Some Thoughts On Christian Judging

1 Corinthians 6:1-11--Mathew 18:15-20--Judging Matters in the Church

The Christian Church ought to be the wisest and most able judges in all the earth; they have the Scriptures, and the mind of Christ. There are several principles that are brought out in these texts.
1. The Christian's first response to ill treatment ought to be to let himself be sinned against.
2. If the sin persists, then the sinned against brother is to go to his brother and tell him his fault (Matthew 18).
3. If the sin still continues, the sinned against brother is to seek out a wise brother from the Church and seek council from him.
4. The council and discernment from the wise person in the Church ought to determine if the brother is truly suffering ill treatment, or if the sinned against brother is actually at fault.
5. If the council from the wise is that he has a legitimate case, and is actually being sinned against; then the sinned against brother is to take one or two other Christians with him as he goes back to his offender. The small council of believers will judge the case in the presence of both.
6. If the offender still does not hear, the brother's name is to be brought before the Church, to remove him from his good standing with the Church. He is to be ex-communicated from the membership; and treated as a non-believer.

*Paul seems to indicate that Christians will be the judges of the earth; they will even judge Angels. And if they are going to judge the earth and Angels, then they are surely capable of judging all matters that happen here and now.
*When Christians bring cases to earthly Judges; it brings shame on the name of Christ.

the purpose of life?

i read this in a book by philip graham ryken, which was partially quoted from abraham kuyper. what do you think?

"by the grace of god in christ, we recover the hearts high and holy calling to consecrate every department of life and every energy at its disposal to the glory of god. and despite all our failure, by the gracious work of the holy spirit we are able to make progress in restoring things to their created intention. this is what our purpose in life; whatever we do from now on, we are doing it for the honor of jesus christ."

Faithfulness

My Pastor spoke about the fruit of the Spirit today of FAITHFULNESS. It both encouraged and challenged my heart. I am afraid that I am not as faithful of a man as I should be. The main thing that drives me to confess that is my lack of discipline over time. There are so many moments during the day that I do not redeem. So many 5-10 minute lags that I do not use to increase in the knowledge of God.

I learned that God is the source and standard of faithfulness. I learned that Jesus is the actor of faithfulness. And that the Holy Spirit is the producer of faithfulness in the heart of Christians. Any amount of gospel purchased faithfulness that I have, I have because of the faithful Trinitarian Lord.

I also learned that one of the main qualifications of an Elder or a Pastor of a Church is faithfulness. All men are called to be faithful, but a Pastor's qualification to be a Pastor depends on him being faithful.

O Lord, create in me a heart of faithfulness. Forgive me for my faithlessness and ever changing mind.

Blog Change

This will be my 220th day in a row of blogging. I have decided to change the format for this blog. I will no longer commit to writing a blog each day; though I may. I plan to reduce my blogs to a couple a week. This will give me time to pursue another level of learning which I plan to begin soon. If you continue to read this blog; I pray you will benefit even deeper from future posts. Blessings, Scott

Three Things To Increase Faith And Love (a continuation from yesterday's post)

I mentioned yesterday that the hope of heaven is suppose to motivate us to greater faith in Christ, and love for the Church of Jesus. Today we will see a couple of specific things about heaven that are meant to help us do just that.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:19-21 that we are not suppose to store up for ourselves treasures here on this earth; rather we are to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven. Why? Because heaven is the safest place for our treasures. And there is no thieve, or moth that will destroy or steal our goods.

We tend to think that a bank is the safest place to store our earthly treasures. For the most part that is probably true. But time and time again, we read of banks that are robbed. In heaven, you can trust that all of your goods will be there safe and sound when you arrive.

The second reason the knowledge of heaven is suppose to increase our faith in Christ, and love for his Church; is because there is a registry in heaven with my name on it. Luke 10:20 records Jesus telling us that.

A name on a registry is an important thing. If you reserve a hotel room through a third party company, you tend to have some resignation about your name being on the registry when you arrive. That would be a bummer to show up for a stay at the Marriot, and they do not have your name on their registry. "Sorry, there is not a room here that has your name on it." Jesus tells us to "rejoice because your names are written in heaven." I do not have to worry about arriving there are my name is nowhere on the registry list.

Thirdly Jesus tells us in John 14 that in his "Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." There is no chance that all of the rooms will be full when you arrive. Jesus even says it in such a way to ensure us of its truth. "I wouldn't have told you that there are many mansions in heaven, nor a place for you if it weren't so. I'm not going to lie to you. I am the way, the truth and the life." (my paraphrase).

When I roomed in a dorm for a year, I found out who was going to be my roommate a month or so before school started. I contacted him and tried to strike up a friendship. I wanted to build a relationship with him because I was going to be spending 9 months in the same room as he. It turned out that we were never roommates, but you get the point. We are going to be spending eternity with our fellow believers. Does that not motivate you to build deeper relationships here before you are called heavenward?

The Fruit Of Hope

Colossians 1:3-5a~We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven

Faith is an ongoing battle that we must fight. What motivates our continual faith in Christ? What motivates our love for the Church of Jesus Christ? Well, this text says that it is the "HOPE that is laid up for us in heaven."

How much time do you spend thinking about eternity? About the glories that await those who are Christ's? What is laid up for you in heaven, do you know? The knowledge of it is suppose to motivate you to faith and love. Seems sort of important doesn't it?

The Lord Is My Sheperd

Psalms 23:1
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

This simple text is simply beautiful, yet it is strikingly hard to cling to. My heart can be so covetous. To believe to the point of being content, that God is my Shepherd, and I shall not be in any lack. I pray my soul will rest this morning in the arms of my loving Shepherd who will never let me be in want.

Gaining The Whole World

"For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?" ~Jesus recorded in Luke 9:25

We normally associate profit with gain. After all, profit is gain is it not? Jesus is teaching us something here about long term profitability, as well as true and false profitability.

What is true profitability? True profitability is profit that is gained to the "man himself." It is gain to the heart and soul of creatures made in God's image. False profitability then is profit that comes to the flesh of man. It is gain to the outward desires of man. True profitability is also profit in the long run. False profitability is profit in the short term.

We live and breath in a society where we can get almost anything we desire with free shipping. If we order enough fleshly profit from Amazon, we can get it to our homes in 2-3 business days. The driver who brings it to us will rush it to our home seemingly free of charge. Lets say I continue to order stuff upon stuff from Amazon. I order everything they either have, or can get into their warehouse. I build a massive pole barn. I keep accumulating product and wealth from everywhere until I have purchased the entire world. I have gained it all. As I walk toward my pole barn carrying the last box that was just delivered to my home (brought to me from the currier company that I own), I hear for a brief moment the sound of the spring break that holds the garage door in place. The door falls upon my neck, as I am crushed to death by the weight.

I open my eyes as I find myself on my knees in the throne room of God. None of my stuff is there with me. All of my stuff is now being dispersed among other humans. They have received all of my profit. Jesus asks "what profit did you bring?" I tell him that I gained the entire world on earth. I ask him if that is enough for me to enter heaven. He tells me that true profit can not be purchased by money, but by faith. He tells me that he is the true profit. I could have gained forgiveness for my sin of covetousness, and free entrance into the glories of heaven. I could have purchased it all free of charge. But now, in the end, I have lost…I have lost my soul. What I thought was gain is now loss; and what I thought was loss on earth, would have been to me eternal gain.