Religious Journey

This is a Preview of the Book Entitled

More Commandments:

A Bible Study Guide to Biblical Commandments Other Than the Ten Commandments

By Edwin Ray Frazier, 2016

ISBN 978-0-9978937-1-7

The Thirteen Session Titles Are:

1: The Love Commandments

2: Love Your Enemies

3: Go to Your Brother

4: Be Strong

5: Go . . . Make Disciples

6: Let Your Light Shine

7: Speak Truthfully; Speak Graciously

8: Do Not Worry

9: Abide in Me

10: Be Righteous Discreetly

11: Do Not Judge

12: Follow Me

13: Be Holy

Introduction

This Bible study guide is about biblical commandments other than the familiar Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. Some very subjective selection was necessary to identify which commandments we will discuss herein. On the one hand there are dozens if not hundreds of biblical statements that are strictly speaking, commands. On the other hand there are a limited number of commands with obviously central importance to the overall message of the Bible.

Most of these sessions are about one commandment each and they sometimes mention a few other related commands. The first session is about the large group of commands that have to do with love. If time and space permitted, in most sessions we could benefit by discussing several other related passages.

We take these as divine commands, not casual suggestions to be obeyed or ignored as we may prefer.

We believe God has our best interests at heart so his commandments are for our good rather than to make him feel good. The need for commandments is ours, not his.

We know that heat burns, speed kills, and drugs make fools of people, so we do our best to impress these facts of life on those we love. We do so for their good rather than to make us feel good. The need is theirs, not ours. That's the same dynamic that is at work in God's commandments to us.

A great many words, phrases, and thoughts herein are not original, but come from an abundance of sources.

All printed scriptures are from the NIV translation except as noted otherwise.

13     Be Holy

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;for it is written: Be holy, because I am holy.  (1Pe 1:14–16)

In This Session

A     Holy = Separated

B     Do Not Conform

C     Evil Desires

D     He is Holy

E     He Called You

F     In Everything You Do

G     Divisive Personalities and Those Who Create Obstacles

H     The Immoral, Greedy, Idolater, Slanderer, Drunkard, and the Swindler

I       Unbelievers

J      Deceivers

Closely related to the concept of holiness are several Bible texts that command us to avoid certain people. A prime example is avoid such men as these (2Ti 3:5 NASB). The Bible has so much to say about love, forgiveness, patience, kindness, mercy, etc., that we could get the idea that there's nobody that we should ever really avoid. First we will look directly at the command to be holy (sections A–F). Then we' consider four of these closely related texts, reflecting on who to avoid, how, and why (sections G–J).

A      Holy = Separated

Separated, or different, is one of the more prominent shades of meaning as we define holy. To just hit the nail on the head right at the beginning, we have to decide whether we want to be holy. It's a high and challenging standard. So much in religion turns on whether we get serious about being holy.

Leo The Lip Durocher, baseball player and manager, wrote his autobiography in 1975 and called it Nice Guys Finish Last. Here's how he put his choice about being holy: How you play the game is for college boys. When you're playing for money, winning is the only thing that matters. Show me a good loser in professional sports, and I'll show you an idiot. Show me a sportsman, and I'll show you a player I'm; looking to trade to another team.

We have to make a choice about being holy. It's a timeless and unavoidable question. Let's add our vote to Peter's vote: be holy, in everything you do. In baseball and in every other aspect of our lives, being holy means being different, separated from every unChristlike norm.

Holy is a majestic Bible word and concept. We have to simplify and summarize,because holiness is a huge Bible subject. A Bible dictionary may have 5 times as much material on holiness as it has on heaven. That's how big and pervasive this topic is in the Bible.

But there's really nothing deep, dark, and mysterious about it. In a nutshell, it means Christlike, godly, like God: different, other than, separated, high and lifted up, faithful, devoted, and a dozen other synonyms.

To Ponder and Discuss: What percentage of your acquaintances think like Leo Durocher about a good loser?

B     Do not Conform

We're all tempted to have a mind of our own. That's a natural, human trap. Another trap is our deep need to fit in, to belong, to be a part of whatever everybody else is a part of, good, bad, or indifferent. Actually, that's not a need. It's a temptation. Cowardly spirits think to find security in fitting in. But when security is our aim, most often we fail to achieve it. When we aim for godly character, we find security. We must conquer our fear of offending. Christlike people go out of our way not to offend anyone needlessly, but when our choice is between conforming or offending, do not conform. God has not called us to homogenize the good and the bad so that anything and everything is blended into an acceptable mix. Every act of conforming undermines our transforming and the renewing of our minds. (Rom 12:2)

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money (Ecc 5:10), and he who loves to conform is never satisfied to conform. In a nutshell, God intends for us to stand out! It's normal for us to be called by rude and insulting terms. That just goes with the territory. Be a hammer; don't be an anvil. At times we may find ourselves immersed in the rubbish of an unholy world, but its filth is not like a permanent marker; we need not conform to unholiness.

When we stand before the King in eternity, some of us are going to hear him say, now, remind me. Just who are you? I don't believe I know you. The Lord's list of names has some surprises, according to Matthew 7. Our list of acceptability is about earthly values. His list is about being transformed in his image, refusing to conform to the world's images, embracing the role of salt and light in a rotten and dark world.

The Living Translation says don't slip back into your old ways. We feed the holiness that we want to empower and we starve the old ways that we want to kill. Be the salt that flavors and preserves; be the light that shows the way. No improvement in our circumstances can ever repair a defect in our holiness. Be different; be holy.

To Ponder and Discuss: On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being weakest and 10 being strongest, how strong is your need to fit in?

C     Evil Desires

King James calls this our former lusts. It's our animal urges.

In the Bible (not in Hollywood, but in the Bible), lust is anything that we want, or crave: chocolate, the latest fashion, sex, the most outrageous ride in the parking lot, Solomon's billions – whatever the animal instinct in you demands. When we encounter these impulses we must recognize their destructiveness, their carcinogenic properties.

It might seem nice to have K and W put the cakes and pies and apple cobblers first in the line. Then the biscuits, toast, rolls and butter. Then things like gravy and dressings. If they have room at the end of the line they might put a meat or two and a couple of salads. That sounds good. But those are harmful lusts. Giving in to them displaces more godly and healthy desires.

To Ponder and Discuss: Is there any way to overcome our evil desires without displacing them with godly desires?

D     He is Holy

God is a holy God. This was a shocking thought when Peter wrote it. The gods of the Greeks and the Romans were not holy. They could get mad at you and carry a grudge forever. They might chain you to a rock for all eternity, or you might grow older and more decrepit year after year but never be allowed to die. Their gods could be tricked, and they were not beyond tricking one another, and also deceiving human beings. It takes a considerable mental effort for us to sit in the chair of most anyone in Peter's generation when they read what he wrote about a God who was strange to them: holy. It was a new thought.

Not only were their gods deceptive, they were thought to be unknowable, impossibly mysterious. Plato wrote that even if a person could find God, it would be impossible to express him in terms that everybody could understand. That's why John said in both his gospel and his letter that no one has ever seen God, but Jesus has made him known. In Jesus we see God. For our purposes this morning, Jesus is our picture of holiness.

Further, they believed that their gods were totally uninterested in the welfare of human beings. They just didn't care! So the gospel of a God who is love was quite a shock. It was hard to take it in. Love for others, however, is a cornerstone of holiness, both God's holiness and ours. This is why we worship God rather than trying to pacify him, appease him, or pay him off in some way. He's holy.

To Ponder and Discuss: How can we fully appreciate just how shocking the idea of a holy and loving God was to the New Testament Mediterranean world?

E     He Called You

This holy God calls us to be like him. Imitate may seem to be too familiar a word; it may seem to be even irreverent. But that's what we are called to do: to imitate our God, to become more and more like him with each passing day.

So in contrast to our wants, our animal urges, we also have this call of God. Which will we answer: animal urges, or God's call?

The Roman world was dominated by animal urges. No city in America or anywhere else today is any more immoral or wildly sinful, sexually and otherwise, than Corinth, Rome, and other places where Paul planted churches. Peter was writing to people who did not grow up in the Bible belt. He wasn't writing to encourage them to maintain the faith of their fathers. He was writing to make them aware of God's call for them to come out from a shameless and decadent pattern of living by their wants, their desires, and their animal urges.

This is God's call to us, and it's not a negotiation. We are to take to ourselves nothing less than God's holiness, and we are to nurture it resolutely.

To Ponder and Discuss: Do we suppose that modern city people somehow have invented worse sins, or more sins than were normal in Corinth and Rome?

F    In Everything You Do

King James says in all manner of conversation. King James' generation used the word conversation like we use the word conduct. Peter meant it the way the Living Translation puts it: be holy in everything you do. This holiness reinforces every Christian virtue.

Behold Christians' never–ending audacity to be holy in an unholy world.

Now let's think carefully, and seriously. . . When we are subjected to injustice, isn't it okay to be unholy then? When someone is rude and insulting toward us, does God really expect us to come up with a holy response? Let's get real now; aren't there times when God will kinda/sorta look the other way while we are unholy for just a little while? Well, as we have heard it said, if you have to ask, then you can't understand the answer.

It's not a good thing that at times we can detect among professing Christians the idea that a little spice of wickedness is fun and acceptable. Why be a prude? Well, again, if you have to ask . . . When we think of holiness, think continual, unconditional.

When we are tempted, recall that Jesus was tempted in every respect like as we are, yet without sin (Heb 4:15). Yes, when we are tempted, be holy as he was holy. In everything: taking a test, riding the bus, playing the game. In everything: paying our taxes, driving, answering a telemarketer. Everything: waiting in line, planning vacation, giving our tithes and offerings. Part time holiness is not holiness.

There are times when we dress up and times when we wear our grungies, but God calls us to be holy everywhere and all the time. When we welcome that call into our lives at every point, then every point of unholiness begins to collapse.

To Ponder and Discuss: What can Hebrews 4:15 mean that Jesus was tempted in every way that we are tempted, but he didn't have the education lottery or cocaine?

Now we turn from Peter's admonition to be holy, to several texts that suggest that we must avoid certain people in order to be holy.

G      Divisive Personalities and Those Who Create Obstacles

Watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. (Rom 16:17)

These are some of Paul's concluding thoughts as he nears the end of his letter to the Romans. He seems to have some understanding of happenings in the Roman church, because in verse 19 he mentions that many people have heard of theirobedience. Some Bible students see in Paul's words an awareness that a problem could be in the making in Rome. It was kindling, but it had not yet flared up. Some disruptive folks were stumbling blocks.

Other translations tell us to keep an eye on them, turn away from them, avoid them.

To Ponder and Discuss: How can we win people to better ways of interacting with us if we are avoiding them?

H     The Immoral, Greedy, Idolater, Slanderer, Drunkard, and the Swindler

You must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. (1Co 5:11)

In verses 9–13 Paul recognizes that the only way we can have nothing at all to do with immoral people is to leave this world. He explains that what he means is, don't let those folks continue as fully accepted members of the fellowship. Expel the wicked person from among you (1Co 5:13). Apparently Paul had written a previous letter encouraging them to withdraw from immoral people, and some had taken it to apply to all people, both in and out of the church. But remember, this is Corinth: a metropolitan world city with fantastic varieties of immorality. Many cultures came into contact there. He mentions specifically six kinds of spiritual impurity, but his obvious concern is for a pure holiness, unadulterated by anything foul or false. We cannot afford spiritually to condone these foul traits and continue to hold, with any degree of integrity, that we are a fellowship of Christ–followers.

In reading about churches a century ago and earlier, we read about more church discipline than we see today. No doubt those who practiced church discipline often quoted the verses before us in this study session, about who to avoid, or who to have nothing to do with. Whether we would like to see a return to disciplinary practices in the church, these verses do call our attention to the danger of associating with some people.

To Ponder and Discuss: If it were up to you altogether, how would you want your church to obey this verse?

I      Unbelievers

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 17 Therefore, Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. (2Co 6:14, 17)

The imagery is from the cultivation of the land. We may think of a plow being pulled by two oxen or horses. Some of us today may have seen two horses, each with a heavy collar. Two chains or traces were attached to each horse collar and to each end of a single tree: a strong wooden bar about 34 inches long, behind the animal. The single tree had a third attaching ring in the center. Two single tree center rings were attached to the ends of a double tree, about 48 inches long. A center ring in the double tree pulled the plow. Obviously, the two animals had to pull together. If one was crippled, or in a hurry, or walking crookedly, then the two were unequally yoked and the plowing was difficult if not impossible.

Corinth had any number of possibilities for Christians to be unequally yoked in pulling the Lord's plow so to speak. Think of a committee chair whose idea is that she makes the decisions, and committee members whose idea is that the chair should lead the committee to make decisions. That is a familiar kind of unequal yoking in most every church in America.

To interpret Paul, it's probably best for us to understand him to be laying down a general principle. It certainly needs to be applied to specific situations in our lives today.

The passage does not mention marriage, but it can be applied legitimately to marriage: to the unequal yoking of a believerand an unbeliever. Paul was not one to hide his meaning, and if marriage were a stronger concern here than other matters, he would have said so. Since he did not specify any particular kind of relationship, it's safe for us to think about separating ourselves from unequal yoking in business relationships, community activities, marriage, and especially church involvements (1Co 5).

As we take into account both this passage and the previous one from 1 Corinthians 5, we realize that do not be yoked together with unbelievers is, in this life at least, an unreachable ideal. We must work with unbelievers, cheer with them at the ball game, and purchase groceries from them. Still and yet, in order to be holy we need to be continually conscious of the dangers.

To Ponder and Discuss: Imagine that I'm a ten year old. Explain this text to me.

J      Deceivers

7 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist .. . . 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them.11 Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work. (2 Jo 1:7, 10-11)

John identifies these as deceivers of one particular kind: they denied the incarnation. They did not believe that the Word became flesh, that God became a man and dwelt among us. John says that this claim identifies a person as the antichrist. The early church knew several different kinds of deceivers. The success and rapid growth of the gospel attracted self–anointed teachers who easily assumed that they should become leaders in the church right away.

In many places there were what we may call inns in those days for travelers. Several translations say that there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the inn (Luk 2:7). Often however, travelers would stay in homes, especially if there were a family or church connection. Showing hospitality to travelers was a godly thing to do. So deceivers usually had no difficulty in finding gracious hosts. Once in the door they peddled their deceit.

Therefore John counseled his readers to close their doors. Find out first whether a traveling teacher teaches that Jesus was God in the flesh. If he teaches something else, don't welcome him. Don't give him lodging, and don't give him a teaching spot in church.

To Ponder and Discuss: What thoughts related to 2 John 1 do we suppose Paul had in writing to Timothy that a deacon should not be a recent convert (1Ti 3:6)?

What is Worth Knowing?

Education is an admirable thing.
but it is well to remember from time to time
that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

We want to learn something that is worth knowing. Our chosen method is a blend of presentation and reflection: presentation of biblical truth in print and introduced by a facilitator, and reflection in individual study and group interaction. Thereby we prompt one another and take advantage of the insights of more than one person.

Someone has noted that a highly educated scientist speaking about a non–scientific subject is about as dumb as the next person. Similarly, a religious person speaking about another person's religious experience may be like a scientist talking about something that he doesn't understand. Therefore we interact not as experts, but as learners together of those truths worth knowing.

Christianity is a relational religion: our beliefs must shape the way we interact with one another. Group discussion in Bible study is one of the best scenarios for developing Christlike graces. Let us encourage one another with the following guidelines.

Present questions or comments concisely in the awareness that others have valuable insights to offer too. When you talk, stop when you finish. Fewer words can say more. We don't have to talk a lot to say a lot.

If you typically don't say anything, look for a time to say something. We won't jump down your throat.

If you typically talk more than half the others in the group, talk a lot less.

If you have wiser thoughts than others, use your wisdom to draw insights out of others. Ben Franklin was much loved and admired on both sides of the Atlantic, in part because of his humility in conversation.

Let's create a safe atmosphere in which each feels invited but not forced to share thoughts, and feels comfortable expressing a new or unpopular idea.

A choir director says, I want one sound. Each voice complements others; no one stands out. So we discipline our questions and comments. We want the strength and harmony of a large percentage of individuals participating rather than having standouts, either in the choir or in the discussion group.

For example, we may learn the facts about grace and still be ungracious. As we interact in group discussion, we learn to be gracious.

Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire. ²

Therefore, let us seek to light one another's faith fire.

 

1 Oscar Wilde, Gurteen, http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/nothing-can-be-taught., 3-11-2014
2 William Butler Yeats

More Commandments

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