Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

An individual soul is VALUABLE.  So valuable that the full resources of the Church can and should be brought to bear when that individual soul is in peril.

When the church gathers and says to the individual and his sin, "I am coming at you" in a special way, that sinner would do best to listen.  As we all know, they often don't.  So then, we get to DEFCON 4.  Here the decisions of the sinner become reality.

The world is full of sinners.
The Church is full of sinners.
What is the difference?
Those IN the church say, yes I am a sinner.  I agree.  I see that it is bad.  Forgive me Lord and help me by your Holy Spirit to STOP sinning.  I am NOT OK when I sin.
Those OUT of the church say, "whatever."  Maybe I'm a sinner.   Maybe I'm not.  Don't care.  Not gonna change. I like the way I am.   I am OK, thank you very much.

Here we see all the benefits of being IN the church being withdrawn from this soul SO THAT hopefully they will be gobsmacked into realizing that I am NOT OK, that I have sinned and I want to be back with my church family.  Listen as the CHURCH pulls out its biggest stick and goes to DEFCON 4.

The VALUE of GAINING a BROTHER back into fellowship is so great that extraordinary effort is made to go get him.  Today we ratchet up the effort beyond going individually (DEFCON 1), and discretely to him.

Because SIN HAS POROUS borders, others are (probably easily) recruited to bring evidence and testimony to the charges.  I suppose many people know you have a sin problem in an area before you do if your heart is hard.  This is DEFCON 2.

DEFCON 3 is when the authorities of the church get involved.  The Church is an amazing organization.  It is God's design, and we will find out, authorized or should I say Authorized with very special powers and authority.  Here we see the authority of this Church "speaking with one voice" towards the sinner who refuses the graces of DEFCON 1 and DEFCON 2.  Now we see the Church rise up to head in one direction like an awakened army.  Here is the good news:  this is for the knucklehead's benefit!  He is still in the folds of a loving family who are now directing their attentions in a laser-beam of discipline towards him.  

Listen and feel the power as the church gets formally involved.  Let's get that BROTHER BACK.

Three MOST DIFFICULT things in the world:
1. To be WRONG
2.  To have a good enough FRIEND to tell us the truth
3.  To be RESTORED to that person

Forgiveness is hard enough.  But there is a guy in today's passage who makes it even MORE DIFFICULT by refusing to listen; refusing to be wrong.  

I'm glad I don't know anyone like that.  Just kidding.  We are all like that.  Here we have though a call NOT TO BE THAT GUY.  Don't be THAT GIRL.  Listen and be WRONG.

IF my brother sins against me?
You must mean WHEN my brother sins against me.
For this is a normal, regular, expected part of the Christian walk.

Wouldn't it be great if God gave us a mechanism, a pathway to FIX this problem when it occurs.  And so He does.  

We have all heard situations where this mechanism was NOT used:  " I was HURT in the Body of Christ...I was wounded when...That person who identified with Christ did..."  and now, many years later, there is STILL hurt.  Revealingly, there is a good chance that the "non-sinner" in this story turns out to BE THE SINNER, by not doing this process right.  That is, if they "took their marbles and went home," and just LEFT the church, there is a good chance that Matthew 18:15 was not obeyed.

So yes, I HOPE YOU HAVE CONFLICT.  That means you are in real fellowship.  But I hope you do the right thing with it. Listen and hear how you GAIN A BROTHER or SISTER.

If you are a believer, then today's wonder is about how good God has been to you and is a story about what He did for you.
If you are a not-yet-believer, then today's wonder is about how good God is being to you and is a story about what He is doing for you now.

God is doing some heavy lifting here.  He is DRAWING, He is CONVICTING, He is GOING AFTER, and He is going after UNTIL FOUND.  That's not even my favorite part!  Then, He LAYS YOU UPON HIS SHOULDERS.  What a beautiful image.  How much walking do you do to get home? Not so much.  It again emphasizes that the "work" of God, is to believe and specifically here:  REPENT as a sinner.  (You'll be in good company, 100% of believers did the same thing)

Listen.  and today...if He is drawing you and convicting you and pursuing you...then how 'bout a little cooperation and BE FOUND.  AGREE that you are lost.  REPENT and admit that you have a sin problem that cannot be fixed.  But you can be rescued.  How about today?

Because of the 
Passion & Pleasure & Purpose of God 
believers receive the 
Protection & Preservation & PURSUIT of God.  

We talked about the Powerfully enabled Angels doing some of the protecting yesterday.
Today, we are going to major on the relentless, until satisfied pursuit of the wayward believer.  The tracker in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid movie comes to mind.

Today we will be amazed at the Lost Sheep (that is a believer).  Tomorrow we will look at the Lost Sheep (that is an UNBELIEVER, or better yet described: a NOT-YET believer).

Listen and be pursued and found like Butch Cassidy.

Angels

• go to a location that you cannot go
• enjoy a frequency with God you cannot enjoy
• have an access that you are not allowed
• and are granted a face-to-face intimacy you cannot have

AND YET they are assigned, tasked, charged with enacting the Lords CARE for the BELIEVER.  At least one of the things they do is to serve the believer. Other passages tell us they encamp around, and deliver those who fear the Lord. Apparently, they use all the above bullet points to HELP US.  

What a wonder.  We get angels to somehow assist us.  I don't know the specifics, but I know the God who does.  Praise Him for all this stuff that is almost too wonderful to know.  Listen to how the Lord cares for His UNLOST sheep by angels.  

Crossfit proclaims, "World's Fittest Man" and "World's Fittest Woman" after some brutal criteria.

Well, so does Jesus. He proclaims the "World's Fittest Christian".  The World's best follower of Him is .... Like a Child.  One who turns to be like a child.  One of humility.  One who protects the child and the childlike.

We want greatness.  The Disciples keep asking about it. They have asked before.  They ask again when Jesus has less than 24 hours to live!  Of course Jesus turns everything upside down by His answer.  Listen and Turn.

Salt is always associated with Sacrifice.  (There's that OT shedding light on the NT again).  The Lord says Salt is good.  Don't be Unsalty.

I think He is saying in the context of this passage about self assessment and radical self surgery that this is normal.  We are supposed to be regularly assessing, regularly repenting, and regularly resolving to walk the hard road of sanctification.  It sure beats the even harder road of judgment.

Remember, the Lord meets us here at the headwaters of our sin:  "I am glad you are here!  I have been waiting for you.  I will help you.  I have made a way for you."

"Be SALTY" my friend.  Which means to walk the walk of holiness, of thinking, and of doing something about it.  There, right there, we'll find Him waiting for us. Listen and BE SALTY

Today we will follow the Mighty Mississippi all the way back to the headwaters; the source.   We will find ourselves at the spiritual Itaska State Park in northern Minnesota.  There you can hop over the "mighty" Mississippi and deal with it.  We are looking at what might CAUSE US TO SIN.  The scripture asks us to do so.  Unpleasant yes, but ultimately for our benefit.

"My _______________ causes me to sin."  We'll use the body parts to help us:  eyes, ears, hands, feet, genitals, stomach, heart, brain, butt, and tongue.  Unless you are perfect you'll have a cause worth exploring.  Why?  Because sin is horrible and hell is also horrible.

Trust me, the Lord will be HAPPY to meet us there at Itaska State Park.  He will be so glad you came.  Listen and find Him and His help at the headwaters.