Blessed dependence on God

Matthew 18: 1-4        At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

He called a little child and had him stand among them.  And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (NIV)

   Serving as a youth minister, paid and volunteer, for a number of years at a small church in the Denver metropolitan area, I had a loving friend named Shirley.  A retired woman, that saint dedicated herself to volunteer ministry work at that church.  She was an expert quilter and a longtime quilting teacher.

   Every summer for many years, that church carried out VBS.  For those five days every summer, Shirley was there to teach the kids arts and crafts.  I was in my 30’s at the time.  I always carried out the Bible teaching sessions, and sometimes I felt as though I would not make it through all five days.  And year after year, Shirley would say, “This is the last year I am going to do this.”  Her statement was more emphatic each year.  Yet year after year, Shirley would come all prepared to teach.  She did so up until she died of cancer.  She loved those children.  And the children loved her.

   Throughout the year, after a typical church service, many students would rush to the fellowship hall and load up on donuts.  After having two or three, they would then run around the church, inside, outside, or both.  On the flip side, after worship Shirley was one to take the fellowship time to socialize.  A meticulous crafter, she did not remind me of a kid in her actions.  Yet Shirley was always young at heart.  She was quick to laugh, and simply full of life.  I never once thought of her as “old.”

   Shirley is in the kingdom of heaven now.  She fits the type of person Jesus was talking about, yet not because she acted decades younger than she was.  The reason: She was dependent on God.

   When Jesus states a person needs to become like a little child in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, dependence on God is what He is talking about.  Children are utterly dependent.  Children need daily help from their parents.  Children need to learn much.  (Many children love to learn if the learning has an element of adventure to it rather than being boring.)  And children need guidance and encouragement.  And first and foremost, children need love.

   Truth is, all of us people need daily help from our heavenly Father.  All of us need to keep learning from God.  All of us need daily guidance and encouragement from the Lord God Almighty.  And first and foremost, all of us need true love.  “God is Love” (I John 4:16).

   After graduating from college, I backpacked the entire Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine.  It took me 164 days.  It was one of the greatest accomplishments in my life.  I loved the hiking, and I would engage in thinking galore as I spent hours and hours of hiking.  After one afternoon of hiking and thinking in Maine, I stood at a vista pondering.  And that pondering led to my personal embrace of a consideration which I decided was true.  I wrote it down on a piece of paper.  Turns out, that conviction is the principle being taught by Jesus in this passage.  Thus I close with my quote from 1990:

“True freedom is an acceptance of your absolute dependence on God.”

Hunter Irvine

Love God

Matthew 22:15-22

   Please allow me to jump ahead for a day to a passage involving paying Roman taxes, since the message has the same principle as the passage regarding the “temple tax.”  In my previous piece regarding Matthew 17:24-27, a drachma was the coin used for the temple tax since it was a Greek coin, and gave no homage to the Emperor.  Yet here a Roman coin, a denarius, is the fitting visual for this subject of paying taxes to Rome.

   Quite tragic you had religious leaders of Israel, the Pharisees, working to get Jesus in trouble.  And they were exerting much effort to do so by inviting some Herodians to accompany them as they went to ask Jesus a question.  I speculate Pharisees and Herodians rarely cooperated before the time of Christ’s ministry.  A perceived threat to their power brought them together.

   I own Nelson’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Bible Facts, an excellent resource, which has an informative piece on “The Herods,” a family who ruled for about one hundred years.  The title I personally give King Herod is Herod the Horrible, though most western historians for many generations have called him Herod the Great.  A deranged murderer, for starters, he killed a number of family members.  Matthew Chapter 2 reveals much about that evil monarch.

   Key context for this passage involves two points stated in that “Encyclopedia” piece.

   First: “In his will, Herod the Great divided his kingdom among three of his sons.” (1)

   One of those sons, Herod Antipas II, ruled the region of Galilee and Perea during the time of Christ.  The Bible refers to him by his title, Herod the tetrarch.  He is the man who executed John the Baptist as we learned earlier here in the book of Matthew.

   Second: “Herod’s death in 4 B.C. brought a new era to Judea.  Just before his death, Herod formally gave the Roman emperor power to supervise his kingdom.  (Rome had been the real ruler of Palestine since the overthrow of Aristobulus in 63 B.C., but it now exerted its control more directly.)” (2)

(Please note Jesus was born around 6 or 5 B.C., since the early Christian calendar was off due to not taking into account leap years.)

   Thus, we can understand Rome had an increasing role in that region of the near east.

   Back to the entrenched though unstable monarchy, Herod the tetrarch and his family had their supporters.  And the Pharisees invited those Herodians along for what must have seemed to them like a no lose confrontation.

   Wicked win scenario number one: Jewish people, under the Mosaic covenant, were supposed to be serving the one and only true living God.  However, if Jesus said paying taxes to Rome was not necessary, He was going to get in big trouble with the Herodians, who relied on Rome for power.

   Wicked win scenario number two: Many Israelites tolerated Rome, yet many Israelites despised Roman rule which blocked Judah’s self-rule.  Thus if Jesus favored Rome, He was going to get in big trouble with the Pharisees.

   Being confronted by this power house conglomeration of religious leaders and monarchy cronies, Jesus was asked to share His conviction.  Jesus did, giving a preface to this answer which involved calling them all “hypocrites.”

   Then Jesus, using a visual all of those leaders knew well, a coin, made the statement: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

   Wow.

   We know what the Emperor required: tax money.

   Yet what does God require?  Israelites knew the “Shema.”

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 states: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

   From you and me, God is asking for love.

   Money can be given for doing good for God, yet the core issue in devotion to God is not money.  At issue here is what flows from your heart.

   If you want the fruit of your heart to be love, you first need to receive what Jesus offers to give you!

   I John 4:16 states: “…God is love…”

   Jesus offers true love, which involves Jesus offering Himself.

Jesus physically died for you on the cross, and He spiritually died for you on the cross.  And now He desires to spiritually dwell in your heart.

In order to receive Jesus into your heart, you need to believe in Jesus.

Then living by His love, you will bear much fruit for Jesus Christ!

Jesus loves you!

Hunter Irvine

(1) J.I. Packer, Merrill Tenney, William White, Jr., eds., Nelson’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Bible Facts (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), 635-636.

(2) J.I. Packer, Merrill Tenney, William White, Jr., eds., Nelson’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Bible Facts (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), 635.

Matthew 17:24-27 A son or daughter's privilege

   Having studied and pondered the book of Matthew since November of 2020, I have reached Chapter 17:24.  So soon?  Seriously, I have studied and pondered the book of Matthew several times before, yet this time has been more meditative.  Also many other short term studies have been interspersed during the time.  I do emphasize that going slow and being meditative is the way I learn best.

   This grand study has been expressed here within Scripture Love Blog over these two and a half years.  We will continue.

   Continuing on, let us start by recalling the very first verse of the book: Matthew 1:1   “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:”

   I made the following statement in my first blog piece for this current study back in November of 2020: “The literary nature is established from the start: historical.  Yes the content of what is to come is going to involve the supernatural, however the author is tactfully stating from the start that this is no fantasy story.”

   That is a great reminder as we look at this passage where an unusual supernatural event takes place.

   Even if there was a rare natural occurrence that a fish swallowed a four-drachma coin, it was supernatural that Jesus would know this had happened, and supernatural that the first fish Peter caught after being instructed by Jesus to do so was that particular fish.  Probably for the sake of saving precious ink and papyrus, there is no record of Peter obeying Christ.  We trust the tax collectors were the ones to get that down on papyrus.  It was a miracle, a quite unique miracle compared to others in the Bible.

   A crucial contextual point is the fact the temple tax was not a standard Roman Empire tax.  King Herod began a grandiose expansion of the area surrounding the temple in Jerusalem in 19 B.C., and much of it was completed in ten years.  However, even though the tyrant King Herod died in 5 or 4 B.C., (our calendar is off due to leap years), his plan for temple expansion galore was not fully completed until around 64 A.D.  Herod’s project probably even involved some renovations on the temple itself, yet the temple was a basic structure from the start.  The dimensions for the temple are given in 2 Chronicles 3:3-4.  “The foundation Solomon laid for building the temple of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide (using the cubit of the old standard).  The portico at the front of the temple was twenty cubits long across the width of the building and twenty cubits high.”  But Herod’s temple and temple grounds renovations and expansion became an ongoing endeavor.

   What started as an apparent act to please the Israelites ended up being yet another tax burden on the Israelites, in addition to the Roman Empire’s giant tax requirement on people who were subjects but not citizens.

   Note the coin used to pay the temple tax, the drachma, was a Greek silver coin.  This detail is important, because using a Roman coin was not permissible for temple purposes.  The Roman denarius, a silver coin of a similar value, honored the emperor.

   Understanding this context, we can know the teaching of Jesus here has nothing to do with paying taxes to a country or state.  All Christians are first and foremost citizens of the kingdom of heaven.  Secondly, most Christians are citizens of some country or state.  As citizens of a country or state, we Christians have no special privilege over our fellow citizens of our country or state.  Thus to not pay taxes to a country or state is a sin.

   Keeping that fact in mind, we can gain the intended message of this passage from Jesus.  Jesus, who started His teaching in a Socratic method mode, emphasized His point: “Then the children are exempt…”  Thus Jesus was gently stating that children of God are exempt from religious fees.

   Once again, Jesus teaches a radical lesson, and that lesson here is that a follower of Jesus is a child of the King of kings, and the relationship with the King involves love, not money.  Love is the foundation for citizens of the kingdom of heaven.

   To fully examine this passage, we must get into the controversial issue of the tithe, which was a standard or mandate under the Mosaic covenant, first of all, to support the Levites. (First, see Numbers 18:21-22, and second, see Deuteronomy 26:12-15 along with Deuteronomy 14:28-29.)  There was also a tithe involved when going to the three feasts, yet that tithe of an entire crop of food and olive oil was to be eaten and enjoyed by the family at a given feast in the presence of the LORD.  It was not given away. (See Deuteronomy 14:22-26.)

   Yet under the New Covenant we go by the commands of Jesus, the One who fulfilled the Mosaic Law.  And frankly, Jesus is teaching here that Christians are not under a mandate to give a “tithe.”

   A number of Christians disagree.  When worshiping at a church in 2014, one of the pastors gave a sermon in which he rebuked those in the congregation who did not tithe to their church.  He stated a tithe was mandatory for a Christian.  I disagreed, and I still do, with all due respect.

   Yet since the reality of Christian community ministry work usually involves plenty of expenses, how can a variety of needs be supported?  By realizing God wants us to give from our heart.

   Our heavenly Father provides blessings for us, not needing anything in return.  Yet our heavenly Father also wants us to give in love that we may carry out the mission of the Gospel and bless people.  For the offering of spiritual gifts and finances, a tithe might be a suggestion for some communities, yet it is not a biblical mandate.  The root mandate is to love God and love people.  A person who loves God and loves people will give, in a variety of personal manners, in love!

   And remember a final subtle point of this passage, which is that our triune God sometimes provides for His children in unexpected ways.

Hunter

Jesus is resurrected!

John 20:29   Then Jesus told Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

   Why?  Because faith in Jesus, faith of which is spiritually rooted in your heart, results in the desire to open your heart to Jesus.  Giving your heart to Jesus results in salvation.  Also you will know in your heart that Jesus truly was the atoning sacrifice for sins, and that Jesus is resurrected from the dead!

Hunter

Jesus gave the ultimate prophecy

   After Jesus told of His Church in response to Peter’s statement identifying Jesus as the Christ, Jesus gave the ultimate prophecy of His murder and of His resurrection, as revealed in Matthew 16:21.

   Then after what is commonly referred to as the transfiguration of Jesus, He stated the Son of Man was going to be raised from the dead, as revealed in Matthew 17:9.

   A third time, all of which may have been within a week or so, Scripture records Jesus again giving this ultimate prophecy:

When they came together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.  They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.”  And the disciples were filled with grief (Matthew 17:22).

   Thus we can know in our hearts it was God’s plan for Jesus to die on the cross as the substitutional atonement for our sins.  Why?  Considering Jesus knew ahead of time that certain chief priests and certain Roman leaders were going to convict Him, abuse Him, and take actions which resulted in His murder, Jesus could have fled.  In fact, Scripture reveals that Jesus is God the Son.  He had the power to prevent people from killing Him.  Instead, He allowed Himself to be murdered.  It was the salvation plan of God from all time.

   “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

   We people have done wrong in our hearts, all of us, which is often termed “sin” in the Bible.  God, who is just, demands an atonement for such wrong.  And since the consequence of sins is physical and spiritual death, the atonement must involve death.  And that is what Jesus did.  Taking the sins of all people into His heart, Jesus physically and spiritually died on a cross for anyone.

   Death is horrible beyond my ability to express.  Yesterday I was doing some genealogy research, and I re-read about how a great-great-great-Grandpa, Michael, through my Grandma’s maternal lineage, was robbed and then murdered.  His death even resulted in much hardship for family members for years to come.  And when I read that family history this fall, there was some grief for me as I suffered a bit for a relative murdered over 132 years ago.

   God, who is just, is also merciful.  His atonement on the cross is offered to all people.  Because of the ultimate suffering and sacrificial atonement of Jesus, we people can be forgiven of our sins.  And we people can be enabled to forgive others.  In order to receive forgiveness, you must believe in Jesus as your Savior and Lord.  In doing so, you will be saved of your sins.  Those who do not will spiritually die.  Those who are saved will have eternal life if heaven.

   I close with that last sentence in Matthew 17:22 – “And the disciples were filled with grief.”  When the disciples of Jesus were listening to Him, they latched onto His statement that He was going to be killed.  “Holy Thursday” and “Good Friday” are days where I personally devote some time to ponder the suffering and sacrifice which Jesus made on the cross.

   Yet thanks to God, we can know what happened next, which is what we celebrate tomorrow, and what we Christians can celebrate in our hearts every day!

Hunter Irvine

Overcoming in Love

I John 5:3-5

   All month we have been considering the “Church” due to the teaching of Jesus recorded in Matthew 16:18.  Yet an interesting fact: the word “church” is only mentioned in the Bible on rare occasions.  One exception is in the book of Revelation, chapters two and three.  Chapters one, two, and three involve seven messages from Jesus, which were written down by the apostle John, to seven churches, all seven having been in the region which is the modern day country of Turkey.  Local churches are the focus.

   Then in chapter four, the word “church” ceases to be used until stated one final time in Revelation 22:16 when Jesus is back to speaking of the present time.  Starting in chapter four, the narrative takes a completely different focus, a focus on heaven and the spiritual realm, where you have the consummation of Jesus’s Church.

   Many students of the Bible think the “rapture” will take place between chapter three and chapter four, since there is such a complete shift.  I agree the “rapture” takes place before the period of chapter four, yet the rapture is a whole other subject.

   Regarding one of those seven messages to one of those seven churches, in the message from Jesus to the church in Ephesus, Jesus states: “….You have forsaken your first love” (Revelation 2:4).

   That first love was Jesus.  And by forsaking the love of God, they failed to be loving people.

   Sin blocks love.

   Yet God did not leave the people of that church to be doomed.  They had the opportunity to overcome.

   How?  By saying sorry to God.

   God is Love, and He forgives.

   How about today?

   Since I was called to vocational ministry more than twenty-five years ago, I have seen consistent sin in churches.  And sometimes sincere repentance seems absent.  Sometimes it all seems hopeless to me.

   The beautiful message in the midst of all the church problems in chapters two and three of the book of Revelation is that followers of Jesus can overcome.

   John, the apostle who wrote the book of Revelation on the island of Patmos, wrote in his first epistle how people can overcome.

   John states: “This is love for God: to obey his commands.  And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world.  This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.  Who is it that overcomes the world?  Only she or he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (I John 5:3-5).

   For a person who is a genuine believer in Jesus, he or she will overcome!

   The result of believing in Jesus: He or she is loving.

   Wow!

   Jesus was the One who made atonement on the cross which resulted in the opportunity for you and I to have our sins forgiven, and to gain the righteousness of God.

   And for those of us who genuinely believe in Jesus, He is even able to soften our hearts so that we can say “sorry.”

   Saying sorry from the heart is a gift of true love.

   Jesus is the One who enables a believer to live a life of holiness since the Spirit of Christ lives in the heart of a believer, so that a person can truly love God and truly love people.  Reliance on Jesus is our privilege.

   Going back to the seven messages to the seven churches, there is an amazing fact.  Each one ends with an eternal blessing for the person who “overcomes.”  They are truly incredible, and can be found in the following verses:

Revelation 2:7

Revelation 2:11

Revelation 2:17

Revelation 2:26

Revelation 3:5

Revelation 3:12

Revelation 3:21

   Here, I will simply address the message for those in the church of Ephesus who desired to overcome near the end of the first century, which really is a promise for all overcomers: “…To he or she who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7).

   God offered Adam and Eve an opportunity to eat from the tree of life in the Garden of Eden (see Genesis 2:16-17).

   Thus a person who believes in Jesus as his or her Savior and Lord has the opportunity which Adam and Eve lost due to their disobedience to God.  Since Jesus was obedient on the cross, dying for anyone, paradise is available for you and me.

   In the meantime, we continue to live in this fallen world full of hurt and suffering.  Jesus was straight forward about our journey in this world.

   Jesus said: “…In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

   If you and I rely on Jesus, who is One with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and who is “Love” (I John 4:16), then you and I can overcome with the true love of God.

   Now it is a process.  One reality is that we “overcomers” still mess up in this rough world.  However, Jesus remains with us, thus we will continue to be “sanctified.”  Keeping growing in the love of Jesus by relying daily on Jesus.

Hunter Irvine

Loving relationships in church

Matthew 16:18

   Before I was a Christian, I was influenced by a loving singles group within in a large church in northern Virginia.  Most of the folks in “Salt and Light” had been Christians for much of their lives.  I had not.  For the first few months I sporadically attended, I might have been the only one there who was not a Christian.  Yet less than one year later, I gave my heart to Jesus!  For several years after that, the community of Salt and Light became an important community of “nurture” for me as a new Christian.

   The leadership team was co-ed, and one man was named Robert.  He and I had rather different personalities.  In fact Robert and I never got close.  Yet I liked Robert.  One morning when we were talking, Robert said: “Christianity is not a religion, rather it is a relationship.”

   All these years later, I agree.  Christianity is a loving relationship with God, made possible by the atonement of Jesus on the cross.

   By certain definitions, “religion” is working to get closer with God, whereas in a relationship, the union is there, and that union simply needs to be fostered.  For a person who believes in Jesus, she or he is forgiven of her or his sins, and she or he enters an eternal loving relationship!  Relationship fits what I have been saying about Jesus’s Church.

   In the past three writings, Jesus’s Church has been the focus.  Now I address the common usage of the term “church,” where it describes a group of people who worship God and fellowship at a certain location.

   And I state the nature of “churches” should be on the same line as Robert’s statement.  In fact you could say Christianity involves relationships, plural, starting with a relationship with Jesus, because you also enter a relationship with members of the family of God.  And local churches are opportunities for people in a loving relationship with Jesus to worship God and to develop loving relationships with one another.  God wants local “churches” to reflect Jesus’s Church.

   Thus the leaders of a church need to keep telling the Gospel of Jesus Christ to continually give all people an invitation to be in a relationship with Jesus.  Secondly, the leaders of a church need to keep teaching about Jesus in order to foster the growth of the worshipers in the love of Jesus, so they can also love others.

   At this time, I am looking for a church.  Having searched for a church one too many times during my Christian journey, I know what I am looking for.  I give five general principles here:

I am looking for a church where Scripture, which reveals Jesus, is trusted and advocated.

I am looking for a church which generally fits my doctrinal convictions.

I am looking for a church where people love Jesus.

I am looking for a church where people love other people.

I am looking for a church where I can be myself.

   If you were, (or are), looking for a church, what would you be looking for?

   Now the core of Christianity is God, not a church.  Times when I have put much hope in a “church,” (or a Christian ministry), or when I have become extremely dependent on a “church,” (or a Christian ministry), disappointment, or even despair, has resulted.  Our hope needs to be in Jesus.  Our dependency needs to be on Jesus.

   Churches are not even the core of worship for me.  Personally, I worship God every morning in my room, seven days a week.  I grow in a loving relationship with God right in my home with the presence of Jesus in my heart and with my Bible before me.  I would not trade that time for anything.

   Yet growth would be quite stifled if I only worshiped in my room all of the time.  And I sure would not be supporting my sisters and brothers-in-Christ.  On the flip side, churches can be a safe place where a Christian can worship, learn, fellowship, and be blessed along with brothers and sisters-in-Christ.  In doing all this, loving relationships develop.

   And churches should be a place where Christians can serve!  My favorite thing to do is preach.

   What is your favorite thing to do in a church?

   Regarding serving in a church, sadly in America, people in leadership of a number of churches suppress the involvement of people by allowing only a few privileged individuals and a few musicians to carry out all the fun stuff.  This is un-biblical.  People in churches should be serving in their local church according to their spiritual gifts and training.  (Yes, I think churches need to do more training.)

   Back to my search for a church, I know from experience there are many problems in a number of churches.  I have learned to rely on God for guidance, encouragement, and patience to find a loving church.  And I have learned to rely on God for guidance and encouragement to know when to move on from worshiping with a particular church. (This is hard for me, yet I know when I leave a particular church, that my love for the people remains!)  Yes, in every church community, and in every “season,” our purpose is the same: Love God, and love people!

   The moment any person believes in Jesus as his or her Savior and Lord, that person is adopted into the family of God.  From that moment, he or she is going to have brothers and sisters for the rest of his or her days.  Jesus wants you and me to love those brothers and sisters, and church communities are a prime place for doing so.

   The more you and I love people as Jesus loves His Church, the more fruit there will be in our families, in our work places, and in our “churches,” even in this day and age.

   We people were created to be in the loving family of God.  Churches, which have the commitment of genuine loving people, have an important role in the loving family of God.

   Hunter Irvine