Selected Sunday Scriptures- #152

Today I want to explore a connection between several selections from the New Testament. The first is from the First Letter of Saint John:

¹³ I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. ¹⁴ And this is the confidence which we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him. ¹⁶ If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that. ¹⁷ All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal.

¹⁸ We know that any one born of God does not sin, but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.

¹⁹ We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil one.

(1 John 5:13-19)

Then we have First Timothy:

¹⁸ This charge I commit to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophetic utterances which pointed to you, that inspired by them you may wage the good warfare, ¹⁹ holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have made shipwreck of their faith, ²⁰ among them Hymenae′us and Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

(1 Timothy 1:18-20)

Then we have this from First Corinthians:

⁹ I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with immoral men;  ¹⁰ not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. ¹¹ But rather I wrote to you not to associate with any one who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of immorality^[g] or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber—not even to eat with such a one. ¹² For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? ¹³ God judges those outside. “Drive out the wicked person from among you.”

(1 Corinthians 5:9-13)

The common link I see here is that when a Believer gives themselves over entirely to sin and commits a grave/deadly sin, then our attitude and actions towards them should change. We no longer are obliged to pray for them as before, and they should be removed from the Church- for their own good. We live in the Age of Grace, and they should spend some time outside the protection of the Church so they can begin to understand what they have lost. This paves the way for them to repent in genuine sorrow and once again join the Body of Christ.

As always, any readers are free to chime in with their own thoughts.

Selected Sunday Scriptures- #151

Since today is Father’s Day, I think that some scripture concerning fathers would be appropriate. And yes, I am still alive. Just terribly busy from work, and also unmotivated as well. Trying to turn that around. Anyways, lets start with Sirach:

 

Listen to me your father, O children;
    act accordingly, that you may be kept in safety.
² For the Lord honors a father above his children,
    and he confirms a mother’s right over her children.
³ Those who honor their father atone for sins,
⁴     and those who respect their mother are like those who lay up treasure.
⁵ Those who honor their father will have joy in their own children,
    and when they pray they will be heard.
⁶ Those who respect their father will have long life,
    and those who honor^[a] their mother obey the Lord;
⁷     they will serve their parents as their masters.^[b]
8 Honor your father by word and deed,
    that his blessing may come upon you.
⁹ For a father’s blessing strengthens the houses of the children,
    but a mother’s curse uproots their foundations.
¹⁰ Do not glorify yourself by dishonoring your father,
    for your father’s dishonor is no glory to you.
¹¹ The glory of one’s father is one’s own glory,
    and it is a disgrace for children not to respect their mother.

¹² My child, help your father in his old age,
and do not grieve him as long as he lives;
¹³ even if his mind fails, be patient with him;
because you have all your faculties do not despise him.
¹⁴ For kindness to a father will not be forgotten,
and will be credited to you against your sins;
¹⁵ in the day of your distress it will be remembered in your favor;
like frost in fair weather, your sins will melt away.
¹⁶ Whoever forsakes a father is like a blasphemer,
and whoever angers a mother is cursed by the Lord.

(Sirach 3:1-16)

Then we move these words of St. Paul, wherein he explains he is a spiritual father to the Church in Corinth:

¹⁴ I am not writing this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. ¹⁵ For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. ¹⁶ I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me. ¹⁷ For this reason I sent^[c] you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, as I teach them everywhere in every church. ¹⁸ But some of you, thinking that I am not coming to you, have become arrogant. ¹⁹ But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. ²⁰ For the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power. ²¹ What would you prefer? Am I to come to you with a stick, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

(1 Corinthians 4:14-21)

Lastly, we have this passage from the Gospel of John, wherein Jesus talks about the role of father and son, and then more specifically His relationship with His Father:

¹⁹ Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father^[e] does, the Son does likewise. ²⁰ The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. ²¹ Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. ²² The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, ²³ so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. ²⁴ Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.

(John 5:19-24)

I hope my readers had a good Father’s Day.