The bitter fruits of willful unfaithfulness

Tuesday, September 24, 2013 Devotions: Ps 78; 2 Ki 5:19-27; 1 Cor 5:1-8; Mt 5:27-37 Asaph wrote this historical maskil: Let God's people hearken to this, and tell the Story to each succeeding generation! YHWH, our God, established His testimony in Jacob and gave His law to Israel, so that we might hope in God and be a blessing to all peoples. Let us not forget our God, but keep His commands; for those who forsake Him are stubborn, rebellious, unstable and unfaithful. The tribe of Ephraim fell away, forsaking God and their nation in a day of battle; they forgot how God delivered them from Egypt, with mighty acts and miracles: He divided the sea and brought Israel through; He led them by a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night. He provided water even in the desert, streams from solid rock—yet still they rebelled and spoke against God. They grumbled and complained, yet He fed them with the bread of angels and the flesh of savory quail. All ate and were well filled—but even as God satisfied their cravings, they remained unfaithful. And God rose in anger and the strongest fell before His wrath. The people persisted in unbelief and disobedience. Their days vanished like smoke; when they repented, God continued to bless them; and they fell away again and again! They forgot the many miracles by which God exercised His power and authority over Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt; they forgot how God led them, through Moses and Aaron, to Mt. Sinai, where He gave them His own law, inscribed by His own doing. Still they revolted, treacherous and unfaithful, provoking God's righteous and jealous wrath. So God forsook His dwelling at Shiloh and sent the ark of His might into captivity; He gave the unfaithful people over to sword and pestilence and exile. Youths and maidens, priests of God, fell and perished. Then God again routed His enemies and chose the tribe of Judah to lead His people. He chose David to be king, bringing him from tending lambs to leading, defending and caring for God's people. YHWH healed Naaman, the commander of the forces of Syria's king. And the commander humbled himself and begged forgiveness in advance for going through the formalities of worshiping Rimmon, the god of his master. And Elisha, God's servant, dismissed him in peace. Gehazi, Elisha's servant, tried to extort riches from the grateful foreigner, but was afflicted with the leprosy from which YHWH had freed Naaman. And Elisha said that the leprosy would affict every generation of Gehazi's descendants for ever! It is a frightful thing to fall into the hands of the holy God! Paul confronted the Corinthians about the incestuous cohabitation of a congregant with his own father's wife. Paul commanded the Corinthians to mourn and to expel the offender from their congregation: 'When you are assembled, and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of our Lord Jesus.' Paul exhorts them to cleanse out the sin from their midst, so that they will be clean of offense. 'Let us therefore celebrate the feast, not with the old leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.' Don't associate with self-identified Christians who continue in sin. Drive out the wicked and the wickedness from your midst. The church is responsible for policing its own; leave those outside the church to God! Jesus preached: You have heard it said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I tell you: every one who looks at a woman in lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away. It is better to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into Gehenna. Likewise, if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; better to lose one member than to go whoe into Gehenna. And it is said, 'Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce. But I tell you this: anyone who divorces his wife, for any cause except her unfaithfulness, makes her an adulteress. And anyone who marries a divorced woman is committing adultery.