The Entire Sermon On The Mount Explained (Be Warned - It's Long)

September 21, 2023 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

MATTHEW 7:13-29

13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

Be warned—today’s commentary is much longer than usual, but it’s important. I want to help you understand how in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 Jesus is giving his followers practical advice they can actually use to become the kind of people who survive life's storms.

Storms are inevitable in life. And what's worse is that they are also unforeseeable. In literal storms, millions and millions of random occurrences come together to produce the winds and the waves; life's storms are also the result of random interactions of complex systems. So, how do you prepare for something inevitable that's also completely unpredictable and random?

AMAZED AT WHAT HE HAD TO SAY

There's this really fascinating aside Matthew gives us after Jesus wraps up the Sermon on the Mount.

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. [7:28-29]

Having just heard Jesus give this famous set of teaching, his hearers are amazed. What Jesus has been saying was so insightful and unusual and so obviously cut to the heart of the matter of everyday life that it was nothing short of astounding. And you know what? Nothing has changed in 2,000 years--these words are still AMAZING.

THE TWO KINDS OF PEOPLE
Let's begin at the end. Jesus closes the Sermon on the Mount by saying that there are two options in life: the way that seems easy but actually ends in ruin, and the way that seems difficult and unpopular but actually results in blessing [7:13-14]. He expands on this by talking about how it's not what people say that matters, but what they actually do (and how to tell between the talkers and the doers) [7:15-23], and then he sums up the entire set of teachings with a little parable:

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” [7:24-27 NIV]

In his conclusion, Jesus says that the difference between the people who are destroyed by life's storms and those who survive them is that the survivors actually do what Jesus said to do. But how do we actually do that? That's what he's been telling us in the previous 3 chapters of his famous sermon. In fact, the Sermon on the Mount is meant to be a How- To manual to becoming the kind of person who can weather any storm. And the first thing we have to understand is what Jesus meant when he talked about the "Kingdom".

WHAT THE KINGDOM IS
Here's how Matthew sums up the central message of Jesus:
"Jesus began to preach, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.'” - Matthew 4:17 NIV

Another way of translating this might be:

“ HEY! Turn around and change your mind: living in the reality of God is now one of your options.”

— Matthew 4:17, the Andrew Forrest Version (in the style of Dallas Willard)

A kingdom is wherever a king's will is done; beyond that frontier, it's no longer that king's kingdom. King Charles reigns over the United Kingdom; he does not reign in France. Each of us has our own kingdom or queendom; where my will is done is my kingdom. So, my body is one part of my kingdom, for example: I command my finger to move, and it does; I command my mouth to speak, and it does. The kingdom of heaven is wherever God's will is done. The only place in the Creation where God's will is not done is here on earth, where God has permitted for a while his human creatures to exercise their own private kingships and queenships. This is why we pray in the Lord's Prayer "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it [already] is in heaven."

From the beginning, it was God's plan that men and women would exercise their free will and rule in his name over the earth [see Genesis 1:26];
it remains God's will that we would freely choose to align our kingdoms under his Kingdom.

So, the message of Jesus in 4:17 is that through him God's Kingdom is now available to anyone, anywhere, RIGHT NOW if they are willing to do what he says. Apprenticeship or discipleship to Jesus is learning to live your life in the reality of the Kingdom. In the Sermon on the Mount which follows his announcement in 4:17, he provides some practical examples of what Kingdom life will look like.

THE INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
Jesus begins the Sermon by telling people that there is no spiritual condition that precludes them from learning to live in the Kingdom now: not the spiritually poor, not the mourning, not the meek, etc. [We call this section "The Beatitudes,” 5:3-12.]

Then, Jesus tells his followers that living in the Kingdom will make them distinct from people around them: it will be as if they are salt- -thereby bringing out the flavor in life—or light—thereby showing others how best to live. [5:13-16.]

To be clear, Jesus wants his followers to understand that he's not doing anything new, that this is ultimately what the Old Testament is all about, and that he's not come to abolish "the law and the prophets". [5:17-20.]

With those remarks out of the way, Jesus explains what it looks like to put his words into practice and live in the Kingdom. What he is going to do is take familiar situations that arise and give an example of what Kingdom living would look like in each of those situations.

Here’s the point: it would seem at first that going along with the conventional wisdom in each of the examples that follow would be the best course of action; actually Jesus wants us to understand that if you just do what everyone else is doing—“the wide and easy path” he references in Matthew 7:13—it will be the equivalent of building a foundation on sand. Instead, if you do what he says to do, as counterintuitive as it might seem, you’ll be building your life on bedrock.

A PRACTICAL PLAN FOR BECOMING A SURVIVOR

ANGER

Jesus begins his advice by talking about anger. He tells his hearers that though it is obvious that murder will mess up your life, the anger and contempt that are behind and underneath murder are also spiritually dangerous. So, rather than indulging in anger, Jesus tells his followers that they should actually seek reconciliation with people with whom they have bad blood. Living in the Kingdom is trying as hard as humanly possible to be reconciled with others. [5:21-26.]

Building on Sand: anger and contempt.
Building on Rock: seeking reconciliation.

LUST

Next, Jesus tells his followers that though it is obvious that adultery will mess up your life, what's really important is to rid your thoughts of lust. Lust is using someone else's image for your own gratification, which is evil because people were created in the image of God, and not for the purpose of pornography. Jesus says that Kingdom living, then, is about doing whatever it takes--he uses the hyperbolic image of cutting off your own hand!--to learn to see other people as God sees them, and not as objects of desire. [5:27-30.]

Building on Sand: indulging your thought life.
Building on Rock: disciplining your thought life.

MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

People have been having marital problems since the Garden of Eden, and they had marital problems in Jesus's day, too. But Jesus tells his followers that marriage is not primarily a contract between two people for the purpose of meeting their emotional needs; rather it is a one-flesh union that involves a covenant before God. And so Kingdom living is about being reconciled with your spouse (remember reconciliation is an important Kingdom value) as far as is in your power. Now, if your spouse persists in adulterous behavior, reconciliation is clearly outside of your power, but Jesus tells his followers divorce is a last resort. [5:31-32.]

Building on Sand: leaving a marriage when it doesn’t fulfill your emotional needs.
Building on Rock: working towards reconciliation as far as is humanly possible.

MANIPULATION ("OATHS")

Then Jesus takes on a pervasive human behavior: that of trying to manipulate other people into doing what we want them to do. In his day there had developed this convoluted practice of swearing on the Temple in Jerusalem to convince people you were sincere. ("I swear on the Temple I didn't take your money!") We don't do that, but of course we try to use language (social media posts?) to get other people to do what we want them to do. In contrast, Jesus says that Kingdom living is much simpler: just say what you mean, and leave it at that. [5:33-37.]

Building on Sand: trying to manipulate others.
Building on Rock: saying what you mean, and leaving it at that.

VENGEANCE/RETALIATION/ENEMIES

You will have enemies; people will seek to do you harm. Though it seems natural to us to hit back and hate the people who hate us (the wide and easy path always seems "natural" to us at first), Kingdom living is about forgoing retaliation and instead seeking ways to bless the people who mistreat us, even to the extent of praying for God to bless them! Jesus makes the reason explicit: when you try to love the people who hate you, you are acting like God, who wants to bless all his children. So, Kingdom living is learning to act like God in the times of inevitable conflict we will encounter. [5:38-48.]

Building on Sand: vengeance and retaliation.
Building on Rock: seeking to bless those that hate us.

VIRTUE-SIGNALING (E.G. GIVING AND FASTING)

Jesus tells his followers next that they should be careful of trying to impress other people with how they help the poor or by doing "spiritual" things like fasting. Instead, those should be personal practices and a way of life that's more private than public. In other words, learning to live in the Kingdom is learning not to need to impress other people with how good you are. (Think of all the virtue- signaling on social media.) [6:1-4, 16-18.]

Building on Sand: virtue-signaling to impress others with your goodness. Building on Rock: doing the right thing because it’s right, not because people will see you do it.

PRAYER

Jesus tells his followers how to pray. Learning to live in the kingdom is to make prayer a habitual action ("When you pray, go in your room and shut the door....") and to use Jesus as a model for prayer. [6:5-15.]

Building on Sand: praying haphazardly.
Building on Rock: having a plan for habitual prayer.

MONEY/WEALTH

It seems that having more money will make you happier, but Jesus points out that which we all already know: more stuff won't necessarily make you happier. (If that were the case, then the people in Beverly Hills would be the happiest people on earth, but we know that isn't true.) Living in the Kingdom is learning to trust God more than our own stuff. [6:19-24.]

Building on Sand: thinking more stuff will make you happier.
Building on Rock: learning that trusting God actually makes you happy.

WORRY!

If there were ever a topic for practical pastoral advice, it would be worry! Jesus tells his hearers that worry, which seems so natural ("the wide and easy path") will actually be harmful. So, he tells his followers to focus only on the problems of that particular day (over which they actually have some measure of control), and leave the rest to God. [6:25-34.]

Building on Sand: getting worked up and worried over things you can't control.
Building on Rock: focusing on what you can control today, and working to trust God with everything else.

OTHER PEOPLE'S BEHAVIOR AND HYPOCRISY

Jesus tells his followers that though discerning between good and bad, right and wrong has a place, focusing on other people's behavior and ignoring our own is foolish. Rather, Kingdom living is about turning most of your attention on your own shortcomings and working on those. [7:1-6.]

Building on Sand: judging other people by their actions and yourself by your intentions; getting all worked up over other people's hypocrisy.
Building on Rock: focusing on your own actions and shortcomings.

ASKING GOD FOR STUFF

Which brings us to the final bit of practical advice in the sermon: definitely ask God for stuff you need! Lots of folks think "I don't want to ask for the wrong thing; I'll just pray a generic prayer for God's will to be done." Instead, Jesus tells his hearers to ask boldly. [7:7-12.]

Building on Sand: refusing to ask and not persisting in prayer.
Building on Rock: asking and persisting in prayer.

TWO KINDS OF PEOPLE

All of the above is Jesus providing his hearers of examples of what Kingdom living looks like. Each topic he covers is a topic that each of us encounters all the time; doing what Jesus said is putting his principles into practice when you encounter anger, lust, worry, etc. Anyone can choose to participate, because Jesus came to bring the good news of the Kingdom to everyone. But, he concludes with telling his followers that hearing is not the point: actually practicing what he said is the point.

The people who actually do what he says will be the kind of people who, rather than going along with everyone else by taking "the wide and easy path" will be the kind of people who take the narrow, hard path that actually leads to life.

The people who do what he says will be able to survive any storm-- even death!--because they are learning to live the eternal life of the Kingdom RIGHT NOW.

If you want to learn how to survive life's storms, start doing what Jesus says. Go down the list, and begin to practice the Kingdom response or mindset. It works.

Storms in life will inevitably come; no one is exempt. Jesus says the only way to prepare is to start learning to live in the Kingdom now, and the Sermon on the Mount offers advice how to do just that.

What are you waiting for?

What Do You Need To Ask For Today?

September 20, 2023 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

MATTHEW 7:7-12

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

When my daughter was a little girl, she contracted a sinus infection that caused one of her eyes to swell shut. (This happened over Christmas. Of course it did.) The doctor prescribed medicinal eye drops, which we were to apply to her little eyes several times a day. I don't know if it's easier to rope a calf than to apply eye drops to a squirmy toddler, but I'm certain it's more pleasant for both cowboy and calf. After dropping the clear little drops in her hair and her ears and her mouth and her nose, we decided on a different tack: bribery. "If you let me put the eyedrops in your eyes, we'll give you some 'choca.''' ("Choca" being her word for chocolate.) It worked. A drop was equal to a chocolate chip, and soon several times a day we were being asked for "I-jops" and "chocas", and dispensing a fair quantity of both.

And then her prescription ran its course, the infection went away, and we no longer needed the bribe. However, like many a corrupt Third World bureaucrat, my daughter had become hooked on the bribes, and would silently sidle up to me several times a day, climb into my lap, stick her face in mine, cock her head like a crow, and earnestly ask, "I-jops? Chocas?"

Weak father though I am, I was not about to give her medicine she didn't need, and so I politely turned down her requests. If it were good for her, I'd have refilled the prescription, but it wasn’t and I didn’t.

But you know what? I loved it that she asked me, and I hope she never stops asking me for things.

Jesus says that if human fathers like me delight in giving to our children, how much more will the one he calls our "Father in heaven" delight in giving to his children. Again, Jesus sees the world as a fundamentally good and safe place for those who trust God.

So, when he says in today's Gospel reading, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you,” he really means it.

What do you need to ask for today?

How would your life change if you woke up every morning feeling certain that God loves you and wants good things for you?

Take This Test To See If You Are A Hypocrite

September 19, 2023 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

MATTHEW 7:1-6

7 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

TAKE THIS TEST TO SEE IF YOU ARE A HYPOCRITE

Are you breathing?
I'm sorry to tell you: you are a hypocrite.

Still not convinced?

Do you judge other people by their actions but yourself by your intentions?
Congratulations, you are definitely a hypocrite.

Still not persuaded? There is one final test.
Go look in the mirror. Only hypocrites can be seen in the mirror.

I kid. But seriously. When Jesus tells us not to judge, he doesn't mean that we should refrain from discerning between right and wrong, good and evil. (That’s why he tells us not to throw pearls to swine— in other words, exercise discernment about right and wrong.) What he means is that we should beware putting ourselves in the morally superior position of the Judge. We're not the Judge; we're the same as everybody else: we're all hypocrites.

Which means we all need mercy.

So, by all means discern between good and bad, right and wrong, and call out evil where you see it. But never forget that there is only one Judge, and you aren’t better than anyone else.

(And neither am I.)

The Connection Between Greed and Worry

September 18, 2023 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

MATTHEW 6:19-34

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Jesus sees the world as a fundamentally good and safe place for those who trust God. In his teaching here on material possessions, he explains that there is a connection between greed and worry, because both greed and worry are based on the idea that God can’t be trusted to provide enough of what we need. Either we hoard out of fear, or we live in fear for tomorrow. Both ways lead us away from life. In fact, a focus on those things will bring darkness to our interior lives (vv. 22-23)!

So, in light of Jesus’s teaching here, what if we literally starting doing what he said?

When he told his followers to "Consider the lilies," what if he really meant it?

And when he says, "Seek first the kingdom," what if he actually wants us to do it?

What if you spent time today looking at something beautiful and ordinary that God made?

What if you the first thing you did upon waking tomorrow was to spend time in quiet prayer and reflection before God?

What if this stuff actually works?

What if Jesus doesn’t want you to live with anxiety, and what if he’s telling you what to do to combat anxiety today?

Just do it.

P.S. Here is the video from last week’s Bible study, as well as the handout we distributed.

The Most Terrifying Verse In The Bible?

September 15, 2023 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

MATTHEW 6:1-18

6 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
12 and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Jesus is teaching his disciples that the purpose of good works and works of piety is not to show off, but to glorify God and to be approved of by God. For example, he shows the disciples how to pray—not by showing off with lots of words, but with simple, concrete statements and requests. One of those requests includes one of the most terrifying verses in the entire Bible. As part of his teaching on prayer, Jesus says this:

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 sins. [6:14-15 NIV]

The context is the closing part of what we call The Lord's Prayer: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." (The language is old-fashioned. What Jesus literally says is "debts," but the sense is more like "sins" or "wrongs,” etc. I personally like "trespasses," which always makes me think of someone deliberately transgressing on someone else's property.) I don't totally understand how this works, but Jesus clearly implies that there is some spiritual connection between our willingness to forgive others and our capacity to receive forgiveness from God.

Terrifying. Who do you need to forgive today? Don't wait.

What Kind Of Person Could Do This?

September 14, 2023 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

MATTHEW 5:21-48

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for
a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Read today's passage from the Sermon on the Mount and then ask yourself, "What kind of person would be able to do the things that Jesus is talking about?"

That's exactly the point.

The person who could do the things Jesus is talking about is one who is being transformed from the inside-out. God's desire with the Old Testament law was to point to the reality behind the law—a disposition of the heart. And so the purpose of God is to remake a person from the inside out so that he or she is actually capable of fulfilling the promise of the Sermon on the Mount. Courage, fidelity, peace, honesty, reconciliation--these are what result in a person who decides to follow Jesus and learn from him.

Are you willing? Do one practical thing today.

What Was The Point Of The Old Testament?

September 13, 2023 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

Here we go! I’m praying for a full house, and lots of families and kids.

BIBLE STUDY TONIGHT | 6:30 PM | SANCTUARY LIVESTREAM: asburytulsa.online.church

MATTHEW 5:13-20

13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Salt has two uses in the kitchen:

It enhances (brings out the flavor);
It preserves (keeps from rotting).

Jesus tells his followers that they are like salt: they are to make society better, and they are to keep society from going bad.

What about if the Church loses its saltiness, what if it loses what makes it distinct? Jesus says that then

"It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot." [5:13b NIV]

We can all cite multiple examples over these last 2,000 years when the Church abandoned what made it distinct and went along with the wider culture--it's always disaster and ruin, both for the Church and the world. (Think of slavery in the New World, e.g.)

So, it is crucial that we stay salty and thereby have something to offer the world. But how? Here's one quick thought.

The Sermon on the Mount is a seamless garment, all woven together, and so I think part of the way that the Church keeps its saltiness is to pay attention to what Jesus says later on in today's passage:

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." [5:17]

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament and he is expressing God’s heart behind the Old Testament law. Jesus isn’t doing away with the Law but filling the law full of meaning. The law was always meant to show people the way to a flourishing life. So, the more we seek to understand the scriptures, the more we both experience life and the more we have to offer the world. I think one of the ways we can ensure our saltiness therefore is by doing exactly what we're doing: reading and poring over the Scriptures.

May God use his Word to make you salty today.

How To Have The Good Life Now [another long but important post]

September 12, 2023 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

TOMORROW IS OUR SEPTEMBER CHURCHWIDE BIBLE STUDY. 6:30-8:00 PM. Traveling to the Galapagos to swim with the turtles? Planning on climbing Kilimanjaro? Gotta get your hair did? Cancel your plans and be at Bible study instead. —AF

MATTHEW 5:1-12

1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Remember our 2 keys to understanding Matthew:

1. The first key to understanding Matthew is to see everything about Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel as connected to and fulfilling the Old Testament story. In every passage, ask, “How does this information about Jesus relate to the Old Testament story?”

2. The second key is to see Matthew as an instruction manual for discipleship. It is meant to give readers what they need to know to become a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth. In every passage ask, “Of all the things Matthew could have told us, why did he think that we needed to know this to be apprentices of Jesus?

The Sermon on the Mount is a great example to show how these two keys fit together and help us understand what we’re reading.

In the Old Testament, Moses comes down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments and the Law because the Lord wants to teach the Israelites how to live well. Here, we see Jesus is like a new Moses, and he’s teaching his followers (on a mountain) what it will take to live the good life. In fact, Jesus is doing more than what Moses did, because the words of Jesus fulfill the purpose of the Law (5:17-20).
As the rest of Matthew’s Gospel unfolds, we’ll see that Jesus will model the qualities he describes in the Sermon on the Mount; his teaching here is an invitation to enter into the life that he’s living—it’s an instruction manual for his disciples.

We will see that the Sermon on the Mount is a summary of life in the Kingdom of God; the rest of the Gospel gives us specific examples of what that life looks like.

THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THE BEATITUDES

The Sermon on the Mount begins with some strange statements about the good life. They are a summary of the subsequent teaching of Jesus, and a shorthand picture of his entire life. These statements are called “The Beatitudes” because of the way Jesus begins each statement saying “Blessed are....”

Jesus sees the world as a fundamentally good place for those who trust God, and he begins his teaching by telling his hearers that even difficult personal circumstances cannot keep them from experiencing the blessedness that comes from trusting God. It's always important to pay attention to context; the crowds Matthew mentions in 5:1 are described in the previous verses at the end of chapter 4 like this:

"Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan." [4:23-25]

Jesus has been proclaiming the kingship of God and telling people that it has arrived, and many of the people to whom he has been speaking are sick, broken, down-trodden, unimportant, etc. And it is to those people that Jesus says, "You are in the position to flourish— you are in the right spot for the good life." Why? Because Jesus has brought the Kingdom to them!

That insight has made all the difference to me. All of those people--the poor in spirit, the mourning, the ones who hunger for righteousness--all of those people find the answer in Jesus, who is ushering in the Kingdom—there is nothing that precludes them or anyone else from learning to live in the Kingdom right now.

And you know what? It's still the same today. Because of what will happen, you live now as if it’s already here, thereby bringing it further into reality.

So, even when really bad things happen—like being persecuted for doing the right thing—you can flourish because you know that God sees it and will vindicate you.

The Beatitudes are about how to have a flourishing life by living now in the truth and hope that those who trust Jesus and follow him will receive joy now and in the age to come, eternal life.

When you live with that trust and hope, you flourish.

IT BEGINS: What Is The Kingdom Of Heaven? [longer post that usual!]

September 11, 2023 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

NOTE: Oh man. This Wednesday is our next churchwide Bible study, and the only one we’ll have all month. 6:30-8:00 PM. The question we’ll be asking: Why does Israel refuse to recognize Jesus as Messiah? Why do they miss him? Have other plans this Wednesday? CANCEL THEM. I really want a full house of this one—it’s important. Whom can you invite to sit with you? —AF

P.S. If for some reason you can’t make it, the livestream will be available. But come on—in person is so much better!

MATTHEW 4:17-25

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every
disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Today we begin Part 2 of Matthew’s Gospel and today’s commentary will be longer than usual so as to properly orient us toward what is to come. Part 2 is about The Proclamation of Jesus as Israel’s Messiah. In word and deed Matthew will show us the true identity of Jesus, and this section of the Gospel culminates in Peter’s recognition and declaration of that identity in 16:16:

You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Part 1 was about Preparation for Jesus as Israel’s Messiah, and we learned in the first sentence that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament story—he is Israel, as Israel was always supposed to be. Jesus is embodied Israel, but unlike the Old Testament Israel, Jesus will be faithful to the Lord even to the point of death. Preparation is over; Part 2 of Matthew’s Gospel is now about the Proclamation to Israel of Jesus’s identity. From Peter’s confession of Jesus’s true identity in 16:16 on, Matthew’s narrative will move in Part 3 toward the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus the Messiah.

Part 2 begins with a summary statement about everything that will follow:

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” [4:17]

Up to this point, Jesus hasn’t begun his ministry—rather, we’ve been told about the preparation for that ministry. Now, Jesus is ready to begin, and we learn the central message that Jesus came to proclaim, namely that God’s ultimate reality was close and that therefore everyone needed to change direction to participate in it.

The Kingdom of heaven and the Kingdom of God are interchangeable terms, and they refer to the realm where God’s will is perfectly realized and God’s reign is perfectly acknowledged. “The kingship of God” might be another helpful way to think about it. In the opening pages of the Bible, the Kingdom of heaven is Eden, and in the closing pages of the Bible the Kingdom of heaven is the New Jerusalem that John the visionary sees in Revelation 21-22.

In the Bible, repentance means a change of direction by changing how you think and how you live.

Jesus’s message is that God’s ultimate reality—the Kingdom—is really close and that that fact requires a response!

18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. [4:18-22]

Matthew’s Gospel has two important themes:

Jesus is the fulfillment of Israel’s story; and,
Jesus is calling everyone to become his disciples—i.e., his
students or apprentices—so they can learn how to live in the reality of the kingship of God.

Here Matthew shows us what discipleship requires—immediate obedience. Jesus calls Andrew and Peter, James and John to follow him without preamble—just do it.

Twice, Matthew tells us that the brothers left their nets "immediately," i.e., when Jesus calls, they respond totally: they don't hedge their bets or halfway follow him. What's Matthew trying to tell us?

Either we follow Jesus, or we don't: there is no place for half-hearted discipleship.

Jesus says, "Follow me." In response, what do you need to "immediately" leave, drop, or do today?

P.S. Live out of town and want a Matthew Part 2 book? Email Sandie, and we’ll mail you one.

From Preparation to Proclamation

September 08, 2023 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

Look what came in the mail yesterday:

Our Matthew Part 2 books have arrived!

The only thing that could be better would be to see you at Bible study this coming Wednesday evening….

MATTHEW 4:12-16

12 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people dwelling in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
on them a light has dawned.”

Note: Today concludes Part 1 of our Matthew reading plan, which was all about The Preparation for Jesus the Messiah. Part 2 begins on Monday, September 11 and will be about The Proclamation of Jesus as Israel’s Messiah. Part 2 will run through the end of October. Pick up your Part 2 book this Sunday, and be sure to attend Bible study on Wednesday (9/13), 6:30-8:00 PM.

Get pumped!

The preparations are complete for Jesus’s ministry to begin. John’s arrest by Herod (which Matthew doesn’t tell us about until chapter 14) means that the time is right for Jesus to launch his ministry in Israel, a ministry that will be about proclaiming the Kingdom and his role as Israel’s Messiah. He begins his ministry in Galilee, in the ancient area that was assigned to the Israelite tribes of Zebulon and Naphtali. And Matthew reminds us that the Old Testament prophet Isaiah had foretold a time when a brilliant hope would come upon the people of Israel, starting in the area of Galilee:

1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
3 You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
4 For the yoke of his burden,
and the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon[d] his shoulder, and his name shall be called[e] Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. —Isaiah 9:1-7

Once again, we see that God’s plan has been working toward Jesus all along.

In the same way, God is working history toward its goal even now.

Be hopeful today! It’s a good ending!

Cross Before Crown

September 07, 2023 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

Matthew 4:8-11

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ”
11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

The essence of the devil's testing of Jesus in the Wilderness in Matthew 4 is about suffering. The crucial question: is there a shortcut through suffering for Jesus?

Jesus and the devil are in agreement: Jesus will reign in the end. The question is, can he receive his glory without going through suffering? Look carefully and see that the temptations are all about a shortcut through suffering: food instead of fasting, safety instead of danger, the crown without the cross.

The temptation for Jesus to avoid suffering must have been nearly irresistible.

Nearly irresistible, but not ultimately so. Jesus resists. He knows that, for whatever reason, there is no shortcut through suffering in this life. For whatever reason, the cross comes before the crown.

I wish I could tell you that it is possible to live life without difficulty, but that would be a lie. The good news, though, is that there is nothing unusual about your difficulties--everyone has trials. The even better news is that God redeems all that he allows, and that our "present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18).

So, there's no shortcut through suffering. It's just one foot in front of the other. But, be hopeful: the Lord has something amazing planned at the end.

P.S. I preached about this topic last Sunday.

P.P.S. Let the countdown begin: churchwide Bible study next Wednesday, September 13. 6:30-8:00 PM. Whom are you inviting? We won’t have another Bible study until October—DO NOT MISS THIS ONE.

P.P.P.S. I’ve been reading one psalm a day, every day for the last several years. No matter what other reading plan I’m in, no matter what’s going on, I just stick with that simple rhythm. Today, I start over again with Psalm 1. Wanna join me? Here’s the schedule we’ll be following. And guess what? In 150 days, we’ll start over again. Let’s GO.

The Time The Devil Quoted Scripture At Jesus

September 06, 2023 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

Some Housekeeping:

Matthew Part 2 begins on Monday! Books arrive this weekend; get your book Sunday at Asbury, or email Sandie and get one in the mail.
I preached on the testing in the wilderness these past 3 weeks. The sermons are here.
Our next churchwide Bible study is NEXT WEDNESDAY, 9/13. 6:30-8:00 PM. It will only have been 2 weeks since the August study, but don’t miss this one. We only have 1 per month. The remaining dates are:
- October 11
- November 8

Here’s the video from last week’s Bible study. I offer it here in case any of you are having trouble sleeping.

Matthew 4:5-7

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they
will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

In the second temptation, the devil quotes part of Psalm 91, and I think it’s fair to assume that the devil’s interpretation is wrong!

Psalm 91 is a beautiful psalm of protection and peace, but the devil wants Jesus to believe that what the psalm means is that God’s Servant will face no problems or difficulties. The devil wants Jesus to see the psalm as a magic formula—if you say it, then God will be forced to do what you want; praying Psalm 91 will call God to send his angels to save you, like, like a divine Bat Signal in the sky.

Jesus again replies with a verse from Deuteronomy when he says that testing God in an attempt to force God’s hand is wrong.

God’s promises are true, but we don’t control God—he’s not a cosmic vending machine that we manipulate. He works on his own timeline.

Where do you need to make a conscious choice to trust God’s timing today?

NOTE: It’s been 150 days since Easter, and today we wrap our our journey through the psalms with Psalm 150. But, I’ve been reading one psalm a day, every day, for years, so tomorrow I’m starting over again with Psalm 1. Join me?

Psalm 150

1 Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
    praise him in his mighty heavens![a]
2 Praise him for his mighty deeds;
    praise him according to his excellent greatness!
3 Praise him with trumpet sound;
    praise him with lute and harp!
4 Praise him with tambourine and dance;
    praise him with strings and pipe!
5 Praise him with sounding cymbals;
    praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

Just Praise - Psalm 150

Today we come to the last psalm, and it’s a simple psalm of praise.

We began reading the psalms with Psalm 1 on April 10—it’s a psalm of wisdom. Now, we conclude 150 days later with a psalm of praise.

The psalter moves from wisdom to praise.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

A Legitimate Need In An Illegitimate Way

September 05, 2023 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

Some Housekeeping:

Matthew Part 2 begins on Monday! Books arrive this weekend; get your book Sunday at Asbury, or email Sandie and get one in the mail.
I preached on the testing in the wilderness these past 3 weeks. The sermons are here.
Our next churchwide Bible study is NEXT WEDNESDAY, 9/13. 6:30-8:00 PM. It will only have been 2 weeks since the August study, but don’t miss this one. We only have 1 per month. The remaining dates are:
- October 11
- November 8

Matthew 4:1-4

1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,
“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

In yesterday’s reading, we saw how the Father gives the Spirit to the Son at the Baptism of Jesus. The Spirit then leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted.

The Temptation of Jesus is a re-enactment of Israel’s temptation and wanderings in the desert following the Exodus from Egypt, and each of the three temptations involves being willing to trust that God will provide provision on God’s timing.

It seems as if the devil heard the Father’s words at the baptism: “This is my beloved Son.” And it is as the Son that Jesus is tempted:

“Since you are the Son, why don’t you...?”

There is nothing wrong with being hungry and needing food. In fact, Jesus’s response shows that eating bread is not the problem— “Man does not live by bread alone.” The problem is that bread without learning to trust God sets us up for failure.

“The temptation from Satan, then, is that Jesus should distrust God by taking the responsibility for his life on himself. Jesus remembers, however, that trustful submission to God’s word is as necessary for true existence as food itself.” —David Bauer, The Gospel of the Son of God

Jesus replies to each temptation with a verse from Deuteronomy 6-8, which in its original context is a sermon from Moses to the Israelites in the wilderness, preparing them to enter the Promised Land.

As we will see in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’s worldview is that God can be trusted to provide all our needs, no matter what, and so therefore we ought to live without anxiety.

Where do you need to choose to trust God’s provision today?

NOTE: We have been reading through Psalms, and until we get to Psalm 150, I’m going to keep posting at the bottom of each Matthew post daily commentary on that day’s psalm. (On the weekends, it will just be that day’s psalm by itself.) If you’ve read this far, you are an over-achiever. —AF

We Praise Because God is a Just Judge - Psalm 149

1 Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song,
    his praise in the assembly of the godly!
2 Let Israel be glad in his Maker;
    let the children of Zion rejoice in their King!
3 Let them praise his name with dancing,
    making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!
4 For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;
    he adorns the humble with salvation.
5 Let the godly exult in glory;
    let them sing for joy on their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats
    and two-edged swords in their hands,
7 to execute vengeance on the nations
    and punishments on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with chains
    and their nobles with fetters of iron,
9 to execute on them the judgment written!
    This is honor for all his godly ones.
Praise the Lord!

This is a song of praise, and one of the reasons it calls for praise is because God executes vengeance. That might strike us as strange, but can you imagine a judge that refused to address wrongs? The reason we can love our enemies is because we trust that God is the perfect judge and he will make all things right in the end.

Why Did Jesus Need To Be Baptized?

September 04, 2023 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

MATTHEW 3:13-17

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Why did Jesus need to be baptized? John is baptizing to prepare the people for repentance because their sins have kept them in spiritual exile. But Jesus isn’t sinful, and in fact, John is troubled when Jesus approaches for baptism: “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

John misunderstands the nature of Jesus’s mission and ministry, for Jesus is the fulfilment of Israel’s story and their representative who is taking their covenant responsibilities on himself. He is the Davidic king who intercedes for the people.

“Jesus submits to baptism not because he has sin to confess and repent of, but because it is God’s will that Jesus identify with the people in their need so as to deliver them. Ironically, in this act of identification with sinners Jesus demonstrates his righteousness, for the divine declaration of approval comes immediately in the wake of Jesus’ baptism.” —David Bauer, The Gospel of the Son of God

And it is after the baptism that God himself confirms both Jesus’s act and his identity. It is after he identifies with sinful Israel that Jesus is vindicated.

(We’ll see this pattern reoccur later at the Crucifixion and then Resurrection.)

There is something particularly close to the heart of God when God’s people intercede for those who don’t deserve it—when they step into the gap, so to speak. This was always God’s intention for Abraham and his family (see Abraham’s intercession for Sodom, in Genesis 18:16-33, e.g.), and when God’s people actually do it—when they intercede for others, when they stand in the gap—blessing is released. Jesus is the ultimate example of this, of course, but the same applies today for the followers of Jesus.

For whom can you intercede today? How can you stand in the gap for someone who doesn’t deserve it?

The St. Francis Psalm! - Psalm 148

1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
    praise him in the heights!
2 Praise him, all his angels;
    praise him, all his hosts!
3 Praise him, sun and moon,
    praise him, all you shining stars!
4 Praise him, you highest heavens,
    and you waters above the heavens!
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord!
    For he commanded and they were created.
6 And he established them forever and ever;
    he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away.
7 Praise the Lord from the earth,
    you great sea creatures and all deeps,
8 fire and hail, snow and mist,
    stormy wind fulfilling his word!
9 Mountains and all hills,
    fruit trees and all cedars!
10 Beasts and all livestock,
    creeping things and flying birds!
11 Kings of the earth and all peoples,
    princes and all rulers of the earth!
12 Young men and maidens together,
    old men and children!
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
    for his name alone is exalted;
    his majesty is above earth and heaven.
14 He has raised up a horn for his people,
    praise for all his saints,
    for the people of Israel who are near to him.
Praise the Lord!

I love the hymn attributed to St. Francis, “All Creatures of our God and King.” The words of that hymn remind me of Psalm 148, which calls on every part of Creation to praise the Lord.

Be a part of the choir today, and praise the Lord!

What Pleases the Lord? - Psalm 147

September 03, 2023 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

Psalm 147

1 Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
    for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.
2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
    he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
    and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars;
    he gives to all of them their names.
5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
    his understanding is beyond measure.
6 The Lord lifts up the humble;
    he casts the wicked to the ground.
7 Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
    make melody to our God on the lyre!
8 He covers the heavens with clouds;
    he prepares rain for the earth;
    he makes grass grow on the hills.
9 He gives to the beasts their food,
    and to the young ravens that cry.
10 His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
    nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
11 but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
    in those who hope in his steadfast love.
12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
    Praise your God, O Zion!
13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
    he blesses your children within you.
14 He makes peace in your borders;
    he fills you with the finest of the wheat.
15 He sends out his command to the earth;
    his word runs swiftly.
16 He gives snow like wool;
    he scatters frost like ashes.
17 He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;
    who can stand before his cold?
18 He sends out his word, and melts them;
    he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.
19 He declares his word to Jacob,
    his statutes and rules to Israel.
20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
    they do not know his rules.
Praise the Lord!

What is it that pleases the Lord?

The psalmist tells us:

10 His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
11 but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.

It is not our worldly success that pleases the Lord, but our submission and trust in him.

This Psalm Reminds Me of Jesus - Psalm 146

September 02, 2023 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

Psalm 146

1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
   I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
3 Put not your trust in princes,
   in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
   on that very day his plans perish.
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
   whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
   the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
7 who executes justice for the oppressed,
  who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
    the Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the sojourners;
    he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
    but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
10 The Lord will reign forever,
    your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!

Verses 7-8 remind me of Jesus:

The Lord sets the prisoners free;
8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.

The Spiritual Danger of American Christianity

September 01, 2023 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

MATTHEW 3:7-12

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

God chose one man—Abraham—and his family—Israel—to be the people who would carry God’s message and blessings to the entire world (see Genesis 12:1-3). But what happens with the chosen people aren’t faithful? What happens when they turn their back on God?

Most of the Old Testament is the sad story of how Israel’s unfaithfulness brings pain and suffering into the world, rather than blessing. But now Jesus, who is the True Israelite who embodies all of Israel, has come to bring God’s blessing to the nations and to free Israel from its spiritual exile. John the Baptist is preparing the way for Jesus’s ministry, and calling the people to change their minds and change their direction (this is what the biblical concept of repentance means) so they will be ready for the coming Kingdom.

The problem is that many of the Jews believe that they are going to be included in the Kingdom just because they are biological descendants of Abraham. John calls them out of their delusional self-righteousness:

“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

John is here foretelling how the Messiah will bring into Abraham’s family people from the nations—the Gentiles—who repent and trust him, and that if Israel doesn’t change direction and change behavior, judgement will fall on them.

This is both good news and bad news for us today.

The good news is that Jesus has brought the blessings of God to the nations with his life, death, and resurrection, and now life in the Holy Spirit is possible to all—even people like me, non-Jews—who repent of their sins and trust him.

The bad news is that the message of John applies to us today. Many American Christians are arrogantly confident that because they prayed The Sinner’s Prayer and have their names on a church membership roll somewhere, that they can continue to live in sin and open rebellion to God. But saving faith is obedient faith, and if we are not “bearing fruit worth of repentance,” just like the unrepentant Jews of John’s day, we are in danger of being chopped down and thrown into the fire.

Do not believe that just because you are an American Christian you are exempt from God’s expectation that you live a faithful life.

But it’s not too late! As long as we are breathing, God’s not done with us yet, which means we can change direction before it’s too late.

Psalm 145

A Song of Praise. Of David.
1 I will extol you, my God and King,
    and bless your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you
    and praise your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
    and his greatness is unsearchable.
4 One generation shall commend your works to another,
    and shall declare your mighty acts.
5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
    and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
6 They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
    and I will declare your greatness.
7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
    and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
8 The Lord is gracious and merciful,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 The Lord is good to all,
    and his mercy is over all that he has made.
10 All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
    and all your saints shall bless you!
11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom
    and tell of your power,
12 to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds,
    and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
    and your dominion endures throughout all generations.
[The Lord is faithful in all his words
    and kind in all his works.]
14 The Lord upholds all who are falling
    and raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to you,
    and you give them their food in due season.
16 You open your hand;
    you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
    and kind in all his works.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
    he also hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord preserves all who love him,
    but all the wicked he will destroy.
21 My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
    and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

There was a tradition in Babylonian Judaism that Jews should recite Psalm 145 three times a day.

It’s a lovely psalm, full of beautiful affirmations of the character of the Lord.

Can you imagine how your thought life would change if you recited those words three times every day?

P.S. Here’s a final Shane and Shane musical cover of this psalm

What Did Baptism Originally Signify?

August 31, 2023 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

Bible Study Handout from Last Night:

Here’s the handout. I’ll post the video when I have it.

MATTHEW 3:1-6

3 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’ ”
4 Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

In 586 BC the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar came and completed his conquest of Jerusalem. The walls were broken down, the Temple was razed, and the Jerusalem elite were carried off into exile in Babylon, hundreds of miles to the east in what is present-day Iraq. When the exiles returned to the land of Israel decades later, they had to cross the Jordan River—from the east—to get back home.

Centuries later, a man named John went out to the Jordan River and started preaching. (This was roughly in 30 AD.) His message was a call for the Jews to prepare for the coming Messiah by repenting—changing direction. He immersed people in the Jordan River in a way that signified cleansing and renewal. The idea was that it was time for the people to come home from spiritual exile. And baptism was the sign they took their sins seriously, were eager to repent, and were ready.

John was dressed like the great Old Testament prophet Elijah; the Old Testament foretold that a man like Elijah would come again to prepare the way for the Messiah. Jesus is the one who will finally bring his people out of exile—the rest of Matthew is an explanation of how he will do that and what the coming Kingdom is like. (Hint: the Sermon on the Mount is a description of life in the Kingdom—see chapters 5-7.)

The baptism of John is an immersion of the entire self, because the coming Kingdom of Jesus will require a hokey-pokey level of commitment: you have to put your whole self in.

Find a quiet 15 minutes today and ask yourself, “What am I holding back from Jesus, and why? What am I afraid of?”

By the way, I preached on today’s passage a few weeks ago. If you’re having trouble falling asleep, this video might help.

“Blessed Are the People Whose God is the LORD!” - Psalm 144

Of David.
1 Blessed be the Lord, my rock,
    who trains my hands for war,
    and my fingers for battle;
2 he is my steadfast love and my fortress,
    my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield and he in whom I take refuge,
    who subdues peoples under me.
3 O Lord, what is man that you regard him,
    or the son of man that you think of him?
4 Man is like a breath;
    his days are like a passing shadow.
5 Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down!
    Touch the mountains so that they smoke!
6 Flash forth the lightning and scatter them;
    send out your arrows and rout them!
7 Stretch out your hand from on high;
    rescue me and deliver me from the many waters,
    from the hand of foreigners,
8 whose mouths speak lies
    and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
9 I will sing a new song to you, O God;
    upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you,
10 who gives victory to kings,
    who rescues David his servant from the cruel sword.
11 Rescue me and deliver me
    from the hand of foreigners,
whose mouths speak lies
    and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
12 May our sons in their youth
    be like plants full grown,
our daughters like corner pillars
    cut for the structure of a palace;
13 may our granaries be full,
    providing all kinds of produce;
may our sheep bring forth thousands
    and ten thousands in our fields;
14 may our cattle be heavy with young,
    suffering no mishap or failure in bearing;
may there be no cry of distress in our streets!
15 Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall!
    Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!

Psalm 144 borrows heavily from Psalm 8 and Psalm 18, as well as other psalms we’ve read. It’s a nice summary of many of the themes of the psalms, and it concludes with a statement that echoes the first line of Psalm 1:

Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!

Indeed.

Herod Was Right

August 30, 2023 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

ANNOUNCEMENT

Join us TONIGHT for our first churchwide Bible study on the Gospel of Matthew. 6:30-8:00 PM. Sanctuary, Asbury Church. All ages.
[Livestream available: asburytulsa.org]

If you live in Tulsa, I’m going to stick my neck out and say that these Bible studies are DO NOT MISS events. The Lord is doing something exciting at Asbury, and the Bible studies we’ve had over the past year on Genesis and Revelation were electric. Please do whatever you can to be present tonight.

If you live out of town, go ahead and move to Tulsa. If that won’t work, then join us on the livestream!

MATTHEW 2:13-23

13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”
19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” 21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Today's reading contains the evil story of the Slaughter of the Innocents in Bethlehem, in which King Herod orders all little boys in Bethlehem's vicinity two years-old and younger to be murdered. Matthew then quotes from the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah (who was himself alluding to the Book of Genesis):

"Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 'A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.'" [Matthew 2:17-18]

It's a miserable story, and Herod was an evil man. But he was right.

Herod wasn't right because he had those boys murdered; Herod was right because he rightly understood that this Jesus is a threat to all dictators and demons. Even today, the Chinese totalitarians are using the vast resources of their hellish surveillance state to stamp out peaceful followers of Jesus. Why? Because if Jesus is the true King, then the powers of this world will be held to account; if Jesus is the true King, then one day his Kingdom will come fully on earth as it already is in heaven.

Don't be fooled: all the rival powers are mere pretenders and will one day be finally overthrown.

What would it look like for you to worship the true King today?

See you TONIGHT at Bible study.

“Let Me Hear in the Morning” - Psalm 143

A Psalm of David.
1 Hear my prayer, O Lord;
    give ear to my pleas for mercy!
    In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
2 Enter not into judgment with your servant,
    for no one living is righteous before you.
3 For the enemy has pursued my soul;
    he has crushed my life to the ground;
    he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
4 Therefore my spirit faints within me;
    my heart within me is appalled.
5 I remember the days of old;
    I meditate on all that you have done;
    I ponder the work of your hands.
6 I stretch out my hands to you;
    my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah
7 Answer me quickly, O Lord!
    My spirit fails!
Hide not your face from me,
    lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
8 Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
    for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
    for to you I lift up my soul.
9 Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord!
    I have fled to you for refuge.
10 Teach me to do your will,
    for you are my God!
Let your good Spirit lead me
    on level ground!
11 For your name's sake, O Lord, preserve my life!
    In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
12 And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies,
    and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul,
    for I am your servant.

I think this is a beautiful prayer, and one to which I want to hold tightly and pray over myself.

“Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love.”

“Deliver me from my enemies.”

“Teach me to do your will.”

“Lead me on level ground.”

Amen.

P.S. Here’s Shane and Shane’s version of Psalm 143, “Revive Me.”

What Different Route Do You Need To Take Today?

August 29, 2023 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

Bible Study THIS Wednesday, 8/30. 6:30-8:00 PM. Asbury Sanctuary. All ages. Livestream: asburytulsa.org. Dinner beforehand—18 and under eat free! I’m only doing this 4 times this fall. Don’t miss this first one. —AF

MATTHEW 2:7-12

7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

I think the Magi are among the most interesting characters in the Bible. Probably some kind of Persian or Babylonian stargazers--"wise men"- -they saw something in the heavens so compelling that they left their homes and temples and libraries miles away to the East, and journeyed toward Bethlehem. And when they got there, what did they see?

Whatever it was, it changed them. I love how T.S. Eliot imagines them on their return home:

We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
—from "The Journey of the Magi," by T.S. Eliot

Matthew is more matter-of-fact: "They returned to their country by another route." See, here's the truth: encounters with Jesus are always like that. You can't meet Jesus and continue on as before, unchanged.

What different route or path do you need to take today?

Pray This When You Are in a Bad Way - Psalm 142

A Maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer.
1 With my voice I cry out to the Lord;
    with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord.
2 I pour out my complaint before him;
    I tell my trouble before him.
3 When my spirit faints within me,
    you know my way!
In the path where I walk
    they have hidden a trap for me.
4 Look to the right and see:
    there is none who takes notice of me;
no refuge remains to me;
    no one cares for my soul.
5 I cry to you, O Lord;
    I say, “You are my refuge,
    my portion in the land of the living.”
6 Attend to my cry,
    for I am brought very low!
Deliver me from my persecutors,
    for they are too strong for me!
7 Bring me out of prison,
    that I may give thanks to your name!
The righteous will surround me,
    for you will deal bountifully with me.

The psalmist finds himself in a bad way, and calls on the Lord to deliver him.

File this away and pray it the next time you are in trouble.