07/27/2018
So we have recognized that we were wrong in a practice or belief; perhaps we find that we have practiced something in faith that was of man, and not of God. What should we do? How should we face this, our failure, our material heresy? Are we doomed to a life of suffering, or to exist in a fallen state? No, we must pray for forgiveness, and then listen to Paul as he writes to the Philippians about himself.
“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”Philippians 3:12-14 ESV
Throughout the history of the churches, leaders have attempted to cure the ills of society through the application of faith. Some of these cures were biblical, and some were not. Some fostered new behaviors within the Church such as not wearing a certain color, or other such outward signs of adherence, while yet others were commemorated in celebration of faith within the streets. However not all of them were actually founded on the Word of God, but instead were conceived by men to solve a problem perceived and performed by men.
“I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.”Romans 16:17-18 ESV
There have been many reasons to use faith in God, and Jesus Christ, and the wholesome fear of God we employ as we seek Him, to steer us one way or the other, but it is wrong to assign to faith those things that are secular in nature. When we do this it diminishes our faith, and gives men reason to falsely despise it. So what do we do, and how do we overcome it? We recognize our faults as men, or a Church, go to our knees, make a profession of our wrong, seek God in contrition, ask forgiveness, and then go and sin no more. In other words, we apply the same relief for this sin as we do others... we accept the grace we have received through Jesus Christ.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”1 John 1:9-10 ESV
It is hard for a person to admit wrong, and harder yet for a church. We are one body in Christ and in the Church, and as such we gain great strength and encouragement, but when a wrong is perpetrated, that same sense of purpose that once encouraged us is equally strong in entrenching us in these wrongs. Quite often we speak of this as a reluctance to change, but it goes deeper than that when we have wrongly applied God’s Word.
Reluctance by the Church to undo what it has wrongly done by coming to God in contrition and asking for His forgiveness has caused splits in the body today, and throughout history, but worse, it has driven souls away from faith altogether, and damned them individually, and altogether, as a result... the responsibility for this haunts the Church and calls it to repent. Good people seeking God that couldn’t find a way around these ills in the Church, and fell to the wayside... victims of he who is in the earth. For this the Church suffers, and for this Christ weeps.
In society today there is much discord, and we witness it as a fertile breeding ground in which Satan thrives. The Church is not immune to its influences, and in wooing men to change biblical doctrine within the Church in favor of man’s desires and whims, Satan causes the very foundations of faith to quake. Do not be deceived, and adhere to the Word which was, is now, and will be forever truth. If we do this, then the sins of man and Church will be forgiven, and the faith can prosper as it should.
“So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.”Acts 9:31 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your Word, and I thank you for the one body of Christ which is the Church. I pray Holy Father that your hand remains on each of us, on the Church as a whole, and that you defend us equally against the deceptions of Satan. Stand before us Father, and wield your sword of truth. Pare out the false doctrine, and reluctance towards contrition that you find within us. Dress us in the full armor of faith, and place the truth of your Word in our hearts and hands as we go forth. Forgive us Merciful Father for those times and ways in which we have abused your Word, and made it a tool of man. Hear the wail of sorrow in our voices, and see the tears of desperation on our cheeks as we kneel before you in remorse and contrition. Restore us by your grace, and lift us up as one people, one Church, forever within your will. In this you will be glorified, and in this we will praise and worship you in all truth and power. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you who was, and is, and is to come. Hold us once more, righteous in the palm of your hand.
“so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”Ephesians 4:14-16 ESV
Rich Forbes