JULY 26 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#22 “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” (Matthew 20:15)

 

JULY 26  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, thank You for the moving of Your Spirit in so many lives and 

forgive us when we have been so bountifully blessed yet we don’t share

 the Joy of Jesus with others that are lost in darkness. Lord there is so 

much pain and sorrow and just plain lostness and there is 

Inexhaustible Light that is being kept under a bushel and I pray 

for forgiveness and the boldness to share You and the Love of God. 

Lord I will wait on You and trust that Your Spirit will renew my strength 

and that when You call, I will answer:  “Here I am Lord, send me”.   

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has addressed the problem we all have of following the 

doctrines of men by demonstrating the

 Truth of God 

that heaven is “Not For Sale” and eternal life cannot be earned

 by any amount of “good works”.

 Mankind has from the beginning been deceived into thinking we 

can “be like God” and our lustful eyes fall victim to the forbidden fruit

 and our lustful flesh quickly follows suit and we partake in the great lie

 because of our own volition — we are all sinners by nature 

and the problem is that the “doctrines of men” always turn us towards

 our inner prideful self which always focuses our attention on our lusts. 

The “doctrines of men” never attain the promise of eternal life but

 result only in our separation from the 

Love of God 

which has been poured out in a 

Crimson Flood for our Atonement 

which is the 

Gateway to Eternal Life in the Presence of the Great I Am!  

Jesus Taught about “Sin” then He followed that Lesson with this one about

 living our daily lives following Him {{which is the only Pathway to God}} 

instead of following the “doctrines of men” 

which is the broad highway leading to destruction. 

 Jesus started this section illustrating that our traditions

 are established by man’s interpretation of 

God’s Divine Intent for mankind 

——— note that there is a “spiritual problem” with filtering Divine Doctrine

 through a multitude of “defiled middle men” who must deal 

with their own selfish desires, thereby defiling the

 Divine Intent of the Holy God 

and His commandments which result in “traditions of men” 

being based more on our personal wants for our worldly self gratification

 than on God’s personal Words intended for our eternal self preservation.

 Jesus first demonstrated that our daily lives should be lived 

to glorify God and not self, then Jesus again used “little children”

 to demonstrate what the kingdom of heaven is made of. 

Jesus then showed through His encounter with the rich young man 

that was unwilling to part with his “great worldly possessions” that heaven

 could not be purchased nor could eternal life be earned by any 

amount of good works and the only way to have 

“treasure in heaven” 

is to respond personally to Jesus when He calls us individually to: 

“come, follow Me”. 

Jesus summarized these into this 

Truth of God: 

“With men this is impossible, but with God 

all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:1-26) 

The disciples were amazed at this and Peter said to Jesus,

 “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?”

 (Matthew 19:27) 

Jesus responded to His disciples question with a promise

 that our “earthly actions” will result in “heavenly rewards”, 

in essence Teaching that this world is not our home, 

it is only a temporary dwelling place and whatever we sacrifice 

in this life on earth that in heaven we will

 “receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.” 

(Matthew 19:30) 

Jesus has one more lesson in this section and it is another parable

 of a landowner hiring laborers for his vineyard which summarizes 

God’s position on the problem of “legalism” which is a by-product

 of the “defiled doctrines of men seeking worldly power”. 

If Jesus spends all this energy and effort to get our attention on this

 particular problem then doesn’t it make sense that we should give

 some thought to how much time we spend

 on the “doctrines of men” verses the

 “Word of God”?!?!?! 

The Truth is that 

only the  Creator and Supreme Judge in Heaven 

can declare what is “legal” in His Creation 

And the Kingdom of the King of kings!!!

JULY 25 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#22 “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” (Matthew 20:15)

 

JULY 25  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, may this day which You have blessed me with 

be used for a single purpose — to Glorify God. 

Lord I know that You have been leading me on my Journey to Truth 

for Your Light has illuminated my path and I pray that this day

 will be a day in which Your Love that You have poured into my life 

will be used to be a Light to dispel the darkness in someone else’s life,

 that this day will be a day that I give totally of myself for someone else

 that they will truly see You living in me and that they will start on their

 own journey to find the Peace, the Joy, and the Salvation that 

comes only from knowing Jesus.        

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus, being the Master Teacher and the Perfect Example for us to follow,

 covers all bases and nuances of each Truth of God that He Teaches. 

This Lesson from JQ#22 is about knowing the difference between 

“obeying the commands of God” and “following the doctrines of men”,

 Jesus Teaches us to also be aware of not only “traditions” that 

previous generations have mistakenly fallen into that is contrary to 

God’s Law 

but we should be aware that in this world in which we all live that

 there are certain “desires of men” that have become totally acceptable

 lifestyles for a society — but even though these “desires of men” 

are legal by man’s law they are still in conflict with the

 True Law which is derived from the Commands of God!

 Jesus Teaches in this next section that we sometimes live our lives 

trying to achieve a worldly goal that can actually keep us from entering 

the kingdom of heaven if we adhere to worldly standards that is socially

 acceptable to men, and sadly these worldly standards based on the 

desires of men are even considered “successful” behavior by the 

majority of men. Jesus had just used little children as an example

 and had Taught His disciples,

 “Let the little children come to Me…for such

 is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14)

 Matthew then records an encounter Jesus had with a rich young man who

 “had great possessions” approached Jesus “and said to Him, 

Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” 

(Matthew 19:16) 

The answer Jesus gave the rich young man who was seeking to

 “do good things” to “[earn] eternal life” is an important “Wake Up!” 

call to everyone that is absorbed with “possessions” and “gaining wealth”!

 Jesus made it very clear that no one can “buy” their way into heaven,

 neither can anyone “work” their way into heaven by doing “good things”.

 The response Jesus gave the rich young man laid out the only path

 to “enter into life” so that there could be no mistake what is required

 by God if someone wished to have eternal life. Jesus laid out 

the Pathway as He spoke to the rich young ruler; 

 “[Jesus] said to [the rich young man], ‘Why do you 

call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 

But if you want to enter into [eternal] life,

 keep [God’s] commandments.’” (Matthew 19:17) 

The rich young man had fallen victim to the “doctrines of men”

 that are still prevalent in our society today as we are taught to believe

 that “success” is measured by our “possessions” and proportional 

to the size of our “bank accounts”. Jesus really burst the rich young 

man’s bubble when He complemented the young man when the 

young man said that he already was following the commandments 

of God but then Jesus said to him, 

“If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have

 and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven;

 and come follow Me.” (Matthew 19:20-21) 

Wow ! Here the rich young man had to make a choice between

 having his “great possessions" here on earth or having 

“treasure in heaven” !!!

 The rich young man’s response was recorded by Matthew as we read,

 “But when the young man heard that saying, 

he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” 

(Matthew 19:22) 

Jesus had completely exposed the “doctrine of men” that says that 

success lies in possessions and worldly treasures for with 

His answer to the rich young man

 Jesus is Teaching that the only requirement to 

having “treasure in heaven” and “eternal life” 

is to “obey the commands of God and follow Jesus” !!! 

The disciples were “astonished” when they saw a rich young

 man with great possessions who had kept all the commandments turn

 and walk away from Jesus and they asked Jesus,

 “Who then can be saved?” (Matthew 19:25) 

Jesus now had their full attention and

 He drove home to His disciples another 

Truth of God —

 “But Jesus looked at them and said to them, 

‘With [the doctrines of] men this is impossible, 

but with God all things are possible.’” 

(Matthew 19:26) 

It cannot be Taught any better that entry into the kingdom of heaven

 “cannot be bought nor can eternal life be earned by good works” 

——— simply put; success with men is worthless in the sight of God 

— so now each of us is faced with the same deal, are you willing

 to trade all your worldly possessions and the praise of men 

to take up your “cross” and “follow Jesus” 

into the Promised Land and Life Everlasting?!?!?!