I teach a mid-week Bible class at our church geared mainly for senior saints.  Whenever our Pastor attends, the average age of the class drops considerably.  Recently, we have concluded a rewarding study of 1&2 Thessalonians.  We go slowly in the study, and frequently I remind the class that there is no need to rush the study because “we have no train to catch!”  It took us four months to conclude our study of the second epistle alone.

            As we concluded 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15, it became obvious, even with a cursory reading, that the Apostle Paul was very concerned about some bad behavior among some of the church members.  These “busybodies” were refusing to work because of a misunderstanding about the coming of the Lord.  Instead of getting on with the program of the church, these busybodies were becoming a burden to the church by throwing obstacles in the way of kingdom proclamation.  They had become sponges off of very limited time and resources of the church.  Earlier (1 Thess. 4:11-12) Paul had reminded them to work honorably as a testimony of their faith to outsiders and not be dependent upon others.  Evidently, this first admonition didn’t “take,” because he sent a second straightforward rebuke.  It was here that discipline became necessary.  This time Paul’s address to those living irresponsibly and unruly was strong and took the form of a command from the authority of an apostle.  Do this…..and do it now! “If anyone was unwilling to work, then he is not to eat either” (2 Thess. 3:10). However, Paul’s heart was bent toward restoration rather than excommunication.  He wanted these people to feel ashamed of their actions, so he reminded the church that these unruly ones were still brothers and sisters in the Lord, and to treat them as such (3:14-15).  There was a fine line between putting a person to shame and shaming a person.  The former is an attempt to bring a person to remorse and repentance.  The latter leaves no room for restoration. It is spiteful and punitive rather than redemptive. 

            To Paul, there was a big difference between the unwilling and the unable.  The Thessalonians had a work problem. Believers still have responsibilities toward those in need. (1 John 3:17-18)  It would be tempting at this point to get sidetracked and mount a political soapbox; but i will resist that temptation because I want to stay on point.  However, I do fear that our nation (and even some within the church) have been caught up and trapped by the ease with which our own government seemingly offers an endless supply of “free entitlements.” It saddens me to see so many Help Wanted signs posted in businesses around town knowing they could be filled by able-bodied workers.  Paul’s instructions in this chapter (2 Thess. 3:6-15) are just as relevant to the church today as they were to the church then.

            The above is but one of the scripture passages that deal with discipline within the church.  Other well-known verses are Matthew 18:15-17 and Titus 3:10-11.  Regarding these verses I am certain that much has been written, preached, and utilized by the church today – some with more gusto than others.  However, it is not my intention to comment further on the interpretations of the who, what, when, where, and why of these verses.  I would like to take you in another direction and toward the real reason I am writing this article; but first a little background and a few assumptions. 

            I have lived long enough and labored within the church long enough to see church members walk away from a local body of believers, each with a variety of mostly self-serving reasons.  Whether these reasons are justified or not – only God knows.  These individuals will, as with all believers, stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ to give an accounting of their actions and motives in these matters (2 Cor. 5:10).  I have heard some reasons in my time; and in my opinion they range from a few which are legitimate, to a majority which are insincere, immature, and selfish.  Some are willing to leave to avoid church discipline rather than be “found out.” Some reasons deal with personality conflicts among members. Some folks simply leave because they don’t like the preacher, or that the church just doesn’t address their personal needs, or they just don’t feel connected.   The old joke about cushions in the pews or the color of the carpet might even be true in some cases, but I doubt it. There’s usually some underlying issue other than that.  Some leave for no other reason than to try out some new church.   Reasons are a dime a dozen.  But it is the ease with which this is done today that is so disturbing, and often devastating to a local church.  Why not stay and help things become better?

             A few legitimate reasons can occur, however, in causing one to leave a local church.   There may be concerns over major doctrinal issues of the Christian faith.  Akin to this may be some very real reasons which relate to a church cozying up too close to the culture of the world and losing its “first love.”  The social gospel and the digital culture of the day are very powerful and can adversely infiltrate the church.  I believe a church and its leadership can lose their way to the point that little recognizable difference is seen between them and the world.  They have become  “lukewarm.” The Apostle Paul condemned the church at Corinth for its worldliness.  It is at this point that the discerning Christ follower needs to assess prayerfully the decision to leave, or stay and help the church find its way back.  I believe these things are dealt with on an individual basis.  There is no “one size fits all” in these matters.   

            However, I am amazed and saddened at the ease with which this “walk away” is done among church members within our own nation. If some believer walks away from his local body today, he does so knowing that with ease he can find another church down the street or around the corner where he can “try it out”.  It’s so easy here, and that can be a blessing and a curse.  It’s a blessing because the gospel is so prevalent in this country, and good churches are easy to find.  Oh yes, there may be some doctrinal and practical issues among churches, but at least the Word has been preached and churches have been established in abundance in most cities and towns here.  The curse affords the “walk-aways” the opportunity to find another church easily and escape the responsibility to grow toward spiritual maturity within the existing church and work together as believers for the cause of Christ. Too easily these ones “take up their marbles and play somewhere else.”  I am certain however, that in many areas of our world, that is not the case.  Some existing churches in distant countries may be separated by hundreds of miles.  Believers need each other desperately in such places.   There is no room for pettiness.

            All of this background and supposition on my part leads me back to my study in 2 Thessalonians.  I am wondering how this would have fit into Paul’s admonitions to the church at Thessalonica.  It is my assumption that all these churches to which Paul wrote (Philippi, Colosse , Ephesus, Thessalonica, etc.) were probably small when he planted them into  bodies of believers. They were barely growing when he wrote to them to encourage and instruct them.  They were probably house churches – certainly no buildings or assembly halls.  These little cells were all alone in larger metropolitan areas – cities that were pagan.  If they had problems, and they all did, they would necessarily need to work it out among themselves –not leave!  Paul encouraged them to begin by treating each other as brothers and sisters in the Lord (3:15), knowing well that they were all alone in a heathen culture.  His goal was to encourage the church toward maturity in the Lord.  He gave them no option to walk away. Where could they go? They couldn’t just leave and go to the next church down the street.  There was none. 

            When Paul addressed church problems, as he did in Thessalonica, he encouraged the church to work together toward spiritual maturity among believers in Christ.  Sure, correction needed to happen, but with restoration and love being the final outcome. That was the church discipline he was after.  All they had was each other. Their little congregation was the only game in town. They were a family of believers, and families don’t just up and walk away.  Just because we can with ease today walk away and go to the church down the street doesn’t mean that we should. We probably shouldn’t. Perhaps it means that we need to grow in love toward each other all the more realizing we are working together for the cause of Christ.  I don’t know how the Lord will deal with us in this matter at the Judgement Seat of Christ.  All I know for sure is that Jesus prayed about this matter in the garden of Gethsemane when he said, “I pray also for those who will believe in me…that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe you have sent me…May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:20-23).   Paul’s discipline for them was to work toward restoration and love – that’s how others on the outside would know that they were Jesus’ disciples.  That would be their witness.  Walking away and going somewhere else was a foreign concept in Paul’s thinking.  His goal was repentance, forgiveness, restoration, maturity, and love within the local body.  That’s where church discipline needs to happen.    

 

     Bob Yarbrough is a retired School Principal and is an Elder at CenterPoint Church in Mesquite, TX.