FEBRUARY 06 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#02 “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you … and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

 

FEBRUARY 06  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JQ#02  

“For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …

and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” 

(Matthew 5:46-47)

LIVING FOR  JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Thank You Lord for closed doors and for those times when I stand

 and knock on the wrong door until my knuckles bleed and then Your Peace

 fills my soul and I know that I have drifted into the stormy waters on the

 Great Sea of “I-Want”. Lord Jesus, Your Grace is sufficient for me and I beg

 for Your Mercy as I take that deep calm breath and KNOW that 

YOU ARE GOD and that YOU KNOW ALL MY NEEDS 

and then YOUR PEACE will descend upon me! 

Lord, LORD — forgive me, for I let the dark shadows take my attention away

 from the Bright Rays of Hope that break through all my clouds. You, Lord, 

control ALL circumstances and I trust You for the outcome and pray that I grow

 in Your Grace as I face each trial that You allow in my life. There is no

 circumstance greater than Your Love therefore I pray to keep focused on

 Your Solution and not the circumstance itself!     

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS takes us to the self-realization that we are “salt” and “light” and

 that the purpose God intended for “salt” is to add flavor to other’s lives and

 then we should use our “light to shine” in such a way as to help others 

avoid the dangers lurking in the darkness. Then Jesus shows us that we 

are made in the image of God and that 

the Greatest Gift ever Given mankind was God’s Giving of His Son 

at Great Cost and Sacrifice of Himself for the Good of all mankind

 thereby demonstrating His Great “LOVE” for all His Creation! 

Jesus continues the Lesson on the “giving-of-ourselves” to help others by 

giving us a Standard of Perfection to focus our attention on and then 

Jesus Teaches us to do “charitable deeds” but avoid seeking glory

 for ourselves  — for “charitable deeds”” done for the wrong reason

 is the sin of “hypocrisy”

 which completely nullifies our “charitable deeds” — all our “deeds” 

should be done with a single motivation which is to “glorify 

our Father in heaven” thereby making all our deeds “charitable”.

God’s Logic in doing things for “His Glory” is that by doing our “good works” 

for Him we avoid the temptation of selfish vain-glory for our own 

petty selves, our selfishness being a convenient basket we have to put 

our “light” under in order that we can puff ourselves up before men! 

Jesus commanded 

“you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect”

 (Matthew 5:48) 

then Jesus told us to perform “charitable deeds” but avoid the “hypocrisy”

 of desiring personal glory for “charitable deeds” but instead do

 the “charitable deeds” trusting God for any reward that He chooses 

to bestow on our efforts to achieve perfection. (Matthew 6:1-4) 

Jesus immediately commands us

 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. 

For they love to pray standing in the synagogue 

and on the corners of the streets,

 that they may be seen by men.” 

(Matthew 6:5)

 It should jump out at us that Jesus says that in order to “be perfect” we 

must “do … charitable deeds” but severely warns us 

“do not do your charitable deeds before men, 

to be seen by them.”

(Matthew 6:1)

 

Those doing “charitable deeds” to receive honor from other men, 

Jesus called “hypocrites”!! 

 After doing “charitable deeds…in secret” we are to “pray” but Jesus

 gives the same warning about “praying” that He did about “charitable deeds”

 and that same warning came with the same condemnation for those 

doing their “praying” to gain attention for themselves as again Jesus

 labeled those motivated by “self-glorification” as “hypocrites”! 

Jesus has given us “charitable deeds” and “praying” 

as the first two steps to “perfection”

 but both steps come with a warning to avoid “hypocrisy”!!! 

— 2 out of 2 times is 100% — 

since Jesus preaches 100% against hypocrisy

 we should realize that “why” we do anything

 is more important than “what” we do! 

Jesus has given us two Lessons on “Helping Others” and in both Lessons

 Jesus has listed in clear detail the “attitude” we should have as we live 

our life in order to show respect for others in order to give Honor to God! 

Jesus proclaimed in Matthew 5:13-14 we are “salt” and “light” and then for 

the rest of chapter 5 Matthew documents Jesus Teaching us to respect 

others to “glorify your Father in heaven”. 

Starting with Matthew 5:17 until Jesus stops and asks us His JQ#02 

in Matthew 5:46-47 we are given “Spiritual Guidelines” to correcting

 ourselves to benefit others as the way we are to honor God as Jesus Teaches

 us to honor the Law, reconcile ourselves before God and then make our

 sacrifices to Him, avoid lust, adultery, and divorce in our private lives. Jesus

 continues with details on our life styles as He addresses our relationship

 with others by discussing perjury and retaliation 

and then Jesus sums up the Lesson 

on the “giving-of-ourselves” by commanding us to

 

“love your enemies, bless those who curse you,

 do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who 

spitefully use you and persecute you.” 

(Matthew 5:44)

   

And then to add emphasis to His instructions He says not only does He

 expect us to accomplish all these “selfless deeds of charity” but we should 

strive to do them “perfectly” and that perfection can only be achieved

 by avoiding “hypocrisy” in our journey to “perfection” — 

it is a TALL SPIRITUAL ORDER  but 

the ONE giving the LESSONS has “BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT” 

and is giving us advice from “Personal Experience” that points us to

 “Heavenly Resources” to help us attain our “Heavenly Goals” — 

the Truth of God is that He WILL PROVIDE for ALL OUR NEEDS 

so if you realize your NEED to “journey to perfection” then you can 

TRUST (that) GOD WILL 

PROVIDE the WAY 

and LIGHT YOUR PATH!!!

FEBRUARY 05 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#02 “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you … and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

 

FEBRUARY 05  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

   JQ#02  

“For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …

and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” 

(Matthew 5:46-47)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer

JESUS, You Lord are to be praised by all mankind for there is not a soul 

that was ever born that did not or does not benefit from Your Great Sacrifice

 on the Cross in Obedience to the Father’s Will because You, God’s Only 

Begotten Son suffered and died for the sins of the world, ALL SIN 

for EVERY SOUL — so Lord Jesus I acknowledge that You paid

 my Debt and Ransomed me from my slavery to sin and I claim You 

as my Redeemer, may I now be found to be a

 “good and faithful servant”

 and that one day in glory I will hear You say, “Well Done!”      

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS used multiple Questions in Matthew 5:46-47 to basically bring to

 our mind the necessity of using our talents to help others instead of being

 selfish and looking out only for ourselves. 

Jesus brought up the topic of “Love”

 and pointed out that if we intend to spend 

our eternity in heaven with God

 then we should start living our lives in such a manner that it would be

 pleasing to God who demonstrated His “Love” for us that

 

“While we were still sinners, [God gave us His Gift 

of His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ 

to the world and]  Christ died for us.” 

(Romans 5:8) 

Jesus made it clear that to receive a “reward in heaven” 

that we should “Love others” while on earth! 

Jesus then starts a series of Lessons

 on how we should be like God in our actions so that others will not see us

 but will see the “glory of God” shining forth from our actions! 

Jesus commanded at the end of Matthew chapter 5,

 “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father

 in heaven is perfect.” 

(Matthew 5:48) 

and then Jesus begins immediately to instruct us on how to

 “be perfect” as He teaches:

 “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, 

to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward from your Father

 in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound

 a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and 

in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say

 to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed,

 do not let your left hand know what you right hand is doing, that 

your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees

 in secret will Himself reward you openly.” 

(Matthew 6:1-4) 

So our first step in being “perfect” before God we must

 do “charitable deeds” for others 

but Jesus warns us not to be “hypocrites”

 — It is very interesting that Jesus tells us to do 

“charitable deeds” but immediately condemns 

“the hypocrites in the synagogues” 

that are doing “charitable deeds”!?!?!? 

The term “hypocrites” is always used

 by Jesus to describe those that “do good things” but that they do them

 “for the wrong reason” which is a VERY IMPORTANT LESSON on 

“doing for others” — for Jesus tells us that we should do our

 “charitable deeds in secret” and avoid the temptation to make ourselves 

look good in front of other men which would make us “hypocrites” 

in God’s eyes but we should do our “charitable deeds” in such a manner

 that we do not get any personal credit but that others would benefit

 from our “charitable deeds” and “your Father who sees in secret

 will Himself reward you openly.”!!! 

The VERY IMPORTANT LESSON is that 

we should GIVE TO HELP OTHERS and 

TRUST GOD FOR HIS REWARDS. 

Every time we seek glory from men for some action that we have done

 we risk being “hypocrites” for when we act on God’s behalf but we do

 it to receive personal glory from men, we have robbed God! 

If we do our “charitable deeds” to glorify God, 

then and only then will God get the glory 

and we will receive a reward from “God Himself”

 man cannot match the Gift of God nor can man give a reward

 that comes close to matching 

God’s Rewards!!! 

So our first step in “perfection” is to imitate God 

and do “charitable deeds” in His Name 

and for the kingdom's sake 

and not for our own personal glory!!!