I recently had a conversation with a guy who wanted me to kick someone out of the church. He was justified in his request. He had been wronged. The sin committed was ugly.
I shared with him that even though he was justified (the Bible even talks about doing this) if we kicked her out we would have to kick him out as well. When it comes to kicking people out if you do it for one sin then you’ve got to do it for all. I’m just not ready to start kicking people out of the church. In fact if there is a any place “sinners” need to be it’s at church.
I think it was an eye opening conversation.
Grace is getting what you don’t deserve. I don’t deserve God’s forgiveness. I can’t earn God’s forgiveness. God demonstrated grace when He sent His son to die on a bloody cross for imperfect people. I deserve to be kicked out of the church, but God has shown me grace. When I remember grace it causes me to…
- Forgive even when people don’t deserve it
- Show patience when people fall short
- Be humble because even on my greatest day I still don’t deserve God’s grace
- Reach out to those that are difficult to love
- Resist the temptation to judge others
- Not want to kick people out of church
You live it like you preach it. Thanks for being a great example and for your consistency. Have an awesome day.
Good job Rob. Did you then give him the stink eye for trying to use the bible to get revenge on someone? Just kidding.
Nice. Well done. Glad I found your blog today. Well, am happy you were able to tell him what wrong he was doing.
Have a good day!
I heard a message by Louie Giglio yesterday at his new Passion City Church website. He was mentioning various famous musical groups who participated in a remix of We Are The World. Everyone mentioned got a clap or a cheer until he mentioned Kanye (sp?) and then it was a boo! Louie did great in handling this in the moment by "kidding" that the people of his church were very loving and grace-filled for everyone but Kanye. He then personally let Kanye know that there WAS a seat in the church for him. EXCELLENT reminder!!!
Mr. Stupid, thanks for stopping by. Come back again.
Daniel, thanks.
Scott, I wanted to but then I was reminded about grace. Just kidding myself. Thanks for the comment.
Jill, you've got to love Louie!
hey rob~
your blog has become one of the few on my regularly-read blog list. when i came across this post, i was challenged to think about this subject of church discipline again. i think this can be a very difficult and challenging issue to address. i was very pleased and surprised to find out that our pastor chose to preach about it this past sunday. i thought you might be interested to take a listen to the sermon… i'd be interested to hear what you think about it.
i know you're a busy man, but it'd be super cool if you could maybe find an extra 30 mins (ok, maybe 55 mins) to listen! here's the link to the sermon…
http://www.ibclouisville.org/sermon/03-13-2010/discerning-new-birth
fyi- the first 4 1/2 minutes are scripture reading and prayer- just a heads up.
hope you're doing well.
bonnie
Thanks Bonnie. I'll take a listen.
This is actually happening in my church (which led me to your blog)! It's really difficult to see my pastor (whom I trusted as a man of God) do something I think is so wrong. I am encouraged by your post, but am still torn on what I should do! I'm having a really hard time with this one! I mean it may be this member today, but what if it's me tomorrow!??