Mere Discipleship 6

 

Jesus... Worth Following!

Submitted by Jerry Savage @ League Street Church of Christ

 

Those who follow Jesus and his teachings do not do so just because he was a good man or great teacher.  They know that Jesus was God in the flesh and that Jesus never denied His deity. Many of His actions were considered to be blasphemous by His earthly contemporaries. Everybody knew that only God can forgive sins. Yet, in Mark 2:5 Jesus said to a paralytic man, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” In doing this, Jesus exercised a prerogative reserved only for God. He allowed people to “Worship” Him on numerous occasions (John 9:38; Matthew 14:33; Matthew 8:2; 9:18; 15:25; 18:26; 20:20; 28:9) even though the Law of Moses was clear that only Jehovah God was to be worshipped (Exodus 34:14; see also Matthew 4:10; Acts 10:25-26; Revelation 22:8-9). In doing this, Jesus was acknowledging His deity. He infuriated people in John 8:56-59 when He referred to Himself with the revered “I AM” title of Jehovah from Exodus 3:14. The people picked up stones to throw at Him because they knew that He was identifying Himself with Jehovah. Indeed, Jesus made His identity clear.

 

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah foretold the birth of a child who would be called “Mighty God” and “Eternal Father” (Isaiah 9:6). He also prophesied of a virgin who would bear a son and would “call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). The apostle Matthew revealed that Jesus was the fulfillment of these prophesies, then went on to explain that “Immanuel” means “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23) You see, the prophets foretold that God would become flesh; Jesus maintained that He was “God in the Flesh”; and the apostles of the early church believed and taught that Jesus was “God in the Flesh.”

 

Jesus is no ordinary person. This is why He can make such amazing demands on our lives. For Jesus to require that we make Him # 1 in our lives is the equivalent of requiring us to make God # 1 in our lives; because Jesus IS God!                                                      Think about it.

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