As a quick background, I’d like to say that I put up a post on Saturday morning themed “You Can’t Sin Away Your Salvation”, and this is more like a continuum to that. So if you’re yet to read that, I’d advice you do so, before going too far with this. Today I’ll be addressing the topic I tag Relationship Vs Fellowship. If you’ve been around Church for a while, I’m sure you must have heard things like; When you sin, God cannot fellowship with you, but you still have relationship with Him. So you would have to get your acts together before God can begin to fellowship with you again. Some other extreme version of that imply that; When you sin, you lose both relationship and fellowship altogether, until you repent and get your sin confessed, and then God receives you back to Himself. Hmmmn…
Dad: Who broke these set of China plates my grandfather gave me?(trust me that’s a grave offence)
Junior(Don’t know why the name always has to be Junior though): Daddy, it’s me*sombre look*
Dad: What!!! Don’t you know how much those plates mean to me? Junior! From now henceforth, you’re no longer my son. Don’t even call me Dad again, and I as I speak, pack your stuffs, both light and heavy(thanks to Yoruba movies) and leave this house. I don’t want to hear anything from you.
Junior: Please Daddy, I will never do that again sir (meanwhile, junior is prostrating, crying, rolling on the floor begging and then after some minutes of intense pleas…)
Daddy: Junior, it’s ok. Stand up, don’t do that again, ok! It’s because I love you that I threaten you like that (with my relationship with you), so that you will learn to be more careful next time. It’s ok Junior. Oya give Daddy high five, that’s my boy!!!
Now, I know many of us think there’s something awfully wrong with the scenario I just painted. Parents do not threaten their kids with Relationship or Fellowship, when the kids do wrong, well good parents anyways. The challenge however is that many of us count ourselves better parents than God, whose personhood is LOVE.
1Jo 4:18-19
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear:because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 19 We love him, because he first loved us.
How could you even be made perfect in love when you know you’re just an error away from being disowned, or from being at the risk. God’s pattern of rebuke would never be to deny His kids of their fellowship with Him, talk more deny them His relationship, He’s too self controlled for that. God’s pattern of rebuke is primarily through His Word.
2Ti 3:16
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
Even the corrections, rebuke and instructions are all in righteousness. Glory to God. No one needs his Father more than the guy that just messed up, but he has learnt from the church that he needs to get his acts together before he can approach God… Which gives him no chance at being transformed via fellowship. 2Cor3:18. It’s like the bathroom telling the smelly athlete “pls go get cleaned up before coming in here, cos I can’t have more of your sweat and dirt”, how else will he get cleaned up apart from the bathroom? We set people up for backsliding when we teach them to get themselves cleaned before coming to God, because they stand no chance. May I even shock you? God doesn’t need your purity in His presence, all He desires is your boldness, you’re His son, not a slave. (Yeah I know someone will throw the “…without holiness, no man shall see God” card. I also trust God to address that later) The devil will do everything to rid you of your boldness and confidence towards the Father because he knows that’s your ticket to victory over sin.
Heb 4:16
16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.Heb 10:35
35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
That feeling of guilt and condemnation we feel when we sin doesn’t come from God, God simply wants us to repent when we fall, that is change our minds and stop acting sinful, because our true nature is righteousness. God is not in the business of condemnation and guilt trips. Romans 8:1:33:34, 2Cor 5:19. Funny enough, He alone has the right to condemn, because he was sinless and died for us, yet he intercedes.
1Jo 2:1
1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:1John 3:20-21
20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
Don’t ever lose your confidence when you fall in the name of feeling remorseful. Latch unto the Grace of God and overpower sin. God didn’t save us unto sin, He saved us unto righteousness, and God will NEVER endorse a sinful lifestyle, He has NEVER endorsed it, and NEVER will. However, for God to be angry at you for your sins would be unjust of Him, since He already judged all Sin(noun), in the body of Jesus Christ. 2cor5:21, Isaiah 53:1-5, that would be like punishing the same offence twice, or paying for the same product twice. Right now, God sees you as righteous, and one thing with the righteous is that they are bold as lions. Prov 28:1
So should we continue sinning since God will never be upset? These are questions people often ask, won’t we take God’s mercy for granted if He keeps pardoning our offences? Paul does justice to that already, and I’ll seek to explain to the best of my knowledge in my next post I tag GOD FORBID. You don’t want to miss that, trust me. Please share this link with friends and loved ones if the posts have blessed you.
P.S: (My apologies for the lengthy post today :))
