Friendship - Edition #8: To the Test

April 28th, 2006

Happy Friend’s Day!!!
Friendship – Edition #8: To the Test

Well, today was going to try again at an MRI. Yesterday, I sat in a tube for about 50 minutes before they sent me home. Apparently, I broke the computer. I had a habit of that at the companies that I worked for, but this time, I didn’t even touch the thing… I promise! But, alas, there are parts to be ordered, and it will be Tuesday afternoon when I get to get stuck back in the tube again, with the whirring sounds and clicking sounds and buzzing sounds and grunting sounds… sounds like fun.

Leviticus 19:18
“‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.’”

Mark 12:28-34
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

“Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

Deuteronomy 6:13-17
Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah. Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you.

Matthew 4:7
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Luke 4:12
Jesus answered, “It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

First, I want to check a few things before I go into my thoughts… because my thoughts may change entirely based on what I find. Leviticus puts out the Ten Commandments. And throughout the commandments, God reminds us that he is God. He says “I am the LORD.” In fact, the whole book of Leviticus, the exact phrase “I am the LORD” is used 49 times. There are only 27 chapters, and remarkably, the phrase isn’t used in the last chapter.

Matthew 4:7 and Luke 4:12 Test:
ekpeirazō
ek-pi-rad'-zo
To test thoroughly: - tempt.

1st John 3:16
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

1st John 3:16 Lay Down:
tithēmi
tith'-ay-mee
A prolonged form of a primary word θέω theō (which is used only as an alternate in certain tenses); to place (in the widest application, literally and figuratively; properly in a passive or horizontal posture, and thus different from G2476, which properly denotes an upright and active position, while G2749 is properly reflexive and utterly prostrate): - + advise, appoint, bow, commit, conceive, give, X kneel down, lay (aside, down, up), make, ordain, purpose, put, set (forth), settle, sink down.

1st John 3:16 Brothers:
adelphos
ad-el-fos'
A brother (literally or figuratively) near or remote (much like [H1]): - brother.

1st John 3:16 Ought:
opheilō  opheileō
of-i'-lo, of-i-leh'-o
To owe (pecuniarily); figuratively to be under obligation (ought, must, should); morally to fail in duty: - behove, be bound, (be) debt (-or), (be) due (-ty), be guilty (indebted), (must) need (-s), ought, owe, should.

Now, putting this all together… I should not tempt my God. And since I don’t want to tempt the LORD, I then have this debt that I owe to love my enemies, to love my neighbors, to even lay down my life for my brothers. And who are my brothers? Now, that is the question, isn’t it? Because the Greek says it is “literally or figuratively” so it could be my actual blood brother or it could be my neighbor… as in apartment 1506, who happens to be a UPS driver. Should I put God to a test, being a basis for evaluation or judgment, it would be wrong. It would also be wrong to provoke God. It simply isn’t write to try to entice the LORD. But how easy is it to withhold love? In most cases, it is easier to withhold love and give pain, at least when the sinful nature is in charge. And when the sinful nature is in charge, I provoke my God because I do not love my neighbor as the bible says that I should.

“True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it is lost.”
- Charles Caleb Colton

“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.” - Unknown

Johnny Out.