Fellowship: Chastening

Following up on the brother concerning his person which I blogged last month on lesson from character crisis, after about three weeks, when things became more clear, the matter was brought for fellowship again. The Lord has been sovereign in letting was wait for a good number of week; giving us, especially me, enough time to consider and reconsider before the Lord in prayer. 

My main concern in not taking action immediately as one would expect was, I fear God and would not misrepresent God in any way. All the people I have been dealing with, in my service are God’s people. I cannot and must not misrepresent God. The incident surrounding Moses has always been a warning to me.

Numbers 20:7-12 RecVer

7. Then Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

8. Take the rod, and gather the assembly, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, so that it yields its water. Thus you shall bring forth water for them out of the rock and give the assembly and their livestock something to drink.

9. And Moses took the rod from before Jehovah, as He had commanded him.

10. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said to them, Listen now, you rebels: Shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?

11. Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his rod twice; and abundant water came forth, and the assembly and their livestock drank.

12. And Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not believe in Me, to sanctify Me in the sight of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

If a man such as Moses can commit such a serious offense, who am I, not to? I fell before God in fear and trembling. I had been praying and praying concerning this matter even while I was in the ministry journey for twenty one days. 

Once I came back to office, in fellowship with my fellow serving brothers and also with some responsible brothers in the South, things became clear to me. We also fellowshipped with the brother assaulted and heard from him, and we personally apologised to him as responsible ones. Only then, we called for fellowship to chasten the concerned brother in a way of fellowship with the view of shepherding and retaining his service.

As we called for fellowship, in the presence of a leading brother in the church in Chennai with my co-working brother over the phone, we let the brother know of our heart to shepherd him, guaranteed his service as long as he would not commit such an offense again, granted him two weeks leave from the office for him to rest, pray, and deal with the Lord because of the seriousness of the offense he committed, and rejoin the service thereafter. Then, we also clearly defined what his service would be, letting him know that he is not the manager of the office, but as serving one like any ther serving ones. At this juncture, his temper flared up, and accused us of "playing politics." When we tried to explain to him that we were just trying to help him, he replied back stating that he did not need our help and that God would help him. Perhaps, he did all these in a fit of rage. He made his own declaration of resignation and hung up the call. This incident in an evidence of what kind of person he is and a confirmation of what the Lord led us to, concerning his service. Without us initiating, he himself resigned, and we took it as the will of the Lord.

The matter was fellowshipped with all he serving ones in Chennai office the following day, to avoid any confusion, and we all prayed for the brother to be covered and shepherded by the Lord. The matter was also brought to fellowship with the coworkers today, and a new arrangement has been made for the saints to communicate with the office as we await the Lord to release the proper serving one of His choice.

What a marathon fellowship we had with different groups of saints, serving ones, and the responsible brothers. Fellowship after fellowship, prayer and considerstion. In the process, I have been very much helped to contact the Lord and "learn Christ" in complex and critical yet crucial circumstances. 

May the Lord have mercy on me and all the serving ones, and preserve us all in our services to be faithful and fruitful, all the days of our lives.