1 Corr. 5-8
This has been a tough month. The writings of Paul here are very convicting and he challenges us to hold our brethren accountable. The challenge is doing so with compassion and love, but frankly doing it period in a culture that frankly "just do it" and "me, me, me" are the norm - even in the church. I'm not sure our culture is as bad as 1st Century Corrinth, in fact I'm sure it's not...but I think our church is just as misguided...so now what.
Here are the basic takeways...
Ch. 5 addresses church discipline and the need for church purity. Paul makes it very clear that within the confines of the church, a bad apple spoils the bunch. He's very specific in the area of sexual purity and references one of the members' transgressions...but he's broad enough in his teaching here that I'm very sure that our churches in America today, that claim Christianity as their faith, aren't very good about staying pure...it's all about the numbers today baby...let's not offend anyone shall we. I'm in a Bible study with a group of luke warm men, some of whom could be considered bad apples...I'm really being challenged here.
Ch. 6 talks about settling disputes and specifically staying out of court. I found myself in a discussion with one of my closest friends, who is an attorney, with a "deputy dog" personality...who forwarded me an article about a Christian Librarian who was terminated for outing a library customer for viewing porn at the library. The Liberty counsel is taking up the cause. I'm not sure how the existence of the Liberty Counsel even can be rationalized if you read 1 Corr. 6...Paul says...it's better to be wronged for the cause of Christ than to take someone to court...again, how does my discussion with my lawyer friend (who is a very faithful Christian) build him up...or did I just challenge his career choice?
Ch. 7 addresses married vs. single. Paul gives lots of guidance here. He even differentiates opinion vs. God's instruction...this is helpful.
And Ch. 8, the shortest, but most powerful, addresses freedom in Christ vs. liscence to do whatever, and how we should be more concerned with our Christian brother than our right to do/eat/drink stuff. Very heavy stuff here.
Anyway...I'm still very engaged in the process. 9-12 in April.
Your thoughts are always welcome.
posted by Hollywood at 5:53 AM
3 Comments:
A few thoughts:
Church discipline, in our culture is virtually impossible to enact. Here's a few reasons: If you were called before the elders (presuming Biblical steps in confrontation occurred previous) you'd simply not show up for any meeting and just go to another church down the street. Another, folks can be quite litigious and there have been instances where this occurred.
On the lady that was fired: If she violated "company" policy, should've been fired. She worked for people who, by law, likely deal in free speech issues daily as government agencies. Now, if they didn't have policy then the shouldn't have. I view groups like Liberty as I view the ACLU. Good ideals, but both try to push agendas legislatively...which I disagree with intrinsically.
Married vs. Single: I think many of our ministries should teach on this...we have our Christian young women with Disney mindsets about getting married. I believe we should teach them to be who Christ wants them to be, and if that so happens that God provides a spouse, then go for it. But so often, the romance of being married overshadows the glory of opportunity that singles have.
Chapter 8 is precisely why many legalists miss the boat in accusation of those that emphasize grace. It's amazing to me that the exercise of freedom is obviously limited by the "law of love," yet legalists often think the grace lifestyle is wheels-off full-blown out-of-control stuff. Doing the most loving thing will often result in making more disciplined lifestyle choices than legalists imagine.
7:35 AM
On Church discipline...so do you not enact it, and simply conform to the culture? I'm very challenged with this Bible study I'm in...in some cases, I can't figure out why a couple of guys come (fellowship only)
7:57 AM
We've enacted it to the full extent in a couple of instances. Frankly, most of the stuff gets dealt with in the first two steps...which is mostly where it either stops or they leave. Rarely does it continue to the point where leadership gets involved--they either go to a different church and keep living the lifestyle they want or they respond. But, even in the first two steps, that's actually part of the process, and the process "works" much more in the one on one setting a great deal.
7:41 PM
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