Today Our Daily Bread Matthew 15 & 2 Cor 2:14

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.

Mathew 15:1-39
Defilement Comes from Within God's Commandments and Men's TraditionsR63 1 Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, 2"Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread." 3He answered and said to them, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4For God commanded, saying, "Honor your father and your mother'; F66 and, "He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.' F67 5But you say, "Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God"-- 6then he need not honor his father or mother.' F68 Thus you have made the commandment F69 of God of no effect by your tradition. 7Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 8"These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And F70 honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. 9And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men."' F71 10When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, "Hear and understand: 11Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man." 12Then His disciples came and said to Him, "Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?" 13But He answered and said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch." 15Then Peter answered and said to Him, "Explain this parable to us." 16So Jesus said, "Are you also still without understanding? 17Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 18But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man." A Gentile Shows Her FaithR64 21 Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed." 23But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, "Send her away, for she cries out after us." 24But He answered and said, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 25Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, help me!" 26But He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs." 27And she said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." 28Then Jesus answered and said to her, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire." And her daughter was healed from that very hour. Jesus Heals Great MultitudesR65 29 Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there. 30Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them. 31So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel. Feeding the Four ThousandR66 32 Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way." 33Then His disciples said to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?" 34Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven, and a few little fish." 35So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. 36And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude. 37So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. 38Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala. F72
Footnotes F66: 15:4 Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16 F67: Exodus 21:17 F68: 15:6 NU-Text omits or mother. F69: NU-Text reads word. F70: 15:8 NU-Text omits draw near to Me with their mouth, And. F71: 15:9 Isaiah 29:13 F72: 15:39 NU-Text reads Magadan. Show cross-references R63: Mark 7:1-23 R64: Mark 7:24-30 R65: Mark 7:31-37 R66: Mark 8:1-10
~Lena’s Journalin’~
I was sitting with a lady recently that I’d invited to a Bible Study group. She was being honest and was hesitant in coming to the group. She at one point said, “To tell you the truth, I hate religion!” I think I may have surprised her in responding, “Me too.” She may have perceived me to be religious, because I’d invited her to a Bible study group. Church = religion=bible study= church= religion, right? Sometimes, it would, but not always, thank God. I told her religion really stinks, and it really stinks that the church of our Lord has been all marked up and appears unattractive to the persons who need Him the most. Under the demise of religion, the church has had a stigma placed on it. I told her, in our Cell- leader training I specifically asked the leaders to NOT preach (meaning tell others things to do) what you have not yet lived out. To stomp on hypocrisy, by living what you say, and saying what you live. Also I encouraged them to openly tell others that they have not arrived yet and are in a process, being molded by God, and if they offend or mess up with somebody, squelch out pride’s pull and say so! Then don’t stop there, but go one by pressing hard toward goals of dependency on God, give yourself challenges and points to reach as goals on the journey, never feeling you’ve arrived or attained, there’s always more to learn In Christ. Religion wants a picture of holiness painted, a relationship with God wants the person to always be walking in a dependent way with God to be holy. Holiness is defined, you do what you’ve heard in the word. So say you heard the word say, “Be ye kind one to another tender hearted forgiving one another as God for Christ’s sake forgave you”….Eph 4:24 Tomorrow at work someone does a stupid thing and you get blamed, well here’s your chance! If you don’t do the word you’ve heard and say you’re a fine Christian, you are deceived and have given religion or the church a sad name. Now ok, you’re working on it, you’ve heard the word and you are looking up now to God, saying give me strength to do this and strength to be this here today- HELP me Lord, this one in this instance is not easy (it never is really). You mess up, you blow it. Go to 1 Jn 1:9 and do that word with that person at work. Show them you are dependant on God for strength and without God’s help you are helpless to be a Christian. You can go to church, or you can BE the church!
Right after Jesus has spoken against the masquerade of mankind, He’d spoken against religious activity that looks so holy by inflicting the obedience of rules so hard to keep that those who set them appear holy, but really are not holy at all. Jesus encountered a non-religious woman who desired His help, who cried out for His help, who asked for His help. She was NOT religious. She was simple, her heart was longing for Him however she could have Him. She was willing enough to be dependant on Him that she told Him she was as a dog that eats underneath the table. She’d relate herself that way, if that was the way to show Him she wanted what He had. In religion there’s a lot of self dependency and pride, not God-dependency as this woman so greatly illustrates.
Those who are truly hungry and thirsty will seek Him, will find Him, will search Him out where He is, will stay with Him where He goes. I pray everyday that this kind of hunger and thirst will be inside of the people I meet. Everybody needs Jesus, everybody is living in spiritual death and heading to hell without Him. I cannot stand the thought of it, I pray that inside of their being they will long for His presence, His will to be accomplished in their own lives and in the lives of everyone they meet. That they will come out of darkness and see the light of truth that will show them where they are and where they are headed without Him. I pray that they will stop playing around with death and live life- eternal, beginning in the here and now. I pray that when people speak words of truth to them, even in passing, their hearts will burn inside of them, showing them This IS the WAY to follow. I feel such an urgency to tell people and be there with open eyes and an open mouth if possible, to plant seeds of the Good News in everyplace I go everyday. I’m on a rescue mission. If I’m not, who is? If someone else is, than I can help them, reinforce what they’ve said, be a 2nd and 3rd voice in the hearing ears. I want people to know the love of God that I’ve felt in my life, the love that rescued me from hell and eternal doom. I want them to know a love that refuses to leave them like they are, but it changes what was to what will be.
It says, Jesus had compassion on the multitudes, THEN (looking for an answer or a solution to the problem of hunger for Him, for life) He turned to His DISCIPLES (those who were close to Him, those He was teaching and taking along-side of Him), He looked at them as though they were His answer….Were they? Are you? Yes! He took what they had, which so seemed like absolutely nothing, yet in it’s number it was everything to start with (7 means completion) He had something, He had someone- Does He have us today? Is there any part of us that can be given to Him, just like it is, very small, but something? Yes, of course, we all have something. Maybe we don’t have atalent for public pseaking or leading music, but we have a longing heart as he does, we’d like to help, we know he is truth and we desire Him, right? He takes that, whatever it is and gives thanks to God for it, no matter how small. He broke it up, what was, now appeared different.It was now proportioned out, then He placed it back into the hands of the disciples and they distributed it and took the small amount they had walked into the area where the people were with it and watched God multiply it before their eyes.
I love the leftovers part- 7 baskets-ful! A complete return. Amen.
When you give it will also be given back to you. That’s how God thinks and works, If you withhold and don’t give, you and others you could have shared your abundance with, will lack.
(daily repetitive verse)
2 Corinthians 2:14
Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.