Reflective Bible Study

As we begin our special two-part finale for this year of podcasting, first off I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas. I hope that in the midst of all the festivities, you are able to remember this as the time Jesus stepping into our world, and that this only matters because of what we have just finished focusing on during this previous year of podcasts. Without the cross, Christmas would lose all meaning, and the cross, which we have just finished focusing in on this past year, would not have happened without Christmas.

Without any further delay, let’s dive into some of the biggest and best insights, at least in my own mind, that we discovered this past year focusing in on the cross. As always, we discovered so much that I had a difficult time narrowing down this list to a manageable length.

We’ll start off by focusing in on what we learned in episode 1. Episode 1 drew our focus onto Jesus receiving a special gift, and the giver being criticized by those present due to the supposed cost of this gift. In this episode, we summarized the following lesson for our lives: While we are called to help others, the truth of this life is that the most generous person who doesn’t have a relationship with Jesus will be worse off when this life ends than the person who could have been more generous, but they chose instead to focus on and grow towards Jesus. We might not always feel God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit’s presence, but we know from Jesus’ challenge that this is where we should focus our attention.

Moving forward into episode 2, we focused on Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, and on a peculiar message Jesus shared when He saw Jerusalem and wept. We discovered in this event that: When we depend on God and lean on Him for guidance, He will teach us what to say, and He will bring us His peace. While Jesus wept when realizing that the city He loved would ultimately be destroyed, He still loved the city and the people living within its walls. Even if our own lives cause Jesus pain, He still loves each of us and He wants to help heal our hurts.

Jumping ahead to episode 4, we discovered some amazing lessons related to prayer in the unfortunate end of a fig tree that looked leafy, but was being unfruitful. In this episode, we concluded that: We are called to pray with faith in God; with forgiveness in our hearts; with no doubt that God loves us, that He wants to answer our prayers, or that He wants the best for us; and with the trust that He answers our prayers the moment they leave our mouth. After we pray, we should eagerly look for answers He has given and expect to see them show up in our lives when the time is right.

Episode 5, which has Jesus kicking the commerce out of the temple also taught us a lesson about prayer. We discovered that: Prayer is all about coming before God, and submitting ourselves to His will. While prayer can include requests for help from God, prayer is inherently focused on God and not on ourselves. An exclusively self-focused and self-serving prayer is unlikely to be answered ever.

Moving into Episode 6, we learned a powerful truth from a challenge Jesus received from the chief priests and leaders about where Jesus received His authority. In this episode, we discovered that: Knowledge that is not applied is worthless. It is harder for an arrogant follower of Jesus to be saved than it is for the most sin-filled, evil person who decided to change, come to God, and repent. Anyone who believes they don’t need to repent has just placed themselves in the same group these religious leaders are in, and this group risks losing their salvation. An arrogant pride stopped the religious leaders from discovering and accepting Jesus, and arrogant pride in our own lives and hearts risks our own salvation.

Episode 7 continued this theme in the parable of the evil tenants, which challenged us with the truth that: God gives everyone the freedom to choose Him or not. God is looking for a people who will return His portion of fruit to Him. The challenge for us to remember is to be fruitful towards God, and to return His portion of what He has blessed us with, otherwise God may move to focusing on a different group than the one we are in.

Jumping up to episode 10, where Jesus is challenged regarding marriage and the resurrection by a group of Sadducees, we learned that: God has the perspective that everyone is alive, but that is because He can see all points of history. This doesn’t mean that everyone is conscious at all points in history. Instead, our perspective mirrors the first part of Jesus’ reply: We look forward to the resurrection, when God the Creator and Re-Creator, pull everyone from their respective endpoints in history’s timeline into a brand new timeline called the New Heaven and New Earth.

In this same episode, we also learned that: In the new age without sin, Jesus tells us that there won’t be marriage, but I’m sure that is because it will have been replaced with something even better.

Moving up to Episode 15, we learned from an answer Jesus gives to His closest disciples that: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.” From this episode and this promise, we discovered that: This promise is powerful because it reminds us that whatever happens in this life, and whatever Satan tries to throw at us to take our focus off of God, in the end, Jesus’ words and His message will survive. Jesus’ words last forever. Jesus’ words last longer than sin. Jesus’ words bring eternal life.

Episode 16 draws our attention onto an illustration of wise and faithful servants being rewarded. We discovered that: It’s possible that Jesus’ return will be after we have died in this life. It is not up to us whether we will be alive when Jesus returns, or resurrected when He appears. Instead, God brought us into the world at the time He did because He has a task for us to accomplish. All of God’s wise and faithful servants will be saved when Jesus returns, and this includes both those who are living at the time He returns, and those who have been awaiting resurrection.

Jumping forward to Episode 19, we read Jesus’ big conclusion to His end-time teaching which included a sobering parable about sheep and goats. From this illustration, we learned that: When we are called to help others, we are called to help in ways that are not repayable. The motivation of our hearts matter and the reason for our love is crucial. In order to be welcomed into heaven, we must be saved internally, because of our faith in Jesus, and we must display our faith and thanks to God for His gift by helping others in ways that are not easily repaid. This is living out God’s character in the world, and it’s His challenge to each of His followers!

In the next episode, Episode 20, we looked at Judas Iscariot plotting His betrayal with the religious leaders. In this episode, we are reminded that: God and Jesus gave Judas Iscariot every opportunity to change his heart and his life, but he refused. Through the negative of Judas Iscariot’s betrayal, we have Jesus’ sacrifice for us, and we have the amazing news that His death gives us the opportunity for a new life with Him. God is able to turn negatives, even the betrayal of His own Son, into amazing good for His Story of redemption!

To follow up what we discovered in Episode 20, jumping forward to Episode 22, we saw that Jesus washed Judas Iscariot’s feet, and in Episode 23, we saw Judas Iscariot having one last opportunity to reject the role of the betrayer. We saw that: If Judas refused the bread, Satan would not have entered Him, and it is possible this would be the beginning of Judas letting Jesus into His heart. Judas had the choice whether to accept the bread from Jesus, and Judas accepted both the bread and the role of betrayer in one instant. Judas Iscariot was not forced to accept the role of betrayer. God did not predestine him to this role. Jesus did not invite Judas to be a disciple on the condition that three years later, he would betray Him. Judas chose the role of betrayer with his own free will, and simply because God saw this happen, and because it was predicted before the events took place, everything hinged on Judas’ choice to accept the bread.

In a less negative way, we discovered in this powerful episode that: By accepting Jesus into our hearts and lives, we are also accepting the One who sent Jesus, and this is God the Father, and His Holy Spirit.

Let’s wrap up this episode by focusing on the last thing we discovered from Episode 23: Even though God knows us so well that He knows what we will choose, we still have the freedom to choose when the moment comes. When we face temptation, regardless of our past, we can choose a new path moving forward. While our past lives might be full of sinful decisions, Jesus came to take care of our past when we choose to accept Him into our lives, accept the One who sent Him, and to turn away from the sin in our past. Jesus came to give us a new life with God, and God is inviting us to grow with Him for eternity.

Don’t ever let yourself abandon or chicken out of the new life God has called you to live!

As Matthew’s gospel comes to a close, we come to one of the more famous passages in the entire Bible, and likely the most famous and quoted ending to any of the gospels. In Matthew’s conclusion, Jesus gives them what is often called the Great Commission, and He leaves them with a promise. However, far from being a promise just for Jesus’ first followers, this commission and promise extend forward to all of God’s people and to those who have chosen to follow Jesus.

Let’s read what Matthew describes as Jesus’ final message to His followers, and as we read, look for an interesting description of those who were present for this event. Our passage and event are found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 28, and we will read from the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 16, Matthew tells us that:

¹⁶ [But] the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. ¹⁷ When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. ¹⁸ And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

In this grand conclusion to Matthew’s gospel, we read the amazing description that some were doubtful. While Matthew skips over some of the events the other gospel writers include that happened after Jesus’ resurrection, we might be tempted to think that the doubtful “some” was really Thomas, who gets the reputation for being a doubter in what is described in John’s gospel. However, John’s gospel circles around and describes Thomas giving up his doubt when he ultimately sees Jesus. This leads me to conclude that the doubtful disciples described in Matthew’s gospel did not include Thomas.

Before moving forward to focus on the great commission and the great promise, it is worth paying attention to this verse. Verse 17 tells us “When they saw Him [referring to the disciples seeing Jesus], they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.”

From this verse, we can conclude three big things.

First, when Jesus appeared to these disciples, and presumably everyone else who was present, Matthew tells us that when they saw Him, they worshiped Him. This tells us that even though some of them were doubtful, doubt doesn’t have to stop us from worshiping. Some people believe doubt is a reason to not worship or believe, but here in Matthew’s conclusion, we see worship being given to Jesus in spite of some people feeling doubtful.

Also, in this verse, we can conclude that in some instances, it is appropriate to realize that doubt may always be present. However, just because doubt might be present doesn’t mean that it should be given recognition. I wonder if Matthew was one who had some doubts, since he includes this detail here. However, the doubts Matthew may have had did not stop him from worshiping Jesus, and these doubts did not stop Matthew from proclaiming the great news of Jesus till His dying breath. Matthew allows for doubt to be present, but he doesn’t let it get any recognition.

The third thing we can learn from this verse is a challenge. This verse challenges us with an unpleasant truth. Even after seeing Jesus in person and worshiping Him, some people will always question what happened. Some people will let their minds play tricks on them and will let doubt have a foothold in their minds. While some of those present might have still been trying to wrap their minds around the resurrection and what had happened a few weeks earlier, other people take extraordinary events and their default response is to doubt the events actually happened.

Denying an event happened when there is evidence saying the exact opposite is like claiming the traffic light is red when it is really green, or saying that that stop sign doesn’t exist and that it can be ignored. While it is clearly possible to reject the evidence you have staring you in the face, rejecting evidence is never a wise move.

However, a bonus thing we can learn from this verse in addition to these other three things is simply that when we see Jesus, regardless of any doubt we may have, the best thing we can do is to love and worship Him. The best response we can have when seeing Jesus is to worship Him, which is an outward example of loving, praising, thanking, and respecting Him.

After worshiping Jesus, Jesus gives these followers the great commission. He begins by giving the disciples the truth that He has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. This means that while Satan still claims to rule this world, he has to work around what Jesus has commanded, and because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, this world truly belongs to God. Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth and this means that anything Satan does is an underhanded attempt to undermine Jesus’ authority.

This shouldn’t surprise us at all, but it should help us understand the spiritual battle we are in. Satan doesn’t want to let this world go without a fight, and while he has lost the war and his fate is sealed, he is still trying to win battles against God for the hearts and minds of those living on this earth. Satan doesn’t care about humanity. All Satan cares about is hurting God because through Jesus and His sacrifice, God showed the universe His character of love while also exposing Satan’s character of hate.

God wants the best for all of humanity, and it is His desire to save as many people as who will accept Him. God isn’t going to force people into heaven against their will or against their choice. A God who forces His will on humanity is not a God of love. In contrast, Satan doesn’t care about humanity and he is more than willing to ridicule, force as much as possible, and make life hard in as many ways as he can for those who have openly sided with God.

But this is all Satan can do. He can make the lives of God’s people challenging in this life, but he cannot steal our future lives away from us. When we have allied with God, we will outlive the devil and that is a promise we repeatedly see in the Bible!

God has challenged us to spread this great news with people. We are called to go to all nations, baptize people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teach people to observe what Jesus has commanded us, and when we move forward doing this, we can claim the promise that even though our lives won’t always be easy, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is with us until the end of the age!

Even if Satan tries to make our lives as disciples of Jesus hard, remember that Satan cannot steal you away from Jesus, and because of the cross, our ultimate victory is guaranteed and Satan’s fate is sealed.

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 stay with Him regardless of what Satan throws your way. Don’t let doubt gain a foothold in your life and don’t let any doubt that is present have any recognition in your mind. Instead, claim the promise that because Jesus has risen from the dead, He now has all authority in heaven and on earth and that He has promised to be with His people regardless of what Satan does or claims. Remember that with Jesus, we will out-live the devil.

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each day. Choose to take everything you read and hear and filter it through the message and truth of the Bible. Don’t take my word, or any other person’s word for what the Bible teaches. Instead, study it out for yourself and in the process of doing this, discover a renewed relationship with Jesus.

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