CALEB CUNNINGHAM: GOD'S REQUIREMENTS

God’s Requirements


The question is asked in the Old Law, “Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and will all your soul, and to keep the LORD’S commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13).

This verse summarizes the requirements of God. Before the Israelites entered into the covenant they wanted know, “What does God require from us?”. So Moses gives the check list: fear God, obey God, love God.

We’re no different from the Israelites today in that we too want to know what is required of us.

1. People like to know what is required of them.

If you attended college than you know that the first thing you received in your classes was a syllabus, which contained important information about the class. The first thing on the first page of the syllabus is the class name, teacher’s name, and a course description. But for the student in that class, he wants to see the class Requirements. What is expected of me in this class? Reading assignments, term papers, book reports, tests. Some people will sign up for a class, then after they look at the syllabus and the course requirements, drop the class. Why? Because the class required more than they were willing to give.

We do the same thing when we look for a job. We look for the job by categories, we then look according to pay, but very closely we look at the job description (the requirements). My first job was at Hardees. I was the chicken cooker, which required that I keep the chickens hot and ready to be eaten. My second job was at Sam’s club and I was required to keep the floors clean. I process mail the U.S. Post Office, sorted checks for Amsouth Bank, and loaded trucks for UPS. I was hired to work for American Cast Iron Pipe Company shoveling sand into a furnace, when God providentially enabled me to be a preacher (praise the Lord!).

There are certain requirements in every facet of life: education, career, government, parenting, etc. Even a “to do list” is a summary of things required.

2. People need to be more concerned with God’s requirements than man’s requirements.

But a good question that we need to ask is what Moses asked, “What does the LORD your God require of you?” A question asked numerous times in the Bible.

Too often we worry about what man requires of us more than what God requires of us. And men have a tendency to place heavier requirements on themselves and others than God does.

A. Man makes many requirements

Whereas Christians want to “Speak where the Bible speaks, and be silent where the Bible is silent,” many are not content with this and would like to make many unnecessary requirements for one to meet in order to be a good citizen of God’s kingdom.

(1) For example: A king’s requirements (Samuel vs. Saul)

Israel made the mistake of thinking men could rule over them better than God. But is it better to be ruled by men than by God? God only and always required what was in Israel’s best interest. The king, however, would rule differently: 1 Samuel 8:11-20

By asking for a king, by asking to be led by man’s rule instead of God rule, they were replacing God for a man. Samuel later reminded Israel, “You said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ although the LORD your God was your king.” (1 Sam. 12:12).

Psalm 118:9 – It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.

(2) Even in the time of Christ people were more concerned about the requirements of man than the requirements of God.

Acts 15:1 – Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

But Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them. So the brethren sent Paul and Barnabas and the ones who were advocating that we must keep the requirements of the Old Covenant to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue (15:2).

Acts 15:5 – But some of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.” So what about that? Some of the Pharisee believers are carrying over their tendencies to the church. They were making man made requirements not given by the Holy Spirit.

“After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, ‘Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.” (Acts 15:7-11).

Some of the Jewish Christians were trying to bind the Law of Moses on Gentile converts to Christianity. I can imagine they had many persuasive arguments for doing so: The laws of Moses are good, the laws of Moses help us to be a separate people, the customs of Moses were given for a good reason; why discard them?, if the Gentiles keep the customs of Moses it will help to unite us and it may even help us to get more Jews to believe.... And on and on the reasons could have been given, good reasons, logical reasons, but they were man’s reasons and not God’s reasons.

Peter referred to the Law of Moses as a yoke on the neck that neither they nor their fathers were able to bear. The Law of Moses was a requirement that taught the Jews and the world that we can’t save ourselves based upon our performance of the Law of Moses. But many of the Jews had a hard time believing this. They were like animals that’ve lived in captivity their whole lives after being set free; afraid to leave the cage.

Many people in the world have a hard time believing this. During a time of great apostasy the Roman Catholic Church made many requirements of its members that God did not make. Many religious laws and rituals were invented by men and the church drifted away from the simple faith in Christ Jesus.

B. Sin requires much from us.

Slavery is the devil’s business. And the more sinful the people are, the more strict the rules and regulations become. I experienced this in my life as a teenager attending five different schools. The schools that had the most problem students seemed to have the stricter rules and less freedom. Schools that had fewer problems had fewer rules and more liberty. Nations are the same way. In some countries it takes a strict, fearful, dictator to keep the peace (e.g. Middle East). In other countries our rules can be much more relaxed. Take gun laws for example: The right to bear arms is a second amendment right that the government has no authority to take away. Peace loving people have been able to own and use and carry guns with no problems in this country for years. But now due to a few evil, sinful, people, our liberty to bear arms is being threatened. Why? Because sin enslaves, it does not liberate. More sin, means more laws, more requirements. And there are many who are enslaved to sin, enslaved to people, enslaved to self, enslaved to the devil.

3. God’s requirements are simple.

You see, God’s requirements are basically few in number and easy to perform. How many laws were there in the Garden of Eden? How many requirements? Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue the earth, rule over everything on the earth, keep and dress the garden, don’t eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Not many requirements were there? But after sin enters the world, just try to count the requirements of the Old Testament.

Maybe that is why Jesus said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matt. 11:30). He summed up the whole law of God in four verses saying, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind…You shall love your neighbor as yourself…On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matt. 22:37-40).

4. Satan uses men to complicate God’s requirements.

But men often come along with detailed definitions and legal codes and complicate everything, including service to God:
Matthew 23:4 – For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders…
Matthew 23:13 – But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye tem that are entering to go in.
Matthew 23:23 – Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.

Why is it that people make it so difficult to serve God? Why is it that people make more requirements than what God makes? Because the devil craftily tries to complicate our devotion to God.

Micah 6:6-8 – With what shall I come to the LORD and bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

In other words, what great and terrible difficult act must I do to appease the God of heaven? Isn’t that generally what we look for? How to appease an angry God by our works and sacrifices? Isn’t that why the Catholic Priests do not marry, the monks live in monasteries without modern comfort, Moslem men stop and pray five times a day facing Mecca and women wear veils in the heat of the day, tribal religions cut themselves and make marks on their bodies, and people invent for themselves rituals and religion to try and remove their guilt conscience and appease an angry God?

But the prophet says, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8). In other words, don’t complicate it. Don’t focus on the religious, ceremonial, acts, and forget about what is truly important. And you’ll notice that the three requirements given by the prophet Micah fall under the two great commandments quoted by Jesus: Love God and People.

Conclusion: God’s Requirements Today

Psalm 119:160 – “The sum of Your word is truth.” We can’t pick a few and leave out the others.

Pay attention to God and His word (Romans 10:17, Acts 2).

Trust in God (Acts 2).
Hebrews 11:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Turn away from Sin (Acts 2:38).

Be open about your faith (confession).
Romans 10:9-10 - if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Be baptized (Acts 2:38).

Continue in the faith.
Acts 2:42 – They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Psalm 119:160 – “The sum of Your word is truth.”

Let us put God’s requirements above man’s requirements. And let us not take away or add to God’s requirements, both of which are equally sinful. And if you haven’t met God’s requirements for salvation, then we encourage you to do so today.


Caleb Cunningham