self test in 2 Corinthians 13

2 Cor 13:5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you are disqualified. NKJV

Just what is the test? I have never heard a sermon as to just what this self test is. Paul states in the latter part of the verse “unless you are disqualified' which means reprobate. I would think that each of us would want to know if we pass the test. We know from Matthew 7:21- 23 that there will be many people who think they deserve to enter into heaven but are disqualified. I ask again “what is the test?”

John 13: 34-35 informs us that if “we love one another all will know we are Jesus' disciples.” I would think that if “all” would know that it would be a good test. However, in 1John 5: 2 we are told that “by this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.” It seems there is more than one commandment we must obey. In the Matthew 22: 37-40 Jesus said the 2 commandments were to Love God with all your heart, soul and mind. And the second was to love your neighbor as yourself. So with the new commandment in John 13 it makes 3 commandments. These are:

Love god with all your heart, soul and mind.

Love your neighbor (unbelievers) as yourself.

And to Love your brothers (other Christians) as Jesus loved .

By John 13;34, 1John 2:3-11, 1John 3: 22- 24, 1John 4: 20- 21 and 1John 5:1-5 if we obey the commandments of Jesus we pass the test in 2 Corinthians 13.

Thank you.

I definitely agree with you. Just because we know the commandments doesn't mean we pass the test. I would be just like the Pharisees if I spouted the commandments then interpreted them as I pleased. We have to take the word as God gave it and live by it. I was hoping to expand on how to obey them.

Since you have expressed an interest on this topic please expound on how we can live by the commandments and not just give lip service to them.

Jesus says that we love him if we obey His commandments. In other words we love God if we love our brothers, as He loved us, and love our neighbors. Let's deal with other Christians first.

Hebrews 10: 25 we are not to forsake assembling with each other. Do you attend church regularly and often. It is hard to say we love those in our close family and not fellowship with them regularly. As James might put it “Show me your love without fellowship and I will show my love by my fellowship.” People who love each other do not consistently avoid meeting with them. Most people when they love each other look forward to getting together at every opportunity. If you consistently avoid church, when you have the opportunity to attend, you might not pass the test of loving your brother.

According to James 2: 1-13 if we show partiality between brothers we break the law of love. We all have our prejudices but those prejudices should not stop our loving our brothers. Do we treat everyone with love and respect. Do we not associate with those who do not meet certain economic standards as James states? Do we treat all ethnic, groups the same? What about educational differences?

James 2: 14-17 if we see a brother in need do we help if we have the ability or do we just offer to pray for them. Prayers are needed but we need to invest our resources if we are able. I get the distinct impression that some Christians think everyone in need is just trying to freeload. We need to show more compassion and less suspicion. When I read :
1 Cor 13:4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. NKJV

No where in the above do I read that we are to believe everyone with their hand out is doing it to take advantage of people.

Am I saying that if we do not meet what I believe shows love for our brothers that they fail the test? No! But maybe those who do not should re-evaluate their behavior. If what I write is not the test maybe it can still be an indication of a problem.

For my Christian brothers I make a monthly donation to benevolence equal to about two and a half percent. I remember a sermon where the preacher said that God expected the Israelis to pay about 25 percent all total. There was 10 percent of the first fruits. Then there was 3 percent that came from not harvesting the corners of the field which was done to help the poor. The farmer would let the poor gather the corners and glean the field. And the rest was to the King which was sometimes more than 12 percent. I also on occasion when special request are made for help in the church try to help in some way. Maybe financial or other as needed.

To my neighbors on the streets I give food bags, with a tract in each one, and I thank God that He blessed me enough that I can in turn bless others with His bounty. I too on occasion leave a person and I cry. One time I was in the wrong lane to help a woman that was asking for handouts. When I passed by it looked as if she was ready to cry. I thought it was because because no one was helping her. I went about a half a mile and had to go back. This time I parked near her and walked up with my bag. When I gave it to her she looked directly at me and asked if I would hug her, which I did. God was telling me something when I could not drive away from her. She needed to know someone cared about her.

The popular opinion in my area is that by giving a handout, even food, you are hurting the person. I guess the book “Toxic Charity” states that it's been proven you harm a person by giving handouts. Psychology has proven that handouts hurt both the person receiving and the person giving the handout. I don't listen to psychologist. In Luke 18:22 just who was Jesus concerned with? It was the ruler and the poor. Did He give advice to the ruler that would harm him and the poor? No! The advice would benefit both the ruler and the poor. Do we believe that the advice given was only good for that time but not in today's world?

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To continue with the commandment to love our brother as Jesus loved us.
1 Cor 8:11-13 tells us if we sin against our brother we sin against Jesus. By Matthew 25: 31- 40 when we do something good for a brother we do it to Jesus.

I have been told anything God tells us to do is important. If He tells us twice He really wants us to get it. And if He repeats it a third time it is extremely important that we understand. In the NT we are told to love each other more than 20 times. We should have no problem understanding that God wants us love each other. One reason is because by 1Cor 8 above when we do something to a brother we are doing it to Jesus. When we love a brother we are also loving Jesus. Loving our brothers is a three for: we love our brothers thereby we love Jesus and thereby we are loved by God (John 14:21).

In some of the churches I have been in they have helped their brothers by paying utility bills, helping with the mortgage, repairing transportation, buying food, repairing appliances, visiting shut ins, visiting the sick, helping the parents provide school supplies for their children, etc, etc etc. These were not just one time things being done. They were on going when needed. Will everyone in a church get credit because the church they attend is doing God's work?

In 1 Sam 30:16-25 a law was established in Israel. David went into battle with part of his troops and left behind those to weary to continue. David returned after winning the battle with considerable spoils. The law David established was the men who went into battle shared the spoils with those who stayed behind. Therefore; if you are in a church and doing what you are able to do, you will get credit with those who are actively engaged in the ministries of that church. That means the shut ins of that church who are prayer warriors will get the same rewards as those actively engaged in the ministries of the church. Because in describing those who David left behind, to weary to follow. It means to me their heart was willing but their flesh was weak. So if you are just in a church and your heart is not in agreement with them the rewards may not apply to you. God considers a persons heart in all matters.

You should consider carefully the church you choose to attend.

I agree that love fulfills the law for Christians. And it seems that some Christians believe that love your neighbor is the same as love your brother. In John 13: 34 Jesus gives the commandment to “love you brother.” He distinguishes between the two by saying it is a new commandment. If “love you neighbor” and “love your brother” was the same Jesus would not have said it was a new commandment.

It is my understanding that some churches agree with the world and say all roads lead to heaven. All you have to do is be a good person and you make it to heaven. There is something I should have emphasized from the beginning. One has to confess Jesus as their Lord and savior to be in the faith. Once we confess Jesus we are under the law of love. Then, in Jesus, love fulfills the law. Paul and James were both writing to people who were believers in Jesus. Therefore they could say that “Love fulfills the law.”

Another commandment of Jesus is love your neighbor. From Jesus' story of the good Samaritan I would say He considers everyone to be our neighbors. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves. We do not love them as Jesus loved us. Jesus died for us and we should be willing to die for our brothers. If we died for our neighbor we might be dying for someone who is impeding the growth of God's kingdom. Jesus also came that we might live more abundantly. Which means we are to do more for our brothers than neighbors.

Any person we meet is our neighbor. The main way we are to love our neighbors is to witness to them.

By Matthew 28:18-20 the church is told to go and witness unto all nations. This directive is given to the church and God gives gifts to the church as the church needs. If a person is gifted with the gift of evangelism then Matthew 28 is your directive. For the rest of the church not gifted with evangelism then 1 Peter 3:15 is our order. If we love our neighbors as Jesus directs us even if we don't have the gift we will feel convicted to witness in some way. This takes many forms.

I have been in churches that were active in summer missions, supporting a missionary, prison ministry, helping homeless shelters, neighborhood litter clean up, free clothes locker, diaper give away, vacation bible school and helping support food banks. There are many more ways to love your neighbor.

Again, if you are supporting your church, as you are able, then you will share in the rewards. So find a good church and be active in it.

Mark 12: 30 the first a greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Notice it is not just a feeling. Mark adds strength to the commandment to love God. Strength means you add muscle to your love. Your love for God works.

By Hebrews 11: 6 it is impossible to please God without faith.

Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. NKJV

The above is not how the world defines faith. That is because worldly faith does not include Jesus. 1Peter 3: 17 we are to give a reason for the hope in us. The substance of the hope in us is the Spirit of Jesus. If we don't have Jesus we have no hope. By Romans 8: 9 if we don't have the Spirit of Jesus in us we have no evidence of our salvation.

By John 6: 29 the only work that counts for salvation is our belief in Jesus. So the most important and greatest work is to believe that Jesus did everything we need to be saved. All we need to do is look to Him to be saved. The works we do is for His glory and honor. By working for His glory and honor we are showing our love for Him.

We show our love by studying His word, by singing His praises, by seeking His fellowship through prayer and by seeking His forgiveness for our conduct that does not reflect Jesus. All these things we should do. But we prove our love by resting from our work for salvation and trusting Jesus. Any work we do is for His glory and honor. That is how we prove our love for Him.

By James 2:14– 17 if your faith has no works then your faith is dead. If your love has no works then your love must be a dead.

In Philippians 4: 10-20 Paul praises them because their local body of Christ cared for and strengthened him. He explains how from the beginning they provided for him time and again.

Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. NKJV.

He makes the statement, above, that brings us so much comfort in times of need. My question is : If we are not helping Jesus to fulfill that promise to others- will that promise be fulfilled in our lives when we need strengthened? Yes, we are the body of Christ that Jesus expects to help our brothers do all things.

Test yourselves- are you in the body strengthening and caring for your brothers. Loving God by loving your brethren.

In 1Corinthians 3:11-12 we who trust Jesus are building our house on the foundation of Jesus. In verse 12 we are advised to build on that foundation with precious materials because only those items will follow us into heaven. The precious materials relate to doing good works for Jesus' glory. If we are obedient and build with precious materials we get a twofer.

In Luke 6: 46- 49 Jesus warns us to lay our foundation on rock. The rock we lay our foundation on is His words. When we build our house on His word it means we are building on rock. At the same time we are building our house down to rock we are building our house up with eternal materials. To put our house on anything other than his word is to threaten our house with destruction.

As Jesus said any man who did not build on the rock was putting the foundation of the house on sand. A house built on sand, no matter how strong the foundation, will not last through a storm. As Jesus said when the storm came the ruin of that house was great. If one does not lay the foundation of their salvation (Jesus) on His word their house will not survive a storm.

All indications show we are very close to the time of the tribulation. There are a lot of Christians who believe we will escape all the bad things to come because God will not pour out His wrath on His children. That is true. It does not mean we will not suffer as the early Church did. They were fed to lions and burned at the stake. That was not God's wrath. Many of the children of God at that time , most of whom were very obedient, suffered that fate. Even today throughout the world there are Christians suffering persecution maybe as bad as the early church. They are putting their lives and the lives of their family in jeopardy by not denying Jesus. Some are made to drink battery acid and some have to watch as their children are killed. ( I can only hope that I will be as faithful as they are.)

The closer we get to the tribulation the entire church will suffer increasing persecution. The only way to ensure ones house doesn't suffer ruin is to start building on His word now. We have three commandments to obey. By obeying them our house is on rock and cannot be shaken. If Jesus says it then it must be true. Which means I have the responsibility to ensure my hope above is not in vain.