In part one we talked about Spiritual Cancer and how to see if you are a cancer cell in the body of Christ. So now what do we do about the other cancer cells in the Body of Christ?

Here is what Jesus has to say about it:

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away.When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew.

“The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’

“‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed.

“‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked.

“‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn. ’” Matt 13:24-30

Spiritual radiation treatment is not an option because it will kill good cells as well as bad cells. We often can’t tell between a true and false convert.

So this is what we should not do. So, What do we do?

Well, Saint Paul has some advice on this regard.

“When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that.

I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin , or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people.” 1 Corinthians 5:9-11

So if someone is in open sin and calls themselves a Christian don’t have anything to do with them. You can’t make anyone do anything they don’t want to do . But you can pray for them.

Sometimes the clearest way to send a message is to avoid them all together.

One Last Note
Our value is based on who Christ is not on what we do. God has blessed the church with special people who are unable to give much because of an injury or physical or mental impediment. I belive that God has blessed the church with these people so that we can learn to be like Christ in how we treat them. There is a big difference between can’t and won’t .

Related posts:

1. Does Jesus Have Cancer? – Part 1 The problem with cancer is not that it causes harm...
2. The Failure of Jesus Christ (and why we need to fail to be like Him) "Success is a poor teacher." My dad must have repeated...

The problem with cancer is not that it causes harm (like a virus). The problem is that cancer cells do nothing.

Cancer cells take resources from the body and give nothing back in return. They just grow and take the place of functioning cells. Soon there are so many cancer cells doing nothing that an entire organ can die causing death in the whole body.

Unlike normal cells, cancer cells lack purpose. They don’t do anything and what they do do doesn’t help the body. Its not that they can’t do anything. They choose not to. Recent research indicates that cancer cells are actually stem cells gone bad . They are Stem cells that have denied their function to heal.

Sound familiar? Every cell in the body fulfills its function except for a cancer cell.

The Body of Christ has this same problem – at least in Texas. Many of us have no purpose. We just receive and receive but we give little or nothing back. Just as cancer can kill a human body, our spiritual cancer is killing the Church here in America.

Are you a cancer cell? Do you give (disciple others, serve, share the Gospel etc.) or do you just take? Does your whole spiritual walk revolve around partnering with God to help others? Or does it revolve around your own holiness and knowledge of God? If so you need to die, because you are killing the body.

There is only one thing you can do to fix a cancer cell. You must kill it.

“Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, [Jesus] said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul ?” Mark 8:34-37

The Apostle Paul gave a spiritual cancer test to help us examine our hearts. He laid out the fruit of wrath (signs of cancer) and the fruit of the spirit (signs of health).

So what do you do if you have cancer? Well, Jesus gave us some great advice.

“If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life . Otherwise, you cannot be even your own life . Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. ” Luke 14:26-27

Let’s try that verse again with some ellipses:

“If you want to be my disciple, you must hate … by comparison … your own life. “

To be apart of the body you must love Jesus more than you love yourself. Normal cells have a self destruct mechanism called apoptosis . If they see they are doing harm to the body they will self terminate. It is when this self destruct mechanism stops to function that cancer begins to spread. Healthy cells must continually die and so do healthy Christians.

Now there is a difference between a cell that won’t help the body and a cell that can’t hurt the body. There are some in the body of Christ who we could call God’s special people. These people have disabilities that limit their ability to contribute. There is a huge difference between “can’t” and “won’t.” We have a lot to learn from God’s special people.

Related posts:

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2. The Failure of Jesus Christ (and why we need to fail to be like Him) "Success is a poor teacher." My dad must have repeated...
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