Matthew | Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

How to Know a Wolf before He Whistles Matthew 7: 15-29. Day 18, Jan 18

Matthew 7:15-29 True and False Prophets

¹⁵ “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶ By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Jesus continues contrasting two ways of being. Narrow gate or broad gate; true prophet and disciple or false.

He teaches us to strike the right and difficult balance between being judgmental, and naively accepting.

Watch out for “Christians.” Some will appear so innocuous, but their intentions towards you are far from innocuous. Do not easily trust before you have reason to trust.

And how can you tell a disciple from a wolf, since the latter will not obligingly whistle?

Look at the fruit of their life? Do you see thorns and thistles and rotting, inedible fruit?

HOW TO HEAR WOLVES WHISTLE

Here, without being judgmental (for then who would stand?) are some means of evaluation, if you need to know if someone is the real deal or not. I stress that we all stumble in some areas. Perhaps a plethora of red lights flashing means red lights flashing.

In any old order.

1 Their spouse’s countenance

Bill McCartney, founder of Promise Keepers: A preacher told him that if you want to know whether a man has character or not all you have to do is look at his wife’s countenance, and everything that he’s invested or withheld would be in her face.

McCartney writes, “I turned and looked at my wife, Lindi. I didn’t see splendor. I saw torment. I didn’t see contentment —I saw anguish. And I tried to defend myself to myself but I couldn’t. That’s really the reason I stepped out of coaching. I realized that before God I was a man without character!”

http://www.examiner.com/christian-mental-health-in-denver/happiness-and-countenance-what-is-your-face-telling-people-about-you

2) Now many children go through rebellious phases, but children see the truth of our hearts and characters. We have modelled thousands of hours of behaviour before them. The content of our children’s true characters (as apart from how we have been trained to behave in public) says much about us (much, not everything. Everyone is responsible for their own life choices. Parents can model, and make the life of a Christian seem irresistible.)

3) Life choices. Do you know men and women who massively overwork, neglect their spouses and children and sway their hands, and dance in church? That hand-waving and jiving is just exercise. Their God is who or what they spend those 12 hours a day on.

4) Frequent topics of conversation—money? Stuff? Gossip? Showing off?

Now, it’s the rare person who never gossips. I have occasionally done so myself, by asking leading questions about someone who does not add up and occasionally about someone who’s really annoyed me. But I try to avoid gossip.

An excessively gossipy person is not to be trusted a) because they will almost certainly gossip about you too, and b) because their obsessive conversation reveals the contents and hollowness of their hearts, mind and souls.

5) Obsessional recreational pursuits? Materialism. Excessive focus on money.

6) See how people behave in adversity–amid the storms and waves.

7) Concern for the poor is a test of someone who has God’s heart.

I must stop. There are just a few tests that might be useful if you want to know if you are dealing with a sheep or a wolf. As I said, it’s several red lights that might give us pause. No one is perfect.

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

An oral confession, no matter how loud, is not the same as a repentant heart.

²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Who will inhabit the kingdom of heaven, in this life and beyond it? It is the one who does God’s will.

Not every “prophecy” has anything to do with God. Some prophets will not even be in heaven.

Wow. Demons can be driven out, and miracles can be performed in the name of Jesus by evil-doers.

Again, look at their entire life.

So, it is more important to focus on one’s heart-relationship with God than on the outer manifestations of the things we do in his name.

²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

In the first two of these parables, Jesus advises his listeners to beware of wolves and false prophets, which means we need to evaluate others. Now, he tells us that if we want the house of our life to stand firm whatever the circumstances we need to increasingly HEAR his words and PUT THEM INTO PRACTICE.

If our daily life is based on Jesus’s words, then our house will stand firm when the rain comes down, the streams rise and the winds blow and beat against the house.

²⁸ When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, ²⁹ because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

When we speak, when we write Jesus, give us the indefinable thing called your authority.

ESV, “During the hot summer months, the sand around the Sea of Galilee was hard on the surface. Nevertheless, the wise builder knew that he needed to dig several feet below the surface to the bedrock, in order to establish a firm foundation. So, the religious establishment has embraced a surface righteousness built on an unstable foundation of religious pretense. Jesus invited his listeners to use his words as the stable foundation for their lives. “

Do not Worry, But Seek God First Matthew 6/7. Day 16, Jan 16

By Anita Mathias

Nancy Standlee

MATTHEW 6

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry

If Jesus says it, then of course, this is a doable enterprise.

So what are you worrying about?
I am concerned about a blip in our family’s publishing business after a great December.
I don’t have a particularly good feeling about an upcoming meeting.
Think of two of your worries.
Think of the worst outcome in all these situations.
You will be in the loving hand of God even if the worst possible thing happens in all these situations.
There is no guarantee that they will work out as you might wish, but God’s love and power and grace will be with you however these work out.
Do not worry. You are God’s child. He will hold you through the best and worst outcomes, and make the latter work out for good.
In particular, do not worry

about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
The creatures are alive and happy, depending on their Father’s abundance. And you are more valuable than they are. And anyway.

²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
ALL worrying is futile anyway, so make the mental effort not to do it.

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

Have more faith in God. He will look after your needs as he looks after those of the beautiful flowers of the field.

³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

Jesus coined the Greek word for you of little faith–oligopistoi. It has a slightly comical sound.

³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

Your father knows what you will need. He will give it to you. So quit worrying.

³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Use this as a rule and guide. When you want money, seek first for him to be your King. Submit yourself to him. Obey him. Seek to do his will.

Seek to do his will in the situations and institutions in which you are involved.

Seek to do the right thing.

And when your focus shifts from money to obeying your Heavenly Father, and seeking to do the right thing, money will be given to you as well.

Seek first things first, and second things will look after themselves.

³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Do not worry about tomorrow. You will be given wisdom and strength tomorrow.

Matthew 7

¹ “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ² For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

³ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Do not sit as a judge over the actions, intentions and hearts of people, deciding if they are innocent or guilty.

I really believe this is the solution when wrong is done, and anger and a judgemental spirit overwhelm our hearts.

Beam-research. Repent.

What is there is my eyes which you wish to remove? How can I dance more closely with you, Jesus? Allow you to breathe your Holy Spirit into me more constantly?Use my time and my gifts better?

You know what–there is energy in these questions and answers, but none at all in judging and anger.

Blog on this subject–http://theoxfordchristian.blogspot.com/2010/12/judge-not.html

⁶ “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

Be wise and careful and canny in how you reveal your heart, and what you reveal.

⁷ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Asking, seeking, and knocking will be rewarded. A great saying of Jesus. And how do we know if this is true? We will have to take him at his word as the Syro-Phoenician woman did, and ask, seek, knock.

⁹ “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

We, selfish as we are, look out for our children. Similarly, our Father WILL give good gifts to those who ask him.

¹² So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

The so-called Golden Rule is an excellent guide to behaviour. However, it has limits.

What if someone is being abusive? Leading by fear and control. Nobody would wish to be confronted or “called” but sometimes this is the right thing to do for the greater good.

¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate.

The poet Rainer Maria Rilke has this puzzling saying, “Trust what is difficult.” If two choices face you, God is often more likely to be what is the more difficult part (I think).

For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

True life, true spiritual life, is not easy. The gate to it is is narrow, and so is the road to it.

The ESV describes the easy path as seeking the approval of man rather than God.

And many church-goers miss it. Miss the joy, and miss the peace, and miss the love. Miss living in the force-field of God’s love, power and provision. In the meteor shower of his grace and presence.

Do whatever it takes to be truly and fully alive in God’s presence.

Money and Hypocrites, Matthew 6, Day 14, Jan 14,

By Anita Mathias

These are my daughters, Zoe and Irene. Irene, just 4, spontaneously started praying and thanking God for the Rhine Falls in Switzerland, seen in the background. She then realized that we were photographing her, but continued unfazed, with, however, the tiniest smile on her face. “She is praying as the hypocrites do,” Roy said, but I think God smiled too.

Matthew 6

¹ “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

That’s really scary. If we are righteous merely to be seen by other, we will have no reward from our Father in heaven.

I would say that the key word, the key principle, of the Sermon on the Mount is faith. Should we be good to receive praise from men, or be quietly good, and receive a reward from our Father in heaven?

Praise from men is immediate and gratifying. To believe that we will receive a reward from our heavenly father takes faith. Will it be now? Or later? What form will it take?

Personally, I would love to receive a reward from my heavenly Father, both in this life, and in the life to come.

And I am cool with any reward he gives me—whether the practical desires of my heart (travel, sufficient money, health, success in my work, an increasingly happy marriage, successful and Christian children) or more importantly, his spiritual gifts—joy, peace, love, contentment. And the former are worth little without the latter.

² “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

So, if you work for the praise of men, you do get a reward (or no one would do it.)

You’ve fooled people into thinking you are the real deal, and have got your reward from them in terms of their good opinion (in full).

You do not get the exponential blessings of the Father in this life, or later.

³ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Again, the demand of faith.

Be generous, but don’t let a soul know what you have done. Nobody will be impressed with you.

But your Father who has seen what you have done secretly will reward you, openly, it says in some versions

⁵ “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

Hypocrite, play-actor, like the Greek actors who put a mask over their face when they were acting.

Don’t be a prayer-meeting bore. Don’t be a hypocrite. Don’t stand up and bore everyone with long-winded prayers, losing tracking of your audience in your display of your own compassion and wisdom. Don’t pray to be seen and to impress. Don’t worry about the impression you create when you pray. In fact, don’t pray in public without putting your prayers through the sieve of strict honesty. Are you addressing God or impressing your audience?

Will you have a reward? Will people be impressed with you? Yeah. You’ll have your reward, such as it is, in full. However, these prayers will never make it to your heavenly Father.

But then perhaps they were not intended to!

⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

You do it in secret, when there are hundreds of lucrative, pleasurable, career-boosting things you could be doing instead of praying.

But God sees and values the time you have spent with him, and if, we choose to pray, in secret, he will give us a reward.

A reward!! From God!! That’s truly exciting. Whatever he may choose to give us.

Blessed is the one whom GOD rewards.

⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Let your prayers be short, brief, and to the point, since you are speaking to someone who knows your needs anyway.

⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,

May your name be revered.

¹⁰ your kingdom come,

Let us see your beautiful kingdom in our lives, and in the world around us.

your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

Help me to do your will. And may it be done on earth as it is in your heaven.

¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.

Give us what we need to stay full alive, in mind, body and soul

¹² And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Wipe our sins off your books, as we wipe the sins of those who sin against us off our books.

¹³ And lead us not into temptation,

Protect us from temptation, for you know how weak we are. Temptation can also be translated as testing or trials.

but deliver us from the evil one.

The phrase tou ponerou can mean either evil or the evil one, Satan. ESV note, “The best protection from sin and temptation is to turn to God and to depend on his direction.”

And in particular, deliver us from the power of the evil one.

Here’s a longer blog post I did on The Lord’s Prayer.

http://theoxfordchristian.blogspot.com/2010/08/lords-prayer-superb-and-comprehensive.html

¹⁴ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

If we do not write off other people’s weakness, treachery, and perfidy, our Father will also hold our sins against us. And then, who would stand?

¹⁶ “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ¹⁷ But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Do you want the rewards of God? Then fast–in secret.(This is a spiritual discipline I’ve never learnt!)

Live under the eyes of God. Do things to be seen only by God. Be rewarded by God.

¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

Elsewhere Jesus says,“Do not work for food which perishes, but for food which endures to eternal life.” We often have a choice as to whether we will spend our energy on things which will bring us more money, or things which will be rewarded in heaven (prayer and giving, for instance).

Do not pile up money, for there is a risk that your heart will be where your money is. Do not make your money your treasure. It can be lost.

Break your focus on your bank balance. How?

I ask the Holy Spirit to come and flood my heart and mind and spirit when I find myself thinking too much about money—how much I have, how much I should have, how much I have coming in, how to make more.

Store nothing? That’s one way to live. I don’t have the stomach for that. At present, when I find money entering my thoughts over-much I pray for the Spirit to invade my mind instead. If it becomes a serious problem, there is nothing like increasing one’s giving to break the hold of money on your mind.

²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Store up treasures—of love, of goodness, of good deeds—in heaven.

²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Your emotional life and love and desires will inevitably be caught up with what you treasure, whether it’s your bank balance or your God. Or success, or your blog or your writing or social/churchly success or the idol du jour.

²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eyes are unhealthy,your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

If you focus on glorious things, your whole being will be suffused by light.

If you focus on unhealthy things, your soul, your spirit, will be in darkness. Oh no!!

Focus on the light instead. This takes a deliberate effort—a deliberate flipping out of the tape, and replacing it.

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Serve, douleo, implies the work of a slave. A slave can only belong to one master.

We cannot love two things with all our hearts, with all our minds, and with all our spirits. So we have to choose. It’s either God—or money. Or all the things which come under the dominion of the devouring God Mammon—success, fame, wealth, reputation.

Oh Lord, Lord, Lord, let it be you. First of all, you are lovely, and you can fill my spirit with joy. Secondly, you can give me all the money I need, but money cannot give me as much of you as I need! Or any of you!

Money and Hypocrites, Matthew 6, Day 14, Jan 14,

By Anita Mathias