we are going to survey a bunch of scripture that identify what we should be doing. hopefully not the minor commands themselves, but
passages that identify the big ideas behind what god wants of us.
genesis
abraham's faith
gen 15:1-6
1. After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not fear, Abram,
I am a shield to you;
Your reward shall be very great."
2. Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?"
3. And Abram said, "Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir."
4. Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "This man will not be your heir; but one who
will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir."
5. And He took him outside and said, "Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to
count them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be."
6. Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
(this is also quoted in romans)
exodus - deut
if you do these things...
deut 7:9-12
9. "Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His
lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
10. but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him,
He will repay him to his face.
11. "Therefore, you shall keep the commandment and the statutes and the judgments which I am commanding
you today, to do them.
12. "Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will
keep with you His covenant and His lovingkindness which He swore to your forefathers.
we are not going to read exodus - deut.
these are filled with chapters and chapters of rules and goals that god has laid out for his people.
instead, we'll just read a summary where there are some concluding thoughts.
deut 30
(read the whole stinking chapter)
some nt commentary on the whole deal...
jesus' comments on the first and greatest commandment (mark 12:29-31)
29. Jesus answered, "The foremost is, `HEAR, O ISRAEL ! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD;
30. AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR
MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.'
31. "The second is this, `YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
the scribe's reply to jesus included a quote form 1 sam 15:22, where samuel is rebuking saul for his lack of obedience.
22. Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
As in obeying the voice of the LORD ?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.
das prophets
ezekiel 11:17-21
17. "Therefore say, `Thus says the Lord GOD, "I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out
of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel."'
18. "When they come there, they will remove all its detestable things and all its abominations from it.
19. "And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone
out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,
20. that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people,
and I shall be their God.
21. "But as for those whose hearts go after their detestable things and abominations, I will bring their
conduct down on their heads," declares the Lord GOD.
micah 6:6-8
6. With what shall I come to the LORD
And bow myself before the God on high?
Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings,
With yearling calves?
7. Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams,
In ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8. He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?
note: just for the record, this isn't to say that grace isn't at the heart of old testament obedience...
psalm 86:1-5
1. A Prayer of David. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and answer me;
For I am afflicted and needy.
2. Preserve my soul, for I am a godly man;
O You my God, save Your servant who trusts in You.
3. Be gracious to me, O Lord,
For to You I cry all day long.
4. Make glad the soul of Your servant,
For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
5. For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,
And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You.
psalm 51
(read it)
so - we're not saying that grace isn't included in the picture...
rather, we're attempting to establish what the goal is. failure is accounted for, but the goals are laid out.
summarize:
what did god want of his people?
he wanted them to do what he said he wanted them to do.
eph 4:17-32
17. So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk,
in the futility of their mind,
18. being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them,
because of the hardness of their heart;
19. and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of
impurity with greediness.
20. But you did not learn Christ in this way,
21. if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,
22. that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted
in accordance with the lusts of deceit,
23. and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24. and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
25. Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another.
26. BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
27. and do not give the devil an opportunity.
28. He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good,
so that he will have something to share with one who has need.
29. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according
to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
30. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
32. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
col 1:3-12
3. We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
4. since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints;
5. because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel
6. which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has
been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth;
7. just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf,
8. and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.
9. For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be
filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
10. so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work
and increasing in the knowledge of God;
11. strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously
12. giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.
col 3:1-17
1. Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated
at the right hand of God.
2. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
3. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
5. Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire,
and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
6. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience,
7. and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.
8. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
9. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,
10. and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him--
11. a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian,
Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
12. So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness,
humility, gentleness and patience;
13. bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as
the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
14. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
15. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.
16. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another
with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
17. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to
God the Father.
heb 12
(read the chapter)
1 john 2:1-6
1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins,
we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;
2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
3 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.
4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;
5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:
6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
summarize:
what does god want of his people?
he wanted them to do what he said he wanted them to do.
1 pet 1:13-21, isa 66:1,2,
hab 3:17-19, 2 cor 5:18-21
rom 6:13, prov 3:5-7, deut 10:12-11:32, ecc 12:13,14
1. god goes to great lengths to clearly lay out what it wants of us.
god is not trying to hide what it is that he wants from us - he is trying to be explicit.
heb 11:6 "he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him."
2. commands from god are good news (comfort even) to the one seeking after god.
they tell us plainly what god wants of us.
do you want to please god? don't worry that you have to wait for a zen insight to strike you, or wait for a thunderstorm with a unicorn.
open your bible, and read - god has worked to tell us what he desires of his people.
3. what should we think about grace? what is it, what difference does it make to these commands?
i'd like to make sure that our doctrine of grace is healthy.
grace (arguably mercy is a better term here, though Paul seems to use grace to encompass both ideas) means that god gives
us what we don't deserve - forgiveness.
that doesn't mean that he doesn't really mean it when he says that his people should "abstain from sexual immorality" (or whatever
command you are looking at).
4. based on your knowledge of the bible (or what you can find without too much effort), what are the similarities and differences between
old and new testament commands?
my thoughts: the new testament has a lot more rules about attitudes/motives.
the old testament has this, but less directly. the new testament shouts it again and again.
extra credit: what are the implications of having commands cover attitudes/motives?
well...it seems to imply a level of personal control/responsibility.