Matthew Commentaries 4

F B Meyer
Our Daily Homily
The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 1:21
It is He that shall save his people from their sins. (r.v.)

This is the mission of Immanuel. He came, not as the Jews expected, to break the yoke of Caesar and re-establish the kingdom of David; but to break the yoke of sin, and set up the sinless kingdom of God. The Church has too often misunderstood the object of his advent, as though He meant simply to save from the consequences and results of sin. This were too limited a program for the Son of God. To cancel the results and leave the bitter cause; to deliver from the penalty, but not from the power; to rescue his people from the grasp of a broken law, but confess Himself unable to deal with the bad virus of the blood—this were to fail. No; dare to take this announcement in its full and glorious meaning, written as it is on the portico of our Savior’s life.

What an admixture of blood flowed through his veins! Let your eye glance through the list of his genealogy. Men and women, notorious for their evil character, lie in the direct line of his descent. This was permitted, that lie might fully represent our fallen race; that no sinner, however bad, should be abashed to claim his help; and that it should be clearly shown how powerless sin was to tarnish or taint the holiness of his sinless nature. Made in the likeness of sinful flesh, He knew no sin. The germs of corruption could find no welcome in his heart.

Art thou one of his people? Hast thou accepted his rule, and allied thyself with Him. For if so, He shall save thee. Though possessed with seven devils, He will drive them out.

Matthew 2:11
They offered unto Him gifts, Gold…. (marg.).

Gold is for the king. It is meet that Matthew should tell this story: for his is pre-eminently the royal Gospel. Long before the Lord was born, these Eastern sages must have been started on their way, whither and to worship whom they knew not: but an ancient prophecy had foretold that to this babe should be offered of the gold of Sheba, and that kings should bring Him the riches of the Gentiles.

How useful this gold was to Joseph in the following months! It helped him to defray the cost of the journey into Egypt and back, and to maintain his precious charges there. The Heavenly Father knew what those needs would be, and met them by anticipation. If you concern yourself in the affairs of his kingdom, and will obey the warnings and directions He gives; if you dare to step out on the path of literal obedience — you will find that God will become responsible and defray all costs. Gold is naught to Him. He can make it out of common dust by a word.

It is sweet to think of all the gold presented to Jesus in after ages. The wealth of the rich, the golden ornaments taken from the person, the tiny pieces of gold which represent the patient savings of the poor — all these have made up the flowing river of which those golden gifts of the Magi were the first trickling drops. Have you given gold to Him, you who know Him, not as the babe only, but as the Man of the Cross; not as man merely, but as the Son of the Highest! You may have given Him copper in abundance, and silver in handfuls; but let your future gifts to Him be of the best. Or, if poverty restrains you, let the philosopher’s stone of Love turn the meaner metals to gold.

Matthew 3:1.
In those days cometh John the Baptist.

The Evangelist is fond of the present tense, “cometh.” Yes, these records are true to all time. You tell me that they happened nineteen centuries ago. Certainly; but they happened yesterday, and are happening today. Remember that He is the same yesterday, today, and for ever. He was, and is, and is to come. Christ was born into the world, but He is always being born into the hearts of men in Regeneration. John preceded and announced his advent in the wilderness of Judaea; and he is always preparing his way into the hearts and lives of men. It is doubtful whether Jesus ever comes into the heart of mature manhood without the previous work of a John the Baptist. Of days of conviction of sin, of remorse, of repentance, we may truly say, “In those days cometh John the Baptist.”

John the Baptist is sadly needed today. Much of what we call Christianity is but Christianized heathenism. It glozes over covetousness, luxurious self-indulgence, compliance with fashion and worldliness; it admits into its high places men who thrive on the oppression of the poor; it condones the oppression of the native races, the sale of opium and spirits, the shameless traffic in impurity; it rears the ideals of the world in the place of the changeless cross of the slain Christ with its divine sorrow and blood. Ah, we need that John the Baptist should come with his stern words about the axe, the winnowing-fan, and the fire. Nothing less will avail to prepare the way for a new coming of Christ.

Each age has had its John the Baptist. Now St. Bernard; now Savonarola; now John Knox. With sonorous, ringing voice the herald has prepared the way of the King: “He cometh to judge the world!”

Matthew 4:1
Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

Yesterday, the opened heavens; today, the burning cinders of the wilderness of temptation. Then the voice of the Father owning Him as the Well-beloved; now the hiss of the tempter. Then the teeming crowds; now the desert solitude and silence, broken only by the cry of the wild beast. Then the Spirit as a nesting dove, but now as a compelling force. Wherever there is the Christ-life, it passes through these same experiences. The Holy Spirit often anticipates coming trial by granting some great revelation of God; but He who gives the one leads into the other, that the precious bestowments of God’s grace may be rendered permanent.

Would you give the bread of life to thousands? You must refuse to use your opportunity to make bread for your own gratification. You cannot use your power for others and for yourself. If you elect to use it for them, you must be content to wait till the Father sends his angels to minister to you. In the meanwhile live by faith on his words.

Would you teach the magnificence of a faith that can trust God to preserve it, though it steps from the mountain brow on to thin air? You must refuse to use it for purposes of ostentation; and wait till God, not Satan, calls.

Would you win the kingdoms of the world? You must obtain them, not by methods which commend themselves to human prudence, but through the death of the cross and the falling into the ground to die. There are two mountains in the Gospel: this, as it opens; that of the Ascension at its close. The valley of death lies between. But the traversing of this valley was necessary, ere Christ could say, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.”

Matthew 5:45
That ye may be sons of your Father which is in heaven. (r.v.)

We are made sons by regeneration, through faith in the Son; but we are called to make our calling and election sure — to approve and vindicate our right to that sacred name. We can only do this by showing in word and act that the Divine life and principles animate us.

Jesus teaches that the life of God in the hearts of his children will show itself in pure and unaffected love. He says in effect, “God is good: God forgives: God bears with wrong and sin: God loves those who hate Him, blesses those who curse, bestows his favors on the false and unjust, suffers long and is kind; believes, hopes, bears all things. Therefore, if you are his children, do as He does, as I do: follow Me: live as I live: become as a bird, a lily, a little child: be pure, merciful, lowly, gentle, strong in righteousness — and you will be called the sons of God; yours will be the kingdom of heaven.”

There were several things the Lord could not say fully in this opening statement. That obedience to his precepts would inevitably conduct them to a cross; that the strength for such a life could only be secured through the coming of the Comforter; that the progress of the Kingdom would be slow and arduous — these things were for the time veiled and hidden. But his main object was to teach that Christianity must be a life after the model of God’s. Christian disciple, art thou living this life? Not by a creed, a ritual, a profession; but by living the life, is thy true nature discerned, whether then art wheat or tare, child or hypocrite. Sometimes we are called to be as the sun, ripening souls by our genial love; at other times we refresh them as rain watering the grass.

Matthew 6:18
Thy Father which is in secret,… which seeth in secret.

How fondly Jesus repeats these words (Matthew 6:4, 6, 18). Though compelled to live so much in the public gaze of men, his heart was always sighing for the secret place of fellowship with his Father, who waited for Him there.

Of course, the main object of those paragraphs was to withdraw his disciples from the excessive outwardness of the age in which He spoke, and which necessarily detracted from the singleness, directness, and simplicity of the religious life. It is impossible to perform our religious duties before men, without insensibly considering what impression we are producing, and how far their estimation of us is being enhanced. And in so far as we seek these things, the stream is contaminated with mud and silt, and becomes turbid. We have just as much religious life as we show to God in secret — just that, no less, no more. Whatever is not wrought between thee and God, with no record but his eye, is chaff which the wind driveth away.

Here is a test for our alms, our prayers, and our fasting from sin and self-indulgence. If we do any of these to maintain or increase the consideration that men have of us, they count for nothing in the eve of God. But whatever is done for Him alone will secure his inevitable notice and reward. Dwell on that very definite assurance: “Shall recompense thee.” There is no doubt about it. For every petition breathed into his ear; for every sigh and tear; for every abstinence from sin and self there will be a certain recompense, after the Divine measure. Such seeds shall have a prolific harvest. Seek then the secret place, where prying eyes cannot follow, and curious ears cannot overhear.

Matthew 7:2
With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you.

This is an invariable principle. Christ did not make it true by saying it; He said it because it was true. There are at least three policies of life — that of the churl, who never gives unless he is compelled; of the niggard, who metes out from the tiniest measure on which he can lay hands; of the bountiful man, who is ever meting out his stores with lavish hand. If he gives, it is to his uttermost; if he loves, it is with all his heart; if he forgives, he crowns the forgiven one with lovingkindness; if he puts his hand to constructing aught, every part of it bears trace of the wealth of his taste, and gift, and self-sacrifice.

It might be supposed that such a policy would lead to bankruptcy of resources and speedy impoverishment; and for fear of this most refrain from adopting it. They either do not give, or give stintingly and fearfully. But the remarkable fact is, that when a man is using this large measure towards others, they catch it up and fill it with their bountifulness towards him. They mete out their love and gifts according to the measure of his giving. This is an invariable principle: begin serving men with a miser’s hand, and they will do the same to you; begin, on the contrary, by serving men without stint, and they will do the same to you.

Live a royal life, child of God, as becomes such a Father. Give, expecting nothing again, with full measure, pressed down, and running over. Give, not so much money, as love, and tenderness, and human sympathy: give as one who is always receiving from the boundless resources of God. And, provided always that thy motives are pure, it will come back to thee. God will see thee bountifully rewarded.

Matthew 8:9
A man under authority, having soldiers under me.

The centurion’s faith set Christ marveling. First, because it was found in such an unlikely place. Here was a Gentile who had come from the West, and was sitting down with Abraham in the Kingdom of God. Secondly, because of its greatness: “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”

This Roman officer applied to our Lord principles with which he was cognizant through his connection with the army, he knew that he had no power over other men in his individual capacity, or apart from his organic connection with the machinery of government. If he said to one man Come; to another Go; to his servant Do this, and his command was immediately obeyed — it was entirely due to his own obedience, in turn, to the authority which was over himself. So long as he obeyed that authority, he represented it; and it passed through him to compel obedience to his commands. This is the principle he applied to our Lord.

He recognized that Jesus of Nazareth was always acting under the authority of his Heavenly Father, and he inferred, therefore, that He could wield the power of God as he could that of Rome. As the authority of the Caesars flowed through his own yielded life, so the authority of God over diseases, demons, and all else, would flow through Christ’s.

What a profound principle is here! Learn to obey, and you shall rule. Yield yourself absolutely to God, and God’s power shall pass through your heart and life. Be under Divine authority, and you shall be able to say, Go, come, do this. All things serve the man who serves Jesus Christ. Absolute consecration to God, as a soldier is surrendered to his country, is the condition of power.

Matthew 9:22
Thy faith hath made thee whole.

Wholeness and holiness are identical: the one of the body; the other of the soul. They are closely related to the word Health, and all may be procured through faith. Holiness, wholeness of heart, health — and all by faith. There are three steps to this blessed state — of wholeness of soul.

First, we must believe that it is attainable. For we never feel morally bound to do, attempt, or choose, what we do not believe to be within our reach. But all questions on the matter are settled for evermore by such words as, “Be ye holy, for I am holy”; and “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”

Second, we most consecrate ourselves to God. In other words, by the help of the Holy Spirit, we must determine and resolve that we will be wholly the Lord’s. We must come to a fixed resolve to break off from every known sin; to walk, so far as we know them, in the way of God’s commandments; to be and do and suffer all his righteous will. This must be our deliberate resolve for all coming time; and if we are unable to make the resolve, through the frailty of our nature and the strength of our old sins, we must at least tell God that we are willing for this to become our unvacillating attitude.

Third, we must believe, absolutely, that God does accept the consecration we have made, and will do all that He has promised, by infilling us with his Holy Spirit, and working in us that which is pleasing in his sight. Nay, we must not only believe that He will do it, we must ask and claim that He should do it; we must, like this woman, touch Christ and obtain his healing virtue.

Matthew 10:27
What I tell you in the darkness, speak ye in the light.

These striking words are applicable to us all, Our Lord is constantly taking us into the dark, that He may tell us things. Into the dark of the shadowed home, where bereavement has drawn down the blinds; into the dark of the lonely, desolate life, here some infirmity closes us in from the light and stir of life; into the dark of some crushing sorrow and disappointment. Then He tells us his secrets, great and wonderful, eternal and infinite. The eye, which has become dazzled by the glare of earth, becomes able to behold the heavenly constellations; and the ear to detect the undertones of his voice, which is often drowned amid the tumult of earth’s strident cries.

But such revelations always imply a corresponding responsibility — that speak ye in the light — that proclaim upon the housetops. We are not meant to linger always in the dark, or stay in the closet; presently we shall be summoned to take our place in the rush and storm of life; and when that moment comes, we are to speak and proclaim what we have learnt.

This gives a new meaning to suffering, the saddest element in which is often its apparent aimlessness. “How useless I am.” “What am I doing for the betterment of men?” “Wherefore this waste of the precious spikenard of my soul.” Such are the desperate laments of the sufferer. But God has a purpose in it all. He has withdrawn his child to the higher altitudes of fellowship, that he may hear God speaking face to face, and bear the message to his fellows at the mountain foot. Were the forty days wasted that Moses spent on the Mount, or the period spent at Horeb by Elijah, or the years spent in Arabia by Paul?

Matthew 11:6
Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me.

A friend has turned these words into another beatitude — The blessedness of the unoffended. The Baptist was tempted to take offence with Christ, first, because of his long delay in asserting Himself as the promised Messiah; and secondly, because of his apparent indifference to his own welfare. “If He be all that I expected, why does He leave me in this sad plight, extending to me no word of comfort; making no attempt to free me from these dark, damp cells.”

Are there not such hours in our lives still? We say, If He really love us and is entrusted with all power, why does He not deliver us from this difficult and irksome condition? Why does He not hurl these prison walls to the ground? Why does He not vindicate and bring me out to the light of life and joy?

But the Lord made no attempt to emancipate his servant; and He seems to be unmindful of our sore straits. All He did for John was to send him materials on which his faith should feed, and rise to a stronger, nobler growth. “Go back,” He said in effect to John, “tell him what I can do; he is not mistaken — I have all power, I am the expected King; and if I do not come to his help in the way he expects, it is not through lack of power and willingness, but because of reasons of Divine policy and government, to which I must be true. Tell him to trust Me, though I do not deliver him. Assure him of the blessedness which must accrue to those who are not offended at my apparent neglect. I will explain all to him some day.” Thus He speaks still. He does not attempt to apologize, or to explain — He only asks our trust; and promises blessedness to those who do not stumble at life’s mysteries.

Matthew 12:5, 7
Have ye not read in the law? … If ye had known what this meaneth….

The Pharisees were great sticklers for rites and ceremonies. Their religion consisted in little else than a perpetual round of outward observances. They believed that they were thus observing and maintaining the ancient Mosaic code. In their judgment, great human necessities, like hunger, must be subordinate to their minute exactions. Our Lord, on the other hand, claimed that the laws of God, as written in the nature of man, must have a priority over merely ceremonial enactments. And He showed that his contention was supported by those Scriptures on which they rested their case.

There are two ways of studying Scripture. The one deals with its letter; the other compares Scripture with Scripture, and seeks to fathom its profound and eternal meaning. Do not read as the scribe, but as the Son of Man. Do not rest in the outward rite, but in the spiritual attitude of which the rite was intended to be the expression. Everywhere there is One greater than the Temple; greater than the rigorous exactions of the Jewish Sabbath; greater than the code on which Pharisaism insisted.

All through the Old Testament you may detect the spirit of the New; the mercy in which God delights, the pitiful appreciation of the frailty and hunger of the nature He has made. The New Testament is in accord with the Old of Scripture, and the older Testament of man’s nature, as God made it at first.
It is highly important to remember this. The God who redeems is He who created all things by his word, and for his pleasure. Is it likely that He will contradict his original design, and undo what cost Him thought and care? Surely not; He is pledged only to undo the evil which has marred his work.

Matthew 13:11
Unto you it is given to know.

In explanation of this statement, our Lord reiterates his favorite saying: “Whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have abundance.” His disciples had already given heed to his words. On the thin soil of their hearts the precious seed had already begun to germinate: and as it throve, it prepared the way for more and more to follow.

In the case of the crowds that pressed around Him, however, there was no such earnest giving heed. They were content with the interest, the beauty and grace, of his nature-teaching, without a thought of is deeper aspects. Hearing, they did not understand; seeing, they did not perceive; face to face with Incarnate Truth, they thought only that He had a pleasant voice, and could play skilfully on the harp.

First, Understand what you hear. Do not be content to have a merely intellectual appreciation of its force or beauty; but open your heart to meditate and ponder it. It is only thus that truth really strikes its roots into the soul, and defies the birds.

Second, Beware of the response of mere emotion. Too many of these receive the word with joy. Their expressions of interest and pleasure are loud and emphatic. Tears course down their cheeks. You think them most hopeful. But it passes like the sunshine and cloud of an April day.

Third, Guard against cares and worldly success. The first, of the poor; the second, of the rich. There is not room in the heart, or nutrition in the soul, for the absorbing pursuit of both earth and heaven, of time and eternity.

Fourth, Practise what you hear. Remember that not the hearers of the word, but the doers of the work, are blessed.

Matthew 14:19
Looking up to heaven, He blessed, and brake, and gave.

Stonewall Jackson was once asked what he meant when be used the expression, “Instant in prayer.” “I will give you,” he said, “my idea of it for illustration, if you will allow it, and not think that I am setting myself up as a model for others.” On being assured that there would be no misjudgment, he went on to say; “I have so fixed the habit in my own mind, that I never raise a glass of water to my lips without a moment’s asking of God’s blessing. I never seal a letter without putting a word of prayer under the seal. I never take a letter from the poet without a brief sending of my thoughts heavenward. I never change my classes in the section room without a minute’s petition on the cadets who go out and those who come in.” “And don’t you sometimes forget this?” “I think I can say that I scarcely do; the habit has became almost as fixed as breathing.”

And if this was the habit of the servant, how much more of the Master. Frequently, in the Gospels, we are told of his heavenward look. It was as though He were always looking up for his Father’s smile, direction, and benediction; so that He could be assured that what He was engaged in was in the line of his Father’s Purpose, and that He might gain the needed power to act and wisdom to speak.

It is only thus that we shall be able to meet the hunger of our times. Our slender stores will not avail for so great a multitude. But if we bring them to Him, and place them in his hands, and look up to heaven for his enablement, we shall break and break again till all have sufficed and left. But this habit can only be maintained by those who go into the mountain of prolonged fellowship.

Matthew 15:28
Be it done unto thee even as thou wilt. (r.v.).

This was a remarkable permission. It is not often that Christ takes the key to his stores out of the bunch which hangs at his girdle, and entrusts it to a soul, saying in effect, Take what you will. “Of the work of my hands, command ye Me.”

1. We must intercede for others.—This woman came for her child. We must always be on our guard when we ask much for self, lest somehow our requests be prompted by self-aggrandizement. If we do ask for power, wisdom, or likeness to Christ, let it be that we may help others better. The apostle says that Christ “loosed us from our sins … and made us priests” (Revelation 1:5–6, r.v.). We all need this loosing, that we may become intercessors.

2. We must accord Christ his right place.—The Canaanitish woman came to Him as the Son of David, and He answered her not a word. She had no claim on Him as such. That He was the Jews’ Messiah could not help her. She had given Him that title by courtesy and hearsay. It was necessary that by his silence she should be driven to find Him for herself. When she gave Him a universal title, and said, Lord, help me! worshipping at his feet, she was a step nearer the goal.

3. We must answer his affirmations with Yea.—He told her what She was. She was an alien and outcast. She was not part of the chosen family; she must understand her true position, and take it. And she did. She said, Yea, Lord. If you can perfectly accept God’s will, so that it shall take the place of your own; if you will take your place among the dogs beneath the table, you are sure to obtain answers to your prayers—God can let you have your way, because it will be his.

Matthew 16:22
Have mercy on Thee, Lord! This shall never be unto Thee.(r.v., marg.)

Throughout his life these words were perpetually flung at the heart of Christ. Spare Thyself this hunger, the devil said in the wilderness, on the threshold of his public ministry; spare Thyself this agonizing death, he said again in the garden, on the eve of the crucifixion.

It is noticeable that the cross was surrounded by voices that repeated the same words. They that passed by it wagged their heads, and said, “Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save Thyself.” The chief priests mocked Him, with the scribes and elders, and said, “Can He not save Himself?” The soldiers also mocked Him, coming to Him, offering Him vinegar, and saying, “If Thou art the King of the Jews, save Thyself.” And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on Him, saying, “Art not Thou the Christ? save Thy self and us.” All these voices spoke after the methods of human wisdom.

This made our Lord turn so quickly on Peter, saying, “Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art a stumbling-block unto Me.” How often are the same words addressed to us: “Pity thyself. Have mercy on your sensitive human nature; do not be too lavish with your money; give yourself a little more licence.” But it cannot be. You cannot save others and yourself as well. Those that would follow Jesus in his steps of redemptive help to mankind must deny themselves, take up the cross, and fellow Him into rejection, shame, spitting, and the grave. They who have mercy on themselves will never show much to others, or receive much; but the merciful are blessed, because they obtain mercy. Thus mercy is “twice blest; it blesses him that gives, and him that takes.”

Matthew 17:3
Behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Him.

Luke tells us that they “spoke of his decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem.” Moses as representing the Law, would remind Him that if as God’s Lamb He must die, yet as God’s Lamb He would redeem countless myriads. Elijah, as representative of the prophets, would dwell on the glory that would accrue to the Father. These thoughts were familiar enough to the mind of our blessed Master; yet they must have gladdened and strengthened Him, as they fell from other lips: the more so when they conversed together on the certain splendor of the resurrection morning that should follow his decease.

And where could there have been found greater subjects than this wondrous death, and his glorious resurrection? Here the attributes of God find their most complete and most harmonious exemplification. Here the problems of human sin and salvation are met and solved. Here the travail of Creation meets with its answer and key. Here are sown the seeds of the new heavens and earth, in which shall dwell righteousness and peace. Here is the point of unity between all ages, all dispensations, all beings, all worlds. Here blend men and angels; departed spirits and the denizens of other spheres; Peter, James, and John, with Moses and Elijah, and all with the great God Himself, whose voice is heard falling in benediction from the opened heaven.

We, too, must often climb the mount of transfiguration in holy reverie; for the nearer we get to the Cross, and the more we meditate upon the decease accomplished at Jerusalem, the closer we shall come into the center of things; the deeper will be our harmony with ourselves and all other noble spirits and with God Himself.

Matthew 18:15
Go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.

“Where is thy brother, child?”

“I do not know, Lord; I have not seen or spoken to him these many days; and, as far as I am concerned, I would not mind if I never saw him again; he is as good as lost to me.”

“Hast thou wronged him, that this gulf has yawned between you? Remember that I said, if on coming to the altar, thou shouldest remember that thy brother hath some complaint against thee, thou wert to leave thy gift, and seek to be reconciled; then return to often thy gift.”

“Yes, Lord, I remember well. But that is not the case now; my brother has nothing against me; he is in the wrong, not I; he has trespassed against me, not I against him. It is therefore for him to come to me, not for me to go to him.”

“Is it likely that he will come to thee?”

“I do not think it is, Lord. He is not one of thy disciples; and it is most unlikely that he will ever cross my threshold to apologize and ask forgiveness.”

“Then thou must go to him, and tell him his fault between thee and him alone, and do thy best to win him back.”

“But I think he is most likely to put the wrong construction on my going, and to account that I feel myself in the wrong.”

“Thou art thy brother’s keeper, and thou must win him out of his fault, and lovelessness, and wandering. He is drifting away—not from thee only, but from Me. I know he was in the wrong at first; but thou art in the wrong now, and thou must go and tell him his fault, and try to wash his feet and win him back.”

Matthew 19:8
Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you….

This is a very profound principle, which is of immense value in dealing with Scripture. There were certain precepts and commands given to Israel, which are not of lasting obligation, because they were stages in their moral discipline and education. It would have been impossible to lift them suddenly from the degradation into which they had sunk in Egypt, to the glorious levels of Isaiah or the Sermon on the Mount: so God’s dealings with them were graduated and progressive.

Such were the regulations about a plurality of wives, the keeping of bond-slaves, the treatment of captives, the destruction of their foes. With respect to these, our Lord says, Moses interposed a parenthesis of legislation, which was a stage higher than anything known among the surrounding nations, though it was not God’s normal or original code.

What was true of Israel is true of us. We do not realize, in the first stage of our redemption, all that is included in the word “Sin.” We are like men enveloped in morning mist, which permits them to descry only the bolder outlines of the cliffs around them, but as yet veils the minuter eminences or depressions. As the mist clears, surrounding objects become ever more distinctly defined: so that the know more of God, we know ourselves better, and realize what sin is, and come to see it where we had never guessed its presence. Thus we condemn today what we permitted five years ago. It is interesting to find in these words of Christ the germ of an argument which his apostle used afterwards in the Epistle to the Galatians with such marvellous force. He said the Mosaic dispensation was a parenthesis; but it cannot disannul God’s primal institution (Galatians 3:15–17).

Matthew 20:22
We are able.

This is the cry of youth—ardent, impulsive, self confident. It does not wait to calculate the ridges and hummocks that lie between it and its goal, but supposes that it will be able to skate the entire distance over the glistening azure-blue ice. Without hesitation it counts on being able to brave all difficulty, surmount all hardship, drink the cup, and be baptized with the baptism.

But these men slept in Gethsemane, forsook the Master when He was arrested, and one of them at least failed Him at the cross. Creature-might cannot carry us in the hour of our greatest peril. We can vaunt ourselves as we may; but we have to learn that we can only follow Christ in his cup and baptism, after we have been endued with the Spirit of Pentecost. I once knew two who said these words to God, when He presented them with the cup of suffering and death. They did not know all it involved; and they confessed afterwards that they could never have stood to their choice, had they not been graciously and repeatedly enabled. But at the end they could not wish it to have been otherwise.

How different were the experiences of these two men! To one the cup and baptism came swiftly, when he fell beneath the beheading axe of Herod (Act 12:2); to the other they came in long, long years of sharing in the patience of Jesus Christ. These are different aspects of the same fellowship of suffering—swift death, or long waiting; but in both nearness to Jesus. We have no right to cherish the assurance of sitting right and left of the throne, if that only means our own power, authority, glory. But if it means nearness to Jesus, we may count on it with the utmost assurance.

Matthew 21:22
All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

This was a very remarkable answer; showing that the Lord, in his human life, was the Author and Finisher of the life of faith. He did not quote his Divine Power and Godhead as the cause of the withering of the fig-tree; but proceeded to give a lesson on faith, as much as to say that He had wrought the miracle by faith in his Father, and that they could do as He had done, if only they had a similar faith.

Where we get wrong in prayer is that we are all self-willed. We set ourselves to pray for things; we vow to sit up all night to bring God round to our way of thinking; we use strong cryings, tears, and protestations; we endeavor to work ourselves into a frame of faith; we think we believe; we shut the doors of our heart against the tiniest suggestion or suspicion that we do not believe. And then we are surprised if the fig-tree does not wither, or the mountains remove.

Where are we wrong? It is not hard to see. There is too much of self and the energy of the flesh in all this. We can only believe for a thing when we are in such union with God that his thought and purpose can freely flow into its, suggesting, what we should pray for, and leading us to that point in which there is a perfect sympathy and understanding between us and the Divine mind. Faith is always the product of such a frame as this. Be sure that you are on the line of God’s purpose. Wait for Him till the impulses of nature have subsided, and the soul is hushed and still. Then the Spirit will lead you to ask what is in the will of God to give, and you will know instantly that the Spirit according to the will of God.

Matthew 22:37
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God … with all thy mind.

This was Adam’s blessed privilege in Eden; but he missed it. The love of self took the place of the love of God. It is the aim of our blessed Lord to bring us back to that position. Perfect love is the sunlit peak to which his whole redemption tends. And perfect love would be perfect holiness. If a man were to love God and his neighbor as his first and chief and all-absorbing passion, there would be no room for sin to establish itself in his heart.

But does not this command seem altogether impracticable? It does; and it is impracticable to our mortal flesh. It is high; we cannot attain to it. Yet the very sublimity of the demand is intended to drive us to the Holy Ghost. He sheds abroad the love of God in hearts which are fully yielded to Him. If you desire that this love should be your privilege, lie down low before the flow of the River of Life, and it will fill every gully and inlet of your nature.

But, perhaps you are not of an emotional nature; you cannot gleam and flash, and shed tears, and light up with smiles. You cannot love God with your heart! Then see, the Lord says that you can love Him with your mind, i.e., with your intellect, your choice, your will. Probably this is where you have to begin. Give your mind, your will, your power of choice to God. Make Him first. Ask Him to take the helm of your life, and to control, inspire, and direct its every movement. Crown Him King. And when the will, which is the high priest of your nature, has put its crown of life on the head of Christ, who is God Incarnate, all the emotions and affections and faculties of heart and Life will come in to swell the court with their homage and acclaim.

Matthew 23:37
How often would I have gathered thy children together!

Only the greatest artists can make immortal pictures from simple domestic scenes. To detect the imperishable and the infinite in the common and ordinary, and to preserve it in such a form as to arrest the ages, this is the mark of consummate power. But how characteristic of Jesus—a broken bottleskin, a patched garment, a handful of girls shut out of a village feast—these are the subjects which He painted into never-to-be-forgotten pictures. Lord, give us childlike hearts that we may see the secrets that are hidden in common things!

But how this image arrests us! Who has not heard the cluck of the hen when danger was threatening her brood? She is quicker to detect its proximity than her callow young; and she must needs insert herself between it and them. Ah, how often does the rush of life drown the call of Jesus to come under his wing for rest and safety!

Bunyan says that the hen has a variety of calls, some six or eight. Jesus also calls us for different purposes—sometimes to nestle near his heart for fellowship; sometimes for rest. Sometimes He calls us to feast on some rich dainty, to which He has directed us in the Word; and sometimes to hide in the shadow of his wings till dreaded evils pass us by.

Oh that we more often heard and obeyed that warning note! Probably there is never a temptation nor trial which is not thus anticipated and preceded. When passion overcomes you by a sudden rush, you must not impute your failure to any lapse in your Savior’s care. He called you, but you could not hear. “How often!” Who can enumerate the many, many times when we have been summoned by Jesus nearer to Himself, but would not?

Matthew 24:32
The summer is nigh.

You say that it is rather overdue. The nipping winds and morning frosts have held back vegetation so long that it has seemed as if summer would never visit us, spreading her carpet on the earth, and giving her intense hues to stream and lake and sky. But summer is nigh in spite of all prognostications to the contrary, because He is nigh, who is the King of summer, whose presence makes summer. Be sure that He, and therefore it, is nigh, even at the doors.

He is always nigh, and those that love Him realize the perpetual summer of his presence; but his appearing, the parousia, is nigh. Presently the swing doors will be flung wide, and his triumphal procession will sweep into our view. Then the millennial summer of the world will break, and her long winter will be gone for ever. Their the bride will hear Him say: “The winter is over and gone; the time of the singing of birds is come: arise, my fair one, and come.”

The rumours of war that frighten the nations; the slackening faith and waning love; the dissemination of the Gospel to all lands; the great movement now in progress in the midst of the ancient people of God; the decrease of conversion work in favor of the preparation of the Bride for the Bridegroom—all these are like the tender shoots of the fig-tree which show that the Lord is at hand. Oh, lonely and sequestered ones, by his appearing, and by our gathering together unto Him, be of good courage, and do the King’s work.

Do you want perpetual summer in your soul? There is only one condition which needs to be fulfilled. You must leave the northern climes to dwell between the Tropics, where the sun is always on the throne of the sky. Thy sun shall no more go down.

Matthew 25:24
He also that had received the one talent came.(r.v.)

It is remarkable that the man who had one talent should hide it. If we had been told that he who had five had hidden one we should not have been surprised; but for the man who had only one to hide it!—this is startling; but it is true to life.

The people whose talents and opportunities are very slight and slender are they who are tempted to do nothing at all. “I can do so very little; it will not make much difference if I do nothing: I shall not be missed; my tiny push is not needed to turn the scale.” That is the way they talk. They forget that an ounce-weight may turn the scales where hundred-weights are balanced. They do not realize that the last flake of white snow just oversets the gathering avalanche, and sends it into the vales beneath.

Are you one of these slenderly-endowed ones? And are you doing all you can? Are you doing anything? Even though you cannot do much in your isolation, you might join with others and do much. You might invest your little all in the bank of the Church, and trade as part of that heavenly corporation. Oh, disinter your one talent! Be sure you have one; ask the Master where and what it is; place yourself at his disposal. If it is only to carry refreshment to the harvesters—do that. Be thou faithful in thy very little.

We need not wait for the great future, to obtain this multiplication or withdrawal of our talents. They are already waxing or waning in our hands. There are many among us who, as life has progressed, have come into the use of powers of which at first they were perfectly ignorant; whilst others are losing, through misuse, the little they had.

Matthew 26:28
My blood of the covenant. (r.v.)

The first covenant was not ratified without blood. For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses, he took the blood of the calves and goats, sprinkled the people, and said, This is the blood of the covenant (Hebrew 9:19–20). So the second covenant must be refilled by blood; not by that of calves and goats, but by the precious blood of Jesus Himself. He who made the covenant sealed it with his blood, that we might have strong assurance.

But Christ has put the cup which holds the emblem of his blood into our hands, and bids us drink it. What, then, do we mean when at the Supper we lift that sacred cup to our lips? Are we not saying by that significant act, Remember thy covenant! Are we not reminding Jesus that we are relying upon Hun to do his part? Are we not pledging ourselves to Him as his own, bound to Him by indissoluble ties, and satisfied with his most blessed service?

Among the most precious promises of the new covenant is that in which God promises to remember our sins no more. Here is the ground which enables God to forgive so freely. The blood bas been shed for many auto the remission of sins; the claims of infinite justice have been met; the righteous demands of a broken law satisfied; the barriers have been removed that might have restrained the manifestation of Divine love, though they could not obstruct the love. And now we may sit with Christ at his table in his kingdom, not rebels, but welcome guests.

Also among the promises of the new covenant is that in which God promises that we shall be his people, and He our God. This item also is presented by us in humble expectancy, whilst, in expectant faith, we say, Do as Thou hast said.

Matthew 27:32
Him they compelled to go with them, that he might bear His cross.(r.v.).

If we may judge from the familiar way in which Mark speaks of the sons of this Cyrenian, who the soldiers brutally compelled to carry our Savior’s cross, we should infer that from this hour he became a Christian. He had little suspected such a thing in the early morning, when he left his lodging to attend to his business; but, being constrained to go to Calvary, he lingered there of his own accord through those anxious hours, and was led to feel that such a sufferer, to whom even Nature paid such homage, was worthy henceforth to receive his loyalty.

But how many of us are carrying our cross because we are compelled! There seems no alternative but to carry the dead weight of our cross with us every. where, only wishing a hundred times each day that we might have respite. Dear soul, that cross is yet going to be the greatest blessing of your life if it lead you to the Crucified, and you find in Him what will transform it into the ladder which links earth with heaven, swaying beneath angel tread.

If Simon became a Christian, with what rapture trust he have reviewed that incident in his life! How easy it would have been to carry the cross had he known Jesus as he came to know Him afterwards! He would have needed no compelling! So if you saw the will of Jesus in your cross, and that you were carrying it with Him, how much easier it would be! But that is so. He is in it. Bear it with Him; out of the cross will fall a shower of flowers.

There is no such thing as chance in our lives. It might have seemed such that Simon was coming into Jerusalem at that moment. It was shown, however, to be part of the Eternal counsel. Dare to believe in the Divine purpose which orders your cross.

Matthew 28:5
The angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye!

The emphasis is on the pronoun ye. The angel meant, As for these sentinels that are quaking in dread and becoming as dead men, it is meet and natural that they should do so. They are strangers to Him whom ye seek, and are set here to do the work of his foes. But there is no need for those that seek Jesus to fear.

Are you seeking the forgiveness of your sins through his blood? Fear net be! Do not fear that they are too many to be forgiven. Do not fear that you have not the right faith. Do not fear that you will find his door shut. Do not fear that He will always be remanding you of what you have cost Him. Do not fear that He will let you drift from Him again. Ye seek the Lord who was crucified. Fear not!

Are you seeking a closer identification with his death? Fear not! There is no possibility of realizing the life which is life indeed, except through identification with the death and grave of Jesus. We must sink deep down into reunion with Him who lay there as our representative. But as God takes us at our word, and begins to strip us of all we had taken pride in; as the fear of what may be involved crosses our hearts with its chill dread — again we may be assured as we hear the angel say, “Fear not, ye who seek Jesus that was crucified.”

And when at last you are seeking to follow Him through the valley of shadow — Fear not! You will never see Him as He is, till this mortal is surrendered, and the house not made with hands entered. But it the heart faints, and the flesh fails, fear not ye, who through that mysterious change seek Jesus that was crucified, but now liveth for evermore at the right hand of God.

Today in the Word
Devotional Illustrations
on the Gospel of Matthew

Click Scripture Links for full devotional
from Moody Bible Institute

Matthew 1:1-17

Matthew 1:1-16

Matthew 1:18-21

It's interesting to learn that names have been used throughout history to denote important facts such as a person's family connections or place of origin. Two examples of these kinds of names in the Bible are Simon Bar-Jona (Matt. 16:17, KJV), showing that Simon was the son of Jonah, and Mary Magdalene (Matt. 27:56), designating this woman as the Mary from Magdala, a small town in Galilee. Many biblical names have another trait in that they are compounds of a name for God and another word. That's the case with the name Jesus, the Greek form of Joshua, made up of a shortened form of Yahweh and the word for ""save.""

Matthew 1:18-2:23

Matthew 1:23

Matthew 1:18-21

“What’s in a name? - That which we call a rose / By any other word would smell as sweet,” wrote Shakespeare. Yet, we all know there’s a lot to a name. Parents often take great care naming their children, perhaps naming a child after someone special or famous. Knowing the importance of a name, our focus this month will be on the names and titles associated with the name that is above every other name--Jesus (Phil. 2:9). As we prepare to celebrate His birth, each week we will focus on a new series of names of Christ, beginning with His eternal names. It is appropriate to start today with the name Jesus, which actually comes from the Hebrew, Yeshua or Yehoshua (translated in English as Joshua), meaning “Yahweh is salvation.” After Moses led the people from their bondage in Egypt, God used Joshua to lead His people into the Promised Land (Josh. 1:6). Although Joshua was not the savior, he provided a picture of the One to come who would lead God’s people from their bondage to sin into eternal life.

Matthew 1:18-25

Too Much Information - One of the most refreshing things about reading the Christmas story is the simplicity of it all. Our culture is so saturated in information, statistics, and so-called news that it takes a major media event to capture our attention even for a few minutes. One source says that one weekday edition of The New York Times contains more information than a seventeenth-century English person would encounter in his or her entire lifetime. of wonder at the story of Jesus’ birth. Joseph was another key participant in the divine drama of Christmas.

Matthew 1:18-25

After 2,000 years, you might think there is nothing physically left from the time of Christ except archaeological artifacts. Think again! According to English botanists, a large yew tree at Crowhurst, south of London, was already two millennia old at the birth of Christ, and celebrated its 4,000th “birthday” last year. The great tree is partly dead now, and hollow, but scientists say this is actually a survival strategy helping it endure through storms, insects, and winters. Thanks to this strategy, the exterior of the tree remains very much alive, hosting birds in its branches and sporting a leafy green coat every new spring. Long ago, the light of the star that led the wise men to the Christ-child might have shone on this ancient tree–what an amazing thought! Even more amazing is the fact that God became man and was born as a baby. Every human being since Adam has begun life as a baby, and so did Jesus. His human family tree is important for both Jews (that’s why Matthew recorded it in the first part of his gospel) and Gentiles (and why Luke did the same in Luke 3).

Matthew 1:18-25

Of the many artists who have depicted the birth of Jesus over the centuries, among the best is the great Dutch artist Rembrandt. His Nativity scene focuses entirely on the Child in the manger. Rembrandt achieved this focus by painting a shaft of light so that it falls on the infant Jesus in the picture. The artist included other figures, but he put them in the shadows so that Jesus alone would be the center of the attention and adoration of the viewers. This was God the Father's desire as well. The people who surrounded Jesus at His birth were gazing into the face of an infant who was ""God with us.""

Matthew 1:18-25

The great Dutch artist Rembrandt has painted a nativity scene that focuses entirely on the Child in the manger. Rembrandt achieved this effect by painting a shaft of light so that it fell on the infant Jesus in the manger. Other figures are included in the painting, but Rembrandt put them in the shadows so that Jesus alone would be the center of attention and adoration at the Christmas season. This is God the Father’s desire--not just at Christmas, but every day of the year. The people who would soon surround the newborn Baby in Bethlehem would be looking into the face of the only Person who can claim the title ""God with us."" The fact that the God of creation would humble Himself to be born as a human being is part of the ""mystery of godliness"" (1 Tim. 3:16) that sets our faith apart.

Matthew 1:1-21

If your pastor announced an upcoming sermon series on the first seventeen verses of Matthew, most of the people in your church would probably wonder what kind of preaching they were in for. The truth is, though, that if the stories of the people in this genealogy were retold, you’d have enough drama, excitement, and spiritual lessons to fill many Sunday messages.

Matthew 1:18-25

The first Christmas card was designed by the English illustrator John Horsley in 1843 at the request of a friend. Horsley's greeting card resembled a postcard depicting a large family enjoying a Christmas celebration. The people who received the cards were so delighted with them that they began designing and sending out cards of their own, establishing a long-standing Christmas tradition.

Matthew 1:22-23

Matthew 2:1-12

It remains to be seen whether our generation will witness another transfer of power as extraordinary as the passing of Hong Kong from British to Chinese control. The final days and weeks before the July 1transferthis year were hectic and, at times, tension-filled. Hong Kong governor Christopher Patten packed his last days in office with a dizzying schedule of events and appearances, then departed the city in style on board the British royal yacht Britannia, accompanied by Prince Charles spectacular, transfer of power in the universe is still ahead. It will come when Jesus Christ returns to claim the kingdoms of this world from Satan and usher in His millennial kingdom. Then all earthly powers, and Satan himself, will be shown to be merely temporary usurpers. Even though Jesus came the first time to die as a sacrifice rather than reign as a King, His birth signaled the end of Satan’s kingdom of Jerusalem into a panic (v3). The murderous monarch wasn’t about to put up with any rival, baby or adult. As we will see on Sunday, he lashed out violently in a futile attempt to do away with heaven’s King. adoration that are due Jesus. No distance, inconvenience, or expense was too great a price for them to pay to see the newborn King. The time they actually arrived in Bethlehem is open to interpretation. What they did when they got there is not. They worshiped Jesus and brought Him their finest gifts (v11).in his Jerusalem palace, the Magi followed God’s leading and went back home by a different route. Satan had been trying to stamp out God’s promised Redeemer since the Garden of Eden—a move that was doomed to frustration. We can see Satan’s human ally, Herod, sputtering with rage as he shared his master’s frustration.

Matthew 2:1-12

A Silent Night - Franz Gruber was distraught. It was Christmas Eve, 1818, when Gruber, the church organist in the little town of Oberndorf, Bavaria, discovered that his organ was broken. The town was snowbound, and no one in Oberndorf could fix the organ. So Gruber asked church vicar Joseph Mohr to compose a song the congregation could sing without the organ. Early on Christmas Day, Mohr handed his new poem to Gruber, who quickly composed a melody. The people sang the song, and loved it. What Mohr gave Gruber, and what the two of them gave the world, has become a treasured Christmas gift around the world: Silent Night.

Matthew 2:13-23

A Spider's Web - A children’s story tells that when Mary and Joseph became weary on their way to Egypt, they sought refuge in a cave. A spider, wishing to do something for the Christ child, spun its web across the entrance to block the wind. When Herod’s soldiers passed by, they didn’t bother to check the cave because the spider web was not torn. They didn’t think anyone could possibly be inside. They left the holy family in peace. Some historians attribute the tradition of hanging tinsel on a Christmas tree to represent the safety provided by the spider’s web in that story. The angel of the Lord once again appeared to Joseph and told him to flee, because Herod would try to murder Jesus. Joseph instantly obeyed (v. 14). Fleeing to Egypt fulfilled the prophecy of Hosea 11:1: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” This passage carries the double meaning of God’s love for Israel, shown by Moses leading the exodus from Egypt, and also God’s love for us by calling His Son from the relative safety of Egypt to return and fulfill His ultimate purpose of suffering and dying on the cross for our sins.

Matthew 2:13-23

Instant Retreat - The story is told of a great military commander who sat by an evening fire with several of his officers to discuss the day's battle. He asked the officers, ""Who did the best today on the field of battle?"" One by one, the men told of soldiers who had fought bravely and risked their lives for their comrades. The commander heard them out, then said, ""No, I fear you are all mistaken."" He told of a soldier who, just as he raised his arm to strike an enemy, heard the trumpet sound retreat. Instantly, he dropped his arm without striking and retreated, an act the commander called ""perfect and ready obedience to the will of his general."" Today's reading demonstrates that Joseph and Mary obeyed God in the same spirit of promptness and submission

Matthew 3:1-4:11

Coca-Cola is the most valuable brand name in the world, estimated to be worth $70.5 billion in 2003. Sixty-two of last year’s top 100 brand names–including eight of the top ten–were American, including Microsoft, IBM, and General Electric. Brand names command value because consumers want to have confidence that they are getting quality for their money. They like to recognize what they’re buying and from whom. A familiar logo can prompt a customer to say, “That one!”

Matthew 3:1-17

Because of the Law’s strong emphasis on purity, Jews in Jesus’ day often used “miqwaot,” or ritual baths, which archaeologists have found both in private homes and public locations. The water in these baths had to be running–that is, they couldn’t be filled by hand–and deep enough for complete bodily immersion. It seems that early Christian baptisms imitated this Jewish model.

Matthew 3:1-12

The Book of Common Prayer describes baptism in the following way: “Baptism is not only a sign of profession, and mark of difference, whereby Christian men are discerned from others that not be christened, but it is also a sign of Regeneration or New Birth.” Baptism signifies both a verbal profession of faith and an inward transformation in the person baptized. It is an outward mark of an interior change. Or at least it ought to be, according to John the Baptist.

Matthew 3:11-17

Matthew 4:1-11

How's Your Navigation System? - Recent research has found that Caribbean spiny lobsters have an amazing ability to navigate. When dropped in strange waters more than twenty miles from their original locations, they invariably head for home, typically a coral reef. How do they do it? By magnetism–the lobsters somehow use the earth’s magnetic field to orient and guide themselves. Though scientists are unclear exactly how the process works, the results are clear. These lobsters measure up with spawning salmon and homing pigeons as some of the top navigators in the animal kingdom! Caribbean spiny lobsters navigate by magnetism; we navigate by God’s Word. Jesus modeled this truth in today’s reading. In His spiritual life, He resisted temptation, just as we do, and He used God’s Word to guide Him past Satan’s lies (Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12).

Matthew 4:1-11

Somewhere in the history of organized sports, a coaching staff tried out a new theory. These coaches reasoned that taking their teams away the night before a big game and putting the athletes up in a hotel gave them a competitive advantage. They felt that this cloistering would remove the athletes from the distractions of everyday life and allow the team to focus more thoroughly on the game ahead. For decades, this has been a common practice among both college and professional teams. Jesus knew the value of concentrating on the task at hand, and He prepared for His contest with Satan as no person has ever prepared before or since. Forty days alone in the desert not only removed Jesus from every human contact or since. Forty days alone in the desert not only removed Jesus from every human contact that would demand His attention; by fasting, Jesus even said “no” to normal human needs in order to prepare Himself for the devil’s looming temptations. The temptation of our Lord allows us a glimpse at a level of spiritual warfare we would otherwise know nothing about. The Bible says that Jesus was tempted in the same ways we are tempted (Heb. 4:15), but we will never experience the intensity of the trial Jesus faced.

Matthew 4:1-11

Recent studies claim that the average child has seen over 30,000 TV ads by first grade. Think of it! Thousands of different “cool” products and hundreds of messages about what’s “needed” for happiness. Advertising is probably the most powerful form of temptation that we face today, often presenting attractive objects for worship, although we rarely think of it this way.

Matthew 4:12-22

In recent years, the letters “WWJD?”–meaning “What Would Jesus Do?”–have been spotted on bracelets, music CDs, bumper stickers, and countless other pieces of merchandise. Last fall, a Christian environmental group scored nationwide publicity by changing the last word. “What Would Jesus Drive?” became the headline catch-phrase for their attacks on gas-guzzling SUVs. As overhyped and overmarketed as the “WWJD?” slogan has become, the basic question remains valuable: What would Jesus do? Many are ready to say He would support their particular cause, but what does the Bible say?

Matthew 4:12-25

How should the kingdom of heaven change the purpose of life? Timothy Dwight, grandson of Jonathan Edwards and president of Yale University, had an answer that remains relevant today . The Christian’s plans will

“be concerted in such a manner, as to embrace, and promote eternal purposes. They will be the plans of an immortal being, destined to act with immortal beings in a boundless field of existence: the plans of a dutiful and faithful subject of the infinite Ruler; of a child, warmed with perpetual and filial piety to his divine Parent; of a brother, finally united to the household which is named after Christ; of a redeemed, sanctified, returning prodigal, brought back with infinite compassion, and infinite expense, to the house of his father, and welcomed with exquisite joy by the family of the first-born. To glorify God, to bless his fellow-creatures, and to be blessed by both, will be the combined and perfect end for which he lives.”

Matthew 4:18-25

A Barefoot Gospel - In the early twentieth century, Sundar Singh was famous as the “apostle with the bleeding feet.” Dressed in a thin yellow robe, he trekked through India and Tibet spreading the gospel–without shoes, hence his nickname. His robe imitated the dress of a Hindu “sadhu,” a person living an ascetic life who spent his time begging on the roads or meditating alone. Sundar’s dress reflected different motives. As he said, “I am not worthy to follow in the steps of my Lord, but, like Him, I want no home, no possessions. Like Him I will belong to the road, sharing the suffering of my people, eating with those who will give me shelter, and telling all men of the love of God.” Like the disciples in today’s reading, Sundar Singh was called to be a “fisher of men.” This is a second metaphor–in addition to yesterday’s harvest image–used by Christ to describe missions or witnessing.

Matthew 4:18-20

Matthew 5:3-6

Leonard Bernstein, the late conductor of the New York Philharmonic orchestra, was once asked to name the most difficult instrument to play. Without hesitation, he replied, ""The second fiddle. I can get plenty of first violinists, but to find someone who can play the second fiddle with enthusiasm--that's a problem. And if we have no second fiddle, we have no harmony.""

Matthew 5:1-3

In Poor Richard’s Almanac Benjamin Franklin observed, “Poverty often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue.” Jesus, though, said that poverty can be a path to blessing–if it is the right kind of poverty. Material poverty in itself is not a blessing. The author of Proverbs asked God to give him “neither poverty nor riches” (Prov. 30:8). Nor are the poor inherently more (or less) virtuous than the rich.

Matthew 5:1-48

In history, salt has carried many meanings. One superstition held that spilled salt brought bad luck. Others believed that every grain of spilled salt represents a tear to be shed in future troubles. On the other hand, salt was a symbol of friendship to the ancient Greeks, who welcomed visitors with a pinch of salt in their right hands. In some cultures, salt was so valuable that it was part of laborers’ wages. And of course in modern times we are quite familiar with its properties as a seasoning and a preservative. It is perhaps these last few meanings that Jesus had in mind when He said, “You are the salt of the earth” (v. 13).

Matthew 5:7-9

Author Gunther Grass once declared, “I don’t know about God. . . . The only things I know are what I see, hear, feel and smell.” He’s not alone in this sentiment.

Matthew 5:14-16

Matthew 5:17-20

We are told that the main library at one of America's large state universities is sinking at the rate of one inch per year. The reason for the problem is that when engineers designed the building, they failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy its shelves. Spiritually speaking, that's similar to what happened to the system that Israel's religious leaders had built in the years before Jesus' coming.

Matthew 5:17-18

Matthew 5:23-24

Matthew 5:23-26

Matthew 5:31-32

W. C. Fields, the comedian, film actor, and known agnostic, surprised one of his friends who found him thumbing through a Bible while on his deathbed. Amazed, his friend asked what he was doing. Fields replied, “I’m looking for a loophole.”

Matthew 5:33-37

A first-grader was reprimanded by his teacher for calling other children names on the playground. “But those aren’t bad words!” he protested. “Bad words are what Mommy says when she’s driving the car!” Swearing seems far more prevalent than a few generations ago; now even in casual conversation it isn’t unusual to hear words that would have been unacceptable in the past.

Matthew 5:44

General Robert E. Lee was riding through a battlefield when a wounded Union soldier, lying nearby, began to curse and revile the Confederate leader. Very deliberately, Lee dismounted, walked toward the stranger, and knelt beside him. The man ceased his torrent of abuse, and Lee said,

“Son, I am very sorry you are hurt. I pray that you will recover soon.”

Matthew 5:44

In the fall of 1987 an Iraqi fighter jet attacked the USS Stark and killed 37 American sailors. The event received worldwide news coverage, but going almost unnoticed was the response of the widow of one of the slain men. She sent a letter to the Iraqi pilot, forgiving him for his act. She also included an Arabic New Testament with the words, “Father, forgive them” underlined.

Matthew 6:1-4

Larry Burkett says Jesus' teaching in today's verses emphasizes that ""those who have a problem with pride need to give in a modest and humble way."" But, Burkett adds, ""This doesn't mean that all giving must be done entirely in secret; it just means that we're not to draw attention to ourselves when we give.""

Burkett has pinpointed the heart of the issue. Jesus wasn't forbidding His people to give a donation in honor or memory of a family member or friend. Nor was He saying every gift we put in the offering plate has to be marked ""Anonymous."" What matters is the motive with which we give.

Matthew 6:5-8

The Kneeling Christian, an anonymously-written devotional classic, says: ""Prayer is our highest privilege, our gravest responsibility, and greatest power God has put into our hands. Prayer, real prayer, is the noblest, the sublimest, the most stupendous act that any creature of God can perform.""

And Charles Spurgeon once advised: ""We should pray when we are in a praying mood, for it would be sinful to neglect so fair an opportunity. We should pray when we are not in a proper mood, for it would be dangerous to remain in so unhealthy a condition.""

Matthew 6:5-8

It's Not "Magic" - ""The first thing the Lord teaches His disciples is that they must have a secret place for prayer,"" writes Andrew Murray in With Christ in the School of Prayer. ""Everyone must have some solitary spot ...to be alone with God. Every teacher must have a schoolroom. We have learned to know and accept Jesus as our only Teacher in the school of prayer.""

Once again, Murray has given us a helpful picture of prayer. In effect, every prayer we pray is in a ""secret place,"" because prayers come from the heart. And it is in our hearts that God meets us, and listens. It is in our hearts that God begins to teach us--our schoolroom--what He requires of us in offering our prayers: sincerity of heart. In this very schoolroom, the lessons of prayer are applied to our lives. For, because our Father know what is in our hearts, what flows out of our mouths when we pray will show the state of our hearts.

To God, a simple prayer in the privacy of our hearts is much more desirable than a flamboyant prayer prayed for the ears of those around us. The secrecy of prayer stands in sharp contrast to the attitude of hypocrites, for whom prayer was a public demonstration of piety (see Luke 18:11-12). Because their hearts were filled with pride, it was revealed when they prayed.

The secret to the power of prayer we have been talking about is the Father who sees into our hearts and rewards us in keeping with our sincerity. As we have said before, there is nothing magical about prayer. It is a communication and communion between two living spirits: our spirit and our God, who is spirit (John 4:24). There is also nothing mystical or magical about words spoken in prayer. The idea that a certain formula of words automatically achieves the desired effect, even apart from the spiritual standing of the person praying, may be one of the greatest misconceptions about prayer. This makes prayer seem like a ""vending machine:"" put in the right combination of words, and the desired request comes out.

Matthew 6:5-13

Matthew 6:5-15

What's Our True Calling? - Martin Luther once said that prayer is the true calling of all Christians. Deep down, most of us would agree, but we’d also have to admit that often we don’t know how to pray. Even Jesus’ disciples faced this problem. Indeed, the apostle Paul himself acknowledged that sometimes believers just don’t know what to pray for (Rom. 8:26). Today’s teaching on prayer is part of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7). Within this long teaching, Matthew 6:1–18 address the three pillars of Jewish piety: prayer, almsgiving, and fasting. Jesus counters the hypocritical practices that were common at the time. He stresses the same basic point in each section: expressions of faith are to be seen by God and not to impress others.

Mark 6:6-13

God's Method - The impact that Dwight L. Moody had on British pastor and author F. B. Meyer was repeated in the next generation when a young Englishman heard Meyer speak on the ministry of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life. Oswald Chambers yearned to be in active ministry, and God honored his commitment. He traveled to America and as far as Japan, speaking on the dynamic Christian life. Although Chambers died at the age of forty-three, his sermons and thoughts were compiled to form My Utmost for His Highest, one of the most influential devotional books in the English language. Is there any doubt that, as it has been said, people are God's method? The ministry of discipleship is first and foremost a transfer from heart to heart and life to life. That doesn't necessarily mean the disciple and the disciple-maker must have personal contact, although that's what we normally think of when we hear the word disciple.

Matthew 6:9-13

In his classic work, With Christ in the School of Prayer, Andrew Murray writes: ""The place and power of prayer in the Christian life is too little understood. As long as we view prayer simply as the means of maintaining our own Christian lives, we will not fully understand what it is really supposed to be. But when we learn to regard it as the highest part of the work entrusted to us...we will see that there is nothing we need to study and practice more than the art of praying.""

Matthew 6:14-15

It's Not Painless! - While Michelangelo was painting his fresco of the last judgment, the papal master of ceremonies badgered him repeatedly for a sneak preview of the work. The artist kept putting him off until he could no longer tolerate the man’s pestering and finally agreed to show him the work. Upon examining the work, the official was horrified to discover that the great artist had included him in the fresco, painting his likeness as one of the damned being tormented by the demons in hell. Michelangelo did in his painting what we do in principle when we refuse to forgive. We take upon ourselves a prerogative that belongs to God alone. When Jesus linked God’s forgiveness of us to our forgiveness of others, He was not implying that our actions merit God’s grace. We do not earn God’s forgiveness by forgiving others. The opposite is true. We forgive others because God has already forgiven us. A determination to hold on to bitterness suggests that we know little of God’s grace toward us, and perhaps we haven’t even truly experienced it. We shouldn’t think, though, that forgiveness is painless. True forgiveness can take place only after there has been a full accounting of the “debt” that others owe. It is not forgiveness when we merely minimize the offense. Accurately taking stock of the degree to which someone has offended us is painful.

Matthew 6:16-18

""Hide the fugitive, and do not betray the refugee."" This was the slogan adopted by Rudy and Betty de Vries, who lived in Holland during World War II under Nazi occupation. These names probably aren't familiar to most, but they are dear to the hundreds of Jews whose lives they saved.

Matthew 6:16-18

What does the Bible teach about fasting?

Matthew 6:16-18

In his book The Spirit of the Disciplines, Dallas Willard defines the practice of fasting. “In fasting,” he says, “we abstain in some significant way from food and possibly from drink as well.”

Matthew 6:19-21

Tony Evans describes the irony of the person who spends his or her life striving to achieve success in this world: ""You always wanted to look your best, you got it. The undertaker will make you look sharp. You always wanted to ride in a big limousine, you got it. You always wanted to stop traffic, to make people sit up and take notice of you. You got it. You'll be the center of the parade on the way to the graveyard. People will step aside for you. People will take their hats off to you and say nice things about you.""

Matthew 6:19-21

Where do you store your treasure?

Matthew 6:19-24

What "Dazzles" You? - John Wesley said,

""If your eye is single, God is in all your thoughts. If you are constantly aiming at Him who is invisible, if it is your intention in all things small and great to please God and do the will of Him who sent you into the world, then the promise will certainly take place: 'Your whole body will be full of light.’ Your whole soul will be filled with the light of heaven--with the glory of the Lord resting upon you.""

Wesley was describing what it means to have your eyes focused on God. He understood the importance of Jesus’ teaching that we should keep our eyes, our full attention set on God so we aren’t distracted by the world around us. The Lord’s word of caution is good preparation for us as we turn our thoughts and our study toward the story of His birth. We’ll begin a four-day series on the Christmas story tomorrow. If you’ve ever been dazzled by the show the world can put on, you know how hard it is sometimes to keep your focus on the things of God. The world puts on one of its best shows during the holidays, and if we’re not careful we can become dazzled by the glitter and start wanting all the stuff we can’t afford and don’t need. It’s easy to get out of balance during the holidays. But it’s obvious from today’s reading that keeping a guard on our desires is a year-round project. This is not a traditional Christmas text, but maybe it should be a required reading for us as we make our Christmas plans.

Matthew 6:19-24

Dr. Joseph Stowell tells of an airline flight he once made into Newark, New Jersey. He writes,

""I looked out the window, and there standing in the harbor was the Statue of Liberty. Only this time she was shrouded with scaffolding. Scurrying around the scaffolding were welders, polishers and repairers. This grand lady had no capacity to care for herself. I know Christians who've become accustomed to living by the scaffolding. If my walk with God is not carefully maintained, there is that subtle drift to hollowness, where my Christianity becomes a heartless habit, often moving into hypocrisy.""

Preventing our service for Him from becoming a ""heartless habit"" was high on Jesus' priority list. That's why He taught us to guard our motives in giving, as we learned yesterday. In the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord continued to show us how to keep our focus right when it comes to keeping the material and the spiritual in proper balance.

Matthew 6:19-34

Matthew 6:25-30

Matthew 6:25-33

Matthew 6:31-34

Has dramatic new evidence been uncovered that worry may be productive after all? At least one person thinks so. He offered this observation: ""Most of the things I worry about never happen anyway, so it must be working!""

Matthew 6:25-34

When George Carmack and his wife, Kate, found gold in the Klondike in 1896, the great Canadian Gold Rush was on.

Matthew 6:25-34

Are You A Sleeper or a Worrier? - You’ve probably seen television commercials of a couple in bed, with one person sleeping like a baby and the other staring into the dark, wide-eyed with worry. This basic scene has been used to advertise numerous products. Often the pitch is for a financial service that has the ability to replace worry with a feeling of security. In fact, commercials like this often end in the same bedroom. The former worrier, now using the advertised product, is sleeping like a baby--maybe even with a smile. Do you identify with the sleeper or the worrier when you see such a commercial? Many marriages include one partner of each variety.

Matthew 6:25-34

The late cartoonist Rube Goldberg was famous for his hilarious drawings of incredibly complicated machines designed to do simple jobs. Goldberg's creations were so popular that an annual competition is held in his name to design a complicated machine that does a simple job. The 1998 Goldberg contest winners were a group of engineering students at the University of Texas who invented a device that requires forty steps to shut off an alarm clock. It's fun to make things complicated when first prize in a contest is at stake. But in real life, there's a great deal to be said for keeping things simple. That's true in stewardship, and no Bible passage illustrates this better than the closing verses of Matthew 6. The focus of our stewardship is the key. Everything else is details.

The good news is that Jesus has simplified the issue for us. If we are pursuing our relationship with God and living for His kingdom, much of what we tend to worry about will get pushed to the background--where they belong.

Matthew 6:1-34

Want to Add a Cubit? - “Which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life’s span?” Jesus asked rhetorically (v. 27, NASB). Maybe not, but some people in China are trying to add a “cubit” to their height’s span, anyway. They check into a hospital, where a doctor cuts leg bones in two, puts on a brace, and waits for new bone tissue to grow in the gap. Called the Ilizarov procedure, it is painful and dangerous. Why do they do it? In highly competitive urban China, tallness is an important advantage in getting good jobs and spouses. Newspaper employment and personal ads even list height requirements! Jesus warned against this things-of-earth attitude in today’s reading.

Matthew 6:9-15

Matthew 7:9-11

Several years ago a popular book addressed a difficult topic: why bad things happen to good people.

Matthew 7:1-6

A Glare and A Growl - Bob Gibson was a fiercely competitive all-star pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1960s-70s. His glare alone could freeze a batter. Broadcaster Tim McCarver likes to tell of the time when as a young catcher for the Cardinals, he went to the mound for a conference with the pitcher. Before he could even open his mouth, Gibson fixed him with a withering glare and growled, ""What do you know about pitching? Get out of here!"" So much for ""high level conferences"" on the pitcher's mound! But the point is worth making. If you are going to try and counsel someone else, you'd better check yourself first. That's the spirit behind Jesus' famous prohibition against hypocritical judgment in today's text. Actually, this passage is famous because it's often used incorrectly to silence objection against sin or wrongdoing. But a simple reading of the text shows that Jesus is not forbidding all sorts of judgment. He is focusing on the hypocrisy of the one doing the judging (see Rom. 2:1).

Matthew 7:7-11

A creative would-be buyer in Kentucky went to a car lot recently with a fistful of coupons and high expectations. It seems that the car company ran a $250-off coupon in a free local shoppers' guide. But the company left off the most important copy: the disclaimer reading ""one per customer."" So an enterprising man clipped coupons from 140 guides and brought them to the dealership, hoping to drive away in a $35 car. His hopes were dashed when the printing error was pointed out.

Most people would read a story like this and say, ""That's impossible. How could this man expect a car dealer to give him an expensive car just for showing up and asking?"" In this case, the point is well taken. Most businesses could not operate like this--at least not for very long. But it's fair to ask if this isn't something like the kind of normally-impossible expectation Jesus wants us to bring to our prayers.One thing is beyond dispute. In this teaching from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spared no words in urging us to pray diligently, persistently, and expectantly.

Matthew 7:12

Matthew 7:15-23

Matthew 7:28-29

Although Mark Twain was no churchman, the great author once attended a service and congratulated the pastor on his message. But he couldn't resist a jab. ""I welcomed [the sermon] as an old friend,"" Twain told the pastor. ""I have a book at home containing every word of it.""

The pastor bristled at the suggestion that he had parroted someone else's thoughts and words. But Twain persisted, so the pastor asked to see the book. The next day Twain sent him an unabridged dictionary. We're not told how the pastor responded to Twain's humor.

Matthew 7:1-29

Concerning the narrow way, John Wesley preached:

“Narrow indeed is the way of poverty of spirit; the way of holy mourning; the way of meekness; and that of hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Narrow is the way of mercifulness; of love unfeigned; the way of purity of heart; of doing good unto all men; and of gladly suffering evil, all manner of evil, for righteousness’ sake. . . . How thinly [such people] are scattered over the earth, whose souls are enlarged to love all mankind; and who love God with all their strength, who have given Him their hearts, and desire nothing else in earth or heaven!”

Matthew 8:1-9:34

A new contact lens helps blind people see. Developed by Dr. Perry Rosenthal, the Boston Scleral Lens sits only on the white of the eye, protecting the cornea with a layer of fluid. People who cannot see due to corneal damage can wear them and lead normal lives. Individual lenses are custom-made to fit individual eyes, and cost about $7,500. Unfortunately, insurance companies have so far refused to pay for them, but Dr. Rosenthal turns no one away. He hopes to open clinics around the country to help as many as possible. Helping blind people see is what the Messiah came to do as well (see Isa. 42:6–7).

Matthew 8:5-13

Matthew 9:9-13

Crazy Moody - Not everyone understands a passion for souls. Again, the early ministry of MBI founder Dwight L. Moody is a good example. It is generally agreed that Moody could have used his boundless energy and people skills to make a fortune in the business world of his day. That was once his goal, before the Lord completely gained control of his heart. Moody gave up a promising career in sales to work with the poorest of the poor, the inhabitants of Chicago's tenements and the urchins who ran the city's streets and alleys. At one point, Moody's Sunday school class contained some of the toughest street kids in Chicago. Moody's critics scoffed at his motives and called him ""Crazy Moody,"" but he pressed on.

Matthew 9:35-38

In his book, With Christ in the School of Prayer, Andrew Murray offers this insight concerning Jesus' prayer request to the disciples:

""The Lord frequently taught His disciples that they must pray and how they should pray. But He seldom taught them what to pray. This He left to their sense of need and the leading of the Spirit. But in the above Scripture he expressly directs them to remember…the need to prepare and send laborers for the work.""

Murray is right in noting that Jesus did not give us many specifics to pray for. So when the Savior does tell us to pray for something, we need to pay close attention.

Matthew 9:35-38

The Secret of Peanuts - Snoopy as the Red Baron . . . Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown . . . Linus and his blanket . . . Peppermint Patty asking Marcie to stop calling her “Sir”. . . Schroeder playing Beethoven on his toy piano . . . this was the world of Peanuts, the popular cartoon by Charles Schulz. Peanuts ran for nearly fifty years, until Schulz died of cancer little more than a year ago. He created an unforgettable gallery of characters who resonated with people around the globe. When he died, his comic strip was being published in 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries, with 355 million readers. What was the secret of Peanuts? Empathy. Readers recognized characters, themes, feelings, and problems common to everyone. Schulz understood human nature, and he drew his strip with kind, wry humor and compassion. Compassion was Christ’s secret as well (cf. Matt. 15:32). We might define it as kindness, empathy, or pity, but in any case it involved showing love to people in their unique situations.

Matthew 9:35-38

Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, was born to a royal family about 528 B.C., the same time period as the prophet Daniel. The religion expanded from India throughout China and elsewhere, and today plays a dominant role in Asian life and culture. Buddhism influences at least one billion people, is the state religion in five Asian countries, and is the majority religion in four more. There are 1.6 million Buddhists in the United States. Buddhism has proved quite resistant to the gospel. Buddhist countries are mostly less than 1 percent Protestant, and there are three thousand unreached Buddhist people groups in East Asia. Many Buddhists have mixed and blended various other religions, making Christ’s claims to be the only Way difficult to accept. Buddhism is also linked to Asian cultural pride and identity, making it even more difficult to embrace Christianity.

Matthew 9:35-38

Matthew 9:35-38

In a letter to a friend just weeks before his death, Dwight L. Moody wrote, ""What a joy to be in the harvest field and have a hand in God's work!"" Another time he said, ""I would rather save one soul from death than have a monument of solid gold reaching from my grave to the heavens."" No one could question that D. L. Moody was passionate about people and the gospel, which is the main theme of the book A Passion for Souls, from which the above quotes were taken. This excellent new biography of Moody, by historian Lyle Dorsett, documents Moody's multi-faceted work: as a world-renowned evangelist, an educator, and an equipper of young people. D .L. Moody inspired countless numbers of men and women to enter God's service.

Matthew 9:35-10:42

When former French Open champion Michael Chang retired from tennis last year, he had no thoughts of taking it easy. Instead, he plans to devote his time to Christian ministry. “I’ve been able to spread the gospel with a tennis racket in my hand,” he told Christian Reader. “Ministry doesn’t really change. It just won’t be out there on the court. . . . People will forget great victories, great shots, and great matches. But when you’re able to touch and impact a person’s life for Christ, that stays with them their whole lifetime and beyond.”

Matthew 10:1-4

No Accidental Fruit - When evangelist Dwight L. Moody preached a series of messages in a London church in 1874, the event transformed the life and ministry of a young pastor in the audience. F. B. Meyer was a godly leader who had shown great promise; but after Moody's visit, Meyer began a number of outreaches to the lost and needy in his area. Meyer also found time to write, and Christian libraries today still carry his life-changing devotional writings. Moody's influence on F. B. Meyer is a great example of the ministry of making disciples--or mentoring, to use a word that is popular today. Although Moody's direct input into Meyer's life was relatively brief, it was profound and lasting. It's not accidental that relationships like these produce spiritual fruit. That's the way God designed the body of Christ to work. Jesus set the pattern for making disciples when He chose twelve ordinary Israelites ""that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach"" (Mark 3:14).

Matthew 10:1-20

In Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, J. I. Packer observed: “The Christian is sent into the world as God’s herald and Christ’s ambassador, to broadcast [the gospel] as widely as he can. This is both his duty (because God commands it, and love to our neighbour requires it) and his privilege (because it is a great thing to speak for God, and to take our neighbour the remedy–the only remedy–that can save him from the terrors of spiritual death). Our job, then, is to go to our fellow-men and tell them the gospel of Christ, and try by every means to make it clear to them; to remove as best we can any difficulties that they may find in it, to impress them with its seriousness, and to urge them to respond to it. This is our abiding responsibility; it is a basic part of our Christian calling.”

Matthew 10:5-20

A Riches to Rags Story - Hardly a month goes by without hearing about someone winning an amazing lottery jackpot. Sometimes the winner was on the brink of financial ruin when the winning ticket suddenly changed everything. Like a fairy tale, the lottery seems to epitomize the “rags to riches” story.

The story of Giovanni Francesco Bernadone, better known as Francis of Assisi, presents one of history’s greatest “from riches to rags” stories. Born into a wealthy family, Francis expected to become a Crusader and win fame and adventure. When war broke out with a neighboring city, Francis eagerly joined the battle, hoping to return a war hero. Instead, he spent a year as a prisoner of war and returned home unsure of his future. A long illness that nearly cost Francis his life also helped to redirect his thinking.

One day while praying in a local church, Francis felt as if Jesus were speaking Matthew 11:28 directly to him, calling him to a life of service for Him. Some time later Francis heard Matthew 10 while at church. In the words of Jesus to His disciples, Francis heard his own call–a life of simplicity and radical obedience to the gospel. In fact, Francis used this passage (especially Matt. 10:7–10) as the basis for what would become a worldwide movement.

Matthew 11:1-19

An Apt "Apology" - In his autobiography, educator Elton Trueblood wrote the following words about reading C. S. Lewis:

“What Lewis and a few others made me face was the hard fact that if Christ was only a Teacher, then He was a false one, since, in His teaching, He claimed to be more. . . . [I]f Christ was not in a unique sense 'the image of the invisible God’ (Col. 1:15), as the early Christians believed, then He was certainly the arch impostor and charlatan of history. . . . What I saw in 1943, and have seen ever since, is that the Good Teacher conception is one option which Christ does not allow us to take. We can reject Him; we can accept Him on His terms; we cannot, with intellectual honesty, impose our own terms.”

Apologetics–using arguments to defend Christianity–helped Trueblood recognize Christ’s true identity.

Matthew 11:1-11

Trailblazers - One hundred seventy-five years ago, a trader named William Becknell and his men left Franklin, Missouri, to forge an 800-mile trail across prairies, plains and deserts to New Mexico in search of riches. Becknell illegally entered Spanish-owned Santa Fe, where the Spanish soldiers eagerly bought his inexpensive goods and sent him back for more. Becknell's route became the legendary Santa Fe Trail of Western lore. John the Baptist blazed a trail, too, but his purpose was far different. He was the messenger of the Messiah (Mark 1:2), the forerunner of Jesus, who prepared the hearts of Israel for the Savior's ministry.

Matthew 11:20-12:50

Willie Aames, who stars as the title character in the Bibleman videos and live performances, initially started acting in order to boost his self-esteem. He appeared in such television programs as Gunsmoke and Eight Is Enough and made millions of dollars. He tried big houses, fast cars, touring with a rock band, drugs, marriage, and a twelve-step program, but he still felt empty. Later, after he had lost nearly everything, his girlfriend invited him to church. Listening to the people there, he thought: “I’ve had everything in the world–except hope. That is what I need.” That day he and his girlfriend accepted Jesus as Savior! On that day, he said, Jesus “forgave me, accepted me, and healed my broken life.” Like many of the people in Matthew, Willie Aames responded in faith to the person of Christ. When we trust in Jesus, we not only take up our cross and prepare to suffer; at the same time, paradoxically, we find rest and peace for our souls (11:28–30).

Matthew 11:25-30

Matthew 11:28

A Heavy Load - John T. Faris once told the story of a man who was carrying a heavy basket. Because of the heavy load, the man’s son offered to help. The father cut a large stick and placed it through the handle of the basket so that his end was very short, while his son’s end was three or four times as long. Each took hold of the stick and the basket was carried easily—with the father bearing the bulk of the load.

Matthew 11:28-30

Not a 50-50 Split! - One day a father was watching his young son try to move a rock they found in a field. The little guy strained with every muscle he had, but he couldn’t budge the rock. At one point his father said to him, ""Son, you’re not using all the strength you have to move that rock.""""Yes, I am, daddy,"" the boy said. Dad watched for a few more minutes as his son wrestled with the rock. Then he said, ""Son, you’re not using all the strength you have to move that rock."" Once again the frustrated boy protested that he was using all his strength. ""No, son, you aren’t, because you haven’t asked me to help you.""

That’s what we often do in our relationship with God. Jesus’ invitation is for those struggling with the burdens of sin to exchange those tiring loads for His yoke of salvation and discipleship. But His words have an important application for us as the year winds down. Let’s not make the mistake of thinking that Jesus is talking about a fifty-fifty deal in which He does His part and we do ours. That’s not the Christian life. God supplies all the strength and the resources necessary to live for Him. All we provide are willing hands and hearts. But it’s clear that following Jesus does involve a partnership in which we are yoked together with Him, like the oxen of biblical times.

Matthew 12:1-14

Illustration of an incredible act of kindness

Matthew 12:1-21

Many early American folk songs describe what life is like when you are poor--and in the case of spirituals, when you are a slave. As one spiritual puts it, “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen, Nobody knows but Jesus.” These songs give us a sense of despair of those conditions. Isaiah 42 is one of the Servant Songs of Isaiah, named so because here God describes someone who is His Servant and pleases Him (v. 1). As we think about the birth of our Lord, we can learn much from this passage about His coming to earth.

Matthew 12:14-21

Can You See in the Dark? - Pastor Gardner Taylor was preaching one Sunday evening when the lights in his small, Depression-era church in Louisiana suddenly flickered and went out. Taylor stood quietly in the darkness, not knowing what to do or say. Finally, an older deacon in the congregation called out, ""Preach on, preacher, we can still see Jesus in the dark."" Gardner Taylor has been doing just that ever since: proclaiming the light of the Word of God amid the darkness.

Matthew 12:33-37

Matthew 12:34-37

What In Your "Library"? - Estimates vary as to the number of words an average person speaks in a day. But whichever number you take, it's a great deal. One researcher says 3000 words per day is a good average, enough to fill a small book. In a lifetime, that's a library full of words--good and bad. And it's a library we probably wouldn't want someone else to read too extensively. Our speech isn't a subject we often hear mentioned in connection with stewardship, but we think it belongs in this month's study. The gift of speech is one of God's greatest blessings to us and, as in other areas of life, we are accountable for how we use our words.

Matthew 12:38-45

Matthew 12:46-50

You Ticket Has Already Been Paid For - Last summer an interesting newspaper report said that scalpers were making illegal profit by selling White House tour passes to tourists for as much as $50 each. The tickets are given out free each morning by the National Park Service, and each person who stands in line is allowed as many as four tickets. This means that visitors who don't receive tickets but want to tour the White House are often at the mercy of scalpers with tickets to spare--for a hefty price. This situation is a good illustration of something that often happens in the spiritual realm. Admission into God's family isn't something that just anyone can buy. It's actually free to anyone who receives Jesus Christ by faith and trusts Him for the forgiveness of sin. But in Jesus' own day the religious leaders of Israel, particularly the Pharisees, thought they held all the admission tickets into the kingdom. Anyone who wanted to enter had to meet their price.

Matthew 13:1-52

The Treasure Trove - In 1926, music by Antonio Vivaldi was discovered in the archives of an Italian monastery. Inspired, scholars began to search for more. Vivaldi had been popular in his day, but had fallen into obscurity. Almost all of his music had been lost. A second trove of Vivaldi’s music was subsequently found in the collection of two brothers who were unaware of what they had. Included was The Four Seasons, one of the first compositions to feature a solo violin. Though it sat in an attic for over two centuries, today The Four Seasons is considered one of the most popular classical pieces in the world.

A treasure found in an attic–it sounds like one of today’s parables! A parable is a picture or story illustrating a spiritual truth. The two themes that dominate the parables in today’s reading are the kingdom of heaven and the nature of true faith. We’ll focus on the second of these.

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Matthew 13:10-17, 34-35

It's Obvious! - In Edgar Allan Poe’s story, “The Purloined Letter,” Paris’s chief of police faces a puzzle. An important letter has been stolen by a government official and is being used for political blackmail. He knows the identity of the thief, but because of the sensitive nature of the letter, he cannot arrest him. Instead, the police comb through the government official’s apartment, but fail to find the letter despite an exhaustive search. The police were looking in all the clever hiding places. But the thief, assuming his apartment would be searched, had adopted the simple strategy of hiding the letter out in the open. Its (eventually discovered) location was obvious!

The letter thief baffled the police by hiding his secret in plain sight. In a sense, Jesus did the same with His parables, hiding spiritual truths in plain sight. He used stories both to reveal and to conceal.

Why would Jesus want to conceal truth? His purpose was to hide it from those unwilling to hear it, that is, those who were spiritually dull or resistant. This fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy concerning spiritual deafness and blindness (vv. 14-15; Isa. 6:9-10). Such people did not deserve and would not be given the “knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven” (v. 11).

Matthew 13:31-33

How Does Your Garden Grow? - What would you plant in the garden of life?” asks a popularly circulated e-mail message. First, the writer would plant five rows of peas: preparedness, promptness, perseverance, politeness, and prayer. Second, he would plant three rows of squash: squash gossip, squash criticism, and squash indifference. Third, he would plant three rows of lettuce: let us be faithful, let us be loyal, and let us love one another. Since we reap what we sow, cultivating these traits will have good results in our lives. Like a seed, God’s kingdom is characterized by growth. We find this quality highlighted in today’s reading.

Matthew 13:24-34

Small Beginnings - When Laura Price, a roaring twenties flapper, converted to Christianity at a Keswick Conference one summer, she had no idea what she was getting herself into. She simply gave herself to Jesus, and her lifestyle turned around. A few years later she was married to Carl Woll and en route to Kenya as one of the first Gospel Furthering Fellowship missionaries. She spent the bulk of her adult life living in Kenya, singing, ministering, and sharing the love of Jesus for African people in Swahili. Big things have small beginnings. The parable of the mustard seed is a parable of big things with small beginnings. What the seed is and what it becomes do not resemble each other. The seed is buried, hidden, and apparently inconsequential; but it grows into a tree. As in the parallel parable of the yeast, nothing appears to be happening, but in hidden places roots delve and bread expands. These parables illustrate the spiritual principle of slow and hidden growth.

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Do the "Weeds" Shock You? - One day, nurseryman John Chapman slung a bag of apple seeds over his shoulder and headed west. His mission? To plant apple trees everywhere he could. Known as “Johnny Appleseed,” Chapman became an American folk hero. Tradition says he walked barefoot, planting apple trees for fifty years in five different states. Animals were reputed to be his closest friends, and he spent most nights under the stars. He carried neither knife nor gun and harmed no living thing. As the legend goes, near the end of his life Johnny fell asleep in a small orchard. In his dream, he walked up a rainbow and threw out a handful of apple seeds. Those that stuck in the sky became stars, and those that fell grew into apple trees. When Johnny planted apple seeds, no one was surprised to see apple trees grow. But when the master in today’s parable plants wheat, the servants are shocked to see weeds as well, planted by an enemy. The enemy’s actions are no surprise to the farmer.

Matthew 13:44-46

Last summer, Frank Wallis of Arkansas found an unexpected treasure. One day, he purchased four rolls of the gold-colored, one-dollar coins featuring Sacagawea, the Native American woman who guided Lewis and Clark on their westward journey. On one of the coins, however, he found the face of George Washington. The back of the coin was right, but the front side belonged on a quarter. Called a “double-denomination mule error,” it’s thought to be the first such error in the history of the U.S. Mint. Articles speculated that the coin was worth $100,000.

Matthew 13:45-46

Treasure Hunter - About 15 years ago an Australian treasure-hunter was using a metal detector to scout for small gold nuggets in one of that country’s old mining areas. On a whim, he moved his search into the local school yard, where something set his machine off. Digging down, he was thrilled to discover what he thought was a nugget the size of a marble. As he tried to dig it out, however, he found it was at least the size of a man’s thumb. As he continued digging, the nugget “grew” larger and larger, until at last the man pulled a 67-pound nugget out of the hole he had made. The treasure-hunter later sold for more than $1 million the famous “Hand of Faith” gold nugget!

The Miner - Blacksmith John Leavitt hoped to strike it rich. In 1878, he arrived in Lake Valley, New Mexico, and purchased a lease on a small mine shaft in the side of a hill. Two days later, he broke through into one of the most fabulous silver discoveries the world has ever seen. Nicknamed “The Bridal Chamber,” Leavitt’s find was a cavern virtually lined with solid silver. Eventually, the chamber yielded 2.5 million ounces of silver, at the time bringing $1.11 an ounce!

Pearl of Asia - A hundred years after it was buried with Manchu emperor Ch’ien Lung in 1799, the fabled “Pearl of Asia” was stolen by grave robbers. The fabulous pearl had been found by Persian divers, and purchased by the emperor Sha Jahan for his wife Mumtaz, for whom he also built the Taj Mahal and the Pear Mosque. About a century later the pearl was listed among the treasure of Ch’ien Lung. After it was stolen from the emperor’s tomb, the pearl disappeared from sight for eighteen years before turning up in Hong Kong. There is was used as security for a large loan that later defaulted. The pearl was then sold in Paris to an unidentified buyer for an undisclosed price. Since the 1940s, the location of the “Pearl of Asia” has been unknown; and its value is unassessed in today’s dollars.

Matthew 13:47-50

Earlier this year off the coast of northern Japan, some fishermen had a very good day. They landed a gigantic bluefin tuna, weighing 444 pounds. Because such fish are prized for sushi, they sold the tuna at auction at the biggest fish market in Tokyo. It brought in 20 million yen, or $173,600--that’s about $391 per pound! Sushi or sashimi made from raw bluefin tuna can cost upwards of $100 per plate. That’s probably what motivated the anonymous bidder to pay so much for a single fish. Today’s parable links fishing to God’s judgment. A net is lowered into the water and catches all kinds of fish. This is similar to yesterday’s parable where wheat and weeds grew together in the kingdom. In today’s parable, when the net is full--that is, when Christ returns at the end of the age--separation or judgment will take place. Just as fish are sorted into baskets based on whether they’re good for food, righteous and wicked people will be separated (v. 49) based on their response to Christ (see July 13).

Matthew 13:16-17

Corrie ten Boom left a legacy as the heroine of The Hiding Place, who helped her father and her sister Betsie hide Jews from the Nazis in their home in Holland during World War II. Betsie died in the Ravensbruck concentration camp where she and Corrie were imprisoned before Corrie was released on a clerical error. Corrie ten Boom, who lived to be ninety-one and touched millions of lives around the world, once said she wished Betsie could have lived to see the way God used their horrible suffering to reach so many people for Christ. Aside from their circumstances, the ten Boom sisters help to illustrate the relationship between the Old Testament prophets and believers on this side of the cross. Peter said that those who spoke prophetically of the Messiah’s ministry longed to know the “glories that would follow” the sufferings of the Messiah (1 Pet. 1:11).

Matthew 14:15-36

Matthew 14:22-33

If you have ever tried to tread water, you know how much effort it takes to stay in one place. Now scientists have confirmed this fact by testing not swimmers, but birds. Special gauges implanted in the wings of black-billed magpies revealed that it took twice as much energy for the birds to hover than for them to fly normally. It's hard for people to hover spiritually, too. We want to keep flying, but sometimes God wants us to pause long enough to learn a lesson. High-flying disciples aren't much good if they never stop to look and listen to the Lord. Jesus wanted the Twelve to ""hover"" occasionally, but it wasn't easy to get their full attention. So one memorable night, He put them in a situation where they had no choice but to stop, look, and finally listen to what He was teaching them. In fact, the disciples were not only hovering in that boat on the stormy Sea of Galilee, they were losing ground as the waves battered them. This famous incident followed immediately after the feeding of the five thousand.

Matthew 15:1-9

Inge Kraus doesn't know who she really is; she only knows that people call her by that name

Matthew 15:29-39; 16:5-12

The death of President Franklin Roosevelt in April 1945 suddenly thrust his vice president, Harry Truman, into a difficult position. He would be the person to lead U.S. negotiations with Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin as Germany was defeated and World War II was brought to a close. British leader Winston Churchill was shocked that Roosevelt had not allowed Truman to become involved in the great wartime conferences and decisions up to that time. The result was that, according to one historian, Truman undertook his enormous responsibility ill-prepared and naive. When it came to receiving ""hands-on"" experience, the disciples of Jesus had no reason to fear that they would be left out and ill-prepared for ministry. Jesus' method of making disciples included plenty of real-life training for the Twelve.

Matthew 15:1-16:20

Two years ago, antiquarian book expert John Sibbald discovered a first edition of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice at a “car boot sale” in England. It sold for £40,000. Last year, he did it again. Examining books taken from an Edinburgh warehouse, he found another of the rare first editions of this classic novel. To make two such finds within a twelve-month period of time was an astonishing accomplishment! To recognize these books for what they are, Sibbald needed knowledge and experience. To see Jesus for who he is, Peter needed the eyes of faith. His famous confession provides the crescendo to a pair of contrasts found in today’s reading.

Matthew 16:13-20

Matthew 16:13-20

The Standing Lamb - In 1432 the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck produced his well-known masterpiece called ""Adoration of the Lamb."" Christ is portrayed in the painting as the Lamb of God, with blood pouring from His wounds. Worshipers are gathered all around Him. Yet the Lamb is not lying on the altar near death, but standing tall and straight, alive in triumph and splendor. Over the centuries, many artists, sculptors, authors, and others have created magnificent portraits of Jesus Christ. Yet no one has ever drawn a more compelling or accurate picture of Jesus than the portrait the apostle Peter drew with just ten simple words. In a secluded region about twenty-five miles north of the Sea of Galilee, the words Peter uttered revealed that the disciples had been wrestling with the question Jesus had asked them: ""Who do people say the Son of Man is?"" (v. 13).

Matthew 16:13-19

It seems that there is a new emphasis on building a strong spiritual legacy in the church, which is a welcome addition to the spiritual landscape of the nineties. In the midst of morally uncertain times, it is encouraging to see attention being paid to what will be passed on to future generations. Yet no trend toward laying good foundations, however promising, could compare to the foundation of the church which Jesus Himself put into place. Jesus did not only leave us the model of His earthly life and ministry, as well as the most priceless spiritual legacy possible in the salvation He purchased for us. He also laid the foundation for the church--a new body of people comprised of all those who have put their trust in Him.

Matthew 16:13-20

Some things aren’t what they appear to be! - In 1867 Secretary of State William H. Seward purchased Alaska for $ 7.2 million--about $12 per square mile! At the time, the deal was called “Seward’s Folly” and Alaska was dubbed “Seward’s Icebox.” Then, in 1880, gold was discovered. During the 1930s, drought-weary Midwesterners began to farm Alaska’s fertile soil. By the 1970s, oil was flowing through the Alaska Pipeline.

Matthew 16:21-28

Matthew 16:21-17:13

Matthew 16:24-27

What Are You Spending Your Life On? - Nate Saint, one of the five missionaries martyred in Ecuador in 1956, said this about a Christian's call to sacrifice his life for Christ:

“People who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives . . . and when the bubble has burst, they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted.”

Matthew 17:1-13

An Awesome Sight - The legendary missionary-explorer David Livingstone was the first European to see Africa's great Victoria Falls, the world's largest waterfalls. Christian History magazine quoted from Livingstone's description of the awesome sight: ""Five columns of smoke [i.e., mist] arose....The whole scene was extremely beautiful...scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight."" It's hard for us to imagine the scene Livingstone witnessed when he first came upon the mighty waterfalls. He had to borrow heavenly imagery in his attempt to convey the effect the experience had made on him. In much the same way, the Gospel writers drew on the loftiest language they could think of to describe a scene so dazzling that no earthly experience can compare.

Matthew 17:1-9

During the 1964 Presidential campaign, Republican candidate Barry Goldwater displayed a knack for saying the wrong thing to the wrong audience. In the middle of a speech to farmers, he said a decline in price supports for farm goods would be good for them. He also told senior citizens that Social Security should be voluntary; later he attacked public electrical power in an area transformed by a power project.

Matthew 17:14-18:9

In his essay, “A Bible Fit for Children,” English professor Alan Jacobs asked his students what it means to “become like children. They responded that children are innocent and have a simple faith and a sense of wonder. “But,” commented Jacobs, “Jesus Himself employed none of these concepts.” Instead, he explained, Jesus was referring to the low social status of children.“ After all, in most societies children do not have the full rights and privileges of adults; they are not free agents, they are under the authority of their elders. One can readily see how accepting for oneself such a status would be congruent with Jesus’ insistence that the first shall be last and the last first.”

Matthew 17:14-20

Disappointing Wages - The Great Depression of the 1930s forced large numbers of people to take drastic measures. Thousands of hungry, unemployed individuals and families took to the rails and highways of America in a desperate search for work--only to find that in many cases, employers were as destitute as they were. One man spent a day unloading coal, only to discover to his dismay that his wages were two tomatoes. Another man worked for a farmer all day and was handed fifteen cents. He gave it back, figuring the farmer was in worse shape than he was. When two impoverished people try to make something happen financially, the result is likely to be disappointing. We could say the same thing about the spiritual realm. Today's text illustrates this principle.

Matthew 17:14-20; 21:21-22

Many misconceptions surround the relationship between prayer and faith. Sometimes well-intentioned people exhort us–perhaps even quoting Matthew 21:22–that with enough faith, our prayers will be answered. So when confronted by unanswered prayer, we often feel guilty or discouraged by our apparent lack of faith. To begin with, it’s important to be clear about the object of our faith, which Scripture makes plain can only be Jesus. Indeed, the context in Matthew 21 stresses Jesus’ authority in prayer. Thus it is not our ability to believe or faith in faith itself that counts. Actually, any time we pray expresses faith in God.

Matthew 17:24-27

Booker T. Washington once told of meeting a former slave from Virginia who had made a contract with his master to buy his freedom. The agreement included permission for the slave to work where and for whom he pleased. He went to Ohio to secure better wages and was there when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by Abraham Lincoln. The slave was free from any further obligation to his former master—yet he went back to Virginia and paid the man every dollar remaining on the agreement, with interest. Why? Because, he told Washington, he had given his word.

Matthew 18:1-6; 19:13-15

The Sands - Few people in his day had a greater passion for the salvation and training of children than Dwight Moody. As his involvement in ministry grew during his early years in Chicago, Moody found himself increasingly drawn to the poorest children of Chicago, who were not being reached by more conventional methods and Sunday schools. Moody ventured boldly into the worst district of Chicago, called ""the Sands,"" where children lived in degrading conditions. He befriended these neglected children, rented a vacant saloon, and soon had a Sunday class going--often amid fighting, screaming, and boisterous laughter. D. L. Moody took seriously Jesus' command concerning the importance of bringing children to Himself. Children may be overlooked when the conversation turns to the ""heavy"" issues of theology and spiritual matters. But in Matthew 18 Jesus punctuated a question from an adult, ""Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"", by placing a child in the middle of the circle of disciples. The Savior then insisted that child-like humility and faith are prerequisites for salvation.

Matthew 18:10-35

On an August day twenty-six years ago, Darryl Stingley was a wide receiver with a bright future. That day, during an exhibition football game, safety Jack Tatum tackled Stingley hard, paralyzing him. How did Stingley respond? He forgave. And as the years have past, he’s kept a spirit of forgiveness. Last year, when he read in the newspaper that Tatum had lost part of a leg due to complications from diabetes, he said, “Maybe the natural reaction is to think he got what was coming to him, but I don’t accept human nature as our real nature. Human nature teaches us to hate. God teaches us to love. . . . Now life and God have taught me to have compassion.”

Matthew 18:21-35

Until the late eighteenth century, jails were not primarily used for punishment, but to hold those awaiting trial or sentencing (to death or exile), and to hold debtors, people unable to fulfill their financial obligations. Almost the only recourse was to hope some friend or relative would take pity and give enough money to secure freedom. The first servant in today’s parable deserved to be thrown into debtors’ prison. He owed the king millions of dollars! His promise to “pay back everything” is empty--he has no hope of repaying the money. Mercifully, the king cancels the debt. By law, he could have sold the family into slavery to recover some of the money, but he foregoes his right and gives the servant a new lease on life. This is just like God. As sinners, we owe a penalty of death, which God could justly execute. Instead, He’s provided forgiveness through the sacrifice of His Son. Whoever believes on Him receives life, a result of God’s tremendous mercy (John 5:24; Rom. 6:23).

Matthew 19:1-30

Columnist George Will summarized the state of marriage in America (circa 2004): “More than 40 percent of America’s first marriages end in divorce. Cohabitation by unmarried heterosexual couples has risen rapidly from 523,000 in 1970 to 4.9 million today. Procreation outside of marriage . . . has lost much of its stigma now that 33 percent of births--including about 60 percent of births to women younger than 25–occur to unmarried mothers.”

Matthew 19:1-12

Taking the Blows - Some years ago a professional ice hockey goalie came up with a unique way to decorate his mask. Every time his mask took a blow that otherwise might have cut open his face or head, he painted a set of black stitches on the spot where the puck hit. Soon the mask was covered with these painted reminders of its invaluable protection to the goalie. This vividly illustrates the protection that a couple can enjoy when their marriage is solidly anchored by faith in Christ and commitment to each other. Getting married doesn’t keep a husband and wife from taking the hard shots of life, but a strong marriage can help absorb the blows. That’s one of the blessings God grants to the people in a growing, lifelong marriage commitment.

Matthew 19:13-22

Matthew 19:16-26

Matthew 19:1-9

In his book "Death of a Marriage", best-selling novelist Pat Conroy writes of the agony of divorce. Speaking from personal experience he confesses:

“Each divorce is the death of a small civilization. Two people declare war on each other, and their screams and tears infect their entire world with the bacilli of their pain. The greatest fury comes from the wound where love once issued forth. I find it hard to believe how many people now get divorced, how many submit to such extraordinary pain. For there are no clean divorces. Divorces should be conducted in surgical wards.”

Matthew 20:1-16

Today’s parable is a difficult one. We live in a society where this landowner’s behavior would make headlines: “Workers Vow to Fight Unjust Hiring Practices.” The first group of workers might get together and picket the vineyard. They might try to negotiate a better package of pay and benefits for themselves. After all, they have “rights”! Something strikes us as not quite equitable about the wage scale in this vineyard. How can it be “fair” to pay the Johnny-come-latelies as much as those who’ve toiled all day? What does Jesus mean by telling this strange story? (Answer)

Matthew 20:1-34

Matthew 21:1-22

Matthew 21:12-17

Are You Hard of Hearing? - One hearing expert says our world is blaring with so much noise that virtually seventy-five percent of high school seniors have already begun to lose their ability to hear high-pitched sounds. In fact, exposure to extremely high noise levels can begin causing permanent damage to the ear in as little as fifteen seconds. The key is to protect the ears at appropriate times by using earplugs or earmuffs. By and large, the people of Jesus' day who should have led His procession into Jerusalem, hailing Him as Messiah, had grown progressively hard of hearing. Their problem was spiritual, of course, not physical.

Matthew 21:12-22

In 1836, George Müller opened an orphanage in Bristol, England. Believing that God alone would provide for these children, Müller resolved to rely on God. Over the next 57 years, thousands of children were cared for in Müller’s orphanages. It’s easy to conclude that Müller was some kind of “super” Christian, but W. Bingham Hunter writes in his book The God Who Hears that “George Müller regarded his life as a demonstration of what God might do through the prayers of an ordinary Christian.” The faith of “ordinary” believers was what Jesus had in mind when he used the fig tree as an object lesson on prayer. Matthew and Mark connect this teaching with Jesus’ Triumphal Entry and cleansing of the Temple. The picture of Jesus overturning tables and driving out greedy merchants has captivated artists, but Jesus’ anger was less about greed than about forsaken prayer. Quoting Isaiah 56:7, Jesus reminded his listeners that the Temple was supposed to be “a house of prayer for all nations” (Mark 11:17).

Matthew 21:18-22

Not Living Up to the Claims - Visitors to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, are often shocked when they first see Manger Square. Despite its name and associations with the night of our Savior's birth, tourists discover that Manger Square is merely an asphalt parking lot packed with tour buses. One tourist remembers her surprise when she first saw the square more than a decade ago: ""I had this image from my childhood of a cozy little inn."" Bethlehem's Manger Square isn't the first tourist location to turn out differently than the promises and claims in the brochure. During Jesus' earthly ministry, Israel had all the outward appearances of a spiritually vital nation. But it was not living up to its claims--it had failed to produce the kind of true righteousness and faith that would have embraced, rather than rejected, God's Messiah.

Matthew 21:23-22:14

A recent survey by the Barna Research Group found that 76 percent of Americans believe in heaven, and nearly the same number believe in hell. Only five percent said there was no life after death. But while 64 percent believe they will go to heaven after they die, only one half of one percent think they are headed for hell. That seems optimistic! Yet it’s in line with our human desire to believe only the best about ourselves.

Matthew 21:28-32

Parking Lots Into Plazas - The status of Manger Square in Bethlehem is about to change, according to a recent news story. The square is getting a makeover that planners hope will be finished by the year 2000, when four million visitors are expected to flock to Bethlehem to celebrate the 2000th anniversary of Jesus' birth. The asphalt parking lot will be replaced with patterned tiles, and the square will be lined with trees and fountains in an effort to turn the tourist site into a beautiful attraction. In a way, we could say that Manger Square is like the first son in the parable we read about today. Just as the square is to be transformed from an unattractive parking lot into a beautiful plaza, so this son's change of heart transformed the ugliness of his refusal into the delight of his obedience.

Matthew 22:1-14

In a sermon, D. L. Moody linked missions and the gospel with the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. “It is an invitation to this feast that I bring you. The invitations are going out now to every corner of the earth. There is not one here who is not invited. For eighteen hundred years God’s messengers have been crossing over valley and mountain, over desert and sea, from end to end of the earth, inviting men and women to the Gospel feast. What an honor for worms of the dust! When man prepares a feast, there is a great rush to see who will get the best place. But God prepares His feast, and the chairs would all be empty if His disciples did not go out and compel them to come in.”

Matthew 22:15-46

George Whitefield, the famous colonial revivalist, once preached on the question, “What do you think about the Christ?”

"[N]umbers that are called after the name of Christ, and I fear, many that pretend to preach Him, are so far advanced in the blasphemous chair, as openly to deny His being really, truly, and properly God. . . . [I]f Christ be not properly God, our faith is vain, we are yet in our sins: for no created being, though of the highest order, could possibly merit anything at God’s hands; it was our Lord’s divinity, that alone qualified Him to take away the sins of the world.”

Matthew 22:34-40

Children Have a Way... - Pastor Charles Lowery tells of the time he took his small daughter to a store to pick out a surprise she had earned. Lowery says, 'I guess I was a little too restless because she turned to me and said, 'Daddy, are we in a hurry again?' I realized she probably thought her name was Hurry instead of Kasey because I was always saying 'hurry' to her. So this time I said, 'No, Kasey, we aren't in a hurry. Take as much time as you want.' ' Lowery went on to say that watching his daughter make one of her first choices in life was one of his best experiences. Children have a way of helping us understand what our priorities are. We've all heard the old saying that when it comes to life, the main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing. That's a good way of putting it. When everything is sifted out, a life that really counts for Christ can be defined by priorities.

Matthew 22:37-40

Matthew 23:1-39

Amazing Vision - Scientists have recently uncovered one of the secrets of the brittle star (a relative of the starfish). Its ability to flee from ocean predators, hunt, and change colors from day to night–despite having no eyes–had long puzzled researchers. As it turns out, the brittle star (or serpent star) is itself one enormous eye. The species of brittle star in question has a skeleton made up of calcite crystals that function like an eye. The crystals give visual information that allows the creature to “see” and respond to its environment. One scientist called them “nearly perfect microlenses.” Though it appears blind, in fact the brittle star can see with an eye that modern technology cannot match. By contrast, the Pharisees, though they appeared to be the spiritual seers of Israel, were in fact blind guides

Matthew 23:13-39

Greedy Leaders - A few years ago, the country watched with shocked disbelief as the huge corporation Enron seemed to crumble overnight. But as details emerged indicating how company executives had deceived their shareholders and employees, shock turned to anger. When people on the street were interviewed, there was widespread disgust that a handful of people could be so greedy and unfeeling to wipe out the financial security of so many faithful employees. Leaders have obligations toward those whom they manage. This is true in the corporate world, and it’s no less true for spiritual leaders.

Matthew 23:23-32

Matthew 24:9-14

We should expect persecution and suffering to be part of taking the gospel to the world, and even of sharing the gospel with our neighbors. Christ’s words and the whole New Testament warn us that this will be so.

Matthew 24:1-25:13

A surprise publishing phenomenon of the past decade has been the success of the bestselling Left Behind novels. Publishers Weekly called them “the most successful Christian fiction series ever.” ABC News said the books are “fun and engaging, with fast-paced plotting, global drama, regular cliffhanger endings, and what has to be the quintessential villain: Satan himself.” Authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins want the stories to reach a mainstream audience with biblical truth. Even one secular reviewer could see that “the characters are constructed to cause readers to identify with them in their search for meaning and, in time, faith.” The millions of Left Behind readers who want to know the fate of the world should also have a look at Matthew 24. What does the “end of the age” mean here? Some interpret this phrase generally, as indicating things taking place in the period between Christ’s First and Second Comings. Others interpret it more specifically, as mostly referring to events during the Tribulation or before the Second Coming.

Matthew 25:14-30

"Atheism turns out to be too simple," wrote C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity. ""If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that is has no meaning: Just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. 'Dark' would be without meaning.""

Matthew 25:14-30

You have probably heard a pastor or Bible teacher point out that Jesus had a great deal to say about money in the Gospels. It's true. Money and the way we are supposed to use it was one of Jesus' favorite subjects, because the way we manage our money is a good indicator of our spiritual health. Jesus often used parables to communicate His message, and today we are dealing with one of them. In this great story Jesus used money to teach the truth that responsibility and reward in His kingdom will be based on how well we manage the resources He has entrusted to us on earth.

Matthew 25:14-30

Are You Counting Stones? - Dr. Malcolm Cornwall of the University of Sussex, along with some of his students, spent that long counting the stones on Brighton beach. They didn’t count each one, but used a mathematical theory called the “order of magnitude” to reach the final total: 100 billion. The professor said it would take one person about 2,500 years to count them all by hand. He now intends to count how many gallons of water are in the English Channel. We’ll leave it up to God to decide the worth of these projects! Ultimately, God will decide the worth of everything we do--including how we spend our time, money, and energy.

Matthew 25:14-46

Matthew 25:31-46

The "Nourishing" Ministry - About once a week, Jane Pigue of Greenwood, Missouri, swings into high gear and bakes 25 to 30 loaves of fresh, homemade bread. The next day, she delivers it to needy people in the Kansas City area–people suffering from cancer or other health problems, or people going through a crisis or down time in their lives. She sometimes takes the bread to a local mission or church food pantry. Jane bakes bread as a way of expressing Jesus’ love to others. “How can I do anything less, when Jesus gave His all for us?” she said. “I just let Him work through me.” Her goal: “Do all the good I can, for all the people I can, for as long as I can.” Jane’s bread ministry pleases Christ

Matthew 26:1-35

Making History - During the 2002 World Series, fans voted on the top ten moments in baseball history. According to the balloting, the winner was the day in 1995 when Cal Ripken Jr., broke Lou Gehrig’s “iron horse” record for consecutive games played. It was followed by the 1974 game in which Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s record for career home runs. In third place was the day Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first African-American player in the big leagues in 1947. These and other great players made history with their unforgettable actions and achievements. Unfortunately, there are other ways to make history as well, as Judas proved in today’s reading. Though one of Jesus’ inner circle, he chose to betray the Lord. To do so, he went to the religious leaders, who had already rejected Jesus and were plotting to have Him arrested and killed.

Matthew 26:17-20, 26-30

A Meal to Remember - Holocaust survivor Corrie ten Boom, whose testimony for Christ became known around the world, once said that her strongest memories of home were of evenings around the family's oval dinner table. After the dishes were cleared, Scripture passages were read in a number of different languages, including Dutch, French, German, English, Hebrew, and Greek. Corrie and her sister, Betsie, derived strength from God's Word. Years later, that language training also allowed the ten Boom sisters to share the gospel with many different women when they were arrested by the Nazis for hiding Jews. No scene from human life can do full justice to the picture of our Lord reclining around the table with His disciples, serving them the Last Supper. Just as those evenings around the ten Boom table were a time of worship and preparation, so it was that night when Jesus was betrayed.

Matthew 26:36-46

There’s a famous painting entitled “The Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane,” in which the artist, Heinrich Hofmann, depicts Jesus on His knees in prayer with His hands clasped and stretched out before Him. The darkness of the painting is broken only by a halo of light around Jesus’ head and a heavenly light above. Interestingly, Hofmann chose not to paint the garden. It almost looks like Jesus is in a desert instead. In this way Hofmann captured something of the agony that Jesus endured during this long night of prayer.

Matthew 26:36-46

The Intersection of the Cross - Francis of Assisi, famous for his simple lifestyle and love of nature, also loved the Cross. He saw the two beams as an intersection between vertical and horizontal, that is to say, between divine and human, for there had hung the crucified Christ. Standing before a cross, he prayed:

“All-highest, glorious God, cast your light into the darkness of my heart. Give me right faith, firm hope, perfect charity and profound humility, with wisdom and perception, O Lord, so that I may do what is truly your holy will. Amen.”

Facing the Cross, Jesus also prayed to submit His will to His Father’s (cf. John 4:34).

Matthew 26:36-46

It's Just Dirt - Since the days of Jesus, at least two church groups have gone to the site of Gethsemane seeking the exact spot on which Jesus prayed. Each of these groups built a wall around the area where they believe Jesus prayed, but an expert on biblical geography says that both locations are incorrect. He maintains that the location is an area higher up on the Mount of Olives, in a more secluded part of the garden. It's understandable that believers would want to see the place where Jesus prayed in agony to His Father. Certainly the site would be holy. But there is nothing magical about the plot of dirt where Jesus fell on His face agonizing in prayer. Even if we could stand on the very spot, we would be no less vulnerable to the temptation Jesus warned us about. The Garden of Gethsemane was a place of stark contrasts during the week of Jesus' death and resurrection. Here, Jesus triumphed completely over the enemy's temptation to bypass the Cross. In fact, it was impossible for Jesus to yield. Gethsemane was not a test to see if Jesus would fail. It was to prove that He could not fail.

Matthew 26:47-56

Matthew 26:47-50

In December, 1995, the Reader's Digest reported the results of an ""honesty experiment"" conducted by its editors. Wallets containing a name, local address and phone number, family pictures and other common items, as well as $50 in cash were dropped at various locations all across America. Ten wallets were ""lost"" in each location, including large and medium-sized cities, suburbs and small towns. Would the finders make an effort to locate the owners and return the wallets intact? Overall, two of every three wallets were returned.

Matthew 26:36-27:26

Painful Truth - A recent report found the United States to be “a cold and uncaring place to die, offering little relief from pain or even sympathy to people in their last weeks and months.” Few Americans die at home, although 70 percent say they would like to. Few hospitals offer hospice or palliative care, designed to make dying patients more comfortable. One in four nursing home residents experiences ongoing, unmanaged pain.

Matthew 26:57-67

A High Price to Pay - From the time MBI graduates John and Betty Stam were executed in China by communist troops in 1934, more than twenty Moody alumni have given their lives in service to Jesus Christ. These martyrs include Lt. George Fox, a chaplain who gave his life jacket to a young sailor after their ship had been torpedoed by a German submarine during World War II. Chaplain Fox and three other chaplains on board, who also gave up their life jackets, were posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Most recently, last year Bonnie Witherall–a missionary nurse serving in Lebanon–was shot and killed out of anger at Christian presence in her community. These courageous men and women were willing to serve Christ in the face of danger, and even to death, out of gratitude for what Jesus did for them on the cross.

Matthew 26:57-68

Counting the Cost - When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Jewish refugees poured into Lithuania. A large group went to the Japanese Consulate, where they found a sympathetic diplomat named Chiune Sugihara. Against his government's orders, Sugihara issued exit visas for an estimated 6000 Jews, writing them by hand almost nonstop for a month until the Soviets closed the embassy. His ""reward"" was eighteen months in a Soviet prison camp with his family after the war, and dismissal from his post when he returned to Japan. For years he lived in obscurity, feeling disgraced. But in 1985, Sugihara was honored by the Israeli government for his heroic efforts. Stories of such sacrifice move us, as they should. People who rescue others at great cost to themselves deserve our respect. Chiune Sugihara's ultimate reward was being contacted years later by some of the Jewish people whose lives he had saved.

Matthew 26:57-66

Matthew 27:27-66

A Remarkable Comeback - In 1963, only about four hundred breeding pairs of bald eagles could be found in the lower 48 states. But today, after a remarkable comeback, bald eagle pairs number more than five thousand–including those in Alaska and Canada, nearly ten thousand. They’ve recently been spotted building nests in Minneapolis, Florida, and Washington, D.C. Said one scientist: “The bald eagle is cited as one of the greatest success stories in endangered species recovery.” One reason we smile at this good news is because the bald eagle is a symbol of America. We associate the fierce, proud head of this large bird with our nation’s history and character. In a similar way, the Cross is the symbol of our faith, a powerful reminder of Christ’s redemptive sacrifice.

Matthew 27:32-54

Matthew 27:45-60

Matthew 27:45-56

Matthew 28:1-10

How "Fit" Are You? - If you've been to many garage sales featuring ""gently used"" exercise bikes and other fitness equipment for sale, the following statistics won't surprise you. According to recent studies, only twenty-two percent of American adults get enough exercise to produce any lasting health benefits. And apparently our children aren't doing any better. A study at Columbia Children's Hospital in Ohio revealed that today's children are heavier and have significantly higher cholesterol levels than children did fifteen years ago. Unless something changes, according to one of the researchers, three out of every eight American children will eventually die of heart disease. Those are sobering numbers, and they suggest a question for us to think about in this closing study on worship. What kind of results would be generated if the Holy Spirit were to measure the ""fitness"" level of our worship?

Matthew 28:1-15

The Empty Tomb - Second-century Christian apologist Justin Martyr wrote a book in which he defended the faith against the arguments of “Trypho, a Jew.” In his Dialogue, Justin accused,

“[Y]ou have sent chosen and ordained men throughout all the world to proclaim that a godless and lawless heresy had sprung from one Jesus, a Galilean deceiver, whom we crucified, but His disciples stole him by night from the tomb, where He was laid when unfastened from the cross, and now deceive men by asserting that He has risen from the dead and ascended to heaven.”

A century after Jesus’ death and resurrection, it appears that the lie manufactured by the Pharisees was still in circulation (v. 14). The religious leaders had remembered Jesus’ prophecy of resurrection and asked for every precaution to be taken so that the body would not be stolen. The power of Rome sealed the tomb, but it wasn’t enough!

Matthew 28:16-20

Jesus' commission to His disciples is a good place to end this month's study. The Lord's life was given over to seeking and saving the lost, and making disciples. We are called and equipped to do the same. This is also a good day to draw a final illustration from the life of D. L. Moody. No matter which way we measure Mr. Moody's life, the results are extraordinary. He was consumed with a passion for souls, both in evangelism and in training people for ministry. He was a renowned evangelist and a world figure. Moody also founded four schools and personally trained countless people in ministry. We honor Dwight L. Moody's lasting contributions to the cause of Christ in this centennial year of his death (Moody died December 22, 1899).

Like Moody, we can make Christ's commission the passion of our lives, regardless of our occupation, training, or interests. Jesus' authority for ministry has no contingencies attached to it. In other words, it is not dependent on our faith or lack of it, or our willingness. God the Father has conferred total authority on Jesus, period.

Matthew 28:16-20

A nomadic herder in the deserts of Africa recently told a missionary, “When you can put your church on the back of a camel, then I will think that Christianity is meant for us Somalis. We only see you Christians praying once a week inside a special building.” The missionary was deeply challenged by the herder’s statement, and later said, “This motivates me every day to look for ways to show the relevance of Jesus Christ to people who aren’t used to living in settled communities.”

Matthew 28:16-20

Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, died last July of pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive lung disease. Some of his last words are inspiring:

“Rejoice with me because I am no longer in this earthly tent. I am in the presence of the living God, satisfied at the deepest core of my being....You are a child of the God of the universe. Surrender to Him. Become His slave. I can assure you, after more than 50 years of experience, there is no greater adventure than following Him. He cares for you. Take Him at His Word.”

Last words reveal a person’s character and priorities–the ways by and reasons for which he lived his life. So we should pay close attention to the last words spoken on earth by our Lord Jesus, found at the end of today’s reading.

Matthew 28:16-20

Amy Carmichael’s life seems to have been directed by a series of specific verses from the Bible.

Matthew 28:16-20

Last year, during its annual World Christian Week, Calvary Bible Church of Neenah, Wisconsin, decided to try something different. Historically a white community, the area has recently become home to Hispanics, Kurds, and Hmong as well. CBC decided to organize a “Fiesta Familiar” (family fiesta) to reach out to the Hispanic community. The fiesta included music, food, games for children, information on social services, Christian literature, and an evangelistic talk entitled Jesus Is the Only Way–all in Spanish, all for free. Also helping to organize the event were Jorge Aguilar and Luis Asibinac, originally of Guatemala and leaders of the local Christian Latin Ministry. The event was a success! As the illustrations in this month’s devotions make clear, there are many ways to obey the Great Commission, to fulfill our task of making disciples of all nations. Discipleship is the focus in Matthew’s version of the Great Commission, the one most familiar to many of us.

Matthew 28:16-20

Matthew 28:19-20

Deaf Student - As professor of vocal physiology at Boston University, Alexander Graham Bell had many deaf students. One of them was a young woman named Mabel Hubbard, who later became his wife. The Bells lived happily together for 45 years. In 1922, as Bell lay dying after a long illness, Mabel whispered to him, “Don’t leave me.” Unable to speak, Bell traced with his fingers the sign for no. With this last silent message, the inventor of the telephone took his final leave of his beloved wife.