October 23, 2013
Rebuke
Scripture not only recommends, but instructs us
to rebuke one another when necessary and appropriate. Most of us are still
working on the love one another aspect of being a disciple and the call to
rebuke others is way down at the bottom of our must-learn-how-to-do-list.
Personally I think we should take a page from Jude. “The archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the
body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but
said, “The Lord rebuke you!” Maybe when a fellow
believer needs discipline or correction we should simply ask the Lord to do it.
(Jude 9 NIV)
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----All of the instances Jesus and Paul told us to rebuke are command type sentences. Such sentences imply the reader or listener as the subject, “…if your brother sins, rebuke him,” (Luke 17:3b), “As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all,” (I Tim 5:20a), “Do not rebuke an older man…” (I Tim 5:1a), etc. Every part of a sentence is an important supplier of meaning. If a different meaning is read for a particular part of a sentence than the actual meaning of the part the author wrote, then the reader has not read the author’s sentence. We, the readers, the implied subjects, are not the Lord.
-----This has become so widely popular amongst Christians that it is rarely noticed when used. One of it’s favorite forms is to “Let the Lord love through you.” We are not commanded to “let the Lord love your neighbor and let the Lord love God through all your heart.” We are commanded to love your neighbor and love your God with all your heart. To push such duties off onto the Lord allows us to remain weak when we should be strengthened by the exercise of doing them. I suppose the ambition to make these errors is from respect for the weakness the Word speaks of us. But this weakness is in comparison to God’s strength, while the Word commands us to be strong.
-----Strength has several aspects. One is in doing what is commanded. Another is making the rebuke, the love, etc. as approximately accurate as possible. We are fallacious creatures through and through. Because of our own personal biases from within, and because of the cultural biases influencing us, it is a difficult task, if not impossible, to achieve perfect accuracy in what we say or do. But we must put forth the strength to be as accurate as possible. By so doing, a rebuke will remain a rebuke without transforming into the slanderous accusation that Michael would not bring against Satan. For “slander”, by definition, is falsehood, not truth. And truth is inseparably bound with love.
-----Then finally, love is a most important practice. It must be practiced in the mind as well as in the emotions, and from these it must be expressed into reality with the body. When the truth is that your brother is deteriorating because of a sin the only response love can make is rebuke. It truly might be that you have not that ability, but only the intelligence to notice the sin. Our choices are most often between a less evil action and a more evil action, even though we truly perceive them as being between a right action and a wrong action. Sometimes no action other than a call upon the Lord will be the least evil response, yet sometimes it will be the most (I would dare not kneel and pray while my grand daughter hop-scotches towards a cliff.) Maybe the best action is enlisting someone who has the abilities you lack and the respect of the sinning brother to help him out of self-destruction, even though that might touch upon an aspect of gossip. To somehow help avoid is to love even though it might involve rebuke.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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