H.E. Double Hockey Sticks: Sunday Vs. The Rest Of The Week

Greetings all of you righteous and godly people.

"If you want to go to heaven...you got to raise a little hell." (Georgia Satellites)

"Do as I say...don't do as I do." (Multiple People)

There is only one thing worse than a non-Christian who delights in the fall and foibles of religious leaders. That would be a Sanctimonious Saint (S.S. Saint)...who feels religiously superior to the Fallen Saint (F.S. Saint)
Both of these people goes against the grain of I Cornithians 13:6 where we are told not to "rejoice in iniquity" of the fallen. NOTE: No matter how many high visibility Christians fall....there are millions of believers who are not wallowing in sin and are living their lives out daily.

The fact is...you don't tug on Superman's cape...you don't spit into the wind...you don't pull the mask off the ole Lone Ranger and you don't mess around with Jim. (Thanks and a tip O da hat to Jim Croce). One thing Jim left out is.. "...be not deceived...God is not mocked...whatsoever a man sows..that shall he also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life." (Galatians 6:7-8)

The fact is...that believers...true believers (as oppossed to those who just mentally ascent to historical or religious facts about Jesus)...are very susceptible to being "laid low in the wilderness." (I Corinthians 10:5)

The freedom that we experience as believers...can easily turn into an opportunity for the FLESH. (Galatians 5:1, 13,16-21). I know from first hand experience...how a saved, redeemed, Lord loving, spirit filled believer can BACKSLIDE face forward in to the muck and mire of the Prodigal Pig Pen (P.P.P. Luke 15:11-32)...and return and eat the dog vomit of my former way of life. (Proverbs 26:11/II Peter 2:22) There is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9) including the warts and scars of our religious heroes. NOTE: I'm glad that the Bible does not show a pristine view of the saints. It really underscores the need for a Saviour.

The fall does not come "OUT OF THE BLUE". What is the anatomy of the backslidder? Backslidding...falling into sin...being laid low in the widlerness...is NOT a sudden descent from righteousness to sin. It is a slow, inch by inch...yielding to the little foxes that spoil the vineyard.
(Song of Solomon 2:15) What's nippling at your grapes?

I Corinthians is a letter written to a group of people who were spiritually attuned. Paul wrote to them and praised them for being "spiritual".
Read I Corinthians 1:4-9 about the grace of God in their lives...the enrichment in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, the testimony of Christ was confirmed in them...the come short in NO gift.. they were eagerly waiting for the revleation of Jesus. These were BELIEVERS...but Paul had to write a letter of correction to this body of believers. The corrections to the believers included:

a. Divisions among the people and lifting up certain teachers over
others. Some like Paul...some Apollos...some Peter...and some
threw in their trump card...they only listen to the teachings of
Jesus. Even the Jesus card was played with the wrong attitude.
b. Incest
c. Lawsuits
d. Fornication
e. Marriage and Divorce
f. Eating food offered to idols
g. Wearing of veil
h. The Lord's Supper
i. Spiritual Gifts out of order
10. Resurrection of the Body

In the letter of correction...Paul compared the fallen church...to the children of Israel falling in the wilderness. Read I Corinthians 10:1-13

These people had a unique and common spiritual ground. They:

a. Were all under the cloud (of guidance and protection)
b. All passed through the sea (symbolic of our baptism and deliverance)
c. All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea
d. All ate the same spiritual food
e. All ate the same spiritual drink
f. They had a Rock of anointing supply calle the ROCK/CHRIST

BUT...with most of them...God wan not well pleased. What cause this displeasure with them? Verse 5...THEY WERE LAID LOW IN THE WILDERNESS...their bodies were SCATTERED IN THE WILDERNESS.

Twice it was pointed out that these things (being laid low in the wilderness and what cause it) were to be our EXAMPLES.
(I Corinthians 10:6, 11) If you don't think that this can happen to you in 2006...there is an ominous warning found in verse 12..."THEREFORE LET HIM WHO THINKS HE STANDS TAKE HEED LEST HE FALL."

A good book (for men and women) to read about this subject is MAXIMIZED MANHOOD by Edwin Cole. Here are the things that caused the fall to them...and will cause the fall to us...no matter how SPIRITUAL we think we are. We open the door by WINKING AT SIN.

a. They lusted after evil things
b. The became idolaters (to the point of worshipping themselves)
c. They sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play
d. The committed sexual immorality
e. They tempted Christ
f. They complained about their situation and against their leaders

They lived like H.E. Double Hockey Sticks...while they wanted the Promised Land. Today is no different...God is still not mocked...we still sow...we still reap...and wonder why the wheels come off of our spiritual wagon.

NEXT TIME: DISCIPLINING OURSELVES FOR THE PURPOSE OF GODLINESS (5 areas of discipline)

Love
Rodney "Taking Heed" Boyd