Great Instructions

Christianity provides some great instructions for living the Christian life:

Great Commandments (Matthew 22:34-40):

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20):

In Christianity, the Great Commission is the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ to his disciples to spread the gospel to all the nations of the world. The Great Commission is outlined in Matthew 28:16–20, where on a mountain in Galilee Jesus calls on his followers to make disciples of and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

What about before Jesus and the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17)?

The Christian Bible consists of two books: the Old Testament (pre Jesus) and the New Testament (post Jesus). At the very beginning of the Old Testament is the Genesis chapter that uses the Adam and Eve creation story to set the scene of how none of us are perfect and are all open to temptation. The wise prophets that followed tried to reconcile our brokenness with God using Ten Commandments:

1.  I, the Lord, am your God.  You shall not have other gods besides me.

2.  You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain.

3.  Remember to keep holy the Lord's day.

4.  Honor your father and your mother.

5.  You shall not kill.

6.  You shall not commit adultery.

7.  You shall not steal.

8.  You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.

9.  You shall not covet your neighbour's wife.

10.  You shall not covet your neighbour's goods.

The Ten Commandments were a clear attempt to guide mankind away from sin. Christians often say that the Great Commandments supercede the Ten Commandments and their sole focus is to love. Such an approach is only justified if you realise that sin is the absence of love and if you are still prepared to continue shining light on sin. What no one can assume is that the Great Commandments allow us to avoid addressing sin in our own lives (to the contrary most Christians become more conscious of their personal sin and if they take their Christian faith seriously they do their utmost to sin less). Refer to James 1:27 if you are in any doubt of the combined need to love more and sin less:  Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

The Lord's Prayer (How Jesus tells us to pray in Luke 11:2-4 & Matthew 6:9-13):

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours

now and for ever. Amen.

Christians are invited to make use of this initiatives free posters and affordable t-shirts to help spread these great instructions.