As born-again believers life is not about results that we produce in our witness for Christ, its all about obedience to God while leaving all results to Him. We are merely the messengers, what other people do with the warnings and information is God's business. Our mandate from God is to tell the truth, remain steadfast in it and walk away when someone refuses to listen.
Those who make up their own rules to bless God are not blessing Him, but foster a sense of pride in self that they did something for God.
How many parents can relate somewhat to this principle of obedience over sacrifice?
When we have a rule in the house that benefits the entire household but some in that household do something they like to do and claim it is for others, while disobeying the other rules, they are not doing what they choose for others, they are doing what they want and claiming it is for the others when in reality it is really doing things their own way without regard for the others.
1 Samuel 15:22-23 " 22 But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has rejected you as king.”…"
Claiming God approves of things He never commanded or violating His principles to do things our own way is lying against God.
There is a sort of "pretending" occurring that is lack of faith in Christ, making up one's own rules professing they have God's approval when they do not.
It reminds me of the small child who says to their parent, "but I did it for you" when they clearly did what they wanted but neglected to obey what we told them to do.
I am reminded of the little boy who was told to sit down in his chair defiantly proclaiming that he was sitting down on the outside but standing up on the inside.
Some people will obey on the outside with anger on the inside that they had to obey.
Those who pretend to obey through disobedience of the command given, have the sin of rebellion in their hearts. Not only are they disobeying they are also lying about disobeying as though completely ignoring our rule to do their own things is justified and acceptable. They also justify themselves by saying they did it while concocting revenge toward the one they claim to obey.
Love for others and God results in obedience to others.
Mark 12:33
"to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, which is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
I have known people who would give good gifts to someone but treat them disrespectfully as though the gift covers the continual disrespect. I don't know about you but I would rather not receive a gift from someone who treats me with contempt but gives me a gift to cover up their disrespect. And, sometimes the gift is given in front of others so they will appear to be a good person to the others watching.
God gave us excellent and perfect guidelines for the resolution of acts of rebellion, they include confession of the sinful attitude and action as well as bringing their confession not only to God but also to those they offended. Pretending something never happened and coming back to cover it up later with gifts is man's way not God's way and it does not reconcile a relationship. The distrust remains in those who have been offended when the offender does not care enough to confess what they did and the relationship remains broken.
Matthew 18:15 "“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother."
Doing something sinful against someone and then bringing a gift later is not God's formula, it is man's pride in attempting to make things better without ever having to admit anything. It is also offensive because it ignores the harm the offender did as though it wasn't important.
It is only through admitting fault with the intention of never acting that way again that wipes away the offense and restores a relationship.
Confession from the offender and forgiveness extended by the offended is the only way a relationship can be restored. There is another side to this formula God gives, and that is everyone involved grows into a better person by the confession and the forgiveness. These two elements are two sides of the same coin, growth and reconciliation can only happen if both confession and forgiveness are present.
Our interpersonal relationships as written in God's Word show us God's relationship to us. He only forgives those who confess their sinfulness to be saved from their own sin, and He only forgives the sin of the believer for their growth when they confess. No confession by unbelievers and there is no salvation. No confession of sin from believers and there is no spiritual growth and there will be lost rewards in heaven.
Many church attendees have a wrong belief about God's forgiveness because they have been trained to believe we forgive those who are unrepentant without any consequences. Our human relationships are a mirror of God's relationship to us. He forgives only when someone confesses and desires to be changed by Him. Human relationships cannot withstand harshness that is never confessed but merely swept under the rug to be ignored.
Doing things God's way is hard work and humbles us, the very reason most people attempt to shortcut this by just trying in the flesh to be nicer next time.
1 John 1:8-10 "…8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us."
1 Corinthians 3:15 "If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet only so as through fire."
Those who will not trust in Christ will not be saved and those who say they have trusted Christ but walk in disobedience as a lifestyle, were very likely never saved and need to repent and trust in Christ genuinely. The believer who has trusted Christ but is lazy in obedience will lose rewards in heaven, they will not only suffer loss in this life in the form of consequences but they will also lose rewards in heaven. No one gets away with rebellion and disobedience, it is all being recorded in heaven.
When psychology began to take hold around the world the gospel and the principles of God became perverted into man's way of thinking, replacing God's meanings with man's fallen understanding to soften the effects of sin and ultimately end up coddling the sinner who loves their sin and is too prideful to confess their sinfulness while punishing the authentic believer who loves God's Word and desires to obey the scriptures.
Now we have church gatherings that are almost fully apostate with many unbiblical things being taught that hinder a believer's walk with Christ and entice unbelievers to remain in their sin.
2 Timothy 4:3 "For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires".
The apostate church ignores the principles of God to follow their own idea of goodness while they mock and demean God's commands through rejection of those who bring the Word of God for their evidence of truth.
Matthew 15:7-9
…7 You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: 8‘ These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 9 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’ "
It is not pleasant as authentic believers navigate through this apostate age full of obstacles and trials. However, we know that God told us this would happen and that Christ in us makes us strong even if we have to walk alone on this narrow path, we are never alone, Chrsit lives in us and goes through everything with us and occasionally we encounter others who love Him and His principles the way we do.
We never have to be discouraged for long, we fall down at times but get back up as we are reminded that our homegoing is soon and we still have a purpose on this earth even if we cannot see what it is momentarily.
Keep looking up brothers and sisters, it won't be much longer now.
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