JULY 06 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 06  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, there is always praise on my lips when my heart dwells on You,

 God very God, being born of flesh into the physical world as we are

 and then by Your Life on earth You showed us 

the “Way” to being “Born of God” 

into “His Kingdom” which is “Eternal”. 

Lord I trust my soul to You, Lord Jesus I know my eternity is in Your hands

 and that puts a song in my heart and praise on my lips for the

 King of kings and Lord of lords.  

Forgive me of my daily iniquities, truly I have not attained 

the “perfection” You cheer us towards but Lord 

You have given me that “Blessed Hope” 

which my soul holds so dear, 

Praise and Glory to the Only Begotten of the Father, 

MY JESUS.    

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has used two questions from the world so far in this section

 to teach us multiple Truths of God by answering those questions 

from the world with Questions of His Own 

which come from Heaven itself! 

Remember in Matthew 17:24-27 the first worldly question came from

 “those who received the temple tax” 

and their question was to Peter as they asked him, 

“Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?”.

 That is about as worldly as it gets and Jesus demonstrated 

the superiority of the Spiritual over the physical world 

when Peter went to ask Jesus what to do about taxes? 

As soon as“[Peter] had come into the house 

[where Jesus was]…Jesus anticipated [his question]” 

and before Peter could ask, Jesus started revealing several

 Truths of God 

that only this worldly situation could create a circumstance 

that allowed God to demonstrate His Glory! 

Too often in life we fail to see that our “worldly problems” 

are just “spiritual opportunities” to glimpse the Glory of God 

and His Infinite Provisions of Mercy and Grace 

[“freely bestowed on all who will believe”]! 

God demonstrated to Peter the 

Truth of God 

that God KNOWS our need even before we ask 

and God will provide for that need 

in a way that cannot be mistaken as a “worldly” solution if we will just

 Trust and Obey the instructions of God. 

God also demonstrated to Peter the 

Truth of God 

that God will use our daily lives to solve our daily problems and that 

God will equip us with all the tools for success 

but we must live our lives to honor Him 

and then we must Trust Him for the results. 

Peter was a fisherman and though Peter had caught many, many fish before,

 Peter had never fished the way God told Him to fish 

and the result was quite a miracle in Peter’s life. 

The second worldly question came from the disciples themselves

 as they fell into the worldly trap of “one-upmanship” and asked Jesus,

 “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (Matthew 18:1) 

This question from the disciples demonstrated they had not yet grasped the

 Truth of God 

that God is the Supreme Power of the Universe 

and it is the Power of God that had been the True Power 

revealed in every miracle that Jesus had been performing —

—— His healing of the multitudes, the casting out of demons, 

and the Divine Power that could calm a raging sea!

 Yet the disciples were be so blinded by the world and the

 world’s lust for “power” that they could observe 

all the miracles coming from God and then have the audacity to ask,

 “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” !?!?!?

 God however, demonstrated yet another 

Truth of God 

and instead of slapping a big knot on their dumb heads, 

Jesus showed His Great Patience with them and instead of a rebuke

 (which in my opinion we all deserve), Jesus used the worldly circumstance

 to Teach a great “Spiritual” Truth 

by using a child as the answer to their question: 

“Then Jesus called a little child to Him…” 

and then Jesus answered their “worldly” question with this 

“Spiritual Truth” —

 “Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child

 is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:4) 

and with one simple demonstration Jesus showed the superiority

 of “Spiritual Compassion” over “physical competition”.

 Now that Jesus had their attention again and knew they 

were back on the same “spiritual” page with Him,

 Jesus moved to His next lesson about pre-requisites 

for entry into the kingdom of heaven  which will reveal even more

 Truths of God. 

Just like we would never imagine a “fish” being a solution,

 we cannot imagine how God can give us insight into heaven

 using a “child” and then one of the greatest Lessons on Heaven 

as He introduces us to “lost sheep” 

— immediately we regress and ask the worldly question:

 “What in the world does a little child and lost sheep 

have to do with getting into heaven?” 

— my scriptural answer to that worldly question is with an angelic question:

 “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”  

(Luke 24:5)  

JULY 05 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 05  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, thank You for this day and I trust You for my daily bread,

 both physical and spiritual bread that You provide so abundantly 

that we may truly live. Lord You have demonstrated Your Love and Faithfulness

 to us both in Your Word and in Your Daily Presence in our lives 

and especially Lord for the extension of Your Grace 

to guide me through yet another difficulty in my physical life 

by healing me spiritually, only You Lord Jesus can know our need 

and make provisions for us without us expressing that need —

 You ARE LORD and I bow before You, 

humbled once again for the Mercy that You give to this sinner. 

Lord I pray that as I look into the future 

that my spiritual eyes will stay fixed on the “Light”.    

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus Taught Peter a multitude of Lessons with the “fish and taxes” miracle

 and lest we think it was only about how Peter could pay his taxes 

we should note the Lessons Peter learned from Jesus surfaced 

as Peter turned from student to teacher and taught this: 

“Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem…Repent, 

and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ 

for the remission of sins; 

and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” 

(Acts 2:14,38). 

The point is that Jesus used each circumstance in Peter’s life 

to Teach Peter the importance of looking for the 

Truth of God 

in everything in our daily lives and each Lesson will build upon the other 

until we can understand that God will reveal Himself to us 

through our daily circumstances, some may be as dramatic as the “fish and taxes”

 miracle and others may be as simple as going about our daily lives and 

Trust God to provide our daily needs 

and reveal His Glory through His Provisions.

 Jesus always has an “agenda” and is working in our daily lives to bring us to the

 Truth of God 

that if we want to “dwell in [the New] Jerusalem with God” 

that the “Way” to God is through His Son Jesus who became flesh,

 lived a Perfect life, and made the “Ultimate Sacrifice” 

that our sins could be forgiven. 

It is only through the substitutionary Righteousness of Jesus 

that we can enter into eternal fellowship with the Father 

— but only if we learn the Lesson Peter learned 

and we “repent” and are “baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ” 

and then we will receive the gift of the 

“Holy Spirit” 

which is the Ultimate Provision of God in our daily lives. 

The next Lesson Jesus Taught His disciples after the miracle 

of the “fish and taxes” was after the disciples 

“came to Jesus, saying, 

‘Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’” (Matthew 18:1) 

When I read this I can see myself wanting to “keep up with the Joneses” 

and added to it the world’s addiction of “doing them one better” 

as our value system today is based on judging our success 

based on comparing ourselves to others. 

The devil has deceived us into not comparing ourselves 

to others less fortunate than us 

but we have been tricked into perpetual failure 

by always comparing ourselves to others 

that have “more stuff” than we do — 

this is the same pit even the wealthiest fall into 

and that “failure” is the desire for “more” 

instead of realizing we already have “enough”.  

Jesus used this question from the disciples to move them one step closer to the

 “understanding” that true success 

is not found in collecting material possessions 

or gathering titles or accolades of men 

but in the approval of God on our daily lives! 

As soon as the disciples used the term “greatest in the kingdom of heaven” 

Jesus used that circumstance to demonstrate a great 

Truth of God 

and revealed true “greatness” as Matthew writes: 

“Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them,

 and said, 

‘Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted 

and become as little children,

 you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 

Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child 

is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’” 

(Matthew 18:2-4). 

Once again Jesus has revealed a 

Truth of God 

through a simple Lesson and demonstrated that when we look 

to the wisdom of the world that teaches us that

 “only the strong survive” that we are blinded to the

 Kingdom Truth 

that 

“humility and a child-like faith” 

are the true path to 

“spiritual survival”!

 We must listen to Jesus just like God said to do if we want to know the path

 to “kingdom success” or are you still one of those that 

“think” that “the one that dies with the most toys is the winner”?