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Bible Study WELCOME TO AN IN DEPTH STUDY OF MATTHEW'S GOSPEL.

Day 39 Tuesday 10/21/14 Matthew 5:13-16 Sermon On The Mount - Salt & Light.

I have decided to change today's study to include three more verses, 13-16. It seems to me that salt and light's purpose go together.

As we progress from the BE-attitudes to the SIMILAR-attitudes. I see important instructions on how to have an impact in this world of self & sin.

Matthew 5:13 "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." AND;
Matthew 5:14 "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid."
Matthew 5:15 "Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house."
Matthew 5:16 "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."


Instead of focusing on being blessed, we now see some of what a Christian is to do while we journey on our way to our Promised Land. The Scripture says, "I'm the salt of the earth, and I'm the light of the world."

Christ had lately called his disciples, and told them that they should be fishers of men; here he tells them further what he designed them to be - the salt of the earth, and lights of the world, that they might be indeed what it was expected they should be. (Matthew Henry, e-Sword).

To be salt & light on the earth and in the world are our fishing objectives as we set sail on the waters of life. I have been studying the very eye opening book "America's Providential History" by Dr. Mark Beliles & Stephen McDowell. America came into existence by men and women fleeing from Countries that were hostile to biblical Christianity. Especially from Great Britain. God moved in the hearts of godly men to form a solid Protestant Christian Country. There were miracles upon miracles during the fight for freedom and liberty from the enemies to said liberty. It seemed that everyone were charged up with excitement because of the involvement of Almighty God in the establishment of Protestant America.

I'm not sure just when the tide began to turn towards compromise with the god of this world, possibly at the end of the 18th Century to the 19th. I wonder if anyone can pin down better dates and facts.

I look at the verses 13 thru 16 as my responsibility to be salt & light to Greenfield, Massachusetts, Franklin County, New England, and America. First, I can look within my own heart to make sure there is a commitment to "walking THE walk." My profession, without works is like salt that has lost it's value to preserve and add quality to those around me. Without "works" it is like my light of the Gospel being kept in my house just to give light to those who come to visit, not to anyone outside.
 
I really liked your explanation of what being the salt of the earth means. I have never heard it said better than you have.

I think we need to be careful about the idea of the USA being formed as a protestant country. It was formed as a country promoting freedom of religion and separation of church and state. Some of the 13 colonies were formed for different people. Maryland for the Catholics,the first settlement was called St. Mary's, Pennsylvania for the Quakers (protestants thought their beliefs were just too weird), Georgia for England's poor, etc.
 
Deborah13 said:
I really liked your explanation of what being the salt of the earth means. I have never heard it said better than you have.

I think we need to be careful about the idea of the USA being formed as a protestant country. It was formed as a country promoting freedom of religion and separation of church and state. Some of the 13 colonies were formed for different people. Maryland for the Catholics,the first settlement was called St. Mary's, Pennsylvania for the Quakers (protestants thought their beliefs were just too weird), Georgia for England's poor, etc.
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I understand your concerns. Here is what I have found. Around 1776 thru 1780, there was a religious "test" that all the States had for its officials. The different States had a particular denomination that they favored. Some were Congregationalists, some were Episcopal, others were Quaker. They strictly refused the Church of England as well as Catholicism because of their rigid domination of their members. America was about freedom to believe whatever you felt was right, and liberty from oppressive church rule over it's people.

The religious test was "No person should be eligible to a seat in the Senate unless he be of the Protestant religion." New Hampshire specifically required that only Protestants hold office until 1902, after which it was switched to any "Christian."
 
Chopper said:
I understand your concerns. Here is what I have found. Around 1776 thru 1780, there was a religious "test" that all the States had for its officials. The different States had a particular denomination that they favored. Some were Congregationalists, some were Episcopal, others were Quaker. They strictly refused the Church of England as well as Catholicism because of their rigid domination of their members. America was about freedom to believe whatever you felt was right, and liberty from oppressive church rule over it's people.

The religious test was "No person should be eligible to a seat in the Senate unless he be of the Protestant religion." New Hampshire specifically required that only Protestants hold office until 1902, after which it was switched to any "Christian."
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Yes, the 'test acts' were such as those that England also had were soon to show up in the colonies. The majority makes the laws. :nod This topic might be an interesting thread for us Americans.
 
This scripture pertains to the Revelation of God.

Romans 12:19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge: I will repay, says the Lord

When Jesus is speaking of the salt, he is speaking about believers not saying that God will bring justice. When he is speaking about the light, he is speaking about believers trusting in that justice from God and not to take justice into our own hands. Just as Jesus walked as the light.........we should walk in that same light.
 
Deborah13 said:
Yes, the 'test acts' were such as those that England also had were soon to show up in the colonies. The majority makes the laws. :nod This topic might be an interesting thread for us Americans.
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Oh Deb, I agree! There is something brewing in my heart concerning the decline of the godly principles that our Country was established on. That decline gave way to a plan by the evil one to destroy the loyalty to God, and loyalty to his evil works.

As you say, "this topic might be an interesting thread." Would you be so moved to start a new thread on this subject? I'll commit to be right by your side to help. You lead, and I'll follow.
 
good ol Mat Henry thanks eSword... i found this very interesting....

Those to whom Christ preached, and for whose use he gave these instructions to his disciples, were such as in their religion had an eye, 1. To the scriptures of the Old Testament as their rule, and therein Christ here shows them they were in the right: 2. To the scribes and the Pharisees as their example, and therein Christ here shows them they were in the wrong; for,
I. The rule which Christ came to establish exactly agreed with the scriptures of the Old Testament, here called the law and the prophets. The prophets were commentators upon the law, and both together made up that rule of faith and practice which Christ found upon the throne in the Jewish church, and here he keeps it on the throne.
1. He protests against the thought of cancelling and weakening the Old Testament; Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets. (1.) “Let not the pious Jews, who have an affection for the law and the prophets, fear that I come to destroy them.” Let them be not prejudiced against Christ and his doctrine, from a jealousy that this kingdom he came to set up, would derogate from the honour of the scriptures, which they had embraced as coming from God, and of which they had experienced the power and purity; no, let them be satisfied that Christ has no ill design upon the law and the prophets. “Let not the profane Jews, who have a disaffection to the law and the prophets, and are weary of that yoke, hope that I am come to destroy them.” Let not carnal libertines imagine that the Messiah is come to discharge them from the obligation of divine precepts and yet to secure to them divine promises, to make the happy and yet to give them leave to live as they list. Christ commands nothing now which was forbidden either by the law of nature or the moral law, nor forbids any thing which those laws had enjoined; it is a great mistake to think he does, and he here takes care to rectify the mistake; I am not come to destroy. The Saviour of souls is the destroyer of nothing but the works of the devil, of nothing that comes from God, much less of those excellent dictates which we have from Moses and the prophets. No, he came to fulfil them. That is, [1.] To obey the commands of the law, for he was made under the law, Gal_4:4. He in all respects yielded obedience to the law, honoured his parents, sanctified the sabbath, prayed, gave alms, and did that which never any one else did, obeyed perfectly, and never broke the law in any thing. [2.] To make good the promises of the law, and the predictions of the prophets, which did all bear witness to him. The covenant of grace is, for substance, the same now that it was then, and Christ the Mediator of it. [3.] To answer the types of the law; thus (as bishop Tillotson expresses it), he did not make void, but make good, the ceremonial law, and manifested himself to be the Substance of all those shadows. [4.] To fill up the defects of it, and so to complete and perfect it. Thus the word plērōsai properly signifies. If we consider the law as a vessel that had some water in it before, he did not come to pour out the water, but to fill the vessel up to the brim; or, as a picture that is first rough-drawn, displays some outlines only of the piece intended, which are afterwards filled up; so Christ made an improvement of the law and the prophets by his additions and explications. [5.] To carry on the same design; the Christian institutes are so far from thwarting and contradicting that which was the main design of the Jewish religion, that they promote it to the highest degree. The gospel is the time of reformation (Heb_9:10), not the repeal of the law, but the amendment of it, and, consequently, its establishment.
2. He asserts the perpetuity of it; that not only he designed not the abrogation of it, but that it never should be abrogated (Mat_5:18); “Verily I say unto you, I, the Amen, the faithful Witness, solemnly declare it, that till heaven and earth pass, when time shall be no more, and the unchangeable state of recompences shall supersede all laws, one jot, or one tittle, the least and most minute circumstance, shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled;” for what is it that God is doing in all the operations both of providence and grace, but fulfilling the scripture? Heaven and earth shall come together, and all the fulness thereof be wrapped up in ruin and confusion, rather than any word of God shall fall to the ground, or be in vain. The word of the Lord endures for ever, both that of the law, and that of the gospel. Observe, The care of God concerning his law extends itself even to those things that seem to be of least account in it, the iotas and the tittles; for whatever belongs to God, and bears his stamp, be it ever so little, shall be preserved. The laws of men are conscious to themselves of so much imperfection, that they allow it for a maxim, Apices juris non sunt jura - The extreme points of the law are not the law, but God will stand by and maintain every iota and every tittle of his law.
 
Day 40 Wednesday 10/22/14 Matthew 5:17,18 Jots & Tittles.

Matthew 5:17 "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil."
Matthew 5:18 "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."

What in the world is a jot & tittle?
one jot — the smallest of the Hebrew letters.
one tittle — one of those little strokes by which alone some of the Hebrew letters are distinguished from others like them.

The Scribes and Pharisees were used to interpret the Law, or the rabbinical interpretations of them. That, IMO, was a very great problem. Those interpretations went way beyond God's meaning. There is a reversal in the interpretations of the Scribes and Pharisees. They asked Jesus a question, hoping to trap Him. It is found in Matthew 22:37-40.
Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Matthew 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Matthew 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Matthew 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Back in the late 70s I had graduated from a College with Bob Jones Professors. As a result, I was taught "secondary separation". For you who don't know what that is, it is separating from men and churches who do not separate from "liberals". I never knew, at the time, what damage that did to the Kingdom of God. This movement, probably is still going on in some parts of Christendom. It is no different than what we are studying right now. It simply is a New Testament application of the Old Testament rabbinical teachings. You say, what is the remedy? Matthew 22:37-40.

I might fall short in my explanation of the remedy, so If someone other than me can explain this better, have at it....Without a picture, flannel graph, it's a little difficult to explain. "Love Your God With All Your Heart, Soul & Mind. is on top of a graph. The Law & Prophets HANG on this Commandment. In other words, I have to interpret every Command of God thru the eyes of LOVE. God wants me to say to myself, "can I obey this Command out of love." Will this show God's love by doing this. If not, don't do it.

The "separatist" puts the Law & prophets on top and love hanging on it. This is very important! The separatist says, the Law & Prophets interpret love. Therefore the law says not to carry a burden on the Sabbath, here's a guy wearing glasses, I'll separate from him because to love him I must stick to the Law of the Sabbath. I hope this helps to give you a picture of this situation.

Jesus was the Law & Prophets IN LIVING FORM.

John Wesley said this: "Think not - Do not imagine, fear, hope, that I am come - Like your teachers, to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy - The moral law, but to fulfil - To establish, illustrate, and explain its highest meaning, both by my life and doctrine." (e-Sword)

Albert Barnes said this: "But to fulfil - To complete the design; to fill up what was predicted; to accomplish what was intended in them. The word “fulfill” also means sometimes “to teach” or “to inculcate,” Col_1:25. The law of Moses contained many sacrifices and rites which were designed to shadow forth the Messiah. See the notes at Heb. 9. These were fulfilled when he came and offered himself a sacrifice to God,
“A sacrifice of nobler name.
And richer blood than they.”
The prophets contained many predictions respecting his coming and death. These were all to be fulfilled and fully accomplished by his life and his sufferings." (e-Sword)
 
On second thought, Reba, could you please post the Scriptures and perhaps a couple of comments? And everyone else, could you as well make a few comments on the Scriptures? That would help a lot seeing I have to travel out of Town....thanks bunches.
 
Todays study is on Matt 5, 19&20

Mat 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Thanks to Cross of Christ, His shed blood... we no longer rely on human priests to cover or sins with the blood of bulls and goats... We have this great forgiveness in His Grace...

Law and Grace is a real battle ground... which is sad... The Laws are kept by Grace or By Grace we keep the Laws ... Keeping the laws mattered to Jesus to Jesus 2000 years ago .. My guess is they matter to Him today... IMO .. We all believe Jesus is God yet when it comes to the Laws of God seems we choose to separate Jesus from God... In speaking of the laws my mind is on the Ten...
The reasons we do our best to keep the laws:
Because He loves us and we love Him
Joh_14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Are the commandments of God not the commandments of Jesus?
 
Romans 13:10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

When we have been given the Holy Spirit, you live in love and therefore keep the law through the grace of God. The scribes and Pharisees tried to keep the law, cause that's what they were supposed to do. We keep it through the grace we have been given.
 
Day 41 Thursday 10/23/14 Matthew 5:19,20 Great People.

I have returned from the garage, at 11:05.

Matthew 5:19 "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

The following is a statement that John Gill made and no wonder Jesus made this teaching! (John Gill e-Sword)

"And shall teach men so; not only teach them by their example to break the commandments, but by express orders: for however gross and absurd this may seem to be, that there should be any such teachers, and they should have any hearers, yet such there were among the Jews; and our Lord here manifestly strikes at them: for notwithstanding the great and excellent things they say of the law, yet they tell us, that the doctors of the sanhedrim had power to root anything out of the law; to loose or make void any of its commands, for a time, excepting in the case of idolatry; and so might any true prophet, or wise man; which they pretend is sometimes necessary for the glory of God, and the good of men; and they are to be heard and obeyed, when they say, transgress anyone of all the commands which are in the law . Maimonides says, that the sanhedrim had power, when it was convenient, for the time present, to make void an affirmative command, and to transgress a negative one, in order to return many to their religion; or to deliver many of the Israelites from stumbling at other things, they may do whatsoever the present time makes necessary: for so, adds he, the former wise men say, a man may profane one sabbath, in order to keep many sabbaths. And elsewhere he affirms."

I don't think that this situation with Jewish leaders changing what God has commanded to suit there likes and dislikes, is any different than the Church of Jesus Christ. It is guilty of the same thing. For instance, the Sabbath. I have always been concerned about the Church' interpretation of Sunday instead of Saturday. Oh, I know of the Scriptures that teach Sunday being the day of Jesus' resurrection and therefore the Church celebrates that day to worship, it still bothers me non the less. So here's the thing. The Sabbath is supposed to be a "rest day", no work on that day. BUT, we think we are at liberty to change that and mow the lawn because of many reasons. Privately, I can decide to rest on Monday, but publicly, what am I teaching my neighbors, especially if they are Christians. To me, that's a serious example.

This is a text that supports different levels of reward and or, position in the Kingdom.
 
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