Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure

Satisfied as a Single: Matthew 19:1-12

Published February 12, 2025 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Matthew 19:1-12 (NCV)

¹After Jesus said all these things, he left Galilee and went into the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River. ²Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

³Some Pharisees came to Jesus and tried to trick him. They asked, “Is it right for a man to divorce his wife for any reason he chooses?”

⁴Jesus answered, “Surely you have read in the Scriptures: When God made the world, ‘he made them male and female.’ ⁵And God said, ‘So a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one body.’ ⁶So there are not two, but one. God has joined the two together, so no one should separate them.”

⁷The Pharisees asked, “Why then did Moses give a command for a man to divorce his wife by giving her divorce papers?”

⁸Jesus answered, “Moses allowed you to divorce your wives because you refused to accept God’s teaching, but divorce was not allowed in the beginning. ⁹I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman is guilty of adultery. The only reason for a man to divorce his wife is if his wife has sexual relations with another man.”

¹⁰The followers said to him, “If that is the only reason a man can divorce his wife, it is better not to marry.”

¹¹Jesus answered, “Not everyone can accept this teaching, but God has made some able to accept it. ¹²There are different reasons why some men cannot marry. Some men were born without the ability to become fathers. Others were made that way later in life by other people. And some men have given up marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. But the person who can marry should accept this teaching about marriage.”

Read Matthew 19:1-12 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

Some of Jesus’ teaching is compassionate and uplifting; some of His teaching is challenging; and there are a few places were Jesus’ teaching seem to rub up against culture and our experience in ways that make us uncomfortable.

It is in this last category that our passage in today’s journal entry falls, but while divorce is a real challenge in today’s culture, and it has affected almost every person alive today in one way or another, too often we take Jesus’ words here as a condemnation of those who have been divorced – which actually is taking the verses out of context.

This conversation would not have happened except for one thing that happened: the Pharisees open up the discussion. Verse 3 begins by saying, “Some Pharisees came to Jesus and tried to trick him.”

In order to best understand the context of this teaching, we must first understand that Jesus probably would not have brought up the subject had He not been challenged with it. Other people came to Him with the question about the idea, so Jesus will answer with God’s ideal scenario. Verse 4 points to the original plan at creation, verse 5 recalls God’s words about how marriage would proceed, and verse 6 concludes with the challenge that we should not undo what God has done. This is the ideal scenario. We could call it Plan A.

But then, thinking they have Jesus firmly in the trap, the Pharisees respond with their follow-up question in verse 7: “Why then did Moses give a command for a man to divorce his wife by giving her divorce papers?”

The Pharisees have successfully contrasted Jesus’ teaching with Moses’ teaching, but instead of placing Moses’ revelation as being the one closest to God, Jesus draws out the contrast between God’s ideal and Moses’ exception. The original question in verse 3 included the phrase “for any reason he chooses”, and this is more what Jesus pushes back on.

Jesus gives one acceptable reason, but if we look closer at His one valid reason, we see something interesting. Verse 9, the one that makes people feel uncomfortable, says basically that adultery will be present at the end of a marriage. Either it will cause the marriage to end, or the marriage ending will result in it.

Jesus’ statement on divorce is not a condemnation; it is a challenging truth. Jesus says it to push His audience towards the conclusion He wants them to reach. Verse 10 shares this conclusion, “If that is the only reason a man can divorce his wife, it is better not to marry.”

Jesus wants His audience to be more intentional about following God’s ideal. Jesus follows up in verse 11 and 12 by saying it is perfectly okay for someone to choose to remain single. Reaching the place where a single person is okay with not marrying is the first step to becoming ready for marriage.

My own life experience has taught me that sometimes it is better to reach the place where I am satisfied being single before God will bring that special someone into my life. (Incidentally, this is exactly what happened to me in 2007 right before meeting Suzie, my wife-to-be.)

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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Missing Out on Blessings: Luke 19:1-10

Published February 11, 2025 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Luke 19:1-10 (NCV)

¹ Jesus was going through the city of Jericho. ² A man was there named Zacchaeus, who was a very important tax collector, and he was wealthy. ³ He wanted to see who Jesus was, but he was not able because he was too short to see above the crowd. ⁴ He ran ahead to a place where Jesus would come, and he climbed a sycamore tree so he could see him. ⁵ When Jesus came to that place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down! I must stay at your house today.”

⁶ Zacchaeus came down quickly and welcomed him gladly. ⁷ All the people saw this and began to complain, “Jesus is staying with a sinner!”

⁸ But Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “I will give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone, I will pay back four times more.”

⁹ Jesus said to him, “Salvation has come to this house today, because this man also belongs to the family of Abraham. ¹⁰ The Son of Man came to find lost people and save them.”

Read Luke 19:1-10 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

Part way through Jesus’ ministry, He passes through the city of Jericho and invites Himself to the home of one of the most disliked people in the entire city. When I read about what happened when Jesus met Zacchaeus, I wonder who was the most surprised in this entire event.

Is Zacchaeus the most surprised because Jesus spotted Him in the tree and invited Himself over?
Is the crowd the most surprised that Zacchaeus accepted Jesus’ invitation to Himself?
Is the crowd the most surprised that Jesus would associate with someone as hated and distrusted as Zacchaeus?

Luke’s gospel summarizes both the crowd’s and Zacchaeus’ responses by saying: “Zacchaeus came down quickly and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to complain, ‘Jesus is staying with a sinner!’” (v. 6-7)

While Zacchaeus was grateful for the opportunity to meet Jesus even better, the crowd gets caught up over a situation they simply feel is not right. In the minds of those in the crowd, someone (Jesus) they knew was sent from God should only associate with people who clearly are associated with God. When Jesus chose to associate with someone they believed had no care for religious or spiritual matters, it breaks their stereotype and their view of Jesus.

However, in this event, while the crowd was complaining over who Jesus chose to stay with, Zacchaeus was getting ready to have a heart transformation. The crowd could not see this, but Jesus did. The crowd blinded themselves by believing Jesus would only associate with Godly people. The crowd missed out on what may have been the most high-profile life transformation of Jesus’ ministry.

Everyone in that region knew who Zacchaeus was, and it would not be a surprise in my mind if the news about Jesus’ time with Zacchaeus and the life-change that happened spread like wildfire throughout the entire city and surrounding area.

Reading about the crowd challenges me to ask the question: Am I missing out on something God is doing because it happens to be in a place I don’t think it should be and/or because it doesn’t fit into the mold of what I think it should look like? Am I more like the skeptical crowd when I hear about something God has done, or am I open to being transformed through what I see God doing in the world around me?

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Flashback Episode — The Messiah’s Fire: Luke 3:1-18

Published February 10, 2025 in Audio Journal Entries

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As we continue moving through Luke’s gospel, we discover that after Luke describes Jesus’ childhood, Luke then transitions back to talking about Jesus’ forerunner in ministry, John the Baptist. However, to set the stage for the rest of his gospel, Luke gives us a historical overview of the state of the empire and the state of Judea by letting us know exactly when the events in the rest of his gospel occurred.

Let’s read this passage, and discover how Luke sets the stage for Jesus beginning His ministry. Our passage for this episode is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 3, and we will read from the New Living Translation. Starting in verse 1, Luke tells us that:

¹It was now the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius, the Roman emperor. Pontius Pilate was governor over Judea; Herod Antipas was ruler over Galilee; his brother Philip was ruler over Iturea and Traconitis; Lysanias was ruler over Abilene. ²Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests. At this time a message from God came to John son of Zechariah, who was living in the wilderness. ³Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. ⁴Isaiah had spoken of John when he said,

“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!
    Clear the road for him!
⁵The valleys will be filled,
    and the mountains and hills made level.
The curves will be straightened,
    and the rough places made smooth.
⁶And then all people will see
    the salvation sent from God.’”

⁷When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, “You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? ⁸Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. ⁹Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰The crowds asked, “What should we do?”

¹¹John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.”

¹²Even corrupt tax collectors came to be baptized and asked, “Teacher, what should we do?”

¹³He replied, “Collect no more taxes than the government requires.”

¹⁴“What should we do?” asked some soldiers.

John replied, “Don’t extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay.”

¹⁵Everyone was expecting the Messiah to come soon, and they were eager to know whether John might be the Messiah. ¹⁶John answered their questions by saying, “I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹⁷He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.” ¹⁸John used many such warnings as he announced the Good News to the people.

In this passage, we discover that John was not a pushover preacher, but he also was not a judgmental preacher either. John’s preaching cut straight to the heart of God’s message and intent for His people.

While reading Luke’s description of John’s message to the people, three verses stood out in my mind and these three verses together paint a powerful picture of what God’s ideal is for those who want to turn away from sin and return to Him.

A surface reading of John’s preaching might make John sound like the first angry street preacher. However, John’s message is different. John subtly assumed something about those who came to listen to him that might be easy to miss if we aren’t paying attention. In verse 7, when the crowds of people came to John to be baptized, John challenges them by calling them snakes before saying, “Who warned you to flee the coming wrath?” John assumed that those coming to listen to him and those who wanted to be baptized were coming because God was drawing them to him. I doubt John responded well to passive listeners to his preaching.

At the heart of John’s message was a message of returning to God before it was too late. While John might sound extreme in what he challenges the people by saying, nothing John tells the people is impossible or outside of God’s will. John’s message is summarized with two phrases found in verses 8 and 9, “Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God…Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”

When asked by specific people what God would want them to do, John has a clear, practical response. In John’s response to those present, we discover that God desires to see compassion for others above saving for the future, about working honestly and uprightly even if we are in a work environment that is full of corruption, and to be content with what God has blessed us with.

This summary is found in John’s response to the crowds, the tax collectors, and to the soldiers who asked what God wanted from them. If we choose to live lives that are defined by showing compassion for others above saving for our own future and lives that are lived honestly while also being content, then we will be living lives in alignment with John’s message to the people. Living like John describes proves to the world that we are living for God and not for ourselves and that we have repented.

The last phrase I want to focus briefly on in John’s message is found in verse 17. After describing that the Messiah God is sending will baptize the people with fire while he only baptizes with water, John brings a visual illustration into this warning, saying the coming Messiah “is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”

While some people understand the fire in this verse to literally never end, as this translation frames this idea, a better way to describe it would probably be an unstoppable fire. This fire is reserved for the chaff which was separated from the wheat. While some might consider this illustration describing different groups of people, with one group representing the wheat and another group representing the chaff, there is a different way we can understand this illustration.

On a stalk of wheat, there is grain and there is chaff. The grain is useful while the chaff is not. In our own lives, there are things that are valuable and things that are valueless. When we return to God, I believe He wants to separate the valuable parts of our lives from the valueless parts of our lives. God wants to redeem the parts of our lives that are significant, important, and special, while He wants to completely remove and eliminate the parts of our lives that are worthless.

The challenge for us then is to align ourselves with God and let Him work in our lives discarding the things that He knows are worthless. If we want to hold on to something that God is planning on throwing into the unstoppable fire, we run the risk of choosing to be consumed by the fire with something that is worthless. While God won’t stop us from making this choice, God is much more interested in helping us give up the things in our lives that are worthless from eternity’s perspective.

John the Baptist warned the crowds about the coming judgment, but far from being judgmental, John challenged people to return to God before it was too late! While we don’t have to be as forward or direct as John was, let’s live our lives in a way that proves we have returned to God and in a way that doesn’t let any worthless things in life steal our focus away from that which is priceless. The most valuable thing God has blessed us with is our hearts, and while our hearts are stained with sin, God wants to clean, fix, and recreate new hearts within us that reflect His heart for us!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and purposefully give your heart to Him. Let God clean your life and discard what He knows is worthless while letting Him redeem the things in your life He knows are valuable. God knows your life better than you do, and God has a plan for your life that is bigger than you could ever imagine! Discover what God has in mind for you by letting Him lead and direct your life moving forward into the future.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to grow and discover what God wants to teach you. Through the pages of the Bible, discover how we can open our hearts to God and invite Him into our lives!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or walk away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Flashback Episode: Year in Luke – Episode 6: Discover some amazing things we can learn from how Luke describes John the Baptist’s message to the crowds before Jesus steps into the public eye.

Conditional Forgiveness: Matthew 18:15-35

Published February 7, 2025 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Matthew 18:15-35 (NCV)

¹⁵ “If your fellow believer sins against you, go and tell him in private what he did wrong. If he listens to you, you have helped that person to be your brother or sister again. ¹⁶ But if he refuses to listen, go to him again and take one or two other people with you. ‘Every case may be proved by two or three witnesses.’ ¹⁷ If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen to the church, then treat him like a person who does not believe in God or like a tax collector.

¹⁸ “I tell you the truth, the things you don’t allow on earth will be the things God does not allow. And the things you allow on earth will be the things that God allows.

¹⁹ “Also, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about something and pray for it, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. ²⁰ This is true because if two or three people come together in my name, I am there with them.”

²¹ Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, when my fellow believer sins against me, how many times must I forgive him? Should I forgive him as many as seven times?”

²² Jesus answered, “I tell you, you must forgive him more than seven times. You must forgive him even if he wrongs you seventy times seven.

²³ “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who decided to collect the money his servants owed him. ²⁴ When the king began to collect his money, a servant who owed him several million dollars was brought to him. ²⁵ But the servant did not have enough money to pay his master, the king. So the master ordered that everything the servant owned should be sold, even the servant’s wife and children. Then the money would be used to pay the king what the servant owed.

²⁶ “But the servant fell on his knees and begged, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything I owe.’ ²⁷ The master felt sorry for his servant and told him he did not have to pay it back. Then he let the servant go free.

²⁸ “Later, that same servant found another servant who owed him a few dollars. The servant grabbed him around the neck and said, ‘Pay me the money you owe me!’

²⁹ “The other servant fell on his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything I owe.’

³⁰ “But the first servant refused to be patient. He threw the other servant into prison until he could pay everything he owed. ³¹ When the other servants saw what had happened, they were very sorry. So they went and told their master all that had happened.

³² “Then the master called his servant in and said, ‘You evil servant! Because you begged me to forget what you owed, I told you that you did not have to pay anything. ³³ You should have showed mercy to that other servant, just as I showed mercy to you.’ ³⁴ The master was very angry and put the servant in prison to be punished until he could pay everything he owed.

³⁵ “This king did what my heavenly Father will do to you if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Read Matthew 18:15-35 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

When teaching the disciples the importance of forgiving each other, Peter asks Jesus how many times we should forgive, and the answer Jesus gives surprises the whole group. Jesus then follows up this response with a parable about a servant who was forgiven an impossible-to-repay debt.

However, while it isn’t stated in the terms of this servant’s forgiveness, Jesus’ parable continues by showing how this servant chooses to not extend forgiveness towards a fellow servant who owed a very payable debt. The other servants see what happened and report the details back to the master/king. The parable ends with the original servant’s debt being reinstated and him being locked up until he repay the impossible-to-repay debt – or in other words, this servant would be locked up for the rest of his life.

Jesus finishes the parable with a one-sentence explanation: “This king did what my heavenly Father will do to you if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (v. 35)

This parable is probably one of Jesus’ most challenging parables because the implication is clear: If we don’t forgive each other after learning how God has forgiven us, God will cancel the forgiveness He extended towards us and we will be left with an impossible-to-repay debt.

Because of this, we can conclude that while God offers forgiveness freely through Jesus, the forgiveness we are given comes with a condition: we must extend this forgiveness towards each other. Nothing we can do will ever come close to repaying God for His generosity, but we can show God we are grateful for what He has given to us by extending forgiveness towards each other. This will look different for each person and each situation, but at its heart, we are called to forgive like God forgave – which means that we forgive those who may even still be actively hurting us and there is no indication that will ever change.

Jesus entered a world that was hostile to God and His message and He was killed by humanity. When we forgive like God forgave, we must acknowledge that many times we will be called to forgive people who don’t deserve to be forgiven – and we can trust that God will sort out those who truly deserve forgiveness from those whose forgiven status will be cancelled because they lived an unforgiving life.

Forgiveness means we don’t hold a grudge and we don’t seek or expect the other person to pay back the debt we feel they owe. Forgiveness does not mean we blindly stay in a place where are being abused or hurt. Reconciliation is where we bridge and heal broken relationships, and while this concept is closely related to forgiveness, nothing in Jesus’ parable or teaching says that we must always reconcile a broken relationship when we forgive the person who hurt us.

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