Ephesians 5:1-14 St. Luke 11:14-28

No Fellowship

What would you think of a doctor who, after informing you that you had a
cancerous tumour buried deep in your abdomen, advised you to take two
aspirin when needed? Or of a fireman who responded to a three-alarm fire by
saying, "It will burn out soon enough"? How about a policeman who merely
shook his head at the scene of a robbery, clucking his tongue and saying,
"Well, boys will be boys"? What would you think about a Church that admitted
that sin was rife in its ranks and yet did little more than talk about it?

It is the responsibility of the holy Church of Jesus Christ, made up of
members of God's family, to refuse evil and to choose good. The possessors
of God's Holy Word should positively pursue the best - to seek biblically
defined righteousness first above all else - but we cannot do this
successfully if we do not obey the command to abandon the practice of the
worst. "Those who are, or have become, Christians, need to learn that there
are evil associations and corresponding evil activities in both conduct and
conversation which they ought completely to give up. Only so can worthy
standards of living be maintained; only so will Christians live "as becometh
saints". (Stibbs)

Children of God are expected to be conformed to the image of their Father,
not the image of the world. The Epistle reading for today challenges us to
consciously and consistently break with all forms of wrongdoing. St. Paul
presented the church in Ephesus with five practical demands in which they
might fulfil this challenge.

Firstly, Christians are called to be imitators of God through the practice
of self-sacrificial love. True children of God seek to reproduce the family
resemblance in demonstrating their allegiance by actively imitating Christ .

"The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His
life a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45) "The love of God was manifested toward
us (in this), that God .sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we m
ight live through Him.Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one
another." (1 John 4:9, 11) Jesus is our supreme example and in striving to
live as He lived and to walk as He walked, we will effectively turn away
from all wrongdoing. Sinfulness is selfishness, and thus, if we occupy
ourselves with self-sacrificial giving of ourselves for the benefit of
others, we will not be tempted by the things which are displeasing to God.

The Second practical demand is an appeal to a kind of Christian decorum - to
a sense of what is simply not done if you take the Name of Christ upon
yourself. As we are called to be saints, there are certain activities to be
regarded as unfitting for us. We have been raised with Christ to be seated
in heavenly places with Him. Therefore we should seek those things which are
in keeping with our elevated position. The contrast with the world should be
obvious. While the world calls for sexual activity contrary to God's
revealed will and for a preoccupation with material things, the Church is
called not to even "keep company with anyone named a brother, who is
sexually immoral, or covetous" (1 Corinthians 5:11).

When the Church begins to condone, bless, accept, or even ignore the things
St. Paul blatantly tells us to avoid, or when she begins to make moral
decisions based upon financial considerations rather than biblical
injunctions, we must ask ourselves if what the Church is expecting us to
live with is fitting for saints. Indeed, such things should not even be
named amongst us, much less openly discussed or practiced.

The third demand deals with the tendency of man to make light of sin.
Christians are called to test the spirits to see whether they are of God or
no, so that we may not be blind to the inevitable consequences of non
biblical decisions and practices. It doesn't help to make an appeal to the
leading of the Spirit when the action is contrary to what was revealed by
the Spirit in the first place. We need to beware of such blatant deception
and duplicity.

The question, "How do you eat an elephant" is answered with, "One bite at a
time". The revisionists who push the liberal envelope have an agenda which
they have followed deliberately and patiently. A bundle of sticks may not be
broken all at once, but if you take one stick at a time, after a while, all
will be broken. To wait for the next stick to snap is simply not wise.

"The plain truth, which as Christians we surely know already to be
absolutely certain and without question (otherwise our faith is illogical
and futile), is that all such evil behaviour and flagrant disobedience to
God's Word has two grave consequences. It excludes from heaven; and it
incurs the wrath of God." (Stibbs) To consistently live a life contrary to
God's revealed will is to effectually disinherit oneself.

Our Lord categorically stated that we would be known by our fruit. Worldly
practices point to a worldly origin and a worldly end. Our characteristic
and consistent conduct demonstrates whether or not we have a part in Christ'
s Kingdom. If we love Him, the Bible says, we will obey Him. If we are of
God, we will hear God's Word. It is as simple as that.at least for those to
whom Scripture matters more than other considerations.

The fourth practical demand is a call to abandon all evil companionship and
practices. We are not to be partakers with the sons of disobedience. There
is no place for compromise or half-heartedness with regard to this matter.
Bad company corrupts good morals and therefore the children of light must
have no fellowship with darkness.

In Psalm 50 God says to the wicked: "What right have you to declare My
statutes, or take My covenant in your mouth, seeing you hate instruction and
cast My words behind you? When you saw a thief you consented with him, and
have been a partaker with adulterers." Brethren, does this not apply to some
in the modern Church? Have they not cast aside the Word of God by embracing
the law of modern society? Is it then right for us to add our consent to
their actions by remaining in close association with them? Are we not then
just as guilty? Will we not be partakers of God's wrath upon them? Are we
not by our inaction projecting a message of acceptance of their non-biblical
positions to the world? How can we remain faithful to a body that has
consistently been faithless to our Lord? Something is rotten in our very
midst and the stench is offensive to God.

The final demand is for the Church to expose the unfruitful works of
darkness so that they might be seen for what they are. It is sad that the
things which our forefathers would have considered shameful are being openly
and positively discussed in the Church today. We should reprove these things
by living lives wholly based upon biblical principles - lives in the
presence of which evil simply cannot survive.

At 7:30 AM, on September 19, 1985, a thirteen story apartment building in
Mexico City called "Nuevo Leon" came crashing to the ground in an unexpected
and devastating earthquake. Almost every resident in it was lost. The
saddest part of this awful incident is the fact that the hydraulic
earthquake stabilizers provided to prevent this kind of unmitigated disaster
had been left out of service for two years prior to the event. The
consequences of ignoring the inner defects were tragically unnecessary.

The Word of God is like those hydraulic earthquakes stabilizers. If we allow
ourselves to remain unchecked for long enough, the Church will come crashing
down around our ears and our children and grandchildren will be the first
casualties to be lost. In our Gospel lesson our Lord said that a kingdom
divided against itself will not be able to stand. What has caused us to
believe that this is not true of the Church?

We, the Church, as the beloved children of God, must refuse evil and choose
good. We must quit the darkness and walk in the light. How many more
biblical sticks must be broken before we realise that the intention of the
revisionists is to cast the whole bundle - the Word of God Himself - into
the flames?

There is grave danger in sleeping the sleep of indifference.there is great
peril in hiding your head in the sand, hoping against hope for a better day
when the writing on the wall is as plain as the nose on your face. The
clever words strung together to lull unsuspecting parishioners into
spiritual insensitivity has done it's diabolical work and has rendered many
dead to biblical morality and spiritual values and issues. The same word
spoken by St. Paul to the Ephesians is spoken to us today. "Awake!" "In
response to the grace of God, and to the (upward) call of Christ in the
Gospel, we need to awake and arise and to open our eyes and in the power of
our new God-given life to walk in God's light, departing from evil and doing
good." (Stibbs)

Very few thinking individuals would stay with the doctor who tells them to
take aspirin for a cancerous tumour. The fireman who neglects his duty would
be fired and even legally charged should anyone be injured or killed.the
same is true of that policeman who failed to bring the thieves to justice.
Why then would any Bible believing Christian apply different standards to
the Holy Church of Jesus Christ - the Church for whom He suffered and died?

Proverbs tells us that the Word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light to
our path. If we say we are in that light, why would we have fellowship with
darkness? Are we not liable to stumble? Or do we provoke the Lord to
jealousy? Are we stronger or wiser than He?

As we come to His Table once more this day, let us ask ourselves whether we
are attempting to do what the Scriptures plainly tell us not to do. St. Paul
tells us that we "cannot drink the Cup of the Lord and the cup of demons;
(that we) cannot partake of the Lord's Table and the table of demons" (1
Corinthians 10:21).

Let us - not those you think should have been here to hear this sermon, but
you and I - let us then covenant with God this day, dearest brethren, to
positively pursue the best - to seek biblically defined righteousness first
above all else - so that we might successfully abandon the practice of the
worst.

© Johann W. Vanderbijl III 2004