Week 11 IBS

Week 11   Purpose/Righteousness

Monday: Matthew 5:16

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they might see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

 On the surface this verse reads that “We are to glorify our heavenly Father through our good deeds” to me this sounds like we only have to glorify Christ when we are performing good works but when we accepted Christ we allowed his will to overtake our own will. This means that when he has called us to do something it is good but as we learn in??? we are to do everything we do to the glory of God. In my head there seems to be a slight contradiction here but the clarification of it is that all of the things we do are to be good works. So when we allow our lights to shine before all men we bring him glory because of all the good things that we are doing for Him.

I often times feel as though that I don’t allow my light to shine if I do not feel like having to answer questions about it.

My application: To pray for five minutes that I will never allow my light to dim but in all that I do I will bring glory to my heavenly Father. Also I am going to pray that God will allow me to sit next to someone on the plane home that I can share the gospel with. 

Tuesday: Matthew 5:17

Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

I have heard this verse quoted innumerable times! We are still to fallow Gods Law even though we are free in Christ. Paul put it beautifully when he said “Should I continue sinning that grace may abound? By no means!” we should strive to fallow the Law even more because Christ fallowed the Law in every aspect. And even though our carnal flesh will hardly ever allow us to do that, we can still chose not to sin.

When Christ fulfilled the law by living a perfect life, he created the bridge that we needed in order to be able to attain heaven. The fact that Jesus fulfilled every single Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah is incredible and defies statistics. I all too often forget to realize that Jesus ministry was so much more than on the cross; he resisted every single temptation that I have and will ever suffer and it was that that qualified him to be able to die in the cross. The perfect, sinless man could become sin that we might become His righteousness.

My application: To pray that God would continue to reveal the areas in my life that is not bringing total glory to Him and I will talk with my teammate Kyle about those things so he can hold me accountable.

Wednesday: Matthew 5:18

For truly, I say to you that, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

I feel that this verse is referring to the fact that nobody is going to escape judgment; nothing will pass from the Law. This is good reminder that everyone is accountable for their actions. Each one of us are responsible for the decisions we make; some of the decisions I have made are that I will rationalize the reason why I should not share the gospel with someone. Well I am accountable for each one of those decisions.

This verse reminds me that we don’t have all of the time that we want that Jesus could come back very soon and then there will be no changing someone’s destiny.

My application: to pray that God will burden my heart for the people I am around so I won’t pass up any opportunities I have to share the Good News.

Thursday: Matthew 5:19

Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

 This verse is interesting because of one specific saying we all say and that is “a relationship with Christ is not just a list of do’s and don’ts”. The truth in the matter is that there is a list of things we should and shouldn’t do, but there is much more to the Christian life than merely legalism. A relationship with Christ is about us recognizing our need and his sacrifice that he made out of love for each one of us and when I recognize that I should be compelled to do the things that he instructed me to do in both the New and Old Testament. However, I need to make sure that I strive to fallow all of the Old and New Testament commandments so when I teach people to fallow those laws they will see that I am doing the same thing that I teach.

When Jesus said this all of the New Testament commandments had not yet been given so he must be referring to the Old Testament Laws. I often times overlook many of these because I rationalize that I am in the new covenant of Christ, which I am but, The old testament Laws were given to the Israelites that they would be able to practice godly lifestyles. So why would I, a child of God, not want to practice the instructions that he gave his own people.

My Application: to do a study on the Old Testament laws. And to spend 10 minutes reflecting on how I might be able to practice these better in my life.

Friday: Matthew 5:20

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

My own righteousness will never exceed the scribes and the Pharisees. Although they seem that they were not very righteous because a lot of their deeds were out of selfish ambition and so I need to allow the love that Christ has shown me to move towards righteousness even then I will not be righteousness enough for heaven. However Christ’s sacrifice in living a perfect sinless life & dies allows his righteousness to cover me as long as I accept his free gift.

My Application: to continue my study on the Old Testament laws. And discover how to practice them in my life.