Morsels 5

 

Morsels 5 Testing God

Scripture Matthew 4:5-7 New International Version 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    and they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’  7.Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test

See also Luke 4 ;9-12 Psalm 9;11-12 Deut 6: 16.Numbers 17: 3-7

Comments

Our Lord instinctively goes to Scripture when confronted by the devil for Scripture is the place where God reveals Himself to His people. It is God’s message to us. The devil is tempting Jesus to demonstrate His divinity by a spectacular act. People will believe because of this parlour trick. This would do away with the need for the cross. But such an act does not reveal the heart of God and it leaves the problems of a fallen humanity unresolved. Jesus rejected the short cut and thank God He did.

At Massah the people of God questioned His reasons for saving them. Instead of a simple prayer for water they resorted to abusive complaining. Did not they realise how small they were before their creator.

Where does this leave us in 2025? The Israelites had queried God’s deliverance abusively. They failed to trust Him for the essentials of life. We need three things;

1. A deeper reverence for divinity. In prayer we have dealings with the maker and ruler of all things. The old phrase “ God fearing “ comes tp mind.

2. A more intimate knowledge of Scripture. By meditating and living by Scripture we feed our relationship with Chist and feed our spirits particularly for times of leantimes.

3. A daily reliance on Him. With a deeper knowledge of Scripture and a God fearing frame of mind we learn how small we are and how utterly dependant we are on Him.

Testing God? The Bible says “ Don’t”

Morsels 5 Testing God

Scripture Matthew 4:5-7 New International Version 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    and they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’  7.Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test

See also Luke 4 ;9-12 Psalm 9;11-12 Deut 6: 16.Numbers 17: 3-7

Comments

Our Lord instinctively goes to Scripture when confronted by the devil for Scripture is the place where God reveals Himself to His people. It is God’s message to us. The devil is tempting Jesus to demonstrate His divinity by a spectacular act. People will believe because of this parlour trick. This would do away with the need for the cross. But such an act does not reveal the heart of God and it leaves the problems of a fallen humanity unresolved. Jesus rejected the short cut and thank God He did.

At Massah the people of God questioned His reasons for saving them. Instead of a simple prayer for water they resorted to abusive complaining. Did not they realise how small they were before their creator.

Where does this leave us in 2025? The Israelites had queried God’s deliverance abusively. They failed to trust Him for the essentials of life. We need three things;

1. A deeper reverence for divinity. In prayer we have dealings with the maker and ruler of all things. The old phrase “ God fearing “ comes tp mind.

2. A more intimate knowledge of Scripture. By meditating and living by Scripture we feed our relationship with Chist and feed our spirits particularly for times of leantimes.

3. A daily reliance on Him. With a deeper knowledge of Scripture and a God fearing frame of mind we learn how small we are and how utterly dependant we are on Him.

Testing God? The Bible says “ Don’t”

Morsels 2 Priorities

 

I have decided to continue to publish the studies in the sayings of our Lord under the general title “ Morsels “ If you would like to receive them please let me know. ( I aim at least a fortnightly issue.) Many blessings

Peter. .Morsels 2 Priorities

Preface

Here is our first meditation on the sayings of Christ. Let us remind ourselves of who it is who is saying these surprising things. He is described both as the Son of God (John 1:34) and the Son of Man ( John 9:35-37). We must not lose sight of Christ’s humanity. Here is a first century Rabbi giving us guidance .His words are down to earth. Yet they carry the authority of His divinity. I have heard one teacher say that Christ was speaking as man in certain incidents. This seems wrong to me. Christ is not two separate beings but a single person. We must approach His words with caution as well as respect

ScriptureLuke 2:41-52 New International Version41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” 49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”  50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them. 51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. Comments

I struggled with this saying. Our Lord took me by surprise...Here was a twelve year old boy asserting his position in the family.as a twelve year old wouldI I expected Him to meticulously defer to His parents .My idea of goodness was a detailed following of the law. I think my idea of goodness needs widening and deepening. .Nonetheless the reaction of our Saviour took me by surprise. Had Jesus warned his parents that he was hanging back at the temple? He expects them to know that he had to be at the temple working for His father. Our oldest great grand child is a boy who is nearly twelve. It helps me imagine this conversation.

The family was going up to the temple for Passover. They were behaving as a good Jewish family. In verse 51 we learn that Jesus went to behave as a dutiful law abiding Jewiwish son should . This wandering off takes us by suprise. The verse goes to the core of the law and its basic spirit. What could have taken Jesus apparently off target. God who wrote the law had business for Jesus to do

We must not miss the main thrust of our Lord’s words. He is a twelve year old and He is prioritising the use of His time and confessing to His relauinship with a higher being, with God. We discover that His Father is God and that He is God’s agent This statement has an impact on how we live our lives,1 Peter 2:21NIV21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. We also need to focus and prioritise.

As I meditate on this passage, questions flood my mind. What is my Fathers business? What must I do to be about my Father’ business? Perhaps these are questions we should all ask.

Morsels 3

 

Morsels 3 Humility and Flexibility

ScriptureMatthew 3:13-17 New International Version 13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented..16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Mark 1:9-13 NIV9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”2 At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, 13 and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him

Comments

Baptism . Immersion or sprinkling ? That’s not the main point but the water tanks found in Jewish 1^st centuary homes would suggest immersion. It was for purification; an act yielding the adherent into ritually clean state. For the Christian it is a once and for all sacrament representing a spiritual grace and experience.

Why was Jesus baptised ? There is no repentance here. Baptism was used to to render the candidate ritually clean.after legitimate natural events, (menstruation ,semen emission, child birth). The phrase used is “ proper for us” There are situations when we do things that are not essential but by doing them we avoid needless offence or difficulties for others. Did Jesus need to pay taxes? He paid nonetheless He provided wine for a wedding.

We may infer from the conversation between Jesus and John that the act of baptising implied some type of seniourity. The interaction of the two is a model as to we should help each other.

The context of the baptism is interesting, It precedes Divine recognition and Satanic testing. The approval of a parent is an important point in a child’s development. It was Jesus’ experience.

Morsels 4 Temptation

 

Morsels4 In Temptation

Scripture

Matthew 4:1-4New International Version4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word .that comes from the mouth of God

Comments

Temptation has two meanings. It is a seduction to sin and it is a test to show the quality of the person undergoing it.In this passage In effect the devil said. “ you are hungry, Show them who you realtty are.” Despite hunger, in this test Jesus shows who He is. He would not use His power at the behest of the devil. He showed who He is by not doing what the Devil tempted Him to do. That He did not turn the stones into bread showed He is the Son of God. There is a danger for some of us to show off in a wrong way. In John 15:5 Jesus says “apart from me you can do nothing.” That should put us in our place!

For living life, Jesus prescribes the correct diet. “ every word that comes from the mouth of God.”. For this let’s look tothe Bible. You do not have to be a top professor to get food from Scripture.

But how? Feeding on Scripture involves prayer and thought when we read it.. .We can go further by learning portions of it by heart, copying textx from scripture. Each activiy has the potential to renew our spiritual live. Ignore. Scripture and our spiritual lives will wilt. We must avoid reducing the activity to a sterile academic exercise. ; but ever seek what God is saying to us. The Word of God.

Our Lord’s intimate knowledge of Scripture came to the fore when He dealt with Temptation. In tempation Scripture is available to us too, especially if we have fed on it..