Thoughts on Sunday School

Matthew 19:27, 20:1-16  - "Peter answered him, "We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?" Peter takes a commercialism view here. He thinks, 'I have given it everything so I ought to get a good deal back from you'. He believes if he gives he deserves to receive. Jesus says it is worthless, God gives as He gives, none of it is earned by us. No matter what Paul did, he cannot demand something in return. The first shall be last and the last shall be first. God owes man nothing. We stomp our foot saying it's not fair that He saves whom He saves. We stomp when He is too generous (like in this parable in chapter 20) or when He is not fair enough. But the truth is, He owes us nothing, who am I to debate Him having mercy on whom He has mercy with? Jesus reminds them, they will receive blessing, but so will others. Regardless of whether they give all or not, they are chosen and will not receive some special treatment. Peter would be one of the early workers, saying he had worked all day and received the same as those who came later. Can we be content with the grace we have been given and not play the comparison game? Why be jealous of the others around us and not be grateful and focused on the grace that HAS been gifted to us. We cannot do good things with the reward in mind. We cannot be godly with the end mindset of getting rewarded for it. That makes the gospel about us. We must keep the focus on the proper place. We are not the center of attention, we are here to bring glory to God. The blessings and rewards are supposed to be a side benefit. Let us just be thankful for whenever God does choose to bless us and reward us in His own timing. God measures rewards with His scales, not ours. "How dare you be so generous! I want more generosity!" is what this passage screams. And yet, even a good deal of the passage isn't "You're not generous enough to me", but rather "You're too generous to them". That is how selfish we can be. Envy is sadness at the joy of others and joy of the sadness of others. 

Thoughts on a Sermon

Christ's reputation was going before them. He was already a bit famous. Christ chooses words carefully, using words like "The Lord has need of them". It is in question whether Christ was not aware of being the Christ, but we must realize He fully knew who He was. But He also pointed to the Father a good deal and shows deference to Him repeatedly. Christ is the peacemaker, coming to ride on a colt. The only way to find true peace in this chaotic world is to how the knee to the Peacemaker. He is the King of Peace. "Hosanna" is translated as "save"...they were looking for a saving from Rome, but the true saving is from sin. Christ's role is as prophet, priest, and King...this is His role as King and the first thing He does is to go to the temple, matching His kingly role with his priestly role. He used the language to name the temple "His house". And if so, it made Him the owner and as such He had full right to do as He did. To cleanse it. He entered as a King and he did a kingly work, clean out a place of corruption. There is a relation between Church and State and Christ shows it here. Not only that, but this passage shows His healing side as well. It is a kingly trait to demonstrate a healing power. The blind and lame came to Him in the temple to be healed. He cleanses out the evil and brings in a healing ministry. He then uses children to proclaim His praises, children were known to announce the King and bring about his praises, but in these days our young children are denied entrance in God's covenant by baptism or such. The fig tree stands as a picture of the Church, there is no fruit or health in the life of the Church. The owner comes to see the fruit by is disappointed when it is bare and unfruitful. This is how Christ came to see His Church. "Let no fruit be on you again" and then the fig tree withered away. The fig tree stood for Israel and if Christ came and cursed it and it withered away...Christ said it will never bear fruit again, it ought to mean something in our vision of Israel. We have been sold the idea these days that Israel can do no wrong and is still God's beloved people. They are no longer God's people. The Church is now His faithful people, His beloved. The elders then went to damage and harm Him in the eyes of the people. He answered their questions with questions to trap them directly back and they realized they had lost. Judgement and salvation to hand in hand. Those who turn and embrace Him wholeheartedly will receive merciful salvation, but those who refuse will receive a judgement. In Christ, our judgement has already been released. We see only salvation now because of His death and taking our judgement to the cross with Him. 

Thoughts

1) Sovereignty is totalistic. All or nothing. God cannot be sovereign in one area but not another. God is an immanent God, He is nearby.  

2) Sovereignty is made of planning and predestination of some kind. Total planning and execution. His planning shows us yet again that He is immanent still. 

*If you take away sovereignty from an area (planning or anything else) you must give that sovereignty to someone else but the planning or whatever else will still get done.*

3) Sovereignty is omniscience. It is all-knowing. Omniscience will not just go away, either God will have it or you will try to give it away to something else. You cannot have total planning by God if he does not totally know everything (including the future). 

4) Sovereignty is characterized by ownership. Everything is the Lord's, He owns it all and we are but stewards. We are not our own but we were bought with a price. Ownership never goes away, it can only be transferred to someone else. 

5) Sovereignty is characterized by Law. The law will reflect  the law-giver. The taxes/tithe are also a good thing to look at. Is it 10%? Or more like 40-50%? 

Thoughts

Harmony of believers. Reformation must happen within cultures for the atonement to have any meaning. Without it, you have tyrannical government and leaders. People can be easily manipulated by their guilt. They have guilt because they have no atonement. A people who have no forgiveness is controlled by their guilt. You see this displayed by Stalin. It is the war of all against all. There are legal ramifications for the atonement. When the law is violated, the law must be repaired. That is what the atonement teaches. Man broke the law and it must be made up or fixed somehow. We cannot do this repair. Christ is our substitution and restitution. We must have a high view of Christ's repair. Our theology gets into everything and creates our every thought and action and reaction. The Church becomes the thermometer of the culture to determine how well it is doing. We cannot substitute harmony for theology or true atonement.