00:00Moving on, there are other things which happen. You have divisions within the church.
00:05In the Corinthians you had factionalism, dividing over things which man they will follow.
00:12In 1 Corinthians chapter 1 it says,
00:14It's been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you.
00:20Now I say this, that each of you who says, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas, or I am of Christ,
00:25is Christ divided, was Paul crucified for you, or are you baptised in the name of Paul?
00:32And I've seen Christians falling out over which preacher to follow,
00:35falling out over minor points of doctrine, ending up fighting each other.
00:39We're actually called to follow Jesus, who was crucified for us,
00:43and the church which is founded on him, not to follow preachers.
00:48Another thing which can come in is immorality.
00:50Corinthians 5 says,
00:53It's actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you.
00:56Such sexual immorality is not even mentioned among the Gentiles,
01:00that a man has his father's wife.
01:03And then in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 he says,
01:11Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
01:14Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
01:17nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous,
01:21nor drunkards, nor revivals, nor extortioners,
01:24will inherit the kingdom of God.
01:26And such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified,
01:29but you were justified in the name of Jesus by the Spirit of God.
01:34Notice it says, such were some of you,
01:37but now you are sanctified by the Holy Spirit,
01:39your new creatures in Christ.
01:42In one sense it doesn't matter what you were before you became a Christian,
01:45if you turned away from that, you repented, and you confessed your sin,
01:48you asked God to forgive you, and you're a new person in Jesus Christ.
01:51I really don't want to know about your past history.
01:54If you want to tell me, you can, but I'm not concerned about that.
01:58What matters is what you are now.
02:00And if you continue in the things which are not of God,
02:03and you call yourself a Christian,
02:04then that is wrong in the eyes of the Lord.
02:08And Paul's saying here that some of you are carrying on,
02:11sinning after your conversion.
02:12Now, praise God, we haven't had any instances
02:17of that kind of sin happening in this church,
02:20which I give thanks to the Lord for.
02:22But we see that in much of the church today,
02:24particularly in the Church of England,
02:26things are being sanctioned which should not be.
02:29I quote here from the former Archbishop of Canterbury,
02:33Justin Welby.
02:35Speaking to the BBC, he said,
02:36what the Archbishop of York and I and the bishops by majority say
02:39that all sexual activity should be within a committed relationship,
02:42whether it's straight or gay.
02:45Do you get the point of that?
02:47The only thing that matters is if you're in a committed relationship.
02:51Not whether you're married, not whether it's heterosexual,
02:54can be anything.
02:55It means that sexual intimacy is no longer limited to marriage.
02:58It's okay in gay relationships.
03:02And even that the church should bless sexual relationships outside of marriage.
03:06That's going right against the teaching of the Bible.
03:10And it means a clear departure from the doctrine of the New Testament church.
03:15Even the doctrine of the Church of England itself.
03:18And it's the opposite of Paul's teaching,
03:20where he says,
03:20So these issues are there in the New Testament church.
03:45They're still here in the church today.
03:47There are numerous other issues you could speak about.
03:49Gossip, slandering one's neighbor,
03:52pride in leaders who puff themselves up as something great,
03:56and exploit and express the people they should be serving.
04:00I would add anti-Semitism and harmful behavior towards the Jewish people,
04:04from whom the Lord himself came,
04:06and the apostles came, which Paul warned against in Romans chapter 9 through to 11.
04:11So all of these things can grieve the Holy Spirit
04:13and cause him to depart from the church.
04:16Ephesians chapter 4,
04:17Paul writes,
04:19Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
04:21by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
04:24Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice.
04:29Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,
04:32even as God in Christ forgave you.
04:35That's how you should behave in the church of God.
04:38Be kind to one another.
04:40Forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
04:43Be kind and forgive one another, even if someone in the church does upset you.
04:49Sometimes Christians are very easy to take offense.
04:52I've known that you say a wrong word to them,
04:54and they're off, offended, and never return.
04:58We shouldn't be like that.
04:59If we do grieve the Spirit and offend our God, our neighbor,
05:03we should apologize, put it right.
05:06But we shouldn't just fall out and separate.
05:08And that's what happens sometimes in churches.
05:11People are offended and they leave, and that's the end of it.
05:14We're called to repent and be reconciled in Jesus Christ.
05:19And if we do grieve the Spirit,
05:21if we do grieve our God and our neighbor,
05:23there's always a way back.
05:251 John chapter 1,
05:27one of the most important passages in the epistles,
05:31says in verse 6, verse 5,
05:34This is the message we've heard from him and declared to you that God is light,
05:38and in him is no darkness at all.
05:40If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness,
05:42we lie and do not practice the truth.
05:44But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light,
05:46we have fellowship with one another,
05:48and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
05:52If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
05:54and the truth is not in us.
05:56If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
05:58to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
06:01That's a wonderful passage which just tells us
06:05how to have right relationships with God
06:08and with one another in the body of the Messiah.
06:12And if we confess our sins,
06:13he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
06:16He's always going to do that,
06:17because that's why he came.
06:19And the blood of Jesus is powerful
06:20and able to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
06:25And so, a few thoughts on how we behave in the Church of God.
Comments