You have a choice.

You can either read the reflection below or listen to me talk in the video here:

Day 5- Matthew 5:13-48

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgement.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgement. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
25 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ 34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Ok, there is a lot here but I want us to focus on something underlying all of this. In these words Jesus is calling us to go beyond what is required. In every example and command in this section, we see Jesus take a commonly understood command and make it even harder. To hold anger in your heart is as bad as murder, to even hold lust in your heart is as bad as adultery. These are strong statements and if we look at them solely as commands to obey, we can get weighed down with a burden that Jesus doesn’t intend for us to have. Jesus is not trying to create a higher standard in behaviour, he is trying to call us to a higher understanding of how we see God. Throughout the bible we see examples of where God acts in ways that overcome people’s sin and disobedience. We see him work and act in ways that demonstrate his love and mercy to people, and in Jesus we see this lived out even more fully. The one who is calling us to turn the other cheek is the same one who selflessly gave his life on the cross in order that we can have a relationship with the Father. So when you read these statements that Jesus makes he is inviting you to do 2 things: 

1) Take sin seriously. Don’t overlook or disregard your sin and failures, but bring them to Jesus

2) Reflect who he is. Let his spirit work in you and shape your heart and mind to reflect who he is, so that your lamp can shine.

You are invited to pray or to be prayed for. As we learn more about who Jesus is let us then enter into prayer and be shaped by him.

You have a choice.

You can either read the reflection below or listen to me talk in the video here:

Day 4- Matthew 5:1-11

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said: 
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers,  for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

First things first. When we usually read this part of Matthew we often get into checklist mode. We begin to think of ways to carry out these acts and be more like this. The thing we need to remember is that all these things Jesus will say over the next few chapters are not a guide to better living, but rather a picture of what life looks like when it is centred around him. Ok let us continue on.

God is a God of blessing. This blessing is different than what we usually think of though. We usually think of wealth, luck, and health. The blessing we see here is not that though. It is a blessing that resides in a way of living, a state of being. The way of Jesus. We are not blessed because we do merciful things, but because we are merciful. They are lived out examples of what our lives in Jesus should be. We are blessed not because we do these things or these happen to us. We are blessed because we dwell in Jesus and as a result he gives us these things. We see Jesus living out these very words and as a result he is a blessing to everyone. Jesus wants us to keep eyes on him, and as we do that we will then be able to live out these words of Jesus, not because we hear them and agree, but because we will be shaped to be more like him.

You are invited to pray or to be prayed for. As we learn more about who Jesus is let us then enter into prayer and be shaped by him.

You have a choice.

You can either read the reflection below or listen to me talk in the video here:

Day 3- Matthew 4:12-25

When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— 14 to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,    Galilee of the Gentiles—16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light;on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.

Here we see the start of Jesus’ ministry in Matthew. We see him start to declare “the kingdom of God has come near”. People begin to flock to Jesus and bring the sick and hurting to him for healing. What stands out to me though is this; the calling of the disciples.  We see Jesus invent them to follow him. WHat is interesting about this is that traditionally a Rabbi (Teacher) would be approached by the followers and be asked if they could follow him. Here we see Jesus inviting people to follow him. The other thing that stands out is that both Simon and Andrew and James and John drop everything and immediately begin to follow.  It is no small thing that they left everything behind in order to follow Jesus, and I think this is something we need to take a better hold of in our culture today. Jesus needs to be the focus and lord over all aspects of our lives. We get too used to giving only the parts we want to to him and holding back something for ourselves. But, Jesus gives us an invitation to follow him. To walk with him and learn more about who he is and what he’s doing. He invites us along to be a part of the work he is doing to restore and renew everything. The question we have to ask ourselves is this: can we lay everything down and Jesus’ feet and follow him? 

You are invited to pray or to be prayed for. As we learn more about who Jesus is let us then enter into prayer and be shaped by him.

You have a choice.

You can either read the reflection below or listen to me talk in the video here:

Day 2

Today we are focusing on Matthew 4:1-11, the temptation of Jesus:
“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

First thing: Again remember our focus, who is Jesus? What does this story reveal about him?

Jesus battles if’s and maybe’s, with a trust in God’s faithfulness. The biggest thing we see Satan do is introduce doubt and uncertainty to our lives. And we see him trying to do this with Jesus here. Every statement he makes includes an “if”. Every challenge he brings about seeks only to bring God’s faithfulness into question. If you are the son of God turn these stones to bread, if you are the son of God throw yourself down, if you worship me all this I will give you. Each of these temptations are rendered useless in light of Jesus’ trust in the Father. He understood who the Father is and what he is like and because of this he could not settle for anything less. No temptation could overwhelm his security in his identity because his identity rested on who his Father is. The challenge for us is to have this same trust. To lean wholly on God and trust in him. 

You are invited to pray or to be prayed for. As we learn more about who Jesus is let us then enter into prayer and be shaped by him.

You have a choice.

You can either read the reflection below or listen to me talk in the video here:

Day 1

Let’s start off with an intro before we dig in. As we walk through the book of Matthew, my hope is that we keep one thing as the focus of why we are doing this; that is to continually ask “Who is Jesus?”  As we read about and share thoughts about what the text says, we have to be disciplined to always come back to this question. It is easy for us to be swept up by interesting details, strong statements, and moving stories. We must not be dissuaded from recognizing the amazing revelation of who Jesus is and what he has done for us. So my hope in every day of this reflection is that we always come back to the question, who is Jesus? What does this story reveal about him? 

Fulfillment

In the opening chapters of Matthew we get a lot of info and it opens up with everyone’s favourite type of scripture, a genealogy. I want you to notice something if you take the time to read through the first chapters of Matthew. We see many references to things being fulfilled. In the first 5 chapters alone there are 12 references of things occurring in order to fulfil prophecy (1:22-23, 2:5-6: 2:15, 2:17-18, 2: 23, 3:3, 3:15, 4:14, 5:17). The genealogy does this same thing. It shows us how Jesus is the fulfilment of 2 promises of God; that through Abraham all nations will be blessed, and that a king would come from the line of David who would reign forever. 

Jesus is the focal point of the entire Bible. Throughout the Old Testament people received promises and prophecies from God about him restoring and renewing creation. Jesus came to fulfil God’s plan. Jesus’ birth was always meant to lead to the cross and resurrection. To a hope rooted in God’s redeeming love. As we read through Matthew we need to hold onto this. That what we see calls back to God’s promises and how Jesus is the fulfilment of those promises. 

For us, we need to take hold of the truth that God is still at work. The victory has already been secured through Jesus, and we as his people are being shaped and moulded into his image.When we look at Jesus’ words and actions, we are seeing God in action and we are seeing what God calls us to do as well. As his spirit works in us he shapes our loves to also be part of the fulfilment of his will. To love extravagantly, to serve boldly, and to worship wholeheartedly.

So if you take some time today to read any of the first 3 chapters of Matthew (I do not plan to have you reading this much through the rest of the month), take time to pause worship God that he has and is actively working all things together in completion of his plan.

You are invited to pray or to be prayed for. As we learn more about who Jesus is let us then enter into prayer and be shaped by him.