The Attributes of God:

The Need for Discernment Matthew 16:5-12 “Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”               The age of information has also become the age of misinformation.  Today, anyone with a computer and a keyboard can present themselves as experts on any topic.  Type in the search, “Aliens live among us,” and you will find many websites that quote scientists and experts who say they do.  Yet the problem today is not a problem of information overload but a lack of discernment.  The assumption is that we can determine what is true if we search the internet.  But the genuine from the false is not easily distinguishable.  Not all information on the internet is false.  The internet provides a wonder of information ready at one’s fingertips.  We can find information fro...

The Confirmation of Faith Matthew 16:1-4 “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given, except the sin of Jonah.”               Sometimes, in our faith, we want a sign, a dramatic event that is clearly from God that confirms our faith.  We read in the scriptures the supernatural acts of God, the parting of the Red Sea, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, and the visions of Paul of heaven, and we wonder if only we could see those things, then our faith would be confirmed and validated.  Instead, we struggle because Heaven seems silent in our struggles.               In our passage, the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and demanded a sign.  The fact that they were coming together immediately raises red flags, for these two groups were bitterly divided because of their different theo...

The Compassion of the Universal King Matthew 15:29-39 “And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, “I feel compassion for the people.”               Sometimes, we feel abandoned by our political leaders.  They reside in Washington D.C., and make decisions that affect us all but have no idea about our struggles and how their decisions affect us locally.  If they genuinely understood our community and setting, their choices would be different.               Sometimes, we feel the same way about God in our Christian life.  Because we cannot see, touch, or hear his voice, we sometimes wonder if God is also distant, remote, and unconnected with the circumstances and situations we face today.              In the passage before us, we find many similarities betwe...

Great Faith in an Unlikely Person Matthew 15:21-28 “Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.”               When we read the story of the Syrophoenician woman, we are perplexed.  When the woman comes to Jesus, he seems uncaring and indifferent to the woman’s heartache.  This does not seem to fit the compassionate Jesus presented throughout the gospel.  How could Jesus, who came to demonstrate the love of God to a lost world, be cold and indifferent to the heartbreaking plea of a loving mother? The woman followed Jesus, imploring him for mercy, yet Christ completely ignored her.  So insistent was her cry that the disciples became annoyed at her persistence, begging Jesus to send her away. His response seems out of character.             If there is one thing we know of Jesus...

Changing the Heart Matthew 15:10-20 “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.”               We are always looking for natural solutions to spiritual problems.  The mantra of today is that people act the way they do because of societal failures.  Hamas brutally kills people because they are a disenfranchised people.  People steal and rob because society has kept them in poverty.  People become addicted to drugs, alcohol, sex, and work because they have physical sickness.  Sin is seen as a physical or social problem.               As Jesus interacts with the Pharisees, they are offended because Jesus dares to question their penchant for external rituals as the basis for their acts of righteousness.  Like today, the Pharisees focused on external, ...

The Danger of Misguided Faith Matthew 15:19 “But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.”               With the prevalence of information on the internet, it is easy to become distracted in our worship and our view of God.  While we may have a negative idea of the Pharisees and scribes of Jesus’ day, the one thing we cannot criticize them for is a lack of zeal and passion for their beliefs.  The Pharisees were passionate about their faith and their understanding of God’s commandments.  They were intensely spiritual, with a deep conviction about God and how a person is to live rightly in light of God’s requirements.  They were fervent in their desire to be in complete obedience to the Law God had given Moses on Mt. Sinai.  Of all the criticisms that we could place upon them, a lack of passion and zeal is not one of them.    ...

Jesus Calms the Storm  Matthew 14:22-36 “When they got into the boat, the wind stopped.”               It is one thing when a landlubber becomes fearful of the waves but another when the old salties become terrified.  Peter and John had grown up on the waters of the Sea of Galilee; they had undoubtedly seen and fished in many storms that broke suddenly upon the waters.  While the winds and waves might terrorize the disciples like Andrew and Nathaniel, who had spent little time in the water, it was of no concern for Peter and John.  But on this night, it was different.  As the waves began to crash against the boat, they sensed this unusual.  In verse 24, it states that the boat was being battered by the waves.  The word “Battered is more literally translated as “tormented,” a term that is used in other references to refer to the demonic hostility against peopl...