Reflective Bible Study

In our last episode, we began our annual two-part finale focusing in on insights we discovered during the first half of this year focusing on Matthew’s gospel. We ended off last week’s podcast with Jesus rejected at Nazareth. We’ll pick back up at about this point in Matthew’s gospel and move through the second half of Matthew pulling out insights from this last half of our year of podcasting in Matthew.

However, before diving head on into these insights, I want to give you a brief update and a sneak peak at where we’re headed for next year. As our long-time listeners remember, before this year focused on Matthew’s gospel we spent a couple years looking at some topics. Two years ago, we focused in on the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, and last year, we focused in on Jesus’ miracles. As many of you might remember, at the end of our year focusing on Jesus’ miracles, I had the idea of spending the following four years dedicating each year looking at one of the gospels. We just finished Matthew’s gospel, and next up, we’ll be looking at the gospel of Mark.

But while I’m eager to get started looking at and sharing insights from Mark’s gospel, we still have insights left to cover in this last part of our finale focusing on Matthew. So without any further delay, let’s dive into some of the biggest and best insights we discovered while looking at the second half of our year focusing on Matthew’s gospel.

Jumping into the second half of our year in Matthew, episode 26 focused us on the 24 hours or so that included the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus sending the disciples away so He could pray alone, the disciples fighting for their lives in a sudden storm, Jesus walking on the water to them, and what happened when they arrived back on shore. In all these events, we learned that when we are focused on God, His love and power will be seen in our lives and it will positively affect the lives of those around us. We also learned that within these four events, we can see how God is worthy of our trust, our faith, and our belief, and we can see that we succeed when we place His will ahead of our own. We are blessed when we stay focused on Jesus and on doing God’s will for our lives!

Jumping ahead a couple of weeks, we come to episode number 28, where we looked at Jesus helping a gentile woman in a way that might offend some, and how this event is followed up with Jesus feeding a crowd of over 4,000 people. In this episode, we were challenged with the truth that God will sometimes call us to help people who are not like us, and we should help people who ask for help regardless of what they look like and regardless of what our preconceived ideas and stereotypes are. And, God is willing to help us with what we need, and while sometimes He is waiting for us to ask, and push past a few challenges, other times, He is more than willing to supply what we need without us even needing to open our mouths to pray.

Moving ahead to episode 30, where Peter makes the proclamation that Jesus is God’s Son the Messiah, we discover in what happened that regardless of whether I understand prophecy or how the Bible describes future events, my understanding is only as good as my willingness to be open to what God is continually revealing. If I close my mind to what God wants to teach me, then I will ultimately be like the disciples who missed out on the best warning they had regarding the events of crucifixion weekend. The disciples had every opportunity to know what would happen, but they were caught believing the traditional belief of the Messiah, and a belief that the Messiah could not experience death.

In the next episode, number 31, as Jesus comes down the mountain with three of His disciples after the transfiguration, Matthew’s gospel challenges us with the idea that too often, we have our own motives, agendas, thoughts, and perspectives, and we ultimately miss opportunity after opportunity to come to God with the question He wants us to ask.

Moving up to episode number 33, where Jesus describes who would be the greatest in the kingdom by inviting a child to be near Him, we were reminded with the truth that God has given us enough evidence for His existence and enough evidence to show us His character. It is up to us to open our eyes to the evidence He has given and to have faith that looks past the doubt and into the promises He has given to us about our future with Him!

When Jesus talked about forgiveness and conflict resolution in episode 34, He challenged us with the idea that In order to stay forgiven, we must be forgiving towards each other. Jesus’ death on the cross allows God to extend forgiveness to all of humanity. If we choose to not extend forgiveness towards others, then we forfeit our forgiven status and we bring God’s judgment onto ourselves.

Jumping ahead to episode 40, where Jesus is challenged about paying taxes, in Jesus’ response, we discovered that God is not interested in our breath returning to Him before our mission on this earth is finished. Instead, God has loaned us breath so that we can fulfill the mission and purpose He has placed us on this earth to fulfill. In this challenge Jesus shares, I see Jesus challenging every person who has breath to dedicate their breath, or we could say their spirit, or we could say their lives, to God and to the mission He has placed us on this earth to accomplish!

In the next episode after this one, episode 41, Jesus shares a message to Jerusalem while standing near the city. We learned that God isn’t going to force His protection onto a group of people – especially a group of people who are actively rejecting Him. Jesus loves the Jewish people just as much as He loves the non-Jewish people. Bringing this message into today’s culture, we see that placing the truth of the Bible over the traditions of men is the only way for a church or community to stay united with Christ.

Moving forward, when Jesus was anointed during an evening meal shortly before He was betrayed, which we focused in on in episode 44, we learned that: While the woman likely believed her gift to be anointing Jesus leading up to Him stepping into the role of Messiah and King, specifically into the role of a messiah who would overthrow the Romans and give the Jews back their homeland, Jesus shifts the meaning of this gift to be foreshadowing His burial. When we give gifts to Jesus, I believe He is just as willing to take our gifts and use them for His glory, and I believe that while Jesus can use gifts of money to help where money is needed, Jesus really values the gifts that are more specific than money. The gifts we give Jesus that are non-monetary are ones where He can use and multiply for His glory. Giving God non-monetary gifts helps us grow and stay connected to Him in our lives.

Moving forward, we spent several episodes subtly focusing on how Jesus intentionally chose the cross and that dying did not come as a surprise to Him. Jesus could have avoided the cross in any number of ways, but He didn’t and that is because He loves each of us! Episode 45 taught us that Jesus chose the cross. The cross was not something that God the Father forced onto Jesus. The cross was not something Judas Iscariot surprised Jesus with. Jesus knew the date and location of His death before Judas even knew He would be the betrayer.

Without God, life has no ultimate purpose, no hope, and a doomed future. Jesus chose the cross for you and me, and He willingly faced death knowing that through His death, the way would be opened for us to live with God for eternity.

In episode 46, which contained Jesus’ unfair trial that almost fell apart, we learned that When people reject God in their hearts, societies descend into chaos. When people reject God, we shouldn’t be surprised if God chooses to stay silent. Jesus came to show us God’s love, and while there are those who believe God is unloving or unlovable, Jesus came to challenge their belief by living out how much God loves us. Jesus chose the cross to show us God’s love, and through Jesus we can come to know the God who loves us so much that He gives us Himself, and that He gives Himself up to redeem us from the consequences of breaking His law!

Jumping ahead to episode 49, let’s conclude our year of podcasting with what is likely the biggest truth of the gospel message, and the source our greatest hope for our future: On Resurrection morning, the tomb was empty. Jesus returned to life just like He said He would, and His resurrection is a promise, a gift, and a sign that all of God’s people will be resurrected when Jesus returns to take His people home.

As we continue living our lives every day, every month, and every year, remember what Jesus did for us. Jesus did not lie once during His life on earth, and we can trust His words, His promises, and His predictions about being resurrected when He returns to take us home to be with Him!

As we begin our special two-part finale for our year podcasting through Luke’s gospel, let me first wish you a very merry Christmas to you and your family and friends. I hope that you are able to spend time with people you love and I hope that you are healthy over this entire winter season as well. I know I definitely don’t like being sick, and often, when the temperatures turn cold, I start catching a cold, which is aggravating.

However, as we moved through this year looking at Luke’s gospel, one big theme we saw was that sick people who came to Jesus did not stay sick people. Luke is one gospel which loved to draw our attention onto Jesus healing peoples’ physical and spiritual illnesses.

Luke also includes the most detail about the events of Jesus’ birth, as well as John the Baptist’s birth too. With that said, let’s begin our review of our podcast episodes from this past year and focus in on some of the biggest and most profound insights that we uncovered. For time considerations, I might have to skip over some insights because it is always difficult to pull these lists down to a manageable length.

Starting off our year review, let’s look at what we learned in episode 2, which focused in on Gabriel’s visit to Zechariah to promise this elderly couple a child. In our discussion, we discovered that while Zechariah’s silence likely lasted less than a full year, it served as an amazing symbol for God being silent, before stepping into history in a big way through John the Baptist and through Jesus. Zechariah’s silence also served as a sign for everyone present that God was doing something in their midst. Lastly, this sign of muteness served as a reminder to Zechariah himself that God’s promise to him was real!

Jumping ahead to episode 4, we looked at Jesus’ dedication in the temple as a baby, and were awed by the realization that before Jesus had fully stepped into history, and actually barely after He had even entered this world, Simeon, led by the Holy Spirit, forewarns Mary that Jesus’ life as a Messiah would end in death. Jesus would die before she would.

Moving forward to the next episode, episode number 5, we looked at Jesus staying in Jerusalem when He had turned twelve. In this event, we concluded the truth that it is easier to lose Jesus than it is to find Him! One day without Jesus may ultimately result in three days of searching and worry to find Him again!

Skipping over some great episodes we don’t have time to touch on, we move forward to episode 10, where four friends bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus to heal him. In this episode, we learned that sometimes God will validate a message He sends with a miracle. However, don’t expect this to be God’s default method. In the gospels, this might be the only time Jesus uses a miracle to prove a spiritual point. It’s also worth remembering that if God was specifically punishing this man for a sin in his past, there would have been no way for Jesus to heal him against God’s will!

Moving ahead to episode 12, Jesus warns His followers about judging others and He shared a parable about two homes with different foundations. In this event and episode, we ultimately learned that the only thing that matters from eternity’s perspective is what God thinks and how God judges. Jesus has promised us that we can change the measure God uses to judge through the way we interact with others.

Jumping forward to episode 14, Luke includes an event early in his gospel about Jesus’ feet being anointed at Simon’s home. In this episode and event, and within Jesus’ response to Simon and his guests who looked down on what took place, we discovered that the reason we know context matters is God associates with sinners. Jesus came into this world because God loves sinners. While God doesn’t love the sin, that isn’t going to stop Him from seeking out the sinner.

When God forgives our sin, it is like He erases our debt and all that is left is the essence of who we are that He loves. What we do, what we look like, or what is in our genes is not relevant when discussing God’s love.

Jesus assured this woman that her sins were forgiven, because He wanted her to move forward in a new life with God without the cloud of her past weighing her down. Jesus wants us to know that God has forgiven us because He wants us to begin or continue our lives with Him without the sins of our past weighing us down. God wants to redeem us out of sin and into new, eternal lives, with Him!

Continuing our pattern of looking at even numbered episodes, which is something I just noticed but didn’t plan, we arrive at episode 16, where we looked at Jesus casting out a legion of demons and sending them into a herd of pigs. In this episode, when we looked closely at the details, we discovered that God allowed the demons to kill the pigs, but these demons did not, or maybe even could not, kill this man. I wonder if Satan had dispatched a whole legion of demons to kill this man and the closest they could get was driving him from society.

However, nothing could stop Jesus from reaching this man. Nothing Satan could do could stop this from happening. While the demons weren’t restricted from killing the pigs, they were powerless to kill this man under God’s protection. It didn’t matter how many demons were present in this man, God’s protection of this man’s life was clearly stronger.

When Jesus wants to heal a life, free a life, or change a heart, the best Satan can muster is no match for a single command from Jesus’ mouth. And from what Jesus did for us on the cross, nothing Satan can muster can steal eternal life away from those God has chosen and called!

We finally break from this pattern as we move forward by jumping ahead and stopping at episode 19. In this episode, we focused on Jesus sending out the 72 disciples to the surrounding towns and villages and we learned that Jesus challenges us to not become proud about the words we speak, because we are simply a messenger for Jesus. In the same way, we should not take rejection personally, because those who reject us aren’t rejecting us as much as they are rejecting Jesus and God.

The mission of God’s people at every point in history has been pointing people back to what God and Jesus have done for us, and pointing us to His arrival and return. While it may be exciting to have the Holy Spirit with us, we should be even more excited that when we follow God, our names are written in the Book of Life in heaven. In the big picture, it won’t matter what we have done for God. What will matter is whether our names are among those who God is planning on redeeming from sin and bringing with Him into eternity!

Jumping forward to episode 23, we looked at Jesus teaching us about our eyes being lamps for our bodies while He challenges some religious leaders. In this episode, we learned that God wants a personal relationship with us. Any leader, teacher, guide, or mentor who wants to get in the way of you growing closer to God has more in common with these religious leaders that Jesus speaks out against than people God actually sends into our lives.

In the very next episode, number 24, Jesus continued His teaching turning His attention onto greed and worry. Included in the passage we covered in this episode is the parable about the man who was blessed and chose to build bigger barns. This episode taught us a number of very powerful truths that we can use to wrap up the first part of our year-end finale. In episode 24, we learned that when we give up our possessions and give money to help others, we rob greed of its power. Greed has power in our lives when our focus is placed on what we own. When we shift our focus onto selling, giving, and focusing on helping others, greed is robbed of its power in our lives.

The biggest benefit of living a generous life of service to others is that our hearts will be stored with where our treasure is, and when our treasure is stored in heaven, our hearts will be there as well!

God desires your heart and mine. When we live lives focused on serving God, helping others, and storing our treasure in heaven, God gets our hearts as well – and God is the only one who is able to restore a sin-stained heart. God solved the sin problem through Jesus, and He is willing to solve our personal sin problem when we give our hearts to Him!