Gtcotr/ss120518
Last
week we discussed the pre-emptive strategy of the Lord in our lives. The Holy
Spirit teaches us principles and then guides us with these nuggets of truth on
a path that pleases God and best promotes His Kingdom. God prepares us before we
encounter temptations, tests, trials or trouble.
The
Christmas season offers each one of us a chance to see God work in our
families. These gatherings are often filled with added stress for which we need
to be prepared. When it comes to building and growing and being a blessing to
the family, God knows best. We see what He did for His family in John 3:16 - God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son and whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting
life. The three major truths of this verse reveal the hope God has in
and through us. These three truths encourage us to remember:
The 3 Truths of The Gospel contained in John
3:16
1.
God’s love.
2.
His intent to include everyone.
3.
The unselfish giving of His best.
·
Love;
Inclusion; Giving
·
God gave first
·
He gave most
·
He gave willingly
Of
course we know that both the god of this world and our old carnal nature runs
in opposition to the will, the Word and the way of God. Several times in the
Bible the scriptures show us the marked difference between God’s ways and the
ways of this world. God is loving, the devil is hateful; God is a giver while
the devil is greedy and selfish; God is merciful and forgiving but the devil is
resentful and bitter; the devil wants to divide and destroy us and our families
while God wants to unify and bless them.
Jesus
and the Apostles often addressed the temptations faced by Christians to be less
than loving, less than inclusive and less than giving. This evening we are
going to take another look at the
issues of Schisms and Heresies as spoken of in the Bible so that we might be
better armed and more strengthened to reflect the heart of God during this
Christmas season.
The
word schism means take something that is otherwise whole and to tear it apart,
weaken or divide it.
The
Apostle Paul continued to encourage the Church at Corinth to guard against schisms
within the Body of Christ. He admonishes us to be perfectly weaved together into one single piece of
fabric.
We
all have homes, close friends and co-workers with whom we prefer to spend time.
Paul’s concern is not aimed at what people do in their own home but rather
about what they do against their own home. It is both natural and reasonable to
enjoy some people more than others but it is ungodly to allow our own personal
preferences or opinions to divide us from one another, especially when we it
involves family.
To
embrace or promote dislike of others, exclusion or selfishness within a family,
Church or group helps the devil to weaken, divide and destroy those things God
desires to unify, build up and strengthen. God sees His family as one body.
1 Corinthians 12 (NKJV)
12 ¶ For as the body is one
and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one
body, so also is Christ.
13 For by one Spirit we were
all baptized into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves
or free — and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
14 For in fact the body is
not one member but many.
15 If the foot should say,
“Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the
body?
16 And if the ear should say,
“Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the
body?
17 If the whole body were
an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing,
where would be the smelling?
18 But now God has set the
members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.
19 And if they were all one
member, where would the body be?
20 But now indeed there are
many members, yet one body.
21 And the eye cannot say to
the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no
need of you.”
22 No, much rather, those
members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.
23 And those members
of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater
honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty,
24 but our presentable parts
have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part
which lacks it,
25 that there should be no schism in the body, but that
the members should have the same care for one another.
26 And if one member suffers,
all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the
members rejoice with it.
27 Now you are the body of
Christ, and members individually.
Divisions
and Heresies are not the work of the Lord. Taking something God has designed
and desires to be whole and creating or participating in dividing it or tearing
it apart is not of God. (Families for example …)
Heresy
means the act of capturing others and forming them into a subgroup of
dissenters in opposition the opinion of the duly appointed leader of the larger
group. Growth demands multiplication, separation and identification, such as
God designed within our bodies. However, once my cells multiply and separate
and identify as an ear or an eye or an arm cell, they still do not divide from
the body or fight against it … they support it.
Galatians 5 (NKJV)
19 Now the works of the flesh
are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred,
contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions,
heresies,
21 envy, murders,
drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I
also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not
inherit the kingdom of God.
This
year let’s decide to not promote or participate in schisms or heresies in our
family gatherings. Let’s rather promote the unity of the body and the unity of
the family and the unity of the church during this special season.
Let’s give first;
Let’s give most; And let’s give willingly …
