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TerryLema

Judging, Day 8

by TerryLema

I have four more days, and four more passages in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in which to consider the question the Holy Spirit put on my heart a couple weeks ago – “Am I?”

Matthew 7, the concluding chapter of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mounts is divided in my Bible into four sections. The first is a doozy!  “Do Not Judge.”

This chapter begins with the instruction that everyone knows. I have often heard non-Christians, people who could not recite another single verse of Scripture, recite Matthew 7:1. “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged.” [HCSB]

Many times, when people use this verse, they are trying to silence someone pointing out sin. We must acknowledge that sin is based not on our opinion of right and wrong, it is based on the character of God objectively revealed in Scripture. As Christians, we are to have the discernment of the Holy Spirit in “judging” sin.

In this passage Jesus uses that horrible word, “Hypocrite.” That means we are not to point out the sin of others while we ourselves commit the same sin. Other passages also remind us about the dangers of judging, such as being harsh or unforgiving, or being proud and self-righteous.

Opposing sin is not wrong, but we must oppose it fairly and within the full counsel of God’s word.  Galatians 6:1 prompts us to always remember our own vulnerability.  “Brothers, if someone is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual should restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so you also won’t be tempted.” [HCSB]

The question I need to contemplate today, “Am I judging sin correctly, or hypocritically?”

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Possessions & Anxiety, Day 7

by TerryLema

The last half of Matthew 6, part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, is probably familiar to each of us. In my Bible verses 19 thru 34 are divided into two sections. Two sections that go together. The first is “God and Possessions,” which covers where our treasures are found.

The second section is titled, “The Cure for Anxiety,” and covers worrying about what we will eat, drink and wear. This section also has the wonderful pictures of the birds of the sky fed by the hand of God and the lilies and wildflowers of the field decked out in God’s splendor.

Treasures and Anxiety often walk together. When we have possessions, we worry about losing them. When we don’t have possessions, we worry about getting them.

Proverb 30:8b-9: “Give me neither poverty nor wealth; feed me with the food I need. Otherwise, I might have too much and deny You, saying, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or I might have nothing and steal, profaning the name of my God.” [HCSB]

Perhaps Jesus had this Proverb in mind when He included in The Lord’s Prayer, “Give us today our daily bread.” [Matthew 6:11]

How precious these verses are today. In an uncertain economic time punctuated by inflation, shortage, looming recession, and increasing government and personal debt, many of us are anxious. Will we have enough? Will what we have be taken from us? Those questions often dart into our minds.

Yet we are assured that God knows not just these questions but holds the answers in His hands. Like birds of the sky and flowers of the field, His children are precious in His sight.

Today I ponder the question, “Am I Worried?”

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The “How To’s” Day 6

by TerryLema 
(I apologize for missing yesterday, the hard drive on my computer died and I needed to get a new one.)

I am working my way through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Today and tomorrow I am in Chapter 6. The first half of that chapter in my Bible is titled, “How to Give,” “How to Pray,” (which includes “The Model Prayer”), and “How to Fast.” [5:1-18]

That pretty well covers three of the Spiritual Disciplines Christians are to exercise. As I read through these passages, I noticed one pertinent item in each.

Giving: Don’t practice it in front of people to be seen by them.

Praying: Don’t practice it to be seen by people.

Fasting: Don’t show your fasting to people.

We are not to practice these spiritual disciples so that others will pat us on the back and remind us what good Christians we are. We are not to practice these to gain a good reputation or to earn points in our churches. Jesus is quite clear where the rewards will come from if we do these the way God intends.

“Your Father who sees in secret will reward you” for giving. [vs 4]

“Your Father who sees in secret will reward you” for praying. [vs6b]

“Your Father who sees in secret will reward you” for fasting. [vs18b]

I guess my “Am I?” question today is “Why am I giving, praying and fasting?”

Where does my heart’s motivation spring from? I pray from a heart focused solely on the One who loves me so much.

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How Many Miles? Day 5

by TerryLema

I have combined the final two sections in Matthew 5 this morning. They bear labels in my Bible which read, “Go the Second Mile,” and “Love Your Enemies.” [vs 38-48]

Jesus tells his listeners “Don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary ….”  

Instead of resistance, we are to turn the other cheek, give them our coat as well as our shirt, add a second mile to a forced one mile, and give to those who ask to borrow from us. That all sounds a bit strange to me—until I get to the next passage.

There Jesus tells us to “love [our] enemies and pray for those who persecute [us].” When we do that, we will be “sons of [our] Father in heaven.”

Many listening to Jesus that day may not have understood what He was saying. Perhaps even His disciples thought it strange. But after His death and resurrection, I am sure they grasped the full weight of His words.

Jesus, God’s Son, came because God the Father loved His enemies. Jesus, God’s Wonderful Savior and Redeemer, did not resist the evildoers who nailed Him to a cross. On the contrary, He forgave them.

Now I stand at the foot of His cross and ask myself, “Am I loving my enemies and praying for them?”

How can I do otherwise if I want to be a “[daughter] of [our] Father in heaven.”

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Tell the Truth, Day 4

by TerryLema

If there is a passage in the Sermon on the Mount that has been ignored in our culture, it may be the one found in Matthew 5:33-37. In my Bible, it is titled, “Tell the Truth.”

The key is the direct command, “But let your word ‘yes’ be ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.” [HCSB]

The things “more than this” include lies, misdirection, embellishments, exaggerations, deceptions, falsehoods, misrepresentations, and a host of other things.

Who engages in “more than this” can be corporations, politicians, all forms of media, employers, employees, and even people like me (who should know better).

Things “more than this” have become an acceptable part of our culture. So much so that we expect and even accept the untruths around us.

But as much as I would like to direct attention to corporations, politicians, the media and such, the Holy Spirit is directing in a different direction with those two words, “Am I?”

“Am I truthful” or do I exaggerate, embellish or misrepresent? I think I have a long day of contemplation ahead of me today.

God be merciful to me, a sinner. Amen

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The Heart – Where Things Begin! Day 3

by TerryLema

I am loving my stroll through the Sermon on the Mount. My Bible divides it into 19 passages. I am not going through all 19 passages, but I am stopping along the way when one tugs at my heart. When I do stop, I ask myself that two-word question, “Am I?”

Today I sat for a while in Matthew 5:21-30. My Bible titles those two passages, “Murder Begins in the Heart,” and “Adultery Begins in the Heart.”

My question this morning is, “Am I monitoring the condition of my heart regularly?”

In another part of Matthew, Jesus spoke about a storehouse, a place of treasure. “For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. A good man produces good things from his storeroom of good, and an evil man produces evil things from his storeroom of evil.” [Matthew 12:34-35 HCSB]

Our hearts will either be storerooms of good, or storerooms of evil. It is from our hearts that we both speak and act. We have a choice what we allow to remain in our hearts. That means we need to be monitoring our heart’s condition regularly.

If we find ourselves angry or bitter, if we find ourselves judging others with unkind words, it is time to look into our storeroom and see what is there—good or evil. Then we might just need a time of repentance and confession, knowing that God is willing to forgive.

 

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Salt & Light, Day 2

by TerryLema

I am only in Day 2 of this multi-day reflection on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and I am already finding that this is a far more difficult deliberation than I anticipated. As I approach some of the sections of the sermon, I must face the answers to a two-word question, “Am I?”

The first question was “Am I teachable?” and the second was “Am I poor in spirit?” Both questions caused me to bare a part of my soul to examination.

Today is another question, “Am I salt and light?” [Read Matthew 5:13-16]

As believers, Jesus tells us we “are the salt of the earth.” Salt was a valuable commodity in the ancient world. It was used to preserve food (there were no freezers or fridges), heal wounds and treat illnesses. Our word “salary” comes from the ancient word for salt and means “salt-money.”

Jesus also tells us we “are the light of the world.” We are a beacon in the darkness that draws people to the light of Christ Jesus and the truth of God’s Word.

I noticed one thing of great importance as I read this passage. That is the use of the verb “are.” Jesus did not tell us to struggle “to be” salt or light. He said we already “are.”

So, I guess this question was easier than the first two. I “am” salt and light because God’s Spirit within me has made me so. So I guess today I am considering if I am flowing in those roles as God has determined me to do.

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The Beatitudes, Day 1

by TerryLema

I have decided to do a multi-day reflection on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. My Bible has divided Matthew chapters 5-7 into 19 passages. I am approaching some of those passages from the perspective of two words, “Am I?”

Yesterday, after reading the first two verses in Chapter 5, I asked myself “Am I teachable?” Those verses tell us simply that Jesus sat on the mountain with the crowds that followed Him and with His disciples and began to teach them.

He began with what we call the Beatitudes. [Read 5:3-12] These are the blessings. They set out to remind us that the blessings of God come from far different circumstances than the blessings of this world. They flow out of mourning, gentleness, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, mercy, purity of heart, peacemaking, and even persecution.

It is that first condition of blessing, however, that sets the precedent for all the others. “The poor in spirit are blessed, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.” [vs 3 HCSB]

Poor in spirit means to recognize that before God I have nothing to offer. I cannot save myself. I have nothing to barter with God. I cannot deliver myself. I cannot make myself worthy of the salvation that is offered to me freely in Christ. I can only be made worthy BY the salvation offered in Christ Jesus. I am spiritually poor. And not just poor, I am bankrupt.

“Am I poor in spirit?” As I contemplated that question, I admit my poverty is what brought me to Christ Jesus in 1973. It is why I surrendered my life to Him. But … and here is where the Holy Spirit took me today … “Am I still poor in spirit?” or have I allowed pride or arrogance to subtly creep in?

Do I see myself as “better” because I am saved? And how does the world see me? As arrogant, or humbly acknowledging that without God’s grace I would be utterly lost?

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“Am I?”

by TerryLema

I was required to memorize the Sermon on the Mount in Bible College. That was in the early 1980’s. If I stick to my Yearly Bible Reading Plan, I am reading that sermon in the early days each January. I memorized it in the KJV and have read it in every other translation I have. This year I am reading it in my Holman Christian Standard Version.

The problem with memorizing a Scripture, and then reading it at least once a year for decades (not counting the multiple times I have brought a message from it or heard a message from it) is that it becomes so familiar that it often loses the impact it had at the beginning.

So I took a new look this year at Matthew chapters 5-7. I want a fresh look. I am not sure why but the first thing I noticed were the “titles” over the various passages. My Bible divides the Sermon on the Mount into 19 passages.

I sense the Holy Spirit telling me to do more with the Sermon on the Mount than just read through it again this year. I sense Him telling me to approach it from the perspective of two words, “Am I?”

I am going to spend the next few days going through some of the passages of the Sermon, asking myself “Am I?”  I invite you to join me.

The Sermon on the Mount begins with a simple Introduction.  “When He saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain, and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. Then He began to teach them, saying:” [5:1-2]

I guess I will begin this study with a simple question.  “Am I teachable?”  Something to reflect on today.

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Thinking About

by TerryLema

It is a Monday morning as I write this. I am sitting in my chair this morning thinking about Jesus. Woke up feeling loved and blessed. I have a busy week ahead, busier than I had planned, but all I want to do at the moment is just sit in my chair, open my Bible, and think about my LORD.

How blessed we are to know that God loves us. How blessed we are to know that God wants us near to Him. The amazing, wondrous God wants to gather us under His “wings,” as a hen gathers her chicks. Wants us!  Not needs us – our God needs nothing. He WANTS us!

We are flawed creatures. Often overcome by doubts and struggles. We rebel. We resist His desires for us. We ignore His voice. And still, He wants us.

Oh, the love of God. His mercy. His goodness. His grace. His compassion. He wants us to have it all. He holds nothing back.

He will even discipline us, correct us, so that we might walk in His paths of righteousness with Him. He does it out of love for us, wanting us to have His best. Wanting us to avoid sin and the shame and guilt and dying that accompanies it.

The precious love of God. His faithfulness. He never forgets us. He knows us and all the deep things that touch our hearts. He gives strength. He gives glory. He gives wisdom. He gives us the desires of our hearts so that we might realize them. He gives gifts, undeserved, yet welcomed.

Yes, just thinking about Jesus this morning, my LORD, Savior, Deliverer, Lover of my soul, my All in All.

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