Luke 8:18, 21, 25, 39, 48, 50 NIV“Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them.” He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.” “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples..“Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him. Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” https://bible.com/bible/111/luk.8.18-50.NIV
Who is Jesus? Jesus Himself asked this question of His disciples for their response to Who He is, which would determine their response to His teaching. The Scripture is clear that Jesus is God, Who has come to earth as a man in order to sacrifice Himself for men so that we can live with God forever. Jesus, as God, warns us to think carefully about how we listen to Him. Do we hear Him as God speaking or as something else? Most of the world ignores Jesus completely, and many believers ignore Him as their God. The disciples of Jesus must respond to Him in obedience and faith if they are to respond to Him as God. The family of God is obedient to the word of God. As God in man, Jesus obeyed perfectly every word of Scripture, every directive of the Holy Spirit, so too the child of God, adopted through the blood of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, seeks to perfectly obey God’s Word empowered by God’s Spirit. This will involve the mission of the Great Commission, telling others what God has done for us as His witness and His invitation to reconcile to Him as we have done through faith in Jesus. This faith is belief in His work for us in the past, His work for us now through His Spirit, and His work for us later through the resurrection of the dead. We have faith in Jesus when we acknowledge His work alone for our restoration to God. We have faith when we obey God, trusting Him for the results of that obedience today. We have faith when we finally pass from this life to the next, knowing He will raise us from the dead and restore us to Himself forever as beloved children of God. Who we understand Jesus to be impacts how we respond to Jesus’ expectations of us.
