Weekly Devotional 11-10-14 Maintaining a Pure Church

Weekly Devotional 11-10-14 Maintaining a Pure Church

A brother in the Lord approached me last week, telling of a friend who is struggling with the direction his church is taking. The denomination of this church is struggling with accepting homosexuals into membership and is leaning in that direction, hence the friend’s struggle.

Doing research through Wikipedia.org on this denomination, I found that since 2011 the denomination welcomes gay and lesbian persons to become members of the church as well as serve in leadership positions as ministers, deacons, elders, and trustees.

We wonder why, or how, a denomination that names the name of Jesus Christ as their head could possibly come to this decision. Has God changed? God, through the Apostle Paul, informed the church and the world “that fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortionist would inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9b-10 NKJV).

Looking back 4,000 plus years we find that this has always been God’s condemnation. We read from the Book of Leviticus, “22You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. 23Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion. ‘24Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. 25For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. 26You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you 27(for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), 28lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. 29For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people’” (Leviticus 18:22-29 NKJV).

Paul, in his opening statement to the Church of Rome (See Romans 1:18-32) wrote that unregenerate men choose to suppress the inward testimony (the divine light that is in them (John 1:6-9. This is not a passive rejection of God, but an aggressive determination of the will. Unregenerate man decides to reject that which may be known about God and such rejection manifests itself in various forms of depravity.

God would not allow the Israelite, who conducted himself in the ways mentioned above to remain in “the land,” they were to be cast out. Nor according to 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 NKJV) will he allow such persons to enter the kingdom of heaven. God cannot, nor will He, tolerate sin and has declared that the wages of sin is death (eternal separation from Him) Romans 6:23. To not be under such a condemnation, a person (every person) must repent of (turn from) their sin and “turn to” God for mercy and forgiveness.

The fortunate thing is, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes (trusts) in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18“He who believes in Him is not condemned” (John 3:16-18a). Furthermore, “1There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1 NKJV)

The Church is unlike any other organism. It is the body of Christ on earth and its purity must be maintained. The friend spoken of above, who has opposed his church’s leaning, should be commended and encouraged to continue his opposition.

stevelampman@comcast.net stevelampman.com
Transforming Power; The Work of God on Behalf of Man

www.gbchurch

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