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by Gregg A. Parker2005 Luke
17 7
But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say
unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to
meat? 8 And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup,
and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward
thou shalt eat and drink? 9 Doth he thank that servant because he did the
things that were commanded him? I trow not. 10 So likewise ye, when ye
shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable
servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. We
all have duties, and we either fulfill them or we don’t. We
can’t change them; they are set by our God…..our Master. However
Satan, along with our own desires tempts us regularly to want to change
or shirk our duties in exchange for an “easier way”. Ecclesiastes
12:13 13
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his
commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The society that we
live in, particularly the last 25 years or so, has seen a steady and sharp
decline in concern for duty and accountability and has exchanged it for
an approach that says “what do I want?”, “what’s in it for me?”, “it’s
not my fault”, and one of
political correctness. These attributes have
unfortunately invaded the Church as well…..to different degrees in different
congregations, but to some degree in most…..including our own. I’d like to take a
look together this morning at some of our most basic duties as God
prescribes them…..compare them to how many would prefer to interpret them…..
and then judge for ourselves what we are doing with them individually. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the beginning…… Gen 2:7 And the
LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Gen 2:18-23 And the
LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make
him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every
beast of the field and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam
to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living
creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle,
and to the fowl of the air and to every beast of the field; but for Adam
there was not found an help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep
sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and
closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had
taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam
said This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be
called Woman, because she was taken out of Gen 1:28 And God blessed them,
and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,
and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Role
# 1 - Fear
God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. ----Man’s
idea-This is “my life”, I can do what I please or Worship
at the church of your choice….as long as you’re sincere Or Be
a good person; follow your conscience Role
#2 – Have domain over all other living things ---Man’s
Idea- We are equal to other living creatures. It is wrong to kill, eat
or treat any other creature any differently than we would another human.
The world is ours to co-exist in with our fellow creatures. Role
#3 – Family Roles Ephesians
5: 22-33, Ephesians 6: 1-4 Wives,
submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the
husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church:
and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore
as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own
husbands in every thing. Husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself
for it; That he
might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he
might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle,
or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought
men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. For no
man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even
as the Lord the church: For we
are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this
cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto
his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is
a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless
let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and
the wife see that she reverence her husband. Children,
obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour
thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it
may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye
fathers provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord. ---Man’s
ideas- (Wives) – I am “equal” to my husband Take
the “obey” out of the wedding vows Hyphenate
my last name “I
don’t think so”, to idea of submitting to husband (Husbands)
– I am the “master” of my home, you will obey me. You
(wife) are the master of our home; I’m not up to it. You
(wife) teach the kids to love/respect God, that’s your job. Obey
me like the Bible says, and when I feel like it, I will concern
myself with your needs. (Kids)-I
don’t care what my parent’s say. I’m gonna do what I want. My
parents are stupid and so out of touch. I
don’t have time for this God stuff; I’ll worry about that later. (Parents) -It’s
normal for kids to be rebellious, don’t worry about it. They’ll
come around. Deuteronomy
21:18-21 18
If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice
of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened
him, will not hearken unto them: 19
Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out
unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; 20
And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn
and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. 21
And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die: so
shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Role
# 4 – Christian’s role in our Worship I Tim 3:14-15,
I Cor II: 29 14
These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: 15
But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave
thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the
pillar and ground F4
of the truth. 29
For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment
to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. ---Man’s
Idea- I can talk, laugh, play, sleep, pass notes and anything else I want
during Worship,
as long as I’m here. Isn’t
it enough that I eat a piece of the cracker and drink some grape-juice? I
don’t like to sing. Let
the kids be kids. John
4:23 But the
hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father
in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24God
is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in
truth. Role
# 5 – How we deal with our brethren John 13:
34-35, Romans 12:10, I John 4:20 34
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have
loved you, that ye also love one another. 35
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one
to another. 10
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring
one another 20
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he
that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom
he hath not seen? ---Man’s
Idea- I take people a meal sometimes when their sick, or I sent a card
to a brother
who lost their parent, or I had them over for dinner a few years ago or
I speak to most brethren….. I
don’t really like him/her….. He/she
did me wrong one time…. Aren’t we thankful
that our Lord doesn’t love us, like we love each other sometimes?!? Role
# 6 – The example we set in our daily lives Ephesians
5: 7-11 7
Be not ye therefore partakers with them. 8
For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk
as children of light: 9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness
and righteousness and truth;) 10 Proving what is acceptable
unto the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful
works of darkness, but rather reprove them. We’re
taught to walk in pray to our God, study His word, and walk in the Light
among our fellow man….DAILY!!! ---
Man’s idea/desire seems to be “I can be a Christian on the inside but blend
in with
the world on the outside”. More
and more “Christians” walk, talk, dress and act like the rest of the world,
than ever before. It has not always been so. We used to be, and still should
be a people that are separate and distinct from the rest of the world. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark
8 34
And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he
said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and
take up his cross, and follow me. 38
Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous
and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when
he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. II
Peter 2 21
For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness,
than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered
unto them. A
person need not turn to apostasy to fall into this condemnation. We need
only to drift away from the true duties/roles that our God had given us
to fulfill, in order to fall into the snare of Satan. Titus
2: 12-14 12
Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and
purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. We
sing, “What will you do with Jesus?” What
will you do with your duties…..what will you do with your role……? Husbands,
wives, children, brethren, Christians…are we fulfilling our roles according
to “God’s” standards. Ecclesiastes
12:13 13
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his
commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. Let us
draw closer to our God, and let us draw closer to one another….let us do
our duty!
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