From jbelknap@juno.com Fri Nov 29 16:30:42 1996 Date: Fri, 29 Nov 1996 14:18:14 -0600 From: "Jeffrey H. Belknap" To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: A>Three Types of Sins in the Church Brethren, Here's an article I put together for our local bulletin. If you want to fix it up, it's yours to do with whatever you desire. Jeff Three Types of Sins in the Church Though all sin is detrimental to the cause of Christ, I call attention to three types that are many times associated one with another and are most harmful when they interact. Unfortunately, some brethren fall into one or more of these categories of error. This is true to an alarming degree, where the welfare of the church is concerned. Let us take special note of the three. Malicious Sins In second Timothy chapter three, Paul tells us "in the last days perilous times shall come" because of perilous people in the church. He then continues to display a number of malicious sins that they would be guilty of, including being "false accusers" and "despisers of those that are good". It's interesting to note, that the Greek word translated "false accuser" is the exact same word translated "Devil" many times in the New Testament. In fact, Satan himself is identified as "the accuser of our brethren" (Rev. 12:10). The Devil and his agents do whatever they can to undermine the efforts of the righteous. However, the wisdom of the Lord tells us that those who would attack the church unjustly need to be rebuked and corrected without hesitation (Tit. 1:10-13). Standing Idle At times when obvious sin is present "in the camp", there are some who will simply neglect to oppose and stand against it. The attitude of God towards those who refuse to aid in the good fight against evil is revealed in Judges 5:23, "Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty." Those who know to do good but fail to do so are in sin themselves (Jas. 4:17). When the church at Corinth had sinners in their midst (I Cor. 5 & 15), they were guilty of indifference. Like the ostrich (who hides his head in the sand when danger is present) is mocked, so are those who see no evil when it is all around them. Who among us wouldn't expect another Christian standing by to come to the aid of our wives, if they were being assaulted? In the same way, Christ expects us to come to the aid of His bride (the church) when she is being attacked. Anything less than active participation in her protection is abominable and inexcusable. Too often, we excuse ourselves from this task, convincing ourselves that another will handle the situation and there is no need for our participation. But there is no scripture that would support such an attitude. Obadiah 11 states that "In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them." If we fail to stand on the side of the Lord, we place ourselves on the side of the unrighteous by default. In Mt. 12:30, Jesus said, "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." We cannot stand on the sidelines and claim that we are not on either side, for Christ revealed that by neglect, we have actually placed ourselves on the side of darkness. Defending Error Some brethren [while claiming to be sound, loving the truth, etc. (Tit. 1:16; I Jn. 2:3+4)] actually defend those who are unjustly attacking the church, and are thereby disregarding the "brotherly covenant". Inspiration exposes this ungodliness in Amos 1:9 where scripture says, "Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant." Those who violate the law of God and support the wicked, rather than contend with them are charged with sin (Prov. 28:4). "He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD" (Prov. 17:15). In an effort to justify sin in the church, the objections of some aren't always against WHAT the righteous are doing to correct the matter, but HOW they are proceeding. Even though their methods of dealing with sin cannot be shown to be unscriptural in any way, defenders of error will always be there (attempting to use the wisdom of men) to malign those who will seek to resist error. There is no scriptural authority for reasoning (as in civil or criminal courts) that even those who are guilty of sin should have a "representative" in their defense. Those who defend sinners are themselves in sin (Prov. 18:5). Dear ones, the point is obvious! The bride of Christ has been, and will continue to be defiled by "certain men crept in unawares". The question is: Should we defend and support those in sin, or further their cause by standing idle? God forbid! Eph. 6:10-18 makes it clear what should be done. Jeff Belknap