Talk of JESUS . com

Tag: Matthew

  • ANGRY Children of a Loving God – Part 5

    ANGRY Children of a Loving God – Part 5

    Should ANGRY children of a loving God remain angry with anyone?

    Mathew 18:15 “If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense.

    17 If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.

    23 “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him…

     32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.

    35 “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”

    Are YOU humble enough to FORGIVE the one nearest your heart who has ANGERED you most?

    • LOVE and do not hate.
    • Take your anger to God.
    • Let Him deal with your anger.
    • He will repay.
    • And He will change your heart, IF you let Him.

    This is the command of Jesus:

    “LOVE the LORD your God with ALL your heart, AND your neighbor as yourself. 

    Closing consideration for ALL ANGRY children of a loving God:

    “Christ suffered and died for our sins. Jesus IS redemption for our beloved soul from the deserved anger of our loving God.

  • ANGRY Children of a Loving God – Part 3

    ANGRY Children of a Loving God – Part 3

    Christians can safely presume that anything wrong in our person-to-Person relationship with God is OUR problem, NOT HIS.

    ANGRY children of God who remain a prodigal son or daughter do NOT look to God for ANY solution for their anger.

    By contrast, Christians pray.

    ANGRY relationships between two ANGRY children of God are quite another matter.  In all likelihood, we are BOTH probably wrong in this person-to-person love-hate relationship.

    The unbeliever or disobedient believer hides in the darkness of their sin.

    Other hidden issues boil beneath the surface of their anger, fueled by a hardened heart against the love of Christ – HATRED for the celebrated Son of the Father.

    Consider your own SELF from Jesus’ Parable of the Angry Brother.

    Are YOU the brother who will NOT let go of grace for another?

    Christ’s caution to the heart of the faithful son, however, is that we must set aside our anger and rejoice in the love of the Father for all.  You know His example:

    FORGIVE US our trespasses, AS WE FORGIVE those who TRESPASS AGAINST US.

    “Do ANGRY children of a forgiving Father really have any right to NOT forgive ANY other?

    [To be continued…]

  • Rest for the wicked; hope for the weary

    Rest for the wicked; hope for the weary

    It so happens as the Lord had planned it that the launch of http://talkofJesus.com -+- CHRISTIAN SOCIAL WITNESS coincides with the American holiday: Labor Day.  We will have picnics, parades and some much-needed family time.  No school.  Post offices, banks and many not-so-greedy businesses closed to give their employees a rest from their labor – something all of us need at times.

    A prior post began with this same thought. It is about Sabbath rest – a related, but different reference to the word of God in the Bible.  We’ve likely heard the expression:

    ‘NO rest for the wicked and the good don’t need any.’

    NOT true; NOT Biblical.

    We ALL need rest and we all need work.

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    American’s inherited this Labor Day idea of rest though the long-standing culture of the King James Bibles so much apart of our Christian heritage.  The original call for rest comes from Jesus.

    “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. – Matthew 11:28

    At one time Americans realized the importance to honor God through our labor and to honor labors as God’s own workers.  Sadly, in a 21st c. America (or Europe, Asia or any other place) we don’t get that, do we?  (Jesus tells us why – which I will reveal in a moment.) The world has two approaches to labor:

    Work hard for your SELF. (More work, more reward: right?) God doesn’t really need that “offering AND tithe” to honor Him — after all, the Government gets plenty of our required monetary support.  Our Country will take care of us.

    OR

    I don’t need to labor because Uncle Sam* takes care of me and will always help me.

    *  ‘Americanized’ personalization of our impersonal ‘representative’ Government.

    God never intended for ANY to have a rest from the work they will NOT do.  (We won’t go there today. That’s a different scripture.)

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    Getting back to talk of Jesus:

    The crowds had flocked to hear Jesus on the hillsides of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.  Jesus traveled from city to city on His northern tour.  Everywhere Jesus traveled, He was expected.

    Matthew 11: When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.

    Imagine the excitement of the promised Messiah of God coming to your city.  Jesus was predicted by the Prophets.  Jesus was proclaimed by the greatest prophet their contemporary, John the Baptist.

    John was a ‘hell-fire and damnation’ kind of preacher: popular with the people, but imprisoned by the religious establishment.

    REPENT! And be baptized (changed permanently). Cleanse your sins before you must stand before the HOLY ONE.

    Yet our Lord is also calling the people of the cities to hear Him and obey.

    20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.

    Jesus? … Preaching ‘hell-fire and damnation’ like John?

    Read what He said comparing the disobedient to the people of Sodom.

    Come to Me, and I Will Give You Rest

    25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will…

    28 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

    What is Jesus saying about our labor?

    Jesus is illustrating a picture of manual labor.  He doesn’t say to just give it all to Him and He will take care of it.  (I’m not saying this about prayer.  We are talking ‘labor’ here.)

    • Take my yoke upon you a picture of the collar of two doing the work of one.
    • learn from me – a direct reference to learning from the example of His life.
    • I am gentle and lowly in heart [Jesus is kind and humble. Have you learned this from His Perfect Example?]

    and [IF you will do this, according to our Lord]

    • you will find rest for your souls. 

    30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

    Jesus didn’t say ‘Take a break and I will do it all for you.”

    Jesus actually called out the people who refuse to repent and listen to Him for their wickedness.

    Our Lord knows how weary we become in this world.

    Do we remember: disobedience was punished in Eden.  Unpleasant work became part of our sinful heritage for having knowledge of good and evil.

    Jesus offers to share in our work in this world.

    Will you work with Him on that?

    Though we are wicked sinners

    Because of the Cross of Jesus 

    Weary laborers have hope.

    Come unto Him.