Family Responsibilities I hasten to add that this does not imply that we must abandon our normal responsibilities toward earthly relatives. Have you noticed how Jesus, as one of his last acts, made provision for the care of Mary? If it were otherwise, scoundrels would attach themselves to the family of God so as to relieve themselves of earthly burdens. Therefore Jesus was most careful to make this point by his own example. Becoming a child of God does nothing whatsoever to relieve us of any purely earthly burden. It only adds to our responsibilities, which is one cause of its hardness. In this way Jesus manifested his continued obedience to the Fifth Commandment, Honor your father and mother that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you. (Exod. 19:12) The reason given for this commandment tells us the purpose of the commandment, which is to insure that elderly persons are cared for. I honor my parents by caring for them in their old age. My children follow this example, therefore my days will be long on the earth. But now, having heard the Gospel of the Kingdom, we do this not on the basis of the Fifth Commandment, but on the basis of the Second Commandment of Jesus, to love your neighbor as yourself. The motive, that your days may be long . . . is no longer valid in the light of Jesus’ Great Principle. Jesus did not change the Fifth Commandment to remove father, or to provide a diffrent promise consistent with his practice of not changing anything from the Old, but by replacing it wholly with his Word. All that have the Fifth Commandment but who, for whatever reason have never heard Jesus and his Gospel of the Kingdom, continue to be good servants of God by keeping the Fifth Commandment as it was delivered to Moses. But hearing the Gospel of the Kingdom as delivered by Jesus changes everything! We will understand this more fully when we understand this Word: Lk.16:16 The law and the prophets [are] until John, from then the kingdom of God is proclaimed and all forcibly enter it. 17 But it is easier that heaven and the earth pass away than for one cross-of-a-t to fall from the law. Please notice in particular verse 17. Why? The kingdom has come if Jesus was correct and was therefore not a false prophet. Why don’t the churchmen, those preachers of the gospel know it? Why are they yet leading their congregations every Lord’s day in the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, asking for the coming of the kingdom? There is a chain of at least five clear reasons.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 14:47:50 +0000
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