Daily Dose of Hope

July 9, 2025

 

Scripture – Matthew 23

 

Prayer:  Almighty God, Thank you for a new day and a new chance to give you glory and praise.  You are an amazing God.  How incredible it is that you, who created everything, know my name.  You know every hair on my head.  While I am so grateful for your love and care, it is sometimes difficult for me to adequately wrap my brain around your expansive love and mercy.  Help me be a better reflection of you, Lord.  Help me see others through your eyes.  Help me be merciful, kind, and good.  Lord, I know I fall short.  So often.  But I want to do better.  In these next few moments of silence, Jesus, hear my prayer...  In Your Name, Amen.

 

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope daily Bible reading plan.  We are working our way through a deep dive into the Gospels and Acts.  Today, we are deep diving into Matthew 23.

 

Throughout most of this chapter, we see Jesus strongly denounce the Pharisees. Their system of rules and regulations was originally designed to help people seek godliness but their extremism only harmed people. The rules had become an end in themselves and the teachers of the law were much more concerned with following the letter of the law than they were about the people themselves. This gives the appearance of godliness but it is all a facade. The heart is still far from God.

 

We begin the chapter with a warning about hypocrisy.  You may remember this from Mark, but hypocrisy involves a discrepancy between one's outward actions and one's inner character, essentially acting a part rather than being genuine. The Pharisees were all about looking holy.  Jesus mentions how they don’t practice what they preach.  He reminds his followers that the greatest among them will be a servant. 

 

Let’s think about this.  Think particularly about our faith community.  For most of us listening, that means New Hope Church.  Are the greatest among us serving?  Are we rolling up our sleeves and getting dirty?  My prayer is that no one thinks they are too good or too important to do the dirty work.  We are all equal at the foot of the cross and if we think otherwise, we have a big problem. 

 

Okay, it’s time to move on to the woes.  The word woe is an exclamation of grief, denunciation and means great sorrow or distress. The woes criticize the Pharisees for hypocrisy and illustrate the differences between inner and outer moral states.  The seven woes are addressed specifically to the teachers of the law and Pharisees; in one of the woes, He calls them “blind guides.” At the end of the woes, Jesus calls them “snakes” and “brood of vipers.”  He isn’t kidding about hypocrisy.  What’s interesting to me is that Jesus prefaced the seven woes by explaining to the disciples that they should obey the teachings of the Jewish leaders—as they taught the law of God—but not emulate their behavior because they were so far from God. 

 

Jesus’ final words in this chapter about Jerusalem are quite sad. Jesus loves Jerusalem and had longed for the people to love him back. He wanted to gather the people under his protective wings and offer them true solace and hope. Remember, this was the holy city where the temple of God resided. And yet, over and over again, the people of Jerusalem had rejected God’s efforts to care for them. It was no different with Jesus. Jesus’ words were also prophetic. When he says...”Look, your house is left to you desolate,” we understand from history that it isn’t long before the Romans totally destroyed the city in AD 70. But besides the physical desolation of the city, there is this tone in the text that suggests God had forsaken it as well. And, of course, when Jesus states that they will not see him again, we know that he is indeed heading to the cross. His earthly ministry has come to a close until God does a new thing.

 

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki

Daily Dose of Hope

July 8, 2025

 

Scripture - Matthew 22:23-46

 

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, We come before you this morning, thanking you for a new day.  Lord, you are good and we rejoice in your holy and powerful name.  As we begin our day, Lord, help us focus on you.  Help us set aside our scattered thoughts and focus on your Word and what you want us to learn today.  We get so distracted and self-consumed.  Forgive us for that, Lord.  In these next few moments of silence, help us have laser focus on your voice... In Your Powerful Name, Amen.

 

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, a deep dive into the Gospels and Acts.  Today, we finish up with Matthew 22. 

 

In this chapter, we see the Pharisees and Sadducees are trying to trick Jesus. They are desperately trying to trap him in his words so they can discredit him and/or arrest him. These teachers of the law feel like Jesus is destroying the very fabric of their religious faith. He certainly is turning everything upside down!

 

The first part of today’s passage is addressing Levirate marriage.  The Sadducees, the intellectual aristocracy of the day, did not believe in resurrection.  They were pressing Jesus on the topic, hoping to make him look foolish.  If you will recall from Mark, levirate law was intended to protect widows without a male heir.  When a brother died, leaving his wife without children, a surviving brother marries the widow with the sole intention of producing an heir.  If a son is conceived, he is actually considered to be the deceased brother’s child.  In ancient near-East culture, a widow without any connection to a male would either starve or be forced to beg or prostitute herself. 

 

Thus, the Sadducees question makes a little more sense even though it is a bit absurd.  A woman’s husband dies and she marries a brother.  That brother dies and she marries another brother and so forth until she has been married to all seven brothers.  Then she dies.  Whose wife will she be at the resurrection?  Keep in mind, they ask this question knowing that they think the resurrection is false. 

 

Jesus basically tells them they are missing the point. In the resurrection, our bodies will be different – perfect and glorious.  There will also be a change in our spiritual nature.  Jesus is saying that in regard to marriage and sexual matters, we will be like the angels (note that he did not say we will be angels but we will be like them.) 

 

But the Sadducees were mistaken so significantly not because of this absurd question but because they didn’t believe in the resurrection.  This is a fundamental aspect of Jesus’ teaching and they missed it entirely. 

 

The next part of today’s Scripture is in regard to the greatest commandment.  Keep in mind, when asking about which commandment is greatest, the expert in the law is hoping to engage in some kind of debate. But the commandment Jesus chose was not one that could be open for debate–it was a commandment recited by pious Jews each and every day, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. But then, Jesus adds something new, as he often does. He says...and the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.

 

A person cannot love God and treat their neighbor poorly. Love of God is not an intellectual or abstract claim. Rather, love of God is expressed in the way we love others. I John 4:20 speaks to this truth, Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. What’s interesting to me here is that Jesus says that the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. If one loves God wholeheartedly, then they will observe the law. If someone loves God wholeheartedly, they will care for others as well. The prophets often proclaimed the need to worship God sincerely (not just go through the motions) and take care of those who were oppressed. One cannot split hairs about observing the Sabbath but then cheat your neighbor in the marketplace. Love of God and neighbor are intricately connected. This was true 2000 years ago and it’s true today.

 

Think about this past week. How have you demonstrated love of God? What about love of neighbor?

 

In the final portion of today’s Scripture, rather than allowing the Pharisees to try to entrap him, Jesus asks the hard question.  He asks the group, “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?”  They immediately respond, “The son of David.” 

How then, Jesus asked, could David call him by the Spirit ‘Lord’ when he said, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’ (Psalm 110:1). “If David”, Jesus said, “Calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?”

The Pharisees were unable to answer and “from that day on no one dared to question him any longer”.

Jesus point was missed.  Of course, Jesus had descended from David. He was the Son of God.  He was the Messiah, the one the Jews had been waiting for, for hundreds of years.  He was right before their eyes and they were missing it. 

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki

 

Daily Dose of Hope

July 7, 2025

 

Scripture - Matthew 22:1-22

 

Prayer:  Holy God, We come before you this morning in awe of your blessings and love.  Thank you, Lord, for the ways you continue to guide our lives.  Lord, we want more intimacy with you.  We are desperate to know you better.  In these next few moments of silence, Jesus, please speak to us.  We need to hear your voice...  In Your Name, Amen.

 

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, a Deep Dive into the Gospels and Acts.  Today is the first day of Vacation Bible School (VBS) at New Hope.  We are expecting close to 200 children.  Please pray for every single child and their families, may they come to know Jesus.

 

Today, we are starting Matthew 22.  We are starting with the parable of the wedding banquet and it’s a hard one.  Let’s remember that parables are not meant to be taken literally.  Parables are intended to surprise the audience to make a point.  What can we learn from the Kingdom of God from this parable?  Let’s be careful not to make arbitrary links between the text and God.  For instance, the king is like God in some ways, but he is not the same as God.  Also, his son is not Jesus. 

 

This particular parable is somewhat complex and difficult to make sense of.  Why did the king not invite everyone to his banquet from the beginning?  Why did the invited guests reject the king’s invitation?  That would have been unheard of in their culture!  And then, the king’s violence against the guests who didn’t attend does not make a lot of sense.  What is the radical message of this parable?

 

One possibility is that Jesus is actually continuing the parables of the Two Sons and the Wicked Tenants by making the point that there is nothing more important than doing God’s will.  Even though people are called or invited to do God’s work, they may neglect or refuse it, consumed with their own needs and self-interest.  But God isn’t giving up on his work of saving people and calling others to join him in that task.  The subversive message might be that the position and status of religious leaders, such as the Pharisees, will not last forever.  God is going to achieve his purposes no matter what.  It may mean breaking traditions and doing new things. 

 

And then we have the passage about paying tax to Caesar.  The Jewish leaders are really trying to find a way to trap Jesus.  By this point, they can’t stand him and they simply want him out of their way.  He threatens their authority and what they find important.  Thus, they ask him about the poll tax.  We discussed this in Mark too.  This was a flat tax that every person living in the Roman Empire was forced to pay.  To the Jews, it was a reminder that they were far from free.  If Jesus had responded with a positive remark like “yes, definitely pay it!” then he would have turned off a lot of his audience.  If he had said, “don’t pay it!” then he would have been seen as turning against Rome, a dangerous thing.  The way that Jesus answered the question blew everyone away!

 

More tomorrow.

 

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki

Daily Dose of Hope Happy 4th of July everyone! It is our prayer that God bless America and that we will never take for granted the freedom and many blessings we enjoy in this great nation. Matthew 21:28–46 Jesus tells a story: A dad says, “Go work the field, boys.” Son #1: “Nope.” Then later... shows up sweating. Son #2: “Yes, sir!” Then... disappears like socks in a dryer. Which one obeyed? The one who actually did something. Catch this: God’s not impressed with your churchy “yes” if your life says “no.” Talk is cheap. Action? That’s where the faith grows. Stone Cold Truth: Jesus Doesn’t Do Fake Next, Jesus drops a parable about a vineyard (again). God plants it, hires folks to care for it, sends people to check on it… The tenants beat the messengers, kill the heir (which represents… Jesus), and think they’ll get away with it. Spoiler: They don’t. This is a wake-up call for anyone playing landlord with God’s stuff, your life, your time, your talents. It all belongs to Him. Steward it. Don’t steal it. " The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone." (Matthew 21:42) Don’t toss Jesus out of your plans, He’s the only foundation worth building on. Here are some practical truths: • Be the sweaty son. Even if your start was slow, finish strong. • Faith is more than a bumper sticker. Obedience is louder than opinions. • You’re not the owner of the vineyard. Just the manager. Use it well. • Don’t reject the Stone. If Jesus isn’t the center, the whole thing cracks. This might be funny but trust me, it´s true: If saying “yes” was all it took, gym memberships would make us all fit, and Bible apps would make us saints. But showing up daily, faithfully, that’s what changes things. Prayer: Lord, help me obey with more than my lips. Let my life say “yes” where my pride once said “no.” Keep me grounded in Christ, the Cornerstone. And make my life a vineyard that gives You glory. Amen. Challenge: • Say “yes” to God and follow through. Make the call. Send the text. Serve the need. • Ask: Where have I said “yes” to Jesus but acted “no”? Repent and reset. • Identify a place in your life where Christ isn’t the Cornerstone, just yet. The Daily Dose of Hope is a devotional intended to provide context and reflection to the New Hope Church Bible Reading Plan.  It’s our goal  to read the Bible in a year together as a family of faith.  Five days a week we read.  Two days a week we either rest or catch up.  Reading the Bible is the number one way to grow in our walk with Jesus.  We have to know God’s Word to live God’s Word.  Now for our Daily Dose of Hope… https://www.findnewhope.com

Daily Dose of Hope Matthew 21:1–27 Jesus Enters Like a King… on a Donkey? Let’s be honest, no one writes a heroic movie scene with the hero riding on a donkey. But that’s exactly how Jesus enters Jerusalem. No stallion. No sword. Just humble power. But, why? Because Jesus isn’t here to impress; He’s here to redeem. He doesn’t need a parade, He is the parade. "See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey…” (Mattew. 21:5) Real Power doesn’t shout. It serves. Do you want to be great? Grab a towel, not a title. Show up in the quiet moments. Say yes to the donkey path. Then we have the Curious Case of the Fig Tree Fail. Jesus rolls up to a leafy fig tree, it looks promising but bears no fruit. What does He do? He curses it. What’s going on here? It’s a parable in real time: Lots of leaves, no fruit = a life that looks good but lacks the goods. Jesus doesn’t just want leafy Christians; He wants fruitful ones. The kind that produces love, grace, patience, kindness, generosity… you know, actual evidence that He's alive in us. Fruit check! Are you all leaves or is there fruit under there? Then Jesus walks into the Temple courts and starts flipping tables. Why? Because God’s house was being used as a market instead of a mission. He doesn’t play with fake religion. He doesn’t tolerate holy-looking hustle. He wants a house of prayer, not a room of profit. Let’s be a church that flips comfort for calling. Let’s be people who trade profit for prayer, and flash for fruit. Here are some takeaways (or “Hope Nuggets”) • Ride donkeys, not drama. Humility carries the King. • Flip what’s fake. Jesus did. So can you. • Don’t just look good. Be good. Leafy isn’t fruitful. • Faith isn’t a temple tour, it’s a table-turning lifestyle. Prayer of the Day Lord, teach me to walk humbly and serve faithfully. Flip the tables in my life that don’t honor You. Grow real fruit in me, not just leafy fluff. And help me follow You, even when it means riding a donkey. Amen. Today: • Do something humble, quiet, unseen, for someone else. • Identify one “table” in your life that needs flipping (attitude, habit, distraction). • Bear fruit: Say sorry, forgive, give generously, love well, be the real deal. Tomorrow: • More Hope. More Jesus. Less drama. The Daily Dose of Hope is a devotional intended to provide context and reflection to the New Hope Church Bible Reading Plan.  It’s our goal  to read the Bible in a year together as a family of faith.  Five days a week we read.  Two days a week we either rest or catch up.  Reading the Bible is the number one way to grow in our walk with Jesus.  We have to know God’s Word to live God’s Word.  Now for our Daily Dose of Hope… https://www.findnewhope.com

Daily Dose of Hope

July 2, 2029

 

Scripture – Matthew 20:20-34

 

Prayer:  Almighty God, We rejoice in your perfect name.  We praise you and give you all the glory. We are grateful that you are a God who sits high and looks low.  Thank you for loving and caring for us.  We know that we fall short.  We know that we are not the people you want us to be.  But we want to do better.  Lord, help us set aside our scattered thoughts and focus on you this morning.  In these next few moments of silence, Lord, hear our prayers, hear our deepest needs...  Amen.

 

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope daily Bible reading plan.  We are currently doing a Deep Dive into the Gospels and Acts.  Today, we are finishing up Matthew 20.

 

In today’s passage, we meet a mama who wants what’s best for her boys.  Don’t most of us parents really want our kids to do well in their jobs?  This woman was no exception.  She wanted her sons, James and John, to be ahead of the other disciples, seen as most worthy by Jesus.  She asked that when Jesus comes into his Kingdom, he would have one of her boys seated on his right and the other boy seated on his left. She wanted her sons to have the places of highest honor. This was not a small request, nor did she have any idea what she was asking.

Let’s get this straight.  There isn’t anything wrong with ambition.  There isn’t anything wrong with wanting to excel.  That’s actually pretty important if we want to get things done in our lives.  And this mother was just looking out for her sons.  But I want you to picture this.  Here comes this mother with her grown sons in tow.  These are adult men, not little kids.  If we read the parallel passage in Mark 10, it’s obvious these “boys” were in on the discussion.  They wanted to ask the same thing.  Maybe they felt like Jesus would be more empathetic toward their mama. 

One thing that is interesting here is that their mother clearly believes that Jesus will come into his Kingdom.  She had faith in Jesus, so we have to give her kudos for that.  There were a lot of people doubting Jesus at this point.  So that is good.

However, the competitiveness between the disciples was not good.  Even up through their time at the Last Supper, the disciples were always talking about who was the best and/or most important.  This mother and her boys coming to talk to Jesus about hierarchy in the Kingdom was one of several incidents in which the disciples just get things totally wrong.  God’s Kingdom was not like earthly kingdoms with people wielding power over other people.  It wasn’t about status or places of honor. 

What this woman doesn’t understand, nor do the disciples, is the servant nature of Jesus’ Kingdom.  To be great in God’s Kingdom, one must sacrifice much, more than they could ever anticipate.  They underestimated the level of sacrifice and humility required for Jesus’ Kingdom and overestimated their own importance.  Don’t we so often do the same? 

Jesus is kind.  He doesn’t put them down.  He just says, “You have no idea what it will cost you to sit next to me.”  It won’t be long before Jesus will head to Jerusalem, disciples in tow, knowing he will be killed.  When Jesus asks if they understand the cost, they don’t.  But he is asking them to suffer with him.  It will be Jesus who will die on the cross for the sins of the world, but all his disciples (including us) are also called to suffer by being faithful to him.

And the disciples do suffer.  After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the disciples are all in.  They are willing to suffer and die in Jesus’ name.  James became the first disciple to die.  He was executed under Herod Agrippa I in Acts 12.  John was the last disciple to die; he ended up exiled on the island of Patmos. 

 

At the end of this portion of Scripture, Jesus says something quite profound (he was known for doing that, you know.) He says the leaders of this world lord their power over the people.  But “not so with you.”   Four powerful and life-changing words.  The disciples are to behave differently.  We are to behave differently.  Jesus’ followers are not supposed to be seeking earthly power and fame.  We are to be seeking Jesus.  How we get this so messed up.

 

The chapter ends with another miracle.  This seems appropriate.  Jesus is showing his disciples, “This is who we are.”

 

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki

Daily Dose of Hope

July 1, 2025

 

Scripture – Matthew 20:1-19

 

Prayer: Lord Jesus, Show mercy on me.  I fail you over and over again.  I am not as loving as I should be.  I’m not as patient as I should be.  I don’t demonstrate compassion and justice in the way you call me to do so.  Forgive me, Lord.  Help me do better.  More of you and less of me.  Amen.

 

Welcome to the Daily Dose of Hope, a Deep Dive into the Gospels and Acts.  Today, we are exploring the first portion of Matthew 20.

 

The Kingdom of God turns things upside down. In this parable, we see Jesus emphasizing this truth. The bottom line, whether you worked all day or just for an hour, God acts with grace toward all people.

 

The story begins with three main characters: a landowner, a steward or manager, and people needing work. The first surprise comes when the landowner himself goes out to the marketplace to hire laborers. In spite of the unusual appearance by the wealthy landowner, the initial arrangement is typical of Jewish custom and Torah guidelines.  Workers are hired at the beginning of the day to be paid a typical daily wage at the end of their work day. But before those workers have a chance to get much work done, the landowner goes back to the marketplace to hire workers and repeats this practice all the way until the 5 o’clock hour when there is little daylight or work remaining. Those hired at nine, noon, and three are not offered a full contract but are willing to trust the landowner to pay them “whatever is right.” The five o’clock hires aren’t promised anything but the opportunity to work.

We would have thought that the landowner would have known the number of workers he needed.  But it seems evident that he is hiring workers not because there is this huge amount of work that needs to be done, but because the people need work.  The wealthy landowner is truly concerned for the workers themselves.

And then comes time for the pay.  Shocking everyone, the people who were paid at the end of the day end up receiving a whole day’s pay.  In fact, whether the person was hired at 8am or 5pm, they each got the same payment at the end of the work day.  This doesn’t make the workers hired early very happy.  In fact, they protest.  They feel like justice has not been served.

 

While Jesus is concerned with justice, mercy is also very high on his list.  Jesus is once again making an important point here.  If we are “good people” our whole lives, that doesn’t earn us a place in heaven. None of us are good enough; we are all sinners (Romans 3:23). We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. And whether we have believed in Jesus since we were 5 years old or 95 years old, we are given the same offer of grace. We are all in the same boat. God won’t be passing out MVP trophies. Rather than complaining that it isn’t fair, let’s rejoice that Jesus has offered us grace at all. Let’s be real-none of us are worthy.

 

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki

 

Daily Dose of Hope

June 30, 2025

 

Scripture - Matthew 19

 

Prayer:  Holy God, We come before you with humility and expectation as we start a new week.  Thank you for another morning, another day, another chance to be a change agent in our world, your world.  Guide us, Lord.  Guide our words, actions, and thoughts.  We want to be more like you.  Help us see others as you see them.  We love you.  Amen.

 

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, a Deep Dive into the Gospels and Acts.  Today, we dive into Matthew 19.

 

Jesus and his disciples have begun to make the journey to Judea; they are heading to Jerusalem. And Jesus is using this time to teach about what it means to follow him. Jesus is turning everything upside down in his teachings: to follow him means renouncing the things that the world values. In this chapter, we see Jesus touch on how following him will affect how we behave in the most fundamental parts of our lives.

 

He starts by teaching on divorce, making the point that marriage is not simply a contract, but it’s a creation of God and both men and women are equal partners in the marriage. The Pharisees are trying to “test” Jesus, meaning they ask a leading question designed to trap him into saying something that will discredit his public reputation. They ask whether a man can legally divorce his wife for any reason at all, and this was actually a specific debate that was happening among first century Jewish rabbis.  In Deuteronomy, the law allows a man to divorce his wife if he finds some “indecency” or “something offensive” in her.  That’s a bit vague.  Something offensive could include gaining weight during pregnancy or finding someone more attractive.  And while the different rabbis argued over this, the bottom line was that men could divorce women for basically anything.  But, not shocking, women did not have the same rights.

 

Now, the Pharisees want Jesus to enter this specific debate.  He’s God and he can see through their words.  Jesus goes back to God’s original intent on marriage, in the Garden but before the fall.  The two become one.  It’s a strong and intimate bond.  Thus, there isn’t an easy or painless way for this bond to be broken.  It’s going to cause tremendous pain.  God’s will is for marriage to continue without this breakage.  Jesus is basically saying that, in God’s Kingdom, marriage is a covenant between the man, the woman, and God.  It’s a sacred commitment that can’t be flippantly broken.  Please know that by making this argument, Jesus was protecting women.  They were the ones hurt by the previous arrangement. 

 

Jesus goes on to teach about children–parents were bringing children to him to be blessed and the disciples scolded them. Jesus intervenes and says to let the little children come to me and then makes this stunning point that we all must become like little children to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This is a point that Jesus repeatedly makes! Children, in those days, weren’t seen as having any value. But Jesus places tremendous value on them. Jesus’ point is that to follow him, we have to become like little children–vulnerable, powerless, needing someone else to provide safety and sustenance. Again, he is turning things upside down.

 

Then, we come to the last portion of the chapter.  This will seem familiar, as we also covered this story in Mark.  A man comes up to Jesus and asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

 

Jesus says, “Well, you need to follow all the commandments.”  He then lists out the various commandments and the man simply says, “Yes, I’ve done all those things since I was a boy.”

 

Then, Jesus looks at the man and says that to be perfect, he must go and sell everything he owns and give it all to the poor. The text says that the man’s face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth.  This is the irony. The children who possess nothing are not told that the kingdom of God is theirs; yet this man who possesses everything still lacks something! Only when he sells all he has—only when he becomes like a vulnerable child—will he possess everything. But he isn’t willing to do that. He decides to walk away from Jesus. The man wasn’t expecting to have to make that kind of sacrifice. He had no idea following Jesus would be so hard.

 

The disciples are really confused by this. At that time, most people believed that being wealthy was a sign of God’s blessing. Here, Jesus is saying that this man has to sell everything and give it to the poor. And that’s when Jesus says the really, really hard thing...It’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And the disciples ask “then who possibly can be saved?” Jesus says, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

 

I don’t know about you but I find it very unsettling to read this passage. Let’s go deeper: Jesus could look at this young man he loved and see that what he cherished most were his possessions. I think there is a warning in here for us. Jesus is not condemning having resources. There are others in the Gospels with great wealth that Jesus doesn’t tell them to do the same thing. But he is making it clear---having wealth can get in the way of our relationship with him. When we have resources, our tendency is to rely on ourselves, to hold on to our money, to not fully submit our lives to him. It’s hard to approach God as a vulnerable little child (think about how children totally depend on their caregivers for everything), when we don’t feel so humble and vulnerable. The greatest enemies to faith and obedience are self-satisfaction and pride. And we live in a culture where these things are held up as ideals.

 

Jesus is saying that being a disciple is not about following a list of rules. If that were the case, then the rich young ruler would have been a shoo-in. He is saying, it’s about denying yourself, picking up your cross, and following him alone. And we don’t like to deny ourselves. We don’t like to be uncomfortable. It means looking at your life and renouncing any part of it that gets in the way of your walk with Jesus. That means that following Jesus isn’t one part of our life; following Jesus isn’t simply one activity in a busy life filled with lots of great stuff. No, following Jesus means radically reorienting our life. Jesus comes first and our devotion to Jesus as Lord and Savior affects every other area of our lives. Our dedication to Jesus affects how we treat other people, it affects how we spend our money, it affects how we spend our time, it affects how we behave. Following Jesus means a radical adjustment to priorities. It means worrying less about what the world values, and focusing on what Jesus values.

 

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki

 

Daily Dose of Hope

June 27, 2025

 

Scripture – Matthew 18:21-35

 

Prayer: Holy God, Thank you for your incredible mercy.  Your compassion is never-ending and your love is powerful.  We are overflowing with gratitude.  Help us demonstrate this same compassion and love toward others.  May we become people of grace and see people through your eyes.  In Your Name, Amen.

 

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, a Deep Dive into the Gospels and Acts.  I just want to remind you all of our amazing worship night tonight at 7:30pm AND our special guest on Sunday.  Dr. David Wilkinson is giving the message in the English-speaking service.  He is a PhD in both astrophysics and theology and his life’s work has centered on the intersection between the Christian faith and science.  After the 9:30 service, he has also agreed to a Q&A in the social hall, where a pancake and sausage brunch will be available by donation.  All donations will go to the Residing Hope Children’s Home.

 

Today is part two of Matthew 18.  Here we have this very uncomfortable parable on forgiveness.  Peter wants to know how far should forgiveness be extended.  I mean, Jesus had just offered this conflict mediation model for churches to ensure that justice is upheld.  But what about mercy?  Jesus’ answer is really fascinating.  He basically is saying, “Stop keeping count!”

 

Let’s talk a bit about the parable itself.  A servant owes his master a huge sum of money, something like 10,000 bags of gold.  The servant was facing both imprisonment and the sale of his family to compensate for the debt.  He goes to the master and asks for mercy.  The readers are totally surprised – the master shows tremendous compassion and mercy.  He totally forgives the huge debt.  Unheard of and an act of extravagant compassion.

 

That same servant then goes demanding payment of a debt that a fellow servant owes him.  This isn’t a big debt, but something smaller and more manageable.  When the fellow servant asks for more time, the forgiven servant refuses, denies compassion, and has the poor guy thrown in prison.

 

Seeing the injustice of all of this, there are whistleblowers that see what happens and let the master know.  The master is enraged and reinstates the man’s debt.  How could he fail to show compassion after such great compassion was shown to him.  He is imprisoned and tortured. 

 

While the ending is really horrific, Jesus is once again making a point.  Forgiveness is critical and yet it is very hard.  If we look at the whole of Matthew 18, we see the need of both holding people accountable and offering extravagant compassion and forgiveness.  How do we even begin to reconcile this as a church?  Upon doing research on this topic, one scholar suggested that the most powerful and instructive model is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in post-apartheid South Africa, guided by Bishop Desmond Tutu. Reconciliation entails both the offer of forgiveness and the naming and acceptance of responsibility for wrongful, wounding conduct. This approach to mercy and justice is congruent with Jesus’ call in Matthew 18 as a whole: while the faith community prioritizes grace and mercy, it also holds its members accountable for what they do to others. 

 

But what else might Jesus be saying in this parable?  Pay compassion forward.  God has been extraordinarily compassionate toward us.  He gave his Son for us, so we might live abundantly now and in the future.  Our sins are forgiven, our slate has been wiped clean.  We owe Him a debt of gratitude.  And yet, here we see what that looks like in a practical way.  Show mercy, demonstrate compassion, love well, and forgive.

 

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki

Daily Dose of Hope

June 26, 2025

 

Scripture – Matthew 18:1-20

 

Prayer: Lord Jesus, We rejoice in you.  We praise your name.  You are the Alpha and the Omega, the one who was, and is, and is to come.  We cannot possibly express our gratitude in words.  You have offered us mercy but you have also given us freedom.  Thank you for that.  Help us live like free people.  Help us demonstrate your love and grace to others who cross our path.  Help us see people through your eyes.  We love you, Lord.  Amen.

 

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, a Deep Dive into the Gospels and Acts.  Happy Thursday!  I want you to mark your calendars for the New Hope worship night, which is tomorrow at 7:30pm in the sanctuary.  This will be time of amazing praise and worship, as well as prayer and commissioning of the Ireland young adult mission team.  Hope to see you there!

 

Today, we are diving into Matthew 18, the first twenty verses.  The text starts with the disciples asking who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Jesus totally redirects this!  He gets the focus off the disciples and their own need for honor and puts it on the most vulnerable in their community.  Children at that time had no status, little value, and zero control over their lives.  Something like half of all children died before reaching adulthood.  Knowing all of that, Jesus tells his disciples that the one who becomes humble and “weak” like this child will be the greatest in the Kingdom.  In fact, unless they become like vulnerable little children, they won’t even be able to enter the Kingdom. This is the total opposite of the honor and status that the disciples were wanting.

 

What is Jesus doing here?  He is placing the most powerless members of their society at the center.  Welcoming vulnerable children means welcoming Jesus.  And Jesus says that there are few fates worse than harming them or causing them to sin.

 

Then, Jesus says that there are many things in this world that can cause others to stumble.  Human beings take advantage of one another.  The powerful abuse the powerless.  But Jesus’ warning here is pretty strong. Woe to the person who harms those who are weak and powerless, such as children.  His language then echoes the Sermon on the Mount.  It’s better to gouge out an eye or cut off a limb than to allow those things to cause you to sin and harm a powerless one.

 

As I reread this, I couldn’t help but think about all the children that are harmed.  Around the globe, something like three million children are trafficked each year, forced into forced labor, sexual exploitation, or child marriage.  In the United States, for which it is easier to get data, roughly 20,000 children are trafficked each year.  Almost 600,000 children in the U.S. experience abuse and/or neglect every year.  While the situation is certainly complicated, children aren’t being protected.  And then there are other groups who are highly vulnerable, such as the elderly, the desperately poor, and the homeless.

 

This is pretty strong teaching here and it gives us practical examples of how to live in Christian community, solidly grounded in Jesus.  We are to set aside power, protect the vulnerable and those the rest of society neglects, and search for the lost sheep (as we read in the next portion of Scripture).  Jesus is all about protecting those who can’t protect themselves and seeking out those who are lost.  The question is – are we?

 

I worry that we often focus on things that just aren’t that important.  We worry about ourselves.  We worry about inward-focused things in the church.  We don’t lay aside power.  We aren’t humble.  What would it take for us to become like little children?  What would it take for us to really live in the way of Jesus?

 

The last portion of Scripture we are covering today is what we might call Jesus’ conflict mediation model.  If someone sins against you, you go directly to that person and try to resolve it.  You don’t immediately pick up your phone and share your frustration with your closest friends.  You don’t post something rude on social media.  You don’t decide to quit the church.  You actually go to that person and have the hard conversation.  Most of the time that works.

But if that doesn’t work, Jesus has more wisdom to share.  Go find some other trusted believers and bring them in to help resolve the dispute.  That should certainly take care of things but just in case it doesn’t, take it to the church.  Do keep in mind that these were pretty small house churches so taking a dispute to the church would have looked differently than it does today.  Today, it probably would mean bringing it to the pastor or some church leaders, but ONLY after you have done the other steps. 

We use this model in our own leadership teams here at New Hope.  While it may not always be someone sinning against us, it could be a miscommunication or a disagreement.  That’s why if someone brings me a problem that involves another church member, I always ask, “Have you talked to that person already?”  Conflict is inevitable in the church because we are all humans.  However, we need to be very intentional and respectful about how we handle conflict.  But we do need to handle it.  Avoidance, denial, gossip, and/or projection onto others never turns out well and isn’t how Jesus intended his people to behave.

More tomorrow, friends.

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki