St. Matthew, Chapter 23, verses: 15b; Sons of Hell

Our paragraph topic is:  (Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees) Part 9.  

How do you reach a lost soul?  How can you show them the error of their ways?  How is it possible to shock them back to a sense of justice that they might be able to see the mistakes that they made?  We all are human.  We all make mistakes.  We all are subject to the influences of evil.  In the time when Christ came, evil was rampant.  Evil was with men.  Evil was within the hearts of men and they had forgotten the God of their forefathers.

And this is why Christ called out the leaders, the Scribes and the Pharisees.  They were the ones who set the rules.  They were the ones who enforced the laws.  They were the ones who taught the people how to follow the laws of their forefathers, because they had the books written by the prophets.  They could enforce the laws the way that they saw fit and understood.  Christ called the hypocrites.  He told them:  "Because you traverse sea and land to make one convert; and when he has become one, you make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves."

He called them hypocrites.  They were masquerading as religious men but underneath the masks they were creating evil in the hearts of men.  They were creating sons of hell, doing the work of the devil, not the work of God.  

 How appropriate is this message for us today.  We go out and evangelize to bring others into the church so that they may be saved.  The church is something new for them in that there are guidelines that we live by to help us follow the life that God wants us to live.  These may be difficult for a new comer to follow or even comprehend if they see others who do not follow the same guidelines.

God our father gave us basic commands to follow to keep us away from harm, out of the way of evil.  He loves us and does not want us to be harmed, just as we love our own children.  We would tell our own children not to put their hands in the fire because it will burn them.  God wants to do the same for us.  We can not base our experience upon that which we see others do.  It is up to each one of us though, to seek a personal relationship with our Father so that we know in our hearts what his will is for us.  His love for us is the key.

Christ is our Lord and Savior.  It is through his passion that we were reborn into a new life.  He came down from his thrown in heaven to be with us, to walk with us and talk with us to leave a legacy that we might know that he is with us.  It is through him and with him that we have a spokesperson to the Father. He knows our faults and failures.  He knows our pains and our sorrows.  He knows our hopes and our fears.  He is with us and in us, if we open ourselves to him through the Holy Spirit.  His love is endless.  His love is boundless.  His love is fulfilling.  He is the be all and the end all of all our needs.  To be with him is to be at rest for all eternity.  

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.

St Matthew, Chapter 19, verse: 10, Expediency of Marriage.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Continence preferred to marriage) Part 1.

Christ raised the question of adultery and immorality to his disciples and they were puzzled.  They did not understand this teaching.  According to their backgrounds and their teachings from the community, a man was given to a woman and a woman given to a man.  They were bound together by law.  And the law had allowed for separation, the law had allowed for putting away of a wife or husband.  But Christ told them that this is not the case from the Father.

For the Father created them male and female that they would cleave to one another.  The Father created them that they would leave their fathers and mothers and bind with one another, male and female.  He did not intend that they would separate.  He did not intend that they would divorce.  Christ told his disciples that divorce for any cause and marriage to another is adultery.  He told them that the only way that a divorce could take place is through the
immorality of one of the partners.  And also to marry one who has been put away is committing adultery.  They found this unbelievable.  They questioned that if this is the case then why should one even marry.  His disciples said to him, "If the case of a man with his wife is so, it is not expedient to marry."

They saw this teaching as extreme.  They saw this as harsh.  They did not understand what they were to do if this is the teaching, the commandment, the rule by which they were to live.  Only through immorality is one able to put away his wife or husband.  Otherwise they are bound together as one, not to separate or not to divorce.  One has to ask why then should one marry?  One has to ask why then: "Why then should one fall in love?"  One has to ask why then: "Why should one consider bonding for life, if there is no opening for separation, no relief for mistakes, no escape from the commitment of marriage?"

Why is it that we are compelled to bond, compelled to desire the company of that other person, compelled to want to spend our every waking hour with the person that makes us complete in some way?  We come together with a desire to love.  We are drawn to one another out of a physical and emotional passion.  We have a need to belong, a need to not be alone in the world.  And marriage gives us that bonding opportunity which says that I am committing myself to this one person and no other.  Yet we are different people.  We are different personalities, with different desires, different beliefs, different habits, mannerisms, quirks, patterns, and every sort of unique behavior that distinguishes us from everyone else.   

We have been given that what is unique about ourselves is withheld and not revealed.  For one does not truly know another until one has lived with another.  It is only through the intimate living experience that one comes to know another person.  And it is through that same living experience that the eyes are open to all that is the other person we have chosen to spend our lives with.  So in that transition from the point where we have a complete desire to spend every waking hour with our partners, to that point where we have a complete understanding of our partners, we obtain a conscientious awareness of the truth of our relationship.  And one day we wake up and see the person next to us as they truly are.  It is in that day that we come to understand the true meaning of the commitment we have made.

But is it the commitment we have made to ourselves or the commitment we have made to our Father.  For he made us this way.  He made us to come together.  He made us that we would cleave to one another, becoming one flesh.  And he made us that we would not be the perfect relationship.  Can we find perfection in that imperfect relationship?  Can we find commitment in that imperfect relationship?  Can we find the true meaning of love in that imperfect relationship?  The world does not want us to understand commitment, to understand perfection, to understand love.  The world tells us that all is lost and we should abandon that relationship.  The world tells us that we are hurt and we should strike back.  The world tells us that we cannot stay together, that we should seek another partner, that we should separate.  The world gives us all manner of external relationships that will solve our commitment problems.  And it is the world outside that will tell us what we are on the inside.  It is the world that seeks to define us as physical and not spiritual beings.

If we are committed to the cause, we can succeed.  If we are bound by His love, we can know love.  If we are understanding of His truths, we can know the truth of who we are.  If we seek to know him in His goodness and His mercy then we can come to know true commitment.  If we open our hearts and understand the truth of who we are, both male and female, our commitment can become a blessing and not a burden.  For through Him and with Him and in Him we become one with Him.  And He, who is one with the Father, becomes one with us.  It is through that oneness that we come to know the cause, the purpose and the mission of our physical lives here on earth.  Christ came that we: past, present, and future, would have life.  And it is our cause, in the present, that brings forth the life of the future that is to come.  Let us then, come to know our purpose, our true spiritual passion, and our cause that we may continue to be one with Him who created us. 

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.