Feeling Your Need

Verses

• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.  Matt 5:6
• Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.  Luke 6:25
• “Neither of them had the money to pay him back,” Jesus said, “so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"  Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled. “You have judged correctly," Jesus said.  Luke 7:42-43

Theme

• The above verses cover several themes which Jesus taught. First of all, if we feel spiritual hunger for the things of God, Jesus promises that we will be filled and satisfied by what God spiritually provides us. 
• Conversely, those who do not have God in their lives, and feel nothing missing, are in serious danger. After death, they will fell their need then. But it will be too late to do anything to fix it. They will be hungry for all of eternity. 
• The third theme is about the degree of satisfaction those who have felt their need are going to experience. Those who have had the greatest load of sin forgiven, will be the most grateful, and will love God the most. 

Comment

To stay alive here on the Earth, we naturally feel our need to consume food. Sometimes our appetites will guide us to the nutrient we need.  “What are you hungry for? What sounds good?” are words we often hear. In a similar way we should have an appetite for spiritual food. The things of God sound good to our hungry hearts. We will desire to hear more, learn more, and consume more.  The promise Jesus makes with us is, if we do feel our need, God will fill us.

What Is God Like?

Verses

• “The Father and I are one.” John 10:30
• “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father too.” John 14:9
• “Only the Father knows the Son. And only the Son knows the Father.  Mathew 11:27
• Jesus can reveal fully and accurately God the Father to ...anyone to whom the Son deliberately wills to make Him known. Mathew 11:27

 Theme

God and Jesus have the same divine nature. They have the same message, attitudes, judgments, and goals. To be familiar with Jesus is to know what God is like.

Comment

There have been millions of people throughout history, who have passionately sought to understand and serve the gods or God. There have been hundreds, maybe thousands, of religions teaching people a confusion of ideas. When Jesus came, the fog cleared and the mystery was solved. We can know for certain what God is like. He is just like Jesus. As God’s messenger, Jesus presented to us what God wants us to know and to do. As a result, we can study the words Jesus spoke, and measure how aligned we are with them.

Was Judas a Tare Among the Wheat?

Theme

Jesus tells a story about tares (weeds) and wheat. The plants represent people and their spiritual situation with God. Some people produce spiritual fruit which God desires. Other people produce nothing of spiritual value like weeds also known as tares. The theme Jesus is sharing is that God allows such non-fruitful people to live and prosper upon the Earth along with fruitful people. On the Judgement Day, the weeds will be cast into a fire.  

Comment
God’s decision to do this was meant to protect the wheat, but can make life harder for them too. The actions and attitudes of the weeds can have a negative influence.  This would have been the situation Jesus had among his disciples with Judas in their midst.  We don’t know the influence Judas had on the other disciples. The Gospel of John states that Judas was a frequent thief. Jesus, who knew the hearts of men, probably knew Judas was a weed. Yet Jesus did not cast him out. Allowing Judas to stay may have allowed his negative attitudes to spill out now and then with words and actions. Jesus allowing Judas to stay also indicates Jesus knew the mind of God and acted in the same way God does within his kingdom here on Earth. 

Verses

John 12:6 Judas did not really care about the poor. He was a thief. He was the one who kept the moneybag for the group of followers. And he often stole money from the bag.

Matthew 13:24 Jesus said, “God’s kingdom is like a man who planted good seed in his field. 25 That night, the man’s enemy planted weeds (tares) among the wheat. 26 Later, the wheat grew, and heads of grain grew on the plants. But at the same time the weeds also grew. “The servants asked, ‘Do you want us to pull up the weeds?’

29 “He answered, ‘No, because when you pull up the weeds (tares), you might also pull up the wheat. 30 Let the weeds (tares) and the wheat grow together until the harvest time. At the harvest time I will tell the workers this: First, gather the weeds (tares) and tie them together to be burned. Then gather the wheat and bring it to my barn.’”

Few Will Achieve Salvation

 Verses
 "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" Luke 13:23

•  "Many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. " Luke 13:24
• "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!"  Mark 10
• "But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Matt 7:14
• "For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it."  Matt 7: 13
• " I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. " John 10:9

Theme
Jesus makes it clear in all of the gospels that it is difficult to be saved.   Only those who enter through Him will be able to. And that number will be small.

Comment
It might be a good idea to learn what the concept of "entering through Jesus" really means.

Connect To and Depend On Jesus For Life

Theme
We need to connect to and pull spiritual nourishment from Jesus to sustain the divine life planted in our hearts.

Comment
Like a baby nursing from its mother's breast, we depend on Jesus to provide us with spiritual nourishment. Another example is the branches of a vine connected to the trunk and roots. To have life and get nourishment, the branch depends on its connection to the main trunk or it will die. Without His spirit and teachings feeding our divine life, it will not grow or make fruit. Jesus often told people He was food or drink. They needed to consume Him - to get Him inside them. Is it any surprise then that the communion remembrance ceremony is the eating of bread and wine.

Verses

• “I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I to you, you will produce plenty of fruit. But separated from me you won’t be able to do anything.   John 15:5

• "I am the bread that gives life." John 6:48

• But anyone who drinks the water I give will never be thirsty again. The water I give people will be like a spring flowing inside them. It will bring them eternal life.” John 4:14

Same Theme, Different Illistrations

Have you noticed that Jesus would use different stories or comments to illustrate the same theme? The verses below are an example of the theme "be humble".


Verses

• Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5
• Whoever will humble himself therefore and become like this little child [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving] is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  Matthew 18:4
• If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.   Mark 9
• To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable, "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 18:9
• Mother and Sons of Zebadee come asking Jesus to sit on his right and left in the Kingdom.  Jesus explains leaders must be servants of all. Matthew 20

And there are a lot more such as these.

I Say I Believe. What Does the Evidence Show?

Themes

• Jesus said, to say we believe God, we need to value His opinions. John 5:44
• He also said, to believe requires seeking God's praise. John 5:44
• And He said, you can judge whether something or someone is good or bad by the fruit (results) produced. Matt 12:35

Examining our own fruit
It is easy to make excuses for our own behavior and attitudes. Most of the time we feel justified; even when the results are destructive and painful.  If we can step outside ourselves and view impartially the results of our behavior, then we can see the evidence for ourselves of the degree to which we esteem God's opinions. The type of  fruit we see is the evidence of our secret beliefs and desires. Do we feel God would praise us for it?

Verses:
"You like to have praise from each other. But you never try to get the praise that comes from the only God. So how can you believe?"  John 5:44

Restated, in order to say we believe and follow God, we need to seek His praise for our daily behavior. Also it is a high priority with us to seek praise from God.

" You will fully recognize them by their fruits. Do people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."   Matt 7:16-20

"The good man from his inner good treasure flings forth good things, and the evil man out of his inner evil storehouse flings forth evil things." Matt 12:35

Upon self examination, what fruit do we see in our daily words and actions? If we are honest with ourselves, we see a mix of good and bad. To seek God's praise, we  work on producing good fruit. This is a decision we make. May God follow our decision with strength and support in changing our attitudes and desires.

Our Heart's Desires Defile Us

Verses

• “18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.” Matt 15: 17-20
• "Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean." Mark 7:15
• "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." Luke 6:45
• 11"It is not what goes into the mouth of a man that makes him unclean and defiled, but what comes out of the mouth; this makes a man unclean and defiles [him]." Matt 15: 2 & 11
• The Pharisee was surprised when he saw that Jesus did not wash his hands first before the meal. Luke 11:38
• Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23

Theme
Jews were concerned about being defiled and unclean. They had laws and ceremonies for what to eat. When to wash. Who they could eat with. Jesus makes it clear (as well as Proverbs) that defilement comes from our hearts. What desires we have in our hearts will flow out of us in the form of actions, attitudes, and words. Jesus brought the attention of the Jewish people to this idea on several occasions by openly violating the cleansing ceremonies. Once shocked and focused on him, Jesus would explain this principle to them.

ONLY God is Good: What To Do When We Disagree With Jesus

Verses

• "No one is good—except God alone." Mark 10:18 (Jesus had been called good).
• "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone."  Luke 18:19
• Jesus answered, “Why do you ask me about what is good? Only God is good." Matt 19:17

Theme
One of the themes Jesus teaches is that only God is good.  Everyone else, including himself, is not in the same category. In the Amplified Bible "essentially and perfectly morally" good is used to highlight the connotation of the word good.

What if I disagree with Jesus?
I personally find this teaching hard to accept, because I want to put Jesus in the same category of goodness as God. After all Jesus had the divine nature of God within him.  But here we have Mark and Luke showing us Jesus meant for this category to exclude himself, and he was very insistent about it.

Choices
I have several choices when I do not like an idea Jesus spoke. I can reject it, which doesn't sound like a very smart way to respond. Or I can open my mind and submit myself to the teaching. I will also continue to look for more verses which will explain why he excluded himself. Meanwhile, I'll ask the Holy Spirit to help me understand and accept that Jesus wants us to know that only God is good.

Did Jesus and Paul Teach The Same Themes?

Did Jesus and Paul teach the same concepts and themes?
Today my answer is "I'm working on it." Meanwhile I've learned a lot about the themes Jesus did teach, and they are important for us to know. This blog is how I initially plan to share what I have discovered over the 7 or so years I've been working on the question.

My investigation started, when I was first asked the above question. At that time, my response was, "Of course Jesus and Paul taught the same themes." But that was just my knee jerk answer to a surprise question. As I pondered the question in the days that followed, I realized I did not know the answer. This lack of knowledge started me on a multiple year review and comparison of the gospels of the New Testament for common and differing concepts and themes.

Over the last 15 years I have worked as a software analyst and quality assurance tester for several financial institutions. Why not use the professional skills and techniques I've learned as a result to review and compare Jesus words in the various gospels? I was delighted when the techniques worked wonderfully.

Main Method of Analysis: Affinity Grouping

I pondered on the best way to investigate and analyze the ideas and concepts to draw conclusions.
Some considerations and decisions:

1. First of all, I did not want second hand conclusions from other scholars. I would read the words of Jesus and Paul myself.
2. The source text were not written in English, and I am limited to it. Which translation should I use?  Decision: www.BibleGateway.com has many English translations which can be read in parallel columns. I selected Easy to Read, NIV, Amplified, and King James. I've referred to other versions to clarify the original intended meaning of the gospel authors as needed.
3. I would read Jesus teachings first then Paul's.
4. Which gospel should I start with? If I started with the oldest one, I could tell what ideas, if any, of the later authors had been added. By age, the oldest gospel is Mark. Luke and Mathew are newer and about the same age. So their reading order does not matter. The newest gospel is John. Decision: read Mark first.
5. As of today, I have read and analyzed: Mark, Luke, and Matthew. I'm reading John currently, and  I'm up to chapter 13.
6. As I read, I would list in an MS Excel spreadsheet Jesus ideas and themes and group them using a business analysis technique called affinity grouping.
7. Very quickly common concepts began to group together. As they did, I put them into separate tabs and sub-groups.If a verse fit in several groups, I would list it in those groups.
8. The more often similar verses are listed in a particular group, could be an indication of that group's importance. Perhaps Jesus said the idea at most of the places he went. Decision: keep an open mind and see what develops.

What are some of the themes of Jesus I've found? 
Next time, I will begin to share some of the results.