The most important commandment
Which commandment comes first?
Mat 22:36-40 Master, which is the great commandment in the Law? Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.
Jesus said there were two great commandments that encapsulated all the other commandments. The first demands our love for God and the second our love for our neighbor.
This must mean that we go that extra mile for our neighbor but not where that mile transgresses the commandment which comes first.
Loyalty to God must have first priority.
My wife and I sometimes go to church for some fellowship but we have to stop singing when the words of a song or chorus are not right and contradict God’s word. Once we actually walked out when the words of the worship chorus were,
“ Lamb of God, seated on the throne
We worship you, we worship you alone.”
Now, tell me, which book of the Bible could that fit into? It is blasphemy.
Rev 5:13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
What should we do? – offend the folk around us by refusing to sing or offend God by dethroning the Almighty Father.
This morning I was watching the God Channel and within a few minutes the preacher referred to “God in the flesh” several times. Jesus never claimed to be God but if we believe that he is almighty God then we get into very deep water. Problems like – how could God die when he is immortal.
1 Tim 6:16 Who only hath immortality [but Jesus did die], dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see [Jesus was seen by many]: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
The Greek word for immortality means ‘un-dying or can’t die’ and of course Jesus did die and has been seen.
If Jesus is God then – How did the universe survive when he was dead or do we have more than one God?
If Jesus had a different will to God and could feel abandoned by God and could commit his spirit to God then there must either be more than one God or a case of schizophrenia.
But Jesus didn’t come of his own accord – he was sent. It was God who loved the world so much that he gave his son. Just as Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac.
John 7:28-29 Then Jesus cried in the temple as he taught, saying, You both know me, and you know from where I come. And I have not come of myself, but He who sent me is true, whom you do not know. But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He has sent me.
He came to do his Father’s will and not his own.
John 6:38 For I came down from Heaven, not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me.
It is plainly shown in the scriptures that Jesus is the son of God but not that he is God. I know it says that people worshipped him but that Greek word means
to do obeisance and not what we understand in modern usage.
to do obeisance and not what we understand in modern usage.
Matt 20:20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s children came to Him with her sons, worshiping
[proskuneō pros-koo-neh’-o(meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand); to fawn or crouch to, that is, (literally or figuratively) prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore): – worship. and desiring a certain thing from him.]
Did Jesus tell a story about a servant who owed a fortune and was unable to pay, worshipping the one he was in debt to. The Pharisees would have gone mad at that if they understood the word worship to mean what it has now come to mean.
Matt 18:25-26 But as he had nothing to pay, his lord commanded that he, and his wife and children, and all that he had, be sold, and payment be made. Then the servant fell down and worshiped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me and I will pay you all. – other versions translate it differently when it doesn’t apply to Jesus, a theological choice, not a translation but an interpretation.
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But for many, confessing what the scripture plainly shows is avoided because it would mean going against the accepted dogmas of their church neighbors which would sow discord – but loving your neighbor is not the first commandment.
Remember what you pray, “Our Father – hallowed be thy name”. You ask him for things in Jesus name – the Father owns everything and Jesus says that when we ask the Father for things, we can use his name on our requests.
Neither in the heavenly royal court or any earthly royal court, can you bow to the Prince and ignore the Monarch.
The above article was taken from Web of Tradition
