“Love me,
worship me; adore me; exalt me; thank me; pray to me, eat the Lord’s
supper in
remembrance of me; totally depend on me and think on me every second of
the day
for dying for your sins.”
“But
please
stop following me as your everyday example in Christian living …
trying
to be like me … I was the
Jewish Son of
man preaching
the
works in Sermon on the Mount.”
“Furthermore,
please
follow Paul … he’s the Christian not me … do
what he says
… he has his gospel of the kingdom of God … I only came to set up the
kingdom
of heaven for Israel as the Son of man!”
“You will
be following me if you follow and obey Paul.”
The
average
response from a Christian is “Duh? Wha’? Huh? Der? Waz’ Zat? ‘Scuse me?
I’m not
to follow Jesus? That don’t make sense!”
Now, not
reading their Bible, Christians are to be reminded again and again,
that we are to
follow Jesus but NOT DIRECTLY … he was a Jew.
Paul shows
us how as Christians to follow Christ with Paul as the ensample with “Be
ye followers
of me, even as I also am of Christ.”
(1 Corinthians 11:1)
Why?
Because Christ was Jew who obeyed and fulfilled Jewish laws and customs.
Put it
this
way … Paul sieves out the Jewish ‘bits’ and the kingdom of heaven
doctrine in
the Sermon on the Mount, while substituting God’s sound doctrine for
Christians.
Indeed,
Paul
says that he has the commandments of God for Christians as
follows …
“If any
man
think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the
things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.”
(1 Corinthians 14:37).
Note:
Paul’s
commandments are contained in his 13 Books of the New Testament written
to
churches and Christians.
Paul goes
on with …
“Circumcision
is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the
commandments of God.”
(1 Corinthians 7:19) … that is
… Paul’s commandments.
Note: Paul’s
commandments as contained in his 13 Books of the New Testament.
and again …
He adds
the
further reminder with “For ye know
what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.”
(1 Thessalonians 4:2)
Note: Paul’s
commandments as contained in his 13 NT books
In
addition,
the Ten Commandments have also been ‘rewritten’ in Paul’s books
with a different
emphasis of language as befitting a kind parent entreating
his son
or daughter … rather than a stern “Thou shalt not …” for those under
the curse
of the Law.
Last but
not least, dozens and dozens of Paul’s Christian commandments from the
Lord, have
been added in his books.
Jesus
outlines
the following reasons for Christians not to follow him:
1.
“When
on
earth, I was a Jew” … not a Christian (Hebrews 7:14)
2.
“The
reason I came to earth was to save Israel from their sins” …
which does not
apply to Christians (Matthew
1:21)
3. “I
endorsed
synagogue worship for Jews” … not Christians (Mark
14:49)
4. “I
went
to
the temple on Saturdays … the Sabbath” … Christians
worship on
the first day of the week in remembrance of Christ rising on the 8th
day being Sunday (Matthew 12:8)
5. “I
abstained from eating pork” … which does not apply to
Christians (Matthew
5:17)
6. “I
did
not eat unclean animals” … which does not apply to
Christians (Matthew
5:17)
7. “I
did not
eat blood” … which does not apply to Christians
(Matthew
5:17)
8. “I
approved
of blood animal sacrifice for the remission of sin” … which
does not
apply to Christians … as we have redemption from sins (Romans
3:25;
Colossians 1:14)
9. “I
fulfilled the Ten Commandments” … which does not apply
to
Christians. As mentioned Paul ‘restates’ them for Christians (Matthew
5:17)
10.
“I had ‘long’
hair under the Law” … which does not apply to Christians, as it’s
a shame
for a man to have long hair (Leviticus
19:27; 1 Corinthians 11:14)
11.
“I
came
to set up my kingdom of heaven here on earth” … Paul has his
gospel
of the kingdom of God (Matthew chapters 5-7)
12.
“If
people would have believeth in me when I was on earth, they
would go to Abraham’s
bosom upon death” … which does not apply to Christians,
as we
enter directly into heaven upon death (John 3:16; Luke 16:22)
13.
“I
came
to earth to show Israel, that I was approved of by God
with
signs, wonders and miracles” … which does not apply to
Christians (Acts
2:22)
14.
“I came
to set up the kingdom of
heaven dispensation which has now been
finished
for about 2,000 years” … which does not apply to Christians
(Matthew
chapters 5-7)
…
and the
list goes on.
Dear
Reader, which Christian in their right mind directly follows the Jesus
the Jew?
None.
Put
it this
way, now as Christians spiritually baptised into the death of Jesus,
it’s as if
the Lord Jesus Christ drags us along as ‘dead weights’ (check
out
1 Corinthians 11:28-31,32)
… and occasionally
… we might co-operate … as Paul the Schizophrenic
eloquently puts
it in several verses …
“14
For we
know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For
that
which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I
hate, that
do I. 16 If then I do
that which I would not, I consent unto the law
that it is
good. 17 Now then it is
no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me.
18 For I know that in me
(THAT
IS, IN MY FLESH,)
dwelleth
no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that
which is
good I find not. 19 For
the good that I would I do not: but the
evil
which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would
not, it
is no
more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a
law, that,
when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight
in the
law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in
my
members,
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity
to the
law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I
am!
who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through
Jesus
Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of
God; but
with the flesh the law of sin.”
(Romans
7:14-17,18-19,20-23,24-25)
“Oh,
but
that’s when he was an unsaved man!” shouts the Peanut Gallery.
No
Dear
Reader, that’s Paul as a saved man.
See
that?
Paul’s feels like a SCHIZO … a saved soul trapped in sinful
flesh … as
succinctly stated in Colossians
2:11 … he delights in God’s laws, but
is beset
with his flesh.
The
Peanut
Gallery again “Oh! That’s not us!” … totally unaware of their
self=righteousness.
In
conclusion:
1.
Although
it sounds a paradox, Christians, being in Christ, are
predestinated to
be conformed to the image of God’s Son (Romans 8:29), while we
imitate
and follow
Paul as an ensample.
2.
Christ
tells us that we will be following him, if we follow Paul and Paul’s
commandments … with Paul’s kingdom of God doctrine.
3.
For the
Jew about 2,000 years ago, and for approximately three years, it was
the
opposite, as the Jews were to follow Christ as the Son of man on earth,
under
his kingdom of heaven doctrine (Matthew chapters 5-7).
4.
For Jew
or Gentile, saved or unsaved, it is no longer possible to follow
Christ
… it is now a past dispensation.
5. Christians now honour and obey the Lord Jesus Christ as we follow Paul.
Harley
Hitchcock
This
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