“Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?’”.
Two verses later God poses two more questions. In verse 11 God asks Adam,
“Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
As we look thru the scriptures one of the interesting things we find is that God asks quite a few questions. In Genesis 3:9 God asks Adam, “Where are you?”. Later in verse 11 God asks how Adam found out he was naked and if Adam had done what he was told not to. Jesus was certainly no different than His Father. A quick scan of the Gospels shows us Jesus would oftentimes ask questions. In Matthew 7:9 Jesus asks, “What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?”. More prominently, Jesus posed a question from the cross. Mark 15:34 records the most important question ever asked:
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Let’s focus on this last question in order to answer our question. Why would God, In the person of Jesus, need to ask a question? Didn’t He know the plan? Didn’t Jesus know why the Father had forsaken Him? To answer this we have to realize that Jesus wasn’t the first person to ask the question. He was actually quoting from Psalm 22. It starts like this:
My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;
And in the night season, and am not silent.
But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
Our fathers trusted in You; They trusted, and You delivered them.
They cried to You, and were delivered;
They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.
But I am a worm, and no man;
A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
All those who see Me ridicule Me;
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
"He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!"
Psalm 22 is actually a prophecy. It describes in amazingly accurate detail how the Messiah would be treated. It was written from a human experience, but with a recognizably prophetic purpose. When Jesus quoted this Psalm from the cross he was actually teaching. Any Jew who was listening should have recognized the Psalm and realized that the scriptures had described this very event hundreds of years before. They should have immediately understood, even if they had never met Jesus before, they were witnessing the persecution of God’s Anointed. Jesus wasn’t asking questions to find out the answer. He was asking questions to reveal the truth. That was the purpose of God’s questions in Genesis. That is the purpose of any question God asks. God’s questions aren’t for His education. They are for ours.
It’s 3:34 a.m. as I am writing this. I’m probably too tired for this rant to be advised. However, here it is. I’ve noticed lately several of my Facebook friends saying that our schools need Jesus. I disagree wholeheartedly. For far too long we as parents and as a society at large have expected the government (our schools) to give our children what is our responsibility to give. Our schools have proven themselves inept at integrating simple multiplication into our children’s lives. I shudder to imagine the mess they would make with Christ.
Our schools do not need Jesus. Our homes need Jesus. I look around me and see parents teaching children that Jesus is a priority only when He is convenient to our schedules and our bank accounts. I see parents teaching that ball games, birthday parties, and drama club are all ample reasons to forsake the sacred assembly of the Body of Christ. I see parents teaching children that God comes first on Sunday’s and Wednesdays for an hour and fifteen minutes (we can’t tolerate a service if it runs longer than that) but not Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. We don’t need Jesus in our schools. We need Jesus in the foremost position of our priorities.
Our days are spent beholding Facebook or our TVs instead of beholding the Lamb of God. Even during worship services and Bible studies we have phones in front of our faces. We don’t need Jesus in our schools. We need Him in our hands in the form of our Bibles (He is the Word of God). I’m sure some of us really are looking at our Bible App during church, (but many are checking Facebook when the preaching fails to keep our interest). I know this because I see you thumb-scrolling for twenty-five straight minutes and if you had ever tolerated reading that much of the Bible in one sitting your life would be different than it is now. Can you imagine what would happen if our children saw us reading our Bibles as much as they saw us reading our phones? What would our future look like if we shared Christ with them as often as we share posts on Facebook. Dare to think of a day when they saw us searching God’s Word for His Truth with the same vigor we scour Pinterest for art and craft projects. We don’t need Jesus in our schools. We need Jesus in our thoughts and on our lips.
Our pulpits are filled with men and women (unfortunately in the latter case) who are more worried about attendance numbers, offering totals, and how people feel than preaching the Word. Our sermons focus on how to have good lives rather than the Good Shepherd and eternal life. We refuse to rebuke and exhort as we should because then someone might get offended and leave. We don’t need Jesus in our schools. We need Jesus in our pastors and elders. Our deacons are lazy and more concerned with acting as a board of administrators than serving the body as they should. Our worship leaders are concerned with sounding relevant to the unsaved instead of bolstering the Word as they steer Christ’s Church in worship. Our youth directors are more concerned with developing programs and content that is popular with young people than developing disciples and freeing them from the popular culture. We don’t need Jesus in our schools. We need Jesus in the leaders of our local church congregations.
Were educators to “put Jesus back in our schools” they could not do so legally without placing him on equal ground with Mohammed, Buddha, Brahma, Gia, or any other deity that is the focus of any other religion. We as parents certainly have no room to complain about that. We place Him on equal ground with Santa Claus, finances, television schedules, spouses, jobs, sports, houses, automobiles, happiness, education, and any one of the countless other things we spend our time, energy and effort on instead of Him. He deserves more. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We don’t need Jesus in our schools. We need Jesus in our living rooms. We need Jesus in our hearts when we lie down and when he rise up. We need Jesus in words when we go in and when we come out. We need Jesus in our actions as we set about our days.
We don’t need Jesus in our schools. We need Jesus in our children. And only we can introduce them to Him. If we do this they will carry Jesus with them when they go to school and no one would be able to take them from His hand (the change in possessive pronouns was intentional).
Recently a friend of mine found a video on social media and asked
me to comment on it. I encourage you to
watch the video. The video is short
excerpt from a 35 minute interview with Mr. Mario Joseph. Mr. Joseph was previously a Muslim Imam
(religious teacher/priest). The full-length video
can be found here.
I found the video very uplifting.
However there were a few points that I felt could be very
misleading. Mr. Joseph describes how
during his study of the Quran he began to question the teachings of
Islam after noticing superiority in the person of Jesus when compared to Mohammed. At around 10:30 into the video Mr. Joseph
makes the statement, “So if you ask me who made me Christian, it’s not any fathers; it’s
not any sisters; it’s not any bishops; it’s not any cardinals; it’s not even
the Pope; but the holy Quran converted me to Christianity”.However,
Mr. Joseph goes on to describe how it was only after beginning to study the
Bible that he truly became a Christian.
I feel the need to take time and dwell on this point. If someone were to only listen to the first
part of his interview they might perhaps take Mr. Joseph’s poorly constructed
thought literally. However, I cannot
stress enough that it was not the Quran that brought Mr. Joseph to Christ. Nor do I think it was ultimately his goal to communicate such an idea. It was the Bible. Mr. Joseph’s experience with the Quran was by
definition one of contradiction. And, a
critical examination of his words reveal that the Quran’s lack of harmony (as
was pointed out to him by God’s Holy Spirit) simply opened him up to receive
God’s Word (the Bible). The Gospel had to be presented for Mr. Joseph to be
saved. As Mr. Joseph received the Word
he was given understanding by the Holy Spirit.
It was that relationship with God's True Word which brought him a point of
faith.
"faith comes by hearing; and hearing comes by the Word of
God." (Romans 10:17)
My fear is that someone might begin to ascribe a position to the
Quran which it is not due. It is not
another “Holy Scripture”. The Quran is
not God’s Word. Holy enlightenment is not found through it. We must not view it in
the same light as the Bible. The two texts contradict one another and cannot
abide in harmony. If one must be right
then the other must be wrong. Perspective is important here. As Christians you must eventually
(hopefully early) come to a point in the development of our faith when we
answer the question:
Do I believe the Bible?
If you do then the only logical conclusion is that the Quran is a
lie. If the Quran is a lie it cannot be the Word of God. If the
Quran is not the Word of God then faith could not be found
through the study of the Quran. I do not
believe that Mr. Joseph was attempting to say such. However, his message could easily be
misconstrued to say such. That is why I
issue such a warning.
You might ask, “Why does it matter?” The answer is paramount to spiritual well being.
If we look to the Quran as a source of illumination (truth) then we risk
being trapped in its lies. In other words, what measurements can be coming from an unbalanced scale?The greatest illustration to this may lie in what Mr. Joseph did not discuss. What else does the
Quran say about Jesus?
1. Christ the son of Mary was no more than a
messenger; many were the messengers that passed away before him. His mother was
a woman of truth. They had both to eat their (daily) food. See how Allah doth
make His signs clear to them; yet see in what ways they are deluded away from
the truth! (5:575, Yusif Ali)
2. The Jews call 'Uzair a son of Allah, and the
Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth;
(in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say.Allah's
curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth! (9:30, Yusif
Ali)
3. Such (was) Jesus the son of Mary:
(it is) a statement of truth, about which they (vainly) dispute.35 It is not
befitting to (the majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to
Him! when He determines a matter, He only says to it, "Be", and it
is. (19:34-35, Yusif Ali)
4. That they rejected Faith; That they uttered
against Mary A grave false charge; That they said (in boast): 'We
killed Christ Jesus The son of Mary, The Messenger of Allah.' But
they killed him not, Nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to
them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain)
knowledge, but only conjunction to follow, for of a surety they killed him not.
Nay, Allah raised him up Unto Himself; and Allah Is Exalted in Power,
Wise. And there is none of the people of the book (Jews and Christians)
But must believe in him (Jesus) Before his death; And on the Day of
Judgment He (Jesus) will be a witness Against them. (4:156-159, Yusif Ali)
You see, the Quran explicitly states that Jesus was not the Son of
God who died on a cross as the sacrifice for our sins. In fact, it says
God has no Son. It states that Jesus was
just a messenger. The Quran further claims that
Jesus was never crucified and, in fact, never died. How can such a statement be brought into harmony
with a Gospel that says I may have eternal life because Christ died as my
propitiation? The Quran could not in any way deny the redemptive work of the
Gospel more than it already does. The Quran is a lie. It is a tool
used to lead many people astray from the will of God. For that reason I
am very particular to in stating that no one has found salvation in it.
If any man has faith in Christ as his Lord, Savior, Redeemer, and Only
Begotten Son of the Most High God it is because of the Holy Spirit convicting
him through flood of Christian voices which have permeated this world with the
Gospel of Salvation. Seek truth in the Bible; not the Quran. I want
to leave you with the Truth.
“Who is the liar but the one who denies that
Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and
the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses
the Son has the Father all”. - 1 John 2:22,23 (NASB)
I was recently cruising social media when I ran across this
question as it was posed to a friend of mine (real friend, not the social media kind) who happens to be a pastor. I
have shortened the original question to help keep it on point. I corrected some
spelling and grammatical errors.
However, I left the majority in an effort not to alienate the quote
entirely from its original voice. The
question was posed as such:
Don’t think I’m trying to [be] the
devil or anything, lol, but scripture was written by ordinary men, picked
through by men, and organized and rearranged by men. … Books have been added. Books have been taken out, by men [whose]
motives may be questionable. I don’t
know how to ask what I’m thinking without sounding like a terrible doubting
Thomas. But, you see where I’m going
with this.
I want to first point out that Ms. Jane Smith, regardless
of what she wants to sound like, is doubting. She doubts that the Bible is in
fact the Word of God. I understand. Her doubts are quite common. The question
which she states is one that has been put forward many times before. In answer to this question I now submit the
following:
To those who doubt God’s Word,
There is no logical or empirical argument that can
convince you that the Bible is the inerrant and living Word of God. Please don’t misunderstand what I am
saying. The Bible is logical. The Bible is supported by empirical
evidence. When you test what the Bible (truly)
says, with (truly) open eyes, you will see that it is true (Romans 1:20, 1 Thessalonians 5:21). But someone cannot be logically
or empirically argued to faith (1 Corinthians 2:10-16). Furthermore, the sad part about all this is
that unless you believe the Word of God you can’t have true faith in Christ
Jesus (Romans 10:17). After all, the
Bible says that Jesus is the Word (John 1:1-5, 14). And without faith in Christ Jesus we have no
forgiveness of our sin (Acts 4:12).
So I urge you. Find
a body of believers who teach sound doctrine, will build you up, and encourage
you forward as you seek God’s truth. Then,
test God’s word. See if it is true. But, most importantly, pray that God would
give you His understanding. An
intellectual knowledge of God and the Bible does not save. For by grace we have been saved through
faith, and that (faith) is not of ourselves.
It is the gift of God. It does not
come by our works, be they physical, spiritual, or mental (Ephesians 2:8).
Much has been said lately about economic bailouts. I am convinced economists, commentators, spectators, and politicians have said far more about this subject then either you or I can understand. What then could an uneducated Jack-In-The-Pulpit have to say that might interest you? I am so glad you asked. I want to invite you to look at the first bailout ever recorded by history. Understanding this first bailout is crucial for you to prosper during the current economic crisis.
To begin we need to categorize the American economy of the last twenty years. By way of speaking in generalities that economy presented all that one needed to thrive. All that was needed was the willingness to pick the fruit of prosperity from any of the many bearing trees that made up our Gross Domestic Product. I will go as far as to say it was a near facsimile of the Garden of Eden. Then we started to get greedy. Individuals, in mass, traded what was good for sustenance for the fruit that was just out of our reach (sub-prime mortgages on over priced properties). Next thing you know, much like Adam and Eve, the American homeowner faces the impending doom of eviction. Now we need a bailout from a wise and sovereign governing authority….. Jesus Christ. If you just said, “Jesus didn’t have anything to do with the Garden of Eden,” or, “By Jesus he means our elected officials,” you are sadly mistaken.
Let us look at the bailout as it is recorded in Genesis Chapter 3 verses 14 and 15.
The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life;
And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel." (NASB, Copyright 1995, The Lockman Foundation)
To some, this looks like a curse. And, to some extent it is. However, it is in fact the first recorded bailout. In the next few verses God is going to hand Adam and Eve their eviction notice. This eviction notice is ultimately a very real and literal death sentence. You see, had they obeyed God and not been banished from the garden, they would have never died. However, here in verses 14 and 15 God shows them his plan for their future before he kicks them out of the garden to die. Look closely at what God says to the serpent in verse 15. “And I will put enmity … between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”
- The seed of the serpent (what he created ): sin in the lives of Adam and Eve and their subsequent separation from God
- The seed of the woman (the only child ever born having no earthly father): our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus
- You shall bruise him on the heel (a painful but non-fatal wound): Christ’s suffering and death on the cross followed by his eternal resurrection
- He shall bruise you on the head (a fatal wound): Christ forever defeated Satan’s accusations against us when he bore our sins and punishment of death on the cross
You see, the first housing crisis had a bailout already in place before the first eviction notice was ever delivered. If God already provided for your greatest need (forgiveness of sin) will He not provide for these other matters you face during the current “crisis”? His bailout is the only one in recorded history that has completely provided for those who were in need. So many people are willing to turn to our government for help in these times of need. I urge you to turn to the Lord. He saves. He provides.
"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” - From Matthew’s eyewitness account concerning Jesus of Nazareth chapter 6 verse 33 (NASB, Copyright 1995; The Lockman Foundation)
