Submission to Christ

We are never to be in total submission to any human being. We are to be in total submission to Christ.

Submission to humans is limited based on what they want us to do. When someone asks us to disobey God, then we are to ignore the request of the human to obey God first.

When others desire us to do things with them or on their behalf, then we are to evaluate the request in terms of God's principles.

We enjoy doing things for others when it is in line with the principles of God, but we are in sin when we obey an authority that commands us to disobey God.

There will be many consequences as we obey Christ. Family members will be angry at us for not participating in events and rituals that we know dishonor God.

On more than one occasion we have been asked to attend the wedding of divorced people. We have declined because we know that divorce and remarriage dishonors and disobeys God, therefore we cannot participate to validate these things.

We can be friendly with a divorced person, many are in this condition through no fault of their own and they did not want the divorce, but we cannot validate a remarriage by attending or congratulating a remarriage.

Psalm 40:8
"I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart."

Psalm 143:10
"Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground."

Matthew 12:50
"For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother."

Romans 12:2
"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

Ephesians 6:6
"not by way of eye service, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart."

Tolerating Sin is Sin

We should never "tolerate" sinful things, we should remove ourselves from those who practice them, so as not to give the impression that we approve.

To remain silent is the same as approving. Tolerance is just another word for letting everything be as it is to make everyone comfortable.

Why should we "tolerate"? So as not to bring any sadness to the one who is sinning. Being silent in the face of blatant sin, is helping the sinner to enjoy their sin without bad feelings.

I tolerate someone who is taking a long time to get out of a parking lot, because parking is not all that important and it is not sin to take longer than someone else would like you to.

But I cannot tolerate sin by using pleasing words or remaining in the presence of those who practice sin. Especially if that someone claims to be a believer.

1 Corinthians 5:11-12 "11 But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a verbal abuser, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. 12 What business of mine is it to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?…"

We might ask ourselves the question, "why are so many churches tolerating sin in their midst. Many churches are ignoring the sin and embracing people who claim to be Christian, who are shacking up, outside of the bonds of marriage. Those who shack up and those who approve by their friendliness and silence are all sinning.

Romans 1:31-32 "…31 They are senseless, faithless, heartless, merciless. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them."

Rest in Christ, the Cure

Amen to this poster! We are more likely to respond in sinful ways when we are worried and depressed.