I was thinking this morning about dealing with problems privately versus publicly. Oh how important it is to know which one must happen. If we deal with something publicly when it should be done in private then we expose someone but if we keep everything private then we can become accessories to crimes to avoid exposure.
"Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends. A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool." - Proverbs 17:9-10 ESV
"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church." - Matthew 18:15-17a ESV
It is out of order for the Church to know things that no one has discussed face to face first. But there is an order that escalates issues. People need layers of actual accountability. Men need to have someone who can rebuke them. They need someone who is willing to humbly get in their way as much as they need for there to be respect in the relationship just like a woman needs someone who will care that she is crying even if there is nothing to be done but to just stand there caring and listening.
I want to expose the abuser and cover the victim but issues are rarely that cut and dry. Many times this happens the other way around in this world and people bristle at the injustice of it.
By exposing the abuser we may inadvertently drag the victims out into the public as well. We need wisdom. Oh, Wisdom is so needed.
I carry some secrets that I will carry to my grave because there are situations that need to be covered. Exposure should sometimes happen for a season and a reason but sin is ultimately covered so I don't want to know people after the flesh either. God's history is a redemptive one. I want my history to be redemptive also.
"It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." - Matthew 13:32 ESV
Some of these birds are dirty birds. The Church should be a place of rest for everyone but not a place to hide from everything.
"It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing." - 1 Corinthians 5:1-3 ESV
"For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you. Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure - not to put it too severely - to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him." - 2 Corinthians 2:4-8 ESV
"For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it - though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us." - 2 Corinthians 7:8-9 ESV
Even if something must be exposed the end result should be one where people 'suffer no loss.'
"For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." - Hebrews 12:11 ESV
This is God's work and I don't want to play God in people's lives.
It is a balance that we must find as we are on our knees. Formulas only go so far. We need God's heart and God's mind. We need courage. We need convictions. We need mercy. God is faithful to supply us with all we need.
Let our Churches be places of worship and voluntary accountability to spiritual authority.
This is not me rebuking anyone in particular. This me thinking about God's structure and marveling at it. This is me reminding you and myself that holiness is wonderful and that people need a place of refuge. People need to be covered and people need to know that they will be safe and that issues will be handled with clarity and discretion.
This is me reminding myself that as a man I must walk as a man.
God please bless us and raise us up as wise people that can make hard decisions with integrity. Real men and real women are so needed in this world. People with backbone and kindness. There is a gap but who will stand there? God. Help us to be the ones who do in our generation. Without You we can do nothing. With You all things are possible. Thank you God. Thank You. Thank You.
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Showing posts with label Coverings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coverings. Show all posts
Friday, February 5, 2016
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Covering Sins And Exposing Evil
I've been thinking a great deal about God covering us and personal accountability. God covers our mistakes because of Christ. Even our intentional transgressions are covered.
God has other plans for ideologies that oppose Him. He deals directly with people who plan or conspire against Him and those He loves.
"Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends. A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool." - Proverbs 17:9-10 ESV
"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." - Matthew 18:15-18 ESV
If God has an issue with us He comes alone first and if we will not listen He uses a representative. He is giving us His formula to apply. We proclaim what has been proclaimed in Heaven.
"If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven." - Numbers 15:27-28 ESV
The nation of Israel had an offering for 'unintentional sins.' Jesus has become our once and for all offering. We transgress in ways we can't imagine but God has covered our sin and cast it into the deepest sea (see Micah 7:19).
"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us." - Psalm 103:11-12 ESV
"If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared." - Psalm 130:3-4 ESV
God has covered sin. Now He wants to break our sin cycles and expose evil plans.
"But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out." - Numbers 32:20-23 ESV
"Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops." - Luke 12:2-3 ESV
If you look at these passages in context you see that God is speaking about individuals or groups of people that are planning or conspiring something. God delights in covering us but He also is glad to expose evil and it's intentions.
"Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities." - Psalm 51:4-9 ESV
"And a ruler asked him, 'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' And Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone' " - Luke 18:18-19 ESV
Yes. Yes. Yes. I am determined to live a life of transparency before God. Grace makes that easy because I know my performance is not the issue. God's goodness is the issue. Goodness isn't what I bring to the table... humility is all that I have. God forbid that my attitude should echo the attitude of God's enemies by living in a pre-planned cycle.
"For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?...
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death... For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit." - Romans 7:22-24, 8:1-2, 5 ESV
No condemnation! Shout that from the rooftops. That statement has the power to break any cycle of sin because of the power of the One who covers in the context of Christ's once and for all offering.
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God has other plans for ideologies that oppose Him. He deals directly with people who plan or conspire against Him and those He loves.
"Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends. A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool." - Proverbs 17:9-10 ESV
"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." - Matthew 18:15-18 ESV
If God has an issue with us He comes alone first and if we will not listen He uses a representative. He is giving us His formula to apply. We proclaim what has been proclaimed in Heaven.
"If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven." - Numbers 15:27-28 ESV
The nation of Israel had an offering for 'unintentional sins.' Jesus has become our once and for all offering. We transgress in ways we can't imagine but God has covered our sin and cast it into the deepest sea (see Micah 7:19).
"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us." - Psalm 103:11-12 ESV
"If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared." - Psalm 130:3-4 ESV
God has covered sin. Now He wants to break our sin cycles and expose evil plans.
"But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out." - Numbers 32:20-23 ESV
"Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops." - Luke 12:2-3 ESV
If you look at these passages in context you see that God is speaking about individuals or groups of people that are planning or conspiring something. God delights in covering us but He also is glad to expose evil and it's intentions.
"Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities." - Psalm 51:4-9 ESV
"And a ruler asked him, 'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' And Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone' " - Luke 18:18-19 ESV
Yes. Yes. Yes. I am determined to live a life of transparency before God. Grace makes that easy because I know my performance is not the issue. God's goodness is the issue. Goodness isn't what I bring to the table... humility is all that I have. God forbid that my attitude should echo the attitude of God's enemies by living in a pre-planned cycle.
"For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?...
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death... For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit." - Romans 7:22-24, 8:1-2, 5 ESV
No condemnation! Shout that from the rooftops. That statement has the power to break any cycle of sin because of the power of the One who covers in the context of Christ's once and for all offering.
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Monday, February 3, 2014
A Covering That Seeks Love
"Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends." - Proverbs 17:9 ESV
Clearly covering here is not a moral issue. What ever this 'matter' is has power to cleave intimacy. The question we ask is not about the issue itself. The question is, 'What are we seeking?'
"Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins." - 1 Peter 4:8 ESV
Yes. Love is what we are seeking. Love that comes from God. Love that is revealing in the finished work. Love that functions in grace.
What about the woman who gets beat up by her boyfriend? The fellow who goes from person to person ripping people off. The predator. The abuser. Seeking love might be seeking jail time for people. That might be just what they need. Do we bad mouth people? Do we label them? Are we any of us better than any one else? No.
We seek love for the victim and the victimizer alike.
"And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.
Then said Jesus, 'Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.'
And they parted his raiment, and cast lots." - Luke 23:33-34 KJV
Jesus forgave them but they didn't stop doing what they were doing.. not yet anyway. Maybe they did later.
"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." - Ephesians 4:29-32 ESV
Forgiveness is a covering.
If it is just behavior modification it will fail. It will not hold water. It will have little strength. It must be 'as Christ forgave you'. Not just in comparison. We can't just copy Jesus. It must be God's mind functioning in us and agreeing with God about what Christ has done on the cross. We go as ministers of a real historical reconciliation.
"The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit." - James 5:16b-18 ESV
If we cover people in private we are already seeking love on their behalf. It will change the way we deal with them in public.. no matter who they are.
We pray and we become one with the heart of our covering. Jesus is sitting making intercession day and night. Only Heavens history books will tell us what that means in our daily lives. Our few minutes of prayer... our time throughout the day.. it provides a covering because it is seeking love.
Clearly covering here is not a moral issue. What ever this 'matter' is has power to cleave intimacy. The question we ask is not about the issue itself. The question is, 'What are we seeking?'
"Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins." - 1 Peter 4:8 ESV
Yes. Love is what we are seeking. Love that comes from God. Love that is revealing in the finished work. Love that functions in grace.
What about the woman who gets beat up by her boyfriend? The fellow who goes from person to person ripping people off. The predator. The abuser. Seeking love might be seeking jail time for people. That might be just what they need. Do we bad mouth people? Do we label them? Are we any of us better than any one else? No.
We seek love for the victim and the victimizer alike.
"And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.
Then said Jesus, 'Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.'
And they parted his raiment, and cast lots." - Luke 23:33-34 KJV
Jesus forgave them but they didn't stop doing what they were doing.. not yet anyway. Maybe they did later.
"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." - Ephesians 4:29-32 ESV
Forgiveness is a covering.
If it is just behavior modification it will fail. It will not hold water. It will have little strength. It must be 'as Christ forgave you'. Not just in comparison. We can't just copy Jesus. It must be God's mind functioning in us and agreeing with God about what Christ has done on the cross. We go as ministers of a real historical reconciliation.
"The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit." - James 5:16b-18 ESV
If we cover people in private we are already seeking love on their behalf. It will change the way we deal with them in public.. no matter who they are.
We pray and we become one with the heart of our covering. Jesus is sitting making intercession day and night. Only Heavens history books will tell us what that means in our daily lives. Our few minutes of prayer... our time throughout the day.. it provides a covering because it is seeking love.
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