Saturday of Trinity II - Devotion in semi-Exile

Lection for Saturday after Trinity II 
Joshua 2:1-24      Acts 8:26-40

I am presently away on vacation with Pauline. It means I should truly take a break and not write a devotion for this space today. So, I am not "writing" one. Instead, I am recycling something I wrote awhile back. It is a 3-part series on "Denying God". Even those of you who read it in the newsletters they ran it, that was back in 2007, so maybe it will be fresh for you. Here is installment #2.

     Have You Ever Denied God?  Part II   —   Walk the Walk and Call Others To Repent

Have you ever denied God?  Surely not!  We looked at this question last month and discovered that we are denying God when we try to take credit for God's gracious gifts.  We refreshed our understanding, that our good works are not our own, but God's work.  We even learned that our faith is God's gift to us through the work of the Holy Spirit.  Salvation, all of it, is based upon Christ's atoning sacrifice, and not even a little bit on our good deeds.

Having said all that, we need to remember that we must look at our deeds and actions.  We must view our words and deeds and see if they stand up to the scrutiny of God's Word.  In his letter to Titus, Paul writes:  They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work (Titus 1:16).  Our words and deeds, our works, can deny God.  When we claim to be Christians, believers in God, but then we live contrary to God's Word, we deny the very thing we claim.  This is not to say that we earn our salvation by our works, but we are living examples of the faith that we profess.

Paul explains being living examples to the church in Philippi: Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things (Philippians 3:17-19).

Today's world is very appealing.  Look at the way that culture is so accepting of behaviors and actions that were unacceptable even up to twenty years ago.  The temptations of the flesh are strong indeed.  It is easy to succumb to temptation and resist the Spirit working within. 

We might well ask, “How exactly should we live?  What does it mean to walk the walk of faith?”  Again, Paul writes it out very plainly for us in giving us a partial list of those things from which we are to refrain as Christians.   I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-25).

This list of sins brought about by the desires of the flesh are enticing,  but we of the Spirit have been equipped to overcome them.  Will we fall to them upon occasion?  Yes!  But we then seek forgiveness and pray for the strength to overcome them in the future.  There are many today who find some of these things acceptable:  pornography is commonplace; homosexuality is an accepted norm; people live together without the benefit of marriage; foul language seems to be the norm in many conversations; and the list could go on.  Some engage in these sinful activities without remorse or repentance.  Without repentance, they are eternally lost. 

There are some who claim to be Christians, who are also caught up in these things.  When a Christian is trapped in such sin, and denies the need for repentance and a turning away from that sin, they have denied their God.  There needs to be repentance or they too are lost.

What is more, if Christians take a stand against these sins, they are branded with all sorts of undesirable labels: out of touch, unloving, homophobe, religious absolutist, and backwoods bumpkin.  Some tell Christians to get with it and enter the 21^st century.  So, Christians may keep their mouths shut or they may claim that we have come a long way in understanding some of these things and may need to take a fresh look at them in today's light.  It is good to take a fresh look, but that look needs to be taken with a thorough reexamination of the Scripture.  Unfortunately, usually Scripture is pushed aside, God is denied, and feelings or the culture become the new norm.

God's Word declares that those who participate in these things, God gives over to their debased mind.  What is more, God condemns also those who approve of these things.  Paul records:  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them (Romans 1:26-32).  In Ephesians 5:11, Paul commands, "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them."

In not speaking out against sin, and calling others to repentance when they stray from God's laws, Christians are participants in their evil.  When someone is sinning and Christians know and yet remain silent, they are participants in the sin.  Ezekiel is explicit in stating that when those who know the Word of God do not tell others of their sinfulness and the sinner dies without repentance, the blood of the sinner will be required of those who knew and didn't speak out.  (see Ezekiel 3:16-21, 33:1-13)

It is important to remember, however, that although the wages of sin is death, salvation is the free gift of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  All need to repent of their sins.  Remember though that repentance entails not only a turning away from the sin, but most importantly, trusting Christ and the forgiveness He purchased.  Christians need to repent also of their denial of God, and trust the forgiveness that has been purchased for all sin in Christ's atonement.  This is the joyous message of the Gospel, Christ crucified to forgive sin.  Being a Christian is nothing more than acknowledging sin and trusting Christ.   All are sinners and all need to hear how God has loved them, and that forgiveness is theirs in Christ Jesus.

All Scripture quotations were taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.) 1982.