The
idea that God expects perfection from us is unscriptural. God always
provides for us what He expects from us (see Gen. 22:8-14). He is not
expecting instant maturity, but He does expect us to grow into
maturity. God wants us to eventually walk in all of His fullness, but
this will only come as we are rooted and grounded in His love.
No one questions whether or not we
are allowed to stone a person for breaking a Mosaic law today — we know we
can’t. Yet, we effectively stone Christians today with disfellowship and
defamation for actions and teaching that we pronounce to be false and
unbiblical. Jesus said, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the
first to throw a stone [at the law breaker]” (John 8:7). Of
course, we must preach and practice sound doctrine to the best of our ability —
however limited. After all, when we think we are fighting heresy,
sometimes we are actually resisting the Holy Spirit.
For
Paul, it took a Damascus road experience to show him the difference between
fighting heresy and resisting the Holy Spirit.
Brethren, it is not our job to be heresy hunters or to disfellowship Christians
(by our own definition) because we consider them to be in error. Soon enough we
all will stand before the Judgment seat and answer for our own heresy and error.
Jesus said we are to love, accept,
and prefer one another, even as God loves His Son and He loves us.
How desperately we need each
other! How desperately we need our Lord and Savior!
THE REAL
EXTREMIST
What hindrances will come against
the next great harvest of souls?
Some of the major hindrances are
things we consider to be an integral part of acceptable, contemporary
Christianity in the Western Hemisphere. Words such as “tradition” or “mind-set”
come to mind. When it seems that everybody does “it,” whatever “it” is, then
“it” is considered the norm, something the majority is comfortable with.
Surely no Christian would
knowingly hinder God from initiating a new and great move — like He has many
times in the past.
In every great revival there were
those who carried the newly discovered truth of that movement to extremes.
Others, because of the extremes, rejected these newly discovered truths
altogether. Both groups missed God. Those who carry truth to
extremes are usually corrected (over the years) and learn valuable
lessons from their mistakes.
The sad thing is those who are the
most fearful of error are often the most difficult to lead into the light, and
usually spend their lives in a dry, dreary place.
There is an inherent danger in our
attempts to make walking with God safer than He has made it. If we become overly
focused on the extremes and mistakes of a small minority in order to establish
safety for others, we will formulate teachings that cause people to become
eccentric or off-centered.
Those who consistently sit under teachings designed to correct extremes will
eventually become extreme themselves — extremely cautious and fearful of
mistakes. This perspective is exactly opposite to the faith required to walk
with God.
There will always be mistakes.
Even the greatest leaders in the early church made mistakes, including those who
walked with Jesus during His earthly ministry. As long as God works through
fallen men, we will witness mistakes and errors. If we lose sight of this and
become reactionary in our teachings, we make the biggest mistake of all by
creating stumbling blocks that hinder us from God’s provision.
Have no fear
of making mistakes. Be afraid of NOT making any. He who makes no
mistakes is no closer to his goals. Mistakes are the mile markers
leading to the conforming to the image of Christ in our lives.
Was
that interesting? There is so much more in this chapter that you will
want to read. Is this a good time to order the book?
