God wants believers to serve Him in truth. In fact, it is this very issue that will determine “of what sort” our work is at the judgment seat of Christ.
When an individual gets things right with God, he should likewise look for opportunities to make things right with others he might have done wrong.
Many people choose to continue in sin thinking that the consequences are not mounting up. The scriptures indicate something quite different.
In establishing His covenant with Israel, God promised them He would have respect unto them, make them fruitful, and multiply them.
Most people assume the Lord’s actions are motivated almost solely because of His love for man. Yet, God works for His own glory and for His own name’s sake.
The relationship between the master and his stewards is one built upon trust. The master places his possessions into the hands of a steward. He will be reluctant to do this unless that man has proven himself trustworthy. The apostle Paul found no shame in claiming to be a faithful steward of God (1 Corinthians 4:1). As such, he understood the principle that the ministry was placed under his care because God had entrusted it to him (1 Corinthians 9:17; Colossians 1:25; 1 Thessalonians 2:4; 1 Timothy 1:11; Titus 1:3). This fact affected everything the apostle said and did. This truth constantly reminded him that he did not live for himself, and that one day he must give an account for his stewardship.
Sin can never be flippantly disregarded. If the Lord is just, and He is, He must mete out consequences for rebellion. The biblical descriptions of the Lord’s reaction to rebellion varies from “he will be wroth” (Joshua 22:18) to “then shall the hand of the LORD be against you” (1 Samuel 12:15) to “ye shall be devoured with the sword” (Isaiah 1:20) to “I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee” (Exodus 33:5) to “I will purge out from among you the rebels” (Ezekiel 20:38) to “I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings” (Malachi 2:2). Though there are variations in the response, the constant truth remains that the Lord hates rebellion and responds to the rebellion with judgment.
Man’s opinion concerning the sinfulness of sin very rarely reflects God’s holy, perfect, and righteous declarations. This is because man does not think like God. The Lord expressed these sentiments in Isaiah 55:8-9 when He said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, . . . For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Even a cursory study of rebellion verifies these truths as a man generally thinks of it more lightly than he ought. Man describes rebellion as strong willed or independent; however, God provides an accurate description as He states that “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.” Because God likens rebellion to witchcraft, the Old Testament punishment for rebellion was likewise death (Deuteronomy 21:18-23). There can be no doubt as to the seriousness of this sin from God’s perspective.
God often allows problems to enter people’s lives in order to facilitate His initial plans. For example, God had already expressed His desire to Abram for him to separate from his kindred. For various reasons, Abram had not obeyed God up until this point. In order to bring about God’s desired will, He allowed conflict to enter between the herdmen of Abram and those of Lot. The solution to this unnecessary conflict was quite simple. Abram suggested that they part ways (God’s initial plan) and Abram turned toward the land of Canaan (God’s initial plan). The Lord used the same tactic in the early church to get them to spread out and to preach His word outside of Jerusalem (see Acts 1:8 and Acts 8:1).
As Abram and Lot travelled together, it became increasingly obvious that the multitude of their possessions would make it difficult for them to dwell together. Eventually, the herdmen of the two men began to strive with each other over the pastures for their cattle. No doubt, both groups of herdmen were primarily concerned with the well-being of their own master’s cattle. Neither was willing to compromise their own needs or wishes in order to accommodate the needs of the other group. As Abram witnessed the relationship decay, he knew that he must concede to the inevitability of separating the two groups. He asked Lot to choose another piece of land in which to dwell.
