“The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.” -1 Timothy 3:1-7
“Although he planned to attend seminary, Frank got work as a pastor immediately out of college, first at a small fundamentalist church and then at a larger Mennonite church in Salem. Both pastorates were short-lived…. A stint as a carpenter followed and then Frank and his wife moved to Missouri to be closer to family. he was driving a school bus and teaching high school when yet another small Baptist church in the country asked him to serve as the part-time pastor, which he did for six years until his marriage broke up…. In the midst of the divorce, he swallowed a bottle of pills.” -Tony Jones, The New Christians, p.87
“But because anyone, including Trucker Frank, can speak freely in this emergent church, my seminary-trained eyes were opened to find a truth in the Bible that had previously eluded me.” -Tony Jones, The New Christians, p.92
In reading through Tony Jones’ new book “The New Christians” there was a particular passage which really struck me as being the summation of the whole book. It revolves around a trucker and recently acquired member of Jones’ church named Frank. Frank has been a pastor at three different denominational churches, at least two of which he was forced out of, and for a time was a local celebrity at a Christian bookstore in Minneapolis before the management was tired of his distracting employees from their work.
However, the crux of Frank’s story, and in parallel the main message of the book, comes out when we are given witness to a Sunday night service at Solomon’s Porch. As Jones makes abundantly clear throughout, the sermons at most emerging churches are not in the traditional expository style, but instead revolve around discussion of the text and allowing members to bring their own perspectives into the message. This night is no different, and as the message turns towards accountability in the church, one of the participants asks the group “What would it take for someone to be excommunicated from this church?” Specifically the question revolves around Jesus’ words in Matthew 18.
Now, there is no disagreement about the first three steps, but when it comes to the passage “And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector (v.17)” Frank decides to turn the traditional understanding on its’ head. Traditionally people have interpretted this as saying that we should excommunicate the person at this point. However, in Frank’s interpretation he asks, “And how did Jesus treat tax collectors and pagans? He welcomed them. He didn’t excommunicate or ban them.” This new interpretation, as Jones states, takes the scales off his eyes:
Frank was right! This saying of Jesus doesn’t call for excommunication at all but rather for opening the church doors wide, welcoming even those who’ve committed sins against people inside the church. (Jones, The New Christians, p.91)
Now, if a truly new interpretation was brought forth which enlightened the scripture in a way we had never seen this would be something to wonder at. The only problem is, Frank wasn’t right! By definition, the word “excommunicate” means to “deprive or suspend membership in a religious community.” And taking this further, if we were to treat someone who was a brother (i.e. fellow church member) as a tax collector or Gentile, what would we be doing? That’s right, we would be removing them from membership in the church! So, this actually IS about excommunication.
But, if Frank is wrong, why was everyone so adamant that he was right? Because he spoke with (false) authority. And why was Frank so sure himself? Well, as Frank says, he had been meditating on this passage in light of the fact that he had been excommunicated from churches in the past (motive?), when he came to the conclusion that his interpretation must be the corret one. Then, to top it off, “Frank then went looking for versions of the Bible that corroborated his thoughts. (p.91)” So, not only did Frank have his own special revelation, but he was kind enough to make sure that some translation of scripture somewhere showed some semblance of agreement with him! That Frank is so great!
Really though, this is the problem. When we let just anyone come in off the street and have “conversation” with the church during the sermon, we are bound to find the inmates running the asylum before too long. It only takes the slightest bit of charm and charisma to advance the most half-baked ideas, even among the most “discerning” of people. Hitler didn’t work alone, he duped an entire nation (or world if you want to go that far). Jim Jones led 900 people to suicide/murder. And, oh yeah, in Genesis 3, the devil conned two people into ruining Creation for all of us!
There is a reason the Bible gives specific qualifications for leadership in the church. Reasons why Paul is so stern with Timothy about how to select deacons and elders. It is because this church is Jesus’ church, not ours, and there are too many wolves and lions seeking someone to devour for us to leave the doors of leadership swinging open. The gift of teaching, as we are warned in James 3, is not for everyone, and it is a dangerous thing to try and assume that role upon yourself.
