Ezekiel 18 : New King James Version Ezekiel 18:20-22,24-25 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. “But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die. “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair?
Matthew 20: New King James Version Matthew 20:9-12 And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’
Christianity is not growing because of those who received Christ first. If anyone else had received Christ in your family and not you then the whole clan would have been saved by now. Christians have become the most judgemental and elitist group , very content with their numbers and unwilling to let anyone in their clique. We feel like we have made it watching those outside the flock with a superior eye. We are alot like the older brother in the story of the prodigal son in that we feel like our loyalty to Chrisy gives us a sense of entitlement or an elevated position compared to sinners forgetting that God allows rain to fall for the sinner and the faithful. We have a possessiveness of Christ and feel we have earned the right to give an input when he is selecting those he loves. But the above parable rightly shows that those who came at the 11th hour and those who started in the morning each gets a denarii. Paul and the thief who repented on the cross both get crowns of glory and each receives equal elevation. I recently saw a tweet that said the church should not have a vip section. I would appreciate to hear your views on this but I think I agree , we should strive to remove classisim in the body of Christ and be welcoming to all and sundry with the knowledge that our earlier works of righteousness wont protect us when we later sin in the future. Likewise for the sinner dont be bullied from the table of Christ by those who remind you of your past because your good now naggates the bad you did before. I will not say much this week because I feel the two passages of scripture are self explanatory , stay blessed.