Reflective Bible Study

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, it seemed as though He always ran into conflicts with a religious group known as the Pharisees. The Pharisees had become the predominant religious group in Israel at that time, and they had used their position in culture to develop a set of rules that was supposed to keep the people from coming close to breaking God’s laws. However, by the time Jesus entered history as a man walking the earth, things had gotten a little out of hand, and what began as a good idea had spiraled out of control.

The gospel of Mark describes an event where Jesus’ disciples appear to offend the Pharisees, and how Jesus responds to their reaction. For our episode this week, we will be reading from the gospel of Mark, chapter 7, using the Contemporary English Version of the Bible. Beginning in verse 1, Mark tells us that:

¹ Some Pharisees and several teachers of the Law of Moses from Jerusalem came and gathered around Jesus. ² They noticed that some of his disciples ate without first washing their hands.

³ The Pharisees and many other Jewish people obey the teachings of their ancestors. They always wash their hands in the proper way before eating. ⁴ None of them will eat anything they buy in the market until it is washed. They also follow a lot of other teachings, such as washing cups, pitchers, and bowls.

⁵ The Pharisees and teachers asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples obey what our ancestors taught us to do? Why do they eat without washing their hands?”

⁶ Jesus replied:

You are nothing but show-offs! The prophet Isaiah was right when he wrote that God had said,

“All of you praise me
    with your words,
but you never really
    think about me.
⁷ It is useless for you
    to worship me,
when you teach rules
    made up by humans.”

⁸ You disobey God’s commands in order to obey what humans have taught. ⁹ You are good at rejecting God’s commands so that you can follow your own teachings! ¹⁰ Didn’t Moses command you to respect your father and mother? Didn’t he tell you to put to death all who curse their parents? ¹¹ But you let people get by without helping their parents when they should. You let them say that what they own has been offered to God. ¹² You won’t let those people help their parents. ¹³ And you ignore God’s commands in order to follow your own teaching. You do a lot of other things that are just as bad.

Pausing our reading here, I want to draw our attention onto the fact that Jesus did not initiate this conflict, nor did His disciples. Instead, this discussion was prompted by a challenge from a group of Pharisees who believed their own traditions were ordained by God. This is a disturbing place to be, because only if you are 100% correct, which is not possible, can you truly have a foundation in your traditions. It is not possible because God is bigger than a set of rules or a tablet of phrases on a stone.

Relationships cannot be dictated by rules, nor can rules push relationships towards growth. Rules do help relationships by giving all parties involved a unified frame of reference, but it is up to the people included in the relationship whether the relationship itself will grow or die.

At this point, Jesus senses a teaching moment. Let’s continue reading from verse 14 and learn what happens:

¹⁴ Jesus called the crowd together again and said, “Pay attention and try to understand what I mean. ^15-16 The food that you put into your mouth doesn’t make you unclean and unfit to worship God. The bad words that come out of your mouth are what make you unclean.”

¹⁷ After Jesus and his disciples had left the crowd and had gone into the house, they asked him what these sayings meant. ¹⁸ He answered, “Don’t you know what I am talking about by now? You surely know that the food you put into your mouth cannot make you unclean. ¹⁹ It doesn’t go into your heart, but into your stomach, and then out of your body.” By saying this, Jesus meant that all foods were fit to eat.

²⁰ Then Jesus said:

What comes from your heart is what makes you unclean. ²¹ Out of your heart come evil thoughts, vulgar deeds, stealing, murder, ²² unfaithfulness in marriage, greed, meanness, deceit, indecency, envy, insults, pride, and foolishness. ²³ All of these come from your heart, and they are what make you unfit to worship God.

The big, challenging thought we find in Jesus’ words in our passage is that our spiritual cleanliness is based on what we think, do, and say, because these things come from our heart. The state of our heart is what makes us unclean, because when our hearts are evil, evil actions, words, and thoughts will follow. The passage concludes by saying that these evil things make us unfit to worship God.

I suspect that some people living in the first century believed that the food that was eaten made one acceptable or not acceptable to God. While this is not the case, some people have taken Jesus’ words here to the opposite extreme with the idea that anything can be eaten freely. However, while all “foods” are fit to eat, it would be good for us to define what is intended to be a food for us and what is not. It would also be worth making the distinction that not all foods are equally healthy for us.

Nothing that goes into our mouths makes us less loved by God, but what comes out of our mouths can make us unfit for worship, because the source of what we say is what is inside our hearts.

I’m challenged by this because Jesus is essentially saying that regardless of how we look on a given weekend at church, if our hearts are unclean, then we are unfit to worship Him. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t worship, or that we shouldn’t pray for God to create a new heart within us, but it does mean that we shouldn’t make our worship all about us.

Worshiping with the frame of mind that says we are unfit to come and worship is the beginning of the realization that nothing we do, say, or think can make us more acceptable to God. Instead, this prompts our prayers to be requests for help and acknowledging that our lives are filled with sin – even if that sin is not known by anyone else.

I don’t believe Jesus shared this challenge to put these Pharisees in their place. Instead, I believe this was Jesus’ way of challenging them on their own terms, by pointing out inconsistencies with how they say they believed when compared to how they acted. If it were possible, I believe Jesus would have done everything possible to bring these religious people into a better understanding of God, but because their hearts were so hard and stuck on their traditions, even God couldn’t break in.

Part of me wonders if Jesus’ hard words actually did break through some of the hard shells of the Pharisees’ hearts. While there is no way to know on this side of heaven, I am curious if Jesus’ words reached someone in this group, even though everyone else was offended. I also wonder if these words challenged the disciples who were present with how they chose to worship God.

Perhaps this is even a challenge for us today.

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

Humbly come to God and seek Him first in your life. Understand that without Him, our hearts are bent towards evil and selfishness, and only with His help can we hope to be clean and fit to worship Him. The challenge for us living today is to continually, intentionally move towards Him and ask Him to help clean our lives up.

After making this commitment, it is extra important for us to not only study the Bible for ourselves, but to do so with a prayerful, humble attitude. As we pray and read the Bible, God will impress on our hearts what we need to get rid of and what we should add into our lives.

And when we receive this inspiration, know that it is designed to help us move into where God wants to lead each of us. Because of this reason, I always end each set of challenges by challenging each of us – including me – to 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!

After sharing some end-time parables with the disciples in the large discussion about the time of His return, Jesus shifts His focus out of speaking in parables, and He returns to teaching about His return. In this grand conclusion to His end-time message, Jesus shares one of the most practical truths in the entire Bible, and it is a truth that is easy to see while also being easy to miss.

Let’s read how Jesus concludes His message for these disciples, and how this message has challenged believers throughout the centuries stretching all the way to today. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 25, and we will be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Starting in verse 31, Jesus continued by saying:

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

³⁵ For I was hungry
and you gave Me something to eat;
I was thirsty
and you gave Me something to drink;
I was a stranger and you took Me in;
³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me;
I was sick and you took care of Me;
I was in prison and you visited Me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or without clothes and clothe You? ³⁹ When did we see You sick, or in prison, and visit You?’

⁴⁰ “And the King will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ ⁴¹ Then He will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels!

⁴² For I was hungry
and you gave Me nothing to eat;
I was thirsty
and you gave Me nothing to drink;
⁴³ I was a stranger
and you didn’t take Me in;
I was naked
and you didn’t clothe Me,
sick and in prison
and you didn’t take care of Me.’

⁴⁴ “Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help You?’

⁴⁵ “Then He will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me either.’

⁴⁶ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

In this passage, we see one of the most startling challenges we have on the subject being saved. This passage seems to indicate that our salvation hinges on something we do rather than on the One we believe in. However, narrowing our salvation down to be exclusively based on the truth in this passage only shares half of the truth.

The full truth is that our salvation is based on faith, but our faith is only valuable when it is visibly helping others.

In this passage, I find it interesting that both groups of people are surprised to find out that Jesus was among the least of these people. While I don’t believe that Jesus was literally present in each of these situations, I believe that Jesus shares a powerful truth based on how God wants us to focus our love for Him. Within this passage, I see God, through Jesus, challenging us to love Him by loving and helping those in society who cannot help us in return or repay us for our help.

While the list of help that Jesus shares is probably not exhaustive, I believe it gives a tangible theme of the type of help God values. When someone is hungry or thirsty and we give them food or drink, they cannot repay us. If they had money, they could simply buy food or water, and if they had food or water, then they wouldn’t be hungry or thirsty. Helping others in this way is help that introduces us to the theme of helping in a way that cannot be repaid.

Next, we discover that helping a stranger by giving them a place to stay also follows along the same theme. If someone had money, they could rent a room in a hotel, and they would have a place to stay. Without money, when we take someone in and give them a place to stay, there is nothing they can really do to repay us. While they might help around our home, chances are good that their “repayment” is really a way of saying thank you more than trying to earn their right to stay.

After the stranger, we discover the same theme within being naked and being clothed, sick and being taken care of, and in prison and being visited. All of these examples represent help that is giving without expecting any type of repayment, and it is help in situations where payment cannot be returned.

So why does God value this type of help to base our salvation on? In my mind, I see this type of help being God’s type of help. This type of help is what God has done for each of us.

By sending Jesus into this world, God chose to step down and help the human race when we didn’t deserve help, and when we could not do anything or repay anything back to God. It is as though God gave us a million dollar gift and the best we could return is a penny.

But Jesus didn’t come to collect the pennies of humanity. He came because God is interested in sharing the millions and billions in gifts because of who He is and how much He loves us. The best way we can say thank you to God, continuing our metaphor, is to pass our pennies on to those who cannot repay us.

While it might be easy to jump to the conclusion that money is the best gift, money is also the most repayable gift. When we are called to help others, we are called to help in ways that are not repayable.

God values humanity so much that He gave Himself for us. While anyone could help another person out, only those who help others because they love God, they have placed their faith, hope, and trust in Jesus, and they have chosen to show their love for God through loving others will experience salvation. The motivation of the heart matters and the reason for our love is crucial.

People can love and help others with self-serving motives, and people can love and help others without having faith in Jesus. These people will have only carried out the visible half of salvation while missing the hidden part. Others can place their faith and trust in Jesus but be cruel and mean to everyone they meet. This second group will have only carried out the hidden half of salvation while missing the visible part.

In order to be welcomed into heaven, we must be saved internally, because of our faith is 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 us!

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

Always seek God first and place Him first in your life. Be sure to have your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus’ sacrifice to cover your sins. Believe that His sacrifice is enough and show your thanks to God for what He has done for you through helping others who cannot help you in return. Pay God’s love forward in the world around you!

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to keep your connection with God strong. We need a strong private connection with God to truly know His level of love and sacrifice for us. We cannot out give God, and the closer we are to Him, the more we know this to be true.

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!

When reading through the gospels and comparing them with one another, John’s gospel seems to stand alone in how it describes Jesus. While all four gospels focus on Jesus as the Messiah who God sent into the world, and while all four gospels describe Jesus’ crucifixion, Matthew, Mark, and Luke take a similar approach to Jesus’ life, and there is a lot of overlap in the events each of these three gospels describe.

In some cases, the events in each of these three gospels might be the same event, but in other cases, they each may have chosen similar but unique events to include. However, John’s gospel seems to share a unique series of events. Aside from the crucifixion conclusion, which is also shared from a unique angle, John’s gospel rarely overlaps events found in the other gospels.

But our passage and event for this week is one of those rare exceptions. While I am use to saying an event is found in two or three of the gospels, our event for this week is found in all four of the gospels. Since John includes a couple additional details, let’s look at how He describes what took place one day during Jesus’ ministry.

The event we are focusing on can be found in the gospel of John, chapter 6, and we will be reading from the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse one, John tells us:

¹ After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). ² A large crowd followed Him, because they saw the signs which He was performing on those who were sick. ³ Then Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples. ⁴ Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. ⁵ Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?” ⁶ This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do. ⁷ Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.”

Let’s pause reading here for a moment. Jesus is very observant to what is happening around Him, and He senses a teaching moment for the disciples. While He directly asks Philip the question about bread, Jesus probably could have asked this question to any of the twelve disciples. Maybe Philip knew this part of the countryside better than the other disciples, or perhaps they were all in an unfamiliar location.

It is interesting to note that Jesus asks His question looking for a place, and Philip’s response is that a place to find bread is not as significant as simply coming up with the amount of money needed to purchase enough bread.

However, another one of the disciples, on hearing the question, catches this nuance, and he chooses to answer with a place that has some bread, but even he is doubtful in his response. Continuing in verse 8:

⁸ One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, ⁹ “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?” 

Pausing again, while Andrew understood that Jesus was looking for bread, even he understood that that five loaves and two fish wouldn’t satisfy the hunger of 5 people, let alone 5 thousand men, in a crowd that likely had plenty of women and children in it as well.

However, Andrew did answer with a place, and with the gift of a child, let’s read about what happens next. Picking back up in verse 10:

¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted. ¹² When they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.” ¹³ So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.

Let’s stop reading here and draw our attention to the lesson Jesus wanted the disciples to learn. In this event, the size of what we have is less relevant than the power of God to exponentially multiply what we are willing to give to Him.

In this event, the small gift came from outside of the circle of disciples, and God used it in a powerful way. We can learn from this event to not discount any gift given to God, and to ignore the size of it. We could also frame this event as what happens when a child gives up his entire meal so that Jesus has something to eat. This child didn’t have an extra loaf or two in his back pocket and only gave Jesus part of what he had. In God’s eyes, giving up an entire meal to help one other person was just the faith God could use to bless a crowd that might have exceeded 10,000 people.

Using this ratio and applying it to what God accomplished through Jesus, one perfect life that was sacrificed was able to cover all of humanity’s sin. The feeding of the 5,000 is really an event that echoes what God was doing through Jesus on a much smaller scale.

From the disciples’ frame of reference, the gift of a little food was given to them from an outside source, and God used it to bless thousands. From our frame of reference as members of humanity, the gift of Jesus came from an outside Source, and through Jesus, God is actively saving people each and every day, and giving those who choose Jesus a new life with Him.

Through Jesus, God has made the way for the billions of men, women, and children who have lived at every point in history the option of a new life with Him. Jesus’ life is a sacrifice given to humanity similar to that unselfish child’s gift of a lunch – and when a gift is given like this, God is able to use it to do great things!

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

As I always open these challenges by saying in one way or another, continue seeking and moving towards God in your life. If you haven’t done so already, accept Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross as a substitute for your sins, your mistakes, and your rebellion, and trust in Him for your salvation.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do, intentionally pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn more about God, more about Jesus, and more about what He has done for you and for me. While we can learn from other people, the best place to learn more about God is through the words He has preserved throughout history in the collection of books we call the Bible. Through the Bible, we can learn what God is like, and how much He loves each of us.

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!

After Jesus shared the parable of the ten bridesmaids, He follows up by sharing another fairly well known parable. This follow-up parable is our focus for this episode, and it is often called the parable of the three servants. Similar to the parable of the ten bridesmaids, we hear this parable so frequently shared out of the context of the end-times discussion that we think Jesus shared it at some point in the middle of His ministry.

However, we know from our journey through the week leading up to the cross that the real context of this parable is the end times, and it is part of Jesus’ long response to the disciples about what the end time will be like.

Let’s read this parable and discover what addition details Jesus wants to share with us regarding the Kingdom of Heaven during the end times. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 25, and we will be reading from the New Living Translation. Starting in verse 14, Jesus continues by saying:

¹⁴ “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. ¹⁵ He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.

Let’s pause briefly here, because three big ideas are present in this opening that we may miss if we read through this parable too quickly.

The first big idea in this opening that we are tempted to miss is that the master strategically divided the silver, “it in proportion to [each of the servant’s] abilities”. This meant that the master paid attention to the servants and He knew that there were differences in each. Instead of giving each servant the same amount, the master strategically divided up 8 bags among the three servants.

This also tells us that while God might not give blessings equally, He is strategic with His gifts. He will not give us more than we are capable of handling.

The second big idea we see relates very closely to the first. While it might be easy to get caught up on the unfairness of each servant receiving a different amount, the truth is that every servant did receive something. It would be foolish for the servants to compare with each other and speculate why others got more or less than them. In the same way, it does us no good to compare our blessings or experiences with each other because all we will discover is that they are simply different.

While we might not understand why God has blessed someone else more or less than it seems He has blessed us with, our focus should instead be on using what He has blessed us with to help others, and not worry about playing the comparison game. The comparison “game” is really a trap to distract us from doing what is truly important.

The third big idea is in the last phrase we read in verse 15: “He then left on his trip.” When we read this statement, it is worth noting that there is no indication when the master will return. It could be days, months, years, or even decades later. There is no hint at the length of time, except to say that it probably was longer than a day or a week because the master expects the servants to have enough time to do something with the money.

This also tells us that Jesus’ return will likely be later than what we might think, plan for, or realize. This shouldn’t discourage us. Instead, we have been blessed with more time to grow the blessings God has given to us – even if the blessing we have only feels like one bag of silver.

Continuing reading in verse 16, Jesus then tells us:

¹⁶ “The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. ¹⁷ The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. ¹⁸ But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.

¹⁹ “After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. ²⁰ The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’

²¹ “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’

²² “The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’

²³ “The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’

²⁴ “Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. ²⁵ I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’

²⁶ “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, ²⁷ why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’

²⁸ “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. ²⁹ To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. ³⁰ Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

The challenging part of this parable for me comes down to the comparison trap that we talked about earlier. All too often, it seems like I can look around and see people who appear much more blessed than me. I am also aware that other people might look at me the same way – as being more blessed than them.

However, while it is easy to look at those who appear to have more blessings, the only direction this really takes us is down. We feel blessed less when we focus on those who have been blessed more, and this makes us feel like the few blessings we have to admit to being given are only equivalent to one bag of silver, and that it would be better to hide these blessings rather than use them.

This is a huge trap. All three servants faced this trap, and it is a trap of fear. Hiding what God has given to us, or purposely sitting on the sidelines when we could be in the game, is falling to the trap of fear that the one-bag servant was guilty of. While this servant wasn’t the star performer of the servants, the master still gave him a chance, and he still received blessings – according to his ability – which meant that even if he didn’t believe he had anything special to offer, the master saw some potential there.

God sees potential for His Kingdom in each and every one of us. While we might not see ourselves as He sees us, God has placed us on this earth for a reason, and even if we don’t see or know His reasons for why we are here, we should move forward focused on serving Him with whatever He has given to us.

Don’t let fear of the unknown, fear of rejection, or fear of failure get in the way of moving forward along the path God has placed before you and I. Fear could have derailed any of the three servants, but it didn’t have to derail any of them either. So regardless of whether you feel as though you’ve been given an oversupply of blessings or if you struggle to even find one blessing from God, focus on serving Him and using what He has blessed you with for His glory and advancing His Kingdom!

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

Always seek God first and focus on serving Him ahead of being fearful, scared, or timid about using what He has blessed you with. While it’s easy to fall into the trap of comparing yourself to someone else, that trap doesn’t lead anywhere positive. Instead, focus on what you can do for God and how you can live for Him today, and every day moving forward.

Also, be sure to always pray and study the Bible for yourself and focus on growing closer to God personally. When we grow close to God and lean on Him for help, support, and direction, He will lead us along the path He created us to walk, and He will bless us in ways we will only realize after His story is finished. But don’t take my word for it, pray and study the Bible for yourself to see for yourself how this is true for many of the Bible’s heroes of faith.

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