Church is about provoking one another to love: God-worship is about living holy

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R

Runningman

Banned
#1
Mar 4, 2020
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#1
Hebrews 10:24-25
24And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

A colon separates two independent clauses that are directly related (not vaguely related) meaning that in order to have the first clause the second clause is required.

We assemble together to provoke each other to love and good works. While fellowshipping, singing praises to God, praying, scripture teaching, and reading are great we need to heavily focus on love and good works.

Romans 12:1-2
1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Want to worship God truly and properly? Then offer yourself as a living sacrifice, unspotted by sin, by living holy and acceptable to God. God considers a lifestyle of holy living to be reasonable service to Him. He expects us to live holy seven days a week.

Church assemblies are about provoking each other to love and good works: love and good works are our holy, acceptable, true and proper worship to God Almighty.
 
B

Blackpowderduelist

Guest
#2
#2
You do that by studying the word and worshipping God; it is his spirit that gives to us both to will and to do.
How do we provoke each other to love, by learning of His great love for us.
 
Blik

Blik

Senior Member
#3
Dec 6, 2016
7,312
2,424
113
#3
Runningman said:
Hebrews 10:24-25
24And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

A colon separates two independent clauses that are directly related (not vaguely related) meaning that in order to have the first clause the second clause is required.

We assemble together to provoke each other to love and good works. While fellowshipping, singing praises to God, praying, scripture teaching, and reading are great we need to heavily focus on love and good works.

Romans 12:1-2
1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Want to worship God truly and properly? Then offer yourself as a living sacrifice, unspotted by sin, by living holy and acceptable to God. God considers a lifestyle of holy living to be reasonable service to Him. He expects us to live holy seven days a week.

Church assemblies are about provoking each other to love and good works: love and good works are our holy, acceptable, true and proper worship to God Almighty.
Click to expand...
I agree, in fact God IS love, and if we accept God within us we accept love.

Yet, there are examples of people becoming enemies of others because they differ in interpretation. I have been told by one poster who often posts wonderful thoughts of the Lord that this poster will dedicate her/himself to opposing me. It does not seem to be about scripture, these people who become other's enemies, but somehow they simply want to be enemies. Posters often have to use the ignore option this site provides.

In our organized churches there are often "clicks", or people who band together against another Christian in their church.

These people who become enemies of other Christians are not doing it to oppose God, they seem to think it is required by their walk with the Lord, that they are only standing firm for the ways of the Lord.

From the study of the earliest churches I have done, this problem seems to be the biggest difference in the church today and the churches at the beginning. They seemed to agree on basic principles but allowed members to have differences when it wasn't basic. Love and support for each other was a basic principle.
 
B

Blackpowderduelist

Guest
#4
#4
Exhorting folks to good works, is done by expounding upon the word.
Not long ago someone posted a sermon by some pompous wind bag, saying it was a wonderful exhortation to refrain from sin. It took this guy 17 minutes to get to scripture then twisted that scripture,
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect".
Romans 12:2 ESV
He used this passage to lambast youngsters for dressing certain ways and wearing their hair certain ways, which this passage is not about clothes or style or fashion. The major hypocritical part is he was dressed in a suit and tie which looks just like some of the most destructive sinful elements of the world.
This was pure 100% isogeses, scripture twisting and hypocritical. But it was lauded as a wonderful exhortation against sin.
I think it's best if pastors stick to the word in context and expound upon it in that way. Too many pastors are off the charts in their preaching.
 
Blik

Blik

Senior Member
#5
Dec 6, 2016
7,312
2,424
113
#5
Blackpowderduelist said:
Exhorting folks to good works, is done by expounding upon the word.
Not long ago someone posted a sermon by some pompous wind bag, saying it was a wonderful exhortation to refrain from sin. It took this guy 17 minutes to get to scripture then twisted that scripture,
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect".
Romans 12:2 ESV
He used this passage to lambast youngsters for dressing certain ways and wearing their hair certain ways, which this passage is not about clothes or style or fashion. The major hypocritical part is he was dressed in a suit and tie which looks just like some of the most destructive sinful elements of the world.
This was pure 100% isogeses, scripture twisting and hypocritical. But it was lauded as a wonderful exhortation against sin.
I think it's best if pastors stick to the word in context and expound upon it in that way. Too many pastors are off the charts in their preaching.
Click to expand...
what a thought provoking post.

Could we please get other's opinion? What do you think the Lord wants us to do about bible interpretation?

The Lord tells us the Pharisees went WAY to far as they interpreted scripture. They interpreted the verse about the Messiah and the government in the wrong way as a key reason not to accept Christ. They added how far a person could walk on the Sabbath. I could go on and on with how Christ condemned their interpretation of scripture.

Yet scripture tells us we can have differences, we are not to judge based on those differences. Romans 14:5 "5one person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind." Certainly the Pharisees were convinced their wrong interpretations were correct.

Does someone out there know what is the will of the Lord in this matter?
 
Lucy-Pevensie

Lucy-Pevensie

Senior Member
#6
Dec 20, 2017
9,265
5,624
113
#6
As iron sharpens iron,
so one person sharpens another.

Prov 27:17
 
R

Runningman

Banned
#7
Mar 4, 2020
8,614
3,679
113
#7
Blackpowderduelist said:
Exhorting folks to good works, is done by expounding upon the word.
Not long ago someone posted a sermon by some pompous wind bag, saying it was a wonderful exhortation to refrain from sin. It took this guy 17 minutes to get to scripture then twisted that scripture,
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect".
Romans 12:2 ESV
He used this passage to lambast youngsters for dressing certain ways and wearing their hair certain ways, which this passage is not about clothes or style or fashion. The major hypocritical part is he was dressed in a suit and tie which looks just like some of the most destructive sinful elements of the world.
This was pure 100% isogeses, scripture twisting and hypocritical. But it was lauded as a wonderful exhortation against sin.
I think it's best if pastors stick to the word in context and expound upon it in that way. Too many pastors are off the charts in their preaching.
Click to expand...
It's unfortunate when scripture is weaponized to instill a sense of bitterness and contempt for people. Maybe he meant good, but the execution came off poorly. The Bible does say that few people should be a teacher because what we say is hard to control and it can lead others astray.

If you're referring to legalism then that's a kind of law into itself. With people being imperfect it is impossible to not be a hypocrite if someone is saying "people are required to wear nice clothes or use nice language." Then there is undoubtedly something they are failing in themselves.

Romans 2 says God is blasphemed because of hypocrites. I know people who would love to be a Christian if it weren't for the Christians.

Romans 2:23-34
23Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? 24For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you

Every good sermon should end with a message of God's grace, in my honest opinion. God is not looking for people who think they can earn their salvation by being good enough. God will save you, do you trust Him?

Holy living is about relationship with God. It is about loving God. We do what we do because we love God.
 
B

Blackpowderduelist

Guest
#8
#8
Blik said:
what a thought provoking post.

Could we please get other's opinion? What do you think the Lord wants us to do about bible interpretation?

The Lord tells us the Pharisees went WAY to far as they interpreted scripture. They interpreted the verse about the Messiah and the government in the wrong way as a key reason not to accept Christ. They added how far a person could walk on the Sabbath. I could go on and on with how Christ condemned their interpretation of scripture.

Yet scripture tells us we can have differences, we are not to judge based on those differences. Romans 14:5 "5one person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind." Certainly the Pharisees were convinced their wrong interpretations were correct.

Does someone out there know what is the will of the Lord in this matter?
Click to expand...
What would be wrong with letting scripture say what it says?
So sticking with Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect".

Talk about the world and what it's up to and how it can suck you into it's lies and deceptions, a good example of that today, is the political climate. How everyone is so polarized, and glom onto the narrative of their particular brand regardless of the veracity of its claims. And then how we combat that is by the truth of God being renewed and transformed so that the revelation of truth is found in God's wisdom given to us in his book. So we see through their lies because he gives us discernment because we have his word in us. Therefore we fulfill this scripture of not being conformed to this particular characteristic of the world.
 
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