AUGUST 29 JQ#22-9 [Conclusion] “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” (Matthew 20:15) The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

AUGUST 29   JQ#22-9  [Conclusion] “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?”  (Matthew 20:15) 

365 Prayers to JESUS 

Jesus, again I find myself adrift in the world, having taken my eyes off the prize of the high calling of God and without Your Mercy and Grace putting wind to my sail, I find myself dead-in-the-water. Lord forgive me of even the slightest turning to the right or to the left for all paths back to self must go through shadows and darkness. Lord only You are the Eternal Shining Light that will lead us beside the still waters where our souls are daily refreshed in Your green pastures and most importantly we can hear Your voice and know that the paths that You lead us down are paths of righteousness. Lord, You alone have the words of Eternal Life and You alone have the Power to Save, and You and only You can Wash us Clean with Your Precious Blood so that at times when we know we have fallen short of Your Glory again that You are there and will again reach down and pull us back into the fold and create in us a clean heart!     AMEN

The Jesus Questions

AUGUST 29   JQ#22-9  “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?”  (Matthew 20:15)   Jesus summed up His lesson on our proclivity to following the doctrines of men instead of staying steadfast in obeying the commandments of God with the final statements in His parable of the landowner that Jesus taught His disciples. Jesus had begun the lesson as He addressed the subject of divorce and pointed out that man has a doctrine that supports divorce but Jesus reminded us that man’s doctrines are not God’s doctrines. The doctrine of men caters to the desires of men and what men think is best and they because of their selfishness write “laws of men” and declare them “legal”. Jesus showed the Pharisees the error of the doctrines of men by reminding them that God created both male and female and that God Himself gave the woman to the man as his wife and joined them into “one flesh” through the spiritual union of Holy Matrimony. Jesus then stated that the reality of marriage is that it is in the eyes of God that when a man and woman enter into Holy Matrimony that “they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:4-6) The Pharisees quickly shot back using Moses as their champion for the doctrines of men and the legality of divorce and Jesus shut them down by exposing that the basis of their “law of divorce” was based on the “hardness of [their] hearts” (Matthew 19:8) because they did not want to obey the intent and command of God thereby showing them that the doctrines of men carry no weight in the Final Judgement! Jesus concludes the lesson with the parable of the landowner by illustrating that it is the landowner that owns the land, it is the landowner that both seeks and hires the laborers, it is the landowner that declares the work that needs to be done, and it is the landowner that establishes the terms of the landowner/laborer relationship! Of most importance though, it is the landowner alone that has the supreme authority to decide what is “lawful” for the landowner to do with his own land when the landowner asks “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” (Matthew 20:15) Since Jesus had started the parable of the landowner stating “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out…” (Matthew 20:1) then the only conclusion we can make is that the “land” is God’s Creation and that God Himself is the “owner” of everything He Created. The biggest problem in our modern-day society is that man is still trying to write laws based on the desires of men instead of the moral reality that this is still God’s world and since God is Eternal then we are eternally bound to the reality that God has created the world, God has promised Good Things for our life that He has planned for us and “whatever is right [He] will give [us]” (Matthew 20:4) but we must “obey” His commands. Jesus concludes with this final statement that is so applicable to our world today and all the Godless laws that man has passed to satisfy his desires for self gratification: “Or is your eye evil because [God is so] good? So the last [to enter into God’s labors] will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 20:16) The final question on this lesson could be: “Could God be calling you but you cannot hear God because we no longer know His Voice because we have been listening to the shouting of men and their endless screams of what their doctrines try to establish as “lawful”?!?!? The problem is that God will only choose those that “obey His commands”. It is your choice: (1) The doctrines of men and self gratification separated from God or (2) obedience to God and trust Him to give you “whatever is right and necessary” to enter into the kingdom of heaven and have eternal fellowship with the Good Shepherd?