Broken Fellowship: Does God Cut Off Christians?

 What really happens when a Christian sins? Does it break our fellowship with God—or has Jesus already removed every barrier forever?  

This video dives into one of the most debated questions in evangelical circles, exploring the tension between Old Testament warnings and New Testament promises. We’ll look at Isaiah’s words about sin separating us from God, Jeremiah’s prophecy of a new covenant, and the powerful declarations in Hebrews and Romans that nothing can separate us from His love.  

Along the way, you’ll see how some ministries teach that sin cuts us off until we repent, while Scripture itself proclaims that Jesus took away the sins of the world, that God remembers them no more, and that He will never leave or forsake us.  

Is fellowship something we can lose—or is it secured forever in Christ? The contradictions are striking, the implications are massive, and the truth will challenge everything you’ve heard.  

Watch now to discover why this question matters for every believer today.  

Sin Déjà Vu

"The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:56-57

In a message titled, "Disobedience Déjà Vu," a pastor was speaking on Abraham's propensity to lie and say that his wife, Sarah, was really his sister and then tried relating it to our own personal struggle with sin. He said we should, "never presume on our own weaknesses." By this he was warning us against giving sins we struggle with an opportunity to master us. As examples of this he said, "If you're an alcoholic, it is not wise to rent an apartment above a bar; it's foolish. You stay away from even the smell of alcohol. You spend time with those to whom you become accountable so you can live your life free of the addiction." Secondly, he said, "If you're given to lust, you are wise if you were to block off your internet the possibility of getting into pornographic sites because you can't handle it. You'll go there. And you'll go there again." For his last example he said, "If you're obese, you are foolish to spend your meals at one buffet after another." In general, I agree with taking whatever steps you feel are necessary to avoid succumbing to temptation and falling into sin. However, what I see in these three examples is a life still being controlled by your sin; rather than indulging in it, you are just trying to avoid it at all costs. It is two sides of the same coin. If you're an alcoholic, yes, living above a bar will make it easier to give in to the temptation to drink. However, how does this make the desire to drink alcohol in excessive amounts go away? Any place alcohol is available becomes a place you may have to avoid. Not just bars, but grocery stores, sports stadiums, restaurants, etc. And don't forget to turn off your TV, close your newspaper and avoid those billboard advertisements while driving. When it comes to avoiding lust, you may as well just close your eyes altogether. Similar to the struggle with alcohol, there are few places to go to avoid the temptation to lust. Besides blocking internet sites on your computer and other electronic devices, be careful not to walk down the magazine aisle at the bookstore. And good luck avoiding attractive looking people as you go about your daily life. And as far as being obese, avoiding the buffet is one thing, but what is stopping you from just ordering massive meals at other restaurants or just overloading your basket at the grocery store? You have to eat. If you multiply these behaviors times all the sins we as human beings struggle with, you will find yourself living in isolation at best and trapped in sin your entire life at worst. I do not intend to make light of the real struggle people have with these and other sins. We all struggle with something to varying degrees. But, putting ourselves under various forms of law designed to modify our behavior is only going to increase our desire to fall into sin.

Recently, I heard the story of a married man who committed adultery. When confronted about his sin, he said that the reason he had an affair was because of the religious pressure put on him by his wife and her family. Now, this may explain his behavior, but it doesn't excuse it. Adultery is wrong and this man is fully to blame for his actions. However, the religious pressure he felt to try and live a life he could not live made him look for relief outside of his marriage. Sadly, because he was tired of trying to live a sinless life, he committed sin as a way out of that life. The Bible says that the "strength of sin is the law." Whether we are trying to avoid sins by putting ourselves under laws we believe will weaken sins pull on us or we are under the laws of a church or denomination we believe will help us live holy and righteous lives, the end result, in many cases, is falling into sin. We fall into sin because we need a rest from our repeated failures at trying to live a life we cannot live. And being accountable to people who are only encouraging you to keep trying to live that impossible life, only makes things worse. Thankfully, there is a way out that doesn't involve sinning. Jesus Christ said, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name ...(John 1:12)" As a born again Christian, you have the right to call yourself a child of God. This is your new identity. At the moment of salvation, the indwelling Holy Spirit of God begins meeting the deepest desires of your heart for unconditional love, total acceptance, meaning and purpose to life. As an inheritance of your faith, you are forgiven of all your sins, holy, righteous, blameless, justified, sanctified, freed from the law and much more. This is what allows you to rest from the disobedient works of trying to live a life you cannot under the law. While you will still sin, your focus is no longer on overcoming your sin, but on Jesus Christ who overcame sin for you. And as you grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord, sins grip on you begins to diminish as a side effect of receiving the love of God you were designed by Him to receive. Titus 2:11-12, says, "For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age ..." It is the grace of God that teaches us to say "No" to sin, not the law of God. Grace teaches us to say "No" to sin because we are no longer looking for love, acceptance, meaning and purpose to life outside of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Therefore, as we continue to rest in the love of God, through our faith in Jesus Christ, and not rely on our ability to control our flesh, we begin to live "self-controlled, upright and godly lives." Sins like drunkenness, adultery and gluttony begin to lose their appeal because we are resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ on our behalf, not looking for rest from our unfinished work of trying to perfect our flesh. This is the victory we have through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Contending for the Faith

Proving My Point

""Simply put"? A tangled explanation to avoid the obvious conclusions.
A. God is cruel
B. God is incompetent
C. God is insane
D. God is just pretend"

The above response was to a message I recently posted about why God allows people to die. I didn't respond to it because I figured it would just be casting pearls before swine and would only serve to start an argument. However, after looking at it, the author of the comment actually makes a point for the existence of God and why He allows people to die. If you say God is "just pretend" that means you do not believe He exists. Therefore, if He doesn't exist, He cannot be cruel, incompetent and insane. Now, nobody can deny the fact that cruelty, incompetence and insanity exist in the world. So, if God is pretend, and cannot be responsible for it all, then who is? It is mankind. The Bible says,
"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned (Romans 5:12)..." Sin is unbelief in God. In a sense, not believing God, not believing in Him or not believing He exists (i.e. pretend) is sin. The conclusion is that the sin of man is responsible for things like cruelty, incompetence and insanity being in the world. These things would not exist in a perfect world where God, and what He says, is believed. And since God does exist and is to be believed, not believing Him carries consequences. One of those consequences is death.

"Way" Off Base

While answering the question, "Why do you call yourself a Christian?" a lady responded that she calls herself a "Follower of the Way." As one church, that goes by a similar name states, "The expression "Followers of the Way" was perhaps the first title given to those who followed Jesus after His resurrection (Acts 9:2, 22:4, 24:14)." She went on to say that the term Christian was, in her words, a "derogatory term," given to the early church. Therefore, she doesn't use that term in order to be consistent with the early church. While she has the freedom to identify herself in any way she wants, I, personally, believe using this term of "the Way" is unnecessary and only adds confusion to an already murky, religious landscape. I could only imagine that most people would respond to her identifying herself in this manner by asking, "What does that mean?" or, if you are familiar with the term, "Why don't you just call yourself a Christian?" It could even lead to a sense of religious pride on her part or even more division with the body of Christ. As to her assertion that the term Christian was derogatory, it would seem that the term "the Way," was considered derogatory as well. The Apostle Paul said, "I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison (Acts 22:4)." It would seem that he once looked upon the "followers of this Way" with contempt. Therefore, it is reasonable to suggest that the term was derogatory. It just depends on who is using it. The apostle Peter would later say, "if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name (1 Peter 4:16)." Peter suggests that the term Christian is a badge of honor and directs believers to "praise God that you bear that name." This would seem to be evidence to the contrary of what the lady mentioned earlier. Regardless, a Christian is someone who is born again of the Spirit of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Believers in Jesus Christ have referred to ourselves as Christians for nearly two thousand years. The vast majority of the world refers to us as Christians. The word Christian already has a myriad of meanings and definitions depending on who you ask. To add a separate term doesn't help matters much and doesn't guide us toward unity. But, to each his own. God can still use it all.

Using the Wrong Bait

In a discussion on "Making the Case for Christ," the topic turned to how to attract people to Christianity or to church. I have two thoughts on this subject. First the premise is off. We don't attract people to Christianity or to church. What we do is bear the fruit of the Spirit the Lord is producing through us and as we do that people will be attracted to Jesus because we are loving them in the Lord. In fact, Jesus said, in referring to the manner of death He would suffer, "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself (John 12:32)." Another time He said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11;28)." The emphasis in both these statements is that the focus is to attract people to Jesus, not the Christian religion or to the church we attend. Nobody is saved by Christianity or by attending church. Christianity and church attendance, at best, are byproducts of first coming to faith in Jesus Christ. Furthermore, they shouldn't be the primary method we use in order to introduce people to Jesus Christ. The Lord said, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19)..." He did not say, "Go out and erect a building and invite people there to tell them about Me." The church is an organism not an organization. We go out into the world and tell people about Jesus. Yes, this can happen at a church or within the confines of religion, but it is not the manner in which Jesus commanded the disciples to declare the Gospel.

The second thing is that we usually treat others the way we believe God is treating us. On the surface we talk about the love of Jesus, His forgiveness and Grace. However, in practice we are focused on being obedient and repentant to laws designed to modify our behavior. This leads to a constant focus on our actions and our ability to live a life we cannot. The result is the feeling that God is disgusted with our inability to live up to His standards. And this is reflected in our interactions with the world. They see Christians leaving their churches, being hypocrites, being mean, unloving and nasty. Therefore, they want nothing to do with God, going to church or His people. It reminds me of the way Jesus talked of the religious Jews of His day. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to (Matthew 23:13)." The emphasis on behavior and religious activity is what creates hypocritical, unloving and nasty people. The impossible demands of trying to be perfect by what you do leads to people demanding the same out of others. The result is judgment, condemnation, fear, anger, confrontation and being ashamed. A person can only stand up under that for so long before they rebel. That type of teaching and behavior is what led to Paul saying, "If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other (Galatians 5:15)." The law is only worthwhile if you have somebody do compare yourself to. When you compare yourself to others, you are either better than they are or worse then them. One is pride, the other is condemnation. Both are from the pit of hell. The only one who "behaved" perfectly was Jesus. That is why we put faith in Him and not in ourselves.

Fellowship with God

"God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." 1 Corinthians 1:9

In 1 Samuel 21:11-13, it says, "But the servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances: “'Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?” David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard." King David was forced to deceive Achish king of Gath, by pretending to be insane, in order to avoid being killed by Achish. This event was the byproduct of poor choices made by David leading up to this moment in time. David eventually escaped and fled to a cave where this particular story continues. A pastor, speaking on this passage, used it as warning to Christians who, to him, are "out of fellowship with God." The pastor said, "[Y]ou can never tell to what depths a person will go when they get out of fellowship with God. You lose your common sense. You lose all sense of propriety. You do the weirdest, strangest things if you're a Christian out of fellowship with God." It is the belief of many Christians that our sin puts up a barrier between us and God, and cuts us off from the fellowship He wants us to have with Him. One of the verses used for this belief is Isaiah 59:2; "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear." How often have you been taught that your sins separate you from God? Have you been told that your sins cause God to hide his face from you? And you know what, this is correct if you don't have an understanding of the New Covenant. Eventually, people will be taught that they can get back in fellowship with God if they just repent. I have often wondered when I hear pastors say things like this, "When is a Christian ever in fellowship with God?" Is fellowship broken only when we sink to the level David did in front of the king of Gath? Most people don't end up in situations where their sins force them to fake like they are insane in order to survive. What about the sins we commit that are on a lesser level like, for example, lust or coveting? These sins are rarely noticed because they are done in our mind and nobody knows about them unless we act on them. Are we out of fellowship then? We could get to the point where we are constantly focused on ourselves and God would be dizzy with all the spinning around involved with Him constantly turning away from us when we sin and back around after we repent.

Thankfully, the New Covenant paints a different picture, not only about our sins, but about our fellowship with God. 1 Corinthians 1:9, says that "God is faithful" and has called Christians "into fellowship" with Him through faith in Jesus Christ. After the death of Jesus Christ ushered in the New Covenant, our sins are no longer a barrier between us and God. In fact, the Bible says, "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more (Hebrews 10:17).” The Bible also says, "Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them (Romans 4:8).” And if that isn't clear enough, we read that, "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them (2 Corinthians 5:19)." What does it mean if God no longer remembers our sins and is no longer counting our sins against us? It means that God, "will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5)." It means that, "nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:39)."Therefore, if our sins are not a barrier between us and God and, because of this, He is faithful to us and nothing separates us from Him, then it means we are always in fellowship with Him. This doesn't mean we no longer sin. It doesn't mean He is not aware of our sins. It also doesn't mean sin is acceptable. It means that He chooses to remain with us regardless of our sins. Otherwise, we would never be in fellowship with Him and, if we are not in fellowship with Him, we could never grow in the knowledge of who He is and all we are through faith in Jesus Christ. As we grow in this knowledge we will begin to see a decrease in the sin in our lives. This doesn't happen because we have found a way to conquer our flesh and become more obedient and repentant to God. It happens because as God meets the desires of our heart for love, acceptance, meaning and purpose, sin begins to lose its appeal. But, it is nice to know that when we do fall into sin, God is still faithful to us, we can still hear Him, He doesn't turn His face from us and remains in fellowship with His children.