Sunday, January 26, 2020

Imperatives



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?


--Lynda Shenefield

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