“The Beactions of the Bible”
September 29, 2019
Micah 6:8
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
James 1:27
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
Jesus was walking the dusty roads of Judea. He left Galilee and crossed over to the other side of the Jordon and large crowds were following Him – after all, He performed miracles, raised the dead and fed multitudes. Now He was teaching them. He talked and taught about marriage and divorce; He talked about little children and parents brought their babies to Jesus to have Him bless them – and He did. Then the crowds parted and an impressive young man came up to Jesus. He not only had youth going for him but he was rich and smart – after all he was a ruler among the people. He asked Jesus a question that was heavy on his mind; it probably was a concern to him and revealed an extraordinary intelligence and wisdom. He asked, “What good thing must I do to get eternal life?” Read this account of Jesus and the rich, young ruler with me.
“A man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
“Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.” Matthew 19:16-22
The question was asked and answered - “Keep the commandments.” Then the excuses began. Why? Because we can’t do it in our own strength. It doesn’t matter how strong and smart we are. It doesn’t matter how rich we are. We can’t buy it. It doesn’t matter how influential or powerful we are. We aren’t powerful enough to save ourselves. We need a Savior. There isn’t ‘one’ thing that we do. We must have a relationship with the Savior. And it needs to be a certain kind of relationship. We need to take action. I call these ‘Beactions”. Jesus talked about the “Beatitudes” – this are actions to be taken.
1. Believe
“And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.” 1 John 3:23
These are the two greatest commands in the Gospel. Jesus gave us the two great commandments in the Old Testament – love God and love others. But Jesus gave us the two greatest commands in the New Covenant. The second one is similar to the OT command. Loving others. But where the Old Testament calls us to love others as our self – Jesus changed it to love others as God loved you. That makes a big difference doesn’t it? And it is impossible without His Spirit.
The greatest command is to believe. Let’s look at a few times Jesus gave us that command.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” John 3:36
“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” John 5:24
We usually don’t associate believing with choice – but it is. Often we will look at evidence concerning something and then decide what or whom we are going to believe. It may be something like ‘climate change’ or evolution or creationism. We choose what we will believe or not believe. For many people their minds are made up in a matter in spite of the evidence. Romans, chapter one talks about a people who choose to believe the truth is a lie and a lie is the truth. We see a lot of that today. But when it comes to eternal life – there is one way. Jesus said,
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
In reading that or hearing that – you are confronted with a choice to believe or not to believe. I choose to believe. I hope you do, too.
After choosing to believe, another action is required of us. It is to 2. Be faithful . How important is faith? The Bible says,
“The righteous shall live by faith.” Romans 1:7
“Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” Galatians 3:11
“but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” Hebrews 10:38
“Without faith it is impossible to believe God.” Hebrews 11:6
I am convinced that most people don’t understand what faith it. Most think it is synonymous with belief. It’s not – although belief is an important part of faith and some versions of the Bible use them as synonyms arbitrarily. Real faith always has three elements to it – belief, trust, and action. Without action there is no faith. James said that the devils believe – and tremble. But it’s not a saving belief because they don’t take action. God requires you to take action – to live by your faith. We are to walk the walk – not just talk the talk.
Then God requires you to 3. Be fruitful. Jesus said,
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” John 15:1-2
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” John 15:16
Years ago it was a common thing in the church to equate winning souls with the fruit we are to produce. If you hadn’t won anyone to the Lord recently you were made to feel guilty. Although we are all called to evangelize – not all are evangelists. Our gifts and talents may lie in another kingdom building area. But all of us are called to bear fruit. It is just a part of our nature. Jesus said,
“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” John 15:8
“By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” Matthew 7:16-20
We all bear fruit – good or bad. It is just a part of living to bear fruit. Jesus, twice, said we can recognize people by the fruit they produce. Paul made it clear as to what kind of fruit we are to bear. He said,
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23
The action we are to take is to produce fruit. Be fruitful. I think, as we are filled and led and empowered by the Holy Spirit, He will lead us to one of these fruits that we need to grow in and then we need to choose to be more loving or more patient or more self-controlled. There is choice and action to be taken on our part. With the Spirit’s help we can bear more fruit.
Then, we are to 4, Be Obedient. There are many Christians today who claim it is impossible to live in obedience. They claim you have to sin every day in every way. I think they reach that conclusion because of their definition of sin. If it is a deviation from the perfect will of God – then it is true that we cannot live without sin. And it is also clear that Jesus sinned – because He prayed to the Father, “Not my will, but Yours be done.” I think the Bible clearly teaches that the sin we need to be concerned about is willful, known sin. We know God’s will and choose to reject it. That is sin. And you don’t have to live there. If we do sin – we can repent and be forgiven – but we can and should walk in obedience. Jesus says,
“If you love me, keep my commands.” John 14:15
“Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me.”
John 14:21
“Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” John 14:23
We need to live in ‘radical obedience’. Disobedience ought not be an option to us. It ought to be as distasteful as poison to us – and that is exactly what it is. It will kill us. Obedience is not an option. Do you want eternal salvation? The Bible says, “once made perfect, he (Jesus) became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:9). Do you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit? The Bible says, “We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:32)
Be obedient if you want the blessings of God. Lastly, we are to 5. Be loving. Jesus said,
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35
The Christian ought to be known primarily as a loving person. The Church ought to be known, primarily, as a loving place. Unfortunately, Christians are often know as being critical, carnal and judgmental. By the way we love one another is how people will know we are the real thing. And yet that goes against our very nature. To be what God wants us to be requires we get a new nature. It requires that be filled with the Holy Spirit. That will only happen as we surrender our will to God. That will only happen when we have the attitude Jesus had when He prayed, “Not my will – but YOURS be done.”
In Jesus’ first sermon He talked about our attitudes. With the right attitude – these actions will follow. 1. Believe; 2. Be faithful; 3. Be fruitful; 4. Be obedient; 5. Be loving. May God bless you as you walk in His Spirit.
