Monday, April 24, 2006

Today's DB w/ Lena's Journalin' Matthew 19 *****

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.

Matthew 19:1-30 -
Discussion about Divorce and Marriage
1After Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went southward to the region of Judea and into the area east of the Jordan River. 2Vast crowds followed him there, and he healed their sick.
3Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: "Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife for any reason?"
4"Haven't you read the Scriptures?" Jesus replied. "They record that from the beginning 'God made them male and female.' F100 5And he said, 'This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.' F101 6Since they are no longer two but one, let no one separate them, for God has joined them together."
7"Then why did Moses say a man could merely write an official letter of divorce and send her away?" F102 they asked.
8Jesus replied, "Moses permitted divorce as a concession to your hard-hearted wickedness, but it was not what God had originally intended. 9And I tell you this, a man who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery—unless his wife has been unfaithful. F103 "
10Jesus' disciples then said to him, "Then it is better not to marry!"
11"Not everyone can accept this statement," Jesus said. "Only those whom God helps. 12Some are born as eunuchs, some have been made that way by others, and some choose not to marry for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let anyone who can, accept this statement."
Jesus Blesses the Children
13Some children were brought to Jesus so he could lay his hands on them and pray for them. The disciples told them not to bother him. 14But Jesus said, "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these." 15And he put his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left.
The Rich Young Man
16Someone came to Jesus with this question: "Teacher, F104 what good things must I do to have eternal life?"
17"Why ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "Only God is good. But to answer your question, you can receive eternal life if you keep the commandments."
18"Which ones?" the man asked. And Jesus replied: "'Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not testify falsely. 19Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself.' F105 "
20"I've obeyed all these commandments," the young man replied. "What else must I do?"
21Jesus told him, "If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." 22But when the young man heard this, he went sadly away because he had many possessions.
23Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. 24I say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!"
25The disciples were astounded. "Then who in the world can be saved?" they asked.
26Jesus looked at them intently and said, "Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible."
27Then Peter said to him, "We've given up everything to follow you. What will we get out of it?"
28And Jesus replied, "I assure you that when I, the Son of Man, sit upon my glorious throne in the Kingdom, F106 you who have been my followers will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will have eternal life. 30But many who seem to be important now will be the least important then, and those who are considered least here will be the greatest then. F107
FOOTNOTES:F100: Gen 1:27; 5:2. F101: Gen 2:24. F102: Deut 24:1. F103: Some manuscripts add And the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. F104: Some manuscripts read Good Teacher. F105: Exod 20:12-16; Lev 19:18; Deut 5:16-20. F106: Greek in the regeneration. F107: Greek But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

~ Lena’s Journalin’ ~
Since this touches on marriage ending in divorce we’re gonna talk a bit about that today. I used to be confused by this scripture, and I believe one reason for the confusion was where I was at, and how I was looking at my experiences rather than at God’s design and plan.
Should a man be allowed? Whatever one on earth allows is allowed, whatever one disallows is disallowed. It is up to the man, not to God. God gave the instruction and gave the purpose to man, made him responsible to it. With man’s will he/she can decide anything at all, should they? Should they decide to drink, smoke and gamble? No, but “men” do decide this, and God wholeheartedly loves the persons who do decide non-beneficial things. He will even embrace them inside of the error of their ways, He will be there to restore them even when they turn from mistaken thinking and act as though nothing ever came between them, and this is the key word- between, separation, division. Those words oppose, agreement , joining and unity. This is a spiritual battle of union and disunion.
God is more than a family “man”, He is all for One and One for all.
The very offense that brought a great chasm was the spirit of two-ness, which can be labeled, division, disunity, disunion, separation, breach, etc.
So should a man do this with his wife also?
Marriage between man and woman in its ideal model is the picture of God joining Himself with us, His church. Reconciling with and to man again after a great disaster. He takes what was two and makes it into the spirit of One, on purpose. That which disagrees, learns to agree and work towards a godly example.
Man can or cannot be a part of that living example. It is up to each man and woman to decide. How far did God go to bring reconciliation of her to Him? What did He go through? How much did it mean to Him? Were there any bumps in that road to Calvary?
He laid down His life, He laid down His God-hood, became the lowliest state of mankind and put flesh on His spirit and walked on dirt, breathed dirt, then died, BUT He did not go back to dirt, He rose to His father to present a gift, the ability for reconciliation of God and man. If man wanted to he could be joined to God, but “should he”? How far did God go for a bride, for a wife? To the ends of the earth and back to heaven again.
How far should a man go for a woman? How far should a woman go for a man? Should they go at all? It depends, right? On what? How much love is in them, is taught them, is modeled them. How much of the love of God is in them. What if it is shallow, limited? Then it is time to grow it up, expand it, increase it, for the sake of the kingdom of God.
I was thinking recently about my own struggles to be a repairer. I felt the Lord whisper in my ear something so significant. He was increasing my love. He showed me that my kids were watching for my decisions to love or not, based on conditions, circumstances etc. They were watching, hoping God is really real, and that His love is great enough to be in their home accepting them as they are. He showed me that if I love their father as God does, no matter how I feel about it at any given time, if I would endure all things, including hurt, offense, pain, mental disagreements, etc, there would be hope for them in their imperfections also. He showed me a certain daughter’s eyes, how there was hope in those eyes, as though she were on the edge of a cliff looking down wondering if things about God were really real for her. Could she believe what we’ve preached for years? God loves me, God loves me no matter what. Could she believe that? The Lord showed me that to a child, their family IS their reality of Him, of His great love.At least their perception of God comes from the roots of their family life, their ability to receive Him easily, with effort or not at all, comes from that root system. If it is not demonstrated at home, children who are teenagers, do not believe it exists, unless they have their own personal revelation by the Divine intervention of God leading them apart from all of that past demonstration and towards Him.
I began to see that if my marriage fails to display Christ to her, she’ll have hope disappointed, not that I’m her source of hope, but we are what God has chosen to be a model of this hope. I began to see how I should love her father even when he exasperates me, or makes a mistake or isn’t perfect. I was basing my love on my own expectancies of what I felt marriage should be, it was all conditional. If he would get in his place as head and leader especially spiritually speaking, I’d of course get in line and be serving and submissive, right? Well if my love is shallow (which it was), and based on experiences and reciprocation of my husband, yes, but if my love is fed through the love of My Father God, not based on circumstances, but based on a decision of being a reflection of the love that the Father wants to give my family using me, I should.
I began to see that love gives, rather than takes. I wanted to take what was due me inside of the relationship. Wasn’t that what we said we’d do at the altar 23 + years ago? It didn’t seem to be working out according to plan A, B, C or any other plan. I saw that if my love is fed in Christ Jesus, my husband, or any other person for that matter, can take, take, take whatever they seem to need to take. I did not say it would be easy, but if they are not my source and I continually go back to my source, they can take, and I can give. That kind of love has to be in non-breached fellowship with the love of God or it will quickly run dry.
Jesus said no one takes My life, but I give it as a ransom for many. People ripped His beard hairs out of His face! They stripped Him of His clothes! They spit on Him and called Him names, they whipped His back and front with whips. He said they did not take His life. Now, isn’t that just an odd way to look at it all? Even now my human brain wants to say, “Jesus, did you see that, they were taking Your life? We saw it in a movie!” It was inside of His attitude. No matter what men decided to do to Him, though He loved them, anything they wanted to take from Him, He’d give. Everything except His love for the Father, and no matter what they did, they could not take that away. He didn’t turn to God and say, why are You allowing this to happen to Me?
When it says a man leaves his father and mother, it is saying he leaves that heritage, that history behind, and joins with one who he will make new history with. He clings and stays with the one he’ll make history with, rather than making history from His earthly father, he has a new start. If things of his father and mother can continue in a good and godly manner, he continues those blessings, but if cursings need to be removed, he and His wife, who agree together, who stay together, form a new line of heritage of blessing. Cleave means stick as though a permanent bonding. Leave means he dies to the old and joins to the new household and order of the responsibility given Him by a higher Father and mother than his own natural parents. His father is God, His mother, Christ’s body, the church. Marriage is a chance for each man to establish God’s kingdom rule and model again. It’s a clean slate so to speak, to erase whatever needs to be erased and to write what needs to be written for future generations. To cleave means to stay with that until it is accomplished, not to abort the purpose, to stay until perfected in purpose and model. That should and could take a lifetime.
When divorce happens this plan is interrupted greatly, if one re-marries, they go back to square one to start over again in this Divine process. Marriage, no matter how old we are when we join with someone is all about God’s kingdom model. It takes time to build it and bring it to a place for display. We only have so much time, time is of the essence. Failure is forgiven by God and covered by His merciful and cleansing spirit. Praise God we all learn by our shortcomings and mistakes. We use them as fuel for the ignited fire of passion he gives us when He restore us again to Himself to start a new process of Oneness in Christ.
Thank God we have all the time to do it right, but no time at all to do it wrong. That’s God’s grace on us, to learn, change and be a new model in the earth, while there’s still time.
Humanly speaking it is impossible to bring the kingdom of God to earth, into my own family, my marriage, but with God ALL things are possible.
The reason He said it is pretty much impossible for a rich man to enter in, is that man’s god is money and he has to change God’s first. Then if he is willing to change gods he has to keep Himself focused on who is Lord, who and what consumes his time and calls his life into purpose. Money or Jesus? It’s a very hard decision to make. Can you imagine having a few million dollars and being asked to set it on a back burner to serve God? Don’t think about it or serve it exclusively? It took a lot to get it and to keep it, what if god was calling for the time it took to build your own kingdom to build His? Would you be able to take the trade off? It could mean losing the money, if you really made the trade off….


Daily Repetitive Verses:

John 3:17
You know these things – now do them! That is the path of blessing.