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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!