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.