MARCH 09 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

 MARCH 09  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord, IN YOU  there is a peace that the world just cannot offer, there is nothing in the world, not fortune nor fame, that can provide the Peace that comes from knowing You, for Your PEACE is PRICELESS. Lord Jesus, I praise You for knowing my heart and my thoughts for You — Your Lovingkindness knows just how to speak those well placed and perfectly timed Words of Grace just when we need them most and this morning as I awoke with a cloud on my spirit You spoke to me through the inspired verses Deb made for my desktop as I read this “personalized” verse: “You will have perfect peace if you keep focused on Me, Lanny.” (Isaiah 26:3)    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS never Teaches just one Lesson so when we look at The JESUS Questions project we should keep in mind that all His Questions are Lessons from God that reveal the Truth of God and since it is the Son of God Himself doing the “Teaching” we should let the Holy Spirit illuminate our thinking as we study each Question; Jesus will always Teach the “obvious” Lesson but there will always be a “personal” Lesson that God has for each person that studies His Word. Think of this “personal” Lesson like this: Imagine there are 7 people and they are standing in a circle and in the center of their circle is a box with writings on every side of the box. The box is holding an artifact that no one recognizes and the question is asked: “What is in the box?” There is only 1 box and 1 artifact but there are 7 different unique viewpoints to answer the 1 question. The “obvious” answer is that there is “something” in the box but when each one goes to describe the artifact from their unique viewpoint there will be seven different answers, some may have a prior “unique” experience in their past that will help them recognize what the artifact is or “is like” and others may read the writings on their side of the box, but there remains the Obvious Truth that there is a box and the box contains an artifact but to fully understand “purpose” and “meaning” each individual will have to examine not only the box and the artifact but each individual must also consider their “unique” position within the circle of other individuals surrounding the box and the artifact. Jesus IS the Son of God and knows what is in each individual’s heart and keep in mind that God placed every star in the universe in their place so why is it difficult to believe God has placed each one of us in our “unique” place in time to give us a “unique” viewpoint? With each Lesson/Question Jesus is able to Teach each individual the “obvious” Truth of God and at the same time Jesus can address a “personal” circumstance “unique” to each individual. Because of His Infinite Knowledge and Love for us, Jesus always gives us more than we expect, and as He opens our Spiritual Eyes we naturally see different aspects of His Divine Nature. As I examine the context surrounding each Question encountered so far in the Gospel of Matthew, an underlying pattern is emerging that demonstrates that Jesus is building our understanding of the Father by Teaching us “precept upon precept” and “line upon line”. He is also developing an “Outline” to living the Christian Life if we but follow His Example, the key verse for that concept emerged today as I was looking to conclude JQ#08 and move to JQ#09 when the Holy Spirit directed me to use Matthew 9:9-13 as the conclusion of JQ#08 and a summary of JQ#01-JQ#08. Let’s start with Matthew 9:9 where we stopped yesterday with Jesus calling Matthew, a tax collector, with these two words: “Follow Me” (Matthew 9:9) and it was noted that as soon as Jesus called Matthew that Matthew immediately responded: “So [Matthew] arose and followed Him. (Matthew 9:9) What started me on the “Summary” of JQ#1-8 was the opening line in Matthew 9:9 “As Jesus passed on from there…” and the opening line in Matthew 9:10 that reads “Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table [with] many tax collectors and sinners…” and these were tied together with the last line in Matthew 9:13 which Jesus Himself summarizes “why” he has been healing, demonstrating the Power of God, and forgiving sins when He clearly states: “For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Matthew 9:13) A parallel verse is in John 1:17 “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Therefore the Spirit showed that in JQ#1-8 Jesus calls us personally to get involved in His Work which is to do the Father’s Will and we know from John 3:16 that Jesus is God’s Gift to those that BELIEVE in the work of Jesus. Belief in the Work of Jesus as a Gift of God results in “Eternal Life” and JQ#1-8 teach us that Jesus came to “heal” the “sick”, give “sight to the blind”, enable the “lame” to “walk with God”, and that Jesus came to call “sinners” to “repentance”. In these first 8 Jesus Questions Jesus clearly has presented His Gospel: each individual must personally recognize our need as sinners for a Savior, then we are to “believe” that Jesus is the Son of God and has the Power of God to “forgive us our sin”. The really Good News is found back in JQ#07 where we read: “ And behold , a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.’ Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” (Matthew 8:2-3) And lastly once we have been “healed” we are to “Arise” and “follow” Him. In our modern church vernacular (1) We admit we are a sinner (2) We believe Jesus is the Savior and (3) We confess before men that we have decided to “Follow Jesus”. Have you made your personal decision to live your life for Christ who is “willing” to “cleanse” you of your sin and replace your sin with the Gift of Everlasting Life in the Presence of God Almighty?