November 9, 2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1.27)

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 6.1)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

We might understand verse 1 of chapter 6 in Matthew more deeply by considering the thrust of the whole of chapter five is a description of what our righteousness is and looks like. Having identified for myself, and suggest it to others as well, viewing the Ten Commandments as a litany of righteous living is critical to our being able to grasp its call over our lives. We dare not become pharisaical about the Ten Commandments as the age-old list of “dos and don’ts.” Remember, when the Pharisees took on a position of religious power following the reclaiming of the temple with the Maccabean Revolt, they expanded that “list” to 613 “dos and don’ts.” You might say they had invested themselves in an “ethic cleansing” of the nation of Israel. Yes, let’s be so afraid of the world that we desire to control every aspect of Hebrew life and living. Their view was that the state of “unrighteousness” had been the genesis of the downfall of Israel into the hands of foreign nations. Well, they were mostly correct. But, they were moving in the wrong direction. The 613 “laws and regulations” controlled the externals of society as the predictors of internal sanctification. In other words, “say the right thing, do the right thing, the right thing will be done for you.” It was that basis of works righteousness.

But, the heart and soul of the Ten Commandments was not works righteousness. One might think so, but I think that consideration is flawed in this regard. The Ten Commandments are the consequences of living righteously before God. They are predicated by the “great commandments.” Jesus even says this by declaring “…these fulfill all the Law and the Prophets.” Why, even His own life is defined strategically as doing the same. He admits it to John the Baptizer in the eddies of the Jordan River saying, “This we must do to fulfill all righteousness.” Jesus wasn’t being “saved” by having sins He did not commit nor possess washed away. Jesus was practicing the salvation that was His because He followed the great commands of God which had been given to the people in covenant relationship long before the Ten Commandments were chiseled onto tablets of stone. Would that God had required Moses to pen them on the parchment of a lamb’s skin with a pen dipped in blood. Now that would have been a foreshadowing of epic proportion! Regardless, it was by the Great Commands that Jesus conducted His life. He was the edification of obedience and the manifestation of the blessing which comes from such obedience. “Loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind; as well as, to love your neighbor knowing you are a neighbor” puts one in position then to fulfill the rules of righteousness. Imagine it as it follows:

1. You will know there is only One God and Him only will you serve; there will be no other gods who come before me in your lives.
2. You will not attempt to make graven images of God as acceptable replacements in the course of worship. He is great great “seen by faith” and not by sight.
3. You will not misuse or misrepresent the name of God either by the swearing of oaths or by the declarations of judgment against another, foreign or domestic. The name of God is intended to invoke right worship, right service and right relationship.
4. You will honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy different from the other six. For six days the work of creativity was done even by the Lord God and on the seventh day, rest from those labors ceased so that reflection and thanksgiving would abound. Work meets the needs of our hands. Worship meets the needs of our souls.
5. You will honor your mother and father, recognizing that one day you will also be a mother and father to the generation that follows. The practice of obedience and honor creates the cycle of generational integrity. Its benefit will find you in the days yet to come.
6. You will not put into action the thoughts of resolving conflicts by the cessation of the life of another person. God is just. His mercy reigns on the just and the unjust. Taking the life of another willingly (not in defense) in order to satisfy your desire to be in a place not your own is murder.
7. You will not engage in adultery because there is no need. Marriages are made in heaven between God and humanity. Marital relationships conceived for earthly benefit and gain lack the spirit of blessing and resolve. Honoring God as husband and wife is the joining of heart, mind, body and soul. The two become one and then the “two” become one as the ones became One and made two. If the marriage covenant is true before God and conceived in worship, then no other marriage relationship is needed.
8. Trusting in God requires the commitment of a marital relationship. It speaks of a wife trusting in her husband and a husband in his wife as a people of God must trust in God who made them, called them and blessed them. Such trust speaks of purpose and provision which God sees best. To trust in our own understanding about what is needed and necessary apart from God leads one to a path of stealing from others which we believe we lack. Only the enemy is supposed to “steal, kill and destroy.”
9. Either preemptively or by experience, the guideline of “bearing false witness against another” stands in the confines of all that has been spoken before. Bringing them to bear upon our relationship with one another is a warning of great and grave conviction. The purpose of bearing a false witness is nothing more than to promote one’s self need above the needs as God provides. That we feel we “need” more than what God provides is in itself bearing a false witness. That we complicate it by extending its practice onto the lives of those around us goes against the very greatest of commands. So, as we would trust in God and love one another, there would be no need for such a practice of bearing a false witness or taking another into court. Doing so would mean we stand in witness against ourselves!
10. And while we might consider that the tenth descriptor of what happens when we live righteously has already been mentioned in the eigth (will not steal), it is different. To steal was speaking to taking things from others that we lack. To covet means to add to what we already have as if abundance is not in our possession. It speaks to the desire to be more than what God intended. It means to live comparative lives as if “all things are equal.” The only equality that is promised to us is God’s love dispensed in mercy, grace, justice, provision and welcome. To each of us, according to our purpose, has God provided and will provide. His promise never ceases. His promise never fails. God sees us in His image of who He created us to be and to do. Thinking that we should be something other than that makes us covetous of God. Being in that position posits us back to the very first descriptor and the cycle begins again. It begins again not in judgment but in reconciliation. Starting from the beginning allows us to move forward to avoid ever starting over again.

So, seeing the description of righteous living (both in Matthew 5 and in Exodus 20) we are able to hear what Jesus says as Matthew captured it: do not practice your righteousness in front of others so that you are seen. What is the purpose of “being seen” except to be deemed worthy of promotion. How many of the rules of righteousness does that decision itself conflict? I will let you review it yourselves, but I have a feeling you will arrive at the same count as I did… 12. In our self-reflection, let us hear the word of God and listen to what Jesus was saying to those gathered on the mount[ainside]. We are called to simply be the people of God and allow God to determine for Himself what is right, good and worthy. The hearts and mind of people are sadly too easily influenced by the ways and means and wiles of the world. The wisdom of Solomon, in one of his “wise” moments, says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways follow Him and He will direct yours path straightway to the fulfillment of His promise to you.” (Proverbs 3)

PRAYER IN LIGHT OF GOD’S WORD:

Father, You have revealed to us best in Jesus the Christ. By Him and Him alone shall we gain the eternal life and our place in eternal rest, living for You always. Show us more and by Your Holy Spirit instruct us in the way we should go, the truth we should reveal and the life we shall live with you forever. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.