Untitled Sermon (2)

ALL AUTHORITY

Basis of ethics

mATT 28N18-19

Synopsis

The ultimate foundation of ethics is the character and will of God, which is made known supremely through Jesus Christ and in Scripture.

The foundation of ethics is the revealed righteousness of God

(ESV) — 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

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(ESV) — 6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory.

(ESV) — 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them

The basis of ethics revealed in Scripture

All Scripture

(ESV) — 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

The word of God

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(ESV) — 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

(ESV) — 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

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(ESV) — 20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word!

(ESV) — 17 Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word.

(ESV) — 6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

(ESV) — 8 “ ‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

The commandments of God

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(ESV) — 26 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, 28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.

(ESV) — 17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so.

(ESV) — 29 Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 30 And the king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites, all the people both great and small. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. 31 And the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book.

The will of God

(ESV) — 35 For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

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(ESV) — 10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!

(ESV) — 12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.

The commandments of Jesus Christ

(ESV) — 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

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(ESV) — 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

(ESV) — 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

(ESV) — 12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

(ESV) — 37 If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.

The example of Jesus Christ

(ESV) — 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

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(ESV) — 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”

(ESV) — 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

(ESV) — 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

(ESV) — 1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

(ESV) — 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

(ESV) — 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

(ESV) — 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

(ESV) — 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

The ethical teaching of Jesus Christ

In the Sermon on the Mount:

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(ESV) — 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

(ESV) — 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

(ESV) — 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

(ESV) — 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,

(ESV) — 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

(ESV) — 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

(ESV) — 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

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(ESV) — 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

(ESV) — 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

(ESV) — 19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.

(ESV) — 48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. 49 For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak.

(ESV) — 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

(ESV) — 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

(ESV) — 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

(ESV) — 6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

Areas of life in which ethical conduct is expected of believers

In sexual behaviour

(ESV) — 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

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(ESV) — 22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23 And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion.

(ESV) — 1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife.

In government

(ESV) — 1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

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(ESV) — 21 They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

(ESV) — 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

(ESV) — 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.

(ESV) — 13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

In rewarding individuals

(ESV) — 7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?

In punishing individuals

(ESV) — 7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. -19