Family and the Awkward Reality of It

We do not live in a perfect world. We are not surrounded by perfect people. The Church is no different. Now, when I say that you probably think it’s odd to refer to a building in such a way or you agree and imagine countless errors the infamous catholic church is guilty (or accused) of. Still, a small portion of our fair earthly populous might think of another entity. The thing to which I refer is none other than the bride of Christ, the church in her biblical sense.

What I refer to is every person who has truly trusted in our beloved savior Jesus Christ’s and His work. This is not the product of completing a checklist or having a certain pedigree. It is merely the result of looking heavenward and crying out to the only one who can save a soul from the very fate they know is coming lest the hand of God snatch them from the bowl of His wrath.

But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. (Titus 3:9-11)

It pangs me to hear of discord but there is a reality which we sometimes overlook in pursuit of “Being Loving” and the ever infamous… “Church Growth”. We must be mindful of those who, thinking themselves sheep, would seek to join the flock only to not have a taste for lush green pastures because they are inwardly wolves. Some of them don’t even know it. It’s like being in the middle of an ocean dying of thirst.

What shall we do, then, if these people don’t even know that they are deceived? That’s a really tough question, to be honest, that I don’t have the answer for. They’re just sort of revealed over time in a healthy church body. This is where biblical Christianity makes a departure from man-made religion. Where other religions seek converts for the sake of converts to make more converts we’re different. We seek those who love Christ, truly, and we know that if they don’t truly love Christ they have not yet been adopted into the household of God and if this is not the case… then they are of their father the devil (John 8:44).

I think it works kind of like this. A body has an immune system. If the system is healthy it rejects a stomach bug. It may take a while, you may have a fever, and you may have food going the wrong way out of your stomach, but eventually you’ll get better. That is, unless your immune system is compromised.

Then the job becomes much more difficult, if not impossible.

A healthy local church body will work the same way, I think. By healthy I mean people who aren’t asleep at the wheel and who are mindful of the mission. Those discerning being ever watchful of our sinful nature as well as holding those close to us accountable for overt sin in their life.When confronted with honesty and truth the person who is not in Christ will find this uncomfortable and eventually, if consistently uncomfortable, will either come to faith in Christ or abandon their attempt at assimilation.

So that when, not if, these wolves find their way into our midst they are eventually rejected. Not with a hail of gunfire but with the pursuit of honesty, love, and all of that as a pursuit of Christ. They must be lovingly rejected from the body for the preservation of the body itself. An additional benefit might be that they come to a true saving faith in Christ but never doubt that the preservation of the flock is secondary to the mission. 

That IS the mission. You don’t preserve your flock by inviting wolves into it just like how you don’t heal your body by infecting it with lots of diseases. That’s how you die and if you want to see the carcasses of churches in this nation alone google “church for sale”.

Do we need an action item? Of course we do. Pray. Pray for their souls and petition the Lord to save them from the road they walk which leads to perdition. Pray for their loved ones who need the grace to bear with them. So when you see them do not give them a harsh word but rather give them love and even though you know what lies under the clock remember “but for the grace of God there go I”.

This is the awkward day to day mundane of the church body. It isn’t glamorous and you won’t find it in a gossip rag. However, it is very real and equally important. 

Be blessed in the knowledge of the Lord.