1 Corinthians 11 gives a very clear example of the divine order that was set at creation:

“For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.” – 1 Corinthians 11:8-9

The head of Christ is God, the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man (1 Corinthians 11:3).  Since God and Christ are the Godhead, they are equal, but authority wise the order goes to God then to Christ (John 4:34, 8:28, 12:49-50).  The same principle applies to man and women: both are equal, but God gave authority to the man.  God also designated distinctive gender roles that man and women are told to abide by and not deviate from (Deuteronomy 22:5).

The first role is that man should not pray or prophecy with his head covered because it dishonors his head.  Christ is the head of man.  A man should not cover his head because he was made in the image of God (1 Corinthians 11:7).  Therefore, covering the head deglorifies God.  The covering of man could be long hair, since long-haired men are sometimes viewed as feminine, and therefore is a disgrace to him since God is not feminine and man was made in the image of God (1 Corinthians 1:14).

The second role is that every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head (man).  The Holy Spirit is speaking to every woman and not reducing this to merely every wife, as commonly interpreted.  A woman that prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors not just her head (man), but also God’s divine order.  In 1 Corinthians 11:5-6, Paul creates a logic to demonstrate why a woman should cover her head – hair or no hair at all.  “If the head is not covered, the woman should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head.”

What is a covering?  Naturally, our covering is our hair:

“Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory?  For long hair is given to her as a covering.” – 1 Corinthians 11:14-15

But spiritually (as woman pray, go to Church, etc.), a woman’s covering was her veil.  The veil was worn as a sign of submission to man.  Culturally, during the OT&NT, a woman without a veil advertised herself publicly as a harlot and/or openly rejected man’s authority.  Therefore, the absence of a veil at Corinth disgraced her head (man) and God’s divine order.

Paul was speaking to the tradition of a veil at Corinth.  In today’s church, the lack of a veil is not a lack of submission to man since culturally it is not recognized.  However, it is clear that the principle of this passage is not cultural because the divine order was set at creation.  This implies that in today’s church, a woman should still not do anything to deglorify her head (man), which is to say, deglorify God’s divine order.  This may include short hair since from the male perspective, short hair can communicate lesbianism, rebellion, etc.

Corinth was not the only place where God created man in His image and then created woman in the image of man (sarcasm).  The divine order, and thus the doctrine of glorifying your image, applies to the entire creation.   Rejecting the divine order is to reject God, His plan, and His order.

Although today the absence of a veil does not advertise a woman as a harlot and does not deglorify her image, wearing a covering will glorify her image, the image of man, which is to say the image of God.  Why?  Because it shows the willful submission of woman to man; thereby, glorifying God’s divine order.

The last reason why we are told to follow this divine order is “because of the angels” – 1 Corinthians 11:10.  There is no generally accepted interpretation of this verse.  The predominant interpretation of this verse is that the angels are present during Christian gatherings.  This interpretation came from Jewish beliefs supported by Psalm 138:1 – “before the “gods” I will sing your praise.” (where “gods” is translated as angels).  While the angels are present at our gatherings, they delight in the willful submission of man to the Godly order, in their respective places. Compare the following:

“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” – Ephesians 3:10

“For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the area.  We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men.” – 1 Corinthians 4:9

“…Even angels long to look into these things” – 1 Peter 1:12

It is clear that the angels are on lookers of Christians.  They watch us to learn what has been made known to us and they are delighted in what delights the Lord – outward appearance (including following God’s divine order), inward humility, dress, and submission to God’s divine order.  And remember the last verse of this topic: “If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice – nor do the churches of God.” (1 Cor 11:16).

-Mark

I remember my first few months at business school: my goal was to be a light to those that were lost by by letting others no what true Christianity was, not the judgmental version which gets a bad rap.  I would go out with my friends not to be entertained by social settings, but because by going out, doors were opened to get involved and gain the trust of friends who one day would be interested in Christianity because of how I tried to live both outwardly and inwardly.

Of course, this created some heat between my friends at the Church in my pre-business school life and myself because the advice given to me was “I should not be yoking myself with unbelievers.”  I remembered the example of Paul becoming all things to all men so that by all possible means he might save some (1 Corinthians 9:22).  This is what I was doing.  I did not become a drunk, but I sat at tables with drunks.  In Matthew 9:10, Christ sat at a table with sinners.  Am I comparing myself to Paul or Christ – definitely not.  But I do know that we are here for the poor (in spirit) in this world and if we expect to become a fisher of men, we need to become more than an evangelist with a sign that says “Jesus saves!”; we need to get involved in the lives of those in this world.  But how do we know when our relationships cross the point of being unequally yoked?

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? - 2 Corinthians 6:14

Deuteronomy 22:9-11 speaks of three things which are of unequal yoking.  We can look at the interpretation of each of the three examples to help us analyze what Paul means in the above verse.  The three examples are:

verse 9 – “Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled.”

verse 10 – “Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.”

verse 11 – “Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.”

In the example in verse 9, different seed requires different nutrition to grow.  For example, blueberries require nitrogen rich soil whereas too much nitrogen in soil will kill certain fruit.  If you plant different seeds within the same vineyard, chances are your harvest will not be full because each seed requires a preferred kind of soil.  From this example, we can say that the seeds are unequally yoked and the requirements of one type dictate the food of the other type.

Why would it be wrong to plow your field with two kinds of animals?  An ox and donkey have unequal strengths, abilities, etc.  Therefore if the ox is carrying more of the load than the donkey, the plowing of a field would be much more difficult and a straight furrow would be near impossible to plow.  This implies that the two are unequally yoked and the stronger ox is controlling the less stronger donkey.

In the final example, verse 11, we find another example of unequal yoking.  Wool is notorious for shrinking and cashmere for extreme shrinking.  If you create a shirt out of the two, when it comes time to wash and dry your shirt, the cashmere will dry much faster than the wool, yet in order for the shirt to be completely dry you would need to extend the dry time because of the wool.  This will over shrink your shirt.  From this example, the properties of one material dictate the output of the other material, and thus, are unequally yoked.

Through Paul, the Holy Spirit was referencing the above examples to demonstrate what an unequal yoking is.  We are told to not be equally yoked with unbelievers – this does not mean that we should remove ourselves from them.

Likewise, when Paul tells us to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers it does not mean to separate yourself from them, but to not allow the relationship to get to the point where the unbeliever controls you i.e.: you drink because they are drinking.  In 1 Corinthians 5:10, Paul tells us not to separate ourselves from sinners of the world, because then we would have to leave this world.  Rather, only separate yourself from the sinners within the Church.  Likewise, Christ Jesus even prays in John 17:15 “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.”  We are not told to remove ourselves from unbelievers.  I repeat, we are not told to remove ourselves from the world and its unbelievers.  In fact, we are here for the sinners of the world and not to remain in our own Christian bubbles.

However, it is important to remember what we are called to be: In 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Paul says “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” and in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”

We are called to be holy.  We know we are unequally yoked with an unbeliever when we are at risk of becoming unholy through the actions of the unbeliever.  Just like the examples of the two different seeds, the two different animals, and the two different cloths, if the unbeliever begins to have control over our life to the point where we are at risk of becoming unholy, we are unequally yoked.

I hope this clarifies the loosely and often mistakenly misinterpreted verse in 2 Corinthians 6:14.

-Mark

Suffering is how we develop perseverance and self-control (Romans 5:3).  Through suffering we are learning to endure hardships and we are learning to submit to God by developing obedience (Hebrews 5:8).  Since God’s will for us is to be sanctified and flee from the desires and passions of the flesh, it should not be obvious that it is God’s will for us to suffer.  Therefore, suffering becomes a foundation to our faith.

“For what son is not disciplines by his father?  If you are not disciplines (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. – Hebrews 12:7-8

True grace is evident by God disciplining us (see this article on Grace and Discipline.)  Discipline is what teaches us to submit to God, through the fear of the Lord.  But it is important to understand whether your suffering is a consequence of sin or a result of God performing His work in you.  No doubt, we reap what we sow; therefore, we will reap suffering from sowing sin.  But also know that if God made Christ, the author of salvation, perfect through suffering (Hebrews 2:10), then it is God’s will for us to suffer since suffering perfects our faith.  And since satan opposes God, we can be sure that satan’s desires for us are 1) to confuse our suffering as being from God, when it reality it may be a consequence of some sin or 2) to deceive us into thinking that our God is the God that wants everything in our earthly life to go right, when in reality, God’s will for our earthly life is to perfect our faith through suffering.  With this in mind, let’s take a look at what suffering as a Christian means, biblically.

What does it mean that Christ was perfected through suffering?  Hebrews 2:18 tells us that Christ suffered when he was tempted.  Isaiah 53:11 says “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.”  Therefore, Christ’s soul was also in agony from the pain (Psalm 42:10) and our iniquities when he was on the cross.  God’s will prospered through Christ’s suffering (Isaiah 53:10).

1 Peter 4:14-19 tells us that suffering as a Christian through insult or pain is a blessing and something not to be ashamed of.  Paul teaches us the same thing in 2 Timothy 1:12, 2:9 – that he was suffering by being in prison because of the Gospel, yet he was not ashamed.

Therefore, from the bible we see suffering as a result of temptation, pain, the disbelief of others, the sin of others, imprisonment, and insults.  Every aspect of suffering, except for the sin of others and temptation, is a direct effect of evangelism in a world that hates God.  Suffering due to temptation is a result of God teaching us obedience.  Suffering due to the sin of others (i.e.: sadness in heart) is a result of living in a corrupt world.  All three reasons for suffering are God’s will: It is God’s will that we evangelize, it is God’s will that we go through life on earth, and it is God’s will that we flee from sin.

Do not deceive yourself and think that suffering due to a bad decision, lack of finding a job, financial struggles, or losing friends is from suffering of a Christian.  These struggles are either a result of a lack of trust, self-control, or some sin on our part.  But let’s also remember what our comfort is while we suffer, if the suffering is God’s will:

“My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.” – Psalm 119:50

(the promise of eternal life)

-Mark

In 1 Kings 11:31-32, Ahijah prophesied to Jeroboam that God will divide Israel into two kingdoms: Judah (southern) and Israel (northern).  Jeroboam was to receive the ten northern tribes but for the sake of David, God spared one tribe, Judah, for the southern division.  Please see All Israel will be Saved Pt. 2 for a detailed look on the consequences and prophetic implications of this division.

“Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes.  But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe.” 1 Kings 11:31-32

Jeroboam was one of Solomon’s officials that was put in charge of the whole labor force of the house of Joseph.  After this prophecy, Jeroboam rebelled against Solomon, who later tried to kill Jeroboam.  Jeroboam fled to Egypt and remained there until Solomon died.

After Solomon’s death his son Rehoboam was going to be crowned as king of Israel (the division had not yet occurred).  When word got back to Jeroboam, who was in Egypt, that Rehoboam was to be crowned, Jeroboam returned from Egypt.  There, Jeroboam and all of Israel demanded that Rehoboam lighten the yoke that was placed on Israel.  Rehoboam told the people to return in three days, when he would pronounce his decision.

During these three days, Rehoboam made a fatal mistake (although from God – 2 Chronicles 10:15)  by failing to seek godly counsel.  2 Chronicles 10:8 shows the two reasons why Rehoboam’s counsel was ungodly:

1) He rejected the advice of elders

2) Consulted those that he grew up with and were serving him.

Through this, Rehoboam followed flawed counsel and threatened to make Israel’s yoke even heavier.  From that day on, Israel has been in rebellion against the house of Judah.  Rehoboam remained king of Judah while Jeroboam inherited the ten tribes of Israel.

Why is not seeking the advice of elders ungoldy?  Titus 1:6-9 describes the qualities of an elder:

Blameless, husband of one wife, a man whose children believe and are not disobedient or wild, not overbearing, not quick tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain, hospitable, loves what is good, self-controlled, upright, holy, disciplined, and encouraging yet refuting when needed.

1 Peter 5:1-3 also describes an elder:

Shepherds, overseers, not greedy for money, eager to serve, ordained by God, and an example to the flock.

Clearly, an elder should be a man of God – as shown through his lifestyle, works, and fruit.  Who in their right mind would reject the advice of such a man?  Moreover, we know an elder comes through age.  For example, Timothy was a man of God that was prophesied for priesthood, but Paul did not consider him an elder yet.  Dating estimates that Timothy was in his early 30s at the time of Paul’s first letter to him.

What is wrong about seeking the advice of those that you grew up with and are serving you (friends)?  The answer may be obvious:  there is a possibility that the misalignment of incentives causes the servants (or friends) to give faulty advice because their livelihood depends on you or they may want to please you for the sake of the friendship.  Furthermore, those that grew up with you know your heart and your ways.  Counsel from those that know you becomes biased.  This is why we are to be seeking counsel only from elders:  An elder does not show favoritism.

Check out this logic: If an elder is involved in your life, he should be involved in others’ lives so that he isn’t blamed as showing favoritism.  Since it is not possible for elders to know each heart within a large congregation, in theory he must not know the heart of a single individual if he does not know the hearts of his entire congregation in order to be blameless.  Therefore, an elder’s counsel becomes unbiased if he is upholding the lifestyle of an elder because he does not know your heart.

Some argue that it is best to seek the advice of those that know your heart, because they know your heart and can understand the matter more accurately.  However, according to the bible this is false and there is no account of this as being permissible.

To end more clearly, we as Christians that are striving to live sanctified lives should never reject the advice of elders and never hear counsel from those that no your heart.  Who is a godly elder among you?  “Good deeds are obvious and even those that are not cannot be hidden” – 1 Timothy 5:25.  Therefore, the qualities of an elder listed in Titus 1:6-9 and 1 Peter 5:1-3 should be obvious or at the least, cannot be hidden.  Do not make the same mistake as Rehoboam by following the counsel of your friends and those that know your heart.

-Mark

“Finding the disciples there, we stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.” – Acts 21:4

Why did Paul go to Jerusalem?  Better yet, why did Paul go to Jerusalem when his ministry was for the gentiles (Romans 15:16)?  The desire and work of an apostle is the spreading of the Gospel through evangelism.  If we take a step back to examine Paul’s journey prior to going to Jerusalem, we will recognize that Paul was being led by the Holy Spirit to head toward Spain, and on his way, pass through Rome (Romans 15:28).  But first, Paul had made the decision to go to Jerusalem (Romans 15:25).

Romans 15:25-28 explains that Paul was going to Jerusalem to ensure that the “poor among the saints” in Jerusalem received the fruit (contribution) given by Macedonia and Achaia.  While in Jerusalem, Paul also decided that he would strive to “arouse my own people (Jews) to envy and save some of them” (Romans 11:14).  Paul taught that Israel is holy since its firstfruits is holy:

“If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.” – Romans 11:16

In Acts 20:22-23, we are told that Paul was compelled by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem.  However, the Holy Spirit warned that prison and hardships were facing Paul in every city.  Therefore, Paul knew that his ministry on earth was coming to a close.  Regardless, he felt led to go to Jerusalem.  In Acts 21:4, Paul and his crew arrived at Tyre where he met the disciples.  Here, they were urging Paul through the Holy Spirit not to go to Jerusalem.  Moreover, at Paul’s conversion, Christ Jesus told Paul to flee from Jerusalem “because they will not accept your testimony about me” – Acts 22:18.  So why would Paul continue on route to Jerusalem?  Clearly he wasn’t disobeying God.  It is clear in Acts 23:11 that God willed for Paul to testify in Jerusalem prior to testifying in Rome.  Paul was confident with the decision to go to Jerusalem because he recognized that the Spirit’s work in Israel was fulfilled through Christ and after Christ was the age of the Gentile.  The Holy Spirit was not wrong in urging Paul not to go, rather the Holy Spirit was warning.  The Holy Spirit’s warning was further confirmed through the prophet Agabus and his prophecy concerning Paul’s imprisonment in Acts 21:11-12.

To summarize the Holy Spirit’s role in Acts 21:4: The Holy Spirit warned that Paul would face prison and hardships.  Moreover, the Holy Spirit’s work in Israel was complete through the death and resurrection of Christ until the full number of Gentiles is reached.  Therefore, God, through His sovereign wisdom, used Paul’s hope and affection “for his own people” (see Romans 11:14) to lead Paul to Jerusalem so that the developing enmity of the Jews climaxed to their final rejection of grace.  Paul’s love, hope, affection, and longing to suffer for Christ gave him all the confidence that he needed to continue regardless of the Spirit’s warning.  Paul spoke plainly to the Jews perhaps so that the difference between grace and the law (Jew and Gentile) could be distinguished by the Jews.  Although the exact reason for God sending Paul to Jerusalem isn’t clear, we can learn some truths about this story that are applicable to our walks as Christians.

1) The Holy Spirit warns us of danger and leads in the path of God and when persecution comes, he gives strength to endure it.

2) Suffering for the name of Christ should be the decision-making factor in seeking out God’s will.  The Holy Spirit warned that Paul faced hardships and prison in every city.  As Paul did, we too should consider our lives to be worth nothing and in this, we will fulfill God’s moral will for our life.  Perhaps this is a truth that we should live by when uncertainty exists: choose the path that denounces your life and glorifies God.  Paul did not look back at the consequences of his decision.  He knew that by putting his life in harms way meant a certain death and by dying, his life’s work was threatened by the “savage wolves” to come (Acts 20:29).  Yet, Paul continued in the path that kept his life of no worth.  In other words, by staying to protect his life’s work, he would have considered his life of some worth, rather than giving it up to God – the giver of all worth!  Is your decision making based upon claiming some worth or value to your life?

-Mark

Since the bible mentions that there is an elect (Mark 13:27, 1 Timothy 5:21, 2 Timothy 2:10, 1 Peter 1:1), this must imply that there is a non-elect.  Elect in Greek is eklektos which means the favorite or chosen one.  But does God show favoritism?

Two verses which are used to demonstrate that God does not show favoritism are Acts 10:34 where Peter says “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism” and  Romans 2:11 where Paul says “God does not show favoritism”.

The Greek word used for favoritism in Acts 10:34 is prosōpolēptēs which translates to an accepter of a face.  The root to this word is prosōpon, which can be defined as the outward appearance of a person.  In other words, Peter was saying that he realized how true it is that God does not discriminate based upon appearance – it does not matter whether a man is Jewish, Gentile, white, black, poor, or rich, God will save a man “not because of righteous things had did, but because of His mercy” (Titus 3:5). In Romans 2:11, Paul uses the Greek word prosōpolēpsia, which means a respecter of persons.  The difference between what Peter and Paul were saying is that Peter was saying that God does not show partiality in regards to outward appearance and Paul was saying that God does not show partiality in regards to conditions in life.

The doctrine of favoritism is sometimes used to oppose the doctrine of the elect. What needs to be made clear is that favoritism belongs to the administration of justice and election to the exercise of mercy. Throughout scripture, it is clear that God demonstrates a difference in bestowing benefits, but not in exercising Judgment.

In the example in Acts and Romans, Peter and Paul were speaking about the gift of salvation not just belonging to the Jews; prior to Christ, God demonstrated a difference in bestowing benefits for the Gentile had only the law of nature, but the Jew had a revealed law. Yet when brought to judgment there was to be no respect of persons, each was to be judged impartially. Moreover, election does not exist on the principle of showing favoritism, that is, of regarding men according to their privileges, outward appearance, or condition in life, or any thing in man; but its only exclusive ground is in the mercy of God.  Again, to reiterate Titus 3:5, we were elected by God not because of any righteous thing we had done but because of His mercy.  God’s mercy is bestowed because somehow in God’s divine and redemptive plan, we will be used. And outside of God’s plan, all of man would die in sin.

To further demonstrate how the doctrines of favoritism and election are mutually exclusive through the principles of administration of judgment and exercising of mercy, it is important to understand man’s condition without God. In Isaiah 10:5-7, God tells the Assyrians “Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath! I send him against a godless nation, I dispatch him against a people who anger me, to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets. But this is not what he intends, this is not what he has in mind; his purpose is to destroy, to put an end to many nations.”

God sent Assyria against Israel to loot, plunder, and rule over.  But Assyria had other intentions: to completely destroy Israel and other nations.

Further down in 10:12, God says “When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes.”

God sent sinful Assyria to trample Israel, and then he also condemned Assyria because of its willful pride in its heart.  This is the story of those that are a slave to the sinful nature.  They live in a world of sin and will be condemned because they continue to sin in both the absence and presence of God.  Through Christ, the chains of sin are broken through the exercising of mercy.  Without Christ, God has not condemned the non-elect because in their sinful desires they willfully sin.  Therefore, God justfully administers justice.

Romans 1:18-32 describes why sin is spreading in this world.  Because the world refuses to acknowledge God, God gave the world over to the sinful desires of its heart.  God’s judgment is just because he is not causing man to sin but man inherently sins because he refuses to acknowledge God.  Therefore, God set apart children of His own not by playing favorites but because without having children of His own, all man would die in their sinful ways.  Through keeping a remnant of His own, God is glorifying His name and God’s will is that His name be glorified.  In other words, since God’s will is that His name be glorified, mercy only exists so that through the elect, God’s will can be accomplished.

So to those that speak about the non-elect: remember that God does not cause them to sin and then condemns them.  Rather, they are inherently sinners and refuse to acknowledge God.  In the administering of justice, all men will be judged and judged equally for their actions.  In the exercise of mercy through an election, God only elects to accomplish His will and the election is not based upon personal merit or righteousness, rather God’s divine plan and mercy.

-Mark

With all of my recent talk on the need to sanctify and strive to obtain that of which Paul talks about in Philippians 3:9-11, it is very important that I talk about how to obtain with having a heart of humility.  As we obtain a greater understanding, knowledge, and wisdom of God, it becomes very easy to think of ourselves as being “closer” to God than others.  Even more so is this true within a church setting or as the wheat is separated by the chaff.

In Philippians 2:1-11, Paul talks about how through our unification with Christ, our joy (a quality of the fruit of the Spirit; Galatians 5:22) is only made complete when we are one in spirit and in purpose by not looking at our own interests, but rather the interests of others.

Then we are told how our attitudes should be in order to achieve this calling.  Paul describes Christ’s attitude in verses 5-11:

⁵Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
⁶Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
⁷but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
⁸And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
⁹Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Readers, equality with God is something that cannot be grasped, no matter how sanctified we become.  It becomes easy to look upon ourselves as being more “called” than others.  But this is foolish and a direct violation of Galatians 6:4.  Therefore, as we become more sanctified and attain greater truths about God, we should also develop more humility in the sense that we are showing more agape (self-sacrificing) love to others, no matter where they may be in their walks with God.

“No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval” (1 Corinthians 11:19), but let us be sure that in all circumstances, our attitudes remain aligned with that of Christ Jesus.

-M

1 Corinthians 5:12:

“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?  Are you not to judge those inside?  God will judge those outside. ‘Expel the wicked man from among you.’”

I decided to write an article on judging those within the church because this seems to be a forgotten message.  In fact, it has been twisted. Perhaps this is because the gospels create a tone of non-judgment upon others – who can cast the first stone if none of us is without sin?

In Matthew 7:1, Christ says “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”  However, if you read a little further down, at 7:15-16 Christ also says that you will know others by their fruits.  How can you know others by their fruits if you do not examine the product of their lives?  Therefore, Christ is not calling us to be universally and unconditionally accepting.  Rather, Christ is telling us not to be judgmental.

The difference between judgmental and mere examination of one’s fruits is that judgmentalism includes placing a verdict on the motives of someone’s heart.  Examining the fruits of one’s life does not place a verdict on their motives, but instead allows for correction due to the bad fruit.  The former does not spare room for correction, the later does.  Judgmentalism cannot be done through love, which when absent negates any good work that we are doing.  Examining the fruit of one’s life can only be done through love because we are expected to either encourage or correct based upon if the fruit was good or bad, respectively.

Therefore, to those within the body, we will know a tree by its fruit.  Matthew 7:17:

“So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.”

A fruit tree can produce good, bad, or no fruit. We will know fellow believers based upon their fruits. By knowing these fruits we are called to encourage or correct so that “as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” (Provers 27:17).  Through this accountability system, the church helps us on our paths to sanctification.

What is the good fruit that we should be looking for?  Turn to Galatians 5:22-23:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

Many misread this verse by pluralizing “fruit” and thereby, changing each quality and isolating it from the others.  This is outright wrong.  Paul does not pluralize “fruit” because each quality creates the fruit.  Think of it as a cluster of grapes and the cluster being the fruit.  Therefore, the fruit of the Spirit consists of all nine qualities.  Do you have seven out of the nine?  So to do those in the secular world.

As John 15:5 states “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”  Verse 6 shows that for those that do not remain in Christ, he is like a branch that is thrown away because it is dead.  Examine the fruits in the lives of those within the church.  Does one think he is fruitful because he counsels effectively, plays on the worship team, or speaks a message?  That is not biblical fruit.  You will know a tree by its fruit.  Next time I write, I will write on what each of the qualities of the fruit are.  But till then I will leave you with what a friend once told me:

“How can you judge someone by their fruit?  It does not always work like that.  If a man at my church is a drunkard and he came to my house for counseling and I told him he needs to repent completely or else he will die a sinner, then he angrily stormed out of my house, crashed his car and died, how can you say there was any fruit from that?”

Every tree produces fruit – whether good, bad, or none at all.  And that example is a perfect example of how fruit is produced even through our deaths.

-Mark

So many of us ask this question.  While we are unsanctified, we will not hear from God properly.  We think God is telling us something, but it is our mind tricking us.  When we are sanctified, we can hear God more clearly and distinguish between sin and love, God and Satan; because the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of God help us to understand his ways and hear him clearly.  Therefore, sanctification affords us the option to lay down our passions and desires and choose God (for further reading, study Acts 21, in particular verse 4).  But I can tell you a biblical approach to determine where God is leading you.

I like to use to scriptures when determining where God is leading me.  The first is Ecclesiastes 11:6:

⁶ Sow your seed in the morning,
and at evening let not your hands be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed,
whether this or that,
or whether both will do equally well.

Although we are called to put our desires before the Lord, our thoughts are not the thoughts of God.  Therefore, give yourselves backup plans and since God is sovereign, trust that He put one of the plans in your heart for as long as you are seeking the moral will of God in your life, you can be sure that He is directing your steps.  God will choose one to succeed, but it isn’t for us to know which.

The second scripture I like is Genesis 26:19-22:

¹⁹ Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. ²⁰ But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they disputed with him. ²¹ Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah. ²² He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying, “Now the LORD has given us room and we will flourish in the land.”

This story of Isaac is illustrating God’s sovereignty over the lives of those that are righteous in His eyes.  Whether Isaac knew that God was leading him from one land to another is unclear and irrelevant because the main point still holds: God leads us where he wants us.  In this story, Isaac was pushed from one land to another because of conflict and draught.  However, Isaac knew where to settle because it was the land where water was found and where there were no other settlers to push him out.  Through this scripture, a well with water does not necessarily indicate an open door.  Just because there is fruit down one road does not mean that it is the fruit that God wants you to eat.  Just because something is permitted or possible does not mean you are to drink of that “well”.  But a point is clear: Isaac never would have settled in a land where his well had found no water.  Therefore, a door needs to be open and fruit needs to be evident.  Next, we should not choose a direction if it will lead to others perceiving you as not being blameless.  Isaac could have settled or waged war (he was rich from his father’s inheritance). But he chose peace over war, calmness over tension, blameless over blamelessness.

Combine the two scriptures together and you will be sure to not confuse your will with that of God’s. So  sow your seed in the morning and find something else that will allow you to reap a harvest in the evening – for you do not know which God will choose to succeed.  If you are not in the season to harvest yet, let the story of Isaac be an example to determine if you are in the right place.

-M

The Lord says, “I will give you back what you lost
to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts,
the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts.
It was I who sent this great destroying army against you.

Last time, I talked about how we have to act out in complete faith and trust in God whenever we commit to a decision. Neglecting the Holy Spirit and walking without faith will always lead us into a bad place. When we come before God and our heart does not condemn us, that is when we know we have true faith in what we are doing. (1 John 3:19-20) Have the Lord search you, convict you of what is not of Him, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, bearing fruits in everything you do. (Psalm 139:32,33, Colossians 1:10) A life that does not bring glory to God and bring forth fruit from under your feet is not a life that pleases God. Take a moment and ask God to show you what you have been seeds you have been planting in your walk. Do some fruits look ripe and ready, but inside they have been eaten away? Are you deceiving yourself and others by the outward appearance of your life? Do not defraud yourself and others with only the mere appearance of fruit, for God looks deeper than the outward appearances of lives. (1 Samuel 16:7, Revelations 3:1)

Everyone has made mistakes and gone down paths that God did not intend for His children. Be not deceived, for if you made a decision in your life that brought sin and dead fruit, do not believe that God wanted you to go through that. The true and righteous path of God continually glorifies and brings sanctification. I have heard too many people say that it was the will of God for them to do certain things in their lives that only ended in sin and hurt. Are you really going to say to people that it was God’s will for you to get in a certain position that only bred sin and immorality? God will not guide you into a situation where there is death and no fruit! By your testimony, it makes it seem that God wants you to sin! Even though you may have learned from it, that was not his original intent. God is sovereign, and will use your mistakes so that he is glorified and you learn from them, but that does not mean that you had to go through them. I think it is a very dangerous thing to believe that God would lead you into a place that did not glorify Him and bear fruit.

An example of something looking like righteous fruit, but in reality, being spoiled is King Saul. When Saul was told by God to destroy all of the Amalekites, God made it very clear that he didn’t any survivors because all of them were committing sinful acts. (1 Samuel 15:3) As the battle waged on, Saul was face to face with King Agag and decided to spar him and show mercy. Saul probably thought this was a godly thing to show mercy, but he ultimately went against the plans of God. He probably thought to himself that God would want me to be merciful and it would look great, even though God explicitly told him not to spare anyone. The fruit of mercy looked very appealing, but in fact it was spoiled on the inside because it was not what God wanted. Saul’s kingdom was taken away from him because of his actions. Our actions can be very deceptive by the way they look, they might even look godly to many, but before the Lord, they are rotten.

It’s impossible for us not to be convicted about spreading bad seed. This may feel as if you have wasted your time, and your efforts have gone to waste, but that is farther from the truth. When we come back to God and return to the righteous path, the fruit that was once spoiled becomes edible. Friends, do not be deceived, for God does not hold back any blessings from us, and He is gracious enough to give us the blessings we missed out on. In Joel, God told Israel that if they repented of their ways, he would restore them and bring back prosperity. The blessings that we missed out on can easily be given to us if we return from our ways. But do not delay, for although He is faithful, you are not to test Him and think you will be given your blessings even if you continue on a sinful path. If you are called by His name, rejoice for He works out all things for benefit! (Romans 8:28) Repent and be restored, so you may be able to taste the fruits of the labor you once gave up.

-Joseph