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So, What's My Motivation Here?
The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. Eccl 12:13-14 (NASB)
"You shall therefore love the Lord your God, and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.
Deut 11:1 (NASB)
I purposely took both of those verses from the Old Testament to illustrate that loving God and keeping His commandments is not just a New Testament thing. I found it interesting that a search of the entire bible for “love, God, commandments” turned up nine occurrences and a search for “fear, God, commandments” turned up four occurrences. Loving God and keeping the commandments, using a basic search, shows up more than twice as much as fearing God and keeping the commandments, but keeping those commandments is always the constant!
If we look in the New Testament, Jesus specifically says that loving God equates to keeping the commandments. In fact, He said the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart and soul. This, of course, was Jesus quoting Moses (who was quoting Jesus, who’s on first and all). The references are Deuteronomy 6:4 for Moses and Matthew 22:37 for Jesus. John also wrote that we are to love God and keep His commandments. This theme runs pretty constant through the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus.
The other theme that runs constant is that of the relationship between God being Our Father and we being children. For those of us with children, we know that when they misbehave we often have to use fear to motivate them to obey. Nobody likes this, whether disciplinarian or the disciplined. But in our walk, we are to come to know Him like the little children, and oftentimes it takes discipline from our Creator to clue us in on what He wants for us, especially in the early stages. As we grow, though, we start to understand the scriptures and God’s will. We learn that the things He has told us to do and not to do are all the best for us. Then we obey out of love.
My son is starting to move from fearing me and obeying into loving me and obeying. I have to say I like it. He wants so much for me to be proud of him in certain areas. Him seeking my approval is such a wonderful show of love that I just soak it in, beaming inside. Since he is young, he slips back from time to time needing to be disciplined, and that hurts me more and more each time. However, he needs to obey and continue learning so that he can become a man, a citizen, and a Christian.
The experience of raising my three children, not just my son, is also showing me more what it means to love God and keep His commandments. I pray it continues so that my motivation can increase. But whatever our motivation might be, lets all remember to keep those commandments and to love God!
The Devil Knows the Bible
There are only three places a doctrine can come from: God, man, or Satan. It’s really easy to forget the last one.
Then the devil *took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and *said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, 'HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU'; and 'ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.'"Matt 4:5-6 (NASB)
The scriptures are the key to our salvation in this age. It is no wonder that Satan himself would be an expert on the things contained within the Bible. “Know thy enemy” is a very profound concept and unfortunately works both ways. It should give one pause to see Satan above citing scripture so precisely. It shows much hubris that he actually thought he could deceive the Messiah by twisting scripture. We who are much lower than Yeshua will be attacked by Satan in the same way and will need to trust the Spirit to guide us into all truth.
There’s another reason Satan would know the Bible; he has watched it all unfold. Satan, a created being, has lived since at least the Garden of Eden, with some speculating he and the angels are much older than that. It is likely that Satan knew about the path for mankind’s salvation long before it was written down and passed to us through the Bible. This would explain why Sunday, Christmas, Easter, cross worship, and other false doctrines were started well before Jesus’ earthly ministry and the message going out to the nations. Since those false teachings were well underway under different names when Paul started his missionary journey, it was very easy for them to become blended into the faith once delivered. The Adversary is the most evil and cunning foe ever, and he is apparently very patient.
Since Satan, the author of lies, is working to confuse us and lead us astray, let us take great care in our walk. Recorded history and current events may look like they fulfill prophecies, but history and the media are not inspired sources. Surely many great events of earth’s history were planned by Yahweh in order to bring us to that marvelous day of Yeshua’s return, but we also need to remember that Satan has an active hand in the goings on of the planet as well. One example is how Jesus said He did not come to bring peace but a sword and that families would split over Him. This is true, but just because your family is splitting over religious disputes, that doesn’t prove one side right or wrong. In fact, both sides could be wrong if the family is splitting over two false religions!
Another caution is how desperate Satan will be in the last days. Helplessness leads to despair and, as Satan realizes how futile his efforts have been for the last 6000 years, he will become increasingly brazen. Do you know how helpless you feel right before something bad happens that you can’t prevent? This is how it will be with the Adversary as God’s plan unfolds before his eyes and there is nothing he can do about it. (Of course what is bad for Satan is good for everyone else!) In that state, a raging, helpless Satan is likely to do anything to take as many down with him as possible. So we need to take care and follow the words of the Savior:
Then if anyone says to you, 'Behold, here is the Christ,' or 'There He is,' do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you in advance. So if they say to you, 'Behold, He is in the wilderness,' do not go out, or, 'Behold, He is in the inner rooms,' do not believe them. For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. Matt 24:23-28 (NASB)
Studying Yourself Stupid
I’m sure you’ve all heard the saying “he missed the forest because of the trees”. This means that a person missed the “big picture” of the forest because he was staring at the detail of a trees. This type of myopia is also prevalent in Christian thought.
Take a look at the Christian churches in the phone book to see all the names. How many of them are named after specific doctrines? The Baptists are named after immersion since sprinkling does not count for baptism. Presbyterians are named after a type of governance. Some groups even have two or three adjectives in their names. Lutherans are actually named after a man (God forbid, Paul specifically writes against this at 1Cor 1:12-14.)
Most of these churches were started because someone started focusing too much on one specific doctrine. It’s understandable since oftentimes the doctrine in question was overlooked for a very long time. Unless, of course, if the denomination focuses on bad doctrines or even following men instead of Yahweh, then it is very bad. Generally speaking, though, an entire denomination focusing on one or two doctrines is counterproductive to learning the depth and breadth of the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus.
But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. 1 Thess 5:21-22 (NASB)
See? The goal is to examine everything carefully, not just to focus on a doctrine or two. Look further at what Paul says to Timothy:
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3:16-17 (NASB)
We’re supposed to study all the scripture and test all the doctrines, not just one or two. The Church of God is a package deal. This is how Yahweh looks at us, as a balanced package. Yeshua told us that the commandments were summed up into two, to love God with all our hearts and souls and to love our neighbors as ourselves. This is a big picture approach. His earthly ministry surely was a big picture ministry showing us compassion, patience, and love.
This is certainly not meant to belittle or discount studying the details of the WORD. That is part of the “everything”! But the Church of God and the Messianic congregations tend to study ourselves stupid at times. Our groups have discovered a very linear path and returned to much lost truth, but we have also have a tendency to start throwing doctrinal stakes into the ground that create divisions where none exist. Or worse, we get onto tangents that become the nexus of our faith and detract from focusing of the grace and love of Jesus Christ and what He did for us on the cross (or torture stake, see what I mean?).
Brothers and sisters, doctrine is really important. Studying is really important. But when it becomes an avenue to divide those of us who do share so much in common, please have patience with each other. The denominations listed above provide enough division between us and mainstream Christianity to last a lifetime! If the doctrine one is so strident about is true, and independent study showed it to one person, won’t that same study show it to all? If Messiah has shown us such grace and patience, shouldn’t we afford each other the same?
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
John 13:34-35 (NASB)
