A DEBT OF LOVE!!!

APOSTLE PUAL BECAME A COMMON LABORER

In (2 Cor. 11:7, 9),Apostle Paul asked the Corinthians, “Did I commit sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached the Gospel of God free of charge?, And when I was present with you, and in need, I was a burden to no one, for what I lacked the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in everything, I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself.” During the course of his second missionary journey, Paul came to Corinth and founded the church in that city. While there he labored, in the craft of tent making, so that he would be free to preach the gospel without relying on the people for support. In doing this he was humbling himself in regard to two principles. 1. The Greek themselves felt that a teacher’s worth was in proportion to the reward that he received for his services. 2. Jesus taught that the workman is worthy of his hire. When a speaker refused remuneration or did not demand it, the suspicion was that he was a false teacher. But in the face of this, Apostle Paul became a common laborer to avoid the appearance of being driven by mercenary motives. Paul felt that he was a debtor to others because of what God had done for him... Moreover, he felt that a stewardship had been committed to him. Such humility is becoming to God’s children being confident that, “God is not unjust to forget our work and labor of love which we have shown towards His name, in that we had ministered to the saints and do minister”, (Heb. 6:10). In another passage had jot about giving and what it does to those who give cheerfully from the heart. But from the above Scripture, God reminds His servants that He is a just God; who always remembers our stewardship we do render for His sake, for it is an act of love.  Therefore as servants of God any service we render through love, for sure there is a reward attached to it.  As Jesus taught that the workman is worthy for his hire, let’s not dwell too much on this, but focus on God; the author and finisher of our faith. As giving is mandatory, to support the work of God and to sustain His servants, let’s have a mind like Paul to have other investments of our own so that the work of God may not be hindered because people have not given, neither invest in some work that will consume most of your time and neglect the work of Good; wisdom is indeed profitable in all things. During Nehemiah the great wall builder’s time; when people ceased providing for the Levites, the priests, the gatekeepers and the singers, what was due to them, what happened? These servants had no other obligation whatsoever but neglected the Temple of God and went back to their field to provide for their necessities and that of their families; meaning they had no debt of love for the service of God but put their interest first. The second thought was that there was a bad leadership from Eliashib the priest who allied himself with Tobiah the mockery of God’s work, and gave him the store room; and there was no room for storing the grains, offerings and tithes and I think people ceased giving, and Eliashib the priest , never considered the servants of God but put his interest on his relative Tobiah.( I wonder why God never struck this wicked man Tobiah who was mocking and was against the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. There are still some Tobiah’s and Eliashib who would not want to see the progress of the gospel  known as the anti-Christ; and some do also bring politics in this area of giving thinking that they make God’s servants rich!)  Had they had the thirst for the work of God, the Temple would not have been neglected. It was a decree since the time of Moses that the offerings, tithes and any giving to God belonged to the Levites, singers and the gatekeepers, and the Levites in turn gave a portion of what they received to the priests, the descendant of Aaron. (Neh. 12:44-47; 13: 4-13)

PAUL’S DEBT TO PREACH THE GOSPEL.

In this paragraph, we will be seeing Apostle Paul’ s obligation to preaching the gospel as that is what debt to preach the gospel symbolizes here. He had nothing to boast about nor would he want a credit for his epistles. But Paul in his humble states of life became all things that he might by all means save souls, for the gospel’s sake and be a partaker as well, and be found qualified to receive the crown. Paul in his wisdom avoided as much as he can the contentions from brethren’s and to be a burden to anyone which according to him he thought would hinder the gospel of Christ, but instead endured all things despite his knowledge that; those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the alter partake of the offerings of the alter. He gave an example of Jesus’ command that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel, yet never did he consider this but worked and provided for his necessities, and not only for himself but also for others who had needs. V 16 through 18 says, “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I don’t preach the gospel! For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship. What is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel.” In chapter (9 of 1 Cor.9): the Apostle uses the phrase, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,” meaning that; he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope.

RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH FAITH Rom.1:14-17

Paul says, “I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jews first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteous of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith. “ Faith to Paul was not merely belief in form of doctrine. Nor did he view it, as Habakkuk seems to have done, as fidelity or royalty to God (Habb. 2:4) “Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.”  To Paul faith was an attitude in which we acknowledge our insufficiency for spiritual ends and rely utterly on the sufficiency of God. It is the cessation of self-reliant effort to attain righteousness, allowing the divine initiative to assert itself in us. Such a faith is something to be contrasted with the acquisition of merit by complying with God’s law. It is impossible to gain the righteousness of God by obeying this law, but God has made righteousness available to those who will simply rely on Him. The life of the redeemed springs from that faith and reliance. God responds to the trustful surrender of self by empowering the believer for spiritual activity and service.

OUR DEBT TO LOVE OTHERS AS CHRISTIANS

(Rom. 13:8-14 ) Paul tells us to owe no one anything except to love one another; as love is the greatest commandment of all and he who loves already has fulfilled the law. And all this commandments from the fourth to the tenth are summed up as one.” You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Love does not harm to a neighbor but it is the fulfillment of the law. He further admonishes us to a wake out of our slumber; ‘for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.’ We ought to cast out the works of darkness and put on the armor of light to properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy; but to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision of the flesh to fulfill its lust.” As he wrote on another epistle, love covers a multitude of sins; therefore my beloved brethren, one cannot love and have strife and envy at the same time.  In (Rom. 8:12-13, 18) He speak thus:” Therefore brethren, we are debtors- not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if to the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”  As Christians, we should consider this together with Paul:  that the sufferings we may face today in this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us when we serve with love. Serving with love also guarantees continual satisfaction.

THE GRACE OF KINDNESS AND LOVE

One of the New Testament command is that Christians display kindness towards other believers. And a very effective way to demonstrate kindness is to contribute our time, talent, or treasure to those in need. As Paul mentions, the Macedonian believers had done just this, gathering a love offering for the needy saints in Jerusalem. We had seen this in his epistle to the second Corinthians 8:1-15, the apostle points to the kindly spirit to the Macedonians Christians as a model for others to imitate. And if I may ask, Why are we commanded to exhibit such kindness?  First, we show kindness because of God’s wonderful kindness to us. David praises God for His wonderful kindness from the Book of (Ps. 31:21) Second, by practicing kindness we give evidence of our new birth (James 1:27) Third, we will be the recipients of kindness from others, actually reaping from the crop we have previously sown (Luke 6:38) Finally, God uses our kindness as a model of others, as He did with the Macedonians,

In conclusion I  use Peter’s epistle which says,” Finally all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tender hearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.”  Therefore my beloved brethren, it is my pray that the Lord may grant us grace so that we may serve Him from the bottom of our heart without being pushed and to have a debt of love for others and be indeed Christ like just as the Antioch Church. Christ’s debt of love for the Church made Him sacrifice Himself to redeem us from all manner of sins.

“Grace to you and Favor from God our and Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all Amen and Amen and Amen.”