THE Commandments of GOD
美佳之窗 His Window 94（ Apr - Jun 2021 ）
Text by Rev. Phan Wu Chung
Translated by Stephen Cheng
In Matthew 22:34-40, an expert in the Law raised a question to test Jesus,
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
The question raised by the Law expert was indeed a matter of concern to the Jews, because at the point of time, the Jews had compiled all the laws, small and big, into a collection of 613 laws. In the Jewish society comprising different tribal clans, there were different viewpoints regarding "which ones of the laws are more important than the others". This question was also posted as a test because it was in fact quite difficult to answer. We all know every single law was instituted by God. Let's look at the Ten Commandments, how do we define which one is the most important? If we can point out the most important one, are we saying that the other laws are secondary or unnecessary or can even be ignored? But, Jesus gave an unexpected response to the question saying that the Law and the Prophetic Books are the entire emphasis of the teaching of the Law. Jesus used Deuteronomy 6:5 to remind the Teacher of the Law, to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." (This is a familiar 'shema' to the Jews, which they must recite twice a day). Jesus also quoted "love your neighbour as yourself in Leviticus 19:18 to explain that only with whole-hearted love, the Jews would obediently listen to the 'shema', and to specifically express God's love is to love all the people created by Him. The purpose of God giving us the commandments to follow is to ensure the safety and rights of mankind, encompassing the spirit of the Law.
Perhaps, during that time, the Jews had not understood God's salvation plan and they were confused about obeying the commandments of God. What about us? Are we not also struggling with the same problem? Let me ask, when you noticed the theme, 'The Commandments of God' of the latest issue of 'His Window', what was your reaction? Were you interested to read on? The word 'command' is not a pleasant word, because most people are not willing to obey orders or commands.
Whether you like it or not, the Bible is filled with many laws of God who commands us to faithfully observe them (Deut 6:2-3, 10:12-13, 11:1, 22, Joshua 22:5, 23:6). When we are struggling like the Jews at that time on how to observe and follow the commands of God, yet, Jesus again tells us in John 13: 34, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you love one another." Wouldn't this new command of Jesus make obeying the Law even more difficult?
If this is how you feel now, let's see what Apostle John says in 1 John 5:1-3, "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves His children as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out His commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep His commands. And His commands are not burdensome...." Here, Apostle John points out 3 essential truths about the lives of born-again Christians:
1. Faith:
We receive a 'new life' because we believe Jesus is Christ, so that we can have a loving relationship with God and His children. Unless we have faith in God and believe what He says, we will not willingly obey His commands.
2. Mutual love:
It is impossible for the believers of Jesus Christ to just only love God and not His people: to re-emphasize this point, John did mention earlier in 1 John 4:20, "Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen."
3. Obedience:
If we declare we believe in God and love Him, we must obey His commands: to truly love God and others as ourselves is to obey His commands. Actually, Apostle John wanted to present Jesus' perspective about obeying the commands of God in a different way to state clearly that the 3 essential truths are complementary and inseparable.
In closing, Apostle John sums up by saying that "it is not difficult to obey the commands of God". Even, Moses once said, "Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.... the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it." (Deut 30:11-14)
Undeniably, to the non-believers and those who don't know God, obeying God's commands can be a burden and indeed a very difficult task. Since, we are the children of God out of our belief, we can obey God's commands because of His love and the strength He gives us.
I hope the church brothers and sisters can really love one another. Then, we will find that obeying the commands of God can be a joy and not difficult to do.