Winners and Users

There has been much said about Judas Iscariot who was one of the 12 disciples of Christ and the betrayer of the Lord who sold his whereabouts for a small sum of silver (Matthew 26:15) and just a line about Alexander the coppersmith who did "much evil" to the Apostle Paul (2 Timothy 4:14) but the two have something in common that I believe should be explored.

The bible commands and warns men to "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" Proverbs 4:23. Many Christians have a tendency to be very kind people, giving, sharing but there are those who would manipulate and use the Christian. Of course, maybe one would refute the idea of standing on ones own two feet with something like "turn the other cheek" etc. but it is a good idea to remember the wisdom we are instructed to use along with that gentleness. If a person is a user or a smiter of cheeks the Christian isn't instructed to allow the continued abuse. Christ did not spend a lot of time around the Pharisees and these people couldn't help their twisted tongues but to take jabs at the Lord. Christ firmly rebuked the religious fools many times and even rebuked what they wore, their mannerisms, actions and much deeper, the filth that was inside them. The Pharisees would have used Christ as one of their own if they could, of course the Lord is much greater than we can imagine and his omniscience trumps the foolishness of men.

Alexander the coppersmith forsook the gospel and laid his allegiance at the feet of the idol Diana when he was confronted for Christian teaching in Ephesus. The apostle Paul was no stranger to danger as he had been beaten, left for dead, shipwrecked, arrested but made particular mention of the apostate Alexander and backslider Demas.

So, my question is this: should the Christian keep turning the other cheek or wise up and stand up? I think the answer is pretty obvious here and we can give respect and keep balance to the instructions found in Matthew 5:41-44 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Let's try an example here, the Christian has extended grace, mercy, compassion and time to the abusive person who is in deep need of salvation or the backslider who needs repentance. How far is too far? How far should we go? Hasn't the Lord called us to live at peace?

Let's start with the gospel, confront the Pharisee and the user with the gospel. The gospel is so simple, God created you and you have offended God because of sin, Christ died on the cross and rose again and his shed blood is the saving grace you need to know God and to be saved. If a person rejects the doctrines of the bible then our instructions are clear according to Matthew 10:13 And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.

If a person rejects Jesus Christ or if the backslider refuses to repent then we should look at them in the light of the bible: 1 Corinthians 16:22 says this: If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.

Something compelled the write here to use the Greek words Anathema and Chaldean originated word Maranatha, I could speculate as to why and think the words sound quite fitting together but lets examine their meaning.

Anathema is to be excommunicated, cursed or banned, whether it be an object or a person.

Maranatha is simply Divine Judgment the literal meaning is Our Lord Has Come.

Matthew Henry's commentary says "we sometimes need words of threatening"

Here are Matthew Henry's comments:

1. The person described, who is liable to this doom: He that loveth not the Lord Jesus Christ. A meiōsis, as some think; he who blasphemes Christ disowns his doctrine, slights and contemns his institutions, or, through pride of human knowledge and learning, despises his revelations. It stands here as a warning to the Corinthians and a rebuke of their criminal behaviour. It is an admonition to them not to be led away from the simplicity of the gospel, or those principles of it which were the great motives to purity of life, by pretenders to science, by the wisdom of the world, which would call their religion folly, and its most important doctrines absurd and ridiculous. Those men had a spite at Christ; and, if the Corinthians give ear to their seducing speeches, they were in danger of apostatizing from him. Against this he gives them here a very solemn caution. “Do not give into such conduct, if you would escape the severest vengeance.” Note, Professed Christians will, by contempt of Christ, and revolt from him, bring upon themselves the most dreadful destruction. Some understand the words as they lie, in their plain and obvious meaning, for such as are without holy and sincere affection for the Lord Jesus Christ. Many who have his name much in their mouths have no true love to him in their hearts, will not have him to rule over them (Luk_19:27), no, not though they have very towering hopes of being saved by him. And none love him in truth who do not love his laws and keep his commandments. Note, There are many Christians in name who do not love Christ Jesus the Lord in sincerity. But can any thing be more criminal or provoking? What, not love the most glorious lover in the world! Him who loved us, and gave himself for us, who shed his blood for us, to testify his love to us, and that after heinous wrong and provocation! What had we a power of loving for, if we are unmoved with such love as this, and without affection to such a Saviour? But, 2. We have here the doom of the person described: “Let him be Anathema, Maran-atha, lie under the heaviest and most dreadful curse. Let him be separated from the people of God, from the favour of God, and delivered up to his final, irrevocable, and inexorable vengeance” Maran-atha is a Syriac phrase, and signifies The Lord cometh. That very Lord whom they do not love, to whom they are inwardly and really disaffected whatever outward profession they make, is coming to execute judgment. And to be exposed to his wrath, to be divided to his left hand, to be condemned by him, how dreadful! If he will destroy, who can save? Those who fall under his condemning sentence must perish, and that for ever. Note, Those who love not the Lord Jesus Christ must perish without remedy. The wrath of God abides on every one who believes not on the Son, Joh_3:36. And true faith in Christ will evermore be productive of sincere love to him. Those who love him not cannot be believers in him.

Loving the purity and profundity of the puritans it's easy to take warning of those who would despitefully use another person. Christians are attractive targets if living for the Lord, physically contain blessings and provision potentially in excess of need and spiritually polished armor is like a mirror that Satan wants to smudge and corrode. Nothing slows a runner down more than weights or mud, to the like maybe nothing slows a Christian down than the weight of one of these users.

Here are a few ideas for the winners to avoid being used: Avoid unexpected giving by planning carefully what you will give and where you will delegate those resources into proven places. Watch out for fables, sob stories, backbiters and the subtleties of Satan. Always run on the high road while still being ready to condescend to anyone with the love of Christ. Allow God to be the provider, nobody exists without the Lords allowance and nobody exists outside of His knowledge so let the Lord provide for others as He sees fit, don't squander your blessings on beggars, con artists, transients, pan handlers etc. There is a balance, and this is my personal opinion, When I hand out tracts to pan handlers I sometimes put a dollar in the tract especially if they are missing a limb or look especially needy and unable. If a person has a red face or too many wrinkles or a pitted face then there is a strong chance they will just spend the money on drugs or alcohol and it isn't really for food. Also, I've never met a transient who really liked to work, just the opposite, I have listened and talked with a few and they almost always talk about avoiding work, getting free money from the government etc. An alternative is to hand them a tract and a dollar burger from McD's (healthy lifestyles come in second place when comes to staying alive).

I would love to write a great conclusion to this but I will leave that up to the readers mind. For every hardline true honest person in the world, I am guessing that 99 would steal something from you even just something small. One time I bought a new toilet for my house, brought it home, installed it and found out that it was much less of a winner than I had thought. I removed the toilet after a few days, installed a much better one and posted the loser toilet on craigslist for 1/4 of the original price. Quickly someone wanted to buy it. I talked to the person on the phone and they agreed to come pick it up for the price of 25 dollars. That day I was somewhat busy so I decided to put the toilet outside for them with an envelope, on the front of the envelope I wrote $25.00 and nothing else, placed the envelope on the toilet and went to work. After the person picked up the toilet she called and left me a message that my money was in the envelope on my front door. A very short time later I got the envelope and it was short 5 dollars. Either that woman took a 5 dollar discount (stole) from me or some passer by took the 5 dollars. Whatever the case someone decided that being mostly honest and a little dishonest was okay. This represents a very low moral standard yet some moral standard. A statement that is 20% false and 80% true is actually 100% false. Lies mixed with truth are just garbage. I could make a lot of jokes about the person who 5 dollars over a toilet but I think the point makes the case. Keep your guard up yet remain tender to the Lord. Don't trust just anyone but give people the benefit of the doubt once and learn your lesson.