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!

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!

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!