As a pastor, I have the privilege of hearing and responding to a lot of questions about faith, the Bible, sin, Jesus, and more. Even though I've been in vocational ministry for over 20 years, some questions still surprise me.

Last week someone wanted help answering an objection she keeps running into with someone in her life. The objection is that what Jesus taught in the Gospels was only for His disciples, not for us. The question is: How do we know that Jesus' teachings are for us?

What an interesting question. I can't remember ever running into that objection before. I suppose you could expand it out and discount the whole Old Testament with that line of thinking since it was clearly written for the Jewish people. Pretty dangerous territory.

I did a tour of the scriptures and sent my response to her. I also wanted to share it with you for two reasons: 1. Perhaps you've wondered the same thing or have been asked this question by someone. 2. I couldn't help but be grateful and excited when re-reading these scriptures. What a gift it is to be included in the family of God!

So, to encourage your faith or to help you search the scriptures for answers, here is my response...

John 17:20-24
Jesus prays for all believers after He prays for His disciples (17:6-19). The assumption is that there will be other believers beyond the original disciples.

Matthew 28:19-20
Jesus tells His disciples to go into all the world (Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth) and make disciples, teaching them to obey everything He had commanded. So, what He said to them is for all who will become disciples, and those disciples will be from all over the world.

Acts 10 & 11 (note 11:18)
God makes it very clear that the gospel is not just for the Jews (in case the argument is that “disciples” or “believers” are only Jews).

John 15:1-17
The Jews believed they would be saved just because they were Jews and “Abraham is their father”, but Jesus says that people are only saved when they remain in Him. It’s faith, not bloodline. (More about this on Sunday!)

Romans 11
Paul explains that believers who are Gentiles are “ingrafted branches” and are standing on the promises made to Israel (so don’t be arrogant, be grateful).

More scriptures about this:
Ephesians 2:11-18
Galatians 3:26-29
Galatians 6:15
John 1:12
Romans 2:25-29

There is a lot to unpack here so don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions!

Pastor Tracy