What does it mean to walk in the counsel of the wicked and how do we avoid it? Does it mean that we should not spend time with so-called ‘sinners’? Does it mean that we should not be around people who aren’t ‘holy’? Does it mean that we should spend our whole lives either at home or at church and not be around anyone else in this corrupt, fallen world? Is that what it means? I’m sure we’ve all heard the old expression that bad company corrupts good character. Is that what this is talking about when it says that we should not walk in the counsel of the wicked? Not really: let us not forget that it is only when we are around people that need the Lord that we have any opportunity to share the Lord with them.
The Lord birthed The Salvation Army through the Booths by doing just this – serving the Lord by helping the marginalized in society and sharing the love of God with others. Consecrating our soldiers from the profane world through our covenant, the Lord is able to use the Army in the world to reach many people who may otherwise just slip through the cracks. We do not hide from the wicked. And Jesus, himself, when his disciples are asked why he eats with tax collectors and sinners answers “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick…For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:12, Mark 2:17, Luke 5:31). Jesus does not separate himself from the everyday people of the world in this way. And the Apostle Paul tells us that he has become all things to all people so that by all possible means some may be saved (1 Corinthians 9:22). Jesus and his disciples spent their ministry showing mercy to the people of the world, to the outcasts of society: the poor, the widow, the immigrant. When Jesus is confronted with a women caught in adultery (John 8:1-11), a woman guilty of the death penalty, what does he do? Does Jesus shun her? Does he say ‘bad company corrupts good character’? Does Jesus condemn her? No. Does Jesus accept her sin and tell her to not worry about it because we all sin all the time anyway. No. He saves her and then Jesus tells her to go and sin no more and if indeed she decides to reject his salvation and continues along the same path forever, she will probably receive the natural consequences (Romans 6:23). Jesus, his disciples and apostles do spend time with the outcasts and with sinners; so removing ourselves from them, shunning the sinner can’t be what this psalm should mean to his followers.
What does it mean to walk in the ways of the wicked? What does it mean to follow their counsel? It means... read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2010/11/psalm-11-2which-one-of-these-things-is.html
The Lord birthed The Salvation Army through the Booths by doing just this – serving the Lord by helping the marginalized in society and sharing the love of God with others. Consecrating our soldiers from the profane world through our covenant, the Lord is able to use the Army in the world to reach many people who may otherwise just slip through the cracks. We do not hide from the wicked. And Jesus, himself, when his disciples are asked why he eats with tax collectors and sinners answers “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick…For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:12, Mark 2:17, Luke 5:31). Jesus does not separate himself from the everyday people of the world in this way. And the Apostle Paul tells us that he has become all things to all people so that by all possible means some may be saved (1 Corinthians 9:22). Jesus and his disciples spent their ministry showing mercy to the people of the world, to the outcasts of society: the poor, the widow, the immigrant. When Jesus is confronted with a women caught in adultery (John 8:1-11), a woman guilty of the death penalty, what does he do? Does Jesus shun her? Does he say ‘bad company corrupts good character’? Does Jesus condemn her? No. Does Jesus accept her sin and tell her to not worry about it because we all sin all the time anyway. No. He saves her and then Jesus tells her to go and sin no more and if indeed she decides to reject his salvation and continues along the same path forever, she will probably receive the natural consequences (Romans 6:23). Jesus, his disciples and apostles do spend time with the outcasts and with sinners; so removing ourselves from them, shunning the sinner can’t be what this psalm should mean to his followers.
What does it mean to walk in the ways of the wicked? What does it mean to follow their counsel? It means... read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2010/11/psalm-11-2which-one-of-these-things-is.html
More daily blogs at
More articles, sermons, and papers at
Comments
Post a Comment