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This week I was asked, "Why don't churches discipline like this?":
"Those who sin should be reprimanded in front of the whole church; this will serve as a strong warning to others." (1 Timothy 5:20)
As much as I would like to answer this one thoroughly, I don't believe it's possible to do so succinctly, because the truth is, there are many reasons why we don't see this kind of discipline very often in our churches. Some reasons are biblical, and some reasons reveal our own shortcomings. I will briefly list a few, and comment only on a few of them.
1. The internet has helped greatly. Now it often even happens in front of the whole world.
2. This kind of Church gathering rebuking was rare in scripture, taking place once as we know it in the Corinthian church. Likewise, it should be rare among us.
3. The kind of sin. In Corinth, the kind of sin that was dealt with publicly, was obvious enough, that even the pagans didn't do that kind of thing.
4. Lack of discernment among leadership. When do you make the call to subject someone to that kind of public shame?
5. The kind of sin at hand has affected our own lives, and therefore clouds our judgment.
6. We often have a desire to protect the dignity and integrity of the people under our care. (Is that Jesus? That can be debated)
7. The nature of sin itself (hide it)
8. I know it's not biblical, but public defamation of character can have legal implications
9. Protecting the victims
Lack of Discernment Among Leadership.
The only people in our churches who know exactly what should be done, tend to be the back seat leaders. In our day, they write blogs, post their opinions on social media and speak quite authoritatively on what needs to be done by pastors and churches.
The people who are actually in authority, have a much more difficult time making the kind of decisions their calling demands. It's not that they don't study scripture, pray or know their bibles. We just don't always know. I'm sorry for that.
Suppose a teenager gets pregnant with her boyfriend. We know that her and her boyfriend fornicated. It happens. With sin, how do you get to the bottom of it? Are they still fornicating? How do you find out for sure? Sin is like black tar. It's wretched and sticky. People lie about sin. They hide it. They say they don't when they actually do. They don't want to expose it. What if the two are going to get married? Is that what needs to be done from here on out, or should they be excommunicated? If they aren't a member of the church, but come once in a while, can you rebuke them if they aren't an active part of the church?
Back seat Christians normally have very definite answers to these kinds of questions. Elders like me normally do not. My hunch is that if the back seat people were called to the role, they wouldn't continue to have the same confidence in their assertions. (As for me, if someone comes along who is truly better fit to fill my role, I will gladly step aside. In fact, I am often looking for just such an opportunity)
When To Make that Call
The kind of sin we see being exposed in the church in scripture, is the kind of sin that would have been alarming, even to pagans. There is a tendency to hide the sin among us, even when it is alarming and should be exposed. The news is often bringing to light instances of sexual abuse, where a church knew about it, and did nothing with it. This should never be the case.
These kinds of glaring things tend to be rare, both in scripture and in real life. It's not that these kinds of sins are rare in the world, in fact, they go on all of the time. What I mean is that, most often, people who really want to intentionally pursue a life of blatant sin, generally walk away from God anyway. Maybe they don't recognize it overtly, but something in our spirit knows that light has no fellowship with darkness.
Protecting The Victim
Part of the nature of sin, is that there is nearly always collateral damage. Sin nearly always affects individuals other than the culprit. Whether right or wrong, consideration is often given towards the victims of sin.
Husband X commits adultery on Wife Y, with woman Q. Q was married to her husband P. X and Q have committed an obvious act of adultery. This isn't one of those cloudy mirky issues. They weren't supposed to do that kind of thing. Wife Y is a valuable part of your congregation. Her life is ruined. Husband X really isn't continuing to be an active part of the church anyway. Wife Y is desperately trying to continue to follow Jesus, but raising her kids all on her own, and trying to work and raise her family is already more than she can bear.
How do you get husband X to come back to church long enough to expose him? Wife Y begs and pleads with you not to make her life a Sunday morning spectacle, the shame of it already being too much to bear on its own.
This happens way too much. The names change, but the sins remain the same.
Some Final Thoughts
I know I haven't addressed even half of the items I brought up. In short, there are times when sin needs to be rebuked in front of the church, although the kind of sin where we are called to do so is not an everyday affair. The majority of rebuking in scripture is done person to person (Jesus rebuked Peter, Peter rebuking Simon the sorcerer, Paul rebuking Peter), not during a Church meeting like in Corinth.
Confronting each other isn't something to shy away from, but my hope for you is that you will not be drawn to the kind of "Christianity", where rebuking and correcting is the main endeavour.
