So I started focusing. Eventually, I narrowed down a dozen sayings of Jesus from the book of Matthew alone. A sad state of affairs, indeed, that I can cull a dozen passages from just one book that are largely ignored by enlightened Evangelicals. But there you have it. Perhaps if we were more serious about the Scriptures, we’d spend more time putting these words into practice and less time obsessing over the petty little kingdoms we build in our own names.
1. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you….”
—Matthew 5:43-44
We love to hate our enemies, don’t we? In like manner, we don’t seem to much believe in the power of prayer to either change our enemies or change our own antipathy toward them. It’s a double-edged sword that continues to cut the Western Church to shreds. Do we love people in Al-Qaeda? Do we love Iran’s leadership or North Korea’s? Do we pray for those enemies?
I didn’t think so…
—Matthew 6:24-34
I think it would be telling if God raised up a prophet within His Church who was able by word of knowledge to point out those in the Church who loved money more than God. The awful truth may be that God doesn’t need such a prophet; I suspect that most of us in the West would fail that test, no supernatural revelation needed.
When we look at how we spend our time, most of it is devoted not to doing the Lord’s work but accumulating the trappings of an opulent society that has forgotten God and believes too much in its own ability to provide. We devote outlandish amounts of time to making money and next-to-nothing for the eternal Kingdom of God. I believe that any one of us can run the numbers on our own lives. This is no sacred/secular division test, but one of the heart. We will devote our time to what we love. And most of us are devoted to what will burn and not to the Lord who made us and who calls us to be a holy people separated unto Him.
—Matthew 7:1-5
Love first. Again, love first. It’s funny how loving first seems to temper any judging that may follow.
I find it difficult to criticize anyone. My own failings are ever before me. If I have energy left at the end of the day, it is best spent cleaning up my own house rather than telling my neighbor how to clean up his.
The world has largely closed its ears to the message of the Gospel because Christians can’t seem to get their own house in order before telling everyone else how to clean up theirs. That’s pride. And God hates pride more than just about any other sin.
—Matthew 16:24-25
Unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it cannot bear fruit. We have too many living people in the Church and not enough who are dead to the world. Dead people have nothing to lose in battle. They fight with abandon. They fight despite overwhelming odds. They fight with weapons that are not theirs simply because they own nothing of their own anymore. Therefore, God equips them with His weapons and His gifts. And those dead people change the world.
The cross is death to the self. And until we’re dead, we’re useless to the Kingdom.
—Matthew 17:24-26
I’ve never heard a sermon on this passage. This to me is a crime.
Christian, do you understand this passage? The world does not own you. Nor do you owe it. You are free.
Yet how many Christians out there are in bondage to the world? Many are weighed down by the cares of accumulation and keeping up appearances. Others cannot move beyond the past. Some are in bondage to the future. Many are trapped in the hell of legalism and performance.
These are people to be pitied.
Christian, you are free! It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks of you or asks of you. You are a son or daughter who only answers to the Father.
Now start acting like free men and women.
—Matthew 18:2-4
No adults make it into the Kingdom of Heaven, only children. Only children have the faith necessary to believe in a world bigger than the one they see with their eyes. This is how heaven is, the place where God dwells. And only the children can see it.
We place too much emphasis on “mature faith,” yet my experience has been that those who self-label as mature are often the most faithless people. They claim to know God, yet they sell Him short whenever anything miraculous is needed. Their favorite word is but.
Where I come from, that kind of “faith” is no faith at all.
—Matthew 21:21-22
Christians in the West believe in what their eyes tell them. They believe in science. They believe in the rational. But they do not believe that mountains can be cast into the sea by faith. And this is why so many lost people have given up on the Church. When even the believers no longer believe, what then is the point?
—Matthew 22:34-40
I hear too many complaints from people concerning memorizing Scripture. Anyone can memorize Scripture if he loves the words of God found in the Bible.
I firmly believe that if all Christians everywhere were to memorize this one passage and live it, the world would be transformed in one generation.
Instead, we seem to love ourselves, love the stuff we accumulate for ourselves, give God a passing mention, and think about our neighbors only when they are threatening our selves or our stuff.
And we wonder why no one in the West cares to hear what the Christian Church has to say. When even the rankest pagan knows this passage and is astounded that most Christians don’t get it, why should we then be surprised that they have no time to hear anything else from us about the Lord we claim to serve?
—Matthew 23:8-12
We love our hierarchies, don’t we? We all want to be the bigshot. We love titles, and degree designations, and certifications, and anything that smacks of privilege—but Jesus said it is all bunk. The real bigshots are the least likely people, the ones who serve.
What would happen in the average church if the measure by which people gained status was by humble service? The irony is that the genuine servants would serve despite the status, even if they got punished for the service rather than accruing spiritual brownie points. They realize the Lord they ultimately serve is a gentle, humble servant Himself. And one who grades on an entirely different scale than the Western Church or the world does.
Do we believe we are all equal before the Lord? Or do we ascribe to an Orwellian Animal Farm philosophy where some are more equal than others?
—Matthew 24:42-44
People are known for what they serve. And they are known for that service by their preparation for it. A firefighter trains for the fire. A pilot trains for the flight.
What is our service and how do we prepare for it?
It’s very simple: We do not live as if the Lord may return tomorrow. We don’t, and we have no excuse. The Lord holds out His hands pleading for the Church to be the Church, but we instead want to be the World. So little work for the Kingdom goes forth because we park ourselves in front of our favorite form of entertainment, shop for more crap that will burn on Judgment Day, or complain about how bored we are.
Meanwhile, the thief has robbed our house and left us with nothing that will survive God’s holy fire come the Last Day.
—Matthew 25:31-46
Both the sheep and the goats called Jesus Lord. The only difference between the sheep and the goats, according to what Jesus says here, is was what they did and did not do.
God help the goats. Too many of them are sitting in the pews. Worse, too many of them are leading our churches.
If we believed this passage, the orphanages would be empty.
—Matthew 28:18-20
I haven’t had a stranger attempt to share the Gospel one-on-one with me in decades. Rank chance would tell us that with several million Evangelicals in this country, the odds of not having heard the Gospel one-on-one from a stranger goes to zero.
The only explanation that it is not zero, in fact far from it, is that virtually no one is interested in making disciples. The population of born-again Christians is stable or declining in the United States. The reason is a failure to take this closing passage in Matthew seriously.
Someone else will do the work, we subconsciously think. Isn’t that what we pay pastors for?
It doesn’t matter whether your gift is evangelism and teaching or not. Each Christian is commanded to make and raise up disciples.
And if we cannot believe what Jesus said, how then can we truly call ourselves His disciples?
Emma my sister you are truly on fire, I truly love and admire your zeal and love for the Lord must high!! You truly dont know how many lives you are touching just by doing your part on this blog. Although I may not know you personally I know that I know you in spirit because we operate under the same one spirit of Christ. I thank God for your life, continue to be a blessing to others and I will do the same. More blessings, favor and grace of the Lord added to to your life. Thanks for your part in the Kingdom. The Lord is greatly happy im sure!!! Remained continuedly blessed and Highly favored. Your sister in Christ!!! Chinyere. @ImaHlthMinister
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