Mark Driscoll was kicked off the stage for criticizing the pole dancing performance of a shirtless male during James River Church’s Stronger Men’s Conference. Apparently, the conference planners thought eroticism was the right way to kick off a conference that (according to their press release), “exists to inspire and equip men to live out God’s vision for manhood to be the husbands, fathers, and leaders God has called them to be.”

I’m completely out of touch with mainstream church culture. I’m still living in the past where Christians were supposed to shun worldliness in the pursuit of holiness. My backward beliefs prevent me from understanding how sexualized performance art glorifies God. I’m so horribly out of step, I can’t even fathom God calling anyone into the ministry of striptease.

So it’s not surprising that my interpretation of Matthew 18 is out of sync with the uber-popular mega-church pastor who, after Driscoll left the stage, said: “Matthew 18: ‘If your brother offends you, go to him privately.’ I talked to Mark (Driscoll) for a half hour; there was not one word of that. He’s out of line.”

In my simplistic, outdated reading of Matthew, I think Jesus is explaining how to gently confront a brother before his sin goes public. That’s why He says in verse 15, “go and show him his fault, just between the two of you.” Me and my brother are the only people who know about the problem. If my brother refuses to address the sin, then I’m supposed to bring a couple of other Christians into the discussion. After that, we bring the sin before the church.

If the sin happens in front of the church (say, on a stripper pole) with thousands of brothers watching then it’s impossible to keep it ‘between the two of us.’ Invoking Matthew 18 seems to be a defensive maneuver to avoid taking ownership of your mistake. What’s worse, you’ve used the Bible to suggest it is ‘out of line’ for a brother to speak his conscience among OTHER BROTHERS!

Apparently, Driscoll and the mega-pastor met in private for a chat which Driscoll described as a “model of how brothers can work through their” differences.

If I was more in step with contemporary American religiousness, I might understand how this is simply a difference of opinion between two brothers. Alas, my antiquated orthodoxy won’t let me ignore the thousands of brothers who witnessed the unholy spectacle. They are the church, are they not? It seems a violation of Matthew 18 to cut them out of the conversation after they’ve been exposed to the sin.

I think it’s wrong for believers to punish other believers for voicing their convictions. But I’m not an uber-popular mega-pastor, so consider the source.

(Matthew 18:15) “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”