Practical Works of Righteousness

Because I have heard some of the criticisms that basically say I am too mystical about the Christian life, (without apologies for those threads) this one I will try to dedicate discussion of practical works of righteousness.

(Don't get your hopes up that some will not still be unhappy).

Many, many places in the NT after telling us how to get into the realm of Christ living in us, talk about what we should expect to do by His grace.

Though there is no limit on the scope of recipients of our good works, my opinion is that mainly the New Testament is speaking firstly of the household of faith, the brotherhood, the family of believers.

But it certainly is not limited to this.

Let brotherly love continue.
Do not be forgetful of hospitality, for through this some have entertained angels without knowing it. (Heb 13:1,2)

Hospitality is generous with your living quarters. Some others believers may be in traveling need. Some may need longer arrangements to help them get on their feet. So Christians should allow the Spirit to enlarge their hearts about hospitality.

You may never know what effect your hospitality may have on someone. And you may never know the importance of the one God brings your way to stay a while with you.

I'm just getting things going not trying to blog hog the thread.

Remember the prisoners as bound with them, and those who are ill-treated as being yourselves also in the body." (v.2)

Christians should remember brothers and sisters in incarceration.
Christians should remember loved ones or anyone God touches them to remember, who is in jail.

The ill-treated are the oppressed. They may be oppressed for being Christians. They may be ill-treated and oppressed for some other reason - race, nationality, poverty, their sins, etc.

There is no limit it seems to me. "ill-treated" is as open ended as it needs to be. As much grace as you have to care, let Christ in you care.

You have to sometimes think of yourself as in prison right along WITH that imprisoned one -

"Remember the prisoners as bound with them ..."

Not "forget about them" but "remember them". I have visited prisons. I have not done enough of it. I have done a little. I have written unbelievers in prison and visited relatives who were believers, in prison.

We have borne with those with long sentences and seen them released. We prayed for they're being sustained by God in the difficulty.

Recently, one loved one, a Christian, completed a 20 years sentence.
We bore him up in our prayers. His mother visited often. My wife and I a couple of times.

We (myself and the beloved) live in a small Indonesian fishing village, consisting of about one hundred (all Christian) families. In brief, since living here we have, through sponsorship and donations from the guests who stay at our lodge, built a clinic and maternity unit in the village, provided two mini - buses so that the kids can get to 'big school', provided facilities for the infant - school in the village so that the little ones get free schooling (no schooling is otherwise free in Indonesia). We buy all the kids uniforms every year, and about twenty of the children are privately sponsored through school, and several have and are doing university and college courses which would otherwise have been beyond their wildest imaginings. If someone is sick we pay for treatment or operation at the local hospital.
I'm not seeking praise, we do it for love of the people we live amongst, and by no stretch of anyone's imagination could we be called or considered 'righteous', and we are both atheists.
There are Pentecostal and Protestant Christian churches in the village, which are the most divisive aspect of village life. Neither church does anything, I mean anything, to improve the lot of the people, who are about as poor as it's possible to be. Every Sunday and during 'special occasions' they collect money from the congregation, up to four times per service, and all of the money is used for their building and further glorification. If someone lay dying in the street they wouldn't step in to help, they would rather buy the vicar a new cassock, or have a couple of stained - glass windows put in.
When it comes to practical works, god's got nothing to do with it, and we are just a small microcosm of that which is happening and has happened for centuries all over the world. Praise the lord and pass the collection box.

@Indonesia-Phil

Neither church does anything, I mean anything, to improve the lot of the people, who are about as poor as it's possible to be. Every Sunday and during 'special occasions' they collect money from the congregation, up to four times per service, and all of the money is used for their building and further glorification. If someone lay dying in the street they wouldn't step in to help, they would rather buy the vicar a new cassock, or have a couple of stained

The ones you criticize while not seeking praise yourself, you know they are not here to speak for themselves. We'll just have to take your word for it that you report.

@sonship said
Many, many places in the NT after telling us how to get into the realm of Christ living in us, talk about what we should expect to do by His grace.

Though there is no limit on the scope of recipients of our good works, my opinion is that mainly the New Testament is speaking firstly of the household of faith, the brotherhood, the family of believers.

But it cert ...[text shortened]... eone. And you may never know the importance of the one God brings your way to stay a while with you.

Paying lip service to the teachings of Christ again? You think you are fooling anyone least of all Jesus Christ? You present a watered down version of good works and righteousness which is according to your church. You cannot bear to read or post passages like this from Christ

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. (Matthew 5:2-9 KJV) .

Your teachings are lies and deceit
Those who do good works enter the Kingdom of God.
Those who dont are cast into the lake of fire.

@sonship said
@Indonesia-Phil
[quote] Neither church does anything, I mean anything, to improve the lot of the people, who are about as poor as it's possible to be. Every Sunday and during 'special occasions' they collect money from the congregation, up to four times per service, and all of the money is used for their building and further glorification. If someone lay dying in the street ...[text shortened]... they are not here to speak for themselves. We'll just have to take your word for it that you report.

Whatever else I may do, I don't lie. In any kind of material or practical terms the money and time only goes one way, from the people to the churches.

@indonesia-phil said
Whatever else I may do, I don't lie. In any kind of material or practical terms the money and time only goes one way, from the people to the churches.

The people are stupid.
The churches are greedy
The government's don't care.
It's the same all over the world

@rajk999 said
The people are stupid.
The churches are greedy
The government's don't care.
It's the same all over the world

Can't really argue with that....

@sonship said
Because I have heard some of the criticisms that basically say I am too mystical about the Christian life, (without apologies for those threads) this one I will try to dedicate discussion of practical works of righteousness.

(Don't get your hopes up that some will not still be unhappy).

Dude. Nobody here cares what you say.

Sorry to blindside you with it, but it's the truth.

Put aside your own self-importance, and you might actually get a glimpse of reality, for a change.

@indonesia-phil said
Can't really argue with that....

This situation existed in the time of Christ as well. Church leaders who live as you described will be cast out of the Kingdom of God. The poor and those who help the poor and needy will be rewarded with eternal life.

@rajk999 said
This situation existed in the time of Christ as well. Church leaders who live as you described will be cast out of the Kingdom of God. The poor and those who help the poor and needy will be rewarded with eternal life.

Well there's an encouraging thought...

@indonesia-phil said
Well there's an encouraging thought...

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. (James 1:27 KJV)

Some of the rich, the powerful, the religious and the selfish ones, have a big problem doing this. God sees and Jesus will judge. Nobody escapes.

@sonship said
@Indonesia-Phil
[quote] Neither church does anything, I mean anything, to improve the lot of the people, who are about as poor as it's possible to be. Every Sunday and during 'special occasions' they collect money from the congregation, up to four times per service, and all of the money is used for their building and further glorification. If someone lay dying in the street ...[text shortened]... they are not here to speak for themselves. We'll just have to take your word for it that you report.

Do you think that insinuating that fellow posters may not be being truthful encourages people to post in your threads?

@divegeester said
Do you think that insinuating that fellow posters may not be being truthful encourages people to post in your threads?

Lest we forget, sonship claims to be becoming like the man who was, according to him, the most perfectly moral human in history - and this figure is flowing through him. Presumably, sonship thinks of himself as a more moral person than Indonesia Phil.