PRUNING AND PURGING

There is an old quote that basically says "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." How can it can be both? How can you be going through such a difficult time and be thankful for it at the same time? Doesn't make sense, but sometimes that how we feel.

I have heard two words this week that were used to describe what is currently happening at RFBC: "prune" and "purge". Some of my friends have told me that they believe God is pruning our church as illustrated in John 15...

John 15:1-2 (ESV) 1  “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2   Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 

Wow, even if you are bearing fruit, you will be pruned from time to time. Pruning seems so backwards at the time because you start looking at what you see as growth but God cuts off some parts and reshapes you so that you will grow the right direction and be more fruitful. At the time of pruning, you may be thinking, "Hey, wait, I need that!" and you try to hang on to that twig only to find out later from God's perspective, you looked really weak and were not producing as much as you will now that you are pruned.

1 Corinthians 5:7 (KJV) 7  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 

The English Standard Version and the New American Standard say to 'cleanse' or 'clean out' so that you will become 'new'. Every church must examine itself and ask questions like "Is this biblical or just a tradition that we have inherited?" and "How does the Bible say we should do this?".

We are in the first stages of the book of Hebrews on Sunday mornings and already we have seen such strong warnings coming from God's Word...

Hebrews 2:1-3 (ESV) 1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,  


Hebrews 3:7-13 (ESV) 7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. 10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ 11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ” 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 

I really believe that God is breaking us of our pride, our self-centeredness, our stubborness and any other hindrance that is keeping us from being the church that we should be. We need to pray for each other continually and stay rooted in God's Word. It is God's Word that will shape us the right way...

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV) 16   All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17  that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.