Duty Calls!
Acts 23:1; Ecclesiastes 12:13; 2 Corinthians 5:14
September 22, 2002
Intro:
A. [Count Nicholaus von Zinzendorf]
Nicholaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf was born into one of Europe’s leading families in the year 1700, and he grew up in an atmosphere of prayer, Bible-reading, and hymn-singing.
He excelled in school, and seemed to posses all the qualities for national leadership.
After finishing his university studies at Wittenberg, Germany, Zinzendorf embarked on a grand tour of Europe, attending lectures and visiting museums, palaces, and universities.
It was while visiting the art museum at Dusseldorf that the young count had a deeply moving experience that stayed with him the rest of his life.
Seeing Domenico Feti’s Ecce Homo (“Behold the Man”), a portrait of the thorn-crowned Jesus, and reading the inscription below it—“I Did This For Thee! What Hast Thou Done For Me?”
Zinzendorf said to himself, “I have loved Him for a long time, but I have never actually done anything for Him.
From now on, I will do whatever He leads me to do.”
B. When you look at the cross, can you say that you are doing and living the way God intends for you to live?
1. Are you living the way you know you should or are you hoping that you’ve still got time to change?
2. Have you made peace with those you need to make peace with?
3. Have you told that loved one how much they mean to you?
4. Can you honestly say that you are fulfilling your duty God?
C. In the first verse of Acts 23, we see that the apostle Paul could honestly say that he was.
I. Fulfilled Duty
Acts 23:1 (NIV), Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, "My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day."
A. …fulfilled…duty…
1. Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and told them that he had fulfilled his duty to God.
2. In the face of death, Paul told the Sanhedrin that he had done what God had called him to do.
B. …good conscience…
1. Paul also told the Sanhedrin that he had done this with a good conscience.
2. Of course this doesn’t mean that Paul had never done anything wrong and he is not saying that his conscience is his final judge.
3. But he was saying that he could honestly say that he had lived his life to the best of his ability.
4. It is possible that he may have sinned against God, but he had lived as sincerely as he possibly could.
5. He may have sinned, but he had made his peace with God.
C. …to this day.
1. Paul is saying, “Up to this day, I’ve fulfilled my duty to God.”
2. “Up to this day, I’ve live with a good conscience.”
3. But I want us to think for a moment about just what is our duty…
II. Whole Duty
Ecclesiastes 12:13 (NIV), 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.
Ecclesiastes 12 (NIV), Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, "I find no pleasure in them"-- 2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain; 3 when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim; 4 when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades; when men rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint; 5 when men are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags himself along and desire no longer is stirred. Then man goes to his eternal home and mourners go about the streets. 6 Remember him--before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well, 7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. 8 "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Everything is meaningless!" 9 Not only was the Teacher wise, but also he imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. 10 The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true. 11 The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails--given by one Shepherd. 12 Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. 13 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. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.
A. Remember your Creator…
1. What Solomon means here is that we should remember God.
2. We should revere God.
3. We should remember and revere God enough to keep His commandments.
4. We should remember and revere God enough to serve Him responsibly.
5. We should remember and revere God enough to live for Him.
6. God created us and we therefore owe our lives to Him.
7. Remember your creator…
B. In the days of your youth…
1. Solomon is clearly not saying that we should remember God in our youth and forget Him when we are old.
2. Yes, Solomon is warning us that we should remember God and start living for Him while we are still young.
4. But, Solomon is warning us that we should remember God and start living for Him before we get too old and it becomes increasingly difficult to change our lives.
5. Solomon is warning us that we should remember God and start living for Him while we still have time.
6. Solomon is warning us that we should remember God and start living for Him before it is too late.
7. Then Solomon spends the rest of the first seven verses to give a poetic description of old age…
a. In the rest of verse 1, Solomon says that we should remember our Creator before the days of trouble come and we say that our joy of living is gone.
b. In verse two, he speaks of the sunshine of life being replaced by cloud after cloud after cloud of despair.
c. In verse three…
1) “when the keepers of the house tremble”—probably refers to the shaking of the head and the arms and hands that often come with old age.
2) “and the strong men stoop”—probably refers to the great pillars of the legs and back that once held the house up stately often begin to stoop.
3) “when the grinders cease because they are few”—probably refers to the loss of teeth.
4) “and those looking through the windows grow dim”—probably refers the decreasing of eyesight.
d. In verse four…
1) “when the doors to the street are closed”—could refer to the ears not allowing sound in or the lips closing in on the mouth because of the lack of teeth.
2) “when men rise up at the sound of birds”—probably refers to the inability to sleep longer than the crack-of-dawn.
3) “but all their songs grow faint”—could mean the songs of the birds going faint because the hearing is failing or it could mean their own songs growing faint because the voice just isn’t as strong as it used to be.
e. In verse five…
1) “when men are afraid of heights”—most older people begin to fear heights more than before.
2) “and of dangers in the streets”—because of the slowness of reactions and the lack of strength many things become frightening that weren’t before.
3) “when the almond tree blossoms”—since almond blossoms are white, this refers to the graying or silvering of the hair.
4) “and the grasshopper drags himself along”—refers to the crippling that often comes with old age.
5) “and desire is no longer stirred”—could refer to any desire or appetite; we know that the desire to eat is diminished because of the lack of an appetite; but the Hebrew language literally translated actually says “when the Caper Berry fails” while the Caper berry was a common aphrodisiac.
f. Then verses 6 & 7 are clearly referring to the finality of death.
8. So what Solomon is telling us is that we should remember God and start living for Him before it is too late.
9. And now we come down to verses 8-10 where Solomon says there is no end to learning and books.
10. Here is the wisest man who ever lived saying that wisdom and learning are limited.
11. He made it clear that His teaching was the Word of God and that we shouldn’t add other things to the Word of God, but he also made it clear that making books and studying wearies the body.
12. So why are we here? What is life all about?
C. The conclusion of the matter…
1. In verse thirteen he says that now that we have heard it all, here is the conclusion that is reached about life from the wisest man who ever lived: “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”
3. Solomon said the WHOLE duty of man is to fear God and keep His commandments.
4. The apostle Paul said that he had fulfilled his duty to God with a good conscience.
5. Paul said that in the face of death, he could stand with a clear conscience before God and say that he had fulfilled his duty.
6. Of course, our conscience isn’t our final judge, God is.
7. But can we stand even before the judgment of our own conscience?
8. Are we serving God wholeheartedly with a good conscience?
9. Are we serving our brothers and sisters in Christ with a good conscience?
10. Can we stand up and say that we have been faithful to God in good conscience?
a. Can we say that we are faithfully worshipping Him?
b. Can we say that we are faithfully serving Him?
11. Do we fear God and keep his commandments with a good conscience?
12. We all know that our time is limited!
13. We all know that we shouldn’t wait until we are old to get serious about our relationship with God.
14. We all know that the silver cord of our life can be cut short at any moment!
15. But Satan so easily convinces us that we have plenty of time to get right with God, doesn’t he?
16. If we are saved, we have a compelling motivation to get ourselves right with God and start living the way we should…
III. Compelled Duty
2 Corinthians 5:14 (NIV), For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
A. Paul told us what motivated him.
1. Paul said that it was Christ’s love that compelled him.
2. Paul said his motivation to serve God was Christ’s great love for him.
3. Paul said his motivation to serve God was that Christ died for him.
4. Paul said his motivation to serve others was His death for them.
5. Paul said Christ’s love motivated him to serve God and others.
6. Paul said it was Christ’s love that COMPELLED him to do what he did.
7. What Paul is saying is that when we come to the cross of Calvary and see the very dying form of One who died for us, we too die and yet we live again with the sole purpose of living our lives in such a way as to say thanks for the blood that was shed for us!
B. That is clearly our motivation as well!
1. We should be compelled by the love of Christ!
2. Our motivation to serve God should be Christ’s great love for us!
1. Our motivation to serve God should be that Christ died for us!
2. Our motivation to serve others should be that Christ died for them!
3. We should be COMPELLED to perform our duty to God because of Calvary!
C. The literal translation of Solomon’s the “whole duty of man” is actually “this is the whole man.”
1. This should be us!
2. Fearing God and keeping His commandments is the whole of man!
Conclusion:
A. So the question for us is whether we can say that God and His commandments is all there is of us.
1. The question for us is whether we can say that we are fulfilling our whole duty before God in good conscience.
2. The question for us is whether we’re going to do anything about it.
3. The question for us is whether we’re going to allow Satan to convince us that we’ve still got time to get serious about our relationship with God.
C. [John Newton]
In evil long I took delight
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight
And stopped my wild career.
I saw One hanging on a tree,
In agonies and blood,
Who fixed his languid eyes on me,
As near his cross I stood.
D. [No Answer]
A man in Dundee, Sctoland, was confined to bed for forty years, having broken his neck in a fall at age fifteen.
But his spirit remained unbroken, and his cheer and courage so inspired people that he enjoyed a constant stream of guests.
One day a visitor asked him, “Doesn’t Satan ever tempt you to doubt God?”
“Oh, yes,” replied the man.
“He does try to tempt me. I lie here and see my old schoolmates driving along in their carriages and Satan whispers, ‘If God is so good, why does He keep you here all these years? Why did he permit your neck to be broken?’”
“What do you do when Satan whispers those things?” asked the guest.
“Ah,” replied the invalid, “I take him to Calvary, show him Christ, and point to those deep wounds, and say, ‘You see, he does love me’. And Satan has no answer to that. He flees every time.”
E. [Stand at the Foot of the Cross]
Charles Spurgeon once said, “Stand at the foot of the cross, and count the purple droops by which you have been cleansed: See the thorn-crown; mark His scourged shoulders, still gushing with encrimsoned rills…And if you do not lie prostrate on the ground before that cross, you have never seen it.”
F. [Frances Havergal]
Frances Ridley Havergal, the British musician and devotional writer, left us such classic hymns as Like a River Glorious, Who is on the Lord’s Side?, I Am Trusting Thee, Lord Jesus, and Take My Life and Let It Be.
One day in January, 1858, while visiting the art museum in Dusseldorf, Germany, she sat down wearily opposite Domenico Feti’s picture of Christ under which was this caption: “I Did This For Thee! What Hast Thou Done For Me?”
Deeply moved, Frances scribbled some lines that flashed into her mind, writing in pencil on a scrap of paper.
Reading them over, they did not satisfy her so she tossed them into the fire, but they fell out untouched.
Some months later she showed them to her father who encouraged her to preserve them.
Being a musician himself, he even wrote a melody to accompany them.
The resulting hymn, “I Gave My Life For Thee” was first published in 1860, and launched Frances Ridley Havergal as a serious composer of hymns:
I gave My life for thee,
My precious blood I shed,
That thou might’st ransomed be,
And quickened from the dead.
I gave, I gave my life for thee;
What hast thou given for Me?
