What Are We To Do With a Divided Church?
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This transcript provided by: "Technically, That's Illegal"
Today I’d like to discuss a relatively difficult subject and that is division in a church. I’m going to be even more specific than that, so this is going to be one of the subjects you can either identify with or you can’t. I’m sorry if I leave some of you out, but perhaps there will come a day when you find yourself in this situation, and maybe you can think back to some of the things I presented here and maybe it will be in some way helpful to you.
Of course, churches become divided for all kinds of reasons, but sometimes a church becomes divided over reasons that are vague and very hard to define. Sometimes churches just become divided over time and some years down the road, you look back and realize that people shrug their shoulders when asked someone how this all started.
I know sometimes churches have attempted to practice church discipline, which is a wonderful thing by the way. I fully support church discipline. Of course, let me explain what I mean by church discipline. One of the benefits of being in a home church is meeting together very regularly and consistently with brothers and sisters in Christ. With this, you can hold one another accountable. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about that or about church discipline. Church discipline is essentially the act of restoring those who have been overtaken in some kind of fault.
Imagine the person that has been overcome by some temptation. They have allowed themselves to fall into the snare of some particular sin, and they just can’t seem to get out of it. They are unrepentant. They are stuck in whatever state it happens to be, and our role as their brother or sister in Christ when we see them overtaken in these faults is to help to restore them and bring them back into the faith. We need to help them eliminate that sin from their lives. We’re supposed to do so in a very loving and meek way as Paul described in Galatians chapter six. It is to be done in such a way that we realize all the while that we ourselves could be overtaken in a very similar fault. We have before, and we will again at some point. When someone realizes that church discipline is a wonderful thing, and they attempt to carry out in their own lives and churches, oftentimes we turn to the lessons that the Lord Jesus Christ himself provided us.
Jesus gave us a three-step process for church discipline. The first thing we are to do is we are to go to that individual when we see they are committing some kind of offense and speak to them privately. We are to labor with them individually and see what we can do to help them in that way. If we feel like that individual laboring has been completely exhausted, the Lord says to move on to step two.
The next step is to bring two or three more people and allow this small group to labor with that person. Then, in the worst-case scenario, when all else fails, (there is no time limit on these things by the way) then the entire church becomes involved. I contend those issues are going to be very, very rare among our churches, especially when you are getting to the point where it’s necessary to involve the whole church. At that point, you’re talking about issues that don’t come along every day.
Sometimes we get so caught up in wanting to do the right thing and wanting to make sure that our church is doing the right thing, that we can sometimes become too zealous when it comes to church discipline. Some practice church discipline in all the wrong way by shunning people and taking them out of the church altogether. That’s not proper. That’s not church discipline as described in the Bible (at least as far as my understanding of it goes).
I do believe church discipline is a wonderful thing, but we have to be very careful about how we practice it. We have to be very careful about our zeal when it comes to church discipline. I have known of cases where there has been an offense committed by somebody and certain ones in the church have attempted, with great sincerity, care, and love for both that individual and the church, to initiate church discipline. They’ve gone to that brother or that sister and attempted to labor with them and to help to restore them and it is been fruitless.
Often times, when a person is confronted with their own problems, they are going to be very resistant. You’ve probably seen shows like Intervention on A&E where people are confronted with their problems. Often times, they become very proud and stubborn in that moment and they want nothing to do with it. They don’t care if you’re coming to them with love and compassion. They don’t want to hear it. They don’t want their flaws, errors, and sins pointed out. They don’t want it thrown out there on the table in front of everybody. This often creates a division between at least a couple of people in the church. One person is trying to discipline or restore a other brother or sister and continues to follow the formula that the Lord provided. When they move on to step two and other people become involved, then both sides end up talking about it with other people in the church and the whole issue spreads. It forces people to choose sides and it becomes one great division among most of the people. Then, as time goes on, this division persists.
Think of it like a cut on your skin. It’s very hard for that cut to heal when it’s constantly being touched and tampered with. Over time, it just refuses to scab over and heal completely. In the case of church discipline, you’ve got some that are still trying to discipline and do what is right and they’re trying to force a unity back in the church, and you might have others who are resisting.
There’s a number of reasons why we continue to pick at that scab and not allow it to heal. As time goes on, this division becomes becomes undefinable. There have been divisions in churches where people really did just have to shrug their shoulders when asked what the division is about. They can point to other people in the church and say, “Well, they’re on the other side of the division. They’re causing the problems.” Of course, if you go to that side then they’re pointing at the other side saying that it’s their fault. There is no root cause anymore, at least that they can remember. There might be a particular issue at that moment which they are currently fighting over. This is what has a tendency to happen in these divisions. There will always be an issue they’re fighting over and that they are divided about, but it just happens to be the the topic of the day. The topic changes from week to week, year-to-year, or generation to generation.
Churches can go years and years and years having a division among their people and it’s like the Hatfields and the McCoys where you eventually look back and say, “I don’t even know why were feuding anymore.” It’s just what they’ve become accustomed to. The church has one side that’s good, and that would be the side you happen to be on. The other side is creating all of the problems.
Now, like I said, maybe you can identify with this or maybe you can’t. There’s a number of reasons of how a church can become divided. Church discipline is one of those reasons, but that’s certainly not the only issue that can ultimately divide a church. It it pains me to see churches going through this type of thing. It really does. With that in mind, I sat down last night, and I wrote a letter. I wrote a letter to churches that happen to be in the state where they have been divided and they don’t know what to do.
This transcript provided by: "Technically, That's Illegal"
What happens a lot of times is it eventually gets to the point when those who are zealous about church discipline finally decide that they’ve got to do something about the division and they seek to exclude certain members. The ones they have pointed to say, “You’re the ones that are keeping the church divided. You’re the ones that are causing the problems.” Even if they can’t point to any particular sin or issue beneath the actual division, they will still seek to exclude certain members. This has happened more than once in many churches throughout the world. I have known some even to this day that are experiencing this very problem, and this letter was born out of my knowledge of those situations.
I’m concerned for divided churches. I’m not sure that the advice that I deliver in this letter is necessarily the wisest advice. I’m not suggesting that it’s the best advice, but it’s a very difficult situation, especially as a church pastor to know what to do when you’re looking at a church that is in this condition. You could jump on one side of the division and just say, “Yeah, you’re right, let’s exclude these folks over here because they’re keeping this division going.” But that’s very rarely, if ever, the answer. The pastor needs to find another way to bring them together.
Of course, we all like black and white answers to the problem of church division. So, we turn to teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. We follow the three steps of church discipline when someone commits an offense and we say, “Well, you know, we have to eventually kick someone out, right?” We don’t shun them necessarily or stop them from coming to church, but we exclude them from the membership in some of the the deeper parts of fellowship that the church can have. I believe that is a mistake. I’m going to read to you now the letter that I would present to churches that happen to be in that very rare, but very likely situation.
Discord among brethren in the church is a tragic event. However it takes at least two people to disagree. To properly execute discipline in the case of disorder requires that we must first understand the root of the division.
Perhaps the one facing discipline is not the original guilty party. I would hate to be like the Jews in John chapters eight and nine who tossed both Christ and the formerly blind man out of the temple for nodded hearing to arbitrary religious order.
Imagine scenario like the one described in Proverbs twenty six. The original sins of the fool are not told to us. Let’s pretend that the fool unjustly despises brother X, and proceeds to spread gossip about him through the church. As coals are to burning coals and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife.
Unfortunately, the fool relates the disagreement in such a sincere way that he leads others to side with him and the controversy. As he that bindeth a stone in a sling so is he that giveth honor to a fool. Brother X is innocent, but the church no longer believes so because they have given honor to the fool. Brother X is in a tight spot because the Bible tells him not to answer a fool according to his folly lest thou also be like unto him.
Brother X may plead his case and seek counsel from others, but ultimately he cannot stop the damage that has been done by the fool. In the worst-case scenario, brother X becomes like the fool in how he handles the situation, which essentially makes two guilty parties. Maybe there were two guilty parties to begin with. Who is to be disciplined in this case?
Unfortunately, strife among brethren is not always black-and-white. I contend it is rarely so simple. In most cases, both sides err from brotherly love for so long that it is impossible to know who is to blame. Regardless, it often ends with the majority persecuting the minority. If they were not the majority in the beginning, a few whispers through the church can persuade the multitude and quickly gain them the majority they need. This is church politics at its worst. That is ,until the pastor sides with majority and begins to act as dictator instead of an example to the flock.
It only makes sense in these trying times that we would seek to purge out the old leaven. If we remove the leaven, the problem is solved, but we might not have identified the leaven. Of course, we are not to keep company with any man that is called a brother if he be a fornicator, covetous, idolater, drunkard, or an extortioner. Do these sins even exist among our church? We are also to mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which we have learned and avoid them. Is one or more among us guilty of this type of heresy? In many cases of division, even when one side is right and the other is wrong, discipline may still not be necessary.
Sometimes solving the problem of church division is a matter of dealing with brethren who are weak in the faith. We who are stronger must put ourselves in their shoes, and even sacrifice our own desires for their sakes. What we are to do with a divided church when the root cause cannot be determined? Perhaps the root cause has even been buried by misconduct on both sides.
This reminds me of the two harlots who approached King Solomon and both claimed to motherhood over the same infant child. Solomon said to bring him a sword and to divide the living child in two and give half to the one and half to the other. The first woman who was willing to give up the child in order to spare the child’s life, was awarded custody. Solomon knew only that the child’s real mother would be willing to make such a sacrifice. A church truly concerned with peace and unity does not seek to officially divide or exclude certain members as a so-called solution to division. That is as foolish as fighting fire with fire.
A better solution to the problem of church division would come through the practice of pure and undefiled religion by visiting the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and keeping ourselves unspotted from the world. In other words, we focus on the actions of ourselves rather than others and do what we can to edify or build up our brethren. We do not allow our unbridled tongues to gossip about others or constantly point out the motes in their eyes. Instead, we worry about our own selves. When it comes to others, we provide an example to them and support them through love and compassion. Patience, prayer, and the Lord ‘s blessing upon our newfound brotherly love will take care of the rest. There will often be stubborn horses among the bunch who try and remain on the outside, refusing to give even the appearance they are in accord with the rest. But we can only lead a horse to water; we cannot make him drink.
People are proud. If they are going to change, they want it to be on their own terms. Eventually though, if pride and behavior is not made an issue (in other words…ignore it), they will want to change. It may take longer than we desire, but unity will return. There are cases for church discipline. However, discord alone is a weak case to be made for exclusion. It seems it would present a case much like the adulterous woman brought before Christ. It takes two to commit adultery. Where was the other guilty party? In this situation, I would rather err on the side of caution than to be the sinner who casts the first stone.
So that was my letter specifically to those churches who want to solve the problem of a long-standing division by executing church discipline and eventually reaching the point where they start excluding members. The process of church discipline and excluding members and all of that may be completely foreign to you. I understand that a lot of churches don’t even practice such things. I do believe they are Biblical if they are conducted and handled in the appropriate way with a lot of waiting on the Lord, wisdom, and spiritual discernment every step of the way, and with a whole lot of patience.
I could be wrong, but when a church gets into a state of division that is so hard to define as to what the root cause is, and so many many mistakes have been made on both sides, to go about the process of church discipline and to exclude members from the church is not the answer for reuniting the church.
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About The Author
Jeremy Sarber
I'm the pastor of one of the most blessed churches in all the world. I'm married to the most wonderful woman to walk the face of the earth. I'm host of possibly the most unconventional podcast on the Internet. I am thankful because I deserve none of it. Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email
