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The Bible Doesn't Say Anything

MarkT said:
The Bible doesn't say anything about mowing a man's lawn, so I'm not going there. The Bible does say the cares of this world can choke the word.
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It does say in a few places, '

29“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.e 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’f 31The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’g There is no commandment greater than these (Mark 12:29-31 NIV).​

I like my lawns to be mowed regularly to make my house look tidy. To love my neighbour as myself could involve mowing his/her lawns. That's a practical demonstration of what it is to be a good Christian neighbour.

Oz
 
MarkT said:
Kinda lost track of the point. So it's not about cutting grass, it's about compassion and mercy. Jesus showed compassion and mercy. So I would agree. That's what makes a good neighbour.

But even sinners can show compassion. So what makes us different? We have the truth. Isn't that what sets us apart?
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If you want to be great in the Kingdom of Heaven, be a servant of all. Mark 9:35 Our lives as Christians should be marked by service to others. Such service comes in many forms. Some can give money, some time, some skills. Serving others should happen in every aspect of our lives. Serve at work. How? Do your job plus. Don't complain. Be a reason people like their job. What do others need? How can I support them? How can I show love to others? Pray for God's guidance. On and on. And yes, if there's a need, and you can meet it, meet it. One of my guitar students has this in her signature email file:
"Love proves itself by deeds"
~ St. Therese of Lisieux
​
This from a web site:
1. Notice Needs
2. Take Action
3. Trust God
Goal:
To help Christians meet people’s physical and spiritual needs.

James 2:…15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you tells him, “Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,” but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that? 17 So too, faith by itself, if it is not complemented by action, is dead.…

1 John 3: 17 If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him? 18 Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth.…

This is the bigger picture. Mowing that lady's lawn was a way to be a servant to her. It was a need she had and no one was there to do it. She'd have to hire someone to do it but why? I was fully capable, it wouldn't take me long to do my lawn and hers, and that need was placed on my heart. So for years I mowed her lawn. After she died and someone else bought the home, they mowed the lawn. The need was gone. But other needs are everywhere.

That unbelievers can do the same isn't the point. They can and they do. But we are called to do such things. Even more. It's not a list of things we ought to do, it's a guiding principle on how to live lives worthy of our calling in Christ. Sometimes that means mow your neighbor's lawn because she/he can't. Sometimes it means ______________ (fill in the blank).

I think 1 John 3:17, 18 says it all.
 
This is the very reason I often, when confronted, am caught admitting that God will jerk all the knots out of our tails when we get to Heaven. I believe firmly in what I have gleaned from the Helper but that does not make my understanding perfect.
 
MarkT said: ↑
Kinda lost track of the point. So it's not about cutting grass, it's about compassion and mercy. Jesus showed compassion and mercy. So I would agree. That's what makes a good neighbour.

But even sinners can show compassion. So what makes us different? We have the truth. Isn't that what sets us apart?
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The difference is so slight that it baffles the intelligent and the unlearned. It is so simple than it defies logic and is so simple it is impossible to believe without Faith. That is the whole difference!
 
MarkT said:
The Bible doesn't say anything about mowing a man's lawn, so I'm not going there. The Bible does say the cares of this world can choke the word.
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Jesus COMMANDED us to love God and our neighbor (Luke 10:27)
Paul defined love at 1 Cor 13:4-8. One of the aspects of love in that passage is that "love is kind."
If you have a neighbor who is ill or otherwise unable to mow his lawn ( as Spencer stated he is unable to do in his post) then it would be an act of love and an act of kindness to mow his lawn for him.
It is baffling to me that you have been unable to understand that. (But then, I'm not all that sharp.)

iakov the fool
 
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OzSpen said:
Mark,

Taking care of my lawn is part of taking care of my property where I live. It is related to caring for the totality of my personhood. If my lawn grows up around my ears, what kind of danger will that represent around my house in the humidity, rain and cyclones of SE Qld in the summer.

Ever heard of mice, rats, ants, and snakes inhabiting the mulch provided by long grass?

You must be kidding when you try to separate caring for me from caring for the exterior of my house - the grass.

I hope you learn what caring for the whole person means.

Oz
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Then we're not talking about what makes a good neighbour - the Samaritan showed mercy on the man who fell among robbers. He bound his wounds and he took care of him. That's what makes a good neighbour. Jesus said go and do it.

He also said, Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:13

So you have a property. As a property owner myself, I understand your need. But I am in service to the Lord, so mowing my lawn is nothing to me. Less than nothing. My house is not of this world.

So let's not talk about our earthly house. Let's set our minds on things that are above, not things that are on earth.
 
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OzSpen said:
It does say in a few places, '

29“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.e 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’f 31The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’g There is no commandment greater than these (Mark 12:29-31 NIV).​

I like my lawns to be mowed regularly to make my house look tidy. To love my neighbour as myself could involve mowing his/her lawns. That's a practical demonstration of what it is to be a good Christian neighbour.

Oz
Click to expand...

See there's the whole person ie. mind, body and soul. Taking care of those things is love.

I don't count mowing a man's lawn as anything.
 
However, since you are unable to mow your lawn, it might be considered a body need. And if it's the law, then we have to do it. So then it might be considered an act of kindness if someone cut your lawn. But is it an act of righteousness? Jesus said,
Luke 6:32
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
Luke 6:33
And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
 
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Papa Zoom said:
It was a need she had. And she being a widow needed help from someone. Maybe God picked me for that. Either way, there was no reason not to help her with that and it was something she wanted done but couldn't do it herself.
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Hi Papa, It seems like too many judge what we did instead of why we did it. Men look at the surface, God looks deeper.
 
MarkT said:
Then we're not talking about what makes a good neighbour - the Samaritan showed mercy on the man who fell among robbers. He bound his wounds and he took care of him. That's what makes a good neighbour. Jesus said go and do it.

He also said, Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:13

So you have a property. As a property owner myself, I understand your need. But I am in service to the Lord, so mowing my lawn is nothing to me. Less than nothing. My house is not of this world.

So let's not talk about our earthly house. Let's set our minds on things that are above, not things that are on earth.
Click to expand...

The Christians good works AFTER salvation are done 'on earth'.

I don't understand your resistance to the Christian good works of mowing someone's lawn, when Scripture states:

17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds (James 2:17-18 NIV).​

Mowing a lawn is but one example of the 'action' that causes it to be alive and not dead. I ask Christians to show their faith by good deeds performed - including mowing your neighbour's lawn.

Oz
 
MarkT said:
See there's the whole person ie. mind, body and soul. Taking care of those things is love.

I don't count mowing a man's lawn as anything.
Click to expand...

Mowing someone's lawn when he/she can't do it himself/herself is taking care of of a person's physical needs, in love.

I know because I am physically unable to mow my lawn. What you are saying is a slap in the face for someone like me who has a massive heart condition that doesn't allow me to walk 30 metres without exhaustion. Pushing a mower to cut a lawn is a blessing to me in my need.

Oz
 
MarkT said:
The answer is there is no difference. It's only by the grace of God that we are saved.
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Of course there is a difference. The Bible tells me so.

'Both Romans 14:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:9 speak of the “judgment seat.” This is a translation of one Greek word, the word bema' (source).

Rev 20:11-12 (NIRV) teaches on the Great White Throne Judgment:

11 I saw a great white throne. And I saw God sitting on it. When the earth and sky saw his face, they ran away. There was no place for them. 12 I saw the dead, great and small, standing in front of the throne. Books were opened. Then another book was opened. It was the book of life. The dead were judged by what they had done. The things they had done were written in the books.​

These are two different judgments.

Oz
 
OzSpen said:
The Christians good works AFTER salvation are done 'on earth'.

I don't understand your resistance to the Christian good works of mowing someone's lawn, when Scripture states:

17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds (James 2:17-18 NIV).​

Mowing a lawn is but one example of the 'action' that causes it to be alive and not dead. I ask Christians to show their faith by good deeds performed - including mowing your neighbour's lawn.

Oz
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James said judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; yet mercy triumphs over judgment. James 2:13 That's why I keep saying show mercy. Cloth your brother if he is ill clad. Feed your brother if he is lacking in food. Take him into your house. Take care of him in his suffering.

It's a mind set. Set your mind on mercy because God has shown you mercy.
 
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MarkT said:
James said judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; yet mercy triumphs over judgment. James 2:13 That's why I keep saying show mercy. Cloth your brother if he is ill clad. Feed your brother if he is lacking in food. Take him into your house. Take care of him in his suffering.

It's a mind set. Set your mind on mercy because God has shown you mercy.
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Mark,

You did not respond to the content of what I wrote. Therefore, your response is a red herring logical fallacy.

Since when was showing mercy not associated with doing practical good deeds? The Greek eleos means:
mercy: kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them
  1. of men towards men: to exercise the virtue of mercy, show one's self merciful
  2. of God towards men: in general providence; the mercy and clemency of God in providing and offering to men salvation by Christ
  3. the mercy of Christ, whereby at his return to judgment he will bless true Christians with eternal life (source).
images

Oz
 
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OzSpen said:
Mark,

You did not respond to the content of what I wrote. Therefore, your response is a red herring logical fallacy.

Since when was showing mercy not associated with doing practical good deeds? The Greek eleos means:
mercy: kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them
  1. of men towards men: to exercise the virtue of mercy, show one's self merciful
  2. of God towards men: in general providence; the mercy and clemency of God in providing and offering to men salvation by Christ
  3. the mercy of Christ, whereby at his return to judgment he will bless true Christians with eternal life (source).
images

Oz
Click to expand...

I'm tired of hearing about your lawn.
 
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