Have no fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness Ephesians 5:10-13 10 Proving what is acceptable to the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things that are reproved are made visible by the light: for whatever doth make manifest is light. Todays message is a very, very important for Christians especially those who work in the Lords Vineyard. This message may surprisingly imply to a very large section of these people. If we go through our recent messages we will understand this message, for the Lord has led us to this message after taking us through and making us understand the previous messages. Paul did not write this message to non-Christians and also did not write this message to Christians warning them of non-Christians but wrote to Christians warning them of Christians. We need to understand the terms so as to understand todays message. The term darkness means resisting light and in the Bible also means ignorance to divine things. Knowledge and understanding of God and His Kingdom is everywhere for He made everything in an image of things hidden (unseen) but doubt and sin in man does not allow him to see or understand them. Nobody can say I do not know that God exist and what His Kingdom is about after living in and seeing His creation. The term partake means being a distributor of or being associated with. The term reprove means to refute or convict and the grammar here is similar to what Jesus used when He said Repent ye, and believe the gospel. It is sharp and direct. Paul in his letter was warning them about Christians who seem to be doing the Lords work but are doing things that go against the Kingdom of God. These people are more dangerous than those who openly do evil for those who do evil in the natural can be easily identified and avoided but these people may seem good but they actually are greater enemies to the Kingdom of God. People do not realize a greater punishment is in store for those who know Jesus and call Him Lord, Lord but yet live in the desires of their flesh and satisfying their carnal man. Jesus cursed the fig tree not because it had no fruit but because it showed it was fruitful by changing the color of its leaves but did not have any fruit (fig trees changes color in season when it bears fruit). Paul inspired by the Lord instructed the Christians to be not involved with people who do work in the name of the Lord but do not bear fruit. There are many who do activities and who keep Christians busy and do not let Christians to be the Christian they are called to be. Let me take an example of our Churches. Most Pastors get very worried when a member does not show up in Church even for one day and gets someone to call them. This is good if that person is new in the Lord and growing in the Lord. But if that person is mature and doing the Lords work, the Pastor still expects that person to be present at Sunday services avoiding ministering to others so that there is crowd in church. Many Pastors have made the congregation an audience to whom they need to preach to. It does not matter if their preaching is changing lives or not, if just one person gets blessed in 2 or 3 months is enough for them be proud and boast of the good they are doing. One person told me only those who have gifts have preachings that manifests in the lives of those hearing. He literally made the Word of God void of its power and he also forgot gifts are things which any person can ask the Lord and He gives, so what holds him back from receiving that gift which manifests and changes peoples lives? Faith comes from understanding the Word of God (believing the Truth). Jesus did not say my gift has healed you but said your faith has healed you. If one does not give the right understanding of the Word, then how can faith grow? A Church is like school where children grow in understanding and are sent out of the school to grow further like a college and then to do work, that is how society is build. If children do not come out of school and always remain in school then what will happen to society, it will soon or later decay and collapse. The mission of every Pastor should be to build, enrich, reinforce and enable his congregation to go out and build others, not to build his church or ministry but build the Kingdom of God. It is a shame and failure of a Pastor if any member has been a long member of his congregation attending Sunday service regularly it shows his failure in doing his work of pastoring. It shows he is entertaining his people and playing Church. It shows he has become an obstacle in that persons life and cause of their spiritual destruction. The Lord is telling us it is time we bring these things that are done in darkness into light. Let us neither be party to them nor encourage them. If you are a victim of such a Church it is time you move on and find a good Pastor who is doing his duty faithfully. It is better to join a small congregation that helps you grow in the Lord then to a join a large congregation which entertains you and makes you pay a great price later. Church is a body and if that body does not grow in strengthen and ability but just grows in size then it is called a sick body. Lets not made a large sick body and call it the Body of Christ. [Prayer Starter] Lord, we pray all that is done in your name but not according to your Name be exposed. We pray your people not pretend to be your people but live a life that shows You are a Living and Almighty God. We pray Churches no longer play church but be places where your people grow in You to be led by your Spirit and become Sons of God... This prayer we make in Jesus Name, Amen. [Reference Scriptures] Acts 2:46-47 Acts 6;1-10 acts 8; 5-8 - Acts 8:26-31, 35, 40
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 14:24:46 +0000
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