Devotionals
SIN:
The Cause of the Infection
Part Two
“But I have a few things against thee because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which thing I hate’’ (Revelation 2:14, 15)
We now come to a second source of the infection namely the teaching of the Nicolaitans. This doctrine is equally dangerous and teaches a false sense of Christian liberty. The word “Nicolaitan” means “to conquer the people”. We can illustrate this teaching by going back to the Times of Noah were the people lived with no restraint and everyone did what they felt like doing. They had no standard of right and wrong and they lived uncontrollably. It promotes a false type of joy based on doing whatever feels good. This teaching encourages people to enjoy life without any restraints at all. To do this, one must downplay the importance of Scripture and the sovereignty of God and also downplay the consequences of sin and rebellion. Someone has described this problem as a marrying of the world to the church. Now that puts a new spin on everything.
Sometimes in reaching the world for Christ, a godly testimony is exchanged for reaching the world by making the church a center of entertainment. There is a movement today that seeks to grow the church by changing the ministry of the church to meet the desires of those outside the church. In order to grow larger churches, we need to minister to more people. The way we minister to more people is by finding out what state the people want the church to be or do in the programs they want the church to have. This may be a good idea to start, however, it can result in a church controlled by some who were not faithful to Christ. That is a modern day application of the church controlled by the teachings of the Nicolaitan’s.
So put them together and what do you have? A church controlled by people with selfish interests and having no restraints in what they allow. It is no wonder that God has said that he hates these deeds. They are deeds and function in opposition to God’s perfect plan. The good news is that there are people in this church, who oppose this, yet because they are in a minority, they have no power to change. This message is not for them, it’s for those who were guilty of allowing this sin to remain.
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God is Not Against You - He Came on an All Out Rescue Mission to Save You
...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... 2 Cor 5:19
Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38
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