Judging the Church

Posted on by korgrocker

“It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.””
1 Corinthians 5:12-13 NLT

Now here’s an interesting Scripture. Paul said that it was the responsibility of the Corinthian congregation “to judge those inside the church who are sinning”. But didn’t Jesus say in Matthew 7:1-2, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged“? But actually, as we drill down into what Jesus said, we find that there is a standard by which believers will be judged, and that standard is applied to the believers in the church who are sinning. Yes, it is judgment, and the judges, the church believers, will themselves experience the same standards, but applied to themselves. In a previous blog, we considered church discipline, as Jesus laid out in Matthew 18, but how else could this process be followed without judgment being involved? So the guilty person or people have to be removed from their fellowship, as Paul and Moses said, at the behest of the congregation. I suppose that the problem comes if the congregation is split on the issue, some wanting to deal with the sin, and others saying, “let’s give him a chance – after all, everyone sins, don’t they?”

Earlier in 1 Corinthians 5, Paul wrote, “Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns” (1 Corinthians 5:5). This is another mystery that needs further thought. The man has openly sinned, and presumably, he has refused to change his ways. Incidentally, the stepmother has not been included in Paul’s recommended disciplinary actions, so perhaps she is not a member of the church in Corinth and has been included among the unbelievers outside of it. If this is in fact the case, then Paul wrote that she is outside the jurisdiction of the church and therefore not their responsibility. Paul was clear that it would be God who judges the unbelievers, not the church. But the man himself must be handed over to satan. In other words, he has to be removed from God’s protection in the church because of his sin, and once on the outside with the unbelievers, he will perhaps be attacked and tested in the same way that Job was. We read in Job 1:12, ““All right, you may test him,” the Lord said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence“. Other theologians think that this means satan will be given the freedom by God to end the man’s earthly life, either quickly or through a long-term illness. But there is always the hope that God may use satan’s destructive work in the man’s life to lead him to repentance. For the man, the hope is that this action will result in the eternal salvation of his spirit. It is unclear if the man is understood to be a believer who will ultimately be saved by God’s grace or an unbeliever who may come to genuine salvation by this act of removing him from the church. But the goal of church discipline is not retaliation, but rehabilitation: to convict the man of his sin, to encourage repentance and restoration. Galatians 6:1 “Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself”.

There is a doctrine in some evangelical churches that says “once saved, always saved”, and they point to this verse in 1 Corinthians 5, amongst others, as justification. He may be outside the church now, but there was a time when he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Saviour. So, did God’s grace then apply to his situation eternally, and mean that regardless of his subsequent sins, even if he was unrepentant, that he would be saved anyway? Personally, I don’t think so, but there are probably those who do. Thankfully, it is God who is in control, and we pilgrims have faith and trust in Him that He can be trusted to do what is right.

Paul wrote that it is the responsibility of those in the church, the believers, to implement what he has recommended. But sometimes church members are reluctant to get involved, fearful of doing something wrong, or ending up in a situation that might, for them, go very wrong. There is also the incorrect interpretation of what Jesus said about judgment, which bothers some. But we know that through Jesus and by the power of His Spirit, we will access all the wisdom that we need.

Dear Heavenly Father. Please lead and guide us in Your ways as we stumble along through this life. We pray for our leaders and those in our churches, that they will hear Your voice and do what is righteous in Your eyes. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Green Meadows

Posted on by korgrocker

“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honour to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.”
Psalm 23:1-4 NLT

What comes to mind when we consider “green meadows”? Here in Scotland there is no shortage of such parts of our landscape, with tourists often suggesting that the abundance of greenery is due to the quantity of rain we receive. But to an extent that is true because it is rare to find a Scottish field blighted by drought, grass yellow and burnt. “Green meadows” are where herbivores such as cattle and sheep find their staple source of nourishment, their digestive systems wonderfully constructed to extract the maximum amounts of nutrition from otherwise tasteless vegetation. 

David wrote that the Lord, his Shepherd, “lets [him] rest in green meadows”, building a picture of those lazy summer days, when he could lay in a place of rest, enjoying the cool of the grass beneath him, the sheep around him doing the same. A place of rest for his body but also for his soul. I can remember as a small boy lying on a patch of grass looking up, warmed by the sun, at a mostly blue sky, fascinated by the shapes of a few puffy clouds of white contorted into various shapes that stimulated my imagination, a day when the cares of the world seemed far away. So David would have found his “green meadows” but with one big difference – it was here that he developed his relationship with God. We remember the invitation Jesus offered to His disciples everywhere, “ … Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Here in his “green meadows” David found such a place where the burdens of life reduced in significance before the presence of his Lord. 

We remember the first day of rest that occurred in the Bible. “On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation” (Genesis 2:2-3). David found the rest his body required after a day’s work, a day spent in leading the sheep from one pasture to another. From his supplies of food he would have had a simple meal, a drink from the “peaceful streams” and then rested his aching bones in the soft lushness of a “green meadow”. If God rested after His work, then there was every reason for David to do the same. David knew intuitively that resting was an essential part of his life.

In those Genesis days, God introduced the concept of a Sabbath rest, a day set aside when human beings will enjoy a special day in God’s presence and away from their labours. The writer to the Hebrews wrote, “So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labours, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall” (Hebrews 4:9-11). Sadly, unbelieving people have failed to understand the concept of the Sabbath rest, that precious time in God’s presence, and they instead spend their time on a golf course, or going to sports events, or doing overtime so that they can purchase more “stuff”. If only they stopped to think that one day all that they have will be left behind, freeing their souls to continue in an afterlife of their choosing.

We pilgrims set aside time to rest in God’s presence. We pray and we read His Word, providing “green meadows” for our souls and in these spiritual “meadows” of our lives we find peace and divine blessings. We find that sweet spot of communion with our wonderful Creator, who created the “meadows” in the first place. Sometimes it is hard to put aside the cares of life, the tyranny of the urgent demands, the strident phone calls, texts, and emails, but put them aside we must. And God will help us balance our lives to conform the way He designed us in the first place.

Dear Father God. we pray that You will revive Your people, and help them find a Sabbath rest in Your presence, this day and every day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.