He who Rebukes a man finds more favor with God
Proverbs 28:23 King James Version (KJV)
23 He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more
favour than he that flattereth with the tongue.
Nowadays, sin is no more preached in the church;
wickedness is therefore on the increase. This is not the way God want us to
live on earth. In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus taught his disciples how to
pray. He said, “Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven “meaning the will of the father in heaven is not different
from that which is supposed to be on earth”.
REBUKE:
To rebuke someone means to speak severely to them about something they have
done.
FLATTER: If you flatter someone, you
praise them in an exaggerated way, either to please them or to persuade them to
do something. We have two types of friends, a friend indeed and a friend in
need. Friendship is about relationship. God has a relationship with us. This
relationship is a Father and son relationship as well as a friend indeed. We did
something against Him yet He loved and loves us, He sent his only begotten Son,
Jesus Christ of Nazareth the Son of the Living God, to save and reconcile us
unto Himself. As a loving Father, he rebukes us whenever we go wrong because He
want us to live righteously like Him. This is what is called love. One of our
jobs here on earth is to represent him as ambassadors, but what do we see of
late? Sin is rather on the increase. Why do we have sin dominating while we
have a lot of Christians, pastors, evangelists, lay preachers and what have
you?
These representatives are the ones rather engaged in
perpetuating the evils that we see and hear. The best way to prevent or
minimize corruption is to expose it. Sin is no more preached in our pulpits in
the churches as a reminder for people to change.
LACK
OF REBUKE: No rebuking is done in our churches nowadays so
people do what they like. Sin is being justified by some of the preachers who
gets the chance to be in the pulpits by choosing quotations in the bible to
suit their own interpretations so that they can keep their members and not the
souls. It is alleged that, some are snatching the husbands and wives of others
by the same members. I call them members and not souls. God rather favors those
who are able to rebuke others with love to save them from the devil. Proverbs 28:23 rather tells us that. He that rebukes a man afterwards shall find
more favor than he that flatters with the tongue. In many countries of which
our countries could more or less be victims, most of the parliamentarians are
said to be involved in corruption to about over 90 percent. Are these not the
same people we see in our churches on Sundays sitting at the front rows? Are
some of them not the same preachers, pastors and the crusaders for Christ that
we know? People are living beyond their means and salaries or incomes per month
but we do not question their attitudes or speak severely against them for them
to change. We preach what they want to hear so that they can continue to offer
their ill-gotten cash and then end up in hell. You see, the scripture says that
whoever want to save his own life shall lose it. A good friend is the one who
will tell or rebuke you for a change whenever you go wrong.
Because of
the lack of rebuke, most of the preachers and the sons of God are going to be
denied entry into the Kingdom of God: Math. 7:21 (NKV) Not everyone who says to
Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will
of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have
we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many
wonders in Your name?’ This is one of
the reasons why we must rebuke to save other souls and our friends. The first
thing we must seek as a command is the Kingdom of God.
WHAT
TO DO? It is very necessary and relevant to rebuke, reprove
and correct the souls God has used us to bring unto Himself including all
the sons of God that we see. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKV) 16 All Scripture is given
by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be
complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
STOP THE FLATTERING: All the unnecessary flattering
must be stopped in the house of the LORD. They are just exaggerations. I
personally took a 10-year-old kid to church several times and asked the kid to
tell me the sermons preached. To my surprise,
the kid always told me the exact sermons heard correctly and the main thing
heard over and over again was the university the preacher attended, the masters
he has and how others have made it so people must also do the same. Where was
the Jesus we came to hear? Where were the wrong things people do and therefore
must change and accept Christ? Education is very good, if you say it is not, try
ignorance but that was not the platform. Some never stepped in a classroom but
have read widely and have self-studied and are better than you are. This can’t
save souls; the devil must not be allowed to use the wrong platform for his
activities. The scripture says, consider other people better than you are and
the bragging and exaggerations will stop. In fact, most of the preaching and
sermons we hear today are rather philosophies, economics and business which
could be taught in schools instead of the powerful word of God that can save.
People are going to hell don’t you see? There is no way that a person who genuinely
and truly knows and fears the LORD will never know that he has to be
educated. Check proverbs 9:10 (KJV) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. A trick which the devil
is using today is that, pastors, bishops, elders, lay preachers and evangelists
who preaches the truth and rebukes are cleverly prevented from preaching in the
house of the LORD and other platforms by their superiors on grounds of funny
excuses else they will lose some of the members or these pastors, preachers,
lay preachers or elders will become popular competing with them. If you are a coach
and you always sit the best players that you have as spectators on the bench,
will you not lose the game and be sacked as a bad coach? As the boss of an
organization, will you not be penalized or sacked if you employ workers who do
nothing but sits and are paid at the end of every month as spectators, a cost
to the organization? God will do the same to you I guess! You see, some bosses say everyone who want to
preach must go to the street and preach and must not complain: Imagine how
chaotic and disrespectful the situation would be if all the players of a
football team with a coach can just jump onto the field to play during a game
without the order and permission of the coach. The same applies to a church and
an evangelistic team who goes out to crusade for souls. The souls going to hell
must first be considered. Finally, let us learn to rebuke for God’s favor
as 1st John 3:8 (KJV) says: He
that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.
For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the
works of the devil. Rebuke the devil and he will flee. Remember: He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find
more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue.
BENONI 22ND AUGUST 2018
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