Have you ever had a brother? I have two brothers and I love them with all my heart. I can't say I was always the best older brother in the world, but I do try my best. In younger years I was at odds with my brother Josh. I was very jealous of how easy things seemed to come for him, when things seemed to be so hard for me. Even in the times of greatest conflict between the two of us I always loved him. In fact, if anyone else attacked him other then me they were in for the fight of their life. Now, as an adult I am a defender by nature. It is something that is built into my DNA by God and it comes as natural to me as breathing. Because I am a defender I absolutely despise wolves. If it were up to me I would eradicate them wherever and whenever I find them. Even though it is good and right to stand against wolves I have encountered one problem; what do I do when the wolves I have to deal with were once my brothers or sisters?
Now I know this is a touchy subject for most Christians and we all fall on two very distinct sides of the coin on this issue. It has become the current trend in the American church today to buy into the Grace Above All Else doctrine; which states, that no matter how horrible a person sins God will forgive and love them anyway. The view through this doctrine is that we are all just sinners saved by grace; so therefore, we should not judge but simply love them until they come back into the fold. On the other hand, on the other side of the coin, we tend to take a hardline stand towards our fallen brothers. This group tends to be condemning and judgmental lambasting those who show any lack of moral character and integrity. So, since we have two very diametrically opposed views on how to deal with this subject, which one is the right course of action for us? I can think of no better way to find out then an all out UFC battle royal, so lets get down to it! In this corner, wearing the lovely pink "can't we all just get along" shorts, we have the 1 Corinthians 13 love conquers all Christians! In the other corner, wearing the black "sinners in the hands of an angry God" shorts, we have the give them over to the Devil so they can learn not to blaspheme Christians! Both sides have been training under their pet doctrines for sometime now and have even created their own gyms around their distinct fighting philosophies. These gyms, of course, don't associate with each other; but hey, that only makes this fight personal. Both fighters are ready and they meet in the center of the ring and touch gloves as the official describes the rules to them. This is going to be the fight of the century; well, at least the fight of the hour anyway. The bell rings and both fighters emerge from their respective corners like stallions out of the gate. My money is on the fighter in the black, since the fighter in the pink shorts prefers talking and singing together in stead of combat. Both fighters rear back and let fly and a resounding "crack' rebounds through out the stadium. Holy cow folks, both fighters staggered and went down hard. The official is counting and neither fighter is showing any signs of life! Wow folks in a shocking turn of events, both fighters have been counted out and the fight is a draw!
Well now, why a draw? Certainly one philosophy on the subject must be right right? Not necessarily. Neither doctrine is completely wrong or right on the subject; but in true human fashion, we take things to extremes while shutting out any point of view that does not lineup with what we want or feel. This way of thinking leads to conflict and an inability to see the whole truth on a subject. It is in fact, why there are so many different denominations and sects in Christianity. You see, you can not simply love people out of sin; on the other hand, you can not necessarily condemn them out of sin either. In the end, both philosophies fail producing no lasting effect in the lives of people. One creates an environment that allows sin to continue unopposed and unchecked; while the other, gives no way for grace, mercy or change. So if both are wrong, then how do we deal with brothers and sisters in Christ who have fallen into sin and have become wolves? Well I am glad you asked; and if you did not, I was still going to tell you anyway, because it's what I do. You need to merge the two philosophies into one giant Megazord theology. Kind of like when all the colored lions merge together to form Voltron. (Dinotherms connected Mega Thrusters are go!) If we can see the truth in both theologies while simultaneously discarding what is incorrect,0 then we can get down to the heart of the matter and find the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Of course, this requires us to except things we may not like while letting go of things we have come to except as truth that just simply are not. For example, the bible clearly states over and over again that there are consequences for sin and that God does not necessarily remove these consequences even though he desires to forgive us. Moreover, it likewise states that his mercy far outweighs his wrath and that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
In Luke 6 Jesus talks openly about how we should love our enemies.
"27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."
Furthermore, He goes on to talk about how we should not judge.
37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Now these are powerful statements that give us a clear conduct that we should follow when dealing with our enemies. Jesus, however, is not talking about how to handle sin here, so let me now deal with a bit of misconception that we have all had about this scripture. Jesus is not referring to dealing with fallen brothers and sisters who have become people who are leading others astray here; but rather, he is talking about how to deal with people who have come against or hurt us personally. Whereas our fallen brothers and sisters may have hurt us personally, this still does not give us a clear cut explanation of how we are to deal with them. It does, however, talk about not judging. WOO HOO, a triumph for the love crowd! Not exactly. Where as He does say we should not judge, he specifically expresses judging as condemning or being unforgiving. One of the definitions Webster has for "judge" is: to sit in judgment on : to try: to determine or pronounce after inquiry and deliberation. This is what Jesus is talking about here in this passage. He is clearly showing us that it is not our job to determine guilt or to pass sentence. The problem is that we tend to want to take matters into our own hands because we feel that God is not doing enough. Moreover, it is our job to protect people from those who would do them harm; it is not, however our job to be judge, jury and executioner. Unlike Judge Dredd we are not the law. Moreover, our view of justice is often vengeance and not actual justice. There is a fine line between the two, but both are ultimately Gods responsibility and not ours. (Romans 12:19)
Even though it is not our job to pass sentence, further down in Luke 6 he does give us an explanation of what is our Job. Now we all know the parable that He states earlier on in this chapter where He tells us to see the plank in our own eye rather then being concerned with the speck in our brothers eye; But after that, he gives us this statement.
43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of."
Also in 1 John 4 he states:
"4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world."
Here He is letting us know that every person can be identified by their fruit. What? Are you saying that we can JUDGE people? In a manor of speaking I am. Webster also defines the word judge as: to form an opinion about through careful weighing of evidence and testing of premise. Jesus tells us clearly here that we have the right to do this. We must be able to recognize people for where they really are. One of the greatest compliments my sister Melody ever gave me was when she said, "You are not the person you used to be." She was letting me know that I had changed and she knew it. How did she know this? She saw the fruit of the change in my life. It is our responsibility to judge people in this manor. In fact, if we can not, then we will always be deceived. Fruit does not lie, it simply is what it is. If a tree brings forth apples then it is an apple tree. So if a person is bringing forth bad fruit, then there is something wrong with that tree. This does not mean, however, that the tree is nonredeemable or untreatable; but rather, it simply shows that something is not right with that tree.
So now that we see that it is our responsibility to judge people by their fruits, what should we do about them? Well, we first off need to love them. Yes folks, love really is the end all and catch all of everything in this universe. In 1 John 4 the bible states that "God is Love and that if we do not Love we do not know Him". Moreover in 1 Corinthians 13 the Bible states that without Love we have nothing. He is not saying however that all these other things have no meaning; but rather, that with out love they have no significances. Love needs to be the reason and motivation behind all that we do. This is what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 13 and what John is talking about in 1 John 4. Both apostles are showing us that just like God, the motivations behind what we do should always be love. In 1 Timothy 1:20 Paul talks about giving people over to Satan so they will learn to not Blaspheme. We may see this as harsh, but Paul did this in order to save them because thy were heading down a path that would have led to their destruction. The bible also says that the Lord chastens those whom he loves. This of course is again Gods responsibility not ours.
In Mathew 18:15-17 Jesus gives us a detailed explanation of how to deal with a brother who through sin has come into conflict with us. Here He states:
15 “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’[b] 17 And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.
Here Jesus tells us that if a brother or sister will not come to a place of repentance then we need to treat them like we would any other unbeliever. Now what exactly does this mean? Well, we do not hate or attack unbelievers do we? No we do not. We love them and we treat them with respect and kindness; but we do not, allow them to have a place in our lives of influence and respect. In other words, we do not allow them to be apart of our inner circles of friends. We may love unbelievers and even at times eat with them and have relationship with them, but they are not our best friends who we go to for council. This is what Jesus is saying we should do to brothers and sisters who have fallen away and are unrepentant. Moreover, I have heard the Zacheous story mentioned often about how Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners often. He did, but they were only allowed into his inner circle after they were repentant and had changed. For instance, of all of the millions of people Jesus helped and ate with how come there were only 120 in the upper room? It was only the ones who were willing to repent and change that ended up there. In fact, I wonder how may of the people who cried "Crucify Him" were also those he ate with.
In conclusion, we need to love or brothers and sisters who have gone astray without becoming people who attack them personally. Our motivation should always be love and restoration; but, we do have an obligation to stand up for the truth and to stand against ideologies or beliefs that are against the Word of God. In doing this, however, we need to be careful to realize it is the sin and the false doctrine we are standing against and not the brother or sister that has been deceived. I will leave you with a superhero analogy. (I know you were afraid I was going to get through this without one, but have no fear!) Loki was raised with his brother Thor since they were young. Thor loved his brother Loki and was deeply torn when Loki decided to do things that were hurting other people. In the end he tried to reason with his brother but to no avail. When this happened Loki forced Thor's hand and they came into conflict. Thor had to stand against what Loki was doing, but at every opportunity he tried to reason with Loki to turn him from the path he was on. This is how we should be with our brothers and sisters who turn away from the Lord and become wolves. We should stand against the false doctrine and the sin while simultaneously doing everything in our power to restore our brothers and sisters who have been deceived by the enemy. After all, in Ephesian 6:12 Paul states: "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." People while taking a stand for what's right, lets always remember that the real enemy is the Devil and not our brothers and sisters.
