JULY 17 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#21 “What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” (Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

 

JULY 17  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#21  

“What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, 

forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” 

(Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, each day presents new opportunities to serve 

and through our service to others we will Glorify the Father 

as You did when You lived the Perfect Life as an Example for us

 to turn from our selfishness. Staying stuck on ourself always leads to sin

 and turning from our selfishness to following your Example

 and serving others always leads to God and His Plan of Salvation

 through our helping others. 

If You Jesus, being the King of all kings, will gird Yourself with a towel 

and wash our feet, why do we shirk the responsibility of serving

 our fellow man? Lord grant me a servant’s heart that I will always

 seek to think of others before thinking about myself, because when

 I am thinking of others and serving them as You Yourself served us 

while we were lost in our sin, then I trust that the Father God will see You

 in me and not the sinner that I was when I was lost in my selfishness — 

forgive me when I fail You and I pray daily to be filled with the Holy Spirit

 and centered in Your Will and that all that I do will Honor the Father.    

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus makes a point of asking us to “think” and then He presents 

the problem and the solution. The fact that Jesus asks us to “think” 

for ourselves and then presents the problem is a good indication

 that He is pointing us to both the “source of the problem” 

and the “solution to the problem” as being within ourselves. 

Jesus is telling us that we have the ability to “observe” and “reason” 

and then He presents the problem of sin. 

Jesus NEVER presents a problem to us without giving us a solution 

and with this section of scripture Jesus is “Teaching” us that we cause

 the sin problem ourselves and the solution to our personal sin problem is

 to observe our actions that are resulting from our participation in that sin

 and to use our God-given resources to recognize that our sin is just that — 

it is OUR SIN!!! 

Once we can find the “source” of our problem then we can “fix” the problem —

—— Jesus has shown us that to correct “our” sin against God 

that we must take “personal responsibility” for our personal 

actions/choices that result in sin and to turn from those actions/choices 

and rely on our “Faith in God”.  

The Lesson that Jesus is Teaching us on correcting “our” sin problem

 is to come to Him when He calls us. Jesus says that we must “humble”

 ourselves like a “little child” to “enter the kingdom of heaven” 

and that we must choose to “receive” Jesus Himself.  

Jesus told the disciples that

 “Whoever receives one little child like this

 in my Name receives Me.” (Matthew 18:5) 

Jesus had just called a little child to Himself and the child had obeyed

 and had come to Him and Jesus had sat the child in their midst

 and then started Teaching about “sin”. Jesus made it clear that 

to solve “our” sin problem that we would have to come to Him 

and humble ourselves as the little child had done. 

Jesus then said that solving our sin problem would be rewarded 

with the right to 

“enter into life”

 and if we failed to resolve our sin problem we would be

 “cast into hell fire”. 

There is a big difference between the actions of freely “entering” 

or unwillingly being “cast” into our eternal destination!

 Then there is the destination itself to consider: 

(D1) “the kingdom of heaven” and 

(D2) “everlasting fire” in “hell”. 

If we think about it, we at first will think to ourselves,

 “No way would I ‘enter’ willingly into ‘hell !!!’” — 

which is exactly the point Jesus is making about being “cast into”

 our punishment which implies that 

we will have to go to hell because our choices result in sin, 

i.e. we have chosen “hell” over “heaven” 

——— even if we don’t want to go ——— 

because a Higher Power who has reserved the Authority 

to determine the “consequence of our choices” has judged our sin 

and we have been found “guilty”; 

therefore, because of our free-will choice to sin we will be cast into hell 

by the Power of the Almighty!  Our penalty is executed resulting in us being

 “cast into hell fire” 

because of our “actions/choices” 

regardless of our “desires or want to”! 

Jesus uses the term “enter into life” which also Teaches us 

that we are “dead” until we “enter into life” and so if we fail to

 “enter into life” because we remain in our sin then we can say that if we

 “choose our sin” instead of humbling ourselves before Jesus 

when He calls, then “we have chosen death”  for the only path to “life” 

is through Jesus, all other paths keep us “lost” in our “sin”

 and there is no “life” in “sin” ——— only “death” which is the absence of “life”. 

The eternal residence of sin is “hell” and the “Promise of God” 

is that If we turn from our sin to Jesus we will “enter” the 

kingdom of God through our belief in Jesus 

but if we choose not to “receive” Jesus then we will remain 

dead in our sin and will be cast into hell and the everlasting fire. 

There is a very good reason Jesus first tells us to “think” 

and then presents the 

Truth of God 

that Jesus Himself is the

 “[Only] way, the [Only] truth, and the [Only] life…

No one comes to the Father except [Only] through Me.” 

(John 14:6) 

Can you “think” of a clearer way to present our problem and our solution

 and the rewards and penalties for how God Himself will deal with “our” sin? 

 The Question we all face is not “IF we will sin” but the real Question

 is “how will we deal with our sin that results from our poor actions/choices” 

that we ALL make??? 

“Think” about it, will you choose “life” and turn to Jesus 

or will you choose “death” and remain “lost”

 in your selfish existence apart from God???