The mission for Christians

[zoidar]

What are Jesus calling us Christians to do?

1. Give to the poor

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
— Matthew 19:21

A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.”
— Mark 12:42-44

“So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
— Matthew 6:2-4

2. Feed the poor

And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
— Luke 14:12-14

3. Evangelize to everyone

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
— Matthew 28:19-20

Your thoughts?

 

[Carl Emerson]

Consider the signs of the Kingdom come that Jesus communicated to John the Baptist...

Matt 11:

4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.

These things happen where Jesus reigns...

 

[disciple Clint]

What are Jesus calling us Christians to do?

1. Give to the poor

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
— Matthew 19:21

A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.”
— Mark 12:42-44

“So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
— Matthew 6:2-4

2. Feed the poor

And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
— Luke 14:12-14

3. Evangelize to everyone

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
— Matthew 28:19-20

Your thoughts?

Matthew 22
37Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

 

[FutureAndAHope]

Feeding the poor is always on the heart of God. As Christians, it should be one of our focuses. It was a focus of the early church and the apostles.

Gal 2:9-10 James, Peter, and John realized that God had given me the message about his undeserved kindness. And these men are supposed to be the backbone of the church. They even gave Barnabas and me a friendly handshake. This was to show that we would work with Gentiles and that they would work with Jews. They only asked us to remember the poor, and that was something I had always been eager to do.

We should also be reaching out to others as much as our capacity allows.

 

[FutureAndAHope]

Giving to the poor often means working:

1Th 4:11 Try your best to live quietly, to mind your own business, and to work hard, just as we taught you to do.

2Co 9:8-10 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.

Sometimes our jobs are our mission field. Giving us finances to bless others.

 

[bling]

What are Jesus calling us Christians to do?

1. Give to the poor

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
— Matthew 19:21

A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.”
— Mark 12:42-44

“So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
— Matthew 6:2-4

2. Feed the poor

And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
— Luke 14:12-14

3. Evangelize to everyone

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
— Matthew 28:19-20

Your thoughts?

Most Christians like: Man’s objective is to bring glory to God” and have scripture references to support that objective, but a person can take any commandment of God given in scripture and have Biblical support for call that command: “Man’s objective”. We are certainly commanded to do that command, so why is it not man’s objective?

There are the two superior commands which all other commands are subordinate to and combined would be like: “Love God (and secondly others) with all your heart, soul, mind, and energy.” That appears to be man’s “Mission Statement”. The huge problem with fulfilling that “Mission Statement” is the fact that the “Love” needed would have to be huge, way beyond anything man could develop, learn, deserve, earn, pay back, be instinctive to man, or somehow just be forced upon humans.

Thus the reason you have free will, is because it is required for you to complete your earthly objective.

This messed up world which includes satan roaming around is not here for your pleasure, but to help you become like God Himself in that you have the unique, unbelievable Godly type Love (God himself is Love).

God has created beings to shower them with the greatest gifts possible, the greatest gift being having a Love like His.

If there is this Creator of the universe out there, His “creations” could not really “do” anything for Him, so this Creator would have to be seen as a Giver (Unselfish Lover) and not trying to “get” something from His creation.

Why would God have a totally unselfish type of Love, since He personally would not get anything out of it? If God’s “Love” is some kind of knee jerk reaction, then it is really meaningless (something like; gravity which is nice to have, but everyone automatically has it). God Loves us in spite of what we have done, who we are or what we will do, so it has to be by His choice.


God would create the right universe for the sake of the individuals that will accept His gift (the most powerful force [Love] in all universes, since that force [Love] compels even God to do all He does) and thus we become like He is (the greatest gift He could give).

What keeps the all-powerful Creator from just giving whatever He wants to his creation, eliminating the need for free will and this earthly time.

There are just something even an all-powerful Creator cannot do (there are things impossible to do), like create another Christ, since Christ has always existed, the big impossibility for us is; create humans with instinctive Godly type Love, since Godly type Love is not instinctive. Godly type love has to be the result of a free will decision by the being, to make it the person’s Love apart from God. In other words: If the Love was in a human from the human’s creation it would be a robotic type love and not a Godly type Love. Also, if God “forces” this Love on a person (Kind a like a shotgun wedding) it would not be “loving” on God’s part and the love forced on the person would not be Godly type Love. This Love has to be the result of a free will moral choice with real alternatives (for humans those alternatives include the perceived pleasures of sin for a season.)

This Love is way beyond anything humans could develop, obtain, learn, earn, pay back or ever deserve, so it must be the result of a gift that is accepted or rejected (a free will choice).

This “Love” is much more than just an emotional feeling; it is God Himself (God is Love). If you see this Love you see God.

All mature adults do stuff that hurts others (this is called sin) these transgressions weigh on them, burden them, to the point the individual seeks relief (at least early on before they allow their hearts to be hardened). Lots of “alternatives” can be tried for relief, but the only true relief comes from God with forgiveness (this forgiveness is pure charity [grace/mercy/Love]). The correct humble acceptance of this Forgiveness (Charity) automatically will result in Love (we are taught by Jesus and our own experience “…he that is forgiven much will Love much…”). Sin is thus made hugely significant, so there will be an unbelievable huge debt to be forgiven of and thus result in an unbelievable huge “Love” (Godly type Love).

Sin has purpose in helping willing humans in fulfilling their objective. God does not like it but allows it.

 

[BobRyan]

What are Jesus calling us Christians to do?

1. Give to the poor

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
— Matthew 19:21

A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.”
— Mark 12:42-44

“So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
— Matthew 6:2-4

2. Feed the poor

And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
— Luke 14:12-14

3. Evangelize to everyone

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
— Matthew 28:19-20

Your thoughts?

In Acts 2 - 7 we see the Christians setup a system for feeding the Christians that were poor or in need. We don't see them address world hunger nor does Christ do it.

If everyone became a Christian then the world-hunger issue would be addressed in that model.

When God rained manna for 40 years - it only fell on Israel - not the entire world.

When Christ fed the 5,000 it was only the 5000 not the entire world not even the entire group of poor in Israel.

When the angel set Peter free - he did not release all slaves/prisoners on planet Earth or even give Paul that mission.

Christians start orphanages and food pantries and disaster relief programs for reaching crisis areas of the world. It is our mission to do good and relieve suffering where we can.

But think about what Judas said at Simon's house.

Mark 14:
3 While He was in Bethany at the home of Simon the Leper, He was reclining at the table, and a woman came with an alabaster vial of very expensive perfume of pure nard. She broke the vial and poured the perfume over His head. 4 But there were some indignantly remarking to one another, “Why has this perfume been wasted? 5 For this perfume could have been sold for over three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they were scolding her. 6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone! Why are you bothering her? She has done a good deed for Me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed My body beforehand for the burial. 9 Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the entire world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.”

Though secretly he stole money -- still the outward point was one that everyone could accept.. a waste of money that could have fed a number of poor people.

 

[zoidar]

In Acts 2 - 7 we see the Christians setup a system for feeding the Christians that were poor or in need. We don't see them address world hunger nor does Christ do it.

If everyone became a Christian then the world-hunger issue would be addressed in that model.

When God rained manna for 40 years - it only fell on Israel - not the entire world.

When Christ fed the 5,000 it was only the 5000 not the entire world not even the entire group of poor in Israel.

When the angel set Peter free - he did not release all slaves/prisoners on planet Earth or even give Paul that mission.

Christians start orphanages and food pantries and disaster relief programs for reaching crisis areas of the world. It is our mission to do good and relieve suffering where we can.

But think about what Judas said at Simon's house.

Mark 14:
3 While He was in Bethany at the home of Simon the Leper, He was reclining at the table, and a woman came with an alabaster vial of very expensive perfume of pure nard. She broke the vial and poured the perfume over His head. 4 But there were some indignantly remarking to one another, “Why has this perfume been wasted? 5 For this perfume could have been sold for over three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they were scolding her. 6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone! Why are you bothering her? She has done a good deed for Me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed My body beforehand for the burial. 9 Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the entire world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.”

Though secretly he stole money -- still the outward point was one that everyone could accept.. a waste of money that could have fed a number of poor people.

Sure the outward thought was noble, but his inward intention was not. He didn't say this so they could give more to the poor, but so he could put away more money for himself. Love God is the first command, the second one is love our neighbour.

One thing to remember is that things are very different today to when the Bible was written. At that time Christians needed to support each other another way than today. Most western Christians are doing fine financially, and we are to help out those in need the way we can, whether Christian or not.

 

[Carl Emerson]

The huge problem with fulfilling that “Mission Statement” is the fact that the “Love” needed would have to be huge, way beyond anything man could develop, learn, deserve, earn, pay back, be instinctive to man, or somehow just be forced upon humans.

The Love is huge - His love within us. Without the Love of Jesus, our actions however noble come to nothing.
It is God Himself that is at work within us to will and to do of His good pleasure...

 

[zoidar]

The Love is huge - His love within us. Without the Love of Jesus, our actions however noble come to nothing.
It is God Himself that is at work within us to will and to do of His good pleasure...

That's true from one perspective. There are other perspectives as well to consider. But I know what you mean.

 

[Carl Emerson]

That's true from one perspective. There are other perspectives as well to consider. But I know what you mean.

You realise I am sure that I am just quoting scripture in my own words.

I would not expect any other valid perspective to speak contrary to these quotes.

 

[zoidar]

You realise I am sure that I am just quoting scripture in my own words.

I would not expect any other valid perspective to speak contrary to these quotes.

No not contrary!

I mean things like you as a Christian can be helped by a Buddhist, even he is not helping you out of love for Jesus. Good works can do the purpose of God, even it was not the intention. I also believe some unbelievers are lead to Christ (and faith) through doing what Jesus says.

 

[Carl Emerson]

Doing the purpose of God and reaping eternal reward are two different things...

 

[zoidar]

Doing the purpose of God and reaping eternal reward are two different things...

Thanks!