SHOWNOTES FOR
BONUS PODCAST #3 ( 10:41 )
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One of the good books in my library is called Restoring the Fallen: A Team Approach to Caring, Confronting & Reconciling by Wilson, Friesen & Paulson. The focus of the book is “When Christians fall into sin, how can we restore them?”
I save my book review for another blog. The book has a couple of great pages that highlight bad ways that churches deal with someone fallen to sin.
THREE BAD WAYS CHURCHES RESPOND
You’ll find that each of these wrong ways have some good in them. They have Christian heart to them, but they are way out balance and misapply Biblical principles.
1. CAST OUT THE SINNER
The sin of the person is a shock to the pastor and the people in church. The focus is to remove the person from their midst. Purge the sin by getting rid of the sinner.
Churches taking this approach do it in the name of righteousness. They say they are taking sin seriously and dealing swiftly with it. They are dealing with a “weakness” in the body of Christ that is destined to infect the entire church body.
There are several problems with this method. It is usually devoid of care, love and grace for the person. The person’s family is not cared for. It also scares others who are struggling with their own sin issues into further hiding.
2. IGNORE THE SIN
Some churches take a very soft approach to sin. They essentially go into denial that the sin has taken place. They don’t confront the sin at all. They will often cite that we shouldn’t judge (Matt. 7:1-5) and that one finger pointed at someone is really three fingers pointed back at ourselves.
This church might say, “The person is obviously sorry for what he did. Let’s not make a big deal about it. We have many more important things to be focusing on.”
They might even help hide the sin from the rest of the congregation. They believe that if the whole church knew, it would embarrass the name of Christ, and cause more unnecessary problems.
These churches become co-dependents with the sinner. They can almost become enablers. They take no consideration for victims, the person’s family, and for broken relationships. They do not hold to the highest standards of the Bible and the importance of discipline and consequence.
3. FORGIVE AND FORGET
This church feels that if the sinner is sorry they should be forgiven and restored. They extend their arms to the person in the name of mercy and grace.
They say, “What if you or I were in the same situation? How would we want to be dealt with?”
But sin cannot be dealt with superficially. True, continuing repentance must take place before restoration happens. There is not quick fix for those in bondage to sin.
A BETTER PATTERN FOR RESTORATION
The authors suggest that true repentance for the sinner comes through discipline, grace and responsibility. They suggest four keys to good restoration:
- Deal with the truth regarding sin
- Need for complete repentance
- Establish or reestablish spiritual principles and disciplines
- Restoration of damaged relationships
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Q: What are some other ways that churches fail to respond to the fallen?
Q: How has your church dealt with those in fallen to sin?
Q: How should churches do restoration?
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Resources
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