| Welcome Visitors |
|---|
|
Sunday Morning Schedule Sunday School: 9:00
Sunday Evening Schedule Services at 6:00 pm Office Hours 9:00-12:00 & 1:00-3:00 Tuesday through Friday |
| Quick Links |
|---|
| Listen to Online Sermons |
| Order Sermon Tapes |
| How to Become a Member of Trinity Baptist Church |
| AWANA |
| TBC Pastor’s Corner |
| Pray for Trinity |
| Helpful Links |
| Bible Studies |
|---|
|
Sunday School
Sunday: 9:00 am |
| Bible Studies |
| Home Fellowships |
| Vacation Bible School |
Report site problems to:
trinity@moscow.com
Site Design by
DJ Scallorn
What are we supposed to do with people who aren’t as good as we are; you know, people we are clearly superior to? I’m kidding! Delusions of superiority are not compatible with the spirit of Christianity in any way.
In 2 Corinthians 2:7 Paul exhorts the Corinthian church to forgive a man who was involved in severe immorality. To get an idea of who and what Paul is talking about we need to go back to 1st. Corinthians 5:1-2 and see what this man did;
“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.”
That’s pretty disgusting, right? "Father's wife" could refer to two obvious possibilities: This guy was either sleeping with his mother or with his step-mother. Whichever it was, it was not a good idea and Paul wanted the Corinthian church to make sure this man knew it. So, Paul told them to "break fellowship" with him (1 Corinthians 5:2) so that he might be alone and realize that what he was doing was both wrong and destructive to the testimony of the church at Corinth.
It appears that they did what Paul asked and it worked, but then after this broken man repented they still shunned him.
"..the punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him." (2 Corinthians 2:6-8)
This has to be one of the clearest and most direct passages in all the Bible explaining how church discipline is supposed to work. The motive behind confrontation, and even discipline if necessary, is never justice or vengeance, it’s restoration. A sinning brother or sister is to be looked on as the lost coin or lost sheep for whom the shepherd would be willing to leave the other ninety-nine just to recover that one.
The tendency with the Corinthians (and with many churches today) is to bounce between two extremes when dealing with sin. The Corinthian's first response to this man was to ignore his sin completely and brag about how 'grace-oriented' they were.
"A man has his father's wife, and you are boasting! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?" (1 Corinthians 5:2)
This is the "let it slide" extreme.
Confrontation is never an easy thing to do. But as Solomon said,
"Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses..." (Proverbs 27:6)
If we see someone overtaken in a fault, shouldn't we try to do everything we can to restore him? There's no guarantee he will listen to us, but Paul tells us that we should try - in love, we owe him that.
The other extreme is to be consistently on the watch for anyone who is doing anything we don't like and then nail him or her at the first opportunity we have. This was the Pharisees' approach to life; also known as self-righteousness. These people may have convinced themselves that they are "confronting others for the glory of God", but the reality is - they just enjoy putting other people down.
One author I've been reading lately calls this "spiritual abuse" and defines it as, “The mistreatment of a person who is in need of help.” Pharisees don't see those caught in sin as in need of help; they see them as people who deserve to be rejected and even despised. The really sad part of this extreme is that the one sinning will not only not respond to the unloving confrontation of the Pharisee, but he will develop a warped view of God. They think that if the Pharisees, the religious leaders, see them as the scum of the earth, then God probably does too.
I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said, "Jesus is coming soon, look busy." I would hesitate to even ask for a show of hands on any given Sunday in any given church of those who are living this life afraid of what God is going to do to them because of their persistent and frustrating sinfulness. We've been inculcated with this "God's out to get us" view of our Heavenly Father since we were young.
Remember this one,
"Be careful little eyes what you see. Be careful little eyes what you see. The Father up above is looking down in love. So be careful little eyes what you see"
Does this paint a picture of a God that would draw people in trouble to Him, or cause them to feel ashamed because of their weaknesses? What kind of a father does a child have to be constantly careful around? What will happen to this child if he or she is not careful? What happens if, after trying real hard, this child still does something he shouldn't? Do we want our children to watch out for God, or to run into His arms for strength to overcome?
When we're children, we tend to transfer almost all father figures to our image of God. I'm sure everyone remembers this;
"You better watch out, you better not cry. You better not pout, I'm telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to town. "He's making a list and checking it twice Gonna find out who's naughty and nice, etc. "He sees you when you're sleeping He knows when you're awake He knows when you've been bad or good So be good for goodness sake."
Cute song.
We learn early that acceptance with those above us is dependent on our performance. If we're good, they love us, and they come down our chimney and give us stuff; but if we're bad, they are very disappointed.
So, these are the extremes that we must avoid when dealing with sin. If it is serious sin (not just something someone does that we don't like or something that is an isolated event) we should privately, lovingly confront the person and do all we can to help them overcome whatever they are struggling with. We shouldn't just let it slide and pretend it will go away. At the same time, we shouldn't be making lists and checking them twice. We shouldn't be spying on people or looking forward to the opportunity to criticize them. We aren't here to judge, we're here to help.
The first thing the Corinthians did was take the "head in the sand" approach to this man's sin. That didn't help them, or him. Then when Paul told them to discipline him, they went to the other extreme and even when the guy asked for forgiveness, they continued to judge him, and he was; "overwhelmed by overmuch sorrow". That didn't help either. He went from being rebellious to being suicidal.
The tongue is a powerful thing. We can encourage or discourage in the same breath; we can restore or destroy; we can build up and we can tear down; we can show people what God is really like, or we can fill their thoughts with total distortions of their Father in heaven.
Satan is the "accuser of the brethren" (Revelation 12:10). One of his most common activities is to make us feel guilt, shame, and hopelessness. If he can get Christians to help him with this, all the better. Our Lord tells us in John 10:10 that Satan comes to "steal, kill and destroy" and that Christ came, not to judge the world, but to seek and save that which is lost. Which of these seems to be closer to your own personal view of God; Someone who is watching you, making a list of your sins, accusing you, stealing your peace and destroying your enjoyment of life; or someone Who's very reason for being in your life is to love, forgive, restore, support, encourage and save?
Our treatment of one another may be the prime testing ground for whether we are showing others what God is really like – or not. I'm going to close this with a few words from Eugene Peterson's book, Traveling Light.
"There are people who do not want us to be free. They don't want to be accepted just as we are by God's grace. They don't want us to be free to express our faith originally and creatively in the world. They want to control us; they want to use us. They themselves refuse to live arduously and openly in faith, but huddle together with a few others and try to get a sense of approval by insisting that all look alike, talk alike and act alike. They enlarge their numbers only on the condition that new members act and talk and behave the way they do. These people infiltrate communities of faith to spy out our freedom in Christ and not infrequently find ways to control, restrict and reduce the lives of Christians. Without becoming aware of it, we become anxious about what others will say about us, and obsessively concerned about what others think we should do. We no longer live the good news but anxiously try to memorize and recite the script that SOMEONE ELSE has assigned to us. In such an event we may be secure, but we will not be free. We may survive as a religious community, but we will not experience what it means to be human, alive in love and faith, and expansive in hope." Eugene H. Peterson, Traveling Light (Colorado Springs, CO: Helmers & Howard, Publishers, Inc., 1988), 67
Never forget, no matter how aware you may become of the faults of others, we are not here to conform others to our image or to criticize what we don't understand. What we ARE here for is to restore and to help; to seek and to save. If we would just do those things, we'd probably find ourselves too busy to wear the mantle of the Pharisee anyway.
Trinity Baptist Church
711 Fairview Dr. Moscow, Idaho 83843
208.882.2015
trinity@moscow.com
| Articles |
|---|
| Value & Intensity
Pastor Dan Bailey
|
|
archives |
| Trinity Baptist Church |
|---|
711 Fairview Dr.
|