Not As They Do

/in

Not As They Do

41 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.

Matthew 23:1-3

Something was wrong with the church. The leaders were in the seat of Moses and taught but did not follow their own words. We must always remember that the church is made of sinful and fallen people. Leaders will make mistakes and anyone who puts their salvation or hope on any man, even a religious leader, is doomed to be disappointed. Our faith must be on Christ alone.

4 For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.

Matthew 23:4-5

It’s easy to make laws, traditions and beliefs. It’s easy to tell others how to live. It’s harder to live by those same rules, but know this, you will be judged by the rules and laws you put on others. Even with verses like these, it’s easy to point a finger up to the leaders but don’t forget your own sins. The sinless fallen nature is in all, leaders and not.

Here Jesus points towards a very specific sin, that of doing or working not for the true good but to be seen. Pride is the original sin and one that pervades the world and the church. It can take something good and poison it. It is like taking something precious, like a pearl, and throwing it to the swine. This is especially true now in our world where everything is recorded and selfied. If you won’t do something unless there’s an eye or a camera on you, be very careful. A once perfect angel fell from heaven with the same mind.

 

God bless,

Pr. Steven Couto

My Lord

/in

My Lord

41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?”

They said to Him, “The Son of David.”

Matthew 22:41-42

Jesus loved to ask questions. Here he seems to ask a very simple one that every Jew from child to elderly could answer. They give the right answer, the Son of David, but then Jesus puts them in a bind with his second question.

43 He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying: 44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool” ’?

Matthew 22:43-44

The problem here is again something that every Jew would understand. A father would never can a son or heir Lord. The oldest is the one that should always get that title. Jesus doesn’t even let them get confused but says so himself.

45 If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” 46 And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

Matthew 22:45-46

It’s amazing how simply and yet powerfully Jesus can explain himself. It is His word after all. It was He who was with Israel in the wilderness and past and told the prophets what to say. It’s also amazing how, because of their preconceived ideas about what the Messiah would be, that they could miss such an obvious and powerful statement.

We cannot be like the Jews here. Yes we as Adventists know much of the Bible, especially the prophecies, but let’s not become blind ourselves as to thinking we know it all. The Jews were surprised with the first coming of Jesus and if history teaching us anything, odds are we will be as well.

Let us hold to the Spirit and be guided by him in all things. Let us not be stubborn or stiff-necked that we cannot at least look at possible new ideas.

 

God bless,

Pr. Steven Couto

The Greatest Commandment

/in

The Greatest Commandment

34 But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

Matthew 22:34-36

Leave it up to the Jews to ask what the greatest commandment is. Jews loved laws. The made hundreds if not thousands of them, on top of what God had already given. They believed that it was through the laws that they could achieve perfection and salvation. The answer that Jesus gives changes the direction of what they were asking.

37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 22:37-40

The first thing to realize is that Jesus wasn’t saying something new. He was actually quoting the bible with his answers. The bible already taught that love is at the center of the law but somehow the Jews failed to grasp or learn this. We as Adventists can do the same today sometimes.

Love is the heart of the law. Loving God, loving your neighbor and loving yourself. These three ideals wrap up the laws of God and in fact give the laws life and power. Without love, the laws are meaningless and powerless.

How do you see the law? Is it a ‘do’ and ‘do not’ for you? Or is there a deeper meaning. Is there love in the laws when you see and follow them? The answer to these questions will change your life forever.

Once you see the laws in the lenses of love, you also find the true heart of God in the laws, you find his character.

If the Jews had only done this, they wouldn’t have missed Jesus as the messiah. They would have seen the same love of God in the laws in Jesus as well.

God bless,

Pr. Steven Couto

Like the Angels

/in

Like the Angels

23 The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, 24 saying: “Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. 25 Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. 26 Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. 27 Last of all the woman died also. 28 Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her.”

Matthew 22:23-28

The Sadducees really knew how to make a question. They told a whole tragic story of a poor woman who had to marry seven brothers who all died and left no kids. All of this was done to try and trap Jesus into saying something that would create problems for him. As always, Jesus had the perfect answer.

29 Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.

Matthew 22:29-30

Jesus says two painful things here at the beginning. You don’t know the scriptures or the power of God. What a thing to say to master religious leaders yet it was true. They were looking at heaven through human eyes. They could not fathom the power or creativity of God. He then says that in the resurrection we will be like the angels. This statement has created many theories and beliefs. Some say that we will be sexless, neither male nor female in heaven but that doesn’t work because God created humans male and female. Others say we simply don’t marry which is very possible but actually misses the point. The key is in saying that we will be like the angels. In truth we know very little about angels. We know there are seraphim and cherubim. We know they can fly, transform and be invisible. We know they live in heaven and can move very quickly but most importantly we know they work for God. In fact the word angel simply means ‘messenger’. An angel only does two thing in the Bible- they work for God and praise God. It is these two points that Jesus was trying to emphasize. We will be like the angels in that, these little earthly things we do here will not be in our minds- but only God will be.

Jesus then uses the Bible to show that when God speaks about his children, he speaks in the present as if they all, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are still alive. That is because while we’re stuck here in one moment in time, God is in every moment of eternity. He is with them in the past, with us now and with all of us in the future in heaven. God is the God of the living.

God bless,

Pr. Steven Couto

What is Caesar’s?

/in

What is Caesar’s?

15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 

Matthew 22:15-16

It is amazing how we can use biblical ideas, religion and God’s word to try and hurt people. Here the Pharisees were doing just that. They gave Jesus beautiful words to try and trap him. How many times do we do the same?

17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”

Matthew 22:17

Then the main reason for their words comes out. They try and use hate of authority and God’s commandments to bring Jesus down. If he sided with Caesar, he would be a betrayer of the Jews. If he sided with the Jews, he would become an enemy of the state and be jailed or killed. It seemed like there was no good solution but Jesus is wiser than man.

18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” 21 “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

Matthew 22:18-21

Jesus refused to be trapped and refused to create an enemy. He neither went against Caesar or the Jews. He really became neutral to the situation. He refused to join everything together. There were earthly things, and he followed those but also God’s things and he followed those.

We must learn to be more like Jesus. We so often try and create enemies, thinking that it makes us righteous. It does not. Jesus never intentionally tried to create enemies, mostly for the fact that he was trying to save the very people others were trying to hate.

22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

Matthew 22:22

Jesus will never fall into a human trap and there is no reason for you to fall as well. Let the wisdom of God and his word guide you into being like Christ.

God bless,

Pr. Steven Couto

The Wedding

/in

The Wedding

2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, 3 and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.

Matthew 22:2-3

Weddings are often used by God to express the relationship and bond he wants with us. Here God is represented as an earthly king who is arranging a marriage for his son, which would be Jesus. Sadly, those who were invited refused to attend. What a sad illustration of the rejection of the Jews to Jesus.

4 Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” ’ 5 But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. 6 And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.

Matthew 22:4-6

The king sacrifices so much to create the perfect wedding, which would be free for all, but still the guests refuse, preferring to go to their own homes and even work. Others take it a step further and actually mistreat the servants and even kill them. It seems like an impossible story and yet it’s exactly what we read in the Bible. The prophets and servants of God were often killed by God’s own people.

7 But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

Matthew 22:7

Here we get to the middle of the parable. The king is clearly good but he does have limits. He will not simply look away as his servants are being unjustifiably killed and mistreated. The king passes his judgement and killed the murderers and burned their cities to the ground.

I always find it amusing when we read the Bible and see God as the bad guy or violent one. It’s amazing how blinded we can be and one sided when we read the Bible. Does God allow violent and destructive acts in the Bible? Yes. Does he himself order destruction and death? Yes. But that is always seen only after an insupportable amount of forgiveness and patience.

The Bible isn’t lying when it says that God is love, not even in the Old Testament. Read through it again but with an open mind and you’ll see that love.

God bless,

Pr. Steven Couto

The Cornerstone

/in

The Cornerstone

42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Matthew 21:42

The cornerstone was a special stone that would be chosen for a new construction. It would be the first stone to go on the foundation and many people would do a sacrifice on the stone so that the building would be strong. It was thought that, much like the foundation, the cornerstone would carry the weight of all the stones that would be put on top and around.

Jesus is our cornerstone. It’s very sad that this text says and indeed prophesied that God’s people would reject Jesus. Jesus wasn’t the stone they were looking for. They wanted a leader who would be violent and powerful, who would topple the Roman government and make them the new superpower on earth. Instead they saw a cornerstone that was more focused on forgiveness, peace and love. They didn’t believe such a weak looking stone could hold anything up. How they were wrong.

What looked like a weak stone was able to topple a government much greater and more evil than Rome. Jesus toppled Satan’s reign and sin itself. Jesus wasn’t just trying to build a human country but a heavenly one. In truth, there is nothing weak about Jesus.

43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. 44 And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”

Matthew 21:43-44

We must fall on this stone or in other words we must submit out wills and persons to Jesus. We must let him be our foundation and strength. We must not try and be our own strength. Falling on his breaks us but only so that God can rebuild us anew. This is a scary proposition but a necessary one to truly receive the salvation he offers.

In the same way Jesus sacrificed himself for us, we must sacrifice our own wills to him.

 

God bless,

Pr. Steven Couto

The Landowner

/in

The Landowner

33 “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 34 Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit.

Matthew 21:33-34

The parable of the landowner is probably one of the most violent and least masked parables of Jesus. It is a shocking truth of God’s people throughout history and how they violently mistreated God’s workers and his institution. In contrast, the landowner is seem as loving, meticulous and pure. The way he prepared the vineyard with everything it would need to prosper shows us how much God wants to improve and grow his church. His only apparent mistake is hiring others to take care. Those unfortunately represent us. He put the importance of his church in human hands and what was the result?

35 And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.

Matthew 21:35-36

The servants represent the prophets who went to God’s people to try and steer them to God, only to have them be killed and beaten. Prophets rarely are accepted even to this day. But the story gets worse when the landlord comes up with a new idea.

37 Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.

Matthew 21:37-39

Here we have Jesus talking about himself. He knew what was in store for himself. He knew the evil that rested in men’s hearts, even those claiming to be sons of God. The son is killed outside of the vineyard just as Jesus is killed just outside of the city of Jerusalem. How painful must it have been for Jesus to tell this parable?

40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?” 41 They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”

Matthew 21:40-41

And the story ends with the Jews condemning themselves. May we be different in our days…

 

God bless,

Pr. Steven Couto

The Two Sons

/in

The Two Sons

28 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’

Matthew 21:28

Jesus could take a mundane aspect of life and create a huge lesson from it. Here’s a simple story about a father and his two sons. The father asks his sons to work in his vineyard. This is something that in one way or another happens every day. The response from the two sons is also very common.

29 He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go.

Matthew 21:29-30

One son speaks in the moment and says no but later regrets his decision and attitude and does it. The second, trying to be nice says yes, but his true nature comes out and he ends up doing nothing. How many people have changed their minds in this world? So far there’s nothing to be amazed about but then Jesus asks a simple question.

31 Which of the two did the will of his father?”

Matthew 21:31

It is with this question that the story opens wide open. Because we often make these decisions, like the two sons, we take for granted the lesson that can be learned. Who did the father’s will? What a powerful question. Simply saying yes is meaningless. Words without action are meaningless. Yet, how often do we do just that? How many times do we speak nice words, pretend to be nice people, but our true character is shown in our actions?

They said to Him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.

Matthew 21:31

Jesus really drives it home by bringing up the most hated people to the Jews and saying that they have a better chance at heaven than the smooth talking religious leaders.

Let us all look at our lives and see if our nice words match our actions. Do we really want to be behind harlots and tax collectors too?

 

God bless,

Pr. Steven Couto

The Fig Tree

/in

The Fig Tree

18 Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.

Matthew 21:18-19

I love figs. It looks like Jesus liked them too. On one of his travels between towns he saw a fig tree in the distance and, being hungry, you can imagine a smile on his face as he walked towards it to eat. That smile quickly disappeared when he realized that while it had big beautiful leaves, it was void of any fruit.

Out of nowhere, that stricture angrier face of Jesus was shown. Not seeing any fruit, Jesus cursed the tree to never bear fruit again and it instantly withered away.

Jesus often used plants and farming in his parables. Often we are the plants in the story and the fruit is the fruit of the Spirit. In another parable, the farmer gave the fruit tree one more season to bear fruit. If it didn’t, he would cut it down. In this event however, Jesus makes the tree wither right away.

In this event, Jesus makes a different illustration however, possibly because of the questioning disciples.

20 And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?” 21 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. 22 And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

Matthew 21:20

Instead of putting humanity as the plant, Jesus puts us in his shoes. If you have what I have, you will be able to do the same and even more than this. What an amazing promise from Jesus! And what is it that Jesus had that we too can have? Faith!

Whatever we ask in prayer with the condition of faith and believing can be a life changing part of your life. Throughout our lives we try and develop who we are, growing in knowledge, strength and character. Don’t forget faith. With faith in our God, all things are possible.

God bless,

Pr. Steven Couto