We have a man who is on his third wife attending services. What do we do?
Question:
Hello,
I have a question regarding a member of our congregation and what to do.
We currently are without elders and as the men of the congregation we have to jointly make decisions. The problem at hand is we have a man who has been coming and going for many years. The reason he left in the first place was that he was approached about his marital situation. This man was leading singing and serving in the church. He was currently in his second marriage and then decided he was not happy and divorced his wife and moved on to a third marriage. He was approached about it and then he and his wife left the church. He has recently begun attending again, a member had brought it up in the men’s meeting the other day that he needed to be talked to about his sin. The problem we are facing is what do we do? He was never dis-fellowshipped but he did stop attending on his own, so was that already not him dis-fellowshipping himself? Your input would be much appreciated.
Answer:
The man is living in adultery according to what you have stated. You'll have to treat this just as the man committing fornication in I Corinthians 5. It has to be done, not only for the man's sake, though he probably will not listen, but also for the congregation's sake to make it known that you do not condone sin. "Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us" (I Corinthians 5:6-7).
