Jump Start # 871

Luke 10:25-26 “And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And He said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?’”

Our passage today finds Jesus being tested once again. This time by a lawyer. This was not our type of lawyers, but a religious man who studied “the law.” He was an expert in the law of Moses. His question is based upon what he had studied and what was comfortable to him. Many will do that. They will ask what they think they already know the answer to be. They may ask a comfortable question that will not move them far from what they are familiar with.

What shall I do to inherit eternal life? Good question. If that question were asked today, there would be a variety of answers that people would give. We need to learn what Jesus did here. See His answer. It is the best way to answer questions.

Instead of just answering the question, which this lawyer expected, Jesus made the lawyer answer the question. Jesus asked two questions.

First, What is written in the law? What does the Bible say? Great response to the lawyer’s question. The lawyer was asking. The lawyer supposedly knew the law. Just what does the law say. Many will ask, “What does your church teach?” Instead of answering that question, which really doesn’t matter all that much, we need to take people to the Bible. It is a common thought today that the church trumps the Bible. The Bible may teach certain things about purity, modesty, homosexuality or divorce, but the modern church doesn’t go along with that. The modern church is not that strict on those things. The modern church has another thought. People are interested in what the church teaches. Answer like Jesus, what is written in the Bible? Taking people to the Bible is the key. The Bible always trumps all other thoughts, including what a church thinks, votes or chooses to do.

Notice, Jesus didn’t just tell this lawyer what the law said, he made him state the answer. Today, we may have to help people. Most don’t know the Bible. Most don’t understand the difference between the O.T. and the N.T. and worse than that, most don’t have any interest there. We are no longer a people of the Bible. Ignorance in God’s book  is enormous and vast. Common foundation principles such as inspiration, the role of the apostles, the mission of the church, the work of the Holy Spirit is not grasped by most people. This is why phone call after phone call is received at church buildings by people wanting financial help to pay their water bill, or are looking for free food. These same people would never dream of calling the post office with those questions. The post office would not pay your water bill. They will deliver that bill to your house, but they won’t pay your bill. Why? Cold hearted postal workers? Indifferent to the needs of the community? No. It’s not their job. Their mission is to deliver the mail. Folks get that. They don’t understand the mission of the church, and worse, too many inside the church do not understand the mission of the church. The church is established to help people get to Heaven. It’s a spiritual mission. It is not to pay water bills, feed the community, provide activities for teenagers on Friday night. All good things, but not the mission of the church.

So, when friends ask, what does your church teach, like Jesus, take them to the Bible. You may have to show them. You may have to help them find it in their Bibles. You may have to explain it to them. Let them read it in their own Bibles. Let them see the words themselves.

Secondly, Jesus asked the lawyer in our passage, “How does it read to you?” Be careful here. Jesus is not saying, nor implying, that every passage means something different to every person. To you it means this, and to me it means something else. No. Truth doesn’t work that way. What Jesus is asking is the application. What does the law teach and how does that apply? Specifically, how does that apply to you?

That second question is as important as the first. The first, takes a person to the Bible, God’s answer. The second, takes it from the Bible to their doorstep. Application of what the Bible says is as important as understanding a passage itself.

A question is asked about divorce. A person is taken to the verses that show what God says about divorce. THEN, what does that mean to you? Having read what God says, what about your situation? That’s what Jesus was driving at. That’s the application.

Knowing what the Bible teaches, but doing the opposite doesn’t help a person nor make them right with God. A person must do what God says.

Jesus’ simple two question approach is a great illustration for us to use when we are asked questions.

Try this, it will be helpful to you.

Roger