All our troubles behind us
A newly converted christian told me something the other day that resonated strongly with me. He said, “When I was first baptised, I thought all my problems would be over. It turned out quite the opposite.” I likewise realised much more poignantly my responsibility towards God after I had committed my life to his service by being baptised. We don’t become perfect people by being baptised, we will still make mistakes.
So why does Jesus tell us:
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." MATTHEW 5:48I believe Jesus is telling us always to strive towards being perfect. We should not excuse our faults, arguing they are inevitable, but rather humble ourselves to mend broken relationships, make our way straight with the Lord, and live peaceably with everyone.
"Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." LUKE 13:24We also have to realise that even if the principles of the church are ever so well tied to scripture, that church is still made of imperfect people, who will make mistakes. If you start searching for a perfect church, you will never stop wandering, and never humble yourself to the authority of others, which every christian needs.
"Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." PROVERBS 27:17People who have made a difficult journey to join an anabaptist church may have a similar feeling to the brother I mentioned earlier; “surely now that we are members of a good and biblical church, all my problems must be over now?” I think we who come from the world in Europe are especially prone to this thinking because we have already struggled to some degree with local churches - perhaps lutheran, evangelical, reformed or catholic. Think of the difference between how Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, and George Blaurock approached the need to follow Scripture.
Martin Luther
At first, Martin Luther sought to reform the catholic church, and although the catholic church changed in some ways because of the reformation, he still found it necessary to break free from the undue authority exerted over “lay-people” by the “priesthood”, who were commonly known at the time to be at least as wicked as everybody else. (see, for example, the depiction in Jan van Eyck’s 1440 The Last Judgement of monks tumbling into hell)
To further explain the citation marks around “lay-people” and “priests”, we need to understand the transformation that the new testament church brought about; we were no longer to walk in darkness ourselves, and leave scripture reading, interpretation and practice to a class of rabbi’s, but rather each one of us, being equal, bears an equal burden for the souls of those we meet, to bring them to the throne of grace and teach them about Jesus Christ our Lord. So there is no longer this separation that the catholic church sought to create, and we do well to remember the early church had no such distinctions conferring power over people, nor can anyone be absolved of their priesthood duties, which God can call on at any time from any one of us.
"As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." I PETER 4:10 "(...) no one of you be puffed up for one against another." I CORINTHIANS 4:6 "[Christ] (...) hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." REVELATION 1:6Huldrych Zwingli
Huldrych Zwingli was initially quite welcoming to the reformers who came to Switzerland in the 1520’s to discuss the forming of a new and more biblically sound church than they had known before. However, when it became apparent he would have to give up the worldly power he had, he chose, like Luther, to support and pursue the death penalty for anabaptists. In fact, it became quite dangerous in Switzerland at the time, to even know about the arguments supporting the new, biblical church - if you were caught with a pamphlet such as we can now stock freely from Bible Helps, you would have been beaten and interrogated, and anyone you had discussed the matter with also.
Such harsh punishment was deemed necessary to stop the flow of information; because a simple statement of the facts - that the “church” of Zwingli supported warfare, while the Bible forbids it, and the Zwinglians baptised infants while the Bible says it follows repentance, these facts were shocking to just about anyone who heard about it at the time. So shocking in fact, that one after another family was banished from their canton for honestly facing the truth; the church had to change.
George Blaurock
George Blaurock realised that if the church was not going to change, he would have to be willing to not just live by faith, but die by it also. A student of Zwingli at first, he lived through the same period of upheaval and religious discussions in Zürich. However, on January 5 1527, just after his friend Felix Manz was drowned for the “heresy” of anabaptism by the protestant reformers, he was severely beaten and driven from the city. He remained uncompromising about the Word of God and brought many people to faith through preaching in Tirol until his own martyrdom in Chiusa, Italy (at the time; Klausen, Germany) on the 6th of September 1529.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." JOHN 12:24What makes modern day anabaptist churches different from those that persecuted our forebears is not an entire lack of sin, which no no group of people can claim. Rather, we have a deep appreciation for our personal responsibility to follow the bible, a responsibility which cannot be delegated or ignored. The story of Eli’s sons is a stark warning against complacency;
"Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD." I SAMUEL 2:12If we can humble ourselves and accept reproof from our brothers, we can avoid this situation. How should we do we do that in the church?
Speak directly
Matthew 18:15-17 is one of those passages so frequently referenced in anabaptist churches, it has become a verb; to “Matthew 18 the situation” means to attempt to defuse the situation by going directly to those in conflict in the church. There are three steps, each one only to be used when the previous have failed:
"Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." MATTHEW 18:15Verse 15 tells us also to keep private matters private at first. It is often the case that you don’t realise the hurt you have caused, so this verse helps to avoid situations where the story has become larger in the retelling, or because of how third parties view things. However, note that it does not obviate the headship order, so if sisters have issues, even this first visit would still be with the respective husband(s) or father(s) present.
"Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himself; and discover not a secret to another:" PROVERBS 25:9 "Lest he that heareth it put thee to shame, and thine infamy turn not away." PROVERBS 25:10
Instruct and reprove
Sometimes, the brother in question will not hear you, and needs to hear from more. Obviously, the earlier requirement to keep the situation private falls away, as Jesus taught us;
"But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established." MATTHEW 18:16 "And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican." MATTHEW 18:17Scripture also requires us to be open to reproof from the church and ready to receive instruction.
"Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him." LUKE 17:3Do not delay
It can add insult to injury if you leave a matter unresolved; it signals to the other party: “I don’t care about this” and hence also: “I don’t care about you”. If you call someone your brother or sister, and claim to have a love-faith relationship with Christ, you must also show them the decency and curtesy to listen when they have anything against you, and to quickly resolve the matter in accordance with Matthew 18.
"Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison." MATTHEW 5:25Follow through to the end
It is of no use to continue to “warn” a member of the church who has repeatedly ignored previous reproof.
"He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." PROVERBS 29:1Continuing to accept a member who is unrepentant in his or her sin is not in the spirit of the church of Jesus Christ. We all understand the desire to avoid conflict, but we recognize it is no excuse for leaving a conflict unsolved. This only invites further hurt in generations to come.
"A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." GALATIANS 5:9Eventually, the truth will always get out, and those who did nothing, when the Lord called them to their duty in the church, will suffer the consequences as co-conspirators.
"For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." II JOHN 1:11We can and should lead people to the throne of grace. But we cannot repent for them. We find it very hard to have peace with such a situation, but we know the Lord chooses whose hearts to harden, and whom He will give a new heart. May His will be done.