Deuteronomy
11:1--You shall therefore love the LORD your God and keep his charge, His
statutes, His rules, and His commandments always.
II Kings
17:37--The statutes and the rules and the law and the commandment that He wrote
for you, you shall always be careful to do.
Proverbs
6:20,21--My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s
teaching. Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck.
Luke 18:1--He
told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not
lose heart.
I
Corinthians 15:58--Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your
labor is not in vain.
Ephesians 4:
26-31--Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on
your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no
longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his hands, so
that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no
corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for
building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for
the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor
and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
Ephesians
5:18-21--Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your hears,
giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for
Christ.
Philippians
4:4--Rejoice in the Lord always.
Colossians 4:6--Let your speech always
be gracious, seasoned with salt, so
that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
I
Thessalonians 5:15--See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always
seek to do good to one another and to everyone.
II
Timothy 4:5--As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do
the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Always. Everything. Everyone. Do you see any
wiggle room here? Sometimes we take a rather casual approach to our own
behavior, with the (misguided) comment that we are not under law but under
grace, so we have “liberty” to do as we please. (That’s not what the “liberty”
in the New Testament enables us to do, but that’s for another sermon.) When
Jesus was on earth, explaining the law, He actually tightened it up a bit,
showing that the heart attitude is of the same importance as the behaviors. And
now we see that our life of liberty requires a variety of behaviors always.
No occasional disobedience allowed. Don’t even think it. This small collection
of instructions covers nearly all facets of our behavior, and there are many other
passages that tell us how to behave which imply always, even if the word
is not used.
This
convicts me. This is hard. It doesn’t suit my “lifestyle.” Oh, yes, I try to do
these things. Except when I don’t. Of course, sometimes I have a reason (read,
“excuse”) when I don’t. Or sometimes I’m just lazy. But I didn’t see the word
“sometimes” anywhere in these Scriptures.
But did
you notice as you read that all these things are encouraging and uplifting?
These are all good things – good for us and good for others, when we do them.
So what’s happening when we fail? If they’re all good, we shouldn’t fail, ever.
The things that cause us to fail are all bad things, mostly inward things.
When Dr.
Euler preached to us in August, he made the comment, “How you behave shows what
you believe.” Do we believe God’s Word? Always?
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