February 1, 2010
Matthew 22
Pastor Jeff Allen
- I am a pastor’s son.
- I am a husband.
- I am a father.
- I am a U.S. citizen.
- I am a pastor at Grace Covenant Church.
At some point, all of this will have been in the past, and will be no longer.
However, one thing that I am now will remain in the future. I am a son of the Almighty God - an heir to His throne.
In Matthew 22, it is recorded that Pharisees and Sadducees tried to corner Jesus into saying something unwise. They tried to find fault in His teaching and ultimately create a reason to put Him to death. One of the questions had to do with people being resurrected after death. The Sadducees didn’t believe in it and tried to expose flaws in Jesus’ teaching. However, their attempt failed when Jesus responded, “Your problem is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God…long after Abraham, Isaac and Jacob died, God said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ So, he is the God of the living and the dead.”
I invite you to look back at this passage (from verses 29-32) and realize that God spoke in the present tense. The same God - the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - is the One with Whom you have relationship today. It’s a relationship that will continue eternally after you die, if you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior.
In our present lives, we all have several titles. We can easily go through a list of statements beginning with “I am…” Yet only one title will last throughout eternity: “I am a child of God.”
Take a moment to say that out loud - “I am a child of God.” Go ahead. It’s truth that lasts forever.
A native of Olean, New York, Jeff Allen has served on the Grace Covenant pastoral staff for nearly 2½ years.
