Danny Panter

The Truth Will Set You Free

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 6:19-24(day six)

We learned last week that what we believe about God shapes how we pray. This week, we learned that our beliefs about God also shape our desires. If God is not the supplier of our need, then we become enslaved to fear and greed, and setting our sights on the wrong thing, we desire money and possessions more than heavenly treasure (see the Beatitudes).

This MAY result in a false sense of financial security, but it never results in financial freedom. Your joy and contentment are tied to the dollar. Your self-worth rises and falls depending on your ability to keep up with the Jones. That’s not freedom; that’s slavery to fear.

Jesus says, “The truth will set you free.” So, fully trust in God’s provision, whether a lot or a little, and when that happens, fear will be replaced with thanksgiving, and greed will be replaced with generosity. Now, that’s financial freedom.

Praying the Psalms

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 6:9-15 (day six)

But may all who search for you
    be filled with joy and gladness in you.
May those who love your salvation
    repeatedly shout, “The Lord is great!”
¹⁷As for me, since I am poor and needy,
    let the Lord keep me in his thoughts.
You are my helper and my savior.
    O my God, do not delay. Psalm 40:16-17

I love reading the Psalms for precisely the point Jesus makes in Matthew 6:1-15: spiritual authenticity. “Don’t pray like the hypocrites” who pursue personal glory and power, and “don’t pray like the Gentiles” who attempt to conjure their impersonal precocious gods with mantras and incantations, Jesus warns.

I am fairly certain that Jesus would say, “Pray like King David.” Cry out to him like a son for his father. Seek him with all your heart. And long for his Kingdom to come.

If you want a daily guide into prayer, read a Psalm; you can’t get more authentic than that.

Doctor’s Orders

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 6:1–8, 16–18 (day six)

Notice what Jesus doesn’t say in his prescription for overcoming spiritual fraud. He doesn’t prescribe waiting until your heart is in the right place or ensuring the right feelings precede the right behaviors.

Can you imagine if we only did the right thing when we felt like it?

Jesus’ prescription for overcoming spiritual fraud is to go home, embrace spiritual integrity, be honest with God, and practice your spiritual disciplines in private whether you feel like it or not. It is there, in your private spiritual pursuits, that you may discover God reshaping a heart into one that is wholly his.

Pure in Heart

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 5:33-48 (day six)

May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14

God cares about your inner life; your thought life and love life are of grave concern to him. He cares about your business dealings, how your heart handles your enemies, and your thought life when bad things happen. He cares about the integrity of your inner life.

That’s why the whole law can be reduced to one command: love. That’s what Jesus is getting after in his greatest sermon.

Jesus is the Way

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 5:17-32(day six)

“I am the way…” -Jesus, John 14:6

The Pharisees were the gold standard of righteousness. At the time, most probably thought that if anyone was righteous, they were. Truth is, they had managed to become more like Pharoah than Moses by heaping burdens on the people rather than leading them to freedom.

When Jesus declares, “I came to fulfill the law.” Part of what he means is that he is the new gold standard (and the new Moses). Essentially saying, “If you want to know how to live according to the law, if you seek righteousness, then all eyes on me.”

This is Jesus’ way of saying, “I am the way.”

Greater Things

¹²“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.” John 14:12

If we are not careful, we run the risk of over-spiritualizing Jesus’ description of Kingdom people being salt and light, when in fact he was describing real impact in the real world. Jesus modeled for us what he meant; everywhere he went he restored the lives of the sick and broken, he rescued others from demonic possession, and he spoke words that changed everyone who received them.

Jesus said, “You will do what I have done. You will do even greater things.”

Do you believe that?

Blessed are Those Who Mourn

God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4

The Beatitudes (which is just a fancy word meaning blessed) are descriptions of the attitudes and values of the children of God. Those who mourn recognize that all is not right in the world; that humanity willfully embraces sin and corruption. Those who mourn recognize all too well that they are not only onlookers but participants in this corruption.

The good news is that they are not left in their mourning but are blessed by God’s comfort. What a promise! In this blessing, we discover that God knows our sorrow and cares about our grief. Not only, but he does something about it:

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” -Jesus, Matthew 11:28

A Voice From the Ancient Church

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 6:11-18(day six)

But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galatians 6:14

“When Paul writes that the cross is glory, he means obviously “the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” When in that mystery his body hung from the cross and in it crushed the power of the world, the whole world was crucified through him. In the cross he identified with every person in the world. In doing so he made everything that he suffered universal, that is, he caused all flesh to be crucified in his death. Therefore, I too am fixed to the cross and to the world. I means the one who was living carnally, whose thoughts were of the flesh. Such a one is now “nailed to the world,” that is, the worldly things in him are subjected to death.”

-Marius Victorinus, 4th-century grammarian, rhetorician, philosopher, and theologian. Born in Tunisia (North Africa), died in Rome.

Salvation is Serious Business

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 6:1-10 (day six)

“…you who are godly…” Galatians 6:1

By “godly,” Paul means walking by the Spirit (Galatians 5:25).

Beginning in 5:16, Paul provides the Galatians with a field guide on “walking by the Spirit.” He concludes his guide with some very practical advice in Galatians 6:1-10, covering two connected Spirit-led efforts. The first effort is internal (managing our own temptations and reorganizing our life around Jesus), and the second is external (restoring and sharing each other’s burdens); neither is mutually exclusive.

Perhaps these verses have two overarching declarations: You must take responsibility for your own spiritual growth (6:1b, 4), and you can’t fake it (6:7-8).

Paul never does “salvation” light; he expects us to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” (Phil. 2:12)

Inside Out

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 5:16-26 (day six)

²²But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Galatians 5:22-23

The evidence of the Spirit is not the clothes you wear, the food you eat, or the places you go. Nor is it your family lineage, how early in life you attended church, your Sunday school attendance, or your well-versed prayers. The Spirit of God will always lead the children of God to love God and others.

A child of God is not determined by how they look on the outside but by how they love on the outside. Say “yes” to God’s Spirit and love well today!