ANNOUNCEMENT: Please check the new weekly segment following the bible commentary: From Addiction to Freedom by Favour Oyinloye. Or you can scroll immediately to it, I won't mind.
Paul is not saying do not be concerned about your own interests, but that you should not just be concerned only about that, just as Jesus said love your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27). Think of what will benefit others is what he is saying.
Nobody really needs to be told they should be concerned about their own interests, but we need to be told that we should be concerned about things that benefit others also.
Nobody needs to be told to love themselves. That is why we eat, bathe, and brush our teeth; it's all because we love ourselves (Ephesians 5:29). But we need to be told to similarly love our neighbors.
Jesus was helping us to move from the point of self-interest to being interested in others, when he said that we should not just invite people to our feast who can also invite us to their feast, but do things without the transactional motive behind it (Luke 14:12-14).
He is showing us a new way, another way, another way to live, the way of love motivation, where life is not about you, what you would gain. And we see the motivation for prayer and fasting and giving is not a means to an end of impressing people, but rather the purity of love motivation to God and others (Matthew 6:1-18).
For example, when you give, it should not be with the idea that, when the time comes, that person will also give me. And when you help others, it should not be because you are expecting that they will help you.
When you are concerned about your interest, you spend your time, energy, and resources; do the same for others, and let it be joy when you do so. Look at what Jesus said:
And the king will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.’ (Matthew 25:40)
Also in Hebrews, we read:
For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name, in having served and continuing to serve the saints. (Hebrews 6:10)
So it's work, it's a demonstration of love, it's service, and not for yourselves, but for the saints.
The issue of motivation is so important because God looks at the heart and not how things appear (1 Samuel 16:7, 1 Chronicles 28:9). And that is why the word concern in the focus verse is important; there has to be a genuineness there.
Life among believers is powered by the love of God, powered by concern for one another. Jesus said he wants us to love one another as he loved us (John 13:34-35). That is why Paul is talking about in this verse. John says don't just be concerned spiritually, but practically. He said Don't say bless you, but actually help the needy brother (1 John 3:17-18).
But people are afraid of being taken advantage of. Know that you are not under compulsion to give and help; rather, you are being encouraged.
At the beginning of the church, people willingly sold their possessions and brought them to the apostles, because they were concerned about the needs of others. It was not a program, it was not under compulsion (remember God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7)).
But Ananias and Sapphira had another motivation (Acts 5:1-11), so they sold and lied; they wanted to be seen as great. And because God sees the heart and not the appearance, they paid the price for it, and became eternal examples of the fact that it's not just about the action but about the motivation, the heart of love, concern, being ready to give of yourself so that others may benefit.
The story of Ananias and Sapphira tells us that it's not just about what man thinks but what God thinks. And we should not see the concern we have for others and how that is expressed as a means of personal ascendency, not using others for your own end, but helping them for God's sake, out of a pure heart.
Don't say I have done this for you, so I deserve this position, this recognition. I have done this for you, and based on that, you must do this for me. That is wrong. That is contrary to the motivation of love and of concern for others.
God wants to create a people who love one another with a sincere love, fueled by the spirit of love, as God is love, people given the eyes of God to look at others and care for them for God's sake, and serve them, help them, going out of your way to do that. We should have a commitment to the welfare of others, is what I am saying, and not just our own welfare.
Welcome to a new weekly segment: From Addiction to Freedom by Favour Oyinloye
