Jesus could come back. He could come back right now – we’d be caught up in the air with Him, and everything would be “happily ever after,” wouldn’t it? But I when I think that Jesus could come back, my heart aches with sorrow. I want Him to come; I really do; but not yet. Please don’t come yet. Not now when we’re all dead, not now when there’s so many who are still living in sin, not now when oh so many would go to hell, not now when there’s still some chance for us to repent.
God, I love the church. She’s your body, your bride. I love her so much, but she’s dying – dead in sin and loving worldly pleasures – please don’t come back yet. Oh, won’t you be merciful a little while longer? I don’t want all those people to perish; but they will if you come back, because you are righteous and a just judge.
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
But Lord, what if WE are not righteous? If we are ungodly and sinful, how can we even stand – must we not perish along with the rest? We ARE ungodly and sinful. Lord, help us! We must not stay like this; we must be godly, we must be righteous – we need You. We must have revival or we shall die, because we are already dead as it is.
"A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why encumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: and if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down."
Friends, enemies, people, everyone! WE are that tree! We ought to be serving the Lord, we ought to be bearing the fruit of the Spirit, we ought to be obedient, we ought to have done so by now. But no, we are still disobedient, always rebelling, doing as we know we shouldn’t; regularly bearing bad fruit. WE ARE IN DANGER OF GETTING CHOPPED DOWN! You must change, you must repent, or you shall perish. You must forsake all sin, everything that is not pure, everything that is any less than pure, undefiled religion, all world-likeness – you must turn to God, you must turn and follow Jesus whole-heartedly. Nothing less than ALL is acceptable. You must obey Him in everything, or you might as well forget about it.
Oh, Jesus! How many years have you dug around us, fertilized us, and yet we still haven’t born fruit!?
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
What Have We Become?
What have we become!?
We complain about divorce rates being higher than ever before, crime being rampant, society being inundated with immorality. But WHAT HAVE WE DONE? What of us!? We look at ourselves – the church – and then complain about the same things; divorce rates are high, crime and immorality are at an all-time high. We’ve become just like the world, and just like the world, we are dead. We are not a sick church that might be nursed back to health….would to God that was so! But the church is DEAD. So dead, and we don’t even realize it. There are a few, ever so few and oh so far between, that urgently rush through the field of Christendom, examining the bodies strewn about, desperately trying to find one that is still alive, but to no avail. One corpse will moan, and the survivor will rush over in hopes that he’s found someone else still alive, but it’s dead; another will twitch, and the searcher will shout with joy and run to its side, but it’s not alive. One church wears a t-shirt that says “I’m ALIVE,” but it’s just as cold as the rest; some are lying down; some sit up, propped up against others; some even still stand, but as a tottering mannequin, and not as a living soul. The survivor still looks, but as far as he can see, there is little hope. How can there be any hope in such a situation as this?
God, we need a miracle. You’re the only one who can raise the dead. I can’t love the church even a tenth as much as you – you’ve got to do something! If we have not because we ask not, then Lord I’m asking. We need revival so badly. No. we need YOU. You are the breath of life; You are the living word; You alone are life. Only if we are in You can we ever be revived. We need your Holy Spirit; we need Your rivers of living water to flood this place; we need to You to raise the dead.
The wages of sin is death. And oh, how we’ve earned it! We make excuse for sin yesterday, today, and all the tomorrows to come. We preach that actual holiness is not required to see God. We teach that sin is an inevitable part of even a Christian’s life. We say that God overlooks our constant and ongoing sin. We have a hundred thousand reasons why we can’t possibly be righteous. And so we find that we practice what we preach. Sin. But sin must NOT be allowed. Sin is NOT okay. Sin is NOT acceptable nor excusable, nor can it have ANY place with godliness. Sin is the cause of death. There isn't any other reason for death -- spiritual death especially. How can the church possibly be alive if it's not obedient, if it's not righteous, if it's not holy; how can the church be alive if it's sinful? Of all the things that it might be – it might be warm, friendly, casual, open, or any other positive adjective we might care to use, if the church is sinful, the one thing it can't possibly be is alive.
We have GOT to change. You, friend, have got to change. If we go on as we are, we shall surely taste brimstone, just as Sodom did.
God, we must have revival. We must have revival or judgment. But Lord have mercy, for we cannot stand in judgment; we would stand wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Let us come to buy gold from You, to procure white clothes, to find a little eye salve so we might see.
Let us be zealous and REPENT! We MUST have life, and it MUST come from God. Let’s go to Him, and perhaps it is not too late; perhaps He might still yet let us taste of His holy waters; perhaps He might be merciful. But we must go to Him, we must, and we dare not delay.
We complain about divorce rates being higher than ever before, crime being rampant, society being inundated with immorality. But WHAT HAVE WE DONE? What of us!? We look at ourselves – the church – and then complain about the same things; divorce rates are high, crime and immorality are at an all-time high. We’ve become just like the world, and just like the world, we are dead. We are not a sick church that might be nursed back to health….would to God that was so! But the church is DEAD. So dead, and we don’t even realize it. There are a few, ever so few and oh so far between, that urgently rush through the field of Christendom, examining the bodies strewn about, desperately trying to find one that is still alive, but to no avail. One corpse will moan, and the survivor will rush over in hopes that he’s found someone else still alive, but it’s dead; another will twitch, and the searcher will shout with joy and run to its side, but it’s not alive. One church wears a t-shirt that says “I’m ALIVE,” but it’s just as cold as the rest; some are lying down; some sit up, propped up against others; some even still stand, but as a tottering mannequin, and not as a living soul. The survivor still looks, but as far as he can see, there is little hope. How can there be any hope in such a situation as this?
God, we need a miracle. You’re the only one who can raise the dead. I can’t love the church even a tenth as much as you – you’ve got to do something! If we have not because we ask not, then Lord I’m asking. We need revival so badly. No. we need YOU. You are the breath of life; You are the living word; You alone are life. Only if we are in You can we ever be revived. We need your Holy Spirit; we need Your rivers of living water to flood this place; we need to You to raise the dead.
The wages of sin is death. And oh, how we’ve earned it! We make excuse for sin yesterday, today, and all the tomorrows to come. We preach that actual holiness is not required to see God. We teach that sin is an inevitable part of even a Christian’s life. We say that God overlooks our constant and ongoing sin. We have a hundred thousand reasons why we can’t possibly be righteous. And so we find that we practice what we preach. Sin. But sin must NOT be allowed. Sin is NOT okay. Sin is NOT acceptable nor excusable, nor can it have ANY place with godliness. Sin is the cause of death. There isn't any other reason for death -- spiritual death especially. How can the church possibly be alive if it's not obedient, if it's not righteous, if it's not holy; how can the church be alive if it's sinful? Of all the things that it might be – it might be warm, friendly, casual, open, or any other positive adjective we might care to use, if the church is sinful, the one thing it can't possibly be is alive.
We have GOT to change. You, friend, have got to change. If we go on as we are, we shall surely taste brimstone, just as Sodom did.
God, we must have revival. We must have revival or judgment. But Lord have mercy, for we cannot stand in judgment; we would stand wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Let us come to buy gold from You, to procure white clothes, to find a little eye salve so we might see.
Let us be zealous and REPENT! We MUST have life, and it MUST come from God. Let’s go to Him, and perhaps it is not too late; perhaps He might still yet let us taste of His holy waters; perhaps He might be merciful. But we must go to Him, we must, and we dare not delay.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
An Act Made at a General Court, Held at Boston, the Twentieth of October, 1658
I was reading Foxe’s Book of Martyrs the other day, and came across a passage that sounded eerily familiar – too familiar, perhaps. Without further ado...
____________________________________________________________
An Act Made at a General Court, Held at Boston, the Twentieth of October, 1658
"Whereas, there is a pernicious sect, commonly called Quakers, lately risen, who by word and writing have published and maintained many dangerous and horrid tenets, and do take upon them to change and alter the received laudable customs of our nation, in giving civil respects to equals, or reverence to superiors; whose actions tend to undermine the civil government, and also to destroy the order of the churches, by denying all established forms of worship, and by withdrawing from orderly Church fellowship, allowed and approved by all orthodox professors of truth, and instead thereof, and in opposition thereunto, frequently meeting by themselves, insinuating themselves into the minds of the simple, or such as are at least affected to the order and government of church and commonwealth, whereby divers of our inhabitants have been infected, notwithstanding all former laws, made upon the experience of their arrogant and bold obtrusions, to disseminate their principles amongst us, prohibiting their coming into this jurisdiction, they have not been deferred from their impious attempts to undermine our peace, and hazard our ruin.
"For prevention thereof, this court doth order and enact, that any person or persons, of the cursed sect of the Quakers, who is not an inhabitant of, but is found within this jurisdiction, shall be apprehended without warrant, where no magistrate is at hand, by any constable, commissioner, or selectman, and conveyed from constable to constable, to the next magistrate, who shall commit the said person to close prison, there to remain (without bail) until the next court of Assistants, where they shall have legal trial.
"And being convicted to be of the sect of the Quakers, shall be sentenced to banishment, on pain of death. And that every inhabitant of this jurisdiction, being convicted to be of the aforesaid sect, either by taking up, publishing, or defending the horrid opinions of the Quakers, or the stirring up mutiny, sedition, or rebellion against the government, or by taking up their abusive and destructive practices, viz. denying civil respect to equals and superiors, and withdrawing from the Church assemblies; and instead thereof, frequenting meetings of their own, in opposition to our Church order; adhering to, or approving of any known Quaker, and the tenets and practices of Quakers, that are opposite to the orthodox received opinions of the godly; and endeavoring to disaffect others to civil government and Church order, or condemning the practice and proceedings of this court against the Quakers, manifesting thereby their complying with those, whose design is to overthrow the order established in Church and state: every such person, upon conviction before the said court of Assistants, in manner aforesaid, shall be committed to close prison for one month, and then, unless they choose voluntarily to depart this jurisdiction, shall give bond for their good behavior and appear at the next court, continuing obstinate, and refusing to retract and reform the aforesaid opinions, they shall be sentenced to banishment, upon pain of death. And any one magistrate, upon information given him of any such person, shall cause him to be apprehended, and shall commit any such person to prison, according to his discretion, until he come to trial as aforesaid."
____________________________________________________________
An Act Made at a General Court, Held at Boston, the Twentieth of October, 1658
"Whereas, there is a pernicious sect, commonly called Quakers, lately risen, who by word and writing have published and maintained many dangerous and horrid tenets, and do take upon them to change and alter the received laudable customs of our nation, in giving civil respects to equals, or reverence to superiors; whose actions tend to undermine the civil government, and also to destroy the order of the churches, by denying all established forms of worship, and by withdrawing from orderly Church fellowship, allowed and approved by all orthodox professors of truth, and instead thereof, and in opposition thereunto, frequently meeting by themselves, insinuating themselves into the minds of the simple, or such as are at least affected to the order and government of church and commonwealth, whereby divers of our inhabitants have been infected, notwithstanding all former laws, made upon the experience of their arrogant and bold obtrusions, to disseminate their principles amongst us, prohibiting their coming into this jurisdiction, they have not been deferred from their impious attempts to undermine our peace, and hazard our ruin.
"For prevention thereof, this court doth order and enact, that any person or persons, of the cursed sect of the Quakers, who is not an inhabitant of, but is found within this jurisdiction, shall be apprehended without warrant, where no magistrate is at hand, by any constable, commissioner, or selectman, and conveyed from constable to constable, to the next magistrate, who shall commit the said person to close prison, there to remain (without bail) until the next court of Assistants, where they shall have legal trial.
"And being convicted to be of the sect of the Quakers, shall be sentenced to banishment, on pain of death. And that every inhabitant of this jurisdiction, being convicted to be of the aforesaid sect, either by taking up, publishing, or defending the horrid opinions of the Quakers, or the stirring up mutiny, sedition, or rebellion against the government, or by taking up their abusive and destructive practices, viz. denying civil respect to equals and superiors, and withdrawing from the Church assemblies; and instead thereof, frequenting meetings of their own, in opposition to our Church order; adhering to, or approving of any known Quaker, and the tenets and practices of Quakers, that are opposite to the orthodox received opinions of the godly; and endeavoring to disaffect others to civil government and Church order, or condemning the practice and proceedings of this court against the Quakers, manifesting thereby their complying with those, whose design is to overthrow the order established in Church and state: every such person, upon conviction before the said court of Assistants, in manner aforesaid, shall be committed to close prison for one month, and then, unless they choose voluntarily to depart this jurisdiction, shall give bond for their good behavior and appear at the next court, continuing obstinate, and refusing to retract and reform the aforesaid opinions, they shall be sentenced to banishment, upon pain of death. And any one magistrate, upon information given him of any such person, shall cause him to be apprehended, and shall commit any such person to prison, according to his discretion, until he come to trial as aforesaid."
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Holiness in the Church
My goal and God’s command is holiness in the church.
II Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Luke 1:74-75 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Ephesians 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Titus 2:11-14 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
I Peter 1:15-16 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
I Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
I Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
This holiness means:
First, it means doing what God has given us to do. Not some of what God has commanded, not most of what He has said, but all His commands – we are not to leave out any of them. If we are neglecting any of God’s positive commands, we need to correct this sinfulness immediately.
Second, it means not doing what God has told us not to do. God has called us to refrain from murder, and it is of paramount importance that we do not murder. God has told us not to covet – we are not to covet, at all costs.
Thus, at the very least, holiness in the church means that the actions taken by the church and its members positively fulfill the commissions of the Lord, and in no way violate them, and taking great care to abstain from all of our Lord’s prohibitions.
Thirdly, holiness in the church affects the church’s actions in the “gray areas” – when there is no scriptural command for or against a given activity – here, several scriptural principles must guide the church in her decisions:
(1) Does it have any appearance of evil
(2) Does it edify the brethren
a. In knowledge of God and the truth
b. In Grace – the gift given to us whereby we are made new creatures, created for good works in Christ
(3) Are any of the brethren encouraged (whether overtly, or in effect) to engage in an activity that would go against their conscience, or lead them into a situation that their conscience would become compromised?
(4) The church should ask – in doing the activity, whose interests are being served: the “self” of the church, or God’s interests?
All these guidelines simply serve as a more thorough explanation that in all things, the two greatest commandments are the hanging point of all God’s law. We as a church must first of all love God with all our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength; any action, decision, or choice that in any way weakens, reduces, or interferes with our love toward God ought never to be allowed. Second, we as a church must never forget that we are to love our neighbour as ourselves; this commandment has two implications: (1) that we do love ourselves, and (2) that we extend this love to all those we interact with. (John 13:35, Gal. 6:10) This is the way that we, the church, are to be "blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation," this is how we are to "shine as lights in the world." (Philippians 2:15)
II Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Luke 1:74-75 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Ephesians 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Titus 2:11-14 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
I Peter 1:15-16 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
I Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
I Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
This holiness means:
First, it means doing what God has given us to do. Not some of what God has commanded, not most of what He has said, but all His commands – we are not to leave out any of them. If we are neglecting any of God’s positive commands, we need to correct this sinfulness immediately.
Second, it means not doing what God has told us not to do. God has called us to refrain from murder, and it is of paramount importance that we do not murder. God has told us not to covet – we are not to covet, at all costs.
Thus, at the very least, holiness in the church means that the actions taken by the church and its members positively fulfill the commissions of the Lord, and in no way violate them, and taking great care to abstain from all of our Lord’s prohibitions.
Thirdly, holiness in the church affects the church’s actions in the “gray areas” – when there is no scriptural command for or against a given activity – here, several scriptural principles must guide the church in her decisions:
(1) Does it have any appearance of evil
(2) Does it edify the brethren
a. In knowledge of God and the truth
b. In Grace – the gift given to us whereby we are made new creatures, created for good works in Christ
(3) Are any of the brethren encouraged (whether overtly, or in effect) to engage in an activity that would go against their conscience, or lead them into a situation that their conscience would become compromised?
(4) The church should ask – in doing the activity, whose interests are being served: the “self” of the church, or God’s interests?
All these guidelines simply serve as a more thorough explanation that in all things, the two greatest commandments are the hanging point of all God’s law. We as a church must first of all love God with all our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength; any action, decision, or choice that in any way weakens, reduces, or interferes with our love toward God ought never to be allowed. Second, we as a church must never forget that we are to love our neighbour as ourselves; this commandment has two implications: (1) that we do love ourselves, and (2) that we extend this love to all those we interact with. (John 13:35, Gal. 6:10) This is the way that we, the church, are to be "blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation," this is how we are to "shine as lights in the world." (Philippians 2:15)
Thursday, November 20, 2008
"Depressing"
In class tonight, we listened to a lecture on the state of the U.S. economy by Paul Krueger, given about a month ago. He described the different factors that contributed to the economic crisis that we are in today, and how depressing the economic situation was. As I was listening to the lecture (about halfway through), I realized that rather than hearing about the failure of the economy having a negative effect on my mood, my morale was improving!
Now almost completely distracted from the lecture, I wondered why my mood would improve while listening to the news of bad things happening to our country's economic system....and I figured out why:
Repeatedly over the last month or so, I have been able to see how extremely important it is for God's church to be a living, righteous, pure, and holy witness of Him -- and that that means that each member of the body MUST live their lives holily, justly, and unblameably before God and men. Holiness is NOT optional. Unfortunately, I have had to see this through encountering, confronting, and being confronted by people who claim to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, but who urgently insist that sin and iniquity are to be the normal life-principle of Christ's people. Not merely an isolated few people, but fellow students, leaders in the church, and friends.
In addition, I am faced with the situation where the pastor of the church that I attend insists on putting the church in the place of partaking in the use of pagan symbols as part of their celebration of our Lord Jesus Christ -- and I am absolutely terrified at the prospect of standing before the entire congregation and decrying the christmas tree as a morally indefensible practice for worshippers of the One True God to use, and then demanding that it be removed from the building.
My realization was that the problems posed by the failure of our economy are petty and insignificant in comparison to the problems facing the body of Christ. How can I be worried about the things of this world, when those who name the name of Christ are not departing from iniquity, but are instead departing to iniquity?
Now almost completely distracted from the lecture, I wondered why my mood would improve while listening to the news of bad things happening to our country's economic system....and I figured out why:
Repeatedly over the last month or so, I have been able to see how extremely important it is for God's church to be a living, righteous, pure, and holy witness of Him -- and that that means that each member of the body MUST live their lives holily, justly, and unblameably before God and men. Holiness is NOT optional. Unfortunately, I have had to see this through encountering, confronting, and being confronted by people who claim to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, but who urgently insist that sin and iniquity are to be the normal life-principle of Christ's people. Not merely an isolated few people, but fellow students, leaders in the church, and friends.
In addition, I am faced with the situation where the pastor of the church that I attend insists on putting the church in the place of partaking in the use of pagan symbols as part of their celebration of our Lord Jesus Christ -- and I am absolutely terrified at the prospect of standing before the entire congregation and decrying the christmas tree as a morally indefensible practice for worshippers of the One True God to use, and then demanding that it be removed from the building.
My realization was that the problems posed by the failure of our economy are petty and insignificant in comparison to the problems facing the body of Christ. How can I be worried about the things of this world, when those who name the name of Christ are not departing from iniquity, but are instead departing to iniquity?
Saturday, November 1, 2008
The Rudest
My brother-in-law was discussing his job at Costco, and he made the comment that the best day to shop there is on Sunday before 11:30, which is when the traditional church service gets out. That in itself was reasonable, but it was his next comment that was very interesting (and depressing)....he said that the church people who come through are "the rudest customer base of the week."
What kind of witness is it when those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ have that kind of perception of the people who profess to have been changed by the power of the true and living God? The gospel of Christ is so powerful that Christians can do anything, including having the reputation in the eyes of the community as the rudest customers in town. God forbid!
"Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." II Timothy 2:19
"Abstain from all appearance of evil." I Thessalonians 5:22
What kind of witness is it when those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ have that kind of perception of the people who profess to have been changed by the power of the true and living God? The gospel of Christ is so powerful that Christians can do anything, including having the reputation in the eyes of the community as the rudest customers in town. God forbid!
"Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." II Timothy 2:19
"Abstain from all appearance of evil." I Thessalonians 5:22
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Spots
"Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless." -- II Peter 3:14
If we are to be found without spot, what must we do? First, and most obvious I think, is that every individual who is looking "for such things" must give all diligence to "do these things" that Peter outlines in the first chapter (in verses 5-11).
Second, however, Peter also points out that there is a larger sense in which we must beware of (and thus also take care to eliminate) spots. He says, speaking of false teachers and their followers: "spots they are, and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you..." (II Peter 2:13)
So, in a corporate sense, as the body and bride of Christ, we must take great care to be alert to the existence and/or entrance of such people into the church -- and then remove them from the body. Thus, He may "present [us] to himself a glorious church, not having any spot or wrinkle, or any such thing." (Ephesians 5:27)
If we are to be found without spot, what must we do? First, and most obvious I think, is that every individual who is looking "for such things" must give all diligence to "do these things" that Peter outlines in the first chapter (in verses 5-11).
Second, however, Peter also points out that there is a larger sense in which we must beware of (and thus also take care to eliminate) spots. He says, speaking of false teachers and their followers: "spots they are, and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you..." (II Peter 2:13)
So, in a corporate sense, as the body and bride of Christ, we must take great care to be alert to the existence and/or entrance of such people into the church -- and then remove them from the body. Thus, He may "present [us] to himself a glorious church, not having any spot or wrinkle, or any such thing." (Ephesians 5:27)
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