[ACuriousFellow]

Rebuke is an interesting thing in The Lord’s Recovery. It is often discouraged because our goal is not to “condemn” people. One must never attempt to say something that will make others feel ashamed of what they are doing. To some extent, this made sense to me. Oftentimes people are already repentant when they commit sins. There’s no need to beat them when they are down, right? What is to be done, however, when they are not repentant? What if someone slanders another and when publicly confronted simply tells the accuser to get over it? What if someone’s whole family is effectively “quarantined” because of this slander despite having evidence that it is not true? Surely this person has a right to present their case before the church, but when an angry word is spoken against the slanderer, suddenly everyone might turn their backs because they spoke “death.” The slanderer may have done wrong, but that’s nothing in the face of the slandered talking back to them before the assembly, even if they already presented evidence of the slander. Such a person is accused of not having love due to speaking in such a way, but no one says a word against the slanderer for acting with hatred by having an entire family shunned by the church due to their lies. The slandered is suddenly “poisonous” and “divisive,” but the one who disgraced the family of the slandered is one who was full of life and love for the saints and should be defended. Rather than issuing any sort of real apology, the slanderer simply tells the slandered to let it go, and the rest of the saints turn their back on them.

This is what I witnessed within the Local Church (a.k.a. “The Lord’s Recovery), and this is what I’ve subsequently seen in the teachings of Witness Lee and the leaders of the denomination he created. This is what I saw with the treatment of John Ingalls and Steve Isitt, both of whom fell far short of rebuke and merely attempted to exhort. This is what I saw with the treatment of Jo Casteel, who sought the same but spoke firmly of the wrongdoings within The Lord’s Recovery. Such people were already painted as those who were rebels (John Ingalls), the embodiment of the accuser of the brethren (Steve Isitt), and poisonous attackers who sought to destroy the fellowship (Jo Casteel). With such a fear of gentle exhortation, it is no wonder that open rebuke would mark one as a pariah in The Lord’s Recovery. That is, of course, unless you are rebuking or shunning those who speak against Witness Lee. Then you are most certainly full of life for saying they are rebels, liars, poisonous, Satan-led, devilish actors who are worthy of open rebuke, condemnation, and excommunication.

But despite this deep-seated fear of rebuke and correction from many in The Lord’s Recovery, there is a place, an important place, for rebuke within the assemblies of God. There is often a need, sometimes a desperate need, for reproval among God’s sanctified people. Surely, as many here know, there is a need for accountability within The Lord’s Recovery that has long been neglected.

Useful For Rebuke

Galatians 1:1-10
1 Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—2 and all the brothers and sisters with me, 3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! 10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Paul wasted no time in calling out the Galatians, bringing up the matter immediately after his greeting. The believers were being pressured to return to the Mosaic Law, and Paul would have none of it. This was something that even the Apostle Peter fell into, and Paul openly rebuked him for this. To lay down a foundation other than salvation by faith in Christ was a nonstarter that Paul would immediately rebuke even new believers for. We may be called to do good works as the Sons of God, but these works do not save us. Rather, they are the result of our salvation. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the way of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:1-10). We were wretched and far off from God, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts, yet even in this state Jesus Christ died for us and made a way for us to be seated with him. Salvation is most certainly by grace. Our sins are paid for and we are forgiven not because of something we’ve done, but because of what God has done. As those who have been saved by grace, we are called God’s handiwork, and he created us in Christ Jesus to do good works which were prepared in advance by God for us to do. This is the gospel. This is the good news. No other foundation is acceptable, and Paul is quick to rebuke anyone who would teach otherwise, even going to far as to declare a curse upon them. We may not think much of curses, but when you see the word curse in the old and new testaments, it is harsher than any rebuke or condemnation. Paul is invoking the name of God to bring ruin and destruction upon anyone who would speak another gospel.

Galatians 2:11-21
11 When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. 14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? 15 We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. 17 But if, I seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker. 19 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Peter may not have been instructing believers to circumcise themselves and follow the Mosaic Law, but when others came who believed such things, Peter would not sit with the Gentile believers. Peter was an apostle, one of the twelve, and considered by many to be the leader of the twelve. His example would have damaged the faith of many Gentiles and was poisoning the faith of many Jewish believers. As such, Paul rebuked him before all who were there. It may not have been as harsh as the curse he mentioned earlier to the ones who taught the false gospel, but nonetheless he publicly called out Peter for his foolishness. Peter himself was the one who received the vision from Christ and saw the gift of salvation and of the Spirit coming to the Gentiles. He knew very well, for Christ himself had declared it to him. Still, he drew back and separated himself so as not to offend “those who belonged to the circumcision group.” That which is dangerous to the body of Christ, especially if you are a leading one, is deserving of such open rebuke, for such sins damage not only the one who sins but all those who follow them. Touching on salvation, as we will see shortly, is also worthy of rebuke because salvation by faith is the most foundational thing that should never be messed with.

Galatians 3:1-14
1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? 4 Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? 5 So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? 6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. 10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” 11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” 12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

The Mosaic Law cannot save anyone. This was the warning Paul gave to the Jews in Galatia. The Mosaic Law was only to be a guardian until the coming of the Christ, and it also served to help us recognize what sin is along with our hopelessness to overcome it on our own. “Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:21-29). The law was the caretaker of Israel, preserving God’s people until God’s anointed would come and fulfil his promise of a new covenant. Although fulfilling it would have brought life, we are incapable doing so. Therefore, our sin brought us death. “What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For 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. 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. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right here with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” (Romans 7:7-25). In Christ, however, there is a new law to live by, and it overcomes the law of sin and of death which resides in our flesh. When you continue into Romans chapter eight, you will see that “Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:1-13).

Paul has made it abundantly clear on many occasions that the Mosaic Law cannot and will not save anyone if they themselves try to fulfill it, and the reason for that is because we are incapable to keeping the Mosaic Law. It was when Christ fulfilled the Mosaic Law and took upon himself our sins that life and redemption were made available to the world. Now we have the very Spirit of God available to us, we must live in obedience to the Spirit of God. We had faith in Christ, and it was accounted to us as righteousness. His death was counted as our death. His life is counted as our life. Now God has given us the Holy Spirit so that we would have the means to live righteously. “Therefore my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’ Then you will sine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.” (Philippians 2:12-18). It is by the power of the Spirit that we are saved and declared righteous, and it is by the power of the spirit that we are able to live righteous lives. “‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,’ declares the LORD. ‘This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. NO longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,’ declares the LORD. ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’” (Jeremiah 31:31-34). This is the day our Lord is building up to. The Holy Spirit is here to teach us all things, but we have not yet reached the point where no teachers are needed. Still, the Spirit of God is here to mark as Sons of God and to guide us in all things. This is why in Romans Paul says to set your mind on the Spirit: we must consider what the Lord has put in our hearts and consider what is of the Spirit and what is not. Circumcision and the Law of Moses are not the way to salvation. Anyone who considers such a teaching after having heard the gospel is a fool, and anyone who holds to and teaches such a thing is under a curse. This is why Paul harshly rebuked the false teachers and even the Galatians because they were allowing themselves to be led astray by such foolish things. That which subverts or denigrate the gospel as something lowly is dangerous and worthy of rebuke. This is the goal of rebuke: to get the believers to come to their senses because they are refusing to discern between good and evil and have chosen what is evil.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul rebukes them for several matters as well. First, there was the matter of a man sleeping with his father’s wife. “It is actually reported among you that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgement in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. SO when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 5:1-5). Paul exhorts the believers to judge not those outside the church but rather those within the church. “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside God will judge those form outside. ‘Expel the wicked person from among you.’” (1 Corinthians 5:12-13). He uses this concept of judging within the church as a segue to another point of rebuke: lawsuits among the believers for civil matters. “If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgement instead of before the Lord’s people? Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling form those whose way of life is scorned in the church? I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers! The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:1-11). Paul had every intention of rebuking the believers in Corinth and his goal was for them to be ashamed of what they have done and repent of it. His hope was that they would come to their senses and turn away from the evil things they were doing. He invokes the cleansing and sanctification we received from our God so that the believers may remember what standard they should strive for: if you are living by the Spirit, you are identifying what is evil and rejecting it. If you are living by the Spirit, you are discerning what is good and holding to it. We have been made capable of discerning good from evil, and with the Spirit guiding us, we are obligated to learn to discern between the two and do everything in faith so that we may live righteous lives. Faith and the knowledge of good and evil are not two juxtaposed things: we have faith in our God for our salvation, and by the Spirit of our God we learn to discern between good in evil. In doing so, we learn to discern between what is of God, the good which will result in life, and what is not of God, the evil which results in death. As I’ve shown before, the letter to the Hebrews includes a rebuke for their refusal to learn what is good and evil, which resulted in them remaining as immature believers who refused to hear sound doctrine. These ones were ignorant by choice, which is an inexcusable offense because they were capable of learning and refused to gain the knowledge they were expected to acquire by that point. “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” (Hebrews 5:11-14). Those who should know better often receive the harshest rebukes from the Lord and from the apostles, such as Jesus railing against the hypocritical Pharisees in Matthew 23, calling them out for their wickedness and hypocrisy. In the end, he calls them snakes and vipers who are dangerously close to the fires of hell. This is also visible in Paul’s admonition to Timothy regarding elders who have sinned. “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. For Scripture says, ‘Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,’ and ‘The worker deserves his wages.’ Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. But those elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning. I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and do nothing out of favoritism.” (1 Timothy 5:17-21).

We are shown through the scriptures that there is a time and place for rebuke. It must be done with discernment and by the guidance of the Spirit, but by no means must we ever say that it cannot be done. Even the Lord encouraged rebuke for the sake of reconciliation. “Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through who they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So watch yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying, “I repent,” you must forgive them.’ The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’” (Luke 17:1-5). Surely it takes great faith to rebuke and to forgive one another, for our goal with both must be the building up of ourselves and our brothers and sisters. We must also keep in mind that anger does not negate the legitimacy of rebuke, for there is an anger that comes from the Lord when we witness injustice and evil within the church. Many are hesitant to accept rebuke when it is coupled with anger, but in certain matters it is absolutely necessary and ok to be angry. Jesus was furious when animals for sacrifice were being sold in the temple courts: a holy place had been turned into a market. “When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?’ The crowds answered, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.’ Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. ‘It is written,’ he said to them, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” (Matthew 21:12-13). I’ve heard it jokingly said that when we consider what the Lord Jesus would do, we must keep in mind that flipping over tables and whipping men is one possibility. Now, did the Lord Jesus go around whipping everyone that sinned? Of course not, but this extreme example is to counter anyone who would immediately shut their ears to an angry saint. Consider first what the matter is and whether or not it is something worth getting angry over. What was Jesus so furious about? Those who would make a profit out of the gospel and those who abuse their position of authority. What made Paul furious? Those who would bring people back into the Mosaic law and subvert the gospel of salvation by grace, those who would declare that the resurrection has already occurred and destroyed the faith of others, and those who would commit sins and use the grace of God as an excuse to keep on sinning rather than living righteously. If we see injustice in the church and do not feel a sense of righteous anger toward it, there is something wrong with us. If we witness injustice in the church and someone rebukes the evildoer with anger, we would be foolish to focus solely on the anger of the one who rebukes rather than the wickedness of the offender, especially when the bodies and souls of others are put in danger because of the offender. We must never forget the little ones that will surely stumble if they see evil go unchecked.