July 10, 2025
Not Beyond Our Reach!
“Now what I am commanding you is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.”
Deuteronomy 30:11
Per our usual devotional schedule, we are reflecting this morning on our first Scripture reading for Sunday morning. The purpose of the book of Deuteronomy was to remind the Israelites of their history and the laws that God was calling on them to obey. They are about to leave the wilderness where they had lived a nomadic lifestyle following the exodus from Egypt. As they prepared to enter the land of Caanan, Moses’ presented them with a final message about what was expected of them as the Lord’s chosen people.
In the above verse, Moses is reassuring them that what the Lord expects of them is not unachievable, in fact it can be done easily. He goes on to tell them that all they must do is to love the Lord, walk in the way of the Lord, and keep the Lord’s commands, decrees, and laws. Do that and they will prosper, failure to achieve these goals will result in their death and destruction.
If one were to spend some time reviewing the books of Law found in the first five books of our Old Testament you may conclude that Moses is expecting a lot from the Israelites. There are over 600 laws (give or take) in the Torah, just to have a passing knowledge of them is a huge undertaking. Living a life that never breaks one of these directives would be nigh on impossible.
Thankfully for us, we have a simpler directive to live by, posed to us by Jesus. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is asked a question by an expert in the law, “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus’ reply is that we need to love the Lord with all out heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Then he caps his answer off by saying, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matt. 22:40)
Instead of sorting through 600 plus decrees as we navigate our way through the day, we do have a simpler way to consider our steps. If our words, actions, or even inner thoughts do not meet the test of loving the Lord and our fellow man, then we need to reconsider our behavior. The Lord does not expect too much from us or set the bar beyond our reach. It is within our capabilities to speak kindly, act humbly, and serve each other, even as we serve our God. May it be so for us today!
Peace,
Pastor Chuck
July 9, 2025
Being a Wise Guy?
“Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.”
Proverbs 3:7
In order to economize my efforts, I have decided to combine some tasks for this morning’s devotional. We usually reflect on a verse or two from Proverbs on Wednesday morning. It also happens that we are working our way through a sermon series based on Proverbs at the Beach Services this summer. So, I thought we might use this morning’s devotional as a sort of sermonette based upon one of the verses we will consider on the beach on Sunday morning.
The heading in my desk Bible for this section of Proverbs reads, “Further Benefits of Wisdom.” The instructions that follow are in a language that reflects a father sharing thoughts with their son. For our purposes today I chose the above verse for our consideration. The author advises the reader (their child?) to not consider themselves wise but instead to fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Even though this is just a one sentence verse, there are several points to consider here.
The first is that a person should not think themselves as being wise. I feel like we touched on a similar subject recently in this forum. (Actually, we did, I looked it up, it was last Wednesday, and the focus was partially on people who choose not to learn new things) Once again, we read that we need to remain humble and be open to new ideas if we wish to grow as an individual. If we consider ourselves wise already, what is the motivation to gain new insight?
The other admonition found here is about the fear of the Lord and turning away from evil. The fear of the Lord is something that appears often in Proverbs, as well as other places in the OT. When we read fear, we need to understand that it could really mean fear as in being afraid of the Lord. It could also mean an appropriate level of awe or reverence. Another meaning may be an understanding or knowledge of the Lord and what the Lord expects of us.
It is that last tidbit that I think fits nicely into this verse. If a person does not overvalue their own wisdom, they will be open to new understandings. Through the wisdom that they absorb they will be able to discern good from evil and follow the path that will lead them to fulfillment. May we always be open to new understandings and new experiences as we seek to grow in our faith!
Peace,
Pastor Chuck
July 8, 2025
When is it OK to do Good?
“He (Jesus) said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
Matthew 12:11-12
This morning’s devotional verse comes from a point in Matthew’s Gospel at which Jesus begins to garner negative attention from the Pharisees. They had confronted Jesus about his disciples picking grain on the Sabbath. This was a clear violation of the Jewish law against doing work on the Sabbath. Jesus’ reply to their questioning concluded with Jesus telling them that he was the Lord of the Sabbath. Needless to say, the Pharisees did not care for his answer.
They watched Jesus carefully that day at the synagogue. There was a man there with a shriveled hand. They again questioned Jesus, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” The devotional verse above is Jesus’ reply to their question. If you would save your sheep on the Sabbath, why would you not save a person from suffering on that day as well? Healing someone is doing good, and doing good is allowed on the Sabbath. Of course, after this Q and A with the Pharisees Jesus does exactly what you might expect. He tells the man to stretch out his hand and it is healed. Then the Pharisees decide they must devise a way to kill Jesus.
I am writing about these verses this morning because I was drawn to the words about doing good. When is it OK to do a good deed? I believe Jesus would say, “How about right now!” Perhaps he would reply, “Anytime you are called to do so.” My attention to this subject was rooted in a reading I shared today at the Habitat for Humanity build in Dennis. Habitat has a team of volunteers on site on Tuesdays and Saturdays working on building homes. The majority of these people are retired and do this work out of the goodness of their hearts. Many of them have worked on multiple projects over the years and have built relationships with each other, and the home owners as well, over the years.
The devotional today was based on a brief message from Rev. Howard Thurman on the theme of doing good works because they are good! Not doing good works to garner praise, or add stars to your crown in heaven. Instead, doing work to lift up others because it simply is the right way to live your life. What a wonderful summation of what these volunteers are doing. Working in the hot sun (or in the cold of winter) to build a home for someone that may not even know. What a perfect example of caring for one’s neighbors as you would wish to be cared for. May we seek to do the right and true things that we are called to do on this day simply because it is the right thing to do!
Peace,
Pastor Chuck
July 7, 2025
A Man with Two Names?
“As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him and Matthew got up and followed him.”
Matthew 9:9
“As he (Jesus) walked along, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.”
Mark 2:14
Sometimes our Scripture can get a bit confusing. This morning, I was shuffling through the Gospel of Matthew, hoping for a verse or two to call my name. I came across the story of two people who expressed a desire to follow Jesus. Jesus spoke words to them that seem to be designed to discourage them. As I read on in Matthew, I came upon the above verse in which Jesus recruits the tax collector (Matthew?) to come out from behind his booth and follow Jesus. Matthew leaves his place and invites Jesus to dine at his home that evening. They are joined there by many tax collectors and “sinners.”
Even though I have read these verses many times, today several things struck me as odd here. First, this is rather far along in Jesus’ ministry for him to be calling a person that eventually is considered one of the twelve. Additionally, is this Matthew the tax collector really the author of this Gospel? Why would he write about himself in the third person like Deion Sanders?
So I did some research and discovered the second reading quoted above from Mark (Luke also has a similar verse to Mark) in which the name of the tax collector is Levi, not Matthew. So, who was the tax collector Jesus chose? Was he named Levi and Matthew coopted this story to find a place for himself in the passage? As I read further, several of my commentaries offered the possibility that Levi was the tax collector’s Hebrew name and Matthew is anglicized version of Levi’s Greek name. It was common for people to often have two names at that time.
The fact is that the meaning of this story does not depend on the name of the tax collector, it does not matter if he was named, Matthew, Levi, or Zerubbabel. It is the fact that Jesus called a sinful person to be a disciple and had a meal with him and his co-workers that stands out. Matthew (Levi) would have been considered an outcast by other Jews as he was collaborating with the Romans by collecting their taxes. Also, the tax collectors had a reputation for skimming a bit off the top to line their own pockets (see Luke 3:12-13). By including people such as this in his ever-widening circle, Jesus was setting the stage for the offer of forgiveness of sin for all who would repent. This is a message that we all need to be reminded of, no matter what side of the line of forgiveness we find ourselves on today. If we expect mercy from our Lord, we must be merciful ourselves. May it be so for us today!
Peace,
Pastor Chuck