The Amish Voice 4
in tme, those litle fences became more
important than anything God ever said. In
fact, Jesus clearly said to them, “
...ye reject
the commandment of God, that ye may keep
your own traditon.
” Let’s read the whole
passage.
For laying aside the commandment
of God, ye hold the traditon of men,
as the washing of pots and cups:
and many other such like things ye
do. And He said unto them, Full well
ye reject the commandment of God,
that ye may keep your own tradi-
ton. —Mark 7:8-9
We can read throughout the gospels and the
book of Acts that these man-made fences
would, in tme, become the very reason why
Jesus and the Apostles got excommunicated
and shunned from the synagogues. In fact,
these fences eventually became the very
cause for why they died on crosses, got be-
headed, were dipped in boiling oil and cast
into the rivers.
Jesus had told His followers…
They shall put you out of the syna-
gogues: yea, the tme cometh, that who-
soever killeth you will think that he doeth
God service. —John 16:2
How desperately sad, that these leaders,
who should have been studying and preach-
ing God’s Word, turned on their own fock
and cast them out of their fellowship; not
because they broke the commandments of
God, but because they broke their own man-
made rules.
Consider what happened in the situaton,
following this paragraph. Jesus is standing in
front of Pilate with a crown of thorns on His
head. He is being accused by His own peo-
ple, who want Him dead! Notce partcularly
the part of the verse that is underlined.
When the chief priests *leaders of the
synagogues+ therefore and ofcers saw
Him, they cried out, saying, Crucify Him,
Crucify Him. Pilate saith unto them,
Take ye Him, and Crucify Him: for I fnd
no fault in Him. The Jews answered
him, We have a law, and by our law He
ought to die… —John 19:6-7
In a nut shell, this is what they said; we *the
synagogue+ have our own set of rules; this
man, Jesus Christ, does not measure up to
those rules! Therefore, we want Him dead!
Questons:
1. Would Jesus measure up to our church
standards today?
2. What would happen if He atended our
services next Sunday, and at the end of
the sermon, He started healing people?
3. Would He be allowed to preach in our
church services, even if He was not cho-
sen in a lot?
Chances are, if Jesus Christ came to church
and was not dressed plainly or have His hair
cut a certain way, He would be put in a
diferent category immediately.
The church people might even start saying
and hearing things like, look! He came to
church without a hat! His suspenders are
made out of elastc instead of denim. He’s
wearing a mustache! Oh, and did you hear
what His name is? He claims to go by the
name Jesus, and you know as well as I do,
that is not a common name. My, how
worldly! If He thinks that He will become
part of this church, He’s going to have to
change His name to a more simple one, such
as Eli or Atlee.
So when does it become right to excom-
municate and shun a member of the church?
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View #3
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One thing is for sure, where there are peo-
ple, there is sin and disagreement. It is
bound to happen! Someone once said, if
you do fnd a perfect church, don't join it,
because the moment you join it, it will be-
come imperfect.
To point fngers at another church member
too quickly, is to forget the true statement
that says, but for the grace of God, there go I.
Oh, you may not have a problem with lustng
and you may never have come close to com-
mitng adultery, but possibly you have other
problems, such as anger and biterness.
Every person on the face of this planet has at
least several weaknesses and if at the right
tme and at the right place, you will break
every single tme.
And why beholdest thou the mote
*speck+ that is in thy brother's eye, but
considerest not the beam *plank+ that is
in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say
to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote
out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is
in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, frst
cast out the beam out of thine own eye;
and then shalt thou see clearly to cast
out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
—Mathew 7:3-5
Most of us would be wise to read and study
the previous passage before we take any
acton at all. However, there are those tmes
when a born again member in the church
makes some very poor choices and get’s
tangled up in a sin, such as the ones we read
about in Galatans 5:19-21 and a few other
places in the New testament.
When that happens, I truly believe that we
have to ask ourselves two questons before
we as a church do anything with the erring
member.
1st:
Was this a one tme sin or has it hap-
pened many, many tmes?
2nd:
Has the person showed true sorrow for
the sin which was commited, or is he or
she flled with pride and doesn’t care?
Let’s just say that the person is truly sorry for
the sin they commited.
Note: True and com-
plete sorrow cannot be faked. True repent-
ance is so visible that you would have a hard
tme missing it.
What should the church do?
They have a member who has sinned a
terrible sin, maybe it happened once
and maybe it happened several tmes,
however, the truth is, the sinning
church member is very broken over his/
her sin. S/he has wept biterly and
asked God and the church for for-
giveness.
What should the church do?
Should they immediately forgive and
forget? Should they forgive and stll
put the person through a period of
excommunicaton and shunning?
Before either one of us answers that ques-
ton, let’s turn to the following Scripture pas-
sage for our answer:
And the scribes and Pharisees brought
unto him a woman taken in adultery;
and when they had set her in the
midst, They say unto him, Master, this
woman was taken in adultery, in the
very act.
Now Moses in the law com-
manded us, that such should be