ENOUGH!
So you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 2 Cor. 2:7, R.S.V.
In Paul's tender pastoral letters to his friends in Corinth, we can see him "walk with them" through several stages of spiritual growth--stages that we can recognize by experience. As with many new believers recently come from a very depraved world, they had lost some of their sensitivity to the hurtfuness of sin. They were willing to tolerate something as destructive as incest within the body of Christ, incapacitated with uncertainty about how to deal with their friends in trouble.
When Paul appealed to them to deal decisively with evil in their midst, they were most eager to show themselves obedient to his leadership. They dealt so harshly with the offender that Paul needed to write again, reminding them that restoration of the sinner is the ultimate goal.
But most of us would admit that this is the more difficult transition. It is often easier to become indignant with sinners, particularly when we perceive their sins to be especially offensive, than it is to love them back into our fellowship. When we see them tentatively approaching the church door, embarrassment on their faces and hesitant confusion in their steps, how easy it is to ignore them--sometimes with an obvious deliberateness. We often justify our coolness by asserting that we do not wish to be thought of as condoning their sins. More likely, we reveal our inadequacy in knowing how to love them dynamically, creatively, into wholeness.
Involved here is something very central to our witness about the character of God. Where do so many people get the idea that God frowns at sinners, holding them off at arm's length until their reputation (by some self-wrought means) gets cleaned up? Have they been watching us Christians? Is this where so many people miss the central truth that we become whole only by being embraced by the Father?
Disfellowshipping a believer for obvious sin has the dual purpose of seeking to gain his serious attention and of announcing that the body of Christ does not embrace such behavior. But how quickly the church must then act to clarify that God does not use rejection as leverage for character change! It is our God who inspired Paul to plead with the Corinthians, "It is enough! Now restore him." Because that's exactly what God would do. Let's embrace them in His name!
So you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 2 Cor. 2:7, R.S.V.
In Paul's tender pastoral letters to his friends in Corinth, we can see him "walk with them" through several stages of spiritual growth--stages that we can recognize by experience. As with many new believers recently come from a very depraved world, they had lost some of their sensitivity to the hurtfuness of sin. They were willing to tolerate something as destructive as incest within the body of Christ, incapacitated with uncertainty about how to deal with their friends in trouble.
When Paul appealed to them to deal decisively with evil in their midst, they were most eager to show themselves obedient to his leadership. They dealt so harshly with the offender that Paul needed to write again, reminding them that restoration of the sinner is the ultimate goal.
But most of us would admit that this is the more difficult transition. It is often easier to become indignant with sinners, particularly when we perceive their sins to be especially offensive, than it is to love them back into our fellowship. When we see them tentatively approaching the church door, embarrassment on their faces and hesitant confusion in their steps, how easy it is to ignore them--sometimes with an obvious deliberateness. We often justify our coolness by asserting that we do not wish to be thought of as condoning their sins. More likely, we reveal our inadequacy in knowing how to love them dynamically, creatively, into wholeness.
Involved here is something very central to our witness about the character of God. Where do so many people get the idea that God frowns at sinners, holding them off at arm's length until their reputation (by some self-wrought means) gets cleaned up? Have they been watching us Christians? Is this where so many people miss the central truth that we become whole only by being embraced by the Father?
Disfellowshipping a believer for obvious sin has the dual purpose of seeking to gain his serious attention and of announcing that the body of Christ does not embrace such behavior. But how quickly the church must then act to clarify that God does not use rejection as leverage for character change! It is our God who inspired Paul to plead with the Corinthians, "It is enough! Now restore him." Because that's exactly what God would do. Let's embrace them in His name!
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