Jesus said "if you love Me, keep my commandments".
He would not insist we do this if it were impossible.
I would answer the OP in this manner:
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me...
I have a problem with the idea that Jesus gave us instructions that He knew we could not follow, in order to set us up for persecution. Or am I misunderstanding the OP?
I think He was telling us not to perform for an audience, but rather to keep what we do between ourselves and God. You don't feed a hungry child for the applause of men, you do it because the kid is hungry. Does that mean that you purposely wait till nobody is around to slip him a meal?
Meantime, he's still hungry....
Seriously, what do you really care what other people might think? If they see you feed the child, and tell you how great you are, you know that you are still an "unprofitable servant", don't you? The praise of men means nothing.
OH, and btw, the instructions to sell all that you have and give to the poor were given to one specific person, known to us as "the rich young ruler". You know that Peter kept his fishing boat, where Jesus often preached, and his house, where Jesus was a guest. You didn't notice Him asking the women who followed Him and supported His ministry with their own funds to give it all away, did you? Of course, they were giving it away, weren't they?
And didn't they have a money bag? Judas carried it, didn't he?
It is not a matter of what you give or who sees it, I think, but rather a matter of your motives. Of course, we all like to be thought well of, but if that is your reason for feeding that hungry kid, then you've gotten what you wanted... If your reason is simply that the kid is hungry, and you really don't care what anyone else thinks, then your heart is closer to Jesus' heart, and He will see and reward you openly... You do it out of love and for no other reason, and the heart of God always responds to love...
I think you might need to re read the gospels...but that is just my opinion.
great verse and good observations .
I often used to wonder how the lord said if you love me keep my commandments .... and then the entire Gospel is about being set free from the law ..
so where there is apparent contradiction can only mean my comprehension is lacking because God is not wrong .
for me the definition came ,thus far , in the understanding he gave me of the parable of the judgment when the lord says .. "
and in that day they wil say Lord Lord ..we cast out demons in your name and we did this and that in your name ... (all notable good works) and he says to them ,depart from me
you workers of iniquity ..."
I used to wonder why the lord says that to folks who were doing what appeared to be the right thing . and the lord took me to where he said .."my sheep HEAR my voice and I Know them and they follow ME "..
he said such people know of him and so do good outer things but they do not listen to him in their hearts they put their fingers in their ears and shut out what he is speaking to them about in there personal live and do not obey what he is commanding them to do in their own life ,, there is not truth and honesty . he showed me the commands he is talking about are himself talking to us .(in harmony with his written word ) but we can say ... the bible says I must preach the gospel every where .. and off we go .. but the lord says ,I want you to go to new zealand and do it there but we go to Australia because in the bible it says
every where... so we impose
our will ,based on written word ,over the living will of the lord Jesus.
This is not obedience
it is rebellion and so while good in appearance is unjust and so iniquity .
in the book of acts we see this took place ,,but the apostles did not rebel but obeyed. they were headed to one place to preach and the Spirit of the lord Jesus forbade them and sent them elsewhere ... even though in the written word the lord told them to preach the gospel to ALL the world they still had to listen to his voice as to where and when .
and the same goes with selling all your goods ..if a man says you must sell all and live by faith .. then to do so is to listen to that man ..if the lord has not told you to do so ,you may be doing so in disobedience to them lord Jesus in order to listen to a man .
of course if the lord is telling you to do so by his Holy Spirit ,,I advice you obey lol. there is no other way .
the lord Jesus is both the written and the living resurrected word of God ... "listen to "HIM"
people often go round doing many "things" but they do so to make up for ..or out rightly avoid doing the one thing the lord Jesus is speaking to them about in their own heart .. they ignore and disobey .. and that, is why he says to them , depart from me you workers of iniquity.