Have you ever had someone tell you that the church they attend is such a loving church, as if to imply they are a faithful group? Oh, I don’t want to suggest that they are not loving. The problem is, a loving church is often viewed as faithful when they are not. Let me explain.

In Revelation chapter 3, we read where our Lord wrote a letter to the church at Ephesus because they lost their first love (vr. 4). Because of such they were commanded to repent (vr. 5). However, let’s take a close look at what they were commended for:

“I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.” (vr. 2-3).

Many of the “loving” churches that I am told about don’t respect Biblical authority and don’t test anyone with specific teaching. They keep it general so as to not offend anyone. They have become the religious stand for “political correctness.” This is done so as to not upset anyone and make them feel uncomfortable. You do that by living under the umbrella of “love.”

This article is not to belittle the importance of love. Let’s face it that it was a specific problem at Ephesus which was specifically addressed. To not heed that warning would cost them their salvation. The point of this article is to see that the Lord was not telling those brethren that “all you need is love.” No, they needed to love and they also needed to continue to do the other things they were commended for.

The reason this article was written to help us see the danger of going to extremes. A church without love is in sin. A church without standing and respecting Biblical authority is in sin. The church of Christ is to be the pillar and ground of truth (I Tim. 3:15). Why? Because it’s Christ’s!

Chuck

If you read last week’s bulletin, we dealt with the text of I Corinthians 5. The church at Corinth was rebuked for not exercising church discipline. The church is to be pure and kept unspotted from the world (Eph. 5:25-27). Therefore, when a member of the church is walking in sin (unwilling to repent), that local body of saints must deal with it the Lord’s way.

Without repeating the whole article, Christians need to deal with these situations. It might seem cut and dry as to what should be done with a wayward member who acts like all is fine because Christians know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump (I Cor. 5:6). However, brethren are often tempted to neglect their duties. This is especially true when a member just walks away and leaves. If they are no longer around to leaven the whole lump, is the church still expected to exercise discipline?  Absolutely. Let’s take a closer look at this.

It may be technically true that you cannot really “withdraw” yourself from one who is no longer around, but discipline still needs to be taken. Consider Galatians 6:1. Paul wrote, “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.”  James pretty much said the same thing when he spoke of brethren that wander away and how faithful brethren should try to bring them back (James 5:19-20).

We need to see that fallen brethren need to be dealt with whether they act as if nothing is wrong or if they walk away and stop assembling. A member who walks away is sinning, and it would be wrong for a local church to ignore. But what is a church to do? They should do the very same thing as when someone sinfully walks among them.

If a person leaves a church, they have “withdrawn” themselves. However, the Bible speaks about “marking” or “noting those” who are walking disorderly. The Thessalonians were told, “And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother,” (II Thess. 3:14-15). This is the same idea presented in Romans 16:17-18.

Our goal is to help the fallen return. This is true whether they recognize that they have fallen or not. If a brother walks away and calls me up and acts as if nothing has changed, he would be wrong. If I act as if nothing has changed other than not seeing him at church services, I am not fulfilling my duty of marking him to inspire the godly shame necessary for repentance.

Today’s Christians need to be particularly careful about making the wayward comfortable in their sin. Social media is called “social” for a reason. Still, we should never stop loving our fallen brethren. We should continue to pray for them and, as the II Thessalonian text above mentions, we should never treat them as an enemy. The wayward should be greeted cheerfully rather than being ignored. However, we need to be careful that we do not use social media to accidentally praise those walking in rebellion against God. 

A member of the church who no longer accepts what we teach might say, “You can’t withdraw from me, I withdraw from you.” Fine. But Christians still have the duty to try and bring them back. If they refuse to repent, we must note them and not keep company with them. This is true for all who go back into the pollutions of the world (II Pet. 2:20-22). As children of God, we must remember that sin is sin!

                                                                                                Chuck

In a recent Bible class, we studied the subject of church discipline. In I Corinthians 5, Paul rebuked the church at Corinth for not dealing with a brother who was caught up in sin. They were told to deliver such a one to Satan in order to hopefully save him if he repented (verse 5). The faithful brethren were told not to even eat (socialize) with him (verse 11).

To help illustrate this, let me present a scenario. A husband and wife have a young son who is eight years old. One day, the son and his mother get into an argument and the boy slaps his mom in the face. Later that day the husband (dad) comes home from work and hears what the son does. Aside from being punished, the father says to his son, “I want you to go to your mother and apologize to her.”

What if the boy does not apologize but wants to go fishing with his dad as planned – should the dad take him fishing? I know we would all say no! What if the son still refused to apologize to his mom the next day but wanted to go play ball with his dad as planned – should the dad take him and play ball? Again, I know we would all say no!

Why are we consistently saying no? Why should the father not take the son and do those fun things? The answer is obvious. If the father did that, he would be minimizing the severity of what the son did to his mother. It might even communicate approval. This is the lesson we need to learn concerning Christ and His church.

When someone sins, it can affect the rest of the members of the local church. As Paul said, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump,” (verse 8). Let us not forget that it is also a sin against the Lord and brings reproach upon His church (Eph. 5:27). When a Christian sins and does not repent, they are to be loved and admonished as a brother, not as an enemy (II Thess. 3:14-15). Although the father wants his son to apologize to his wife, it does not mean that the father hates his son until the apology is given. The father should not hate the son, but there must still be consequences for both the error and refusing to apologize. As Christians, we must all recognize this valuable lesson.

Chuck 

Pssst, want to know a secret?

Do you ever wonder how Satan might convince someone to not be a member of a faithful church? Consider these arguments:

1. You do not have to answer to anyone. Well, Satan is partly right on this one. In reality, everyone answers to the Lord (II John 9). Still, when a person is not part of a faithful church, he/she does not have elders looking out for their spiritual wellbeing (I Pet. 5:1-3). They will not have members calling and checking in to see if they are okay (Gal. 6:2). Satan is right – if you are not part of the Lord’s church family, nobody will be following up with you.

2. You do not have to worship God all the time. Christians are commanded to come together as a church (I Cor. 11:17-18; Heb. 10:25). If one does not belong to a faithful congregation, he/she gets to go whenever they decide. They will also have extra cash in their pocket because they will not be financially giving as a member of the church (II Cor. 16:1-2).

3. You do not have to pray for other members or visit them when they are sick or have lost a loved one. If you do not belong to the family of God, you can be selfish and not care about the needs of those around you. Members of the church, on the other hand, care for one another (I Cor. 12:12-25; Rom. 12:15). Remember, Satan wants to convince you that your troubles are so great you cannot help others with their burdens.

4. You do not have to worry about church discipline. Here again, Satan is partly right. If a member of a faithful church wants to listen to Satan on the first three points, a local church is required to purge out the leaven (I Cor. 5:1-7). This is done to help bring the fallen back. A person who does not repent and rejoin the church logically cannot be withdrawn from again. Satan knows this and wants the fallen to find comfort in avoiding earthly discipline. Like children running away to avoid punishment, some will even avoid becoming a member of a local church just to prevent that from ever happening.

5. You do not have to feel guilty about sin. The devil knows that there is less and less guilt as one’s conscience becomes seared (I Tim. 4:2). A person who avoids a faithful church will become more and more comfortable with sin – just as Satan wants.

6. You do not have to evangelize. If someone does not attend a faithful church, than the effectiveness of their evangelism is greatly diminished. Perhaps even more important to Satan, they likely will not bother with evangelism anymore. On the other hand, the faithful Christian is always thinking of ways to encourage people to become part of Christ’s church (Matt. 16:18; Col. 1:18; Mark 16:15-16).

7. You do not have to pledge your allegiance to Satan or the Lord. Anyone who does not confess Christ will be denied (Matt. 10:32-33). However, Satan’s followers do not have to say that they follow him. Satan’s follows are being loyal to him by just by not following the Lord! As Satan knows, we can belong to him whether we intentionally follow him or not!

We all need to make sure we are not following the god of this world (II Cor. 4:4). Do you really want to be influenced by the one who has a lake of fire awaiting him (Rev. 20:10). “Pssst, hey, do not listen to Satan!”

                                                                                               Chuck

It’s all about authority

 Does God really care how we accomplish what He wants us to do? Do the ends justify the means in spiritual matters? Many people today toss Biblical authority aside because they feel that certain Biblical truths do not matter or are less important than others. They are not unique – the Bible is full of people who thought this way too. Let us look at these examples to see what we can learn.

Logically, we can only know God’s opinion on anything from on His word. For example, God does not care whether we eat meat or only vegetables. Both are acceptable to Him (I Cor. 8). A person cannot know this without seeing it in His word. “Feeling” that God will accept something is not the same because it cannot be proven.

Some brethren in the first century thought that it did not matter how widows were taken care of, so long as they were looked after. How did they know this conclusion was acceptable though? In I Timothy 5:16, brethren were told that using money from the church treasury to take care of widows was wrong if that widow still had family members who could care for her. There was obviously a proper way to care for these women. The ends did not justify the means.

Consider the subject of church discipline. A church could choose to ignore the sinful behavior of a member and hope that behavior would stop. What if that erring brother does stop sinning and repents? Was the church right to remain silent? Not according to I Corinthians 5. There are many ways to do things for the Lord. However, the scriptures are clear that we are wrong if we lack His authority!

Too many religious groups today justify their actions based on results. A common strategy, for example, is to use free food to draw people to church events. Some people have certainly become members of these groups because of that first invitation. Did these religious groups stop to consider what our Lord says about this strategy though? Jesus Himself gives an answer in John 6:26.

It can be difficult to say that something was not done properly when good things result from it. We need to remember, though, that we care how things are done because the Lord cares how things are done. The point is to avoid sin! Consider Philippians 1:15-18. Paul said some preachers were sinful yet had some success in converting people. The apostle rejoiced for the converts but still did not approve of the sinful preachers. Regardless of how many converts they made, these sinful preachers were still not approved in God’s eyes.

Paul’s example clearly demonstrates that the ends do not justify the means even when there is some success. People need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, but I will not do things that are scripturally inappropriate – going to a bar, for example – to try and teach them. We need to remember how powerful our example can be (I Tim. 4:12). Doing things for God in our own way might work in the short term, but we are compromising our teaching by not consistently following only God’s word. We also need to remember that we are potentially hurting our example to all the other people observing the situation.

How things are done plainly matters to God. It also matters to Christians who want to respect God’s authority. When we think with our emotions and not with our heads, we run the risk of establishing our own righteousness rather than seeking righteousness through Christ (Rom. 10:1-3).  Make sure you consider what God says about something rather than just assuming it is okay. Paul made it clear: “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Col. 3:17).  It is all about God and His authority.

Chuck