Kinda Obey

This morning during a discussion on 2 Peter 2:20 – 21 one of the men shared a situation that is all too common in our churches.  A man had abandoned his family.  He had done that on the basis that his needs were not getting met.  He is still attending church and claims to be a Christian, and that even though he knows that what he is doing is sin, God will forgive him.  So here is one who is flagrantly disobeying scripture and “hiding” behind the forgiveness of God to do so.  What does one do with that?

As a body we are not handling these types of situations very well, at all.  The mantra heard over and over is that we are not supposed to judge… really?  In 1 Corinthians 5:11 – 13 Paul gives explicit instruction to remove a “believer” from the assembly for immorality.  Jesus, in Matthew 18:15 – 17, precedes Paul with the same exhortation and process.  As believers we are to hold each other to a higher standard.  Why?  Because we are supposed to be different.  We are supposed to take seriously what God says.  We are supposed to be different from the world around us, not seeking to explain away our disobedience but to confess it and repent from that action.

Is it any wonder that those outside the Church deride us when our lives mirror the world exactly?  What is the difference?  When we can abandon our families, in the name of our needs – it is nothing more than self centeredness, not the self sacrifice to which Christ calls us.  Kinda obeying Christ, or explaining away disobedience for theological or cultural reasons is simply disobedience.