Jesus our Model

(This is a series of essays on various teachings of LORD/Jesus other than Sermon on the Mount, and on how Jesus lived his life on Earth.)

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, etc.

Jesus (to his disciples) : Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. And they discussed it among themselves, saying, "We brought no bread." But Jesus, aware of this, said, "O men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to perceive that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. [Mt 16:12]
(Note : in fact, we should accept no human teachings other than that of LORD and Jesus, I will explain the reasons in the latter part of this webpage.)

Jesus : The law and the prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of GOD is preached, and every one enters it violently. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one dot of the law to become void. [Luke 16:16-17]
(Note : the full message of salvation is contained in the Bible, especially in the Gospels. If any one does that in spirit and in truth, he will be saved. Lord Jesus again stressed the importance of LORD's Laws here, because LORD rules the Universe with His Law, and the message "DO THE LAW => BLESSING; BREAK THE LAW => CURSE", will never change.)

Jesus : But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called masters, for you have one master, the Christ. He who is greatest among you shall be your servant; whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. [Mt 23:8-12[

Jesus (to the church in Pergamum) : I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is; you hold fast my name and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you : you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practise immorality. So you also have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent then. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. [Rev 2:13-16]
(Note : During the days of early church, some people, the Nicolaitans, claimed that Nicolas had received a revelation from God to practice the doctrine of "free love", which is un-restrained sex.)

Jesus (to the church in Thyatira) : I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practise immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her doings; and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches shall know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve. But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay upon you any other burden; only hold fast what you have, until I come. [Rev 2:19-25]
(Note : Beware of "deep" things. Mostly, things of truth are simple and plain and intuitive, though lot of patience and honest effort are required.)

Jesus : My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me; if any man's will is to do his will, he shall know whether the teachings is from GOD or whether I am speaking on my own authority. He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. [John 7:16-18]

(Note : may be skipped)

Note from Wu Siu Yan on this essay

LORD understands the problems we face. We might face pressures from peers, might face pressures from Secret Alliance. We might face persecution from organized power, and we might even face the prospect of being killed.

Therefore LORD sent Jesus to us, to serve as a "Model man". And from him, we may learn how to tackle the various problems of life. The road of the "cross" - the road Jesus walked - should be our road too.

Jesus : "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me." [John 14:6]

We should hold fast LORD's teachings of humanity onto death like Jesus.

Now there are numerous other teachings in this world. e.g. we Chinese have the teachings of Confucius, the teachings of Man-Chi (student of Confucius), .... But the teachings in them are not 100% perfect, are not totally error free, e.g. Confucius taught us to worship ancestors, and you can find numerous people offer incense to the dead in Hong Kong, in Taiwan, in Malaysia, ... or in other places where Chinese live. But Confucius also taught us "do not do to others what you do not wish others to do to you." Therefore they are valuable in REINFORCING precepts we have learned in the Bible, but not to REPLACE nor ADD TO precepts in the Bible, and we should exercise extreme care when reading them, or else take in "deadly leavens".

The same imperfections may be found in other teachings too, e.g. those from Budda, ... (e.g. the book "Freedom from Fear", written by Aung San Suu Kyi or Burma, contains many teachings from Budda.)

The only reliable teachings, the teachings that are 100% correct, that are totally error free, should be those from our Creator - the LORD, and they are in the Bible.

Because we are created by LORD, our "hardware" and "software" are totally from LORD (the "hardware" we have is different from that of an elephant, the "software" we have is different from that of a pig - no pig can do Calculus or Advanced Mathematics), therefore we should not be teachers/masters of our own creations, but should rely totally on the teachings of LORD and of Jesus. Hence we are not masters/rabbi, only LORD and Jesus are.

About other books in the world : I think "Book of Mormon" is a true historical record of Native Americans from 600 B.C. to 420 A.D. Unfortunately, the translator of that book, Joseph Smith, introduced polygamy, and other abominable practices, e.g. priesthood, ...

People rejected such practices, and they reject the Book of Mormon too. But there are extremely valuable historical lessons in that book which I think no concerned Christian should ignore.

There are other books too, e.g. Chinese in the Ching Dynasty compiled an encyclopaedia called "Complete Encyclopaedia from 4 categories" Nearly all kings in China in all dynasties assigned someone to be historians, and ALL the history books were collected there. Perhaps, someone will select important messages from that, and publish it in a language the world understand, e.g. English. And that would provide extremely valuable historical lessons too!

Either we re-learn those painful historical lessons or we learn them from history books.

Similarly, history books from other race, e.g. India, ... will come in the future, and will benefit mankind.

But to Christians, the Bible is enough. All the teachings of LORD and of Jesus may be found there.

The other history books should be mainly of concern to the "civil servants", those who serve their fellow citizens, (Cf. the Levites in time past).

Therefore we should set up no religion other than the traditional Christian religion. I say this because of Falon Gong, a semi-religious practice in China. The three precepts they hold : "truthfulness, forbearance (patient endurance), compassion" are godly precepts. But their practitioners spend a lot of their time to improve their physical health, by doing "breathing exercises". They are leading their followers in a wrong direction.

LORD already foresaw this kind of practice, and has warned us in the Bible - those who have learned some precepts in Bible, and know of Jesus and LORD, but wish to establish a religion of their own,

Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant, who walks in darkness and has no light, yet trusts in the name of the LORD and relies upon his GOD? Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who set brands alight! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the brands which you have kindled! This shall you have from my hand; you shall lie down in torment. [Is 50:10-11]

Therefore, I sincerely hope the leaders in Falon Gong, would repent, would go out to the light, would forsake their operation in the dark, forsake ALL their illegal practices, give COMPLETE freedom to all their followers, and teach them not to follow anyone other than Almighty GOD and His Son Jesus, and pattern their lifes after Jesus.

Lastly I hope, they would heed LORD's warning.

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