Matthew Study 8: 7:13-8:13

Dear Student of the Word,

I am in Washington DC and, before I drive back to Pittsburgh, I thought I would send out this week's study. This week we finish up with Jesus at the Sermon on the Mount and come down the mountain with Him as He heals and ministers to people's needs. No matter how high the mountaintop experience, you must always come back down to the day-to-day life that God ordains as normal.

This week I wrote about shortcuts to prosperity or God's favor. I wrote about this on my blog, but it bears repeating here:

vs. 24-27 – I am old enough now to have some perspective on things and I have seen the long-term effects of people who built wisely and foolishly. The wise took Jesus’ words and applied them with a view toward long-term success. Others looked for a shortcut and for a time seemed like they had found one. Yet, when the pressures of life or when God tested their work, their life and work were found to be shabby and shaky.

You cannot escape the fact that your work will be tested in this life. Jesus didn’t say “if the winds blow” but rather “when the winds blow.” Paul alluded to the same inevitability when he wrote:

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames (1 Corinthians 3:10-15).

I am especially concerned with how many seem to offer financial shortcuts to God’s people. Some promise great returns for a “seed gift” of a certain amount of money. I have heard some promise the gift of wisdom if someone donates $951, since there are 951 verses in the book of Proverbs. This is pure nonsense and is the equivalent of a spiritual lottery. People put up so much money in the hopes of “winning” a lot more money. This is what takes place in a casino and should not take place in God’s business. It’s true that you give and God will bless you. But there is only one way to gain wealth:

In all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty (Proverbs 14:23).

You gain wealth by hard work, wise investments and the grace of God. Those who come with promises of wealth if you give a gift to their work and ministry are frauds:

For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God (2 Corinthians 2:17).

What is peddler? The dictionary defines a peddler as “one who deals in or promotes something intangible (as a personal asset or an idea).”

Don’t look for spiritual shortcuts. There aren’t any. Build wisely, like a master builder, and put your hope and expectations in God for the long-term. Have you been guilty of looking for and experimenting with shortcuts, especially where money is concerned? If so, you need to repent and change your ways.

I would welcome your comments to this week's study. You can write them and find the studies to Corinthians, First Timothy and Mark's gospel on the site where this week's entry is posted. You can also go there to sign up to receive each week's study.

Download this week's study: Matthew Study 8-1.doc

Comments

[Steve]

In the Matthew 8 studies you have been discussing prophecy and I am agreement with what you are saying.

John Stott gives three excellent guidelines for those who do accept the ministry of prophecy today:
A. prophetic utterances could never be more than of local and limited value; not equivalent to Scripture!

B. they must always be carefully tested by Scripture and by the known character of the speaker;

C. the regular systematic exposition of the Bible is much more important for the building up of God’s people.

Generally though he himself expresses "grave hesitation" (1979:162) about the operation of prophecy today because of:

- the uniqueness of the original prophets in the New Testament time;
- he feels they are unnecessary since the completion of the NT; and
- the excesses observed.

(1979 God's New Society Leicester: IVP commentary on Ephesians)