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Insights for Students- October 28, 2020

Sermon on the Mount: A model prayer and some perplexing advice Matthew 6 Matthew 6:33 "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6, a continuation of the Sermon on the Mount, contains the Lord's Prayer, perhaps the most famous prayer of all time. This model prayer by Jesus captures well the message of the kingdom: "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). Jesus seeks to bring the two worlds together, and the Sermon on the Mount explains how. At first glance, some of Jesus' advice may seem downright foolish: Give to everyone who asks, love your enemies, turn the other cheek, grant interest-free loans, don't worry about clothes or food. Can such idealism ever work in the "real," or visible, world? That is precisely Jesus' point: Break your obsession with safety, security, thriftiness, self-righteousness. Depend instead on the Father, letting God take care of the personal injustices that come your way, trusting God to look after your daily needs. In a nutshell, the message of the kingdom is this: Live for God rather than for yourself. The message applies to rewards as well. Most of us look to friends and colleagues for our rewards: a slap on the back, a raise, applause, a generous compliment. According to Jesus, far more important rewards will come in God's heavenly kingdom. Therefore, the most significant acts may be carried out in secret, seen and rewarded by no one but God. Future Savings Account As Jesus explains it, we are accumulating a kind of savings account, storing up treasures in heaven rather than on Earth—treasures great enough to pay back any amount of suffering in this life (see Matthew 6:19). The Old Testament has dropped a few scant hints about an afterlife, but Jesus speaks plainly about a place where "the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father" (Matthew 13:43). In their quest for a kingdom, the Jews of Jesus' day have been looking for signs of God's approval in this life, primarily through prosperity and political power. Beginning with this speech, Jesus changes the focus to the life to come. He discounts success in this visible world. Invest in the future life, he cautions; for rust, a burglar or even an insect can destroy all the accumulated things of this present one. Life Questions Among the people you know, who best puts these principles into practice?

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Copyright Information Copyright 2015. Used by permission. Subscription Information This email was sent to Webmaster220 Bible Study Blog by Bible Gateway, 3900 Sparks Drive SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 USA. This email is part of a devotional or newsletter that you signed up for on BibleGateway.com. For information regarding our privacy policy,click here. If you have questions or comments about this newsletter, please contact us. *Manage all Bible Gateway subscriptions — *Opt Out of all Bible Gateway communication *the blog owner has deleted the hyperlink intentionally

Tabletalk Devotions with R.C. Sproul - October 28, 2020

      

A Faithful and Wise Servant Matthew 24:37–51 "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over the household, to give them their food at the proper time?" (Matthew 24:45). The Father alone knows the time of Jesus' return (Matt. 24:36); thus, His people must always be ready for the end. Using illustrations and parables, our Savior begins to explain how to be prepared for His coming (Matthew 24:37–25:30). The first few analogies tell us the second advent of Christ could occur at any moment. Signs may indicate the nearness of Jerusalem's ruin (Matthew 24:1–35), but there will be no way to know whether His final return is around the corner. Everyday life — eating, drinking, marrying — will go on until He comes (Matthew 24:37–39). No remarkable difference in the basic, life-sustaining ways of humanity will herald His return; in fact, the lack of change will make many believe He is not coming back (2 Peter 3:4). We will be unable to discern the last moments before final judgment from the day people cease to form families or find a way to survive without consuming calories, for this day will never come. Mankind will do the most common tasks up until the end (Matthew 24:40–42). Matthew 24:40–44 stress the suddenness of Christ's return. The taking of men and women from their tasks (Matthew 24:40–42) is not a picture of a pretribulational rapture. Instead, Jesus is saying that the separation of the wicked and the righteous will be immediate. It is as if we will look up from our labor one seemingly ordinary day and find ourselves at the consummation of all things. Just as a thief might suddenly break in without warning, so too will our Lord return at a moment when we are not expecting Him (Matthew 24:43–44). These illustrations encourage us not only to be ready for the Savior's final advent, but also to be prepared to meet Him at any point should we die before He comes. Matthew Henry comments, "We cannot know that we have a long time to live; nor can we know how little a time we have to live, for it may prove less than we expect." Putting off repentance and faith can lead to eternal damnation. Therefore, we must be ready for Jesus' return. Readiness, however, is not passive; rather, we are to serve our king actively, knowing that He could come at any minute. May we be wise, faithful servants who work for the kingdom, not those who lie down on the job and are fit only for destruction (Matthew 24:45–51). Coram deo: Living before the face of God Bishop Hilary of Poiters, an early church father, says, "Our ignorance of the day of Christ's return should provoke us to be careful as we eagerly await his coming" (On Matthew, 26.6). Knowing that Jesus could come at any minute should motivate us to pursue holiness, loving God and neighbor. We certainly do not want the Lord to catch us off-guard. Instead, we want to be found working diligently so that He will have no cause to be ashamed of His people. For further study: Isaiah 29:5–8 The Bible in a year: Jeremiah 27:1–28:17

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Copyright Information INTO the WORD daily Bible studies from TableTalk Magazine, Matthew Studies. Copyright © 2008 by Ligonier Ministries. Subscription Information This email was sent to Webmaster220 Bible Study Blog by Bible Gateway, 3900 Sparks Drive SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 USA. This email is part of a devotional or newsletter that you signed up for on BibleGateway.com. For information regarding our privacy policy,click here. If you have questions or comments about this newsletter, please contact us. *Manage all Bible Gateway subscriptions — *Opt Out of all Bible Gateway communication *the blog owner has deleted the hyperlink intentionally

Dallas Willard Daily Devotional- October 28, 2020

Solitude It is a profound truth about human beings that our first area of freedom concerns where we will place our mind. Until solitude and silence have had their effects, our minds will very likely continue to be focused on the wrong things, or on good things in an anxious attitude of trying to dominate them. But as we, through relocating our bodies into solitude, escape and change the inputs that have constantly controlled our thoughts and feelings, we will have additional freedom to place our minds fully upon the great God, his kingdom, and its peace and strength. This, in turn, will transform our emotional state, and thereby the very condition of our body. Most of those around us will sense that and begin to act differently themselves. The social context will change for the better, and what we have to respond to will be much more in the spirit of the kingdom. I have observed this on many occasions. From Renewing the Christian Mind: Essays, Interviews, and Talks. Copyright © 2016 by Willard Family Trust. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

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Copyright Information Copyright 2016 © HarperOne. Drawn from the works of Dallas Willard. Used by permission. Subscription Information This email was sent to Webmaster220 Bible Study Blog by Bible Gateway, 3900 Sparks Drive SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 USA. This email is part of a devotional or newsletter that you signed up for on BibleGateway.com. For information regarding our privacy policy,click here. If you have questions or comments about this newsletter, please contact us. *Manage all Bible Gateway subscriptions — *Opt Out of all Bible Gateway communication *the blog owner has deleted the hyperlink intentionally