Luke 24:19, “And he said unto them, What things?”

Owners of stores and markets wonder sometimes how their business presents itself to the public. Even after much training and orientation, an unmotivated employee can make an entire multinational company with years of experience look like a band of novices to the public. Fearing this, they send “shoppers” hired by the company to their stores. They are there for the express purpose of reporting how they are doing and how the company appears to the public.

In the story from which our question comes, we see Jesus doing this. We see Him walking along, “shopping” His disciples as if He were a stranger. He held back their recognition of Him facilitating candid responses to His questions.

He asks such a question that the disciples are flabbergasted at the ignorance of this stranger. “Where are you from that you have not heard of the man from Galilee that has turned this whole country upside-down?” “And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?”

Word of what was done in Jerusalem, the life of Jesus and His subsequent execution, must have rung throughout the countryside. The story must have been on everyone’s lips and in everyone’s thoughts over the past three days. You can imagine the conversation at the town well and in the market. “Did you hear about the teacher Joshua?” (Jesus’ name in Hebrew/Aramaic) “He was crucified by the Romans for treason.” Or “…He was crucified for blasphemy!” Everyone probably had his or her own version of the story.

The Pharisees would gladly be giving reasons for His death and spreading stories about how it all came to be. Then there would be pure rumor, having no basis in fact at all, that would spread among the itching ears of Jerusalem. It was a situation ripe for gossip, rumor, and innuendo. But, what was the truth? When, why and how did it all happen?

Even as His discouraged Disciples walked, the Pharisees were plotting a rumor campaign to purport the theft of His body in the night to offset the fact that it was now missing, even under armed guard! How would Jesus check the knowledge and readiness of the disciples with whom He would soon entrust the everlasting Gospel message?

When they asked, “… hast thou not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?” And he said unto them, “What things?” “Tell me what things you are talking about.”

“And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. 

In searching out their knowledge, Christ found their facts to be accurate, but they themselves, discouraged. They had their facts straight, but they were unsure how those facts were to be interpreted. They exposed their doubts when they confessed, “…we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel!” Their voices trailed into mumbles that could be read clearly as, “…but alas, it was not to be.” Christ saw that they were feeling defeated in their hearts for they thought Christ, the “great and mighty Prophet,” was dead. It was as if they were apologizing for the fact that He was unaccounted among them. “…And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.”

These words showed that they had discussed the prophetic sign of Jonah that Jesus had spoken of in earlier days. He had promised that in three days He would rise from the dead. Then, as if to lend some credibility to Christ, they added, “Yes well, women of our company, which were early at the sepulchre, told us an amazing story when they did not find his body, they came saying that he was alive.” But then he adds sadly and reluctantly, “…but we went there and were not able to confirm their story.”

Q. 120 Where is the Guestchamber?

Luke 22:11, Mark 14:14, “And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?”

The rituals and traditions of some faiths are a fascinating study. I once heard a story of a young girl learning from her mother how to cook the holiday roast. “You must cut it like this before you put it in the pan” mother said with conviction as she removed four full inches from the end of the roast. “Why?” the young lady asked. “I don’t know,” the mother answered with a look of confusion, “but I’ve always done it – perhaps we’ll ask Grandma tonight. After all, she told me to do it” That night at dinner, the matriarch of the family was finally asked by the granddaughter, “Why did you teach Mom that the end of a roast should be removed?” She answered, “Back in those days… we had a very small oven!” So it is with rituals and traditions. The actions last long after the reasons are forgotten.

In order to look at traditions we need to stand back to consider them. Objectivity and reason must rule the deliberation. We also must realize that while all ordinances may be ritual all ritual may not be ordinance. The Church has found itself involved in liturgies and observances that have done much harm and little good over the years. People, otherwise civilized and kind, tear apart congregations and families with questions of rituals and all the intricacies of their observance. Are they required? How often? So on and so on, ad infinitum.

Let us examine Christ’s question, “Where is the guestchamber?” What a wonderful question to ask those who think it compulsory to prepare and participate in the Eucharist. What a question for those who feel it is essential to place common bread in their mouth and call it the body of Christ and those who pretend to drink His blood by drinking wine or juice.

They may find themselves in debates about how and why and with whom it is to be done. Churches split, families quarrel, while theologians (Catholic and Protestant alike) bark out Scriptures to “prove” their points. Should the wine be fermented? Is the bread allowed to be leavened? Should we serve the cup first or the bread? Should we use individual cups or share one? What should the cup be made of? Who is qualified to serve?

Who is qualified to partake? Is this service essential for salvation? Does the bread actually become the flesh of Christ? (Transubstantiation) How often should we do this each year…each month… each week? The questions go on indefinitely. One question, however, about this night that is never asked is the one Jesus asked, “Where is the guestchamber?”

Bread is easily purchased at the market or from church supply stores – perfectly round (if you are into Sun worship) or square if you like matzos or broken into tiny pieces, whatever is your tradition. We can find certified leaven free, kosher, salted or unsalted, crackers, or matzos.

The wine can be bought at the same places and may be from California or Israel, it may be fermented or unfermented, red or rosé (never white). Some see nothing wrong with using water in its place and to others that is sacrilege. Are all these concerns valid or can we participate in the Lord’s supper with a coffee and doughnut? (This is not said to offend but to provoke thought.) What is important and unimportant about the way this communion with Christ is carried out.

Another Idea

Quakers did not hold to the conventional idea of the “Lord’s Supper.” The Quakers (as indeed we all should) focus more on the communion and less on the supper. As a matter of fact, the supper becomes a symbol that complicates and obscures the Truth of this service.

You may meet an old friend and you say, “Let’s have dinner.” Don’t you assume that your intention is, not to eat, but to fellowship with your friend? When a gentleman asks a lady out for dinner, should we assume he is hungry for food? The symbolic gesture is just as much apparent in the Lord’s supper. The Lord is not hungry, nor does He care what is served. He comes for the fellowship, the communion, and the company. He does not ask, “Where is the unleavened bread I require?” Nor does He ask for pedigrees on participants. He asks, “Where is the guestchamber that I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”

The fellowship that Jesus requires is the communion of the heart. The company He desires is the humble disciple, eagerly awaiting words from the lips of his Lord – awaiting orders, awaiting corrections, awaiting encouragement. This is the fellowship He desires “as oft ye do this” (as often as you eat) to meet with Him and fellowship. As often as you raise a glass to quench your thirst, consider the blood with which you were purchased.

As often as you place food in your mouth to give yourself strength, gain strength from the body that was broken for you as well.

This fellowship is carried on in the heart. This is the guestchamber where resides the Savior, the lover of our soul. It is the guestchamber that is swept and garnished, where the door is opened to receive the Savior whenever He knocks. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will SUP with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20) Herein lies the fellowship, the communion, the company, it is the Lord’s SUPper that He desires. There is no fussing about who is invited, no worries about condition, color or location of the bread and wine, no silly debates, no presumptuous priesthood to serve these “holy elements,” just the pure fellowship of the heart. This is the true communion in the true guestchamber with the true bread.

The Guestchamber Is Key.

If it is a room, then the furnishings of the room become important. If it is a place we are to go, then when we go and where we go and who goes becomes very important. If the table of the Lord is a tangible table, then even its composition may be of some importance. But if the table, and the bread, and the wine, and the room are only a symbols of a greater spiritual existence, then it all becomes totally unimportant and diverting, dividing and distracting, illusory and bothersome.

Where is the guestchamber?

It is within us!

Most of the problems we encounter are problems that could have been avoided with ease if we had been fresh from fellowship with the Captain of our Salvation. The communion we need is daily communion, not a yearly or a monthly or even a weekly eating and drinking of “holy” bread and grape juice. The symbols mean nothing compared to the fellowship they represent. Paul, teaching on this very thing says, “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.” (Romans 14:17-19)

But is anything wrong with an actual guestchamber and a tangible table and physical bread and wine? Yes, they are to be rejected. These items are to be rejected because they occupy a place in our minds that only the real and true articles should occupy. For example if I asked you, “When was the last time you had communion?” You may think back to the last time you sat with others in a service and participated in the Eucharist (or Lord’s Supper if you prefer).

If you asked me the same question I would answer, “This morning.” If we participate in “communion” at church, do we feel a need to do so at home? If a person partakes of the Lord’s Supper in church to satisfy the Scripture’s request to do so, is there a desire to continue that supper throughout the day? No, unfortunately the satisfaction of the pure Commandment cannot come from two sources – one source real, the other merely a symbol.

To live in truth, we must choose – let us choose the substance over the symbol. The question that settles the issue is “Where is the guestchamber?”

Luke 8:24-25, “And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.”

A story is told about a circus performer who walks among the crowd after successfully walking across the high wire suspended above a gorge, and asked, “Do you believe I can go across pushing a wheel barrow?” The crowd chanted, “Yes! Yes!” Then stone silence fell as he prepared the wheelbarrow for the narrow journey and not a word in answer came when he asked, “Now, who would like to ride?”

Corresponding action is the ONLY indicator of unfeigned faith.

The Bible records a question that is often quoted, but seldom answered. “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? It is most uncomfortable to answer the question because it shows us to be faithless in many cases. We must admit, however, that faith without actions that corresponds to the faith is not faith at all. And, “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.” (James 2:14-24)

The action that corresponds to faith (or the lack of action) is not only a marker of absent faith, it can also provide clues to us indicating in what or where we have placed our faith. Jesus made the same point this way, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:21) Behind the words is the principle that we live what we believe. Or as a Mississippi preacher friend of mine says, “We be livin’ what we believin’.” If what Jesus and my friend say is true (and I believe it is) then we may look into our own lives and easily see where our faith lies. “Where is your faith?” becomes more than a rhetorical question. It becomes a question of introspection. Your faith is somewhere, where is it?

Sometimes the action that exposes our misplaced faith is only a mental process. When trouble arises we may look for help. The process of looking starts with a mental inventory of useful items, people, and resources. When faced with a problem we might immediately think of a friend to help us who has expertise or political power. When faced with a loss we may think of our insurance policy or our savings account. When a health issue appears we may want to consult with a doctor of reputation among his peers. Where our thoughts go is to our treasure, and where your treasure is, there is where you will find your heart of faith.

When King David was faced with trouble he said, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.” (Psalms 121:1-2) Could it be said that David had misplaced faith? Never a man had chariots and horses, armies and men so devoted to him as David had. He was truly a man of resources, but his attitude was, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.” (Psalms 20:7) Can anyone see a man here who doubts God? Do we have to ask David, “Where is your faith?”

I believe that God enjoyed the faith of Job, Noah and Daniel, and I believe that YHVH enjoyed David’s faith. David’s faith was different. It had a humble and unassuming quality. Although it was a no nonsense faith, it never even encroached disrespect. Jesus even mentions (I believe with a smile on His face) a time when David ate the shewbread in the Temple, which is unlawful for any man who is not a Priest to eat, and asked the Pharisees what they thought of that. It is no wonder that David was known as a man after God’s own heart. [1 Samuel 13:14, “…the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people…”] The eternal reign of Christ in the new Kingdom has been prophesied for years as the “the throne of David.” David’s relationship to Jehovah was so close that he once circumvented the office of the priest and a man was killed in the process. David grieved for Uzzah and believed it was his fault that he died. [2 Samuel 6] With all these ideas in our head, we are left with this mystery pertaining to David’s relationship to God. But a day came in the life of David where his actions would show, loud and clear, where his faith was. This was a day that grieved the Lord and things were never the same after this event.

“And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.” (1 Chronicles 21:1) What could be so bad about taking a census? Look at the figures that were given to David. “And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand [1,100,000] men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand [470,000] men that drew sword.”(Verse 5) These statistics were to verify the POWER available to David as king. It was obvious that the object in which David placed his faith was changing, and it was deplorable to God. David’s action showed where his faith was. He no longer looked unto the hills as in the days of his youth. He no longer was saying that some trust in chariots and horses, for his actions are now speaking louder than any words of his past. But why did he falter?

Always Enough

I remember going away to school and, for the first time, I was in charge of my finances. In some homes Dad keeps the wallet and balances the checkbook, in my home, my Mother was the one. She taught me how to spend money and how to save it. I remember setting up an account at the school for needs and supplies that would eventually crop up as the year progressed. “How much money are you going to put in there?” I asked my mother. She told me that there would always be enough, as long as I only bought what I needed. I lived by the faith that what my mother told me was true. For many months I never looked into that account or even cared how much was there and, just as she said, whenever I needed something I could go to the clerk and ask for an amount and there was always enough.

But the day came when I wanted to buy MORE than I needed. What do you think was my first thought? My faith in Mom was instantly transformed. I could not count on what was out of my control, namely the will and ability of my mother; I had to rely on what was within my power and possession. My actions showed where my faith was. It was in me.

The Disciples were skilled boatmen. This was not their first time at sea. David was a man of war skilled in every area of battle. When it came time to take inventory of assets it should come as no surprise that these men counted on their own power. David realized what he had done and repented. After the ordeal was over David likely heard within himself the words, “Where is your faith?”

That thought never occurred to the disciples, however. They rowed and rowed. They used every trick in the book. After all hope was gone and their resources were exhausted, and they worked hard to no avail, they went to Jesus. Asking Him why He did not care if they perished, Jesus looked around at the panting men who were totally spent trying to recover themselves, and asked, “Where is your faith?”

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Matthew 8:26, “And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!” Also refer to: Mark 4:40, Luke 8:25

One of the beautiful things about having four Gospels is reading the same account from three or four perspectives. This account of Jesus calming the storm is no exception. In one he asks, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” in another, “Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?” and then finally (as this story only appears in only three of the Gospels) He asks, “Where is your faith?”

From this story, take notice that the lack of faith is an indicator to Jesus that they are full of fear, or vice versa if you prefer, but it is obvious that faith and fear are mutually exclusive forces. More so than a discussion of faith, we want to consider the question that brought about the self-examination, “Why are you so fearful?”

Many of the answers to the questions Jesus asked were for our information not His. Even if we do not hold to the idea that Jesus “knew everything” or could “read minds,” we must agree that His wisdom far surpassed mankind’s. He asked, “Why are ye so fearful?” not because He did not know; He asked in order to initiate an internal and self-questioning process within the disciples. He was saying, “Stop, wait a minute and think! Why are you so fearful?”

This self-examining process is an essential part of the Christian faith that is lacking in most of our personal lives and certainly in conventional congregational worship. This process cannot be bypassed, done in haste or hurry, nor can it be accomplished in formulaic steps or procedures. It is a meeting of minds, so to speak, a meeting of reality within us that can only be accomplished through honest questions and honest answers.

In silent contemplation, we listen to the Word of God (the living Christ) within us, as He evaluates our condition and queries us, we answer Him and our answers may candidly determine our shortcomings and expose the necessary changes. But it is the waiting; the silent waiting upon Him that will present light to our souls and refresh our innermost being. The noise of our lives and noise of our churches attest to the lack of quietness within our spirits. Quietness is uncomfortable to most, because it naturally reveals the noise in our souls. We try to avoid this candid meeting with Christ from occurring within us, for we dread it may make our fears of our Father’s displeasure a reality. Noise is necessary to keep this honest, internal conversation from happening, lest we find ourselves convicted in our favorite lifestyle and then obliged to change it.

Peace with Our God

It is the lack of our Father’s approval that deprives of serenity; we want to feel His hand of salvation on us so that we can feel peace, but we avoid feeling His hand of correction. How can we have one and not the other? Do not both touches of His hand come at once? The writer in Hebrews 12 says, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons… Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? …that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness…” (Verses 6-11 abridged, emphasis added) It is the pain of correction that brings about the feeling of being true children of your Father in heaven, as well as effecting lasting changes in our lifestyle that please Him.

But we avoid this pain. Sometimes we mistakenly think that the absence of discomfort we feel resulting from the singing or orchestrated harmony with others when we are making “joyful noise,” is His approving hand on our lives. But relief is not remedy. Our temporary comfort is no more a sign of healing than drug-induced pain alleviation is an evidence of a medical cure.

We are fearful because we do not know our future; we do not know our future because we do not have faith in God. We do not have faith in God because we are not in communication with Him; we are not in communication with Him because our sins have created a painful barrier between us. Sadly, what has been forgotten are the words of the Old Testament Prophet Isaiah: “Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:1-2)

Now that we know the answer, let us hear the question again, “Why are ye so fearful?” When faced with a trial of our faith we naturally think of ways we have displeased our God. It is as though we have a delinquent debt to the local hospital and we find ourselves in need of their services again. Though they may treat us through mercy, we know, because of our debt, we do not deserve it. You should live in such a way so that no debt, no sin or shortcoming should be outstanding, as you approach the Father in prayer.

Why are you so fearful? It is likely that you feel afraid in your trials because your disobedience and your recent failures give you no assurance that God is in control or will help in time of need. Selfish acts and concerns are often responsible for faithlessness and fear. Don’t live in a manner where only your interests are preponderant. In doing so, you will surely consider the storms that rise as obtrusive impositions into your world or even punishment for your sin.

Notice that Jesus did not ask, “Why are you afraid of storms?” That would be a silly question as it is well established that storms are dangerous. He asked, “Why are ye so fearful?” Jesus was awakened by His disciples asking, “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” Not only had they become fearful of the tempest, but they had also surmised, in their fear, that Jesus did not care if they died. They did not doubt His ability to act as much they now doubted His willingness to act on their behalf.

Jesus asked them about their fearfulness. They were not only afraid of the storm (which was normal); He asked them why they were full of fear. “Why are ye so fearful?” “Where is your faith?” “How is it ye have no faith?” These questions would sober any honest Christian, and initiate self-examination. You may feel that fear is out of your control. However, you should remember that the fear you feel is in inverse proportion to your faith in God. Your works exemplify and give evidence of your faith in God… and your works are within our control.

When weather, out of your control, pitches and tosses your boat, you can bravely steer ahead on into the waves and remain afloat only if you know that you are going where you were told to go, doing what you were told to do, and serving your Master and not your own interests. Steer, go, do, and serve! All are works within your control. It is only the one who seeks the easy way, or who looks for the loopholes, who fears when the way grows dark and ominous. Those who dodge responsibility and perform only the least that is expected are uncertain that God cares, or doubt that He would use His power to save.

You are not to be cowardly and worthless, trembling and unsure. You are to hold in high regard your commission and the Commissioner. You may only exemplify that respect by your servile attitude and selflessness. Then you can function in true and trusting faith. You can live in full assurance that if He says to go, you’ll go until you arrive. If He says to do, you’ll do until you are done. You will fear nothing because you are not your own, you are bought with a price. You have nothing to fear as you live day to day doing only that which pleases Him. So then, “Why are ye so fearful?”

Luke 6:3, Mark 2:28, Matthew 12:3-8, John 7:23 (Combined)

“But he answering said unto them, Have ye never read so much as this, what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which as not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? … But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.”

This is one of few accounts that appears in all four Gospels and is a lesson often lost in the mire of arguments about the Sabbath day. Let us focus on Jesus’ question, “Have you not so much as read…?” Notice that He uses this question to preface the references to the Law of Moses and David the Prophet. Christ almost has a tone of surprise in His voice, wondering how this concept had eluded their reading and study. Let’s look at the Scripture Jesus quoted:

Hosea 6:6, “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”

The “knowledge of God” is more desirable than offerings and sacrifice. Hebrew prose had poetic values; to repeat a thought in the next phrase with different words of the same meaning was common when the writer was trying to emphasize a point. There are many examples of repetition for emphasis throughout the Old Testament to demonstrate this. By pairing up the repeated thoughts synonyms can be found. Here we see the word “sacrifice” used as a synonym to “offering” and “knowledge of God” in synoptic position with “mercy.”

By this verse we may learn that revelation of the knowledge of God will not only reveal Him as merciful; it also places demand upon us to be merciful in order to live in concord with Him.

It is fascinating how often this “New Testament” concept appears in the “Old Testament.” Psalms 40:6 says, “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire…” Psalms 51:16-17 repeats, “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” God’s desire for mercy and not sacrifice is an ancient one. We must not think that God desires sacrifice – His desire is mercy, submission and a contrite and obedient heart. Once, this same concept of sacrifice being second to righteousness, condemned and deposed a King with almost the same words that Jesus quoted from Hosea: “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22)

David: An Example for Us

David was so intimately familiar with Jehovah that he saw no conflict (and certainly no sin) in eating the forbidden shewbread in the temple. Jesus somehow applied this example of familiarity with the Lawgiver to His disciples who were gathering corn to eat on Sabbath. There is a mystery here that has not been revealed. David knew something to which we have not been made privy; there is something here like a back door or a peek into the Spirit circumnavigating the letter of Law without breaking it. Though it is elusive and difficult to know it in its fullest sense, its truth is contained in the verse:

“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.”

Those who hear in this verse that we can do whatever we want on the Sabbath Day because it was made for us, or those who think Jesus said that He can do whatever He wants because He is Lord of the Sabbath, somehow giving Himself permission to break the Commandment, simply don’t understand this verse. It is deeper than this.

There is more to this than wholesale negation of the Law. We cannot do whatever we want yet we are called and compelled to seek God and learn of Him and gain the knowledge of Him and seek Him with our whole heart. This is so we can live, move, and have our being in Him, without fear, without condemnation and still live a life free from sin (not freedom to sin.)

The simple application to this is that, possibly, what we think is sin …may not be – and what we think is not sin…is. Our difficulty comes from the fact that we don’t know God! As much as we may delight in our experience of Him, as proud as we may be of the road we have traveled, as far as we think we may have come, we may still go outside on a starry night and look up and know that this saying is true: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9) Why do we not know Him? Jesus said it may be because we have not so much as read His Scriptures.

We must make ourselves familiar with our God. How are we to do that if not by reading His Scriptures? We must learn of His ways and make them our ways. We cannot continue as marginally obedient children, or part-time doers of the Law. Nor can we consider ourselves sinless solely by virtue of what some would claim to be an “abolished” Law. We must learn of Him.

We must read His Law, His Prophets, and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The Scriptures provide insight beyond anyone’s years; they contain the intelligence that created the world, the heart of love that gave up to death an obedient Son to save the rebellious ones. We may no longer blamelessly saunter through Christian bookstores hungrily begging for scraps.

We cannot continue expecting tradition, and ceremony to satisfy the eternal need for true and meaningful communion.

We may sit no longer at the feet of mere men asking advice, seeking direction, or attempting to gain some second-hand guidance. How can we ask our most gracious God, who gave the Scriptures, preserved them, and freely dispersed them throughout the world, to speak to us, give us guidance, and day to day leading if we refuse to read, the gift of all earthly gifts, the Scriptures? Do you expect God to tell you something twice, or three times? Or do you demand that He write a letter, mail it, deliver it, open it, and read it to you? What must our heavenly Father do to teach you?

The Bible is the book of all books. It contains answers to questions with which you are struggling right now. It has insight to impart to you that could make next week into a miracle instead of a massacre.

By writing a Bible, our God has lifted the requirements of holiness to hear a word from Him. Anyone can read it. Anyone can hear the words He spoke and spark within them the light of understanding to begin the journey toward peace with God. What a gift! To be given, without prerequisite, a window into the mind and heart of God.

You may be ignoring the most wonderful love letter ever written, all the while pleading for intimacy and “the knowledge of God”; all the while living in unnecessary sin and ignorance. To what extent must He go to make His way known to you? How will you stand before Him and plead ignorance of His ways, knowing He could look at you and ask, “Have ye not so much as read?”

Acts 2:30 - “Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;”

Acts 17:28 - “For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.”

“Now Phillip … findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph …and saith unto him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.” John 1:44-51 (Condensed)

Jesus was impressed with the simple and ready faith of Nathanael. There are those who are ready to believe, and there are those, like Thomas, who need to see the “holes in His hands” before they can believe. We should feel sorrow for those who need such confirmation, for their skepticism is misdirected. Almost without exception, upon interview we will find that those who have no faith in what they cannot see (where spiritual things are concerned) seem to place all faith in what others claim to see (where the natural and temporal is concerned). It is as if they trust other’s vision more than their own in science and psychology, but trust only their own sight, feel, reason and understanding in religion and theology.

It seems that we place our trust first in the world’s philosophy and science. That misplaced priority is exposed when we say things like, “We’ve done all we can do. All we can do now is pray.” Faith in God’s provision and love could only do us good, but it is with doubt and with demand of proof that we reluctantly carry out His plan, place faith in His way, or trust Him with our lives. Jesus was amazed that Nathanael was so willing to do this.

The response He was expecting was more like Thomas’ reaction to the news of His resurrection.

“But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (John 20)

It makes me sad to read this story. Think of the sorrow and hurt the Lord must have felt when He held out His hands and said, “Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side.” The point to note here is that Jesus did accommodate Thomas – even in his unbelief. Though we may not arbitrarily apply this promise of meeting a person halfway to every searcher lacking in faith, it is cause for great hope, and shows the heart of Christ was with this disciple.

He then said, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”

(This story can be found in John 20.) That blessing Jesus mentioned is directed toward us – we who believe, having not seen. We hold the entire Gospel story by faith. There are great measures afoot to “prove” the Gospel is true and there are equal strides to “prove” that it is adulterated, exaggerated, or false.

These measures simply do not apply to us of unfeigned faith. What scientists, preachers, or mystics say does not move us. No matter what life itself tells us, we are men and women of faith in Christ. We do not believe because “the facts” line up and declare we should believe; we believe because He is alive in us and His Spirit is working in us, sustaining our very lives. As Paul said, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

True faith in God is rarer than you might deduce by polls taken in the United States. To say that we believe in God is much different than saying we live by faith in God. Yet, the Scriptures say, “…the just shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4) If you are waiting for science to prove God to you, or you are waiting for men of faith to prove that scientific theories are wrong, you are waiting in vain. You must now believe from your heart in Christ. You must hold to whatever shred of belief still remains in you and cultivate it into a life based in faith. The Scriptures give little hope to those who ignore the inner promptings of God within them, claiming that the Spirit will not always work in man.[1]

The Faith Perspective

If you are one who doubts the existence of God, consider this. Perhaps your focus is too narrow. Maybe you secretly want God to do parlor tricks, or maybe it is that your focus is upon yourself. In the Psalms, the writer, having a keen sense of the immense nature of God, had an opposite notion. He was amazed that the God of all creation would have anything to do with him at all! He asked, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (Psalms 8:3-4) Yet selfishly we may ask, “Why don’t you do something for me?” It may be that life, society or those around you have taught you to be too self-centered and self-important. If that is the case you may never see God as the Psalmist did.

Testimony of the Christian faith is not to be based upon scientific consultation, or theological perfection, but it is to be one of experience. The internal witness and life within, by the presence of the Holy Spirit, is how we know that He is risen and is seated at the right hand of God.

We need not visually see Him there to proclaim it. C. S. Lewis, a former atheist said, “I know that the sun is risen, not because I see it, but because by it, I see everything else.”

Nevertheless, when your focus shifts from the mundane and temporal, when your goal becomes getting to know your God instead of proving His existence, and your life become less egocentric, new realms of faith and Spirituality await you. Not an ethereal, non-existent, ignorant faith, but one of depth and reality known by the power of God extended to us on our behalf.

Our Savior knows that this does not come easy for some. He knows it has its difficulties. Nathaniel took Him by surprise when he so readily and quickly believed. The story of Nathaniel is not told us to set him apart from us, but for us to covet his faith. To believe simply because Christ said so is a wonderful trait and full of promise.

You, as a Christian, should require no more than the word of Christ to believe. If you do, it will be said of you that “you will see greater things” but first, you must stop putting God to the test. You desire “great” faith, when what you need is “easy” faith – faith that comes quickly and easily. The greatest things will only be seen as your faith becomes easier and easier to exercise. To act on His word to your heart alone is the greatest faith.

When Christ speaks words to your heart, be quick to receive them, without doubt. Surprise the Lord when He requires faith of you. What joy you will feel when He says, “Do you believe because of what I said? You will see greater things than these.”

[1]

Genesis 6:3, “And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man,

for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”

“And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John [the Baptist], What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled in soft clothing, and live delicately, are in kings' courts and houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet.” Luke 7:24-26 Matthew 11:7-9 (Combined)

All Israel was awaiting the return and ministry of the Prophet Elijah. This was misunderstood to mean a visitation from a man who would call himself Elijah (something John did not do) and would introduce the Messiah (something John did do). John, for whatever reason, went unnoticed as the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy, “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 3:1)

John did not fill the description that they had developed (or had been developed for them) in their mind. They were convinced he could not be “that Prophet.” The fact that John did not consider himself to be “that Prophet” did not help matters either. He was once asked, “…Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias [Elijah]? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou?

That we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? John said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias [Isaiah].” (John 1:19-23)

The disciples had no better understanding of the prophecy. Peter, James and John, after witnessing the transfiguration, seeing and recognizing Elijah with Christ, decided that this event that they witnessed must be the coming of Elijah for which all Israel had been waiting. Jesus corrected their thinking, “…Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed [pleased]. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.” (Matthew 17:11-13)

The coming of Elijah was a monumental event in the lives of all Israel and they waited for it with anticipation and delight. They set a place for the Prophet Elijah at every Passover meal and looked out the door to see if he was coming. They knew that he was the forerunner to Christ. They had, unfortunately, created an idea in their mind that the prophet for whom they waited would be much different than John the Baptist actually was.

Consequently, they missed the prophet for which they waited for centuries.

In our imagination we may see Jesus with his hands out at His sides, palms up, with a slight shrug in His shoulders as he asks, “When you came out here to see John, what were you looking for? Did you come out here to enjoy nature (a reed in the wind)? Were you disappointed that He was not finely dressed and did not represent the epitome of all your own earthly desires? Those who have the things you desire to see are Kings, not prophets.

Is that what you wanted to see? A prophet? John was much more than a prophet. But what did you expect to see? You are looking for signs and wonders, prophets, and mighty men, and are disappointed with all who are sent to you.

What are you looking for?”

This is a good question. What are we looking for? What would get us out of our houses and down to the riverbank? What would get our attention? We all have in our mind our own description of what a proper person, a prophet, a church, or a philosophy would be. The descriptions we have in our minds need to be brought out and analyzed. It could reveal what we seek and why. Jesus listed a few of the motivations that men may seek and these may help us categorize our own

What Are We Looking For?

A Naturist? He is someone with answers that fit into the natural scheme of things but are, in a sense, benign, ineffectual, and undemanding of change. A reed, shaking in the wind. He is sought by those who can see God in a sunset, but have trouble with His presence in the Commandments.

A Representative of our Humanity? This man will satisfy those who look for someone who has the answers, or has conquered the trials of life, who has overcome, a winner, one who has raised above the norm, a man in fine clothes, handsome and successful.

A Man of God? This is the man sought by those who are looking for a prophet, a Seer, or preacher who has the ear of God, and was commissioned or empowered by God. Someone above the average man. Those seeking this, feel that their quest is more noble than that of others; that they are seeking higher or “spiritual” things. They are often taken in by tricks, lofty language, goose bumps, platitudes, flattery, and promised acceptance by God.

Which one of these could take you in? Perhaps a combination of two, or all three? What would you go out to see? We all need to examine our motivations and desires and make sure they are as they should be.

Which leads to the query, how should they be?

Your answer is not around you; it is in you. “To whom God would make known … Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27) Not surprisingly, Christ perfectly satisfies all three of the attributes He listed. His ministry and His very life teach that you are not to look for answers in the creation (sunsets and nature); you are to look to the Creator.

Jesus was the “Representative of our humanity.” He was the “Man of God” there is no other. Yet the one who waited for Messiah missed Him, too. You will not be able to recognize fulfillment of prophecy by comparing what you see to your Bible’s pages, recognition will come from the Spirit within you. Nowhere in the Scripture does it say that when Messiah comes He will tell you how many husbands you have had, but some how the woman at the well knew.

She ran to her friends and said, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” (John 4:29)

Do not forget that He warned that deception was a possibility and even a probability. Remember His admonitions from Matthew 24, “Many will come… and will deceive many. Pay attention so you won’t be deceived. … when they say, ‘look, He is in the desert,’ go not forth.” Who are these “many” who are being deceived? Don’t they own Bibles? Don’t they know prophecy? It is not enough to know the book, you must know Him.

He knows that you have a tendency to look around before you look within. If you consider in advance, what you like and what you are like, you will be fore-armed against deception. The history of man shows that false teachers are sought and true prophets are killed. Even the Son of God Himself was not safe among us. One of the most dangerous deceptions is the one that convinces you that you are immune from deception.

If you feel that you cannot be deceived, you are presently in the throes of the worst deception of all. You needn’t think that deception always leads to communes, poison Kool-Aid, space ships and suicide pacts. Sometimes it just subtlety corrodes a person’s faith till there is nothing left in him but questions and doubt and fear of the unknown. Sometimes deception takes the form of knowledge.

Heaps of education can console and comfort those who once searched for Truth -- becoming a bulwark of defense against simple and uncomplicated faith in God. In every case, deception replaces Truth – the Truth that sets men free. Once it is gone nothing remains but a hollow shell where there once was a budding, burgeoning faith in God. What are you looking for?

Matthew 12:33-37, “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things…For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”

Among us there are those who have a propensity for kindness when considering man’s fallen state. Some think that mankind is in a totally depraved condition and lacks no ability to fully develop any evil thought, word, or deed. Then, the contradistinctive position is assumed that we are good beings that are getting a bad deal through no fault of our own (Adam) and God has since apologized by sending His son to die for us and we are all eventually going to live forever with God in bliss. In the mean time, the world is rampant with sin and not getting better.

In our day we are overrun with books and tapes explaining the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” We must admit that unpleasant things happen all the time to people who appear undeserving. Contrariwise we must admit that pleasant things happen to people who appear undeserving, unappreciative and unthankful and even unaware of any heavenly Father of lights from whom the good and perfect gifts come.

Ecclesiastes 8:14 says that this is an empty, or vain thought, “There is a vanity [waste of time] which is done upon the earth; [to consider] that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is [a waste of time] vanity.”

There are a couple of points to keep in mind when considering these hard questions about the good and bad happening to all, that don’t seem to surface in the discussions on “why.” One point is that bad things don’t happen to good people. There are no good people. “ALL we like sheep have gone astray, EVERY one of us has turned to his own way.” (Isaiah 53:6) All have sinned and come short, all have missed the mark. Jesus Himself said, There is none good – but God. Is this a technicality? Is this inapplicable when considering whether man is good or not, whether he deserves bad things or not?

We must not look at the “bad things” as getting what we deserve as much as fruit that has come to the tree. We must make either the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt or make the tree good and the fruit good, but we cannot say that a good tree is bringing forth corrupt fruit.

In Matthew 5:45, Jesus taught that we should bless and give gifts as God does, revealing that God gives the good things of life to all – without partiality. Life is indeed a gift from God. What if the rain only fell on the crops of those who love Him? “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Here we see the impartial loving favor of God, but what about the unpleasant things? In Ecclesiastes 2:14, where he was considering the fate of fools and wise he said, “… I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.” The only thing that separates God’s people from the rest is how the disaster is handled, not whether or not it comes. “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.” (Proverbs 24:16)

After the initial point (that there are no good people) is accepted, some will alter the question and ask, “Why do bad things happen to God’s people?” The question is yet moot, for just as there are no “good” people, we must consider that there are no “bad” things. The things that we insist on calling bad, really, are unwanted, unpleasant, painful, or costly.

Who would call a new baby a bad thing? Yet no one would look forward to hours of painful labor; or, if a man suddenly came into a great deal of money and it eventually caused him to turn from God and lose out on the eternal reward laid up for him, who could call the windfall a “good thing?” Jesus asked, “What would it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” Just because things are unpleasant and painful, we cannot label them “bad” until we see their effect on us in the long run. Just because we gain what we want, we cannot call the experiences “good” until we see how these things effect us long term.

From where do these things come? How are these pleasant and unpleasant things set into motion and suddenly appear in our lives? Jesus said that they come from our hearts and our mouths. We, who dwell on the wickedness in us and in this world, cause this wickedness to manifest and eventually (in the form of unpleasantness) appear in our lives.

They do not necessarily appear as unpleasant items mind you, but our reaction to ANYTHING – pleasant or unpleasant, good or bad, welcome or unwelcome, riches or poverty, sickness or health, causes our downfall, failure, hardship, or it brings about deliverance, joy, and accomplishment. We have the ability to make castles from sand or make sand of our castles. All this creative power comes from the ABUNDANCE of our heart.

…how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things…For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”

Realization of this idea (that you have the power within you to make any situation a stumbling block or a stepping stone) has caused an erroneous teaching. The error is that the abundance is in your control, namely in the words you speak. This is not a matter of learning to speak right, avoiding certain words or making good confessions of faith, nor is it control of your own will. You cannot decide to fill your heart with good things so your life will be better. You must lay down your life filled with evil, your heart filled with evil things, and exchange them for the abundant life and a heart full of good things.

This exchange is only accomplished through repentance and conversion.

Cry out to God for His mercy, and surrender your will to His. He will fill your heart with good things so that your reaction to the evil things, the “bad” and unpleasant things, will bring about goodness and blessing in your life.

Out of the Abundance of Your Heart

The abundance of your heart will cause you to speak good things. These words will not be a forced or wooden parroting of positive thinking verses; they will be true and genuine representations of the contents of your heart. There will be heard from your mouth the most gracious words of acceptance and goodwill. You will bless, and not curse, the things seemingly invading your life. ANY thing, good or bad will have the same effect of blessing. You will be surprised how the things that ruined you before will encourage and strengthen you now. From the abundance of your heart your mouth will speak.

Job 8:20-21 says, “Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers: Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing.”

Your own wickedness causes your grief. As soon as you realize that, you will be well on your way to repairing it. God waits for you to change your evil and selfish way. When you go His way, He will change your heart. That will change your acceptance of His will and your attitude toward your own life and the “good” and “bad” things that happen in it. This change will be heard in your speech. Complaints, condemnation, and confusion will disappear, and be replaced with blessing.

Your speech should sound as if God were in control. You need to smile and bless, and not condemn and not complain. It is true, your words need to change, but “How can ye, being evil, speak good things?” James 1:17

Matthew 12:26 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?

Mark 3:23 … How can Satan cast out Satan?

Luke 11:18 If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand?

Anyone remotely familiar with spiritual things has heard about the doctrine of the unpardonable sin. It has made its way into nearly every discussion, and usually it is never dealt with in a final way, settling the issue. What is it? How can someone commit such a sin? Is there no hope afterward?

Jesus had just performed a miracle of unmistakable credit. A lunatic that was mute and blind was brought to Jesus. This man was known in the area and it was obvious that there was a spirit on this man that had bound him physically. Jesus healed him so that the man could both speak and see. The religious leaders who witnessed this event could not attribute it to God for this confession would convict them. If they were to remain segregated from Christ, and they were to continue to teach that He was not who He said He was, they must condemn what He did and attribute it to some other power. So they said, “By the Lord of the Flies, (Beelzebub) this man casts out Satan, not by YHVH.” Jesus looked at them and said, “My Father will forgive anyone…of anything…but that.”

Many of the charlatans involved in “miracle” ministries today use this ploy. The idea of doubting their credibility is considered “blasphemy of the Holy Spirit” and they warn those who do, of committing an unforgivable sin. Some others, playing on words, say that, “not accepting Christ” is the unforgivable sin. It has also been attached to specific sins such as using the name of God in vain. What exactly is “blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?”

Matthew 12:31-32, “Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.”

It is clear that anyone who watched this miracle take place could not doubt that the source of the miracle was none other than YHVH the Creator. It was only stubborn pride and arrogance and a filthy heart that would conceive Christ’s collaboration with demons and let such an accusation spew out of their mouth.

When these men who were steeped in religion purposefully turned their eyes from the evidence and determined to harden their heart against accepting the clear witness of the Messiah, Jesus said that they had sealed their fate. Their rejection of the Father, who graciously sent them an irrefutable sign to believe in Messiah, was not only rejected and ignored, but then attributed to the archenemy of all mankind, the first rebel and hardener of hearts. The glory of God’s grace and power that was lovingly sent to us to help us and save us was sullied and ascribed, as though given by Satan to deceive us. It was the ultimate insult, done by intent, done by rebellion.

The miracle was incontrovertible. This was no parlor trick that could be done by slight of hand or mirrors. This miracle was unquestionably genuine, an attribute to which the “miracles” of today would have difficulty laying claim. When this miracle occurred, look at the reaction from the religious people there. It divided them into two. “But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils. And others, tempting [testing] him, sought of him a sign from heaven.” (Luke 11:15-16) In another place the Scriptures say, “And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?” (John 7:31) One group dismissed Him out-of-hand and rejected Him as a deceiver, the other’s attitude showed interest in more spectacular signs.

The group that is not mentioned is the family and friends of this poor man who was no longer dumb and blind. As the commotion rose from the religious leaders, some condemning Jesus and some urging Him on to do other miracles, there was a man looking at the world around him for the first time in his life.

He looked into the faces of his brothers and friends and was able for the first time to speak to them. The din of the crowd lessened to give way to the thoughts now rushing through His mind. He stood thoroughly fascinated with the world he beheld. There was opening before him, in full color, a world that, before today, he had only heard. Satan had been cast out.

Darkness was replaced by light; abundant life was now in the stead of misery. Jesus, ignoring the selfish requests for miracles, looks back over his shoulder at this man who now sees for the first time his own way home and his friends flocking around him, patting him and shaking his hand, wonders how anyone could see such a deliverance as the work of Satan. “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) He looks at the religious leadership and wonders to Himself, ‘Why would this miracle cause them to blaspheme God…How can they think this is the work of Satan?’ Then Jesus looks at them, holds His hand up and asks them out loud, “Why would Satan cast out Satan?”

Us Four…And No More

Sometimes we become so group oriented that we start to think that our group is the only one through which God moves and works. We are dangerously close to blasphemy when we attribute the wonderful work of God that occurs in circles we do not frequent, to forces that are considered to be at enmity with Heaven. We should thank God for the fruit no matter at which end of the vine it grows.

The deliverance from sins, the freedom in Christ, the healing of bodies and lives are reason enough to thank God, no matter from whose camp it came. None of us are the possessors of all truth; we walk in obedience (at least that is our goal) and take the path He lays before us. As Paul says, “Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth…” (Romans 14:4) We should rejoice and follow Christ. We are not to chase miracles we deem proper, nor are we to condemn those we determine are not. We are to follow.

Once when John, one of Jesus’ disciples, found another ministering in Christ’s name he came to Jesus and said, “…Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, “Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part.” (Mark 9:38-40)

Jesus feels no threat when someone outside your denomination does a wonderful work in His name. You should not either. If good is being accomplished then so be it, and thank God for it. When you see Satan’s kingdom suffer, no matter at whose hands, you can rest assured that our God has commissioned someone to do the job. When you think that the Devil is in the one who “followeth not us” you can easily determine the source by asking the same question Jesus asked of the doubting Pharisees, “Why would Satan cast out Satan?”

Matthew 7:16, “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?”

An immutable law of nature is that all life brings forth of its kind. Thus the question, do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? The answer is no, they do not, and Jesus implied, they cannot.

This Scripture is often misunderstood through misapplication. It does not instruct us how to discover “true Christians” nor provide a touchstone for self-evaluation. Also, it is often erroneously tied to Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

Well-meaning teachers have led us through the evaluation of our Christian walk and made claims that the absence of this listed fruit in our lives is an indicator of not being converted (or completely converted). Absence proves nothing. It is the PRESENCE of fruit that determines the family of the vine.

For example, you may walk through a garden and see a vine with no fruit on it. Discounting the ability to identify by foliage, can you accurately say this is not a pumpkin vine because you see no pumpkins? Of course not. It may be fully under way growing pumpkins at that very minute, but perhaps it’s diseased or malnourished, or at that moment it’s too young, or hindered in some other way to bear fruit. The presence of a watermelon, however, proves it is not a pumpkin vine.

The question remains, to whom does this Scripture apply? In context, the Lord was warning us of false prophets. He says that we will know false prophets by their fruit, “Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” (Matthew 7:17-20)

Jesus was telling those who would hear, “These men are thorns, not vines.” If you find a grape on a thorn it is because it was stuck there, it did not grow there. How it got stuck there is a matter for consideration.

A false prophet is a deceiver. This is a person falsely speaking for God (without authority) or a person speaking falsely for God (saying things that are not true). The difference is subtle, but important. The latter speaks lies in the name of God. These are usually not a threat to biblically sound people. The words of a false prophet are weighed and found in error by way of the axiomatic truth that the Spirit of God will not contradict Himself. Neither will the Spirit within us nor will the Spirit who brought forth the Scriptures, allow the lie to be believed. But, the other is more deceptive.

The person falsely speaking for God however, may be saying very nice things, Scriptural things, and things without the least contradiction; they are being said, however, without unction, without compulsion, without authority to speak. Through this kind of false prophet we are led into creaturely activity (fleshly motivated good works) and this subsequently causes an erosion of active communion with God to take place.

The Clothing of a Shepherd

All that being said, we are warned to beware of the false prophets because they wear the “clothing of a shepherd” (sheep’s clothing) and are inwardly starving, and desperate wolves. Sometimes “sheep’s clothing” is misunderstood to mean that these starving wolves dress themselves up like sheep, but it is, more correctly, the clothing of a shepherd that they don in order to deceive. They don’t try to look like sheep; they try to look like a shepherd, which is an office awarded to only one, our Christ Jesus. It is the intention of these wicked “shepherds” not to feed, but to fleece and flay, and the first step, toward that end, is deception.

A person intending to deceive must work first at appearances. With the warning that we will “know them by their fruits,” the deceiver must surround himself with fruit. This is why we may find grapes on thorns but must realize they didn’t grow there. There are many who tout their accomplishments – not to gloat, but to deceive.

Jesus said, “Abide in me, and I [will] in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” (John 15:4) From this verse, you must realize that any fruit borne OUTSIDE of Christ is corrupt fruit. This is not as easy to prove as it is to sense. If you are born of the incorruptible seed, you have within you the Holy Spirit who will witness to this, and therefore, you must maintain a clear conscience and contrite heart in order to hear the slightest whisper of His warning.

These issues of life from your heart are the only true defense against the false prophets, the endless parade of literature, books, movies, preachers, Bible translations and close dear friends and family who mean well, but are in error. “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

You must be vigilant and even suspicious to every twitch within you as you read, hear, and see things from all sources, accepting only that which the Lord reveals to you as true and worthy. The Scriptures secondarily, are never to be compromised as they were penned by men under the unction and authority of the Holy Spirit of God.

It would never insult a true prophet for someone to doubt, then check, and wait for confirmation from God on any revelation given them. Paul commended the Bereans for this. “These were nobler than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11) It is only the false prophet that leads people away from Christ’s witness within, and the Scripture’s witness without.

There are many fruits which are ascribed only to the children of God, and many which are found only on the withered and diseased branch of the false prophet. These fruits are well worth your attention and study.

When you determine a man to be truthful and faithful by the fruit abounding around him, you must be careful that you are not ascribing fruit to his ministry that did not grow there. I have seen whole churches full of proselytes.

A grape stuck on a thorn is not abiding in the vine. Although you may find a bramble bush loaded with grapes, Jesus wants us to know that they did not grow there. You should ask yourself, “Do men gather grapes from thorns?”

Matthew 7:3-5, “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

Sometimes we direct this reprimand of Christ toward the Pharisees, but this particular reproof was a general one. Let us accept the question as though it was directed to us. We have no good answer to His question. We cannot even claim concern for our neighbor as motivation for this behavior. He constructs an idea with this question that makes the operation of “mote removal” a dangerous one. His metaphor implies that we are performing eye surgery while blinded.

This question begins with the statement, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” (Matthew 7:1) Whenever I hear this verse quoted by the ungodly I envision one of those little “promise boxes” on their breakfast table. Every morning they open it and remove a card and read the verse for today, only, in their box, it is the same Scripture everyday. For people who live their own way, it is the Scripture of choice! It is tirelessly quoted by everyone from the heroine addict in the alley to the deacon called before the church board, but is it truly understood by any of us?

Are we really never to call into question the behavior of anyone? Are we never to voice God’s displeasure about the sinful acts of anyone? How will those who never their lives in the light of righteousness understand the judgment that is upon them? How will they ever come to know forgiveness? Furthermore, if our duty is to reprove or correct one another, as the Scripture plainly teaches, how do we honor the clear command to “judge not?”

As in the days of Christ, we are occasionally found in the company of those who judge us unfairly. In Luke it is written this way, “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven…” (Luke 6:37) This is more complete in thought than the Matthew account.

This verse teaches that we must keep in mind our own condition as we help or guide others on their way. We should judge like we want to be judged, condemn as we wish condemnation for ourselves and forgive as we desire forgiveness to be granted us. That should take the edge off of our high and mighty tone.

It Is Love That Is Lacking

In harsh judgment, it is the love that is lacking. The purity of empathetic love can enable a counselor to say, without reprisal, things that no one else would dare even approach. When I was involved in the children’s home ministry, I instructed my teachers and staff in this concept: a child is only to be disciplined or corrected if he is absolutely sure that he is loved by the one who disciplines him. A great test for loving involvement in the child’s life was questions like, “Do you know the child’s middle name? Do you know his best friend? Do they have brothers and sisters?” If they are sure you love them, you can say nearly anything, but if they doubt your love at all, you can offend with the most delicate of correction.

Love is not the only thing missing in counsel to our brethren; it should also be noted that the standard by which we judge is deficient. We can only speak from our own perspective. As much as we would like to be the holders of all truth, we are not. Things change, people change, and situations are viewed assorted ways by different people at various times. We cannot know all, to finally and completely judge anyone. After all, are you the same person today you were 10 years ago? Did you have an opinion then? Did you offer it to others? Did you not demand that you were right? Are there things you understand today that you didn’t understand then? All these things should be considered when you find yourself offering differing or judgmental opinions.

Humility will serve well in this situation. Love will present common ground. As you live, you learn. As you look back, you may see that you had a “beam” in your eye, or actions that displeased God, which were never revealed to you. As they came to light and you dealt with them, you were amazed that God had tolerated them (and you) for all those years! Have you come to realize that you should do the same for your brothers and sisters in Christ?

Let God reveal the faults of your brethren to them. We can count on Him to do so clearly, distinctly and mercifully. Meanwhile, if you have not created a situation of enmity between you and those with whom God is dealing, they may come to you for guidance.

Also, consider that if you have recognizably grown in the Lord, it is probable that you will continue to do so. Ten years from now you may have “beams” removed, that today, you are not even aware that you have.

As these beams are removed, you become a better Christian, a better person, and a better counselor. You may then see clearly and be in a better position to help your brother with his “mote.” Remember the Scripture didn’t tell you to be unconcerned with your neighbor’s mote, it asks why you are attempting to remove it while blinded by a “beam.” As the verses continue: “…first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.”

Notice how the language has changed from “beholdest the mote” to “cast out the mote.” To “behold” is an Elizabethan term (King James) used to call attention to something. To behold is not simply to notice or to know of its existence. It is to expose, to uncover, or bring to the fore.

It is obvious the person who is only beholding the mote is more interested in framing the flaw for exposition than in helping to make positive changes.

It goes without saying that when the flaw is put on display, it is an attempt to compare –to make someone look better (or worse) than someone else. Our responsibility is clear that we must not judge, condemn, or neglect forgiveness. But, as things are discovered in our brother that will eventually condemn him, if we are keeping vigilant watch over our own life and remaining clear before God we must, in humility, help him to remove it, but only as the need for its removal is revealed to him and he seeks our assistance. As we find there, things for which we feel God’s judgment will be incurred, we are obliged to keep our own life free of that which blinds us and hinders our helping him.

Judgment that is beneficial, and that is not condemned in Scripture, is done in love and humility and order. You must love those you evaluate. If you do not love them, they will know it – whether consciously or sub-consciously and they will despise your assessment and suggestions. You cannot fake it, so don’t try it.

The humility factor is made plain by the apostle in the book of Galatians (6:1), “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” We are never far from possessing the very same fault we find in another; we are indeed all in the same precarious condition.

The order, that is so necessary, is clear in the words of Jesus Christ, “…first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.” The words “first” and “then” show the order. It would seem simple but it is easily forgotten. Many hours of self-examination, prayer and comparison of your life to the examples in Scripture and to the yardstick of the Spirit need to take place before you reach for the splinter in your brother’s eye.

You must remember that you are the salt of the earth, and the light of the world, not the x-ray machine. You are to add and enhance – to enlighten what is already visible. Not discover and reveal what is hidden. When you judge, you are assuming an office that is to be occupied by God alone. As Christ was leaving this world, He told of the Holy Spirit’s ministry. He will lead and guide and He convinces the world of sin. It is simply not your job.

Jesus asks, “Why do you call attention to your brother’s problem?” If you are doing this you need to examine why. It may be that you are becoming aware of a shortfall in your own life. The revealer of men’s hearts may be convincing you, at this moment, of a problem. If you are to fulfill Christ’s order to “see clearly” so you can help your brother, you will have to remove your ocular barrier. Perhaps this is why Jesus called the Pharisees “blind guides” and “blind leaders of the blind.”

Your brother’s splinter is aggravating him. It hurts and hinders his ability to see. He only thinks it is normal by comparing his tiny sliver to other’s two by four boards.

There is no good answer to Christ’s question. It is your board you are trying to conceal when you make your brother’s splinter known. A confession of this is the only honest answer to Christ’s question, “Why do you call attention to splinters in your brother’s eye?”

The Pharisees overheard Jesus say, “Thy sins be forgiven thee” and asked among themselves, “Who is this that speaks blasphemies?” “And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?” (Mark 2:8, Luke 5:22)

As Jesus went about doing good He perceived from time to time that someone would tune in to His mission or purpose and indeed start to realize who He was. This time, with the Pharisees, was different than the others. Usually when the scribes or Pharisees mumbled to themselves, Jesus blasted them for being treacherous to the Kingdom of God. But this time He was pleasant, as if He saw in them a glimmer of hope. For a moment they asked within themselves, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” … They thought, “Maybe this is Messiah.”

Jesus perceived this and was willing to take them a little farther, and so to accomplish this, He showed them a miracle. The Mark 2 account records no negative reaction, but rather a response as “...insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.”

Why reason ye in your hearts? Do you have an opinion about the motivations of Jesus? Was He a performing a true miracle? Was it just hypnotism? Was it fraud or deception? Why have you formed that opinion? You must never underestimate the power of the Scriptures on this regard. When these stories are read, they demand an opinion. Information creates an opinion. You must decide whether to believe or not. Jesus perceived they were approaching faith as they watched Him. He gave them more information to process as He asked, “What are you thinking?”

We must ask ourselves what are we thinking as we listen to Christ make assertions, such as, “I am the door… anyone climbing up some other way is a thief.” (John 10:1) When we hear Him plainly say that He is the ONLY way, what reason ye in your hearts? What about when He says, “I and my Father are one.” (John 10:30) When Jesus makes Himself equal with God, what reason ye in your hearts? Do you search for or invent ways for His message to be different than it is written, or do you accept it as an accurate record? Why are you reasoning in your heart?

When our Lord makes demands like, “Take no thought for your life,” why reason you in your heart? What about when He says, “No man can serve two masters,” or “Judge not, that ye be not judged” or “…depart from me, ye that work iniquity, I never knew you” Consider to yourself what Christ asks, “Why reason ye in your hearts?”

Listen closely as you study your Bible, or as you meditate, or as you listen in prayer, or as you listen to others minister the Word of God. Listen to what you reason in your heart. We may be dismissing God’s Word, His revelation, or His miracle by lack of sound reasoning. Is your reasoning carrying you toward Christ or away from Him? Is your inclination to believe and follow, or doubt and prove in order to hold to your own way? “What reason ye in your hearts?” “Why reason ye in your hearts?”

When demand is made on us by way of the Scriptures, ministry, or revelation, or even by life’s burdens, we may be prone to excuse our behavior. For some reason of incompatibility between the source of this demand and our “peculiar” circumstances we dismiss it as impertinent. We must be very careful with conviction. Our consciences are the ONLY natural sense that can keep us along the way and recover us when we falter. We must consider the care of our convictions and promptings as important or more so, than the care of our sight or hearing, knowing that when it's gone there is no second chance[1].

Sometimes in traumatic situations the human psyche has the ability to block out facts seen and heard, skew them into fantastic illusion and believe them. We have all disbelieved what we saw or heard in some painful or frightening situation.

Disregarding Our Consciences

We know it is possible to DISREGARD what we take into our five senses. We also know that a constant disregard can lead to a numbing or in some cases an atrophied condition of the senses that can cause a dangerous situation. So it is with our consciences. If we disregard or explain away our discomfort, we run a risk of losing the most valuable sense we have – the sense of right and wrong – the sense that our acts are hurting our God, thwarting His purposes, short-circuiting His plan, or breaking His Commandments.

The conscience is more than knowing. The word is a Latin cognate (com- + scire) that means exactly that – more than knowing. The Scripture mentions it, using the Greek word suneidesis {soon-i'-day-sis} to know within. I am convinced that it is “the light” John spoke of. “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” (John 1:9) It is the lamp to our path – the Word of God to our heart to lead us to Christ. John recognized it, Paul protected it, and Peter saw it as a guide toward righteousness.

And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. (John 8:9)

And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. …And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men. Acts 23:1 - Acts 24:16

Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: (1 Timothy 1:19)

For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. (1 Peter 2:19)

Your conscience is protected by your sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. You protect it by never grieving your guide (the Holy Spirit), by remaining pliable, willing, and subject to the subtlest movement of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is the force by which you are sealed unto the day of redemption. To interfere with, frustrate, or grieve Him is a dangerous action.

The apostle warns in Ephesians 4:30, “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” It would behoove us to cultivate this sense, attempt to increase our sensitivity to that which displeases God so that our actions would be more in line with His will and way.

As this sensitivity improves, it starts to merge with our other physical senses and soon we can know good and evil by sight, by touch, and intuition. The writer of Hebrews claims this intuition is the mark of one who has come to full age in Christ. “… even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:14)

The Pharisees in the story were on the verge of recognizing Messiah and possibly believing on Him and changing their entire destiny. They were playing games of rationalization, justification and in their own minds, they finally decided that if someone was wrong, they reasoned, it had to be this carpenter’s boy. Alas, they reasoned – they reasoned incorrectly. They toyed with their better judgment – their conscience. They ignored the truth that was becoming apparent to them. They turned from the light given them that day. They shunned their conscience and in doing so, they shunned the God of the whole earth. Maybe the Spirit would deal with them again, possibly once more, twice perhaps – who’s to say?

You must protect your conscience. It is your only defense against an insincere conformity to religious codes. It is your first defense against sin. It is your lifesaver when you stumble. Remember 1 Timothy 4:2, and the use of the phrase”… having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” A sinful man with no conscience is in a condition of little hope – a religious man without one is likely a hypocrite.

The Pharisees moved, slowly but surely, through this time of reasoning to final and total rejection of the Messiah. Although total apostasy may be remote for you, you may find yourself with severe gaps in theology, understanding, or comprehension of spiritual concepts and values.

When you encounter pricks in your conscience, don’t reason it away. When you feel leadings of the Spirit, convictions of displeasing behavior, you must be quick to respond.

When at the crossroads of decision, see clearly in your mind the Lord Jesus, perceiving the movement of the Spirit in you, looking your way, and asking, “Why reason ye in your hearts?”

Ephesians 4:30, “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

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We are often reluctant to pray “Thy will be done.” It is even taught today that it is a sure sign of a lack of faith to pray, “Not my will but as thou wilt” although that is a quote from the Son of God, Christ Jesus. Many use this phrase out of obligation to the commandment or fear of rejection. After giving God the list of needs and wants, “Thy will be done” is added to offset any disappointment of not receiving our selfish petition. More thought must be given to prayer than this.

If we have no assurance that the things we desire are the will of God for our lives, we have no business asking for them. It is a basic distrust of God as a “good father” that causes us to hold aloof the words, “Thy will be done.” “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?”

Prior to this question in Matthew 7, Jesus was teaching that we are to ask for God’s will to be done, here, just as it is done in heaven; and that an honest, seeking person will not go away empty-handed. He was assuring us that we need not fear asking for God’s will to be done. To make the point clear He asked the following question:

“…what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”

When Luke recorded this, he added, “Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?” (Luke 11:10-13) This further makes the point that this is a rhetorical question, because it evokes the response, “Of course we would not do that!” He wants us to know that praying for God’s will and our good are not crossed purposes.

A Part of Our Model

Jesus places this concept into the model prayer and therefore puts it into a category of richness beyond the first glance. As with all of the Lord’s model prayer, it demands we make personal changes. To make the prayer comfortable or natural, you must either change it, or you are forced change yourself. When you see your life not conforming to the words of the prayer, it shows that you are out of sync with the life that Christ intended for you. Who, but a few, could honestly pray for “daily bread” with a week’s supply of food on hand? Who can say, “Forgive me because I forgive everyone who sins against me?” You must therefore make your life fit the prayer.

We have, rather, attempted to change the prayer, or at least made it impotent. We set aside the power of this prayer by teaching it as a nursery rhyme and saying it with the cadence of a limerick. But for this prayer to truly have its intended effect, we must make “Thy will be done" as easy to pray earnestly, and in truth, as it is to say from memory.

When you say the first words “Our Father,” these words should truly reflect your feelings of community with other believers and your place in family of God. “Thy Kingdom come” should roll from lips truly desirous to see the His Kingdom established. “Forgive us our debts,” ought to be said in full assurance of being granted because no grudge or debt is being held by you toward anyone. Then, “Thy will be done” can be said and felt sincerely, clearly, and confidently. After all, “…what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?”

The imagery in the words used by Jesus is astounding. Notice all the desired articles mentioned: bread, an egg, a fish – all items of sustenance and nourishment. Notice the articles we assumed to receive from God were a stone, a scorpion, or a serpent – items that are common, useless, dangerous, and even deadly. Is this how we consider His will for us? Are these the “gifts” we presume to avoid by evading the prayer, “Thy will be done?” Shame on us for thinking our God to be such a father.

As you become increasingly aware of the goodness of God, and understand that His demands are not unfair, that His commandments are not grievous, and that His way is not arduous, you will accept (and soon even desire) His will above your own. Yes, you will wonder why you avoided His will before.

You will find that it was your idea of bread that should be considered a stone when compared to His bread; much like a hungry child may want cake over potatoes or candy over vegetables, your desire for the poison of your own will is only a misunderstood hunger for true sustenance.

From God’s viewpoint, the eggs you ask for may in fact be scorpions, and although you ask for fish with your mouth your fingers are pointing at serpents. Let our loving heavenly Father feed you from the table of His will and you will never reach for serpents, stones, or scorpions, while hungry for bread.

Good Things

In Luke, we find that the author replaced the words “good things” with “the Holy Spirit.” “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:13) Many who interpret this to mean a “gift” of the Holy Spirit, seem to miss the point. “…to them that ask Him”… ask Him for what? The Holy Spirit? No, the Holy Spirit is not a gift given to anyone who simply asks for it as a gift. It is a state of being, an indwelling, set aside for those who surrender their will to Him and those who can honestly pray “Thy will be done” without reservation, without hypocrisy, and with a sincere heart. Can you say, “Lord, don’t give me what I want…give me what you want me to have, no matter what”? It is then that you are able to be indwelled.

It is then that you are qualified to receive the “gift.” As you make an inhabitable home for the Holy Spirit, by humility and surrender, you become capable of receiving the good things that He desires you to have. The Holy Spirit of God would not, indeed could not, be in harmony with simultaneous distrust of YHVH as a good Father.

When you doubt His will and disbelieve His good intentions, when you are skeptical and distrusting about praying, “Thy will be done,” and when you think that your desires are honorable and His are suspect, you make an antagonistic environment for the Holy Spirit.

For the Spirit of God knows God only as thoroughly good[1] and appreciates no will other than His. In this condition of doubt and fear of an untrustworthy God, you can expect never to experience in fullness the indwelling Christ, nor the warmth of the Comforter, nor the uninhibited fellowship of the Father. The Holy Spirit, spoken of by Jesus, will never be a gift to you.

Why do we distrust Him so? Why do we fear to say, “Thy will be done?” Why, in our deepest distress, when loss of life or a loved one is before us, when life’s tragedies are imminent and sorrow seemingly unavoidable, can we not cry out to God in full assurance that our good and ultimate joy is considered when we pray “Thy will be done?” Do we really think that what He offers is more grief, more sorrow, and more heartache? If His will is so far from ours, should we not make the changes necessary to reconcile the two?

He loves you more than you can know. You can only trust Him as much as you love Him and love Him as much as you trust Him. As you inch your way by faith to more love and more trust, isn’t it a lovely thought to contemplate the question, “If a son shall ask bread…will a father give him a stone?”

1 Corinthians 2:10-11, “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.”

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Matthew 6:28, “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin...”

If we are going to answer this question honestly, we must first accept the premise that we do take thought for raiment. Could there be anyone who does not agree with this? Clothes are some of the most important things we use in judging status in our society. Clothing is a major visual clue we use to decide “who” we are talking to, what place in society he or she holds, what they may do for a living, and into what financial bracket they fall.

These clues are apparent to us, whether consciously or unconsciously; by the clothes we see them wear. Secondly we may look to the face and expression, third to the conversation and deportment, and fourth to the claims they make with their words, but for the most part, we judge and decide, criticize and condemn, or justify and idolize by the clothes a person wears. With objective consideration, we would discover this behavior to be shameful at least, and at worst, insane.

The Clothes Make The Man.

Or so it is said. We are all subjected to this “Dress for Success” mentality in one form or another. Any of us will feel different, and indeed, be different to one degree or another, if given a different outfit of clothes.

We all look for the clothes to be, at least congruent to the station in life to which that person lays claim. Imagine a policeman with no emblem of authority, no uniform, without anything to separate him from the crowd and nothing to show his authority? What could he accomplish? Imagine what respect a stockbroker would get at an investment strategy meeting who was dressed in tatters. Or conversely, wouldn’t an employee who dressed better than all his peers be considered first for promotion? Consider what changes would come over even a homeless man with a new suit of clothes. We must concede – there is power in appearance.

In our society, we are trained to look at the cloth with which a person is wrapped, from Barbie dolls to CEO’s. Life and society has taught us that we are no greater than how we appear, we are no more noble, no richer, no more intelligent, no better, than the clothes on our back.

Although nearly all of society judges and is judged by dress, is a Christian to participate in this masquerade party? Opinions are many on this subject, so let us defer to the Scriptures.

“My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? …If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.” (James 2:1-9)

Some may argue that this Scripture only deals with our attitude toward the way someone is dressed and says nothing about whether we should give so much care to the way we dress ourselves. But consider this: When we dress ourselves in clothing finer than our peers are we not respecting a person’s outer appearance? Albeit, we are respecting ourselves, are we not expecting others to have respect toward us and hold us in higher esteem because of our clothing? Are we not guilty of creating in others, the very sin we are admonished to reject in ourselves? A few moments of consideration will reveal the convoluted reasoning we have used to dress according to our pride and avarice while simultaneously condemning “respect of persons” as sin. When we expect others to respect us, or form opinions about us, by the way we dress, we are cultivating characteristics in others that are unwelcome in ourselves.

Another consideration is mockery. When we drape our body with garnish, gold, and finery, do we not mock God? After all, clothes are only a necessary part of our life because of mankind’s sin. Can you see the connection in sin and clothing? These elements, present at the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, are consistently appearing in our list of present-day struggles with righteousness. Clothes, food, pride, and every lust of the eye, are all present in our daily quest to avoid sin and please God. To take pride in our covering, indeed in our atonement, is a strange (if not evil) behavior, is it not? None put it better than did the Quaker apologist, Robert Barclay speaking on simplicity in dress…

“In the first place, the use of clothes originally came from the fall of Adam, and otherwise man would apparently have had no use for them. But his miserable state made them necessary to cover his nakedness and keep him from becoming cold. Both are good and sufficient reasons for wearing clothes, and the principal reason we do so. But it can in no way be lawful for a man to delight himself with the fruit of his iniquity and the consequences of his sin. Any superfluous additions or extensions beyond their real use are clear abuses of the creation and therefore they are not lawful for Christians. Those who love gaudy and ostentatious clothing demonstrate little concern for mortification or self-denial. They apply themselves more to beautifying their bodies than to improving their souls. Those who have so little regard for their mortal condition are more nominal than real Christians.”[1]

“…let it not be that outward…”

What waste we would avoid and what equality we would enjoy if we were to gain mastery over this insidious flaw in the character of man. What thrift, what humility, what reality would we be brought to if only we evaluated each other as God does?

“…for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7b)

“Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.” (1 Peter 3:3-4)

Jesus said, Behold, [for example, let me present] the flowers. They don’t work until they’re weary so they can wear the best fashions. They wear what is provided and eat what is provided. What outstanding examples of faith in their God, and what great examples of health and beauty.

If our lives reflected such health, beauty, and faith, what excellent examples we would be to behold.

Clothes have a power far beyond their basic and intrinsic ability for weather protection and obscuration of nakedness. This power must be respected and held in check. Do you place more value upon clothes than is just and right? Do you judge God’s children by the cut and price of the mere cloth draped over their shoulders? Are you more concerned with a garment’s fashion than its function? You should consider, the question of Christ, “Why take ye thought for raiment?”

[1] From Barclay’s Apology in Modern English edited by Dean Freiday p. 406 ã1991 Barclay Press

Matthew 6:25, “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”

The ad says, “Eat all you want and lose weight.” We should be ashamed that we are so willing to lay aside common sense (not to mention unchangeable laws of physics) to embrace a lie conceived in avarice, propagated by greed and believed only by the selfish and foolish. Why do we do this? In an interview with a confidence man convicted of bilking older people out of their fortunes by wild investment promises, he was asked how he could convince his victims of such ridiculous schemes. He stated, “We all believe in what we want to be true.” It could be added that if the plan involves indulgences, count us in; if it involves abstinence, count us out.

We are willing to do anything that adds to us, whether to our bank account, our indulgent lifestyle, or our circle of friends. We are awash in advice and counsel on how to live longer and have more and we take it into our heads, our homes, our Meetings, and our hearts. We have become obsessed with the prospect of having all we want to eat and still looking thin.

We are fascinated with schemes of being paid more and more for less and less work. We are sold toys and gadgets making impossible promises of less work and more enjoyment.

Because of this philosophy, the average American is manacled to credit card debt. The mail, delivers monthly the tenacious reminders of reality left over from the accumulation of things he was convinced he wanted and needed (or the things he convinced himself) that he “could not live” without. The fact that our spiritual subsistence and our physical proliferation are at opposite ends of the scale of our care, our attention, and importance, seems to elude our thinking. We know it; we just can’t seem to remember it when we see something we want. We need to reassess our condition and consider the question Jesus asked here, “Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”

Granted, some of our sloth in these areas is due to weakness but some is due to plain inattentiveness. You would likely be surprised at the difference in the portion of your fortune that is given toward the advancement of the Kingdom of God and what portion is allotted to restaurants. What is the difference in time devoted to preparing the soul and mind by meditation, worship, and prayer, and the time devoted to dressing, preparing, and feeding the body? An evening with a calculator and your credit card statements can be very enlightening. (These figures more than surprised me— I was ashamed.) We simply have not paid attention. Where a man’s treasure is (or is spent) there is where you will find his heart. This is elementary, but a lesson from which many seem to have never graduated. “Is not the life more than food, and the body than clothes?”

Aahhh… This Is The Life!

It is interesting to note that Jesus asks, “Is not THE life… more than food…etc. I like the way He asks us about the life. Not life – but the life. In our vernacular we use this same term when things are as we think they should be. When all is in place, and life is working well, when we are comfortable and happy, we sigh and look to our companion and say, “This is the life!” Contrarily, when things are not so great, when our toys and machines break down, when we hear our neighbor or our companion complain about the way things are, we answer with futility and say, “Well, that’s life!”

Somehow, there is a message in the words of Jesus here for us Americans. “Is not the life more than food?” Sure, life, subsistence, survival, basic biological propagation is hardly more than the acquisition of food, but the life is a different question altogether. Life in its basic and biological form is continued by what we can add to it, food, water, shelter, all the basic necessities, but, the life, where all is as it should be, I am convinced, is obtained by what we can leave out of it.

This may be the most difficult of all paradoxes in life to apprehend. I have seen the idea pass through the minds of many, but I have seen it take root in few. I have seen envy on the face of men worth millions when they meet a man with nothing more than basic necessities, but it was just a fleeting notion. I am sure this idea of simplicity and minimalism was being considered by the rich young man who came to Jesus and asked Him, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus said, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven… But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.” Many days in this young man’s life, he likely said, “Aahhh… this is the life!” – but, he knew it wasn’t.

The saddest part of the question posed by Jesus, too, is the answer. When we consider in full, our lives, how they are spent, the things over which we worry and complain, we must answer His question with a resounding, “No.” He asks, “Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” “No, dear Savior, it is not,” our answer must come back. “Our life is no more than an opportunity to acquire our delicacies and our body, only a hollow mannequin with no other purpose than to display our fashionable clothes. Our bank accounts are there only to hold in store for us our treasures and to serve our wants and desires at our beck and call.

Our pantries store goods for many days and as in the Bible story[2] we say to our soul, ‘Soul, eat drink and be merry!’” Indeed, an honest answer would be shameful one.

Jesus taught that taking thought for these things will hinder your ability to let go of your life, a necessary action for true conversion. This focused concern for your belly causes you to be able to see no further than the plate of food in front of you, and when it is gone your thoughts can extend no further than the source of your next morsel. It causes difficulties for faith as related in Luke 12:29, “And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.” The stories of Jesus mention an activity common among the unjust, the faithless, the doubtful, and the wicked.

Can you guess what it was?

Drunkenness And Gluttony

They were nearly always eating and drinking. Matthew 24:49, “And shall begin …to eat and drink with the drunken.”

Luke 12:19-45

“And I will say to my soul…take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”… “But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin…to eat and drink, and to be drunken;”

The Church has done poorly at keeping the words eating and drinking linked together as equally wicked sin. Eating (or better called gluttony) is a favorite pastime of those who profess Christ. It is a behavior accepted by the conventional church while emphatically condemned by the Scriptures! It is no different than drunkenness. You will be hard pressed to find many Scriptures that do not show these two horses in the same harness.

A staggering alcoholic and a body laden with fat are as near kin as are thieves and liars. The religious say nearly nothing when the health of a friend is taxed from excessive eating and if something were said, it certainly would never equal the stir that would come from a churchman with alcohol on his breath.

A drug addict, whose health stands in jeopardy and whose wellbeing is set aside as he purchases and prepares another fix, is not a whit different than anyone who ignores their palpitating heart, their shortness of breath and their ever-increasing size to sidle up to the table and swallow another mouthful of unnecessary food. Although they are equally wicked, and equally dangerous to body as well as the soul, the fact that they are both blatant sins against God and good sense, has somehow escaped us.

Jesus taught that overeating could cause the day of Christ to overtake you while you are “unaware.” It is the “unawareness” that is so dangerous. When you understand that it is the “unawareness” that you seek when overeating and it is the “unconsciousness” provided by indulgence that you are looking for, you will treat overeating with the same disdain as drunkenness. Perhaps you will avoid overeating as you avoid intoxication in other forms. “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.” (Luke 21:34)

Have you a problem with dullness of mind? Do you anguish over your indifference to spiritual things? Surfeiting (overeating) is the main cause of apathy and ennui.

When was the last time a fast of several days found its way into your schedule? You know that your heart, your spirit, even your very soul is affected by indulgence in any form, yet, as helpless as any alcoholic or drug addict...]]>5. Is not life more than food?

Matthew 6:25, “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”

The ad says, “Eat all you want and lose weight.” We should be ashamed that we are so willing to lay aside common sense (not to mention unchangeable laws of physics) to embrace a lie conceived in avarice, propagated by greed and believed only by the selfish and foolish. Why do we do this? In an interview with a confidence man convicted of bilking older people out of their fortunes by wild investment promises, he was asked how he could convince his victims of such ridiculous schemes. He stated, “We all believe in what we want to be true.” It could be added that if the plan involves indulgences, count us in; if it involves abstinence, count us out.

We are willing to do anything that adds to us, whether to our bank account, our indulgent lifestyle, or our circle of friends. We are awash in advice and counsel on how to live longer and have more and we take it into our heads, our homes, our Meetings, and our hearts. We have become obsessed with the prospect of having all we want to eat and still looking thin.

We are fascinated with schemes of being paid more and more for less and less work. We are sold toys and gadgets making impossible promises of less work and more enjoyment.

Because of this philosophy, the average American is manacled to credit card debt. The mail, delivers monthly the tenacious reminders of reality left over from the accumulation of things he was convinced he wanted and needed (or the things he convinced himself) that he “could not live” without. The fact that our spiritual subsistence and our physical proliferation are at opposite ends of the scale of our care, our attention, and importance, seems to elude our thinking. We know it; we just can’t seem to remember it when we see something we want. We need to reassess our condition and consider the question Jesus asked here, “Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”

Granted, some of our sloth in these areas is due to weakness but some is due to plain inattentiveness. You would likely be surprised at the difference in the portion of your fortune that is given toward the advancement of the Kingdom of God and what portion is allotted to restaurants. What is the difference in time devoted to preparing the soul and mind by meditation, worship, and prayer, and the time devoted to dressing, preparing, and feeding the body? An evening with a calculator and your credit card statements can be very enlightening. (These figures more than surprised me— I was ashamed.) We simply have not paid attention. Where a man’s treasure is (or is spent) there is where you will find his heart. This is elementary, but a lesson from which many seem to have never graduated. “Is not the life more than food, and the body than clothes?”

Aahhh… This Is The Life!

It is interesting to note that Jesus asks, “Is not THE life… more than food…etc. I like the way He asks us about the life. Not life – but the life. In our vernacular we use this same term when things are as we think they should be. When all is in place, and life is working well, when we are comfortable and happy, we sigh and look to our companion and say, “This is the life!” Contrarily, when things are not so great, when our toys and machines break down, when we hear our neighbor or our companion complain about the way things are, we answer with futility and say, “Well, that’s life!”

Somehow, there is a message in the words of Jesus here for us Americans. “Is not the life more than food?” Sure, life, subsistence, survival, basic biological propagation is hardly more than the acquisition of food, but the life is a different question altogether. Life in its basic and biological form is continued by what we can add to it, food, water, shelter, all the basic necessities, but, the life, where all is as it should be, I am convinced, is obtained by what we can leave out of it.

This may be the most difficult of all paradoxes in life to apprehend. I have seen the idea pass through the minds of many, but I have seen it take root in few. I have seen envy on the face of men worth millions when they meet a man with nothing more than basic necessities, but it was just a fleeting notion. I am sure this idea of simplicity and minimalism was being considered by the rich young man who came to Jesus and asked Him, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus said, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven… But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.” Many days in this young man’s life, he likely said, “Aahhh… this is the life!” – but, he knew it wasn’t.

The saddest part of the question posed by Jesus, too, is the answer. When we consider in full, our lives, how they are spent, the things over which we worry and complain, we must answer His question with a resounding, “No.” He asks, “Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” “No, dear Savior, it is not,” our answer must come back. “Our life is no more than an opportunity to acquire our delicacies and our body, only a hollow mannequin with no other purpose than to display our fashionable clothes. Our bank accounts are there only to hold in store for us our treasures and to serve our wants and desires at our beck and call.

Our pantries store goods for many days and as in the Bible story[2] we say to our soul, ‘Soul, eat drink and be merry!’” Indeed, an honest answer would be shameful one.

Jesus taught that taking thought for these things will hinder your ability to let go of your life, a necessary action for true conversion. This focused concern for your belly causes you to be able to see no further than the plate of food in front of you, and when it is gone your thoughts can extend no further than the source of your next morsel. It causes difficulties for faith as related in Luke 12:29, “And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.” The stories of Jesus mention an activity common among the unjust, the faithless, the doubtful, and the wicked.

Can you guess what it was?

Drunkenness And Gluttony

They were nearly always eating and drinking. Matthew 24:49, “And shall begin …to eat and drink with the drunken.”

Luke 12:19-45

“And I will say to my soul…take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”… “But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin…to eat and drink, and to be drunken;”

The Church has done poorly at keeping the words eating and drinking linked together as equally wicked sin. Eating (or better called gluttony) is a favorite pastime of those who profess Christ. It is a behavior accepted by the conventional church while emphatically condemned by the Scriptures! It is no different than drunkenness. You will be hard pressed to find many Scriptures that do not show these two horses in the same harness.

A staggering alcoholic and a body laden with fat are as near kin as are thieves and liars. The religious say nearly nothing when the health of a friend is taxed from excessive eating and if something were said, it certainly would never equal the stir that would come from a churchman with alcohol on his breath.

A drug addict, whose health stands in jeopardy and whose wellbeing is set aside as he purchases and prepares another fix, is not a whit different than anyone who ignores their palpitating heart, their shortness of breath and their ever-increasing size to sidle up to the table and swallow another mouthful of unnecessary food. Although they are equally wicked, and equally dangerous to body as well as the soul, the fact that they are both blatant sins against God and good sense, has somehow escaped us.

Jesus taught that overeating could cause the day of Christ to overtake you while you are “unaware.” It is the “unawareness” that is so dangerous. When you understand that it is the “unawareness” that you seek when overeating and it is the “unconsciousness” provided by indulgence that you are looking for, you will treat overeating with the same disdain as drunkenness. Perhaps you will avoid overeating as you avoid intoxication in other forms. “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.” (Luke 21:34)

Have you a problem with dullness of mind? Do you anguish over your indifference to spiritual things? Surfeiting (overeating) is the main cause of apathy and ennui.

When was the last time a fast of several days found its way into your schedule? You know that your heart, your spirit, even your very soul is affected by indulgence in any form, yet, as helpless as any alcoholic or drug addict the behavior continues. Perhaps you may gain strength in contemplation of the question of Jesus, “Is not the life more than food?”

Matthew 19:16-22,

“… Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him …if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. …The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?”

Luke 12:16

And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

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Q. 4 How do you make salt, salty again?

Matthew 5:13, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”

How do you make salt, salty again? Our fallen nature causes us to turn our ear from this statement because there is a sound of impossibility in these words of Christ. It is, in fact, quite impossible to make salt that has lost its savor, salty again. How many of us have opened a new package of salt and, with it, over-salted our food? “WOW, that is salty!” we say. Actually, the salt we had used before had lost its savor. We used more and more of it as it became less and less effective. How can you make old salt salty again? You can’t – it is, from then on, good for nothing. In Jesus’ question there is a sound of futility – in His answer there is negativity, finality, permanence, and condemnation.

Modern-day man wants options. Go to any store, any car dealer, or anywhere that caters to mankind’s self-indulgence and you will find lists of options. We like options. Contrarily, impossibilities, narrowed choices, vanishing opportunities, and immutable consequences cause us to shrink and fear. The sober person must admit, though, that all opportunities do not stand permanently open and that some consequences cannot be avoided.

Christ’s teaching was popular with the desperate and destitute. It is the man who has everything, who has never befriended Christ – nor will he. A man in charge of his life wants options, not dead ends; he wants a wide range of broad avenues, not a straight, constricted path through a narrow, unrelenting gate. A man in control wants more control, not to relinquish control to someone else. A man in control does not want to hear anything about finality and everlasting, unchangeable damnation.

Not only have options been made plenteous in our society, the risk of loss and unavoidable penalties have been nearly eliminated as well. With insurance, and 24-hour police, 24-hour emergency care, warranties, guarantees, contracts, safety equipment, lawyers begging in advertisements for lawsuits, the list of “consequence eliminators” could go on and on. We have become near strangers to harm and loss. (Consider the first questions asked when someone’s house burns down?)

There is even a modern Gospel message that “guarantees” us an eternal home. But our Lord Jesus spoke of impossibilities and narrow ways, unchangeable outcomes and desperate consequences. Dangerous situations exist on this way we have joined, situations that can cost men their souls. Jesus taught to fear God’s judgment and to live as though judgment was swift and sure and soon. He calls us the salt of the earth then asks us to seriously consider, “Once salt loses its flavor, how do you make it, salty again?”

Many theories have been put forth on the idea of Christians being the salt of the earth and exactly what this means. By the context (as the concept of us being the “salt of the earth” appears only in Matthew) our “salt” is our witness, or how we appear to the world. (Matthew 5:10-16) Other passages connect the idea of “having salt” with character and fortitude. The salt mentioned in Luke 14:34 and Mark 9:50 is tied to our “cross“ that we must bear after Christ and the persecution of the righteous.

However, the broad and obvious message is clear in all of the passages, that this salt is within our control, that we will stand judgment for the retention of its savor, and that the consequences are unchangeable and everlasting. We should earnestly seek God for an understanding of this salt, what it is, and what our responsibilities are to the world as a witness. We should pray that we retain the savor left to us.

In our world of options and choices, we have become spoiled children who think that there are always options. If we go this way or that, if we make this choice or that, we will always be able to make a fresh start, or get a second chance or that we will all come out at the same place no matter which way we go. After all, “it’s never too late,” God is infinitely merciful and He will always forgive…right?

Your Salt Is Your Reputation

We have become careless in our lifestyles because of risk reducers like insurance and lawsuits. Who among us fear losing our possessions by theft or fire? Do we not rather think to ourselves, “I’m insured” when we wonder about whether we left a heater plugged in or a door unlocked?

Now that loss has been placed under control, and options abound, it is difficult for the American mind to grasp, in totality, the warnings of Christ about permanent, irreparable, unchangeable damage and loss.

This example (the impossibility of replacing the savor of salt) is used by Christ to describe the immutability and permanence of the damage done to ones character, ones witness, and ones life from bad choices and wrong roads taken. You must take great care in your choosing. You must exercise caution in developing your lifestyle and character. You are capable of wasting the precious and irreplaceable savor given to you, leaving you only to lament the foolish choices of your past.

Don’t overlook your opportunity to suffer. To place your life in God’s hands is a frightening choice to be sure, but how else will the world around you see that this world is not your home – that the comforts of this life hold little sway in your enjoyment of life – that you need not have an abundance of goods to give to others – that death does not end your life – that your hope is not in this life but in life everlasting – that you need not live constantly in sunshine to smile and continue your life of faith in God? How else will they taste the “salt” in you if your calamity is always arrested, your loss always insured, and your health and happiness held in highest regard? You may be shortcutting your opportunity to witness and test your faith for yourself.

Christ’s message is that options do not always exist. Our sovereign God offers THE way, not A way. Christ Jesus described that way as “straight” and the gate at the end of it as “narrow.” There are consequences that love and grace and kindness and mercy will not erase. The boundless love of God, the mercy that endures forever, the kindness and compassion of an infinite heavenly Father full of grace and forgiveness will not step over and ignore your stubborn and rebellious heart to save you. When you fall down, He picks you up in loving arms till you get your footing again. When you sit down He waits with His mighty arms folded and head slightly turned to the side, not looking at you, but listening for your repentant cries.

The pliability of your temperament, the humility in your character, the accepting nature of your will, is the briny flavor the world “tastes” in you. The conformity to mistreatment, the suffering of undeserved contempt, and the daily bearing of this “cross” of Christ’s is the salt that you need to protect and retain.

You should know from Christ’s admonition that once it is gone, once it loses it savor it cannot be restored. You will be trodden under the foot of men, held in disrepute, scorned, and lampooned. Be careful. Be cautious of your reputation. Once it is gone…it is gone forever…for how can you make salt, salty again?

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Q 3. Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

Matthew 6:27, Luke 12:24-38 (Combined) Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body more than raiment? Behold the ravens and fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

Without a doubt, to carry out the advice in this passage is difficult. If you are like me, you feel a sense of disobedience as you read these words. I want to live in that elusive place of love and plentitude and pick the fruit of God’s providence as I stroll through this life without a care, yet, in defiance of YHVH’s command, I fall dreadfully short of my desire.

What will we do with this feeling of defiance? We can add sobriety to our decision-making by answering the question: “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?” The obvious answer is that none of us can. The truth is, when we do “take thought” for the things of this world, we are doing for ourselves what our God wants to do for us.

It is His desire to be in daily communion with His children. Since the beginning, when He walked with Adam in the cool of the day, He has missed this fellowship with man. Listen, as He speaks in Isaiah 1:2-3, “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.” The owner and crib are symbols of care and feeding, the very things of which we are admonished to beware not to become the agents of acquisition.

Notice that this particular Scripture is not speaking of preparation for disaster or disease or mayhem, it is speaking only of the daily things – those things that demand our attention three times a day. Three times a day we could be reminded to commune with God and three times a day we could thank Him truly for the food provided. Unfortunately however, because we provide our own food, our “thanks” or “blessing” said at mealtime has become a hollow act of ritual if compared to one that we would offer over food known to be provided by God alone. We can almost hear in the song of the birds every morning, “Give us day by day our daily bread” and “Thank you” as they find and gather for themselves and their young.

We must live in God’s pleasure to be able to have this kind of confidence in His provision. Most of us provide our own food as surely as we guide our own lives. We know within ourselves that God’s provision comes to us as we are submissive to Him as our Lord provider, and we rightfully link the action of our submission to His supply. We know that we must strive to be in His pleasure to enjoy His provision. This is borne upon other Scripture that immediately follows the one we are examining now. “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

 Beware Of Ambition

We have a streak of God-like ambition in us that must be curbed. This desire to “increase our stature” by taking thought, by taking our life into our own hands, is a most dangerous one. It can only lead to self-exaltation no matter how much we pretend to dress it up in humble clothes and insist that we “thank God” for our self-gotten increase.

Your exaltation or advancement (if you are to have any at all) or your debasement must occur only by God’s divine providence. This is the only way you may be assured that you are not out-running your guide, or taking a seat higher than you deserve. This point is clear in the parable from Luke 14:8-11, “When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Jesus would ask again, “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?”

Some have translated this Scripture to read, “Who, by taking thought, can add one hour to his life span?” If this translation were true, we would have, in our century, an opportunity to challenge this Scripture. (Or do we?[1])

Some claim to be alive and well only because a doctor, somewhere in their past intervened with the natural progression of death. Doctors today are praised for adding, not only an hour, but possibly years to their life span. Some will credit their health and years to a regimen of exercise and vitamin supplements.

Unfortunately, the years added are, in most cases, lived out in nursing homes, attached to machines, or with umbilicals of drugs, hospitals, and doctors, all parasitically draining their savings from them, along with the quality of their lives, till both are gone. The effort of immortality is a futile one. The sober consideration of this proposition as an impossibility is to be our impetus to accept the futility of trying to take thought in order to advance our lives as well. We must not push, we must not strive, and we must be content.

So how do we accomplish this idea of living for now, with no care for the inevitable needs of our future? It is clear in this advice, “… seek ye first the kingdom of God… and all these things shall be added unto you.” Relax your hand on the wheel that steers your life. Hold the course He set for you. As you find yourself making your own provisions, let go. Make an opportunity for life to take another course. When you set your mind on gaining something, relax your effort and risk losing it. Let it come from another source, or let it not come at all.

Do we really want to live an hour longer than God’s plan provides? Do you really want an inch more stature than He sees fit for you? How much of what you have now was gained only as a result of your efforts and not His?

Remember, the saying, “The Lord helps those who help themselves” is not Scripture, nor can the idea be supported by Scripture. Little by little you can let go of your way and fasten to His way. How fast you go should be none of your concern. If you are moving at all, no matter how little, you need only make sure of your direction. For, “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?”

[1]

Although, contrary to the explanation offered about increasing man’s life span, statistics indicate the apparent increase is due mostly to the improvements in birth viability and not length of years.

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2. What good is it to love those who love you?

The question comes from Matthew 5:46-47 and its parallel in Luke 6:32-34 (Combined)

For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye, what thank have ye? Do not even the publicans the same, for sinners also love those that love them? And if ye salute your brethren only, if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans and sinners so? If ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

This Scripture has had many applications, most of which have been applied to the duty of Christians to feed the poor and clothe the naked and destitute. The dedicated Christian has done well in these areas, but, however applicable these Scriptures may be, let’s look at it another way.

It must be admitted that we Christians like to play in our own backyard. We hang around those who don’t challenge us, we cling to those who accept us as we are, and we give a wide berth to those who are willing to criticize us. We claim we avoid those who find fault in us, because they do not love us. The truth is that we simply don’t love them. We can’t seem to love an enemy; we can only love our friends. We don’t love them enough to like them, nor like them enough to love them.

This deficiency is sometimes camouflaged as an enviable character trait. We pride ourselves on being easygoing, non-controversial, or a person who opposes confrontational issues, when in reality we lack an ability to love those who don’t readily agree with us, so we overlook the differences, redefine words and assume the kindest of motives on the part of our detractors. We cannot love someone who doesn’t agree with us so we don’t bring up certain subjects, or say that “it doesn’t matter” or that the disagreement is “majoring on minors.” We know within ourselves that we can’t love those who are different than us so we make efforts to avoid them. It that goodness? Is that kindness? Is that honest?

We must expand our circle of inclusion to take in the uncomplimentary, the uncouth, the unlovely, and yes, even the unclean, if we are to live to honor the words from Christ’s sermon. We must be honest and admit that the level of love under which we operate is insufficient to include those who don’t like us, or those who won’t tolerate us, or those who don’t hold us in the high esteem that we have developed in our spheres of familiarity.

You should ask yourself, “Do I like only those who like me? Am I willing to take social risks only with those who are familiar with my accomplishments or my social status? Do I have what it takes to hold my own in the world that doesn’t know ‘who’ I am?” Do you have within you the love required to love those who are not impressed by you – to love those who do not rate you above them?

Sometimes this character flaw shows in our speech, our manner of dress, our deportment or even more subtle behavior seen by others and not readily recognizable to us.

The refining of this behavior will not come easily, as so much of it is below the level of conscience thought. It may help you to think of the differences that God was willing to overlook in order to create and maintain a relationship with you. You are admonished in the Scriptures to love and forgive even as you are loved and forgiven of God.[1]

What good is it to love those who think you are great? Or, as Jesus put it, “What good is it to love those who love you?”

It is interesting that Jesus asks, “What good is it?” What good does it do; what good does it bring about? Then He adds, “Do not even the publicans and sinners the same?” When we find ourselves unable to love those who do not love us, we are discovering one of the dreaded attributes to our unregenerate heart and, perhaps, a soul yet in sin. When we can only love white, Anglo-Saxon, heterosexual, republicans, we advertise to the world that we have not known Christ.

When we only associate with those who have graduated from college, have a job on a certain pay scale, watch only public television, and only vote the democratic ticket, we are shallow and hollow and have little to offer the world. When we only socialize with those hold to our articles of faith, attain a certain level of righteousness, anti-smoking, anti-drinking, anti rock and roll, types that insist on saying, “Amen” instead of, “I agree” at the conclusion of everything we say, we are purposefully closing our world into a tighter and tighter circle because our affection toward the men and women whom Jesus loved, is diminishing.

What good is it to love those who love you? It really does not matter with whom you choose to identify and whom you avoid; it is the fact that you cannot love that condemns you and renders your faith in Christ a pretense. John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

 Tolerance – The New “Love”

Many have made love an act of their will. Masquerading as loving, caring Christians, they are only tolerant of others. Tolerance is the new “love” among Christians. It is touted as a wonderful attribute, when in reality, it is a sinister replacement for the love that could be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit if we would only let go of our pride. Tolerance is peddled as a superlative capacity, available only to those on a higher spiritual plane, when, in truth, it is a baleful substitute for the love of God.

Who among us wishes to be tolerated? Who would not rather be loved? When we tolerate the homosexual we do him no service, we only appease our own prejudices and render the guilt we feel, innocuous to our conscience. When we tolerate the obnoxious sinner we lead him no closer to Christ, we bring Christ no closer to him. When we tolerate opposition to our view we will find ourselves no closer to understanding our adversary than before. But, if we love them…what power! If we love them…what witness! If we love them…what reward! Alas, but how?

The answer may be simpler than you think. If we can remember that we pity those below us, we aspire to those above us, but we love those beside us. It can be our pride and ego that make true love so elusive.

For whatever reason you convince yourself that you are avoiding the “unlovable,” you must first judge the person as unlovable. This is done by classifying him as different from you. (Whether we judge them above us or below us is of little moment in this analysis.) The truth we avoid is that we are but a few facts (and even fewer secrets) from being deemed as unlovable as any, as obnoxious as any, and as repulsive as anyone else. Again, think of the person that God sees.

It is when you see yourself in this light that you begin to understand that all you are doing, when you offer true love to those who do not like you, is providing them what you so desperately need yourself.

You do not want to be tolerated… you want to be loved. Love suffers long, and is kind, love envies not, love does not boast, love does not behave improperly, love will not allow you to seek your own way, love repels anger, love thinks no evil toward anyone, love never allows rejoicing when wrong is done but only when truth and justice are accomplished. Love “Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13)

 He drew a circle that shut me out— Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.

But love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in.[2]

The difference between the unregenerate one and you who knows Christ is that you have a capacity to truly love the unlovable. You have that ability because He first loved you.

When you love only those who love you, you deceive yourself into believing that you really love people. How do you respond to those who do not love you? How do you react to the unlovely or your would-be enemies?

If you exemplify the love of Christ, you bring hope to your community. Your supernatural love for those who do not love you is light – Light borne to a dark world, but…. “What good is it to love those who love you?”

We must expand our circle of inclusion to take in the uncomplimentary, the uncouth, the unlovely, and yes, even the unclean, if we are to live to honor the words from Christ’s sermon. We must be honest and admit that the level of love under which we operate is insufficient to include those who don’t like us, or those who won’t tolerate us, or those who don’t hold us in the high esteem that we have developed in our spheres of familiarity.

2. What good is it to love those who love you?

The question comes from Matthew 5:46-47 and its parallel in Luke 6:32-34 (Combined)

For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye, what thank have ye? Do not even the publicans the same, for sinners also love those that love them? And if ye salute your brethren only, if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans and sinners so? If ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

This Scripture has had many applications, most of which have been applied to the duty of Christians to feed the poor and clothe the naked and destitute. The dedicated Christian has done well in these areas, but, however applicable these Scriptures may be, let’s look at it another way.

It must be admitted that we Christians like to play in our own backyard. We hang around those who don’t challenge us, we cling to those who accept us as we are, and we give a wide berth to those who are willing to criticize us. We claim we avoid those who find fault in us, because they do not love us. The truth is that we simply don’t love them. We can’t seem to love an enemy; we can only love our friends. We don’t love them enough to like them, nor like them enough to love them.

This deficiency is sometimes camouflaged as an enviable character trait. We pride ourselves on being easygoing, non-controversial, or a person who opposes confrontational issues, when in reality we lack an ability to love those who don’t readily agree with us, so we overlook the differences, redefine words and assume the kindest of motives on the part of our detractors. We cannot love someone who doesn’t agree with us so we don’t bring up certain subjects, or say that “it doesn’t matter” or that the disagreement is “majoring on minors.” We know within ourselves that we can’t love those who are different than us so we make efforts to avoid them. It that goodness? Is that kindness? Is that honest?

We must expand our circle of inclusion to take in the uncomplimentary, the uncouth, the unlovely, and yes, even the unclean, if we are to live to honor the words from Christ’s sermon. We must be honest and admit that the level of love under which we operate is insufficient to include those who don’t like us, or those who won’t tolerate us, or those who don’t hold us in the high esteem that we have developed in our spheres of familiarity.

You should ask yourself, “Do I like only those who like me? Am I willing to take social risks only with those who are familiar with my accomplishments or my social status? Do I have what it takes to hold my own in the world that doesn’t know ‘who’ I am?” Do you have within you the love required to love those who are not impressed by you – to love those who do not rate you above them?

Sometimes this character flaw shows in our speech, our manner of dress, our deportment or even more subtle behavior seen by others and not readily recognizable to us.

The refining of this behavior will not come easily, as so much of it is below the level of conscience thought. It may help you to think of the differences that God was willing to overlook in order to create and maintain a relationship with you. You are admonished in the Scriptures to love and forgive even as you are loved and forgiven of God.[1]

What good is it to love those who think you are great? Or, as Jesus put it, “What good is it to love those who love you?”

It is interesting that Jesus asks, “What good is it?” What good does it do; what good does it bring about? Then He adds, “Do not even the publicans and sinners the same?” When we find ourselves unable to love those who do not love us, we are discovering one of the dreaded attributes to our unregenerate heart and, perhaps, a soul yet in sin. When we can only love white, Anglo-Saxon, heterosexual, republicans, we advertise to the world that we have not known Christ.

When we only associate with those who have graduated from college, have a job on a certain pay scale, watch only public television, and only vote the democratic ticket, we are shallow and hollow and have little to offer the world. When we only socialize with those hold to our articles of faith, attain a certain level of righteousness, anti-smoking, anti-drinking, anti rock and roll, types that insist on saying, “Amen” instead of, “I agree” at the conclusion of everything we say, we are purposefully closing our world into a tighter and tighter circle because our affection toward the men and women whom Jesus loved, is diminishing.

What good is it to love those who love you? It really does not matter with whom you choose to identify and whom you avoid; it is the fact that you cannot love that condemns you and renders your faith in Christ a pretense. John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

 Tolerance – The New “Love”

Many have made love an act of their will. Masquerading as loving, caring Christians, they are only tolerant of others. Tolerance is the new “love” among Christians. It is touted as a wonderful attribute, when in reality, it is a sinister replacement for the love that could be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit if we would only let go of our pride. Tolerance is peddled as a superlative capacity, available only to those on a higher spiritual plane, when, in truth, it is a baleful substitute for the love of God.

Who among us wishes to be tolerated? Who would not rather be loved? When we tolerate the homosexual we do him no service, we only appease our own prejudices and render the guilt we feel, innocuous to our conscience. When we tolerate the obnoxious sinner we lead him no closer to Christ, we bring Christ no closer to him. When we tolerate opposition to our view we will find ourselves no closer to understanding our adversary than before. But, if we love them…what power! If we love them…what witness! If we love them…what reward! Alas, but how?

The answer may be simpler than you think. If we can remember that we pity those below us, we aspire to those above us, but we love those beside us. It can be our pride and ego that make true love so elusive.

For whatever reason you convince yourself that you are avoiding the “unlovable,” you must first judge the person as unlovable. This is done by classifying him as different from you. (Whether we judge them above us or below us is of little moment in this analysis.) The truth we avoid is that we are but a few facts (and even fewer secrets) from being deemed as unlovable as any, as obnoxious as any, and as repulsive as anyone else. Again, think of the person that God sees.

It is when you see yourself in this light that you begin to understand that all you are doing, when you offer true love to those who do not like you, is providing them what you so desperately need yourself.

You do not want to be tolerated… you want to be loved. Love suffers long, and is kind, love envies not, love does not boast, love does not behave improperly, love will not allow you to seek your own way, love repels anger, love thinks no evil toward anyone, love never allows rejoicing when wrong is done but only when truth and justice are accomplished. Love “Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13)

 He drew a circle that shut me out— Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.

But love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in.[2]

The difference between the unregenerate one and you who knows Christ is that you have a capacity to truly love the unlovable. You have that ability because He first loved you.

When you love only those who love you, you deceive yourself into believing that you really love people. How do you respond to those who do not love you? How do you react to the unlovely or your would-be enemies?

If you exemplify the love of Christ, you bring hope to your community. Your supernatural love for those who do not love you is light – Light borne to a dark world, but…. “What good is it to love those who love you?”

[1]

Ephesians 4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”

[2] Author :Edwin Markham

1. How is it that ye sought me?

Luke 2:49, “And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?”

There are many seeking Christ today. This book will likely share a shelf with many others, the presence of which testifies to the fact that man seeks a relationship with God. But are we seeking God or are we seeking a way into God’s favor? Though subtle, there is a difference.

As the feast drew to a close, the families that ate and played and worshiped together prepared for the long trek home. Assuming Jesus was with other family members of Joseph son of Jacob, they set upon their journey. Then, Jesus was nowhere to be found among the family! His parents sought Him desperately for three days; sorrowing all the while they were searching. They finally found Him conversing with the doctors of the Law in the Temple. He was so assured that they knew where to find Him, He asked, nearly surprised, “How is it that ye sought me? [Didn’t you know]…that I must be about my Father's business?”

When we are outside of Christ and we determine to find him, we seek Him frantically, panicking and sorrowing that He is not found in the places we look for Him. We put our trust in others or in ideas that seem to point us to Christ, but as time goes by, we find that things were not as we supposed. People disappoint us, the authors of our books turn out to be profiteers, pastors prove to be only hirelings, and friends are only as actors in a play, we find no truth, no substance, no reality, no answers.

We do not find the true Christ in the experience of the people around us or their leadership, we do not find Him in churches or seminaries, we do not find Him in books or lectures, sermons or songs, He is neither to be found in philosophies new nor old. We finally collapse in discouragement and despair and can feel it is no use to search any longer.

We even entertain thoughts of conspiracy and sinister plots of illusion, or perhaps we surmise that God is not real at all; it is all fakery and a crutch to the hopeless and fearful, not for a thinking man or one who demands truth! This couldn’t be more mistaken. Just because the real Jesus is not where you look for Him does not mean He does not exist. What you, my friend, need to identify is “The Father’s business.”

One Sabbath day, not much different than any other, everyone gathered at the synagogue to hear the scrolls of Moses and the Prophets read. Men above the age of thirty were given, in turn, the opportunity to read from the Law and or Prophets, with the rest of the rabbis. This Sabbath was different only in that this week, it fell to Jesus, the son of Joseph, to read. He read from Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19) Then He closed the book and said, “This day this Scripture is fulfilled in your ears.” Jesus, by reading this and confirming it, here shows us the prophesied and fulfilled mission of Messiah. We may find here, “The Father’s Business.”

The Father’s Business

In our day, it is a little more difficult to “follow” Christ as He asked the disciples to do in Scripture. They simply had to physically follow Him around. By doing so they were shown His work and ministry and made familiar with His way. We must find His way and get in it. This is not difficult to do if we are not “helped” by well-meaning, but misguided persons who tell us what Christ requires of us in no uncertain terms. The problem is that they have no idea either what God expects of them, or us. You must depend rather on the Spirit of God to show you this way and when you find it, you will find Christ. His ministry is to be about the Father’s business.

The Father’s business is opening eyes blinded by hatred and sin, to heal the broken hearted, the life-trodden souls that are only “chess pieces” to the power brokers of the “real” world. The Father’s business is to justify, rectify and set in fair and proper order the heart of desperate man and to make him acceptable in the sight of God. The Father’s business is to preach the Jubilee of the Lord! The year that all is set right!

You will not find on Isaiah’s prophetic list of Messiah’s accomplishments, from which Jesus read, the erecting of church buildings, or the organization of denominations. You will find that God’s business has little to do with conventional Christianity and even less to do with doctrines, creeds, and liturgies. He is not interested in developing philosophies or trite maxims to live by, or in publishing “Seven Easy Steps to Salvation.” He is not wringing His hands over the latest and greatest preacher or songwriter, author or singer, hoping that they will do well and “touch many lives.”

The Father’s business is to seek and to save those who are lost and out of the way, those who seek Him and repent, and those who live without offense to their conscience and know the taste of humility. Why do we search for God in the new and clean buildings when His interest is in alleys and suburbs and wherever His called ones are coming to the light of Christ? When you associate yourself with those who “have,” you are farther from Christ than ever. When you get involved with those who “have not” and feeding the hungry, and helping the helpless, you will be closer to the ministry of Christ than ever before. You must come out of the convention, come out of the ordinary, do something for the one in prison, the one in bed with illness, and empty your closets for those who have needs. In doing so, you will find Christ.

Both of the examples in the story below were surprised when they found Christ was embodied in the poor, the sick, and the hungry ones.

There is sadness in the realization that Christ was in their own community and they did not know it. “Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

Jesus was not found in the religions of the world, nor was He found in some deep meditative state; He was found by those simply doing the Father’s business. You can easily be cheated of His presence and power by running after the schemes concocted by modern teachers and preachers. All the while He may be easily found, in all His fullness, in repulsive places that these fancy, slick talkers and “spiritual guides” will not dare to go.

But fear not. When you do find the real Jesus, the true Messiah, the Son of God, He will comfort you and welcome you as though you had come from a long journey. You will tell Him of your horrible escapades, your close encounters with false prophets and liars of all sorts who told you where to search for Him. You will expound in detail how you almost gave up and thought He was dead! You will feel silly and ashamed when He looks at you and asks, “How is it ye sought for me? Didn’t you know I would be about my Father’s business?”

Then I endeavored to gather and examine all the recorded questions Jesus asked throughout His life and ministry and honestly attempted to answer them, or to apply their rhetorical truth, one by one, for myself.

The idea of this guide is for you, the reader, to do the same. You will find here, riches yet untapped, available by a simple honest approach to the questions of Christ.

Answers to these questions provide a sound basis to answer questions of life. A foundation of solid understanding awaits an honest seeker.

Much of our time and consideration is given to the questions that we ask God. These questions often go unanswered and leave us in a state of confusion worse than before we asked. Is it that they have no answer? As C. S. Lewis asked, “Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable.”[1]

But what about the questions He asked us? Because they were formulated in the mind of the Son of God they must be answerable and of inestimable value as well.

At the end of each devotional meditation the question is presented to the reader for consideration in new light. Let an answer formulate within and ponder it and its implications.

It is unfortunate, but the reader will find that today, many of the questions Jesus asked are never posed and certainly never honestly answered. What a waste of resource this is! Jesus was a master communicator.

In this day, we chase to and fro to find someone to help us, to motivate us, to guide us. Communicators we may have among us, but one with such a message, one with such pure motivation, one with pure caring and love for His audience, is more difficult to find.

To whom but Jesus could we ascribe our unrestrained trust with our very lives? Unfortunately, His Bible, though still a best seller, remains least read. Alas, Bibles bought, but not owned; stories read but not heard; questions asked but not answered.

[1] C.S. Lewis (1898–1963), British author. A Grief Observed, pt. 4 (1961).

For some, it makes them uneasy to think that Jesus did not know the answer in advance. We have been taught that “Jesus knew everything” as if He were some sort of mind reader or telepathic. The Scriptures do not support this idea; it is therefore only conjecture. Poor conjecture, in my opinion. When the Scriptures state, “…Jesus knew their thoughts…” (Luke 6:8 – Matthew 12:25) they simply speak of perception.

Jesus was infinitely wise and extraordinarily perceptive and He knew mankind better than they knew themselves. As John states so perfectly, “But Jesus … knew all men… for he knew what was in man.” (John 2:24-25)

It is Christ’s keen perception and His unique wisdom that shines from His questions. Sometimes, with His questions, He exposed hypocrites to the world. Once, He asked the sanctimonious Pharisees, “The Baptism of John, was it commissioned from heaven or of men?” knowing they could not answer and remain veiled to the people. Sometimes His questions quietly and discretely exposed the inner thoughts and motives of His own disciples so that their intentions would become apparent to themselves, as when He queried them about their motivation for attending John the Baptist’s meetings in the wilderness, “What went ye out to see?” But, sometimes He asked a question simply because He did not know the answer and wanted one, as when He asked Mary about the burial place of her brother, Lazarus, “Where have ye laid him?”

Whatever the reason Jesus asks His questions, in all our conversational encounters with the Savior, it will be His wisdom that beams, His glory that shines, and His Heart of love and compassion that is laid before us. Your answers to His questions will sometimes make you uncomfortable and lay your heart open to Him in return, but to whom, save Christ, could you trust your candid answers and confessions, and before whom could you lay your condition in forthright display in full assurance of acceptance? Who is able to open your life for examination in pure love and unfeigned truth as Jesus can?

What a Preacher He was, what a Teacher, and what a Friend we have in Him.

As you hear His questions and consider your own answers, you are thrust into His time and He into yours. By quiet contemplation, words on a page become a live conversation. In meditation, ink and paper can become living words in your ears, and it is then that the words of God become The Word of God. It is then that you will experience more than the mere reading of history; you will become part of a verbal exchange, a part of the repartee, banter, and even argument with our Lord Jesus Christ! If you will only answer His questions honestly and with sincerity, you may well peer into depths of your own soul and purpose, heretofore undiscovered and unknown.

Ours is a quest to learn of our Messiah and His Father, YHVH. Jesus asked questions of the people in the Bible’s stories to fulfill the will of God, and that was (as it remains with us) to bring the chosen ones closer to His Father. With this devotional, you can experience a daily exchange of thought with the Christ of the Bible, leading you closer to Him, revealing His ways, His thoughts and eventually, if He wills it so, His Father. As He said in Matthew 11:27-28, “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.”

There will be no quotes from Greek poetry here, but you will find an abundance of Scripture. May I assume you have a familiarity with the Gospel accounts of the life of Christ?

The questions, in some cases, are composites from all Gospel accounts containing the same question. For clarity, all Scriptures where the question appears are noted. If you doubt your level of familiarity and want to re-read the Gospels, this devotional will make a good companion for such an endeavor. The text references are in chronological order (as much as is possible) so you can follow the events in the life of Jesus if you want to. However, there is no necessity to follow my order if you are not inclined to do so. My advice is to read this book in the same manner it was written to help you appreciate (and hopefully, experience) the power in which it was received.

Over a period of four years of morning devotional time and meditation, life experience and revelation was this book created and edited into the form you have in your hand. Time cannot be a factor in revelation of truth, dispensation of grace, or receiving of solace from our God.

Take one question at a time. Read it and contemplate it quietly for a while; allow time for the Lord to speak to you. Resist the temptation to push through to the next question. Each question takes only approximately ten minutes to read, take again as long to sit quietly and then perhaps add notes of your own impressions. Trying to read several questions one after the other or an attempt to quickly finish the book will not prove to be satisfactory. You may be prompted to worship or pray afterward, so time allotted for this will be very valuable. Sometimes the message of one question will be on your mind all day. These are times when Truth is to be revealed many hours after devotional time has ended. Take your time.

The context and background of each story will prove to be a rich source as well. Have your Bible handy to establish context and read the references and footnotes given. In my personal devotions, I would read the verses before and after the referenced Scripture to understand the timeframe of Christ’s life and to get a feel for the mood of the hearers before I would meditate on each question.

What a wondrous journey writing this was for me. Each devotional was written during and after my early morning hours of meditation as the Lord opened them to me, one question at a time. It was always a joy to discover a new question and explore it. When the end of the Gospels was drawing near I felt a sadness, as if I was losing a magnificent opportunity to visit with the Savior each morning.

I am happy to share these devotionals with you. I would love to know that you received them in the same richness of Spirit that I did.

***

NOTES:

Your host has the highest respect for the Bible as a document miraculously given from God to contemporary man. It is not, however, prudent to elevate it to the status, rank, or position belonging to our living Savior as our Teacher and Guide. His promise was to send a Comforter who will lead and guide us to all Truth. That Guide is none other than His own Spirit, the Spirit of God.

The Bible is a true and accurate record of men experiencing that selfsame guidance. However, the record of this guidance in the lives of others is merely that – a record. A glorious and markedly valuable record indeed, but this record should never replace the personal experience of sitting at the Master’s feet. Jesus Christ is alive again from the dead and fully capable of opening the Scriptures to His followers.

We know that God spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets. Has He in these last days spoken unto us by ink and pen? No! He has spoken unto us by his Son. So says Hebrews 1:1-2.

It is our Father’s intention to teach us directly through a living relationship with His Son Jesus Christ. In times past, He used men as prophets; it is mistakenly assumed that today He uses only a book. The verse in Hebrews, cited above, makes no such assertion nor does it defend such an idea. From this Scripture it is clear that Jehovah speaks to us by His Son.

Discussions on the infallibility of Scripture, contradictions found therein, dubious inspiration of modern Bibles, etc., I will leave to some other forum. These views are usually traditional, typically personal, frequently inflammatory, and have proven to be useless deliberations that put man no closer to his goal of reconciliation to God. Regrettably, it is also observable that those who enjoy engagement in these disputes are usually the worst violators of their own Bible’s clearest doctrines.

The Bible is an inestimable gift of God to lost and lawless mankind. Without it, in our modern sinful and separated condition, living so far from our ancestral family in God, I fear it would be nearly impossible (especially in our short lifetimes) to gain such instruction from our Father directly. Even so, to merely learn it or read it is not the same as hearing it.

Remember, Jesus’ words were not, he who has eyes let him read, but he who has ears, let him hear. To mistake one for the other, results in deficiency and confusion, harm and loss. For this singular reason, churches, supposedly built upon unambiguous teachings of an infallible Bible are diverse, contradictory, and dissimilar rivals. Hear the voice of the living Savior. He will guide you.

Luke 24:32, “And they...]]> The questions in red letters became a curiosity to me because of their depth and scope, but more so, because of who asked them. Albeit some of the questions asked by Jesus Christ were rhetorical, that is, asked for effect, or asked more to provoke thought than to solicit an answer, some questions Christ posed were asked merely because He wanted an answer.

For some, it makes them uneasy to think that Jesus did not know the answer in advance. We have been taught that “Jesus knew everything” as if He were some sort of mind reader or telepathic. The Scriptures do not support this idea; it is therefore only conjecture. Poor conjecture, in my opinion. When the Scriptures state, “…Jesus knew their thoughts…” (Luke 6:8 – Matthew 12:25) they simply speak of perception.

Jesus was infinitely wise and extraordinarily perceptive and He knew mankind better than they knew themselves. As John states so perfectly, “But Jesus … knew all men… for he knew what was in man.” (John 2:24-25)

It is Christ’s keen perception and His unique wisdom that shines from His questions. Sometimes, with His questions, He exposed hypocrites to the world. Once, He asked the sanctimonious Pharisees, “The Baptism of John, was it commissioned from heaven or of men?” knowing they could not answer and remain veiled to the people. Sometimes His questions quietly and discretely exposed the inner thoughts and motives of His own disciples so that their intentions would become apparent to themselves, as when He queried them about their motivation for attending John the Baptist’s meetings in the wilderness, “What went ye out to see?” But, sometimes He asked a question simply because He did not know the answer and wanted one, as when He asked Mary about the burial place of her brother, Lazarus, “Where have ye laid him?”

Whatever the reason Jesus asks His questions, in all our conversational encounters with the Savior, it will be His wisdom that beams, His glory that shines, and His Heart of love and compassion that is laid before us. Your answers to His questions will sometimes make you uncomfortable and lay your heart open to Him in return, but to whom, save Christ, could you trust your candid answers and confessions, and before whom could you lay your condition in forthright display in full assurance of acceptance? Who is able to open your life for examination in pure love and unfeigned truth as Jesus can?

What a Preacher He was, what a Teacher, and what a Friend we have in Him.

As you hear His questions and consider your own answers, you are thrust into His time and He into yours. By quiet contemplation, words on a page become a live conversation. In meditation, ink and paper can become living words in your ears, and it is then that the words of God become The Word of God. It is then that you will experience more than the mere reading of history; you will become part of a verbal exchange, a part of the repartee, banter, and even argument with our Lord Jesus Christ! If you will only answer His questions honestly and with sincerity, you may well peer into depths of your own soul and purpose, heretofore undiscovered and unknown.

Ours is a quest to learn of our Messiah and His Father, YHVH. Jesus asked questions of the people in the Bible’s stories to fulfill the will of God, and that was (as it remains with us) to bring the chosen ones closer to His Father. With this devotional, you can experience a daily exchange of thought with the Christ of the Bible, leading you closer to Him, revealing His ways, His thoughts and eventually, if He wills it so, His Father. As He said in Matthew 11:27-28, “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.”

There will be no quotes from Greek poetry here, but you will find an abundance of Scripture. May I assume you have a familiarity with the Gospel accounts of the life of Christ?

The questions, in some cases, are composites from all Gospel accounts containing the same question. For clarity, all Scriptures where the question appears are noted. If you doubt your level of familiarity and want to re-read the Gospels, this devotional will make a good companion for such an endeavor. The text references are in chronological order (as much as is possible) so you can follow the events in the life of Jesus if you want to. However, there is no necessity to follow my order if you are not inclined to do so. My advice is to read this book in the same manner it was written to help you appreciate (and hopefully, experience) the power in which it was received.

Over a period of four years of morning devotional time and meditation, life experience and revelation was this book created and edited into the form you have in your hand. Time cannot be a factor in revelation of truth, dispensation of grace, or receiving of solace from our God.

Take one question at a time. Read it and contemplate it quietly for a while; allow time for the Lord to speak to you. Resist the temptation to push through to the next question. Each question takes only approximately ten minutes to read, take again as long to sit quietly and then perhaps add notes of your own impressions. Trying to read several questions one after the other or an attempt to quickly finish the book will not prove to be satisfactory. You may be prompted to worship or pray afterward, so time allotted for this will be very valuable. Sometimes the message of one question will be on your mind all day. These are times when Truth is to be revealed many hours after devotional time has ended. Take your time.

The context and background of each story will prove to be a rich source as well. Have your Bible handy to establish context and read the references and footnotes given. In my personal devotions, I would read the verses before and after the referenced Scripture to understand the timeframe of Christ’s life and to get a feel for the mood of the hearers before I would meditate on each question.

What a wondrous journey writing this was for me. Each devotional was written during and after my early morning hours of meditation as the Lord opened them to me, one question at a time. It was always a joy to discover a new question and explore it. When the end of the Gospels was drawing near I felt a sadness, as if I was losing a magnificent opportunity to visit with the Savior each morning.

I am happy to share these devotionals with you. I would love to know that you received them in the same richness of Spirit that I did.

***

NOTES:

Your host has the highest respect for the Bible as a document miraculously given from God to contemporary man. It is not, however, prudent to elevate it to the status, rank, or position belonging to our living Savior as our Teacher and Guide. His promise was to send a Comforter who will lead and guide us to all Truth. That Guide is none other than His own Spirit, the Spirit of God.

The Bible is a true and accurate record of men experiencing that selfsame guidance. However, the record of this guidance in the lives of others is merely that – a record. A glorious and markedly valuable record indeed, but this record should never replace the personal experience of sitting at the Master’s feet. Jesus Christ is alive again from the dead and fully capable of opening the Scriptures to His followers.

We know that God spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets. Has He in these last days spoken unto us by ink and pen? No! He has spoken unto us by his Son. So says Hebrews 1:1-2.

It is our Father’s intention to teach us directly through a living relationship with His Son Jesus Christ. In times past, He used men as prophets; it is mistakenly assumed that today He uses only a book. The verse in Hebrews, cited above, makes no such assertion nor does it defend such an idea. From this Scripture it is clear that Jehovah speaks to us by His Son.

Discussions on the infallibility of Scripture, contradictions found therein, dubious inspiration of modern Bibles, etc., I will leave to some other forum. These views are usually traditional, typically personal, frequently inflammatory, and have proven to be useless deliberations that put man no closer to his goal of reconciliation to God. Regrettably, it is also observable that those who enjoy engagement in these disputes are usually the worst violators of their own Bible’s clearest doctrines.

The Bible is an inestimable gift of God to lost and lawless mankind. Without it, in our modern sinful and separated condition, living so far from our ancestral family in God, I fear it would be nearly impossible (especially in our short lifetimes) to gain such instruction from our Father directly. Even so, to merely learn it or read it is not the same as hearing it.

Remember, Jesus’ words were not, he who has eyes let him read, but he who has ears, let him hear. To mistake one for the other, results in deficiency and confusion, harm and loss. For this singular reason, churches, supposedly built upon unambiguous teachings of an infallible Bible are diverse, contradictory, and dissimilar rivals. Hear the voice of the living Savior. He will guide you.

Luke 24:32, “And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?”

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