If you love me, keep my commandments
As evangelicals, we don't often like to talk about good works and even less
about commandments. But Jesus said, "if you love me, you will keep my
commandments" (John 14:15). In a very well known passage Jesus also said,
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the
age" (Matthew 28:19-20.
Now, with respect to this Great Commission we often acknowledge that Jesus didn't say "Teach them all that I commanded you" but rather, "teach them to observe all that I commanded you."
But have you ever really thought about what Jesus commanded? Um...he said "Love one another." OK, what else? (Not that we really have that one down very well.) What all did Jesus command? I hadn't ever really thought too much about that. So I fired up my handy-dandy BibleWorks program and searched for all of the commands that Jesus gave. It's quite a list...in the hundreds. Some are given to an individual in a specific instance, like in Matthew 8:3 when he says "Be cleansed." But I'm looking for the more general ones. The ones we are to teach (and be taught) to obey.
So, over the next few entries I'm going to look at some of Jesus' commands for us to obey.
From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17). We’ve already looked at this in a previous post. Jesus is commanding a repent life style, and, again, we saw that the fruit of repentance is social action. This is not a suggestion of Jesus. This is a command.
Next, in the midst of insults and persecution, Jesus commands us to “Rejoice and be glad” (Mat. 5:12).
Just a few verses later Jesus says "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Mat. 5:16). Once again we come face to face with good works. Are we discipling and being discipled to do good works? After, "Faith without works is dead."
Jesus really did make some demands of us. Are we keeping them? Are we teaching others to keep them? Do we even know what they are?
Join me in meditating on WDJWMTD.
Comments:
FabrixWrites:
2008-12-08 11:57:00
Esta muy bueno pensar en todo lo que podemos recibir de Dios y tener muy presente sus promesas. Pero como tu lo dices claramente es necesario obedecer y por ende hacer. Dios nos ayude a eforzarnos aun mas a enfocarnos en sus mandamientos y unificar en perfecta armonia su vison y nuestros deseos..... que sean una misma cosa ;)GaryWrites:
2008-09-17 10:26:00
Steve! Interesting. So good works are being talked about more? In a good sense? Maybe I'm living in the past. Or maybe I'm not a very keen observer of what's going on around me. Or maybe things have changed in the 15 years that I've been out of the country. So, do you see these commands of Jesus being emphasized in discipleship programs around the fellowship?Steve MakofkaWrites:
2008-09-17 09:31:00
I'm not sure I agree with the premise of the first statement. "As evangelicals, we don't often like to talk about good works and even less about commandments." It seems like a sweeping overgeneralization to me and I have lots of evidence to the contrary.Dennis LoufikWrites:
2008-09-17 08:18:00
Thought provoking. Keep up the deep thinking. We worship him with body, soul and mind.Comment on Article.