The End Of The Commandment - The Start Of The Walk - Part Three

This is part three of a three-part Christian series on learning how to follow Christ through the Holy Spirit instead of the laws and commandments of men.

As I write this, there are bread lines over a mile long in Japan. Snow is falling on some of the devastated areas of Japan and thousands upon thousands of homeless survivors are unsure where they will go to find warmth and comfort.

In America and in other places around the world, we have people who have knowledge, wealth, food, and shelter, and still these people are wondering in fear what “might” happen to them “if” some of the radiation from Japan’s nuclear reactors makes it overseas to the places where they and their children work and sleep. Many more are worried how the markets will be negatively affected and how their investments might rise or fall due to this tragedy.

As Christians, I ask, are we really going to sit back and wait for tragedy to fall upon us before we learn whether or not we have enough faith and charity to endure hardship? Are we going to wait until our own personal tidal waves comes crashing down upon us before we step into the arena of belief in His Almighty hands? When are we going to cast in all of our living?

It’s not an easy question or even an easy thought but how safe and how sound in Christ will you feel when you are forced to stand cold and hungry with your children and friends in breadlines a mile long? Do you think your Christian faith will prevent such a thing from ever happening to you and yours? Are all those who suffer from earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados and hurricanes, unbelievers?

When things get rough, will your predatory animal instincts for personal survival take charge of your being or will you find the spiritual fortitude to smile, sing, praise and encourage everyone around you? Will you know how to be confident of your salvation even when the executioner is striking the nails into your hands?

The Acts 16:23-25 ‘And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison . . . the jailer . . . . made their feet fast in stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto the Creator: and the prisoners heard them.’

I’m not saying you have to walk out on your responsibilities to your careers and your families to learn these things. But what I am saying is, you need to know with all of your heart, that if the Lord calls on you to go, you can go, right now, without hesitation.

If the Lord asks you to give, you can give, right now, without hesitation.

If the Lord asks you to sacrifice, you can sacrifice, right now, without hesitation.

In other words, the end of the commandment really is – if the Lord asks anything of you – anything is what you will do – anything is what you will accept.

Matthew 19:22 ‘But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.’

A servant of the Holy Spirit doesn’t need or ask for a list of laws and rules to live by. A servant of the Holy Spirit simply does what he or she has been instructed to do, moment by moment, day by day. The young man would not have been sorrowful if He was really committed to following Christ. If He was committed to Yahshua, then selling all he had, giving to the poor, would have been easy – but not because it was the “right” thing to do.

It would have been easy because Christ told Him to do it and He trusted Christ’s judgment.

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What the world wants of you, is for you to feel obligated to your profession and job, so you can’t act according to the Holy Spirit, moment by moment, day by day.  If they say jump – you jump.  If they say go – you go.  For money sake, you will do nearly everything and anything they ask of you and you will do it willingly because you have made money important. 

In Christ, you should be able to come and go from your job as needed.  Those who worship wealth have a system that will not allow any employee to do that – and in fact – they will make you feel irresponsible for even thinking to act like that.

In Wisconsin, using the pretext of law, many conservative Republicans are still wholly upset at the fourteen Democratic senators who fled the state because they felt morally impelled to do so.  There is no saying whether or not their “moral” barometers were correct or not.  But the thing we need to see is that such ‘moral’ behavior is considered to be apprehensible and a dereliction of duty.  But was it? 

In Christ, if you feel morally persuaded to do something, to “straightway” leave your nets and follow another course of action –well then – that is a real expression of freedom.  Selah.

What we have in America is not really freedom of religion.  What we have in America is the freedom to decide, only partly, how we want to serve the altar of money.  And once we choose our course of servitude, we better be on time and we better do our appointed service no matter how rigorous or immoral it gets to be.

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1Corinthians 7:20-23 ‘Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Art thou called being a servant? Care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, bring free, is Christ’s servant. Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.’

Don’t work for companies and corporations because you have to make money. Don’t be enslaved to your job to the point that you can’t think about anything else or do anything else without their permission. If the occasion comes and Christ is calling you away from your duties at work or even your duties at home to fix someone’s tire, to help a family that is hungry, to do some charitable thing that needs be done now – then do it – without hesitation. Don’t count the loss of your employment as anything. Don’t count the loss of your family as anything. Don’t count the sacrifice you are making in Christ’s name as anything.

If the people you call family and friend are truly yoked to the same Christ you are yoked to, they will excuse your absence. They will see the honor and virtue in what you are doing.

If they don’t excuse your absence and their adherence to rules won’t allow them to forgive you, then something truly is amiss.

The corporate world depends on your punctual attendance. The altar of mammon that feeds industry requires a lot of upkeep and a whole lot of loyalty. Only the most devout worshippers of commerce and trade will find that money ever pays.

These poor souls simply can’t comprehend how a person could ever follow the Holy Spirit and act spontaneously against all reason and necessity for the sake of someone else – especially a stranger or an enemy.

Work, in their mind, should always come first. Where would this nation be without it.

I believe what it is they really don’t understand about Christianity is the enormous amount of hope it takes to act in a faithful manner.

I always hope that when I must forsake my job, or forsake my wife, or forsake my children, or forsake anyone else to do the Lord’s work, they will forgive my absence and let me back in the door when I return. If not, I have to believe that my faith in Christ is still the supreme value and He will continue to provide ways for me to cope and get by even in the darkest storm, even in the worse tragedy – even without them. It takes a great deal of faith to believe that.

Like a muscle, if you never exercise that faith, it won’t be strong when it is really needed, and, your loved ones won’t understand it when you act on it.

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The Acts 24:16 ‘And herein do I exercise myself, to have a conscience void of offence toward Yahweh, and toward men.’

Romans 7:5-6 ‘For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law . . . that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.’

Your salvation is simple. It can’t be quantified or counted or even debated. You can’t be perfect and the more questions you ask about your imperfections, the more sorrowful you will become. Don’t focus on the knowledge or accomplishments you lack.

The Bible and the commandments are fantasitc studies.  It does you good to chew them, savor them and ingest them.  But then what?  Is that all there is?  Was the word offered to you to satisfy you?  Was the word given to you so you could feel better about your life?

No!  As the saying goes, "You are what you eat."  You have to actually become the word.  You have to give the word life through your actions, your speeches, your writings, and your works.

Go now and do your works of charity to the best of your ability, to the best your faith will allow, and as spontaneously as is needed, and when you do, you will find you have the only answer you ever needed.

You will find yourself sharing His burden and His burden is so light, you’ll wonder why you didn’t start acting on faith sooner.

Matthew 16:24 ‘. . . follow Me.’

Amen