If anyone ever tries to tell you
that the Bible is a book mainly written for children, I’d submit today’s
passage as exhibit “A” in counter-evidence. I’d also like to submit it against
the notion that the modern Church is so much worse off than the 1st
century one. I’m always in favor of bringing the Church closer to her Lord’s
standards and closer by his side. But whenever anyone says “I sure wish today’s
Church is more like the Church of the 1st century,” I feel like
responding “Which church do you want us to be more like? The Corinthian one?
The Church in Laodicea? How’s about the Galatians?” There are great churches
today, and pretty good churches, and churches which are about to be “spit
out” of Jesus’ mouth because they’re disgusting to him.
Speaking of disgusting, my initial
response to this chapter: “Eewww!!!”
I like to give everyone the benefit
of the doubt, especially when it comes to believers, so let’s be charitable and
say that the “father’s wife” this man was sleeping with was his step-mother,
not his blood mother. The verbiage could mean “living with” or “married to.” As
Paul indicated though, this was something even the pagans would never practice.
Let me clarify and repeat: The nonbelievers in Corinth, the “Sin City”
of the 1st century, were disgusted by the practices of the church
there. The believers—in this area, at least—were being put to shame by the
pagans among them.
So what did Paul tell them to do?
This is where we come to the topic
of church discipline, something that’s almost unheard of today. We’ve discussed
this a bit before,
but besides Matthew 18:15-20 this is the main passage about the topic. Before
we get into what this is referring to, we need to be clear on what it’s not
talking about.
·
It’s
not talking about the conduct of nonbelievers. If someone’s not a follower of
Christ, their personal conduct—the specific sins they’re committing—is not all
that much a concern. A lost person is a lost person who’s a lost person. We’re
not their judge, and our response to them is a message of faith in Christ,
grace, and repentance (no matter what specific sins they’re guilty of).
·
It’s
not talking about a believer who’s struggling with a certain sin. Someone might
be struggling with sexual immorality or greed or idolatry or any other type of
sin. All of us are “works in progress,” and none of us are sinless before him.
·
This
isn't talking about punishment. The person who experiences this sort of thing
probably sees it as punishment, but that’s as far away from its purpose as it
could be. There’s a reason it’s called “discipline.” The purpose of discipline
is not punishment. It’s restoration. If you read 2
Corinthians, you read that the church did what Paul commanded. Actually—as typical
for this church—they went too far in the opposite direction. They cast this guy
out of the church, he repented, and. . . the church refused to take him back. Paul
told them straight-out that now that he’s repented, they should forgive him and
take him back.
But if someone is involved in a
public flouting of God’s standards (Paul specifically lists some more public
sins in vs. 11), and they refuse to repent (and that would entail stopping
it), then the church leadership—for the sake of our Lord’s name, as well as for
the sake of the church’s health—has to 1) Approach the person in private, 2)
Lovingly call upon him to repent, 3) Bring it before the church, and 4) Then
disassociate the church from that person. That means you don’t eat with him or
associate with him in any way. Obviously, the instant that the offender
repents (at any stage in this process), you immediately halt the procedure and
bring the person back into fellowship.
Again, I can’t emphasize enough that
the point here is restoration, not punishment. But when someone is acting this
way, to ignore it like the proverbial elephant in the room is not the loving
thing to do. It doesn’t show love towards our Lord, it doesn’t show love
towards the church, and it doesn’t show love towards the person who’s
doing this.
To put it on a more personal level, Solomon
told
us “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be
trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” So is there someone you need to “wound”
today? Or do you need to be on the receiving end? And if someone does pull out
the “knife,” then what’s your reaction?
Lord Jesus, I know for myself that I need
constant correction from your Spirit. If I stop listening to your Spirit’s
rebuke, then please send some real friends who’ll love me enough to wound me in
love. That’s your grace at work.
No comments:
Post a Comment