THE IMPERATIVE OF LOVE

11 Because this is the message-the announcement-which you have heard from the first, that we should love one another,
12 [And] not be like Cain who [took his nature and got his motivation] from the evil one and slew his brother. And why did he slay him? Because his deeds (activities, works) were wicked and malicious and his brother's were righteous-virtuous.
13 Do not be surprised and wonder, brethren, that the world detests and pursues you with hatred.
14 We know that we have passed over out of the death into the Life by the fact that we love the brethren, [our fellow Christians]. He who does not love abides-remains, is held and kept continually-in [spiritual] death.
15 Any one who (abominates, detests) hates his brother [in Christ] is [at heart] a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding (persevering) within him. (1 John 3:11-15).


   As the knowledge of God is tested by conduct (1:5-2:11), so being "born of God" (2:29) is tested by righteous action and love of fellow believers. The command to love fellow believers was first introduced in 2:9-11 as a test of whether one was walking in light, i.e., had true knowledge. Here it is the sum of the new life in God. In the former instance it was leveled as a charge against the heretics. Here it is addressed to the community of faith for encouragement and admonition. Most likely the disregard for love by the heretics had caused a lessening of an emphasis on love within the Christian community. The author presents the case for love first by the negative example of Cain (vv. 12-15), contrasted with the positive example of Jesus (v. 16).


11 The admonition that "we should love one another" is highlighted by the return to the critical formula. "This is the message you heard from the beginning," an almost identical reminiscence of 1:1, 5.  The command to "love one another" has its origin in the nature of God. The entire goal and aim of the Gospel is to create and strengthen love (1 Tim 1:5). 


12 The mention of Cain points back to 3:8 and reminds us that hatred is also from the beginning. The choice between the children of God and the children of the devil, between hatred and love or life and death, stems from the earliest moment of human existence. It also points to Jn 8:37-47, where some Jewish opponents of Jesus had exhibited the same kind of hatred toward Jesus that Cain expressed toward Abel (Gen 4:1-8). There Jesus labels his enemies as people who "belong to your father, the devil ... [who was] a murderer from the beginning" (Jn 8:42).


   The sequence of thought in this section is significant. It is not that Cain by murdering his brother became the child of the devil; but, being a child of the devil, his actions were evil and culminated in the murder of his brother. The reason why he "murdered" (lit., "butchered") him was that his brother's acts were righteous. Righteousness draws hatred from the devil and hatred from the children of the devil. Darkness cannot tolerate light; immorality, morality; hatred, love; or greed, sacrifice.


13 The hatred of the "world" for the community of faith must not surprise the believers. The author does not say that the world always hates believers; it did not always hate Jesus. But whenever the community of faith acts so as to expose the greed, avarice, hatred, and wickedness of the world, it must expect rejection; and if it should go so far as to interfere with its evil practices, as Jesus did in the temple, it may expect suffering and brutal death (cf. Jn 15:18-19, 25; 17:14). 


14 John looks back to v.10 and answers the question: How do we know those who have been "born of God"? or, Who are the children of God? "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers" (cf. Jn 5:24).  This conviction is not based on self-judgment or self-justification but on the certainty that love is the basis for life in the believing community. This is a self-test by which each person can examine himself or herself. Love will not, of course, cause one's passage to spiritual life but will give evidence of it. Conversely, to be unable to love means that a person is without spiritual life and remains in death.


15 Here John links hatred with murder (cf. Matt 5:21-22).  In the heart there is no difference; to hate is to despise, and murder is the fulfillment of that attitude. Cain, by murdering his brother, was cut off from the covenant community. So no murderer is within the community, nor anyone who "hates his brother." Such a person has no life of God and no fellowship with the faithful.
[NIV BIBLE COMMENTARY Volume 2: New Testament].


[http://twitter.com/SowersOfTheWord]. 
JESUS IS LORD.

ARE YOU WALKING IN THE LIGHT OF LOVE OR ARE YOU STUMBLING IN THE DARKNESS OF HATE?

9 Whoever says he is in the Light and [yet] hates his brother [Christian, born-again child of God his own Father] is in darkness even until now.
10 Whoever loves his brother [believer] abides (lives) in the Light, and in It or in him there is no occasion for stumbling or cause for error or sin.
11 But he who hates (detests, despises) his brother [in Christ] is in darkness and walking (living) in the dark; he is straying and does not perceive or know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. (Read 1 John 2:3-11).


9 This verse brings us to the third false claim that the author denies. Whereas obedience to the new command leads to love among the Christian community, among the opponents who claim to "be in the light" there is hate. This hate for one's fellow believer shows that the light they follow is nothing but darkness.
   How does John understand hate? His answer lies primarily in what one does. Hate is the absence of the deeds of love. To walk in the light is to love one's brother, and God's love will express itself in concrete actions. If these are missing, it is not because love can be neutral or can exist unexpressed. Love unexpressed is not love at all. When it is absent, hate is present.
   In this instance, hate is the failure to deny oneself, the unwillingness to lay down one's life for a brother (Jn 15:13). On considers one's own plight first (1 Cor 13:5); disregards the robbed and afflicted (Lk 10:30-37); despises the little ones (Mt 18:10); withholds the cup pf cold water from the thirsty (Mt 25:43). Whenever a brother has need and one does not help him, then one has, in fact, hated his brother.
   Does the word "brother" refer here to one's neighbor or to one who belongs to the community of faith? In this instance it probably refers to a member of the community of faith. It is not that John lacks concern for those outside the faith: rather, in this letter he has the community of believers in view. Moreover, if believers cannot love their fellow believers, it is doubtful that they can truly love their neighbors.


10 The author now gives us a positive test of living in the light. Unlike his opponents, his concern is with deeds, not claims. "Whoever loves," he says, is "in the light." Conversely, the one who does not live "in the light" will not manifest God's love.

11 Now the author picks up the concept of "darkness" from v.9 and gives it a final elaboration and conclusion. One who "hates his brother" is not simply "in the darkness" but is condemned to spend his life in darkness. Though he has eyes, he can see nothing. And the darkness so blinds his eyes that he has no idea "where he is going." Life is a search, but for him it is without direction. He never knows whether he is closer to or farther from his destination. The only certainty is that he is without hope of reaching it. So hate destroys any window for light from God. To live without loving one's brother means to deny oneself the presence of God and the reality of fellowship with the community of faith.
[NIV BIBLE COMMENTARY Volume 2: New Testament].


[http://twitter.com/SowersOfTheWord].
JESUS IS LORD.

DON'T GROW WEARY IN DOING GOOD TO OTHERS!

9 And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.


10 So then, as occasion and opportunity open to us, let us do good (morally) to all people [not only being useful or profitable to them, but also doing what is for their spiritual good and advantage]. Be mindful to be a blessing, especially to those of the household of faith-those who belong to God's family with you, the believers. (Read: Galatians 6: 6-10). 


9 The great hindrance to good sowing is weariness that results in discouragement and eventually in giving up. Four months elapse between planting and harvest (Jn 4:35); and, while it is true that in spiritual sowing the results may occasionally come sooner, more often they take much longer. The best reason for resisting weariness and giving up is that if the necessary preparation is done, the harvest is certain.


   One cannot help feeling that Paul may be talking to himself as he thinks of the extensive but thus far unrewarding efforts he had expended on the churches of Galatia. The change to the first person plural supports this supposition.


10 Finally. Paul speaks broadly about the obligation to do good to all people, returning again primarily to the thought of giving money. But suppose a Christian is limited in resources? In that case, says Paul, he or she should give primarily to Christian causes, knowing that if they are not supported by Christians, they will not be supported at all. One with unlimited funds should give to every valid charity that comes along.


    Two parts of this verse are of special interest. (1) Paul speaks of the "family of believers." This really means those who have become related to us by believing in Christ and points to a relationship transcending all others. Giving should not be unduly restricted by denominational or party loyalty. (2) Paul mentions "opportunity" (also translated "time" in v.9). This word denotes "proper time" for anything; consequently a time that occurs only once before it is lost forever. No one can hope to reap a harvest before the time appointed for it by God (v.9). But if one does not seize the time appointed for sowing, he or she will never reap a harvest.
[NIV BIBLE COMMENTARY Volume 2; New Testament].


[http://twitter.com/SowersOfTheWord]. JESUS IS LORD.

WHEN SPREADING THE GOSPEL THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, DON'T FORGET THE POOR!

   And when they knew (perceived, recognized, understood and acknowledged) the grace (God's unmerited favor and spiritual blessing) that had been bestowed upon me, James and Cephas (Peter) and John, who were reputed to be pillars of the Jerusalem church, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, with the understanding that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised (Jews). 
   They only [made one stipulation], that we were to remember the poor, which very thing I was also eager to do. (Read: Galatians 2:1-10).


10 Paul had already shown a concern for the poor at the time of the famine visit when he traveled to Jerusalem with Barnabas as a representative of the church at Antioch (Acts 11:27-30). At the time of the council he was reminded of this good work and encouraged to pursue it. Out of this request, with which he was in great sympathy, arose the collection from among the Gentile churches that occupied so large a part in Paul's later thought and writings (cf. Acts 24:17; Rom 15:26; 1 Cor 16:1-4; 2 Cor 8-9).
[NIV BIBLE COMMENTARY Volume 2: New Testament].


[http://twitter.com/SowersOfTheWord]. 
JESUS IS LORD. 

THE WAY TO GREATNESS IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS THROUGH SERVING OTHERS!

But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." (Read: Matthew 20:20-28).


24-27 The indignation of the ten doubtless sprang less from humility than jealousy plus the fear that they might lose out. These verses demonstrate that interest in egalitarianism may mask a jealousy whose deepest well-springs are not concern for justice but "enlightened self-interest." The disciples revert to the squabbling of an earlier period (Mk 9:33-37; cf. Matt 18:1). Jesus calls them together and draws a contrast between greatness among "Gentiles" and greatness among heirs of the kingdom. Power and authority characterized the Roman empire. Greatness among Jesus' disciples is based on service. Anyone who wants to be great must become the "servant." In the pagan world humility was regarded as a vice. Imagine a slave being given leadership! Jesus' ethics of the leadership and power in his community of disciples is revolutionary. [NIV BIBLE COMMENTARY Volume 2: New Testament].


The measure of greatness is not position, power, or prestige; it is service.
[THE NKJV STUDY BIBLE Second Edition].


[http://twitter.com/SowersOfTheWord]. 
JESUS IS LORD.

GOD HAS MADE US ABLE MINISTERS OF THE NEW COVENANT, FOR THE OLD KILLS!

[It is He] Who has qualified us 9making us to be fit and worthy and sufficient) as ministers and dispensers of a new covenant [of salvation through Christ], not [ministers] of the letter-that is, of legally written code-but of the Spirit; for the code [of the Law] kills, but the (Holy) Spirit makes alive.
(Read: 2 Corinthians 3:1-6).


v.6 Paul realized that being divinely commissioned required being divinely equipped. His equipment to be a minister of a new covenant was given at his Damascus call when he was named a "chosen instrument" of God and filled with his Spirit (Acts 9:15, 17-19). There follows a contrast between two basic characteristics of the old and new covenants. The basis of the old covenant between the Lord and Israel was a lifeless, written code, "the book of the covenant" (Ex. 24:7). The basis of the new covenant between God and the church is a dynamic, pervasive Spirit. The written code (or 'letter") pronounced a sentence of death 9see Rom 7:9-11; Gal 3:10), but the Spirit brings transformation of life (Rom 7:6; 8:3). Though the new covenant was ratified by the shedding of Christ's blood 9Heb 13:20) and is symbolized in the communion cup (Lk 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25), it becomes operative only through the indwelling Spirit who imparts new life. Where "the letter" was powerless, the Spirit is powerful in producing holiness of life, enabling a person fully to meet the righteous requirements of the Law (Rom 8:4). This is what makes the new covenant 'new' and the old covenant (3:14) "old" (see Heb 8:6-13).
[NIV BIBLE COMMENTARY Volume 2: New Testament].


[twiiter.com/SowersOfTheWord]. JESUS IS LORD.

IF I DON'T TITHE, AM I UNDER A CURSE??

by Robin Hair on Wednesday, August 31, 2011 at 9:03am

Fact or Fiction? - According to Malachi 3:8-10, if New Testament believers do not tithe today, they are under a curse.

1. Fiction: The book of Malachi was written to the Nation of Israel, not the New Testament Church. Israel was under the Law of Moses and therefore commanded to tithe. In the Old Covenant, Israel was under a system of blessings and curses. (Deut.28, Lev.26)) They were blessed if they obeyed God’s laws or cursed for their disobedience. Whenever ministers teach this portion of scripture as proof that New Testament believers are to tithe or they will be under a curse, believers should read beyond this usual quote to read the entire book of Malachi to find out who God is speaking to.

Let's go through Malachi, chapter 3: In verse 11, God speaks through the prophet Malachi to remind His people Israel of the blessings and curses of Deuteronomy 28. In doing so, God was rebuking them for their rebellion against His laws. Simple obedience would bring them back under His blessings once again and they would no longer be punished. This curse was a divine curse that originated from God, not the devil as some teach. When Israel was under the curse for not obeying God, He was sending His wrath or punishment upon them. This is why in Romans 4:15 says, “Because the law worketh wrath...” The Apostle Paul makes it clear in Galatians 3:10-11 that only those who are under the works of the law are under a curse, not those who live by faith.The law is of works, not faith. (Galatians 3:12) Since God imposed the curse, only He could lift it. Jesus as God in the flesh, lifted the curse of the law when he died on the cross by becoming a curse for us.(Galatians3: 13) The curse that He delivered us from was the curse mentioned back in Malachi and this was one of the curses that was imposed under the Mosaic Law.

Sin separates people from God. Under the Mosaic Law, sin brought God’s wrath (anger) upon His people when they broke it. Jesus has delivered us from God’s wrath! He took the punishment for our sins on the cross and paid the penalty of death required by the law. Now we are no longer under God’s wrath (anger) but are now under His grace (unmerited pardon and forgiveness). God’s wrath is not for those who are in Christ. (I Thessalonians 5:9) Jesus took God’s wrath and punishment for our sins on the cross; we are not under wrath, but grace.

Just as Jesus shed his blood to atone for our sins, he also delivered us from the curse of the law. Christ did this in order that the blessings of Abraham could come by faith. Are you in Christ? Do you live by faith? Have you been delivered from the law? THEN MALACHI 3 DOES NOT APPLY TO YOU! Since the New Covenant has been established, believers are not required to tithe and are not under the Law of Moses because there has been a change in the law. (Hebrews7: 12) (Romans 7:6, Galatians5: 18) The New Testament scriptures teach believers how we are to give now and it is by grace. Believers in Christ are not under the Law of Moses but grace in Christ. (II Corinthians chapters 8 & 9. Romans 7: 4-6, Galatians 2:16-21, 5:18) 

2. Fiction: Christians are not under a curse if they don’t tithe. The fact is that they are bringing themselves under a curse if they do. (Galatians 3:10) How is that possible? Tithing is anordinance of the Law (of Moses). If we place ourselves back under this Law and try to justify ourselves by keeping these laws, we are in effect agreeing to all the Law says. This includes the curses of God as well as the blessings. But what does the word of God say? “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.”(Galatians 3:13) What does this word redeemed mean in this particular passage? In the Greek it means, of Christ freeing men from the dominion of the Mosaic Law at the price of his vicarious death. [Joseph Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament] Believers, no, we're not under the dominion of the Mosaic Law and its ordinances because Christ freed us from that when He died on the cross.

Jesus became our substitute on the Cross and literally fulfilled the Law for you and me. When He died to the Law, so did we. (Galatians 2:19-20, Colossians 2:20, 3:3, II Timothy 2:11) * (The scriptures prove that tithing was an ordinance instituted under the Law of Moses and is not a New Testament ordinance. Nowhere in the New Testament do we find the church teaching or practicing tithing.) In Malachi 3:7-9, God says through the prophet, “yet from the days of your fathers, you have gone away from my ordinances and have not kept them. Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of Hosts. But you said, in what way shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me! But you say, in what way have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse (or broke the law) for you have robbed me even this whole nation” (Israel). Continuing in Malachi 3:14, “You have said, it is useless to serve God what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance”... These Old Testament ordinances of the law were blotted out through the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Jesus had fulfilled the entire law for us because we could not do it ourselves. The law was then removed out of the way when the New Testament was ratified. Colossians 2:14 says, “having wiped out (or blotted out KJV) the handwriting of ordinances (or requirements) that was against us, which was contrary to us and he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” The law was against us, not for us. It only could condemn us to death. Jesus defeated death on the cross so that we might have eternal life. The Law of Moses was taken out of the way because it could only accuse us of sin, it could not save us from our sins. Only the blood of the perfect, spotless Lamb of God could do that. For more proof of this we can look at Ephesians 2:15. “Having abolished in his flesh (through the cross) the enmity, even the law of commandments (Mosaic Law) contained in ordinances; so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.” Through Jesus’ atoning work on the cross, he made peace between us and God and one another! We've been reconciled to God through the redemptive work of Christ on the cross, NOT TITHING!

These Old Testament ordinances were fleshly as the book of Hebrews teaches us. “Then indeed even the first covenant (Old Covenant) had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary.” (Hebrews 9:1) This worldly sanctuary was “concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation. But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come.” (Hebrews 9:10-11) and “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience form dead works (of the Law) to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the mediator of the New Covenant by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant (Old Covenant), that those who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance For where there is a testament there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.” (Hebrews 9:14-16 all scriptures are NKJV unless otherwise noted) Hebrews 8:13 says, “In that he says a new covenant, he has made the first one obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”

Clearly, the Old Testament Law has been made obsolete and is no longer in force or effect. Believers today are under the New Testament and this is what we are to follow.

We are to obey the New Testament pattern of giving. In the Church today, we are no longer commanded to tithe but to give by grace. (II Corinthians chapters 8 & 9) We are free to give liberally and free from condemnation if we do not have anything to give. We are to each give according to our ability. (II Corinthians 8:12-14) We are to share in all things so that no one has too much or others do not do without. As a matter of fact, when the Church was first birthed, many gave far beyond a mere ten percent; they shared everything they had for the sake of the church and the Gospel of Christ. I wonder when we in the Church today will make those same kinds of sacrifices?

BOTTOM LINE:  Tithing is an Old Covenant ordinance, not a New Testament one. You are not under law, but grace.  

AFTER WORKING HARD FOR THE LORD, FIND A SOLITARY PLACE AND REST FOR A WHILE!

Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. And He said to them, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. (Read: Mark 6:7-13, 30-33).


30 Mark resumes the account of the mission of the Twelve. The disciples, here called "apostles" returned to Jesus with a report on their apostolic work of preaching, casting out demons, and healing.


31-32 Their activity had created much interest. So many people were coming and going that the disciples had no time even to eat. Since the disciples were doubtless tired from their missionary activities and from the demands of the crowds, Jesus decided to seek rest for them in a quiet and solitary place.
[NIV BIBLE COMMENTARY Volume 2: New Testament].

[http://twitter.com/SowersOfTheWord]. 
JESUS IS LORD.