Accuser of the Brethren - Part 1
I do not know about you, but I make a lot of mistakes. In fact, I sin. I spend quite a bit of time in prayer telling God what He already knows about my failures, fumbles, and foolish sins. I do not waste my time thinking I am perfect because that would be a vain fantasy. It also ticks off the people who are convinced that they are perfect. I certainly do not need the added stress of their wrath.
I have not only sinned against God and failed Him. There have been times in my life when my sin and failure has affected the Brethren. Worst of all, I have hurt the ones I love the most. For the most part, by God’s grace, people have forgiven me. By the blood of His Son, He has forgiven me. Hallelujah for the Cross!
You would think that with being the recipient of all that forgiveness that I would forgive at the tip of a hat and grudge would not even be in my vocabulary. O, that I would be that spiritual!!! There have been some folks, saved and unsaved that have hacked me off big time and forgiveness was not what I first thought of for them. I believe that I am distant kin to James and John, the sons of thunder. (Mark 3:17) My first thought was to bring down fire upon their heads. (Luke 9:54) The forgiveness concept comes when Jesus rebukes me. He reminds me of His mission and my own sins that He has forgiven and will continue to forgive as He works on my spirit. (Luke 9:55,56; Heb 7:25)
To live above with Saints we love, O that will be glory,
But to live below with Saints we know, now that’s another story!
That is the problem. We expect each other to be practically what Jesus sees in us judicially. We are declared righteous and we should be seeking His power to be righteous, but we do not always succeed. We are all too willing to be easy on ourselves and say, "Hey, I not perfect, just forgiven!" or "Please be patient, God is not finished with me yet." Ah, but let another brother cross us and we expect God to be done with Him and he ought to be perfect. God may not be done with him, but we are!
2 Sam 12:13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. (KJV)
When God forgives your sin that is wonderful enough, but that He forgives and still grants you life is even more a marvelous work of grace. Yet, David received even more grace and mercy than what we might first see in this passage. You may know that Nathan was referring to the double sins of adultery and murder that David was guilty of by his relationship with Bathsheba.
You say, "Yes, those were really horrible sins and God is merciful." What you may not know is that these were the only "unpardonable" sins in the Old Testament! There were no sacrifices for these sins. The penalty was death and there was no appeal or insanity plea!!! Commit one and you were dead and David committed both!!!! God pardoned the unpardonable! The law demanded death and grace gave life!!!! I hope someone is shouting somewhere!!! If I weren’t an old fat guy I’d be running the aisle and jumping pews and I’m a Baptist!
Yes, he suffered some things in the flesh because of his sins, but he was pardoned before God! We may pay some penalties for our actions here, but praise God the law that would have killed us was nailed to the Cross and His sacrifice of grace gives us eternal life!!!! Have you ever failed and asked forgiveness from someone, but did not get it? It hurts, but praise God again that when we seek forgiveness from Him we get it! Wave a hanky and shout, "Glory" until you are hoarse!!!! In light of all this, how in the name of all that is holy can we withhold forgiveness from any man that sins against us?
You must forgive the sins of the brethren because of your past! What were you before you came to Christ?
1 Cor 6:9-11
9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. (KJV)
If your sin is not specifically listed here, it is a branch of the same tree of one that is listed. Verse 11 says it all! Such were some of you! Thank God that you are washed! Peter had to have his feet washed or Christ would have no part of him. If you have been washed then take the same basin of serving love to your brethren and wash their feet clean of their sin against you.
If you are still gloating and puffing up because you do not see yourself as part of the "some of you" spoken of here stop and deflate yourself. No good person is saved we are told in Romans 3:23. Your particular filthy rags are no less stinky than anything mentioned in these verses. Should you think you were good when you were saved then recheck your salvation. Christ came for sinners not the (self) righteous!
You must forgive the brethren because of salvation! Salvation is being a new creature. (II Cor 5:17) As all things are becoming new, you will experience struggles, setbacks, and failures. Just as a child grows from an infant to an adult learning as it goes so also is the life of a Christian. Sometimes we learn fast and easy and at other times or in other areas we grow slow and hard. We go through remedial education repeatedly, but thank God, we are still His children whether we are whiz kids or a bit dense.
We must forgive the brethren because there is no condemnation in Christ. (Romans 8:1) If He does not condemn us when we fail, how can we heap condemnation on the brethren who fail? We are to restore them in a spirit of meekness knowing that only by the grace of God we are not in the same predicament! (Gal 6:1)
Every reason to forgive the brethren is important, but we must do it because of satan! When we refuse to forgive the brethren, we take on satan’s role and personality.
Rev 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. (KJV)
When I run around with a grudge against a brother or sister I am saying to God, "See! This one, who claims to be your child, has sinned against You and ME! Judge him! Make him pay! Don’t let him get away with that!" Think about that! The devil is the last person that should be seeking judgement on anyone since he is destined for outer darkness except that misery loves company. The devil accusing people of sin is a bit like the proverbial pot calling the kettle black wouldn’t you say?
Well, if it is ridiculous for the devil to be doing this, how about us? We should all be sizzling on the BBQ pit right now. And we want God to exact judgement on some other human? Man, do we have some nerve or what? We who have been forgiven much will not forgive a little? (Matt 18) I wonder how much that would change if God would let us smell sulfur and brimstone until we changed that attitude!
Job’s compatriots became devil’s advocates when they accused Job of sin when they had no real clue of what was happening. The Edomites were as one of Israel’s enemies when they just stood by and watched the attack. When we do not seek to restore a fallen brother or sister and stand by watching the devil attack them we become as satan.
2 Cor 2:5-11
5 But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all.
6 Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many.
7 So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.
8 Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.
9 For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.
10 To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;
11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. (KJV)
We must forgive the brethren because an unforgiving spirit is one of satan’s tactics. People need forgiveness. Guilt that is not properly dealt with will drive a person into deep despair and depression. More people are locked in asylums because they are racked with guilt than those who have true brain damage or organically caused mental illnesses. They cloak their guilt and refuse to deal with it properly and thus tumble into a dark world of self -deception and a life with little to no hope in spite of all drug or psychotherapy. They refuse to admit their real problem and therefore cannot receive the correct treatment and healing. I refer you to a book by Jay Adams called, Competent to Counsel for case histories of people who walked out of institutions and away from beds of paralysis by dealing with their guilt. I do not hold to his very strong Calvinism, but his counseling precepts are sound.
The devil knows that if a person is racked with guilt and despair their life is fruitless. In the case of a believer, this is a victory for him. He will tell a Christian that they are not forgiven or that they have crossed over some line and it is all over for them. They should just give up and await judgement! This will incapacitate a saint. If the saint is incapacitated for service, satan has no fear of him. The saint has no witness, no fruit, and no joy. If we cause that saint to be in that condition by lack of forgiveness then we are aiding and abetting the enemy of God!
If we allow the saint to remain in that condition we are guilty of worse than apathy. We are Edomites.
We need to reach out to the saint that is in despair and help them to experience their acceptance in the Beloved! (Eph 1:6) Guilt attacks our acceptance and people need acceptance. If we did not need it, we would all be hermits and there would be no such thing as peer pressure since we would have no need to be accepted by our peers.
We need to be accepted before God most of all which is why we must win people to Christ. Once a person is a Christian, they will need to learn and experience that acceptance in the Beloved if they are to grow in grace and power. They also need to know they are accepted in the Body! Outside of the throne room of God, a child of God should be most at home in the Church. He or she should be loved unconditionally and should be made to feel like real family even if they have never known a good family life with their genetic family. The genes of the second Adam bind us more closely together than the genes of the first Adam. When one of us breaks an ankle the rest should limp and seek to make the lame limb strong again.
That is not to say that sin is tolerated in the name of love or heresy in the name of unity. Remember the context of this passage. In I Corinthians, Paul knew of a man and woman claiming to be saints that were living in incest. He was appalled that the Corinthians were not appalled at it and did nothing about it. He called for church discipline and for the couple to be shunned if they did not repent. In this passage, he has heard of their repentance and is seeking to have them brought back into fellowship with the church as they have been brought by into fellowship with God. The sin is not accepted and condoned, but the saint is to be restored and not stoned.
We must forgive the sins of the brethren because of Christ’s Command!
Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. (KJV)
I know Paul said this. It is not in red. However, I believe that Christ through the Holy Spirit inspired Paul’s teaching and it is just as authoritative as if Christ said it. The town crier may read the message of the King, but it is still the King’s message and not the crier. Jesus did say in red,
John 15:9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. (KJV)
Forgiveness is a part of love. God proved His love to us that while we were still doing our sinful thing He sent Christ to die that we might have the means to receive forgiveness. (Rom 5:8) The Father proved His love for us by giving the Son that we might be forgiven. The Son proved His love for us giving His life that we might be forgiven. The Holy Spirit proves His love for us by drawing us to the Son that we might believe and receive that forgiveness. Therefore, while Ephesians 4:32 is not a red saying it is indeed the voice of Christ, who has said the same thing through word and deed throughout the Gospels.
We like to sing, "Count Your Blessings." Well, maybe we should try to count our sins and see how blessed we really are. Actually, we cannot get close to an accurate count. Like David, we could say that they are way over our heads and it is wonderful that God does not mark iniquities because we could not stand. (Psalms 38:4; 130:3)
That brings us to this week’s final reason to forgive the brethren unlimited grace.
Matt 18:21-22
21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. (KJV)
Ah, my soul brother Peter! Seven is the number of completion so why not seven times of forgiveness and that completes that! Most of us don’t even get past one or two times so seven is a magnanimous number! Yet, Jesus said seventy times seven! You would have to keep amazingly good ledgers to know if a person committed 490 sins against you. I know some folks that have been real thorns in my side, but I don’t think any of them got to 490.
Now Christ had said seven times in a day if a man repents, you forgive him. (Luke 17:4) Again, how many folks have sinned against you seven times in one day? Peter grabbed on to that and was going to make that a rule of life when Christ was trying to teach unlimited forgiveness. For most people, that would be too hard a number to remember daily. Peter might have been able to keep up with a seven times in a day count. Therefore, to clarify and emphasize to Peter what he was getting at all along Jesus tells him 490 times in a day!
Peter missed the point of the parable of debtor. We owe God so much that even at 490 times a day there is no person that can run up an account like we had with Him. If I were forgiven a ten million-dollar debt even if a person owed me a hundred thousand dollars it is but a nickel compared to what I have been forgiven.
How many of us have sinned against God at least seven times in a day? How about 490 times a day? Remember we are talking about thought, word, and deed. Are we ever as holy as He is holy? We strive, but we fail that one daily. Do we ever do something good with the wrong motive? Do we know our own deceit heart well enough to say no? I don’t think so! (Jer 17:9)
If we cannot keep track of our own sins and are thankful, that God does not count ours then why are we counting the brethren’s? Have we forgotten our past? Have we forgotten what salvation is all about? We seem to have forgotten Christ’s commands. We have become accusers of the brethren taking on the tactics and personality of satan. O, may we repent quickly!!! Let us forgive the brethren as we have been forgiven!!!
