Hope for the Prodigal by Jim Putman

Author:Jim Putman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christian Living/Discipleship;REL012030;FAM034000;REL012000
ISBN: 9781493409266
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2017-06-03T00:00:00+00:00

Caring for Prodigals

We see an example of a churchgoing prodigal in 1 Corinthians 5. Paul chastises the Corinthian church because a man in the church is overtly engaged in immorality—specifically, sleeping with his father’s wife. The Corinthians allowed him to bring his sinful behavior into the church, probably thinking they were being loving. They are even “proud of it,” Paul notes. He asks, “Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?” (1 Cor. 5:2).

Matthew 18:15–17 outlines the procedure for dealing with sin in the church.

If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that “every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

The passage shows a four-step process of confrontation.

First, go to the person humbly, lovingly, and privately. Maybe things can be resolved at that level.

If not, then second, take along one or two others to act as witnesses. This lines up with the directive in Deuteronomy 19:15 to convict a person accused of a crime only by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

If this doesn’t work, then third, tell it to the “assembly.” In Jesus’s day, this meant the core Jewish assembly of God-fearing people. In today’s context, we’d probably say the eldership of the church, who then lets the core of the church know what has happened.

Fourth, if none of this works, then treat the person as one who does not know the Lord. The person is not shunned but rather treated with compassion, as a nonbeliever is.

Luke 15:1–32 offers a clear picture of what it means to associate with sinners, who often came to listen to Jesus. He told the story of the shepherd with one hundred sheep who lost one, the story of a woman with ten coins who lost one, and the story of the prodigal son. All the lead characters in these stories went after the lost with great diligence. That’s the attitude Christ displays toward lost and wandering people, inside or outside the family of God.

Still, there is an implicit boundary within the Matthew 18 directive. Sin creates barriers, and full fellowship is not possible with an unrepentant sinner. The purpose of confrontation is never to belittle or harm a person. It’s to bring a person to his knees so that he will repent and escape the inevitable harm sin brings, follow Jesus wholeheartedly, and be restored to fellowship.

In my (Jim’s) family, I needed to establish boundaries with my son Christian when he lived as a prodigal, because his actions were polluting others in my house. Christian was always welcome to come home, but until his repentance was complete, there were conditions.

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