Work, work, work!
Passover and Unleavened Bread are over, and sin has already entered their lives. Imagine that!
Why is it that COG members are ALWAYS doing something wrong? You never hear a sermon on "well done, thou good and faithful servants!" Members are always doing something wrong. Jesus' return keeps getting delayed because of the sinning COG members. After all, it is NEVER the leadership's fault because they are above reproach.
Overcoming lawlessness
Before getting into that, let’s first focus on the Days of Unleavened Bread. We live in times that can be considered tumultuous and uncertain, exemplified by the U.S. economy and what is going on with the talks of tariffs and other issues that dominate our news.
But, we remember, too, that we are living in a time of “lawlessness,” as has become more fully evident over the past four years. But, while there seems to be a trend (in the United States at least) toward an ideology of traditional law, order and “morality,” we know there are forces at work which strongly oppose that.
If we are not careful and watchful, these attitudes of “lawlessness” can pervade even those in the Church. It is not that any of us think that we would intentionally disregard or speak against what the Bible says. But our words, supported by our actions, must always reflect commitment to the Bible and its principles.
As we rehearsed during the Feast days just passed, the clear message God gives to His people is to examine ourselves, repent and “overcome” our sins, pride, elevated views of self, wrong attitudes, and even the attitude that just because we have remained in the faith for decades, that we are now immune to the dangers of Satan’s and the world’s influence. “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall,” God reminds us in 1 Corinthians 10:12.
Christ's messages to the seven churches in Revelation are instructive. Every single one of the warnings applies to any one of us. We often speak of the “Laodicean” attitude where, in concert with favorable world and economic situations, we may feel spiritually “rich and increased with goods” and “have need of nothing.”
But there are warnings to the other churches we need to consider as well. For example, God warns Ephesus to return to their first love. He warns Pergamos and Thyatira of being lured by doctrines from the world and being guilty of sexual immorality. (Of course, God is speaking of spiritual harlotry, which we can be guilty of, as so many of His people down through the ages have been.)
Of note in Revelation 2:20, when speaking to Thyatira, Jesus cautions: “Nevertheless, I have a few things against you, because you [tolerate your wife (those words being the correct translation)] Jezebel…to teach and seduce My servants.”
Passover was supposed to wipe the slate clean for UCG members, but apparently it did not. They are no better than lawless worms wallowing in the pits of sin! Sin must have entered UCG members the second they walked out of the hall on Passover eve.
We might ask ourselves, in an age where lawlessness has invaded our societies, do we “tolerate” sinful actions, attitudes, behaviors and words of those who might have influence over us? Do we excuse those things—perhaps in the name of “love” in the sense that the world’s Christianity uses that word?
Do we excuse and tolerate because it is easier to do that than to heed what the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5? There, he clearly wrote if we truly love (using God’s definition of agape) our brother, we will admonish him and correct him. We should not tolerate continuing, unrepentant sinful actions.
We are the Church of God, and called to live by every word of God. Don’t forget the lessons of the Days of Unleavened Bread. Put the word of God in your minds daily, not the attitudes, tolerance of sin, and the world’s interpretation of why Christ gave His life.
