Come Follow Me LDS- Matthew 10-12, Mark 2, Luke 7,11 Part 2
Mar 07, 2019
'Corn, Dry Places & An Eye'
- How the church exists for individuals & families, not the other way around.
- How going back to our 'comfortable' sins creates a more difficult path to progression.
- How 'an eye single' teaches us to put Christ as our focus.
Raw Transcript
in this episode we're going to talk
about how the church is for us and our
families and not the other way around
we're going to talk about some familiar
dry places and we'll talk about an I
here we go alright in Matthew 12 we
start off with a very good lesson here
Jesus tells us about the Sabbath and
what its purpose is he says in verse 1
at that time Jesus went on the Sabbath
day through the corn and his disciples
were and hungered and began to pluck the
ears of corn and to eat but when the
Pharisees saw it they said unto Him
behold thy disciples do that which is
not lawful again we're talking about
force here which is not lawful to do
upon the Sabbath day so they're breaking
the law but he said unto them have you
not read what David did and he basically
is talking about when David was in exile
King David a long long time before this
and he was a hungered he was a hungry
and he ended up going to the temple and
the priests gave him the shewbread or
the bread of the presence that is found
inside of the temple so that he would
have some food and have something to eat
and a lot of people had said why why
what do you take something so sacred and
yet here David is the king and a
representation of the Melchizedek
Priesthood the higher law and not a
physical item like the shewbread and
you're some people might have said why
would you take something so sacred and
give it to the king and give it or give
it to David to eat but the lesson there
is that David represents the McKissack
priesthood and the higher law is being
served here over the lower law when the
shewbread
is given to him and so he's using that
as an example in that principle as an
example here with the Sabbath and he
then says in verse 7 but if he had known
what
meaneth being I will have mercy and not
sacrifice you would not have been
condemned the guiltless talking about
his disciples taking the corn so here's
this phrase again that we had in the
last episode I will have mercy and not
sacrifice again think about the two laws
in other words hey Pharisees if you
understood what the higher law was what
the fullness of the gospel is and at the
center of that is the atonement that's
what mercy is it's payment its payment
for others the spirit of the law then
you wouldn't blame them for what they
are doing right because the corn is
there as a lower issue the Sabbath is
there as a lower law to provide for the
higher law which would be for them to go
out and preach and to go out and do good
works on the Sabbath and then right
after this matthew has him healing a man
on the sabbath that has a withered hand
right so now this is like the worst
thing possible that he could do and
they're going to now conspire to really
get rid of Jesus because he is
disrupting everything this higher law is
just too much for them to take right but
here's the principle that we find in
this think about the church think about
the church as a whole the church
sometimes gets held up as the
representation of the law the lower law
and it becomes actually held up as the
most important thing obviously the
church is important I'm I'm not saying
at all that it's not but we kind of
sometimes can can invert the importance
of the church and of the individual and
of the families and the way that we do
that is we say that the church is the
ideal and the center of everything and
not the individuals and that comes from
two different areas right first would be
from us or ourselves if we are putting
the church above us and our family and
that can happen just like the Pharisees
are putting the Sabbath day something
very important
right something holy above the
individuals and above higher laws then
what we're doing is we are removing our
own dignity we're removing our own worth
as an individual and our own worth as a
family and by taking that away and
putting that over to the church and
saying the church is the highest of the
values in the hierarchy over families
and individuals and personal growth etc
then what we've done by shifting those
values is that we've removed
responsibility from ourselves right we
have now removed responsibility so this
is not an issue of saying hey I am
greater than the church or I am better
than the church or anything of that
sense but what it does mean is that you
are more important than church meetings
you are more important than the church
itself and in fact the church is what
supports you and the church is what
supports your family and just as Jesus
says man was not made for the Sabbath
man is not made for the church that is
not how it is the church is made and is
here for us to help strengthen us to
help support us to help our families
thrive in a spiritual manner and we can
invert that sometimes right we can
invert the importance of the church and
the family and I think that this example
of the Sabbath kind of sheds a light on
that a little bit I think it's a very
good principle and then again going back
to showing Jesus as the Messiah as the
prophesied Messiah from the ancient
prophets goes on in verse 17 says that
it might be fulfilled which was spoken
by esaias that is Isaiah the prophet
saying behold my servant whom I have
chosen my beloved in whom my soul is
well pleased we've heard that phrase or
something close to it often I will put
my spirit upon him and he shall shew
judgment to the Gentiles yeah why why
bring up the Gentiles here
Isaiah brings up the Gentiles all the
time because that is part of the higher
law that is part of the Moluccas
etiquette priesthood right we've gone
over that before wherever we see
Gentiles and the writing of Gentiles you
have an author that is focusing in on
the fullness of the gospel and the
Melchizedek Priesthood but he brings up
a couple points where he says behold my
servant in the Book of Isaiah we have
what is called the servant song and
there we see a we'll call it a parable
but more like a metaphor of a servant
who is the king essentially this is
probably in my estimation a drama that
is being played out in the time of
Isaiah and we have the servant king who
is called the servant well here matthew
is calling christ the servant so he's
saying isaiah who prophesied of the
messiah and talked about the servant
king this is him he is the servant that
Isaiah was talking about in this parable
and it's a messianic servant it is a
messianic parable or drama that is being
played out here so he's identifying him
as the servant interestingly enough in
Aramaic the word servant is the same as
the word lamb so when we hear the Lamb
of God we can think of the lamb being
slaughtered at Passover of course which
is very true but it's also the servant
you can look at it in that way as well
the servant that Isaiah prophesied of
being the servant king that would suffer
so this is a Messianic fulfillment that
Matthew is giving us here from Isaiah
and then moving down to verse 38 we have
an example of something that we see over
and over again and this is a corruption
of a gospel principle and it seems to
happen all the time what are the
Pharisees say in verse 38 they say then
certain of the scribes into the
Pharisees
answered saying master we would see a
sign from me never mind that
Jesus has already gone around healing
what seems to be the entire world or the
entire province of Galilee never mind
that he has taught with incredible truth
and brought to light many many things in
the in the very recent past here
throughout all of Galilee these people
again want a sign they want to invert
the process they want to sign first so
that they can believe instead of
believing and then exerting faith and
changing ourselves internally and
converting and growing through that
trust and then receiving the sign right
Jesus says but he answered and said unto
them and evil and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign so what would be an
adulterous generation I think that what
he's really saying here would be someone
who's not faithful to a covenant right
so it's it's if you can't hang on to the
Covenant and trust in that covenant
right to lean on that then what do you
have to lean on well you want you want a
sign instead because you are you are
breaking the Covenant you can't lean on
the covenant you want to sign first in
order to believe and of course we know
in several examples where a sign is
given belief often times in fact in most
cases never follows anyway so the idea
of belief and faith and Trust always
precede the sign they're not after the
sign and that's a very important part of
our personal progress is to gain the
faith and exercise in the faith in order
for us to grow and he says and there
will no sign be given to it but the sign
of the Prophet Jonas so what is the sign
of the Prophet Jonas well in verse 44 as
Jonas
was three days and three nights in the
whales belly and I'm not going to go
over specifics about the three days and
three nights which is not what we have
traditionally written down for the time
of Jesus's well separation from his body
but he said it's it's the sign of three
nights three days and three nights in
the whales belly so shall the Son of Man
be three days and three nights in the
heart of the earth so he gives them
saying look there will be a sign and
that sign is is that I'm going to
resurrect I'm not giving that to you now
but there is going to be a sign and
that's the only one that you will really
know about that is the sign of Joyce
interesting to know also that Jonas
means the Dove is what that means so the
sign of the Dove is also literally the
sign of Jonas and then we're going to
move over to Luke and just cover one
point in Chapter seven here and that is
with the the the woman's sinner and this
is another great example of Jesus being
the physician to those that really need
it Jesus goes to the Pharisee of
Pharisees home and he's sitting there
eating and a woman comes who is a sinner
and the locals all know this and she
comes with an alabaster box of ointment
and she anoints Jesus with it and she
cries and her tears fall on his feet and
she takes her hair as would be often a
custom and she wipes his feet right
probably oils them so that they're not
cracking and dry and dusty and etc and
she kisses his feet and of course what
is it that the Pharisees want while they
want to look at this in a pharisaical
manner of course and that is if Jesus
was really a prophet you would know that
she was a sinner and he would never let
her around him and of course he does and
he tells her you
our sins are forgiven you because of
your faith and so Jesus gives them a an
example of why he did this of why he
forgave the woman he says and Jesus
answering said unto him Simon I have
some what to say unto thee and he said
master say on and he answers them by
giving them an example and he says I
have some what to say into thee there
was a certain creditor which had two
debtors the one owed five hundred Pence
and the other fifty and when they had
nothing to pay he frankly forgave them
both
tell me therefore which of them will
love him most so the lesson here is
obviously the one who owed fifty pence
and not five pence is the one that loves
the creditor the most right because
there was more forgiving them so if we
look at our sins in a way where that is
a debt that has to be paid through mercy
through grace and someone who has a lot
of sins and has a lot of debt therefore
in a spiritual economy is the one who is
going to be the most grateful and is the
one that's going to love the creditor
the most because they had that much more
that had been forgiven them now that's
not always the case on obviously
sometimes people take things for granted
but for the most part the one that's
going to be the most grateful and is
gonna love the creditor the most is the
one who who owed the most and had the
most forgiving them it's like the
parable of the prodigal son right here
you had the good son who stuck around
did what he was supposed to do but when
the prodigal son leaves and spends all
the money of his inheritance and comes
back ashamed
the father cuts or sacrifices the fatted
calf and they have a great feast for him
and the other brother is like what what
is going on here it's there really this
exact same principle and it's almost the
same parable really all right then
moving over to chapter 11 just a quick
little point here trivia go down to
verse 15 here what is happening is that
Jesus has cast out devils and the
Pharisees and locals are saying that
he's doing it by the power of Beelzebub
you probably heard that term before
especially in the Old Testament that is
a word speaking talking about really
bail and who which also means Lord they
would use that term as Lord and you
actually have a lot of Jewish names that
have bail with it or better come from
bail because of their region
it's like someone being named for here
and they say but some of them said he
casteth out Devils through Beelzebub the
chief of the Devils well bill Zebub
happens to mean Lord of the Flies which
is interesting so if you think about the
book that's probably where the author
I'm not sure who that is gets the gets
the term Lord of the Flies it's bill
Zebub but going down to the bottom of
the chapter Jesus gives us an example of
someone who is the opposite of the
person of the prodigal son so to speak
the opposite of the person that had a
big debt to pay and loves the creditor
the most this is someone who has a big
debt to pay has it paid off and then
goes back and borrows more and has more
to pay again and then again and again is
what they're the major principle here is
here's how he explains this but what he
says is when the unclean spirit is gone
out of a man okay so let's say that he's
repented that's that I think that's the
way you would look at that he walketh
through Dry places well any of us are
gonna do that we've gone through a
change
we've given something up that's not easy
and we may go through places that are
dry and difficult for a little while as
we have tried to change our habit or
change or repent of something that we've
done wrong right we walk through dry
places for a while he says he walks
through dry places and he's seeking
he's seeking that piece they might take
a little bit of time to do that and
finding none right he gives up pretty
quickly he sayeth I will return unto my
house whence I came out so he's using
this example he's saying whence I came
out in other words this is back to where
he was when he had sinned or when he was
possessed of the devil or however we
want what we want to term that he's
going back to where he had just left so
that he doesn't have to walk in the
around in the dry places and when he
cometh he find it that swept and
garnished oh this is great my home is
beautiful it's clean and it's
comfortable for me I can go back to the
way that I was instead of walking out in
the dry places for a while longer then
goeth he and taketh to him seven other
spirits let's call him seven sins
the seven deadly sins right seven other
sins more wicked than himself so he is
someone who's weak and has been weakened
and now he's gonna find seven other
people or seven other vices or seven
other sins that are worse than him and
that's what he's going to gravitate back
to again and they enter in into his home
and dwell there so he creates the
environment in this is his home this is
his being this is his life we can look
at his house as his life and so he's
back in his house where he's back to
being comfortable again to his old
habits and he invites in these other
spirits or people or friends or or vices
too that are even worse than what he is
and what he's been and they dwell there
with his lot in his life with him and
the last state of the man being with the
seven worst spirits is worse than the
first so in other words it was bad
before when he had sinned and then made
the change and repented but now that
he's gone back again to the same thing
or worse the state that he's in is even
worse
than before and why would that be
because he's creating a habit he is
damaging his spirit weakening his will
to do what is right he's really damaging
the ability to bring the spirit into his
life and then it becomes harder and
harder and harder to get out of that as
you continue to go back it's like the
story later in the New Testament where
we have the dog that vomits up something
that's making him sick he sponges that
and then licks that sorry for the visual
on that but licks it back up right back
up it's the same idea you've gone out
you've you've consumed something in your
life that has made you that has made put
you off of the right path
and made you weak and now you've gotten
rid of that you took the steps to get
rid of that whatever that might be and
then you turn around walking through
those dry places and decide wow this
home really is nice and comfortable or
in other words my previous life really
was nice and and attractive and and
comfortable for me I mean so this is a
principle that Jesus is giving us that
says look just so you know yes you can
be forgiven seven times seventy right so
many times as it takes but every time
you go back to your vomit excuse me on
that and lick it back up and and bring
that back into your life it's gonna be
worse for you you are in a worse state
and you have a farther way to go to
climb back out of it it's a great
principle and finally I want to go to
verse 34 in Luke 11 here and talk about
the eye as I have spoken of previously
this is a great example of the values
hierarchy that we need to have in place
and that the Lord continually tells us
about throughout the scriptures here's
what he says here in verse 34 the light
of the body is the eye
therefore when thine eye is single thy
whole body also is full of light
but when thine eye is evil thy body also
is full of darkness so what is the light
well the light is Christ the light is
having Christ as the very highest value
in your life and the focus being what
you see what you are looking at what
your attention is on what your priority
is is how the rest of that values
hierarchy is going to line up so if I
can have everything lined up between
career school attributes even I can try
and be honest I can I can do a lot of
really good things I can have
relationships in a place of importance
where they should be but if I do not
have ultimately Christ as the highest
value and that's what my eye is on
always then the rest of that values
hierarchy is not going to be sufficient
it's going to fall apart there is an
order of those values and if you don't
have the top value where it needs to be
then that's very very difficult to try
and keep everything going it's like
juggling all of these other values at
that point and that's I think the point
that is being made here in Luke 11:30
for whatever we are focusing on
primarily at the top the top value then
that is the way the rest of our body or
the rest of our values hierarchy our
body of values will line up so if our
eye is full of light if our eye is
focused on Christ then our entire body
or values structure will fall into line
and will also be full of Christ if it's
not even though we have a lot of other
good values in place but we don't have
that focus our eye is not on the light
on Christ it will be very difficult to
keep everything else lined up we can for
a while we can hold everything in place
for a while
but for eternal principles to work they
need to be in the top and then
everything else falls in place I'll talk
to you next
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