THE WHOLE DUTY OF MAN
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. (KJV)
14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 - 14
Preamble
A couple of years back, the entire country Nigeria, was thrown in a confused state. Everyone was practically running away from one another. People could not shake hands or hug for fear of catching a deadly disease. The entire country and even Africa was thrown into a seriously fearful state. Anywhere you visited, you were told to wash your hands. Even medical personnel were scared, and Nigerians started heeding to the advice of maintaining hygienic lifestyle all because of the fear of a deadly disease called “Ebola”.
In Nigeria, the disease first berthed in Lagos State when a Liberian, Patrick Sawyer infected the medical doctor and nurse who attended to him, leading to the death of both. Everyone became more hygienic inclined. In fact, at some point, people were advised to desist from eating bush meat, the suspected conduit for the disease.
Handwashing became a culture, and health workers became more painstaking in the use of protective kits and procedures as measures to stop the spread of the disease.
Awareness Campaign Organizations suddenly sprung up to sensitize the general public on Ebola virus. Some states, particularly Ministries of Health suddenly started advising the people of their states to adhere to high standard of personal and environmental hygiene at all times, surveillance were activated by some states in a bid to mapping out strategies to check the spread of the virus. Precautionary measures were put in place to handle cases to prevent outbreak. It is important to note that churches also joined in the campaign too by issuing out notices of warning to their congregations, urging them to control their movements and be careful in how they relate with one another.
We can go on and on in a bid to give us a picture of what I’ll say is “The fear of Ebola, is the beginning of Wisdom”. Every church woke up to the responsibilities of educating their congregation on purity and cleanliness so as not to become a victim of the deadly virus (ordinary virus, I add).
Let us take a quick look at this. Ebola is simply a virus people fear most. But when you tell them “fear God”, they look at you like someone speaking Spanish to them. Why should I fear God? Is God real? Can God even kill? And you hear quite a lot of things which will pierce your hearts like a sword pierces a paper through.
They do not fear God but they fear Ebola, they fear evil, they fear death. People want to enjoy their life at the expense of their soul wasting in hell fire.
Introduction
Let me start by saying that “the very essence for the creation of man is to have an intimacy with his creator. Fellowship is the key factor to fulfilling purpose in life.” Regardless of any profession, career, job, or skills you practice or engage in, the ultimate is that your service must be heavenly focused.
In Genesis, God created man so that he can come in the cool of the day to fellowship with man. Then the unexpected happened. Adam fell and was cast out of God’s presence. He no longer dwelt with man as was the original plan. He only comes occasionally to those that decide to draw themselves to him.
Hence, the struggles, the challenges, problems, difficulties all came into play. Man began to do things their own way, sin penetrated into their hearts, evil plans and thoughts took grip of their hearts and mind. They no longer fear God who created them. They do what pleases them and displeases God.
Revelation 4:11 says “Thou art worthy O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created”.
Every man was created to give God pleasure and once your life is not giving God pleasure, definitely it is displeasing him. When a life displeases God, such is bound for destruction.
Our central scripture is found in Ecclesiastes 12:13, it says:
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: FEAR GOD and KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS, for this is the WHOLE DUTY OF MAN”.
King Solomon wrote this statement as inspired by God. According to 2 Timothy 3:16, “all scriptures is given by the inspiration of God…”
He was the wisest being that ever lived because God gave him divine wisdom. After so many wise sayings, preaching, counsels and proverbs, he concluded by saying, ‘after all is said and done, this is the end of the matter, this is the total summation, the very conclusion, the total package, the final judgment, the peak of all discussion, the main thrust of our discussion, the big picture, the final word,’ summed into two: i. Fear God; and ii. Keep His Commandment
Why? King Solomon said, “For this is the entire, the whole, essence duty of man”. This is the best counsel you can receive from anyone, especially the wisest man on earth. Imagine a specialist in a particular field of endeavor giving you counsel concerning a matter, will you not pay heed?
A doctor whom everyone throughout the world respects because of his skills tells you, “Don’t take sugar because if you do, it will affect you, possibly cause your death.” Do you go ahead to eat sugar? How much more a person whom God has divinely given the gift of wisdom.
So, when the wisest king that ever lived gave a counsel that, “Mr, Sit down, listen to me, your very essence for living, the purpose for your existence is to do just two things: to fear God and to keep His Commandments.” That is something one needs to take very seriously.
Likewise Moses, a man whom God used mightily and spoke with face to face. God himself handed over to him the tablet of commandments, and used him to perform great exploits. However, at the beginning of their partnership, God instructed Moses to fear him.
Deuteronomy 6: 1 - 2, specifically verse 2, says, “That thou mightiest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statues and His commandments, which I command thee, thou and thy son and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life: and that thy days may be prolonged”.
In several places of the scriptures, you see the phrase, “Fear God”.
It is a very serious matter that needs to be looked into greatly. Maybe we should go over it again.
Two things are involved here. First, “Fear God” and second, “Keep His Commandments”. Why? It is the whole, complete, overall, expected, totality and responsibility of man.
May I ask you? What is your duty? What is your responsibility as a man? What is the totality and overall responsibility of man? Did I hear you say “Fear God” and “Keep His Commandments”?
In the Amplified Version, Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 says,
13“ All has been heard; the end of the matter is: FEAR GOD [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is] and KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS, for this is the whole of man [the full, original purpose of his creation, the object of God’s providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment of all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun] and the whole [duty] for every man.
14 For God shall bring every work into judgement, with every secret thing, whether it is good or evil. (Matthew 12:36, Acts 17:30 & 31; Romans 2:16; 1Corinthians 4:5)
Let’s hear New American Standard Version:
13 “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: Fear God and keep His Commandments, because this applies to every person.
14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”
There are quite a lot we can deduce from the above scriptures. However, one thing that should be clear to us is the fact that what makes us perfect, righteous, qualified and approved can be summed in the fear of God and keeping His Commandments.
Keeping his commandments is obeying His instructions: simple obedience to simple instructions given.
Deuteronomy 6:25 reveals this: “And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our RIGHTEOUSNESS”.
The truth of the matter is that God will bring to judgment every work, action, thought, and deed. So, it is crucial to always have the fear of God in our hearts before embarking on any evil plans or falling into any temptation.
The reason why people fall into temptation so easily and often is because the fear of God is not yet rooted in their hearts. They believe God does not see them and he cannot do anything to them. He is slow to anger. Everyone is doing it and possibly escaping “God’s wrath” but the fact remains that God will put to judgment all works.
I see evil been perpetrated every now and then; young girls and guys having illicit affairs; corruption in every strata of life. I came across a recorded audio of a girl that was interviewed on-air by a radio station that sleeps with the father and yet, was unremorseful about it. She talked so boldly and was happy about it. She actually lured the father to be sleeping with her and she was so engrossed with the fact. She said she envied her mother. The present generation no longer has the fear of God again as the time of old.
I remember while I was in school during my Higher National Diploma about eight years ago, I visited a lady friend whom I had once lusted after. I was a Sunday School teacher, a fellowship executive and to crown it all, I used to preach against fornication, adultery, sexual sins in general early in the morning before lectures commenced.
But on this fateful day, I went to her house, and we started gisting. Not long after, I presumed both of us had lusted after each other and before we could say Jack Robinson, we were on top of the bed romancing one another and kissing. That was when I knew I was in for it. In my subconscious, I played along although I stayed like a log of wood but still, I enjoyed the moment. My heart started racing with quite a lot of things within that period. I thought to myself, “see me, they call me pastor and I’m about to commit fornication which I preach against, how will I stand before the people and preach against it now?” I thought about my position in the fellowship. I thought about HIV/AIDS. Hmm! That was when HIV/AIDS was daily in the news. “How do I know this lady is not HIV positive? It’s not written on the forehead,” I thought to myself. But when I remembered my covenant with God, I immediately jumped up, gathered myself together, and practically ran home.
I got home and could not stop thinking about the whole incidence. Two voices were speaking into my head. The first said, “God saved you oooo”, while the other said “what an opportunity you wasted. You got served on a platter of gold what so many had desired and longed for, and rejected it.” To stop thinking about that fateful event, I left to see a male friend who stayed two buildings away from my place. I figured talking about school things would distract me from the conflicting voices in my head. I got to his place, met him and not long afterwards, I slept off. The guy allowed me to sleep, but by the time I woke up, I had already bed wetted so much that the urine was everywhere. I asked myself “why this disgrace?” And I heard God tell me, “this is just a warning”.
In fact, the original plan was to publicly disgrace me as I was to attend a Wednesday vigil at the RCF Student fellowship. I would have bed wetted and be exposed to public ridicule on campus and in my class. The shame would have been unbearable for years after. When I heard this from God, I simply turned the “Why God?” prayer into “Thank you Lord” for not publicly disgracing or dealing with me that way. And of course, I told my friend that God was dealing with me and thank God, he kept it to himself and I never heard of the shameful incident afterwards.
Thereafter, I stayed away from the lady for several months. I went late for lectures in order to sit at the back in a bid to avoid her. It became obvious that something was wrong as people who knew us both as friends suddenly wondered why the distance was just there. After several months, I stumbled into a close relation of hers and she said, “Our runaway friend”. That word hit me like, “Oh Oh, runaway friend. I think it’s better to run away than fall victim”. That made me to tighten up my seat belt.
The total summary is that ‘Don’t fear things that do not matter much, fear God’. Hebrews 12:24 says, “For our God is a consuming fire”. He is merciful and yet can consume anyone that stands in his way. Do not keep displeasing God. Rather, start allowing your life to give God pleasure. He chastises him that he loves. Be willing to accept his chastisement and start fearing him. Love righteousness and hate iniquity. This will help in fulfilling the law.
As earlier posited, according to Deuteronomy 6:25, “And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our RIGHTEOUSNESS”.
When you obey God’s commandment and instructions, this will be your righteousness. Someone defined righteousness as “Total Obedience to God”. Not partial. It is non-negotiable: complete obedience is required from all.
