Has your family ever waged war on each other just before stepping out the door to attend Church? Do broken relationships ruin your ability to worship God? Here is what the Scripture says, "Now in giving this next instruction I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better, but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you..." (1 Corinthians 11:17, 18)
The problem of sin first begins in an individual's heart and quickly moves to the relationships in the home; from there, it enters the Church. The following quote is from The Calvary Road by Roy Hession. "The first thing that is wrong with so many families is that they are not really open with one another. We live so largely behind drawn blinds. The others do not know us for what we really are, and we do not intend that they should. Even those living in the most intimate relationships with us do not know what goes on inside - our difficulties, battles, failures, or what the Lord Jesus has to cleanse us from so frequently. This lack of transparency and openness is ever the result of sin ...Having something to hide from God, we hide it, too, from one another. Behind that wall of reserve, which acts like a mask, we cover our real selves. Sometimes we hide in the most extraordinary way behind an assumed jocular manner. We are afraid to be serious because we do not want others to get too close and see us as we really are, and so we keep up a game of bluff. We are not really with one another, and no one can have fellowship with an unreal person, and so oneness and close fellowship are impossible in the home. This is what the Scripture calls "walking in the darkness" - for the darkness is anything which hides."
The Church is to produce a safe environment so people can experience relationships without walls. It should never be a stage for entertainment, where people pretend to worship with no transparent fellowship. God prefers to see a handful of people praying in the spirit honestly before Him and one another than twenty thousand that pretend to be something they are not with professional music. As we struggle through this war with the world, the flesh, and the devil, we should have each other's back. "But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses (Greek: goes on cleansing) us from all sin." (1 John 1:7; emphasis added)
There is only one institution on earth that can care for people's souls, and that is an authentic Church. Under the big umbrella known as the Church, there are many false congregations comprised of false believers. The responsibility of care includes helping people understand what it means to be authentic compared to a fraudulent Christian. Numerous warnings are throughout the New Testament, including the following quote. "Take care, brethren, that there will not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another every day, as long as it is still called “today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." (Hebrews 3:12, 13) The deceitfulness of sin occurs when a person believes themselves to be a Christian, but in reality, they are deceiving themselves. Authentic Christians persevere to the end; false believers fall away. They may continue in the Church, but in their heart, they do not love Christ. Those who fall away never received Christ to the saving of their soul, but only believed intellectually.
Ever wonder about the salvation of a brother or sister? That could become a God-given responsibility.
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