Reflective Bible Study

Of all the times Jesus preached to the crowds, and from all the counter-cultural ideas He shares, the central theme of the passage we are looking at this week is definitely among the most difficult to apply.

While some people may have wished to be excluded from being challenged in this way, Jesus directs this thought at everyone who was listening at that time, and since this teaching is included in two of the four gospels, we can also conclude that it was meant for everyone who would read or hear about it later as well.

Unfortunately, this includes you and me, but before getting upset at me for sharing it with you, tucked within this challenge is a theme that reveals an amazing truth about God the Father, and the extent of His love for humanity.

As I mentioned earlier, this teaching is found in two of the four gospels, but for our time together, we’ll focus in on Luke’s version of it, which is found in Luke, chapter 6, and we will be reading from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 27, Jesus challenges those present by saying:

²⁷ “But I say to you who are listening, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who are cruel to you. ²⁹ If anyone slaps you on one cheek, offer him the other cheek, too. If someone takes your coat, do not stop him from taking your shirt. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and when someone takes something that is yours, don’t ask for it back. ³¹ Do to others what you would want them to do to you. ³² If you love only the people who love you, what praise should you get? Even sinners love the people who love them. ³³ If you do good only to those who do good to you, what praise should you get? Even sinners do that! ³⁴ If you lend things to people, always hoping to get something back, what praise should you get? Even sinners lend to other sinners so that they can get back the same amount! ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without hoping to get anything back. Then you will have a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High God, because he is kind even to people who are ungrateful and full of sin. ³⁶ Show mercy, just as your Father shows mercy.

This last phrase not only sums up the reason why Jesus challenges those present to love everyone, in this phrase, we are challenged to love everyone like God has loved and shown mercy to us.

Also tucked into this challenge is the well known phrase in verse 31: “Do to others what you would want them to do to you.” While many people take this phrase and use it to justify their reaction to someone who just hurt them, the context of this teaching is being preemptive, and consciously acting in a way that you want to have returned. “Do to others what you would want them to do to you.” This phrase is given with the goal of helping to turn enemies into friends, so before trying to exclude someone from this challenge because they are not your “enemy”, this phrase is meant for everyone who is not yet a friend and everyone who you want to remain friends with.

One big key to this challenge Jesus gives us that we would be wise to pay attention to is that nowhere in this passage do we read that by doing all these kind things and loving an enemy will immediately or eventually turn our adversary into a friend. Making friends out of our enemies is not the goal of Jesus’ challenge.

Instead, the goal is reflecting God. God has more enemies than we can count, and even though they have aligned themselves against Him, He has not turned His back on them. God loves both His friends and His enemies, even if His enemies have no hope of ever turning back to Him.

In verse 35, the passage phrases God’s kindness extending to even those who are “ungrateful and full of sin”. This thought challenges me because it both implies that as followers and imitators of God, we should be grateful and as sinless as we can possibly be. This brings to mind the idea that while everyone has sinned in their past, there is nothing keeping us from intentionally not sinning in the future. On several different occasions, Jesus challenged those He healed with the words, “Go and sin no more”, which implies that while it wouldn’t be easy, a sinless future is not impossible.

Also, while reading this challenge, I wonder if the theme Jesus shares here is the big error of the religious leaders, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and all the other Jewish groups present during that time. While most of these groups of Jews followed the laws that were handed down to them as best as they could, it seems as though all of them had missed the central idea of being God-like and God’s representative. These groups had missed seeing God’s love for humanity in the scrolls of their Old Testament scriptures. If they were trying to be God-like, they modeled their actions after a view of God that was a Judge and Someone who would be quick to punish those who broke His Law.

But in Jesus’ words, we see a God who loves before He punishes and a God who is generous to even those who have turned against Him. This is the only option God has if He wants to base His rule on love, on caring relationships, and on the freedom of choice. If God quickly punished those who disobeyed, we would be fearful of Him, and a loving relationship could not develop. Not only this, but if God were to quickly punish us for our sin, there would be no hope of us ever turning back to Him and repenting, since the punishment for sin is death.

Here in our passage and in Jesus’ challenge to those who have heard or read His words is that God wants us to love like He loves, care like He cares, and to model generosity like He is generous – and not just to those in our social circle of friends, but to everyone else – enemies included – as well.

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

Seek God first in your life, and intentionally choose Him to be your role model. God is the only One worthy of modeling our lives after, because everyone else has mistakes and/or flaws that we must look past.

When hearing, reading, and studying the Bible for yourself, pay attention to the many ways God has shown love towards humanity, both in the Old Testament history of Israel, and in the New Testament record of Jesus and the early Christian church.

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 deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue moving through Jesus’ life, focusing on events that the gospel writers included, we come to an event that is a little less well known, but one that is incredibly powerful when we stop to focus in on it.

Early on in Jesus’ ministry, the gospel of Matthew dedicates a significant amount of space to an event known as the Sermon on the Mount. However, if you were paying attention to our introduction, we aren’t going to be reading from Matthew’s gospel in this episode.

Instead, lesser known is a sermon Jesus shares in Luke’s gospel, which is known as Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain. However, this other sermon shares some similarities to Jesus’ famous sermon, and it begins in a similar way before taking a significantly different turn.

Our passage for this episode is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 6, and we will be reading from the God’s Word translation of the Bible. Starting in verse 20, Luke tells us that:

²⁰ Jesus looked at his disciples and said,

“Blessed are those who are poor.
    God’s kingdom is theirs.
²¹ Blessed are those who are hungry.
    They will be satisfied.
Blessed are those who are crying.
    They will laugh.
²² Blessed are you when people hate you, avoid you,
    insult you, and slander you
        because you are committed to the Son of Man.
²³             Rejoice then, and be very happy!
                You have a great reward in heaven.
                    That’s the way their ancestors treated the prophets.

²⁴ “But how horrible it will be for those who are rich.
    They have had their comfort.
²⁵ How horrible it will be for those who are well-fed.
    They will be hungry.
How horrible it will be for those who are laughing.
    They will mourn and cry.
²⁶ How horrible it will be for you
    when everyone says nice things about you.
        That’s the way their ancestors treated the false prophets.

In this passage, we have four blessings and four warnings. On the surface, these blessings cover the range of economic, physical, emotional, and social areas of life, but on a deeper level, the “economic” blessing and warning is really a spiritual blessing and warning.

As far as I am aware, humans are the only species on planet earth to have created an economic system, and we are the only species on earth that are described as “spiritual” beings. According to the first two chapters of Genesis, all life has the breath of God, but only humanity has the fingerprints of God after He hand-formed us as a species. This leads me to believe that parts of humanity that are unique to us (such as economics in this case), are an extension of our spiritual nature, since we are the only creatures to have built an economic system.

While it is tempting to gloss over Jesus’ clear message about those who don’t have now will have later, and those who have now will not have later, if I try to simplify this passage down to one broad theme, We likely will miss the direct nature of these blessings and warnings.

Jesus promises encouragement for those who are hurting spiritually, which also includes those who are hurting financially, as well as those who are hurting physically, emotionally, and socially. In these blessings, He wants to remind all of us that when times are bad, He still is in control, and when things are unfair, they will be made right in the end.

In the warnings, Jesus tells us to watch out for being spiritually and financially rich, because this does not last. Wealth is not guaranteed, nor is the true value of that wealth guaranteed either. In this warning, the comfort wealth brings is stated in the present and past tense – signifying that it has an end point. Jesus says in the last phrase of verse 24, “They have had their comfort.”

In the physical warning, Jesus warns those of us who have enough to eat to understand that this situation will not last. I don’t know if this is Jesus talking to individuals or to societies at large, but the clear statement is that those who are well fed should not count on being well fed in the future.

In the emotional warning, Jesus tells us to not expect life to be all high points. Life is a mixture of peaks and valleys, and this is symbolized here as laughter and crying. While I know I would like life to be more laughter than crying, I understand that the sin in this world is responsible for pain, disease, and death. While we are living in this sinful world, God doesn’t want us to get so attached to it that we don’t want the future sinless life and world He has planned for us when this age ends.

And in the last warning, Jesus tells us to be very careful when people begin to say good things about us, because when this happens, we are dangerously close to how the false prophets were treated. In Old Testament Israel, the true prophets tried to warn the people of destruction and punishment, and they were tortured, mocked, thrown in jail, and largely ignored. The false prophets were welcomed, because they said what the leaders and people wanted to hear, even though it was a lie.

Jesus cautions us to be wary when things are going our way, because it is when things are up that we are tempted to lose our focus on Him and on God. When life is good, the temptation is to think that our skill, ability, and well-placed investments were the cause. We discount God’s blessing and think the gift was given by us to us and not from the true Giver Himself.

In this passage, we discover four blessings and four warnings. Jesus wants us to succeed when things are looking up and when things are not going so well. He said these words specifically to the disciples, but with the crowd present. As followers of Jesus, we are to heed these blessings and these warnings as being relevant to our lives today.

The blessings are given for our encouragement, and the warnings are given to protect us from the temptation of pride.

If all of us individually keep this teaching in our minds and let it absorb into our hearts, we will become even more like Jesus, and the more like Jesus we become, the more God will be preparing us for Jesus’ return and the end of sin!

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 let the promises and warnings we focused on in this episode impact how you live your life.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn who Jesus is and what He is really like. Discover through the pages of the Bible a God who passionately wants you redeemed in heaven, but a God who values your freedom of choice over His desire for you to be saved for eternity.

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!

One of the things I admire about Jesus is His skillful way of answering challenging questions. The event we are looking at in this episode, which is found in three of the four gospels contains one such question, and it is in this question and answer that Jesus gives where we find a fascinating insight into God, His Law, and a right understanding of it.

For our episode this week, we will be looking at Matthew’s version of this event, which is found in Matthew, chapter 12, and we will be using the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 9, we read:

⁹ Jesus left that place and went to a synagogue, ¹⁰ where there was a man who had a paralyzed hand. Some people were there who wanted to accuse Jesus of doing wrong, so they asked him, “Is it against our Law to heal on the Sabbath?”

¹¹ Jesus answered, “What if one of you has a sheep and it falls into a deep hole on the Sabbath? Will you not take hold of it and lift it out? ¹² And a human being is worth much more than a sheep! So then, our Law does allow us to help someone on the Sabbath.” ¹³ Then he said to the man with the paralyzed hand, “Stretch out your hand.”

He stretched it out, and it became well again, just like the other one. ¹⁴ Then the Pharisees left and made plans to kill Jesus.

Let’s pause reading here because I want to draw our attention onto this question and answer. The Pharisees have skillfully come up with a question where they feel like they know the correct answer, but they want to trap Jesus in His own words. The question they asked is designed to trick Jesus into saying work is acceptable, which violates the fourth commandment, because in their minds, Jesus is playing the role of physician, and the work doctors do is heal their patients.

Even if they considered Jesus to be more than simply a doctor or physician, it would be a double standard to hold the doctor’s healing as work while Jesus’ healing is not.

Jesus’ response begins by setting up a hypothetical scenario, perhaps one that had even happened recently, describing a sheep that had fallen into a hole. A sheep trapped in any way like the one described would be a prime target for a wolf or other predator. It would be logical to put forth a little effort to help free the sheep.

With the stage set, Jesus elevates humanity above this hypothetical sheep before giving the gist of His answer. Jesus’ response to the question is that the Law does allow us to help each other on the Sabbath.

Perhaps God’s law has a built in double standard. Maybe if the owner of the sheep lifts it out it is considered work, because the sheep is connected to its owner’s wealth, while a friend or stranger seeing the sheep fall into the hole is not obligated or rewarded in any way by the sheep being saved. In the stranger’s case, there is nothing compelling him or her to offer help, so the action is purely altruistic and/or selfless.

However, I don’t believe there is a double standard. Help is help, while work is work. If the goal of an action is to be paid or compensated in some way, then it is work; but if the goal of an action is to benefit someone else without any pay or compensation being expected, then it is help. This is how I define the difference between this potentially confusing set of concepts.

Jesus’ instruction to the man to stretch out his hand is the least work-like way of helping. All Jesus did was simply speak and that is something that is easily acceptable on a Sabbath, or any other day. And this instruction prompted a miraculous healing, which also couldn’t be considered work, because we are free to move our limbs in any way we choose on every day of the week.

However, the Pharisees did not like this response or outcome, and they begin plotting to kill Jesus. When we continue reading in verse 15, we learn that:

¹⁵ When Jesus heard about the plot against him, he went away from that place; and large crowds followed him. He healed all the sick ¹⁶ and gave them orders not to tell others about him. ¹⁷ He did this so as to make come true what God had said through the prophet Isaiah:

¹⁸ “Here is my servant, whom I have chosen,
    the one I love, and with whom I am pleased.
I will send my Spirit upon him,
    and he will announce my judgment to the nations.
¹⁹ He will not argue or shout,
    or make loud speeches in the streets.
²⁰ He will not break off a bent reed,
    nor put out a flickering lamp.
He will persist until he causes justice to triumph,
²¹     and on him all peoples will put their hope.”

In these verses, Matthew draws our attention onto a prophecy about Jesus that God gave through the prophet Isaiah. When I read this prophecy, I am impressed with the description of the Messiah that is shared. This prophecy tells us that Jesus will announce God’s judgment on the nations, and that He won’t argue, shout, or speak loudly in the streets. Jesus won’t break off a bent reed or put out a flickering lamp, and He will persist until He causes justice to triumph.

The last phrase really stands out in my mind. Verse 21 concludes by saying: “and on him all peoples will put their hope.”

Jesus came to be the Savior for all people. Jesus wasn’t just sent to help the Jews. He came to help people of all ethnicities and backgrounds. While there are occasions where Jesus tells a foreigner that He only came to help the Jews, in each case, with persistence and pushback from the person requesting help, Jesus always complies and helps the situation.

Isaiah’s prophecy tells us that Jesus persisted until He caused justice to triumph. Justice in this case is God’s punishment for sin, and Jesus persisted until His last breath on the cross. Isaiah’s prophecy both foreshadows Jesus’ death as well as His arrival for all people.

Jesus came to help those who needed help and He came to give us a view of God’s Law that allows us to be a blessing to others. The Law was never meant to be a pair of hand-cuffs, but a systematic way of growing a community of people both spiritually and socially. And because Jesus viewed God’s Law this way when the Pharisees didn’t, they wanted to kill Him, which ironically would be a violation of the Law they claimed to obey.

While the Pharisees plotted against Jesus, Isaiah’s prophecy that foreshadowed Jesus’ death for all human-kind was being fulfilled.

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

Choose to seek God in a way that prompts you to focus on helping others. While many people, including those living in the first century, believe that serving God can be separate from helping others, choose to model your life after Jesus’ life. Jesus blended obeying God and helping others. It appears, at least to me, that whenever there was a supposed conflict between obedience and helping someone, Jesus always choose to help. Perhaps this is how we should be in our own lives.

However, don’t take my word for this. You should prayerfully study the Bible for yourself, and this decision for yourself, because only by being connected with God through the Holy Spirit and His Word will you even know what Jesus is like. You can only accurately model someone you have studied personally.

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 deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue our journey through Jesus’ life, we come to a long passage that contains a verse that transformed my view of Jesus when I first read it. This view is incredibly counter-cultural and it actually helps us frame several things Jesus does in His ministry that might not make any sense without this perspective.

In our culture today, we like to place people on pedestals and on platforms, and look to them for ideas, inspiration, entertainment, or escape. Our culture today loves to give glory to people who overcome unbelievable odds, it loves to talk about people who have royally messed up, and it loves to vilify the people it stereotypes.

We all in some way, shape, or form do this. When we pay attention to a singer, actor, politician, celebrity, athlete, or someone significant in our life, the focus and attention we give to them is subtly also giving them glory. This idea of giving glory also extends to us giving glory to Jesus, and this draws our attention onto a verse contained in our passage.

However, before we focus in on that verse, I want to point out that giving glory to other people is not a universally bad thing. Giving some glory to others is unavoidable in our world and in today’s culture. Where we tend to fail in this area is by not prioritizing the time, and consequently, the glory that we are giving away. The easy trap we fall into is forgetting to give glory to God personally and directly, by intentionally spending time with Him.

This then brings our attention to the passage we are focusing in on for this episode. However, because this passage is quite long, I am going to pull out a section of it to read, while encouraging you to read the broad passage on your own when you get the chance. Like many of you, I have probably read this broad passage many times, but during one of the times reading it, a verse within it hit me and completely shifted my perception of Jesus.

Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 5, and we will read it from the New International Version. While I would like to begin in verse 16, for our time together to stay within somewhere close to our normal length, l’ll jump down several verses. With that said, starting instead in verse 31, we read Jesus responding to the religious leaders, saying:

³¹ “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. ³² There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true.

³³ “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. ³⁴ Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. ³⁵ John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.

³⁶ “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. ³⁷ And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, ³⁸ nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. ³⁹ You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, ⁴⁰ yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

⁴¹ “I do not accept glory from human beings, ⁴² but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. ⁴³ I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

Let’s stop reading here. One verse near the end of this challenge Jesus gives to the religious leaders is amazing when we stop to draw attention to it. This verse is verse 41, where Jesus tells the religious leaders, “I do not accept glory from human beings.”

I know I had read this broader passage numerous times before really seeing this verse, but one morning while studying, this verse jumped off the page at me and shifted my perception of Jesus. It’s interesting, because once I saw Jesus through this verse, I find it hard to read any passage about Jesus without using this new perspective.

By including this phrase, Jesus is either being an example of the most sinless human ever to live, or He is being an example of one of the most deluded sociopaths. I’m inclined to think He was the most sinless human, because God gave Him the power to perform miracles, healing thousands of sick people, feeding thousands more, and a little event we call the resurrection helps this thought as well.

Also, sociopaths don’t live selflessly, so Jesus doesn’t really fit that stereotype if we look at this comparison from the other angle.

Since this phrase Jesus said reveals part of His character, I don’t ever see this idea changing. I don’t see Jesus having rejected glory from people while here on earth, but then later changing His mind about this. Instead, I suspect Jesus does the same thing with the glory He is given today that He did while He walked the earth during the first century. Whenever anyone tried to give Jesus glory, He directs the glory to the Father.

If we take this idea one step further, what about Satan? If anyone was more opposite to Jesus, it would be him. Satan wanted more glory pointed towards himself. If God and the angels were not going to do this, humans are the only other candidate he has, which means that Satan will accept glory from humans. It is even possible that Satan desires glory from humanity.

So with this knowledge as one guide, a simple litmus test we can use to determine a genuine Christ-following disciple-leader is simply whether they point the glory to God, or if they accept glory themselves (or perhaps if they seek out more glory that they can accept).

I have not done much research into historical cult movements, but most if not all probably would have failed this simple litmus test. Someone looking in from the outside (and maybe even a rational person looking from within) could rationally say that the leader was interested in drawing people, focus, and glory onto himself or herself and not on forwarding that glory on to God.

This simple litmus test could also be one way of identifying Satan when he comes claiming to be Christ. By His own declaration, Jesus never accepted glory from humans, whereas Satan will likely be the opposite. I very much suspect that a Satan impersonating Jesus, or anyone impersonating Jesus, will fail the test of whether they are in it for their own glory or for God’s.

So where does that leave you and I today? How can we take this information and change our lives?

I cannot speak for you, but when originally reading this phrase and when the flood of ideas poured into my mind, I could not escape the clear revelation of Jesus’ character. Jesus was 100+% focused on helping others and forwarding the glory onto God the Father.

As disciples of Jesus, which is another way of saying that we model or imitate our lives after His, I see pointing all glory and praise upwards to God as a character attribute we all need to incorporate into our own lives, myself included. I must not seek glory for myself, but forward any glory onward and upward to Jesus and the Father. There is the constant pressure from culture to accept glory and praise, therefore, in my mind, since Jesus did not accept it and culture wants us to seek it, rejecting praise and pointing our focus upwards towards God must be something worth striving for in living a Jesus-like life.

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, choose to intentionally place God first in your life and choose to model Jesus and give God the glory.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn more about who Jesus really was and what Jesus ultimately did for you when He died on the cross. Accept the gift Jesus offers and don’t let anyone trick you out of holding onto the promise of salvation!

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 fall away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!