Paul Would Be Disfellowshipped

If you've been disfellowshipped, you're probably in good company.

I say this because it's plain Paul would have been disfellowshipped from the modern congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. Maybe that's presumptuous of me, but listen to what Paul writes in Romans 7:15, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do" (TNIV)

Waitwhat? But he goes on. "18 I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing."

Whoa there, Paul. Sounds like you keep doing evil, even though you want to do good. Doesn't matter what you want, it's your actions that count, right? We know what it means to persist in sin. We've been read to out of 1 Corinthians (which you wrote, by the way, but let's skip past that for now) at our judicial hearing. You keep sinning, you're out, no matter how much you repent.

Sort of reminds me of my relationship with my wife. She understands when I mess up, sure. She'll even understand if I mess up a couple of times. But keep that up, and it starts getting serious. Let it happen often enough, and she's out of here. And she's certainly not the only woman that's ever said that to me.

But to be fair, she'd be gone for her own protection. Does God need to be protected from our sin? At any point would God say, "Okay, that's enough, I need to stop being hurt by you. Relationship severed, have fun with the darkness and the weeping and gnashing of teeth."? Of course not. We know that instinctively. Yet we're so certain that God abandons us when we have trouble changing course, when we've fallen into the same trap for the hundredth, the thousandth time. There has to be a limit. Right?

Let's stroll right past the parable of the prodigal son for a moment; We know how that could apply here. Let's say the son has squandered his living three times, each time asking forgiveness. Or four. Or seven. At what point does the father hang it up? Close the door? Stop setting up a banquet?

What does Jesus tell us to do? Matthew 18:21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive someone who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

So here's the question.. God, how many times will you forgive me when I sin against you? Up to seven times? And the answer is no, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. More grace than you can give. More forgiveness than you can understand. Certainly more mercy than seems fair. But that's the kind of God we serve. That's the kind of God that loves us, that first loved us, even when we were and ARE in rebellion against Him.

We may weep with God over our lost potential, for each time we stumble we lose opportunities to be of service to Him. But He always loves and always forgives, and we belong to Him if we ask to belong. And no judical committee can change that.