Reflective Bible Study

If you have ever picked up your Bible to read a specific passage and the opening line hits you in a way you never realized before, this describes me as I picked up the Bible to prepare for this week’s podcast. While the teaching we are looking at is one of Jesus’ more famous illustrations, I believe there is a lot that we can discover about God that many of us may have missed when hearing or reading this illustration before.

However, before getting to the illustration itself, Luke’s gospel has Jesus lead into this illustration with a thought-provoking and challenging question. One reason we might miss this is that too often, we only look at this teaching from Matthew’s gospel, and while there are plenty of similarities between both gospels, there are enough unique features that make Luke’s description of Jesus’ illustration just as profound, or perhaps even more profound, than Matthew’s version.

So before diving into the illustration, let’s read the question that jumped off the page as I was preparing for this episode, before continuing into the illustration itself. We will be reading from the gospel of Luke, chapter 6, using the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 46, Jesus challenges those present by saying:

⁴⁶ “Why do you call me Lord but don’t do what I tell you?

This question is powerful in my mind because it reemphasizes the root meaning of a name for Jesus that has unfortunately become a cliché in the Christian world.

The word Lord in this case not only refers to God, the ruler of the universe, but it also carries with it the secondary meaning of noble or king. With this secondary meaning, we see a more practical reason for God or Jesus to be the one to make the rules.

However, in the case of this question, Jesus is not asking people to call Him Lord. Instead, He is challenging them for using that term in a shallow way. If we truly choose to call Jesus “Lord”, then all of the implications of this word should be applied, and specifically the idea that a person who calls another person “lord” is acknowledging that they are that individual’s “subject”.

This question is powerful, not only to understand that those living while Jesus was walking the earth in the first century didn’t completely obey, but because ever since that point, a majority of Jesus’ followers want to pick and choose exactly “how” they will follow Jesus.

By picking and choosing what commands to obey, Christianity has cheapened the concept of Lord, and eroded the powerful nature of this name for God.

Let’s continue reading and see how Jesus illustrates this idea. Picking back up in verse 47, Jesus continues by saying:

⁴⁷ “I will show you what everyone who comes to me, hears what I say, and obeys it is like. ⁴⁸ He is like a person who dug down to bedrock to lay the foundation of his home. When a flood came, the floodwaters pushed against that house. But the house couldn’t be washed away because it had a good foundation. ⁴⁹ The person who hears what I say but doesn’t obey it is like someone who built a house on the ground without any foundation. The floodwaters pushed against it, and that house quickly collapsed and was destroyed.”

We often read Matthew’s description of this illustration, and picture in our minds a house high on the rocks of a cliff, overlooking another house built on the sand of a beach. However, Luke describes something different.

What we see in Luke could be identical looking homes on the surface, but one was built with a solid foundation that dug into the earth, while the other one was hastily built on the ground and they chose to skip the foundation. The only difference between these two homes is the foundation, and the only difference in the description of these two contrasting homes is that the second home, the one with no foundation, is built by the person who comes, hears, but does not obey.

This then implies that the only real value of coming and hearing Jesus is if it translates into obedience. Hearing without acting is as useful as reading a book while ignoring its content. We could also apply this into the spiritual framework by saying that faith, without some visible evidence of it – also known as works – is dead.

In many ways, this is the perfect illustration for Jesus’ challenging question. This question and the illustration are not intended for those who have chosen to live a life that rejects God’s rule. Those people are not likely to call Jesus or God using the term “Lord”. Instead, this opening to our illustration describes an average Christian when compared with a dedicated disciple of Jesus.

This illustration emphasizes that the foundation of a home, specifically the part of the house that is the least visible to those passing by, is the most important. In the exact same way, when we look at someone’s life, the foundation of that life is the least visible part of it to those who are looking from the outside, but the foundation of that person’s life is the most important.

In this illustration, we see the two parallel ideas of faith and works being blended into the idea of obedience. If we don’t have faith, there is no reason for us to obey, and if we don’t obey, then the faith we claim to have has no foundation.

We can illustrate this by describing two people: both are very generous, very friendly, likeable to most everyone, humble, and a pleasure to be around. For the purposes of this discussion, their outer lives look identical.

However, one person has chosen to live their life this way because of the way he feels when surrounded by others. He enjoys people and has determined that these actions are the best actions to take for attracting people to be with.

The other person has chosen this life because it is a life that models what he sees Jesus as like in the gospels. While the first person’s private life is filled with acquiring conversation material, based on following the latest television shows and other media, the second person has filled his private life with prayer and study, in order to grow closer to God and to learn more about Jesus.

While this example is in some ways cheesy and cliché for a Christian to use, it describes too many people living today – specifically people who would call Jesus “Lord”. Too many of those who would call Jesus “Lord” spend less than 2 hours with Him each week – and that is a 2 hour block of time on the weekend, when it’s convenient.

If this was all the time God had available to spend with us, then we would have to make due, but the very nature of God invites us to spend 24/7 with Him – which does not mean that we leave town to join a monastery, but it does mean that we bring God into our daily lives and make time to spend with Him each day.

Living with God is living in a way that acknowledges God is with us when we sleep, when we are awake, when we are driving to work, and when we are facing the daily challenges of work. He is with us when we are running errands, preparing our next meal, and joking around with our friends. If we call Him “Lord” and we believe He is omnipresent, which is a fancy word for everywhere, it might be worthwhile to both obey and acknowledge His presence as we go throughout the week.

And because God is with us at all times, because we have chosen to call Him “Lord”, and because He has challenged us with this truth, we should work on obeying and building a foundation in our lives that emphasizes our dependence on Him. Luke’s version of Jesus’ parable is what prompted me to create Reflective Bible Study, and it is because I wanted a good way to personally study and grow my foundation with God, and I wanted to help share what I found with others, including you!

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

If you have chosen to call God using the term “Lord”, then intentionally focus on obeying what He has commanded us to do. This includes things like loving others and being generous, but there is so much more we can learn about obedience from the Bible when we study about what it means to obey God.

With that in mind, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself, because personal Bible study, when it is combined with honest, humble prayer will help grow your foundation with God. When opening the Bible, don’t read with the goal of placing your opinions onto the pages. Instead, read with the frame of mind that God wants to teach you something about Himself within what you are reading.

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!

As we continue moving through our year looking at Jesus’ life, we come to an event where Jesus is preaching, and two of the gospel writers emphasize different parts of His message. It is as though Matthew, when writing his gospel, either intentionally summarized Jesus’ teaching at this point, or forgot the full message Jesus shared.

Looking at this possibility, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was either, since I doubt I could remember word-for-word a presentation from even the most dynamic speaker. However, since Luke went around interviewing eye-witnesses for his gospel, we discover that he found someone who remembered this portion of Jesus’ teaching and the full, nuanced message.

Before sharing the two passages, I want to also point out the possibility that Matthew’s gospel could be sharing a different sermon than Luke’s and that Jesus could have spoken two similar but distinctly different messages.

Without any further delay, let’s dive in to these two passages, and emphasize what is similar and what is different about the way each gospel writer frames Jesus’ message. First let’s look at Matthew’s gospel. This passage is found in Matthew, chapter 7, and we will be reading from the New International Version. Starting in verse 1, Jesus tells the crowd:

¹ “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ² For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

In the first two verses of this chapter, Matthew shares Jesus’ challenge to us for us to keep from judging others, because how we judge others will be the same way we are judged.

However, part of me wonders if Matthew intentionally summarized this teaching to conserve space or to emphasize Jesus’ call for us to avoid judging people. This question in my mind is because Luke shares more detail in his gospel when appearing to talk about the same big truth. Reading from Luke, chapter 6, starting in verse 37, we discover Jesus said:

³⁷ “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

In these two verses that seem to describe the same truth in Luke’s gospel, we find the focus not on simply avoiding judging others, which is important, but also on giving, forgiving, and being generous. While Matthew focused on sharing the warning, and only the negative side of this truth, Luke includes both possible results from the effect of how we choose to live.

Luke’s gospel does not deny that if we judge others, we too will be judged, but he also says that is the same way with condemning others, forgiving others, and giving to others. Luke tells us Jesus promised that when we condemn others, we will be condemned, when we forgive others, we too will be forgiven, and when we give to others, we will have things given to us.

Both Matthew and Luke include the phrase, “For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you”, and I wonder how this relates with the idea of Luke’s “good measure”. This shared phrase seems to indicate complete equality and fairness. The standard God uses for us appears to be based on the standard we hold others to. However, all too often, I hear motivational speakers use Luke’s phrase about a good measure as being God’s blessing us more than we deserve, as opposed to equally as much.

Before continuing further down this train of thought, I want to pause and emphasize that I absolutely do believe that God has given us way more than we deserve. However, in the context of this passage and promise, I wonder if this idea is really not what Jesus is teaching in this set of verses, or really in either one of these two gospels.

If the whole point of this specific teaching is about not judging others, as Matthew directs us to think, then there is no need for there to be a “good measure”, since you either judge or you don’t, just like God either judges or He does not.

However, I wonder if Luke’s good measure has to do more with the nature of how we act more so than how God responds. If the measure we use will be measured back to us, then it would be to our benefit to be amazingly generous, giving freely to everyone, because that will be the measure we get in return. If we give “a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over”, then this will be the type of measure that is poured into our lap.

It is like if you are baking with flour. If the recipe calls for a certain number of cups of flour, you probably don’t want there to be any bubbles or air pockets in the flour you are measuring. That’s why you might tap the cup on your counter to help the flour settle, you might shake it a little, and you might just give a little extra instead of leveling it off.

I suspect this is how God would want us to live, both when we give to others and when we forgive them too. We should not be looking for loopholes, or ways of short-changing our giving. Just as a recipe would suffer if you cheated flour out of it, your character suffers if you cheat generosity out of it.

Let’s take this idea a step further and apply it to our relationships.

When applying Jesus’ challenge about judging and measuring within our relationships, we can easily see that cheating or short-changing our spouse or our friends will eventually end the relationship. Sometimes the relationship will end quickly, but other times it will end only after a certain amount of time has passed. However, I will be quick to point out that this example is prolonged cheating and short-changing, with nothing redemptive about it. I firmly believe that people can grow and change and that redemption is possible when both individuals are seeking the same goal.

However, when we take Jesus’ challenge a step further, if we judge or condemn our friends or significant others, they won’t remain in our lives for very long in a similar way as if we were to cheat on them. It is just the nature of life that we don’t want to be around those who put us down. Another possible response that is equally as toxic is that the other person in the relationship chooses to return our judgment and condemnation back towards us. A relationship that degrades into judging, cheating, and belittling won’t last long.

However, the reverse is true. If we give and forgive freely in our relationships, the same generosity and good-will will be returned to us. If we assume the best, give multiple chances, and genuinely love those God has brought into our lives, the same attitude will be returned to us – perhaps not from everyone, but it will return from many and our relationships will be solidly positive.

Before ending our podcast episode, let’s take this idea one step further: The truth Jesus teaches can also be extended and applied to our relationship with God: If we judge, He judges; if we condemn, He condemns; if we forgive, He forgives; and if we give generously, He gives generously.

This ultimately brings us to the amazing, profound conclusion that the type of relationship we have with God is fully within our choosing.

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 choose to seek God first and choose to have a great, generous relationship with Him.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn for yourself what God is really like. While pastors, authors, speakers, or even podcasters can share ideas with you, only through personal study can you grow personally closer to God and discover what He is like and just how much He loves and values you.

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!

During Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount, He shares some advice that is both practical for everyone, as well as profound. While some people might think Jesus came to teach and challenge only one or two certain groups of people, what He shares in the passage we are focusing on for this episode not only is applicable for Christians and Jews, but for everyone else as well.

Let’s read what Jesus shared and learn what He wanted to teach us. Our passage comes from the gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, and we will be reading from the Contemporary English Version of the Bible. Starting with verse 19, Jesus continued by saying,

¹⁹ Don’t store up treasures on earth! Moths and rust can destroy them, and thieves can break in and steal them. ²⁰ Instead, store up your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy them, and thieves cannot break in and steal them. ²¹ Your heart will always be where your treasure is.

While some might be quick to say that they don’t believe in heaven, the advice Jesus shares is not as much about heaven as it is about where we are placing our security. Even if we don’t believe in heaven, most people, if they are truly being honest, will acknowledge there is no place on earth that is 100% guaranteed to be safe for our treasure. The best security system, or the most hidden hole in the ground, is only a deterrent for some people. Others see acquiring your treasure as a challenge, and the harder you try to protect it, the greater the challenge.

But the focus of this set of verses is not even on our treasure either. Instead, it is on the location of our heart. God wants our hearts to be safe with Him in heaven. This is why He tells us in verse 21 that “Your heart will always be where your treasure is” and he both advises us in verses 19 to “Don’t store up treasures on earth” and “store up your treasures in heaven”. This whole thought centers around getting our hearts into heaven.

But Jesus isn’t finished sharing. He continues in verse 22 by saying,

²² Your eyes are like a window for your body. When they are good, you have all the light you need. ²³ But when your eyes are bad, everything is dark. If the light inside you is dark, you surely are in the dark.

Let’s pause again and focus on these two verses. While Jesus had just been focusing on our hearts, He shifts to talking about our eyes, but in these two verses, Jesus is sharing truth on multiple levels.

On the surface, what Jesus is literally saying makes sense: when our eyes are good, we can see everything we need to see; and the opposite is also true, because when our eyes are bad, everything is dark.

However, Jesus finishes by saying something that doesn’t make as much sense on the surface. He then shares in verse 23 that “If the light inside you is dark, you surely are in the dark.” Up to this point, light enters our bodies through our eyes, but now Jesus shifts the focus to a light inside of us.

It is with this final phrase that we see a different meaning for Jesus’ earlier statements. If we understand Jesus to be instead talking about spiritual light, and seeing through spiritual eyes, then we discover that Jesus is talking not only about what we are looking at and focusing on, but also on how we are interpreting the things we are seeing and/or experiencing.

If the light inside us is darkness, there is no way to really see true light. In other words, if our outlook on life is negative, pessimistic, or depressing, everything we see and experience will appear to us as negative, pessimistic, or depressing, even if what we are looking at includes things that would bring someone else joy.

Reading this also reminds me of this song, “This little Light of Mine”, which on the surface simply talks about sharing light, but when we think about the idea of sharing light, there is the subtle truth that our attitudes are contagious, and if we are living life with a negative outlook, this negative outlook can spread to those who are with us and bring them down as well.

However, the reverse is true, and living with a positive outlook on life is also contagious, and over time, it can spread and lift others up as well.

Jesus then shares a profound idea in verse 24 that is true for everyone alive at every point in history. He tells us that:

²⁴ You cannot be the slave of two masters! You will like one more than the other or be more loyal to one than the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Some translations might say servant rather than slave, but regardless of the wording, the truth is there. While slavery isn’t the same today as it once was in the past, if you have ever had two jobs, you can see the truth of this statement: one job likely was more favorable than the other. While both jobs hopefully paid you money, there was one you preferred over the other.

However, if you only have ever had one job, you could understand this truth by comparing your home or personal life with your job life. Your responsibilities at home are different than your responsibilities at work, and chances are you prefer one over the other. For some, they might prefer work over home, but hopefully for all of us listening in, we prefer home over work.

But Jesus finishes with a huge parallel idea that challenges our motivation and purpose. Jesus finishes by saying, “You cannot serve both God and money.”

This distinction is huge, because it pushes us to reflect on what is motivating our lives. While some people might think that Satan is the biggest adversary pulling our hearts, minds, and lives away from God, Jesus hints at the truth here that perhaps “money” is a bigger adversary than even Satan when it comes to God getting our hearts.

The way we can test whether we are serving God or money is by asking ourselves a question such as, “If God asked me to give more than I thought I could afford, would I trust Him enough to do it?” Another similar question we could ask is, “Is my motivation for this decision because it helps God or others, or is it because of the money I will earn?”

Another question to help us reframe money from a completely different angle is, “What is something that money cannot buy?” Some possible answers to this question include love, solid and healthy relationships, and health. While money can help us be healthier in some ways, it cannot cure an incurable disease or illness.

These questions help guide us to where we should place our trust, where we should ultimately look to for the light inside of us, and where we should seek to store our treasure and hearts. The safest place for our trust, our light, our treasure, and our heart is with Jesus in heaven.

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

Do a self-assessment and ask yourself one or more of the questions I shared earlier. If you get the idea that you are trusting or serving money over God, then take steps to make the switch. While God is not opposed to us having or using money, our motivation should be serving Him regardless of the money or lack of money serving Him will bring.

Also, the Bible has a lot to say about money. Many scholars believe that money is the most common subject in the entire Bible, and one of the most common subjects that Jesus talked about during His life on earth. With these ideas in mind, pray and study the Bible for yourself and keep your eyes open for things that the Bible teaches us about money. When I did this, I found some surprising references and truths that have impacted my own life.

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 give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue moving through events the gospel writers include in Jesus’ life, we arrive at a point in Jesus’ ministry where He is teaching the crowds about prayer. For those of you who are familiar with the gospels, you’ll easily recognize that this topic comes immediately following the opening to Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount. After Jesus has shared blessings for various groups of people in the opening portion of His sermon, He shifts the focus of His message first to the big topic of prayer, and what Jesus says might just surprise you.

While Jesus includes a very famous model prayer in our passage, what Jesus says leading up to this prayer are in many ways more important than the prayer itself.

Our passage for this episode, and Jesus’ teaching on the subject of prayer, is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 6, and we will read it using the New Century Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 5, Matthew tells us Jesus transitions to talking about prayer by saying:

⁵ “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites. They love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners and pray so people will see them. I tell you the truth, they already have their full reward. ⁶ When you pray, you should go into your room and close the door and pray to your Father who cannot be seen. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and he will reward you.

Let’s pause reading here because I want to draw our attention onto several specific points. First, the way Jesus describes prayer in this passage is as though prayer is primarily a personal thing; it is something we do with God. Prayer is a two-person event: person 1 is praying, and we could call “Person” 2, God, who is receiving the prayer. God, who we don’t see, sees what we do in secret, and he rewards our personal relationship with Him.

The powerful truth Jesus alludes to in this passage is that our public relationship with God does not matter as much as our private relationship with God. While a public and private relationship are important, Jesus tells us that those who only have a public relationship with God have already received their reward, because their relationship with God is not for God’s benefit, but simply for show.

It is like someone who says they are your friend when other people are around, but who ignores you or doesn’t want to spend time with you when it is just the two of you. That’s not much of a friendship.

Instead, Jesus teaches us that God wants a personal relationship with you – a relationship that is solid on a personal level and that doesn’t feel as though it needs to be displayed in public. This leaves public prayers for addressing simply the group and/or event they are included in, which keeps them relevant as well.

Praying in public or when others are present is something that is beneficial, but only when it is given sincerely, from someone who also has a personal relationship with God in their private life as well.

With this foundation in place, Jesus then shifts the focus slightly in the following verses. Continuing in verse 7, Jesus tells those present:

⁷ “And when you pray, don’t be like those people who don’t know God. They continue saying things that mean nothing, thinking that God will hear them because of their many words. ⁸ Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him. ⁹ So when you pray, you should pray like this:

‘Our Father in heaven,
may your name always be kept holy.
¹⁰ May your kingdom come
and what you want be done,
here on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us the food we need for each day.
¹² Forgive us for our sins,
just as we have forgiven those who sinned against us.
¹³ And do not cause us to be tempted,
but save us from the Evil One.’ [The kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours forever. Amen.]

While it would be very easy to focus in on Jesus’ model prayer here, the statements Jesus share leading up to this model prayer are just as powerful, and they are oftentimes lost or forgotten. When setting the stage for this powerful prayer, Jesus makes a clear distinction between people who either pray meaningless words, or who act as though God has no idea what they want or need.

If you pray in order to let God know what you need, that subtly suggests that you believe God isn’t all knowing. If we believe God is all-knowing, it is only logical to conclude that He knows what we need, want, and will ask for before we even bow our head to pray. While we can and should still ask for things, it is better for us to understand the truth that by asking, we are intentionally submitting to God and His will. When we ask God for something specific, let’s not treat God as though He is learning something new; instead, let’s ask God to step into our lives and our situations in ways that only He can.

Jesus directly says that using more words does not mean you have a more effective prayer. Probably the opposite is true. I shouldn’t have to say this to us here, but this truth about prayer is true in our private prayers, and it is really, really true in our public ones. Keeping our prayers short in public will keep everyone satisfied, and we can say we are following Jesus’ instructions for us.

Chanting repetitive words or phrases fail Jesus’ prayer instructions for His followers. When we say empty, meaningless, or shallow words, they cheapen our prayer. When we repetitively use words or phrases, each subsequent time we say them may get more intense, but do we think God didn’t hear us the first time. God heard our request before the thought even had occurred in our mind – the first time – and he certainly does not need to hear the request multiple times.

However, what about times or places in the Bible where we are challenged to persist in our requests to God. Is repeating our requests ever okay?

In my own mind, I think it is, but only in specific cases or situations. When we are facing something in our lives that we need God’s help with, it is beneficial for us to repeat our request because repeating the request reminds ourselves of something we have given to God, and repeating our requests reminds us that God is still in control. Also, if we are tempted or struggling whether to give our situation over to God, we should repeat our prayer request because repeating our prayers helps us wrap our minds around our need for God’s help.

In our prayers, we remind ourselves that God is in control, and that He knows the best outcome from eternity’s perspective. We tend to limit our focus to our own limited perspective, but God knows all the possible outcomes, and reminding ourselves that He is in control also reminds us that He knows the best path for history to take from this point forward. God looks at the perspective of eternity, and He wants as many people as possible in His kingdom with Him.

When we pray to God, let’s intentionally focus on drawing near to God and opening our hearts and lives to Him. God loves you and me, and through prayer, we can grow a strong, personal relationship with Him that will extend forward into eternity!

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 intentionally work towards growing a personal relationship with Him and with Jesus – giving emphasis on growing your personal, private relationship.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself in order to learn more about God and about Jesus and what He is like. While other people have ideas and opinions, the best place to learn about God is through what He has revealed to us in the Bible.

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 give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!