Category: Devotional

Devotional

Daily Devotional-July 5

July 5, 2020

For the next 15 days we will be reading through the Psalms of Ascent together as a church! The Psalms of Ascent are a collection of 15 psalms (Psalms 120-134) that pilgrims would sing on their way up to Jerusalem to worship. These songs are meant to instruct and prepare the hearts of the traveler to worship the Lord! As sojourners and aliens in this world, we too need to have our hearts prepared for and instructed in the worship of our God. Let’s meditate on these psalms and allow the Spirit of the Lord to move us to true worship as we seek Him together!

In this psalm the pilgrims recall a past time when the Lord showed His mercy on His people, restoring their fortunes, and plead with Him to do a similar work in their own day! They speak of how they could hardly believe the way that the Lord had come through for them (v.2), and how this act of mercy and restoration even acted as a witness to the surrounding pagan nations (v.3)!

The psalmist then asks the Lord to restore their fortunes once again as He had done in the past. He asks for the Lord to bless the year’s harvest so that weeping will turn into shouts of joy (v.5)!

The church has seen the Lord move in powerful ways to bring revival, renewal, and restoration throughout its history. We have every reason to cry out to the Lord to do it again and, in so doing, to ask in confidence and faith that He will respond! 

God has been faithful and merciful in the past, and because of that we have every reason to trust that He will do so in the present and in the future! Let’s seek for revival and renewal to visit our hearts, our families, our communities, and our churches with this kind of faith!

Psalm 126

Restore Our Fortunes, O Lord

A Song of Ascents.

126 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
    we were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
    and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then they said among the nations,
    “The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us;
    we are glad.

4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
    like streams in the Negeb!
5 Those who sow in tears
    shall reap with shouts of joy!
6 He who goes out weeping,
    bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
    bringing his sheaves with him.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Family Discussion Question:

  • How does God’s past faithfulness and mercy towards us change the way that we approach Him in prayer or the way in which we depend on Him day by day?
Devotional

Daily Devotional-July 4

July 4, 2020

For the next 15 days we will be reading through the Psalms of Ascent together as a church! The Psalms of Ascent are a collection of 15 psalms (Psalms 120-134) that pilgrims would sing on their way up to Jerusalem to worship. These songs are meant to instruct and prepare the hearts of the traveler to worship the Lord! As sojourners and aliens in this world, we too need to have our hearts prepared for and instructed in the worship of our God. Let’s meditate on these psalms and allow the Spirit of the Lord to move us to true worship as we seek Him together!

In this song the pilgrim worshipper declares his confidence in the Lord’s protection and vindication towards His faithful ones. He envisions the Lord surrounding His saints as a high wall would surround a fortified city and affirms that He will never cease to protect them in this way. The psalmist expresses trust that the Lord will not allow the unrighteous to rule over His people forever, whether the “scepter of wickedness” (v.3) is in reference to a foreign power or a wicked king in Jerusalem itself, and looks forward with confidence that the Lord will one day “do good…to those who are good” (v.4), but “lead [the unrighteous] away with evildoers” (v.5).

God calls His people throughout history to entrust themselves to His care and to His absolute rule whenever they are under the oppression of unjust rulers. For us this can take many forms: wicked men and women in power over our nation, unjust people with power over our communities, and even corrupt leadership within the church itself.

God is calling us through this psalm, no matter what situation we may find ourselves in, to have unshakable confidence in His protection over us, in His sovereign rule on our behalf, and in the fact that He will one day vindicate His people and expose these powers that be for what they really are. 

Verse 3 presents a dilemma for God’s people: whenever the unrighteous have power over the righteous, it can very easily lead the righteous to act in unrighteous ways. The Lord is calling His people to be maintain their ultimate and supreme allegiance and loyalty to Him alone over any earthly power, to remain faithful to His way. He promises that in the end, when He vindicates His people once and for all, we will find that it was worth it. 

Psalm 125

The Lord Surrounds His People

A Song of Ascents.

125 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
    which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
    so the Lord surrounds his people,
    from this time forth and forevermore.
3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
    on the land allotted to the righteous,
lest the righteous stretch out
    their hands to do wrong.
4 Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
    and to those who are upright in their hearts!
5 But those who turn aside to their crooked ways
    the Lord will lead away with evildoers!
    Peace be upon Israel!

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Family Discussion Question:

  • What can it look like for us, in our context and culture, to remain faithful to the Lord in the face of corrupt or unrighteous leadership? How might the Lord be calling you specifically to entrust yourself to His protection and His vindication?
Devotional

Daily Devotional-July 3

July 3, 2020

For the next 15 days we will be reading through the Psalms of Ascent together as a church! The Psalms of Ascent are a collection of 15 psalms (Psalms 120-134) that pilgrims would sing on their way up to Jerusalem to worship. These songs are meant to instruct and prepare the hearts of the traveler to worship the Lord! As sojourners and aliens in this world, we too need to have our hearts prepared for and instructed in the worship of our God. Let’s meditate on these psalms and allow the Spirit of the Lord to move us to true worship as we seek Him together!

This is a song of thanksgiving because of the victory the Lord has given His people, the deliverance He has shown them when there should have been none! The pilgrim journeying to worship in Jerusalem celebrates the Lord’s deliverance from what was a seemingly hopeless situation. He expresses that they would have perished if it had not been for the Lord, but the Lord was with them and for them, and the Lord made a way!

This is the story of every one of God’s children. Our situation was hopeless; separated from God, dead in our sins, following the prince of the power of the air, under God’s just wrath with no way to change our situation. But God stepped in and made a way for us through Jesus Christ! 

“At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6 NIV) Now we have been delivered and set free, just as the psalmist expresses in verses 6-7. We have been given the victory in Christ not because of anything we have done or anything good in us, but simply because God is for us, and every time we gather for worship we celebrate that victory! Let’s remember today how hopeless our situation was apart from God’s intervention and celebrate the victory and freedom which Christ has won for us today!

Psalm 124

Our Help Is in the Name of the Lord

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

124 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side—
    let Israel now say—
2 if it had not been the Lord who was on our side
    when people rose up against us,
3 then they would have swallowed us up alive,
    when their anger was kindled against us;
4 then the flood would have swept us away,
    the torrent would have gone over us;
5 then over us would have gone
    the raging waters.

6 Blessed be the Lord,
    who has not given us
    as prey to their teeth!
7 We have escaped like a bird
    from the snare of the fowlers;
the snare is broken,
    and we have escaped!

8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Family Discussion Question:

  • Why is it so important to understand that, if it were not for God’s intervention, we would be utterly destroyed? How does God’s being for us in such a radical way encourage us to respond to Him?
Devotional

Daily Devotional-July 2

July 2, 2020

For the next 15 days we will be reading through the Psalms of Ascent together as a church! The Psalms of Ascent are a collection of 15 psalms (Psalms 120-134) that pilgrims would sing on their way up to Jerusalem to worship. These songs are meant to instruct and prepare the hearts of the traveler to worship the Lord! As sojourners and aliens in this world, we too need to have our hearts prepared for and instructed in the worship of our God. Let’s meditate on these psalms and allow the Spirit of the Lord to move us to true worship as we seek Him together!

Psalm 123 is a psalm of waiting on the Lord, waiting on His mercy and deliverance. This song envisions a scenario in which the pilgrim worshippers are enduring the scorn and contempt of the proud, those who are at ease. Whether these references are meant towards the unfaithful in Israel itself or the unbelieving Gentiles is unclear, but throughout history God’s people have, more often than not, been objects of ridicule and scorn from those in power. 

This psalm is simultaneously a plea for God’s mercy to be demonstrated towards His people and a confident declaration of faith that it will. The psalmist writes in verse 2 “so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he has mercy on us” (emphasis mine). There is no question as to whether or not God is going to show mercy on His people; it is only a matter of time!

This is a great comfort and joy to all God’s people who feel the weight of injustice, oppression, ridicule and scorn against them. We can and should cry out to God for His mercy and vindication to be poured out on us as we face the opposition of the world, but as we do so we must do it with absolute confidence that He will indeed do it!

We may not be able to see the mercy of our Lord coming, and our circumstances may tempt us to believe that it won’t ever come, but the nature of faith is to believe that God will come through in spite of the supposed evidence to the contrary which surrounds us. We can have hope that God’s mercy will come, that in the end He will vindicate His people and deliver them from oppression and scorn forever!

Until that day, we wait with confident faith. 

Psalm 123

Our Eyes Look to the Lord Our God

A Song of Ascents.

123 To you I lift up my eyes,
    O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
2 Behold, as the eyes of servants
    look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maidservant
    to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
    till he has mercy upon us.

3 Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
    for we have had more than enough of contempt.
4 Our soul has had more than enough
    of the scorn of those who are at ease,
    of the contempt of the proud.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Family Discussion Question:

  • What does it mean to “wait for the Lord”? How can God use seasons of waiting on Him to grow and deepen our faith?
Devotional

Daily Devotional-July 1

July 1, 2020

For the next 15 days we will be reading through the Psalms of Ascent together as a church! The Psalms of Ascent are a collection of 15 psalms (Psalms 120-134) that pilgrims would sing on their way up to Jerusalem to worship. These songs are meant to instruct and prepare the hearts of the traveler to worship the Lord! As sojourners and aliens in this world, we too need to have our hearts prepared for and instructed in the worship of our God. Let’s meditate on these psalms and allow the Spirit of the Lord to move us to true worship as we seek Him together!

If Psalm 120 is a song of departure, this is a song of arrival! The pilgrim recalls his gladness when his companions invited him to come to Jerusalem to worship with them, and now he celebrates that the long journey is over and they have arrived! He marvels at the beauty of the city and prays for the peace and the unity which exist there to continue and to increase.

This psalm is a reminder of the great joy, blessing, and gift that is corporate worship. The psalmist cannot contain his joy and wonder at having arrived in the city where God dwells among His people, at having arrived to worship the Lord! There is a peculiar beauty, glory, and hopefulness when God’s people gather together to worship Him.

If this was true of the nation of Israel, how much more is it true of the church! There is a very real glory which is so easy to miss when we gather together in the name of Jesus to give Him praise! The Lord is present with us in a special way when we come together to worship.

The psalm makes it clear that we are to pray for the peace of God’s dwelling place, both for the sake of God’s presence and glory and for the sake of our fellow believers (v.8-9). During this season of not being able to gather together, let us not neglect to pray for our church. Let us earnestly desire to meet together face-to-face again, and let us seek each other’s good for the sake of the Lord!

Psalm 122

Let Us Go to the House of the Lord

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

122 I was glad when they said to me,
    “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
2 Our feet have been standing
    within your gates, O Jerusalem!

3 Jerusalem—built as a city
    that is bound firmly together,
4 to which the tribes go up,
    the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for Israel,
    to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5 There thrones for judgment were set,
    the thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
    “May they be secure who love you!
7 Peace be within your walls
    and security within your towers!”
8 For my brothers and companions’ sake
    I will say, “Peace be within you!”
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
    I will seek your good.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Family Discussion Question:

  • What are some ways you can be praying for the church in general or for specific people within the church right now? How can you be someone who seeks the good of your brothers and sisters in Christ during this time?
Devotional

Daily Devotional-June 30

June 30, 2020

For the next 15 days we will be reading through the Psalms of Ascent together as a church! The Psalms of Ascent are a collection of 15 psalms (Psalms 120-134) that pilgrims would sing on their way up to Jerusalem to worship. These songs are meant to instruct and prepare the hearts of the traveler to worship the Lord! As sojourners and aliens in this world, we too need to have our hearts prepared for and instructed in the worship of our God. Let’s meditate on these psalms and allow the Spirit of the Lord to move us to true worship as we seek Him together!

This psalm is a song of confidence in the provision and protection of the Lord as the pilgrim makes his way to Jerusalem to worship. The traveler was discontent with the brokenness, deceit, and hostility which surrounded him in Psalm 120, and yearned to go and be in the presence of God; now he expresses his confidence in the Lord to protect him from the dangers of the road as he journeys to Jerusalem!

He begins with looking up to the hills. The hilltops were the so-called “high places” where idols were worshipped in the land of Canaan. As the pilgrim looks around at these places of idolatry, he remembers that his help does not come from a mere statue made of wood or metal, but from the Lord who made heaven and earth!

The pilgrim’s confidence in God’s protection and provision as he makes his way to Jerusalem is based in God’s character and faithfulness. God’s providence for His faithful ones is absolute because His authority and power are absolute. The Lord’s watchfulness over His people never failing and His care extends to even the smallest details; the pilgrim expresses confidence that the Lord would not even let him so much as lose his footing on his way to worship Him (v.3)!

As we travel through this life to our final destination, where we will be with God and worship Him forever, we can have this same confidence. The dangers and hardships that we face along the way are very real, but, because of what Jesus has done for us, we have been made sons and daughters of the living God, and we can entrust ourselves and every area of our lives over to His perfect, wise, and loving care!

Psalm 121

My Help Comes from the Lord

A Song of Ascents.

121 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
    From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot be moved;
    he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper;
    the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
    he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time forth and forevermore.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Family Discussion Question:

  • The psalmist expresses his confidence in God over the idols that the people worshipped on the hilltops (v.1-2). What are some things that we tend to place our confidence over and above God? How can we act to place our confidence, trust, and hope where they should rest, in the Lord?
Devotional

Daily Devotional-June 29

June 29, 2020

For the next 15 days we will be reading through the Psalms of Ascent together as a church! The Psalms of Ascent are a collection of 15 psalms (Psalms 120-134) that pilgrims would sing on their way up to Jerusalem to worship. These songs are meant to instruct and prepare the hearts of the traveler to worship the Lord! As sojourners and aliens in this world, we too need to have our hearts prepared for and instructed in the worship of our God. Let’s meditate on these psalms and allow the Spirit of the Lord to move us to true worship as we seek Him together!

As the first psalm in this collection, this psalm is a sort of “leaving song”, representing the beginning of the pilgrim’s journey to Jerusalem! The psalmist recalls the past faithfulness of the Lord as an encouragement to cry out to Him once more, and then launches into a lament of his present circumstances. He mourns that he is surrounded by a culture filled with lies and deceit, that he is living among people who love war and violence rather than among the people of God!

As a beginning to our journey through the Psalms of Ascent, this psalm represents for us a discontentment with the brokenness of the world we see around us. We see death and disease, loneliness and heartache, corruption and injustice, and we long for something greater, something better, an environment of peace and wholeness!

What we long for, just like the psalmist, is to worship the Lord, to be in His presence and among His people. The psalmist longs to remove himself from among the wicked and to join the congregation of the righteous worshippers in Jerusalem; we long to remove ourselves from the world and culture which surround us and join with the body of Christ to worship Him together! 

We feel this perhaps more keenly than ever before right now in our present circumstances. Injustice, evil, and brokenness are so evident all around us, and yet, because we are experiencing a pandemic, we are unable to gather together with our brothers and sisters to worship the Lord and to receive mutual upbuilding and encouragement. This should cause us to lament! 

As we endure with patience and hope everything that life is throwing at us right now, let’s remember that, one day, the yearnings of our hearts to exit this broken world and be in a place where peace and justice reign will be finally and fully satisfied, and let’s do everything in our power to see that become a reality in the here and now, to see God’s kingdom advance in the world!

Psalm 120

Deliver Me, O Lord
A Song of Ascents.

120 In my distress I called to the Lord,
    and he answered me.
2 Deliver me, O Lord,
    from lying lips,
    from a deceitful tongue.

3 What shall be given to you,
    and what more shall be done to you,
    you deceitful tongue?
4 A warrior’s sharp arrows,
    with glowing coals of the broom tree!

5 Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech,
    that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
6 Too long have I had my dwelling
    among those who hate peace.
7 I am for peace,
    but when I speak, they are for war!

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Family Discussion Question:

  • How does the brokenness of the world around us move us to seek God and His kingdom? What are some ways we can do that this week?
Devotional

Daily Devotional-June 28

June 28, 2020

We are going to spend the next two weeks together as a church reading Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount! The Sermon on the Mount is the first of Jesus’ major teachings recorded in the gospel of Matthew. In it, Jesus explains the ethics and values of the kingdom of Heaven as opposed to the ethics and values of the world. The values and principles that are to govern our lives as followers of Jesus and citizens of the kingdom of Heaven are wildly different from those that govern the various cultures of our world, including the culture in which we live.

Over the next two weeks, allow the words of the Lord Jesus to challenge the way you think, expose the worldly and idolatrous values and desires of your heart, and transform you to live in the new way that He has laid before us!

In the concluding portion of His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus continues the pattern He has set of setting two contrasting ways or people before His audience. First it was the wide gate and the narrow gate, then the good tree and the bad tree, and now it is those who hear His words and obey them and those who only hear but do not obey. Jesus is setting two ways before us: the way of being a hearer only, and the way of being a hearer and a doer. 

What Jesus is saying here is that building our lives on the strong foundation means building our lives around obeying His commandments, living His way. The way of surrender to Jesus is the way of wisdom, and it is only in learning to obey Him that we can have confidence when facing that storms which come our way in life. If we build our lives on any foundation other than obedience to Jesus, we shouldn’t expect them to hold up under the weight of what the world throws at us.

The final verses in this chapter record how the people who heard Him were astonished because of the authority with which Jesus taught. Let us surrender unconditionally to the authority of Jesus, and not be merely hearers of His word but doers!

Matthew 7:24-29

Build Your House on the Rock

24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

The Authority of Jesus

28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Family Discussion Question:

  • How does making obedience to Jesus the foundation we build our lives on help us to stand firm in the midst of life’s hardships and struggles? What might be some other things we try to build our lives on, and how does God want us to surrender those things to His authority? 
Devotional

Daily Devotional-June 27

June 27, 2020

We are going to spend the next two weeks together as a church reading Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount! The Sermon on the Mount is the first of Jesus’ major teachings recorded in the gospel of Matthew. In it, Jesus explains the ethics and values of the kingdom of Heaven as opposed to the ethics and values of the world. The values and principles that are to govern our lives as followers of Jesus and citizens of the kingdom of Heaven are wildly different from those that govern the various cultures of our world, including the culture in which we live.

Over the next two weeks, allow the words of the Lord Jesus to challenge the way you think, expose the worldly and idolatrous values and desires of your heart, and transform you to live in the new way that He has laid before us!

In this passage Jesus gives His followers two warnings: we are to vigilantly guard against false prophets or teachers, and we are to carefully examine our own lives and hearts. Jesus’ teaching in v.15-20 is an extension of His teaching in v.1-6. As His followers, we cannot have self-righteous and hypocritical attitudes towards others, but, with a healthy acknowledgment of our own sin and need for grace, we must examine what fruit is being borne in the life of one who claims to teach the truth about God. 

We must be careful what voices we are allowing into our lives to influence us; Jesus warns us here that there willbe many false prophets who will come to us “in sheep’s clothing”, when “inwardly [they] are ravenous wolves”. We must gauge what we hear taught against the truth of God’s Word, and we must look carefully at the kind of life such a teacher is leading to determine whether or not they are true.

Jesus’ next teaching is one of the most sobering, terrifying passages in Scripture. It is possible to call Jesus “Lord”, to say all the right things and to affirm the right set of beliefs, but not be truly saved. The determining factor here is clear: while obedience is not what saves us, those who have truly been changed and transformed by the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus always live changed and transformed lives of obedience. 

The primary indicator of true, saving faith is a life of holiness and obedience to God’s commands, a life characterized by submission to the will of God, and without that obedience and submission to God’s will there is no evidence of true faith. May our lives be characterized not only by referring to Jesus as “Lord”, but by submitting to Him as Lord!

Matthew 7:15-23

A Tree and Its Fruit

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

I Never Knew You

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Family Discussion Question:

  • Can you have Jesus be your Savior without submitting to Him as your Lord? What can we do to surrender more fully to His authority?
Devotional

Daily Devotional-June 26

June 26, 2020

We are going to spend the next two weeks together as a church reading Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount! The Sermon on the Mount is the first of Jesus’ major teachings recorded in the gospel of Matthew. In it, Jesus explains the ethics and values of the kingdom of Heaven as opposed to the ethics and values of the world. The values and principles that are to govern our lives as followers of Jesus and citizens of the kingdom of Heaven are wildly different from those that govern the various cultures of our world, including the culture in which we live.

Over the next two weeks, allow the words of the Lord Jesus to challenge the way you think, expose the worldly and idolatrous values and desires of your heart, and transform you to live in the new way that He has laid before us!

In the first part of this passage Jesus encourages us to pray with faith, with great confidence that God will do what is best for us. Jesus compares God to an earthly father who, though he loves his children and wants the best for them, is still marred and corrupted by sin. The heavenly Father is not corrupted by sin and always does what is best for His children; we can and should present our requests to Him with boldness and trust Him with absolute confidence!

In verse 12 Jesus gives us “the golden rule” and tells us that to put this into practice is to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. When we truly do for others as we would have them do for us, we cannot possibly contradict the principles of God’s Word!

Finally, Jesus warns us of how difficult the way which leads to life is and how few actually find it. The way of the world is easy and comfortable, and it is so easy to be deceived into believing that it is actually the right way. Jesus calls us to walk in the commands and principles He has been outlining throughout this sermon, to have our lives be characterized by self-denial, radical integrity, and selfless love and service towards others. In the end, Jesus calls us to follow Him in His death (Matthew 16:24-25), so that we might also participate in His life!

We know that, ultimately, Jesus is the only way to life (John 14:6). Jesus is the narrow gate by which we enter into life, the only place where true life can be found. He calls us to walk the narrow and difficult road, but in the end we get Him, and there is no greater prize!

Matthew 7:7-14

Ask, and It Will Be Given

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

The Golden Rule

12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Family Discussion Question:

  • How can death actually be the pathway to life? What does it look like for us to walk the “narrow path” which Jesus calls us to on a day-to-day basis?