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As most of you know, one of my hot button issues for the church is the mysteriously missing reality of "doing life together." Let me define what I mean by this phrase. When a church does life together we mean that a church is a group of people who gather for the purpose of being God's people. We are broken and flawed individuals looking for meaning and purpose and live life with people who are just like us...broken. We are all marred by the sin and none of us are excluded. All of us are capable of the most grievous sins but none of us are beyond the reach of God to restore us. This is the first ingredient in the mixing pot of a church...Forgiveness.



Unfortunately, there is some misunderstanding when it comes to forgiveness and its place in a biblical body of believers. Let me try to explain. Forgiveness exists because sin does! When sin is present in the life of an individual and in turn is present in a church, it muddies the waters of biblical community, particular when that sin has hurt the members of that fellowship. Does this mean that a hurting groups of believers can not forgive a person their sin? Absolutely not. I was reminded this past week that Jesus told Peter that you must have an attitude of forgiveness (remember the 70x7 story). Here is the question for us to answer. When is it appropriate for that person to regain a "good fellowship" standing with that body of believers. The answer is when that person is able to recognize the extent of their sin and take complete responsibility for it. When a person is "disfellowshiped" for their actions they are the responsible party in rebuilding the relationship with trust and integrity. They must be willing to submit to the wishes of that fellowship until such time as healing has occurred.



The church or fellowship has the responsibility to continue the process of restoration and seek that for the individual in question. They must admonish him/her to flee the temptation of applying the "woe is me" mentality. I wonder if you know what I am getting at here? Satan will creep in the hearts of the already wounded and finish his destructive work by allowing that person to feel that they are getting kicked when they are down. This will deflect the responsiblity of their sin in another direction and pushing that person to think self centeredly about their situation. Only truth and transparency can heal a person or persons after the onslaught of sin!



When a church can sift the dangerous waters of pain and suffering together and protect the unity and integrity of its fellowship, that is when the church is ready to do God's work!



For His glory!

With the recent challenges that have been thrust upon Providence Baptist Fellowship in recent weeks, I have found myself busier than usual and unable to put the time into maintaining this blog as I would like. I wish I could go back and relate to you the joy that I have experienced in being one of the shepherds at PBF and the incredible encouragement and support I have been given during this period. I also wish I could recount all the various truths that I have learned during this time as well. If you will allow some foolishness on my part, I would like to make an attempt at such.



Lesson 1: Indispensability of Truth

It is no small truth to say that if "TRUTH" had not be steering the ship at PBF, then we would folding like a paper airplane on a trash compactor. (I told you it would be foolish) I say all this to say that Truth always exposes error and light always dispels the darkness. I am thankful for God's Revelation in His Word which has been guiding our congregation over the past several months let alone the past 3 weeks. Some in our world today like to act is if "Reason" is the highest of aspirations for humanity. What a wasteful and absolutely ridiculous use of intellect. The existence of knowledge presupposes a source for such knowledge. Unyoked from its divine source, knowledge is futile and dangerous. I am thankful for a church that loves Truth.



Lesson 2: Indispensability of Truth Seeking

When a church chooses to call it quits in revelatory discovery, it calls it quits in world engagement. Sadly, this is story of many churches in our day (even in my own denomination). The people of God are called to ever seek deeper and more insightful connections with the Almighty. I quiver when one comes to me and says, "I know what I believe and I have believed it for 30 years." I am sure you have heard this refrain as well. It is right to be confident in what you believe. I am surely not calling us to be insecure in our faith. What I am calling for is a humility in a search through the whole counsel of God. That is, the 66 books of the Bible are the providential givings of God to His people so as to continually grow in their understanding of the Almighty.



Lesson 3: Indispensability of Christian Community.

The most meaningful part of my Christmas vacation was the time spent with my brother's small group at our home in Virginia on Christmas eve. My brother has been given the task of caring for a group through his church in Lynchburg, VA. Some of his "flock" could not travel home for the holidays so he invited them to have a meal and fellowship with our family on Christmas eve. I saw a picture that night of what the church should look like. I am experiencing that kind of community with various members of my own church but long to see it become an ever present reality through out the entire body of Providence Baptist Fellowship. Much of Christian fellowship in our day revolves around fried chicken and church programs. There is scarce amounts of Biblical hospitality present in the church today. What streams of evangelism would be opened if we opened all of lives, scars and all, to the lives of those with whom we worship and those whom we wish would worship with us!



These are just some food for thought! Selah!