God is not with me when I’m alone?

God is not with me when I’m alone?

 (How to deal with personal conflicts in the church – part 2)

If you look up some other articles in my blog, you’ll recount that I enjoy writing and commenting on a lot of sayings that appear to be Biblical, but are in fact misquoted - such as ‘do not judge’. This article will cover another example of a common but wrongly quoted scripture: “for where two or three gather together in My Name, there I Am with them” (Matthew 18:20). I’ve heard this at a very small age, and I had never felt anything appealing about it. (Usually, when there’s a ‘for’ in the beginning of a verse, it’s cannot be directly pulled out of its context)

First of all, does the verse signify how God is not with me if I’m waiting for Him alone? Hence, do I not need to do devotions alone, for unless I have devotion with another 2 or 3 people, God is not with me? Am I unable to worship before The Lord with all of my might, like David did in 2 Samuel 6:14, just because I am not worshiping with someone else? God is a communal God, and when there’s anytime I’m not living a communal life, has God turned away from me like how I’m someone who worshipped idols back in the times of the Old Testament?

Hebrews 13 is titled “Christ’s Unchanging Nature”, and it is written in verse 5 that He will never leave or forsake any of us. Hence, does scripture contradict, because, according to Matthew 18:20, God is not with us unless we are with other brothers and sisters in Christ? To understand the mystery of God's Word, which is now revealed to those enclosed in Him (Colossians 1:26), we need to consider the whole context of the inerrant, infallible, incorrupt, and corroborated Word of God in order to make an accurate judgment. 

God is always with us and He will never leave or forsake us; in fact, we are never alone and always accompanied by 3 persons – God The Father, Christ The Son, and The Holy Spirit. God always with us no matter what state we are in; God is with us, as in, He’s always beside us because He is omnipresent. However, if you look at the context of Matthew 18:15-20, which is titled dealing with personal conflicts in the Church, you’ll find out that the ‘there I am with them’ does not refer to how God is with us as in how He’s beside us, but how He is with us in the case regarding the unrepentant sinner!

(Please, please read my article on How to deal with personal conflicts in the church)

Jesus was teaching His disciples – as well as all of us, because 99% of what Jesus said to His disciples are directed to all of The Body of Christ – how to deal with a sinning brother or sister in Christ. Christ was always referring to using more people as witness when someone sins against you, and ‘sinned against you’ is not something that’s merely a difference in opinion, but something that’s Biblically accounted for being right or wrong – something that God has an absolute stance for, which is enlisted in His Word (both Jesus Christ, for He is The Word – John 1:1,14; and The Word of God).

Matthew 18:15-20 deals with the important theme of unrepentant sin, whereas if the offender does not repent after sinning, knowing that he/she has sinned against God and man, he/she will be no different than a gentile or tax collector – a non-Christian or someone who is not justified by The Blood. No one who has unrepentant sin can inherit The Kingdom. Unrepentant sin is no different than making sin a practice, and 1 John 3:8 makes it clear of how whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, and Christ made it clear in the Gospels that whoever is not with Him, is against Him – never mind the person being of the devil! Thus, the case regarding the brother/sister who has sinned against you is a serious one, for it is dealing with excommunication; and if God is not with us regarding something that’s supposed to be black and white (good and evil), that’s a big deal; for it’s either: we (the accusing) are rightfully, Biblically, and Spirit-filled in convicting – not condemning – the unrepentant sinner (the accused); or we are falsely accusing one’s wrongdoing – which Christ will say: "Blessed are you (<-- the falsely accused) when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Matthew 5:11-12). The issue may as well come down to who’s truly in Christ (in that situation, not referring to one's eternity), therefore, He has to be with us, or else we’ll come before God on the Day of Judgment and we will not like it then.

Thus, the ‘two or three gathered in My Name’ is mostly not referring to church-goers, but elders of the church, because the case has been brought up to the entire church – symbolizing a massive issue – and God is with them as they will pass on a life-changing decision regarding the unrepentant sinner. (which he/she will mostly be excommunicated. Unrepentant sin is a big deal; for instance, someone rapes a brother/sister in Christ and yet doesn’t repent for it –  a big deal.)

Hebrews 10:26 “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth (unrepentant sin), there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?”

All in all, God is always with us – the unrepentant sinner as well – for He is Love and omnipresent. He wants all to repent and none to perish (2 Peter 3:9). There is nowhere He cannot be, or no thing He cannot know – and no thing He can forget. However, Matthew 18:20 specifically refers to God being with two or more people – in the sense of God being against those whom the two or more people are against, regarding the specific case where a brother/sister has unrepentantly sinned against another in the church. This is why Christ says in verse 18 “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Let us understand, quote, apply and live out the Word of God in the rightful manner we are to do so – with a clear conscience and the filled presence of The Holy Spirit.

-Barnabas

Starting from scratch

Scripture: Matt 22:37

In life, there are many honorable moments, but for me, the most honorable moments are the times where I can lead worship; sing praises; preach messages about who God is and about faith; and ultimately, doing stuff which God takes honor in. I don’t want to give the wrong message about honoring God as something that is all about leading worship and the stuff that’s done under the spotlight and on stage. In fact, this important message is a bit of the opposite. However, before I begin, I would like to use a little story I made.

Let’s all pretend you are villagers in the mid 1300s. You’re all living in times where there are still kings and emperors. Thankfully, your king, is loved and respected by all. All of you, have a specific role in the society. Some may be carpenters, others swordsmiths, or perhaps musicians. One day, your king comes by and gives you a visit. You hurriedly show the best that you have to present to your loved king. If you’re a carpenter, you’ll show him the most beautiful carved images or works; if you’re a swordsmith, you’ll show him your sharpest blade; and finally, if you’re a musician, you’ll play your favorite song. When you see your king delighted and clapping his hands in joy; giving you praise and saying ‘well done’; you’ve just received the greatest honor in life. This is what it feels when you do stuff which God takes pleasure in, even in the small things you do to honor Him.

Going deeper into the message, whenever we think about glory and honor, I think most of us would think about something massive; something that’s great. I’m a English literature student, and despite I would dare to claim that I’m good at literature, I learned that general male poets like to set their poems on big, dramatic stuff. Such as powerful dreams, dramatic political aspirations etc. Conversely, a female poet generally focuses on smaller objects, such as tables, cups, chairs and other precise objects instead. I learnt about one female poet likes to mock and challenge male poets about their style, saying that those male poets who focus on massive dreams and aspirations don’t even know the small stuff. This is exactly a major point of this message.

Let me ask you a question: If God gave you a choice between being spiritually gifted with healing, or being the backstage person dealing with the sound system; what’d you choose? I think quite a lot would rather have a power of healing. It’s natural to seek for fame, attention, and to be in the spotlight; but that may not be what God wants or desires from us. It’s like soccer. I’ve heard that if a keeper stops 9/10 shots from a striker, but concedes one, causing the team to lose; the team will focus on that one conceded goal, whereas the striker will be praised for scoring that 1 decisive goal, despite squandering all other 9 chances.

I love worship, and whenever I have the opportunity to worship, I will gladly do so. One time I was part of a worship team of a Christian camp. I met with the founder, who was also the organiser of the camp to discuss about the details. When we left on a cab, the founder somehow started swearing and saying indecent stuff out loud while hitting on a catchy topic. I was left in shock and dismay. You would naturally perceive a founder of a Christian camp to be someone who will make you say ‘amen’ every little expression, yet this wasn’t the case. I love picking on verbal expressions, because the Word of God clearly says that what is being said by one, reflects what’s inside of one.

I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I commonly hear people encouraging us to serve in every possible way; to get involved; and to do this and that for God. I’m not saying that we are not to, and in fact, every Christian’s purpose is, simply put, made for worship and revival. So hopefully I’m not clashing with Calvinism sayings about predestination, but every Christian is to make the most of their effort to spread God’s love. However, being critical, numerous times when I hear people yelling loudly about serving and serving and serving; it’s like they’re trying to make faith deemable by works. It’s like ‘you gotta serve in church, and lead worship and this and that, then you're a faithful servant’. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not wrong to serve, but commonly, what’s often being neglected is that God cares about one’s heart more than one’s work. “I give you more than a song, for a song in itself, is not what you have required”. How many would treat worship only as a time of worship instead of a lifestyle?

The Bible says how some who casted out demons in God’s name will fail to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The Bible never exactly say what they’ve did, resulting in them getting locked out of heaven, but presumably, I believe those people did not submit themselves completely, aka they were hypocrites. You see, God works in ways beyond our logic. The best example I have is the example of King Ahab, in fact, I’ve used this in other messages. Israel’s religion under Ahab was Baalism, which is ironic. Yet when Ahab went to war with other nations, God delivered the enemies into his hands not because there was any goodness in him or his nation, but because God did so for His own glory to be seen and adhered by other nations.

Anyways, a lot of times where we see people doing great stuff under the spotlight, like helping in worship; being an usher; going on mission trips; helping the poor; we see acts and produced fruit. When we solely focus on actions and produced fruit, we may tend to neglect the heart and motive.

The core thesis in this message, is loving God from the inside out, referenced from the most important scripture (at least one of them): love the Lord with all your heart, mind and soul. The scripture's reference is very simple and basic, yet we may often neglect what it’s trying to say. Let’s analyze Matthew 22:37 again. I would say that there is one keyword, meaning the entire content would be twisted awry without the keyword; and a key concept. The keyword obviously is all. The key concept is the 3 objects in the verse: heart, soul and mind. You might have not thought of this before, but these 3 aspects are inside of one. Catholics believe that the soul is in the head, well honestly I don’t care, but I think the soul may actually be a spiritual figure of who you physically, in a spiritual dimension, referenced from Saul. (OT guy)

So basically, when the Word of God says “love the Lord with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your soul", it means, love the Lord from the inside out, starting with the mind and thoughts, and a heart of worship and glorification. Yet, sometimes we hear messages that preach the exact opposite. We may hear messages telling us to demonstrate our love for God, by doing this and that.

In a nutshell, the difference between a hypocrite and a ‘true’ believer, can be judged by Matthew 22:37. A hypocrite would firstly not love God with ‘all’. The hypocrite will love God and serve Him partially. Secondly, the hypocrite would not love God from the inside out. The hypocrite may do works and actions to portray the love for God, but the thoughts, mindset and heart does not loving God. Again, what comes out of one’s mouth reflects the heart of one. Off topic and no offence, there are tons of hypocrites, which is in fact, foretold in the Word of God.

To come closer to a close, let’s start from scratch. Let’s love God from the inside out, and do it starting from the small things. When you glorify God in the small things, it usually reflects your heart and motive than doing great things. Sometimes helping the poor (financially and spiritually) such as talking to a person who has very little friends, may easily reflect your heart that contains Jesus’ love; whereas if you’re helping out with singing in worship, which is an act under the spotlight, it may only reflect your voice or musical ability.

Loving God from the inside out also contains the message of starting from scratch. Loving God from the inside out may firstly start not by works or actions which others can see or notice. It may simply be about you spending time offering devotions, prayer, worship, and feeling the presence of God. Once you’ve have a good, loving relationship with the Holy Father, God will slowly lead you on your purpose. It’s like the parable of the talents. You see, the master only gave the servants 5, 2 and 1 talents respectively. Yet, as the faithful strove for the master in what is little, the master set them for what’s much and abundant.

It’s a new year(since I wrote this during the end of December), and let’s declare our complete love for God from the inside out, by restarting our ambitions on the smaller things. For some, it may be verbal expressions, such as not saying omg or swearing, or listening to music that contain lyrics that aren't pleasing to God; others, it may be a change in thought, such as controlling the mind to prevent thinking about indecent, unholy acts. Let's start from scratch.

The greatest honor in life, as a Christian, is doing what God takes joy in, whether big or small.

-Barnabas Kwok