To fear God and maintain His Church
To serve the liege lord in valour and faith
To protect the weak and defenceless
To give succour to widows and orphans
To refrain from the wanton giving of offence
To live by honour and for glory
To despise pecuniary reward
To fight for the welfare of all
To obey those placed in authority
To guard the honour of fellow knights
To eschew unfairness, meanness and deceit
To keep faith
At all times to speak the truth
To persevere to the end in any enterprise begun
To respect the honour of women
Never to refuse a challenge from an equal
Never to turn the back upon a foe
I think this is a code that we all would do well to live by. The first vow in the code is to fear God and maintain His church. Both parts of this vow involve committment. To fear God doesn't just mean to respect Him but to actually have a healthy fear of Him. To know that He alone has the power of life and death in His hands. When we 'do our own thing' instead of following His laws we are actually mocking God and will bring destruction on our own heads. Maintaining His church means to be a part of the church, caring for it and working in it.
The second vow is to serve the liege lord in valour and faith. We don't have a liege lord anymore like the knights did, but we do have employers. Do we serve them faithfully? Do we give them 8 hrs of work for 8 hrs of pay? As Christians we are to be the best employee the company has so as to show them our testimony.
The third and fourth vows go together: to protect the weak and defenseless and to give succour to widows and orphans. We show the love of Christ when we stand up for those less fortunate than we are. When we give help to those in need we are acting as Christ's hands extended. We can't just tell someone we love them, we need to show that love so that they will believe our words. Love is an action word. We need to show our love and in so doing we show Christ's love to a hurting world.
To refrain from the wanton giving of offence is the next vow and speaks of us living a life that does not give offence. Yes, we will offend someone at some point in our life but we should strive to not bring offence as much as possible. When we do give offence we should be quick to apologize and restore the person offended.
The next vow is to live by honour and for glory. This next one might seem self explanatory but we have to be careful that we are living for God's honour and His glory. To live an honourable life means to live a life that follows God's ways, His paths and doesn't bring ridicule to His name. When we live for His glory we live in a way that points people to Him. We need to be His ambassadors here on this earth. The word 'Christian' should never have a bad meaning or a negative connotation because of me, because of the way I live. I should bring honour and glory to that Name by all that I do or say.
To despise pecuniary reward simply means that we are not to do things to get something for it. We should be doing our good deeds, our kind acts for the joy of serving others rather than expecting a reward.
To fight for the welfare of all really goes with numbers three and four. We are to be the champion of the marginalized people on earth, the poor, the sick, the orphans, the widows and the list could go on and on. As Christians, or modern day knights we can't turn a blind eye to the suffering of others.Christ wouldn't and we can't either.
To obey those placed in authority is the next vow. This doesn't just mean to obey the policemen or the government but it also means to obey our boss too. It means to obey anyone who has authority over us, whether that be a parent or a teacher or a pastor. When we obey we honour God.
To guard the honour of fellow knights is something we all need to be doing on a regular basis. If we change the word 'knights' to 'christians' and read the sentence again it tells us what we need to be doing. We need to stand up for each other. We need to refrain from gossip and slander, things that tear one another down. As Christians we need to guard each others backs from attacks.
The next one is 'to eschew unfairness, meanness and deceit'. Eschew means 'to abstain or keep away from; shun; avoid:' We need to eschew, keep away from all unfairness, meanness and lies. If we do we will be an honorable knight or Christian.
To keep faith and at all times to speak the truth are the next two vows. We keep our faith by being steadfast. By being committed to reading God's Holy Word on a regular basis, by being in His house under the preaching of the Word. And a knight needs to always speak the truth. To have the reputation that you don't lie, that you will tell it like it is, is a rare quality.
The next vow is 'to persevere to the end in any enterprise begun'. Again this speaks of committment. Committment not only in a project begun but also in a job. If you begin something, do everything in your power to complete it. You will be seen as being dependable and trustworthy, both good qualities to have.
To respect the honour of women is the next vow and one that I am sad to say is going by the wayside. When I was growing up boys were taught never to hit a girl, to always open doors for them, to stand when a girl stood, to offer your chair if a girl didn't have one and a few other things too. And girls were taught to be ladies, to have manners, never to be in fights or loud arguments and many others things. But it seems that is all gone and we now have feminists and girls who fight on the school ground and pick on boys. We have boys who don't have respect for women at all. I think it's time we started raising some ladies and gentlemen once again instead of worrying about 'girl power' and putting men down.
The next vow is to 'never to refuse a challenge from an equal', but a challenge of what? I guess it could be just about anything. I think the key word here is not 'challenge' but 'equal'. When we are in competition we should always compete with an equal, having a level playing field so that the competition is fair.
And finally the last vow is to 'never to turn the back upon a foe'. Who is our 'foe'? Well Ephesians 6:12 tells us "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Our foes are not those around us who may be giving us a hard time. Our foe is Satan himself and those who work for him. When we are born again, we are a child of the King of Kings and we don't have to back down from Satan. We have been equiped with spiritual armour as it tells us in Ephesians 6:13-17:
If we as Christians have all this armour on it sounds to me like we are modern day knights. We have a code to live by, the Word of God. We have to live our lives in a way so as to bring honour to our Lord. We are His Knights and He is our King!
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