People in the Church: Who To Keep, Who Not to Keep

People in the Church: Who To Keep, Who Not to Keep         Kelly Durant  2-19-17

Matthew 13: 47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: 48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

2. How many of you have ever been in a restaurant and you got some food that you just could not eat? You are never rude on purpose but you just could not take in any more after 2 bites. It was uncooked, or had a bad flavor, something made it undesirable and it is perfectly fine for you to discern what’s what. We all are allowed to choose what you will take into your body or not, correct?

Today let’s apply, as Jesus did, the concept of good food and bad food to the world’s people. A majority of Christian people are like good tasting food and they do us good. They are a pleasure to work with, right?  You and I, and for sure God gets along great with the ones who love Him and others! They have a loving, kind, generous, serving spirit and serve in God’s work applying the Holy Spirit oil to smooth out all the problems in the machinery. These are authentic Christ-like Christians who demand little and produce much.

With Jesus things are always black or white. He compares fish to people, that there are many good people but also there are people that are not good for God or anybody! Sadly, some people will always leave you with a bad taste in your mouth due to their bad nature, immaturity, and rudeness, due to their trouble making complaints, and they destroy love by accusations and back-stabbing. And in their arrogant way of thinking, they believe they are superior to you, yet their personal lives reveal that they are a confused terror. We must watch out as some of these types of ‘bad fish’ become leaders in the church. In their minds pastors and church people are just manipulating others, they think with a carnal mind, not a spiritual one. There exists healthy fish, and there exists bottom feeding fish which live off of the trash of others.

3. The verses of today, if not applied in context might seem a bit cruel that God throws people away out of the net, but let’s analyze well what Jesus infers. He says that the Kingdom of God is like a net that catches all kinds of fish, but later, after a time when the net is out and gone through, some of the fish are kept and others are thrown away or thrown back into the lake. Why throw certain ones away? Doesn’t God want to save everyone? The interpretation implies that each of us must ask ourselves this question: How can it be God’s fault for rejecting someone who they themselves chose to reject God? If a person rejects God’s goodness and salvation preferring their own ways of rebellion and corruption, then this is what makes them at fault by their own ways being useless and lacking in substance. 

The verses of today can be taken within 2 contexts. One context is that when there is the final judgment, when Jesus returns, there will be a scooping up of souls, like catching them in a net, to be presented before the Great White Judgment and then these souls will be separated as the wheat will be separated from the weeds. The wheat goes in heaven’s barn but the weeds are burnt. Here is another analogy…

Matthew 25:32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: Matthew 25:33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. In the end, it is either heaven or hell for the souls of those who went through the testing ground of life on this earth. The point is each person choses their own nature and destiny, either to be a good seed or a bad one, either to become a tame animal or a ferocious one, either to be a fish good for consumption, or a bad poisonous bottom feeder; either to accept Jesus humble loving nature in you or not! And did you know that if you even touch certain fish they will poison you and make you sick, and it is the same as some people!

4. A second way to look at the Kingdom of God is to apply this concept in the here and now, that in real time as we separate the good from the bad. Jesus with His 12 disciples started the Kingdom of God on earth, and ever since then there has been followers of Jesus obeying God’s will and accomplishing His commands. Many Christian churches or groups of ‘called out ones’ do God’s will serving and saving souls (But not all who claim to be Christian really are as by their fruits you will know them). Jesus said, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men” Matt 4:19

A picture of the Kingdom of God on earth can be read in the Book of Acts and in chapter 2 it describes how the followers were the first to share the wealth with each other and helping each other spiritually. A true church representing God’s Kingdom helps the needy and those of his own household while always inviting all to come in and join and share in the work and blessings.  We are figuratively then in the net of God! Gang members often tattoo spider nets on their selves to show they are caught in the net of their particular gang. You and I are either caught by God or caught by Satan! Life obligates you to be in someone’s net… eventually.

Acts2:44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. Do you live this way?

5. So if the bodies (souls) of Christ-believers (in the Salvation Army we say Corps, which is a group of bodies) are the Kingdom of God on earth, then how would we apply this sorting out of the fish as described in Matthew 13: 47, 38? It basically means that not everyone is of use and it is okay to let go of the useless ones. Like folks out of rehab, some return back to their old ways, while others go on to serve God even some become Officers. It’s either holiness or unholiness.

Let’s get more specific, let’s take examples from all the many people that have come through our doors and then they left on their own. I know I try to show loving and compassionate attention to all and some people may think I want to keep everyone no matter how bad they are, but this is not the case. I know many people have seen me spend weeks at a time with certain people in need helping solve a problem, and sometimes it has been worth it, and yet at other times not. The role you and I have is just to help everyone anyway without discrimination.

I have often felt, after 40 years of ministry, that maybe a few hundred times that I have helped people who didn’t deserve it at all! But at the time I didn’t know if they deserved it or not when I first started out. I consider it this way, the Lord and I gave them a chance, and if they had thankfulness or not, if they started obeying God or not, it is for God to sort it out later. It is like sorting out the good fish from the bad. God, not me, owns the fish in the net!

6. Here is the usual process, a person comes in the doors for the first time and they either need something or they say they want to serve God and be involved. What do you and I do? You and I help them as best as we can encouraging them and invite them to serve. Then we give them time. In the fishing context it is like giving them line; I let them swim away and then try to pull them back in to see if they are still there. Remember when fishing you do not choose the fish or the kind of fish you want, the random fish just come and bite on the bait on the line.

The only way to get to know people is with time. If a person really wants to be involved in doing God’s work they will come on their own over and over and over be faithful to God’s work. Notice how I said, God’s work. Each person must show respect to the rules and be faithful to the church as well but that is where the problem starts. The church is made up of people.

Over time people reveal if they are sincere in their love for God and for their brothers and sisters or just faking it because they want some personal benefit from the church. And people who are not of God usually become unbearable in their demands and it is good to just let some people go elsewhere! It is ok to cut the line and let some people go! I don’t cut the line too often, I know God has patience and even years are needed for some to turn around to start obeying God. But it is God’s work, not mine, to help each person to submit to the Holy Spirit.

7. I try not to share information about people’s ups and downs with others as doing so would be a violation of trust concerning things happening in their lives. I know some of you may think, why do the Captains/pastors visit so and so, but not the Jones? The truth is one of the hardest jobs we have is having the ability to discern who needs attention and when! William Booth said to “go for souls and go for the worst”. My wife and I pray and counsel together to decide, but it is hard to know all the time who to invest in and who not to. We have to go by the clues we observe to know who is weak and needs attention, and to know who not to worry about because they are strong in faith and do not need many visits, or extra attention.

Sometimes you and I as leaders only have enough time to visit those who are sick, or those in the hospital, or spend time planning with certain leaders. Sometimes we do not invest time in certain people because we are waiting on them to show us their own initiative. Some people when you give them line and time just swim away! Maybe they were coming to God’s Kingdom looking for something, but then they didn’t value it, they got distracted, or disinterested in God’s word and work and then disappeared. They are like, as in the parable of the sewer, the seed overcome by weeds, but that is what they chose. I do get sad, very sad when people leave, but think about it, even begging a person to stay does not work when their heart is not fully set on being dedicated to God or the Corps/church. But people who stay through hard times and disappointments and mature are obviously not staying for benefits or our ‘great luxurious church’ (thank God it is not excessive), or for our greatness as theologians or for being famous pastors as on TV, but instead they are staying because they want to be a part of God’s Kingdom and win other souls to Jesus!

And I will give you an example, without using names, of a case we had in the distant past of how we have had to let a certain fish go. There was a person we hired and he did a fine job but wanted us to hire his wife as well. We actually had the funds to hire her but I chose to let the process go a few weeks to see if she was worth it, if she would volunteer. I kept inviting her to please help us and that if you have nothing to do but be home alone, please come and help us in the office a few hours. Guess what? She never chose to volunteer for hardly anything and my wife and I chose not to hire her! How can one hire a person unwilling to do good knowing there is a need? She never learned of the fact that we were almost hiring her but we backed out seeing she had no goodwill to be useful when she could have been.

8. So, it is alright to let some people go! Some people simply are not choosing to serve God even though you and I may be praying for them. Some people are good as a Corps member but some people that come to church are not even fit to be members of any church! Let me tell you why? Some people when they are not getting special favors and attention, not getting position, not getting something they desire they start complaining and backstabbing the members and the Captains/pastors, bad-mouthing  the church, and they may even backstab members who gave them money or did many good things for them. Remember a true Christian has love and forgiveness and the fruits of the spirit! Not everyone in the net of Christianity is a good fish.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

So the way to know a good fish from a bad one is by their fruits, by their obvious nature of appearances and practices, by their healthy or sickly spirit, by what they do or don’t do. Do they follow and obey as a gentle sheep, or are the independent and destructive as a rebellious goat?

9. I decided to share this as often times some of you question if you should keep investing in a certain friend or family member or not, if you should keep visiting and begging a certain person to come to church or not. There does come a time when we must realize that not every person that accepts Jesus or comes to church for a few weeks will chose to do service to God and serve others and serve the church like you and I do. Genesis 6:3 (a) And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh:

What we witness in all churches is a population of people that come and go. There are ‘seekers’, then there are those who progress to be ‘adherents’ (who adhere to the faith but are not sacrificial to the work yet, or maybe circumstances prevent it), and then there are Soldiers in this volunteer army who are those who chose to do all they can in some manner to serve in this part of God’s kingdom! Thank God for Soldiers, and Local Officers, amen? God will use you only as much as you will let Him.

God owns the net! The final judgement is coming! We serve as His fishermen, we often catch and sort, but He keeps or He let’s go according to what each person chooses! Be faithful to stay with God’s school of fish active in his service in his net and He will keep you forever!