What an odd question to ask. Acts chapter 8 is one of the richest chapters in the entire Bible. It contains so much teaching on so many topics that I could probably write an article a week for a year just on this chapter. But for now let’s just look at this question asked by the Ethiopian eunuch. Acts 8:36 reads, "And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?" The answer Philip gives is in the next verse, but let’s look at a few other things before we get to that.

First, let’s consider the kind of response this question might get today. Some preachers would simply say, “There is no point in being baptized.” Others would say, “You don’t want to be baptized in water, but in the Holy Ghost. Still others would say, “You can, but you have to wait for baptizing Sunday.” There might even be some who would say, “If you want to get baptized you need to go to another church, we don’t allow your kind in our church.” Then, there would be some who would say, “We will have to wait for the church to vote on you.” You can probably imagine some other responses this question would get from our mixed up religious world today. None of these answers were the ones Philip gave. We’ll get to it in a minute.

Second, let’s look back to see what caused the eunuch to ask such an interesting question. How did he know what baptism was? How did he know water was necessary? Wasn’t the water bottle he had for drinking on a long journey enough? Why would he make mention of another water source? If we look back a few verses and use some reasoning, we can answer these questions. 

In Acts 8:32-35 we read, "The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: {33} In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. {34} And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? {35} Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." Notice that Philip preached ‘Jesus’. We don’t know how long he preached, but it was long enough to tell the eunuch all about who Jesus was, how He had lived, what He had taught, how and why He had died, how He rose again, what instructions He left for His disciples, and how He had returned to Heaven. That could take a good while. But, why did the eunuch respond to all of this teaching about Jesus by asking about being baptized? There is only one logical explanation that fits with the text. Somewhere in Philip’s sermon about Jesus baptism had been taught, and with enough emphasis that the eunuch felt compelled to have this done to him. He also understood that the baptism he needed was not the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but baptism in water. Holy Spirit baptism was special and Philip may well have taught the eunuch about it, certainly he would have taught about the Spirit beginning with the virgin conception and birth; but which one did the eunuch understand was for him? Water baptism.

As for the amount of water and the necessity of water, that also must have been included given the response the eunuch has and the action in verses 37-38. The Greek word for baptize (baptizo) literally means “to make fully wet, to cover in a liquid, or to dip” according to Strong’s Greek Dictionary in the back of the Strong’s Concordance. Given this understanding of the word it no longer seems surprising that the eunuch knew he needed water and a large amount of it. Oh, if only translators had accurately translated how much less confusion there could be today.

Now let’s look at Philip’s answer. The question implies that the eunuch is not sure if he meets all of the qualifications. ‘Hinder’ indicates there may be something holding him back. Is there something else he must do first: some fee to pay, some committee to go before, or some religious experience? No, Philip simply says, “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest" (verse 37). He already knew what he had to believe from the preaching he had just heard. The eunuch did, so, they got out and went down into the water and Philip baptized him (verse 38). They did it right then and there with no delay. The eunuch went home rejoicing (verse 39). And why shouldn’t he? He had found the truth and obeyed what he had been taught: he was saved. Sounds just like what Jesus said in Mark 16:16,  "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." The eunuch believed and was baptized, and I hope to meet him in Heaven.

Jesus asked the people about John the Baptizer 3 times in Luke 7:24-26. He asked them what they had gone out into the wilderness to see. Then He made some silly guesses. Did you go to see a reed shaken with the wind? Of course that was not it. Was it a man dressed in fancy clothes? No, you wouldn’t go to the desert to see that. Well, was it a prophet? Ah, yes that was it the people thought of John as a prophet, but what would Jesus say about him? Jesus not only acknowledged that John was a prophet, he said John was much more than just a prophet. In fact, He said John was the greatest prophet that had ever lived. According to verse 27 Jesus believed John was “the prophet,” the one that was supposed to come and announce the messiah, the second Elijah (Matthew 17:10-13). Yes, Jesus thought John was a pretty important person. 

Remember that there is no record of John ever performing a single miracle. Miracles are not what makes someone great. So, what made John such a special prophet? His message. The other prophets had prophesied about that great time off in the future when God would establish his kingdom (Genesis 49:10; Daniel 2:44, Zechariah 9:9, Joel 2:28-32,  etc.). John was the one who got to preach, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”(Matthew 3:1-3). He got to tell people that the glorious time promised for centuries was finally coming. Even though the kingdom was close and many that heard John’s teaching would enter that kingdom when it was established on the day of Pentecost some 3-4 years in the future(Mark 9:1; Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8; 2:4), John himself would not get the opportunity to be a part of the kingdom that he preached about. John was executed by Herod(Matthew 14:1-12) before Jesus built his church, the kingdom of God on earth (Matthew 16:18-19). This explains the statement that Jesus closes with. Regardless of how great John was, Jesus says that the least important person who was IN the kingdom would be greater than John. 

Imagine that! Every true Christian (not every one who claims Christianity) who has ever lived is greater than John the Baptist. Christians have access to things that John and the prophets never dreamed of. Ephesians 1:3 tells us that all spiritual blessings are in Christ. Paul explains in (Ephesians 1:9; 3:3-12; 6:19-20 and Colossians 1:26-27; 4:2-4 ) that the mystery that was hidden from the foundation of the world has now been revealed through the apostles and inspired Christian writers of the New Testament. Christians have access to the blood of Christ and to Christ Himself as our High Priest. The list could go on and on. Suffice it to say we live under a better covenant with better promises and a better mediator (Hebrews 8:6). If you are not in God’s kingdom you better get there before it is too late.

Now, let’s switch gears and ask a similar question for all of you “church goers” out there. Think about the last time you went to church. What did you go in there to see? Did you go to see who else would be there? I hope not. Did you go to see who would have the best clothes? For shame. Worse yet, did you go because your favorite team won a game and you want to rub it in? Did you go to be entertained by a choir and a preacher’s anecdotes and jokes? Some do. Maybe you only went because you didn’t have “anything better” to do. Did you go to see what you would get out of it? That seems increasingly to be the primary reason people go to church. 

If you are going to a church where the focus is on the “audience” or if you want the focus to be on you, then you need to make a change. Jesus built the church so that the focus would be on HIM not us. What do you go to see? I hope and pray that each of you will begin thinking of worship as something for God and not something for you. When we change our focus in this way we should realize that many of the things that are being done in many churches are done not because God wants them done, but because of human arrogance and selfishness. When we go to worship God he is the audience, not those sitting in the pews.

If everyone was doing what God wants in religion, then there wouldn’t be dozens of churches in every city. Division comes from men doing what they want instead of what God commands in scripture.

I am never so glad that God is not under man’s law as when I read the parable of the workers in the vineyard in Matthew chapter 20. Jesus begins by telling us that he is using this earthly example to describe the way things are in the kingdom of heaven. Then he describes a man who owns a vineyard going out to find people to work for him. This man represents God in the story. Early in the morning he finds some workers and makes an agreement with them that if they will work they will receive a ‘denarius’ (the King James says penny) which was the average pay for a days work. The men agree and go to work. Later in the morning he goes to find more workers and they agree to work for “whatsoever is right.” He did this again at noon, 3 in the afternoon, and 5 in the evening. Then when it got dark they came to get their paycheck so to speak. 

This is where it starts to get really interesting because we would expect that if he was going to pay a day’s wage to the first group, then naturally he would pay less to those who worked less. But Jesus surprises us by telling that the man gave the ones who had worked the least a day’s wage. Well, then he is surely going to give the others who have worked longer more, right? Wrong! He gives them the same amount and they get mad. Be honest you probably would too. But was he “unfair”? Didn’t they get what they had agreed to receive? And wasn’t it his right to be generous and kind to the others who would not have had enough to feed their families if he had not? Would they have been mad if after being paid they had seen the same man give a beggar a denarius? Probably not. So, why were they so angry about this situation? They apparently thought that he was paying the others a higher hourly wage than they were getting. Then he asks the great question, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?” Remember that this is a description of how things work in God’s kingdom.

If someone asked this question today the answer would have to be a resounding, “NO!” Let’s look at some of the laws this man in Jesus’ story broke. The ACLU and workers’ unions would have been all over this guy. There is no indication that he did the proper paper work on these workers, some of them might have been illegal. He also didn’t make sure that he was getting an equal cross-section of the population (i.e. - women, minorities, handicapped, etc.). The real problem though is the pay. Can you imagine what would happen if Wal-mart or any business hired 10 people who worked from 8 AM - 5 PM and 10 more people that worked from 4 PM - 5 PM and then gave them the same pay? The people who only worked an hour would be ecstatic, but there would be 10 others who would quickly be involved in a lawsuit, and they would surely win. No, it is not lawful to do what you will with your own in our country, there are thousands of regulations.

But these laws and regulations are exactly the reason that we should be grateful that God is above man’s law. Let’s look at the spiritual teaching in this parable for a minute. God goes out into the world to find people who will work in his vineyard, some come in the morning (at a young age) and work all day long (their whole lives). Others may come at later times (twenties, forties, sixties, even eighties) and only serve a short time. When the accounts are settled on judgment day, however, only the faithfulness of the service and not the length of the service will count. We must be faithful until the close of day to receive the reward. How sad if one who came early and worked most of the time were to quit and leave before receiving the reward.

Wouldn’t it be sad if we couldn’t receive a home in heaven because we didn’t come early enough, as some teach. What hope would there be for some one 50 years old who had never been taught the gospel? What could we tell them? “You can’t go to heaven, but maybe God will let you look in for a while at the gate.” How horrible that would be. Praise be to God that He accepts us at whatever age we learn and obey in faith.  This is not an excuse to “sow our wild oats” and think that we will get right with God later. There may not be a later. There are many benefits that come from serving God from the early morning hours, that may be lost if we don’t come until late in life. How many have come to Jesus late in life and regret that their health has been wasted by their sinful living, or that they raised worldly wicked children that they can not reach now. Those regrets may haunt them to the grave, but Heaven can still be their eternal home. 

God is just and He is fair and it is lawful for Him to do what He wants to with what is His. The labor laws don’t apply to Him, and no one will be able to sue or appeal to the government to overrule His decisions. Acts 10:34-35 says,  "Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: {35} But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him."

As we start this new year this is a question that we need to answer. Where we will spend eternity is dependent upon the answer and the follow through of that very question. So, the question comes to you, “What will you do with Jesus?” Even if you don’t consciously answer this question you are answering it each and every day by the way you live your life. 

In Matthew chapter 27 Pilate is facing the most difficult and most significant decision of his career. He has Jesus, falsely accused of treason and other crimes, before him. Pilate can find no wrongdoing in Christ. Under those circumstances Jesus should have been cleared and freed. Pilate made a mistake that is almost unimaginable. Picture a courtroom with a judge and a defendant and a plaintiff, a common picture. Now, after the questioning is over and no evidence against the accused has been found, imagine if you can, the judge turning to the accusers and saying, “What should I do?” What do you think the accusers will say? As shocking as it seems that is what Pilate did. You see Pilate was asking the right question, he just went to the wrong source for the answer.

Pilate’s wife had sent a message to him to have nothing to do with Jesus. She warned him that Jesus was a just man. Of course, he is much more than that, and her advice to have nothing to do with him was not wise.  Pilate, regardless of her advice, could not avoid this decision. Even though he tried to pass it off to Herod (Luke 23), Herod sent Jesus back. We are in the same difficult position as Pilate. We can’t pass the decision off to someone else, we must each answer for himself.

There are several responses that can be made to this question: 


1) You may choose to ignore it and do nothing. This is the same as rejecting Jesus.


2) You may choose to wait until later and do nothing now. This is the same as rejecting Jesus.


3) You may choose to reject Jesus and his claim on you.


4) You may claim to serve him in word, but do your own will. This is also the same as rejecting Him.


5) You may pretend to serve him with your actions, but not with your heart. This is rejecting Him.


6) You may ask others, even Jesus’ enemies, what they think you should do? This can be dangerous.


7) You may try to serve Jesus and someone or something else. This rejects His absolute sovereignty.


8) You may choose to serve Him and worship Him according to his commands with your whole heart.

You may be able to think of other responses or scenarios, but the fact is that anything other than total submission to Jesus and his commandments is a rejection of Him as Lord and Christ. 

What are you going to do with Jesus? You had better make sure you choose wisely and follow through because one day all who have ever lived will stand before Him in judgment and wait to see what He will do with them. I will be there, and you will be there, too. It will be too late then. We must answer now. 

In Matthew 27:3-4 we read the following: "Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, {4} Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that." If we look we can see the attitude that many have toward those they have seduced into sin. The chief priests and elders mentioned in verse 3 are the ones who had given Judas the 30 pieces of silver in the first place. They were only interested in getting Jesus and killing Him. They didn’t care how or at what cost, and certainly didn’t care about His innocence. They didn’t care who else got hurt in the process as long as Jesus was dead at the end of it.

Judas was different, and didn’t really want Jesus dead. He was greedy and a thief who had stolen money out of the money bag that he kept for Jesus and the apostles (John 12:5-6). This greed possibly combined with some other motive that we are not told of drove Judas to betray Jesus to the Pharisees. But it is apparent from Matthew 27:1-4 that Judas did not realize that Jesus was going to be killed. When he “saw that he(Jesus) was condemned, repented himself” and he tried to take the money back. We don’t know what Judas thought they were going to do to Jesus, but he should have realized their intentions were to kill Jesus because the disciples had talked with Jesus about that very thing on earlier occasions (John 11:8,16; Matthew 16:21-22; Matthew 17:22-23).

Many people get caught up in something not realizing what the final outcome will be. Most of the criminals on death row never imagined that they would end up dying over the choices that seemed so insignificant at the time they were made. We need to learn from Judas Iscariot the importance of looking before we leap. It is true that we can’t always know what consequences may follow, but we should examine the possibilities as much as possible.

The biggest lesson we need to learn here is that those who help entangle us in sin usually couldn’t care less what happens to us. A boy gets a girl pregnant and then disappears from her life after he had enticed her by telling her how much he loved her. A group of troublemakers convinces a newcomer to do something illegal to become part of the group, but when the sirens sound it is everyone for himself. There are a dozen other scenarios of this kind that we could mention, and some probably happened to you or someone you care about. These people don’t really care about anyone but self. They are vampires who use people and suck them dry and then leave them for dead and move on to someone new. The chief priests and elders that Judas dealt with were just like that. When he came to his senses and realized that innocent Jesus was going to die because of him and tried to go back and make things right, did they care? Of course not they had gotten what they needed from him. There response says it all, “What is that to us?” What do we care? So what? That’s not our problem. You deal with it. Don’t bother us. Sound familiar?

When will we learn to quit following this kind of person and follow Jesus instead. Judas made a fatal mistake when he switched his allegiance. Don’t make the same mistake he did. It cost him his life and his soul. If only he had come back to Jesus for forgiveness instead of to those who were involved with him in the sin.

Notice what Jesus says in Matthew 21:28-32 "But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. {29} He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. {30} And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. {31} Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. {32} For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him."

Jesus is once again focusing on one of his most preached topics in this passage. He wants the religious leaders of his time, and ours as well, to know that actions speak louder than words. The religious world of our time had better wake up to this fact or there will be tons of disappointed people on judgment day. We can’t give God lip service and expect him to be happy. Jesus seems to teach this message in every way he possibly can. In Matthew 7:21 He says,  "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." But no matter how often or how many different ways he gave this message there were many then and now who proudly proclaim to be Christians, children of God, and followers of Christ and go about living like the devil. 

It is sad to know there will always be hypocrites, but it is sadder still to see churches and church leaders who condone, approve, or even actively encourage this sinful lifestyle. We all have sinned, but we should be ashamed of those things and work diligently to get that sin out of our lives. Just pretending to be holy on Sunday will never impress Jesus or His Father.

Jesus in asking, “what think ye?”, let’s us know that He wants us to think about what we do and what will please God. We live in a world that emphasizes emotions or feelings to such an extent that how someone feels has become far more important to most people than what they think. Just ask ten religious people if they are right with God, and most if not all will respond with, “I feel. . .” or something similar. But what think ye? It is a wonderful feeling to feel safe and saved, but God won’t be determining who gets into heaven on the basis of feelings. Feelings just are not always right and we know it. It would not be good, for example, for me to decide whether to slow down and stop at an intersection based on whether I felt safe. I might feel safe going right through a red light just before being smashed by an 18-wheeler. No, we can’t live life based on our feelings alone.

Christianity is a religion based on what we can know and reason from God’s word. It is a religion of the mind first and the heart second. We must learn to do what we know is right regardless of how we feel, and then learn to feel good about doing what is good.

That brings us to the two sons in Jesus’ parable. The father gave them both the same command. The first did not feel like obeying, and consequently told the father he wouldn’t. This son’s feelings about the task may or may not have changed, but his attitude (state of mind) did change. He did what he knew was right. The other son knew what was right and told the father what he wanted to hear. He apparently didn’t feel like doing it either, however, and followed those feelings. The people Jesus was talking to thought the first son was the one who did right, but there are many today who would probably argue that if the sons didn’t feel good about doing it then it was okay for them to not do the work. They would probably say that it was okay for the second son to lie to his father so the father’s feelings wouldn’t be hurt. That is certainly what people do.

So, what do you think? Which son did right? The one who followed his feelings? Or, The one who followed his reasoning? What about you? Are there things that you are doing because it feels good or right even though the Bible teaches that it is wrong?

Jesus asks two questions in Matthew 16:26. First, "...what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” As we mentioned in our last article the answer is ‘nothing’ and in fact he has lost a great deal in the bargain. The second question is, “...what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” This is the question we want to focus on this week. Instead of thinking of ‘a man’ as Jesus asked the question, we need to make it more personal. It is always easy for us to tell what others should do or what some hypothetical person should or shouldn’t do in some hypothetical situation. It is quite different for us to look as honestly and objectively at our own lives. 

That is why we often ask a question as Jesus did to get an honest answer and then see if people will take it to heart and apply the lesson to their own lives. For example: when asked if it is wrong for someone to steal from them almost everyone would say, “yes, of course it would be wrong for someone to take something that belonged to me.” But when push comes to shove there are far fewer people who believe that principle, ‘it is wrong to take something that is not yours’ applies to them. We know it is wrong to steal, but many of us practice it on a regular basis. At this point people say ‘not me’ and some really mean it. Do you report all of your income on your tax forms? Have you ever bought or sold food stamps? Did you ever take a few supplies from your office or job? You see, most of us have never broken into someone’s house and carried out their TV, but many take things that don’t belong to them on a regular basis.

So, it is easy for us to say nothing is more valuable than a soul and nothing would be worth losing your soul. The real question is will we apply that fact to ourselves and the way we live our lives. Instead of wondering what a man will give in exchange for his soul, ask “what will I give for mine?” What answers do you come up with?

You may be thinking this is silly. Why would anyone ever make a trade that would cost his or her soul? The answer is simpler than you might think. Most of the time the soul is lost before it is even realized. Much like an addiction that starts working before the person realizes it. Maybe you have already traded your soul and don’t know it. With some it is alcohol and drugs. With others it is lust, pornography, and sexual immorality. With many it may be friends and family. With a few it is a job or a business or some other wealth building scheme. Sometimes it is apathy,  laziness, or a desire for fun and games. Maybe it is hatred, racism, or bigotry. Whatever pulls you away from God is what the devil will use to destroy your soul.

Ironic isn’t it that some of the very things God created for us to enjoy and to help bring us closer to him are the very things the devil adds to his own evil ways to try to draw us away. Who would ever imagine that the innocent little baby cooing in your arms could be exactly what Satan needs to keep you from prayer and Bible study. Sometimes Satan even uses churches and religion to keep people firmly in his grasp. When we put man-made rules and traditions before God’s word we have traded our souls for those things just as the Pharisees of Jesus day had.

What are you giving in exchange for your soul? I hope you won’t trade it, but even if you have there is good news. God is in the business of buying back or redeeming souls that have been traded. We would be happy to help you get your soul out of the devil’s hands and back into God’s. Let me know if we can help.

Last time we determined that man is in fact of greater value than a sheep or any other animal for that matter. We looked at some of the reasoning for that conclusion beginning with the way Jesus asked the question. We also discussed briefly the impact that the teaching of evolution has had on this type of value comparison. But just saying man is better doesn’t really answer the question. Jesus asks them ‘How much’ better a man is. When someone is using logic to reason there are certain things that are taken as assumptions. In other words, there is a common understanding that must exist before the argument can be made. In this case there are several assumptions that Jesus has made before asking the question. He assumes that the group knows what a man is and knows what a sheep is, and more importantly he assumes that the people all accept as fact that a man is better than a sheep. His question wouldn’t make sense otherwise. So, if we get to the point where we can agree that man is better than a sheep (or another animal), then we can begin to deal with the actual question.

If you had to put it into dollars what would you say? How much is a sheep worth? How much is a man worth? Different people will give different answers to the question, and, of course, if he could a sheep would probably disagree with the assumption that man is better. How can we even begin to determine which is better or of greater value and by how much? There is only one standard that Jesus was considering at the time in question. It wasn’t how many good things they were each capable of or how many evil things either. A sheep can do wonderful things like providing wool for clothing or meat to save someone from starving. That is no less than many men do, and some men never do that much good. Jesus was not basing his question on this. If we base it on how much evil one had done compared to the other, then we would probably agree with the sheep that he is better than man. No sheep ever stole or murdered or abused little ones. This is certainly not the basis Jesus used.

Jesus is not comparing their actions or their thoughts or anything of that sort, because if that were the case we could all point to people, like Hussein, who are so awful that many don’t believe they deserve to live. In fact, Jesus himself spoke of some of these in Matthew 18:6, and said that it would have been better for Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him, if he had never been born in Mark 14:21. Jesus is instead referring to something about the fact that a man is a man. There must be something about being a human being that gives us greater value. There must be something of intrinsic value in the human race. But what?

What separates us from the animal kingdom? It is not a physical feature like our hands: raccoons and other animals have similar structures. It is not our ability to use tools: monkeys can learn to do that. It is not our ability to communicate: many animals communicate with each other and some like parrots have even been taught to talk, count, and distinguish colors and shapes. It is not our intelligence: some people are born mentally handicapped or become so through disease or accident, but we still consider them human. It is not our emotions: animals get angry, sad, happy, etc. just like we do. We have covered any argument the evolutionist could use and rejected them all. No wonder they don’t understand that man is better than the animals. There is only one thing that truly separates man from animal and it can’t be seen or tested or examined by science or the five senses. Every human being no matter how high or low the intelligence, no matter how physically capable or incapable, no matter how good or evil; every single one of us has a soul.

Even though someone recently tried to auction off his soul on the internet, the fact is that just one soul is of greater value than all of the sheep that ever have and ever will live on the earth. Jesus asked another question in Matthew 16:26, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” The answer is simply ‘nothing’. Did you know you were that valuable? Do you really believe you are that valuable? If we would spend our time trying to understand what Jesus wanted us to see in the question he asked in Matthew 12:12 maybe we would not take so many risks with our lives and especially our souls. If we come to grips with our value as humans created in the image of God with a soul that will continue for eternity, then, maybe we will stop selling ourselves for drugs, alcohol, money, cars, houses, etc. Next time we ask “what will you give in exchange for your soul?”

That might seem like a silly title to you, in fact, you may think it is a stupid question. Before you judge it too harshly you might want to know that it is a question that Jesus asked in Matthew 12:12. Surprised? Of course we should realize that Jesus knows the answer to the question. He is not asking out of his need for knowledge, but as with most (possibly all) of the questions he asked in the Bible he is making those around him think about the answer to the question. If Christ thought it was something worthy of their time and attention then it would seem that the question is worthy of our consideration as well.

First let’s see why Jesus was dealing with this subject. (Matthew 12:9-14 KJV)  "And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue: {10} And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him. {11} And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? {12} How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days. {13} Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other. {14} Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him." The Pharisees of Jesus’ time believed, practiced, and taught the wrong thing about the value of things. The law of Moses under which the Jews lived at the time of Christ was clear that no work was to be done on the sabbath. Some had gone so far as to say that you couldn’t even get out of bed or open your eyelids all day. You want to talk about hard work -- just try laying in bed with your eyes closed all day long. Those Jesus is with at this time didn’t go that far in fact Jesus claims that it was common for them to go get a sheep out of a pit on the sabbath. It is strange then that these same people wanted to destroy him for doing something similar but of a greater value when he healed a man on the sabbath. This was certainly not the only time the Pharisees fought with Jesus over doing good on the sabbath. Jesus is trying to show there hypocrisy and convince them to reevaluate there doctrine about this topic.

See, the Pharisees had foolishly placed the good of a sheep above the good of a man. Does that sound like anything people today would do? Since Jesus asks ‘how much’ better the man is, then we must believe that Jesus believed that man was better than a sheep. We live in a confused world today. You could probably find thousands, maybe even millions or billions, who believe that man is no better than an animal. Evolution, the belief that man is nothing more than an animal that has developed special skills and abilities over millions of years, is being taught as a fact to our children as young as 5 or 6 years old. Is it any surprise then that people are starting to act like animals? Some believe that is all we are. How sad. The Bible tells us that mankind was created by God in the image of God. How differently people who believe they are supposed to be like God act when compared with people who believe they are supposed to be like the animals.

It is disturbing how truly mixed up some people are. There are places where fat cows walk around in complete safety while people are starving to death refusing to eat the food available because the cows are sacred to them. I wonder if it would even change them if God Himself spoke to them and told them to rise, kill, and eat like he told Peter (Acts 10:13-16). I remember a case a few years back where a child was lost in the forest. The rescuers in a helicopter found him, but weren’t allowed to land and save him because of a fear that the wind and noise from the helicopter would harm the ecosystem in the area. Meanwhile a lost child was facing the possibility of death. We have people who will risk their lives to try to save a whale or manatee or some other animal. We are definitely supposed to care for the world God has given us and not be wasteful of life of any kind, but we must remember that only humans have an eternal soul and are, therefore, more valuable than any other creature on earth even if it is the last of its kind.

I remember the wisdom of a judge in Arkansas who was dealing with a wreck where a man claimed it was caused because he had dodged a dog. He had in the process damaged property, endangered his life, and endangered others. The judge said, “I don’t mean to be cruel, but next time hit the dog.” Hopefully, none of us would ever go out and intentionally run over dogs, but if there was a choice to be made between the safety and health of ourselves and our families and the life of a dog wouldn’t we make the right choice? To be Continued.

We have discussed the fact that nothing is as needed as time spent with Jesus listening to him and his teaching. So let’s listen, really listen to his teaching in Matthew chapter 19. In the first part of this chapter Jesus teaches on one of the greatest plagues in our society, that of divorce. Let’s leave that for next time. Beginning in verse 16 he has a conversation with a rich young man. The young man wants to know how to gain eternal life, but as we will see the price Jesus asks is too high. And unlike other things salvation never goes on sale. The price has been the same for 2000 years.

Their heart to heart begins with the man asking what he can do and Jesus responds that he should keep the commandments. Remember that until Jesus died the Law of Moses was the spiritual law that was in effect. The young man replied that he had done that and then asked the crucial question that each of us should ask each and every day of our lives. In verse 20 he says, “...what lack I yet?” You see, following God and Christ is not like many other things in life, which can be completed. Being a Christian is a life-long pursuit that is not finished until death. When we have learned our ABC’s, for example, we are done; we know them, and unless there is an accident or some severe illness that affects our mind and memory, we never have to learn them again. Many skills are that way and some of Christianity falls into that category as well, but unlike finishing school in the secular world we can’t graduate from Christianity.

The young man in our text probably thought things were going well when he asked this question. He was, apparently, a faithful Jew who thought he had kept the ten commandments and probably the whole law. Millions of people today think the same kind of way. We all want to believe that we have a good relationship with God whether we really do or not. Many have convinced themselves that because they joined one church or another, or their parents baptized them when they were little, or they live a good moral life, or any number of other similar reasonings there is nothing else necessary for them to please God and gain eternal life.

Christianity, however, is a race and not everyone who enters finishes. What’s more you can’t just go out and run down the street to be part of a race, you have to enter. Of course, races have rules and courses that must be followed without shortcuts. The Christian life is no different, and it is only concluded at death. We must always be working to correct sins, add virtues, increase knowledge and faith, and ask the tough questions. When we ask those tough questions we must be prepared for tough answers and have the courage and fortitude to respond. The young man in our story wasn’t prepared, and he lost the chance of heaven because of it.

 What lack I yet? Jesus answer to this young man was that he needed to go sell his goods and give the money to the poor. He couldn’t respond. He asked the tough question, but when he got the tough answer he wasn’t prepared to do it. When we ask the question ‘what lack I yet’ and listen to Jesus’ teaching, we must make the change. The answer to that question will be different for us at different times and under different circumstances, and our feelings will never be a sufficient guide. We must look to the teaching that Jesus left for us in the Bible. What are you lacking, that is keeping you from having the best relationship possible with God?

I hope that you are enjoying these articles, and learning from them. If you have a Bible question you would like answered with a Bible answer, or if there is a Bible topic you would like to see covered, please write me at the address below.