Mini-quiz on the Gospels

I discovered something quite intriguing as I was working today to prepare a lecture on Christology (the study of Jesus Christ).

How many times does the word "savior" appear in the four Gospels?

How many times does the word "teacher" appear in the four Gospels?

Jesus is called "Savior" twice in the Gospel, while He is called "Teacher" more than 40 times. Jesus is indeed our Savior. But do we, who are happy to be saved from our sins and from hell, equally think of Him as our Teacher? He is both.

Be Like David...Not Like Mike (from Voddie Baucham)

Last week, as the Basketball Hall of Fame inductions neared, I had read a little bit about the different ways that Michael Jordan and David Robinson had ended their careers. While Jordan was likely the best ever, Robinson showed the kind of character that led me to recommend to my athlete son that David Robinson be one of his very few heroes from the world of sports.

I have even more confidence in that recommendation after reading Voddie Baucham's reflections on the speeches these two men gave at the induction ceremony. And if you are in search of a hero - for yourself or for your kids - consider David Robinson - not a perfect man, but a man who gets a lot of things right.

Why it's a miracle that any American will enter the kingdom of heaven

I was reading through the Gospel of Mark the past couple of days and here is something that really caught my eye.

In Mark 10:23-25, Jesus amazed his disciples by saying that it is hard for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God. Verse 24 points out that it is hard for anyone to enter the kingdom of God. But then verse 25 tells just how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." How hard is it? It's impossible.

Some of you have probably heard speculation that there was a narrow spot near Jerusalem nicknamed "the eye of the needle" where it was very difficult for a camel to pass through. But, for two reasons, we should not assume that's what Jesus was talking about. (1) There has never been any evidence that such a place existed. (2) More importantly, in verse 27, Jesus makes it clear that he was talking about something impossible. Getting a camel through that narrow spot would not have been impossible. Getting an actual camel through the actual eye of an actual needle? Now that's impossible.

And yet that would be easier than getting a rich person into the kingdom of heaven. And let's not forget that, in comparison to the rest of the world, nearly every American is rich. For just a minute, imagine what it would look like for God to cause a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. It would look strange. I assume that God would make the camel very skinny at the part passing through - or maybe just really long and skinny.

The point is that we would be amazed. We would be convinced that we had just seen a miracle. We would have witnessed something otherwise impossible. AND THIS IS THE KIND OF AMAZEMENT THAT WE SHOULD HAVE AT OUR SALVATION. Making a camel pass through the eye of a needle is easier than getting a rich person into the kingdom of heaven. It's impossible for us to do on our own (I'd say it's because we naturally think that our "stuff" is too precious to risk losing for the sake of Jesus). But God blesses some by miraculously enabling them to treasure Jesus and eternal life and the kingdom of God more than their "stuff."

And if you are anywhere close to average in America (or anything other than the absolute poorest of the poor), then you ought to be more amazed that God has rescued you from your sin, granting you the ability to believe the Good News, than if you watched him stretch a camel out a mile long and a millimeter in diameter and stuck it right through the eye of a needle. This is how hard it is for us to enter God's kingdom - and how amazing it is that some of us will.