The month of March was all about godly families at Big City Clubhouse. We learned a lot about why God created the family. Here is a recap of what we covered.
- Moses’ Family
- Moses teaching parents to teach their own children
- Naomi and Ruth’s relationship
- God cares for widows and orphans (single parent families)
- Jesus’ Family
For the month of April, we are going to focus on Jesus, since we will celebrate His life, death, burial, and resurrection this month when we celebrate Easter. The first thing that we want to learn about Jesus is that He loves little children, He wants us to come to Him, and He wants us to believe in Him with childlike faith. Mark 10 is the passage for this lesson. Now that you have had a moment to read it, I want to set up the passage with the context. There are two kinds of people mentioned in this passage. One kind has childlike faith in Jesus Christ while the others do not. They stumble over themselves when it comes to walking with God.
I. The Pharisees are hindered because of idolatry
They came to Jesus with a question but their motives were not pure. They did not come to Him to learn from Him. They did not come to Him in a humble manner, begging to receive what He had to offer. They were not poor in spirit. Their idol was their knowledge of the Law. The worshiped their knowledge. Their knowledge gave them prestige and power within society. Their knowledge kept them from coming humbly to Christ and learning from Him. They just wanted to test and trap Him. They used a hot topic button of their day, divorce. They were taught a great lesson but they did not let it sink in. Jesus uses the next few verses to show the Pharisees what they were missing, childlike faith to come to Christ with pure motives and receive from Him. In the context of children, idolatry, and divorce, I believe that we can draw some points for our modern society. We live in an age of idolatry. We are taught that the ultimate goal of life is for you to be happy. If something does not make you happy, get rid of it. If you need something to make you happy, do whatever it takes to get it. In the context of marriage, when two selfish people who each seek their own happiness try to live together, disastrous results usually happen. Divorce seems like a natural way out of an unhappy marriage, because, you need to be happy, right? What about the children? Why do we not think of them and what will happen to them as a result of divorce? Do we even care that they are innocent victims? Do you know that this is one of the reasons why God hates divorce? When your world falls apart because of divorce, there is One who will welcome you with open arms, Jesus Christ. Children need to be taught to run to Him. We need to lead the little children to Him.
II. The rich young ruler is hindered because of idolatry
After using the children as an example of the type of faith it takes to enter the kingdom of heaven, Jesus then moves on to the rich young ruler, a man who thought he had good faith, yet he knew that something was missing. He really did want to learn from Jesus. He came with a sincere question and was seeking an answer from Christ. There were no hidden motives in him like with the Pharisees. Jesus told him to keep the commands and he would have eternal life. The rich young ruler claims to have kept them from his youth. Jesus begins to name them. Interestingly, Jesus lists the 6 commands that deal with man’s relationship to others. The first 4 deal with man’s relationship with God. The man lived a good life yet his problem was that he was not right with God. The reason that he could not get right with God was because of his idol, his wealth. Jesus told him to sell it all and give the money away and he could inherit eternal life because the idol would be removed and the barrier between him and God would be broken down. The young man walked away from eternal life. He could not give up his idol. He could not have the childlike faith required to enter the kingdom of heaven.
III. The disciples are hindered because of idolatry
You would think that the disciples were the ones who had it all figured out, because, unlike everyone else around them, they had left it all to follow Jesus Christ. They were fallen people, sinners, just like all of us are. They were not special because of who they were, they were special because of the Lord whom they followed. They did not learn the lesson that Jesus had taught to the Pharisees. They still needed to learn. They are actually used as a negative example in this passage. Their idol was their position. They had missed the point. As followers of Christ, they were not to seek positions so that they could be served by others. They were to seek to serve others. They were to become a servant of all. Positions are not bad because they are given to us by God. Like money, they serve a purpose. Money is not the root of all evil but, the love of money is the root of all evil. Positions are not negative. Seeking to attain positions by putting others down as you climb the ladder of success is evil. Christ does not call us to do that. He calls us to serve as He served us. The disciples missed the point because they were worried about who among them would have the higher position. It is like when Jesus washed their feet at the Last Supper. None of them thought they should have to wash the feet of the others. That was something for someone else of a lower rank to perform. When Jesus took the towel and tub, they immediately realized their mistake.
IV. Bartimaeus came to Christ as a person poor in spirit
The hero of the story is not the sophisticated, well educated upstanding people in the community. They were hindered from coming to Christ because of their pride and position. The hero of the story is a blind beggar who has nothing to offer. The only thing that he can do is come to Jesus and beg for mercy. He has nothing to offer and the only thing that he can do is receive. His motives are pure. He is willing to listen to Christ and do what He says. He believed that Jesus had the power to do what He said He could do. He believed that Jesus was who He claimed to be, the Messiah. He had childlike faith in Christ because he had nothing else. This is what Jesus taught as the first state of being that opens the door to the kingdom of heaven, being poor in spirit. None of us really have anything to offer God. We are all spiritually poor but not all realize it. Some are like the Pharisees and trust in their position in society. Others trust in their wealth. Still others claim to follow Christ and be poor in spirit yet they have their eyes on the position that they can gain because of following Christ. Only the lowly beggar realizes his state and comes to the Lord with childlike faith.
Which category are you in, my friend? Are you like the Pharisees, like the disciples, or like Bartimaeus? Do you run to the Lord and trust in Him with childlike faith? What keeps you from being like Bartimaeus, like the children? Is it your career, your possessions etc.? Do you have idols in your life? Are you ready to admit your spiritual poverty and come to Christ as a person who is poor in spirit, ready to receive what He has to offer? May the Lord help us learn from this great example.
Erik and Elena Brewer's Weblog 
One can only imagine the pain the aborted babies feel as they are burned alive with chemicals in their mothers’ wombs.
Is a newborn baby screaming for sustenance and causing the mother to raise out of bed and give the life giving milk to the child, even though her will is to sleep, using its mother’s body against her will? Would it be okay for her to let the baby starve to death because she felt like it was using her body against her will?
Logic is the mechanism. God is able to do anything within logic. He is not going to make a four-sided circle. He is not going to make a rock He cannot lift. It is illogical. Punishing people for their negative actions is logical. What is illogical is someone like you who claims that punishing the guilty is actually a crime.
He is all powerful. He is also logical. He is not going to do something that is illogical. You are grasping for straws because you have no argument. Keep trying though 🙂
I did answer them. You are not paying attention.
Here is a question for you, if God tells people not to have sex outside of marriage and that there will be consequences, yet a woman chooses not to listen to God and have sex outside of marriage. Let’s say she is pregnant from a previous sexual experience outside of marriage and then she acquires HIV/AIDS, passing that on to her child, do you blame God or the mother because the child is born with AIDS?
Way to dodge when you cannot answer. I hope you finally see the flaws in your logic. although I doubt that you will publicly admit it.
I have already answered #1 about 5 different ways, you just refuse to acknowledge your defeat.
I have answered #2 as well. You again refuse to acknowledge your defeat.
The same applies for #3.
I was introduced to pornography at an early age. I had a very flawed view of women for about 7 years. I was a porn addict. In essence, I was a fornicator, although not in deed, in my mind. God healed me and set me free from my addictions. I learned to view women as God does and He blessed me with an awesome wife and a new outlook on sexuality. He healed me and can heal anyone, even homosexuals.
I have answered logically. If you do not believe logic, then that tells us all we need to know about you. God is the originator of logic. He is not bound by it. He is not bound by anything. You still grasp at straws.
God does not view women as property. Obviously you have never read the Bible. Man and woman were created as equal from the very beginning. God views men and women as equals still. Where does the Bible claim that the woman is to be blamed for the fall of man? In the Bible, God actually blames Adam for his own sin. You really do need to open the Book and study this stuff for yourself.
And again, you move from lack of a rebuttal to name calling. Way to show us your maturity.
Again, already answered questions 1-3, you just refuse to accept logic. According to the Bible, a husband belongs to his wife and the wife belongs to her husband. There is no inequality. Not sure which Bible you are reading but it is clearly not the Canon.
1. Do you value the life of the criminal above the life of the victim? According to the stats, very few criminals on death row are innocent.
2. The baby in the mother’s womb is sentient. It has its own set of DNA, a heartbeat, and responds to stimuli (specifically pain).
3. We have already proven that God’s actions are not subjective. You choose not to accept logic.
4. He created the rules. He is able to bind Himself. He bound Himself to humanity in Genesis 15. He does not need or require anything but He can choose to bind Himself if He so desires, and He has. It is in the Bible which you claim to read.
5. Have you stopped murdering people? It is a redundant question set up to trap you, like “have you stopped beating your wife?” I have never been a bigot and never will be. I love people the way God does because His love is in me. Of course, all of this is in the Bible which you claim . . . oh never mind 🙂
1. You refuse to answer my question. Why? Is it because you have no answer or do you actually value the life of the criminal over the life of the victim?
2. I believe you need to study the definition of sentient.
3. I have clearly proven the existence of God. I have also proven how to prove His objective. Once again, you just simply ignore logic.
4. God has bound Himself to His Word. He cannot break His Word or He will have to die. Since He cannot die (cease to exist) He therefore, continually keeps His Word.
5. I am anti-homosexuality, not anti-homosexual, but since you have already claimed not to understand logic, there is not point in trying to explain the difference. What do you mean by equal rights? Does an adult man have the right to marry a child? If equal rights means you can do whatever you please, then no, I am not for that. I am not a bigot. Please look up the definition.
Also, this is your last warning. I will not continue to run in circles with you. Every time I answer your questions logically, you just ignore the answer and move on to something else. I will have to ban you if you continue these silly, childish tactics.
Now its the pot calling the kettle black 🙂
Again, you do not accept logic so there is no point in arguing with you.
Already done it on several occasions 😉
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