tom.nabors

These are illustrations of love for our fellow man. These rules are not to be taken as case law because they are meant to be applied at a personal level. Chistlike love should always be our response to personal insults, slurs, or demands. We should recognize that we are as fallen as the one who is personally offending us. On the contrary to the thought that these sorts of responses would aid and abet evil, they would instead be "heaping burning coals on his head" (Proverbs 25:22; Romans 12:20)

The purpose was actually to restrain the response to an injury so that vindictiveness would be constrained. The punishment was not allowed to be greater than the injury incurred. It was designed to be administered by a court and to govern judical action.

We would think about what we say before we say it. Our contracts would be much simpler because creditability would be unquestioned.

The only exception Jesus gives is "marital unfaithfulness" or "unchastity" (v.32) so He sided with Shammai. It would seem that a woman marrying a later husband is defiled because there was no grounds for divorce in the first place. Remarrying made her an adultress and the man marrying her an adulterer.

Adultery is the act, **** occurs in the heart and from that standpoint is the same thing. **** occurs before the act of adultery. **** breaks the 10th commandment when **** causes a desire of something not allowed.

Those churches that allow for "carnal Christians" must be trying to abolish the OT law. They must have stopped reading Romans when they finished chapter 5. Christian legalism in a church appears when members of that church expect others to obey certain church rituals that are not ordained by God. Other than the sacraments of Holy Communion and Baptism, any other sacrament added can become legalism if people just go through the motions of observing them with no heart felt motive for worship.

Letting our light shine (vv. 13-16) relates to persecution (vv. 10-12) because when light shines into darkness, the evil in the darkness is exposed and / or the darkness does not understand it (John 1:5). The glory of God is effected when Christians shine their light and are persecuted for it because they show the supreme value they place on Jesus Christ. Since Jesus was persecuted, as we grow more Christlike we should expect to be persecuted too. (Matthew 10:24-25) Jesus had to suffer if He were to take our place and fulfill prophesy. (Mark 8:31;9:12;Luke 9:22;17:25;24:46). Maybe we have to suffer for the same reason Paul said he had to suffer in Colossians 1:24. Romans 12:2 tells us not to conform to the ways of the world. Non-conformists are often persecuted or at least rejected.

A light put under a bowl is worthless. If we hide the light of our Christian life, we may be considered worthless.

People with a pure heart have a single-minded devotion to God, not jus a willingness but a desire to serve Him faithfully. In doing this we get to know Him and he knows us enlightening us with discernment. A chronic sinner cannot see God because deliberate sin darkens the eyes of the heart. We obtain a pure heart by looking to Jesus, by fixing our eyes on Him, putting our trust in Him and showing our love for Him who loved us first.

The world has no desire for the righteousness of God. The world's standards are much lower at best and in actual opposition at worst. The righteousness that Jesus is talking about is not self-righteousness, a righteousness that we can establish and achieve on our won. This type of righteousness is God's righteousness that only He can bestow on those who want a relationship with Him. It's the righteousnes that is imputed to us from Jesus Christ when we put our trust in Him for that righteousness. This is the only way we can be truly satisfied, that our hunger can be filled and our thirst quenched. Our own efforts always leave us wanting more.

The ideal of the world is not just "get even" but "don't get even, get ahead" and by any means that serves that end. And if a person "gets ahead" by "doing the right things" as the world judges it in order to bring glory only to himself, this may be the most insidious way Satan has of accomplishing his purpose. In contrast, the Christian's purpose is to bring glory to God and he or she does that by reflecting a Christlike character. One of those characteristics is gentleness or meekness which is a humbling of oneself in submissive obedience to the Lordship of Christ focusing on His worth and glory instead of one's own by reflecting and proclaiming His courageous love.

Until a person realizes they are spiritually destitute they will believe they can save themselves just as the Pharisees did. Only when a person realizes his or her desparate and powerless condition before a holy God will they turn to Him for mercy. A person must be mournful about his or her own sins. They must see the enormity of their crime of rebellion, of playing god and denying the just and righteous God the worship and obedience He deserves. And then they must be truly sorry for it. Christians mourn over the injustice they see in the world, the abominations and sin in the world.

The two parts of each beatitude are 1) the subject being blessed, i.e. type of person being blessed and 2) the reward. Most of the beatitudes are paradoxes because Jesus' intent is to show that the way to true happiness is anti-thetical to the worldly path normally followed in pursuit of happiness. He also wants to strip away our ideas of self-sufficiency and show how spiritually bankrupt we must realize ourselves to be. We bear the fruit of love by being merciful and pure in heart. We bear the fruit of joy by realizing the blessings we have as described in the beatitudes. We bear the fruit of peace as peacemakers. We bear the fruit of patience when we endure persecution and being reviled and insulted for Jesus' sake. We bear the fruit of kindness by being merciful and peacemakers. We bear the fruit of goodness by being poor in spirit and relying on the grace of God through Jesus to reflect goodness. We bear the fruit of gentleness by being meek which means maintaining a humble and gentle attitude that is patiently submissive in every offense and having no desire for revenge. We bear the fruit of faithfulness by hungering and thirsting for righteousness in a way that relies on Jesus for the righteousness that He faithfully imputes to believers. We bear the fruit of self-control by hungering and thirsting for righteousness instead of the things of this world.

Q2. What was the purpose of the Passover meal for future generations? Why was it to be repeated? What was to be remembered? What would have happened if the Jews had stopped remembering the Exodus? The purpose of the Passover for future generations is to remind those who had not witnessed the Exodus of the great things God had done for the people of Israel. By the way the table is set, the Jews are reminded of the how the quickly left Egypt, of the buildings they had built while in Egypt, of the bitterness of slavery, of their tears as slaves, of the Spring time, of the sacrifice in thankgiving to the LORD, of freedom, deliverance, redemption, release and of the Messiah to come. If the Jews had stopped remembering the Exodus, they would have stopped remembering the great things the LORD had done for them.

Q1. When repeated often, doesn't the Lord's Supper run the risk of becoming mundane and lose its meaning? Why did Jesus command its repetition? Anything repeated as mere ritual runs the risk of becoming mundane and losing its meaning. Jesus wanted the sacrament repeated so we would not forget the great loving sacrifice he made, so we would remember the new covenant and the need to commune frequently with Him and other saints. I also think he knew, as human beings, that engaging our physical as well as spiritual senses helps for us to focus better.

Q1. How does your particular understanding of the bread and the wine (literal or figurative) help you grow closer to Christ when partaking of the Lord's Supper? The bread and wine remind me that Christ gave his very self for those of us who believe. They also remind me that His atonement has provided the way to continue to "feed" on Him, commune with Him and enjoy Him as the only way to true joy and fulfillment for all eternity.