Thursday, July 10, 2008

Matthew 5 - How well are you doing?

are you poor in spirit
do you mourn
are you meek
do you hunger and thirst for righteousness
are you merciful
are you pure in heart
are you a peacemaker
are you persecuted for righteousness' sake

are you the salt of the earth
are you the light of the world
do you let your light shine before men

have you broken one of the least of the commandments
and taught men so

does your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees

have you ever been angry with your brother without a cause (if so, you're in danger of the judgment)

have you ever said to your brother, 'Raca!' (if so, you're in danger of the council)

have you ever said, 'You fool!' (if so, you're in danger of hell fire)

have you ever been at the altar, and remembered that your brother had something against you, and you left your gift at the altar, and you went and were reconciled to your brother, and then returned and offered your gift

do you agree with your adversaries quickly (lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown in prison. you won't get out until you have paid the last penny)

have you ever looked at a woman to lust for her (you've then committed adultery with her in your heart)

do you still have your right eye or have you plucked it out, and do you still have your right hand or have you cut it off, because it is more profitable that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell

have you ever been divorced or married a divorced woman... if so you've caused your wife to commit adultery or you are an adulterer yourself

have you ever sworn by anything

is your 'yes' 'yes' and your 'no' 'no'

do you turn the other cheek

if someone sues you for your tunic, do you also give him your cloak

if someone compels you to go one mile, do you go two

do you give to him who asks, and from him who wants to borrow do you not turn away

do you love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you - that you may be sons of your Father in heaven

do you love only those who love you

do you greet only your brethren

are you perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect

5 comments:

  1. Check.
    Check.
    Check.
    Check.
    Check.
    Etc.

    Yup, I'm in great shape, check to all of them!

    :-)

    As I quoted on my blog today (from Jeff VanVonderen):
    "When you get so tired that you realize you cannot generate righteousness, come on back and I'll tell you about a gift."

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  2. Haha! Excellent. We're all doing so well, aren't we? :)

    I love that quote. To me it summarizes, in a sentence, the whole story of the law's purpose being to lead us to Jesus.

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  3. Brother Rev J Slick Breeze has it all together - He told me so!

    RoG
    ~8)

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  4. Once a relative asked me a question during a conversation on spirituality. He obviously comes from a traditional background, asked me, If I believe Bible only, why I don't pray the prayer of Jesus (Lord's prayer). He asked this question because he thinks he obeys that part of the Bible. Since I respected his age I gave him a 'nice sounding' explanation saying Jesus didn't mean to pray that prayer in meaningless repetition.
    But later on I realized what I wanted to tell him was that I don't do so many things Bible asking us to do.
    If I did, I would be walking around blind and handicapped (without both eyes and both hands, and probably without many other organs as well!)
    Why are you obeying the 'pray like this' command of Jesus and not the other ones? Are you sure you want to obey them?

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  5. "Brother Rev J Slick Breeze has it all together - He told me so!"

    Yeah I know... he keeps mocking me about it and telling me I'm not a good Christian, and has no problem questioning if I really am one or not. It's AWFUL. :(

    Bino,

    I've been in a similar conversation (online) with someone recently. :) I essentially asked him to start with himself, if he's going to go around saying that these words of Jesus are to be followed. In fact that's one reason I wrote this post, as a reference to some of the words Jesus actually spoke, so I could refer him to it.

    (I've always wanted to go through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and list all the commands of Jesus, just to show that it's not quite as easy and light as some would make it to be, and compare it to what has truly been revealed about Jesus' light yoke and easy burden. This post was hopefully just the start of all this).

    I've heard lots of people teaching all of this stuff (for Christians to follow), but I've yet to find someone who actually does it!

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