Answer Christ's Questions BEFORE Asking

People ask God a lot of questions.  Jesus demonstrated He is under no obligation to answer any question - especially the dishonest questions of men - though He is glad and willing to answer all sincere questions.  In an interaction with the Pharisees, before Jesus agreed to answer their question they were required to answer His.  This is the correct order of things, for God has all authority over men.  If we demand an honest answer from God, we must first be honest with Him.  When we refuse to answer Christ's questions, do not be surprised when you do not receive answers.

Matthew 21:23-27 tells the story:  "Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?" ²⁴ But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: ²⁵ The baptism of John--where was it from? From heaven or from men?" And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?' ²⁶ But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet." ²⁷ So they answered Jesus and said, "We do not know." And He said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."  Jesus only did what pleased the Father, but His actions did not please the chief priests and elders.  They openly questioned His authority.  Knowing the hypocrisy of their hearts, Jesus agreed to answer them on the condition they first answered His question.

Christ's question prompted a private discussion.  Answering the question Jesus asked would expose them as hypocrites or prompt indignation and outcry from the people - two things they had planned to do to Jesus by asking Him such questions publicly.  So the most learned men in Israel lied and played dumb:  "We do not know."  Jesus replied, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."  Jesus had been given all authority from His Father.  Since these rulers did not trust or believe Him, they wouldn't believe the truth even if He told them.  They would only accuse Him of dishonesty when it was they who were dishonest themselves.  This is a good lesson for Christians.  We are never under any obligation to answer the dishonest questions of the unbelievers.  Does God need me to defend Him?  Well did our Saviour warn not to cast pearls before swine, lest after trampling those precious truths underfoot they turn and tear us apart (Matt. 7:6).

Do you have questions you want to ask of God?  How about answering some of the questions Jesus asked first?  Your answer or unwillingness to answer likely reveals why heaven seems silent.  In the following passages, the bold emphasis is mine:

• "Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. ²⁶ And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" John 11:25-26 
• "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16:26 
• "Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. ¹⁶ And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. ¹⁷ Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" ¹⁸ But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? ¹⁹ Show Me the tax money." So they brought Him a denarius. ²⁰ And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?" ²¹ They said to Him, "Caesar's." And He said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." Matthew 22:15-21
•  "When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, "Son of David, have mercy on us!" ²⁸ And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord." ²⁹ Then He touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be to you." ³⁰ And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, "See that no one knows it." Matthew 9:27-30
•  "And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." ²⁹ So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!" ³¹ And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" ³² And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³ Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God." Matthew 14:28-33

Do you believe Jesus is who He claims to be, the Christ?  What does it profit you to gain the whole world and lose your soul?  Why do you test Him in hypocrisy?  Do you believe Jesus is able to do what you ask of Him?  Why did you doubt?  Why do we doubt?  Oh, that we would answer Christ's questions in humility and faith proved in reality!  Then He will speak, we will hear, and receive Him as the answer we have be searching for!

Jesus and Ronaldo

I saw a video of soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo going "undercover" as a bearded man in sweatpants and sunglasses in Madrid, Spain.  During the short film, he pulled out a soccer ball and a cardboard box like a busker.  After demonstrating some footwork, he tried to encourage other people to play soccer with him.  No one seemed very interested in the man juggling and kicking the ball to himself.  Finally, Ronaldo managed to gain the interest of a boy, and he encouraged him to try to steal the ball from his lightning-fast feet.  After a few minutes Ronaldo picked up the ball, signed it, and began to remove his disguise.  He handed the ball to the boy and gave him a hug.  Onlookers can be heard gasping in shock and amazement as the sportsman revealed his true identity.  The once desolate square quickly packed with people with mobiles out, and strained to capture images of the world-famous celebrity.

Who receives the glory for Ronaldo posing as a homeless man and giving a signed soccer ball to a boy?  Ronaldo, of course.  Why?  Because he didn't have to.  He makes more than 50 million dollars annually as a soccer player and could very well be one of the world's most famous athletes.  This little gesture of putting on makeup and going into the real world without security or bodyguards as a busker with a soccer ball only took a few hours and was a small sacrifice.  But because it was Cristiano Ronaldo, it is a huge deal that only improves his image (and provides advertising for products at the end of the video!).

What I find most compelling about the film (not knowing the motives of the man) is how everyone's attitude towards the man with the soccer ball changed when he pulled off his disguise.  People seemed to come from nowhere to swarm Ronaldo.  Security quickly ushered him away from the growing crowd of adoring fans, trying to press in as close as possible to the celebrity.  He had demonstrated world-class talent in that square moments earlier, but no one recognised it.  Only a couple of men and a boy were willing to humour the man and play with him for a few minutes.  It was only after those who passed by saw the beard removed from the clean-shaven face they realised under that disguise was the best and most famous footballer on the planet.  They couldn't believe their eyes.

When I saw this video, one thing flashed in my mind:  Jesus never removed His beard.  Ronaldo dressing as a homeless busker is nothing compared to the God of the universe becoming a man and walking among us.  God didn't have to, but He wanted to.  Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit in a devout Jewish woman and born as a baby in Bethlehem.  Around 30 years old He began to preach repentance and the kingdom of God.  He healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, cleansed lepers, and cast out demons.  But Jesus never once "removed His beard" or His fleshly disguise.  Most people had no idea Jesus was God in human flesh because He looked ordinary, and only a handful followed Him until the end.  He did not step out of His human body and reveal His unrivaled divine splendour and glory, but chose to die the excruciating death of the cross as a sacrifice for sinners.  Even after He rose from the dead, some doubted (Matthew 28:17).

Do you realise what Jesus has done in coming to earth?  He shed His blood to provide atonement for sins so He could be with us forever - far more than Ronaldo did in giving a boy a signed ball.  If the video of Ronaldo warms your heart, how much more should God's divine condescension fill us with love and appreciation for the One who has so vividly expressed the love of God for man?  Many people still don't recognise Jesus for who He is, but one day every eye will see Him and bow before Him.  Only those with faith like that little boy - the one who appreciated and played with Ronaldo before his disguise was removed - will receive His rewards when Christ is revealed from heaven.  Only those who trust in Jesus, believing He is the Son of God, will be rewarded with eternal life.

Thank you Jesus for revealing yourself as the Son of God through wisdom, signs, wonders, sacrificial death, and resurrection.  Remember me when you come into your kingdom!

Is God Knowable?

I read a comment today which held forth sentiment I have heard many times.  On the topic of God a person wrote, "Only the foolish claim to have knowledge of what is unknowable. Science can't prove God doesn't exist and religion can't prove one does."  Instead of offering a direct rebuttal to this claim, it is a fair question to ask:  are "science" and "religion" the only authorities to invoke in the quest for the proof of God's existence?  If God exists, couldn't He chose to be known and reveal Himself?  The God who created mouths and speech, the One who has provided His written Word, can't He speak for Himself?  Science has its limits, and "religion" has been aptly defined by some as "man's attempts to reach God."  Science and religion are not the authorities concerning God's existence:  God is!

The statement that God is unknowable is partially true.  In the beginning God said, "Let there be light!" and there was light.  The Bible reveals God as an omnipotent, all-powerful Spirit who created the universe in three distinct persons:  the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.  The heavens declare the glory of God, and the glory of sun, moon, and stars reveal His divine order and power.  A blind man could never see, even if light shone brightly upon him.  Because of sin, all men are spiritually blind and in darkness - unable to discern the divine presence of God and separated from Him - even though we were created to be in relationships with Him.  Jesus came to earth to reveal God's existence to the unbeliever, His love for the sinner, and His power and glory to all.  He said in Matthew 11:27, "All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."

God is not a nebulous construct of the feeble minded, for who could have dreamed up Jesus?  His existence is scientifically and historically verifiable by eye-witnesses.  Jesus is a real person who walked the earth.  He healed countless people of incurable diseases, did miracle after miracle, and spoke wisdom like none before or since.  He claimed to be equal with the Father, a clear claim to deity.  Religious leaders out of envy arrested and accused Jesus, and was condemned to die on a Roman cross, though without committing a crime.  Jesus bled and died on the cross, and even in dying convinced the Roman centurion and his fellow soldiers He was indeed the Son of God.  Three days later, Jesus rose alive from the grave.  Death could not hold Him, and He has sent the Holy Spirit to indwell all those who believe.  Religion had a hand in killing Jesus, and science only supports the reality of Christ's life and resurrection.

Content yourself with doubts if you wish, but I am also an eyewitness of Christ's glory through transformed lives.  The Holy Spirit lives inside of me, for I have been born again through faith in Jesus Christ.  Chalk me up as a fool for Jesus if you like, but personal attacks do nothing to deny the reality of Christ's existence, His promises, that I have been forgiven for my sins, have experienced joy and peace even in trials, and a new life without any fear of death.  The shed blood of Jesus has paid for my sins, and I have a relationship with the living God.  It is not science or religion which affords me this privilege, but is a gift provided by the grace of God.  As it is written in Jeremiah 9:23-24, "Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; ²⁴ but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says the LORD."  Did you see that?  God says He can be understood and known, even though His ways are past finding out.

I don't know much, but I will pledge my life upon this truth:  I was once blind, but now I see.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  God is knowable, my friends, for He has done everything to make Himself known.  If you don't yet know Him, do you want to?  Seek Him with all your heart and He promises you will find Him (Deuteronomy 4:29).

Open the Door to Jesus

Experiencing fellowship with God today should be a Christian's prime focus.  Living in obedience to God is evidence that I am His, and He is mine.  Eternity weighed against the temporal is more important in a sense, but if I do not fear God and love Him today my sense of eternal security could be a product of self-deception.  If I genuinely love God, I will obey Him and desire to spend time with Him now and gratefully join with others in the Body of Christ in worship.  I will desire to have a deeper understanding of God and take practical steps to draw near to Him.

1 John 1:6-7 reads, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."  My theology does not assure me entrance to heaven, but the blood of Jesus Christ applied to my soul by grace through faith.  I can be sound in doctrine, but it is only theoretical unless I am born again and filled with the Holy Spirit.  Because Jesus Christ is the Light of the World and become my life, I have fellowship with God and other Christians.  Since the Holy Spirit fills each born-again believer, I experience fellowship with God through communion with others who are in Christ because we are one in Him.

Are you experiencing fellowship with God?  Do you speak to Him and heed His voice through the prompting of the Spirit and the reading of His Word?  What prophetic words have you taken to heart God has spoken through fellow Christians?  If you do not care to spend time with God today, do you really want to abide in His presence forever?  And if a person is not delighted at the thought to spend today in God's presence, why should that person fool himself to think God wants such an ungrateful one with Him forever?  God is interested to have a close relationship with me today.  He is not interested to offer me a heavenly flophouse where I can be eternally content and secure without me caring to know Him.  Eternal security is found in knowing, trusting, and obeying God now.

Jesus said in Matthew 28:18-20, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen."  Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10) and destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:7-8).  As I read this portion recently, it struck me that Jesus did not ask His disciples to obtain decisions for Christ so people could go to heaven.  He told them to go and make disciples of all nations who obey all Christ commanded.  People are willing to pledge themselves, but God is not interested in man's promises.  He seeks to save sinners!  Make no mistake:  only true followers of Christ will go to heaven, for faith without works is dead.  Only those who have fellowship with God and walk in the light will live eternally with Him.

Christianity is not a religion but a decision to enter into a relationship with the living God.  God has reached out to us, not to impose rules upon us to restrict, but having freed believers from sin He instructs us in how to live in the way that pleases Him.  He has demonstrated His love for us through Christ dying on the cross, and He has proved His victory and power through His resurrection from the dead.  He has also sent the Holy Spirit to fill all who trust in Christ, providing the desire and ability to do His will (Phil. 2:13).  If you do not have fellowship with God today, do not be deceived to think you will suddenly obtain this privilege when you body dies on the basis of your theology.  Jesus spoke to the lukewarm church of Laodicea in Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me."  Will you open the door today?