I received a comment on our previous message saying
that we will need confidence in Jesus to be our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper,
but that doing it would be out of true
love, since it is a matter of life and death.
Our sister is right, it won't be easy, but if
we obey we will receive our reward and that person, who may not even have
realised the extent of their sin or that what they did was a violation of the
King of kings’ commands, would be forgiven and delivered should they repent.
It is like anything the Lord expects of us -
we need to be bold and strong in Christ and be prepared to take negative
responses and persecution like Jesus and the apostles had to take. If we
disobey we will definitely one day be questioned as to why we did, for Romans
14:12 says: "So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God,"
and Revelation 20:13 reads: “The sea gave up the dead that were in
it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.”
The other day I heard a fellow Christian in
ministry mentioning about her and her partner. The Lord prompted me to ask her
if she meant her husband, after which she confirmed she is not married. I then
asked her whether she thinks such a relationship is pleasing to the Lord at
which she said "what could I do if my lifelong partner is not interested
in marriage". I left it at that and haven't seen her since. When I see her
again I will ask her what her thoughts about it were and if she refuses to
change I will seek an opportunity to take it up with her and her immediate
leadership.
If we walk by the Spirit with His kindness,
wisdom and gentleness we will do correctly whatever we need to as the Holy
Spirit requires. Then helping our family in Christ becomes easy. The secret
therefore is to walk by the Holy Spirit and so learn how He would do the things
we need to do.
Remember we are soldiers fighting together for
the Kingdom of God against the “rulers, against the
authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realms,” (Ephesians 6:12). These forces
are out to complete a few strategically significant projects. They work hard to
blind the unsaved so they would not get revelation and discover the Lord Jesus’
mercy. This they do through tying these people up in lust for power, lust for
money and lust for pleasure so they would find it hard to let go of those to
serve the Lord. Even Christians are tied up in some of these lusts. Then they
work hard to cause Christians to sin so God could be ridiculed or shown
contempt (2 Samuel 12:14) and a barrier be formed between them and the Lord
unless they repent (Isaiah 59:1-2), hindering the relationship between the Lord
and His beloved.
This
is why the Lord put us in a family setup. If a soldier sees another soldier
making a stupid manoeuvre exposing him to a clear shot from the enemy, would he
just shrug and let him be. I don’t think so – he will warn him. In the same way
we are responsible for the spiritual safety of our family in Christ. I have
many times wished that my family in Christ had the care and confidence to talk
to me about sinful moves I have made - then I would not have needed to learn
the hard way.
Think
a bit about the times you saw someone sin. Maybe it was a Christian man staring
lustfully at a woman, or maybe a woman dressing in such a way as to seduce Christian
men. Having a word with the man might help him confess his problem and open the
opportunity to be helped, and talking to the woman may make her realise that
she actually causes men to commit adultery.
There
are many sins we see our fellow Christians do and one day God is going to ask
us why we have not warned them (Ezekiel 3:16-21).
Thank
you, Lord for giving me the confidence to warn my fellow Christian against sin.
Thank you Lord that your Word went
out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you
empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which
you sent it.
Please pass this on if you think others may
benefit by it.
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