GOODNEWSLETTER
Number 479 June 26. 2013
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBORS, ET AL
"FOR THE WHOLE LAW IS FULFILLED IN THIS ONE WORD,
'THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,' " Galatians 5:14.
The LAW is the second most important subject in the Bible; relative to man. But, the Law has a condemning effect on man. He cannot keep it. Thus, God sent His Son to take the Law out of the way. One basic teaching of Jesus was the fact that He came to remove the Law out of man's life. No longer shall we hear, "...thou shalt not."
In His coming, Jesus dealt with man's spirit and gave man a new way of service. Service comes by grace and it comes only through faith (believing). While, we may know much about the Law, we serve by LOVE that Jesus imparts to those who come to Him by FAITH. Do all who follow Jesus have the teaching of love? In my opinion, the answer is no. That's because too many try to keep the Law and, at the same time, serve Christ. Even Baptists do this sort of thing. I don't know if there are any more Seventh Day Baptists in the world; but there were, when I was much younger. So, it's important that we watch where we go because there are many so-called Baptists out there.
Can you imagine! Trying to serve under the 7th day? We see that the point of what Jesus came to do is totally missed. Jesus came to SET US FREE from the Law – by grace and through faith. We cannot then, take up the Law and call it service. There is a day to worship, of course - Sunday. Here, knowing that we have this NEW DAY to worship, we surely see that the Law is removed. Jesus fulfilled it, and then, He took the Law out of the way. Now we serve in spirit and in truth and, that's what Paul wrote in Romans 7:6: "But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that which we were bound, so that we serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter" (law). Clear enough?
In my yearly Bible reading, I was going through Galatians and Ephesians. Paul is such a wonderful explainer of what Christ did on our behalf. His pen is clear. He calls those who want believers to show Christ in the flesh; that is, to be circumcised, absolutely wrong. They are "False brethren unawares ... (who come) to spy out our liberty in Christ Jesus." (Gal. 2:4). They wanted to bring Paul and Titus under bondage. Therefore, if we miss Christ's teaching on the subject of LOVE, there is no telling what we might follow. We might even leave the Missionary Baptist truth of Faith through Love.
But, many years ago, I learned that we NOT saved by doing; but, by living. "For by grace are ye saved," Eph. 2:8. Jesus taught that all we need to do is love others. Those ugly neighbors and even, our enemies. And, when the kingdom becomes real to us, we shall know that we are servants today, not kings ... but, oh! the day of the Lord is coming.