Chapter 27 - Preliminary Questions
Bonhoeffer- 'But surely there is another way in which the disciples really had the advantage over us. When they had recognized the Christ, they were immediately given a simple and direct command from his very lips, telling them exactly what to do. But just at this crucial point of Christian obedience we are given no help whatever. Does not Christ speak to us differently now? If that were true, we should certainly be in a hopeless predicament. But it is far from true. Christ speaks to us exactly as he spoke to them.
It was not as though they first recognized him as the Christ and then received his command.
They believed his word and command and recognized him as the Christ-- in that order.
There was no other way for them to know Christ, but by his plain word.
And therefore the converse is also true-- we cannot know Jesus without at the same time knowing his will.
So far from obscuring the disciple's realization of his action, his knowledge of the person of Jesus Christ made it all the more certain. If Christ is the living Lord of my life, my encounter with him discloses his word for me, and indeed--
I have no other means of knowing him, but through his plain word and command.
You may of course object that our trouble is that we should like to know Christ and believe on him, but have no means of knowing his will. But such an objection only shows that our knowledge of him is neither genuine nor clear.
To know Christ means to know him by his word as the Lord and Savior of my life.
But that knowledge includes a recognition of his plain word directed to me.'
My thoughts-
Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1Jn 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life
Deu_8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
Mat_4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
All too often we truly believe that if ONLY Christ were here on earth right now as He was in the days just after His crucifixion, we would have a much better walk with Him. Why do we believe that? We have been given everything we need to BELIEVE in Christ, just at the disciples were given everything they needed. We say we want to witness miracles and they we'll believe, but how many thousands witnessed His miracles as He ministered upon earth and they DID NOT BELIEVE! We can come up with all sorts of ideas about things that would MAKE us believe just a bit more, but the truth of it all is, we have to believe by the WORD of our Savior, just like all others have and will ever do.
The WORD was in the BEGINNING.
The WORD was WITH GOD.
The WORD WAS GOD.
The WORD of LIFE.
LIVE BY EVERY WORD PROCEEDING OUT OF THE MOUTH OF the LORD.
LIVE BY EVERY WORD OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.
THE WORD!
We have to stop believing that there is MORE we need, when we have everything we need.
Amazingly the Word of God has persisted for thousands of years. Say what you want to, it is amazing, it is miraculous. The Word of God.
Do we cherish it?
Do we live it?
Do we believe it?
Do we?
We have so much wealth at our fingertips and we let it collect dust, we bury it in boxes, we stack it on shelves, we leave it in church, we would rather have the wealth of material things than the wealth of our Savior, eternal life, His Word!
His Word is LIFE- Eternal life. Do we value eternal life or are we valuing a selfish life?
Through HIS WORD.
His commands, His life!
Bonhoeffer- 'But surely there is another way in which the disciples really had the advantage over us. When they had recognized the Christ, they were immediately given a simple and direct command from his very lips, telling them exactly what to do. But just at this crucial point of Christian obedience we are given no help whatever. Does not Christ speak to us differently now? If that were true, we should certainly be in a hopeless predicament. But it is far from true. Christ speaks to us exactly as he spoke to them.
It was not as though they first recognized him as the Christ and then received his command.
They believed his word and command and recognized him as the Christ-- in that order.
There was no other way for them to know Christ, but by his plain word.
And therefore the converse is also true-- we cannot know Jesus without at the same time knowing his will.
So far from obscuring the disciple's realization of his action, his knowledge of the person of Jesus Christ made it all the more certain. If Christ is the living Lord of my life, my encounter with him discloses his word for me, and indeed--
I have no other means of knowing him, but through his plain word and command.
You may of course object that our trouble is that we should like to know Christ and believe on him, but have no means of knowing his will. But such an objection only shows that our knowledge of him is neither genuine nor clear.
To know Christ means to know him by his word as the Lord and Savior of my life.
But that knowledge includes a recognition of his plain word directed to me.'
My thoughts-
Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1Jn 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life
Deu_8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
Mat_4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
All too often we truly believe that if ONLY Christ were here on earth right now as He was in the days just after His crucifixion, we would have a much better walk with Him. Why do we believe that? We have been given everything we need to BELIEVE in Christ, just at the disciples were given everything they needed. We say we want to witness miracles and they we'll believe, but how many thousands witnessed His miracles as He ministered upon earth and they DID NOT BELIEVE! We can come up with all sorts of ideas about things that would MAKE us believe just a bit more, but the truth of it all is, we have to believe by the WORD of our Savior, just like all others have and will ever do.
The WORD was in the BEGINNING.
The WORD was WITH GOD.
The WORD WAS GOD.
The WORD of LIFE.
LIVE BY EVERY WORD PROCEEDING OUT OF THE MOUTH OF the LORD.
LIVE BY EVERY WORD OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.
THE WORD!
We have to stop believing that there is MORE we need, when we have everything we need.
Amazingly the Word of God has persisted for thousands of years. Say what you want to, it is amazing, it is miraculous. The Word of God.
Do we cherish it?
Do we live it?
Do we believe it?
Do we?
We have so much wealth at our fingertips and we let it collect dust, we bury it in boxes, we stack it on shelves, we leave it in church, we would rather have the wealth of material things than the wealth of our Savior, eternal life, His Word!
His Word is LIFE- Eternal life. Do we value eternal life or are we valuing a selfish life?
Through HIS WORD.
His commands, His life!
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