Follow me: Jesus’ calling is still echoing in our own age

By izartirta

Jesus called a lot of people in His time to follow Him. And even until now, He keeps calling the world out to follow Him. Why does He do that?

He does that because He knows that He is the only way, the only truth and the only life. No one should be able to live without Him. His statement about Himself was so unique because no one ever lived in this world ever stated themselves that way. No one dares enough to do it and no one in fact have enough quality to identify themselves as the only way, truth and life, except Jesus.

He calls us because He knows about our condition and he cares about us. He doesn’t want us to stay dead. Instead, He wants us to live in an abundant life.

In the beginning of His ministry, Jesus called four fishermen to follow Him. Matthew reported: “As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed Him.” (Matthew 4:18-20)

This story happened earlier that that with Matthew himself. While he wrote this story, he must have remembered how Jesus called himself while he was on duty at the tax collector desk. Those two brothers responded the same way with Matthew, immediately. They left everything behind for Jesus Christ.

Instead of being the faithful follower of Jesus, today we see the world go into the opposite direction. They reject Jesus’ teaching and replace it with human’s sinful thoughts and philosophy, and if this situation continues, soon we will see the whole world turn into chaos.

Jesus’ calling is still echoing in our own age. Just like those humble disciples, we too must respond this calling because this calling is not for Jesus’ benefit but for ours. If we call someone, we might want something good from that person. We call him because we need him. It is usually for our own sake that we call somebody. But Jesus, in contrast, calls us because He wants to give life to us. It is for our own good that He calls us out from the death. Thank Him and follow Him for the rest of your life, because apart from Him there’s nothing that we can do (John 15:5). God Bless You.

Jesus fulfils the attributes of God

By izartirta

Anyone can believe or recognize himself as God but proving himself as having the attributes of God is another story.

Jesus on the other hand didn’t just consider himself God’s Son, but he also fulfilled the attributes that only God could have.

Even though he has those “Omni” qualities he chose to empty himself, being independence of using those attributes. Like God’s character that we know from the Old Testament, Jesus possesses these Omni attributes like omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence. However, as Apostle Paul stated in Philippians 2, Jesus didn’t always choose to exhibit those “Omnis.”

Just like every other human being, Jesus walked down some tough and risky journeys from one place to the other without let’s say flying for example. Jesus stayed in one place and therefore he didn’t attend Lazarus’s burial, he didn’t show up whenever his friend was sick.

Even so, the New Testament confirms that all these qualities were ultimately true belongs to him. Let’s take John 16:30 for example, John affirmed of Jesus, “Now we can see that you know all things.” This verse shows us that Jesus, being a human being like us, is still omniscience in quality.

In Matthew 28:20 we will also find the proof of omnipresence when Jesus said: “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Only human with the capability of exist everywhere every time without limited by place and time whatsoever can say this. And just before this statement we also find another trace for the omnipotence quality. In front of his disciples, Jesus declared, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18)

Omnipotence means that there is no power bigger than Jesus has. Jesus is the highest ruler above all reality.

In his letter to people of Colossians, Apostle Paul stated: “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” (Colossians 2:9)

The greatness of Jesus Christ is not because he is indeed God with all the fullness of God’s attributes, but because he can let his humanity burdening him.

Jesus’ eternality can be seen in John’s statement: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Or, in Hebrew 13:8: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Sinful nature is not the original nature of man. I mean, a man is a man without committing sin. As a human, Jesus doesn’t necessarily have to engage in sinful nature. In fact, Jesus has shown us the ultimate model of human that God intended to create and live forever with.

Jesus’ sinless nature can be observed in John 8:29: “The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.”

Come and see Him for yourself: A hopeful demonstration of Jesus Christ as He opens his heart for all sinners

By izartirta

As I stated in my previous writing, Matthew had gained a new wonderful life. He must have been very thankful to Jesus as he invited many of his friends to meet Jesus personally in his house. And he obviously wanted to share this rare experience to his friends.

Soon Matthew’s house was crowded by a lot of tax collectors just like him. They seemed to be very happy sitting around the table having dinner together with Jesus among them. Maybe the way Jesus accepted Matthew has encouraged other tax collectors to see their selves in a new different way. They saw a new hope, they saw acceptance, they saw Someone really different and that was all because they finally met Jesus. Everyone need grace deep down in their heart, by doing what He did to Matthew, Jesus has pronounced to other people that He has that grace.

One thing that perhaps we can learn from this situation is that everyone needs to gain acceptance from others. So if we reject someone and treat them as some sort of low level human being, one possibility is that they will begin to see them selves the way we treat them and they will also act accordingly, or the other possibility is that they will fight for the right acceptance and recognition, with violence if necessary.

Sometimes we treat other people in a kind way because we are afraid to see them angry and dishonor us in return. Jesus, on the other side, treats other in a kind and proper way because He loves them. He just treats them in a way it should be. Therefore we too must learn to accept other people, even those who have bad reputation like tax collectors in Jesus’ time. Well, I know this is not an easy thing to do, but since Jesus has given us an example we need to ask Jesus for helping us doing the same thing.

To me personally, the Bible has reported some kind of ironic situation which happened in Matthew’s house. It is written like this: “While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.” (Mat 9:10)

In its real language, sinner is Qìáñôùëüò (hamartoôlos)which also means sinful. Tax collectors are considered the same as sinner, those who do evil things.

Jesus is someone recognized as a wise man, a rabbi or a Guru to society. How come this public figure enjoys his dinner with those sinners? Apparently, by visiting Matthew, Jesus hurt his own reputation because as mentioned above, Matthew cheated his own people by becoming a tax collector and now Jesus pictured himself in the middle of many tax collectors. By doing so, was Jesus – as a spiritual leader- legitimating Matthew’s act of evil?

Cynical may see it in that wrong way, but Jesus seemed to be more concern to show the act of forgiving than being a popular Guru which act in some ways people love to see. Cynical like the Pharisees who constantly tried to trap Jesus, took this opportunity to put Jesus on a test. They asked: “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

On hearing this, Jesus said: It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means; I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

Jesus’ statement clearly teaches us that we are all not healthy, and that’s why we need a doctor. Those Pharisees never seemed to realize that situation because all this long they only concerned with their own appearance of holiness than with helping people, with criticism than encouragement, with outward respectability than practical help. This condition therefore keeps them in sickness. They never realized how sick their condition was. They were too busy judging other people’s outward spiritual appearance like those sinners and tax collectors.

Those who are sure that they are righteous cannot be saved because the first step in following Jesus is admitting our miserable condition and let Jesus come into our life.

At the end, Jesus mentioned about what he desires most; mercy. Mercy is even more important to God than religious ritual like sacrificing animal for human’s sin.

Matthew understands what mercy is, he experiencing it once (and maybe even more) in his life. All those tax collectors who deep in their heart acknowledge their miserable condition understand what mercy is, because they were there with Jesus. What about each of us? Have we found mercy from God? How do we feel to have a merciful God like Jesus? Will this true story encourage us to show mercy to other people? May God bless and help us. Come to Jesus and see Him for yourself.

No one stays the same

By izartirta

There is no doubt that Jesus Christ has a changing power to everyone who came to Him. Continuing my discussion about Matthew, as it was stated in my previous posting, we see that Jesus also worked something out to change Matthew.

Some of those changes I observed are:

Matthew gained a new life

Before he followed Jesus, Matthew was being despised by his own fellow countrymen. Jews hated tax collectors and considered them nothing but traitors. Matthew was appointed by the Romans to be the area’s tax collector. So he collected taxes from the citizens as well as from merchants passing through town. According to the tradition, tax collectors were expected to take a commission on the taxes they collected, but most of them overcharged and kept the profits. That’s why tax collectors were hated by the Jews for cheating and their support to Rome.

However, ever since Matthew responded to Jesus’ calling he was changed to be an accepted person. For someone who had been living as a rejected person, this changing was obviously so wonderful to him. He was not just accepted by a group of people but most important thing was that he belonged to the Son of God afterward.

Can you imagine the feeling of it? As a believer, just like Matthew, we may embrace this fact without being so moved by the actual reality. We just see our situation in an ordinary way, sometimes even dull and boring. To me, this situation is caused by our own ignorance. We don’t really realize how far we have fallen so that we don’t realize how high Jesus has uplifted us either. And I think this is the right reason why we should keep reading the Bible so that we will always remember our situation.

Matthew gained a new purpose of his life

As a tax collector, many of his days were filled by writing and making notes. After he followed Jesus, God has changed Matthew to be one of His writers. Matthew recorded everything that he knew about Jesus and His relationship with the Old Testament. He was one of the eyewitnesses of Jesus’ life and because of Matthew, we, in our age, may know who Jesus is. God has made Matthew a record-keeper as a way to put his skill to its finest work. And it is proven that Matthew was a keen observer and undoubtedly recorded what he saw going on around him, even though sometime his record could humiliate his own countrymen. (Matthew was a Jew who honestly reported how cruel the people of Jew were, as they cunningly and brutally killed Jesus while shielding themselves under the law of Roman Empire. This quality of Matthew however, was one of many good reasons to believe that the Bible has been fairly and honestly recorded). As the result of all this, our first Gospel in the New Testament (doesn’t have to be understood as the first Gospel written) was named after him.

It is clear to me that Jesus has already had a plan for Matthew’s life. And I believe that He also has something in His mind for me and for everyone He has chosen, including you. Learning from the life event of Matthew, I think we should prepare ourselves for Jesus’ calling. Maybe he has called you to become one of His followers sometime in the past, but that was not the end of our journey. Instead, that was the beginning of our life in Jesus. We still should be ready for His next plan and calling in our own daily life. No one stays the same if they put their life in Jesus’ hand. God bless you.

Matthew, one of Jesus Christ’s Apostles, who left behind everything he had to follow Jesus

By izartirta

Matthew was one of Jewish tax collector in his time, who then became Jesus’ disciple. He filled his writing with lots of Messianic languages because he intended to write for Jews at the first place. The phrase like “Son of David” for example, is being used throughout his writing. And he also quoted many references from the Old Testament.

The story of his calling from Jesus was quite calmly described in the Bible. There was no wondrous event happening as it was happening with Apostle Paul. Yet, Matthew’s calling was awesome in a way of how he immediately responded to Jesus’ call.

The Bible describes that moment like this:

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. (Mat 9:9)

“Just like that?” we may ask, wondering how simple it was. But as a matter of fact yes, just as simple as that. What then can we learn about from this? I think one of many lessons that we may learn from this event is about the grace of God. Just like every human being ever lived in this planet, we are all saved by the grace of God. If God determined someone to be saved, nothing can avoid that, not even himself.

More than any other disciple, Matthew had a clear idea of how much it would cost to follow Jesus, he would loose his job as the tax collector which off course could generate much money for his life. Yet Matthew did not hesitate a moment. And once he decided to follow Jesus and leave his job behind, Matthew knew that there will be no turning back. There always be fish in the lake for any Jesus’ disciple to catch, but there will be no job for tax collector who once left without permission while he was on duty.

If we were in Matthew’s position, what would we do? Will we brave enough to respond Jesus’ calling and leave everything behind? Will we trust Jesus enough to keep our life in His hand?

Jesus Christ is Lord, He has the power to save us, He has the power to keep us alive.

Come to Him just like Matthew did. Give yourself to Him just like million of people in this planet have done. If you can have an eternal life as something in return, why not you do it right now? What more can we expect from this life than everything Jesus offered to us? God bless you.

Jesus Christ Is Real God

But, Can We Rely On The Records Of His Life And Teachings?

(izartirta)

Everyone who doesn’t believe in the Bible nor Jesus Christ, must give a lot of efforts to dismantle the reliability of the Gospels, so that the teaching about Jesus as the one and only Son of God will be continuously questioned. Let’s take Dan Brown as an example, his novel DaVinci Code put a heavy stress on this subject, questioning the truth about Jesus’ identity. By telling a story, a very different story precisely, about someone that was real existed in history, Brown seemingly wants us to think that the so-called Christian faith was nothing but a lie.

Off course, Brown has stated that his novel was only a fiction, but telling a very different story about the real person and the real institution (i.e. Christian Institution), is obviously a deception.

On the other side, Peter Stuhlmacher, an excellent professor emeritus at the Protestant Theology Faculty in Tubingen, supports the fundamental accuracy and reliability of the Gospel accounts.

He once spoke to Time Magazine for an article on the identity of Jesus and on that time Peter said: “The biblical texts as they stand are the best hypothesis we have until now to explain what really happened.”

Peter was not alone about this, another professor from Denver Seminary named Craig Bloomberg admitted that Gospels are actually anonymous. However, according to him, the traditional testimony of early church has left us no doubt that Matthew, a tax collector and disciple of Jesus Christ, was the author of the first Gospel in the New Testament. And John Mark, a close related person of Peter the Apostle, wrote another Gospel, which we then call Mark

There is also no doubt about Luke, a friend of Paul the Apostle, as the author of Gospel Luke and the Act of the Apostle. While the fourth Gospel was undoubtedly written by John, one of Jesus’ disciples.

Bloomberg also emphasized that all the Gospel are obviously based on eyewitness material.

This is not off course merely based on the testimony and statement from scholar of our modern age. For the authorship of Mark and Matthew was also affirmed by Papias in 125 AD, and in 180 AD Irenaeus, one of the church’s fathers, confirmed this.

We will get through with this topic in the next writing, but at least up to now, we can be sure that our faith is not standing alone without any strong basis. We are not the children of our age who suddenly wake up to an idea that the Bible is the real Word of God and Jesus Christ, who is the center of Bible’s teaching is the real God. This believe that we have, has been standing since far back of history and has faced so many odds along the way. And as the history continues, this believe still stands unchangeably. May God bless you.