The Great Commandment
“Fear ye not me?”
-Daniel Valles  12/26/03

 What does it mean to love God?
Does God care how we love Him?
Can a Christian be politically-correct?
What does God desire for His children?
Do we hinder other Christians?

Why does a church have a revival?  Why are services held year after year exhorting people to be revived into what a Christian should normally be?  Is it not to awake the soul and spirit to the realization that our time on earth is a devotion of love and service to a holy and just God?  Many Christians recognize that He is such, but their lives and actions are not lived in light of that fact.  Psalms 97:10 tells us that those who “love the LORD, hate evil.”  Too many Christians today say they love the LORD, but their concept of love is not what the Bible's is.  Most people think that loving God is giving Him preference and warm fuzzy feelings.  The Biblical idea of love is an action, enjoying what God enjoys and abhorring what He calls an abomination.  Churches recognize the need for revival but do not know what true revival is.  Matthew 22:37-38 tells us what our relationship and love to God is.  “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.”  Have Christians forgotten what our first and greatest commandment uttered from the lips of Jesus Christ Himself were?  He does not want our ideological and emotive devotion, He deserves and demands the noble aspirations of molding our life and desire to match His - because they are solely worthy of that devotion!  When Deuteronomy 11:1 commands us to love the LORD our God, it goes on to describe that the love we give to God is an action in keeping his “charge”, “statutes”, “judgments”, and “commandments” - “alway”!  There is not to be a cessation of total obedience to His decrees!   

This attitude and relationship with God is not impossible.  It seems remote and unpractical; but God provided an example, in His letters to us, that this type of love is not only desirable, but that it places one in the center of God's attention.  In three different instances (Job 1:1,8,2:3), God described Job as one that feared God and eschewed evil.  God even recommended and described Job as a perfect and upright man!  Perfect and upright did not mean that he was without sin.  On the contrary, he showed that his attitude toward sin and how it affected his conversation and life was pleasing to God.  He was so careful in his regarding what God enjoys or abhors, that he even offered a sacrifice for his children just in case they sinned.  I Peter 3:11 describes this attitude when it says “let him eschew evil, and do good”.  Romans 12:9 also commands us to “abhor that which is evil cleave to that which is good.”  Psalms 97:10, Amos 5:15, Deuteronomy 11:13 also repeat that to love God involves hating evil.  Joshua 23:11 recalls where Joshua urged the people that they must “take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.” 

It takes a conscious effort to maintain a relationship that is considered by God, to be love.  Malachi 3:16 tells us that “they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that though upon his name.”  How does sinful flesh take heed - to love God by hating sin?  As Malachi tells us, it involves fearing God and communicating and maintaining fellowship with those that also fear God as He prescribes.  When you find individuals that fear God, their conversation is not filled with base humor and lack of depth; but is instead filled with the depth that a relationship with God can bring.  Their fellowship is refreshing, uplifting, and God-blessed.  God said that He will even write a book of remembrance for those that fear Him - just like Job.  One could almost liken it to (in our vernacular) that God will keep a picture of you in His wallet.  God himself tops that ragged picture when He describes how precious those that fear Him are.  In Malachi 3:17, He whispers, “and they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.”  In Malachi 3:17, God makes the distinction between whom He considered righteous, and those He considers wicked.  The difference is that one “serveth God” Malachi 3:18. 

Sometimes the fellowship and dialog between believers contains words of correction or rebuke.  It is extremely important that the manner in which rebuke is carried out is one of Godly love.  When an individual who fears God, sees a root of sin sprouting or taking root in another individual who fears God, then the rebuke should be taken as a sincere and genuine desire to see the optimum fellowship between that person and Christ.  In I Peter 1:12, the Apostle's desire for the church was shown when he said, “I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.  Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance.”  Even those that fear the Lord need constant reminders of what God desires and enjoys.  We also need reminders of what God abhors, hates, and detests.  These negatives inflame one's desire to draw closer to God.  Sometimes when we are on the receiving end of rebuke, our sinful flesh rears its corrupted head with pride at the suggestion that it could be harboring sin.  If we are to have a proper view of sin, our desire and prayer to God should be that He enables us to recognize sin and how it is detestable to God.  If our attitude toward sin is what it should be and our heart is tender; then when we are rebuked, our response to heartfelt rebuke will be similar to the Corinthians.  While the correction is not pleasant, it generates a great response.  Paul described the process that, “ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge!  In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”  A clearing of the conscious is something that money, success, or power cannot bring.  Sometimes a gentle rebuke is necessary to stir up, as the Apostle said, the indignation, fear, zeal, vehement desire, and revenge toward sin!  This is supposed to be the Christian's normal response to sin!  This is why churches have revival! 

 A Christian's response and attitude toward sin should line up with what God outlines in the Bible!  But today they don't!  Many people wonder why I get all hyped up about what is going on in the world.  To me, it's simple.  Christians are not called to cuddle up to sin or coddle it and call it entertainment!  Why is it strange if I strive to have a proper fear of God and a hatred of sin, when that is what the Bible commands me to do?  Psalms 119:139 says, “My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.”  Christians are supposed to be upset if people are forgetting what God calls them to be and live by.  Christians are supposed the be the light of the world, showing forth the corruption of the world, and the salvation from it.  We are called to be the salt of the earth, holding back corruption, cleansing out the infections of sin, and preserving what is right.  Unfortunately, speaking out about sin in the world, family, church, or government is broadly labeled as “politically incorrect”.  It is not “proper” to speak out against abortion, homosexuality, murder, fornication, adultery, etc. even though the Bible commands us to!  Every time God sent a prophet to Israel, they spoke out against Israel's sin!  That is the only way one will make it right.  When Paul sent the letter to the Corinthians, the content it covered would not be considered “proper” for discussion today.  It named names, named the sin, and outlined what course of action to take if that said individual did not heed God's warning.  Numerous times the Apostles named people and what they did.  Several times John and Paul mentioned people that did them wrong, had gone astray, etc. 

 When individuals imply that it is wrong to name names, ministries, criticize government officials or leaders, point out errors in popular literature, etc., they must do so ignoring what the Bible sets forth in commandment, principle, and example.  In II Samuel 12:7, Nathan rebuke the king of his country, David, for sin and murder.  In Matthew 14:3 and Mark 6:18, John the Baptist rebukes the king of the land, Herod for the sin he was committing in his private life of having his brother's wife.  This is the prophet that Jesus himself said in Matthew 11:11 that there was no greater prophet!  God, himself, told Jonah in Jonah 1:2 to “cry against” the city of Ninevah for their wickedness.  Elijah rebuked king Ahab and Jezebel for their idolatry, and their murder in slaying Naboth. 

God's attitude toward sin has not changed; we have forgotten.  In Psalm 119:139, David groans, “my zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.”  It should disturb us if people forget God's standards!  It should stir up vengeance and zeal if people do not speak up against sin!  There is nothing wrong with living out the great commandment! - to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind!  What about it being politically incorrect to name names, keeping the alarms ringing, and keeping the issues on the front burner?  “Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.  I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;  and forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor?”  Isaiah 51:7.  Do you know that God mocks and makes fun of those that would oppress the “people in whose heart is my law”?  If you try to silence one who stands up for Christ and what He commands, God laughs at you.  If you are one whose desire and zeal is to serve God with all of your heart, God has just one thing to say about being politically correct - “who are thou, that shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die.” 

For all of those ministries and Christian institutions that are tax-exempt, God describes them in this verse.  They are more afraid of saying something that would be “politically incorrect” instead of “God-correct”.   Losing tax-exempt status suddenly takes a higher priority than the great commandment - loving God.  Proverbs 29:25 warns, “the fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.”  God says, in the Isaiah verse, that they forget the LORD.  Sure, they may know who God is, but they have not overcome to where they know God.  The choice is clear, the credible opposition none, and the ultimate goal - to love God - is within grasp.  Why is the greatest commandment so great?  “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22:40.  If we neglect to heed the greatest commandment, then all other aspects of our Christian life and relationship to God suffer.   Yes, we are still Christians; but we are Christians that need reviving.  We can start to compromise and fear man more than He who created mankind and all Creation.  “Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: Fear ye not me?  Saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree...?”  Jeremiah 5:20.    

“Fear ye not me?”  “Will ye not tremble at my presence...”  Those are perhaps the two greatest questions that can be asked of a Christian today.  Do you fear God more than man?  Do you eschew, abhor, and hate evil?  Are you sensitive to what God desires in your life?  Are you humble enough to take rebuke as a means to further your walk with God?  Do you have a vengeance, revenge, and zeal to please God no matter what?  “Will ye not tremble at my presence...”   “Fear ye not me?”

Ephesians 2:1-3 says, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others…”  We, naturally, are sinners.  We do not become sinners because we sin – we sin because we are sinners.  We are born that way.  The verses are talking about our flesh.  Our flesh naturally wants to sin, naturally wants to disobey and rebel against God.  Not until a Christian, saved by Christ’s blood alone, gets to Heaven will they be free from the sinful body and get a new, glorified body. 

Our flesh, by default is sinful.  That is why we can never work our way to Heaven.  Only by accepting Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross – taking our punishment for sin – can we be justified and declared righteous.  I Peter 3:18 declares, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”  When we accept Christ into our life, to do for us what we could never do, He imputes on us His righteousness.  In God’s eyes, we are then worthy of entrance to Heaven. 

Until we get there, however, we live for Christ in a body of sinful flesh.  As before, that flesh is corrupt.  Ephesians 4: 22 says, “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”  God, in His Word to us, tells us that we can put off the ‘old’ man – the flesh and it’s desires, and put on a ‘new’ man – desires that please God.  How do we do this?  His Word declares that we can love God by hating evil; but it is so hard to give up the lusts and desires of the flesh right?  Yes – by ourselves.  We can be zealous, we can be pumped, we can light the fire of indignation – but- by ourselves, we can burn out.  In and of ourselves, we need help to do what is right.  After all, we are sinful flesh.  But we are not without help! 

Ephesians 3:16-19 says, “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in loved, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.”!!!  Verse 20 goes on to say that this is done “according to the power that worketh in us”!!    In and of ourselves, we can hate evil and desire the will of God, but when we allow the Spirit within us to help us eschew and abhor the sin, (not only in the world, but in our own life) then, God says, we can experience the love of God beyond what our feeble little minds can comprehend!  God gave us the Spirit when we were saved; when we accepted Him as Lord and Saviour, He gave us the Spirit to empower us to live the way we ought.  The verses mention that the only way we can even comprehend God’s love in our life is if the Spirit is helping us!  The love of God passeth knowledge because it is not an academic notion that God loves us;, it is an experience, where we know God loves us!  We experience the full breadth, length, depth, and height of God’s love!  All of this is enabled through the Spirit of Christ.  His earthly body ascended into Heaven, but His Spirit came and dwelt with those who accepted what He did for them on the cross.  Galatians 4:6  says, “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”

“But, wait a minute”, you say, “what does this have to do with hating evil?”  Well, obviously hating evil – within and without – is a choice.  Just as we were saved by our choice to accept Him, we now also have the choice to follow Him and what He desires.  You do things for your spouse or friends solely because you love them; well, the idea is similar.  Christ has done so much for us, that we should desire to follow Him.  Not only that, but when we follow Him, that’s when the full experience of God’s love towards us can become evident.  If we are to truly live a life that loves God, we must not start with looking at the world and its evils.  We have to start with our own flesh.  The world goes on sometimes outside our sphere of influence or cognizance.  Our flesh, however, lives with us 24/7 always tempting us to do or think apart from the way Christ would have us live and think.  Our flesh will not stop tempting us, this side of eternity.  But whether we listen to it, or not, is our choice. 

Galatians 6:8 says, “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”  Galations 5:16-18 explains, “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.  But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.”  Galatians 5:24-25 states, “they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”  God has given us His Spirit to empower us to do His Will – if we let Him.  The 6:8 passage shows us that if we feed our sinful desires, we will (of course) reap more sin; but if we feed the desires of the Holy Spirit, that will reap “life everlasting”.  That is what brings us into a closer relationship with Christ!   Instead of living a ho-hum life waiting to get to Heaven, God wants to start having a personal, one-on-one relationship with you now!  But, of course, the flesh does not want the Spirit there, so they are battling constantly for your attention.  If you sincerely want Christ to be evident and real in your life (Gal. 5:22-23) instead of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21), you have to decide that you want the Holy Spirit to take charge in your life, not the flesh.  Every day and hour as you battle against the flesh, ask God for His help to replace those sinful and fleshly desires with what He would want.  Read the Bible and feed your desire to do what is right. 

Pray to God, “Lord, I want to serve you with all of my being, not just in my words, dear Lord, and I desire to follow you and not my flesh.  Let me give free reign to the Spirit to guide me in the paths that I should go - and to give me the desires of your heart.  Speak to me through your Holy Word and Spirit.  Close my ears to my flesh, and lift my eyes to what you want me to do.  Help me and give me grace to be willing to serve and follow what you want.  Your Word promises that you will help me do what is right, and that you will give grace for the asking.  Dear Lord, I am asking for grace to do what I cannot do by myself, and I am asking you that you help me give you full reign in my actions and thoughts.  Dear Lord, let me know if I am holding back the Spirit in any way, show me sin in my life that would hinder what you would want, and stir in me in anger at sin in my life, and help me to remove it.  In your Son’s Holy name, Christ Jesus, I thank you.  Amen.”