God is looking for lip service....that's all!

[Adullam]

Easy right? :gah Or maybe not! :yes

Imagine 2 men. One says we must help the poor and the other says they should fend for themselves. The first man is very popular entertaining often...the other is not so popular, often eating alone.

One day a poor beggar knocks on the door of the first man asking for food.....but the first man is busy entertaining and tells the beggar to get lost.


The poor beggar then goes to the second man's house, who when seeing the terrible state of him, has compassion for him and invites him in to share his table.

Now, which of the two is pleasing to God. The one who paid lip service or the one who neglected to?

 

[whirlwind]

Is this a parable about our current political arena? If not...it could be. :yes

 

[jasoncran]

i see that as a parable, most of the dems dont give much to charity as the libertarians, and republicans, but the dems will sure take your money and give it to the cause of their choice. :mad

anywhay i see that we christians could do that as well, regardless of our thoughts on healthcare, welfare and so on, we should help the poor.

jason

 

[lovely]

I didn't really see it as anything political. It's just a good reminder for us to be doers and not hearers only. If we are dead in Christ, then we should be compelled to love as He would...by laying our lives down and 'doing' love. It won't always be seen by others, but our Father sees and will be pleased. The Lord bless you all.

 

[whirlwind]

I didn't really see it as anything political. It's just a good reminder for us to be doers and not hearers only. If we are dead in Christ, then we should be compelled to love as He would...by laying our lives down and 'doing' love. It won't always be seen by others, but our Father sees and will be pleased. The Lord bless you all.

Yes, it is a good reminder to be as Christ.

I have been listening to what is going on in our country, especially this past week, so my mind went to that as well as "being as Christ."

 

[lovely]

Understandable whirlwind. We live on a small farm where I stay home with our children, and so I sometimes fail in my responsibility to be more on top of the current events or to view them through Scripture. The Lord bless you.

 

[Joe67]

Which one does the will of the Father? What was Judas' reasoning concerning the ointment?

James 1:27
27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. KJV

2 Thess 3:10-12
10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
11 For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.
12 Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread. KJV

Without the light of imputation upon our hearts and minds our service will finally end with the counsel in James 1:27, like the thousands James referred to when he asked his brother Paul to shave his head and take the vow to show to the people that he still honored the customs of Moses.

At the end of Paul's service to the Body of Christ, most all had forsaken him and had gone with the influence of the Judaizers that came from James. Paul sowed the seed of imputation through the blood of Jesus, Apollos watered the seed with the Scriptures in the way of God that is more excellent than the baptism of John; then the Judaizers came and turned the hearts and minds of the babes in Christ under the law of Moses, presenting it as the way to bear fruit in the Lord.

I was raised in a very moralistic, historical righteousness based worship of God in the name of Jesus, under the positions of thought and reasoning by which the Judaizers brought the new converts under bondage. Now that God has shone me his way more perfectly out of the same Scriptures; the historical, grammatical, language based righteousness is painfully obvious; though God gave it for a purpose. These are the counsel of the ungodly and the way of sinners in Zion. These can never cease from sin.

The positions of thought that the Saduccees held as expressed by the modern disciples of these doctrines are being revealed to me little by little. Our philosophically educated societies are rampant with the same doctrines in the name of Jesus. This the seat of the scornful that rule over the churches.

Both camps of thought claim to possess in this present world that blessedness which God has planned and promised for the life to come; while they neglect and/or deny the salvation from sin that our Lord began to teach and sent out his disciples to teach the same. Faith puts away the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye, through the blood and the water that flowed from the side of Jesus. And not only so but we are saved by grace from pride through the principle of hope. Hope in the resurrection is understood through the body of Jesus at rest in the tomb. Hope is matured through tribulation.
Romans 5:1-5.

The pit leads us to boast in our works of the law like the Judaizers. The snare leads us to claim to be out of the tomb before the time. The resurrection is not behind us. We now have the faith of the operation of God, the down-payment of the promise of a robe and crown of righteousness. We have given this down-payment to other lovers than our Lord. Ezekiel 16.

2 Tim 2:16-18
16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
17 And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
18 Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. KJV

2 Tim 2:19
19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. KJV

Ezek 28:15
15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
KJV

Spare your people, O Lord, and cast not off your heritage as a reproach to the unbelievers round about.Zechariah 14 and Revelation 20.

Joe

 

[Adullam]

Joe, you are making many valid points, of course, but I don't get your meaning concerning what you are saying in regards to this thread.

 

[Heidi]

Easy right? :gah Or maybe not! :yes

Imagine 2 men. One says we must help the poor and the other says they should fend for themselves. The first man is very popular entertaining often...the other is not so popular, often eating alone.

One day a poor beggar knocks on the door of the first man asking for food.....but the first man is busy entertaining and tells the beggar to get lost.


The poor beggar then goes to the second man's house, who when seeing the terrible state of him, has compassion for him and invites him in to share his table.

Now, which of the two is pleasing to God. The one who paid lip service or the one who neglected to?

Neither one if they are serving themselves rather than serving God. Anyone can give to the poor. But those who do it out of love for God rather than to look good are pleasing to God. ;)

 

[Joe67]

Easy right? :gah Or maybe not! :yes

Imagine 2 men. One says we must help the poor and the other says they should fend for themselves. The first man is very popular entertaining often...the other is not so popular, often eating alone.

One day a poor beggar knocks on the door of the first man asking for food.....but the first man is busy entertaining and tells the beggar to get lost.


The poor beggar then goes to the second man's house, who when seeing the terrible state of him, has compassion for him and invites him in to share his table.

Now, which of the two is pleasing to God. The one who paid lip service or the one who neglected to?

Adullam,

Neither pleased God. The second man helped his neighbor in his distress. It does not mean that he loved the Lord our God with all his heart and strength.

Works of charity are not what pleases God. Works of charity are good, holy and just. Works of charity are beneficial to our neighbor in need. It is a good thing to help the needy.

Works of charity neither justify before God or save us from the power of lust and pride.

Joe

 

[Adullam]

Easy right? :gah Or maybe not! :yes

Imagine 2 men. One says we must help the poor and the other says they should fend for themselves. The first man is very popular entertaining often...the other is not so popular, often eating alone.

One day a poor beggar knocks on the door of the first man asking for food.....but the first man is busy entertaining and tells the beggar to get lost.


The poor beggar then goes to the second man's house, who when seeing the terrible state of him, has compassion for him and invites him in to share his table.

Now, which of the two is pleasing to God. The one who paid lip service or the one who neglected to?

Adullam,

Neither pleased God. The second man helped his neighbor in his distress. It does not mean that he loved the Lord our God with all his heart and strength.

Works of charity are not what pleases God. Works of charity are good, holy and just. Works of charity are beneficial to our neighbor in need. It is a good thing to help the needy.

Works of charity neither justify before God or save us from the power of lust and pride.

Joe

Joe, do you realize what you are saying? Are hearers of the law justified or doers?

 

[Joe67]

Adullam,

Man cannot be just with God by the works of the law ( acts of charity ). Acts of charity can be performed without the justifying love of God that is in Jesus Christ.

1 Cor 13:3
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. KJV

Joe

 

[Cornelius]

Jas 2:17 Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself.

So faith that has no works following it, is no faith at all.

 

[Adullam]

We are justified through faithful obedience. Disobedience does not justify us. We must please God, and not ourselves.

If the Lord says to me "pick up that stone and move it over there." I will obey. Now if another sees me moving the stone, and begins to teach that we must move stones to obey God...THAT would be based on a human understanding of works. This is vain.

But if I had disobeyed God, I would not love Him. There are no promises for those who do not love God. So firstly our love must be God-ward. Then we must share the love that God gives us with others. If we fail to please God...we can be rejected by God.

If we love God, we keep His commandments. If we love truth, we practice it. A man is known by what He does, as well as what he thinks. A man is not saved by thinking alone. This is the difference between the make-believe and real faith.

 

[Cornelius]

1Pe 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth................

We are purified through obedience.

 

[Cornelius]

Rom 2:13 for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified:
Rom 2:14 (for when Gentiles that have not the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are the law unto themselves;
Rom 2:15 in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them); : :

 

[Joe67]

Gal 2:16
16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. KJV

Joe

 

[turnorburn]

Easy right? :gah Or maybe not! :yes

Imagine 2 men. One says we must help the poor and the other says they should fend for themselves. The first man is very popular entertaining often...the other is not so popular, often eating alone.

One day a poor beggar knocks on the door of the first man asking for food.....but the first man is busy entertaining and tells the beggar to get lost.


The poor beggar then goes to the second man's house, who when seeing the terrible state of him, has compassion for him and invites him in to share his table.

Now, which of the two is pleasing to God. The one who paid lip service or the one who neglected to?

Adullam,

Neither pleased God. The second man helped his neighbor in his distress. It does not mean that he loved the Lord our God with all his heart and strength.

Works of charity are not what pleases God. Works of charity are good, holy and just. Works of charity are beneficial to our neighbor in need. It is a good thing to help the needy.

Works of charity neither justify before God or save us from the power of lust and pride.

Joe

Works of charity seem to be a wee more important than you think Joe.

I Corinthians 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

13:2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

13:4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

13:5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

13:6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

13:7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

13:8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

13:10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

 

[Croc7801]

Easy right? :gah Or maybe not! :yes

Imagine 2 men. One says we must help the poor and the other says they should fend for themselves. The first man is very popular entertaining often...the other is not so popular, often eating alone.

One day a poor beggar knocks on the door of the first man asking for food.....but the first man is busy entertaining and tells the beggar to get lost.


The poor beggar then goes to the second man's house, who when seeing the terrible state of him, has compassion for him and invites him in to share his table.

Now, which of the two is pleasing to God. The one who paid lip service or the one who neglected to?

The first man would be a hypocrite and the second man did a good deed, but denies godliness in his profession. Therefore, neither would please God because it is the hearers and doers of the Word that pleases God and marks a Christian. The faith that is righteousness before God will result in "good works"; not the means, as the Catholics would teach.

 

[MMarc]

I helped a friend once a long time ago to start a business, I got a grant to pay for two salaries for a full year. I did a huge business plan from a to z.

We had agreed, that because they were being paid with the grant I got, the revenue of the business would go got back into the business to grow the business in question.

Because I did all the paper work, they worked in their field of expertise. Then I find out, unlike we had discussed and agreed upon from the beginning, they kept the money from jobs and kept the money for themselves.

While I was working to make ends meet for myself and others I give to regularly. I then realized I was being manipulated because, and that they would always do the same, and would not change. So I spoke to them and told them to keep the business for themselves, since they didn't need me to make money on there own.


Another time a neighbour whom I knew was in dire straits, I took all his close he slept at my place. Because he didn't have a place to stay that night.He was also very sick.He told me how he needed a cell phone to keep in touch with his doctor.

Because of his financial situation, I got him a phone with a three year contract, he said he would pay for it because he had a part time job. He had now moved in with his sister by that time.

For three months he never paid, I saw him by chance and he shows me this 400.00$ phone that he just bought.
I said to him why didn't pay the 3 months instead of buying a new phone? As he had already a phone when we agreed on the arrangement.

But he never paid one dime on the three year contract. Because I signed for the contract, I had no choice but to pay over 3000.00$ over the spand of the contract. When the contract ended he still had a cell phone as he renewed the contract himself.

All of a sudden he could afford a phone under his name but not when it was under my name.
I was still trying to make ends meet while continuing to give to my obligations of monthly charity. I have shirts that are over ten years old, yet I thank God for these clothes, they don't seem to wear out as much as as I thought they would.

Recently another man came to me with an amazing project. He worked the streets boasting of making 200$ to 300$ a day, and he had a project to share the love of Christ. Being the person I am I agreed to help him.

But when I asked him how he intended to share the gospel to the lost. He told me he didn't want to share the gospel at all with anyone. All he wanted was to get a house near another pagan organization and just be happy. And when I told him how he would pay for such a house, he said he would work to make the money.

I figured at 200$ a day tax free a day or more, according to his claim, he was able to make at least
2000$ a week. The man had been doing this for many years now, so something didn't sound right.

He should have at least have a few hundred thousand dollars by now, why he didn't have any money whatsoever towards this project raised questions, he also said he was thinking about this project for over ten years.
So I figured he would need a mortgage to buy this house. He asked me to sleep at my place, I refused him, as he already had a place to sleep at another friends place.

Because he could not get a mortgage, someone with a steady job would have to sign for him and be on the hook to pay for someones else's dream. Another man involved already has a mortgage of his own. He was not ready to sign also realizing what was coming ahead. We talked about this and he shared with me how some people go after Christians because they are quick to say yes.

Reminded of my past two experiences when I poured myself out for others and never got anything out of it but the blood sweat and tears so others may take advantage of what not only they had but what I had as well.

I promised myself, if someone comes to me and agrees on a thing and that someone shows you something different then what he says, I promised myself I would get out of it before any other binding legal obligations would occur. As I could not afford to pay a mortgage.

Some talk the talk but if they are lead by the Holy Spirit to help this man get a house, land and sign on to pay all utilities, taxes and all repairs and use there own assets to back it up, then amen.

Sometimes you have to say no, because if you don't you end up doing everyone else's job but the one you're called to do.

Just look at Jesus, He could only do what He saw the Father doing, He didn't flinch one iota from His path, even if everyone else told Him not to.

Reminds me when the time came for Jesus to fulfill Passover when He told the apostles He would be sacrificed, die and resurrect on the 3rd day. to redeem the flesh of men, He gave up His flesh. He had to do what He HAD to do. They didn't understand. They didn't even ask. Even today most don't even understand half the spring feasts. much less the fall feasts.

I remember when someone helped me, I didn't ask, I hadn't paid my rent for two months, I couldn't. When a man offered to help, I resisted because he had family. He offered again and I accepted his offer of "tithe" as he said.

If this man were to come to me and ask for his money back, I'll be glad to repay him, I gave more than people know and I got help in return.

For his actions, out of nowhere he received a very nice gift worth a lot more than he gave me for sure.
It pays to help someone, it really does.

But if you're a parent I assume parents say yes to all? Or have to say no once in a while?

All I know is everytime I try to share my work with God, I'm called a liar.
I know I'm not paving the pavement preaching the coming of the kingdom, because I intercede a lot.
And I know I must follow the Holy Spirit.

Some minister to people, I like to minister to the spirits and to warfare. Imagine if the apostles return in our generation and spend there time judging the fallen angels and the twelve tribes?

They would be to busy no doubt pounding the pavement preaching the kingdom.