Not Good — Making Church Comfortable for Evildoers

Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

Purging Instead of Praise

Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

Pure Communion with Sincerity and Truth

Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
I Corinthians 5:6‭-‬8 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/1co.5.6-8.NKJV

 

The Leaven Identified

The sin that riled up Paul was the fact that a local church permitted a man sleeping with his mother,  probably still young and attractive, and still they treated him without reproof and without correction.

The thing that was needed was to remove him from church membership and treat him as though he was not saved. Then after working with the offender,  they were to seek for his spiritual restoration.  Though nothing is said of the mother,  her guilt is just as wrong and to be treated the same,  if applicable,  though we might infer she was not as culpable.  That is not really likely in our modern churches however!

This is what distinguishes a GOOD church which has character from any other kind. It also demonstrated that membership lists are to be kept and practiced in every local church. 

The Good News

Sing to the Lord , bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.

Glory, Greatness, and Praise

Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples. For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols,

A Creator’s Attributes

But the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before Him; Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. Give to the Lord , O families of the peoples, Give to the Lord glory and strength.

Sacrifice is Due unto Him

Give to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come into His courts.
Psalms 96:2‭-‬8 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/psa.96.2-8.NKJV

The Judgment of God on Our Good and Evil

Our Works are all being judged. We don’t want them called “evil.” But neither do we want our good works to become evil because of God’s hand of Judgment.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

Fear God and keep His commandments,

For this is man’s all.

For God will bring every work into judgment,

Including every secret thing,

Whether good or evil.

Ecclesiastes 12:13‭-‬14 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/ecc.12.13-14.NKJV

The Requirement GOOD Expects

What is thought is Good Must be by the Standard God Defines

Then David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader. And David said to all the assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if it is of the Lord our God, let us send out to our brethren everywhere who are left in all the land of Israel, and with them to the priests and Levites who are in their cities and their common-lands, that they may gather together to us; and let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we have not inquired at it since the days of Saul.” Then all the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.

Our idea of what “good” is does not always match God’s ! David thought using a cart to transport the Ark back to it’s rightful place was indeed good. It was not.

So David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor in Egypt to as far as the entrance of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjath Jearim. And David and all Israel went up to Baalah, to Kirjath Jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God the Lord , who dwells between the cherubim, where His name is proclaimed.

David loved the Lord and believed God would bless his way of pleasing Him.

So they carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart. Then David and all Israel played music before God with all their might, with singing, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on cymbals, and with trumpets.

David used song and instruments to serve and was not wrong to do this activity for worship.

And when they came to Chidon’s threshing floor, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzza, and He struck him because he put his hand to the ark; and he died there before God.

But he had left the obedience of the Word behind. And anger resulted: God’s to reprove, but David’s to reject.

And David became angry because of the Lord ’s outbreak against Uzza; therefore that place is called Perez Uzza to this day. David was afraid of God that day, saying, “How can I bring the ark of God to me?”

It caused a rift in his relationship and a loss of blessing on his life for a full three months and loss of life to others.

So David would not move the ark with him into the City of David, but took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. The ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months. And the Lord blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that he had.
I Chronicles 13:1‭-‬14 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/1ch.13.1-14.NKJV

What the Good Share

Ecclesiastes 9

Vv.1-3 The Treatment of Good People Can Seem Similar to Those Otherwise

For I considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. All things come alike to all: One event happens to the righteous and the wicked; To the good, the clean, and the unclean; To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath.

You cannot base your opinion of the Justice of God on the mere and unrevealed treatment of their deeds in the present life, for a final judgment will issue forth.

V.18 The Sinner Can Destroy Much Good

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. Wisdom is better than weapons of war; But one sinner destroys much good.”

We must fear what the sinner can destroy when we are doing good itself.

Ecclesiastes 9:1‭-‬3‭, ‬18 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/ecc.9.1-18.NKJV

When Good and Goodness Satisfy Not

FROM Ecclesiastes 4

If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or indeed he has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better than he— for it comes in vanity and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness.

You can live with wrong priorities and find goodness from God unsatisfying.

Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, this has more rest than that man, even if he lives a thousand years twice—but has not seen goodness. Do not all go to one place?

Vanity thinking like Solomon exhibits here came because he multiplied wives and wealth against his own God given wisdom.

For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun?
Ecclesiastes 6:3‭-‬6‭, ‬12 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/ecc.6.3-12.NKJV

Ecclesiastes 7

A good name is better than precious ointment, And the day of death than the day of one’s birth; Better to go to the house of mourning Than to go to the house of feasting, For that is the end of all men; And the living will take it to heart.

In the day of your death the significance of life is your reputation.

Wisdom is good with an inheritance, And profitable to those who see the sun. For wisdom is a defense as money is a defense, But the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it.

Your possession of wisdom is critical if you are to prosper, but you can have it and fail too.

Do not be overly wicked, Nor be foolish: Why should you die before your time? It is good that you grasp this, And also not remove your hand from the other; For he who fears God will escape them all.

An evil life without having balanced it with the forgiveness and fear of God will not end well.

For there is not a just man on earth who does good And does not sin.

Man’s sin nature should never be denied.

Ecclesiastes 7:1‭-‬2‭, ‬11‭-‬12‭, ‬17‭-‬18‭, ‬20 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/ecc.7.1-20.NKJV

The Motivation and Reward for Doing Good

I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God. I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, And nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him.
Ecclesiastes 3:12‭-‬14 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/ecc.3.12-14.NKJV

Doing Good is Rewarding and Very Enjoyable When Done with Right Motives. In the end, it’s reward cannot be stolen. God takes charge of it.

When GOOD Is Agent of Balance

“Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Luke 14:34‭-‬35 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/luk.14.34-35.NKJV

Too much of a single element becomes a bad thing.

Good should balance the Christian life.

Practicing a Christian lifestyle in the midst of a secular world brings goodness to the whole.

Good Gift-Giving Wisdom

Good Gifts and Knowing How They Bless By Fathers for Children

Not every gift benefits the receiver, but a giver who has a right motive in a gift given, he, and the one who receives his gift, they are both blessed by his deed. In a family relationship, a father wants his gifts to benefit his offspring. And God enables this by nature. One such gift is the Holy Spirit.

Luke 11:9-13

““So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

Good, Like Light, Has A Singular Best and Multiplying Purpose

Lu. 11:33-36

“No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light. The lamp of the body is the eye.

Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness.

Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.

If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.””

‭‭Luke‬ ‭11:9-13, 33-36‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

https://www.bible.com/114/luk.11.9-13,33-36.nkjv

When we pray and when we give we can do much good or bad. How specially blessed are we to be given the Holy Spirit! This enables the ability to be and to do GOOD!

Incorrectly Interpreting Good

A Very Good and Amazing Event to Experience

“Now it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray. As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening. And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

Acknowledging a Good Thing But Making an Improper Conclusion

But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him. Then it happened, as they were parting from Him, that Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said.

The Proper Interpretation

While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!” When the voice had ceased, Jesus was found alone. But they kept quiet, and told no one in those days any of the things they had seen.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭9:28-36‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

https://www.bible.com/114/luk.9.28-36.nkjv

We must be careful to not to bring self-promotion or another’s-promotion that only belongs to God alone.