Matthew 27:27-50, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Conform or Be Transformed - October 15, 2021

Romans 12:2 urges, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” We can conform or we can be transformed. In Esther’s story, she and Mordecai chose at first to conform and disguise their identity. Later, they took a courageous stand.

You know, Bible characters are complex. They aren’t one-dimensional felt figures that fit easily into a Sunday school curriculum box. Moses was a murderer before he was a liberator. Joseph was a punk before he was a prince. Yes, the apostle Peter proclaimed Christ on the day of Pentecost. But he also denied Christ on the eve of the crucifixion. The people of the Bible were exactly that: real people. And, like you and me, they had their good moments, and, well, they were known to hide their faith.

Choose to be transformed.

Matthew 27:27-50

The Crucifixion

27-31 The soldiers assigned to the governor took Jesus into the governor’s palace and got the entire brigade together for some fun. They stripped him and dressed him in a red robe. They plaited a crown from branches of a thornbush and set it on his head. They put a stick in his right hand for a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mocking reverence: “Bravo, King of the Jews!” they said. “Bravo!” Then they spit on him and hit him on the head with the stick. When they had had their fun, they took off the robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then they proceeded out to the crucifixion.

32-34 Along the way they came on a man from Cyrene named Simon and made him carry Jesus’ cross. Arriving at Golgotha, the place they call “Skull Hill,” they offered him a mild painkiller (a mixture of wine and myrrh), but when he tasted it he wouldn’t drink it.

35-40 After they had finished nailing him to the cross and were waiting for him to die, they killed time by throwing dice for his clothes. Above his head they had posted the criminal charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews. Along with him, they also crucified two criminals, one to his right, the other to his left. People passing along the road jeered, shaking their heads in mock lament: “You bragged that you could tear down the Temple and then rebuild it in three days—so show us your stuff! Save yourself! If you’re really God’s Son, come down from that cross!”

41-44 The high priests, along with the religion scholars and leaders, were right there mixing it up with the rest of them, having a great time poking fun at him: “He saved others—he can’t save himself! King of Israel, is he? Then let him get down from that cross. We’ll all become believers then! He was so sure of God—well, let him rescue his ‘Son’ now—if he wants him! He did claim to be God’s Son, didn’t he?” Even the two criminals crucified next to him joined in the mockery.

45-46 From noon to three, the whole earth was dark. Around mid-afternoon Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

47-49 Some bystanders who heard him said, “He’s calling for Elijah.” One of them ran and got a sponge soaked in sour wine and lifted it on a stick so he could drink. The others joked, “Don’t be in such a hurry. Let’s see if Elijah comes and saves him.”

50 But Jesus, again crying out loudly, breathed his last.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Friday, October 15, 2021

Today's Scripture
Psalm 37:3–7
(NIV)

Trust in the Lord and do good;

dwell in the landz and enjoy safe pasture.a

4 Take delightb in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.c

5 Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in himd and he will do this:

6 He will make your righteous rewarde shine like the dawn,f

your vindication like the noonday sun.

7 Be stillg before the Lord

and wait patientlyh for him;

do not freti when people succeed in their ways,j

when they carry out their wicked schemes

Insight

When David urged his nation not to envy those who seemed to be winning by deceit or violence (Psalm 37:1, 7), he was writing out of his own experience. He knew what it was to be stalked by Saul, his own king and father-in-law. His psalm reflects what he’d seen in God, who helped him overcome Goliath, the betrayals of friends and family, and the military advantage of enemies. Learning to trust an unseen God at a time when visible people hated him was his recurring challenge. Reflecting on a hard road traveled, Psalm 37 foreshadows what the apostle Paul would one day express. In the service of Christ, he too learned to see beyond the temporary, outward appearance (2 Corinthians 4:16–18). By: Mart DeHaan

God’s Plans for You

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4

For six years, Agnes tried to make herself the “perfect minister’s wife,” modeling herself after her adored mother-in-law (also a pastor’s wife). She thought that in this role she couldn’t also be a writer and painter, but in burying her creativity she became depressed and contemplated suicide. Only the help of a neighboring pastor moved her out of the darkness as he prayed with her and assigned her two hours of writing each morning. This awakened her to what she called her “sealed orders”—the calling God had given her. She wrote, “For me to be really myself—my complete self—every . . . flow of creativity that God had given me had to find its channel.”

Later, she pointed to one of David’s songs that expressed how she found her calling: “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). As she committed her way to God, trusting Him to lead and guide her (v. 5), He made a way for her not only to write and paint but to help others to better communicate with Him.

God has a set of “sealed orders” for each of us, not only that we’ll know we’re His beloved children but understand the unique ways we can serve Him through our gifts and passions. He’ll lead us as we trust and delight in Him. By:  Amy Boucher Pye

Reflect & Pray

How does Agnes’ story of living someone else’s life resonate with you? What has God put in your “sealed orders”?

Creator God, You’ve made me in Your image. Help me to know and embrace my calling that I might better love and serve You.

Explore how your identity is rooted in Christ.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, October 15, 2021
The Key to the Missionary’s Message

He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. —1 John 2:2

The key to the missionary’s message is the propitiation of Christ Jesus— His sacrifice for us that completely satisfied the wrath of God. Look at any other aspect of Christ’s work, whether it is healing, saving, or sanctifying, and you will see that there is nothing limitless about those. But— “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”— that is limitless (John 1:29). The missionary’s message is the limitless importance of Jesus Christ as the propitiation for our sins, and a missionary is someone who is immersed in the truth of that revelation.

The real key to the missionary’s message is the “remissionary” aspect of Christ’s life, not His kindness, His goodness, or even His revealing of the fatherhood of God to us. “…repentance and remission of sins should be preached…to all nations…” (Luke 24:47). The greatest message of limitless importance is that “He Himself is the propitiation for our sins….” The missionary’s message is not nationalistic, favoring nations or individuals; it is “for the whole world.” When the Holy Spirit comes into me, He does not consider my partialities or preferences; He simply brings me into oneness with the Lord Jesus.

A missionary is someone who is bound by marriage to the stated mission and purpose of his Lord and Master. He is not to proclaim his own point of view, but is only to proclaim “the Lamb of God.” It is easier to belong to a faction that simply tells what Jesus Christ has done for me, and easier to become a devotee of divine healing, or of a special type of sanctification, or of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But Paul did not say, “Woe is me if I do not preach what Christ has done for me,” but, “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16). And this is the gospel— “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Am I becoming more and more in love with God as a holy God, or with the conception of an amiable Being who says, “Oh well, sin doesn’t matter much”?  Disciples Indeed, 389 L

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 45-46; 1 Thessalonians 3

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, October 15, 2021

You Never Know Who's Watching - #9070

When I consider today's young people and even my own kids when they were teenagers, I realize that their generations are about to lose some of civilization's greatest wisdom. Some of those old clichés that we were told, well, maybe they've never heard. How about this? "Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." Well, we have to make sure they get that wisdom. Or probably not, huh?

Or there's one that really stuck with me. I think it was from my grandmother. It goes like this: "When you kiss at the garden gate, remember love is blind but the neighbors ain't." Okay, it doesn't rhyme very well, but it's true. I always imagined when I heard that old Mrs. Murphy was across the street with her binoculars and a notepad. Actually, though, there is a life lesson in that old cliché that covers a lot more than a good night kiss. In fact, it was probably working invisibly in your life today.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "You Never Know Who's Watching."

Our word for today from the Word of God is found in Genesis 24. It's one of the great love stories in the history of the world. Eliezer is Abraham's ageing servant, and he has been sent to find the woman God has destined for son Isaac - Abraham's child of promise. In a sense, Isaac is the prince and it turns out that Rebekah is going to be the princess. But Eliezer doesn't know that at this point, so he prays.

He gets to the location where he's been told to go, back in Abraham's home turf where there are some believers to choose from. And in essence, Eliezer prays and says, "Lord, here I am at the well where all the women come to draw water. I want you to show me the woman of your choosing through her unselfish care for me and my animals. She won't know why I'm here, but I just want to pray that she'll come and offer me water and then go water my camels. And I'll know then how unselfish she is."

It's interesting that this little intrigue takes place. "Before he had finished praying" it says, "Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder." Then the story goes on to say, "The girl was very beautiful...a virgin. She went down to the spring and filled her water and came up again." Okay, so we've got a girl that might be the one. But listen. "As she goes and takes care of water for him and for the camels without knowing anything about what he's prayed, it says, "Without saying a word, the man watched her closely." Okay, now Rebekah's being watched by Eliezer.

She was simply going about her work. Little did she know she was being closely watched. But then, do you know so are you? You're building a reputation without even knowing it. You're advertising about Jesus without even realizing it. You say, "Well, I don't think I'm being watched." You are. "Well, I don't want to be watched." Too bad, you are.

People are noticing how you control your temper or how you don't, how you compete, how you win, how you lose. They're noticing how you respond to people's needs; to their need for attention, to their need for somebody to listen to them. They're noticing how you act when you're tired, when you're under pressure, how you handle failure, how you're handling your responsibilities, how you keep your promises. They're watching how you treat those who treat you badly, and how you react when you're threatened.

And it makes me think twice about how Christlike I really am. Just imagine you're being watched by your children, your grandchildren, your parents, by people who are making a choice about Jesus based on what they see in you; by your friends, by your teachers, your supervisors. You just can't go off duty as a Jesus follower; you're always His ambassador. So, would you pray through your day?

Someone might be basing their verdict about Jesus on the way you handle your circumstances, your emotions, your situations. Really, you never know who's watching.