Friday, January 26, 2024
The Apostate Church Culture is Dangerous; Avoid It
Our modern Christian culture has distorted forgiveness to fit the psychology of our day. We are told to forgive when the offender confesses and is sorry. We are not told to forgive those who are not repentant.
Luke 17:3-4 "…3Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
There are those who would say that we do not have to ask forgiveness to those we have offended because David said to God; "you alone have I offended." While it is true that we must confess to God first we must also confess to those we have offended in order to reconcile the relationships that we broke.
Matthew 18:15-20
“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”
No one grows in holiness without confession of sin. And, relationships are not mended without humility and the desire to show the offended one that we love them too much to allow them to think we hold them in such low regard.
1 John 1:9
"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
We forgive as God forgave, when there is confession. A relationship cannot be mended when one party refuses to admit they were offensive.
Sadly, in our day most people are too prideful to admit they have been offensive and will fight when approached by the one they offended to resolve a problem.
It is not surprising that so many preachers spend more time on forgiveness than they do on confession of sin because secretly in their hearts they want to bypass the need for admission of guilt. What they do not understand is that having to humble ourselves in confessing our offense it grows us making us unlikely to do the same sins again.
This is why we do not see people change, they will not confess, and they sweep their offense under the rug only to emerge later again and again and again. They reoffend over and over again expecting their victims to just "let it go."
In 2 Timothy 3:4-5 God tells us to stay away from such people, they are brutal and unrepentant with the ability to cause frustration in their victims leaving them unusable for the Kingdom of God. Bad company corrupts good character and we must avoid them.
1 Corinthians 15:33
Perfect Love Casts Out Fear
1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” The ultimate punishment or fear is separation from God."
Those who argue to win in a conversation without concern for others are walking in fear. They fight because of the fear of losing something, that is power over others.
In our world today people are easily offended by disagreement or correction. They use snarky retorts to intimidate others into feeling inferior, and also a way to silence those who are weak in their spirit.
We are bold as lions as born-again believers and have no need to be accepted by those who love to dominate us for their own feelings of superiority.
The most freeing thing in the world is to be able to be authentic and unaffected by the responses and intimidation of those who walk in fear.
Isaiah 41:10
"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
2 Timothy 1:7
"For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."
Isaiah 41:13
"For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”
There are many people in the world now who are calling "bad good and good bad." These people deliberately mock and intimidate to cause believers to shrink back in silence to avoid the problems these wicked people create. They count on the group around them to validate them while they create fear in those they attack.
Matthew 10:27-29 "…27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father."
Sadly, I have seen more of this mocking and intimidation than I have godly responses based on love. The culture in which I live is dominated by self-will and revenge when those who are challenged cannot win over a bold and confident born-again believer.
Praise God and Jesus Christ Who lives in us that we do not walk in fear and cannot be intimidated to recoil when attacked by self-important individuals.
Again, sadly many of these individuals are in the church gatherings. They are not humble, but are full of arrogance, emotionally and spiritually bludgeoning anyone who corrects them rather than sitting down calmly and lovingly to have a conversation using God's Word and praying for wisdom so that both parties can come to an agreement.
We are commanded to agree, this does not mean giving up truth to be able to be friendly, it means that we go back to prayer and Bible study to discern truth.
Those who seek Christ together rarely disagree, they both love the word so much that Christ in them has shown them. Christ is not divided.
2 Corinthians 11:3-5
"3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his trickery, your minds will be led astray from sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, this you tolerate very well!
5 For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles."
Every born-again believer is subject to one another, no one is higher than the other because it is Christ Who is pre-eminent not the person.
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