Monday, March 28, 2011

3 John 1:1-6 Biblical Hospitality

(3John 1:1-6) “The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. For I was very glad when brethren came and testified to your truth, that is, how you are walking in truth. I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth. Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren, and especially when they are strangers; and they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God”. (NASB)

Over the past couple of Sundays we’ve had the privilege of having one of our fellow elders fill the pulpit at Grace Community Church in Wasco.  David Garza delivered a message centering on Biblical hospitality using the short book of 3rd John as the main text.  He brought forward many good thoughts in remarkable detail.  Much more frankly than I can hope to recall much less convey to you here but some of its essence I’d like to share with you.

David pointed first to the origin of hospitality as a practical matter of travel back in ancient times when there just wasn’t “A light on for you” at the Motel 6.  Travelers had to hope for a friendly welcome from strangers as they passed through.  They had to hope for something to eat, a place to sleep and protection from bad people.  It was also important to send them off with enough supplies to make the next leg of their journey.  With this said, hospitality has very practical and necessary roots which are to be carried forward in the church today.

Fast forward to John’s letter addressed to Gaius, one of the church leaders.  John commends Gaius for his practice of hospitality toward strangers, fellow believers passing through the region in need of a place to stay and a meal.  As in the ancient example, Gaius sent these folks off with ample supplies it seems since John says they were sent away, “In a manner worthy of God”. 

There was in this congregation on the other hand a Grinch of sorts.  He was just the opposite of Gaius and objected to being hospitable.  John was not kind in his description of him.  In the brevity of this format I’ll not go into detail on that.  What I would like to point out is what to look for in the modern equivalent of Gaius.

Gaius was a church leader, an elder or pastor.  He was the one opening his home and extending the hospitality or maybe extending the hospitality on behalf of the local group of believers.  Regardless, as the leaders of a local church go, so goes the church.  Look at the way leaders open their homes or facilitate fellowship for the flock.  Are they happy to put on an apron and fire up the BBQ?  Do they welcome the kids to a pool party over the summer?  Do they break out the popcorn maker and suggest a movie night under the stars for anyone in the community to watch?  The list could go on and on.  If church leaders are hospitable the odds are the church will be hospitable and that’s just a nice place to be.  AMEN!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Psalm 121 - The Most Wonderful Psalm

Psalm 121:1-8 A Song of Ascents.

Today I’m going to depart from my normal approach and I’m going to go verse by verse and comment about this particular Psalm.  Why?  This short Psalm I believe lends itself to this approach and this particular Psalm was recently declared by a friend as “The most wonderful Psalm in the Bible”.  Wow!  What a statement.  I’ll agree on the face it is pretty wonderful so I at least owe it to him to dig in and examine just how wonderful indeed.  We’ll save the debate as to “Most” wonderful for another day.  I also want to confess I’ll be consulting and using several commentaries to help me through the analysis.

Here we go …

(1)       “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come”?
Barnes notes that the expression of looking to the hills is a view toward where expected danger might come from with an equal wonder as to from where any aid might arrive.
(2)       “My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth”.
This is a clear acknowledgement that any and all help I receive comes completely from God – The creator God who made heaven and earth by the power of His Word!
(3)       “He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber”.
God is going to hold you up; keep you from slipping – as Barnes writes, He will keep you safe.  And – He is always on guard.  He’s not like those TV night watchmen that fall asleep and let the burglars sneak past; nothing get’s past God.
(4)       “Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep”.
Further assurance for the individual in the fact that God is in fact on guard for ALL of His People.  Also a re-statement that our great God has the capacity to guard not only one of us without sleep nor slumber but ALL of us unceasingly
(5)       “The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade on your right hand”.
It is the Lord that preserves us – He defends us.  Consider this in spiritual terms.  Barnes notes that the phrase of shade on your right hand is the “Shadow” of something large and strong and being on the right indicates protection.  So this is our big God casting a shadow of protection over us.
(6)       ”The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the moon by night”.
This verse helps explain the previous regarding the shadow perhaps.  The sun won’t be able to injure or “Smite” you.  Barnes again notes that “’Sun Stroke’” was characterized as the burning of the brain” and God’s protection from verse 5 would not allow it.  In addition there would be protection from the moon.  What?  Ever heard of a “Lunatic”.  The word comes from “Lunacy” which is the disease of the moon.  This dates back to mental illness that was blamed on the moon.  Again thank you Mr. Barnes.  So God will protect your health from disease by day and by night – at any and all times you will be protected.
(7)       ”The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul”.
This is pretty clear – the Lord’s protection is from all evil and although the temporal protection is intimated in the Psalm it is clearly the spiritual protection that is of most significant importance.  “The LORD will protect you from evil; He will keep your soul”.
(8)       “The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever”.
The LORD will protect you coming and going from your home always.  Essentially he’s saying that His protection goes with you everywhere and forever. 

Now, that is in fact pretty wonderful after all. AMEN!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Philippians 3:7-9 Superiority of Christ

Philippians 3:7-9  “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith”, (NASB)

I haven’t gotten deep with you theologically in a while now but today this passage just sort of grabbed me.  I couldn’t shake it so we’re just going to dive in and see where we go.

This passage comes from Paul’s letter to the Philippians and in Chapter 3 he gets to this bit of comparison in which he recaps all of his life.  He puts all of his accomplishments on the line.  Now we should remember that Paul is no derelict back alley bottle in a brown paper bag drunk living day to day begging his way through life contributing nothing.  No, this is Paul, the well educated Roman citizen and high ranking Pharisee scholar of scholars among the elite of the Jewish community who was called by Jesus himself to become His own disciple and accomplish incredible work for Christ among the gentiles.  Those high points don’t begin to describe the stellar life of service and accomplishment we can attribute to Paul yet he writes something much different here.

Paul says, “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ”.  What?  And he says something parallel in verse 8, “…and count them but rubbish…”.  Well, I’m not being fair giving you only a taste and picking and choosing here but the point being made by Paul is that all the things he’s accomplished in his life are trash.  Okay – let’s also remind ourselves that above all the things I started my list with, Paul wrote under the influence of the Holy Spirit, most of the New Testament!  Hardly Trash I’d say.  You’d also say that Paul would agree, the New Testament, The Word of God isn’t trash.  So, what then is he talking about?  He is simply stating that in comparison to Christ in his life, all his deeds are rubbish.

Let’s put this in numerical terms, which by the way will illustrate the point effectively but will still not adequately reflect the true scale.  If Paul’s good works were equivalent to my personal net worth it would compare as being in Christ does to the national debt.  There is no comparison – they can’t be compared on the same scale.  That’s Paul’s point – in comparison to Christ, you might as well count all his good works and everything he’s done of value as loss.  There’s that much of a superiority to be found in Christ.

Now don’t miss the final and most important thought.  For all of Paul’s good works which we have discussed, significant good works we must agree, in spite of him characterizing them as rubbish they were indeed good works.  They earned him nothing towards his position in Christ.  His position in Christ as he points out came by faith; “Not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.”

That’s how it is for us.  We are called into a relationship with Christ to which nothing can compare.  It is superior to anything we can own or accomplish and it is nothing that we can earn.  The relationship we are called to in Christ is by grace through faith alone.  It’s value is without comparison.  AMEN!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Psalm 72:8 Local Effort Global Reach

Psalm 72:8 “May he also rule from sea to sea And from the River to the ends of the earth”. (NASB)

Matthew records in his gospel the commission of Christ to His Church, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations(Matthew 28:19 NASB).  This is often referred to as “The Great Commission”.  As I shared with you early on in my blogging career it was a sermon that in whole or in part touched on the Great Commission followed by a Bible study that led me to begin my writing.  At that time it was and continues to be my way of sharing what I’ve come to understand concerning Scripture and its application to life.  In particular I thought it was a way to share with some of my friends on Face Book about my personal faith in Christ.

Well the BLOG keeps track for you what has been happening with regard to readership.  It keeps track of how many people read each entry so you know which ones were read most often.  You know which day how many people read the BLOG and you can even tell where people were when they read.  No, not what address or which room of your house – that would be scary.  It does report though what country the reader logged in from. 

I started the BLOG around Thanksgiving and here are the amazing results.  As of this writing 1042 times the BLOG has been accessed.  While the majority of those “Hits” have come from the US the access has, much to my surprise, been global.  Here are the countries from which the BLOG has been viewed: This week, the US, Malaysia, Canada and Singapore.  This month add, India, Russia, Denmark, China, Taiwan, United Kingdom.  All time, add Croatia, Iran, Mexico and Thailand.

I can say clearly that I have honestly prepared the BLOG sometimes when I didn’t feel like it and sometimes I just didn’t do it.  I thank those that have encouraged me and I will continue to study and share in submission to the Holy Spirit.  Please take a minute with me and be amazed; look what has happened when God’s word has gone out.  “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it”. (Isa 55:11NASB)

I want to encourage each of you to find your way to contribute toward the fulfillment of "The Great Commission".  I'm not likely to travel across an ocean and go live in a hut somewhere because I simply can't sleep without my C-Pap, I have sleep apnea.  That could be a limiting factor.  But I can BLOG.  And apparently people all over the world have computers and some are finding what I've written and they're reading.  I've found a way to be a part and you can too.  What you may think is a local effort as I did could very well have global implications for Christ.

I pray those of you who read where ever you may be are fed and are blessed by God’s Word.  Our God is an awesome God!  AMEN!

Friday, March 18, 2011

James 5:14-16 Pain in The Neck

James 5:14-16  "Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;  and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.  Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much". (NASB)

So as I was about to leave the new doctor’s office the PA said is there anything else?  I said well, there is this lump in my throat.  My old doc said it was probably acid reflux and to take Prilosec which you can just get over the counter now.  So that’s what I’d been doing for the past six months.  But since she asked – I went ahead and mentioned it.

She asked if I’d had an upper GI and I said I hadn’t so she thought that would be a good idea.  She also thought an ultrasound of my thyroid would be a good idea since it’s in the same area and I do take thyroid medication.  Well, I did that a couple of days later then I went off and did my marathon week of travel to Arizona.  When I was at a gas station in Burbank filling up the rental car I got a call to check in with the Dr. and they wanted to have me come in.  The next week on Wednesday at about as late as a Drs. Office is open I had my appointment and we went through all the other tests the PA had run.

We were about to part and I said “Hey,  what about that ultrasound”?  She said, “Oh yea”!  She consulted her laptop computer.  (She only uses a laptop computer – doesn’t write anything down at all – everything is in the computer – I like that)  Anyway – she looks at the computer and starts reading.  She reads for a L O N G   T I M E.  When she finally looks up she says well, “You have a ‘nodule’ on your thyroid”.  “You actually have a very LARGE nodule on your thyroid”.  Hmmm!  So, “What does that mean” I said.  She said "It's  either a cyst or it's cancer".  Well, how do you like that? 

Now the interesting thing is they can’t do much more until I go off of my stinking thyroid medicine for four weeks.  Then they’ll do a “Nuclear” test and that will show “Hot Spots” if there are any.  Whatever that means.  So, it’s a bit of a waiting game right now.

So this is a personal BLOG today.  Why am I sharing?  Well, you have been faithfully reading and as such I’m hoping you are also men and women of faith and men and women of prayer.  I’m now asking for your prayers for me.  I have asked the elders of our local church to follow the Biblical model shown above and pray for and anoint me in the service this Sunday.  As I shared with them earlier today in an e-mail I don’t know how sick I am but I know that I am sick.  I covet your prayers and a quick healing from the Lord and those He chooses to use with wisdom and skill.

In closing I would like to share an interesting perspective.  While this has been taking shape over the last couple of weeks the company I work for has also announced a restructuring.  I’ve been through those before and there is little risk my current job is in jeopardy so there is virtually no concern there.  But, I do have some aspirations for a management position.  I can tell you that with a health based life and death situation shaping up on one hand and a career change looming on the other the life and death one is the easier of the two.  My eternity is secure.  That’s the no brainer.  AMEN!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Psalm 78:18-20 Be Content

Psalm 78:18-20  “And in their heart they put God to the test By asking food according to their desire.  Then they spoke against God; They said, ‘Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?  ‘Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out, And streams were overflowing; Can He give bread also? Will He provide meat for His people?’" (NASB)

After much persuasion by the appeal of Moses and the plagues of God Pharaoh let the people of Israel go out of Egypt.  Of course he thought better of his decision only to have his army destroyed when the Red Sea came crashing in on them after Israel passed through.  After such a miraculous deliverance you would think the people of Israel would have been on their face and totally in awe of their God.  You would have thought they would have been attentive to every word Moses had to say to them from God so that every move they made and every word they said would be pleasing to their deliverer.

But sorry to say, their memories were short.

Out in the wilderness God provided for the people of Israel every morning providing for them manna.  As best I can understand it this was a bread like substance that would form with the dew and would be gathered each morning.  They could gather just what they needed for that day because it would not last.  Keeping and eating manna beyond that day would at least result in a spoiled meal if not sickness from the eating.  The bottom line is that God provided all the needs for His people as they were moving through the wilderness.

The people though became restless with the same old thing day after day.  They weren’t satisfied with just having their needs met they complained for variety and they challenged Moses to use his staff to provide water when God hadn’t given that instruction.  And they begged for meat instead of plain old manna.  Well, God gave them meat.  He gave them birds from the sky and they ate.  They ate too much and some ate so much they actually died.

God can always provide.  He can always provide enough and He can always provide too much.  Which will it be?  What will you ask for?  Maybe the better question is what is it that makes you happy?  With what are you content?  If God promises to meet you’re every day needs with that we should be content.  When He does provide that extra something special that’s great, enjoy!  But beware – too much of a good thing may kill you!  AMEN!               

Monday, March 14, 2011

Matthew 18:2-6 Faith of a Child

Matthew 18:2-6  “And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.  "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  "And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea”. (NASB)

In my estimation there are two ways that folks come to belief in Christ.  Now before you get all funny on me let me state clearly that I believe that in order to be saved that a person must by faith believe that Jesus Christ has paid the price for their sins and that the debt is paid as a free gift of grace.  Further I believe that no one can come to faith in Christ of their own volition.  That is, I cannot will it, I have to be drawn to it by the work of the Holy Spirit.  With that foundation let me continue my thought on the two ways folks come to their belief in Christ.

The first way (really the second) is the adult awakening or alter call to repentance and acceptance of Christ as Savior.  That would be the teen or adult conversion experience many can point to in their life.  Many can claim the exact date time location etcetera when they accepted Christ as their Savior.  Listening to testimonies was always interesting to me because this exact date and time thing wasn’t part of my experience.  I came to Christ the other way.

I grew up going to church.  My faith was the way it was; I knew no other way.  My truth was the Truth and I was blessed because of this.  I went to Sunday School and I learned the stories from the Bible and it was all without question.  It was the truth because those who were teaching me were teaching me the truth.  I was a trusting child and mine was a childlike faith.  I think then that my experience with childlike faith helps me to understand the ferocity with which Christ defends these innocent children in the passage today.  Those who in innocent faith believe in Him that might be led astray by evil men – whoa to them.  “Whoever causes of of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”

Now that’s the wrong side of the equation to be on.

My message today is simple.  If you are a parent today it is important to get your kids to church and give them the opportunity to grow up in their innocence with unwavering faith in Christ as I did.  That will serve them well for a life time.  AMEN!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

2 Peter 2:2-3 False Prophets will be Judged

2Peter 2:2-3  “Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep”. (NASB)

Have you ever wondered about those big cat TV preachers with their limousines, two thousand dollar suites and diamond encrusted Rolex watches?  While I’m not going to go so far as to claim they are all corrupt there have been enough scandals that we can say with certainty at least some are up to no good.  Maybe they started out in humble ministry and the fame just got away from them.  But maybe the situation is more sinister.  Regardless, you really have to wonder how flashing all that BLING brings glory to God.

In Peter’s second epistle he addresses the issue of false prophets.  That is teachers with “Another” gospel.  He smacks that kind of church leader right between the eyes with the reality that their devotion is to something else, not God.  In our verse today he says of these false prophets, “Many will follow their sensuality”.  That means that rather than resisting the desires of the flesh, they yield to them.  They yield to their sensual desires.  That may be an illicit affair of it may be over the top material wealth.  You know, BLING!

Peter says the affect they have on the gospel is damaging.  He says, “Because of them the way of the truth will be maligned”.  And that is in fact what we’ve witnessed over the years with the various high profile scandals that have brought shame to particular ministries and they have indeed “Maligned” the Church.  And the damage isn’t really confined to the TV preachers.  Look what has happened to the Catholic church with priests yielding to their sensual passions with young boys.  It’s just sick and it’s wrong and it hurts the Church.  It dishonors God and tears down rather than builds up.  Am I saying this danger is confined to famous preachers or the Catholic church?  No!  This kind of thing happens in smaller local churches too.  Maybe the reality of what has gone on is quieter but people in local communities know.  They hear things and it dishonors the Church just as the big high profile scandals do.

Well what does this false prophet tend to do?  “In their greed they will exploit you with false words”.  They’ll twist up Scripture to suit their own purposes.  Maybe they do it to justify their behavior.  Maybe it is to make themselves believe they are not in breach of their responsibilities to God and the Church.  Regardless, they are twisting words, deceiving those who rely on them for leadership and living up to the title, “False prophet”.  Notice that “Greed” can be applied to material wealth but also to immoral passions.  Their words seek to justify the unjustifiable.

The final phrase however is the warning to those contemplating such behavior and it is helpful understanding for us.  Peter reminds us that, “Their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep”.  In other words, their behavior is not surprise to God, he knew exactly how and when these false prophets would go astray from eternity past.  God in his wisdom (because I cannot fathom it) has allowed what he knew would happen to unfold bringing this tarnish to His Church.  Why?  Put it on my list of questions to ask when I see my Lord face to face one day.  I don’t know.  But we do know it is true.  God has the authority and the means to just zap them but he refrains.  Their judgment though has been also determined from eternity past and it won’t be pretty.  I don’t presume to know the punishment that awaits those sent to hell but I wonder whether there will be special punishment for those that have wreaked havoc in the Church.  Rest assured, “Their destruction is not asleep”.  That’s the final reminder that God will not forget to judge and punish this evil in the Church.

Well, what does all this mean to us?  As church leader we certainly need to be on guard against yielding to passions of the flesh.  When and if we fall into those passions our minds can become jaded and we could begin twisting Scripture just as depicted here.  A plurality of elders in a local church should work with one another to guard against this trap.  As church members we need to be in God’s Word.  We need to become familiar with the doctrine borne out of thorough study so we know the truth when we hear it.  When we know the truth, twisted Scripture will appear as a neon sign – WRONG!  WRONG! WRONG!  To clarify, I’m not talking about your “Feelings” or a “Sense” that something is wrong.  I’m talking about your own depth of knowledge of the Word at odds with what you’ve just heard taught or preached.

Now what you do next is tricky.  If you believe false teaching has been perpetrated you need to go to the pastor and ask him to clarify.  If he’s just been misunderstood that’s one thing.  It’s also not unheard of for a pastor to mis-speak.  He may have actually and unknowingly said something different than he intended.  In this case he’ll be grateful for you catching it and will hurry to make correction.  If he’s really twisting Scripture and pushes back you’ll need to take another brother – in this case I suggest an elder to privately seek to understand what he’s teaching and to point out why your study of the Word is revealing something else.  We’ll drop the process here but you can study Matthew 18 to see the entire process that should be followed.

The take home then is that there are evil leaders in a few churches but there is consolation in knowing God will deal with them.  Meanwhile we are all challenged to know God’s Word ourselves through study and meditation.  We are truly blessed to have God’s Word in written form – don’t let it just sit and collect dust on your bookshelf.  AMEN!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

1 Corinthians 5:9-11 Don't Even Eat with Him

1Corinthians 5:9-11  “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world.  But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler--not even to eat with such a one”. (NASB)

Can you believe it?  Can you believe there would be a person or persons in a church body that in spite of his claim to be a Christian would participate in gross sin?  Openly participate in gross sin?  That is exactly the situation Paul learned of in the midst of the Corinthian church.  In this case Paul says it is the kind of sin you don’t even see unbelievers engaged in and yet here it is right in the church.  He says earlier in Chapter 5 that “Someone has his father's wife”.  It is widely agreed this was a step son engaged in a sexual affair with his step mother, his father’s wife.  And while he is openly engaged in this immoral relationship he is participating in fellowship with the other church members.

Paul is beside himself!  He likens this practitioner of evil in the midst of the congregation to a leavening agent in a batch of dough.  He says a little leaven affects the whole batch.  So the implication is clear.  Having a practitioner of evil in and among the flock is bad news for the flock.  Paul wants them to do something about it.  He says to get rid of the bad leaven and replace it with new.  There isn’t room for wondering what he means then is there?  He is saying get this guy out of your church.  If you don’t his behavior is going to rub off on you and before you know it you’ll have a disaster on your hands.  There will be more and more evil running amuck if you don’t nip this thing in the bud.

How does Paul suggest this happen?  He says get him out!  He says don’t, “Associate with immoral people”.  And he goes on to clarify that he’s not talking about lost people in the world who need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.  He’s talking about this, “So-called brother”.  He’s saying that when this kind of wickedness is seen blatantly in your midst you need to get it out and isolate it from the body. 

So what does Paul mean by “Associate”.  I think he is clear once again.  Paul says to, “not even to eat with such a one”.  Paul says don’t break bread with this evil person, this carnal Christian.  So the initial thoughts of this process were about protecting the church body but now Paul seems to be moving into the personal relationships of the believers with this immoral man.  Don’t have a meal with him.

Again I think the implication is pretty obvious.  Paul is saying not only to get him out of your church but don’t have anything to do with him.  Leave him alone; don’t continue business as usual with this guy.  Let him twist in the wind for awhile, he needs to know he can’t just continue in his sin and everything will be fine.  It’s not fine!

Ultimately we know that Paul’s message on Church discipline is consistently about restoration.  And there is no reason to believe this section of Scripture is advocating anything else.  But we must remember that a key prerequisite of restoration is confession followed by repentance.  Confession is admitting what was done; agreeing it was sin.  Repentance is turning from sin and behaving honorably.

So how does all this tie together?  Leaving that guy out twisting in the wind with fellowship broken will allow the Holy Spirit (assuming he really is a believer) to work in his life.  It’s sad but true that we sometimes have to reach rock bottom before we are willing to look up.  Being broken is sometimes where God needs to take us in order to help us.  Being broken may be what is needed to bring about our admission and our turn-around.  That seems to be what was needed in this case.  The implication of Paul's instruction is that if the Corinthian believers were to continue in relationship with this evil man they might interfere with God’s plan to break him.

What is the take home for us?  There may be times in the life of the church when chronic unrepentant evil is the reality in a brother’s life.  When the initial steps of going one on one then as a group to confront his sin fail to bring confession and repentance then the next steps must follow.  They must follow for the health of the church and they must follow for the potential restoration of the brother.  Pray this doesn’t have to happen in your local church but do not fail to act if it is necessary.

To God be the glory in His Church.  AMEN!