{"id":1420,"date":"2021-10-03T13:13:05","date_gmt":"2021-10-03T18:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/?p=1420"},"modified":"2021-10-03T13:13:05","modified_gmt":"2021-10-03T18:13:05","slug":"heartily-as-to-the-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/2021\/10\/03\/heartily-as-to-the-lord\/","title":{"rendered":"Heartily, as to the Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
\u201c23. And whatsoever ye do, do it<\/em> heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; 24. Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.<\/strong>\u201d
Colossians 3:23-24 <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

If you have ever read the book of Jeremiah, you understand\nthat the messages God gave Jeremiah to share were extremely difficult for him\nto deliver. However, Jeremiah was always faithful \u2013 even when he was beaten,\nimprisoned, and his fellowman rejected him. He willingly obeyed God\u2019s command\nto deliver His message calling Judah\nto repent and return to God. Jeremiah had little, if any, hope of the\npossibility of God\u2019s people truly repenting and returning to God, yet he\nfaithfully delivered the messages God had. What courage!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was one particularly interesting time God had him\nspeak. There was a nomadic people that lived among the Israelites called the\nRechabites (also known as the Kenites). They were descendants of Moses\u2019\nfather-in-law, who had chosen to live among God\u2019s people in tents. They\noccasionally are mentioned as those who helped God\u2019s people (see Jael in Judges\n4 and Jehonadab with Jehu in 2 Kings\n10). God sent Jeremiah to speak to these people, take to them to the\nhouse of the Lord, and give them wine to drink. Jeremiah did what God told him\nto do. Read their response. \u201c6.\nBut they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father\ncommanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither<\/em> ye, nor your sons\nfor ever: 7. Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard,\nnor have any:<\/em> but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may\nlive many days in the land where ye be<\/em> strangers. 8. Thus have we obeyed\nthe voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he hath charged\nus, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters; 9.\nNor to build houses for us to dwell in: neither have we vineyard, nor field,\nnor seed: 10. But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according\nto all that Jonadab our father commanded us.<\/strong>\u201d (Jeremiah 35:6-10). What\nwas wrong with drinking the wine? They had made a commitment to their father\nthat they would not. They chose to obey their father, Jonadab. God had a point\nHe wanted to make to His people. \u201c13.\nThus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Go and tell the men of Judah\nand the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to\nmy words? saith the LORD. 14. The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he\ncommanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day they\ndrink none, but obey their father’s commandment: notwithstanding I have spoken\nunto you, rising early and speaking; but ye hearkened not unto me<\/strong>\u201d\n(Jeremiah 35:13-14). God made a very good point. God commended the Rechabites\nfor their faithfulness to the command given to them by their father. Their\nfather had given commands, and his children obeyed. God had given the\nIsraelites commands, yet they had disregarded them. God reminded them He had\nsent prophets to tell them. \u201c\u2026 saying,<\/strong> Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and\ngo not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I\nhave given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor\nhearkened unto me<\/strong>\u201d (Jeremiah 35:15b). God\u2019s people did not listen.\nThey did not obey God\u2019s command to return to Him. This family of Rechab had\nwillingly chosen to obey the words of their father, yet God\u2019s people had\nwillingly chosen not <\/em><\/strong>to obey the words of God. The Rechabites were\ndestined to live as a nomadic people \u2013 without homes, farms, vineyards, or a\nplace to call home. Yet this people obeyed their earthly father. On the other\nhand, God had given His people a land where they built homes, had farms and\nvineyards, and a place to call their homeland. However, the Israelites did not<\/em><\/strong>\nobey God. God blessed the Rechabites.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because God\u2019s people did not repent or choose to obey God, God allowed the enemy to destroy Jerusalem and take them captive. Jeremiah witnessed the destruction of his beloved city, and his people carried captive to a foreign land. Yet even through rejection and witnessing Jerusalem\u2019s destruction and the people\u2019s captivity, Jeremiah still mourned and prayed for his people. He even remained to encourage the few left in the land with God\u2019s Words. Jeremiah understood something that had not even been written yet in his day: \u201c23. And whatsoever ye do, do it<\/em> heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; 24. Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ<\/strong>\u201d (Colossians 3:23-24).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you obey God\u2019s Word heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you have ever read the book of Jeremiah, you understand that the messages God gave Jeremiah to share were extremely difficult for him to deliver. However, Jeremiah was always faithful \u2013 even when he was beaten, imprisoned, and his fellowman rejected him. He willingly obeyed God\u2019s command to deliver His message calling Judah to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[318],"tags":[811,396,249,186,240,103,60,404,809,808,442,807,810],"class_list":["post-1420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-picture-with-verse-and-blog","tag-command","tag-faithful","tag-father","tag-god","tag-gods-word","tag-israel","tag-jeremiah","tag-obey","tag-rechabite","tag-reject","tag-return","tag-reward","tag-wine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1420"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1422,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1420\/revisions\/1422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}