Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Church Split 2: Disregard for a Brother...

Genesis 4 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?” 10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand."
I once spoke at a church that bragged it had planted four other churches in the community.  As the discussion proceeded, I found that it had done so by splitting four times.  In Genesis 3 we saw that this tendency we have to splinter off and go our own way is found in the most basic principle of Creation: God has made us for fellowship, but we like to break His rules and do it on our own. The second generation of man produced the second generation of "church splits." Cain not only took lightly God's commands for sacrifice; he also did nto see himself as responsible for his brother; it was all about him and his feelings. In his case it led to murder.  So is it really that big of a deal if I get upset with my brother in the Lord, go off in a huff, and either infect another body of believers with my bad attitude, or stop being involved in God's people all together? It's not like I'm killing anybody or anything..." Or is it? Maybe this is one of those situations Jesus had in mind when he said in Matthew 5:21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire." Maybe your walking away from God's people, grumbling under your breath, is murder.

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