Reflective Bible Study

As Jesus nears the end of His famous Sermon on the Mount, He challenges those in the crowd, as well as His followers, about a couple things before giving them a big promise that directly relates to how God answers prayers. If you have felt condemned by God, or if you’ve felt as though your prayers are going unheard, perhaps this portion of Jesus’ sermon was shared just for you, and perhaps for people who have felt similar to you.

Let’s dive in and discover what Jesus taught those present about God. Our passage for this episode is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 7, and we will read it from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, Jesus tells the crowd of followers:

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.

³ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

⁶ “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

Let’s pause briefly here to focus on some of what Jesus has just shared. In this portion of our passage, Jesus challenges His followers to only judge others in the same way they would like to be judged. What is interesting about this challenge is that when we judge others, we look at their actions and we assume their intentions from their actions.

However, when we judge ourselves, we look at our intentions and filter the meaning of our actions through our intentions. This is like saying that we judge others by what they did, but we expect to be judged for what we do by why we did it.

This is what Jesus warned us about, because if we judge others by their actions, we will ultimately be judged by our actions as well. Knowing this spiritual rule, we should be even more forgiving and loving towards others, because if we “judge” others through the filter of “forgiveness” and “reuniting people together” then that is how we will be judged, which is another way of saying that we will also experience forgiveness and acceptance.

When we look at other people, we are quick to see even the tiniest fault they have, but when we look at ourselves, we are blind to the biggest faults of our own. If we want to help others with their problems, we should first be conscious, aware, and working to remove the huge faults from our own life as well. We probably should also be careful and cautious about how we approach offering our help to others. If the person we want to help is aware of their speck but also aware of our plank, then it is unlikely they would want our help and it is unlikely they will change their minds regardless of how insistent we are offering our help.

Before moving to the second section of our passage, Jesus shares an interesting metaphor warning us to not throw sacred things to dogs or pearls to pigs. While this has been understood to mean a number of things, or to suggest a number of different things, I think Jesus is warning us to not be too quick about sharing spiritual things with those who are not interested in spiritual matters. This would be like advising us to not take what is precious to us and give it to a pack of dogs or a herd of pigs. Neither group of animals would value it like you might hope they would, and in the same way, people who are unconcerned about spiritual things are not going to care about the spiritual things that you want to share. They might even hate you for it.

However, Jesus then turns his attention onto prayer and onto how we should expect God to answer our requests. Continuing in verse 7, Jesus tells those present:

⁷ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

⁹ “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ¹² So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

In this passage, when we pray and when we ask God for the things we need, sometimes it seems as though He is ignoring us. However, according to this promise, God will give us what we ask for, help us find what we seek, and will open the doors we knock on. This seems simple enough, except for what Jesus then follows up by saying.

Jesus challenges those present when they think about a parent/child relationship that those in the parent role want to give what is good, helpful, and safe to their children. Jesus says that this is even the case with evil people. However, what about God, who knows the end from the beginning, and who knows exactly what we need even if what we need is not what we are asking for?

If we are asking for what God sees as a snake or a stone, which in this context are two things that are not beneficial for us, do you think God will give us something He knows will hurt us? While our requests are sincere and from our perspective, we are asking for what we believe we need, God has a much bigger perspective and a much bigger goal for our lives than we can imagine. God’s ultimate goal is saving us, and as many people as possible for eternity, and with that perspective, if what we are asking for will put God’s goals in jeopardy, then He isn’t going to answer our prayer in the way we think He should answer it.

When we pray, we should pray with trust in God that the answers He sends are exactly what we need to help us, and those around us, to be saved for eternity – even if the answers He sends are not the same as the prayers we prayed.

It is interesting in my mind that Jesus concludes this idea by saying that the law is summed up in the phrase “do to others what you would have them do to you”. Jesus has just been talking about prayer and about God’s gifts to us. It is as though this thought could extend beyond just our interaction with each other and it give us a frame of reference to understand God as well.

Within the context of Jesus’ message, we can understand Jesus telling us that God gave us everything He had, including His own Son to take the punishment for our sins — and while God doesn’t require the same back from us, it is what He desires to see. God did for us what He would want us to do for Him!

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, be sure to seek God first and to love God like He has loved you. When looking for examples of how God has loved you and placed humanity first, look no further than what Jesus did for us. Jesus left Heaven, became human, suffered ridicule and rejection from those who should have known better, and ultimately Jesus gave His life. The Bible teaches that after Jesus’ resurrection and return to heaven, He is still ministering on our behalf before God’s throne in the Heavenly sanctuary. Jesus has given Himself entirely to humanity!

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself. Don’t take my word for anything, or anyone else’s word for that matter. Instead, study out God’s truth for yourself in prayer and Bible study to know for yourself what He teaches us through His Word.

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 leave where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue moving through Luke’s gospel, we arrive at a point where on the surface, it appears Jesus disregards one of the Ten Commandments on two separate occasions. However, when we look a little closer at what Luke describes in these events, we discover a powerful truth about God’s ideal for His Sabbath day celebration.

Let’s read about what happened. Our passage for this event is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 6, and we will read from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 1, Luke describes what happened:

¹ One Sabbath day Jesus was walking through some fields of grain. His followers picked the heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate them. ² Some Pharisees said, “Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath day?”

³ Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he and those with him were hungry? ⁴ He went into God’s house and took and ate the holy bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he gave some to the people who were with him.” ⁵ Then Jesus said to the Pharisees, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day.”

⁶ On another Sabbath day Jesus went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man with a crippled right hand was there. ⁷ The teachers of the law and the Pharisees were watching closely to see if Jesus would heal on the Sabbath day so they could accuse him. ⁸ But he knew what they were thinking, and he said to the man with the crippled hand, “Stand up here in the middle of everyone.” The man got up and stood there. ⁹ Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath day: to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to destroy it?” ¹⁰ Jesus looked around at all of them and said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” The man held out his hand, and it was healed.

¹¹ But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were very angry and discussed with each other what they could do to Jesus.

In these two events, it appears as though Jesus completely disregarded the Sabbath day. One reason for this was because over the previous few hundred years, the religious leaders had built up the importance of the Sabbath and the significance of it beginning at the time of Nehemiah and the restoration of Jerusalem and the temple.

At that point in history, the Jews realized that their exile had been caused by a rejection of God’s Ten Commandments and it had began subtly as a rejection of the Sabbath commandment. Incidentally, the Sabbath commandment is the easiest commandment of the ten to discount as insignificant.

In response to this realization, the Jewish leaders began building up walls of protection for the Sabbath day to keep people from accidentally or inadvertently breaking the Sabbath and bringing God’s punishment back on the people. By the time Jesus came, there was a complex set of rules around what should be done and what should be avoided on God’s special day. Through the extensive set of rules meant to protect the Sabbath, the religious leaders had sucked out all the joy God had intended for His special day of the week.

With this background in mind, we then come to Jesus stepping into the spotlight. If Jesus had stepped into the spotlight 500 years earlier or 500 years later, we would see Him respond to the Sabbath in significantly different ways. Five hundred years on either side of this issue, the Sabbath was being looked down on and marginalized rather than being overly protected. If Jesus stepped into history at a different point, we would likely get a different impression of what Jesus believed for the Sabbath.

Or would we? Would the impression Jesus gives us about the Sabbath be different?

As I think about this, I don’t think it would be. From our passage and these two events, we discover two huge themes Jesus believed about the Sabbath.

From the challenge the Pharisees give Jesus about His disciples picking grain on the Sabbath, we discover Jesus’ reply doesn’t really defend the disciples’ actions, it simply frames the actions of a highly regarded historical figure in a different light. It is as though Jesus counters the seemingly horrible act the disciples are accused of by saying that David, a great king from Israel’s past, did an even worse thing by eating special bread. However, following this illustration, Jesus makes a startling claim in verse 5, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day.”

This is significant because Jesus uses the phrase “Son of Man” to refer to Himself, and He tells us that He is Lord of the Sabbath day. As followers of Jesus, we would do well to pay attention to how Jesus acted towards the Sabbath day, because He has laid claim to the Sabbath day in this verse. From this point forward, we should look to Jesus for our cues on how to relate to the Sabbath.

Fortunately for us, Luke follows this first event up with a second event focused on the Sabbath. In this Sabbath-day healing, Jesus asks the religious leaders a question that helps to frame what He believes the significance of the Sabbath is. In verse 9, Jesus asks the religious leaders present, “which is lawful on the Sabbath day: to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to destroy it?”

Jesus frames the Sabbath as a day to do good, not to do evil; and a day to save lives rather than destroy them. Regardless of what you believe the significance of the Sabbath is 2,000 years after Jesus made this claim, the truth Jesus hints at in this question should be a common foundation for believers.

Jesus intentionally healed the man’s hand on the Sabbath day, in a way that could not be even remotely considered work, but because these religious leaders only saw Jesus as a doctor who healed people, and not a teacher or prophet, Jesus’ healing must be classified as work. The religious leaders’ hostility towards Jesus over how He treated the Sabbath was not because Jesus didn’t take the Sabbath seriously, it was because Jesus openly challenged their traditions and rules regarding the Sabbath and Jesus elevated the Sabbath as a day to worship God and to be a blessing to others.

The Sabbath was a memorial of God creating this world and everything in it, and the Sabbath was also given the status as a memorial of God saving His people out of slavery. In the same way, Jesus elevates the Sabbath and gives it the significance of remembering when He came to save us from sin. Just like God finished His work of creation on the sixth day of the week by creating humanity before resting on the Sabbath, Jesus finished His work of redeeming humanity on the sixth day of the week on the cross before resting on the Sabbath. Jesus modeled the Sabbath and taught it was a day to rest and a day to remember what God has blessed us with, and that it is a time to celebrate just how much God has done 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 choose to let Him lead and guide you forward. If you haven’t done so recently, look at the Sabbath in the Bible and discover how this might just be one of the most significant forgotten gifts God has ever blessed us with. While many today believe the Sabbath is simply any day that is set apart, realize that the Bible teaches us that the Sabbath is a specific day of the week, and while the term sabbath is used to describe other special celebration days, it is also the name of a specific day of the week.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, purposefully pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow your relationship with God. Decide to study the Sabbath out for yourself. Don’t take my word, or anyone else’s word for what the Bible teaches at face value. Determine to study this out for yourself. I’m certain that you will be surprised with what you discover!

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!