Date: 20 January 2009, Deployment-21 days
Bible (NT/OT):
Bible (NT/OT):
Matt 15
Traditions and Commandments
15 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat." 3 He answered them, "And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.' 5 But you say, 'If anyone tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is given to God, 6 he need not honor his father.' So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
8 "'This people honors me with their lips,but their heart is far from me;9 in vain do they worship me,teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"
8 "'This people honors me with their lips,but their heart is far from me;9 in vain do they worship me,teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"
What Defiles a Person
10 And he called the people to him and said to them, "Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person." 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?" 13 He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit." 15 But Peter said to him, "Explain the parable to us." 16 And he said, "Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone."
The Faith of a Canaanite Woman
21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." 23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying out after us." 24 He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." 26 And he answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." 27 She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." 28 Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly.
Jesus Heals Many
29 Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. 30 And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, 31 so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.
Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand
32 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way." 33 And the disciples said to him, "Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?" 34 And Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven, and a few small fish." 35 And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 37 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 38 Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 And after sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.
Ps 16:9-17:1
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. 10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. 11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Sun Tzu:
“When they are fulfilled, be prepared against them; when they are strong, avoid them.”
“A classic says, ‘struggling with them, you find out where they have plenty and where they are lacking.’ Having plenty is what is meant by being fulfilled, lacking is what is meant by having gaps. Once the military power of the adversary is full, you should treat them as if they were unbeatable, and not attack lightly. As a military guide says, ‘When you see a gap, then advance; when you see fullness, then stop‘.”
The Intellectual Devotion (Kidder, D. & Oppenheim N. The Intellectual Devotion, Rodale. NY, NY 2006):
Harmony is the sounding of two or more different notes in unison. The distance between the two notes in called an interval. We can express intervals numerically, on the typical musical scale (A,B,C,D,E,F,G). The earliest polyphonic music written in the middle ages was based on intervals of the forth (two notes separating the played notes, ex. Playing A and D simultaneously). By the Reaissance, however, the triad became the main unit of harmony. Triads are 3 notes played in simultaneously each separated by a third (ex. Playing A, C and E together). Harmony adds depth, echo, “clothing” to a piece of music. Harmony that is pleasing to the ear is called consonance while Harmony that sounds Harsh, unfamiliar, or unstable is called dissonance.
Events:
We went out to Magnolia Pancake House with my parents for breakfast, totally awesome. Mom and dad loved it. Came back to the house and said what could be my final goodbye to them. Saying goodbye was not so bad; I think it was mostly because they are 90% sure that they will make the Deployment Ceremony. I read, wrote and posted all of the writing that I have done to date on the Blog. Guess I’m up and running. Last night we watched the Bachelor. It’s very informative to watch how the Girls feel about “Jason” behind the scenes. A saying that I recently heard that would have helped me a great deal throughout school is, “Girls are just as afraid of you as you are of them.” It works the other way too. Behind the scenes in the bachelor I can see how pitifully insecure girls can be. The show was a bit redeeming last night as he took one of the most externally pretty girls out but when she proved to be rude, superficial and materialistic he dumped her without even bringing her back to the house. Not the typical male response but an encouraging one. Today is inauguration day and Marla’s birthday, she’s 28. Birthdays are always hard for me because I feel the need to spend lots of money and buy her great gifts but she always seems to take them back because she is so responsible with money and I am so not. It’s stressful.
Ps 16:9-17:1
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. 10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. 11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Sun Tzu:
“When they are fulfilled, be prepared against them; when they are strong, avoid them.”
“A classic says, ‘struggling with them, you find out where they have plenty and where they are lacking.’ Having plenty is what is meant by being fulfilled, lacking is what is meant by having gaps. Once the military power of the adversary is full, you should treat them as if they were unbeatable, and not attack lightly. As a military guide says, ‘When you see a gap, then advance; when you see fullness, then stop‘.”
The Intellectual Devotion (Kidder, D. & Oppenheim N. The Intellectual Devotion, Rodale. NY, NY 2006):
Harmony is the sounding of two or more different notes in unison. The distance between the two notes in called an interval. We can express intervals numerically, on the typical musical scale (A,B,C,D,E,F,G). The earliest polyphonic music written in the middle ages was based on intervals of the forth (two notes separating the played notes, ex. Playing A and D simultaneously). By the Reaissance, however, the triad became the main unit of harmony. Triads are 3 notes played in simultaneously each separated by a third (ex. Playing A, C and E together). Harmony adds depth, echo, “clothing” to a piece of music. Harmony that is pleasing to the ear is called consonance while Harmony that sounds Harsh, unfamiliar, or unstable is called dissonance.
Events:
We went out to Magnolia Pancake House with my parents for breakfast, totally awesome. Mom and dad loved it. Came back to the house and said what could be my final goodbye to them. Saying goodbye was not so bad; I think it was mostly because they are 90% sure that they will make the Deployment Ceremony. I read, wrote and posted all of the writing that I have done to date on the Blog. Guess I’m up and running. Last night we watched the Bachelor. It’s very informative to watch how the Girls feel about “Jason” behind the scenes. A saying that I recently heard that would have helped me a great deal throughout school is, “Girls are just as afraid of you as you are of them.” It works the other way too. Behind the scenes in the bachelor I can see how pitifully insecure girls can be. The show was a bit redeeming last night as he took one of the most externally pretty girls out but when she proved to be rude, superficial and materialistic he dumped her without even bringing her back to the house. Not the typical male response but an encouraging one. Today is inauguration day and Marla’s birthday, she’s 28. Birthdays are always hard for me because I feel the need to spend lots of money and buy her great gifts but she always seems to take them back because she is so responsible with money and I am so not. It’s stressful.
Thoughts:
Bible:
1. V3 He answered them, "And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? It’s not just the Pharisees here. I will frequently choose my pious actions like reading my bible over loving my wife, helping my neighbor etc… Just this morning, on Marla’s birthday, it was nearly impossible for me to pull myself away from my reading to fix her a special birthday breakfast of instant oatmeal that I subsequently ruined anyway by adding water instead of milk (messed up the only step L).
Bible:
1. V3 He answered them, "And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? It’s not just the Pharisees here. I will frequently choose my pious actions like reading my bible over loving my wife, helping my neighbor etc… Just this morning, on Marla’s birthday, it was nearly impossible for me to pull myself away from my reading to fix her a special birthday breakfast of instant oatmeal that I subsequently ruined anyway by adding water instead of milk (messed up the only step L).
2. 8 "'This people honors me with their lips,but their heart is far from me;9 in vain do they worship me,teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'" The Pharisees offense is much worse than butchering oatmeal. Today, we would have called them Legalists. We see legalism (adding man’s commandments to the bible) at work daily. I tried to buy wine after church on Sunday and was reminded that thanks to those Baptist prohibitionists I was not legally able to buy alcohol before noon on Sunday. This law doesn’t even make sense, how many people get hammered drunk and plow into families on Sunday morning? Why not outlaw alcohol after midnight Thursday and Friday nights? I doubt these prohibitions against alcohol, dancing (Baylor) and our new pious “courting” instead of dating has ever lead an unbeliever to Christ or further sanctified (spiritual maturity) a believer. In fact, I bet these “commandments of men,” have prevented many unbelievers from seeking out Christ in the first place. Let me be the first to say that I drink and enjoy alcohol. When done is a responsible manner (not hammered drunk) there is absolutely nothing biblically wrong with drinking. I have many good Baptist friends who would not dare be seen drinking. I ask you, which is better, to engage the world (a drinking world) over a drink and explain the freedom that we have through Christ or, to continue to segregate ourselves, appearing “holier than thou” for our legalistic “commandments of men”. Drinking is a far more appealing (and biblically true) gospel message then trying to abide by a bunch of made up rules in order to provide an “example of holiness” to your neighbor. If drinking “hurts your witness” because you can’t drink just one, then granted you probably should not drink. But, if you feel that drinking “hurts your witness” because you don’t want to appear like your heathen neighbor I’d encourage you to read Matthew 23. I don’t know about these Christians but I still live in the world and understand peoples offense to our unlawful condemnation of their lives (whether we truly judge or just appear to judge with our pious, unbiblical “commandments of men”).
3. 16 And he said, "Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone." Again we see that Jesus is not concerned with ceremonial, symbolic expression but with the people’s hard and evil hearts. Jesus earlier says in Matt 12:36-37, “36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” I am not nearly cautious enough with my words, these verses are terribly convicting. Jewish tradition at this point in history was focused on external expression (much like Christians today with our WWJD bracelets) but true Christianity is concerned with our internal motives. This is why the author of Hebrews says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him (God)" Heb 11:6. Without faith, even our most charitable expressions are selfishly motivated. I was watching the Bachelor last night and there was a girl who was talking to Jason, the conversation went sort of like, Jason-“Tell me something special about yourself,” Girl in response-“well I always give my time to help people and over the last 3 weeks while I’ve been on this show, I’ve felt empty not doing any charity, not being thanked, not having people grateful for me.” When we ask unbelievers why they are charitable, what is their most common response? “Because it feels good.” Their Charity is not motivated by a love for their neighbor, not motivated by a love for God but a love for their own adoration and thanks.
4. so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel. The purpose of Jesus miracles is not for the Glory of the people or even the glory of himself but the glory of God. Jesus is less concerned with the people’s physical handicaps than their spiritual deadness. The ultimate goal of Jesus miracles and the gospel today is not our health, wealth and especially not our glory but that we may ultimately stand in heaven and sing to the Lord of his goodness and glory. A necessary shift in our worldview and even our own salvation must occur from egocentric to Theo-centric.
5. 11 You make known to me the path of life The lord makes known his great salvation in our hearts. We have nothing to do with our salvation, first to last it is all the Lord, that when we arrive in heaven the Lord gets all of the glory not us. We have no response but to fall on our face and glorify God.
