People were astonished at Jesus’ teaching. When people see what Jesus really taught, they still are astonished. And when those of us who grew up listening to Jesus’ teaching really think about it, I think we are astonished, too. God just sees things so differently than we do in our human nature, but Jesus teaches us how to see the world, and our lives from God’s view, and, indeed, to transform our minds through his death and resurrection so we can begin to see as God sees.
The root of how God sees can be found, once again, in v. 11, “. . . how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” Why? Because he loves us! Trusting His love which He poured out on us in Jesus’ death and resurrection, and receiving that love through the faith we’ve received from the Holy Spirit changes our lives.
Let’s take these sections one at a time and look at them in terms of the impact of the Father’s love.
Judging Others: So much of judging comes from comparing ourselves to others and our sinful “need” to look better than others. Jesus compares it to offering to remove some saw dust from someone else’s eye when we have a beam in our own! Does the Father know we have a log in our eye? Yes. Does he know about the saw dust in our friend’s eye? Yes! Can we be at peace knowing that both of us are forgiven for Jesus’ sake through the Father’s love? Yes.
Ask, Seek, Knock: Do we become anxious about our needs? Certainly! Does our Father know that we will? Yes! So what should we do? Talk to him about it. Ask him. Trust him that he’s not holding out on you, but will give you the good things that you need. (And sometimes we don’t even know what we really need, but he gives it to us!)
The Golden Rule: How much trouble would be saved if we treated people as we’d like to be treated? If the Father loves us and he loves others, and if he provides for us as he does for others, we can also treat one another with grace and kindness.
The Narrow Way: Does it not seem easier to pursue our own gain; to vent our anger; or to live for ourselves? But this ultimately leads only to destruction. The Father’s love turns us outward, and there is only one way to receive that love – through Jesus. The way is narrow, but all are welcomed!
A Tree and Its Fruit: There are many out there who would teach us that we need to earn God’s love, that we need to look out for “number one,” or that God is holding out on us. (“Did God really say . . . ?”) To paraphrase the old folk song, “They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love.” And we have that love because the Father has loved us in Jesus!
I Never Knew You: There will be many people who say, “Lord, Lord,” but did not know Jesus. They will be the ones who based their relationship with him on their own performance. “Look at all the great things we did for you, Jesus!” But everything we do apart from God’s love is worthless. It all begins there, knowing God loves us and displays that love for us through Jesus, and flows out as we release his love to others – which will result in all kinds of great things we will do!
Build Your House on the Rock: What are you founding your life on? Only one thing will stand the storms of this life. Only one thing will endure the floods that destroy our earthly goods. It’s God’s love. He pours it out on us in Jesus. Gives us more and more of it! When that’s the foundation of our life, it will flow from us to others, too!
Father in Heaven, thank you for loving me. Help me to fully root my life in your love so that I will always be confident no matter what I face in life. Let your love flow from me so others will see it in the way that I treat them and the way that I follow Jesus. In His name I pray. Amen.
The root of how God sees can be found, once again, in v. 11, “. . . how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” Why? Because he loves us! Trusting His love which He poured out on us in Jesus’ death and resurrection, and receiving that love through the faith we’ve received from the Holy Spirit changes our lives.
Let’s take these sections one at a time and look at them in terms of the impact of the Father’s love.
Judging Others: So much of judging comes from comparing ourselves to others and our sinful “need” to look better than others. Jesus compares it to offering to remove some saw dust from someone else’s eye when we have a beam in our own! Does the Father know we have a log in our eye? Yes. Does he know about the saw dust in our friend’s eye? Yes! Can we be at peace knowing that both of us are forgiven for Jesus’ sake through the Father’s love? Yes.
Ask, Seek, Knock: Do we become anxious about our needs? Certainly! Does our Father know that we will? Yes! So what should we do? Talk to him about it. Ask him. Trust him that he’s not holding out on you, but will give you the good things that you need. (And sometimes we don’t even know what we really need, but he gives it to us!)
The Golden Rule: How much trouble would be saved if we treated people as we’d like to be treated? If the Father loves us and he loves others, and if he provides for us as he does for others, we can also treat one another with grace and kindness.
The Narrow Way: Does it not seem easier to pursue our own gain; to vent our anger; or to live for ourselves? But this ultimately leads only to destruction. The Father’s love turns us outward, and there is only one way to receive that love – through Jesus. The way is narrow, but all are welcomed!
A Tree and Its Fruit: There are many out there who would teach us that we need to earn God’s love, that we need to look out for “number one,” or that God is holding out on us. (“Did God really say . . . ?”) To paraphrase the old folk song, “They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love.” And we have that love because the Father has loved us in Jesus!
I Never Knew You: There will be many people who say, “Lord, Lord,” but did not know Jesus. They will be the ones who based their relationship with him on their own performance. “Look at all the great things we did for you, Jesus!” But everything we do apart from God’s love is worthless. It all begins there, knowing God loves us and displays that love for us through Jesus, and flows out as we release his love to others – which will result in all kinds of great things we will do!
Build Your House on the Rock: What are you founding your life on? Only one thing will stand the storms of this life. Only one thing will endure the floods that destroy our earthly goods. It’s God’s love. He pours it out on us in Jesus. Gives us more and more of it! When that’s the foundation of our life, it will flow from us to others, too!
Father in Heaven, thank you for loving me. Help me to fully root my life in your love so that I will always be confident no matter what I face in life. Let your love flow from me so others will see it in the way that I treat them and the way that I follow Jesus. In His name I pray. Amen.
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