“The Church has not taught us properly, but much of what she has taught us is proper.” – Christian
Definitions of PROPER (1-3 not applicable)
I sat through a re-run of the sermon that prompted me to write the Inheritance post a while back. It was interesting though, this time my pastor told a story of a man who was radically saved from addictions and wild living, got straightened out, fell back into sin, and then was offered a chance to come clean again, to which he replied, “I don’t know if I want to do that”. A week later he died, and another believer commented to the pastor, “The Lord showed me that he took ____ to save him”. The pastor’s comment was, “I don’t know what you do with that in your theology!?”
I do 1 Cor 5:5 “deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. “Isn’t it clear? If the flesh (being that person’s soul in that lifetime) sometimes cannot be restored, his soul will still be saved! How do I know? Because the blood of my Jesus paid it all, the Word says so.
Remember (take the verse in context) that this is referring to a believer, lest one should misconstrue this to mean that all souls go to heaven.
Notice that the lifestyle does not call into question the sinners’ salvation, as so many Christians often do. I am listing below several verses that show that believers fall and can in fact be “destroyed”… but don’t think that just because the enemy wins a few battles that salvation is lost. Because I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow–not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.
Rom 14:13 So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall. 1Cr 8:11 So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer for whom Christ died will be destroyed. 1Ti 3:6 An elder must not be a new believer, because he might become proud, and the devil would cause him to fall.Conclusion:
Live a holy life out of love for your Creator, gratefulness to your Redeemer, and respect for the Counselor. Not for fear of destruction, judgment, or ex-communication. Don’t call sin OK. Sin is sin. The Bible still tells us to let no unwholesome talk come out of our mouths, that beer is not for kings, and that we shouldn’t cause others to sin. Yes, we need to rid the church of those in intentional disobedience, deceit and those who pridefully refuse to repent, but for Pete’s sake (remember Peter, the guy who said he’d never disown Christ and wept bitterly at the rooster’s crow?) can we focus on the good that we can do instead of the bad that we do-do (get it… doodoo).
I have included the verses below to show that this post is not an argument to keep on sinning, nor an excuse for sin. In fact, to keep on sinning you would certainly cause others to sin as a natural consequence. When the Bible says something three times, we should look at it carefully:
Mat 18:6 But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fallinto sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea. Mar 9:42 “But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fallinto sin, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around your neck. Luk 17:2 It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin.Now I ask, what’s “better” about being drowned? Come on now! Again, if you think it through, the destruction of our life here on Earth can not be “better” unless our soul is saved in the end!