Let no one deceive
you with empty words,
for because of these
things the wrath of God
comes upon the sons
of disobedience.
Therefore do not be
partakers with them.
Ephesians 5: 6 -- 7
So often
from the mouths of Christians that Christians are not to judge. This is absolutely false! It is true that we do not know whether or
not God has saved a person. But we do know from the external demonstration and
manifestations by a person whether or not they are living according to the
commandments of God. It is by those
manifestations that we judge a person's character and actions to see whether or
not they are in harmony with God's will and if not then we are to take
appropriate action to purify the church.
We judge! Our judgment is in
accordance with Scripture and not due to our own personal feelings. I may or may not like a person for what ever
reason but, if I judge a person by my feelings then I make myself the supreme
Judge and only God is the supreme Judge and He has left us a law book by which we
can judge others to ensure the purity of God's people. We do this in kindness and love but when it
is necessary we can be just as Jesus did and we can harshly bring a sentence
upon the wrong doer. Agape love is a
love that is principled and that principle is the principle of God and that is
the love we use and it is not Phileo that is a brotherly love that is good but
it is not principled God love. Paul
wrote to the Ephesians and said to not let anyone deceive them and that Greek
word means to be cheated, to be deluded, to be deceived. So this deception is a simple cheating a
person and what are they cheating that person from: to live a life according to
the commandments of God and by this they are cheating them from the best life
possible. These words are
"empty" and the Greek word that we translate empty denotes that
which is hollow and devoid of conscience and that there is an absence of good
and the presence of evil because of man's moral nature permits no vacuum, that
is, when one thing is made hollow it is quickly filled with another thing. That word contains the idea of erroneous
teachings and those teachings are about the grace of God. A person caught up in this, deceitful empty
words becomes a vain person and is "empty" of divine wisdom. Love, true love cares for the other person
so that when we see a person stumbling we are to take proper action and that
is well outlined for us in Matthew chapter 18 and then in other scriptures such
as the one quoted above if they do not change their ways then we are not to even
be a partaker of that person. The Greek
word there indicates something very important for it carries a deeper meaning
for it means not to be a joint partaker with those people. Not just a partaker, but not to join in
their sinfulness or allow that sinfulness to be part of your life. Love them, teach them, but do not allow sin
to enter into your life by becoming joint partakers with them and keep your
congregation clean for that is where we worship our Lord and Savior, our
God.
A personal
note: earlier in my life I had joined a religious organization that "this
fellowship at" those who would not adhere in the commandments of God. While there theology in the mainstream was
heretical, they still adhered to the commandments of God and when that moral
compass was askew and they really knew that person would not repent they "disfellowshipped" that person. Some used to tell me that this was horrible
and now I hear it from those within orthodox Christianity that to disfellowship someone is horrible and we are judging that person. Let it this one thing straight: if someone
had not taken the time to show us the will of God and had we not responded to
that teaching we would still be left in our sins. Paul writes this and it fits each and every one of us in one
sense or another: "For you where
once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all
goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the
Lord. And have no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to
speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made
manifest by the light, for what ever makes manifest is light" (Ephesians
5:8 -- 13). Paul speaks of this
action a Christian will take against sin and sinners twice in these few verses,
therefore, this must be important.
Those
Christians who have fallen into the variety in their Christian walk allow a
culture of this world to govern them and it is manifested in the way they talk,
the way they dress, i.e., women wearing tight fitting clothes so that they seem
to have been spray-painted on so that we can see every in bump and crevice of their body
and even wearing V-neck tops that show much of their breast, and men coming to
church and tennis shoes and jeans and T-shirts, children running around to and
fro making noises, getting up there in the middle of service just to go to the
bathroom when they could have waited for they are not little children, and
often are found lying on the pews sleeping.
Where is the respect? All of this is acceptable by liberal Christians because they do not want
to take action to keep that congregation pure before the Lord, they fear that they may be judging. Is this not what we are to do? You are no longer darkness, Paul did not say
in darkness, he said you were darkness.
Now the good glad portion of those words: you were once darkness but now
you are light so we are to walk as children of light and that means we are to
teach the commandments of God, to live the commandments of God and to believe
that you are ambassadors to the world for our Lord and Savior who instructed us
to do this work for Him. In the economy
of God He has assigned that work to His children who are children of
light. Think about it; God loves you
that much to trust you to take the knowledge of HBecoim to the world and to reveal
to the world His will. Paul then adds
this: "Therefore He says: ‘Awake,
you sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as
fools but as wise redeeming the time, because the days are evil"
(Ephesians 5: 14 -- 16).
What a
privilege that has been entrusted to us that as a child of God we are in
service to our Savior and God.
Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
and declare
it in the isles of far off, and say,
He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and keep
him as a shepherd does his flock.
For the LORD has redeemed Jacob,
and
ransomed him from the hand of the one
stronger than he.
Jeremiah 31:10 -- 11
Become a worker for your Savior
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