When is that opportunity? Paul’s point is that the believer’s entire life provides the unique privilege by which one may serve others in Christ’s name. In addition, our love for fellow Christians is the primary test of our love for God.
Commentary from the MacArthur study Bible, notes for Galatians 6:10.
Believers will experience an entirely new existence in which they will have perfect spiritual relationships with everyone else. Believers will be like angels in that they will be spiritual, eternal beings who will not die.
Commentary from the MacArthur study Bible, notes for Mark 12:25.
Believers are complete in Christ, both positionally by the imputed perfect righteousness of Christ, and the complete sufficiency of all heavenly resources for spiritual maturity.
Commentary from the MacArthur study Bible, notes for Colossians 2:10.
This simply means to act consistently with who He is and what He wants.
Commentary from the MacArthur study Bible, notes for Colossians 3:17.
In view of what God has done through Jesus Christ for the believer, Paul described the behavior and attitude God expects in response.
Commentary from the MacArthur study Bible, notes for Colossians 3:12.
The Spirit of God begins to prepare for the great reality that God will have a sanctuary in the midst of His people and will dwell with them. God promised to dwell with man on earth (Ezekiel 47:1-12). This has been God’s desire in all epochs: 1) before Moses (Genesis 17:7,8); 2) in the Mosaic era (Leviticus 26:11-13); 3) in the church era (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19); 4) in the Millennium (Ezekiel 37:26-28); and 5) in eternity future (Revelation 21:3).
Commentary from the MacArthur study Bible, notes for Ezekiel 37:26.
This places no limits on a believer’s prayers, as long as they are according to God’s will and purpose. This therefore means that man’s faith and prayer are not inconsistent with God’s sovereignty. And it is not the believer’s responsibility to figure out how that can be true, but simply to be faithful and obedient to the clear teaching on prayer, as Jesus gives it in this passage. God’s will is being unfolded through all of redemptive history, by means of the prayers of His people-as His saving purpose is coming to pass through the faith of those who hear the gospel and repent.
Commentary from the MacArthur study Bible, notes for Mark 11:24.
When you hear or read the term “Church” do you think of one role, or two? We use that term here in the US typically to mean a building where followers of Christ meet to worship God and fellowship, together. This is not actually Christ’s church, but a meeting of a portion of that church, in a building usually. There you will actually find a mixture of Christians and non-Christians. Christ’s church is very large, and they are spread out over the face of the earth!
I can’t know the heart of another, but I observe a lack of love in ‘meetings’ of Christians. I see a tendency to look as far as the immediate ‘circle’, but not too far outside that group of friends. I may be seeing the behavior of the non-Christians though, and not true followers. I even see neglect of new people coming to visit, often, when they don’t look like everyone else. Do you see it also? Or is it just my imagination? Be generous, especially with your heart-a generous spirit will see need as opportunity. Even though the world is cold, can Christ’s followers be cold also? No, we cannot.
If our English word “neighbor” had stuck to its etymological roots, determining who our neighbor is might have been a bit easier. “Neighbor” is derived from a German word that was a compound made up of “near” and “dweller, especially a farmer.” In other words, in centuries-ago Germany, a nahgabur was someone, likely another farmer, whom you knew because he lived near you.
But when Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, He established a definition even older than Europe’s Middle Ages. Your neighbor is not someone who necessarily lives near you, nor does it have to be someone with whom you are acquainted. According to Jesus in Luke 10:25-37, my neighbor is any person who has a need that I am able to meet. Jesus made the point in His parable that the man the Good Samaritan helped was a stranger-not a “near-dweller.” Yet the Samaritan assumed the responsibility for doing everything he could to help.
Today we think of neighbors as those who live on our street or in our neighborhood. Yet, using Jesus’ definition, we have many more neighbors than those. We need to broaden the boundaries of our neighborhood to include the whole world.
“If my heart is right with God, every human being is my neighbor.” Oswald Chambers
Galatians 5:14
Mark 10:43-44
Commentary (paragraphs 3-5) from David Jeremiah Pathways Devotional, October 28.
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