Don’t Neglect the Lesser-Known Commands of God

I spend most of my time on this blog focusing on the main points of passages. I’ve said we should fight for them and move our study groups toward them. I’ve even promised to follow this practice on point #2 of this welcome page. But in the interest of balance and completeness, I must take some time this day to highlight some of the lesser-known commands of God.

These commands are no less inspired than the biggies. Of course we should love God and love our neighbor; nobody denies this. But that’s not all God wants us to do! The problem with most churches today is that we’ve lost our commitment to God’s word, and we run afoul of God’s explicit will for our lives. And not only do we practice such things, but we also give hearty approval to those who flout these plain imperatives with a high hand. I’m speaking of all those supposed “Christians,” “pastors,” and “disciples” who ignore the clear and plain sense of commands such as:

• “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Drink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more'” (Jer 25:27).
• “Thus says the Lord God: ‘Set on the pot, set it on'” (Ezek 24:3).
• “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom” (Hos 1:2).
• “Come to Bethel, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression” (Amos 4:4).
• “You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so” (1 Kings 22:22).

I mean, who really does these things? I wish I could join a truly faithful church, but I have yet to find one. And we can’t simply claim ignorance of the prophets, either. Jesus was just as clear:

• “Leave the dead to bury their own dead” (Luke 9:60).
• “Why were you looking for me?” (Luke 2:49).
• “Go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up” (Matt 17:27).
• “Take nothing for your journey” (Luke 9:3).

The Bible is full of imperatives that couldn’t be any clearer. I’d love to hear what other commands have impacted you over the years, so we can encourage one another to greater faithfulness.

And may this first day of April inspire a new season of fruitful Bible study for those among the chosen remnant. “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah” (Rom 9:29).