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Point of Reference
by Fred Price
A brand New Year with new opportunities and responsibilities is about to unfold. I hope you will look at this New Year as if it were a blank piece of paper, ready to record your responses to the possibilities for success in 2024. But don’t fill it with New Years’ resolutions and promises you won’t or can’t keep; rather pray over it like Gideon prayed over his fleece ( Judges 6:36-42), seeking the Lord’s direct involvement in developing your goals and priorities for the upcoming year. It can and will be as interesting, exciting, and productive as you allow God to bless it to be and you work to make it so.
One sure way to help set priorities and develop attitudes for success is in practicing the 11th commandment. What am I talking about? Exodus 20:3-17 lists the first 10:1. No other gods 2. No idols 3. No misuse of God’s name 4. Remember the Sabbath 5. Honor father and mother 6. Don’t murder 7. Don’t commit adultery 8. Don’t steal 9. Don’t give false testimony 10. Don’t covet. Jesus then amended the original 10 with, “A new commandment… Love one another.” John 13:34 That sounds simple enough doesn’t it? But in reality, truly loving others can be rather difficult. Some people aren’t very lovable, while at times we just don’t feel very loving.
In truth, the 11th commandment is a restating and amplification of the original 10. What God expressed through the Ten Commandments as a first step, he said again in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ with an exclamation; the idea of actions generated by love rather than duty! When the 11th commandment is lived out it becomes the reality of an abstract idea – Love me – Love one another. The Ten Commandments make sense with their practicality for the Christian and non-Christian alike; but they are often hard to keep, especially without an overriding emotion or sense of authority to make us do or not do as a lifestyle rather than a good idea. What we must realize is that the Law restrains and promotes; genuinely impacting our lives when what it teaches becomes an attitude, an approach to life where we do and don’t do not because we must but because we want to. Jesus noted what should be the single-most important motivator in our lives – the love of God – which would in turn lead us to obedience as an expression of that love, including loving our fellowman as we follow God’s example in involving ourselves in the lives of others ( 1 John 4:19); the identifying characteristic of the Christian to the world. Jesus insisting that, “By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35 The process starting with, “Love the Lord your God… (which) is the first and greatest commandment. And …Love your neighbor as yourself. (As) All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40 In fact, “There is no command greater than these.” Mark 12:31
John defines love this way, “...this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands.” 2John 6 The problem is that sometimes it’s easier to see and hear the call of the Law than the needs of people the Law intends to direct us to. What’s the difference in doing because we should and doing because we want to? Enthusiasm – Eagerness – Genuine concern! People are flesh and blood, not abstract ideas and must be responded to as such. Think of it this way: Love is the beginning and end of God’s expectation of us; defined in his commands. ( 1 John 2:7,8) The Law is meant to point us to love, showing us the purpose and the benefits of the Law. ( 1 John 3:10,11) The observable, ritualistic practice of the Law was meant to develop a recognition of the need for the practice of the spiritual aspects of the Law ( 1 John 3:14-18), as if the ritual observance was the sowing of the seed of God’s Law and spiritual obedience the observable fruit. ( 1 John 4:7-12) John further defines God as love ( 1 John 4:16); James calling love the “royal law” ( James 2:8); Paul describing it as the “entire law” ( Galatians 5:14); Jesus directing us to love as he did ( John 13:35) – not till it’s inconvenient but even, if necessary, to our deaths. The expectation being “...I have set you an example... Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” ( John 13:15 & 17)
In fact, John declares that “...anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen... whoever loves God must love his brother.” ( 1 John 4:20) The Law of Do’s and Don’ts and the principles they teach establish a framework from which to build our house of love; giving us some practical examples of attitudes and actions everyone would appreciate – epitomized in the Golden Rule, “Do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the prophets.” Matthew 7:12
Jesus had a way of taking a simple command that had become unrecognizable through the interpretation and expectations of others, restating it in a manner that elevated it to it’s ultimate purpose. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy! But I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you… ( Matthew 5:43-44) “…do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit it that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners’, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great,...” ( Luke 6:27-35)
God did not devise a set of rules and then create man to live by them but rather created man and then blessed him with a world-view that would allow him to live generously and peaceably with all those about him as well as with his God. (The principle point behind the teaching of Mark 2:23-28) Paul succinctly putting it this way, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails .” ( 1 Corinthians 13:4-8)
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Fred Price - married (50 years), father of two grown children, grandfather of six.
Fred retired earlier this year after 42 years as a factory worker. He has always had a heart for young people and the challenges they face today. Over the years Fred has taught Discipleship Groups for High School and college students.
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