Learning Valuable Lessons From An Unpleasant Action

Neal Pollard

Fifteen months after a dear Christian was withdrawn from for a sin addressed in 1 Corinthians 5:9-11, that one came back home and was restored to fellowship last Wednesday. Both decisions, the withdrawal and restoration, were accompanied by a lot of emotions. But when repentance was publicly demonstrated, tears filled many eyes and smiles adorned many happy and relieved faces. Much that occurred in that moment is truly hard to put into words. With one young person making such a humble, courageous decision, we saw so many powerful things happen at the same time.

• God’s plan works when we work His plan.
• Godly elders acting with love and courage should be commended, not condemned.
• Such elders did what they did out of deep love for a wayward soul. 
• Discipline, done right, is loving. 
• Sometimes we are asked by God to do things that make no earthly sense to us, but submission is required whether or not we understand or agree with them. 
• Christians, especially friends of the fallen, who submit to a righteous decision from the leadership help bring a soul back home.
• A good heart, touched by the power of the gospel and by exhorting friends, can be softened and led back home.
• While there is time, there is opportunity.
• Seeing people’s faith in God’s Word confirmed is exciting and encouraging.
• The more invested people were in retrieving the fallen, the more joy and relief seemed evident. 
• If there is an “older brother” in our congregation, “he” is yet to be identified. 
• Satan cannot be happy, and we must help guard this precious soul from him.
• Our task is to reaffirm our love for this one, to provide needed comfort and to put this permanently behind us all. 
• It is hoped that we never have to go through with this here again, but if we do we should refer back to this situation. 
• It is not our prerogative to pick and choose what truths to accept and reject. 

The specific passages were not cited with each of those bullet points, but one can gain insight from such vital passages as Matthew 18:15-17, 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, 2 Corinthians 2:6-11, Galatians 6:1, James 5:19-20, Hebrews 12:5-17, and 2 Thessalonians 3:11-15. They help us understand what God would have us do, how He would have us do it, and why He would have us do it. We cannot outthink Him or devise a better plan. Not every wayward soul comes back home, tragically. But when such matters are handled in the right way with the right spirit, we are doing the most extreme thing we can do “so that his (or her) spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (1 Cor. 5:5). May these lessons learned not be soon forgotten.