Joshua 1:8

"...[B]ut you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." (Joshua 1:8).

"You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me." (John 5:39).

"And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13).

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Matthew 19

Marriage and Divorce 

1 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.
3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”
4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’ ? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
7 They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”
8 He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”
10 His disciples said to Him, “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”

Jesus Teaches on Celibacy 

11 But He said to them, “All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: 12 For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.”

Jesus Blesses Little Children 

13 Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And He laid His hands on them and departed from there.

Jesus Counsels the Rich Young Ruler 

16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”
17 So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
18 He said to Him, “Which ones?”
Jesus said, “ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’
19 ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

With God All Things Are Possible 

23 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
25 When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”
26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
27 Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?”
28 So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

14 comments:

  1. 21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

    This verse hits me in the gut every time. There always seems to be 2 methodologies with this:
    1. There's no way we can attain perfection in this life so obviously Jesus was trying to get the young man to place his dependency on Jesus rather than on his riches.
    2. Jesus meant exactly what he said and we should all sell everything we have and become penniless missionaries.

    Which is it? Could it be neither? Could it be both?

    29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

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  2. I used to read this and freak out- clearly I would be the same as tne rich guy (minus being male and rich). Last Sunday. Was "don't freak out." A perfect message with perfect timing. Josh I think that god may or may not call you/us to drop everything. He may or may nto have a mission in mind. He may or may not have children to adopt he may or may not.... whati do think is that if we keep doing this bible study, keep going to church, keep going to bible study, pray more often and are activiely working on our relationship with god we will know when he is calling us to do something (or to not do something) and while we're stubborn so we still might fight it, I do think that we love God much more than ourselves and will do his will whenever it is made known to us, no matter how hard it is. *still praying about this

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  3. I used to read this and freak out- clearly I would be the same as tne rich guy (minus being male and rich). Last Sunday. Was "don't freak out." A perfect message with perfect timing. Josh I think that god may or may not call you/us to drop everything. He may or may nto have a mission in mind. He may or may not have children to adopt he may or may not.... whati do think is that if we keep doing this bible study, keep going to church, keep going to bible study, pray more often and are activiely working on our relationship with god we will know when he is calling us to do something (or to not do something) and while we're stubborn so we still might fight it, I do think that we love God much more than ourselves and will do his will whenever it is made known to us, no matter how hard it is. *still praying about this

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  4. But wasn't that basically the rich young man's response? “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?”

    And what was his response when Jesus answered him? I'd like to think he eventually came around but I suspect he just continued with what he was doing, figuring that surely was enough.

    Didn't the pharisees do all those things? And Jesus said, "unless your righteousness exceeds that of the pharisees, you shall by no means enter the Kingdom..."

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  5. Don't get me wrong, I know what you're getting at and I know we're justified by faith alone - not by works or whatever we choose to have or go without. However, are we truly seeking God's Will for our lives or, like the rich young man, trying to fit God's Will into our lives? It's a valid question, is it not? And how do we know we are seeking the one verses the other?

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  6. Here's a question for you: can it be God's will if it is simple and not "go big or go home style"?
    here's an example specific in our lives. josh you know how many million jobs I applied for. Why did I not even get the one with Providence basically stuffing envelopes for the oncology department? Or being a lab assistant at OHSU? Or or or... any of the ones that I was way over-qualified for an didn't even pay a lot? Or why was I wait-listed the one year that the wait list "didn't move"? Probably because I/we were trying to fit God's will into our lives. It wasn't his timing. He wanted me to be home raising our kids and having a presence in our more secular community of friends. In sum, I don't think we will ever find "success" in trying to fit God's will into our lives. I think we have to pray and pray and pray to figure out what his will is for our lives, but also not be so disappointed (as I have been) when his will isn't so "exciting" and it is a little more basic.

    And maybe the rich man did come around, maybe he didn't. But don't you think the rich man was so focused on what he DID to earn/deserve eternal life. He was basically asking Jesus what else he needs to check off the list. Jesus was saying to come follow him, and that's all we have to do. For the rich man, he needed to rid of his possessions which were of elevated importance to him. For us, I don't know what it means we have to "rid" of, but we sure have gotten rid of a lot of "me team" and added in a lot of "God time" and that has been amazing thus far right?

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  7. Interesting discussion guys. I have "fretted" over the rich young ruler thing too. I'm still not exactly certain, but I Mary nailed it in the final paragraph: "For the rich man, he needed to rid of his possessions which were of elevated importance to him." Jesus knew his heart and that he put his wealth before Jesus. I would argue that "poor" people could make this mistake as well, if they are consumed with money rather than Jesus.

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    1. If I may add one more thing to supplement this point... I think Jesus challenges our (each of us individually) allegiance to Him. Much like the young ruler, He asks each one of us to drop what we think gives us security and fulfillment and find our security and fulfillment in Him, ALONE. For some of us it might be money, or family, or jobs, or health, or safety or even just ourselves. When we learn to let go of those things and give ALL of ourselves to Him alone, we can be assured that He will take care of the rest. This is the lesson that Jesus is teaching each one of us. :)

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  8. I think you both nailed it.

    So Mary...what do we need to rid of that is of elevated importance to us?

    Joel?

    Anyone else?

    I liked how Shad said God has taken away his desire of former hobbies such as motorcycles. I want to second that. I used to be a gym rat (working out, playing sports, etc) and God really has taken away my desire for such things, of which I am grateful. This is time I can now put toward reading my bible, being with my spouse, playing with my kids, etc. It's funny how your hobbies can eventually take over much of your life.

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    1. Josh I am grateful that you have more time for your family, and that less value is placed on having that extra 20lbs of muscle on that frame of yours ;-)
      I think we don't necessarily need to de-clutter or rid of a "thing" but what we need is patience. Because both of us have these time lines in mind for when certain goals are accomplished, where we'll be in x amount of years etc, and surrendering that control and going along with God' schedule is what I feel is keeping us (or at least myself) from keeping Jesus first. It's almost as like I'm competing with God (first bad idea) to see who has the best plan. You would think that eventually I would figure this out... but I am Liam's Mom.

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  9. Josh that's awesome. I can see that God is changing your priorities. Shad too. I suppose you could say the same for me, if one could refer to smoking and getting ripped as "hobbies". :)

    What do I need to "get rid of"? Does this blog have a word limit? The biggest/most obvious thing for me is my general anxiety. Anxiety about the future, anxiety about meeting new people, anxiety about our kids, money, our jobs, etc. I need to learn to just pray and give it ALL to Jesus, die to myself and seek His Will in the Bible. Quit worrying about me and just love God and my neighbor.

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    1. “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” ;)

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