THIS IS TABLE ROCK FELLOWSHIP – PASTOR RYAN LADEN
| As we heard in the previous teaching from Jesus found in Matthew 5:21-22, it is foolish to think that a loving relationship with the Lord, or with anyone for that matter, can be built by following external rules and regulations. What is needed in order to build a loving relationship is love itself. The rules can make a good fence, but they will never build a fire in your soul. Next, Jesus goes on to powerfully illustrate the primacy of love and its impact on our earthly relationships. We can hear this in the following: “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”Matthew 5:23-24 NIV-11 Costly Sacrifice Imagine the scene. In the time of Jesus (during the second Temple in Jerusalem), if you wanted to give an offering to the Lord as an act of outward worship, it would come at a high price. You would need to get up early, gather your offering (animal, grain, or wine), pack up your belongings, make a long and dangerous trip from your home village to the busy and dirty city of Jerusalem. After you made your way through the streets, waited in long lines, and paid your temple tax, you would finally be able to hand over your offering to the priest who would then take it before the altar of the Lord on your behalf. Jesus said that if while you were handing over this offering you remembered that one of your relationships was in a place of brokenness or suffering and if you had something to do with this problem, you were to stop the process of giving over your offering, travel back to the one you hurt, and seek to repair the relationship. After this, you repeat the whole process, return to the Temple, and resume the process of offering your sacrifice. Impossible What Jesus is calling his disciples to do in this teaching is functionally impossible. So what was Jesus doing when he gave this teaching? He was using this impossible and outlandish situation to get your attention and to help you see the value with which the Lord holds our relationships. Jesus Christ is telling us that the Lord God Almighty, cares more about the health of our human relationships than he does about our outward acts of worship. The Lord would rather you show love to those with whom you are at odds than just about anything else you can imagine doing in this life. Kingdom of God Listen to how Jesus Christ spoke of the Kingdom of God in the following: “Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”Luke 17:20-21 NIV-11 The Kingdom of God is not made of buildings, dollars, fame or force, it is made of people. It is made of you and me. The Lord values you and me most out of all creation. We are what the Lord values most. So it makes sense why the Lord would call his followers to pay close attention to the health and wellbeing of our relationships with others. We should value what the Lord overtly claims to be of most importance for himself.We should value the people the Lord has placed into our lives today. Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for loving us and for showing us that you value each one of us more than we can possibly understand.Help me to share in your love for others today.Help me to value what you value. In Christ,Ryan Laden |
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