"Honorable or Dishonorable!"

“Honorable or Dishonorable!”

 

Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver bowls, but also those of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.  So if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.          2Timothy 2:20-21

 

The Apostle Paul, throughout his ministry, had his share of problems with false teachers infiltrating the churches and leading the people astray.   In his letter to Timothy, he is encouraging Timothy to NOT get tangled up with these false teachers, he was to NOT have anything to do with them nor their ministry. 

 

So Paul used the metaphor of the contents in a large house, some were gold and silver and some were wood and clay.  The gold and silver were for HONORABLE use, but the wood and clay were for DISHONORABLE use. 

 

In our churches, we have some who are FAITHFUL, TRUE BELIEVERS and some who are UNFAITHFUL and are corrupted by the world.  They may believe they have SALVATION, but have only a head-knowledge and NOT acceptance of the HEART, and are still connected to their old life-style.  They try to mix the things of the world with the things of God, but they are contaminated by the worldly things and cannot be of HONORABLE use to the Almighty God.  Some of these wood and clay vessels may be serving or ministering in our churches, they may be in teaching or leadership positions and possibly leading some astray by teaching a FALSE doctrine.

 

We NEED to be on guard and with love and diplomacy remove the wood and clay vessels from the teaching positions and replace them with the gold and silver vessels, which are purposed for HONORABLE use.  We don’t want to be guilty of participating in FALSE teaching or of leading anyone astray.  We will be accountable to God for our actions concerning the proper use of HONORABLE or DISHONORABLE VESSELS. 

 

The souls of mankind are worth protecting MORE than trying to protect the feelings of an UNBELIEVER, who is contaminating the hearts and minds of the people with FALSE teachings.  I know that is a harsh reality, but we are given the responsibility to protect the gospel and its integrity.  The way we do that is to make SURE that our leaders and teachers are TRUE BELIEVERS. That they are HONORABLE vessels that God will be willing to use for His good pleasure.  In order for them to be HONORABLE, they MUST come to God with a TRUE repentant HEART, CONFESSING their sins to Him and asking Him for His FORGIVENESS, BELIEVING, with ALL their HEART, that Jesus died for THEM, and is ALIVE in Heaven, making intercession for them, before God, then ACCEPT God’s gift of SALVATION, and be an HONORABLE vessel ready to be used by ALMIGHTY GOD.  Do it NOW, while they still can.  He’s waiting and coming SOON!!!