His Fault

Matthew 18:15 ESV

If your Brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

1 Corinthians 6:1 ESV

When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?

The section of scripture in 1 Corinthians, fancy people call it a pericope, ends with the admonition of “such were some of you”. This followed a list of sinful behaviors that will not enter into the kingdom of God. But that isn’t quite right. It is a list of sinful identities, those who “are” these things. Yet, Christians were these things they are so no longer but rather they are in Christ. Yet, the reality is that Christians still has the smell of the fire upon them. The traces of sin cling to them like a spider’s web in the forest, frustrating and conspicuous, but still rather difficult to remove completely.  Even then it is a vestige of what has been not the reality of what is.

Yet, these vestiges, cling to us, causing trouble for both us and those we love. Smells are a frustrating reality. Often times when I smell, I don’t realize it, I have to use my brain and think, I have been sweating and getting dirty, I smell. My brain not my nose tells me. Yet, this is often how it works with our faults. We often become so accustomed to them that the stench of sin no longer bothers us, we become the trash man that doesn’t even smell it anymore. If I fail to use my intelligence to realize my odor Kelly, or one of my children, is faithful and true in pointing it out, and this is a blessing to all. As we read in Matthew Jesus calls us to provide this same care for our church family. Just as my wife and children are the ones most immediately impacted, so too, our brothers and sisters in Christ are the ones most immediately touched and hurt by our sin. We are to love each other enough to point it out!

Jesus is clear that we are not to allow sin to divide and separate us from fellowship with each other. They are not to stop us from ENJOYING each other, ENJOYING gathering together. Yet, how often, we would rather be alone in our homes than “devoting ourselves to fellowship, to the breaking of bread” (Acts 2:42). Yet, church discipline starts with one brother helping another see his sin, it does not start from the pulpit. How, much do you love your sin? Is that why you won’t fellowship with others during the week? Are you unwilling to have your brother or sister walk in the business of life with you, to let them see you and help you cast off the smell of sin? The lingering vestiges of the man or woman you used to be? Will you let Christ use HIS Church, His bride, your brothers and sisters, to wash you and sanctify you? Will you gather together under the teaching of God’s word, devoting yourself to fellowship, and eating together, or are you devoted to ____________(Disc Golf, hunting, baseball, bunko, gardening, working, home improvement, …) so much that you haven’t had someone over to your house to eat a meal, in weeks, or months? Will you hold each other accountable to cast off the chains of sin and run the race well? This week resolve to fellowship with someone you haven’t had to your house before! Hat your sin enough!

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO

Short Roots

Matthew 13:21 ESV

Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away!

No-one is admired for being a fair-weather companion. As the Christian church began to gain notoriety it became evident that they were Christians first and Roman Citizens second. Such an understanding of identity was seen as subversive and destabilizing. So, it had to be “corrected” by various Emperors. Over the decades and centuries not all weathered the storm equally. One of the great controversies of the Church was when good times came back so did the turn coats, what do you do with them? How hard it would be to worship with gouged out eyes and charred extremities as the man next to you simply said “Cesar is Lord” and was allowed to stay “intact”.

With my sick days I was blessed to watch through a few hours of church history and was continually overwhelmed by how regular it was that the church did not have the depth of root to last through the persecution. As my Bible reading brought me through this text it struck me again. What is so undeniable is that the Gospel is good news. What is equally undeniable is that so many of us think that God can be kept on the surface level. That the roots of this faith will not necessitate a penetration into every ascpect of our lives. That “Jesus is Lord” is a declaration of a totalitarian regime. Not one among many but a singular Lordship. One that is given to ever deeper and more obtrusive behavior. Just like the Pregnancy that in the end will change everything down to the way a woman walks, eats, breaths, sits, gets out of bed, so to does the Christian walk.

When many see the reality, they are tempted to abort the project, tempted to not let the roots grow to deep. Thinking that no one can see the difference they persist until one day the sun comes out. Persecution shows itself and then the lack of depth is revealed. “I can’t believe you can be an Engineer and not believe in evolution” was my colleagues comment. The inference being I can’t believe you could make it through school and be quite so dense. So, the persecution begins. For many it isn’t so subtle as they are fired and black listed.

As we look at previous generations of Christian trial, the failures came, and the church responded. The Church responded by teaching more. By being more committed to belief. Not by reducing to the lowest common denominator but by raising the expectation. Doctrine, fancy word for teaching, was the solution that the church has found to be the best defense against apostacy. As we come to times of less favor or, more likely, persecution we do not need to invent a way through. Christ has told us the way, deeper roots, the church has shown us the way, doctrine, clear articulate teaching. If the sermon is not clear and articulate please ask me. I was encouraged by our 34^th President (Dwight D. Eisenhower) when I learned that he would have the Pastor over to the White House Sunday afternoon to clarify points in the sermon. Don’t be afraid to ask, it will help me be clearer next time, and it will help your roots grow. And that is a matter of life and death because Augustine was right when he said,

“God had one son on earth with out sin, but never one without suffering.”

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO

Getting Along

Matthew 10:35-36 ESV

“For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.”

Why can’t we all just get along? This is an amazing question isn’t it. At the same time being so simple it is truly one that jumps immediately to what is wrong with the world. As different members of our society like to point to the inherent inequalities of different person’s in our society and then assign the fix to the responsibility of the government Christians have to look deeper. As other groups like to point to government involvement and the coercive power of the state as one of the chief problems of our society Christian here, also left to go deeper.

In this passage Jesus is attempting to help his disciples manage the reality of what will happen when sin is addressed. For in the end that is what Jesus came to fight. He came to wage a war against sin and death (the consequence of sin). This war was not waged with political intrigue or military coop but with obedience and love. Sometimes that love and obedience played out in the form of a whip for the backs of the moneychangers (John 2:15) at other times it was writing in the sand to bring an adulteress to repentance (John 8:1-11), and finally it was an innocent man dead on a cross, a lifeless body hanging in view of all creation.

Why can’t we all just get along? It is as simple as a man and women in a garden. Sin has entered into our hearts. The depths of that sin are beyond finding out for mortal man (Jeremiah 17:9). The American church has engaged in a persistent rejection of the world shown in scripture, choosing to think that man and women is inherently good and children are born innocent. In such a world it is amazing that we can’t get along but when every man, women, and child is born in sin, and only the constant work of sanctification (Philippians 2:12) reduces any of it, only God entering into the lives of Christians through the work of the Holy Spirit will accomplish the peace we long for, the peace that passes all understanding. Sin is the answer to the question yours and mine.

When you look out and see all the evil in the world, do you also see your sin as the cause. When children are born dead, cancer strikes, and an accident puts a young family in the grave, what is the cause? Until you see the reality of the magnitude of sin you will not be willing to thrust it from you. Until the reality of every sin is set against the necessity of its wage, death (Romans 6:23). Will you see your sin as the cause or will you hide behind the spec in your brother’s eye?

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO 

Evaluation

Isaiah 65:12 ESV

I will destine you to the sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter, Because, when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not listen, but you did what was evil in my eyes and chose what I did not delight in.

Judges 21:25 ESV

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Judges 16:21 ESV

And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes…

As the year is coming to a close news sources across the board are putting the year in review. One of the myriad of ways this transpires is by reviewing which notable, famous, and infamous, people have died over the last year. Along with giving reasons they are notable, for those of us who have never heard of the names, often there is attached an evaluation of sorts upon these individuals. This year’s list has definitely yielded many people of note and repute. As the list goes by, many individuals whose life work are nothing if not steeped in sin roll by. Depending on the news source the evaluation of them is favorable or not, but that is when Christians have to arrive at the words of God through Isaiah the prophet.

Isaiah 65:12 ends with the words “you did what was evil in my eyes and chose what I did not delight in.” This stands in stark contrast to the ending words of the book of Judges “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” The contrast is stark, who’s opinion matters? As many will tell Christians to do what “feels” right to them, we must recognize that only one opinion matters, only one evaluation matters, that being of God himself. The Judge’s eyes are all that matter. Samson’s life is one fraught with glory and betrayal, of reckless sinful decisions and great faithfulness. Yet, in the midst of his life, God, in his sovereignty, had his eyes taken from him. Given the scathing rebuke at the end of the book, we can assume that this humiliation is the reason we still find God’s evaluation of his faith in Hebrews 11 as favorable.

R.C. Sproul left the congregation of the saints on earth this last year to join the congregation of saints at the feet of his savior. One of his quotes that reverberates in my ears, “The only way sinners can get past the gates of heaven is by wearing the robes of somebody else’s righteousness.” The eyes of God must see Christ’s righteousness, not our own. This is how a sexually immoral man like Samson can be called a hero of the faith. Because his eyes were taken from him that he might put on Christ’s righteousness and be seen in it alone.  Let us not fall into the enemy’s trap of looking at legacies, either ours or someone else’s, from any perspective but that of scripture, that is the eyes of Christ. In the end that is the only perspective that matters, what history or future generations think of us is inconsequential next to the words “well done good and faithful servant.”

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO

A Godly Portion

Malachi 2:15 ESV

Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of his youth.

It is amazing how God has ordained relationships. God balances the most physically intimate relationship we have on earth by making it the most spiritually invested as well. This passage comes in the middle of a section centered around the Lord accepting and honoring someone’s sacrifices. The chief reason God was going to not value this sacrifice was that the persons heart was not right. This is nothing new though he had already rebuked them for bringing the rejects of the flock and acting like that was an acceptable sacrifice.

Yet, this rejection of an offering is different. Where the previous rejection centered around God evaluating what was in the heart and using the quality of the offering as evidence. At this point he turns the conversation to a different reason for rejection of a person’s offering. Their sacrifice was legitimate in and of itself but the heart still wasn’t right because of the relationship between spouses or, more precisely, I should say “X”-s.  Yes, the offering or sacrifice was good. It had no blemish it was the full tithe from the gross profit but marriage was lightly esteemed. Promises made, the most intimate of promises, were lightly held. This is compounded because God is actually a part of this union.

Note that God tells us here that a marriage actually brings “a portion of the Spirit” into it. Vows are made “before God and these witnesses” but God is not a simple witness in the ceremony of marriage, he is an active participant! God has skin in the game, as it were, in every marriage between a man and a woman. Because of strife in this relationship prayers are not heard and sacrifices are not honored!

Let that sink in. No matter what percentage of income is given, even the widow’s mites, it is rejected,if you are not right with your wife/husband. If you are not acting faithfully to your X-wife/husband God will not regard you or your offering with favor. Even if when no ceremony has taken place and “all” that has transpired is a child conceived, God is in the relationship, in view of this text. See how the intent was Godly offspring, even baby-mama and Baby-daddy relationships are to be treated as ones in need of faithfulness. Because “Godly offspring” are to be in view.

God has resolutely said that if you want a strong healthy relationship with him you are to have a strong healthy relationship with your spouse. As married couples look at their faith and spiritual walk, priority has to be taken to solidify and develop this relationship or growth will always be muted. If Christians wish for the church to grow this must be fostered. It won’t be easy though there is a reason so many marriages end in divorce, Sin and Satan are also focused on this relationship recognizing its nature, and importance as well. The battle is engaged the moment “I do” is heard.

The struggle is even more challenging for those that think that they have already failed because of divorce. Yet, battle is not over, just on rougher terrain. You are still called to be faithful in the midst of this. You are called still to do what is best for your former spouse even in the midst of heartbreak and betrayal. This is how we show Christ. By loving not because they love us but because Christ loves us and we in turn love those “who trespass against us”.

1 John 4:10-11

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and set his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God So loved us, we also ought to love one another.

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO