Romans 14:20-23 My Confession

Romans 14:20-23 “Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God.  Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.  It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.  The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God.  Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.  But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith.  For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin”.  (NASB)

Ok – I have to confess I blew it last night.  I have been at a company meeting here in Minneapolis all stinking week and we had a big dinner with about 180 managers.  It was a big deal.  When it all finally broke up some of us from our unit thought it would be a good idea to go somewhere alone.  We did.  Around the block was a place we had actually found the night before, “Ike’s”.  And, like the night before we each ordered a drink.  ONE!  “Last call” the waiter said and out we went back to the hotel.  There we found the group that had left the restaurant had reassembled in the lobby lounge adjacent to the elevators and there was no escaping the gravity.  So, we joined back in the social revelry of the company banter over another beverage.  “Last call” there was indicated when the lights went up and we all scattered back to our rooms.

So what’s wrong Dale?

Here’s what is wrong.  After my reminding all to “Shoot Straight or Don’t Shoot” very recently I managed to come back to the room and give the glamorous FaceBook rendition of the evening.  “Closed two pubs tonight, haven’t done that in awhile”, I wrote.

Yep!  I blew it with that post because it violated the Scripture shown above.  I had not behaved in violation of my conscience and understanding of Biblical standards of conduct for myself for the evening.  But, I may have led others to believe that I had with that post.  And, I have to confess I thought it was kind of cool that a just turned 53 year old guy that barely can stay up past 10 could actually stay up late enough to close not one but two establishments.  Of course “Pub” was a stretch too in reference to the hotel lobby lounge.  So, I was off the reservation with my comments.

No excuses, I blew it and someone may have read that and wondered, “What the heck” I thought this Dale Nicol was the guy that wrote all this stuff about the Bible and here he is out getting drunk and closing down pubs all over Minneapolis.  Although that isn't what happened someone might have thought so, and then taken liberty they believed wrong but since Dale did it ...  That's causing, "Your brother to stumble".   

The key violation was not my behavior but allowing it to be viewed or misconstrued or even twisted by my own hand into something it was not that could have tripped someone up.  
“Do not for the sake of food, destroy the work of God”.

Well, here’s maybe the biggest lesson.  We all blow it, and I did.  You will too.  If so, suck it up and admit it. It's not so easy but here's my confession in black and white. And ... don’t do what I did.  It's easier to avoid the problem than have to explain and confess it!  AMEN!

1 Corinthians 5:9-11 Don't Even Eat with Him

1Corinthians 5:9-11  “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world.  But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler--not even to eat with such a one”. (NASB)

Can you believe it?  Can you believe there would be a person or persons in a church body that in spite of his claim to be a Christian would participate in gross sin?  Openly participate in gross sin?  That is exactly the situation Paul learned of in the midst of the Corinthian church.  In this case Paul says it is the kind of sin you don’t even see unbelievers engaged in and yet here it is right in the church.  He says earlier in Chapter 5 that “Someone has his father's wife”.  It is widely agreed this was a step son engaged in a sexual affair with his step mother, his father’s wife.  And while he is openly engaged in this immoral relationship he is participating in fellowship with the other church members.

Paul is beside himself!  He likens this practitioner of evil in the midst of the congregation to a leavening agent in a batch of dough.  He says a little leaven affects the whole batch.  So the implication is clear.  Having a practitioner of evil in and among the flock is bad news for the flock.  Paul wants them to do something about it.  He says to get rid of the bad leaven and replace it with new.  There isn’t room for wondering what he means then is there?  He is saying get this guy out of your church.  If you don’t his behavior is going to rub off on you and before you know it you’ll have a disaster on your hands.  There will be more and more evil running amuck if you don’t nip this thing in the bud.

How does Paul suggest this happen?  He says get him out!  He says don’t, “Associate with immoral people”.  And he goes on to clarify that he’s not talking about lost people in the world who need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.  He’s talking about this, “So-called brother”.  He’s saying that when this kind of wickedness is seen blatantly in your midst you need to get it out and isolate it from the body. 

So what does Paul mean by “Associate”.  I think he is clear once again.  Paul says to, “not even to eat with such a one”.  Paul says don’t break bread with this evil person, this carnal Christian.  So the initial thoughts of this process were about protecting the church body but now Paul seems to be moving into the personal relationships of the believers with this immoral man.  Don’t have a meal with him.

Again I think the implication is pretty obvious.  Paul is saying not only to get him out of your church but don’t have anything to do with him.  Leave him alone; don’t continue business as usual with this guy.  Let him twist in the wind for awhile, he needs to know he can’t just continue in his sin and everything will be fine.  It’s not fine!

Ultimately we know that Paul’s message on Church discipline is consistently about restoration.  And there is no reason to believe this section of Scripture is advocating anything else.  But we must remember that a key prerequisite of restoration is confession followed by repentance.  Confession is admitting what was done; agreeing it was sin.  Repentance is turning from sin and behaving honorably.

So how does all this tie together?  Leaving that guy out twisting in the wind with fellowship broken will allow the Holy Spirit (assuming he really is a believer) to work in his life.  It’s sad but true that we sometimes have to reach rock bottom before we are willing to look up.  Being broken is sometimes where God needs to take us in order to help us.  Being broken may be what is needed to bring about our admission and our turn-around.  That seems to be what was needed in this case.  The implication of Paul's instruction is that if the Corinthian believers were to continue in relationship with this evil man they might interfere with God’s plan to break him.

What is the take home for us?  There may be times in the life of the church when chronic unrepentant evil is the reality in a brother’s life.  When the initial steps of going one on one then as a group to confront his sin fail to bring confession and repentance then the next steps must follow.  They must follow for the health of the church and they must follow for the potential restoration of the brother.  Pray this doesn’t have to happen in your local church but do not fail to act if it is necessary.

To God be the glory in His Church.  AMEN!