Cost of Discipleship Pt 58 - First be reconciled with your brother

Chapter 9 - The Brother… continued

Mat 5:21  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:

Mat 5:22  But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Mat 5:23  Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

Mat 5:24  Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

Mat 5:25  Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.

Mat 5:26  Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

Bonhoeffer- 'There is therefore only one way of following Jesus and of worshipping God, and that is to be reconciled with our brethren. If we come to hear the Word of God and receive the sacrament without first being reconciled with our neighbors, we shall come to our own damnation. In the sight of God we are murderers. Therefor "go thy way, first be reconciled with thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." This is a hard way, but it is the way Jesus requires if we are to follow him. It is a way which brings much personal humiliation and insult, but it is indeed the way to him, our crucified Brother, and therefore a way of grace abounding. In Jesus the service of God and the service of the least of the brethren were one. He went his way and became reconciled with his brother and offered himself as the one true sacrifice to his Father.'

My thoughts-

We don't worship God in bringing burnt offerings and gifts to a temple where priests had their role to play in receiving the offerings and gifts- a role God gave them. Our Savior did away with the ceremonial aspect of the law where everything in essence was done in place of Him and His sacrifice, His gift. Because there can never been any sacrifice as worthy as our Savior, we dare not even presume to make one. To leave a gift to God is truly the gift of our service to Him, by serving others.  We can't pluck down the first fruits of our labor and say okay God here it is- then watch it rot, wither, or stay there doing nothing because the service for that was done away with. Our service to God through gift giving to those in need, to our brothers is what is required, but we cannot even attempt to do that without first being right with our brothers.  If we hold anger in our hearts against any, we need to seek forgiveness, repenting and sorrowing for the pain we've inflicted.  To think we can have anything against anyone and that alone has the power to make us unacceptable to God, no matter how much we plead our love of Him, is very mind blowing. We truly CANNOT be right with God if we are not right with those around us.  And by right I mean WE don't hold anger and malice against any for any reason.  We cannot control another person's acceptance of our apology, of our trying to make things right, that is for them to do and their reactions are between them and God. The Bible gives us so many examples of how we should treat others. Our Savior went to great lengths to explain it to us. Why we believe that we have no instruction of God is beyond my comprehension.  We cannot defy God's will and expect Him to accept us, yet so many do.

Bonhoeffer- 'It is grace that we are allowed to please our brother, and pay our debt to him, it is grace that we are allowed to become reconciled with him. In our brother we find grace before the seat of judgment.

Only he can speak thus to us, who as our Brother had himself become our grace, our atonement, our deliverance from judgment. The humanity of the Son of God grants us the gift of a brother. May the disciples of Jesus think upon this grace aright!

To serve our brother, to please him, to allow him his due and to let him live, is the way of self-denial, the way of the cross. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. That is the love of the Crucified. Only in the cross of Christ do we find the fulfillment of the law.'

Joh_15:13  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

My thoughts-

Truth.

Selflessness is truth.

How rare a thing is selflessness.

It truly is only possible through Christ and His amazing love.

We must resist evil to the point it hurts us, until it causes us to bleed as we strive against sin.

Heb_12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin

It is sinful of us to be selfish, it is sinful of us to having anything against our brothers. Through Christ we overcome as we choose to accept His sacrifice and forsake evil in all its forms, for all evil is against Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.

Please Lord teach us to comprehend our role in life, as we choose to serve You, as we choose to be Your disciples.  Help us to comprehend all truth, refusing to give up a single hard truth, for any easy evil.

Bless us Lord, bless us and keep us in YOU in all things!

Cost of Discipleship pt 57 'He who says he loves God and hates his brother is a liar.'

Chapter 9 - The Brother… continued

Mat 5:21  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:

Mat 5:22  But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Mat 5:23  Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

Mat 5:24  Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

Mat 5:25  Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.

Mat 5:26  Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

Bonhoeffer- 'Let us see whether we have tried to win popularity by falling in with the world's hatred, its contempt and its contumely. For if we do that we are murderers. Let the fellowship of Christ so examine itself to-day and ask whether, at the hour of prayer and worship, any accusing voices intervene and make its prayer vain.'

My thoughts-

Do we do this? Fitting in.  We've a world that wants us to fit in.  And most do a lot of things to do just that. People have killed themselves because they can't fit in. Fitting in is just another form of selfishness.  But Satan doesn't want us to view it that way. He wants us once again to call it "normal".  It's normal to want to fit in.  Maybe it is, but it's only because we live in a sin filled world that judges us in so many ways and the judging matters to us because the world says it does, and calls it all normal.

How many people have regrets for going along with the crowd? How many hate themselves later for joining in with the popular people against those less popular? It's a common thing, and it's so very wrong. How many, to spare themselves their own attention from the popular crowd, step in and join the WRONG.  Self preservation, even when it doesn't mean life and death, but the difference between getting good attention of bad attention. Rather than suffer taunts and abuse from bullies, joining them spares a person that very awful pain. We choose to preserve self and deny our brothers, deny others by joining in with the world and we do this in MANY ways, not just in bullying. We laugh at a joke that is crass and ungodly. We smile and hold our tongue against things we know to be wrong, because we are a part of the world's hatred. We can't pick and choose those we love.

Yes, I said that.  We can't pick and choose those we love.  We must have a love for ALL of our neighbors, a love that exceeds the love we have for ourselves, or truly we are murderers, the lot of us.

We need to seek forgiveness for all the anger, the hurt, the lack of love we have for others, and we need to ask for it all the time.

More from Bonhoeffer- 'He who says he loves God and hates his brother is a liar.'

My thoughts- This is TRUTH.  We cannot hate others (ANY OTHERS) and say we love God! We can't. We are creatures among other creatures and we cannot ever be the Creator or even pretend we have Creator abilities. We have NO right to judge another eternally to the point where we can determine they have no right to live forever, only GOD can judge that. The Father God can judge that because He is the CREATOR, and our SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST is our REDEEMER, and He can judge along side of Him, but we have NO right whatsoever to judge. We can only use our creature ability to place our TRUST in God to judge for us and judge rightly. We are to LOVE even those that are considered UNLOVEABLE, because this is what we have been told to do by our Savior. We are to LOVE our brothers, not hurt them, not hate them, not despise them,  not mock them, not rail against them, not deceive them, not lie to them, not do anything untoward to them at all!  This is what we are to do- love.   And we CAN do this through Jesus Christ because Christ did this for US.  We will never have deserved eternal life, we are as guilty as the worst of sinners just by the commission of one willful sin. It is only by GRACE that we are saved! And it is because we have been given GRACE we are to give GRACE.

When we judge we are prone to judge very harshly, when we get angry we are judging- aren't we? Think about it. To get angry we have to make a determination there is something to get angry about. In making that determination we are choosing to judge that anger is the right course of action.  You might laugh and say the anger just comes automatically, that it happens instantaneously.  If that is the case for you then you really need to go deep in prayer and ask God to help you.

Pro_15:18  A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.

Pro_16:32  He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.

We need to love-

1Co 13:1  Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

1Co 13:2  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

1Co 13:3  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

1Co 13:4  Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

1Co 13:5  Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

1Co 13:6  Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

1Co 13:7  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

1Co 13:8  Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

1Co 13:9  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

1Co 13:10  But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

1Co 13:11  When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

1Co 13:12  For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

1Co 13:13  And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

We are to love others and all that means, and it means-

We suffer long, we don't envy, we don't vaunted ourselves, we aren't arrogant, we don't act unseemly, we don't seek our own, we are NOT EASILY PROVOKED, we don't think evil, we aren't happy at sin. We rejoice in TRUTH. We bear all things. We believe all things. We hope all things. We endure all things.

This is LOVE and the only way we can love is through the power of our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit guiding us.

All through the LOVE of GOD! Please bless us Lord and keep us in You, loving our brothers, not hating, not getting angry, not judging. 

 

Cost of Discipleship Pt 56 - Separated from God

Chapter 9 - The Brother… continued

Mat 5:21  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:

Mat 5:22  But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Mat 5:23  Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

Mat 5:24  Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

Mat 5:25  Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.

Mat 5:26  Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

Bonhoeffer- 'When a man gets angry with his brother and swears at him, when he publically insults or slanders him, he is guilty of murder and forfeits his relation to God. He erects a barrier not only between himself and his brother, but also between himself and God. He no longer has access to him: his sacrifice, worship, and prayer are not acceptable in his sight. For the Christian, worship cannot be divorced from the service of the brethren, as it was with the rabbis. If we despise our brother our worship is unreal, and it forfeits every divine promise. When we come before God with hearts full of contempt and unreconciled with our neighbors, we are, both individually and as a congregation, worshipping an idol. So long as we refuse to love and serve our brother and make him an object of contempt and let him harbor a grudge against me or the congregation, our worship and sacrifice will be unacceptable to God.   Not just the fact that I'm angry, but the fact that there is somebody who has been hurt, damaged and disgraced by me, who "has a cause against me," erects a barrier between me and God.'

My thoughts-

Guilty of murder- by merely getting angry.  We do NOT want to comprehend this fully because we LOVE to get angry. We thrive on our ability to get angry. We think NOTHING of being angry, it's expected of us. How often we get angry.  Satan sits back and laughs as his evil has become a way of life and so many are lost to the truth of our Savior. 

When was the last time you became angry at someone?

Be honest.

I'm not asking when was the last time you hated someone, I'm asking when the last time was you became angry at someone? I'm not asking when the last time you ranted and raged against someone. I just want to know when you became angry at someone, the last time it happened. Was it today? Was it yesterday? How about the day before?

I'm positive there are some people that won't remember when the last time was, but I'm also positive there are some who were angry at someone today, yesterday, and the day before that. Some people seem to live on the edge of anger, all the time and the least spark ignites their ire.

When we direct our anger at anyone- doesn't matter who- when we direct our anger at anyone and it's without cause (cause being what?)- they are being murdered by us! They are being wounded by us in  such a real way, Jesus could say the words of the verses above and mean them!

Judgment.

Council.

Fire that burns to ash in complete and utter destruction.

Prison.

These are the results of our unjustifiable anger. Anger that cuts and destroys another.  And if you think for a moment your anger has no power to wound, you're gravely mistaken. Anger destroys the spirit of people. 

Bonhoeffer is right when he says- ' He erects a barrier not only between himself and his brother, but also between himself and God. He no longer has access to him: his sacrifice, worship, and prayer are not acceptable in his sight.'

We no longer have access to our God when we STOP loving our brothers, our neighbors, each other! And when we let our anger rise up we STOP loving!  Oh, we might say that's not true. That we get angry because we love and care and so on and so forth, but it's not true. We've deceived ourselves, we've allowed ourselves to be deceived, and we don't realize that our anger is an extension of our SELFISHNESS.

Our selfishness keeps us from God.

Satan put Himself before God, before his Creator.

We do it all the time.

We put ourselves before God and when a creature puts itself before its Creator, the selfishness, the arrogance, the that rises up separates us from God.

The next time we get angry we need to stop and think about what's really going on. Why is the anger there? And if it has selfish roots we need to really comprehend what's happening- we are separating ourselves  from God.

Just the idea of us separating ourselves from God...our Hope, our Salvation, should cause us to shudder and so much more! The awfulness of that very idea should terrify us!  But we don't want to think of any of that, we'd so much rather indulge our self-delusion that our anger is miniscule and meaningless in the grand scheme of things. It's so much more.

Please LORD help us with our anger! Please, teach us, love us, help us, forgive us!

All for YOUR GLORY! All for YOUR HONOR!

Cost of Discipleship Pt 55 - Anger

Chapter 9 - The Brother… continued

Mat 5:21  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:

Mat 5:22  But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Mat 5:23  Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

Mat 5:24  Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

Mat 5:25  Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.

Mat 5:26  Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

Bonhoeffer-  'Anger is always an attack on the brother's life, for it refuses to let him live and aims at his destruction. Jesus will not accept the common distinction between righteous indignation and unjustifiable anger. The disciple must be entirely innocent of anger, because anger is an offence against both God and his neighbor. Every idle word which we think so little of betrays our lack of respect for our neighbor, and shows that we place ourselves on a pinnacle above him and value our own lives higher than his. The anger word is a blow struck at our brother, a stab at his heart: it seeks to hit, to hurt and to destroy. A deliberate insult is even worse, for we are then openly disgracing our brother in the eyes of the world, and causing others to despise him. With our hearts burning with hatred, we seek to annihilate his moral and material existence. We are passing judgment on him, and that is murder. And the murderer will himself be judged.'

My thoughts-

Righteous indignation, unjustifiable anger.

Even as I was copying that paragraph above I was thinking about the last time I was angry with 'my brother' (meaning anyone).  As I thought about it and knew it was just earlier today I was angry over something- some perceived slight by someone, and because it was anger at a slight it was so easy for me to believe it was justifiable anger, it was righteous indignation-- but was it?

We know that Christ became very angry with the moneychangers in the temple- and obviously His anger wasn't a sin.   We know that God can become angry and not sin.

Exo_4:14  And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.

Moses became angry and sinned not.

Exo_32:19  And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.

We know this as well-

Psa_103:8  The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

Now let's look at some of the Proverbs dealing with anger-

Pro_15:1  A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.

Pro_15:18  A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.

Pro_16:32  He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.

And something from Ecclesiastes-

Ecc_7:9  Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.

Clearly anger is NOT a good thing for us.

We scarcely give what we call righteous indignation a second glance. We join with others being angry when we perceive they have a right to that anger.

Clearly we are NOT to embrace anger, that it's dangerous, not harmless as some like to believe.

The Bible has more to say --

Eph_4:26  Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath

Eph 4:31  Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

Eph 4:32  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Rom 12:17  Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.

Rom 12:18  If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

Rom 12:19  Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

Rom 12:20  Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

Rom 12:21  Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Jas 1:19  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

Jas 1:20  For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

*******

Bonhoeffer- 'Every idle word which we think so little of betrays our lack of respect for our neighbor, and shows that we place ourselves on a pinnacle above him and value our own lives higher than his.'

My thoughts-

So incredibly true.

We have such arrogance in us! We believe we are so incredibly important that we need NOT suffer in any way!  We not only belief that, we believe that we should NEVER be mistreated verbally or mentally, in any way. And truthfully in the world to come, in that PERFECT world we won't undergo any mistreatment. We long for this world and yet, we know that this is not the world where this will take place. This is the world where our perfectly innocent Savior suffered unimaginably.

Not only did our Savior suffer horrors we can't imagine- Him in His innocence- but He did so in SILENCE.

SILENCE!

There was a reason our Savior did NOT cry out and rage against His ill treatment. There is a reason for His stoic behavior in face of His torture. It was an EXAMPLE for US!

Yet we get upset at the littlest of irritations.

How can we? 

And not only how can we, how can we justify that irritation?

How?

We rage and war against the tiniest offense committed against us and Satan is right there in all his horrific , insidious evil urging us on to feel the anger, to feed the anger, to point that anger against any and all who we believe deserve it-- when in truth NONE deserve it!  None!  Even if they torture us for no reason at all, they do not deserve our anger. Our anger immediately has us putting ourselves above them, and above our Savior. If He could suffer undeservedly and not even complain, we have NO right to believe  that we have any right a all to complain. We deserve a lot of our treatment just because we are such incredible sinners, it is Satan who wants us to believe otherwise. Satan wants us to be SELF-RIGHTEOUS. Satan wants us to believe we don't deserve any thing bad happening to us, and we have to fight against it, rail against it, get angrier, and more angrier at the injustice. 

Please LORD, help us to understand! Help us to seek YOU and YOUR example as we live our lives and Satan wars against us.  As You prayed to the Father, please, keep us from evil!

All in YOUR LOVE! ALWAYS LORD, IN YOUR LOVE!

Cost of Discipleship Pt 54 - Our Savior is the heart of the law

Chapter 9 - The Brother

Mat 5:21  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:

Mat 5:22  But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Mat 5:23  Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

Mat 5:24  Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

Mat 5:25  Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.

Mat 5:26  Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

Bonhoeffer- 'Jesus is simply picking up the argument where he left off, and affirming his agreement with the law of the Mosaic covenant. But-- and this is where he is at one with the law of God-- he makes it perfectly clear that he, the Son of God, is the Author and Giver of the law. Only those who apprehend the law as the word of Christ are in a position to fulfill it. The heresy of the Pharisees must be excluded at all costs. Only by knowing Christ as the Giver and Fulfiller of the law can we attain to a true knowledge of the law. Christ has laid his hand on the law, and by claiming it for his own, he brings it to fruition.'

My thoughts-

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Joh 1:2  The same was in the beginning with God.

Joh 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Joh 8:57  Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?

Joh 8:58  Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

1Co 10:1  Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

1Co 10:2  And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

1Co 10:3  And did all eat the same spiritual meat;

1Co 10:4  And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

*******

Truly it is Christ's law, He and the Father agree as one on every single commandment given.

The Word was with God in the BEGINNING.

Before Abraham was-  I AM.

Remember this--

Exo 3:14  And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

And here Jesus is saying in the book of John -  before Abraham was, I am.

Christ was with His Father in the beginning and throughout ALL.  They've never been apart.  So how can ANYONE even imagine the Christ wasn't there as the Ten MORAL Laws were given on Mount Sinai?  He agreed with every single commandment given! He was there as they were etched on those stone tablets! When He became flesh He was still in agreement with those morals laws. This is an indisputable fact. So HOW could He ever do away with them? How? Why would He? Would He have been wrong with any of them? NO! NEVER!

Bonhoeffer- 'Only those who apprehend the law as the word of Christ are in a position to fulfill it.'

TRUTH!

If you choose to follow Christ, you are following His example, you are following the path He followed as much as any human can. You are living as He lived- with the morals He lived by. He NEVER broke a single commandment, never! Only when WE comprehend that our Savior is the author of the Ten Moral Commandments can we truly understand their importance!

Bonhoeffer- ' But while he is in perfect agreement with the law as such, he declares war on all false interpretations of it, and by honouring it he gives himself into the hands of its false devotees.'

False interpretations. There are so many false interpretations of the law.  Our Savior had to tell us the heart of the law because mankind had buried it beneath their selfishness.

Remember this from above-

Mat 5:21  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:

Mat 5:22  But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

If you are even angry you are in danger!

Mat 5:27  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:

Mat 5:28  But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Our Savior is the heart of the law!

How many people had others killed without shedding the blood themselves?  David for example. He had Bathsheba's husband sent to the front lines to be killed so he could have Bathsheba.  David was GUILTY as if he'd thrust the sword in the husband's side himself.  How many people like to skirt around laws, they do it all the time. They find mere technicalities and then pat themselves on the back happily because  they've outsmarted the system. 

Well there is NO outsmarting GOD! NO WAY!  God will not be mocked, He will not be deceived, ever!  He knows the innards of our hearts, he knows our intentions!  And Jesus has revealed this to everyone!  We can't take His law and bend it to suit us! We must obey it with love! Treat it as the precious gift it really is!

Please LORD help us! Teach us! Clean our hearts!  Let us know the truth of Your law, the heart of Your law and keep it as You created it to be kept, all by the grace, mercy, and righteousness of our SAVIOR!

In Your LOVE Always!

Cost of Discipleshp Pt 53 Adherence to Christ Means Adherence to God's Law.

Chapter 8 The Righteousness of Christ Continued…

Mat 5:17  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Mat 5:18  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Mat 5:19  Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Mat 5:20  For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Bonhoeffer- 'Instead the disciples now learn that genuine adherence to Christ also means adherence to the law of God.

But if Jesus comes between the disciples and the law, he does so not to release them from the duties it imposes, but to validate his demand that they should fulfill it. Just because they are bound to him, they must obey the law as he does. The fact that Jesus has fulfilled the law down to the very last letter does not release them from the same obedience. The law is fulfilled, that is all. But it is precisely this which makes it properly valid for the first time. That is why he who obeys and teaches the law will be great in the kingdom of heaven. "Do and teach": we are reminded that it is possible to teach the law without fulfilling it, to teach it in such a way that it cannot be fulfilled. That sort of teaching has no warrant from Jesus. The law will be obeyed as certainly as he obeyed it himself. If men cleave to him who fulfilled the law and follow him, they will find themselves both teaching and fulfilling the law. Only the doer of the law can remain in communion with Jesus.'

My thoughts-

Our world is filled with Christians who believe the law was done away with. Our world is filled with Christians who believe it doesn't matter a whit what they do, Jesus loves them and will save them in spite of how they continue to live. Our world is filled with Christians who have made up their own feel good religion that has nothing to do with all of Christ's truth. They've taken bits and pieces that please them and suit their lifestyles and that's all she wrote, they need nothing more.

Deceived!

So much comes back to the fact that there will be a whole slew of people who think they are Christ's, but they aren't! 

Shouldn't this fact alone cause us to study God's word and study it hard for all the truth it holds?

Bonhoeffer is stating facts here, Biblical facts. He's saying that Jesus fulfilled the law and by doing  so is teaching us that we too much do the same!

It boggles my mind, it truly does, that people can genuinely believe that the God of the Old Testament somehow changed into a big ol' softy and decided people no longer had to follow His laws. Those moral laws are as everlasting as God, there will NEVER be a time it's okay to lie, cheat, steal, murder, etc..etc.. All ten Commandments remain in effect forever!

Reading the Old Testament for my daily Bible reading has only revealed more and more how exacting God is, not WAS, but IS! He's NOT to be trifled with!  Constantly every 10, 20, 30, 40 years God's chosen people would turn away from Him, disobeying His laws, choosing to have other gods before Him, and they'd suffer for their decision as God tried desperately over and over to get His people to understand that only in Him is there truly life.  Judge after judge would rise up and bring the people back to God, but then they'd stray.  The danger in abandoning the law is extreme.  In truth we ABANDON Christ when we abandon His law.

More from Bonhoeffer- 'No one who failed to do the law could be accounted righteous. But the disciple had the advantage over the Pharisee in that his doing of the law is in fact perfect. How is such a thing possible? Because between the disciples and the law stands one who has perfectly fulfilled it, one with whom they live in communion. They are faced not with a law which has never yet been fulfilled, but with one whose demands have already been satisfied. The righteousness is demands is already there, the righteousness of Jesus which submits to the cross because that is what the law demands. This righteousness is therefore not a duty owed, but a perfect and truly personal communion with God, and Jesus not only possesses this righteousness, but is himself the personal embodiment of it. He is the righteousness of the disciples. By calling them He has admitted them to partnership with himself, and made them partakers of his righteousness in its fullness. That is what Jesus means when he prefaces his teaching on the "better righteousness" with reference to his own fulfillment of the law. Of course the righteousness of the disciples can never be a personal achievement; it is always a gift, which they received when they were called to follow him. In fact their righteousness consists precisely in their following him, and in the beatitudes the reward of the kingdom of heaven has been promised to it. It is a under the cross, it belongs only to the poor, the tempted, the hungry, the meek , the peacemakers, the persecute-- who endure their lot for the sake of Jesus; it is the visible righteousness of those who for the sake of Jesus are the light of the world and the city set on the hill. This is where the righteousness of the disciple exceeds that of the Pharisees; it is grounded solely upon the call to fellowship with him who alone fulfills the law. Their righteousness is righteousness indeed, for from henceforth they do the will of God and fulfill the law themselves. Again, it is not enough to teach the law of Christ, it must be DONE, otherwise it is no better than the old law. In what follows the disciples are told how to practice this righteousness of Christ. In a word it means following him. It is the REAL and ACTIVE FAITH in the righteousness of CHRIST. It is the new law, the law of CHRIST. '

My thoughts-

Our Savior lived the LAW - the OLD TESTAMENT MORAL LAW perfectly!  He did NOT invent some new law to fulfill. He came and PROVED it was possible to fulfill the law of God and WE THROUGH HIM can live it too!

As I mentioned earlier it seemed impossible for God's chose people to follow His laws for long, they were trying to do it in their own righteousness. Only those who placed their faith in GOD, could keep His law.

When we say Jesus was sinless, we mean, Jesus did not break a single moral law given to the people of God to follow. He followed all the laws perfectly! He never coveted! He never lied! He never broke the Sabbath! He always honored His mother and father! He never stole! He never committed adultery! He never took God's name in vain! He never put another before God! He never bowed down to any idol! He never murdered!

You might sit there and be able to say that you've never down most of those things, but in truth, you've done some of them.  For even our thoughts of doing them betray us. The Pharisees could lay claim to keeping them all, but in truth their hearts, their thoughts condemned them, and Jesus exposed this fact.

It's the same for us, we are betrayed by our own thoughts and hearts!  This is why we must constantly seek forgiveness, and lay claim by faith to Christ's righteousness, a better righteousness!  

To say the law was done away with, any part of it, is to negate the keeping of it all in every point by our Savior.

Please LORD, help us to teach and do Your law, through Your righteousness, and only through Your righteousness! Help us be Your true disciples!  All by YOUR grace and mercy, YOUR love! Our hope is in YOU, all in YOU!

Love us, know us, Lord! Please!

Bible Study - Fill in the blank.

If you need a Bible on your computer this is the one - E-Sword    http://www.e-sword.net/

(Prayer, Meditation, Watching)



Psa 65:2  O thou that _______ prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.



Heb.  11:6  But without _____ it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must _______ that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently ____ him.



Mat 7:11  If ye then, being  ____, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your ______ which is in heaven give good things to them that ___ him?



Rom 8:32  He that spared not his own ___, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely ____ us ___ things?



Mat 7:7  ___, and it shall be given you; ____, and ye shall find; _____, and it shall be opened unto you:

Mat 7:8  For every one that ______ receiveth; and he that _______ findeth; and to him that ________ it shall be opened.



Jas 1:17  Every ____ gift and every _______ gift is from _____, and cometh down from the _______ of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.



Jas 1:5  If any of you ____ wisdom, let him ___ of God, that ______ to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it _____ be given him.



Jas 1:6  But let him ___ in faith, _______ wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

Jas 1:7  For let ___ that man think that he shall _______ any thing of the Lord.



Mar 11:24  Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye _______, when ye ____, _______ that ye receive them, and ye shall ____ them.



Psa 66:18  If I regard ________ in my heart, the Lord will ___ hear me:



Isa 59:1  Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it ______ save; neither his ear _____, that it cannot hear:

Isa 59:2  But your iniquities have _________ between you and your God, and your ____ have hid his face from you, that he will ___ _____.



Jas 4:3  Ye ask, and _____ not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.