Inside Job

Sometimes I think we ought to hear more sermons from this passage:

What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? ~ 1 Corinthians 5:12

I'm not sure, but I think we get this precisely backwards sometimes - excoriating and castigating people outside the church for their behavior, and soft-pedaling and tiptoeing around people within the church that are working trouble.

Maybe it's just my experience in my little corner of the universe, but I see more snarling, snapping and jockeying for position, more hurt feelings and more offended sensibilities within the church than I've ever seen outside. Part of this, I am certain, is due to the fact that families are sometimes...families. I can allow for all sorts of differences of opinion, personality traits (and even disorders), and walks of life. But sometimes, there are people who are nothing more than troublemakers. They cause discord, practice deceit and wreak havoc in the body of Christ.

The proper and best way to deal with these people is to actually deal with them, and deal with them as strongly as the situation warrants. It's the healthiest thing for the individual, and obviously for the church body. The outworking of that discipline can be a topic for another conversation, but I think first we need to realize that something needs to be done when dissension threatens the church.