Warning: The following may be hazardous to your sense of self-righteousness.
One last thought on fear. If I am going to fear God by seeing things the way He sees, I need to know what he loves and what he hates.
So what does God hate?
There are six things the Lord hates— no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family. Proverbs 6:16-19 (NLT)
I would strongly suggest that if you find anything in the list that is apparent in your life… you have something to fear. You need to fear the discipline from the hand of a Holy God.
When my kids were young, they loved to have their friends over to play. No matter how much you like your friends, if you spend time together you are going to have disagreements, arguments, and maybe even a fight or two. When incidents like this occurred with our children and their friends, we would send the friends home and discipline our own children if warranted. We never disciplined our neighbor’s child. That was not our job. We only disciplined our own children.
God disciplines his children.
SOBERING THOUGHT: If you have never felt the discipline from the hand of your heavenly father, maybe it is because you aren’t one of his children… hmmmmm.
More to the point: I love Gateway… God’s church. I love the family of Gateway… God’s family. So I have a jealous heart for God’s family. I would even call it a righteous jealousy. And when it comes to protecting God’s family, I have a righteous anger when someone causes discord or dissention. A righteous anger is hating what God hates. But even deeper than that, I have a great fear for the person who is the source of the discord and disunity in the family of God. I fear for my brother or sister in Christ who is about to face discipline from the hand of a holy God. It will not be pretty. It never is.
What does the discipline of God look like? It might be a loss of ministry… loss of influence… loss of reputation… loss of treasure in heaven… a loss of spiritual giftedness. It may even result in God putting you on the shelf for the rest of your time here on earth. Even worse, God may discipline you by removing his hand from you. We see this in scripture. What would your life be like if God completely removed his hand?
If, through your disunity and discord, you cause a younger brother or sister to fall or lose trust in God or in their church, guess what? God holds you responsible. VERY SERIOUS.
Once in a church, a staff member was confronted for telling lies about the pastor. During a meeting with the deacons, one deacon said, “You robbed me of my being able to trust my pastor.”
Have you repeated a rumor? Have you shared a piece of juicy gossip? Have you said something that robs a person the ability to trust their church? Their pastor? Have you caused someone to question God’s church? Well, get ready… discipline is on its way.
By the way, there is a difference between disunity and disagreement. There is a proper way in which to express a disagreement or a concern. In the parking lot of the church is not one of them.
If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 1 John 4:20 (NLT)
Regardless of where you attend church, if you are the source of disunity or discord in the family of God… you need to repent… you need to confess… you need to ask for forgiveness of your heavenly father and your church family. You need to have a fear of God.
