"You are mistaken...Matthew 22:23-33...Another team tagging in
March has come! This picture is very similar to others on this blog. It is the same content of a group of men but the faces are different except mine. Here is another group I am a part of that I'm invested in. These are men who gather every Tuesday for Bible study and once a month on Saturday for a shared breakfast and another study about being a man of God. Over the years, since the church plant in Gaylord, Michigan, I have focused on creating these types of groups. It is a place where men of the church can grow together and also invite those who God is bringing into their paths. This is a great picture for me to hold onto along with all those others of the past.
I gauge the effectiveness of the group by our interaction with one another. What are we talking about? Can a heavy burden one is carrying be shared here? Does the "new guy" join in because he senses this group has offered him the hand of friendship? Is there an acknowledgement that no guy is "the guy" and we lean and learn from each other's experiences of life? Are we truly listening to one another? These are my gauges on how well the group is progressing forward. My specific role is to keep us tied to God's word but I am a member of the group just like any other.
One last gauge of a group like this is when I don't have to "promote" the gathering anymore. They are looking forward to the next one. They have it as a "regular" on their mental calendar. They start rearranging their schedules around this time together. The promoting phase is over and the promoting them to service within the group has begun.
The link is below for the sermon and service from Sunday on this passage of Scripture. Jesus has another group jumping into the ring to test Him and this time it is the Sadducees. This aristocratic, wealthy limited acceptance of God's words religious group comes to Jesus with a hypothetical situation to prove their point that there is no resurrection. After telling their made up story of 7 sons, 1 wife and no kids Jesus has to tell them that they are wrong; they are mistaken; and they are causing others to stray from the truth. Jesus again shows His teaching ability to adapt to the situation and answer the question. The Sadducees only believed in the first 5 books of the Bible so teacher Jesus answers their question from that section.
I play off of Jesus' question to them, "Have you never read?" Jesus has asked this before and directed His audience back to the Scriptures. He assumes that you are reading God's word. I used this as a jumping off point for our application. Would Jesus be asking us this question? How would we respond? Would He be saying to us, "You are mistaken?"
1. Are you studying the Bible? Would Jesus say to you, "Have you never read?" The Bible is the most important book in the world because it tells us of salvation and how to live to the glory of God. Is it gathering dust?
2. What needs to be eliminated that you have allowed in? What other voices have taken up the time to hear God's voice through His words? What has become more important than this most important book in the whole world?
3. If things are not eliminated then we need to realize that they have become the final authority in our lives. What God has said has become one of the options. He takes a back seat to the thoughts of the day.
4. We have now resorted to our Scriptural intake to sound bytes and memes. We have opened the door to take God's very words out of context. We shape them to our liking instead of them shaping us into His likeness.
One last observation is that Jesus tells us a little bit about heaven in this passage. He speaks of hell often with the phrase, "the weeping and gnashing of teeth." Here Jesus tells us of heaven as a marriage of one. The King (God) has arranged a marriage for the Prince (Jesus) to a Bride (the Church). This is the marriage of heaven and the marriages of "this age" are to be a reflection of "that age" marriage. This is another aspect of Christianity that makes it different than other religions and cults of the world that emphasize multiple wives in heaven and creating children who are gods. Jesus makes no reference to this but rather emphasizes a singular focus of Him in the coming paradise.
May we be people who Jesus doesn't say, "Have you never read..." but people who are able to share with others under the direction of the Holy Spirit and appropriately with grace and truth, "Let me share with you what Jesus has said and done."
Adam
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