Do What You Know, Know What You Do

After Jesus' deals with the religious guys in chapter 22 of Matthew, He begins to teach about them in chapter 23.  He tells the people that 1) They need to respect their position, since they have it passed down from Moses. 2) They need to do the things the Pharisees teach 3) They should not act like the Pharisees at all because they are fakes and hypocrites.

Holy cow!  What if God said those things about me?  What if when people prayed about me, God answered them and said, "Well, you need to respect Jason's position, and when He teaches the Bible, it's true so think about it.  But the way he lives?  NO! Don't be like him at all!"  That would destroy me to hear.

So what do we need to do about it?  We need to live what we know is true.  The religious guys knew truth. They spoke truth.  But that wasn't enough.  They needed to live what they knew.  Now, you may not be a religious expert.  You may not have gone to seminary and studied Greek and Hebrew.  Who cares?!  That is not the issue.  Jesus doesn't get on these guys for not knowing everything, even though they didn't know everything.  He got on them for not living out what they did know.

What is an area of your life that you know God is asking for something, and you're not doing it?  What parts of your life are you not living out?  That is the place He is concerned about.  We're all equal.  In verses 8-12, that's the point.  None of us have "arrived" or have it all together.  That's fine.  Be faithful to live out what you know and what you have.

Then you will be obedient and be called great in the Kingdom.

You Really Shouldn't Have Went There.....

Finishing out Matthew 22 makes me laugh.  After the Pharisees and the Herodians try to trap Jesus with His words, the Sadducee's come after Him.  They were the religious leaders who ran the Temple.  They were very strict about how worship should happen, but the rest of their lives outside of the church didn't reflect their faith as well.  They were typically wealthy, and adopted many of the Roman culture's customs.  They believed that only the Torah was God's word.  That's the part of the Old Testament that doesn't include the prophets writings (Isaiah, Daniel, etc.).  They didn't think that Rabbi's should be able to interpret the Bible either, so they really had issues with Jesus.

They ask Him this made up question about marriage in Heaven.  They didn't believe in the resurrection, or in life after death.  So they pose this crazy question about this woman who had been married several times.  Then Jesus uses the parts of the Bible they believe in to answer their question, and prove them wrong.

So, the Pharisees come after Him again, sending one of their best experts to get Him.  Jesus answers brilliantly about what is most important, because it is completely correct according to the Bible, yet it destroys all of the Pharisee's ridiculous laws about how to live.

Then, He asks them a question about the Messiah.  They know He is seen as the Messiah, and they want to disprove it at all costs.  So He stumps them with a question about the Messiah in public, and totally shuts them up.  I laugh so hard every time I read verse 46 "No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask Him any more questions."

He burned them so bad publicly that they ran and hid.

My point here is not to tell us to quit asking Jesus questions.  It's actually the opposite.  Ask away.  And know that He has the true answers.  You see, this is the difference between Jesus and the guys around Him.  He knew these answers first hand.  He had written the Bible Himself.  He had created Heaven and lived there.  He knew all that He needed to know, because He had made it, He had seen it, He had done it.  The other guys?  They had read about it.  That's a big difference.

We are the ones who have read about reality.  Jesus makes reality.  So ask Him your questions.  Then trust Him when He answers.  He knows what He is talking about.  Very, very, very well.  It's truth.  You can bank on it.

Everyone Hates ChrisT

There is so much going on in Matthew 22:15-22!  Here's the deal; the Pharisees decide to trap Jesus.  What I find interesting is how they decide to do it.  They decide to trap Him in His words.  It's intriguing on a couple of levels.  One, they don't seem to think they can get Him to mess up in His actions.  They don't send a prostitute after Him.  They don't try to trap Him in a compromising position at a party.  It's His words they go after.  The other interesting part of this shows their value on what someone says.  They don't care what He actually believes.  They just want to find a way to twist what He says to convince people He's evil.  They've quit listening and looking.  They just want to set Him up.

So, they send some of their disciples and some Herodians to Jesus.  The Pharisees are the ones who are strict about their religious rules.  They hold a hard line on what people can and can't do, and are very legalistic.  The Herodians are the opposite.  They are Jews who have accepted that the Herod's are their rulers, and compromise wherever they need to in order to survive.  They blend all sorts of Roman worship into their faith, and are Jews in name only.  With these two working together, it shows you just how much they hated Jesus.  He is a threat to all of them in one way or another.

So, the two teams go to Jesus and ask a question about Herod and the government.  No matter which way He answers, one of the groups will be offended.  If He answers for the Jewish faith, the Herodians will report Him to the government as a trouble maker.  If He answers in favor of Herod, the Pharisees will use His words to prove He is a compromiser and not a true religious teacher.  He's in big trouble here.  That's why they tell Him "You aren't swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are".  It's a set up.  They are basically saying, "We've got you, bro!  You act like you don't worry what others think, but get out of this one!"  You can just hear the jealousy and insecurities come out of them in this whole scene.

Jesus, though, is the Hero.  He won't be suckered.  He turns the tables on them.  His answer with the coin basically puts the decision back on both groups, and makes both of them look bad.  In essence, He's telling them "Pharisee's, why are you so worried about money?  If you're so spiritual, let Caesar have his little money.  Trust God!  Herodians, why are you playing like you're religious?  God has plans for you, trust Him!"
They're stuck.  They lose.  So they leave.

Nice story, but why does God tell it to us?  So that He can show off and prove how manly Jesus is?  So that we read it and know better than to mess with Jesus?  Or is there a deeper point here for us?

I think there are several.  One, be careful of letting fear, jealousy, and bitterness drive your life.  When we get in a bad spot due to fear, we make bad decisions that leave us exposed for who we are.  We can hide it for a while, but it will always come up to bite us.  Second, are we in a spot where we are more worried about what religious words a person uses than how they live their lives?  Who cares if someone says things the way we do or not?  Are they living a life that points others to God?  When we get consumed with our way of worshipping, our way of teaching, our way of doing church, then we try to trap people with their words.  You can see how well it's worked out before.  The outcome will be the same for us today.  And finally, what about Jesus in this story?  Is this the Jesus you know, One who can easily defend Himself at any time in any situation?  You definitely get the idea that this trap did not worry Him at all.  This is the same Jesus who promises to protect you and defend you.  Do you trust Him to do His job?  Do you believe in His strength?  Or do you worship a weenie version of Him?

Like I said, there is just SO much going on in these few verses.  I love it!

What You Wear Really Matters, I Guess

So Cameron Crenshaw and I are trying to figure out Matthew 22:1-14 today.  It's a story of a king who throws a wedding party, and the guests he invites don't show.  So He invites everyone off the street, and they all come in.  But one guy shows up, and isn't wearing the right wedding clothes, and gets kicked out.  This is where I get stuck.

Some people say it's because the King would have provided fancy clothing for everyone at the party, and this guy had rejected it.  That would work. 

I get the part about the first crew not coming.  Jesus is showing how the Jews, who had been God's chosen people, had rejected Him enough that He was going to invite everyone in.  I don't get the clothing part.  Is it an example of how we need to be "clothed" in faith in Jesus, like a robe of righteousness that He discusses in other places?

I don't know. What do you think it's all about?

Now or Laters

So this dad has two boys.  He tells one of them to go mow the yard. 

The son mouths off to his father, "No!  I hate mowing the yard."  So the dad goes and finds the other boy playing X-Box and tells him to go mow the yard.

"Sure dad, no problem."

The dad walks away and the kid keeps playing Call of Duty.

As the afternoon wears on, the first son feels bad for what he did, and goes out and mows the yard.

Jesus asks, "Which son did what his dad told him to?" (Matthew 21:28-32).  The answer is obviously, the first son with the attitude.  Jesus goes on to talk about how there are a lot of people in the world who turn away from God, but realize they need God and turn around and begin to obey, like the first son.  And there are a lot of people in the world who say the right things about God, but they don't live it out.  They just talk about it, like the X-Box son.

Which will you be today?  This week?  This year?  Will you just talk about Jesus and your faith, and try to convince everyone that you're a good kid, or will you actually turn around on that thing you're telling God "no" on and do what you know is right?

It's never too late.

Jesus, Teach Us How We Can Pray....

One of the things I have found so helpful over the years is reciting the Lord's Prayer.  I was raised to see it as a model for prayer, but not actually as a prayer to say over and over.  As I've spent more time with Jesus, I think it's just that, the prayer we should say over and over.  Maybe it's just me.


Take a few and watch this video, then spend some time thinking through the prayer yourself.

The Lord's Prayer from blaine hogan on Vimeo.

Speak the truth, even if your voice shakes

In John 21:23-27, the religious leaders try to shut Jesus down again.  They want to know what authority He has to teach what He's teaching.  Who was His rabbi, His teacher, and when did He get His degree and license to teach, so to speak.  In Jesus' day, you studied under a rabbi, and when you have proven yourself, you were given permission to go out and teach.  They wanted to know who He had studied under.  He won't answer them.  So, He sets them up.

They could answer this question.  They know that they believe about the issue.  Jesus asks them if John the Baptist was sent by God or not.  They don't think He was.  But if they tell the truth, it's not a popular answer, and they'll face trouble.  They want everyone to like them, and live by that rule, and so they can't answer the question.

How often do I, do we, do that?  We worry about what everyone else will think about us, rather than just telling the truth?  We let others opinions dictate what we say, who we hang out with, what we wear, what we eat, where we go.  And we lose out because of it.

Stand up today and speak truth.  Let God worry about your reputation.  You worry about truth.