Inter-Varsity Press

CONTENTS

Suggestions for How to Read This Book

Introduction: The Aim of the Book

A Word to Biblical Scholars - (and those who wonder what they are doing)

Demand #1
You Must Be Born Again
Demand #2
Repent
Demand #3
Come to Me
Demand #4
Believe in Me
Demand #5
Love Me
Demand #6
Listen to Me
Demand #7
Abide in Me
Demand #8
Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me
Demand #9
Love God with All Your Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength
Demand #10
Rejoice and Leap for Joy
Demand #11
Fear Him Who Can Destroy Both Soul and Body in Hell
Demand #12
Worship God in Spirit and Truth
Demand #13
Always Pray and Do Not Lose Heart
Demand #14
Do Not Be Anxious About the Necessities of Daily Life
Demand #15
Do Not Be Anxious About the Threats of Man
Demand #16
Humble Yourself by Making War on Pride
Demand #17
Humble Yourself in Childlikeness, Servanthood, and Brokenhearted Boldness
Demand #18
Do Not Be Angry—Trust God’s Providence
Demand #19
Do Not Be Angry—Embrace Mercy and Forgiveness
Demand #20
Do the Will of My Father Who Is in Heaven—Be Justified by Trusting Jesus
Demand #21
Do the Will of My Father Who Is in Heaven—Be Transformed by Trusting Jesus
Demand #22
Strive to Enter through the Narrow Door, for All of Life Is War
Demand #23
Strive to Enter Through the Narrow Door, for Jesus Fulfills the New Covenant
Demand #24
Strive to Enter through the Narrow Door, for You Are Already in the Kingdom’s Power
Demand #25
Your Righteousness Must Exceed That of the Pharisees, for It Was Hypocritical and Ugly
Demand #26
Your Righteousness Must Exceed That of the Pharisees — Clean the Inside of the Cup
Demand #27
Your Righteousness Must Exceed That of the Pharisees, for Every Healthy Tree Bears Good Fruit
Demand #28
Love Your Enemies—Lead Them to the Truth
Demand #29
Love Your Enemies—Pray for Those Who Abuse You
Demand #30
Love Your Enemies—Do Good to Those Who Hate You, Give to the One Who Asks
Demand #31
Love Your Enemies to Show That You Are Children of God
Demand #32
Love Your Neighbor as Yourself, for This Is the Law and the Prophets
Demand #33
Love Your Neighbor with the Same Commitment You Have to Your Own Well-being
Demand #34
Love Your Neighbor as Yourself and as Jesus Loved Us
Demand #35
Lay Up for Yourselves Treasures in Heaven by Giving Sacrificially and Generously
Demand #36
Lay Up for Yourselves Treasures in Heaven and Increase Your Joy in Jesus
Demand #37
Lay Up for Yourselves Treasures in Heaven — “It Is Your Father’s Good Pleasure to Give You the Kingdom”
Demand #38
Do Not Take an Oath—Cherish the Truth and Speak It Simply
Demand #39
Do Not Take an Oath—Let What You Say Be Simply “Yes” or “No”
Demand #40
What God Has Joined Together Let No Man Separate, for Marriage Mirrors God’s Covenant with Us
Demand #41
What God Has Joined Together Let No Man Separate, for Whoever Divorces and Marries Another Commits Adultery
Demand #42
What God Has Joined Together Let No Man Separate — One Man, One Woman, by Grace, Till Death
Demand #43
Render to Caesar the Things That Are Caesar’s and to God the Things That Are God’s
Demand #44
Render to Caesar the Things That Are Caesar’s as an Act of Rendering to God What Is God’s
Demand #45
Do This in Remembrance of Me, for I Will Build My Church
Demand #46
Do This in Remembrance of Me—Baptize Disciples and Eat the Lord’s Supper
Demand #47
Let Your Light Shine Before Others That They May Glorify Your Father Who Is in Heaven
Demand #48
Let Your Light Shine before Others — the Joyful Sacrifice of Love in Suffering
Demand #49
Make Disciples of All Nations, for All Authority Belongs to Jesus
Demand #50
Make Disciples of All Nations, for the Mission Cannot Fail

Suggestions for how to read this book

Long books seem daunting because we think we should start at the front and read to the back and not skip anything. I don’t expect most people to read this book that way. I hope some will. I did structure the book so that matters at the front may help the reader understand matters further on. And there is a kind of foundation, progression, and climax. But the chapters have enough independence that most of them can be read without the others. It will be obvious when one chapter depends on another.

Therefore, I invite you to step in anywhere. You don’t have to read the Introduction first. I hope that the way Jesus’ commands are interwoven will draw you further in, from one issue to another.

I have tried to keep the chapters relatively short so that in general they can be read at one sitting for those who only have limited time from day to day. This is why some of the chapters deal with the same command from different angles. I thought it better to handle the matter in several chapters rather than in one long one.

Since the focus is on the commands of Jesus in this book, much about his life and death is not here. If you want to see how I have tried to portray these more fully, you can look at two other (shorter!) books where I deal with Jesus and his death: Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ (Crossway Books, 2004) and Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die (Crossway Books, 2006). And, of course, there are important books by others that I will be referring to along the way.

Most of all I hope you will pray as you read. Even if you are not accustomed to praying, ask God to protect you from any mistakes I may have made and to confirm to you what is true. In the end, what matters is the effect that God produces in our lives through his written word by his Spirit. That’s what makes prayer so crucial. In prayer we ask God to transform us in that way.

Finally, may the living Jesus fulfill the purpose of his word as you read: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11).

Extract from ...

Introduction: The aim of the book

The aim of this book is God-glorifying obedience to Jesus. To that end I am seeking to obey Jesus’ last command: “Make disciples of all nations . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20). Jesus’ final command was to teach all his commandments.

The Impossible Final Command

Actually, the final command was more precise than that. He did not say, “Teach them all my commandments.” He said, “Teach them to observe all my commandments.” You can teach a parrot all of Jesus’ commandments. But you cannot teach a parrot to observe them. Parrots will not repent, and worship Jesus, and lay up treasures in heaven, and love their enemies, and go out like sheep in the midst of wolves to herald the kingdom of God.

Teaching people to parrot all that Jesus commanded is easy. Teaching them to observe all that Jesus commanded is impossible. Jesus used that word. When a rich man could not bring himself to let go of his riches and follow him, Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. . . . With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:25-27).

Therefore, the person who sets himself to obey Jesus’ final commission — for example, to teach a rich man to observe the command to “renounce all that he has” (Luke 14:33)—attempts the impossible. But Jesus said it was not impossible. “All things are possible with God.” So the greatest challenge in writing this book has been to discern God’s way of making impossible obedience possible.

Jesus said that this impossible goal happens through teaching. “Make disciples . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” ...