09/06/2019
Have you ever run across someone who can’t wait to point out another’s faults? Does this person go to your church? Correction is good, but must be done with the right heart, and with a sense of humility. Nothing drives souls from Jesus faster than someone who uses their knowledge of the Word as a snare... a clever trap that is waiting to be sprung on someone as a means of belittling them, while raising themselves up.
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Philippians 2:3-4 ESV
Our goal in spreading the gospel is to lead souls to salvation, but so many of us treat it like a competition. My friends, there are no losers in faith except those who chose not to believe... or those who drive the lambs away from their nursing mothers of faith. Today let’s talk about using our studied knowledge of God’s Word to impress, and subjugate others, rather than to truly lead them to a full and healthy love of Jesus Christ. As we read Paul’s words to the church at Philippi It becomes apparent that the first churches needed to be reminded of this, and so do we.
Anyone who has had a child involved in sports has run across the parent who was constantly bragging about their child, and some who even berated, or mistreated, a child that made a mistake. As you watched this go on it became apparent that excelling in the game was more about the parent’s pride and advancement than the actual betterment of the young boy or girl.
One day I was sitting on the bleachers watching one of my sons play little league baseball; well actually a variation of it called T-ball in which the young child hits a ball balanced atop a tee. The boys on the field were very young, perhaps five or six years old. Watching your son try to hit the ball was cute, and often comical, but there was always the parent who took this very seriously. What should have been fun for their son, and meant to encourage him to love, and play, the game as he grew older, was turned into something distasteful. On this day we parents sat behind the backstop cheering, and encouraging our children when one child actually spun around and actually hit the ball by mistake. Even though it was a mistake, the ball went deep into the outfield where the opposing players were looking about in daydream fashion, picking dandelions, digging in their pockets, or other such baseball centered activities. So as the other teams coaches alerted their boys to the fact that a ball had been hit, our coaches yelled out “Run! Run!” to the boy who was standing there, amazed, and quite pleased with himself. So in the confusion of the moment he began to run towards third base where the third base coach redirected him towards first. Well as all of this was transpiring the boys in the outfield began to react to the surprising appearance of a ball there, and in three stooges fashion began running towards the ball... all of this to the delight, and laughter, of the parents in the stands. Finally the runner was getting the hang of things, had touched first and second bases, and was rounding third... on his way to home plate. Then it happened... the third base coach patted him on the back as he ran by.
As the parents cheered on this miraculous hero, a man, from somewhere behind the bleachers ran to the backstop, and jumped up on it where he clung to the chainlink and while shaking the fencing forcefully began yelling “You Had Better Call Him Out!!” Repeatedly at the top of his lungs. The anger I. His voice was overwhelming, and the parents cheering their children fell into a hush. This man didn’t have a child on either team, but had been watching game after game for this just this moment where a third base coach would touch a boy who was heading towards home.
Later we found out that sometime, in an earlier game, his son had rounded third base, lost his bearings, and the coach had redirected him towards home plate by grabbing him and pointing him in the right direction. The umpire had then called the boy out because it is against the rules to interfere with a base runner. His anger had driven him to spend hours watching other people’s kids play their games as he fumed, and waited for this moment. Then, after much discussion the umpires decide that a pat on the rear was not interference, and the boy was determined to have been safe at home. The man continued to yell, and had to be escorted, and banned, from the fields.
This occurred long ago, but I remember it as though it happened just today. This is what happens when a child’s involvement in sports is more about a parent and less about the child, and it is similar in church when a moment of faithful correction becomes more about the saint(?) doing the correcting than the soul of the person being corrected. In just such moments souls can be lost, and most of the time it is over some obscure church doctrine, a religious rule, ceremony, or point of liturgy, and worse... personal haughtiness or self-righteousness. None of these have to do with the principles of our faith in Jesus, and God. Walking away from a moment when we have had to correct a brother or sister in Christ should be one in which we feel as though we have suffer, and not a moment of victory in which we puff out our chest and feel more righteous, or sanctified than someone else.
There are times when correction within the body of the church is appropriate but listen to this scripture concerning how it should be administered...
“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”
Galatians 6:1 ESV
Spiritual gentleness is wisdom, and what is the temptation that we should be watchful, and fearful of? Let’s read Paul’s instructions to the Galatians...
“But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.”
James 3:14-17 ESV
So how do we administer faithful correction, and where is our heart as we do? We should be gentle, and merciful, because a soul hangs in the balance, and human nature is raw in this moment. In moments of conflict and correction we are prone to anger... those who correct, and those being corrected alike. Are we of a gentle, humble, and forgiving mind when we correct another?
“Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.”
2 Corinthians 2:5-8 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for entrusting me with the correction of my brothers and sisters in Christ, and I pray that you will make me wise in those sad moments. I pray that my spirit will be gentle, humble, and forgiving as I instruct, because all correction should be done out of a love for one another. If my vanity, or self-righteousness should surface then give me the courage and wisdom to ask forgiveness of not only the person against whom I have transgressed, but hear me as I ask your forgiveness, and guide me to seek the forgiveness of the church. Help me to treat the one I correct like a friend who I am about to lose, or as a love that is teetering on the verge of dissolution. Let nothing I say or do risk turning a soul from you, but help me lean on you in this time when I need your patience and understanding. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who sent your Son Jesus to correct, redirect, and provide us with forgiveness. Great are you who changes our heart, and saved our soul without driving us away, and who instills in us a refreshed love. Praised be your name Holy Father, for your grace which you offered to us while we were yet sinners. All glory is yours Father, and though I deliver the gospel to a million souls, and correct a thousand wrongs in another’s faithfulness to your Word, I do nothing that is not by your hand... and your loving kindness. Guide me in wisdom Father, and correct me when I stray so that I might bring others back to you.
“My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”
James 5:19-20 ESV
Rich Forbes