The Other Six Commandments

I have spent a considerable amount of time recently studying the Sermon on the Mount.

These words of Jesus begin in Matthew chapter 5.

His words have been with us for a very long time.

Centuries ago, theologians extracted from them the “Six Smaller Commandments”.

Personally, I do not care for the word “smaller” but I have kept it here for historical accuracy.

Just what are the six smaller commandments?

Do not respond to violence with violence.

Do not divorce your spouse.

Do not swear oaths.

Do not be angry without cause.

Do not look lustfully at someone.

Love your enemies.

In looking at these individually, I have drawn a few conclusions.

The first seems to be in direct opposition to the “eye for an eye” doctrine found in the Old Testament.

When we feel we have been wronged our initial thoughts often turn to retribution or retaliation.

As for divorce, I will not debate under what circumstances divorce should be granted.

But given the current divorce rate, I will say that it is now far easier for couples to divorce rather than work through their problems.

As for the swearing of oaths, we have even made exceptions to that.

For example, we may be required to swear oaths if we serve in the military or hold government office.

As for getting angry without cause, I would venture that practically everyone who has ever felt angry has also found a way of justifying his anger.

As for not looking at someone lustfully, this is not easily done.

We don’t even have to go out of our way to look for it.

Advertisers have understood for a long time that sex sells.

This is but one example of how we are tempted into disobeying this teaching.

As for loving our enemies, we may find this sixth commandment the most difficult of all.

It flies in the face of the conditioning the world has imposed on us from our youth.

We certainly have a hard time living up to these commandments of Jesus.

Yet we often make the task harder ourselves.

One way we do this is when we ask ourselves what Jesus meant rather than focusing on what he actually said.

Another is when we try do everything on our own.

Philippians 4:19 (NET) - And my God will supply your every need according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, November 3, 2017.

I will be back here on Friday, November 10, 2017

Triage

An interesting word that the English language has adopted is “triage”.

In a crisis where there are a number of wounded and dying, medical professionals will employ triage,

Triage decides each patient’s priority and order of treatment.

The goal is to maximize the number of survivors.

Even the best doctors and nurses can be limited by location, medicine, supplies and so on.

In extreme situations, such as wounds inflicted on the battlefield, a number of wounded may be deemed too far gone to help.

They are eliminated from the process in order to give someone else a better chance at life.

Sometimes we as Christians perform our own sort of triage when it comes to telling others about Jesus.

We might make the mistake of assuming someone is too far gone to help.

Without realizing it, we might be putting the emphasis on our individual limitations.

We sometimes forget that Jesus has no limitations.

I recall one man who got it right when it came to mission work.

His name was Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf.

In 1731, Zinzendorf met a converted slave.

This man desperately wanted someone to go to his homeland in the West Indies.

He wanted someone to preach the gospel to his brothers and sisters.

Zinzendorf raced to his home in Moravia and quickly found two volunteers for this assignment.

Zinzendorf’s community was not large numbering perhaps 600.

Yet his desire for mission work proved contagious.

In less than 20 years’ time, some 70 missionaries from this Moravian community were involved in missions around the world.

They found themselves in places like Greenland, Lapland, Georgia, Surinam, Africa's Guinea Coast, South Africa, Amsterdam's Jewish quarter, Algeria, the native North Americans, Ceylon, Romania, and Constantinople.

They succeeded where others failed.

They told others about Jesus.

Zinzendorf’s concept was a simple one but that is what made it so successful.

"According to him: “Missions, after all, is simply this: Every heart with Christ is a missionary, every heart without Christ is a mission field."

This simple truth remains unchanged today.

Every man, woman and child who knows Christ is a missionary.

Everyone who does not is a mission field.

Our mission field may be found in another part of the globe.

It can just as easily be found in our own communities.

Triage can sometimes be necessary in the world of medicine.

It is completely unnecessary in the spiritual world.

John 6:37 (NET) - Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never send away.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, October 20, 2017.

I will be back here on Friday, October 27, 2017