Category: Matthew

Posted in Matthew, Psalms

Resting in Christ

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures…” Psalm 23:1-2

Before our good Shepherd leads us in paths of righteousness, or feeds us in the presence of our enemies, or anoints our heads to do great things for Him, He makes us rest our identity in Him.

Phillip Keller, in his book A Shepherd looks at Psalm 23 writes: “In every animal society there is established an order of dominance or status within the group. In a pen full of chickens it is referred to as the ‘pecking order;’ with cattle it is called the ‘horning order;’ and among sheep we speak of the ‘butting order.’

“Generally an arrogant, cunning and domineering old ewe will be boss of any bunch of sheep. She maintains her position of prestige by butting and driving other ewes or lambs away from the best grazing or favorite bed grounds. Succeeding her in precise order the other sheep all establish and maintain their exact position in the flock by using the same tactics of butting and thrusting at those below and around them…. Because of this rivalry, tension, competition for status, and self-assertion, there is friction in a flock. The sheep cannot lie down and rest in contentment.  They must always stand up and defend their rights and contest the challenge of the intruder.”

The only time they can rest, Keller goes on to tell us, is when they are in the presence of the shepherd. When he is nearby there is no butting order. Each sheep is special, not because of a place it holds in relation to other sheep, but because the shepherd knows its name. Each sheep has the place the shepherd gives her, not the one she has earned for herself.

Have you noticed that human beings, left to themselves, create a butting order? No one can rest or they might lose their place. Someone said that we “spend money we don’t have, on things we don’t need, to impress people we don’t like.” It’s all part of the butting order.

The Lord wants you and I to come out of the butting order and learn to live in His Presence. Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

Posted in Matthew

The Price of Free Oil

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’” Matthew 25:8-9

Intimacy with God is a gift given to every believer in Jesus Christ. Jesus died and rose again, not just so that we could go to heaven one day, but so that we could experience Him right now.

Imagine for a moment a gas station that is giving away free gas. The only price you pay is the effort to get to that gas station and the time spent waiting while your tank is filled up. In God’s economy there is an abundance of the precious oil of intimacy, and it’s all free through Jesus, but we must make the effort to get to His station and be patient while He fills us up.

We can’t get this oil from one another. You can’t give me your relationship with God and I can’t give you mine. All we can do is tell each other where the station is and how to get the free oil. Each of us has to go there ourselves.

When we go through trials, when we experience injustice, when we need something that only God can give, and when Jesus comes again, we will wish we had taken time to become intimate with God. When you’re in the middle of the crisis there’s not time to develop intimacy that you don’t already have.

So don’t wait! Set a time and a place every day. Read God’s word and purpose to pray back to Him whatever He speaks. Journal those things He gives you and treat them as valued seeds that must be protected and watered. Develop a habit of waiting on God every day.

What starts as only a desire for intimacy must move to a plan for discipline. God’s reward will be an eventual delight in your quiet time that will make meeting with Him a highlight you look forward to each day. Desire, discipline, and then delight. Let your desire fuel a renewed effort at discipline. Stay at your discipline and pray for more and more delight.

Begin now to build a secret store of oil that no one else can see except you and God. As it grows, enjoy the assurance that you and God can face anything together and that you will be ready when Jesus splits the sky to come for us.

Posted in Ephesians, John, Matthew, Revelation

The Mysterious Bride

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.” Matthew 22:2

In this parable a king (God the Father) is having a wedding feast for his son (Jesus), and his people (the human race) are invited to attend. The first invited (the Jewish race) reject the invitation which leads to their judgment (Matthew 22:7), yet this leads to others being invited (the Gentiles), both good and bad, but even then, “many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:14)

What is unclear is who the son is marrying. In Matthew 25 Jesus tells another parable about a coming wedding feast and this time the people being described are in the wedding party. There are ten bridesmaids who are waiting with the bride (who is not mentioned in the parable) for the bridegroom’s party to come and take them to the wedding feast. If it was an honor to be invited by the king to a wedding feast for his son, it is a greater honor to be in the wedding party. But we are still left with the question: Who exactly is Jesus marrying?

Finally we have a definitive answer in Ephesians 5:31-32: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.” You and I aren’t just invited to the wedding; we aren’t just part of the bridal party; we are called to be the bride! Our invitation is actually a proposal from God. No wonder John wrote, “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.” (Revelation 19:9)

Yet when Paul writes the words, “…and the two…,” he is saying that Jesus is one – the Bridegroom, and the church is the other one – the bride. You and I aren’t called to be brides, but to be part of the bride. No wonder Jesus prayed that the Father would make us one! (John 17:21) Individually we are sons and daughters, but we are only the bride together. One bride – there isn’t a young bride and an old bride; there isn’t a black bride, a Latino bride, and a white bride; there isn’t a male bride and a female bride; there isn’t a rich bride and a poor bride; and there aren’t Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, and Charismatic brides. There is only one bride which is why pleasing God must involve us letting go of our prejudices, and learning to love and accept one another in Christ.

Jesus is calling, inviting, knocking, and yes, even proposing to you. Will you refuse the One who gave His life for you, or will you respond by giving Him all of your heart?

Posted in Matthew

Private Devotion

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.” Matthew 23:25-26

Several years ago I was on an extended fast with the purpose of obtaining more of the power of God and the gifts of the Spirit. One day near the middle of the fast I was crying out to God for these things, and He spoke a clear word to my mind. I believe it was God because it was so different from what I was praying, and clearly not the result of my natural thought processes. Here was the thought: “I never want your public anointing to be greater than your private devotion.”

With that thought came an immediate realization that my current public anointing was already greater than my private devotion which meant that I was in a dangerous place as a minister. Here I was praying for more public anointing, which would have made the imbalance even greater, while God was wanting to do something more foundational inside of me. Needless to say, the focus of my fast changed from that moment on. It’s not that I still didn’t want the power,  I just knew the road to it must include a greater devotion that could sustain the greater ministry.

The Pharisees were concerned  about the outward. They measured God’s favor by their outward blessings and continually sought to put forward the best possible image of themselves. They were more concerned about how they appeared before others than about how they actually were before God. Jesus told them to stop focusing on the outward and to start cleaning up the private, inward parts. He assured them that if they would do this, the outward would take care of itself.

Don’t worry about being a Christian example to others. Concern yourself with actually being a Christian before God. Having to appear to be anything other than you are in public is a massive burden and almost impossible to keep up. No wonder Jesus’ burden was so light; He never worked on appearing. He made sure things were right before the Father, He kept a strong private devotion, and then just lived it out all day.

Posted in 2Corinthians, Ephesians, Isaiah, John, Matthew, Proverbs, Psalms

The Secret of the Lord

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him, and He will make them know His covenant.” Psalm 25:14

The margin of my Bible has “intimacy” as an alternate translation of “secret.” I believe that  a certain measure of the fear of the Lord is necessary for anyone to come to Christ. Proverbs says: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Proverbs 9:10) A revelation of God’s love for us in our weakness and immaturity is necessary to grow us up in our faith. (Ephesians 3:17-19) But I think to walk close to God’s Presence another level of the fear of the Lord is required. 

It says in Isaiah 11:3 that Jesus delighted in the fear of the Lord. He experienced the secret promised by Psalm 25:14, enjoying the continual intimate friendship of His Father. He didn’t fear man, He didn’t fear death, He didn’t fear storms, He didn’t fear lack of supplies – He only feared God and cared only about obeying what the Father was saying. (John 5:19)

Maybe the idea of the fear of the Lord seems heavy to you. I think it was just the opposite for Jesus which was why He was able to say, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30) He only had to please the Father to be a complete success. Paul said something similar to this: “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent (from the body), to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord…” (2Corinthians 5:9-11a)  

Only one ambition! What a simple life, what an easy yoke, what a light burden. May God pour out the Spirit of the fear of the Lord on each of us and make it our delight for His glory.

Posted in Luke, Matthew

One Thing

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“The Lord answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried about so many things; but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken from her.” (Luke 10:41-42)

Mary chose the good part. She was “listening to the Lord’s words, seated at His feet.” (Luke 10:39) She was enjoying the Lord, being refreshed by His Presence and changed by His words.

Jesus said this was the one necessary choice.  All the rest of life will flow out of this vital relationship if we will just make it our priority. Necessary means something you cannot do without.

Martha hadn’t made that choice. She loved the Lord but she was “distracted with all her preparations.” (Luke 10:40) Jesus implied that she was living the bad part; serving Jesus without enjoying Jesus. Giving and giving and giving without receiving from His Word and Presence. Distracted from the glorious One by our busy lives that are supposed to be in service to Him.

Have you ever fallen into this trap? Life gets busy. Priorities get mixed up and pretty soon the urgent rather than the important starts dominating our lives. We stop really living and find ourselves barely surviving.

We usually, like Martha, find someone else to blame. “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” (Luke 10:40) What’s she really saying? “Lord, don’t you see that I’m burnt out – do something!  It’s Mary’s fault! or the church’s fault or my spouse’s fault or my boss’ fault”…the list goes on.

Jesus is gentle but firm: (my paraphrase) “What Mary has, she has chosen – she has chosen and she has chosen correctly. I’m not going to take away  her joy because you’re miserable. Martha, you too can have what Mary has. Choose to fellowship with Me. Let your service be fueled by My Presence.”

Jesus said, “Come to Me you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)  Do this one thing and continue to do it and everything else in your life will take its proper place.

Posted in 1Corinthians, John, Matthew, Philippians

Assurance of Victory

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“No temptation (test) has overtaken you but such as is common to man, and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted (tested) beyond what you are able but with the temptation (test) will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” 1Corinthians 10:13

 You and I can win every day, but to do so, we must begin by agreeing with God’s definition of what victory as a Christian looks like.

 First what it doesn’t look like.  Winning does not mean having no troubles, struggles, or issues to deal with.  Jesus said the wind and the waves will crash against every life (Matthew 7:24-27) and promised His disciples that they would have troubles in this world. (John 16:33)  He even warned us ahead of time to not be offended by this. (John 16:1-2)

 So what is victory, and how can I walk every day with assurance?  Instead of delivering us from life’s troubles, God promises to walk with us through them.  The same Greek word, “peirasmos,” is translated as temptation and test.  Which is right?  The same set of circumstances can easily be described as both a temptation and a test – Satan tempts to bring us down; God allows tests to purify and strengthen us.  God won’t always prevent a temptation, but in His faithfulness He will limit them, so that we can walk through our troubles with Him.  Tests invite us to draw near, so we will know the way He has provided for our escape even though “escape” may mean strength to endure through instead of a deliverance from.

 In school we need to pass tests to advance to the next grade and I think it’s the same in the kingdom.  God’s beloved children don’t get an identity of failure when they give into temptation but will just keep retaking the same test until we pass it.  We decide how long the process lasts. (Three weeks could end up being 40 years!)  He ultimately wants to build in each of us an assurance of victory that is able to say: “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13)

Posted in Matthew

Stepping Out in Faith 

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Go and announce to them that the kingdom of God is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received.” Matthew 10:7-8

I arrived a little late to my son’s football game and couldn’t figure out what was going on – the teams were on the field, the crowd was in the stands, but it was completely silent. The school superintendent was standing at the front gate, so I asked him what was going on.

“There was a helmet to helmet collision on the opening kickoff,” he explained, “and the player from the visiting team hasn’t moved since. We’re waiting for the ambulance.”

A thought came unbidden into my head: “Pray for him.” I knew it wouldn’t be obedience to pray for him while sitting safely in the stands.  I was supposed to go out onto the field, put my hand on him, and pray for him there.

“But Lord, no one has asked me to pray,” I complained. Silence.

I started walking toward the field because I didn’t want to disobey. I walked down the sideline and felt I could still turn around without anyone noticing me, but then I came to the point where a decision had to be made. A group of adults, including referees and coaches, were surrounding a young man laid flat on his back in the middle of the field. I could either turn right and go out onto the field, or turn left and join the crowd in the bleachers.

I turned right. When I reached the group, I pretended like this was normal and I belonged there.

“I’m a pastor and I’m here to pray,” I said in a calm voice trying to reassure them that this was okay.

No one replied one way or the other but just backed away. I got on my knees, put a hand on the young man, and prayed a short prayer for God’s peace and healing to be released.

Just then the ambulance arrived so they put him on a stretcher, and we all followed back through the front gate to load him up. The visiting coach touched my arm on our way out.  “Thank you for praying,” was all he said. The young man was fine after being examined, but I never knew whether God healed him or whether he even needed healing.  What do I know for sure?  God wants to meet people at their point of need even if it’s awkward for us!

Posted in 2Corinthians, Daniel, Genesis, Hebrews, John, Matthew, Psalms

The Gifts of the Magi

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.” Matthew 2:11

As we think about Christmas let us reflect on the gifts given by the magi which speak to the Gift given by the Father to the human race. “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.” (2Corinthians 9:15)

  1. Gold – The gift given to kings. The magi didn’t come to worship one who would become king; they came to worship Him who was born king. This caste of wise men from the east were likely in the order of Daniel with access to his prophecies. Daniel gave the time Messiah would appear (see Daniel 9:24-27) and alluded to His Divine nature as well as His universal rule. “One like a son of man…was given power; all the peoples, nations and men of every language worshipped Him.” (Daniel 7:13-14)
  2. Incense – The gift offered by priests. In the Old Covenant kings were from the tribe of Judah and the family of David; high priests came from the tribe of Levi and the family of Aaron. But God’s promised Messiah would be both king and priest as was an obscure person in the Old Testament named Melchizedek. (Genesis 14:18) David prophesied about this new order of priesthood that meant there would have to be a new covenant: “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” (Psalm 110:4)
  3. Myrrh – The spice used for burial. Messiah would not only be the priest to offer sacrifice; He Himself would be the sacrifice. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) The shepherds who were called to witness the birth were rabbinic shepherds whose job it was to watch over the lambs that would be sacrificed in the temple. On Christmas, God called them to watch over the Lamb that would replace all other sacrifices. “Jesus sacrificed for our sins once for all when He offered Himself.” (Hebrews 7:27) Let’s remember the true wonder of Christmas is the One born for us.
Posted in Luke, Matthew

Different Genealogies

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

Matthew 1:16 “… and to Jacob was born Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.”

Matthew 1:6 “… and to David was born Solomon…”

Luke 3:23 “And when He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being supposedly the son of Joseph, the son of Heli…”

Luke 3:31 “… the son of Nathan, the son of David…”

Critics of the gospel accounts of Jesus birth have often pointed out the different genealogies given by Matthew and Luke. How do we reconcile two completely different lists that have nothing in common except for David and Joseph? The answer is quite simple if we look at the goals of the two authors.

Matthew is writing to Jews and wants to present Jesus to them as their king. He traces the lineage of Jesus from Abraham through David and then through David’s son Solomon all the way to Joseph. Joseph was a direct descendant of the kings which means that Jesus Himself is in that line. Matthew tells Joseph’s story – how the angel appeared to him when he was going to divorce Mary; how God spoke to him to flee Bethlehem after the visit of the Magi; and how God spoke to him again when they were in Egypt and it was time to return to Israel. It is only fitting that he gives the genealogy of Joseph which is what he does.

Luke is writing to Greeks and presenting Jesus as the Son of man – the ideal man. He traces the lineage of Jesus from Adam through David and then through David’s son Nathan all the way to Joseph: “the son of Heli.” Luke says Jesus is “supposedly the son of Joseph.” Supposedly, yet he isn’t really; he’s only the son of Mary. Luke tells Mary’s story – how the angel appeared to her and said she would carry the Savior; he tells of her trip to Elizabeth’s and about her famous prayer; and then he tells of the visit of the angels at the birth and how Mary, “pondered these things in her heart.” It is only fitting that Luke would give the genealogy of Mary who is also a descendant of David and that is what he does.

There is no word in Koine Greek for “son-in-law.” If you were describing someone as a son-in-law you would just use the word “son” which is what Luke does here. Joseph’s father was Jacob; his father-in-law, Mary’s father, was Heli. In the Greek, Joseph could be described as being both the son of Jacob and the son of Heli with no contradiction.