one step: Matthew 24.1

Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

The disciples stood in awe of the temple. It’s size and craftsmanship coupled with it’s divine purpose was something to behold! Expecting to hear such awe mirrored from Jesus, they must have been shocked to hear the judgement that Jesus predicted.* To undo the artistry and massive strength of the temple of that time would have seemed impossible.*

Jesus made it clear in His “woes” against the scribes and Pharisees that He did not favor the religious establishment of His day. Here, standing outside of the temple, He speaks against the ultimate symbol of that religious establishment.* It’s enough to pause and think about what Jesus must think of our religious establishments of today.

The scribes and Pharisees put their entire lives into doing what they thought was right. They put their entire beings into doing things the way that they thought must be done to honor God…. and they missed it. They were blind. They were fools. They thought that they were wise.

In our efforts to create spaces for people to connect to God, how often do we miss it? How blind are we? How foolish have we become? The reality is that we need Jesus to answer these questions.

We must walk as followers of Jesus in a humility that understands that our perspective is not always His. We must live our lives according to His example, understanding that what we think works isn’t always God’s way. We must return to Him and His voice often to see if we are aligning to His ways.

As my family and I prepared to move across country in obedience to God to start a church, there were many ideas of what “planting a church” could look like. Ideas of buildings, people, and organizational structures intertwined and fought for attention. Strategy and good ideas came from every direction. Marketing, advertising, and social media posts made promises of success. None of these things are bad. Strategy isn’t bad. Marketing isn’t bad. These things are very good… when done in obedience. God spoke something else to us. Our part is to hear Jesus say, “I will build my church,” and allow Him to do that how He wants to.

There are things that Jesus wants to do in your life. The way you have always done things may be good, but are they God? The religious practices of our life that we call church might be exactly what God is calling us to do in this season, but what if He’s not? What if there is something else that He wants to do, so He’s asking us to do something else?

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to pause and ask Him if there is something new He wants to do in your life. Perhaps today God wants you to let go of how things have always been done and take hold of the new thing that He wants to do. Maybe He wants you to hear Him speak today.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 593–595, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 24:1–2).) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).

one step: Matthew 23.5

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

O how we miss the heart of God. Here, Christ, the Son of the living God, sent to take away the sins of the world, stood face to face with the beloved city of God. Keep in mind that this passage comes right after several “woes” to the scribes and Pharisees. These “woes” were the sound of grief.* This city had a tragic and harsh history of destroying those that God sent to them to bring truth.* Christ points out this truth, but not with the anger that we might expect.

The heart of Jesus breaks. He cries out to the people of Israel, almost pleading with what cannot be undone. He grieves with the words, “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings…” I imagine tears in His eyes as He says, “and you were not willing.”

I cannot imagine how it must break the heart of God that people do not run to Him. I cannot imagine how hard it must be to watch those you love suffer the consequences of their own decisions. Maybe you have seen this in your life. Maybe you have encouraged, pointed, or pleaded with someone you love to change or to choose the path of truth. Jesus has too.

The people that day stood face to face with Immanuel, God with us, and they rejected Him. Jesus’s lament continues as He tells them that they will not see Him again until the end of all things.* How horribly tragic. They missed it. They could have worshiped. They could have praised. They could have hugged, and laughed, and walked with Jesus Christ, and they missed it.

Where is Jesus in your life right now? What is He saying to you? Don’t miss it. Please. Please don’t miss it.

Who might need to see Jesus in you today? Who might need to hear His words through your lips?

The heart of God breaks for you; the heart of God breaks for the people around you.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to feel His heart of compassion for you. Perhaps you need to let go of your perception that He is cold and uncaring. Maybe God wants you to share about Jesus to someone around you. Perhaps there is some part of who He is that He really does not want you to miss.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 590–592, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 23:37–39).) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).

one step: Matthew 23.4

You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

I am grateful that my right standing with God does not depend upon me. There was a season of my life where I believed that I needed to earn God’s love. The problem was that because I thought I was pretty good at it, I began requiring others to earn my love. Even worse, I looked at the lives of others through a lens that positioned me to decide if they were pleasing to God or not.

Hear me out: we can look at fellow believers and weigh their lives against the commands of God’s Word. In fact, it’s our responsibility as a people of God who care about each other to help each other see what we are missing in our own lives (Matthew 18:15-17). This is not what I was doing.

I was judging from afar for the purpose of feeling better about myself.

In the end, I was a blind fool. I had a short list of things that I thought I was good at, and I used this list of self-righteousness to judge others. In the process, I conveniently ignored those issues that I was not good at so that I could maintain my false sense of right standing.

The Pharisees were known for being very diligent about certain things (like tithing just about everything).* In this focus, they were missing very important things like justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

I missed some very important things myself, and it grieves me to look back and see the lost opportunities I had to show love to others. I was too busy trying to be good at my short list of things to see what God wanted to do in and through me.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to allow Him to show you the very important things that you have been missing. Perhaps God wants you to do the good things that come naturally to you, but He wants to challenge you to allow Him to give you the strength for everything else. Maybe today God wants you to allow Him to make you righteous.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 582–583, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 23:23–28).) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).

one step: Matthew 23.3

Woe to you, blind guides… you blind fools!

There are several things that I would like to hear Jesus say to me. One is “well done, good and faithful servant.” Another thing that I would like to hear Jesus say is “you are my friend.” No where on my list of things I want to hear will you find, “woe to you blind guide… you blind fool!”

We can understand the frustration of Jesus with the Pharisees when we look at the context. At the time of Jesus, the swearing of oaths amongst the Jews was common. Jesus clearly instructed the disciples in Matthew 5:33-37 not to swear by anything, but to be truthful always so as not to need to swear.*

Knowing this, we see the Pharisees not only supporting the cultural norm of swearing, but teaching God’s people how to swear so as to avoid swearing on God yet maintain a binding, legitimate oath that could stand. They taught the people which things to swear on to “make it count.”* This was extremely foolish as an oath by nature involves evoking a deity as a witness.* Jesus makes the point that to really make an oath on anything was to implicate God.*

The Pharisees were fools and could not see it.

How often have you been guilty of attempting to find ways to work around what God has said in order to get something accomplished or to fit in? How many times have you taught others to do the same? I know that I have tried to explain away God’s Words to me both in Scripture and those words that He spoke to my heart. Sadly, I couldn’t see it and it was foolish.

Christ would like our yes to mean yes and our no to mean no. More than that, He wants us to realize that He is what makes life sacred and good. Anything worth it’s weight in this life is connected to Him as every good and perfect gift comes from the Father (James 1:17). Living with this perspective separates us from cultural norms in a way that inspires others toward Christ.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to stop swearing and start using yes and no with conviction and meaning. Perhaps God wants you to stop working around His Words. Maybe there is someone in your life that you could have been a better example to and God wants you to reach out to them with your new perspective. Maybe today God wants you to hear Him tell you that He loves you.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 580-582, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 23:16–22).) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).

one step: Matthew 23.2

But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

It’s easy to detach ourselves from these warnings as over time the Pharisees have become synonymous with hypocrites.* We do not place ourselves in their shoes easily. In the time of Jesus, this was not the case. The Pharisees were well-known, seen as in right standing with God, and respected. People desired to rank somewhere close to these famous holy people of their day.; to some degree, they wanted to be in their shoes* Jesus, in labeling them as hypocrites, went against a very unlikely target; no one would dare question them. Jesus did.

In observing the religious people of our day, Jesus does not have a problem with religious efforts; He has a problem with disconnected hearts.* Because the hearts of the Pharisees were far from God in their religious practices, hoping to impress people, they led others astray.* They were pretending holiness.

Jesus came on the scene to bring people into the Kingdom of Heaven. The Pharisees, as respectable leaders, pulled people from the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven by denouncing Jesus, thus leading people from Him.*

Where do our religious acts point people? Where are our hearts in doing them? Are our leaders leading us closer to Christ, or further away.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to ask Him if there is a place where you have been pretending holiness. Perhaps God wants you to think about if those religious leaders you have been following are bringing you closer to the things of God, or further from them. Maybe God wants you to allow Him to speak into the motivations of your heart to see if what you do is for Him or for someone else.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 578–579, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 23:13–32).) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).