Category: Matthew

Posted in John, Matthew

The Value of Jesus

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.” Matthew 26:13

When Mary of Bethany poured costly oil on Jesus’ head in a spontaneous act of worship, the disciples were “indignant” and said, “Why this waste? For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and then given to the poor.” (Matthew 26:8-9) Yet there was something in this act that captured the whole-hearted response the value of Jesus calls for, so our text says the gospel itself is to now include the retelling of this event.

Earlier Jesus had compared the kingdom of heaven to a “treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44) In this act of devotion, Mary modeled this truth before everyone’s eyes. Mary had found treasure in her relationship with Jesus and could not contain her worship. To the others, even those closest to Him, it was as if the treasure was hidden. “Why this waste?” is what they said in the face of such an extravagant offering.

Today our costly oil is our time. Do you ever just “waste” time worshipping Jesus? Beware of a voice in your head that will speak to you whenever you want to spend time alone with the Lord: “Why this waste? You’ve got things to do, needs to meet, responsibilities to fulfill, calls to make, and items to check off of your list. You don’t have time for this.” Yet when we set a higher value on God than on all the things we have to do, we bring pleasure to Jesus, like Mary did.

“What about all the urgent other things?” you ask. Jesus replied, “you always have the poor with you.” (Matthew 26:11) In other words, the needs will still be there after you take time for devotion. The reality is you and I are much more equipped to handle all of the pressures around us after we have “wasted” time with Jesus because His presence, blessing, and wisdom will then flow more freely. Jesus said that the result of us drinking of Him would be “rivers of living water flowing out of our innermost being.” (John 7:37-39)

Posted in Job, John, Matthew

War Horses

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“I am meek and lowly of heart, take My yoke upon you and learn from Me and you will find rest in your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:29-30

The Greek word “praus” is translated “meek” in our text, but it is difficult to find an exact English word to match what it means. Ancient Greeks used this word to describe a stallion that was broken and could be ridden. One commentator writes: “The horse was perfectly trained and ready, it would obey the master, the rider, no matter what was going on around it, so that it could be trusted in the heat of battle not to do something stupid or foolish; once the rider knew that he could trust the animal, and that it would obey him no matter what, he called it a meek horse even though it could have been a powerful, thoroughbred stallion, capable of killing enemies in battle.”

Jesus is saying that He’s like the war horse. He didn’t fear anything, whatever the Father showed Him, He did (John 5:19). If the Father told Him to go right into hell itself to cast out a demon, He would go there. He walked in perfect rest because He only had to pay attention to His Father and had no fear of anyone or anything else.

Why did God describe a meek horse to Job? (Job 39:19-25)  I think it’s because all that God had allowed in Job’s life was for the purpose of making him meek and fearless, like this horse. Job walked uprightly before God but he still had things that he was afraid of. “What I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.” (Job 3:25) After all of this trial was over, I am convinced, Job was unafraid of anything. The worst had happened and God had brought him through.

What if we face what we face because God is trying to destroy the power of fear in our lives? I believe God wants to make us war horses the Holy Spirit can lead into any battle, at any time, knowing that we won’t go by our emotions, our past experiences, or our opinions, but only by His prompting. The Father doesn’t want us hiding in fear until Jesus rescues us out of this wicked, scary world – He wants to lead us right into the midst of darkness to bring His kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven!

Posted in John, Matthew, Psalms

The Benefits of the Good Shepherd

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…” Psalm 23:1

In John 10 Jesus revealed that He was the good shepherd Psalm 23 was written about. There are three tremendous benefits in making the Lord our Shepherd:

  1. Security – Sheep are timid creatures and don’t eat or rest well when they’re afraid. When Jesus is truly our Shepherd we have somewhere to take our fears and can learn how to live our daily lives free from anxiety. “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil; Your rod and your staff they comfort me.” Through the forgiveness offered in the cross, Jesus takes away the fear of death by giving us eternal life now. Death becomes a promotion instead of an end and getting older no longer means we’re past our prime; we’re only getting closer to coming into it. In Christ, our best days are before us because we were created for eternity and not just time.
  2. Success – When the shepherd is not close by, sheep immediately form a butting order by which each sheep learns its place. Sheep won’t even lie down without the shepherd nearby because they’re afraid they’ll lose their place. The world’s definition of success is often about power, money, and fame, and it requires a lot of energy to protect one’s place. But Jesus redefines success for His people – “He leads me in paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake.” We only have to do the right thing in each situation we are in and live to honor His Name.  When we live to please God and make that our priority, “goodness and mercy will follow.” We always get in trouble when we seek God’s blessings instead of letting them follow us. Jesus said it this way: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)
  3. Satisfaction – “My cup overflows.” Jesus said, “I came that you might have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) God’s idea was that witnessing would be a very natural outflow of our satisfaction in Him. Is it a burden to tell someone about a movie or book you loved? The witness is spontaneous because you want those who you love to experience the blessing that you enjoyed in watching or reading. George Mueller said, “I consider the first duty of every day is to get my soul happy in God.”  Let’s do the same!
Posted in Mark, Matthew

God or Money?

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Matthew 6:24

Perhaps the greatest distraction to pure devotion to Jesus Christ in this day and age is money. Who is ruling all things in our lives? Is it Jesus, before whom “every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess,” or is it money? The one who actually rules our lives is not necessarily what our religion states; it’s the one we make our decisions by and find our comfort in.

Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33) Unfortunately, we in America are often guilty of seeking first “all these things” and adding a little religion on the side. Our money says, “In God we trust,” but do we really?

Jesus came across a very moral and religious young man who was bound by the power of money. The Scripture tells us that, “Jesus felt a love for him, and said to him, `One thing you lack; go and sell all you possess, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come follow Me.’ But at these words his face fell, and he went away grieved, for he was one who owned much property.” (Mark 10:21-22)

God wanted to free this man from money’s subtle power over him. His property wasn’t the real problem, it was his heart. In the very same chapter Jesus promises that those who have left, “houses…and farms,” for Him will receive back a hundred times, “houses…and farms,” in this life. (Mark 10:29-30) Ultimately Jesus didn’t want his money; He wanted his heart.

Matthew 6:21 says, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Does God have your money, or are you holding on tightly to it trying to add a little religion on the side? In these difficult days of shaking it is vital for us to be trusting God in every area of our lives.

Posted in Matthew, Revelation

The Narrow Road

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Matthew 16:6

The Christian life truly lived out in the power of the Holy Spirit will discover the truth of Jesus’ words: “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28) It is the wide road which leads to destruction that is the heavy, hard way. The problem with the road to life is not that it’s hard, but that it’s narrow; in other words, easy to get off of.

In our text the Lord gives the two sides of the road to life that Christians can easily fall into. The first is the leaven of the Pharisees which is legalism. It’s easy to fall into this ditch and not realize you’re in it because outwardly you’re still doing all the stuff. I’m going to church, reading my Bible, staying away from known sin, and keeping all the rules; but that’s the problem.   God’s not calling us to rules but to a relationship with Himself. Another reason it’s hard to discern legalism is that there is often a lot of passion involved. Jesus said the Pharisees were willing to travel over land and sea to make one disciple. That’s passion! But legalism’s passion isn’t really for the Lord Himself, but only for it’s version of Christianity.  My church, my group, and my doctrine all become more central than Jesus.

The other side of the road Jesus says is the leaven of the Sadducees. These were religious people who made a compromise with the world’s system. They no longer really went by the Bible and saw nothing wrong with fully embracing the ways of a godless culture. When we listen to the world our passion for the Lord goes out, and it becomes all about us and what we want. Christianity and even the Lord Himself become a means to our personal happiness. Going this way you end up with a form of godliness but lose the power that changes your life.

The good news is that it’s easy to get back on the narrow road when we realize we have drifted off it. Because of what Jesus did on the cross we just need to repent and ask Him to forgive us and fill us again. The church in Ephesus had fallen into legalism and Jesus told them to repent and remember their first love. (Revelation 2:1-6) The church at Laodicea had fallen into license and the Lord told them to be zealous (wage war on compromise) and repent because He was standing at the door knocking wanting to be the center again. (Revelation 3:15-20)

Here’s how I check myself for leaven: legalism produces anxiety before God while license produces apathy before God. The fruit of truly being on the road to life is to be “awake” (spiritually alert with our lamps filled with oil), and “at rest” (confident in Christ’s love and finished work on our behalf).

Posted in Hebrews, Matthew

Working to Rest

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.” Hebrews 4:9-11

Confronted with the demands of ministry, I’ve thought a lot about the importance of rest. The center of Christianity is not our work, but Christ’s finished work on the cross. Our victory comes not from our human efforts but from learning to rest in Him, and allowing His life to overcome through us.

Our text tells us that if we tend to this one relationship, (“Be diligent to enter that rest…”) we will no longer be under the striving of our own works but be in a position where God can work through us. Working without entering that rest will always lead to unbelief and disobedience because only Christ in us can live the Christian life. On our own we can clean up the outside of the cup and even impress a few people, but real cleansing requires our ceasing from what we can do and yielding to the Holy Spirit’s presence in us.

Are you tired? Are you slowly burning out? Has your Christianity become one more burden instead of the lifter of all your other burdens? Jesus has some advice for all of us: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Posted in 1Corinthians, John, Matthew

Knowing in Part

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.” 1Corinthians 13:12b

I’ve seen a great evil in the body of Christ that has plagued the church throughout the ages. Those who know in part often presume they know fully and so divide themselves from other Christians who don’t see things exactly their way.

Jesus prayed in John 17:17 that we would be sanctified (set apart) by the truth and then defined truth for us: “Your word is truth.” The word of God was given to set us apart from the corrupt value system, perspective, and ungodliness of this present age, so that we would reflect God and His ways in the darkness of this world.

Christians have taken the word that was given to separate or divide us from the world’s system, and instead used it to divide the body of Christ. In the very chapter that Jesus prayed we would be sanctified, He also prays that the Father would make us one. The result of this oneness, He said, would be that the world would believe in Jesus.

Instead of accepting each other, the body of Christ is often found rejecting each other on things that aren’t essential to the gospel. Pride makes us “strain at gnats and swallow camels.” (Matthew 23:24) There are essential truths that unite us and divide us from the world and these need to be embraced with a passion we are willing to die for: the authority of Scripture; Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the world; the gospel calls all people to repent and put their trust in Christ for salvation; Christians are called to love God and love people; everyone will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and go irreversibly to heaven or hell. Even these clear truths in the word of God are only known in part, yet Christians through all the ages have established these as essentials that define one as a Christian.

Matters like communion, baptism, how the second coming will unfold, how predestination is defined, spiritual gifts, the age of the earth, etc. are all examples of issues that sincere believers disagree as to how the Bible should be interpreted. You probably have an opinion on every one of these topics and you more than likely think you’re right. (If you didn’t it wouldn’t be your opinion) Yet, we need to hold these opinions with humility or our attitude can end up bringing division to the church instead of the unity that Jesus prayed for.

Posted in 2Peter, Hebrews, Isaiah, Jude, Matthew, Revelation

Raising Hell – Part Three

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”  Matthew 10:28

As I have explored the church’s traditional view of hell, I’ve learned a lot about the power of confirmation bias.  Once we believe something, it’s hard for us to consider something that contradicts it, no matter how much evidence there is.  It leads us away from “believing what we read,” into a place where we only, “read what we already believe.”  It’s hard to learn or grow in this place because we already think we know how things are.

At the foundation of the doctrine of eternal torment is a belief that our souls are eternal.  The early church didn’t explicitly comment on this topic, but two later church fathers did.  Tertullian and Augustine both referenced our eternal souls, but as proof they quoted Plato, not Scripture! (Tertullian; Resurrection of the Flesh; 3; The Fire that Consumes; 300).  The Old Testament described man as a transient being: “For all men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:6-7)  Only Greek philosophy describes us as automatically having an eternal soul.

The New Testament gives many descriptions of what eventually happens to souls who reject Christ, if we will only listen:

  1. The body and soul will be destroyed. (Quoted above)
  2. The chaff will be burned up in eternal fire. (Matthew 3:12)
  3. The enemies of God will be consumed by fire. (Hebrews 10:27)
  4. The wicked will perish like beasts. (2Peter 2:6)
  5. The wicked will be burned to ashes like Sodom and Gomorrah by eternal fire. (2Peter 2:12; Jude 7)
  6. Those whose names are not in the book of life will experience the second death in the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15)

This is what Scripture says, but if we believe the soul is eternal then destroy can’t mean destroy, consumed must not mean consumed, burned up doesn’t mean burned up, perish must mean something different then perish, and death can no longer mean death.

Posted in John, Matthew

Raising Hell – Part One

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28

Two years ago I approached our elder board with a desire to present a position on the nature of hell that is different from what most of the traditional church believes. The elders asked me to wait on doing the talk publicly until they had a chance to study and discuss the topic with me. So I waited, and we went through Scripture together. Here are some of the points we were in full agreement about:

  1. Hell is a place of punishment where those who reject Christ will go.
  2. Hell is a place of conscious torment.
  3. Hell is a place of eternal, irreversible judgment or punishment. There isn’t a second chance nor is its punishment remedial.

What some respectfully disagreed with is the duration of conscious torment. I believe Scripture teaches ultimate annihilation after souls have paid a just penalty for their sins while others believe the traditional opinion that the torment of hell goes on forever. Of course, they would argue that in God’s economy, this too is a just penalty.

I was given the freedom to do the talk as long as I was clear that we were in agreement on the essentials and that the exact nature of hell’s punishment is a non-essential that Bible believing evangelicals can agree to disagree on. (I ended up writing an ebook on the topic called: Raising Hell: A closer look at the church’s darkest doctrine)

God wants us to behold His severity so that we will never experience it. He loves us and has made a way for all of us to be saved through Christ, so that all we ever need to know is His kindness. Yet we are to behold His severity, so that we never forget that He is a holy Judge. If we choose to turn our backs on Christ, Paul warns, we will experience His severity along with all those who have hardened their hearts to His love.

It is important that we believe in hell. There is a heaven, Jesus said so, and He even said that if it wasn’t so He would have told us. (See John 14:2) But the One who is the truth also said there is a hell. In fact, He warned us many times about hell urging us to make sure we didn’t end up there.