Who Is In The Kingdom?
Now that we are past most of the terrible effects of COVID, most of us think little about it and have gone back to our same habits of the pre-COVID days. Occasionally, I still see people riding alone in their cars wearing a mask. They may have a special reason for it due to some other illness, but I believe many of them are people still living in fear. There are strong differences of opinion about whether COVID is a “thing” any longer to be concerned with. I mention it today not for the talking points of illnesses, vaccines, or mandates. My concern is the excuse it offers many Christians not to gather with God’s people. Of course, I am speaking of those who are not sick, have not much fear of getting sick, but need an easy way out when confronted by the pastor. I also mention this problem in its connection with Lordship salvation. These may seem to be an unusual pairing, so read on to follow my thought processes.
When Christians look for excuses to miss the assembly, it is troubling to the pastor as it signals a much deeper spiritual problem. Commenting on 1 Cornithians 6:9 which begins, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?”, Alistair Begg wrote: “We must take note that Paul is not referring to isolated acts of unrighteousness. No member of Christ’s Kingdom lives a sinless life this side of eternal glory. Rather, Paul is referring to someone who persistently pursues or tolerates sin. He has the mindset the kind of life that declares, ‘I don’t want God to interfere in my choices, but I do want to live with the notion that I actually belong in His Kingdom, and I do want all the benefits of that.’”
Begg continues, “God sets the kingdom borders. It is simply not the case that everybody is in, no matter what they are, what they believe, or what they want! That notion my sound palatable, but it is simply not what God’s word teaches—God, and no one else, decides who is in the Kingdom.”
Reading the rest of 1 Corinthians 6:9 and verse 10, you will see various sins mentioned—fornication, idolatry, sodomy, thievery, drunkenness, etc. This is quite a list of depravity and are what we consider the worst sins we can commit. In the context of Paul’s statement about the Kingdom of God, he chooses these heinous sins as examples from which many of the Corinthians were delivered.
We ought not to think that sins we consider lesser do not figure into the apostle Paul’s or Alistair Begg’s point. If you met someone who claims to be a Christian and each time you talked with them, they spoke bitterly and filled their language with cursing and gossip, I dare to observe that on the third day of the same, you would be convinced they are not Christians at all and thus not in the Kingdom of Christ.
Transfer the same logic to the pastor who sees members of the church constantly, persistently absent themselves from the assembly. I would give the latitude of more than the third consecutive time, but I am highly suspicious of the third month. If you do not want Christ to rule your life, to interfere with your life, and understand that you are accountable to Him, it is highly doubtful that you belong to the Kingdom and that the benefits of it are yours.
In 1 Corinthians 6:9, Paul did not accuse the Corinthians of living in the sins he mentioned. Rather, he says they were cleansed from these “worse sins” and his subject is that they did not treat brothers and sisters in Christ as they should be treated. This is likewise unrighteousness and the unrighteous do not inherit the Kingdom of God. Salvation brings us into the family of God with new attitudes towards those who are believers. My point is we must reason about sin as Paul reasons. Disregarding Christian fellowship is a sin on par with the worst you can do. You may not think this way. However, remember this quote: “God, and no one else, decides who is in His Kingdom.”
Pastor V. Mark Smith