Do This And You Will Live.

     On one occasion a lawyer, desiring to put Jesus to the test, Asked Him, what he must do to inherit eternal life. (Luke 10:25-37).
     Jesus answered him with the question, "What is written in the law? How does it read to you?"
     The lawyer replied back, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."
     Listen to the answer that Jesus gives this man. It may surprise you. "You have answered correctly; do this and you will live."
     Understand very carefully what Jesus is saying here. He is not preaching a works based salvation. We cannot take what He is saying here, and claim that it is not applicable to us today because we are not under law, but under grace.
      Read through the epistles and you will find numerous passages exhorting us to live with a selfless love. We are to put others first, look out for the needs of others, be at peace with others, love deeply from the heart, do no wrong to our neighbor, be careful not to stumble a brother weak in the faith, forgive, and so forth.
     John tells us that if we shut up our hearts against a needy brother, the love of God is not in us. He also equates hatred with murder and reminds us that no murderer has eternal life (1 John 3:15-18). This is grace. It is found in the new covenant. 
     Consider faith. If we believe in Christ, that He is the Son of God, that He is alive, and is Lord, we will follow Him in obedience to His commands. If we see that He walked in love, and calls us to walk in love, we will love as He did. That is how faith works out in the lives of those who truly possess it.
     Consider the new birth. Through the new birth, we become new persons through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. We were once selfish and uncaring. A truly born again person has been recreated, by God, to be compassionate, to love others. If we are hard hearted, selfish individuals, we have need of the new birth.
     Consider the fact that the Spirit of Christ dwells in the believer. How can one who has Christ living in them refuse to show compassion. While on this earth, Jesus loved others to the uttermost. If He is living within us, we cannot help but love in the same way that He did.
     Look at what Jesus has to say about the Judgment.

     "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.
     "And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;
     "and He will put the sheep on His right , and the goats on the left.
     "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
     'For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;
     naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.'
     "Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?
     'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?
     'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to you?
     "The king will answer and say to them 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even to the least of them, you did it to Me.'
     "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;
     for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink;
     I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.'
     "Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?'
     "Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'
     "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
                           Matthew 25:31-46 NASB

     Once again, Jesus is not telling us to go out and try to do as many good deeds as we can, so we can go to heaven. That itself would be selfishness. Any deed done for ourselves, no matter how good it may appear to others, is still a deed only done for ourselves. Love is not self seeking, it looks out for the best interests of others, with no regard for self. 
     Jesus calls selfish sinners to be reborn into a new, Spirit led life of love. He desires to live His life through us. We are now His hands and feet upon this earth. The things that He did while on this earth, are the things that He has called us to do as His disciples. This is what normal Christianity is supposed to look like. 
     Jesus teaches us that anybody we come upon with a need, is our neighbor. It does not matter who that person is. We have an obligation to do what we can, by His grace, to help that person. To reject this, is to reject Him.