“De-Friended” for faith… Yes, it’s true. Facebook friend has gone and “de-friended” me…

I tried to communicate the Word to a believer yesterday about the fact that the even the “tenth” in giving, was of the Law. I realize that smacks in the face of “tradition and religion” in the church. But it’s true!

Giving the argument that the “tenth” came before the law with Abraham, and so it should be brought forward into Grace, sounds good at first… but then, I found the “silver bullet” that wipes out that doctrine completely.

The Apostle Paul said in Galatians, “Gal 5:1  Christ has set us free so that we may enjoy the benefits of freedom. So keep on standing firm in it, and stop attaching yourselves to the yoke of slavery again.

It is “slavery” to have to follow a set of rules and regulations AND even more frustrating to realize you CAN’T!

Gal 5:2  Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you.
Gal 5:3  Again, I insist that everyone who allows himself to be circumcised is obligated to obey the entire law.
Gal 5:4  Those of you who are trying to be justified by the law have been cut off from Christ. You have fallen away from grace.
Gal 5:5  For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.
Gal 5:6  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters. What matters is faith that is active through love.
Gal 5:7  You were running beautifully! Who cut in on you and stopped you from obeying the truth?
Gal 5:8  Such influence does not come from the one who calls you.
Gal 5:9  A little yeast spreads through the whole batch of dough.

Even if a pastor is teaching this untruth, it’s still a “untruth.” You may thing he or she is the greatest human alive, but “a little yeast spreads through the whole batch…”

Circumcision was established before the Law also… with Abraham. That’s right, the “tenth” doctrine AND “circumcision” BOTH came from BEFORE the Law and Paul said, “Those of you who are trying to be justified by the law have been cut off from Christ.”

There is NOTHING that has been “carried over” from the Law, INTO Grace. What matters is faith that is active through love.

Jesus said in Mat 5:17,  “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I didn’t come to destroy them, but to fulfill them.

The word “fulfill” in the original Greek is plēroō  and means, “execute (an office), finish (a period or task), verify (or coincide with a prediction), etc.: – accomplish, X after, (be) complete, end, expire, fill (up), fulfil, (be, make) full (come), fully preach, perfect, supply.

He fulfilled the Law! We could NEVER fulfill the Law. This is why God made a NEW COVENANT.

As they ate the Passover meal together in the upper room, Jesus said in Mat 26:28, ” For this is my blood of the new covenant that is being poured out for many people for the forgiveness of sins.”

The “just” shall live by FAITH, NOT the Law. The Law is the Old Covenant and Jesus said, “I have fulfilled the plan and expired the old one.”

Paul said, “Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you.”

Jesus came and showed us the “Heart and Intent” of the Law. 1Co 15:56  says, “Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. Did you get that? The power of sin is the LAW!
1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Mat 22:38-40 Jesus said to him, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
This is the greatest and most important commandment. The second is like it: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’

All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.” The Law “COMMANDED…” The Gospel of Grace… SUPPLIES…” Which do you want?

Paul said in Rom 2:28-29,  “For a person is not a Jew because of his appearance, nor is circumcision something external and physical.
No, a person is a Jew inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by a written law. That person’s praise will come from God, not from people.”

Man always “craves” to DO SOMETHING to earn something… God says, simply rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ as the way to “please Him.”

Rom 8:3-4  “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to deal with sin. He condemned sin in the flesh,
so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Now when we give money, time, talents or anything we have to give, we do it from a heart FULL of love for Jesus, Our heavenly Daddy and the Holy Spirit. And it’s NOT limited to “a tenth.”

Rom 8:1  Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in union with Christ Jesus.
Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. Remember, the power of sin is in the Law. We are FREE from the power of sin and the Law.
Rom 8:3  For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to deal with sin. He condemned sin in the flesh
Rom 8:4  so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

STOP trying to earn and DO anything that God has never told you to do in the first place. We don’t give a “tenth” of our income because that’s what Abraham did. We don’t need to get circumcised if we’re a male believer.

Stop doing and start KNOWING Jesus… Col 3:3  For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. If you’ve been “born again,” your old man is dead!

We are even more generous in our giving of all things! That’s what love is… “unbounded” giving and love in Our King and Savior Jesus Christ.