Matthew 7:21-23 GNB “Not everyone who calls me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who do what my Father in heaven wants them to do. When Judgement Day comes, MANY will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord! In your name we spoke God’s message, by your name we drove out many demons and performed many miracles!’ Then I will say to them, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you wicked people!’ “
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The above verse applies to Church folks, not the world. It is Christians who call Jesus Lord. It is Christians who speak Christ’s message, drive out demons, and perform miracles in His name. On judgment day many of them will be looking for a reward only to hear Jesus say, ‘Get away from me. I don’t know you.’ That’s got to be the most horrible feeling in the world! Because you know what comes next. That’s right, the fire.
Have you ever seen someone so deceived who thought they were right? It’s especially sad for me when that person professes to be a Christian. When we meet God at the judgment will we get a rude awakening? Can you imagine expecting to be rewarded by God only to receive His eternal curse? The above passage should make us test ourselves. If we think this could never happen to us we are already deceived and need to repent. Here’s one reason why many Christians are in danger of hearing those very unpleasant words from Jesus: “I never knew you. Get away from me, you wicked people!”
UNFORGIVENESS
Something someone said or did to us has us so transfixed we choose not to get over it. We then start talking about the sins of the person(s) that offended us. We harp on their faults and shortcomings. This then turns into a habit. We’re now in more trouble than we know and aren’t even aware of it. We know that it’s wrong to highlight other people’s faults but we just can’t resist the temptation to voice our discontent and dissatisfaction for another Christian to another Christian. I ask you, would you want someone shining the spotlight on your sins, on your faults and shortcomings? Of course not. So are we following Jesus’ command to, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” when we keep talking about the sins of others? If this conduct continues over time our heart becomes hardened towards the individual that offended us. Yes, we begin to hate our brother or sister and often aren’t even aware of it. Our enemy the devil is very tricky. By now whatever the brother or sister did to us seems small compared to our problem. And all of this could have been avoided had we obeyed Jesus’ commandment to forgive.
Matthew 18:21-22 NIV “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” [22] Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”
Luke 17:3-4 NIV “So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. [4] Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ YOU MUST FORGIVE THEM.”
2 Corinthians 2:10-11 NLT “When you forgive this man, I forgive him, too. And when I forgive whatever needs to be forgiven, I do so with Christ’s authority for your benefit, [11] so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes.”
1 John 4:20 NIV “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”
There’s a popular gospel song sung by a popular gospel artist, the chorus goes, “I don’t wonna love nobody but you, I don’t wonna love nobody but you, I don’t wonna love nobody, love nobody but you.” Sounds cute? They’re talking about loving God. Only problem is that’s not what God’s word teaches. God says there is no way you can love only Him and not love His children (your brothers and sisters) too. We’re a package deal. You must accept the whole package. Imagine telling a woman you are interested in marrying that has kids, “I don’t wonna love nobody but you. I don’t care to love your children too.” See how well that goes over.
Anyone who says they love God and does not love their brothers and sisters the Bible says is a liar. God says we cannot love only him, we must love His children too, our brothers and sisters.
1 John 3:14-15 KJV “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”
If something a brother or sister has done has hurt you so bad be honest about it. Also be honest with yourself if you’ve come to realize you haven’t forgiven them. All we have to do is repent guys. God will forgive us. 😃 If we do not repent of this sin believe it or not we are in danger of going to hell because we are not living in love. Jesus said:
Matthew 5:21-22 GNB “You have heard that people were told in the past, ‘Do not commit murder; anyone who does will be brought to trial.’ But now I tell you: whoever is angry with his brother will be brought to trial, whoever calls his brother ‘You good-for-nothing!’ will be brought before the Council, and whoever calls his brother a worthless fool will be in danger of going to the fire of hell.”
HELP THEM
If someone who claims to be a servant of Christ starts talking about how they have been hurt or offended by another brother or sister direct them to the words of their master Jesus Christ:
Matthew 18:15-18 KJV “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. [16] But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. [17] And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. [18] Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
This is how Jesus says to handle the situation. There is a three step process to resolving issues in God’s household; His church. And most of these can be squashed immediately if we follow the first step. If someone has sinned against us step one is to go to that brother or sister just the two of you alone and work it out with a view to reconciling or gaining good relations again with our brethren. Do not go telling everybody in the church first. According to Jesus’ words above we are getting way ahead of ourselves when we do that.
DO WE LOVE JESUS?
How many of us really love Jesus enough to obey what He says about solving issues between brethren? How many of us know that when we obey Jesus’ command in this regard we are keeping Satan out of our churches? And how many of us know that when we don’t obey Jesus in this regard we are inviting the Devil in? What’s interesting is often the person who offended us doesn’t even know they have deeply hurt us. That doesn’t make it right of course. They may in fact need correction so they don’t go around continually offending others. When we handle the situation the way Jesus says not only does the offender get the help they need but we are also freed from the damaging effects of bitterness and unforgiveness. We get healing too. 😊
John 14:23-24 NIV “Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”
If we’re guilty of not settling issues the way Jesus says let us repent please. Ask God for strength to approach the one who has offended us. And do this with a view toward reconciliation. Don’t approach someone and throw a temper tantrum. Sometimes we can just let things go. There’s no need to talk about it at all. But there are other times we may have been so deeply wounded we need to discuss the matter in the spirit Jesus says. God understands this. And has given us the perfect way to handle it. Let us not allow unforgiveness to cause us to go to hell.
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