JUNE 25 JQ#17-6 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34) The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JUNE 25    JQ#17-6 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34) 

365 Prayers to JESUS 

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ——— there is NO other Name that we can call on that produces such “LIFE” as that which You Provide for believers, abundant and free for You have paid the price for the penalty of sin, all sin which was taken upon Yourself as You faced death and the grave all alone on that Cross at Calvary has been atoned for by Your Blood which was shed for the sins of the world. Who can explain the mind of God that chose to correct the sin problem by such a Great Sacrifice of giving to a undeserving world the Precious Gift of His Innocent Only Begotten Son so that God’s Grace could be extended to all that “Repent” and turn from their sin. No, we cannot explain the mind of God but we can see and know for ourselves the Heart of God because His Plan for us and our “Good” has been executed and as Jesus said when He had accomplished the “Work” of the Father, “It is Finished!” Praise the Heart of God and the Great Sacrifice of His Son that all that believe “shall not perish”, so my prayer Lord Jesus is “lead us in paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake and deliver us from evil” for Your’s is the Eternal Kingdom Forever!         AMEN

The Jesus Questions

JUNE 25   JQ#17-6 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34)  Jesus is the fulfillment of the words Abraham spoke to his son Isaac as both were being obedient to the Will of God and were climbing the mountain where God had commanded Abraham to offer Isaac as a “sacrifice”, when Isaac turned to his father Abraham and asked, “…but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” then Abraham who had been told by God, “…take now your son, your only son Isaac…and offer him…” turned to his only son Isaac who was carrying the fire and the wood for this momentous sacrifice of his son as the Father God had commanded and spoke these “Prophetic” words, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb…” (Genesis 22:8) God’s Plan of Salvation was revealed as Abraham in obedience to the will of the Father raised the knife to sacrifice his only son and an Angel of the Lord spoke and told Abraham not to harm Isaac because Abraham had been Faithful in being obedient to God and had in effect “offered” Isaac and proved that  he would be obedient to the Father’s Will and God had demonstrated that His Plan of Salvation included a “Substitute” ——- for God had intended from before creation to solve the sin problem of the world by providing Jesus as the “Lamb without blemish”, His Only Begotten Son (Genesis 22:1-14). We read the confirmation of God’s Plan to resolve the sin issue in the book of Revelation that at the end of time that the separation of the sinners from the repentant will be the fulfillment of Jesus teaching of the “separating the wheat from the tares”  as the repentant will have their names written in “the book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world…”. (Revelation 13:8) but those that have not accepted God’s Plan of Salvation ——— Jesus the Christ ——— will burn eternally in the lake of fire! Yes God is very serious about “Life” and God does not want any to “perish” so God provided the “Lamb” whom was “Sacrificed” for the sins of the world. Jesus is teaching in JQ#17 “How many loaves do you have?” that the greatest problem in our lives is getting “bread”  for our very existence and Jesus boldly states that “leaven” represents sin and death and Jesus declares Himself as the answer to sin when He states: “I Am the Bread of Life” (John 6:35) It is important that we understand that God provides the “Bread and the Lamb” but we must be obedient to Him to “offer sacrifice” and to “beware” of the doctrine of sin that we allow into our lives and consume the “bread” that gives “life”. Don’t you think it is reasonable to assume that since God wrote an entire book centered around His Only Begotten Son and His Death on a Cross as the Atonement of Sin, and that our Eternal Destiny rests on our “believing in Jesus”, that God is truly serious about “sin”? The Bible front to back, every jot and tittle, is a picture of “Salvation — God’s Greatest Gift” — can you not reach out and accept His Gift?

JUNE 24 JQ#17-5 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34) The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JUNE 24    JQ#17-5 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34) 

365 Prayers to JESUS 

Jesus, Thank You Lord that “our sin” took top priority in Your concerns. The more I study and see the mighty works of God accomplished in the life of this sinner and read of the mighty miracles God orchestrated among entire nations of sinners, I am overwhelmed with how much “effort” that the Father God, His Only Begotten Son, and the Powerful Spirit of God has expended on the correction of man’s greatest problem, sin. And to think that man volunteers to sin so easily and to recognize that man has brought the curse of sin upon himself, it makes Grace that much more Merciful! God who is uncreated and does not need us for His Self-existence, has chosen to address the “sin problem” for us and has gone to extreme lengths to provide “atonement” for our sins and a path by which we can attain His Forgiveness, and we fail to recognize that God has had a plan all along, from the first words God spoke after creation to the last words He will speak before time itself comes to an end — all His efforts have been to address sin in our lives! Praise God, for without Him what would life be?        AMEN

The Jesus Questions

JUNE 24   JQ#17-5 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34) Just like all questions Jesus asked, the question is for our learning benefit and not to provide information or knowledge to Jesus. If we find ourselves lost on a journey we stop and ask directions but we know with all certainty that Jesus is NOT LOST so the questions that He asks are actually to give information to us. Jesus teaches us by asking questions that make us reflect on our “common knowledge” and He encourages us with the questions to “reason within ourselves” by using the intellect that God has bestowed on everyone, and thereby Jesus teaches that if we will but stop and look at the world around us and use our God-given faculties to consider the Truth of God that He reveals to us with our day-to-day experiences, that we will come to an “understanding” that will lead us into the knowledge of God and the beginning of wisdom. This lesson Jesus is teaching on “bread” is one such lesson where Jesus uses something everyone of every generation and culture can relate to — bread. We can easily tie many teachings of God together using bread such as this passage which is specifically  built around bread, and when Jesus mentions “leaven” our thoughts should turn to the Passover when God demonstrated His Power to “free” His people from our “slavery” and the greatest thing that enslaves every generation is “sin” so the Passover is significant because of the command of God to eat unleavened bread as the death angel passed over and those that had done as God commanded survived! Then King David ate the “Showbread” as he went about doing the work of God. Jesus in this passage is recognized as the “Son of David” and Jesus is also using “bread” to accomplish His Work for the Kingdom, and soon the culmination of the entire ministry of Jesus will be summed up as Jesus takes a loaf of bread and “breaks bread” and declares “this is my body which was broken for you” (Matthew 26:26) and Jesus specifically stated: “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.” So we can easily see that bread has been used by God and that God has been “planning” our salvation from the first words God spoke, “Let there be light” which was to address the darkness and emptiness of the world which we all know is a picture of sin. The entire Bible is God executing His Plan for His chosen people to free us from our selfishness which expresses itself as “sin” as we reject God, yet God parts the sea and provides for our safety even in the worst storms and then to seal-the-deal, God out of His Love for this sinful world, “gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in [Jesus] shall not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) If we will but listen to the Master Teacher we can learn the Truth of God and apply even the simplest things, such as the eating of bread, to remind us of the Great Love of God and turn from our sin and as the multitudes did when Jesus healed them, we will marvel at His Grace, we will worship at His feet, and we will glorify the God of Israel. Don’t you think that is a pretty good plan? 

JUNE 23 JQ#17-4 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34) The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JUNE 23    JQ#17-4 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34) 

365 Prayers to JESUS 

Jesus, Lord, Redeemer, my Rock and my Salvation, Praise Your Holy Name.  Lord Jesus when I look back at where the journey that seeking You has taken me, I am in awe of the “Way” that You have Provided for my needs, all my needs, both the “physical” and the “Spiritual”. Lord, I may never understand but my understanding should and shall not interfere with my Praise for the One that is Worthy, the only one that is worthy — in You alone is “Truth”, and You alone can give “Life”. No greater “Love” has ever been given, no greater “Gift” will ever be given than the “Gift  of God” of the “Sacrificial Lamb” — His Only Begotten Son — “Sacrificed of God” that man could be reconciled to his Creator in spite of all our sins and iniquities!         AMEN

The Jesus Questions

JUNE 23   JQ#17-4 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34)  Any time Jesus asks any question we should really pay attention because the Master Teacher is using the question to bring our focus on some “Spiritual Truth” by using our common everyday experiences to give us “understanding” of the supernatural life all those that believe He is the Savior and that as a believer we are going to live for the rest of our “eternal” existence with God!!  JQ#17 taken by itself is a simple six word sentence with the longest word being six letters and the subject is a physical item that is experienced by every soul that ever lived on the earth ——— “bread”! When we look at the context surrounding this question and see that the woman that came to Jesus requesting that her daughter who was “severely demon-possessed” (Matthew 15:22) be healed was first addressed by a statement that on the surface seems out of place for Jesus the “Healer”,  as He initially stated to the woman: “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” (Matthew 15:26). However, if Jesus is starting another “Teaching of Deep Spiritual Truths” then He will do so by using a “shared experience” that everyone can relate to and we already have a base understanding of. In this case Jesus has used the consumption of “bread” and we see how He puts the consuming of “bread” in juxtaposition to “great faith”. Before you accuse the writer of grasping at straws let us look at the progression of this lesson of consumption of bread as a “Great Spiritual Truth” as Jesus puts the “Bread Lesson” down on the bottom shelf so everyone can get to it as we read from Matthew 15:21 through Matthew 16:12 the “Master’s Lesson” on “Bread”. Matthew 15:21-28 Jesus heals a severely demon-possessed girl and uses the seemingly out of place phrase about throwing “children’s bread” to the “dogs” and the mother responded “even …dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table” (Matthew 15:26-27) and Jesus then responds to the woman’s comments of eating “crumbs” [of bread] “from [the] masters’ table” with this great commendation to the woman: “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” and then we see the results of her “great faith” as we read “and her daughter was healed that very hour.” (Matthew 15:28). Then Matthew records  that the “multitudes” brought to Jesus those in need of “physical healing” and Matthew notes “and [Jesus] healed them.” (Matthew 15:29) with the results of all those mighty works that the [multitudes] “glorified the God of Israel”. The significance of “bread” in the works of God starts to surface when we consider the first comment Jesus made as the woman had first petitioned Jesus by declaring “O Lord, Son of David!” and Jesus responded “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:22-24). This “bread” lesson then begins with a Jesus introducing the problem of “lostness” and we see the introduction of “[bread] crumbs…from the masters’ table” and Jesus then saying to the woman who realized the significance of “bread” to her “faith” was rewarded by Jesus in the form of commending her on her “great faith” and then healing her “demon-possessed” daughter which was a “spiritual” ailment. Then Jesus immediately heals “physical” infirmities from the “multitudes” and then when Jesus mentions “compassion” for the multitudes we somehow end up talking about “loaves” of bread… [JQ#17] and then the topic moves from “physical” infirmities to “spiritual” infirmities” as Jesus, in response to another attack by the legalist of His day, introduces the “spiritual” concept of “leaven” of the false teaching of “the Pharisees and the Sadducees” (Matthew 16:6) and ends with this summary of the teachings on “Bread” with this verse, “Then [the disciples] understood that [Jesus] did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” (Matthew 16:12) Are you surprised by the simple “bread” question “How many loaves do you have?” or do you consider that Jesus is asking you to take inventory of all the “false doctrines” that you consume as your “daily bread”?!?!? —just a thought.  

JUNE 22 JQ#17-3 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34) The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JUNE 22    JQ#17-3 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34) 

365 Prayers to JESUS 

Jesus, just the use of Your Name stirs my soul in a way that no other name does! Lord, when I consider that I have just uttered the Name of the Everlasting God and that I have uttered it with the “Hope” and “Expectation” that I have gained an audience with the Creator, I can not fully comprehend why the Lord of lords and King of kings would listen to me? Yet when I consider it further that the very reason I feel unworthy is the very reason that God sought me out — it is because I am a sinner that He cares enough about my eternal soul that God sent a solution to correct my problem — the solution to my sin is to give it to Jesus because Jesus was sent as a “Gift” of Love to those that are lost in sin so that our sins can be forgiven just by calling on the Name of Jesus. O the Mystery of God that He cares enough for me to provide for my forgiveness — Praise His Holy Name and Glory to God!          AMEN

The Jesus Questions

JUNE 22   JQ#17-3 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34)  This question, when viewed from the perspective that it occurred when Jesus called the disciples to Himself and said, “I have compassion on the multitude… and I do not want to send them away hungry…” and the disciples who had just witnessed Jesus performing miracle after miracle that demonstrated God’s ability to provide for the needs of the multitudes even in a wilderness setting, that the disciples jumped to a wrong conclusion of the statement Jesus just made: “I do not want to send them away hungry…” (Matthew 15:32) because they assumed that Jesus was going to do what He had done with the feeding of the five thousand when Jesus commanded the disciples, “You give them something to eat.” (Matthew 14:16). However the disciples made the same mistake we make in our daily lives as we see God provide for our daily needs in a way that only God can do and then when the next need arise we seem to forget that God took care of us before and we let the world throw doubt into our minds that God even cares for us! Looking closely at what Jesus said about “compassion” for the “multitudes” He did not command the disciples to look for food, all Jesus had said was “I do not want to send them away hungry…” and the self-centered disciples, just like us blurted out “Well what do you want us to do about it?” Jesus then asked this very important question to bring the disciples back to reality by asking JQ#17 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34) I can hear in that question Jesus saying to us, “When was the last time I failed to provide for your needs?” We are the creation and He is the Creator so we must Trust Him to equip us to accomplish that which He tasks us to do, be it feed ourselves or to feed 4000 in the wilderness. God has always provided in the past so why do we let the world think that God will abandon us in the future or that this time we are “on our own”! Look at His question and understand that by Him asking the disciples “How many loaves do YOU have?” Jesus is really saying to the disciples, “Look guys, the Father fed 5000 so do you think He has run out of bread, because surely YOU don’t think you have enough bread to accomplish that which only God the Creator can do?”!?!?! Why is it that we fail to give God the Glory when every time we see God work we somehow think that He is doing His “last miracle” and we let the world convince us that God’s “magic lamp” will no longer work so we should return to our sin! Jesus asked that question to the disciples to bring them back to the reality that God’s Mercy and Grace endures Forever and His Provisions are both Limitless and Eternal!!! If we will but put what we have into His Capable Hands that He will Bless what we turn over to Him and we will be “filled” and we will find the Truth of God that He “is the Everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth, He will never grow tired and weary and His understanding no one can fathom.” (Isaiah 40:28) God does not expect us to do His Work and just think how many loaves of bread that God has provided to the world since the Garden of Eden — and yet we ask God by our doubt: “Are You getting tired yet God?” ——— like we could take over for Him now that He is no longer able to keep the stars in orbit or the sun in the sky and we will keep the universe spinning right along with our great scientific knowledge that cannot even explain how a bumble bee flies !?!?!? Really, how many grains of wheat have you created?  

JUNE 21 JQ#17-2 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34) The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JUNE 21    JQ#17-2 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34) 

365 Prayers to JESUS 

Jesus, Lord each day You are there to draw us closer, even if we have drifted and stumbled in our earthly weakness and Lord Your Faithfulness to be there for us shines like a beacon of Hope for us, no matter how dark the night. Lord forgive me not abandoning myself totally to You and the Father’s Work for You are Worthy and You have blessed me so abundantly that there is nothing to hold me back except my selfishness. You have NEVER failed to provide for my needs yet Lord I find myself worrying about tomorrow at the expense of the joy I could have in You today. Lord Jesus, grant it that my “faith in You” will grow to be called “great” and that all my desires will be for You and that there be no thought of self except for the fact that I have abandoned my “self” to You.       AMEN

The Jesus Questions

JUNE 21   JQ#17-2 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34)   When we look at this simple question and think to ourselves “This is really a simple question” we fail to miss the Great Lesson that Jesus is teaching! The more I read the scriptures the more I realize that there are lessons in every story, in the order of the stories, the number of stories, the people of the stories, and certainly in all the words that our Lord and Savior used to convey the “Truth of God” to the lost and dying world He came to SAVE! Study the Word enough and one glaring question emerges as one of those “Truths of God” and that question is “Why would the all-knowing God of all creation, send His Son to the earth with the Plan of Salvation and the Gift of Eternal Life, and then waste His time and energy by asking such insignificant questions like ‘How many loaves do you have?’” Indeed, why would the Master Teacher ask about bread when He Himself has declared, “I Am the Bread of Life”? The simple question becomes significant when we realize that God does not need us for anything, especially knowledge about His creation, nor does God need us to supply information to Him about loaves of bread, so the question then must be viewed not as a question for His benefit but for ours. To start understanding the “simple” question we must look to our faith in the Divine Character of God and know that Jesus coming to earth, taking on   flesh, suffering on the cross, and defeating death and the grave was not so that we could inform Him of the numbers of loaves of bread we have! If Jesus asks us what appears to us as a “simple” question we should immediately stop and look at the context of the question and who is asking it. In this instance, Jesus had healed a woman’s daughter of severe “demon-possession” and stated to the woman, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” and then Matthew records “And her daughter was healed that very hour.” (Matthew 15:28) As soon as Jesus had healed the woman’s daughter and made His declaration about her “faith”, He “departed from there…went up on the mountain…then great multitudes came to Him.” (Matthew 15:30) Why the multitudes came to Him is obvious because Jesus had been healing, casting out demons, and doing “Kingdom Work” and it was obvious to those that were coming to Him that He had something to give them and that something was from God and well worth seeking Him out for. Matthew records that the multitudes that came to Him brought “…with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them. So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing and they glorified the God of Israel.” (Matthew 15:29-31) Then in this setting of the multitudes glorifying God for the great works Jesus had been doing in the Father’s Name and for the Kingdom’s Sake,  “Jesus called His disciples to Himself” and made this statement to them before asking them the “simple” question about bread —Jesus said, “I have compassion on the multitudes, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” (Matthew 15:32) Note that Jesus did not have to ask the question until His disciples failed the “faith” test because they failed to look at the situation as an opportunity to glorify God but instead questioned the ability of God to provide for the multitudes that He had just healed! The disciples, instead of asking how God was going to accomplish this great feat, they asked, “Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?” (Matthew 15:33) It was at this point that Jesus begins His lesson and He started it with the {JQ#17} question “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34) Once we see the context of the question and consider “who” is asking and “why” is He asking us about the numbers of loaves in our possession, the question is no longer simple but is very serious! The real question here is “Do you question the ONE that has never failed to provide for the needs of the world or are you going to try to accomplish God’s Work with your meager means?” After all,  if you’re going to feed the multitudes yourself, then I guess it would be smart to inventory how much bread you have the ability to provide! 

JUNE 20 JQ#17-1 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34) The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JUNE 20    JQ#17-1 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34) 

365 Prayers to JESUS 

Jesus, Lord You are always Teaching and every lesson is intended for our good so my prayer Lord is that my attention to “learning Your Truth” will be sharpened and my focus will be completely on Your Word. Lord Jesus, open my eyes that I may see Your Truth  and that it may soften this heart that has been hardened and defiled by the doctrines of the world that  I have allowed to enter into my life and become the desires of my heart. Lord create in me a clean heart like You did in David that I too will claim You as my Shepherd and Trust You to lead me in paths of righteousness.       AMEN

The Jesus Questions

JUNE 20   JQ#17-1 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34)  Jesus never ceases building “precept upon precept” and we see that with each attack on the Character and the Truth of God that Jesus is able to take that attack and expose the attackers and accomplish the Mission of bringing God’s Truth back into focus in our daily lives. The main weapon against the enemy is living a life of God’s Truth and being consistent in how we treat others as Jesus demonstrates with JQ#17. In JQ#16 Jesus had used the attack from the Pharisees who claimed the disciples of Jesus were “breaking Jewish tradition” by eating with “unwashed hands” and Jesus taught them that any tradition they observed that was not in line with God’s Commandments would end up in “Judgement” and Jesus pointed out the Truth of God that God is the Judge of all men and their deeds and when Judgement Day for all men comes that it will be God sitting in the Judgement Seat and God will not use the “laws of men” to pass Judgement on them and their right to enter His Kingdom. God has established the requirements that will make “legal heirs” to the Kingdom and that is the Standard by which God has declared and made known that He will use to separate the “wheat from the tares” (Matthew 13:24-30). As soon as Jesus had taught the lesson of “man’s tradition” verses “God’s Commandments” we read: “Then Jesus went out from there and departed to [another region]…” (Matthew 15:21) and starts doing the “Father’s Work” He was sent to do, which is what Jesus has been doing all along, He has been healing infirmities, casting out demons, giving sight to the blind, raising the dead, and feeding the multitudes. Aside from the immediate help these Acts of God accomplished they also provided Teaching Tools which in the hands of the Master Teacher are Miracles within themselves. The first healing recorded after Jesus taught the “tradition vs. Commandment” lesson was a woman who had brought her daughter that was “severely demon-possessed” to Him.  This woman received her requested healing after she persisted in acknowledging the Power of God as she addressed Jesus as “O Lord, Son of David” (Matthew 15:22) and continued to cry out to Him and “then she came and worshiped Him, saying ‘Lord, help me!” (Matthew 15:25) The woman’s only credentials she presented to get the healing was that she believed that Jesus was the Son of David and God’s Chosen One and she directed her request to the One that had proved by His Works that He was the Son of God. So we can see the importance of why Jesus was always doing the “work of the Father” and that was to demonstrate to those that would believe the Jesus was sent by God would be healed by God and their sins would be forgiven. It should be noted that the first lesson after the “tradition vs. Commandment” lesson was about healing a young person that was “severely demon-possessed” and it is my opinion that when a society gets “possessed” by following “Godless laws” and rejecting God’s commandments, that society is under some form of demon possession. My reasoning is that rejecting God comes from a personal desire to be our own God and we ask the same question that the demons asked Jesus when they wanted to know what God had to do with them? It is a personal decision to accept living by “tradition” without making the assessment if that “tradition” goes against a Commandment of God or not? How can an individual decide to go against God’s Commandment just because a majority of men decide legislate that it is “legal” to “transgress the Commandment of God”? Certainly you must agree with the logic that if one chooses to follow man instead of following God that there is some form of “possession” that accounts for one making such a poor choice!?!? 

JUNE 19 JQ#16-4 “Why do you transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?” (Matthew 15:3) The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JUNE 19    JQ#16-4 “Why do you transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?” (Matthew 15:3) 

365 Prayers to JESUS 

Jesus, Lord my day does not really start until this time that I spend with You in prayer.  I thank You for “prayer” and that You have promised to “hear” all prayers that are prayed to You in the Father’s Name and the Kingdom’s Sake. Lord, when it seems we are all alone and the world is against us we hear Your encouragement to believe You have “been there, done that” and that you remind us not to let the world’s hate and rejection get to us because the world hated and rejected You first and You have overcome the world. Lord my prayer is to stay focused on You and Your Commandments to “not fear” and to “love others” as You showed us the love You have for us when You were hated and rejected and died on a cross for us but then on the third day rose victorious and reminded us that Your desire is for us to be with You in Your Kingdom! Lord Jesus, let me live with my eyes on You and my heart on Your Kingdom.         AMEN

The Jesus Questions

JUNE 19   JQ#16-4 “Why do you transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?” (Matthew 15:3)   Jesus never let the Truth of God be swept under the carpet of “tradition” established by those that “lord” themselves over the general public. We see the same problem in our society today as this problem that Jesus addressed in this part of His Ministry ——— the problem is that when a group of society elevates themselves above the general public and then “legislates” how the general public should live then they are in effect usurping the sovereignty of God who has already established (Commanded) how the whole of society should live. The results of abusing the trust that the general public puts in their government is what we see today in the form of “laws” being passed for the general public that actually go against the commandment of God, abortion being the most glaring example! It is most obvious that Jesus knew when He asked the Pharisees “Why do you transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?” (Matthew 15:3  JQ#16) that the problem was more than just the “washing of hands”! Jesus was teaching us the Truth of God that God Says what He Means and He Means what He Says and there is no reason for man to add to or subtract from the Commandments of God. There is always a group in every society that desires God’s Power for themselves and sadly that group tends to elevate themselves into government positions and then by the power of legislation in the name of “the public good”  actually takes away the freedoms and liberty from the general public and create in effect “government slaves”. God intends for all men to be free and when a society uses any standard other than God’s standard for living a “Free” life, then every law established as “legal-by-man” that goes against a commandment of God serves as another chain around the neck of the society in general. Jesus made it clear that this was important when He “called the multitudes to Himself” (Matthew 15:10) and taught: “Hear and understand: Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” (Matthew 15:10-11) Then when His disciples said the Pharisees were “offended” by His statement against their “Traditional laws” Jesus passed Divine Judgement on them, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.” (Matthew 15:13) and then Jesus called them “the blind leading the blind” and said “…both will fall in a ditch!” (Matthew 15:14) When Peter then asked Jesus to “explain” what He meant, Jesus quickly said to Peter, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man…” (Matthew 15:15-20) Jesus makes it clear that just because a man desires to do something against the commandments and has the power to legislate it into law that if our desires are against the commandments then those desires will defile us, regardless of how many generations of men accept it as tradition or how many laws the government passes that those man-made laws and traditions will “transgress the commandment of God” and will “defile” all who follow traditions and laws passed by man apart from the commandments of God! We are between a rock and a hard spot in America today because as a society we are under “government law” and many laws are being enforced as “tradition” in the form of “the law of the land” but in reality if we are disciples of Christ we must “understand” that any law that “transgresses the commandment of God” is not “legal” in God’s Judgement and when Judgement Comes do you think that we will see a copy of the U. S. Constitution and Bill of Rights on the table before the Judge or perhaps we will see a simple list of Ten Commandments?