Matthew 23:1-22 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Death Is Not the Final Chapter - September 14, 2021

Death is not the final chapter in your story. John 11:25 and 26 assure us that in death we will step into the arms of the One who declared: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”

Winston Churchill believed this. The prime minister planned his own funeral. Two buglers were positioned in the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral. At the conclusion of the service, the first played—the signal of a day completed; the second played reveille—the song of a day begun.

Death is no pit, but a passageway, a corner turn. Isaiah wrote, “Your dead will live…all you dead and buried, wake up! Sing!…the earth is bursting with life, giving birth to the dead” (Isaiah 26:19). So play on bugler. Play on!

Matthew 23:1-22

Religious Fashion Shows

Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. “The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God’s Law. You won’t go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don’t live it. They don’t take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It’s all spit-and-polish veneer.

4-7 “Instead of giving you God’s Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn’t think of lifting a finger to help. Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called ‘Doctor’ and ‘Reverend.’

8-10 “Don’t let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don’t set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of ‘Father’; you have only one Father, and he’s in heaven. And don’t let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them—Christ.

11-12 “Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.
Frauds!

13 “I’ve had it with you! You’re hopeless, you religion scholars, you Pharisees! Frauds! Your lives are roadblocks to God’s kingdom. You refuse to enter, and won’t let anyone else in either.

15 “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You go halfway around the world to make a convert, but once you get him you make him into a replica of yourselves, double-damned.

16-22 “You’re hopeless! What arrogant stupidity! You say, ‘If someone makes a promise with his fingers crossed, that’s nothing; but if he swears with his hand on the Bible, that’s serious.’ What ignorance! Does the leather on the Bible carry more weight than the skin on your hands? And what about this piece of trivia: ‘If you shake hands on a promise, that’s nothing; but if you raise your hand that God is your witness, that’s serious’? What ridiculous hairsplitting! What difference does it make whether you shake hands or raise hands? A promise is a promise. What difference does it make if you make your promise inside or outside a house of worship? A promise is a promise. God is present, watching and holding you to account regardless.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
Today's Scripture Hebrews 13:11–16 (NIV)

The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering,e but the bodies are burned outside the camp.f 12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gateg to make the people holyh through his own blood.i 13 Let us, then, go to himj outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.k 14 For here we do not have an enduring city,l but we are looking for the city that is to come.m

15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrificen of praise—the fruit of lipso that openly profess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others,p for with such sacrificesq God is pleased.

Insight

The audience for the New Testament letter to the Hebrews consisted of the Diaspora—Jewish Christ-followers who’d been scattered due to persecution. The nature of the audience perhaps explains the heavy emphasis on Israel’s history and the sacrificial system of Judaism, which forms a point of reference for the work of Jesus. The content of the letter is clearly Christ-centered, lifting Jesus up as superior to angels, priests, and Moses, and affirming Christ’s redemptive sacrifice as superior to the sacrificial system of Israel’s temple. Hebrews is also shrouded in mystery, due largely to the fact that this letter is anonymous. The human authorship of Hebrews has long been the subject of both scholarly and devotional examination, with much ink being spilled arguing for a particular author. The individuals named as potential authors range from Paul to Apollos to Barnabas to Luke to Priscilla and more. By: Bill Crowder

Outside the Camp

Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.
Hebrews 13:12

Friday was market day in the rural town in Ghana where I grew up. After all these years, I still recall one particular vendor. Her fingers and toes eroded by Hansen’s disease (leprosy), she would crouch on her mat and scoop her produce with a hollowed-out gourd. Some avoided her. My mother made it a point to buy from her regularly. I saw her only on market days. Then she would disappear outside the town.

In the time of the ancient Israelites, diseases like leprosy meant living “outside the camp.” It was a forlorn existence. Israelite law said of such people, “They must live alone” (Leviticus 13:46). Outside the camp was also where the carcasses of the sacrificial bulls were burned (4:12). Outside the camp was not where you wanted to be.

This harsh reality breathes life into the statement about Jesus in Hebrews 13: “Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore” (v. 13). Jesus was crucified outside the gates of Jerusalem, a significant point when we study the Hebrew sacrificial system.

We want to be popular, to be honored, to live comfortable lives. But God calls us to go “outside the camp”—where the disgrace is. That’s where we’ll find the vendor with Hansen’s disease. That’s where we’ll find people the world has rejected. That’s where we’ll find Jesus. By:  Tim Gustafson

Reflect & Pray

How do you initially react to outsiders and misfits? In what practical way might you go to Jesus “outside the camp”?

Thank You, Jesus, that You don’t show any favoritism. Thank You for going outside the camp for me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
Arguments or Obedience

…the simplicity that is in Christ.  —2 Corinthians 11:3

Simplicity is the secret to seeing things clearly. A saint does not think clearly until a long time passes, but a saint ought to see clearly without any difficulty. You cannot think through spiritual confusion to make things clear; to make things clear, you must obey. In intellectual matters you can think things out, but in spiritual matters you will only think yourself into further wandering thoughts and more confusion. If there is something in your life upon which God has put His pressure, then obey Him in that matter. Bring all your “arguments and…every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” regarding the matter, and everything will become as clear as daylight to you (2 Corinthians 10:5). Your reasoning capacity will come later, but reasoning is not how we see. We see like children, and when we try to be wise we see nothing (see Matthew 11:25).

Even the very smallest thing that we allow in our lives that is not under the control of the Holy Spirit is completely sufficient to account for spiritual confusion, and spending all of our time thinking about it will still never make it clear. Spiritual confusion can only be conquered through obedience. As soon as we obey, we have discernment. This is humiliating, because when we are confused we know that the reason lies in the state of our mind. But when our natural power of sight is devoted and submitted in obedience to the Holy Spirit, it becomes the very power by which we perceive God’s will, and our entire life is kept in simplicity.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

We are in danger of being stern where God is tender, and of being tender where God is stern.  The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 673 L

Bible in a Year: Proverbs 19-21; 2 Corinthians 7

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
Scary Times - #9047

Yeah, I'm just not used to news reporters referencing the Book of Revelation. But, you know, in recent times I've heard some of them doing it. These aren't ordinary times. They've been referring to statements in the Bible about things like earthquakes and disasters, and references to what the Bible calls "the last days." They keep using the word apocalyptic. You know, you think about what's been going on in our world, and nature, and in governments, and between people, and you can understand why people are starting to think Bible a little bit. The Bible talks about these last days - the last days of human history - the days before the personal return of Jesus Christ who will change things forever.

Well, for example, a few years ago, there was a massive earthquake in Japan, Chile and New Zealand. They had on TV a map of the Pacific "Ring of Fire," which is that part of the world where most major quakes erupt. It showed Japan on the northwest corner, New Zealand on the southwest corner, Chile on the southeast corner. And then if you went up the West Coast of the United States, the final corner in the northeast. You could guess what the headline was, "Is California next?"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Scary Times."

Now, of course, there's an additional concern in the aftermath of a natural disaster. A few years ago we saw in Japan the specter of possible nuclear meltdowns, and that had people imagining some "apocalyptic" scenarios. The former Speaker of the House even called it "beyond biblical" what we were seeing. And then there's all the revolutions that have popped up in our news and seems like the whole world sometimes is shaking .

And then throw in a pandemic.

In our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus said a lot of this would happen. In Luke 21:11, He said "there will be great earthquakes...in various places and fearful events." Of course there have been earthquakes for thousands of years, but apparently they're going to get bigger and more frequent before Jesus comes.

Jesus also said there would be "wars and revolutions" (Luke 21:8) and "nation (and that original word actually means ethnic groups) will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom...on the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity" (Luke 21:25). I couldn't help but think as I watch, you know, long-entrenched governments around the world quaking with tidal waves of disease and protests and revolution.

Then the Lord of the future, Jesus, went on to say that "men will...be apprehensive about what is coming in the world" (Luke 21:26). There'll be upheaval in nations, there'll be unrest in our souls." And then the drum roll! Here we go! "At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (Luke 21:27).

So, as a tsunami was racing across the Pacific, I saw this cable news banner: "People are urged to take urgent action to protect lives." Our potentially "apocalyptic" world seems to be calling us to one of two spiritual responses, or "urgent action." If you belong to Jesus, act urgently to tell people you love about Him - no more excuses, no more stalling. And if you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus, act urgently to give yourself to Him. That's how you'll be safe forever, no matter what shakes, no matter what swamps all of us.

He is, after all, the Rescuer who died for your sins. He's the Conqueror who beat death on Easter Morning; He's alive. He can come into your life. And He's the King who will write the final chapter not only of human history, but of your history.

If you don't belong to Him, never been a time you've given yourself to Him, let this be the day. These are times to make sure you're anchored to the Lord of the future. Just say, "Jesus, I'm done running my life. I believe You died for my sin. I believe You're alive today and I'm Yours starting today."

You want more information about this? You want to be sure you belong to Him? That's happened for a lot of people when they went to our website. I want to invite you to do that today. It's ANewStory.com.

Here's the promise from the Bible: "Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging...the Lord Almighty is with us" (Psalm 46:2-3, 7). It's the same in those earthquake drills, "Hold onto something heavy." Well, that's Jesus.