writer of the Scripture presents as a historical event.

Secondly, I am convinced the Beatitudes are the heart of the sermon and the rest is a fleshing out and application of the beatitudes as they should be seen in the life of a believer. In the Beatitudes, Jesus lists the primary characteristics of a believer, notes that having been given these characteristics they and they alone are the salt and light for the world. He then affirms the law as no less applicable under grace than under the Mosaic dispensation. He didn’t come to do away with the law but to fulfill it and anyone who set aside one jot or tittle of the law will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. This is the crux of the sermon. The rest of the sermon as we have it is a detailing of the practical application of this in the life of a believer.

The rest of chapter five deals with the law as it applies to our relationships among men. Jesus clarifies the law and its intent apart from the law as they had learned it from the religious leaders; i.e., the law is to deal with matters of the heart and not merely outward behavior. Now in chapter he turns to explain the law as it applies to our religious duties. As our civic duties with regard to our relationship with men is governed by the law of God, so are our religious duties with regard to our relationship with God to be governed by the law. And as the case was with the second table of the law; i.e. that we love our neighbor as ourselves so it is with regard to that table of the law that says we should love the Lord with all our heart, mind and soul; that is, it is a matter of the heart and not simply outward display.

That, I think, is the structure of the sermon. So, we are now dealing with man’s religious duties. These, as Jesus gives them here are the three with which the people would have been familiar as they are the basic elements of worship as taught by the Pharisees; namely charity or almsgiving, fasting and prayer. We have dealt with prayer as done wrongly for show, to be seen, to appear righteous and holy or to feel that way as opposed to properly as one humble, poor in spirit and broken-hearted over sin recognizing and submitting himself to his sovereign Lord in gratitude. Jesus then gives us that which has been called the Lord’s prayer as an example of the way in which we should pray rather than in a lavish display of words designed more to be heard by men than by God.

Having corrected them on prayer, Jesus moves on to fasting. Our Lord does not command the use of any of the then accepted elements of religious life, fasting, alms-deeds, or prayer, all were already fully established in among the Jewish peoples. Under the Old Testament dispensation there had been but one fast required by the law and that was in connection with the day of atonement. The Pharisees had adder others and it was common for the more religious to fast twice a week. You may remember the Pharisee in his self-edifying prayer commended himself to God as one who fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12) Jesus does abolish or condemn this practice; rather He gives it at least tacit approval in saying “when you fast” and regulates it, teaches the proper use of the elements of worship.  Some of those elements have changed, e.g. fasting is no longer used as a regular element of worship, however, the teachings about these elements apply to all other elements of worship.

Thus, regarding fasting, Jesus says to His followers: 16“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

The Phairisees, having instituted numerous fasting not required in the law, had at the time of Jesus raised it the practice of fasting, primarily by their pompous display to a unprecedented and, frankly, unholy prominence. As noted, it wasn’t the fasting per se that Jesus condemned but the common practices that had risen around it. People when they were fasting, and none more ostentatiously than the Pharisees, they would mar their appearances so that it was obvious to everyone that they were fasting. They would go unwashed, put on long faces, replace their fine clothing with sack cloth even putting ashes on their heads so that when the ashes mixed with the contrived tears they managed, it was a spectacle to behold. So dramatic was the change that the word Jesus uses that is translated “disfigure” means to disappear. Disguised, as it were, beyond recognition they disappeared as normal persons, whatever their rank in society, in order that they might appear as someone entirely different; i.e. that they may appear as fasters. In short, they were but poor actors ‘strutting and fretting’. They wanted to be seen, to have others look and them as say ‘Oh, how holy.” For that it worked. But Jesus make It clear that is the whole of their reward. When they were recognized by men as fasting, “Truly is tell you, they have received their reward in full.”

I remember a man who would visit our church occasionally when I was a kid. His sister was the pianist and whenever he was in town visiting her, he would come to church with her. I have no reason to believe Mr. Wiggles was not a true believer. Like his sisters he was raised in a God-fearing Christian home and was not the sort of person who would have troubled himself to attend church just to please his sisters. But Mr. Wiggles was also a US ambassador to one of the European countries and had attained a display -I suppose useful if not necessary- suitable to his position as an ambassador. There was nothing so outrageously ostentatious as sackcloth and ashes on his head. In fact, his actions saying ‘I am here now’ were so subtle it would be difficult to say he did this and he did that; yet, they screamed so loudly ‘Look at me’ that even as 10-year-old kid I couldn’t miss them. It is that sort of thing Jesus is talking about; i.e., anything that draws attention to yourself whether sackcloth and ashes, the subtle pomp of an ambassador or the wearing of new finery or coifed hair, Jesus says go into the house of the Lord looking normal. It is the inward piety of the heart that matters; not the outward display of piety. Seek to be approved of God; not man. It is this, I think, and not some cultural code that Paul had in mind when he advocated for women having their heads covered and men having their heads uncovered. It was as a regulation to worshippers, men and women not to go into the house of the Lord in a manner to draw attention to themselves. 1 Timothy 2: 9 “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with honor and soundness of mind, not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array.” Thus, also men wearing head coverings. Pharisees, and other men wishing to appear as holy, who could afford them, wore elaborate head coverings. It was the male egos answer to the plaited hair, pins and ornaments of the women. Each one tried to ‘out shine’ the other and in doing so not only did worship take second place, but most of those of lesser means who could not afford these things we shamed. Jesus said, when you fast, i.e. when you are engaged in religious duties avoid drawing attention to yourself. If it means covering your head or getting ride of your fancy hat, then that is what you do. God’s people are poor in spirit, humble and meek not loud and boisterous in dress or manner of life. Thus, we are; thus, we should be. Jesus said, “if you have seen me; you have seen the Father (John 12). May we so strive to conduct ourselves in dress and behavior that those who have seen us can say in some kindred manner they have seen Christ. If such was our life, we might be surprised to near people actually asking a reason for the hope we have.

Necessary but not Sufficient

Meditation June 3, 2020

Matthew 6

 

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sin.

 

My thoughts on these verses are just that; i.e. my thoughts, my wrestling with it to try and understand it within the context of the whole of Scripture. It is for me a somewhat difficult passage to explain. It is one of those things you see clearly but when try to put it into a coherent statement it becomes more and more slippery. Nonetheless, given the emphasis Jesus puts on it, it is that about which we must make as much effort as needed to gain at least a basic understanding of that He is saying.

 

When Jesus repeats something, it is good indication we should give close attention to what is being said. Jesus has just ended teaching his disciples the pattern after which they should pray and has taught them in the end of that prayer they should pray “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” He turns immediately now in His teaching, as much by way of emphasis as to clarify, and says to them “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sin.”

 

We hear this and cannot but wonder what He means. We are taught that it is by grace that we are saved and not of works; yet, It sounds so simple and straight forward here; i.e., forgiveness is contingent on forgiving, if you want to be forgiven, then you must first forgive others, if you want the Father to hear your prayers and bestow on you His forgiveness, then you must first forgive others. That is precisely what Jesus is saying. In the Lord’s prayer, as we have noted is implied when we are taught to pray forgive me as I forgive others. Here Jesus immediately follow the prayer and distinctly asserts this to be the case; not as a suggestion, not as a matter of indifference to be chosen or omitted, but as a condition of God’s order of things, if we wish to be forgiven, then forgiving others is a necessary condition. We need, as did Jesus to emphasize this thus; we will repeat it: If you wish to have God’s forgiveness, you must first forgive others for in the original language it is clear it is saying forgive me as I have forgiven (past tense) and not forgive me as I will forgive (future tense). To emphasize what He is saying, Jesus, so that we might not miss it, says it both positively and negatively: If you forgive your Father will forgive you (positive) and if you do not forgive, your Father will not forgive you (negative). This is the third time within a few sentences that Jesus makes the point. How, if we do not earn God’s forgiveness, if by grace we are saved and not through works (Eph. 2:8-9) how are we to understand this.

 

For me the easiest way to understand this is to borrow from the study of logic and understand it in terms of necessary versus sufficient conditions. A necessary condition is a condition that must be present for a given condition to follow. A sufficient condition is a condition such that if it is present then a given condition must follow. In other words, forgiving others does not guarantee your being forgiven. You may forgive others without yourself being forgiven at all. Forgiving does not produce your being forgiven (a sufficient condition) but without forgiving you will not be forgiven (a necessary condition).

 

Jesus does not mean that the forgiveness of others is the thing that procures for us forgiveness with God. That forgiveness is procured only by the finished work of Christ; nonetheless, forgiving others is so much of the essential character of a follower of Christ that we are walking in the valley of the shadow of self-deceit if we think we are merciful peacemakers; yet, we do not forgive others. We must not infer from this that forgiving others entitles us to forgiveness but we may infer from it that not forgiving others is evidence we have not ourselves been forgiven; we are not yet that new creature in Christ who is humble and meek and merciful and a peacemaker. This is fundamental to our understanding what Jesus is saying.

 

However, that said, one cannot read much of Scripture without realizing that throughout the Bible it is taught that there is a secondary part of God’s covenant. The first part of the covenant of grace, the foundational part, the part that makes the second part possible, is unilateral. God makes that covenant and fulfills its conditions making of us His people. There is nothing of that covenant that is contingent on any work of ours. God says “you are mine; I have called you by name” and I have paid the price for you. But now, having made us His people there is that part of our relationship to Him as His people in the outworking of His covenant of grace such that His blessing or discipline follows on our behavior and God says, if you will, then I will. There is a contingency to the blessings of God in our walk with him and while our obedience is not a sufficient condition to procure those blessings yet, they are such necessary conditions that apart from them we will not see the blessings God in His wisdom has made necessary for them. Thus, God says, “if my people will…then I will.” (II Chron. 7:14)

 

Here God says, if my people will forgive, then I will forgive. When a man asks our forgiveness, whatever he may have done, we are to forgive, to pardon that offense, that trespass against us. And if forgiveness is not asked we must yet stand ready to forgive, to show kindness toward him and hold not grudge against him but to be ready to do him only good whether or not he ever asks forgiveness. May God grant us such understanding as needed to act on this teaching as we ought.

 

Peter came to Jesus and asked, “’Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven time?’ ‘Jesus answered, I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” By this Jesus meant to indicate there are no limits. We must stand always ready to forgive. That we may fully understand, Jesus gives us this example; “Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.”

 

Keep Me from Temptation

Meditation June 2,2020

Matthew 6

“ ‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

10your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

11Give us today our daily bread.

12And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

 

We have before us not the last two petitions of the Lord’s Prayer. We will not deal with that part of the prayer as found in the KJV and other versions that reads “for thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever. It is not found in the NIV and there are good arguments made that it was not a part of Jesus original teaching but added later either by Matthew or by a copier of the Greek manuscript. If such was the case, it was very early on that such took place and only later, much later, when various Greek texts were found that some were found not to have that phrase included. The phrase does appear in the Byzantine majority text. For myself, I think the Byzantine text, because it belonged to the Greek speaking church, is likely the most accurate, so I accept the phrase as part of the prayer and will continue to do so until the Lord Himself appears and tells me it was not original in the prayer as He taught it. In any case, it is a doxology and there is not much more than that to be said about it. That being the case, I will deal with the phrase no more than what has been said; i.e. it is a doxology.

 

There are fundamental needs that all men have. First and foremost, they need to recognize God. The great crime of mankind is that knowing God they neither glorified Him nor thanked Him nor acknowledge Him; consequently, God gave them over to a depraved mind and the rest, as they say, is history. It has been and will continue to be a sad history as long as man refuses to acknowledge God. Therefore, the first petition of the prayer Jesus teaches is for God to grant us that we acknowledge Him as we ought. The second of the fundamental needs of man that Jesus addresses in the prayer is the need for food, water, those things that are needful to sustain physical life and wellbeing; i.e.; our daily bread. Thirdly, we need pardon, we need to be forgiven in order that we may approach our God.

 

Thomas Boston divides the life of man into four stages, posse peccare, non posse no peccare, posse non peccare and non posse peccare; i.e. possible/able to sin, not possible/able not to sin, possible/able not to sin and not possible/able to sin. Adam was created innocent but able to in. All the sons of Adam are born into the stage of not possible/able not to sin. Being born again, born from above and brought into Christ, believer are now in the state where we are able not to sin. The money on our back is the old man of sin against whom we fight daily “our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with” (Romans 6:6). That is our current state. There is, as Paul acknowledges, a war going on within our members (Romans 7:23) It is the burning of dross from the gold; a war in by which we are daily made more and more into the image of Christ. Thus, our fourth fundamental need is for protection in the battle. For that protection, Jesus teaches us to pray “And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”

 

Those who pray the Lord’s prayer, actually pray it considering the words they are repeating, are often and understandably perplexed at the thought that God may lead us into temptation. How can it be that God would lead us into temptation? Do we not have trouble enough with temptations without God leading us to them? That question is cleared when we understand that temptation here means a test or trial. Language changes and we must be careful to understand language as it was used when something was first said or written. Peirasmos means to test or try. It can also mean to tempt, a temptation or both test and tempt. Context determines whether it is this, that or both. We know God does not temp anyone (James 1:3) nonetheless, I think that here the meaning is both trial and temptation.

 

How, if God does not tempt us, can the meaning be both? Trials are for our benefit, our sanctification; to make us more and more into the image of Christ, and in and of themselves are not temptations that God sets before us. That said, we are yet only able not to sin which means that though we are now new creatures in Christ Jesus we are still able to sin and often that which God means for good the old nature that remains in us tends to turn to evil to evil and we are tempted in a trial when we are led away by our own lusts or desires. (James 1:14) Consequently, what God sends as a trial, the old nature of sin that remains in us tends us to turn it into a temptation. Thus, Jesus teaches us to pray “lead us not into temptation”.

 

What God intends for good, the tempter, Satan, tries to exploit by that sin nature that remain in us to turn that test to his ends and our ruin. Satan did so with Job and he did so with Peter when Peter denied the Lord. God will not let his own be taken again captive by sin and in the end came to the rescue of Job, and Jesus before Peter sinned in denying Him told Peter He had prayed for him so that his faith would not ultimately fail. Jesus knows Satan. He was led away into the wilderness to be tried by Satan. He was tried in every way that we are; yet without sin. Jesus knows well that the pressures of a trial can be appallingly difficult. So much was the pressure, the Lord in the garden fell on His face before the Father sweating great drops of blood and beseeching God “Father, remove this cup…” When even the Son of God, clothed in the flesh of man, rages such war under trial that He beseeches the Father for His protection, rightly does he teach us to pray that the Father will not lead us into such trial that we cannot withstand the test. So we plead with our Father that he will deliver us from evil, from the temptations into which the remaining lusts of our flesh would lead us when under trial.

 

When we honestly look at the power of sin and at our too often proven weakness under trial, we cringe at the thought of the temptations that arise in our hearts when under trial; thus the petition for God to provide that which we ourselves do not have. One of the great old hymns of the church says “Day by day and with each passing moment strength I need to meet my trials here” so the petition of the prayer ‘lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” Trials will come and must come but “ As I would not run into temptation of myself, I pray thee, do not lead me where I must inevitably meet it. But if I must be tried, Lord, deliver me from falling into evil, and specially preserve me from that evil one, who, above all, seeks my soul, to destroy it. Temptation or trial may be for my good, if I am delivered from evil. Lord, do this for me, for I cannot preserve myself (Spurgeon)

Giving and forgiving

Meditation June 1. 2020

Matthew 6

I had this thought almost completed when I did something I should not have done and deleted two-thirds of it. Then, attempting to recover the two-thirds I had lost, I lost the other third. I can only conclude that whatever I had said, either what I said was not what the Lord wanted me to say or I had said it in a way that needed complete improvement. So, you get the new improved version.

“Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”

Although I had not seen it in the past, I am more and more convinced as I work through this contemplation of the Sermon on the Mount that all that follows the beatitudes in this ‘sermon’ is by way of explanation and demonstration; a fleshing out of the concepts given in them.  We come now to the petitions for the daily need that we all have; i.e. sustenance for the day and forgiveness both of which are continual needs day by day. Again, we see the reflection of the beatitudes and the character of the new creature in Christ. Here, as we will see, is further portrayed the character of the poor in spirit, who mourns sin and strives to be a peacemaker.

“Our sustenance for the day ahead, give us today” is a more literal rendering of the verse. Some read it as give us for tomorrow our sustenance but that seems to me to strain at the point of the prayer which is daily, constant dependence on God for our needs. Not only does give us tomorrow’s bread today sound much too much like assure me today that I don’t have to worry about what You are going to do tomorrow but it is only about ten verses ahead that Jesus is going to say “don’t worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will worry about itself.” It seems quite clear to me this is not intended as a prayer of one who wishes to relieve himself of concern about how he will eat tomorrow but is rather the prayer of that humble soul who realizes that he lives always at the pleasure of the God who make him and whatever may be his labors, like the “lion that roars after it’s prey and seeks its meat from God” (Psa. 104:21) so also they. This, and the exhortation from Jesus that we should not worry about tomorrow, is not an exhortation against storing up grain in the storehouse, against saving and providing ahead as the Lord provides but it is a reminder that we live in a fallen world where thieves break in and steal, wicked men burn and pillage, plagues come and accidents happen. Though our pantries are full, we know not what the day ahead will bring; thus, we pray, however well prepared we may think ourselves to be, “God gives us such as we need this day to sustain us.” It is simply a petition acknowledging and expressing our humble reliance on God for our sustenance day by day and asking he will grant it to us as needed.

“and forgive us our offenses as we have forgiven those who offend us.” In the Greek, forgive (as we forgive) is in the aorist and should be translated in the past tense; i.e. as we have forgiven. We are not to think Jesus is here teaching that we earn forgiveness by forgiving others nor to suppose our forgiveness depends upon our forgiving others. All the teaching of Scripture is against this. It is not by works of righteousness that we have done that we are saved. (Eph. 2:8-9)  Rather it is as, Jameson-Fausset-Brown acknowledge, a reminder that “as no one can reasonably imagine himself to be the object of divine forgiveness who is deliberately and habitually unforgiving towards his fellow men, so it is a beautiful provision to make our right to ask and expect daily forgiveness of our daily shortcomings and our final absolution and acquittal at the great day of admission into the kingdom, dependent upon our consciousness of a forgiving disposition towards our fellows, and our preparedness to protest before the Searcher of hearts that we do actually forgive them.”

Thus, as we go to God for our daily provisions as those poor in spirit, humbly depending on Him for our physical needs so we go before Him as those who are merciful, having obtained mercy, and now acting as peacemakers. Suffering offence and persecution we for give that we may be known as followers of Christ by our love.