The N Commandments
We are beginning a new series called the “N Commandments”. Back in the fall I spoke about the early church as an ecclesia; in a series entitled “Big Church“. The early church was a movement and it still is today. That’s how and why Christianity is still around. This series is a bit of a continuation of that series.
For the next few weeks, I want us to kind of retreat back in time, and put Paul out of the picture, and some of the stuff we’ve been taught out of the picture, put the Old Testament out of the picture, and just pretend for a few weeks…All we know is Jesus died for my sins, rose from the dead, and gave us some commands.
This is where we are going for the next few weeks with the N Commandments. And you’re probably wondering, so what are the N Commandments?
Jesus gave us the two greatest commands: Love the Lord your God and love one another. But along with those He issued some other commands. He issued some commands that required extraordinary trust. They are so big! And they didn’t even make sense till after the resurrection.
For example: “Fear not.” Yeah, just don’t be afraid any more. Do you realize how many times scripture says don’t be afraid? Yup, 365 times. One for each day. We must be a bunch of scaredy cats.
How about this one: “Doubt not.” Just quit doubting.
Or “Worry not.” Just stop worrying. Who can just do these?
That is what fueled the first century church. They were fearless, they did not doubt, they did not worry, they laid down their lives and it’s historically a mystery, but theologically there’s no mystery at all. Because when you are convinced your Savior rose from the dead, everything changes.
So we’re going to talk about what we’re calling Jesus’ N Commandments. Being fearless. Dealing with doubt. Dealing with worry. Dealing with sin and judgement. When combined with His command to love one another, it changed the world and my hope is it will change our world today.