Jesus: His Commands (1 of 14)

"Jesus is Lord," places him in the position of authority. As with any leader or authority there are commands and teachings that Jesus left for those of his kingdom to follow and obey. I will do my best over these posts to be fair to highlight every command, as I have counted 69 distinct commands this will be divided over a long series of posts. It is my honest hope that this contains everything commanded by Jesus as recorded in the canonical gospels, and is my best attempt to explain how I feel in this stage of life, about the meaning and relevancy of these to my decision to live as a follower of 'The Way.'

Repent — Matthew 4:17 — Followers of Christ will are to have the humility to admit that the way of life they have been living is broken and come to Jesus, as traitors to that old life. Although this is the central tenet of Jesus preaching, it is not a singular event instead God will convict over and over throughout our life to where we as individuals are living traitorous to the spirit of the divine kingdom. It is God's spirit that leads us to repentance. (2 Cor 7:10)

Follow Me — Matthew 4:18-20, John 1:43, John12:26 — On the very heels of repentance is a command that calls us to embrace submission. Each time we are convicted by brokenness present in our lives, we must follow Jesus ways in his means to live differently. Our teacher is ever asking us to more and more follow his path which is a path of selfless sacrifice and intentional emptiness.

Rejoice — Matthew 5:1-12 — Living counter to the pervading culture of self interests and personal fulfillment will result in being ostracized and branded a fool. It is into this reality that Jesus commands those who are called to the join in the emptiness of poverty, mourning, meekness, hungering, mercy, simplicity, and peacemaking to find joy that their efforts have value in the realm of God.

Let Your Light Shine — Matthew 5:13-16 — Salt and Light, or preserve and illuminate, is the very core of the Jesus lifestyle. The ministry of Jesus lives out this message and we are commanded to be modeled by it. Like Jesus we preserve the world by loving mercy, practicing justice, and living out humility before God. Like Jesus we work as the illuminating incarnation of God present in the world by participation in resurrection. We take the broken abandoned places of the world's kingdom and fill them with new life and God's light.

Continue Reading Part 2 of 14