Evaluating 40 Days of Community

[*NOTE: Quotes from the 40 Days of Community Workbook are blockquoted.]
This is an excellent chapter with appropriate warnings and wise guidance. I have a few things I want to point out and a few of my own comments to add.

"We're Connected to Grow Together...By Warning Each Other."

"Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (Heb 3:13, ESV).

Continuing on in the ESV:

"For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.' For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief." (Heb 3:14-19, ESV).

If even those who experienced the tremendous miracles of the signs from Moses, the 10 plagues on Egypt, the pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, the passing through the Red Sea, manna from heaven, water from the rock, clothing that lasted 40 years, the voice of God and thundering at Mt. Sinai... if these still did not believe, then we ought to realize that even many miracles cannot sway unbelief. How is it that we find true belief? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We do not truly believe until we are fully submitted to Him, and this is hard (even impossible) if we do not understand ourselves in truth from God's perspective, that we are sinners saved by grace and not of works -- we are totally unable to please Him and are all in the muck together. How amazing it is that He saved me, then adopted me and gave me a son's inheritance! How undeserving I am, and how utterly loving He is. How can I not give everything to Him? Everything I have obtained in this life is absolutely worthless compared to knowing Jesus Christ!

...God wants us to "tell each other the truth, because we all belong to each other in the same body" (Eph 4:25, NCV). Note that the basis for telling the truth and for warning each other is that "we all belong to each other."

In the NASB, we read something slightly different: "Therefore, having put away falsehood..." This says that we have already put away falsehood. If you are a disciple of Christ, you have repented and put away the desires and lusts of the old nature and crucified them. If you haven't, then Jesus said that you will perish. This doesn't mean you won't make mistakes, and we will by no means become perfect in this life, but it does mean that you don't purpose to lie. After all, the Bible says in Rev 21:8 (NASB): "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." The basis for telling the truth is because we have repented of our sinful lives and turned to Christ. Therefore, Paul is exhorting us to tell each other the truth because of the this fact which means that we belong to one another. Our belonging is the result of our repentance and belief in Christ.

Anyone who would knowingly let us swerve into the path of danger wouldn't be a true friend; and the warning to us is not to tear down our driving skills, but to keep us on the correct path. As in driving, the warning should be immediate--"as long as it is called today." We should seize the moment because waiting on warning only leads to disaster.

This is very well said, and I agree whole heartedly. In fact, this is the reason I am writing this blog. As you can see, there is some good truths in this book, but there are also many misleading sign posts which could misdirect those who are searching for truth onto the wide path and away from the straight and narrow. From the context of this day's reading, we can see that Rick is speaking about those slipping into moral failures. However, its just as true when it comes to doctrinal purity. "Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers" (1 Tim 4:16, NIV).