Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

  Giving to the Needy In chapter 6 Jesus first spends time teaching on three spiritual disciplines: giving, praying and fasting . Since Lent is not that far around the corner, Jesus' teachings will be helpful to us during this season. These three disciplines were requirements for religious Jews in Jesus' day.  6 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. Jesus says to " be careful ".  This means it is an intentional decision to think about your motives when you give. By saying "be careful", he is saying we have the tendency to practice our good deeds in front of others to be noticed by them.  Practicing righteousness basically means doing the right things; or deeds that are pleasing to God on behalf of others.  We often say, " It's the right thing to do !" "This does not contradict His previous command to let your light so shine before

 Love for Enemies Jesus' teaching here is highly regarded in by people of all faiths and philosophies in terms of the ethics he prescribes. The Sermon on the Mount is the basis for many if not all of our Judeo-Christian values.   43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  The bible was clear in the Old Testament about loving your neighbor, but the "hate your enemy" part was added by the scribes and Pharisees.  They distorted the original teaching in Leviticus to regard all of their neighbors as their enemies.  Generally all of these neighbors were seen as "Gentiles", who were unclean and to be avoided at all costs. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  Jesus gets back to the true intent of the Law, which was to love all people because they are made in God's image. " Jesus understood we will have enemies, yet we are to respond to them in love, trusting that God will protect our ca

Eye for Eye Jesus continues his diatribe calling out the legalistic Pharisees on a new topic ... "revenge".  38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’  Exodus 21:24 advocated an "eye for an eye" response in matters of civil disobedience, but over time it became a rationalization for personal retribution.  The basic idea was that the punishment should fit the crime. Originally it was intended that the person would get the proper punishment, which was deserved and also served as a deterrent. But over time it morphed to a license for private retaliation and a vindicative response.  39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.  This verse can be challenging to understand, but when we take it in context of the previous verse it makes sense. We can see that instead of retaliating in a more severe manner, we should hit the "pause button". I don't thin

Oaths 33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’  Jesus uses the familiar refrain, " You have heard it said ".  This time he is referring to the 2nd commandment, " Do not take the Lord's name in vain. " The Pharisees in a similar way were more about the spirit of the Law, than the letter of the Law.  The Pharisees had twisted the 2nd commandment by making vows in just about every other name other than God . For example, they would swear by the temple, by the head, by heaven, by the earth. So long as they kept from swearing by the name Yahweh, and so long as they observed the oaths publicly taken, they seemed to consider all others as allowable, and allowedly broken. This is the abuse which Christ wished to correc t. (Barnes) 34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne;  The bottom line is that Jesus tells them not to make

 Divorce 31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ Considering around 40%-50% of marriages end in divorce, (The percentage drops to around 35% for Christians) Jesus' teaching on divorce is very relevant. There are other passages where Jesus gives more teaching on divorce such as Mark 10:1-10 and Matthew 19:1-12.   I will use some of the insights from those passages later.  Here is a little context for the issue in Jesus' day,  " In Jesus’ day, many people interpreted the Mosaic permission for divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1) as granting virtually any reason as grounds for divorce. Some rabbis taught this even extended to allowing a man to divorce his wife if she burnt his breakfast." Deuteronomy 24:1 says,  "If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house ." Therefore, it

Adultery 27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ When Jesus begins with the familiar phrase, " You have heard it said .", he is referring to the Old Testament teaching of the Law by the Jewish leaders. This was the 6th commandment given to Moses and the Israelites. The issue at hand was the Pharisees only interpreted this as a single adulterous act by  married person, not the deeper aspects of the heart which Jesus will soon further expound upon.  28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  As was the case with Jesus' teaching on murder, Jesus is looking at matters of the heart.  Jesus says that when a person looks at another person lustfully to possess what they is not rightfully theirs, they commit the sin of adultery in their heart. " Importantly Guzik states there still is a difference between the two, However, it is important to understand that Jesus is not sayi

Murder 21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’  Jesus now goes to teach the disciples about the "Spirit" of the law.  The scribes and Pharisees added many interpetations to the original law of Moses, and over time it lost much of its meaning.  Sometimes they added to the law by making exceptions, and at other times they added to law laying on additional burdens that they themselves did not keep.   When Jesus says, " You have heard it said ", he is referring to the various interpretations of the scribes and Pharisees.  The people were reliant on these teachers and were probably not aware of their changes. Technically when he says "murderers are subject to judgment" it added on to the basic commandment "thou shall not murder".  The leaders established special courts to try murderers and instituted capital punishment in methods like "stoning" or

  The Fulfillment of the Law These verses are some of most important verses in the New Testament.  It is critical to understnad the concepts Jesus explains here, especially in regard to the LAW 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  The natural human response to Jesus' promise of forgiveness through repentance is to think that since one was forgiven, the Law does not matter anymore.  This has plagued the church ever since and has come to be known as "anti-nomianism".  The term means, "against the Law".  Jesus is not referring to the ceremonial law, but the moral law i.e. the Ten Commandments.  There are two ways in which Jesus would fuflill the Law and the Prophets.  Jesus fulfilled the Law by being the perfect example of how to obey it.  Jesus not only modeled keeping the letter of the law, but more importantly the Spirit of the Law.  We will get more into this tomorrow.  The o

  Salt and Light 13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.  Though salt is certainly a valuable commodity in our society (especially on a nice steak), it was even more important in Jesus' day.   "In Jesus’ day, salt was a valued commodity. Roman soldiers were sometimes paid with salt, giving rise to the phrase “worth his salt.” (Guzik) Jesus said to the disciples, "You are the salt of the earth". Jesus was calling on the disciples to impact the world they lived in.  Salt was important as a preservative to keep the meat from rotting in Jesus' day.  The disciples' lives were meant to be an alternative to a corrupt and rotting world.   Salt also added flavor.  The disciples' lives were an imitation of their master who brougtht hope and joy to everyone he met.  On the flipside when salt loses it's "saltines

Jesus continues to teach on what it means to be "blessed", which is also translated "happy".  He also described this as living according to kingdom values, meaning behaviors that have value beyond this temporal sphere.  7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. It is important to note what this verse as it might be confusing at face value,    " Not that our mercifulness comes absolutely first. On the contrary, our Lord Himself expressly teaches us that God's method is to awaken in us compassion towards our fellow men by His own exercise of it, in so stupendous a way and measure, towards ourselves." (Brown) The bottom line is once we have truly experienced God's mercy, our response should be to be merciful to others.  We remember the parable of the unmerciful debtor who had a large debt cancelled only to imprison a servant who barely owned him anything.  We always need to be aware of this as Christians.  Our debt to God was large and

  Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount 5 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them. At the end of the last chapter as Jesus taught, preached and healed many illnesses and sicknesses, the crowds flocked to him.  So he withdraws to a mountainside to give further teaching to his disciples.  But it is pretty clear in subsequent verses in Matthew that it was not meant to be a just a private audience of his closest disciples.  "It is wrong to think that Jesus went up on a mountain to remove Himself from the multitudes. It is true that Jesus gave this teaching to His disciples, but this use of the term is probably broad, including many among the great multitudes that followed Him mentioned in Matthew 4:25. By the end of the Sermon on the Mount, people in general heard His message and were amazed (Matthew 7:28)."(Guzik) Jesus often sat down when he taught.  It was customary for rabbi's to t

Jesus Heals the Sick 23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.  Thus begins Jesus' public ministry.  After calling his disciples to follow him, Jesus ministry revolves around three key areas. 1. Teach in the synagogues.  Since there was not a temple, the Jews met in their local synagogue.  Different rabbi's were invited to speak on the Sabbath, and this gave Jesus a platform to teach. Rabbi's usually expounded on the Law (the Torah) and the prophets. " The synagogues were places of assembly for public worship, where on Sabbaths and feast days (at a later period, also on the second and fifth days of the week, Jerusalem Megillah, f. 75. 1; Babylonian Bava Cama, f. 82. 1) the people met together for prayer, and to listen to the reading of portions of the Old Testament, which were translated and explained in the vernacular dialect. With the permission o

Jesus Calls His First Disciples 18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  This is not the first time that Peter and Andrew had met Jesus for we know from John 1:35-42 about the disciples' previous encounter with Jesus and how they became believers in Him.  35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples . 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” 37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” 39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon. 40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had follow

 Jesus Begins to Preach 12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee.  Since there is a lot that happens between Matthew 4:11 and 4:12, we need to review the first chapters in John to fill the gap.   " When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee: John 3:22 and 4:1 indicate that the first ministry Jesus did with His disciples was a baptizing ministry at the Jordan. Sometime after that and after the arrest of John the Baptist, Jesus went to Galilee to begin His itinerant ministry in that region. " (Guzik) Why did Jesus leave and go to Galilee?  " Now when Jesus heard of this his imprisonment, he departed into Galilee; not so much on account of safety, or for fear of Herod, but to call his disciples, who lived in that country." (Gill) 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali—   We know one of the reasons Jesus left Nazareth was that he was

7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Though the devil tried to use scripture against Jesus to trick him, Jesus wasn't biting.  He knew the right scripture to combat the devil's distortion of it.  Scripture is one of our main weapons to use when the devil tries to plant lies into our minds, which is his main strategy.  Listen to how Paul describes the power of God's word in fighting off temptation,  10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm

  Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness 4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  Jesus identified with us in his baptism and now he is going to identify with us by being tempted as we are. Notice the Spirit led him.  The Spirit Jesus received at His baptism led him to be tempted at the beginning of his public ministry.  The word for "tempt" is also translated "test".  One way to look at it might be what the devil used to tempt Jesus , the Spirit used to test him.  God allows us all to be tempted, though we should never go looking for it.  No temptation is so tough that we have to give in to it.  The Holy Spirit will give us the way out if we are willing to follow his way of escape.  But if we are "hell bent" on giving into temptation, God will allow us to do what we want.   2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.  Fasting is one of the spiritual disciplines that falls under the category of "ab

The Baptism of Jesus 13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.  It is no accident this is Jesus' first appearance on the public scene after living in relative obscurity the first 30 years of his life.  These events carry great meaning for the rest of his ministry.  Note Jesus did not need to repent of his sins like the others who came to John to be baptized, because he was sinless.   The Sinless One had no sin to confess, no need of repentance. We cannot even ascribe to Him that consciousness of evil which weighs upon the hearts of the saints of God almost in exact proportion to their holiness; yet we must believe that His righteousness was essentially human, and therefore capable of increase, even as He increased in wisdom and stature. Elliott 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” John was a man who knew his own sin very well.  And. he also knew enough about the prophecy about his cousin, Jesus, t