Matthew 16 begins with Jesus discussing the extreme danger of the teachings of the religious elite. As we read through Matthew, I’m sure we’re all noticing how frequently Jesus bashed this culture of religiousity. He didn’t spend His time complaining about the evil Roman government, but He went after an even more dangerous force, the facade of religion.
May we be wise to recognize and avoid the false religious teachings and the appearances of wisdom that exist even in churches today. I’d say pretty much every church has to battle this, with love and discernment. Anyone care to share a story of their battle against the teachings of religion?
Finally, Matthew 16 concludes with Jesus preparing the disciples for His radical suffering. We’re spending the entire month of March talking about the fact that “Christ + Us = Suffering.” Notice how far-fetched these ideas were even in the eyes of Peter.
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Thursday, 18. March 2010
This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible; For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
I spent many years of my life trying to “find myself” and lost everything. Since I have become a disciple of Jesus, which requires you to die to self, I have an abundant life.
God is so good!
Thursday, 18. March 2010
I think I was a very religious person growing up in the “Free Will Baptist” denomination and then in much of my later experience. I knew the “right doctrines” (which is actually very important) but I didn’t love Jesus like I should have. Everything was about me and my own discipline. I believe this was because I didn’t understand or believe as deeply as I do now in the righteousness of Jesus and His work.
Religion is one of the many faces of human pride. The ultimate root problem is “little faith” or no faith in God. If a man does not believe that only God alone is Good, he will use any means at his disposal to justify himself. It can be religion, business, science, knowledge, etc. The wisdom of this satanic age tells us that we have to establish ourselves by our own merits and deeds, and religion is one of the many ways in which people attempt to do that.
Thursday, 18. March 2010
Shane,
I believe that only when we really have that strong relationship with Jesus, and really get him, by that I mean really listen to everything he has to say to us and put it in practice, we can start living our lives the way he intended for us to live our lives as disciples of his.
Thursday, 18. March 2010
I have a question, Jesus said: (vs.19) “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Can anyone explain a little better or give an example? Thanks!
Friday, 19. March 2010
@Georgie
Well, improved conduct is the consequence of being born again. Galatians really has a lot to say about why believers begin to behave better.
@Gabe
That is a favorite place to go to by Roman Catholics. They use this text to justify their views on Papal and R.C. Church authority. I think it’s more than a small stretch to say that this passage implies that the Pope is infallible.
However, knowing what it DOESN’T mean does not tell us what it DOES mean. I’m always meaning to look it up and get a better understanding. I’ll ask my buddy Mike, he’s my resident R.C. expert. I’ll post his take on that passage later.
Thursday, 25. March 2010
Gabe- On verse 19, to understand start with verse 16. Jesus asks the quetion of who do people say/think he is and Peter replies that he is the Christ. Jesus tells him he is blessed because this revelation is not from the flesh but from god. In verse 18 Jesus tells him he is Peter (petras=greek for small stone) and on this rock (petros=greek large boulder) he will build his church. The question is did he build it upon the man Peter (as RC teach) -or on verse 16 the statement that Jesus is the Christ.
Verse 19 he tells Peter he will give him the keys to the kingdom and what is bound on earth will be bound in heaven and loosed on earth will be loosed in heaven. We see Peter using the keys to the kingdom in Acts 2. Remember the church began at Pentecost with Peter giving the first sermon. Later in Matt.18:18 we see Jesus telling the apostles the same thing he told peter in matt 1619 about binding and loosing.
What did they bind and loose? With pentecost, the christian dispensation began. They were no longer under the law of moses but under the law of liberty(Christ). Some examples of loosing were the dietary laws (no pork, certain sea foodect), keeping the sabath, thithing, the priesthood , ten commandments and other things that seperate Christianity from Judiasm . Some of the things they bound were the Lords supper, first day of the week worship, church leadership, faith and works, ect.–Hope this helps