Those who know me will testify to the fact that I bristle at those who take Bible verses out of context and try to use them to justify their own prejudices. Now most people who do this, do not have an evil intent, it’s just that they have never taken the time to fully investigate what the Bible actually says. They just heard it and it sounded good to them. One of those phrases that will get my back up goes something like this, “The Bible says that we are to avoid all semblance of evil.” I can almost feel my blood pressure rise just in typing the phrase. Let’s set the record straight, talk about Matthew’s party and then draw our application for today.

First, the Bible never makes that statement, nor does it teach what people think it teaches. The verse in question is actually found in 1 Thessalonians 5: 22. Why not turn in your Bible and read this verse. Now before you close your Bible, read the entire paragraph by reading verse 19-21. What subject was Paul addressing when he wrote the letter? He was talking about the fact that there is warfare that goes on every day between good spirits from God and evil spirits that come from Satan. His teaching is that we are to cling to the good spirits and avoid the evil spirits like the plague. Paul does not teach that the Christian is to avoid every place where someone in the world might possibly think sin might be occurring. If you hold to the “avoid all semblance of evil” position, you would have been standing right behind the Pharisees in Matthew 9:11, and pointing your boney finger at Jesus and accusing Him of a serious violation of the Law. In fact, if you think the Bible teaches to stay away from anything that resembles sin, you would have had a problem with most of Jesus’ ministry.

As I step down from my soap box, let’s get on with our story from yesterday as it is found in Matthew 9:9-13. Matthew, in his humility, has given us just the bare facts about his own conversion. One has to suspect that Matthew had made his decision about Jesus long before that day. He just hadn’t put shoe leather to it. So what did Matthew do on his first day as a disciple? He threw a party. He invited all of his friends to his house for a lavish spread. Now given that tax collectors were some of the wealthiest people in all of Israel, this house must have been something. We can imagine the gathering of people was most impressive. The crowd that came to the party was Matthew’s colleagues, other tax collectors. In those days, tax collectors hung around together because no one else came near them. Matthew wanted his friends to make the same decision about Jesus that he had made. So he brought the two together.

From all outward appearances, this gathering was absolutely scandalous. The tax collectors present did gain some respectability to be seen in the company of Jesus. To the rest of Israel, this mixture of people was absolutely unacceptable. I find it interesting that the Pharisees went to the disciples with their complaint and not to Jesus. I think they did so for a couple of reasons. The first is they probably already knew what Jesus’ response would be. After all, Jesus didn’t keep secrets. He generally spoke His mind on things. The second reason would be to try to drive a wedge between master and disciple. If they could place seeds of doubt amongst the disciples, they might germinate some day and destroy the group. Jesus did not let that happen and intervened with a great teaching, “It is not the healthy who need a physician, but the sick.”

So where do you stand in all of this? Are you so worried about outward appearances that it affects your effectiveness for Christ? To be sure, there must be a difference in behavior for someone who follows Jesus, but that same Jesus went to where the sinners hung out. Jesus was more concerned about the lost entering the kingdom than with His own reputation in the community. Can you say the same thing?

Day 2 – To Fast or Not To Fast

As we continue our journey in Matthew chapter 9, we come to verse 14 where Matthew recounts a visit from John’s disciples with a question that they had about fasting. For those reading along, our scripture today is Matthew 9: 14-17. One can understand the confusion in the minds of John’s disciples. They were like a ship without a rudder. Their leader was in jail. They tried to carry on as they had in the past, but it just wasn’t the same. Now they see their rival group eating, drinking and being merry. The question they pose is a natural one.

In order to better understand the question and Jesus’ response, it is necessary to look at fasting as it was practiced at the time. Remember that context is important when looking at anything in the Bible. This is no exception. In Jesus’ time both the Jewish nation and John’s disciples viewed fasting the same way. It was seen as an outward sign of some religious duty. Where the two groups differed was in their inward view of the practice.

The Jewish leadership supported an annual fast on the Day of Atonement. This was prescribed by Moses in Leviticus 23:31. By the time of Zechariah, the nation fasted for one day during the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months each year. If you were truly devoted to Judaism, you also fasted twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays when the temple was in session. These are the fasts that Jesus alludes to when He talked about the Pharisee and the Publican in Luke 18: 12.

John’s disciples would have fasted for a completely different reason. In order to understand the disciples of John, you have to go back to John’s message. John the Baptist spoke a lot about repentance. His message attempted to convince people that they were on the wrong path and they better get back straight or God was coming to get them. Do you remember his metaphor that the axe was laid at the root of the tree ready to cut it down? With such a message to bring, is it any wonder that John’s disciples would be a bit melancholy, mournful and unsatisfied. There was nothing positive about the message John brought. They knew only what was wrong with society and the world at large. Also remember that they wore coarse garments and frequented lonely desolate regions, living as hermits in protest to their times. Their message would have left them anxious, dispirited by John’s arrest, and generally depressed; it is no wonder that they spent their time in fasting.

Jesus gives them one familiar example and two parables to explain why His disciples did not follow their lead. His point in all of them was that there is a law of congruity when it comes to fasting and other matters. He taught that the outward acts of devotion to God should correspond to the condition of one’s mind. There should be no attempt made to force acts or habits on others out of some religious right or duty. In other words, if God directs or you feel you need to stop eating for a time in order to get closer to Him, then do it. The whole point of the cloth and wineskins is that the old forms of life and religion were not going to handle to new spirit. If you try to make the new fit into the old, it will break and you will lose both. The good news that Jesus came to show us could not be contained by the inflexible structure that Judaism had become.

The lesson today lies in two areas. First, the church cannot afford for its structure to get in the way of Christ’s gospel. For when a church becomes rigid in its rules and practices, that church will break and lose the spirit of God that brought it together in the first place. It will become just another dead religion. The second is for whom fasting has become something to do because everyone else seems to be doing it. The next time you fast, remember the law of congruity. Fast when you are so desperate for a word from God that eating becomes unimportant; and stop fasting when He gives you the answer that you seek.

Day 3 – The Sabbath is for Man

Travel back over to Mark’s gospel, the 2^nd chapter, and read verses 23 to 28. Here is another example of Jesus redefining what God meant in His command to honor the Sabbath. As we discussed earlier when we were in John 5, the Jews had an extremely strict view on what constituted work on the Sabbath. They had surrounded the Sabbath with a set of strict rules that governed Jewish behavior.

I can remember a seminar that I took years ago when the seminar leader was explaining that it was unlawful for a Jew to spit in the dirt on the Sabbath. The leader went on to explain that in spitting in the dirt, someone might come by and slip in the spittle. Now I have to tell you that this wasn’t a safety issue. The very act of slipping might cause some dirt to be dislodged from the ground, which would constitute plowing; and everyone knows it is not lawful to farm on the Sabbath. Now I didn’t grow up in first century Israel, so I cannot verify the validity of that particular prohibition, but it is consistent with other rules from that time that I have seen.

There is no dispute that the disciples did violate the Jewish Law in picking corn to eat for breakfast. The surprising thing about this story was that Jesus did not rebuke them, but actually defended them. He cited a section in 1 Samuel 21: 1-6 where David and his men had actually entered into the Tabernacle and had eaten the showbread, which was unlawful for anyone to eat. The show bread was also called the Bread of Presence. It was set up by God as a symbol of His presence. After this bread was replaced each Sabbath, it was then eaten only by the priests. Yet here was David, a man after God’s own heart, entering into the Tabernacle and feeding his men on this bread. Jesus doesn’t condemn David for his actions any more than the Jewish rabbis of His time.

So what is Jesus trying to teach us here? I think the lesson lies in verse 27. The point of the Sabbath is man. God’s intent was to give man a break from his labors. The Sabbath is one day in which people can rest from the toils of everyday life. It was never about a bunch of rules. The Jews had made their view of the Sabbath into something to be done to show that a person was dedicated to God. The problem that they failed to address was that it is impossible for sinful man to ever do enough to satisfy a holy God. So if the Sabbath is not about doing something for God, then we have to revisit Jesus point here.

There are a lot of older Christians in our country who remember when you couldn’t find even a grocery store open on Sunday. Today, it is highly unusual to find any store closed on Sunday. In fact, when we drive over to a store to pick up something that we really need and find the store closed because it is Sunday, we feel put out, inconvenienced somehow. Yet I can’t even say that Jesus was teaching that we need to stop shopping on Sunday. Go back to verse 27. The Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath. I believe that Jesus is teaching that whatever day you call the Sabbath needs to be a day of recharging, both physically and spiritually. In my opinion, the true test of whether or not someone has kept the Sabbath lies in their looking back at the end of the day and honestly saying that they have been recharged physically and spiritually and ready to begin life once again. If you can do that, then you have kept the spirit of the Sabbath. If not, then perhaps there are some priorities in your life that need to be adjusted.

Day 4 – Where Does True Religion Come From?

If you have been a Christian long enough, you will hear someone trying to make a distinction between religion and Christianity. The argument normally revolves around the idea that religion is man-made and Christianity comes from God. I say that this argument is usually made inside Christian circles because it doesn’t really fly outside of Christian circles. Those outside of Christianity will argue that Christianity is one of the worlds 7 largest religions. Today we are finishing up Jesus’ Early Galilean Ministry; four months that Jesus spent building both His team and His ministry. It was a defining time for both Jesus and Israel. While opposition to Jesus has been steadily building, it still hasn’t crystallized into a force that would see Him crucified.

Turn in your Bibles to Mark 3 and read the first six verses. Here Jesus heals a man with a withered hand. The real story was the fact that He once again healed on the Sabbath. As you know from past sessions, this was just not done in Jewish society. They felt that any kind of healing was work, and working was forbidden on the Sabbath.

What is present in today’s scripture is a classic contrast between living faith and dead religion. Do you notice the attitude of those who were in attendance? It says that the reason for their attendance that day was to find some evidence against Jesus. With such an attitude, there is little reason for Jesus to do any kind of teaching. The people who were present were in no mood to listen anyway. The only record of what Jesus said comes in the form of a question. Let’s say you were on a street corner in any city in the country asking this question. What do you suppose most people would say? I imagine that most would agree that the point of religion is to do good and not evil. This is the very dilemma that Jesus faced that day. If He were to withhold healing the man, it would be seen by society, as a whole, to be an evil act. Try to imagine that you have the power to heal and you refuse to do it for someone in need. Yet if Jesus were to heal this man, those in the room would accuse Him of evil simply because He did it a certain day of the week. Taken on its surface, Jesus is in a classic no-win situation. Yet, I doubt that Jesus would look at it that way. There appears in these verses a lament by Jesus concerning the hearts of those in the room. They were supposed to be in the room with the express purpose of worshipping God, yet they refused to be forced from out of their rules.

Imagine yourself now in Heaven at the feet of God at the very moment that the events of today’s scripture are happening. What do you think that God would be thinking? God in human form is dealing with paralysis; both the paralysis of the man’s hand and the paralysis in the hearts of those present. God must be thinking, “Here I am standing in their midst that they are accusing Me of violating their Law, which was supposedly done in My name. This is the definition of ironic.”

The difference we see in the actions of Jesus and His audience is the fact that Jesus maintained connection to His Father. It was that constant relationship which gave him a foundation to do what He knew needed to be done. Jesus does not even hesitate to do what God, the Father wanted of Him. He knew that opposition within Judaism was building. I believe that as God, He even knew what, and when that opposition would erupt into His death. Yet His relationship with His Father was more important. How about you? Do you maintain that daily quiet time so that your channel to God remains uncluttered? Do you find yourself in prayer before you make decisions? If not, how can you be sure the path you’re on is the one that God wants for you?

Day 5 – Ones Sent Forth

Now we find ourselves moving into the period of time in Jesus’ ministry commonly called the Middle Galilean Ministry. This period stretches from the final call of the twelve up to the peak of Jesus’ popularity, the feeding of the five thousand. We’ve said before that there were three different times when Jesus invited His disciples to follow Him. Take up your Bible and turn to Luke 6:12-16. I like Luke’s account because it includes what I believe to be an important prelude to the story. Notice in verse 12 that Jesus goes up on a mountain side and prays all night. What a tremendous example for all people who call themselves Disciples of Christ! Before a major decision that would affect the spiritual future of the entire planet, Jesus spends the evening talking to His Father.

After all of that prayer, Jesus comes down and chooses the twelve men into whom He would pour His life. These men would see and hear things that we can only imagine. If the Apostle John is to be believed, the events and teaching that these men witnessed is a hundred times more than those represented in the four gospels. This is also the first moment that these twelve are designated Apostles. The Greek word used here by Jesus means, “ones sent forth.” According to Peter in the first chapter of Acts, an Apostle had to be a part of Jesus’ ministry, and they were to be witnesses to men that Jesus was raised from the dead. Into these men, Jesus entrusted the future of His church. So who were these men that Jesus trusted so completely?

Some of them we have already talked about. They were formerly disciples of John the Baptist and had come over when Jesus returned from being tested in the wilderness. They were Andrew, his brother Simon (Peter), James, Nathaniel (Bartholomew), Phillip and John. We have also talked about the calling of Matthew, the Mokhsa from Capernaum. In addition to these seven men, Jesus adds five others.

There is Thomas called Didymus, which means twin. We see in the Bible that Thomas was a man with a warm heart but a melancholy temperament. At one point he is ready to march with Jesus to Jerusalem to die, and within a week he needed to put his finger into the wounds of Jesus in order to believe.

There is James, the son of Alphaeus, also called James the Less. We know that his father was Alphaeus, who is also known as Clopus. From scriptures, we also know that his mother was Mary, who spent a lot of time with Jesus’ mother. According to Merrill Unger’s dictionary, Alphaeus was the brother of Joseph, the man who raised Jesus. It certainly would explain why the two Marys are seen a lot together.

Another of the Apostles was Thaddeus. Thaddeus is known as the three named disciples. He is also called Judas in Luke 6:16 and Lebbaeus in Matthew 10:3. His real name appears to be Judas Lebbaeus surnamed Thaddeus. Luke, in designating him Judas of James has led some to speculate that Thaddeus and James of Alphaeus were brothers.

Then we come to Simon the Zealot. A Zealot was a member of a political party of Jesus’ time who were known for maintaining a constant state of rebellion against Roman rule. Let’s just say that it was the Zealots who kept Roman crucifixion squads from becoming bored. Simon was not a safe man for Jesus to have around, but then Jesus has never been accused of playing it safe. Some believe He chose Simon because He knew who Simon would become. Others believe that Simon was also a brother of James and Thaddeus.

Finally we come to the most notorious of the disciples, Judas Iscariot. Judas comes from the Judean town of Kerioth. Actually Iscariot is an Aramaic word which means, “man of Kerioth.” As such, Judas would have been the only disciple who came from the region of Judah. For some strange reason, Judas also served as treasurer for the group. I guess that is a case of giving someone enough rope to hang himself.

Anyway, that’s the group. Do you notice there is not a Biblical scholar in the whole bunch? There is not anything in these men that would have attracted Judaism, as it was practiced at the time. Jesus chooses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. It’s the same thing that He does today. After all, He chose you, didn’t He?

Day 6 – Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount

According to Dr. Luke, immediately after choosing the twelve Apostles, Jesus took them down to a level place and began to teach them. Take a moment to turn in your Bible and read Luke 6:17-19. We now know that this was the moment when Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. If you keep reading in the 9^th chapter of Luke, you will be reading some very familiar verses. This sermon is as vital in today’s society as it was in Jesus’ over two millennia ago. Yet this Sermon makes its hearers more than a little uncomfortable. The average Christian doesn’t spend much time here, for it doesn’t fill him with a bunch of warm fuzzies.

Most people reading this will agree that life today is a bit hectic. Dallas Willard in his book, “The Divine Conspiracy,” writes, “Recently a pilot was practicing high-speed maneuvers in a jet fighter. She turned the controls for what she thought was a steep assent and flew straight into the ground. She was unaware that she had been flying upside down. This is a parable of human existence in our times; not exactly that everyone is crashing, though there is enough of that. But more of us as individuals, and world society as a whole, live at high-speed and often with no clue to whether we are flying upside down or right-side up. Indeed, we are haunted by a strong suspicion that there may be no difference, or at least that it is unknown or irrelevant.” Do you find yourself agreeing with Mr. Willard?

It’s into that backdrop that you are entering the realm of Jesus’ teaching about the way in which those in His kingdom ought to be living life. Yet to better understand the Sermon, it is necessary to get into the mind of a first century Jew, for that is who makes up His audience. Let me give you in illustration of what I mean. Imagine you have paid a lot of money to see and hear Jesus teach. The title of this seminar is, “Sermon at the Hilton.” I imagine that you would come prepared with a large notebook and a handful of pens in order to take copious notes. Some of you, I imagine, would even try smuggling in a tape recorder. After all, you paid good money to get in and you want to get your money’s worth. At the door to the ballroom, you are met by the Apostle Peter who tells you that there are no notebooks, no video and no tape recorders allowed inside. “Just listen,” is all Peter will say. You have to understand that knowledge for its own sake would have been considered laughable in Jesus’ day. No one cared a bit about how much you knew, unless you were a rabbi or a Pharisee. Teaching in that time was centered on impacting the “life flow” of the hearers. People remembered what Jesus said because it grabbed you where you lived and it wouldn’t let go.

If you continue to read these daily excerpts, I will promise that you will be stretched both intellectually and spiritually. This subject is for serious disciples only. It is for those who want to know more about what it means to become like Jesus, those who want to make a difference in this world, and those who want a closer relationship with Jesus. John W. Miller, in his study of the sermon writes, “You who take up this study, having enlisted in His movement at this time, should pause at this point to reflect on your readiness. Perhaps in considering Christianity, you had in mind simply joining a church. You may not have thought of the church as a movement calling for radical changes in your life. Or you may have thought that Christianity was primarily a matter of believing certain dogmas. You did not realize that it is far more a call to action, a call to discipleship and sometimes hard obedience. Perhaps you thought that your main responsibility as a Christian would be to go to worship services on Sunday and live a respectable life. You did not realize that joining up would involve you in a whole new lifestyle, one that might bring you into opposition to the “kingdoms of this world.” Consider: Do you want to leave the crowd and join the disciples who follow Jesus in this radical way?” To Mr. Miller’s wise words, I will add my hearty AMEN!!

Day 7 – Happiness is in Who You Know

What is now called the Sermon on the Mount can be found in two different places in the Bible. Luke gave us an account in the sixth chapter. We depend on Luke to give us where the sermon fits in Jesus’ ministry. Remember Luke wrote to the Greek mindsets, who like things in chronological order. Most scholars regard Luke as one of the great historians of his time.