When Does the Biblical Text NOT Apply?

Below are texts from the New Testament dealing with confrontation of sin between believers.

I have been asked many times what to do in cases of public sin within the church. I always ask two questions from the very beginning. First, is the person a confessing believer? Second, is the sin actually a public sin?

Here is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak. Any of the following which is not practiced within the bounds of Agape love, is sin itself. The first question I always ask must be answered, “Yes!” If the person is a confessing believer, then proceeding to the second question is in order. If the answer to the first question is no, there is nothing scripturally that is allowed to be done with the non-believer. Read the text below in 1 Corinthians 5:12 and 13. It is emphatic that God alone will judge those who are not believers and it is not for believers to judge those who are not of the faith.

Now for question two. If a brother sins and it is not a public sin, one believer is to go to that person and confront them with their sin. If repentance takes place, a brother (or sister) is saved. If the person fails to repent of the sin, two people are to go to the person and confront them with their sin. If repentance takes place, a brother (or sister) is saved. If the person fails to repent of the sin, the person’s sin is to be made public and public confession and repentance must be made to remain an active part of the community.

When the sin is public, the circumstances apparently do not change except for the prescription must be public from the outset instead of the third step.

How does this play out in the local body of believers. The text does not require the initial person doing the confrontation to be a deacon or minister. Apparently this is to be accomplished between the laity. The second step does not require the person doing the confrontation to be a deacon or minister either. Step three, does require the entire membership of the community of believers to pass judgment if necessary or to accept public confession and repentance and restore the person.

Any church which is willing to use the Biblical text as its guide must be mature enough to understand the ramifications of its actions as they relate to church discipline. The mature believer must determine that restoration and repentance are the desired outcome of this process. Malice is not an acceptable motive for confronting another believer with their sin.

When I was at a church not so long ago, I had a teenage girl in our church that was having a public lesbian encounter at the local school during lunch as well as during football games while both girls were participating in the band. On a Friday night, the young lady’s female Sunday School teacher confronted her about the public sin and she admitted to the sin but never repented. The Sunday School teacher went to her husband and they confronted the young lady with her sin later that evening. The next day, I received a telephone call from the young lady’s mother wanting to know why two Sunday School teachers from our church was harassing her daughter for her daughter’s private behavior. The mother was not a member of our church and was not a believer.

Starting to see the tangle of problems with this situation yet? I forgot to mention that the female Sunday School teacher spent all day Saturday calling every teenage girl in our church and telling them about the aspiring lesbian. I received telephone calls all day long that Saturday wanting to know what I was going to do with this situation.

How was the issue resolved? I told all of the other parents and their children that it was none of their business until if and when the issue was brought before the church. I asked the mother and daughter to meet with me in my office on Sunday afternoon to discuss the situation. I put my arms around the young lady and her mother and told them I loved them very much. We all held hands for about twenty-five minutes of the thirty minute meeting. I asked the mother if I had permission to speak to her and her daughter separately but while both were in the room together and while we were all holding hands.

The mother was ready to strangle me for allowing my Sunday School teachers to make this a city wide event. I do not blame her one bit for wanting to take her hands and strangle me. As we sat together and talked, we discussed the lesbian tendencies and the feelings and the guilt. We talked to mom as well and mom had many of the same things going on in her life. The girl had made a public profession of faith about a year prior to this event and was baptized. We read each and every one of the verses below as well as verses that forbade homosexual behavior. I also told them that the public sin was no different than any other sexual sin that becomes public whether heterosexual or homosexual. I was able to talk to mom about the rules of our community of believers concerning public sin. I communicated that the Bible tells us how we are to deal with public sin and that we asked persons who claimed to be believers who committed public sin to confess and repent of their sin publicly.

Mom was okay with that if her daughter wanted to remain part of the church after what had happened the day before. What mom and daughter did not know is that the Sunday School teacher and her husband were relieved of their teaching positions for spreading gossip concerning another believer. They were also told that Sunday night that they would be expected to confess their public sin and repent publicly. As it turned out, mom attended the service because her daughter wanted to confess and repent publicly that night as well.

Those were not the only public sins confessed that night. God did something amazing that night. People were set free from sins that had plagued them for years. Confession of our sins to one another is vital to holding ourselves accountable to each other within the community of faith.

Matthew 18:12 – 20
15 “If your brother sins against you,[9] Other mss omit against you go and rebuke him in private.[10] Lit him between you and him alone If he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 But if he won’t listen, take one or two more with you, so that by the testimony[11] Lit mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be established.[12] Dt 19:15 17 If he pays no attention to them, tell the church.[13] Or congregation But if he doesn’t pay attention even to the church, let him be like an unbeliever[14] Or like a Gentile and a tax collector to you. 18 I assure you: Whatever you bind on earth is already bound[15] Or earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth is already loosed[16] Or earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 Again, I assure you: If two of you on earth agree about any matter that you[17] Lit they pray for, it will be done for you[18] Lit for them by My Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there among them.”

1 Corinthians 5:9 – 13
9 I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 by no means referring to this world’s immoral people, or to the greedy and swindlers, or to idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world. 11 But now I am writing[4] Or now I wrote you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother who is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a reviler, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person. 12 For what is it to me to judge outsiders? Do you not judge those who are inside? 13 But God judges outsiders. Put away the evil person from among yourselves.[5] Dt 17:7

2 Thessalonians 3:
6 Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from every brother who • walks irresponsibly[1] 1 Th 5:14 and not according to the tradition received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you must imitate us: we were not irresponsible among you; 8 we did not eat anyone’s bread free of charge; instead, we labored and toiled, working night and day, so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9 It is not that we don’t have the right [to support]* The bracketed text has been added for clarity. , but we did it to make ourselves an example to you so that you would imitate us. 10 In fact, when we were with you, this is what we commanded you: “If anyone isn’t willing to work, he should not eat.” 11 For we hear that there are some among you who walk irresponsibly, not working at all, but interfering with the work [of others]* The bracketed text has been added for clarity. . 12 Now we command and exhort such people, by the Lord Jesus Christ, that quietly working, they may eat their own bread.[2] Or food 13 Brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. 14 And if anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take note of that person; don’t associate with him, so that he may be ashamed. 15 Yet don’t treat him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

goodbye

this is my life abandonment goodbye

growing up is supposed to mean something to a kid like me
all I ever wanted was time with my parents and true friends
they claimed to love but their actions showed them to be liars
why is it that they really do not love us as much as themselves

why should I trust the woman who gave birth to me
she is no mom she abandoned me left me to be raised by strangers
she hates me disdains me cared more about herself than me
her actions proved she loves herself more than me

she said she loved me just never could prove it a reality
she had to work to be fulfilled I could not do that for her apparently
she put other things first i was always down the list on importance
she abandoned me to the wolves I can not forgive why should i

then there is him the donor of seed chromosomes and looks
he is no man he is no father he is the lead abandoner in my life
he does not even deserve another word written about him
but he deserves my contempt dispassion and rage

He taught me about life he taught me about what is important
nothing but self work to fulfill screw the wife the kids
you do not want a relationship with me you hate me
promises made and promises broken enough said

how can you call yourself parents when you care only about yourselves
you shoved me in front of a tv instead of playing with me
i learned about life from tv acquaintances and neighborhood kids
i learned that parents are self centered and give things instead of love

you dumped me into the system and it taught me well
the system taught me relativism humanism socialism and lust
the system showed me more love than you ever cared to
the system for all of its faults is a better parent than you

what did you teach me through actions words and deeds that was true
you said you loved me you liar actions and deeds speak for you
you said there is good and bad the system showed me you are a liar again
parents are liars who are self centered get out of my life leave

as for friends they don’t exist they are worse than parents
all I want from life is someone to be true to me no fiends or parents need apply
i feel abandoned disconnected alone afraid violated and without hope
i can not hope hope is futile and full of more disappointment and grief

why do you hate me so much i am only what you have made me to be
how can i survive without love care compassion hope i can not i will not
if this is what life is really about why live why try why
why didn’t you love me enough to show me what true life is all about

i hate what you have made me i hate who i have been made to be
i hate you for making me what you have made me to be
i hate you i hate the system i hate because of the rage you forged in me
leave me alone you always have leave me alone you abandoned me

i need to hope i need to feel i need just one person to love me
there is a void a blank something missing how do i know something is not right
who forgot who failed who is responsible for my depth of pain
i hate my life who you have made me i hate all that is around me

i do not have a friend i do not have one person in my life who cares about me
how can those people smile and seem happy they are just like me
their parents their friends their lives are as messed up as mine
they are psychotic they are delusional they are out of touch with reality

they never tell me about themselves their life story is foreign to me
they appear to have joy hope life i notice them but they do not notice me
by their actions by their cliques they are the worst there can be
their actions are not loving to me they act as if i can just go to hell my life story

i am ready to die i have nothing to live for there is nothing after death anyway
if this is all that there is why not get away from the abandonment and cease
i thought i saw hope i fear hope I fear being abandoned again no hope for me
no hope no life no god no after death no care no more abandonment bang

p m wayne

My God is Bigger Than That

My God is Bigger Than That

Early morning beautiful and clear sky just starting to look like fall

The omnipotent omniscient maker creator in charge of it all

He unfolded his plan while each soul knowing not

Bringing forth beauty from the tragedy of a murderous plot

The meticulous plans set in place before their time became their time

To them that day His plans that were made made no reason nor no rhyme

His infinite skills of design prepared them each and every one had a specific place

They knew not that morning when they awoke they would soon go to see His face

The careful engineer the designers designer of every step every plan

He knowing knew He caringly cared knowing every hair He placed upon man

The graceful patience to wait for the time showed love and care for each soul

He created a plan a design for redemption prepared every path long ago

His love is longstanding infinitely long lasting creative and wise are His ways

He was in control with His plans made long ago that left us standing amazed

We see His design His creation His mind how lovingly detailed are His plans

Who am I to ask why but a vessel am I made by His wonderful caring hands

It seems inconceivable that Our Father would work out every detail of a tragedy with our best interest in mind. Why would He work out every minor detail, every minute detail except to display His infinite ability to love us so? What the adversary plans for evil, My God and My Father works those plans out in every minute detail to accomplish His perfect and pleasing will so that all things work out together for those who are called according to His purpose. My Father is a mighty Father, a brilliant Father, and a caring Father who loves me. He works out every minute detail of His plans for my very benefit on this earth.

Why would God stoop to such minutia? To God the minutia is how He demonstrates His sacrificial love toward us. God demonstrated His love that September morning because only those who were to die that day actually died. Those who were not to be scratched were never scratched. Those who had to buy tickets three weeks before bought their tickets three weeks before. Those who were last minute fliers bought their tickets at the last minute. There were even some who had planned to be at work or flying that day, God allowed them to be ill or late to accomplish His perfected work in their lives. God, the ultimate engineer, laid out His plans for millions of lives that day. He is amazingly complex and decisively brilliant. He is dynamically involved in the minutia of our daily lives. He is dynamically involved in the minutia of our lives because of His deep and undying love for us and our relationship with Him.

The man prepared for his travel weeks before. He was flying from Boston to Los Angeles to visit family or to work. He kissed his sleeping wife good bye with a faint kiss she will never forget. He slipped into his child’s room and gave him a peck on the cheek. He traveled to the airport and parked for three days. He boarded his flight and hoped to take a nap before he made it to Los Angeles. Just about forty minutes after takeoff his life took a dramatic turn.

She was the wife of a lawyer, a lawyer herself. Barbara Olson was a beautiful blond and she talked to him as her plane slammed into the pentagon. She was able to tell him I love you and I will always be with you.

p m wayne

me

me

it is easy to fool yourself
into thinking you are no fool
no matter how many degrees or phd’s
or perfect attendance at school
god alone knows you are here
it’s frosty and very cool

cool would mean indifferent
and that’s not the case at all
cool is deceptive subterfuge
for never touched at all
indifference would infer a relationship
even if it were small

never mind your actions speak
never show a care
always seeking illusive acceptance
always found nowhere
why does it seem so hard
my heart no fruit can bear

inadequate and destitute
without a hope or dream
that is my true lot in life
that is how it should seem
frosty icy frozen still
i will never scream

you can hear it in my tone of voice
pride is circumspect here
my soul does not know it is done
my panic would turn to fear
my icy frost has kept me from
the one who is so dear

the bible is fables for a child
though true i could never see
those stories of dying love
that stuff is not for me
if true can love release me now
if frozen blind I be

freaks have a burning love
but they are few and far between
they follow loves love
it would be plain if the blind had seen
a cross a whip a crown of thorns
a man whose means were mean

From: http://www.9marks.org

Plexiglas Preaching

By John MacArthur: The Devastating Consequences of a Watered-Down Message

Those who are familiar with my ministry know that I am committed to expository preaching. It is my unshakable conviction that the proclamation of God’s Word should always be the heart and the focus of the church’s ministry (2 Tim. 4:2). And proper biblical preaching should be systematic, expositional, theological, and God-centered.

Such preaching is in short supply these days. There are plenty of gifted communicators in the modern evangelical movement, but today’s sermons tend to be short, shallow, topical homilies that massage people’s egos and focus on fairly insipid subjects like human relationships, “successful” living, emotional issues, and other practical but worldly—and not definitively biblical—themes. Like the ubiquitous Plexiglas lecterns from which these messages are delivered, such preaching is lightweight and without substance, cheap and synthetic, leaving little more than an ephemeral impression on the minds of the hearers.

Some time ago I hosted a discussion at the Expositors’ Institute, an annual small-group colloquium on preaching held at our church. In preparation for that seminar, I took a yellow legal pad and a pen and began listing the negative effects of the superficial brand of preaching that is so rife in modern evangelicalism.

I initially thought I might be able to identify about ten, but in the end I had jotted down a list of sixty-one devastating consequences. I’ve distilled them to fifteen by combining and eliminating all but the most crucial ones. I offer them as a warning against superficial, marginally-biblical preaching—both to those who stand behind the pulpit and to those who sit in the pew.

1. It usurps the authority of God over the soul. Whether a preacher boldly proclaims the Word of God or not is ultimately a question of authority. Who has the right to speak to the church? The preacher or God? Whenever anything is substituted for the preaching of the Word, God’s authority is usurped. What a prideful thing to do! In fact, it is hard to conceive of anything more insolent that could be done by a man who is called by God to preach.

2. It removes the lordship of Christ from His church. Who is the Head of the church? Is Christ really the dominant teaching authority in the church? If so, then why are there so many churches where His Word is not being faithfully proclaimed? When we look at contemporary ministry, we see programs and methods that are the fruit of human invention, the offspring of opinion polls and neighborhood surveys, and other pragmatic artifices. Church-growth experts have in essence wrested control of the church’s agenda from her true Head, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Puritan forefathers resisted the imposition of government-imposed liturgies for precisely this reason: They saw it as a direct attack on the headship of Christ over His own church. Modern preachers who neglect the Word of God have yielded the ground those men fought and sometimes died for. When Jesus Christ is exalted among His people, His power is manifest in the church. When the church is commandeered by compromisers who want to appease the culture, the gospel is minimized, true power is lost, artificial energy must be manufactured, and superficiality takes the place of truth.

3. It hinders the work of the Holy Spirit. What is the instrument the Spirit uses to do His work? The Word of God. He uses the Word as the instrument of regeneration (1 Pet. 1:23; Jas. 1:18). He also uses it as the means of sanctification (John 17:17). In fact, it is the only tool He uses (Eph. 6:17). So when preachers neglect God’s Word, they undermine the work of the Holy Spirit, producing shallow conversions and spiritually lame Christians—if not utterly spurious ones.

4. It demonstrates appalling pride and a lack of submission. In the modern approach to “ministry,” the Word of God is deliberately downplayed, the reproach of Christ is quietly repudiated, the offense of the gospel is carefully eliminated, and “worship” is purposely tailored to fit the preferences of unbelievers. That is nothing but a refusal to submit to the biblical mandate for the church. The effrontery of ministers who pursue such a course is, to me, frightening.

5. It severs the preacher personally from the regular sanctifying grace of Scripture. The greatest personal benefit that I get from preaching is the work that the Spirit of God does on my own soul as I study and prepare for two expository messages each Lord’s day. Week by week the duty of careful exposition keeps my own heart focused and fixed on the Scriptures, and the Word of God nourishes me while I prepare to feed my flock. So I am personally blessed and spiritually strengthened through the enterprise. If for no other reason, I would never abandon biblical preaching. The enemy of our souls is after preachers in particular, and the sanctifying grace of the Word of God is critical to our protection.

6. It clouds the true depth and transcendence of our message and therefore cripples both corporate and personal worship. What passes for preaching in some churches today is literally no more profound than what preachers in our fathers’ generation were teaching in the five-minute children’s sermon they gave before dismissing the kids. That’s no exaggeration. It is often that simplistic, if not utterly inane. There is nothing deep about it. Such an approach makes it impossible for true worship to take place, because worship is a transcendent experience. Worship should take us above the mundane and simplistic. So the only way true worship can occur is if we first come to grips with the depth of spiritual truth. Our people can only rise high in worship in the same proportion to which we have taken them deep into the profound truths of the Word. There is no way they can have lofty thoughts of God unless we have plunged them into the depths of God’s self-revelation. But preaching today is neither profound nor transcendent. It doesn’t go down, and it doesn’t go up. It merely aims to entertain.

By the way, true worship is not something that can be stimulated artificially. A bigger, louder band and more sentimental music might do more to stir people’s emotions. But that is not genuine worship. True worship is a response from the heart to God’s truth (John 4:23). You can actually worship without music if you have seen the glories and the depth of what the Bible teaches.

7. It prevents the preacher from fully developing the mind of Christ. Pastors are supposed to be undershepherds of Christ. Too many modern preachers are so bent on understanding the culture that they develop the mind of the culture and not the mind of Christ. They start to think like the world, and not like the Savior. Frankly, the nuances of worldly culture are virtually irrelevant to me. I want to know the mind of Christ and bring that to bear on the culture, no matter what culture I may be ministering to. If I’m going to stand up in a pulpit and be a representative of Jesus Christ, I want to know how He thinks—and that must be my message to His people too. The only way to know and proclaim the mind of Christ is by being faithful to study and preach His Word. What happens to preachers who obsess about cultural “relevancy” is that they become worldly, not godly.

8. It depreciates by example the spiritual duty and priority of personal Bible study. Is personal Bible study important? Of course. But what example does the preacher set when he neglects the Bible in his own preaching? Why would people think they need to study the Bible if the preacher doesn’t do serious study himself in the preparation of his sermons? There is now a movement among some of the gurus of “seeker-sensitive” ministry to trim, as much as possible, all explicit references to the Bible from the sermon—and above all, don’t ever ask your people to turn to a specific Bible passage because that kind of thing makes “seekers” uncomfortable. Some “seeker-sensitive” churches actively discourage their people from bringing Bibles to church lest the sight of so many Bibles intimidate the “seekers.” As if it were dangerous to give your people the impression that the Bible might be important!

9. It prevents the preacher from being the voice of God on every issue of his time. Jeremiah 8:9 says, “The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord; so what wisdom do they have?” When I speak, I want to be God’s messenger. I’m not interested in exegeting what some psychologist or business guru or college professor has to say about an issue. My people don’t need my opinion; they need to hear what God has to say. If we preach as Scripture commands us, there should be no ambiguity about whose message is coming from the pulpit.

10. It breeds a congregation that is as weak and indifferent to the glory of God as their pastor is. “Seeker-sensitive” preaching fosters people who are consumed with their own well-being. When you tell people that the church’s primary ministry is to fix for them whatever is wrong in this life—to meet their needs, to help them cope with their worldly disappointments, and so on—the message you are sending is that their mundane problems are more important than the glory of God and the majesty of Christ. Again, that sabotages true worship.

11. It robs people of their only true source of help. People who sit under superficial preaching become dependent on the cleverness and the creativity of the speaker. When preachers punctuate their sermons with laser lights and smoke, video clips and live drama, the message they send is that there isn’t a prayer the people in the pew could ever extract such profound material on their own. Such gimmicks create a kind of dispensing mechanism that people can’t use to serve themselves. So they become spiritual couch potatoes who just come in to be entertained, and whatever superficial spiritual content they get from the preacher’s weekly performance is all they will get. They have no particular interest in the Bible because the sermons they hear don’t cultivate that. They are wowed by the preacher’s creativity and manipulated by the music, and that becomes their whole perspective on spirituality.

12. It encourages people to become indifferent to the Word of God and divine authority. Predictably, in a church where the preaching of Scripture is neglected, it becomes impossible to get people to submit to the authority of Scripture. The preacher who always aims at meeting felt needs and strokes the conceit of worldly people has no platform from which to confront the man who wants to divorce his wife without cause. The man will say, “You don’t understand what I feel. I came here because you promised to meet my felt needs. And I’m telling you, I don’t feel like I want to live with this woman anymore.” You can’t inject biblical authority into that. You certainly wouldn’t have an easy time pursuing church discipline. That is the monster that superficial preaching creates. But if you are going to try to deal with sin and apply any kind of authoritative principle to keep the church pure, you must be preaching the Word.

13. It lies to people about what they really need. In Jeremiah 8:11, God condemns the prophets who treated people’s wounds superficially. That verse applies powerfully to the plastic preachers who populate so many prominent evangelical pulpits today. They omit the hard truths about sin and judgment. They tone down the offensive parts of Christ’s message. They lie to people about what they really need, promising them “fulfillment” and earthly well-being when what people really need is an exalted vision of Christ and a true understanding of the splendor of God’s holiness.

14. It strips the pulpit of power. “The word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword” (Heb. 4:12). Everything else is impotent, giving merely an illusion of power. Human strategy is not more important than Scripture. The showman’s ability to lure people in should not impress us more than the Bible’s ability to transform lives.

15. It puts the responsibility on the preacher to change people with his cleverness. Preachers who pursue the modern approach to ministry must think they have the power to change people. That, too, is a frightening expression of pride. We preachers can’t save people, and we can’t sanctify them. We can’t change people with our insights, our cleverness, by entertaining them or by appealing to their human whims and wishes and ambitions. There’s only One who can change sinners. That’s God, and He does it by His Spirit through the Word.
So pastors must preach the Word, even though it is currently out of fashion to do so (2 Tim. 4:2). That is the only way their ministry can ever truly be fruitful. Moreover, it assures that they will be fruitful in ministry, because God’s Word never returns to Him void; it always accomplishes that for which He sends it and prospers in what He sends it to do (Isa. 55:11).

John MacArthur is the pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, CA and is the author of numerous books.