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| Thought provoking overlook of Lake Seneca at Belhurst Castle |
15 “If
you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And
I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide
with you forever—
John 14:15-16
The
Commandments of Jesus – 101
When
Jesus made this statement as referenced above from John's gospel, He put before us a challenge to listen to His
teachings and endeavor to live accordingly.
This is both all too simple and, yet at the same time, all too
difficult. Over time, attempts have been made to turn Jesus’ teachings into a
list of rules of optional suggestions.
Neither approach adequately considers the urgent and radical nature of
said commandments.
This
post begins a series of teaching summaries that look at the sayings/teachings/ commandments
Jesus used to direct his followers to live disciplined but radical lives of
faith. In examining each of these
teachings, I’ve found it's helpful to consider four aspects concerning each;
1.
NUTSHELLING – Each of Jesus’ teaching can be summarized in a brief
description of what he was saying and His intent in doing so. At the outset of each of Jesus’ teaching, I
will summarize what that particular teaching segment says “in a nutshell” statement for that topic and content.
2. THE
“CW” – Conventional Wisdom (CW) often holds sway in looking at life and what
Jesus had to say when he spoke often departed from the CW of both then and
now. There is nowhere else in the
Gospels where this is more apparent than in what He says in chapters 5 thru 7 of
the Gospel of Matthew. His “you have
heard it said” and “but I tell you” teaching methodology used in these chapters
indicate that it is not just truth He was dealing in but paradigm shifting
truth. We will examine the CW of both
that day and now to see what Jesus is saying regarding a number of issues.
3. THE
“GET IT” – More than just what was taught, is why Jesus chose to address it as
part of His discourse. Why did He think that
one concern important and not another?
More than that, why did he think it was so important that we “get it” on
that topic? Theologically, Jesus was at
odds with many of those who came to hear Him or at least those who sent
representatives to do so. Yet never more
so than the Pharisees, Sadducees, and other power groups that had either reduced the truth
of scripture to either an insufferable list of dos and don’ts (with
corresponding instructions on how to work the system to one's own advantage) or lip service that
claimed the scriptures were merely a means to an end but not to be taken
seriously and were certainly NOT a guide to living.
With these and other groups putting their own spin on their views of
scripture, the forthrightness, practicality and depth that they portrayed were
being lost. I see Jesus' teaching as a way to recover these virtues as a first step in learning how to appropriately follow Him.
4. THE
“TJ”: “Thinking Jesusly”, or
“TJ”, is the process of adapting the teachings of Jesus to our own life
situation and representing him to each new generation. These “commandments” of
Jesus demand a response and we will look at possible ways to carry these out by
thinking Jesusly about our current set of circumstances. It is the beginning of a journey of opening ourselves to the mind of Christ that Paul urged the Philippian church to adopt as their own, as should we.
This look at the commandments of Jesus is not all inclusive but I believe it will yield its own share of insights. Using these study criteria, in my next post, we will begin our examination of the
teachings or commandments of Jesus as given in Matthew 5-7. Till then remember....
Let this mind be in you.
