Long ago in a county not far away a Baptist church sprang up. Anyone could tell it was a growing concern from all the cigarette butts on the ground near the back door. Between Sunday School and the worship service, a cloud of white smoke would rise as the saints lit-up all at once.
One family of five attended and seemed very happy to be part of the church. Of the three children, the youngest was a boy about ten. He was constantly misbehaving, often sticking his face in the midst of various women’s chests and hugging them, and the parents routinely did nothing to teach him better. After many incidents of such totally unacceptable behavior, his parents were taken aside by the pastor and one of the leading men and asked to do their duty as parents and regain control of their son. The parents reacted badly, at least as badly as their son.
The boy’s father was startled that anyone would be so bold as to point out the elephant in the room, but the wife was enraged out of her mind. Her claws shot out and she gave the men a good cussing and told them that her precious little son’s behavior was none of their **** business. The men insisted that the boy’s behavior must be reined in and corrected if the family intended to continue attending the services. It was their duty to discipline their son and their duty to seek the good of the church. She told the men to go somewhere besides heaven and that her family would come to church as they pleased and that nobody had better say a word to their son. Ah, yes; life among the saints!
Right away the church acted to apply basic church discipline to this situation. Mama changed everybody’s mind and they never attended again. The man did like many men do. He stood with his hands in his pockets and every now and then said, “That’s right” and “You tell ‘em, Honey,” as his wife ran her filthy mouth. They did send the church a silly letter threatening legal action and made a few unfriendly phone calls to the pastor and a few others. Needless to say, the man and woman refused to submit to any sort of church discipline; and that was that.
As part of the church’s attempt to deal with the matter biblically, Jesus’ words in Matthew 18:15-20 were followed to the best of the church’s ability. This Scripture reference was recorded in the Minutes of the congregational meeting. But it was recorded incorrectly; an innocent mistake. The right verse was referenced but from the wrong chapter. So instead of Matthew 18 the church record referred to Matthew 17:15-ff, which begins, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic…” Everyone had to suppress themselves. Some of us ‘lost it.’
It might not have been the spiritual thing to do, finding humor in such a mistake, but it was hard not to at least smile.
As fitting as that Scripture might have been, it was not actually used to justify the church discipline. After all, it was not the boy’s fault that he had ungodly parents that refused to obey the truth and to teach him well. Almost needless to say, that whole family reaped the fruit of rebellion against God’s truth. No one was happy to see things happen as they did, yet no one was terribly surprised when all three of their children soon rebelled beyond all control. Another family ruined through pure folly. –TSA
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