JULY 30 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#22 “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” (Matthew 20:15)

 

JULY 30  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#22

  “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” 

(Matthew 20:15)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

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

Jesus summed up His Lesson on our proclivity of following 

the doctrines of men instead of staying steadfast and faithful

 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” for themselves and because of their selfishness they write

 the “laws of men” and declare them “legal” and impose those manmade laws

 on other men! 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 together 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 but 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 decides what work 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 declare 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 and live by the Moral Standards

 God Himself has established to give us a hope and a future! 

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 Still Small 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 

who volunteer to obey His commands ——— 

It is your choice: 

(Choice 1) You may choose the doctrines of men and self gratification

 and be forever separated from God or 

(Choice 2) you may choose obedience to God and trust Him

 to give you “whatever is right and necessary” 

and enter into the “kingdom of heaven” 

and have eternal fellowship with the Good Shepherd?