Essentials and Non-Essentials
Text: Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 3:22-23
Series: Restoration Sermons
Date:
Speaker: Ed Rangel
Location: Waupaca Church of Christ
Bible Version: NASB 1995
Sermon Type: Expository
Learning Objectives
By the close of this lesson the hearer should be able to:
- Distinguish, within a command, what God specified (essential) from the incidentals He left to judgment.
- Apply that distinction to the Great Commission, preaching, baptism, and the Lord's Supper.
- Keep the essentials exactly while allowing liberty in the incidentals.
Thesis
Within God's commands there is a difference between the essential — what He specified and bound — and the incidental circumstances He left to human judgment; faithfulness keeps the essentials exactly while allowing liberty in the incidentals, neither binding what God left free nor loosing what God fixed.
Burden
Christ must be heard, and we must not add to, take from, or substitute anything for His word — that is the rule from which this whole study flows (Deut. 18:15; Acts 3:22-23). But applying it requires a careful distinction that confused or careless people miss, and the confusion runs in both directions. Some bind their own incidentals on others as though God had commanded them; others loosen what God actually specified, calling His essentials "non-essential." the outline draws the line cleanly: in any command there is the essential — the thing God specified — and the incidental circumstance of carrying it out, which He left free. (This is not the "sort the commands by taste" error condemned elsewhere; every command is binding — the question is only what each command actually specifies.) The burden is to keep God's essentials exactly while leaving the incidentals free.
Introduction
Christ must be heard; we must not add to, take from, or substitute anything for His word, and confusion arises whenever this is forgotten (Deut. 18:15; Acts 3:22-23). The outline applies the principle to four commands — "Go," "Preach," "Baptize," and the Lord's Supper — showing in each what is essential (specified by God) and what is an incidental circumstance left to judgment. (Note: "non-essential" here means an incidental of how, never a command that may be ignored.)
I. "Go" (Mark 16:15)
- Essential: Do what the command says — do not stay in one place but go, or support the going, with the gospel (Mark 16:15).
- Incidental: How one goes. One may walk or ride — donkey, train, bus, car, or plane. God commanded the going; the mode is left to us.
II. Preach or Teach (2 Timothy 4:2)
- Essential: To instruct, make known, and tell about Jesus — the gospel must be proclaimed (2 Tim. 4:2).
- Incidental: How one preaches — with chart or blackboard, by sermon, class, written article, or any method. God commanded the teaching; the method is free.
III. Baptize (Romans 6:3-4)
- Essential: Water; going down into it; a burial; and coming up out of it — a resurrection (Rom. 6:3-4; Acts 8:38-39). These elements God specified, and they define the act.
- Incidental: The temperature of the water; whether it is running water; whether a baptistry is used. God commanded the burial in water; the surrounding circumstances are free.
The line here is exact: change the essential — substitute sprinkling for burial, or omit the water — and it is no longer baptism; change an incidental — warm water, a creek, a baptistry — and the command is still fully kept.
IV. The Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)
- Essential: The first day of the week; the loaf and the fruit of the vine; and discerning the Lord's body and blood (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:23-29). These God specified.
- Incidental: The time of day it is observed — and, in the judgment, whether the fruit of the vine is fermented or unfermented, which he treats as a circumstance rather than an essential.
Keep the elements God named; do not bind on others the incidentals He left open.
Application
Two opposite mistakes are corrected here, and we must avoid both. The first is loosening the essentials — calling what God specified "non-essential" and so substituting sprinkling for the burial of baptism, or skipping the Lord's Supper, or swapping the elements He named. God fixed those; we may not touch them. The second is binding the incidentals — making a law of the things God left free, quarreling over the temperature of the water, the time of day, the method of teaching, as though our preference were His command. The faithful path keeps the essentials exactly and leaves the incidentals free, which is also the path of unity: where God spoke, we submit; where God left liberty, we extend liberty. Learn to tell the two apart, and much needless confusion and division simply dissolves.
Conclusion
Within every command God specified the essential and left the incidental free. Keep the essentials — the going, the preaching, the burial in water, the first-day loaf and cup, discerned — exactly as He gave them; allow liberty in the incidentals He did not bind. Bind nothing God left free, and loose nothing God fixed.
Invitation
The essential is plain, and it is for you: hear Christ, the Prophet God said must be heard (Acts 3:22-23). Believe on Him, repent of your sins, confess His name, and be baptized — buried in water and raised — for the remission of your sins (Rom. 6:3-4; Acts 2:38). Keep the essential, and the Lord will receive you. Come while we sing.
Word Study
| English Term | Greek Term | Basic Meaning | Usage in This Sermon | Sermon Significance | Key Texts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hear Him | autou akousesthe | God's command concerning the coming Prophet | the essential of all essentials | the essential of all essentials; everything in this study flows from the duty to hear and obey Christ exactly | Deut. 18:15; Acts 3:22-23 |
- Essential vs. incidental: the historic command/expedient distinction — what God specified in a command is binding (essential); the circumstances of carrying it out that He did not specify are matters of liberty (incidental/expedient).
Scripture Interlock Table
| Theme | Boles' Outline | Supporting Scripture |
|---|---|---|
| Hear Christ; add/take/substitute nothing | Text | Deut. 18:15; Acts 3:22-23 |
| "Go" — essential vs. mode | I | Mark 16:15 |
| Preach — essential vs. method | II | 2 Tim. 4:2 |
| Baptize — burial in water essential | III | Rom. 6:3-4; Acts 8:38-39 |
| Lord's Supper — elements essential | IV | Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:23-29 |
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Converted from H. Leo Boles, Outline 58. Doctrinal audit: core-framework — the command/expedient (essential/incidental) distinction; God's specified elements are binding, the incidental circumstances of obeying are free. Harmonization noted: "non-essentials" here means incidentals of how, NOT the "sort which commands to keep by personal taste" error condemned in Outline 47; the conversion makes this explicit so the two sermons do not appear to contradict. Boles' stated judgment that fermented/unfermented fruit of the vine is incidental is reported as his judgment, without editorializing. Style audit: OCR cleanup. All of Boles' citations (Deut. 18:15; Acts 3:22-23; Mark 16:15) verified and retained; supporting references (2 Tim. 4:2; Rom. 6:3-4; Acts 8:38-39; 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:23-29) supplied and flagged to ground the essentials he lists.
