Today Our Daily Bread Matthew 5

Matthew 5: 1 - 48
1 One day as the crowds were gathering, Jesus went up the mountainside with his disciples and sat down to teach them. 2 This is what he taught them:
3 "God blesses those who realize their need for him, F29 for the Kingdom of Heaven is given to them. 4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 God blesses those who are gentle and lowly, for the whole earth will belong to them. 6 God blesses those who are hungry and thirsty for justice, for they will receive it in full. 7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. 9 God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. 10 God blesses those who are persecuted because they live for God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 11 "God blesses you when you are mocked and persecuted and lied about because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted, too.
13 "You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it useful again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. 14 You are the light of the world – like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. 15 Don't hide your light under a basket! Instead, put it on a stand and let it shine for all. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
17 "Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to fulfill them. 18 I assure you, until heaven and earth disappear, even the smallest detail of God's law will remain until its purpose is achieved. 19 So if you break the smallest commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God's laws and teaches them will be great in the Kingdom of Heaven. 20 "But I warn you – unless you obey God better than the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees do, you can't enter the Kingdom of Heaven at all!
21 "You have heard that the law of Moses says, 'Do not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.' F30 22 But I say, if you are angry with someone, F31 you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, F32 you are in danger of being brought before the high council. And if you curse someone, F33 you are in danger of the fires of hell. 23 "So if you are standing before the altar in the Temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, 24 leave your sacrifice there beside the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God. 25 Come to terms quickly with your enemy before it is too late and you are dragged into court, handed over to an officer, and thrown in jail. 26 I assure you that you won't be free again until you have paid the last penny.
27 "You have heard that the law of Moses says, 'Do not commit adultery.' F34 28 But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 So if your eye – even if it is your good eye F35 – causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your hand – even if it is your stronger hand F36 – causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 31 "You have heard that the law of Moses says, 'A man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a letter of divorce.' F37 32 But I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
33 "Again, you have heard that the law of Moses says, 'Do not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.' F38 34 But I say, don't make any vows! If you say, 'By heaven!' it is a sacred vow because heaven is God's throne. 35 And if you say, 'By the earth!' it is a sacred vow because the earth is his footstool. And don't swear, 'By Jerusalem!' for Jerusalem is the city of the great King. 36 Don't even swear, 'By my head!' for you can't turn one hair white or black. 37 Just say a simple, 'Yes, I will,' or 'No, I won't.' Your word is enough. To strengthen your promise with a vow shows that something is wrong. F39
38 "You have heard that the law of Moses says, 'If an eye is injured, injure the eye of the person who did it. If a tooth gets knocked out, knock out the tooth of the person who did it.' F40 39 But I say, don't resist an evil person! If you are slapped on the right cheek, turn the other, too. 40 If you are ordered to court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. 41 If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, F41 carry it two miles. 42 Give to those who ask, and don't turn away from those who want to borrow.
43 "You have heard that the law of Moses says, 'Love your neighbor' F42 and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies! F43 Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and on the unjust, too. 46 If you love only those who love you, what good is that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends, F44 how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
~Lena’s Comments~
We just had an awesome message about going up to the mountain of the lord to be with Him and get to know Him, not just learn of Him and work for Him, but know Him. I find it cool that here it says he took His disciples up to the Mtn. With Him and there he showed them who He is. He wants us all to know who he is, not about who he is, but know 1st hand, who He is. Disciples will go there, sit down there (that means stop for a bit, Lena), and be taught. I think Of Mary at Jesus’ feet, being taught by Him, not of Him, but by Him. Martha stayed busy, busy and did not go there, so she could possibly be taught later on by Martha, who had been there. Martha could have taught her of Him, but it wasn’t by Him. "Of "Him is good, if it leads us to "By" Him. In looking at these "blessed’s" I see one knowing Him enough to be able to see into another realm that they are assured of as being more a reality than this one is. What or where is our reality at? Here or there? We’re blessed if it is of another place, if we live there, while we stay here. Visitors here, residents there. If we live for only what we see right now, why did Christ die? We have got to see what He and the Father see. Getting a greater view, a greater glimpse than just what appears to be here and now. This portion rocks our image of humility, when it says, let all men see your good deeds. The difference is these deeds spoken of here are really who the person is in Christ. It’s not the act they "put on", It is the real person being worked on in Christ, the person being raised up a new man or woman who’s life gives praise to God. Forgiveness is an exercise in Christianity, it is to be practiced, and the quicker the better. Notice the passage puts responsibility upon the person who offends. If this person takes responsibility, (really any person who wants to keep an ongoing and pure relationship with God will constantly and on purpose take this responsibility) is aware of others and how what they say or do effects others, to the extent of going after them, persuing them as they see an offense may have been taken. This person is a watcher, not a casual orator, just giving words, without being willing to take responsibility for their effects. This passage says, "go quickly and make it right with your ENEMY!" What light that shed’s on matters, huh? We always think in terms of balance, equals, recompense, payments. God does not think this way at all! Make peace with enemies? YES! Those who understand and are truly willing to take responsibility are those who see that the cost is great and are still willing to pay, That is the nature of love. It is at my expense, I pay the way, not because I’m made to, but because I desire your soul to be sold out to the One who loves you, who cares for you, who paid it all for you. If I extend my self (life) here where others refuse, I at least show you a glimpse of who He is that gave His life for you. This man who would not divorce his wife, does not do so because he decides to give His life over to one, who maybe is no longer lovely or loving, for the sake of displaying love to her. He chooses to stay, showing the character of Christ to his mate. It’s not about giving to get, or expecting to get. It’s about giving and loving. The world has taught us so faithfully that there is a way out of our misery, It’s called escape. But God asks us to do as he would- Never leave! Never forsake. No wonder we have a hard time believing that when God says this He means it! Not many in our world have shown it to be true in living example form. Living it is proof, saying it is NOT. It would be better to be silent with our tongues and to shout aloud with our lives, than to speak thousands of unfulfilled undone words. We’ve got to stop ourselves in mid thought and say to ourselves, will I do what I’m about to say? Then decide whether to speak or not.
The nature of Love is to give. When one is involved in discipling others, it will be time to show that love is also responsible to move from always receiving, always needing to always giving and ministering. Jesus fed His disciples and then showed and told them to go and feed others. This is the goal of our Christian life, to be fed, to feed and to be bread. Then to add timeframes to it; Not just be bread once, but be bread-daily. We’ve got to stop thinking and saying. But look how THEY act, look what THEY do to me, Look how THEY act! He does see that, He needs us to act on it. How does one act when someone else is being a "jerk" as we so blatantly will state in our daily vocabulary? Do we need justification? Have we been send to them to point that out? Do they need to be told who they are? Or who they can be? Or who loves them where they are? Is it about us, or about Him? That can be a daily, sometimes hourly question. How far does our kindness extend? To just the lovely? Perfection is seeing beyond what is to what can and will be. Why do we weigh pennies for pennies, when the people of the world are far more precious to Him than how they may be acting. Remember to see beyond the mask. He does, He did when He saw me.