(Php 2:12-15) Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.  Do all things without murmurings and disputings:  That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

We are sadly living at a time that no one receives rebuke or correction anymore, I rebuke you, you rebuke me, I claim that you are prideful and you claim that I am prideful, so when all is said and done we sound like two children saying “Yes”, “No”, “Yes”, “No”… just for the fun of it!  We are so far removed from the scriptures above, so that everything we do, just about, is with murmurings and disputings.  Even when some false peace maker comes along in their own pride and demands that peace is more important than truth, they demand that murmurings and disputings must come to an end so that they can calmly take control without dispute,  we still in our hearts are full of murmurs and disputes!

Just like Sargent Shoults in Hogan’s Heros, who said “I know notink, I see notink”, we continue to walk with murmurs and disputes, but only act peaceful for show, it’s not real.  So the people of God today in this crooked and perverse generation are NOT WITHOUT BLAME, as Paul instructs in Php. 2:12-15, we do not work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, in fact, every person has come to believe that it is just them and Christ, they don’t even need their brothers anymore!  Peace is fake, love is skin deep and fellowship is easily acted out with phony smiles and a preference for the praise of men, rather than the praise of God.  The man in charge loves to speak of peaches, cream and apple pie, when there are real problems being held beneath the surface – this should not be so!

We are told by Paul – (2Co 6:17-18) Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Could it be that you proclaiming Christians are under the false notion that God receives you? 

You refuse to come out and be separate and yet you can easily have fake fellowship, fake peace and fake love and apparently you can also fake the acceptance of the Lord.  Shameful!

I know of a ministry that has such fake fellowship as I am describing here – now don’t get it mixed up here, I am not talking about the harlot building ministries here, I am talking about people who claim that they are the remnant, they are the called out ones – this ministry group gathers for prayer, because they want to see revival.  Yet I am completely stunned and in awe that they assume that God has received them, they haven’t come out and become separate, they do not have that genuineness I speak of, and yet it has occurred to none of them that God has not received them, they just take it for granted.  I suppose that such a rebuke would be unacceptable to them, whether it were true or not, I happen to strongly believe that it is true,  never-the-less, they still pray for revival that will never come and wish for a genuineness and acceptance from God that will never come.

And this is why:

(Isa 29:18-21) And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.  For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:  That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.

Let me attempt to explain what I see in the above scriptures.   These people are blind, yet they say that they see, and because they say that they see, their sin remains, just like Jesus told the religious people of his day.   The meek and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel – for the King of Babylon is brought to nothing and the scorner is consumed.  Rebuke not a scorner lest he hate you, rebuke a wise man and he will love you.  It is the scorners among us who make a man an offender for a word and lay a snare for him who reproves another – trading a just thing for something worthless.  I cannot remember how many times I have lovingly attempted to convince another of their sins, just wanting to gain a brother, and some so called well-meaning scorner has come into the picture and accused the conversation of being an argument, they accuse us of being unloving, they accuse us of just wanting to be right, they accuse us of causing division.  I am on to you false peace makers, you promoters of phony love, you scorners who lay a snare, trading a just thing for something worthless!

According scriptures, the scorners will be consumed.

Since Jesus Christ is the head of EVERY man and the man is the head of his wife and house.  Let’s discuss what rebuke is really supposed to look like and is.

Here are some sound biblical guidelines for receiving or rejecting rebuke.

SINCE JESUS CHRIST IS MY HEAD, I WILL NOT RECEIVE YOUR REBUKE IF THE FOLLOWING APPLIES:

• You must be my brother and accepted in fellowship.  (1Co 5:12) For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
• If I disagree with your rebuke and you are unable to convince me given the time, patience and access, if the Word of God does not dwell richly in your heart, if you demand that I submit to you just because, I won’t hear you. I don’t submit to the persons of men, but to Christ alone and only to men in the fear of God.
  (Tit 1:7-9) For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;  But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;  Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.

If a person cries in my face to repent, yet cannot tell me what my sin is, if a person has their own sense of right and wrong, and they demand that I fashion my life according to their understanding of justice, righteousness, goodness and yet the Word of God does not richly dwell in them and again I am honestly unconvinced.  If I believe that they just want to take me down a notch, to lift themselves up, if they are self-centered and they really are not interested in gaining a brother, I won’t hear them.

(Mat 18:15-17) Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.  But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.  And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

AND FINALLY A LITTLE ON THE SUBJECT OF HUMILITY

Recently I had a man come to me and tell me of his struggles with pride.  Certainly you know how this works now days, don’t you?  The way you get people to accept you as humble in this generation, is you tell them how prideful you are, and if you won’t admit to being prideful, than you must be prideful.  Another man claimed that all men had pride, I asked him to find the scripture and establish this principle to me, he couldn’t.  He walked away from me angrily because I wouldn’t admit that I struggle with pride.  Imagine the shock when I decided to agree with the man who claimed to struggle with pride.  The Lord resists the proud and gives grace to the humble and as the scriptures say, Moses was one of the most humble men, no as a matter of fact, it may stroke your ego and self worth, but ALL men do not struggle with pride, that just isn’t true!  How can a man who is truly dead to self and alive in Christ, a man who dies daily, struggle with pride?  Do dead men struggle?

Finally brothers and sisters, if you really are brothers and sisters, please stop worthless rebuke and trade that in for real correction, love and rebuke.  Stop the false humility, being wrong and prideful does not make you humble in God’s eyes, it just makes you wrong and prideful.  The scorners are really prideful, those who hate rebuke, it is the scorners that will be brought to nothing, because God does indeed resist the proud, but gives grace to the humble and you don’t need to claim to be prideful to be truly humble, true humility is to die to self and walk in Christ, loving not your own life unto death.