Wednesday Bible Study: What Jesus asked, part 17

 

I am always amazed at the myriad ways God frames what He wants me to share, so I can understand.  Today, I am going to start with that framing, before I ever get to our passage.

Abortion has become the hot button topic of late, with the leak of the draft opinion.  I won't go into the chicanery that I think is going on here; the deceptions and trickery of the LEADERS of the pro-abortion crowd are many and well documented to the thinking person.  I am just going to share one small part of one 'conversation' I had with a pair of pro-abortion people.  One tried to tell me that if I READ my Bible, I would realize 'life doesn't begin until breath starts', using as her 'proof' Gen 2:7...

Gen 2:7  then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Not bothering to remember that this was ADAM, and he was not birthed in the now-natural way, but built from the dust by God- it does NOT apply to today's babies.  The other was a 'shared tweet' which basically said that JEWS believe abortion is acceptable, and by connection, if they believe it, so should Christians.  Those of you here last week remember Jesus warning, "Beware of the leaven of the scribes and pharisees."  All I need to say there.

But now, the reason that helped me to understand our passage today.  Which is:

Mat 16:24  Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Mat 16:25  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Mat 16:26  For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
Mat 16:27  For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 

Two questions that ask the same thing.  To understand, we must look at how we got here.  

Mat 16:21  From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
Mat 16:22  And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you."
Mat 16:23  But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." 

 

You see, our pro-abortion friends look at a Bible, the Word of a God they generally don't believe in and certainly don't know, with a hardened, blinded heart. They frame it all as a political battle, or as I was told, "I'm not a religious person, so arguments from the Bible carry no weight with me."  And yet, they try to use it as a weapon.  And Peter, while his heart is BEING softened, he hasn't got there yet.  Listening from the 'things of man', he is not hearing what Jesus is saying.  He hears what Jesus says in v21 above like we would hear, "Since Joey Logano is on the pole this race, I bet he wins."  As an educated guess, instead of PROPHECY.

 

You see, you cannot read the Bible as a book of literature, and you can't use it as a score card of what's right and wrong.  To truly know the Bible, you have to know it for what it is- a love letter from Jesus to those who trust Him as savior.  To use it any other way (such as the examples above) are a hindrance to Him.  And now you see what He is really telling them with His questions: If all you are getting out of it is a nice, peaceful, affirming read, what good is it?