Dec
27
2009
Why Are You Going to Church This Morning?
“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” (Gal. 6:1).
Joel Beeke in 365 Days with Calvin selects this comment from Calvin:
The opposite sin in rebuking one who has fallen is excessive harshness.
Hypocrites often use this kind of rebuke, for when they see a speck in their neighbor’s eye, they cry out in alarm, yet they have a large beam in their own eye that they do nothing about, as our Lord Jesus says (Matt. 7:4). Since many people enlarge their consciences to swallow an entire camel yet strain at a gnat when it comes to the faults of others, we must guard against being too harsh or too severe when we reprove others. It seems to some that they are only correctly doing their duty if they loudly sound the trumpet when another person falls. (Pharisee.)
How many cautionary words today spring from righteous concern? If a person sees his neighbor doing evil, he should, if he has an opening and an opportunity, show him his fault, yet we see nothing of this! For if each one spies on his friends and listens as he keeps watch to see if he can find anything to reprove, then he will be severe in the extreme. (Pharisee)
However, those who are severely dealt with in this way certainly cannot complain. After all, why else has evil become so prevalent in today’s society? Indeed, few people are admonished in private anymore to bring them back to God; rather, the sins that were hidden are slanderously published abroad.
Why? We cannot bear to hear the truth about ourselves. We want to cleave to our sins, as if no one has any authority or jurisdiction over us. True community cannot exist among us without such mutual correction, in which we all willingly submit to one another.
This morning, I’m headed to the Lord’s true community, the church of saints called FBC, to have the log removed from my own Pharisaical eyes by the preaching of the word and to then show some corrected-vision-concern for the brethren. To be restored and to restore. To be reproved and to reprove. To be a genuine part of the community of the redeemed.
Why are you going to church this morning?