Back to the Basics

This past Sunday I began a sermon series called "Back to the Basics."  It has long impressed me that the one thing that Jesus said to teach new Christians was to obey everything that he has commanded (Matthew 28:20).  George Patterson is right that spiritual growth and maturity are best measured not by knowledge but by obedience.  

Paul used the image of warfare to describe his apostolic ministry (II Corinthians 10:3-5).  His goal was to take as many captives as possible. "Submission to Christ is the new land into which they are carried," wrote Alfred Plummer in his commentary on this passage.    

Sound oppressive? Not when you remember that the old land was called Obedience to the Law of Sin the Dwells in My Members, which previously had taken them captive (Romans 7:23). We always obey someone (Romans 6:16-18). "Who will I obey now?" is a question that can help us when we are tried or tempted. 

Paul's means of taking people captive were not violent, but gentle, spiritual ones. He loved people as his own children and shared himself as well as the Gospel with them. 

So there is really only one "Basic" in the Christian life: to obey the Lord Jesus Christ.  His yoke is easy, and his burden is light.