2013-05-31
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, I was led to continue writing about belonging to Christ and what that is meant to do to our interpersonal relationships with each other and with God. A part of taking on the enemies of our covenant partners applies to our congregational or group relationships with other believers in the Lord Jesus. Let me share an example from my own experience in another church. The minister of that congregation was having an affair with one of his parishioners. It became the subject of a lot of gossip in that group. That denomination has a system for culling out people engaged in this ungodly behavior, and I was on the committee responsible for this. MT 18: 15-17 actually recognizes such a situation, God gives us instruction for how to deal with it. If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it in the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” (We must remember that when this was first written, tax collectors were considered among the lowest members of society, and Matthew, himself, had been one. The use of the term “pagan” here infers one who is a non-believer and steadfastly rejects faith in the Lord. In my example, gossip was resulting, itself a sin. This is a reminder of the stain of sin like a drop of liquid red dye on a white handkerchief which migrates from its point of origin to stain the entire handkerchief. When a congregational leader commits the sin, it is even more serious, because leaders, like this minister, can influence more people, and thus, should be held to a higher standard. This particular minister did refuse to stop his sinning, and he was eventually defrocked in this highly distasteful matter.
The discipline that had to be given in this rather extreme example is necessary, because the desires of the flesh are put by the people involved as a first priority over the Holy Spirit. Every human being who goes through the sanctification process deals with that conflict between the flesh and the Spirit that Paul so accurately described in RO 7: 14-25. We must remember that the flesh and the Spirit are opposites [GA 5: 16-17]. However, there are smaller matters that are rightfully handled differently. These are the ones where the sin is noted, people speak with the sinner without being harshly judgmental, and the sin is stopped. Sin is sin, no matter what it is, but God takes the attitude of the sinner into consideration. Perhaps the most famous example of this is with David. God sent the prophet Nathan to rebuke David for his behavior against Uriah and in his indiscretions with Bathsheba [read 2 SAM 11-12]. However, David confessed his sin in 2 SAM 12: 13 and took his punishment with grief but like a man. His punishment was the death of his first son with Bathsheba. God forgave David and kept His covenant promise to this very human king [2 SAM 7: 12-13].
If our God can be merciful and forgiving, so we must be merciful and forgiving with our human covenant partners. COL 3: 13, “Be tolerant with one another and forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else; you must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you!” EPH 2: 4-5 helps us to understand why we should be merciful. “But God’s mercy is so abundant, and His love for us is so great, that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience, He brought us to life in Christ. It is by God’s grace that you have been saved.” There is a delicate balance between our need to uncover sin other covenant partners may be committing and our need to act with mercy and forgiveness in a godly manner. We must ask ourselves: Have we a good Biblically true basis for taking any action in response to what we perceive as the sin of other covenant partners? Our lives are filled with shades of gray, and we must ask God for both wisdom and discernment [PS 51: 6; PS 119: 125]. Praying first before taking any action is a prime directive. Being willing to listen to God’s advice is essential to acting rightly. One thing that gives Christianity and Messianic Judaism a bad name is a person who is being harsh and judgmental. And as for covenant partners having the same enemies, we must understand that the people causing internal dissention in a congregation or other group of believers don’t understand that we do have a common enemy-the evil one. 1 PET 5: 8-9, reminds us, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” Acting godly without smug self-satisfaction toward our covenant partners is certainly necessary for our spiritual advancement, no matter how tempted we are to judge harshly. We must remember that we are Christ’s “ambassadors,” called to remember and “do what the Lord requires of us: to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” [2 COR 5: 20; MICAH 6:8].
PRAYER: O Lord, we recognize our need for Your presence and intervention in our lives. We are grateful for it! There are times when matters come to our attention that require us to deal with the delicate balance mentioned above. It is our desire to handle these situations in a way which pleases you. Thus, we bow our heads in reverence and stand in awe of Your wisdom. We ask for it to guide us to godly decisions and actions. PS 31: 3-5, “You are my Refuge and Defense; guide me and lead me as You have promised; keep me safe from the snare that has been set for me; shelter me from danger. I place myself in your care; You will save me, Lord; You are a faithful God.” We submit to Your superior wisdom and accept Your guidance. We take the advice found in COL 3: 17, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God, the Father, through Him.” Dearest Abba, it breaks our hearts when we see a fellow covenant partner giving in to the cunning temptations placed before him by the adversary. We must be careful that we have assessed the situation correctly before saying anything or taking any action. We must pray first that when the sin is mentioned to our covenant partner, he will see Your perspective on it and decide to stop the sin. The consequences of giving in to the evil one are aptly described in IS 64: 6, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” We do not want to be remembered as having been weak in our faithful obedience, sliding down that slippery slope that leads to ruin. We surely don’t want to be forgotten, but instead hope to fulfill the purposes for which You created us in the first place. We thank You and praise You for all the help You give us not to have this abysmal and sad ending in spiritual death. Without You, it cannot be avoided. You are indeed a loving and faithful God! We offer You our praise and thanks in the holy/mighty name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: As this “Higher Purpose for Us” segment of the “Our Covenant” messages continue, I am directed to write about the dichotomy of Christ and world’s values. These impact us on a daily basis, and we are forced to make unpopular choices. However, our Lord Jesus knows that those who don’t diverge from His teaching, despite these temptations, will enjoy a tremendous and joyful inheritance. 1 PET 1: 4, 6, “For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for His children. It is kept in heaven, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change or decay…So, be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead even through it is necessary for you to endure many trials for awhile.” He has promised us that we will live eternally, if we obey Him faithfully. We really couldn’t ask for more. If we ask: why does He allow us to suffer? Then, we don’t understand that it is through our suffering that we mature spiritually, allowing Him to perfect and purify us. In that question, we forget his wonderful promise while we are still here on earth, found in 1 COR 10: 13, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will provide you a way out so that you can stand up under it.” That, Dear Ones, gives us hope, the hope that is given to us by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus “as the First among many brothers” [RO 8: 29]. Let me end with this great verse, PS 146: 5, “But happy are those who have the God of Israel as their Helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God.” Praise be to our awesome Covenant Partner forever!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2013. All Rights Reserved.
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