Life in Submission

Testing God      In Matthew, Jesus is being tempted by Satan in a reckless effort to get him to act in a way contrary to God. Although this story is widely known, memorized, and preached on, there is a troubling section for western thinkers that don't understand what Jesus is really saying to Satan's second temptation. We will pick up in Matthew 4, verse 5. "Then the devil took him into the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: "'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' (Psalm 91:11,12)." Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' (Deuteronomy 6:16)."       So what is Jesus saying? Is he telling us that we can't question God or put him to the test? I mean that is what it says.

Oligópistos - Little Faith In Matthew 8, we see the young disciples of Jesus panicked and frantically trying to keep their boat afloat while crossing a lake.  I think an important detail to consider before we move past this that most teachers don't consider is that Jesus' disciples weren't 45 and bearded - most of them were under 18. A bunch of kids. The waves were sweeping over the boat and they were terrified as most of them probably didn't feel too comfortable about having to swim to shore in a storm like the one they were experiencing. There have been many sermons and many stories written about this, but I want to dive deeper into what Jesus actually said.  He woke up to the cries of his child disciples yelling, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!" and he responded, "You of oligópistos , why are you so afraid?" ¹ Oligó - means low in number or having a small quantity of, while - pistis  simply means faith. More accurately, the word Oligópis

A life in submission. Why? I am a Christian and I have been set free from all chains, right? I get to be free and do whatever I want to, don't I? Isn't that what Jesus died for?  There is truth in all of these, but there is one thing missing. Yes, Jesus has set you free from all chains of death and has given you an eternity of him in heaven if you have chosen to follow him. Yes, God created you to be free and to be able to choose what you want to do, with even more freedom in Jesus. And yes, Jesus died so that we could experience eternity with him and he sent the Spirit so that we could experience him all of our days here.  The one thing that is missing in our calling as Christians? Discipleship.  Matthew 28:18-20 says, "Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore (followers of me), go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teachi