6-CommandsOfChrist

SIX COMMANDS OF CHRIST

      1.   Turn from death—Mark 1:14, 15.

      2.   Look for life—John 1:29.

      3.   Come for rest—Matt. 11:28.

      4.   Abide for fruitfulness—John 15:4.

      5.   Obey for friendship—John 15:14.

      6.   Watch in readiness for His coming—Mark 13:35–37.

(The List taken from:  Curiosities of the Bible Pertaining to Scripture Persons,
Places and Things. (1884). (p. 243). New York: E. B. Treat)

Following is a discussion of each command.  For each one the command, then the scripture sighted along with information to assist us in understanding the value and importance of each.

1.     Turn from death

Mark 1:14-15(ESV)
¹⁴Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 
¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

To believe in the ‘gospel’ means to accept Christ as the means of life. 

Evangelism and Gospel

•   The word evangelism isev-angel-ism, the prefix ev meaning good, and the word angel meaning messenger. So the word literally means good-message-izing.

•     The word Gospel comes down to us from the Anglo-Saxon godspell, which signifies God’s spell, or God’s Story.

•     The word witness is a translation of the Greek word martus, from which we get our English word martyr—one who witnesses with his or her life. (Nelson’s Illustrations…”)

2.    Look for life

John 1:29(ESV)
²⁹The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 

To behold means to take notice.  Next step would be to accept that Jesus is the one to take away the sin of the world.

ACCEPTANCE – Being received with approval or pleasure. In the Bible, things or persons are often said to be acceptable to men or to God. Human acceptance (or rejection) of other humans is affected by many things such as race, class, clan, sex, actions of the individual, prejudice, etc. On a human level Jesus shows us that all human beings are to be accepted, to be loved for their own sake, simply because they are persons created in the image of the loving Father (Gen. 1:26–27; Matt. 5:43–48).

Above all, sin keeps a person from being acceptable to God(Gen. 4:7; Isa. 59:2). From earliest days sacrifices were offered to God in an attempt to make the worshiper acceptable to Him. Later the law revealed more clearly what one needed to do to be acceptable to God. This included ethical actions (Ten Commandments) as well as sacrifices (Leviticus). Israel succumbed to the temptation of separating sacrifice from ethical action, so the great prophets again and again proclaimed the truth that no sacrifice is acceptable if it is divorced from just treatment of others (Isa. 1:10–17; Amos 5:21–24). Micah summed up the terms of acceptance in 6:6–8, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (NASB). The proper attitude of humility is as important as right action (Ps. 51:16–17; 1 Pet. 5:5–6).

The NT proclaims that Jesus has done what is necessary to make one acceptable to God.At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus announced that His mission included proclaiming the acceptable year of the Lord, the time of salvation (Luke 4:19). People are made acceptable to God because the just requirements of the law have been met by the sacrifice of Jesus (Rom. 3:21–26; 8:3–5). The book of Hebrews presents Jesus as the true High Priest who offers the perfect sacrifice that effectively cleanses or covers sin so that it is no longer a barrier to acceptance by God (Heb. 9:11–14, 26). Both Paul and Hebrews taught that for acceptance by God to be effective, one must believe—accept the offer of acceptance from God in Christ and commit oneself to following the way of Jesus, confessing Him as Lord. See Atonement; Justification; Love.^[1]

3.     Come for rest—Matt. 11:28

Matthew 11:28(ESV)
²⁸Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 

The ‘rest’ one receives by coming to Christ would be the respite from the evil strain of the world.  Jesus provides the comfort and guidance to reduce our fears of the world around us.  God provides the guide to the future and thus a child of God will not have to fear the future.  It would be said that we are at rest in our souls.

Rest.

Freedom from work or activity. The source of the Christian doctrine of rest is the rest of God himself, who, after completing the work of creation in six days, “rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done” (Gn 2:2).

It is God’s rest into which all persons are encouraged to enter.The weekly day of rest is a reminder and a reflection of that rest. The rest of the Israelites in the Promised Land after their wilderness wanderings is a symbol of God’s eternal rest which his people are to share. The rest that Christ gives to those who come to him (Mt 11:28) is a foretaste and a guarantee of the divine rest that awaits them. The rest after death of believers who have fallen asleep in Christ—“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord … . They rest from their labors” (Rv 14:13)—is a blissful intensification of the reality of this experience. But the completion of this rest in its inexpressible fullness will take place at the return of Christ, when at last all who are his will be fully conformed to his likeness (1 Jn 3:2), salvation will be consummated as they are clothed with imperishable, glorified bodies (2 Cor 5), and the renewed order of creation in which righteousness dwells will be established (2 Pt 3:13).

Rest is not synonymous with inactivity. What God rested from was the work of creation. He continues constantly to be active, however, in providentially sustaining all that he has created and in the work both of righteous judgment and gracious salvation. Jesus Christ, indeed, in his incarnation, life, death, rising, and glorification is precisely God in action (2 Cor 5:19). Hence the assertion of Jesus: “My Father is working still, and I am working” (Jn 5:17). What the Christian will rest from is the struggle against the forces of evil and the afflictions by which this present life is marred. The rest into which the Christian will   V 2, p 1840    p 1840  enter will not be a state of uneventful inertia. God himself is dynamic, not static, and so also is his rest.

Consequently, all that a Christian rests from simply sets him free to be active ceaselessly and joyfully in the service of God, the Creator and Redeemer. In perfect harmony with all God’s works and in complete fulfillment, Christians exultantly praise and serve the Triune God. Joy will be full, without possibility of improvement or deficiency (cf. Rv 4:8–11; 5:8–14; 7:9–12). Such will be the rest without end of that eternal sabbath which has a morning but no evening. “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest!” (Heb 4:11).^[2]

4.    Abide for fruitfulness—John 15:4

John 15:4(ESV)
⁴Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 

We are taken into the arms of our God and held there.  There we are safe because God promises that nothing can pluck us out of His hands. 

When we abide in the vine (Jesus Christ) He will provide and give us the strength and guidance to maintain our walk with Him.

Assurance.

Certainty or confidence about one’s beliefs or actions. The “assurance of hope”(Heb 6:11) and the “assurance of faith” (Heb 10:22; 11:1) are mentioned as qualities of wholeness that lead believers to responsible living. Paul spoke of an “assured understanding” of the gospel of Christ, which resulted in love in the community (Col 2:2), and of the “assured blessing” which was his in Christ (Rom 15:29).

A proper understanding of God’s sovereignty should encourage repentant sinners and faltering believers to call upon God for salvation and to walk secure in his love. Jesus said, “All that the Father gives me will come to me; and him who comes to me I will not cast out” (Jn 6:37).

Such an attitude of trust in God removes the presumptive pride of the person who trusts his own good works for salvation (Mt 7:21–23; 1 Cor 10:12; Heb 3:12), or the agonizing doubt of the believer who is sensitive to his own sinfulness. Because salvation is by grace (Eph 2:8), the doubting believer may claim the finished and sufficient work of Christ and thus rest secure that “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6).^[3]

5.    Obey for friendship – John 15:14

John 15:14(ESV)
¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. 

We must walk in the light!  To do so means to follow Jesus.  As we follow Jesus we obey His words.

6.     Watch in readiness for His coming—Mark 13:35–37

Mark 13:35-37(ESV)
³⁵Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the cock crows,^£ or in the morning—
³⁶lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 
³⁷And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

Stay awake would mean we are to be busy in the Lord’s work…    To be awake means we are actively seeking God’s will and purpose in our lives.  We are taking in regularly the Word of His counsel.  God provides us with a guide, the Bible, and we will want to be regularly in it.

Here is an illustration about the value of being ready:

4756 Shackleton Found Them Ready

 While on one of his expeditions to the Antarctic, Sir Ernest Shackleton was once compelled to leave some of his men on Elephant Island, with the intention of returning for them and carrying them back to England. But he was unavoidably delayed, and by the time he could go for them he found to his dismay that the sea had frozen over and his men were cut off. Three times he tried to reach them, but his efforts ended in failure. Finally, in his last effort, he found a narrow channel through the ice.

 Guiding his small ship back to the island, he was delighted to find his men not only alive and well, but all prepared to get aboard. They were soon on their way to safety and home. After the excitement ended, Sir Ernest inquired how it was that they were ready to get aboard so promptly. They told him that every morning their leader rolled up his sleeping bag, saying, “Get your things ready, boys, the boss may come today.”

 The return of the Lord Jesus to this earth is much more certain than Sir Shackleton’s return to Elephant Island. Christ’s promise to return to claim His redeemed is established upon His Word and His character. It is still “the blessed hope” of all who love Him—a hope that will not fail.

—Al Bryant^[4]

The following brief account is an account from Billy Graham, however, it shows are need to be ready for the ending of our life on earth.  This period of time may come, as in this illustration, with a foreknowledge.  However, it can also occur instantly.  The question:  Are we Ready?

4752 Ike Said “I’m Ready”

 Just before General Eisenhower died, Billy Graham was invited to visit him at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. He was told he could stay thirty minutes. When he went in, the general was wearing his usual big smile, even though he knew he didn’t have long to live.

 Later Billy Graham told what happened:

 “When the thirty minutes were up, he asked me to stay longer and said to me, “Billy, I want you to tell me again how can I be sure my sins were forgiven and that I am going to heaven, because nothing else matters now.”

 “I took my New Testament and read him Scriptures. I pointed out that we are not going to heaven because of our good works, or because of money we’ve given to the church. We are going to heaven totally and completely on the basis of the merits of what Christ did on the cross. Therefore he could rest in the comfort that Jesus paid it all!

 “After prayer, Ike said, “Thank you I’m ready!””^[5]