"But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people."--Jeremiah 31:33.
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people."--Hebrews 8:10.
I believe this question is answered in one short word: LOVE.
"Owe no man anything, but to love one another; for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law."-- Romans 13:8.
"Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."--Romans 13:10
"For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." --Galatians 5:14.
In mark 12:28 a man asked Jesus, "Which is the first commandment of all?" He replied, "The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; the Lord thy God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind and with all thy strength; This is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." Jesus therefore taught just two main commandments in the law, and both of them were LOVE, love for God and love for one's neighbor.
Look at Paul's testimony in 2 Corinthians 5:14,15. "For thr love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again." For a better understanding I like to put this passage into the singular as though Paul spoke of himself alone: The love of Christ me (to serve Him, to preach the gospel), because I think this way, that if Christ died for all, then I was dead (in tresspasses and sins). And since He died for all, then I who live (by faith in Him) ought no longer to live for myself, but for Him who died for me and rose again."
Paul had found in Christ's death the source of life for himself and for everyone else. But he who has this life is constrained by the love of Christ to no longer live for himself but for the one who died for him and rose again. Paul had fallen in love with Jesus, and that love changed things for him. Have you ever fallen in love with Jesus?
This is taught in I Corinthians 13:1-2, and I will use the word LOVE in place of charity, for it is the true translation of the Greek. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and I have not love, I am become as a sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift os prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith so that I could move mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the pore, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing."
Therefore the great preacher, the silver tongued orator, who can sway crowds to his will, if he have not love is only a lot of noise. The man of great education with knowledge of all mysterious things and with faith to accomplish great achievements is still without any real value in life unless he has love. Futhermore the philanthropist, who gives all his wealth to charity and to the work of the church, who even donates his body to science, will find in the end that without love it profited him nothing.
They constantly preach the law of the tithe, binding upon their members, making it of vital importance. Evidently money is what they are after in their work. Peter said to the elders, "Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; NOT FOR FILTHY LUCRE (money); but of a ready mind." 1 Petr 5:2. But I fear many elders today are after the filthy lucre first of all. I have heard that the best and most faithful tythers are the Mormons and the Seventh Day Adventists. To be sure their church organizations have become rich in worldly goods, but harping on tithing by Baptists will give them the same kind of spirituality that Mormons and Seventh Day Adventists have.
If Baptist preachers really want to see the money come pouring in, to see all their needs supplied in their church and see missionaries going out to the field of the world, then let them preach the love of Christ and demonstrait it in their own sacrificial living and giving of themselves for Him. When their members have also fallen in love with Jesus, the love of Christ will constrain them to give as they have never given before, and they will give in happiness and joy instead of fearfully, just to obey a law. They will be like those saints of Macedonia of whom Paul wrote: They were extreamly liberal even in "a great trail of affliction" and "their deep poverty," begging him to accept their gift. But he says, "This they did, not as we hoped, BUT FIRST GAVE THEIR OWN SELVES TO THE LORD, AND UNTO US BY THE WILL OF GOD." II Corinthians 8:5. Like Paul they had fallen in love with the Lord Jesus Christ. They were constrained by the love of Christ to no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and rose again.
These preachers are often puzzled by the meager results. The Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20 is the solemn command of Jesus Christ to His church, and it is certainly our duty to obey it. But I'm am afraid those who go forth just out of a since of duty will miss the mark, for with out real love in the heart for the Giver of the Great Commission their going will all be in vain. I believe that all witnessing, preaching, or any service that is done simply on account of duty is all vain. There is nothing that will satisfy God except our love for Him, and His Son, Jesus Christ, moreover there just isn't any power in anything else. God is out to win man's love, and He can only win it by love.
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