Gaining a Brother
“And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.” (1 Cor. 5:2)
One Thursday afternoon, I was sitting in on one of my favorite Raymond events when something normal happened. They removed someone from their membership because of a failure to attend. I don’t believe I heard not a simple fuss. I saw a similar incident when I was younger. They terminated a gentlemen’s membership at our deer camp because his behavior was detrimental to others. And again, everyone understood. Now, what would you do if I told you that Paul did the same thing in the Corinthian church? How would you react if that happened at your church? What if it was to you?!
In the church at Corinth, scandal had erupted of such magnitude that even the outside world would have been appalled. For the purity of the church and the benefit of this brother, Paul disciplines him by removing him from the roll. Why? Why would Paul be so mean? The answer is simple – the brother refused to repent. The scandal did not cause the man’s forceful exit; the lack of repentance did. Repentance is the tell-tale sign of a true Christian. If there is no repentance, we have some serious questions, don’t we? Now, how do you think this man responded? Did he rant and rave at the Post Office? Did he get mad and go to the Methodist Church? (I kid because I love my Raymond Methodist Church friends.) What did he do? Paul tells us: “you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us” (2 Cor. 7:8-9). Paul took extreme measures so that he may gain a brother (Mt. 18:15-17; James 5:19-20).
Does that actually ever happen though? Are brothers actually gained through discipline? Well, a story flitters on the edges of my memory. I believe it was in Camden, Mississippi in the early 1900s. Two brothers were fighting, and one brother in particular refused to reconcile. After many long, tearful discussions, the church kicked him out. Or to use a proper term, they excommunicated him. Decades later, the minutes of the church recorded that the one, wayward brother was received back into the church with much rejoicing.
Listen, the Church is not to look like the world, yet we often allow far too much because we’re good Southerners - “we don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.” In the process, we lose a brother. But the Scriptures say: “Let a righteous man strike me — it is a kindness; let him rebuke me — it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it” (Psalm 141:5). Listen, if someone comes and places their arm around your neck and says, “Brother, we need to talk”, you have a true friend who loves you very much. If your church is willing to have those hard conversations (and they are hard), they care deeply for your soul. You have a church family to be cherished.
