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od is the same God of the Old and New Testament. The Israelites
are His children of the Old, the Church of the New - He treats us
both similarly. Here is an example of how God punished His children
- 36 men died because of one man’s
sin. The Word of God is an instruction manual (2 Tim 3:16-17).
It teaches us how to work as individuals and as the GROUP –
The Church. The following scriptures illustrate how God feels about
hard-headed followers within His church.
Joshua Chapter 7
(CEV) Paraphrased, Read chapter 6 also: |
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The
LORD had said that everything in Jericho belonged to him.
But Achan from the Judah tribe took some of the things from
Jericho for himself. And so the LORD was angry with the Israelites,
because one of them had disobeyed him (v
1).
Joshua sent about three thousand soldiers to
attack Ai. But the men of Ai fought back and chased the Israelite
soldiers away from the town gate and down the hill to the
stone quarries. Thirty-six Israelite soldiers were
killed, and the Israelite army felt discouraged.
Joshua and the leaders of Israel tore their clothes and put
dirt on their heads to show their sorrow. They lay facedown
on the ground in front of the sacred chest until sunset (v
4-6).
The LORD answered: Stop lying there on the
ground! Get up! I said everything in Jericho belonged to me
and had to be destroyed. But the Israelites have kept some
of the things for themselves. They stole from me and hid what
they took. Then they lied about it. What they stole was supposed
to be destroyed, and now Israel itself must be destroyed.
I cannot help you anymore until you do exactly what
I have said. That's why Israel turns and runs from
its enemies instead of standing up to them. Tell the people
of Israel, “Tomorrow you will meet with the LORD your
God, so make yourselves acceptable to worship him. The LORD
says that you have taken things that should have been destroyed.
You won't be able to stand up to your enemies until you get
rid of those things (v 10-14).
Joshua said, "Achan, you caused us a lot
of trouble. Now the LORD is paying you back with the same
kind of trouble." The people of Israel then stoned to
death Achan and his family. They made a fire and burned the
bodies, together with what Achan had stolen, and all his possessions.
They covered the remains with a big pile of rocks, which is
still there. Then the LORD stopped being angry with
Israel. (v 25-26)
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Just like there were people who delayed the Israelites victory
back then, likewise it is today.
Currently, sexually immorality (1 Thess. 4:3-8 NIV) is one major
problem in the church that diminishes our advancement toward maturity
in Christ. There are Christian men that have sex with Christian
women. The participants aren’t married and some aren’t
thinking about marriage. Hearts are broken, lies are told, emotions
wasted, no one benefits, no one receives blessings and Jesus grieves.
Excuses for immorality range from horniness to loneliness, yet
these Christians are allowed to go unchecked by their brothers and
sisters. It is highly beneficial, highly scriptural, and highly
godly for you and me to take action.
| God’s word tells us what to do with
our brethren who go against Him.
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1 Corinthians 5:1-13 (MSG), Paul speaks to the church in Corinth:
1I also received a
report of scandalous sex within your church family, a kind that
wouldn't be tolerated even outside the church: One of your men is
sleeping with his stepmother.
2And you're so above
it all that it doesn't even faze you! Shouldn't this break your
hearts? Shouldn't it bring you to your knees in tears? Shouldn't
this person and his conduct be confronted and dealt with?
The church observes, gossips, and speculates about these “Player
type” Christian men (or that sister that keeps “giving
it up”). The women who were mistreated might only notify their
girlfriends to “just avoid him”. The offender
still comes to church every Sunday, and he is still free to strike
again. The Christian men and leaders may be notified, but by then
it’s too late and much damage is caused. I’ve heard
this saying “Lets just pray for him.”
Lastly, the worst case – the leaders don’t believe
or even investigate such a foul allegation because of who the parties
are and who told them. Isn’t the church supposed to be a family?
Would you let another man DOG your sister sexually, emotionally
and do nothing about it? I would think not.
3I'll tell you what
I would do. Even though I'm not there in person, consider me right
there with you, because I can fully see what's going on. I'm telling
you that this is wrong. You must not simply look the other way and
hope it goes away on its own. Bring it out in the open and deal
with it in the authority of Jesus our Master. |
Paul was a man of God, a man that takes action on such things.
Shouldn’t we be activists?
4Assemble the community--I'll
be present in spirit with you and our Master Jesus will be present
in power.
5Hold this man's conduct
up to public scrutiny. Let him defend it if he can! But if he can't,
then out with him! It will be totally devastating to him, of course,
and embarrassing to you. But better devastation and embarrassment
than damnation. You want him on his feet and forgiven before the
Master on the Day of Judgment.
Don’t tolerate any seedling of immoral behavior amongst
you. Gather together and bring the accused man and the women together
and actually talk about what happened. We must hold both parties
accountable and responsible while using the Word of God. Let the
two parties repent; may their sins be forgiven by the Lord Jesus.
| “But these are grown-folks and you can’t
tell other grown-folks what to do”. |
 If
these grown-folks (actually spiritual babes – sipping on Similac)
aren’t open for correction or too prideful to admit guilt,
they haven’t really grown and they need not dwell with other
grown-folks; therefore should be cast out.
"Deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the
flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus
(1 Corinthians. 5:5 KJV)".
"But now I am writing you that you must not associate with
anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy,
an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such
a man do not even eat. What business is it of mine to judge those
outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will
judge those outside. Expel the wicked man from among you (1 Corinthians
5:11-13 NIV)". The bible is clear.
6Your flip and callous
arrogance in these things bothers me. You pass it off as a small
thing, but it's anything but that. Yeast, too, is a "small
thing," but it works its way through a whole batch of bread
dough pretty fast.
7So get rid of this
"yeast." Our true identity is flat and plain, not puffed
up with the wrong kind of ingredient. The Messiah, our Passover
Lamb, has already been sacrificed for the Passover meal, and we
are the Un-raised Bread part of the Feast.
8So let's live out
our part in the Feast, not as raised bread swollen with the yeast
of evil, but as flat bread--simple, genuine, unpretentious.
If we don’t correct our brethren, their way of thinking
and lifestyle will spread to other men and women of God. It will
become OK to follow the Flesh rather than The Holy Spirit, because
sister or brother so-n-so did it. It’ll be more difficult
for all of us to walk The Walk.
Now, the church has become a bar, were Christians sample
one another sexually, emotionally and immorally. The thought of
celibacy and purity before marriage has become something “no
one can really do”, so immorality is condoned. The bible continues:
9I wrote you in my
earlier letter that you shouldn't make yourselves at home among
the sexually promiscuous.
10I didn't mean that
you should have nothing at all to do with outsiders of that sort.
Or with crooks, whether blue- or white-collar. Or with spiritual
phonies, for that matter. You'd have to leave the world entirely
to do that!
11But I am saying that
you shouldn't act as if everything is just fine when one of your
Christian companions is promiscuous or crooked, is flip with God
or rude to friends, gets drunk or becomes greedy and predatory.
You can't just go along with this, treating it as acceptable behavior.
12I'm not responsible
for what the outsiders do, but don't we have some responsibility
for those within our community of believers?
13God decides on the
outsiders, but we need to decide when our brothers and sisters are
out of line and, if necessary, clean house.
God’s word is clear: If they won’t receive correction
and repent, expel them. This applies to homosexuality too.
“But our Praise Ministry will suffer. We
need his / her vocals,” says the queer
choir director. |
Then let it suffer. It is better to have a faithful church with
poor singers, which God smiles upon; rather than an immoral church,
with great signers, which God frowns upon – with his fist
charged, ready to bring judgment.
God has extreme patience but it isn’t unlimited, at some
point He will snap (Numbers 14:22-23). Let us move on what God instructs
us to do. Our church won’t grow and neither will the world
see our light and be healed if we don’t (1 Chronicles 7:14).
What are some examples of disobedient children in your church (please
do not name names)? What did you do about it? What specific
steps should we take when carrying out what God instructs (biblically)?
Here a few scriptures to keep in mind:
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