Helping others

[PureX]

There may be a time where you can help someone. If we follow God's commands we can know what the true love of God is.

Maybe no one will know you helped someone, maybe you can share it with others out of joy, and maybe God will teach you something in this, or allow you to teach others too.

One way to share the love of God is to share the gospel. This is just one way to help others.

The opportunity to help others is always with us. Unfortunately, we are so self-centered in our focus that we often don't recognize this. Every time we drive our vehicles in a safe and considerate manner we are helping other people. Every time we wait patiently in line for our turn we are helping others. Every time we respond politely rather than callously to someone, we are helping others. On and on it goes. How we choose to behave in nearly every situation we encounter becomes an opportunity to help others.

Helping others is a way of being. It's an attitude of selflessness, and attention toward the well-being of others, instead of just toward out own.

 

[Epoisses]

There you go making things up to defend your views, rather than learn the truth. I never denied that I have sinned or said anything to imply such a thing - to the contrary, I have most definitely sinned which is why I need forgiveness and reconciliation with God through Christ.

However, I do deny that I cannot anything good. That is false and contrary to the scriptures. We are fully capable of doing what is good and right, and of not sinning. There is no sin that you cannot escape - for God is good and promises this. More than that, God has presented us with a choice: to do good or to do evil, to obey or to sin, to live or to die. He has said that this is not too difficult for us - that it is not out of our reach. He compels us to do what is right, to choose life! It is in our hands which we choose.

Deut 30:11-19 this commandment... is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven... nor is it beyond the sea ... but the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it... I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live.

You haven't learned what sin is yet because if you think (like so many other carbon copy Christians) that sin is refraining from bad deeds then you are no different than the moral atheist. The vast majority of non-believers today live moral lives. They eat healthy and provide for their children and keep the laws of the land for the most part. We live in a mostly law abiding society with people who even try to save all the animals. Is God interested in well-behaved sinners? No, he's not and an outward obedience will never save anyone. The NT definition of sin is unbelief and by this definition all of the well-behaved sinners are condemned. They don't believe just like you don't believe. We don't chose life like some kind of Arminian on steroids. We believe in Jesus and he gives us life.

 

[csuguy]

You haven't learned what sin is yet because if you think (like so many other carbon copy Christians) that sin is refraining from bad deeds then you are no different than the moral atheist. The vast majority of non-believers today live moral lives. They eat healthy and provide for their children and keep the laws of the land for the most part. We live in a mostly law abiding society with people who even try to save all the animals. Is God interested in well-behaved sinners? No, he's not and an outward obedience will never save anyone. The NT definition of sin is unbelief and by this definition all of the well-behaved sinners are condemned. They don't believe just like you don't believe. We don't chose life like some kind of Arminian on steroids. We believe in Jesus and he gives us life.

If you believe, but do not act accordingly, of what use is that? Can that save you? No. For if you do not act accordingly, then you are no better off than one who does not believe. You join them in building atop the sand instead of the rock. Only, unlike them, you do not have ignorance to defend you before God - you fully know what is right and wrong - and so your conscious will fully condemn you before God.

You have to be the only person I've heard assert that non-believers are essentially all moral people who do what is right. While there are those who are morally upright - most people today are anything but. People today abort their children and justify it by denying the humanity of their child. Today their is a rampant amount of hate for God, for religion, and, in general, for anyone who is different. People do not devote their lives to doing what is right - they devote it to chasing after money, power, etc. People today are just as evil and sinful as they have always been - and our job of sharing the Gospel and making disciples, teaching them to obey the commandments, is just as important as it has always been.

 

[Epoisses]

People today are just as evil and sinful as they have always been - and our job of sharing the Gospel and making disciples, teaching them to obey the commandments, is just as important as it has always been.

You're not sharing the gospel. You are sharing more works based, self help, make yourself a better person by keeping the rules. The gospel is what Christ has done not what we do. Christian living is not the gospel it is the fruit of the gospel. You remind me of these so called moral do gooders who get on their soap box and condemn all the bad deeds of the world but never provide a remedy or a solution. The remedy is believing the gospel and receiving Christ's spirit so we can live above the filth of the world. You're cleaning the outside of the cup while the unconverted heart goes on living in blindness. You're band-aid solution to the sin problem just ignores the real issue of man's unending rebellion and unbelief of the finished work of Christ. Do you believe what Christ accomplished on the cross is finished or a work under construction?

 

[csuguy]

You're not sharing the gospel. You are sharing more works based, self help, make yourself a better person by keeping the rules. The gospel is what Christ has done not what we do. Christian living is not the gospel it is the fruit of the gospel. You remind me of these so called moral do gooders who get on their soap box and condemn all the bad deeds of the world but never provide a remedy or a solution. The remedy is believing the gospel and receiving Christ's spirit so we can live above the filth of the world. You're cleaning the outside of the cup while the unconverted heart goes on living in blindness. You're band-aid solution to the sin problem just ignores the real issue of man's unending rebellion and unbelief of the finished work of Christ. Do you believe what Christ accomplished on the cross is finished or a work under construction?

I am sharing the gospel - everything I have said comes straight from the scriptures, even the very words of Christ. You reject these things - insisting that they don't apply to you. So, I ask you, how is it that you "follow" Christ if you reject everything he taught and commanded as inapplicable to you?

 

[Epoisses]

I am sharing the gospel - everything I have said comes straight from the scriptures, even the very words of Christ. You reject these things - insisting that they don't apply to you. So, I ask you, how is it that you "follow" Christ if you reject everything he taught and commanded as inapplicable to you?

So which commandments do I keep? The NT commands of faith and love or the OT commandments found in Jewish law. What are you some kind of Messianic?

 

[csuguy]

So which commandments do I keep? The NT commands of faith and love or the OT commandments found in Jewish law. What are you some kind of Messianic?

All of the law and the prophets rest upon the two great commandments: love the Lord your God and love your fellowman. Under the New Covenant, God's Law is written on our hearts and minds so that we may fulfill the Law - and the fulfillment of the Law is love.

Romans 3:31 Do we then nullify [w]the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.​

Matthew 5:17-19 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not [h]the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever [j]keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.​

 

[chrysostom]

All of the law and the prophets rest upon the two great commandments: love the Lord your God and love your fellowman.

yes

 

[Epoisses]

All of the law and the prophets rest upon the two great commandments: love the Lord your God and love your fellowman. Under the New Covenant, God's Law is written on our hearts and minds so that we may fulfill the Law - and the fulfillment of the Law is love.

Romans 3:31 Do we then nullify [w]the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.​

Matthew 5:17-19 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not [h]the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever [j]keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.​

Do you abstain from bacon and keep the Sabbath?

 

[csuguy]

Do you abstain from bacon and keep the Sabbath?

No I don't abstain from bacon, all food is clean now. But it never was a sin to eat bacon anyways, even in the Old Testament - kosher dietary restrictions were never a matter of sin. It was a matter of being ceremonially clean. Having sex makes one ceremonially unclean, for a time. A woman, during her time of the month is unclean. Coming in to contact with a dead body makes one ceremonially unclean, for a time. You should go study up on what it means to be ceremonially clean/unclean in Judaism.

This matter of ceremonial cleanliness is why the pharisees criticized Christ for eating with unwashed hands, for eating with sinners, and the like.

As for the Sabbath, the Sabbath was made for us - a time to rest from our worldly labors. I very much look forward to the Sabbath. It is good and necessary for us to rest and to focus on God.

Something you must keep in mind when studying the Law is that the commandments were given with a reason - they aren't random ordinances. You must seek to understand the Spirit behind the commandments, as opposed to simply the letter of the Law. For priests are said to break the letter of the Law, working on the Sabbath - yet it is not sin for them.

 

[patrick jane]

yes

then do it

 

[Epoisses]

No I don't abstain from bacon, all food is clean now. But it never was a sin to eat bacon anyways, even in the Old Testament - kosher dietary restrictions were never a matter of sin. It was a matter of being ceremonially clean. Having sex makes one ceremonially unclean, for a time. A woman, during her time of the month is unclean. Coming in to contact with a dead body makes one ceremonially unclean, for a time. You should go study up on what it means to be ceremonially clean/unclean in Judaism.

This matter of ceremonial cleanliness is why the pharisees criticized Christ for eating with unwashed hands, for eating with sinners, and the like.

As for the Sabbath, the Sabbath was made for us - a time to rest from our worldly labors. I very much look forward to the Sabbath. It is good and necessary for us to rest and to focus on God.

Something you must keep in mind when studying the Law is that the commandments were given with a reason - they aren't random ordinances. You must seek to understand the Spirit behind the commandments, as opposed to simply the letter of the Law. For priests are said to break the letter of the Law, working on the Sabbath - yet it is not sin for them.

When they give up bacon and keep the Sabbath it's game over. Faith is dead and Love is cold. You're half way there.

 

[csuguy]

When they give up bacon and keep the Sabbath it's game over. Faith is dead and Love is cold. You're half way there.

Do you not know that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath? (Matthew 12:8) Why do you mock what is Holy?

 

[Epoisses]

Do you not know that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath? (Matthew 12:8) Why do you mock what is Holy?

The Sabbath was a shadow of the rest we experience by believing in Christ. The writer of Hebrews made this as clear as day. There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God that can only be entered into by faith. If you try to bypass Christ be keeping the law with the Sabbath day you are fallen from grace.

 

[patrick jane]

Do you not know that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath? (Matthew 12:8) Why do you mock what is Holy?

That's why Jesus did works on the Sabbath

 

[csuguy]

That's why Jesus did works on the Sabbath

Matthew 12:8-14 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. 9 Departing from there, He went into their synagogue. 10 And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned [f]Jesus, asking, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse Him. 11 And He said to them, “What man [g]is there among you who [h]has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then He *said to the man, “Stretch out your hand!” He stretched it out, and it was restored to [j]normal, like the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and [k]conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.​

It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

 

[csuguy]

The Sabbath was a shadow of the rest we experience by believing in Christ. The writer of Hebrews made this as clear as day. There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God that can only be entered into by faith. If you try to bypass Christ be keeping the law with the Sabbath day you are fallen from grace.

You are - once more - being absurd and acting completely contrary to the scriptures. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, and the Sabbath is Holy. You will not fall from grace because you observe that which is Holy.

The Law is Holy and it tells you not to murder. Do you think that by observing this commandment one has fallen from grace? Foolish.

 

[Epoisses]

You are - once more - being absurd and acting completely contrary to the scriptures. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, and the Sabbath is Holy. You will not fall from grace because you observe that which is Holy.

The Law is Holy and it tells you not to murder. Do you think that by observing this commandment one has fallen from grace? Foolish.

Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. Gal. 5:4

The law was put in place and had jurisdiction over Israel until the time of reformation when Christ appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. He literally fulfilled every type and shadow of the law so now he has jurisdiction over the people of God making the law obsolete. Any return to it in the age of grace is a rejection of Christ and the highest form of sin.

 

[Epoisses]

You are - once more - being absurd and acting completely contrary to the scriptures. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, and the Sabbath is Holy. You will not fall from grace because you observe that which is Holy.

What are you some kind of SDA or something?

 

[Jacob]

The opportunity to help others is always with us. Unfortunately, we are so self-centered in our focus that we often don't recognize this. Every time we drive our vehicles in a safe and considerate manner we are helping other people. Every time we wait patiently in line for our turn we are helping others. Every time we respond politely rather than callously to someone, we are helping others. On and on it goes. How we choose to behave in nearly every situation we encounter becomes an opportunity to help others.

There are many ways to help others. You are correct in this.

Helping others is a way of being. It's an attitude of selflessness, and attention toward the well-being of others, instead of just toward our own.

It is easy to believe we are being very helpful toward others and that this is what God desires so that in this we have arrived. There is more to life than this. Helping others is important. It is part of the gospel, not opposed to it. But helping others is not enough to be saved. To be saved one must be saved by God in Christ. Repent, and have faith. Have faith in God. Jesus died for you, that your sins would be forgiven.