Yesterday our church had a day of fasting and prayer. In the past 5 years, our session (a.k.a. board of elder for all you non-reformed readers out there) has discplined 6 people in our congregation. 3 resulted in excommunication while the other 3 were suspended from the Lords Supper for a period of time. Of those six, only 1 has repented and come back to us and to Christ. We prayed for 3 hours last night for the remaining 5, pleading with God to bring them back to us. Our hunger was to remind us of our reliance upon the Lord and it was to remind us to pray.
Soul-threatening sins (all sins are soul-threatening, but I mean grievous sins that makes one doubt the faith of another) are always a shock to a congregation. How easy is it to believe that the man who took communion with you last week and who had every appearance of being a strong Christian left his wife and children for some skanky, low-life, gothic, chick? Its heartbreaking, and that is only one case.
But what I find so awesome about our congregation is their devotion and love for these people. It is obvious in the way they pray. Many churches would desert these people to the desires of their flesh, but not mine. And it is something I am thankful for. God forbid, but there may be a time in my life when I need church discipline, and I will remember the hours spent praying for those who left before me and how much the leavers hurt the church. And I will remember God's amazing grace when he brought back one from the pit of his sin. Its amazing, and God's promise to leave the 99 in search of the 1 is encouraging, and we should praise Him for it.
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On a lighter note: it was really hard for me to skip lunch on Wednesday. :-)
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1 comment:
Great post, Ethan! Your church sounds like a wonderful one. :)
I will pray for those lost five, as well.
God bless, Ethan!
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