William T. Goat said on Jan 4, 4:00 pm:
--Jesus' family values, Luke 14:26
"If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and
mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and
sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my
disciple" (Luke 14:26).
Luke 14:26 means hate only in the sense of love less.
We must be willing to forsake even our families if
they would require us to cease to serve Christ, or to
serve Him less than He is calling us to serve Him; we
cannot put our families before Christ:
"He that loveth father or mother more than me is not
worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more
than me is not worthy of me" (Matthew 10:37).
If we compromise our service to Christ for anything,
no matter whether it be our families, our favorite
hobbies, or our desire to make money, we are trying
to serve two masters at the same time, and this
cannot be done:
"No servant can serve two masters: for either he will
hate the one, and love the other; or else he will
hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot
serve God and mammon" (Luke 16:13).
We must seek first that which we know to be the
highest and best, being willing to forsake everything
else for its sake:
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his
righteousness; and all these things shall be added
unto you" (Matthew 6:33).
"Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that
he hath, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:33).
"There is no man that hath left house, or brethren,
or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or
children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,
But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time,
houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and
children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the
world to come eternal life" (Mark 10:29-30).
This means that when we leave everything for Christ
and His gospel, and become His disciples, we join the
worldwide family of His disciples, who will receive
us into their houses as we travel around in ministry,
and who will be to us as family. But note that we
also gain persecutions, for when we are truly serving
Christ, persecution is assured:
"Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12).
"Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not
only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his
sake" (Philippians 1:29).
"If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we
deny him, he also will deny us" (2 Timothy 2:12).
---
Jesus' family values, cont'd:
"If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he
is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he
hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not
seen?" (1 John 4:20).
This means that we cannot emotionally hate not only
our literal brothers, but also our spiritual brothers
in the church; we cannot wish them or do them harm in
any way, whether physically or even verbally. Indeed,
we must not have any ill feelings toward anyone, or
fight verbally or physically with anyone, no matter
whether they're brothers or not, and even if they
are viciously attacking us verbally or physically:
"Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn
to him the other also" (Matthew 5:39).
"Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them which
despitefully use you, and persecute you"
(Matthew 5:44).
"Love worketh no ill to his neighbour" (Romans
13:10).
"Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse
not" (Romans 12:14).
"Speak evil of no man ... be no brawlers, but gentle,
shewing all meekness unto all men. For we ourselves
also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived,
serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice
and envy, hateful, and hating one another" (Titus
3:2-3).
"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and
clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you,
with all malice: And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God
for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (Ephesians
4:31-32).
"But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your
hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is
earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and
strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure,
then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated,
full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality,
and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of
righteousness is sown in peace of them that make
peace" (James 3:14-18).
"The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be
gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In
meekness instructing those that oppose themselves;
if God peradventure will give them repentance to the
acknowledging of the truth; And that they may
recover themselves out of the snare of the devil,
who are taken captive by him at his will" (2 Timothy
2:24-26).
*******
(A Subsequent Poster)
bob young said on Jan 9, 12:47 am:
The bible, a mish mash of early primitive thoughts
and fears, nothing more
The Bible is the Word of God, inspired by Him:
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God"
(2 Timothy 3:16).
"The prophecy came not in old time by the will of
man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by
the Holy Ghost" (2 Peter 1:21).
"Thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye
received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye
received it not as the word of men, but as it is in
truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh
also in you that believe" (1 Thessalonians 2:13).
bob young said:
Certainly not a tome by which modern day children
should be taught
-
Matthew 10:34.
"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the
earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
There the sword is figurative of the division that
would arise within those families where some would
believe in Jesus while others wouldn't:
"Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I
tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from
henceforth there shall be five in one house divided,
three against two, and two against three. The father
shall be divided against the son, and the son against
the father; the mother against the daughter, and the
daughter against the mother; the mother in law
against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law
against her mother in law" (Luke 12:51-53).
bob young quoted:
Luke 22:36.
And He said to them,
"But now, whoever has a money belt is to take it
along, likewise also a bag, and whoever has no
sword is to sell his coat and buy one."
Again, that's only figurative, for Jesus taught that
Christians must never use physical weapons against
anyone:
"Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword
into his place: for all they that take the sword
shall perish with the sword" (Matthew 26:52).
The apostle Paul confirmed that true Christians do
not use physical weapons:
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war
after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling
down of strong holds) Casting down imaginations, and
every high thing that exalteth itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every
thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians
10:3-5).
True Christians use only a spiritual sword:
"The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God"
(Ephesians 6:17).
"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and
sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to
the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).
bob young quoted:
Matthew 10:35.
"For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER,
AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER,
AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW"
That means that because Jesus came, but not all would
believe in Him, His coming would cause division to
arise within those families where some believed in
Him but others didn't.
.
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