The Bible's "Chew" Program

My menu-planning depends a lot on some stickers that declare “half-off” or some other discounted price. You should see me at my local grocery store rummaging through the clearance meat! Typically I grab pork chops, beef or chicken fajita strips, or stew portions over the huge, longer-cooking, “chewier” roasts.  Sometimes I wonder what “meat” Paul had in mind (lamb? goat?) when he wrote his milk-and-meat analogy regarding spiritual immaturity.

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat…” (1 Corinthians 3:2 KJV)
A newer translation clarifies Paul’s point:
I had to feed you with milk and not with solid food, because you couldn’t handle anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, for you are still controlled by your own sinful desires. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other….You are acting like people who don’t belong to the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 3:2-3 NLT) 

My older grandsons (3 and 4 ½) are big into meat (as in pepperoni pizza) but their baby brother at this point can only handle “mama milk.”  Just as humans go beyond milk, so should Christians. But Paul was seeing too church members who should have progressed way beyond the basic truths that Christ died for their sins. They had the label of believer, but not the lifestyle.

DISSECTING THE MEAT

Recently someone’s strange interpretation of Matthew 18:15-17 sent me back to my study aids to get at the “meat” and truth of Jesus’ words about church discipline. There’s more about dealing with erring believers than that passage. Jesus’ advice in Matthew was progressive chances to repent and change. First, a more mature believer would go privately to someone with a serious sin. If the offender resisted, two or three “backup” people (witnesses) would return. If still no change, then it was brought to the attention of the whole church. The implication was that this person was known in the church and their sin affected many people. Most offenders would resist getting this far, either because they truly realize the need for repentance or in their arrogance and spiritual stubbornness they don't care.

I’ve witnessed situations where this procedure was followed, both involving sexual sin among leaders. Because of its damage to the church’s reputation and integrity, their sin had to be dealt with severely but with as much love as possible. One time, because I knew the person and grieved their fall, I was present for that step of church involvement. I remember weeping as the person tearfully confessed his sin and then knelt as church leaders gathered around to pray and encourage him through the restoration process.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

The rowdy Corinthian church was a classic application of this rule. It was tolerating the blatant sin of someone who married his father’s wife—perhaps a stepmother. Kick him out, Paul demanded (1 Corinthians 5:5).  He also shamed the church for getting soft on those who called themselves believers but practiced obvious sin besides immorality. These included people “known to be guilty of greed, or...an idolater—that is, whose soul is devoted to any object that usurps the place of God—or [is] a person with a foul tongue (railing, abusing, reviling, slandering),  or is a drunkard, or a swindler or a robber” (1 Cor. 5:11 Amplified).  

The “meat” of the Word is not just that “Jesus loves me, this I know.” It’s also that we are allowing His Spirit to convict of those life choices that "usurp the place of God" or habits of the world, like a foul mouth. Only then can the Spirit transform us into living out godly “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control”  (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV).

MORE TO CHEW ON

But what of those who “become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another” (Galatians 5:26 NKJV)—those reflections of the Corinthian problem?  Paul’s counsel follows: Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently (NIV). Echoes of step number one in Jesus’ Matthew 18 instruction! 

Both these approaches—public, progressive rebuke of stubborn, blatant sin, and humble reprimanding of carnal Christians by caring brethren--have their places. Both deserve “chewing” on as we choose how to live out Jesus’ love among the spiritually arrogant and the spiritually struggling.