Thoughts from my journey with Jesus.
From Matthew’s gospel
This chapter is all Bible readings, with just one or two suggestions for the application of every passage from me.
Enjoy, and be challenged, as I was compiling it.
1. Matthew 4:4, 7, 10, “Jesus answered, ‘It is written …’”. Lord Jesus has shown you how to beat temptation in your walk with Him.
2. Matthew 4:17, “Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near’”. Lord Jesus wants you to turn right around and learn to live kingdom-centrically.
3. Matthew 4:19, “‘Come follow Me’, Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people’”.
Lord Jesus is your Master and is your Commissioner.
4. Matthew 5:6, “Jesus said, ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled’”. Lord Jesus will partner you in your appetite for Him and His ways in your life.
5. Matthew 5:10-12, “‘Jesus said, Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven …’”. Lord Jesus is your heavenly rewarder.
6. Matthew 5:16, “Jesus said, ‘In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven’”. Lord Jesus will be your radiance, influencing others for Him through you, as you live as He wants you to.
7. Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28, 31-32, 33-34, 38-39, 43-44, “Jesus taught them, ‘You have heard that it was said … but I tell you’”. Lord Jesus wants to lift you to a very high spiritual
understanding, and today’s real life application, of Old Testament laws. They have achieved their purpose in pointing towards Him. Galatians 3:23-25.
8. Matthew 5: 44, “Jesus told them, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you …’”. Lord Jesus will gradually yet completely, revolutionise your thinking. Eternal salvation is more important than this life.
9. Matthew 6:1, Jesus said, “Be careful not to practise your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven”.
Lord Jesus wants you to know that your secret walk with Him is what really matters to Him in your life.
10. Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, … but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, … For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”. Lord Jesus is the best heart-doctor you can ever have. Make an appointment with Him regularly to give you a ‘spiritual ECG checking up on potentially fatal weaknesses.
11. Matthew 6:24, Jesus said, “You cannot serve both God and money”. Lord Jesus warns you that what He says is impossible for you here, really is impossible. Don’t even think about it.
12. Matthew 6:26, Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air …” Lord Jesus brings hundreds of His birds across your path daily. Watch them and be reminded of how He cares for them
… and He cares also for you.
13. Matthew 6:33, Jesus said, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”. Lord Jesus wants your priorities to be His. He wholeheartedly loves you. Do you wholeheartedly love Him back?
14. Matthew 7:7-8, Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks
finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened”. Lord Jesus wants you to desire Him above all. That is why He gives you these promises. Talk to Him about anything. If you cannot talk to Him about something, you probably should not be involved in it.
15. Matthew 7:12, Jesus summarised, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets”. Lord Jesus wants you to live like Him, please. You can read all you need to know in your Bible.
16. Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus used an illustration from daily life, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many
enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it”. Lord Jesus, created an access. He opened the only Way to God. Yes, it is limited, some say confined. But He guarantees that when anyone arrives by crossing the threshold, their life instantly receives a rewarding everlasting dimension with Him in heaven’s glory.
17. Matthew 7:21, Jesus warned, “Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven”.
Lord Jesus regrets to say that “many” or ‘countless’ people who believe they are His people, Christians using His Name, will be shown to be wrong on Judgement Day. Beware and be sure. See Matthew 7:22-23. ‘Many’ means ‘a large number’, ‘numerous’, or even ‘countless’.
18. Matthew 7:24, Jesus concluded, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock”. Lord Jesus has given you His authoritative foundation for living Christianly. Develop and construct your life firmly on it.
19. Matthew 8:26, Jesus replied, “ ‘You of little faith, why are you so afraid?’ Then He got up and rebuked the wind and the waves, and it was completely calm”. Lord Jesus can always create calm out of life’s chaos. Trust Him.
20. Matthew 9:6, “But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins …”. Lord Jesus always gets to the root of the problem, even while you only look at the outward results. Learn to look with Him.
21. Matthew 9:12, “On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but those who are ill’”. Lord Jesus wants you to look for those He is convicting of their sin. They are the people He wants to draw to Himself for salvation.
22. Matthew 9:37-38, “Then (Jesus) said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few’”. Lord Jesus wants you to live and die for every last one of the lost people. He did when He was physically on the earth. ‘Follow Him’, He said. Remember?
23. Matthew 10:28, Jesus said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill
the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both body and soul in hell”. Lord Jesus wants you to live fearing the One and Only True God,
Lord of earth and heaven. In this context ‘to fear’ means to reverence, to respect, to submit to, to live in awe of, God. To be a devoted and deeply religious person, following God above everyone else.
24. Matthew 10:38-39, Jesus continued, “Whoever does not take up their cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for My sake will find it”. Lord Jesus urges you to grasp an understanding of cross-centred
living. This principle is the only way to be His true disciple.
25. Matthew 10:42, Jesus concluded, “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is My disciple, truly I tell you, that person will not lose their reward”. Lord Jesus wants you to serve Him in everything you do, even the so-called ‘little things’. They are all ‘big’ in His view!
26. Matthew 11:6, Jesus replied, “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of Me”.Lord Jesus wants you (and others around you) to recognise Who He is in everything that He does. Seeing Who He is and what He is doing is your key to living Christianly.
Consider Matthew 11:18-19 along with this. Our Lord Jesus said, “For John came neither
eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’. The Son of Man came eating and
drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and
sinners’. But wisdom is proved right by her deeds”.
27. Matthew 11:25-26, “At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what You were pleased to do’”. Lord Jesus shows you God the Father. He opens Him up to you. He makes you aware of Who He is. He and the Father are One.
28. Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus gave this invitation, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light”. Lord Jesus says to you, ‘Partner, We are in this together’.
29. Matthew 12:11-12, Jesus said in an answer, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable
is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath”. Lord Jesus reminds you to walk by the Holy Spirit’s promptings. The Two will always agree with Their Word, our Scriptures. You must take it all into account, not just a few extracted verses.
30. Matthew 12:28, Jesus explained, “But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you”. Lord Jesus wants you to serve His kingdom and show His power in the lives of people He ministers to with you.
31. Matthew 12:31, Jesus warned, “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in
this age or in the age to come”. Lord Jesus will lead you and help you to discern what is of
God and what is not. Always be led by the peace of His presence in your heart and mind.
32. Matthew 12:36, Jesus emphatically warned, “But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgement for every empty word they have spoken”. Lord Jesus remembers everything He chooses not to forget. Be very careful and listen thoughtfully to everything you are about to say.
33. Matthew 12:50, Jesus said, “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother”. Lord Jesus reminds you that He is your closest family now,
since you have been born again. See John 3:1-21.
34. Matthew 13:23, Jesus told His disciples, “But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop,
yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown”. Our Lord Jesus explained that the seed is the ‘message about the kingdom’, Matthew 13:18-19.Lord Jesus has given you the most fruitful ground for making a successful harvest of your Christian discipleship.
35. Matthew 13:30, Jesus also told His close followers, “Let both (weeds and wheat, vs24-26) grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: first collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into My barn”. Lord Jesus wants you to remember the final judgement is His. And it is never wrong.
36. Matthew 14:16, Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat”. Lord Jesus can always overcome the expected outcome. You just need to do what He says.
37. Matthew 14:27, Jesus called through the commotion, “Take courage! It is I (ego eimi ‘I am’). Don’t be afraid”. Lord Jesus knows your circumstances. He wants you to keep your faith in Him, and Who He is, whatever is going on.
38. Matthew 15:13-14, Jesus replied, “Every plant that My Heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the
blind, both will fall into a pit”. Lord Jesus knows precisely who is true and who is false.
Learn to leave the diagnosis of everyone’s heart to Him. Go away from people if it appears needful.
39. Matthew 16:6, Jesus said, “Be careful. Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees”. Lord Jesus says this twice because of its importance, vs11.
Legalistic tradition in Christian things may grow even among people supposedly ‘free in Christ’.
40. Matthew 16:13 and 15, Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is? … Who do you say I am?” Lord Jesus knows this is the key question you can ever ask
anyone, yourself included of course. The right answer changes everything.
41. Matthew 16:21, “From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and
the teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life”.
Lord Jesus knew why He came to our world. Knowing He would be grievously hurt did not stop Him. He warned His followers of the implications for them. They did not
understand. Do you?
42. Matthew 16:23, Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns”. Lord Jesus discerns when even His close followers fall away to worldly perceptions. Be sensitive and wary. Keep a constant check on yourself.
43. Matthew 16:26, Jesus said, “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”
Lord Jesus underlines the value and eternal importance of being concerned with personal spiritual matters.
44. Matthew 18:3, Jesus, using a living visual aid, taught, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”. Lord Jesus warned of the dangers of adult human pride. His word, ‘never’ means ‘at no time in the past, present or future’,
‘in no circumstances at all’.12 Sobering thought.
45. Matthew 18:14, Jesus concluded, “Your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish”. Lord Jesus loves each individual deeply. His compassion for lost sinners compels Him into action. Does it you?
46. Matthew 18:20, Jesus promised, “For where two or three gather in My Name, there am I with them”. Lord Jesus enjoys meeting with His people. He never misses.
47. Matthew 18:35, Jesus answered, “This is how My Heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart”. Lord Jesus wants you to always keep on sincerely forgiving any people who fall out with you.
48. Matthew 19:4-5, Jesus replied, “Haven’t you read that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female and said ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and his
mother and be united to his wife’?” Lord Jesus made the forever pattern for human marriage the true story of Adam and Eve. Lord Jesus quoted from Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:24.
49. Matthew 19:14, Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these”. Lord Jesus loves every child and wishes to lead all children to follow Him. Make it attractive to them. Be a living example.
50. Matthew 19:26, “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible’.” Lord Jesus wants you to trust God, God Who is over all. No-one can be trusted more.
51. Matthew 20:27-28, In their dispute Jesus called them together and said, "Whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”. Lord Jesus teaches that true Christianity is a race to the lowest place, not to the top.
52. Matthew 21:32, Jesus said to the chief priests and elders, “For John came to show to you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the
prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him”. Lord Jesus warns that pride in our own achievements can keep ‘religious people’ from knowing true faith and salvation.
53. Matthew 21:43-44, Jesus said, “Therefore the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this Stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom It falls will be crushed”. Lord Jesus is the Cornerstone of Christianity, vs42. God planned the rejection of His Son both for salvation and for judgement.
54. Matthew 22:14, Jesus finished by saying, “For many are invited, but few are chosen”.
Lord Jesus decides who is welcome in heaven, and who is not.
55. Matthew 22:21, Jesus answered, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”. Lord Jesus is wise in discerning insincerity. He also knows, and shares with His people, how to live in the most God-honouring way.
56. Matthew 22:30, Jesus replied, “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven”. Lord Jesus lifts our eyes, our hearts and minds infinitely higher. Super mysteries await us.
57. Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the
second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments”. See Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. Lord Jesus requires you to live like He has told you in the Bible, please.
58. Matthew 23:12, Jesus said, “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted”. Lord Jesus reminds you that the best way up is always down.
59. Matthew 24:27 and 42, Jesus answered, “For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man”… “Therefore keep watch,
because you do not know on what day your Lord will come”. Lord Jesus is returning in power and glory. God knows all the details. Let that inspire your confidence in Him.
60. Matthew 25:31-32, Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered
before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats”. Lord Jesus gives no ‘fake news’. All He says is true. What He
foretells will happen. Be sure to be on the right side.
61. Matthew 26:26-28, Jesus said, “Take and eat; this (bread) is My body” … “Drink
from it (the cup) all of you. This is My
blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins”.
Lord Jesus bequeathed a solemn reminder of the price He paid for sinners’ salvation.
62. Matthew 28::18-20, the risen Lord Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”. Lord Jesus rightly has the last word. It is up to us to do it. What are you waiting for?
Ideas for taking this further
If you have enjoyed this study, why don’t you do it yourself, on your own or with a small group of friends, using the other three gospels – Mark, Luke and John?
I looked for all of the sayings or teachings of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel. Do the same in one of the others.
It is a challenge to find a short one or two line application. Remember though, Christians grow through challenges! Express what you think Jesus means, using your own words.
If you have a larger group, divide it into three and take one gospel each. When all are ready, share your suggested life-applications with everybody else for constructive comment. Be aware this may take a long time!
Alternatively, you could study two text-sections from this chapter per day for almost any month, recording in a notebook what you (or your group) learn from it.
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