Read Romans 16:17-19
A particular man attended a church for months and befriended many people. He was your garden variety nice to everyone type of guy who never seemed to offend anyone. But after some time, he would pull people aside and behind the scenes would talk about the problems of the church. Eventually his agenda was
Paul’s advice in this situation is to keep away from them. We are not told to give someone a listening ear or to hear their argument or case before we keep away from them. We are simply told to keep away from them. Once we give a dissenter a listening ear it’s all to easy for him to pull our heart strings or to bait us until we are hooked. Pretty soon we are listening and agreeing and the seed of division has been sown. This is exactly the plan - make people realise how bad the situation is in this church so that they leave and go to their church.
A simple strategy you can you use to help put verse 17 into practice is to stop another person from speaking anything negative. You don’t have to be rude or mean. As soon as you realise the conversation is negative or demeaning simply ask them if they have spoken directly to the people they are talking about. Matthew 18:15-18 demands that they do this! If they say no, you can quickly add that it’s not godly for them to talk to you and encourage them to speak to the people concerned. If they are resistant you can even tell them that you will follow them up in a week or two to make sure they have done this. If the matter is about theology or church government or something not involving another person directly, you can use a similar tactic. The worst thing you can do is try to debate them because they probably have their argument and counter arguments well mapped out already. As soon as you realise this is a whinge session or negative discussion, politely ask them if they’ve talked to the leadership of the congregation. If they say ‘no’ then end the conversation, again politely, telling them it’s not appropriate to speak to you at this stage. You can even offer to take them to the elder/pastor if they are new to your church.
When the divisive person in a church gets pushed in godly a godly direction and consistently does not get a willing and sympathetic ear, he will probably leave the church. These people generally remain in the church only while they have willing and listening ears. As soon as they realise they are not penetrating the church, they generally leave.
Paul’s advice to the whole church to keep watch does not negate or supersede other commands for the elders to be the Shepherds. It is an injunction to protect the entire body and to stop individuals from the body being deceived and led away to a community of false believers. It is a command given to all because all are involved in watching out for each other. The Lord values every single person in the congregation and desires that none of them be enticed away or deceived by fine sounding arguments.
Prayer:
Use today’s Bible reading and notes to pray along the following lines.
Adoration:
Confession:
Thanks:
Supplication:
¨ Pray that this weekend’s Church service would be glorifying to God and edifying to the saints. Pray that the Word would be faithfully preached and that we would all sit under the authority of the Word seeking to apply it to our lives.
¨ Pray for the continued gospel work of Shiloh Church ministries.
1. What issues could cause division in a church today?
2. Should we therefore discuss current issues in church and over morning tea with each other? What guards need to be put into place?
Intro: Imagine having jewellery, say earrings or a ring made of pure gold. How beautiful. How awesome. What is your favourite jewellery? What is the best jewellery you could ever imagine?
Discuss a time when you had to rebuke someone and they responded positively.
Read Proverbs 25:12
Why does God compare a wise woman’s response to rebuke to a golden jewellery?
What is God teaching us in this Proverb?
Pray together that God would make you wise and willing to listen to the rebuke and teaching of others if it is needed.
Intro: Guys aren’t often into jewellery, apart from a pierced ear, nose or tongue perhaps. But God uses the image of jewellery to teach us about rebuke and correction. If you don’t like jewellery, think about the pure gold that the jewellery is made of.
Discuss a time when you had to rebuke someone and they responded positively.
Read Proverbs 25:12
Why does God compare a wise woman’s response to rebuke to a golden jewellery?
What is God teaching us in this Proverb?
Pray together that God would make you wise and willing to listen to the rebuke and teaching of others if it is needed.
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