March/April 2006
DISCIPLINED TO GOD'S WORD
With Passover and days of Unleavened Bread approaching, a more personal and confrontational mode of discipline is required. God's Word reveals three main areas of danger that require's discipline in our lives. These are: faithfulness to doctrine, building character and unity of shared beliefs. Each is critical and vital in importance to the health and integrity of the Church of God. The greatest, mortal danger to the Church of God is the toleration of sin, public and private. The Church is to be faithful to doctrine and to separate itself from confusion, compromise, doctrinal error and heresy. On matters like these the Bible is clear: “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, has not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he has both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds”(2 John 9-11). The Apostle Paul instructed the Galatians that “Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed”(Gal 1:8-9).
The letters of 2 Peter and Jude explicitly warn of the dangers presented in the form of false prophets and heretics. Jude alerts the church that, “There are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 4). Similarly, Peter warns, “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction” (2 Pet 2:1).
God's called must separate themselves from these self-willed heresies and from the heretics. God's called are to confront sin and live in obedience to the Word of God. A lack of attention to build character is a sure sign of rebellion before the Lord. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, chastised them severely, “Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor 6:9-11).
When a baptized called out one sins, their sin is to be confronted in accordance with the pattern revealed in scripture. As I noted previously, the greatest mortal danger to God's church is the toleration of sin. Condoning it and allowing it to grow, leads to more sin, which unrepented of, leads to death.
The integrity of the church is also dependent upon the unity of shared beliefs. Some of the most repeated warnings found in the New Testament is the admonition against the toleration of syncretism, [mixing of doctrinal beliefs]. Paul speaks of this in Romans 16: “I exhort you brothers to watch those making divisions and causes of stumbling contrary to the teaching which you learned: and turn away from them. For such ones do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by smooth speaking and flattering they deceive the hearts of those without guile”(Rom 16:17-18 The Interlinear Bible). Paul on this same subject wrote “A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject; knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sins, being condemned of himself”(Titus 3:10-11).
God's church is consistently exhorted to practice and preserve unity of sharing beliefs in doctrine. The ongoing function of church discipline is to be a part of individual self examination. The importance of maintaining integrity in personal relationships is made clear by the Lord when instructing the disciples in the Sermon on the Mount to have no anger or bitterness against a brother, because it is a deadly sin. Reconciliation is a mandate not a hypothetical goal. “You have heard that it was said by them of old time, you shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, [ worthless good for nothing ] shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, [stupid or foolish ] shall be in danger of hell fire” (Mat 5:21-22). There is no mistaking the severity of Jesus Christ's words. He teaches that anger contains the seeds of bitterness and God receives no worship from a believer who is bitter and not on speaking terms with another of his brethren. The tempter, Satan, wants to cultivate an unforgiving spirit in God's people. His goal is to destroy and cause division within God's church's and try to promote an active, pervading personality of hate - much like his, which is an absence of love [out going concern ] in his personality.
The Apostle Paul warned against participation in the Lord's Supper amidst divisions. The Passover meal itself is a memorial of the broken body and shed blood of our Savior, and must not be desecrated by the presence of divisions and controversies within His church! When encouraging God's followers to partake of the Passover Paul said “For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you do shew the Lord's death till He come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged” (1 Cor 11:26-31). The discipline at the Passover table is one of the most important disciplinary functions of God's church! Partaking of Passover is only for those baptized believers who are under the discipline of God's Word!
Something we all need to think about is: God loves us so much, He literally came to earth, died for our sins, was buried and rose again the third day. Searching the world over, there is absolutely no greater love than that. And because God loves us so much, He wants the absolute best for our lives. However, only He knows exactly what that best is and only He knows what it will take to implement it in our lives. Consequently, we need to unconditionally trust Him and know that everything He allows into our lives comes only as a result of His love. In other words, all the circumstances in our life, every single event, occurs only by His loving permission!
When faced with times of trouble remember that God loves you. He knows what is best for you, and He has a plan for your life. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon Me, and you shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. And you shall seek Me, and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart” (Jer 29:11-13).
One other area we find God's encouraging words is found in the New Testament book of Romans: “ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:35,38-39).
Church of God, In Truth
Contact: James Russell, Elder Or Pete Fleming, Elder
Tel: 951-737-0559 Tel: 512-847-1131
E-mail: cogit@flash.net E-mail:pmf@asapchoice.com
Sabbath telephone conference: 1-888-330-9937 Access code: 346041# after the beeps. 11:30 AM Pacific time zone. Sabbath Internet conference: www.postponements.com Click on live sermons. Time11:30 AM Pacific time zone.