Reflections — Pastor’s Blog

How does the familiar Lord’s Prayer begin? Although they seem almost exclusive, two elements merge beautifully in the preface, or invocation, of the Lord’s prayer in the first part of Matthew 6:9. They are the majesty of the King of heaven and the loving concern of your Father.

“We should not miss the balance in this opening to the prayer. We address God intimately as Father, but we immediately recognize his infinite greatness with the addition in heaven.”

Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, p. 144

Your Father is in heaven. Learn how to pray. Christ gave you this prayer as a model. Jesus gave this prayer (in slightly different language) in response to his disciples’ request that he teach them to pray, Luke 11:1-4. The language Jesus uses in Luke 11:2 suggests that these words be used, while the introduction in Matthew 6:9 implies a model. Those are not contradictory. Use the prayer, but don’t let it become an empty form. Remember the summary which the Lord’s Prayer presents. The invocation is followed by six comprehensive petitions. The first three deal with God’s name, reign, and will. The final three deal with our bread, debts, and foe.

Continue reading “Our Father in Heaven”

The Tenth Commandment forms a fitting conclusion to the law that God spoke at Sinai. It also shows you something about your relationship with God, as the apostle points out in 1 John 1:8–10.

Don’t claim to be without sin. God is light. The Word revealed this. Rather than quoting a specific saying of Jesus, John seems to be reflecting Jesus’ teaching about the Father. He sums it up in one sentence: “God is light.” Jesus, as the eternal Word, not only describes God as light, he is light, cf. John 1:4, 9, 14, 18; 8:12. God reveals himself as light. Light describes God’s character. This is one of a number of John’s brief statements about God: “God is love,” 1 John 4:8, 16; “God is Spirit,” John 4:24. “God is light” is not a comprehensive, exhaustive, definition of God (He is greater than our words or concepts), but is one of the ways that God describes himself. Why “light” to describe God? Light was the result of God’s first creative word. The shekinah cloud of glory led Israel through the desert. God clothes himself in light, Psalm 104:2. The promised Messiah would rise as the “sun of righteousness,” Malachi 4:2. Jesus proclaims himself “the light of the world,” John 8:12. God “lives in unapproachable light,” 1 Timothy 6:16. Because he is light, in him there is no darkness at all. God’s holiness is unqualified.

Continue reading “The Heart of the Matter”

The Ninth Commandment calls you to love and speak the truth, both in judicial settings and in the rest of life. Paul reflects that in Ephesians 4:25–32.

Do not lie. Do justice. God’s law outlines basic principles of justice: judges and public trials were established, Deuteronomy 16:18. Justice was not to be swayed by outside considerations, Exodus 23:1–9. The duty of witnesses was important. There were to be a plurality of witnesses, Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15, and they were to be participants in the judgment, Deuteronomy 17:7. Maliciously false witnesses were to be punished, Deuteronomy 19:16–21. True witness is impossible without the fear of God. Nothing but the truth must be spoken in testimony. Justice needs God’s law, 2 Chronicles 19:6,7. In an age when the name of God has become an expletive, is it any wonder that the truthfulness, even of sworn testimony, is often in doubt?

“[S]lander is often praised under the pretext of zeal and conscientiousness. Hence it happens that this vice insinuates itself even among the saints, creeping in under the name of virtue.”

John Calvin, Commentary on the Pentateuch, at Exodus 20:16

Continue reading “Love the Truth”

What is the right thing to do? Jesus gives you a brief standard, called the Golden Rule, which is always available for you to use. It is found in Matthew 7:12.

Do to others what you would have them do to you. Jesus gives the Golden Rule. This principle is found in other religions, usually in negative form. The Rabbi Hillel said, “What is hateful to yourself do not to your neighbor; for this is the whole law, and all else is its exposition.” Confucius: “Do nothing to your neighbor which afterward you would not have your neighbor do to you.” The bare negative is certainly far less than what Jesus teaches. Doing nothing at all might satisfy that form. But it is probably not fair to assume that the negative does not expect the positive as well. But this is not a principle that equalizes all religions. What Jesus says is profoundly deeper than what other teachers said. Too often people treat this simply as a principle to use because it works. But Jesus ties it in with the attitude and actions of your Father in heaven.

Continue reading “The Golden Rule and Your Wallet”