the basic message # E113
John 6:38
“For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.”
The passage above was spoken by none other than Jesus Christ himself. So? So pay close attention to what he said, “not to do my will”, but rather to do the will of God. It would appear that many Christians have elevated themselves to a position above that of Christ. Consider the facts: Jesus knew where his orders came from, and he took them very seriously. Many Christians, on the other hand, seem to be in some sort of bargaining arrangement with God.
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Jesus was God in human form, yet he still felt pain and suffering just as any of us do. In the passage above, Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane prior to his arrest and crucifixion. He didn’t want to be tortured. It would be an excruciating death and he knew it. The human side of Jesus came to the surface when he asked God “may this cup be taken from me”, meaning could he be spared this horrendous death. But then Jesus asks that God’s will be done. What is God’s will? Too many Christians have no idea simply because they never pick up a Bible. If Christians would give up ten percent of their time reading TV Guide and spend that in the Bible, the world would be a very different place. “I don’t have time to read the Bible”. Bull. “I don’t understand the Bible”. And you never will until you pick it up and get started. You couldn’t read when you started school, but no one accepted that as a continuing excuse did they?
John 7:16-17
Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.”
Ah, “if anyone chooses to do God’s will”. Yes, my friends, we indeed have a choice. We can adhere to the will of God, or we can make the decision to follow our own will. The important question that should precede this decision is, “If I follow my own will and reject the will of God, am I still going to Heaven?” The vast majority of Christians think that the only requirement placed upon them is “to believe”. “All you have to do is just love Jesus”, many believe. If you reject the will of God that Jesus himself went to the cross obeying, how can you pretend to love Jesus? Can you hear God’s voice as he calls out to you?
John 8:47
“He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
Who is speaking in this passage? You know who- Jesus Christ. Run back to Pastor Smith and get him to restate what Jesus said to soothe your conscience. Maybe the two of you can agree that this passage is “open to interpretation”. Yeah, right.