Maintaining Justice
We must thoroughly investigate
any accusation of wrongdoing against
a member of the body of Jesus Christ.
Here's Gene:
Moses deals with this when he says
in chapter 19, verse 15:
One witness cannot establish any
wrongdoing or sin against a person,
whatever that person has done.
A fact must be established with a
testimony of two or three witnesses.
And the reason Moses had to say that is,
there are people that will
make false statements.
There are people that have evil desires.
And they want to set somebody up so
they can benefit. Or they want to get
even with somebody. And they will start a rumor.
And so that's been around since year one.
And it's certainly was true among the Israelites.
And that's easy to understand in view
of their carnality and some of the
things that they were doing.
And so they established this guideline.
And it's interesting that when you get
to the New Testament, you have Paul
basically referring back to this same
guideline in chapter 5 of 1st Timothy, verse 19:
Don't accept an accusation against
an elder unless it is supported by
two or three witnesses. ...
And there of course, we could expand that.
But here he's saying, in essence, don't accept
an accusation against a spiritual leader
or anyone really, unless it is supported
by two or three witnesses.
In other words, when there is an
accusation, you need to make sure it's true.
Because there are some people, even today,
who call themselves Christians,
who will start a rumor and who will
attack somebody in order to try to
bring them down. And that is really sad.
There have been some parents
who've been accused of sexual abuse
that have not engaged in that practice.
Because of a child--a hatred of a child--
towards parents to bring them down.
Or self-deception. And that's a tragedy.
I've seen that happen and even in Christian families.
Generally, that can happen in the ministry.
You know, a pastor is vulnerable.
Because if you're dealing with sin
and people don't like it, one of the
easiest thing in the world to get even is start a rumor.
Christians or leaders are vulnerable. Always have been.
And so that Paul's dealing with that:
Don't accept an accusation against
a spiritual leader unless supported
by two or three witness.
Now, it may be true. And if it is true, then:
...Publicly rebuke those who sin...
I think there it's saying:
in front of the other spiritual leaders.
...so that the rest will also be afraid.
In other words, Timothy make sure
that you deal with this--
if it is true. So what you--you need to deal with it.
And what you have here is first of all protection.
And you also have confrontation.
But you need to keep this in balance.
And work this through in a very cautious
way in terms of dealing with false accusations.
Now, by the way, let me simply say
that a victim can be a witness.
And the reason I mentioned that is,
that there are some who have polluted
this to cover up their own sins.
And that leads to the Reflection and Response question.
And then I'll give you an illustration.
When one person accuses another of sexual abuse--
take that as an example.
When one person accuses another
of sexual abuse, why is it important
to investigate this charge thoroughly
even when there are no other witnesses?
And one of the reasons for that is
sexual abuse is private.
Where are you going to get witnesses
to sexual abuse, if you don't trust the witness?
Now the reason I mentioned that
is I was involved in a church
situation, helping them to recover
from a horrible situation with a
pastor who ultimately was caught
in [an] open homosexual behavior.
In fact, it was so open, he was caught in a bathhouse.
But while he was the pastor of this church,
he was practicing his homosexuality.
And when a witness came forward and said:
This man approached me inappropriately.
The pastor said: Where the two or three witnesses?
Where are the two or three witnesses?
There are no witnesses to that kind of activity.
So the witness himself or herself
needs to be taken very seriously.
And in this case by the way,
there was more than one witness to
what he was doing.
And even then, there were some who
interpreted--in the leadership of the
church--there are no witnesses to that activity.
So how do we know these people are
telling the truth?
It was a cover-up and a perversion of this Principle.
And that's why this question is worded
the way it is:
When one person accuses another
of sexual abuse, why is it important
to investigate this charge thoroughly
even when there are no other witnesses?
Now the fact is, there are people who accuse
others of sexual abuse just to get even.
And it has to be investigated very carefully.
But the fact is that person,
chances are, is telling the truth.
It has to be investigated very, very carefully.
And you have to take that very, very seriously.
And that's why this Principle of
maintaining justice is just as relevant
today as it was back there in the Old Testament.
We must thoroughly investigate any
accusation of wrongdoing against a
member of the body of Jesus Christ.