"What does the Lord your God require of you, but to
fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the
commandments and statutes of the Lord…"
Oh well, if that is all, this should be a piece of cake. Fortunately, the continuation of the
relationship is not dependent on the faithfulness of the people. Moses reminds them that from the beginning of
this relationship it was all about God's sovereign choice of them, not for any
merits of their own, simply because He chose to love them and establish them as
His covenant people. Their attitude then
towards others was to be to love the sojourner as He loved them as
sojourners. We are to be like Him in
every respect, showing love and mercy and grace to others as we have received
the same from Him.
John was a most gracious man. He could be tough with people, particularly hypocrites
and leaders whom he held to a higher standard, just as God does, but when it
came to his ministry he knew it was a gift.
Whatever success he had was a gift from the Lord and his role was simply
to be faithful to what he had been given.
When Jesus began His ministry, and the people who formerly followed John
were going after Jesus, John didn't react with jealousy. He knew who Jesus was and his job was always
the same, pointing to Jesus. Prior to
Jesus' baptism John was pointing to one who was to come after but once he saw
the dove light on Jesus and remain, he told everyone that this was the one they
should follow. Here, John tells us that
the Baptizer knew a good bit about Jesus, that He had come from above, was sent
from the Father, would be rejected, and that it was ultimately all about faith
in the Son, nothing else.
It certainly is a paradox to urge us to strive to enter
rest. What is the means of striving,
holding fast the confession. That doesn't
mean that we now rest from activity. Paul
wrote in Ephesians 2, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And
this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so
that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for
good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." There are "good works" we are
called to do, works which God prepared for us to walk in. We must never, however, believe that these
save us or add in any way to our salvation.
They are important only as they demonstrate our faithful obedience to
Him in thanks for the grace and mercy we have received. It is first, last and always about grace and
mercy.
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