Lesson 278: "Paul's Reprimands"
The Apostle Paul wrote to the church of Philippi; “For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the Cross. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things” (Phil. 3:18-19). Paul was the very model of what a Christian minister should be. He was a watchful shepherd over the flock; he did not simply preach to them and consider that he had done all his duty when he had delivered his message. His eyes were always upon the Churches, taking note of their spiritual welfare, their growth in grace or their decline in godliness. When he was called to other lands to proclaim the gospel, he seemed always to have kept an eye upon those Christian colonies which he had founded in the middle of a heathen community. He was not indifferent to the character of the little church at Philippi, for he spoke to them and warned them.
Paul was a very honest pastor and did not hesitate to point out the mistakes of the people he had taught. Paul said these things often to the people because it had not thoroughly sunk in. You might think that hearing the truth of the gospel from Paul would be more effective than hearing it a number of times from someone else, but it seems he had to continually repeat himself. “I have told you often and I tell you yet again”! While he was faithful to the gospel and the reprimands, he was, as every true minister should be, extremely affectionate. He could not bear to think that any of the members of the churches under his care should swerve from the truth. He wept while he denounced them and he did not reprimand them without emotions. Those who heard him denounce so solemnly and so sternly where convinced that even his harshest words were laced with affection. “I will say it again, even with tears”!
There are many now among us, as there were then, who walk in such a manner that we recognize them as the “enemies of the Cross of Christ”. Evil among the churches, instead of decreasing, has multiplied and grown into dangerous proportions. We have more ministers, Christians and churches now than there were in the age of Paul and as a result we have more hypocrisy. What would Paul say? Would he say with tears, that some of us are enemies of the Cross; our minds on earthly things; our god is our belly; our life is not consistent with the great things of God? I have never read that the Apostle Paul wept when he was persecuted or while the soldiers were scourging him. Although he was thrown into prison many times, we read of his singing and never of his groaning. He did not weep from the expected or anticipated dangers or sufferings he would face for the sake of Christ and the gospel. He wept for the believers! For their guilt! For the ill effects of their conduct! For their doom! If he were here among us and our congregations, would he weep for us for the same reasons?
Paul cried for the guilt of persons who had attained something special to live up to (Phil. 3:16), united themselves with a Christian church but were not walking as they should do among men and before God. Paul charges; “their god was their belly” (Phil. 3:19) because there were those in the early church who, after they sat at God’s table, would go away and sit at the feasts of the heathen and there indulge in gluttony and drunkenness. Others indulged in lusts of the flesh, enjoying those pleasures (?) which, afterwards, brought pain even to the body itself and are disgraceful to men. Another sin that Paul wept over was that their minds were on earthly things. It is a fact that we hear of ambitious Christians, although Christ told us that he who would be exalted must humble himself. There are among the professed followers of the most humble (Jesus) who strive to gain the topmost rung of the ladder of this world. Their aim is not to magnify Christ but to bring attention to themselves. A Christian body (either church body or individual body) should be holy, humble and contented but this is not always the case.
Another character which Paul gave of these men was that they gloried in their shame. Things that these men (who professed to be believers) condemned others for were the very things they were doing. If he should see another doing what he had just done he would reprimand him. This believer, with his mind on worldly things, is the first to notice a little inconsistency of another while at the same time he is indulging in his favorite sin. If someone should call his hand he would be insulted and say you are getting too personal. Who dare say that a long-standing member of the church is not holy! “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins” (James 4:17). It is a shame and disgrace for someone to know better but does it anyway but even worse for one who sets himself up to teach others better and is still sinning. Paul wept over those believers who walked in an ungodly manner as those who have never professed Christ and we should weep today over the same guilt. Jesus called such men hypocrites who cleaned the outside of the cup but inside they were filled with self-indulgence (Matt. 23:25). There is nothing that should grieve a Christian more than for Jesus to be wounded in His own House. “I was wounded in the house of my friends” (Zech. 13:6b). Caesar said to Brutus; “et tu, Brute”? Might Jesus say the same to some of us?
If there were no true Christians, there would be no hypocrites and if there are hypocrites, there must be some who are genuine. “If you were blind you would NOT be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains” (John 9:41). “Search me, O God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps. 139:23-24).
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