Week 38 Reflecting Well on God
“The Church should not reflect pop culture but portray godly attributes. The church should not seek pleasures but seek after God.”
Billy Graham
Passage
13“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.
14“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;
15nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:13–16 (NASB95)
"Reflection of a candle" by Infomastern is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Background
Quote-William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christian figure, and according to a biographer, was "among the most influential Christian leaders" of the 20th century.
Graham held large indoor and outdoor rallies with sermons that were broadcast on radio and television. In his six decades on television, Graham hosted annual crusades, evangelistic campaigns that ran from 1947 until his retirement in 2005. He also hosted the radio show Hour of Decision from 1950 to 1954. He repudiated racial segregation and insisted on racial integration for his revivals and crusades, starting in 1953. He later invited Martin Luther King Jr. to preach jointly at a revival in New York City in 1957. In addition to his religious aims, he helped shape the worldview of a huge number of people who came from different backgrounds, leading them to find a relationship between the Bible and contemporary secular viewpoints. According to his website, Graham preached to live audiences of 210 million people in more than 185 countries and territories through various meetings, including BMS World Mission and Global Mission.
Passage-First The book of Matthew is a Gospel that contains Narrative History, Genealogy, Parables, Sermons, and some Prophetic Oracles. It was written by Matthew (Levi), the Disciple of Christ around 48-50 A.D. The key word in Matthew is "Kingdom" and is used 28 times.
The book of Matthew is the first of the synoptic gospels and it was written to reveal the Lord Jesus as the Messiah, the King of the Jews, from the line of David. It also was written to convince the Jews that Jesus Christ was indeed their long-awaited Messiah.
Lesson Notes
Opening Statement
Light is all around us whether we like it or not, believe it or not, or want it or not. Darkness is all around us whether we like it or not, believe it or not, or want it or not. We chose to stand in the darkness as much or as little as we desire but we also chose to stand in the light as much or as little as we desire as well. People see those choices whether we like it or not, believe they see them or not, or want them to or not.
Ask: What does “…In such a way…” mean from verse 16 of today’s passage?
Point: This is the “How” we do things.
Ask: Why does the “How” matter?
Point: First Reading Romans 14:14–17 (NASB95)
Ask: “You can’t please everyone. Someone is going to be unhappy with how we do things and ‘speak evil’ of what we do.” Does that mean we are to do nothing?
Point: No.
Ask: If we are supposed to do “something” and we can’t please everyone so someone is going to “speak evil” about us, what should we do?
Point: Second Reading Luke 3:10–14 (NASB95)
Ask: Does the Second Reading me we are to only give coats and food?
Point: No. It means we are to fill the need of the people we see and meet around us.
Ask: Is that all we are to do?
Point: No.
Ask: What else are we called to do then if not just coats and food?
Point: Third Reading Romans 13:8 (NASB95)
Ask: If “he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” Doesn’t that mean I don’t need to do anything but say I love them?
Point: No it does not.
Ask: If we are supposed to do something and just saying we love people isn’t doing what we are supposed to do, what are we supposed to do?
Point: The people who spout “love is love” with nothing more or “love is all you need” but do not expand on that are pulling the Third Reading out of context because we are given a command on how to love following verse 8 in the same text.
Fourth Reading Romans 13:8–10 (NASB95)
Ask: “Love does no wrong to a neighbor.” If all I do is say “I love you, neighbor” but nothing else have I fulfilled the command to love them? Why/Why not?
Point: Our inaction can hurt people just as much as our actions can.
Fifth reading James 2:15–18 (NASB95)
Ask: That doesn’t help as we still don’t know what we are individually supposed to do?
Closing Statement
10I give my opinion in this matter, for this is to your advantage, who were the first to begin a year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it.
11But now finish doing it also, so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability.
12For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.
13For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality—
14at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality;
15as it is written, “He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little had no lack.”
2 Corinthians 8:10–15 (NASB95)
Questions for the Week
Question 1 What things do you lack in that you have a need of? This can be both physical needs but also spiritual needs such as more friends, time in conversation with other believers, exercise, etc.
Question 2 What things do you have an abundance of? Again this is both physical things but spiritual things as well.
Question 3 What are three ways you can administer your abundances for the good of your Christian brothers and sisters?
Question 4 Have you made your lack of those things you need known to anyone in your church?
Question 5 Whether you keep a journal or not, write the three things you lack on a sheet of 8 ½ x 11 paper along with the three things you have an abundance of and post it somewhere you can see it daily.
Question 6 Pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you on God’s path to address those things in which you lack but also guide you as to where to give out of the abundance of those things you have.
Scripture
First Reading
14I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
15For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.
16Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil;
17for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Romans 14:14–17 (NASB95)
Second Reading
10And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what shall we do?”
11And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.”
12And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”
13And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.”
14Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”
Luke 3:10–14 (NASB95)
Third Reading
8Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:8 (NASB95)
Fourth Reading
8Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
9For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
10Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Romans 13:8–10 (NASB95)
Exodus 20:13-17
Deuteronomy 5:17-21
Leviticus 19:18
Fifth Reading
15If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,
16and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
17Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
18But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
James 2:15–18 (NASB95)