“A good God acts like….”
“God would never do….”

How deeply challenged I am when I hear these words… I am sure some variation of them have slipped through my mouth.

Here is a Biblical Truth that is astonishing in its clarity and permanence. God Himself is willing to be permanently separately from those who insist on sinning. While He never stops loving us, He willing breaks from fellowshipping with us when we persist to turn from evil. Hell stands as a firm proof of this reality.  There is no part of my human understanding that gets this, in fact, this truth in itself ministers to me as it makes it clear to me that God’s ways are indeed higher than my own, and beyond my understanding.   God is absolutely and perfectly Good, Fair, Just and Faithful. Our Lord, God, flooded the earth and killed every person outside of Noah and his family. He utterly demolished and destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.  So these things too must be perfectly good, right, just, fair and loving.

Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing. If we follow Jesus, we must be willing to follow His lead in all things.

John 5:19

“So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.”

Matthew 18:15-18

“If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.“I tell you the truth, whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”

1 Corinthians 5:1-8
New Living Translation (NLT)
“I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you—something that even pagans don’t do. I am told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother. 2 You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship. Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the Spirit. And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment on this man in the name of the Lord Jesus. You must call a meeting of the church. I will be present with you in spirit, and so will the power of our Lord Jesus. Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns. Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old “yeast” by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth.”

Interestingly enough, this is labelled in my Bible as “Paul Condemns Spiritual Pride”.   Is it possible that in pride we tell ourselves that we can resist the yeast, avoid the contagion, escape the curse explained in this verse….   “don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch?”

1 Corinthians 15:33-34

“Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.” Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning. For to your shame I say that some of you don’t know God at all.”

Matthew 5:27

“You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So if your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your hand—even your stronger hand—causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.”

Interesting that we are known as the body of Christ..  When these two scriptures are set one next to another, one can see a similar truth being conveyed.  The cost is too high to cohabitate, to be accomplice to, to tolerate and/or accomodate sin.   The practicalities of how all of these truths fit together are still beyodn me…   but I think well worth fighting through to learn how to apply them.

Isaiah 40:1-5

“Comfort, comfort my people,”     says your God. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone     and her sins are pardoned. Yes, the Lord has punished her twice over for all her sins.”Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness  for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God! Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together.  The Lord has spoken!”

That we would boldly prepare the way of the Lord and follow in all of His ways.  In Jesus Christ’s powerful, precious, beloved name.