At What Point are we Allowed to Not Love but to Judge

Jesus told his disciples they were to love each other. Considering the individual continued to follow Jesus, at what point could he have done something that would permit the others to stop loving him?

 

When Jesus had John write to those seven churches, he did not instruct or even encourage the "obedient" to leave the "disobedient?"

 

Jesus told the people they should not judge others. In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote: "Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand." James wrote: "There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?"

 

At what point are we allowed to condemn others to Hell and therefore refuse to associate with them?

Nehemiah's Prayer

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.

 

"O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father's house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your dispersed be under the farthest skies, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.' They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man."

 

Ezra's Prayer

Last night we discussed Ezra's prayer. Sometimes when you take the verse numbers out and let the continuity flow the result is interesting.

 

At that time those who had come from captivity, the returned exiles, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and as a sin offering twelve male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the LORD. They also delivered the king's commissions to the king's satraps and to the governors of the province Beyond the River, and they aided the people and the house of God.

 

After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said,

 

"The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost."

 

As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the LORD my God, saying:

 

"O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today. But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery, for we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.

 

And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, 'The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.' And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? O LORD the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this."

 

While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly. 

 

Thanks, John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN

Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Website: http://www.greenbriersolutions.com  
Blog: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/

"Telling shoeless people to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps is not only cruel, it's also pointless."
Martin Luther King

Facebook and the Church

Part of the issue has been created by our lazy speech. Immersion does not make one a Christian. A Christian is one who follows Jesus. Following Jesus requires obeying his Commands. According to the author of Hebrews following Jesus includes assembling with others who have been immersed and encouraging them to love and good works.  Obeying Jesus' commands requires one to read and to study the Bible to know his commands. Anyone who has not been immersed as shown in examples in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles and does not assemble with fellow believers is not Christian. Facebook will have no affect on Christians but it will give an out to pretenders.

Prayer in Public Places

Prayer is not a weapon nor is it a demonstration of one's piety, nor is it competition; it is communication with God. And God said:

"But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." Matthew 6:6

The only thing a Christian should bring to their job are honesty, ethics, morality. Specifically what is expected to come from saying the "Lord's Prayer?"

 

Loaning our Building

Concerning playing a CD or DVD or MP3 etc with instrumental music as apparently happened during the recent Ladies get together in our building:

 

While I do not advocate the use of instruments during our assemblies it is not because I believe it to be wrong but because I cannot find it in the New Testament. I am convinced introducing anything not found in the Bible especially if it causes a division is wrong and just might be the greatest wrong.

 

I understood someone from our congregation was going to be present during the activities. For future reference should they be authorized to stop unwanted behavior? Should the requesting congregation be told we will stop any activity we consider sinful? Is someone going to add to the rules on the Building Use form? Will those Ladies be permitted to use if they submit a request? It will happen again.

 

If they are not permitted to play an instrumental DVD or CD along with their singing because the activity is considered worship and one of our men is present can those women make announcements or lead prayers? Or do we take the position many take that allowing a congregation to use our building does not suggest we agree with everything they will be doing?

 

Does He or Doesn't He

Hi Al,

 

Am I the only one who sees us as a bit inconsistent? We say God puts opportunities in our path but then we have discussions such as yesterday concerning how to determine if God put the opportunity in our path or Satan or maybe it just popped up. In the past I said it would be a long time before GSMCOC walked by faith. Not being knowledgeable of the finances I am not sure but from the general tone of the discussion we may be getting close to, as they say, putt our money where our mouth is. The men obviously have never been in a situation where they were told they have -0-. Recently Gary Dick and I came in contact with a man in the parking lot ( I forget why it was just he and I) with the typical sob story. We both gave him something. God either gives us opportunities or he does not. God will either help us to be discerning or he will not. Might be worthwhile to decide what we believe. No one responded to Richard Sortore's question concerning Grace. When everything is in sight it is easy to walk by faith. 

 

Thanks, John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN

Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Website: http://www.greenbriersolutions.com  
Blog: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/

"Telling shoeless people to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps is not only cruel, it's also pointless."
Martin Luther King