07/26/22 IT'S A "GOOD WORK"

07/26/22 IT'S A "GOOD WORK"

My charge from God is to warn, feed, lead, protect, train, edify, reprove, correct, instruct in righteousness, manage and bring the sheep in my local congregation to Christian perfection, which is the perfection or standard that God sets for His children.

This requires me to clear out the obstacles to growth, build them on a firm foundation of Biblical truth and practice, fight for them against the wiles of the wicked one, mend them when they are broken or sickly.

Ground must be broken up, rocks and trees removed, weeds destroyed and the land properly prepared in order for it to be a productive piece of land for the farmer.

Doctors prescribe diet, exercise and other aids to health for their patients. When a person has an ailment that is more complex, needing more serious care, the doctor may need to operate, even amputate, in order to save or improve the patients quality of life or even to save the life of his patient.

Likewise, in the mechanical model, we see that the brokenness of an inner man requires a tearing down (as tearing down an engine), through preaching, teaching, counseling. My job is to repair, restore, replace the damaged parts of the inner man, as in the model of a mechanic.

Sometimes a person allows total failure in their life or they have abused their inner man to such a degree that they must submit to drastic spiritual intervention.

It is possible that the person needing help will be resistant. This is what leads to the more extensive, intrusive, invasive work of the pastor.

It is better for the believer to maintain his relationship with God and to strengthen his relationship with God, rather than neglect and reject sound leadership and counsel. 

As the mechanic in the old commercial for automotive oil said, "Pay me now, or pay me later."